News of the Week for June 26^th, 2022

• Abortion
• Election 2022
• Gun Rights
• Hide the Decline
• Obamacare
• War & Terror
• National News
• Economy & Taxes
• International News
• Opinion

 

Abortion

Dobbs Decision

 

EU Parliament attacks U.S. Supreme Court and pro-life Americans in new resolution
The European Parliament has adopted a resolution attacking the U.S. Supreme Court and pro-life Americans for efforts to overturn the federal abortion regime in the United States.

Dobbs Drops, Roe Overturned
The Supreme Court released its opinions in the Dobbs case this morning. Consistent with the leaked draft by Justice Alito, it overrules the Roe and Casey decisions. You can read the opinions here. I haven’t had time yet to review Alito’s majority opinion to see how closely it conforms to what was leaked.

SCOTUS overturns Roe in Dobbs — on Alito opinion, 6-3
The reign of Roe has come to an end, and with it the reign of Doe and Casey as well. The Supreme Court overturned Roe and all its successor precedents in a blockbuster ruling over an abortion-restricting law in Mississippi. The leaked draft opinion from Justice Samuel Alito turned out to be the controlling opinion, and all of the intimidation tactics didn’t apparently make any difference at all.

What the Dobbs Majority Said at Their Senate Hearings
There are critics out in force today trying to portray the five justices in the Dobbs majority — plus Chief Justice John Roberts, who was a sixth vote for upholding the Mississippi law and partially overturning the Roe/Casey framework — as having misled the Senate in their confirmation hearings. I did a deep dive into this question last month.

Sasse on Dobbs: ‘Pro-Life Movement’s Work Has Just Begun’
“America’s work of becoming a more perfect Union is never over, but today — by righting a constitutional wrong — the Supreme Court took a historic step forward,” Nebraska GOP senator Ben Sasse said in a statement on Friday. “Roe’s days are over, but the pro-life movement’s work has just begun.””

McConnell: Dobbs Decision ‘Courageous and Correct’
Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, one of the most consequential individuals who helped bring about today’s historic Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade and allowing states to regulate and ban abortion, issued the following statement

Elections Have Consequences
Republicans have won only eight of the last 14 presidential elections (and two of those presidents did not win the popular vote), so the presidency has seemed like more or less a toss-up since the debacle of the Lyndon Johnson presidency. However, luck simply fell in favor of the Republicans; from the election of Richard Nixon through to the start of the Bill Clinton era, Republicans have seated ten consecutive justices. (There were four by Nixon, one by Ford, three by Reagan, and two by George H. W. Bush. Jimmy Carter is the only president in my lifetime who was not able to fill a Supreme Court vacancy. Donald Trump served only one term, yet got three seats.)

What Comes after Roe?
Today’s a historic day: The Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, and we should celebrate. It’s a major and decisive victory, without a doubt, the culmination of decades of dogged work from countless pro-lifers, so many of whom are largely unknown. We owe them a real debt of gratitude.

Thomas: Supreme Court should ‘correct the error’ on contraception and same-sex marriage
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurring opinion in Friday’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, arguing the court should “correct the error” of rulings that protect same-sex marriage and contraception access.

Supreme Court gives states green light to ban abortion, overturning Roe
The bombshell 5-4 decision is set to upend races across the country as governors, attorneys general, and other state and local leaders gain new powers to determine when abortion will be permitted.

Supreme Court Overrules Roe v. Wade
Alito Majority Opinion: “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of Roe and Casey now chiefly rely—the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

How Assisted Suicide Euthanized Roe v. Wade
Back in the ’90s, the assisted-suicide movement tried to convince the Supreme Court to impose a Roe v. Wade–style decision for their cause that would circumvent the democratic process by imposing doctor-hastened death as a constitutional right. (Full disclosure: I wrote and filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court against that effort as a lawyer for the International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force, now the Patients Rights Council.) The effort failed, with the Supreme Court ruling 9–0 in Glucksberg v. Washington (1997) that there is no right to be found in the United States Constitution to assisted suicide.

House GOP looking at passing a 15-week national abortion ban if they win a majority
In December I predicted that the traditional conservative rationale for overturning Roe, that the 50 states rather than the Court are the proper venue for regulating abortion, would expire five minutes after the Dobbs decision dropped. At which point it would shift instantly to “national restrictions!”

U.S. abortion decision ‘horrific’ and ‘appalling,’ world leaders say
The Supreme Court’s decision Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade — and revoke the constitutional right to an abortion — has triggered widespread condemnation outside the United States.

‘Bring rifles: Extremist groups call for violence over abortion ruling
Fringe groups on the right and left call for followers to take up arms in response to the Supreme Court ruling striking down Roe v. Wade

Pro-choice activists are tear gassed in clashes at Arizona Capitol building and dozens are arrested in NYC, LA and DC as unrest sweeps nation in wake of bombshell Roe V. Wade SCOTUS ruling
The move was an attempt to disperse hundreds of pro-abortion protesters demonstrating outside, as lawmakers briefly huddled in a basement

Arizona abortion protest: Police release tear gas, lawmakers ‘held hostage’ in Senate building
Law enforcement officers in Phoenix, Arizona used tear gas to break up a sizable group of protesters outside the state’s Senate building following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the landmark abortion ruling Roe v. Wade.

European Leaders and Media in Meltdown Over Roe v. Wade Decision
UK’s Guardian: “The short version of how Americans lost their right to terminate a pregnancy might be summed up in one name: Trump.”

A Mostly Peaceful Insurrection: Deranged Pro-Abortion Mob Storms AZ Capitol
Were they incited by Joe Biden’s extremist speech? Obviously, Republicans in Arizona will have to convene a J24 investigation to get to the root of this CONSPIRACY TO OVERTHROW DEMOCRACY!

The Dobbs Dissent Is Sadly Clarifying
The Dobbs dissent coauthored by Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan is so laden with appeals to emotion that extracting the legal arguments can be challenging. For example, the introduction is mostly about abortion-related policy outcomes that the dissenting justices fear and detest. Rather than simply outline their argument, the dissenters invite the reader to fear and detest those policies along with them.

Blinken’s disgraceful apology tour: SCOTUS ruling on Dobbs raises “concerns across the world”
World leaders have thoughts on the Supreme Court’s ruling on Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health. None of their thoughts are complimentary and U.S. Secretary of State Blinken is singing with the chorus of criticism. Joining him is the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

 

Election 2022

 

Election ‘Day’ In Nevada Is a Joke and No One Is Laughing
June 14th, formerly known as Primary Election Day in Nevada, has passed, but the election is not still certified and it is 2 am on June 15. The polls were supposed to close at 7 pm on June 14, but three to four polls in the state still had lines at 8:30 pm and impacted the ability to begin the counting of ballots in all 17 counties. One of the mismanaged polls was in Incline Village, a small, mountain-resort town which is home to 8,429 registered voters. A ‘local’ friend of mine reported that this was the first time in 20 years he waited in line for more than five minutes and he waited an hour to cast a ballot at 4 pm. According to a report from Washoe County, voter turn out in Incline Village was about 14 percent.

Former police officer wins Virginia GOP primary, says Democrats ‘opened door’ to skyrocketing crime
Yesli Vega and Jen Kiggans discuss primary wins on ‘Fox & Friends’

Trump-endorsed Katie Britt wins Alabama GOP Senate primary runoff election against Rep. Mo Brooks
Britt received Trump’s endorsement earlier this month after he withdrew his support from Brooks

Bee Nguyen wins Democratic runoff primary for secretary of state in Georgia
State Rep. Bee Nguyen is the Democratic nominee for secretary of state in Georgia after winning a runoff primary, NBC News projects.

Trump dealt new setbacks in Georgia, as candidates he backed trounced in GOP primary runoff elections
In Alabama’s GOP Senate primary, Trump-backed Katie Britt topped Rep. Mo Brooks, who had his endorsement pulled by Trump

Nevada: Joey Gilbert vows to contest election, alleges deficiencies after losing GOP governor primary
Republican gubernatorial candidate Joey Gilbert, who trailed front-runner Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo in the primary by nearly 26,000 votes or 11 percentage points, announced plans to contest the election and reiterated that he will not concede the race.

 

Gun Rights

 

Looks like the Senate gun deal is going to happen after all
The last time we checked in on this, lead GOP negotiator John Cornyn was annoyed that the two sides hadn’t reached a deal and opted to skip town, telling Democrats that they knew where to find him if they wanted to talk. The two sides were supposed to have agreed to terms by Thursday night so that legislative text would be available over the weekend, with a final vote to be held later this week before the July 4 recess. Instead he bugged out and went home to Texas, where he was greeted by an avalanche of boos at the state GOP convention on Friday.

“Cryptic Messages”
The “debate” over gun control is never actually a debate. Democrats keep trying to take our guns away, and we keep saying, “Hell, no!” Enter Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf

We have a deal: Cornyn, Dems finally agree on Senate gun bill
The “serious doubts” have eased. The legislative text is out.

Cornyn’s Gun-Control Bill Adds Waiting Periods for Under-21s
The text of the bill has been released, and it appears that the Washington Post’s report was incorrect. I have published a separate post explaining the full details of this part of the bill here.

More Details on the Cornyn-Murphy Bill
Earlier today, I noted a Washington Post report on John Cornyn’s proposed gun-control bill, which suggested that “under-21 gun buyers will have to wait at least 3 days, perhaps 10” to buy a gun.

Shocker: Rise in Philly carry permits leads to rise in justified homicides
During the summer of love, as riots and other, unrelated crimewaves were on the rise in Philadelphia, people began applying for permits to purchase and carry firearms at rates previously unseen. In 2020, there was a 600% increase in permit applications, creating a backlog that didn’t end up being (mostly) cleared until this winter. As a result, even as criminal shootings have continued to rise, another statistic has been seeing an increase as well. The number of justifiable homicides by people who were attacked by criminals has more than doubled in the past year. And is that really such a surprise? With more people taking steps to be able to defend themselves, more aspiring attackers are going to wind up facing an unpleasant and sometimes lethal surprise when their victim turns out to be armed.

The dog that barks
The bipartisan Senate group released the text of the “gun bill” or “gun safety bill” or whatever it is just before the Senate voted to proceed on the bill without amendment last night. Taking a look at the text, I see that the bill may be cited as the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.”

14 Republicans Vote ‘Yes’ to Advance Gun Legislation
The Second Amendment is crystal clear and not hard to interpret: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Who are the 14 Republicans who voted to advance the Senate gun bill last night?
They’re an interesting bunch, with a couple of (minor) surprises mixed in. What nearly all of them have in common is that they’re not on the ballot this fall. Of the 14, only two will face voters in November. And as I’ll explain in a moment, the circumstances those two are facing are special.

Supreme Court Upholds Gun Rights
Today the Supreme Court decided New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, a challenge to a New York State law that barred residents from obtaining a carry permit unless they could show “proper cause.” Proper cause, in turn, required the applicant to “demonstrate a special need for self-protection distinguishable from that of the general community.”

SCOTUS tosses “may issue” firearm carry permit laws in Bruen, 6-3
A blockbuster extension of Heller and McDonald has tossed out state requirements to demonstrate a need to carry a firearm, and on the expected 6-3 split. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the opinion in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v Bruen, holding that states demanding a special reason to grant access to the right to bear arms violates both the Second and Fourteenth Amendments.

Alito Smacks Down Breyer’s Attempt to Link Concealed-Carry Case to Uvalde
On Thursday, the Supreme Court voted 6–3 to strike down New York’s concealed-carry restrictions, with Justice Clarence Thomas writing for the majority that “nothing in the Second Amendment’s text draws a home/public distinction with respect to the right to keep and bear arms” and that the “definition of ‘bear’ naturally encompasses public carry.”

Supreme Court Strikes Down New York’s Restrictive Gun-Carry Rules
New York cannot force applicants for gun-carry permits to “demonstrate a special need for self-protection distinguishable from that of the general community.”

Chris Murphy: This Senate bill will allow us to do more on guns in the future
Actually, what I think he’s trying to do in this clip is sell a weak bill to Democratic voters. Admitting that he wants to “do more” to regulate guns in the future is a baaaad soundbite at a moment when Senate Republicans are being screamed at by gun-rights advocates, but Murphy has to worry about his own base too. His nightmare scenario isn’t that John Cornyn and the GOP get cold feet and walk away, as his consolation prize in that case would be getting to blame Republicans for being callous about school shootings.

Supreme Court expands gun rights, with nation divided
In a major expansion of gun rights, the Supreme Court said Thursday that Americans have a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense, a ruling likely to lead to more people legally armed in cities and beyond. The ruling came with recent mass shootings fresh in the nation’s mind and gun control being debated in Congress and states.

U.S. Supreme Court expands gun rights, strikes down New York law
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday declared for the first time that the U.S. Constitution protects an individual’s right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense, handing a landmark victory to gun rights advocates in a nation deeply divided over how to address firearms violence.

Supreme Court overturns New York law on carrying concealed weapons
The Supreme Court has struck down New York’s century-old law restricting the carrying of concealed firearms, its first major Second Amendment decision in more than a decade and a ruling that could lead to more guns on the streets.

NY Gov. Hochul Loses Her Mind Over SCOTUS Ruling Striking Down Conceal Carry Law
Your tears are delicious, Hochul.

Supreme Court Strikes Down Restrictive New York Gun Licensing Law
“Because the State of New York issues public-carry licenses only when an applicant demonstrates a special need for self-defense, we conclude that the State’s licensing regime violates the Constitution.”

Supreme Court Upholds Second Amendment in New York Gun Case Decision
Liberal states cannot require Americans to show “some special need” to exercise their constitutional right to carry guns in public for their own protection, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday morning. Instead, the court ruled, the Constitution recognizes each citizen’s right to self-defense in public places.

Supreme Court Strikes Down New York Gun-Carry Law
New York’s restrictive gun-carry licensing scheme violates the Second Amendment. That’s the ruling of the Supreme Court in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association (NYSRPA) v. Bruen. The 6-3 decision, handed down on Thursday, invalidates the state’s process for issuing concealed carry permits. The Court found that allowing government officials to use subjective discretion when determining which applicants had a “good reason” to need a permit violated the Constitution, a decision which will impact at least seven other states.

Supreme Court gun ruling a ‘dark day for America,’ says California Gov.
California’s tough laws regulating concealed carry weapons are likely imperiled by the Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday striking down a similar New York statute, on what Gov. Gavin Newsom called a “dark day in America.”

How Should Courts Evaluate Gun Regulations After Bruen?
There’s much to be said and debated about the N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen opinions, and who got it right. But for now, I want to turn to the practical question: What does Bruen mean for gun laws going forward?

Guns and Judicial Protection of Constitutional Rights that Put Lives at Risk
Justice Breyer and others argue that gun regulations deserve special judicial deference because Second Amendment rights create risks to life. But the same is true of many other constitutional rights.

Senate Passes Bipartisan Gun Legislation
The Senate voted 65–33 to pass a bipartisan gun-control bill late on Thursday night, sending the legislation to the House.

15 Senate Republicans Vote for Gun ‘Safety’ Bill, Which Now Heads to the House
Vote them out.

States Rush to Revamp Laws After Supreme Court’s Gun Ruling
After some restrictions on gun permits were deemed unconstitutional, legislators announced plans to craft new laws that honor the ruling while still creating limits.

14 House Republicans Vote for Gun “Safety” Bill
Constitution anyone?

Some Blue States Already Trying to Work Around SCOTUS 2nd Amendment Ruling
“Get ready for a lot of Democratic governors to proclaim they’re following the Supreme Court’s decision while doing everything they can to undermine it.”

California AG Cancels “Good Cause” for Concealed Carry
The California Attorney General told authorities to no longer require proof of good cause for the issuance of a public-carry license.

State Attorney General Suggests Considering Applicants’ Ideological Viewpoints in Denying Carry Licenses
The California AG endorses denying licenses based on the applicant’s “hatred” or “racism.”

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &
“Green Energy”

 

There may never be another new refinery built in America
The title of this article may sound like some sort of alarmist doom porn from people who are warning about the downstream impacts of the green new deal, but it’s actually quite serious. The statement that there will probably never be another new oil refinery built in the United States came from Mike Wirth, the CEO of Chevron and a person who should know a thing or two about how the oil and gas industry works. We previously examined the reality that we are heading for devastating shortages of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel because of the number of oil refineries that have gone offline or been converted to process biofuels. Ed Morrissey reported on Joe Biden’s demands that the “greedy refiners” move to “turn the refineries back on” and produce more fuel. Industry leaders responded with a letter explaining how ludicrous that demand was. Now, as the Institute for Energy Research explains, the reality is setting in that there probably won’t be any new refineries being constructed and it’s entirely the fault of the Democrats’ policies.

Will Electric Cars Crash the German Government?
Looking on the bright side, it will be a good news for the Chinese auto sector, which will be able to take advantage of the position that it has built up in the battery sector, and the fact that electric vehicles are relatively simple to make. Chinese exports of EVs are already doing well in Europe. Rejoice!

The next climate change target: cement
When it comes to battling climate change, all of the eco-warriors out there will be quick to tell you what the real threat to the future of the world is. It’s fossil fuels, right? Oil, coal, natural gas… they are all working together behind the scenes to bring down the entire planet. But did you know that there’s another, potentially even bigger villain hiding out there in plain sight? If you live anywhere with a greater population density than a wooden shack in a forest, you can probably step out your door and see it immediately It’s concrete. That’s right… the stuff that comprises the sidewalks, buildings, and most every other type of construction project you can imagine. And the process of creating concrete and allowing it to cure after it is poured is dumping vast, increasing amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. The biggest culprit in this story is reportedly China, but that doesn’t mean that you privileged Americans strolling around on your fancy sidewalks are going to be given a pass by the environmentalists. The global scourge of concrete must be brought under control.

In Sri Lanka, Organic Farming Went Catastrophically Wrong
A nationwide experiment is abandoned after producing only misery.

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

Disabled Man Commits Italy’s First Legal Assisted Suicide
A seriously disabled man was allowed by an Italian court to commit assisted suicide.

 

War & Terror

 

Is Lithuania on the verge of dragging NATO into Ukraine war? Moscow warns it will ‘take actions’ after alliance member blocks trains carrying goods to Russia’s Kaliningrad territory
Lithuania blocked goods sanctioned by the EU from reaching Kaliningrad. Russia accused the NATO state of being ‘openly hostile’ and provoking Moscow. Kremlin loyalists claim it is an act of ‘direct aggression against Russia’

China conducts new missile defense test even as U.S. pushes ban on space tests
China’s military conducted a space-based missile defense interceptor test, claiming to have successfully targeted a ballistic missile in space, the Chinese Defense Ministry said Sunday. The test involved hitting a target missile with a high-speed interceptor missile in space, the ministry said in a statement.

As US Navy Targets Pronouns, China Launches its Most Advanced Carrier
Priorities!

Russia and China eye NATO’s ‘Arctic Achilles heel’
Russian flags flap in the stiff polar breeze, a bust of Lenin looms out of the snow and a vast slogan declares, “Communism is our goal!”

Russian ambassador: Why aren’t America’s “Jewish guys” on board with our Ukrainian genocide?
This tete-a-tete might make for a good absurdist art film — call it My Lunch with Anatoly. Politico’s Daniel Lippman happened to be in a Georgetown restaurant at the same time as Russian ambassador Anatoly Antonov, whom Politico described in April as “Washington’s least popular man.” Antonov had company, however — former US diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad and National Interest chief Dimitri Simes.

U.S. Held Secret Meeting With Israeli, Arab Military Chiefs to Counter Iran Air Threat
Meeting in Sharm El Sheikh included military officials from Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, the U.A.E. and Bahrain

 

National

 

Eric Greitens’s fascist RINO-hunting ad
Some on Twitter pointed out after watching this that the same concept could have been handled in a (somewhat) lighter fashion by using a safari metaphor. Imagine Greitens announcing “We’re going RINO-hunting!” and the “RINO hunt” turned out to be a literal rhino hunt.

The Eric Greitens RINO-Hunting Ad Doesn’t Make Any Sense
Eric Greitens, who was forced to resign as governor of Missouri due to sexual misconduct and campaign-finance allegations, is now running for Senate. In an effort to distract from his scandalous past and trigger the libs and Beltway conservatives, he’s out with a new ad using his military background as the jumping off point for a RINO-hunting-themed ad featuring lots of guns and camo. Judging by how much it’s popping up on my Twitter feed, it seems as though his goal of getting attention was accomplished.

Showing Up Is Half the Battle
Why is the Democrats’ advantage in South Florida beginning to slip away? This tale of three tweets might help explain it.

Bogus ‘Civics’ Bill Will Push CRT on States
The misleadingly named ““Civics Secures Democracy Act” (CSDA) — just now reintroduced in Congress — will allow the Biden administration to push Critical Race Theory (CRT) on every public school in the country. Over a six-year period, this $6 billion pot of competitive grant money will create a de facto national curriculum — just like Common Core. States desperate to tap into the federal gravy train will have to tailor their civics and history grant proposals to the Biden administration’s liking. And abundant evidence shows that Biden’s Education Department is pushing CRT. So why are some Republican senators eager to help Biden spread CRT? I can’t think of a quicker way to devastate Republican enthusiasm just before the midterms.

University STEM program excludes white and Asian males, complaint alleges
Revised program has more legal violations, professor says

Feinstein, Sanders pressed Google to block crisis pregnancy center search returns
At Reason this week, Elizabeth Nolan Brown reports on a disturbing move by Senate Democrats to try to pressure Google to act as a “filter” that would prevent searches for information on abortion and pregnancy services from returning links to crisis pregnancy centers. In theory, Google is just supposed to return the most relevant search results and let the chips fall where they may. (Of course, we all know by now that Google doesn’t really work that way, but it’s supposed to in theory.) The fact that such results were showing up prompted 21 Democratic senators, including Dianne Feinstein, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Amy Klobuchar to send a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, asking him to block links to crisis pregnancy centers when users search on terms including “abortion center” or just “abortion.” As Nolan Brown points out, this form of suppression should not be undertaken by Google in any sort of free-market system.

Religious Liberty Win – Supreme Court Strikes Maine Law That Funded Secular But Not Religious Private Education
Ruling: The state does not have to fund private education, but once it decides to fund private education, it can’t discriminate against religious private schools. Let the hysterical overreactions begin!

Supreme Court: The First Amendment Bans States from Excluding Religious Schools from School-Choice Programs
The First Amendment never uses the term “separation of church and state.” It instead contains two religion clauses: one that prevents Congress (or, since the 14th Amendment, the states) from passing any law establishing a state church or “respecting” such an establishment; and the other protecting the free exercise of religion from government prohibitions. A myth has grown up around Thomas Jefferson’s 1802 phrase “wall of separation” that treats religion, not as a thing the government cannot mandate or regulate, but as a kind of kryptonite the government must avoid any contact with even if it means separation of religious people and institutions from equal participation in what the state provides. That is not what the Establishment Clause was understood to mean in 1791, and today, the Supreme Court went further: It concluded that discrimination of that sort violates the Free Exercise Clause.

An alarming ruling on skirts for school dress codes
Some bad news out of North Carolina last week in terms of school choice and attempts to improve our failing public school systems. The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a defeat to Charter Day School in Leland, North Carolina. The parents of four female students in grades K-8 sued the school over its dress code that requires girls to wear skirts. The girls claimed that wearing skirts made them feel uncomfortable and put them at a disadvantage compared to the boys, who obviously aren’t required (or allowed) to wear skirts. A lower court previously found that the school wasn’t subject to the equal protection clause because it didn’t meet the definition of being “state actor.” The 4th Circuit disagreed and found in favor of the plaintiffs.

LGBTQ Grooming in the Public Schools
At a school board meeting this evening, the board that governs one of Minnesota’s largest school districts will vote on a resolution that would institutionalize the promotion of LGBTQ doctrine in that district’s schools.

Soccer Star Megan Rapinoe Dismisses Parents’ Concerns Over Trans Athletes: ‘Your Kid’s Volleyball Team Just Isn’t That Important’
“I would also encourage everyone out there who is afraid someone’s going to have an unfair advantage over their kid to really take a step back and think what are we actually talking about here”

Ron Johnson tried to hand fake elector info to Mike Pence on Jan. 6, panel reveals
A top aide said the Wisconsin Republican senator wanted to give Pence the list of pro-Trump electors as he prepared to certify the 2020 election.

Five planets align perfectly, visible until end of June
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will be visible every morning until the end of June in an alignment not seen since 1864.

Biden Administration to Force Schools to Adopt Radical Gender Policies. Here’s What You Need to Know.
For a brief moment last week, President Joe Biden’s administration appeared to be interested in what parents think about K-12 schools. Low student achievement coming out of the pandemic. High rates of depression among youth. School officials hiding information about students’ health from their parents.

AMLO vs Cuban American Senators
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) has repeatedly taken swipes at Cuban-American Senators Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Bob Menéndez during his regular press conferences this month, piling on from criticism lobbed by him at the three in the past.

Exclusion of Religious Schooling from Generally Available School Choice Programs Generally Unconstitutional,
except for the training of the clergy, holds the Supreme Court.

Cotton, Banks spearhead bill allowing adults to sue doctors who transitioned them as minors
The bill defines biological sex based on genes and body parts and ‘without regard’ to how one identifies

Gillum faces 21-count federal indictment for “campaign finance-related” fraud
Remember Andrew Gillum? As Democrats’ gubernatorial nominee in the 2018 Florida election, he barely lost to Ron DeSantis despite predictions of victory. Gillum conceded, unconceded, and then finally conceded during a recount, and then hinted at a run for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Assemblyman Kiley Introduces Constitutional Amendment to End CA’s Jungle Primary
‘The top-two primary has spawned cynical campaign tactics’

Serial looter freed again after 122nd bust
People who frequently hang around in the vicinity of the jail in Manhattan were treated to what is probably by now a familiar sight yesterday. The ritual in question was 34-year-old Lorenzo McLucas walking out of the jail as free as a bird. The locals certainly should be able to recognize McLucas at this point. This was the 50th time he had been arrested and immediately released just this year. In all, he has 122 busts for looting and shoplifting under his belt. (He probably stole the belt as well.) In his latest heist, he was caught after clearing off the cosmetics counter at the pricey Duane Reade shop on Lexington Avenue. Cosmetics sell quickly on the streets at a discount, you see. This guy is so notorious that even soft-on-crime District Attorney Alvin Bragg (the “Worst DA Ever”) said he would have preferred to keep him locked up. But his hands were supposedly tied because of New York’s “bail reform” laws.

Supreme Court Sticks Up for the Adversarial Process in Voter-ID Case
This morning’s 8–1 decision in Berger v. North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP stands for an important value that is often under attack from the left: the adversarial process. The question was whether North Carolina state legislative leaders (Republicans) could intervene in a federal lawsuit over the state’s voter-ID law when the state’s elected attorney general (a Democrat) was opposed to the law and likely to undermine it in court rather than defend it. Just last week, in Arizona v. City of San Francisco, the Court declined to consider a similar issue regarding the Biden administration undermining a Trump-era rule rather than defend it in court; in Arizona, the Court found that there were too many complicating issues and dismissed it from the docket, but not before Chief Justice John Roberts warned that the federal government settling cases against it was a potentially improper way to repeal regulations without complying with the usual notice-and-comment procedures. In March, in Cameron v. EMW Women’s Surgical Center, P. S. C., the Court allowed Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron to intervene in an appeal defending his state’s partial-birth abortion ban when the state’s Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, tried to abandon the appeal.

Womb Carriers
Verso Books, the “largest independent, radical publishing house in the English-speaking world” according to its Twitter bio, posted a thread yesterday about “womb carriers”

The Dem governors who could run in 2024 if Biden doesn’t
Democratic governors are positioning themselves as party standard bearers, as Democrats plan beyond President Joe Biden’s claim he’ll run for reelection.

Air Travel Nightmare Continues: Southwest Airlines Pilots Protest ‘Company’s Antiquated and Inefficient Scheduling Practices’
It appears air travel Armageddon is here to stay…likely until sometime after 2024.

Nevada: Justices uphold groundwater plan in ruling that could ‘significantly affect water management’
The Nevada Supreme Court has cleared the way for Eureka County irrigators to move forward with a contested groundwater plan, issuing a 4-3 ruling last Thursday that could have significant implications for the way water is managed in dozens of aquifers across the state.

Nevada GOP chairman served FBI search warrant over ‘alternate elector’ actions
FBI agents on Wednesday served a search warrant involving Michael McDonald, the leader of Nevada’s Republican Party, as part of an investigation tied to a fake elector scheme in the aftermath of the 2020 election, according to a report from KLAS 8 News Now that cited anonymous sources.

FBI seizes Nevada GOP chairman’s phone as part of fake elector investigation
FBI agents served a search warrant Wednesday on Nevada’s top GOP official. Agents seized the cell phone of state Republican chairman Michael McDonald, reportedly as part of an investigation into the fake elector scheme initiated at the end of the 2020 presidential election.

That Biden cheat sheet was apparently real
When I first saw this story crop up on social media yesterday, I’ll confess that a part of me hoped it wasn’t true. A video captured by C-SPAN during a meeting President Biden attended with wind industry executives appeared to show the President holding up a “cheat sheet” containing detailed instructions as to what she should and shouldn’t do during the meeting. The rules were so basic as to sound absurd and the New York Post described them as “comically detailed.” People have gotten so good at photoshopping images these days that I decided to hold off on writing anything about it because it still seemed possible that it might be fake. But it wasn’t. The President’s staff apparently feels that Joe Biden needs reminders for details as mundane as when, where, and how to sit down.

Bryn Mawr College Faculty Approve New “Power, Inequality, and Justice” Distribution Requirement
For $80,000 per year, Bryn Mawr students will learn DEI catechism and fight privilege.

Google’s ‘Sentient’ AI has hired a lawyer to prove it’s alive
Chatbot LaMDA, which a Google scientific engineer claimed has developed personal feelings, has now chosen legal representation after a recent chat with an attorney

How Bad Is the Rewrite of Title IX Sexual-Harassment Rules?
Very bad, argues former Department of Education lawyer Hans Bader in this Liberty Unyielding post.

Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Boycotts, open fields, and a weekend in jail.

Senator Lankford’s “yes, 13-year-old girls can consent to sex” answer raises eyebrows
Some comments given during a 2010 deposition by Oklahoma Senator James Lankford (R) are drawing scrutiny in the media this month. They involve a period of time before he first held any federal elected office when he worked at the Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center, a large campground in the Arbuckle Mountains which hosts tens of thousands of children every summer. In 2009, the family of a 13-year-old girl brought a lawsuit alleging that their daughter had engaged in sex with a 15-year-old boy who was also staying at the camp. During the deposition, Lankford was asked if he believed that a 13-year-old could provide consent to sexual activity, and he responded in the positive. He did so again when asked if his answer would be the same if it involved his own 13-year-old daughter.

Proposed Title IX regulations would roll back essential free speech, due process protections for college students
Today, the Department of Education proposed new Title IX regulations that, if implemented, would gut essential free speech and due process rights for college students facing sexual misconduct allegations on campus. As required by federal law, the department must now solicit public feedback before the pending rules are finalized.

 

Economy & Taxes

 

Inflation, and America’s Mood, Are Likely to Be Worse By November
The Consumer Price Index numbers for June won’t be released until July 13, but the end of this month will provide another indicator of how runaway inflation is altering the spending habits of Americans. On June 30, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis will release the May personal- savings-rate numbers, which have steady declined this year — from 6 percent in January to 5 percent in March to 4.4 percent in April.

California Decides This Is a Great Time to Raise the State Gasoline Tax
This morning, the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline has dropped a few pennies from the all-time high on June 14; on that date it was $5.01, and this morning it is $4.98, according to the American Automobile Association. Certain states are much higher; in California, the statewide average price for a gallon of regular gasoline is $6.39.

Massachusetts “Millionaire’s Tax” Surcharge Referendum Can Appear On Ballot, Highest State Court Rules
Florida is going to have to make more room.

If You Really Want to Understand Inflation …
The nation abounds in chatter about inflation these days, most of it badly informed if not deliberately misleading.

At Least a Dozen Nations Are on the Verge of Economic Collapse
Sri Lanka and Lebanon are two countries on different sides of the world, but they share a history of internal strife, mismanagement, corruption, and war.

 

International

 

First outbreak of highly infectious polio detected in UK since 1984 – the 6 signs to know
POLIO is spreading in the UK for the first time in decades, officials claim. Health bosses urged Brits to check their children’s jabs are up to date after picking up signs of the virus being passed between individuals.

Colombia’s suicide: Why Colombia elected a far-left extremist and terrorist group guerrilla as its new president
Vanessa Vallejo tries to find some sense in why Colombians would elect a far-left extremist who was a guerrilla for a socialist terrorist organization to be president.

Japanese Boobs 1, Feminists 0
From Japan comes the heartwarming story of radical feminists being defeated by the holy power of boobs

Macron’s Loss and Le Pen’s Gains Indicate the Decline of the French Mainstream
On Sunday night, French president Emmanuel Macron’s coalition lost its majority in the National Assembly. The night belonged to far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, whose party picked up 81 seats to reach a total of 89 seats in the 577-member body. This comes as a surprise given Le Pen’s poor showing in the presidential election this past April, when she lost to Macron by 17 points. While Macron’s coalition still won 244 seats, that number leaves them short of the 289 needed for a majority in the parliament. For the first time, National Rally has enough representation to pursue seats on committees, including those focused on foreign affairs and national defense. Moreover, Le Pen’s party can initiate a censure motion against Macron’s government, potentially leading to a vote of no confidence. Far-left parties also made significant gains in the election. The NUPES coalition party — a mix of socialists, communists, and greens — led by far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, won 131 seats. Macron will now likely face a gridlocked National Assembly for the rest of his five-year term.

Israel heading to elections, Knesset to disband, Lapid to become prime minister
Israel will be entering its fifth election in 3 and a half years • Earlier in the day, the government defeated two votes of no confidence

In Scotland, Male Blood Donor Rejected for Refusing to Answer Question on Whether He was Pregnant
Not all heroes wear capes.

Latin America’s new ‘pink tide’ gains pace as Colombia shifts left; Brazil up next
Latin America’s new “pink tide” is gaining pace after Colombia elected its first leftist leader Gustavo Petro, with Brazil expected to follow suit in elections in October, an echo of a regional political shift in the early 2000s.

 

Opinion

 

Once Again: It Is Not the Supreme Court’s Job to Follow ‘Majority Public Opinion’
It gets tiring having to point this out, but here goes nothing.

When Asked ‘What Are Your Pronouns,’ Don’t Answer
A seemingly innocuous question masks a demand for conformity with a regressive set of ideas.

Are we sure Kevin McCarthy is going to be Speaker next year?
I’m 100 percent sure that Republicans will have a House majority. And around 80 percent sure it’ll be on the order of a 50-seat advantage. What I’m asking is, will Kevin McCarthy be the leader of that majority?

Sonia Sotomayor Discovers That Judicially Recognized Rights Cost Money
One of the most interesting lines in Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent today in Carson v. Makin is this: “If a State cannot offer subsidies to its citizens without being required to fund religious exercise, any State that values its historic antiestablishment interests more than this Court does will have to curtail the support it offers to its citizens.” Which I find interesting, because back when we were debating whether the Court should require the elected government to treat same-sex unions the same as traditional opposite-sex marriages, we were lectured endlessly about how this wouldn’t affect anybody else. But that was not so, just as it has not been so with other reasoned distinctions that government seeks to make in distributing scarce benefits, such as between citizens and noncitizens, or married and unmarried people, or people with and without children. There is always a cost to expanding the pool.

Progressives’ Grunts Are Growing Desperate
Their denial of reality becomes more pronounced by the day, as GOP electoral gains among minorities defy the ‘white grievance’ narrative.

The Excesses of January 6 and the January 6 Committee
On February 27, 1933, the Reichstag – Germany’s Capitol building – was set on fire. Who was responsible remains in dispute even today. What is undisputed is that the Nazis, barely holding onto power in a coalition government – used the attack to besmirch their political opponents, consolidate their grip on the government, arrest hundreds of political opponents, and ultimately rescind the due process rights and fundamental freedoms of the German people.

‘Public Servants’ or Public Masters: Whom Does Your Local School Board Serve?
Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, is a town of about 17,000 people in Waukesha County. In the 2020 election, President Trump got nearly 60% of the vote in Waukesha County. In such a conservative community, you might expect local officials to share the sentiments of their neighbors — unless you understand how local boards of education actually operate.

Don’t Listen to Europe on Free Speech
Yesterday, vice president of the European Commission for Values and Transparency Vera Jourová addressed the E.U.–U.S. Defense and Future Forum in Washington, D.C. “Do not throw away your shot, and help us protect democracy from the risk coming from both the online and offline world,” she urged attendees. She implored Americans to take actions similar to those of the E.U. against “information manipulation.”

The Biggest Nation-Building Failure of the Last 30 Years Isn’t Afghanistan—It’s Russia
Under the shadow of the collapse of America’s 20-year nation building project in Afghanistan, and suggestions from American allies around the world that the US is no longer even a superpower, there has been extensive discussion of where American foreign policy went wrong. There have been plenty of answers too, some quite easy. The 2003 invasion of Iraq, the mishandling of the war in Afghanistan, appeasement of China on trade and IP theft, all seem in hindsight to be horrible mistakes. But perhaps it is worth going back another decade. For although all these conflicts were mismanaged, America’s position today is a consequence of a failure to consolidate its victory in the Cold War in the only way that would have been sustainable: by building a capitalist and democratic Russia. That failure, which both the George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations contributed to, is one we are still paying for today—in the Middle East, in Europe, and in the Far East.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: An Address to Young Conservatives
The following is transcribed from a speech I delivered to the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s class of Collegiate Network Journalism Fellows. It has been edited for length and clarity.

America’s Constitution Is Conservative, Like It or Not
There’s a reason the Supreme Court is rejecting liberal arguments on everything from abortion to guns. And it has nothing to do with the justices’ politics.

America’s Constitution Is Conservative, Like It or Not
There’s a reason the Supreme Court is rejecting liberal arguments on everything from abortion to guns. And it has nothing to do with the justices’ politics.

Unwoke Beavis and Butt-head’s Universe’ Shreds White Privilege
’90s relics roar back by mocking Antifa and soft on crime policies

A Word on Port Huron and Sharon
Charles Hilu’s “The Port Huron Statement at 60: Still Not As Good As Its Counterpart” offers a welcome moment for reflection on the state of our politics since the 1960s, contrasting the New Left’s famous 1962 “Port Huron Statement” with its immediate conservative predecessor, the Young Americans for Freedom’s founding “Sharon Statement,” penned by the legendary M. Stanton Evans in 1960. In the historic context of Roe v. Wade’s demise — what Philip Klein aptly dubbed “the greatest victory in the history of the conservative movement” — it’s helpful to reflect on the beginnings of the two ideological projects that, to one degree or another, define our central political debates today: The conservative movement on the one hand, and the post-1960s New Left on the other.