News of the Week for March 5th, 2023
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Abortion
Dobbs Decision
Court Rules New York Labor Law Violates Pregnancy Center’s ‘Right to Expressive Association’
“The right to expressive association allows Evergreen to determine that its message will be effectively conveyed only by employees who sincerely share its views.”
Gun Rights
Illinois judge rules state’s gun ban and registry unconstitutional
An Illinois judge declared the state’s gun ban and registry law unconstitutional on Friday.
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
Electric Vehicles and the Green New Dole
We’re always being told by the Joe Bidens and Boris Johnsons of this world about the tremendous employment opportunities that will be created by the new green economy, claims that normally focus on new jobs rather than (unsurprisingly) jobs lost. When I hear those claims, I often find myself wondering what the net picture will be.
Germans double down on cold and dark
German chancellor Olaf Scholz sure fits the stereotypical stubborn Deutschlander. In the face of everything and all the pain Germany’s forced transition to renewables has cost his country, he is bound and determined to bullrush into an even more expensive and unstable future.
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
Biden raises specter of Obamacare repeal, hoping for leverage in budget talks with GOP
President Biden revived the Obamacare wars on Tuesday, pointing to the law that Democrats muscled to passage in 2010 as a likely target for Republicans who want to rein in spending as part of tense debt-limit negotiations.
War & Terror
Drones Attack Russia From All Sides
Chaos erupted in Russia overnight as drones swarmed multiple regions, sparking an explosion at an oil depot and the deployment of fighter jets near St. Petersburg, according to local reports.
*Gulp* Finland is building a wall on Russia’s border
Finland is in the process of finalizing its bid to join NATO. In the process, they are leaving behind their neighbors in Sweden, whose application to join continues to be held up by disagreements with Turkey. So what is the first thing you do when you join an alliance against Russian expansion but you share an 830-mile border with Russia? You build a wall, of course! Okay… it’s not technically a “wall.” It’s really more of a fence. But the message is the same. ‘We’re with the other team now, so stay out.’ But the primary reason the Finnish government is offering is a smart one and we could use a bit more thinking along those lines in Washington.
Russia’s Winter Offensive Is Criminally Incompetent
Even for an army long known for how casually it values the lives of its soldiers, the Russians seem to be taking things to a new level.
China’s Shenzhou-15 astronauts conduct secretive second spacewalk
A pair of Chinese astronauts conducted their second extravehicular activity in recent days, with China for the first time providing no advance indication nor details of the event.
To Prepare for a Pacific Island Fight, Marines Hide and Attack in California
Sitting around a plastic folding table in a dusty tent, a half-dozen officers of the Hawaii-based 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment took a very short break from days of fighting on little to no sleep.
National
Chicago inmates claim jail guards are pressuring them to illegally vote in the mayoral election
Inmates claimed guards at Cook County Jail were pushing them to illegally vote. Guards are allegedly getting orders from higher up and ‘doing what they’re told’.
‘Maoist Struggle Session’: Former NY Times Writer Details Newsroom Chaos After Tom Cotton Op-Ed
“It was like Caesar on the floor of the Roman Senate or something … I remember closing my laptop and pouring a huge glass of wine even though it was at like noon. Because I was so f–king freaked out by what we had just witnessed.”
Equal Protection Project Aims to Stop Acts of Racism Committed in Name of ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’
“The remedy for racism never is more racism.” That’s the guiding principle behind a new initiative called the Equal Protection Project.
Not Doing Very Well at Teaching Teachers to Teach Reading
Education schools have long been weak when it comes to preparing teachers to do a good job in the classroom. Years ago, Heather Mac Donald summed up the prevailing attitude as, “Anything but Knowledge.”
The Fetterman Question
Social media is awash right now with wild rumors about the condition of Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, who has been hospitalized for depression—a hospitalization that will apparently last a month or longer. We should await some facts or other kinds of confirmation before drawing conclusions about nefarious political calculations, but it is confirmed that his wife and children have fled the country to “avoid media attention.” I don’t know much about treating what appears to be severe depression (a month in the hospital?), but common sense would suggest the presence of wife and family is instrumental for treatment and recovery. No wonder there are rumors spreading.
Murdoch Said Hannity Was ‘Privately Disgusted’ By Trump But ‘Scared to Lose Viewers,’ According to New Court Filing
Dominion Voting Systems’ latest bombshell court filing was made public Monday, ahead of the April trial for the company’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News.
Syracuse University implements 5-year DEI plan
‘We will demonstrate our commitment to being an inclusive campus that supports… underrepresented minorities, international students and faculty, the disabled, the LGBTQ+ community.’
Marymount University eliminates 10 degrees, including English, history, theology
Director of Communications Nick Munson told Campus Reform that the eliminated degrees ‘are simply not ones that are in demand.’
Sixth-Grader Reads to School Board From Gay Sex Book Displayed at His School
Middle-school librarians now think homosexual pornography is appropriate reading material for 11-year-old students.
Murdoch Testified Fox Commentators ‘Endorsed’ Trump’s 2020 Election Lie
Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch testified that Fox News’s popular commentators “endorsed” Donald Trump’s false claim that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, even though Murdoch said he doubted the conspiracy theory right away, according to a filing in a defamation lawsuit.
West Virginia GOP majority House OKs religious freedom bill
West Virginia’s GOP supermajority House of Delegates passed a bill Monday that would create a test for courts to apply when people challenge government regulations they believe interfere with their constitutional right to religious freedom.
Lightfoot is out, Vallas and Johnson are in — the April runoff
Mayor Lori Lightfoot finished third in Tuesday’s election with 16.89% of the vote, behind former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas at 33.95% and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson with 20.32%.
Catholic College Denied Formation of Conservative Group Over ‘Belief in Two Sexes’
Turning Point USA is more Catholic than Saint Mary’s University.
Chicago Mayor Lightfoot ousted; Vallas, Johnson in runoff
Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson will meet in a runoff to be the next mayor of Chicago after voters denied incumbent Lori Lightfoot a second term, issuing a rebuke to a leader who made history as head of the nation’s third-largest city.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot blames election loss on racism, gender
Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot blamed racism and her gender for her landslide defeat in her re-election bid, as Chicagoans weary of the rising crime on her watch celebrated her fall from “political rock star to rock bottom.”
White student expelled from Howard University’s law school sues alleging racial discrimination
The student displayed “a pattern of antagonizing actions against other students” attending the law school, a Howard spokesperson said.
Oregon bill would pay homeless people $1,000 a month
Legislation would pay homeless people with no strings attached
Judge rules Telles will represent himself in murder trial
A judge has ruled that Robert Telles, the former Clark County Public Administrator, who is accused of killing an investigative journalist will be allowed to represent himself at his murder trial which is set to take place in November.
Parent’s nightmare: 5th grade teacher sued for calling a girl a boy’s name until she felt suicidal
A teacher at an elementary school in Long Island is accused of pressuring a 9-year-old girl to question her gender identity and sexuality to the point that the girl was openly discussing suicide. Her parents have now sued the school district and the teacher claiming that she pressured their daughter toward a trans identity as a boy.
DeSantis Goes Big on Higher-Ed Reform
Years from now, we may look back on the passage of Florida House Bill 999 as the moment when the campus monoculture finally broke. Although sponsored by Representative Alex Andrade, H.B. 999 is clearly a vehicle for the ambitious program of higher-education reform announced by Governor Ron DeSantis last month.
D.C. Circuit Court Rules Equal Rights Amendment Still Dead
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Tuesday pushing the idea that Congress may retroactively remove the 1979 deadline.
Catholic College Denied Formation of Conservative Group Over ‘Belief in Two Sexes’
Turning Point USA is more Catholic than Saint Mary’s University.
America’s Public Schools Are a Disaster
A report recently found that there are 53 public schools in Illinois where not a single student can do math at grade level. That report made international news, and my colleague Catrin Wigfall wondered whether there could possibly be any such low-achieving schools in Minnesota.
How many people will use California’s bullet train? Planners lower ridership estimates
Changing commuter patterns stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and sluggish expectations for population growth in California are driving down forecasts for ridership on the state’s future high-speed rail project.
Colleges Are Gambling with Students’ Lives
New partnerships with online gambling operations have universities playing the role of bookie.
No more DEI at New College
The New College of Florida Board of Trustees recently voted to abolish the college’s DEI office and programming, a move protested by the college’s progressive students and faculty.
The Real Story Behind Drag Queen Story Hour
Aimed at children, the phenomenon is far more subversive than its defenders claim.
Academic Honor Codes and Woke Adrenaline Junkies
Has American higher education reached peak woke? Alas, probably not, given that activists can find almost anything to protest. While it may be difficult to predict the next campus absurdity, let me suggest what may soon arrive: importing the anti-police, pro-crime movement into our colleges and universities. In fact, the first outcroppings of this movement have surfaced. The Washington Post in 2015 questioned the utility of honor codes, claiming they failed to work as advertised and only upset students (codes were called “outdated”). More recently, the College Fix reports that, in 2020, there were forty-three separate efforts to defund or disband the campus police. Portland State University has already disarmed its campus police.
“You can’t assume that there is discrimination just because different groups have different outcomes”
My appearance on Chicago’s Morning Answer about the launch of EqualProtect.org: “as long as each individual is being treated fairly without regard to race, then group outcomes don’t matter. We don’t buy into, I don’t accept, that group measurements are the way to measure fairness.”
Trump’s 5-part plan to attack DeSantis
Former President Trump is convinced his attacks on Ron DeSantis are chipping away at the Florida governor’s support and confidence, sources and friends familiar with Trump’s thinking say.
Florida bill would require bloggers who write about governor to register with the state
Florida Sen. Jason Brodeur (R-Lake Mary) wants bloggers who write about Gov. Ron DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody, and other members of the Florida executive cabinet or legislature to register with the state or face fines.
Tijuana sewage isn’t only in Imperial Beach waves. It’s in the air. And San Diegans are breathing it.
Sewage pollution spilling over the border from Tijuana into the San Diego region not only threatens the health of surfers and swimmers but potentially those simply breathing the air.
19 Minnesota Schools Have Zero Students Proficient in Math
“Seven elementary schools between both MPS and SPPS saw no fifth graders demonstrating math proficiency.”
Red Tape Strangles Charities
A recent Gallup poll shows Americans see the government as the top problem facing the nation. For the most vulnerable Americans this may be especially true as new research shows that excessive government burden is having a negative impact on the organizations that struggling individuals and families rely on: charities.
‘Report’ Finds Resumes That Include ‘They/Them’ Are More Likely to be Overlooked
A report from Business.com finds that there is discrimination against “non-binary” people. At least, non-binary people believe there is discrimination. “Over 80% of nonbinary people believe that identifying as nonbinary would hurt their job search,” the report finds. Also, 51% believe their gender identity has “affected their workplace experience.”
The Mysterious ‘Sisterhood’ Tearing Families Apart
Jason and Jennifer Veras had been together since high school. “We were a loving family. We were a happy family. We barely had any issues throughout our 23 years in a relationship,” Jason said. “Until she brought Liana Shanti into our family.”
The new transit hotness: social workers
I love this story. It encapsulates liberal governance in a few hundred words.
The Great State-Flag Awakening
While engaged in a prodigious display of dithering this morning, I stumbled onto the news that Utah’s statehouse has approved the redesign of its state flag.
‘How we eat our chicken’ is a racial issue according to this professor
The professor said that ‘colorism’ can be explained through five points, dubbed the ‘sense(s) of colorism’: sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste.
Shocking video shows black kids attack, force white kids to say ‘Black lives matter’ at Ohio school: cops
Multiple Ohio elementary school kids are facing assault charges after disturbing video caught the group of black students attacking white students — and forcing them to say “Black lives matter,” according to cops.
Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Flouncing, flaunting, flirting, flouting, foundering, and flounting.
Hogan says he won’t run for president in 2024
Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a moderate Republican who has been an outspoken critic of former President Trump, announced he would not run for president in 2024 after giving it “serious consideration.”
Delaware Lowers Standards for Bar Exam in Effort to Increase Diversity
“Data suggests, however, that diversity might not be the only reason for this decision”
Woman Behind Destruction of Roald Dahl’s Children’s Literature Described As ‘Non-Binary, Asexual, Polyamorous Relationship Anarchist’
“A profile of Barrett on the Inclusive Minds sight described her as “they/them” and a “writer and editor with a passion for championing inclusive content and policies.”
Hogan: Hero
Former two-term Republican governor of Maryland Larry Hogan announced today that, despite testing the waters briefly for a run at the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, he will instead sit this one out. Thank you for doing that, Larry. Presidential electoral politics, like nuclear war, is a strange game; sometimes the only winning move is not to play.
UC Irvine professor studies ‘abolition medicine’ with nearly $1,300,000 grant
Professor Juliet McMullin will study intersection of ‘racist border’ policies and ‘anti-black racism’ and healthcare
Economy & Taxes
Index of Economic Freedom Reveals ‘How Fragile the World’s Economy Has Become,’ Even as Taiwan Rises
Taiwan’s economic freedom ranking has risen to an all-time high, according to The Heritage Foundation’s 2023 Index of Economic Freedom released on Monday.
NY Dems sweating “extinction-level events” if Gov Hochul’s budget proposals go through
Talk about a twofer: doubling down on disaster and getting what entrenched liberals outvoted the saner citizens for.
Industrial Policy and Why It Fails: 2023 Edition, Part 1,564
I could bore you once again with all the reasons why industrial policy/central planning doesn’t usually work as planned. But instead, I will just point you to these articles.
You Would Think Losing $40 Billion Would Be a Resume Killer…
Nope – Biden Taps Former EDD Chief for Cabinet Spot
Striking Out: The Decline of Organized Labor
“In 2019 a high-school principal in New York State was discovered to have created a fraudulent system of grading to exaggerate his school’s achievements,” Philip K. Howard writes in “Raiders of the Delegated Treasury,” the cover story of the new issue of National Review.
International
‘Is This a Joke?’: U.N. Human Rights Slammed for Praising China’s $800,000 Donation
“What concept of human rights does #china support that you can be grateful for? Or is it only about money?”
James Bond books edited to remove racist references
Reissued versions of Ian Fleming’s classic works will feature a disclaimer following a review by sensitivity readers
University sparks language row as it advises students to refer to each other as ‘they’ until the person reveals their preferred pronouns to create ‘culture of inclusion’
Kent University advises students and staff to use ‘they’ if pronouns are unknown. Uni criticised last week for discouraging words ‘surname’ and ‘Christian name’
The collapse of South Africa
With so many things going to pieces all around the world these days, it can be difficult to keep track of them all. Particularly when so much of the global news media’s attention is riveted on the war in Ukraine, other things can slip through the cracks. For example, were you aware that the government of South Africa has basically collapsed? And it happened fairly quickly. Take a look at this lengthy Twitter thread from someone who actually lives there. The government and the police have almost disappeared, the energy grid has imploded, half of the people in the country are out of work and the nation’s infrastructure has crumbled.
War, War, War on the Autobahn
Those who read that headline might, if they are old enough, and their musical taste runs (or ran) that way, detect the first stirrings of an old earworm.
Ireland backtracks on gender identity curriculum in schools
Ireland is routinely cited as a beacon of best practice on all matters transgender. Over the water, self-identification of legal gender was introduced in 2015. The Scottish Government — when pursuing their own ill-fated Gender Recognition Reform Bill — described it as a “well established system”. Now it seems the Irish are having second thoughts.
South Africa has collapsed, here’s why
We live in a truly beautiful country. A place like no other. Our winters are short, and summers long.. our country is huge too. I love this land, as did my forefathers who built it. But here is what they’re not telling you.
Roald Dahl books were neutered by woke consultants aged eight to 30 – led by ‘non-binary, asexual, polyamorous relationship anarchist who is on the autism spectrum’
The effort by inclusion consultants to sanitize the collective works of famed children’s author Roald Dahl has caused a stir across the literary world
Trans Teacher Suspended after . . . Not Wearing Huge Prosthetic Breasts
Kayla Lemieux is a male schoolteacher in Ontario, Canada. He identifies as a transgender woman and, since last year, has attracted controversy for wearing prosthetic Z-cup breasts to class. Parents thought this was inappropriate. But the school defended Lemieux’s supposed gender expression.
Sensitivity readers find fairy tales problematic after reexamining Ladybird’s books
Concerns are raised over the stock phrases ‘handsome prince’ and ‘beautiful princess’ as well as the idea of love at first sight
Opinion
American Colleges Are Committing Suicide
Self-inflicted wounds, not changing demographics, are undermining the higher-ed sector.
Does Marjorie Taylor Greene Like America?
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is a backbencher no more. She was one of the Republican Party’s biggest fundraisers even before the GOP retook control of the House. With her committee assignments restored and enjoying a perch on the House Homeland Security and Oversight committees, Greene’s big mouth isn’t the only way she can generate attention for herself. The American right’s loudest voices seem to take their cues from the Georgia representative, which is troubling given the extent to which Greene doesn’t seem to have much affection for America.
When Tribal Rage Goes Wrong
There are few things more hideous than audible group thought. When I see videos of crowds — full-throated and self-assured — responding to a politician’s words, it rankles.
