News of the Week for April 23rd, 2023
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Abortion
Dobbs Decision
Man Raped 12-Year-Old 500 Times Resulting in 7 Abortions, Abortion Clinics Never Reported the Crimes
A Florida man recently was accused of raping a young girl hundreds of times and then covering up the abuse by taking her to abortion clinics for seven abortions.
Colorado Outlaws Medical-Abortion Reversal
So much for “choice.” A new Colorado law outlaws doctors’ prescribing of a medical-abortion-reversal treatment to prevent a termination from completing.
Has the Overton Window Shifted on Abortion?
Also in the Wall Street Journal poll that both Noah and I wrote about this morning was this little nugget.
Gun Rights
Smith: The NRA Has Won and America Is Stuck in a ‘Doom Loop’ of Gun Buying
[O]ne would think supporting policies that let Americans carry any type of gun, anywhere, at anytime would be a losing proposition for any politician, much less one who wants to be president.
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
Berkeley natural gas ban tossed by Ninth Circuit
An attorney for the California Restaurant Association called Berkeley’s plan to ban natural gas lines in new construction a de facto ban on gas stoves.
Bavaria mulls reopening nuclear plant under state control
Hours after Germany closed its last three nuclear power plants, one state premier has sought powers to partially reverse the decision. A law change would allow Bavaria to operate the Isar 2 power station, he said.
Greenflation Watch: Aviation (Continued)
Climate policy-makers’ war against cars is, of course, part of a wider war against mobility. Naturally, that includes the effort to curb flying, where, not for the only time, snobbery and climate fundamentalism intersect. It just doesn’t do to let all those dreadful people fly. . . .
Yes, They’re Coming for Your Burgers
“All food is not created equal,” New York City mayor Eric Adams inscrutably intoned this week. “The vast majority of food that is contributing to our emission crisis lies in meat and dairy products.” This indictment accompanied the mayor’s efforts to extirpate animal proteins from city-run facilities, where “meat is increasingly missing from the menu,” according to the New York Times.
Can Higher Ed Provide the Nuclear Workforce North Carolina Needs?
Expansion of existing programs may be necessary in the future.
Biden signs order prioritizing ‘environmental justice’
President Joe Biden on Friday signed an executive order that would create the White House Office of Environmental Justice.
Using Electricity to Redistribute Income
One of the many problems with “green” energy is that it is ridiculously expensive. Millions of Americans, if they have to pay the cost of wind or solar energy to power their homes, will not be able to afford it, and will have to sell out. Liberals know this, despite their absurd propaganda about wind energy being “cheap.”
A Tale for Earth Day
April 22 was Earth Day. It also was Lenin’s birthday, making it a doubly regrettable date, even if the overlap serves the mildly useful purpose of reminding us of the perennial appeal of collectivism, the irrational, and the urge to control others. What’s more, Lenin, rather surprisingly, given the strong Promethean strain that ran through Bolshevism, favored conservation of the environment, if not of people, supporting the creation of nature reserves, a novelty in Russia (the first was established shortly before the revolution).
Biden Signs Executive Order on ‘Environmental Justice’
In ironic twist, the catastrophe in a predominately white and Republican region is being cited as the factor in the decree.
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
Top 2024 Republicans divided on whether abortion is a state issue as presidential race heats up
Top 2024 Republican hopefuls are divided over whether to kick the growing issue of abortion to the states or lean on the federal government to safeguard the unborn.
War & Terror
The Navy is hiding children’s medical records (trans, STDs) from parents
For everyone who has been arguing that the American military isn’t going woke (leading to a dearth in recruiting), you might want to look at this story. Over the weekend, a video popped up on Twitter showing a Navy Nurse Practitioner in Bahrain giving a presentation to military parents regarding pediatric healthcare policies. The audience was clearly shocked to learn that military parents of children aged 12 or older could not access their children’s medical records online. And children as young as 15 or 16 can make medical appointments for specific issues without parental notification. Those “issues” are, of course, gender identity, pregnancy, STDs, and mental health. One of the fathers in the crowd was clearly incredulous.
Two Charged for Role in Chinese Police Station Operating Out of New York City
Two people have been charged for their role in the Chinese government-run police station that operated out of a Lower Manhattan office space, according to court documents. The New York Times reported that they were arrested early on Monday.
China Spends Billions Bailing Out Countries Caught in ‘Belt And Road’ Debt Trap
Financial Times UK: “China’s $1tn Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure finance programme has been hit by spiralling bad loans.”
RCMP Shares New Details on Pipeline Attacks by ‘Anarchist’ Protesters
The RCMP has shared new information regarding masked, axe-wielding protesters who descended on a Coastal GasLinks pipeline worksite in Houston, British Columbia, in February last year.
Poland building electronic barrier on border with Russia
Poland has begun building a state-of-the-art electronic barrier at its land border with Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave to monitor and counteract any illegal activity, the Polish interior minister said Tuesday.
OOPS! Russia Accidentally Bombs Its Own City of Belgorod Near Ukraine Border
Euphemisms can be fun. Stephen Green had a good one when the Space X Starship exploded about four minutes after launch. Engineers refer to a blow-up like this as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” or RUD.
Special forces swiftly evacuate US embassy staff from Sudan
U.S. special operations forces carried out a precarious evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Sudan on Sunday, sweeping in and out of the capital with helicopters on the ground for less than an hour. No shots were fired and no major casualties were reported.
China’s Ambassador to France Says Ex-Soviet States Lack Basis for Sovereignty
France and countries across Eastern Europe condemn remarks from Ambassador Lu Shaye
National
Transgenderism and “Queer Theory” in K-12 schools in all Continental United States
Campus Reform conducted a survey and identified at least one instance of a transgender/queer theory children’s book in the 49 Continental United States
A Student Government Crisis at App State
An unfolding legal saga at the UNC-System institution may expose dramatic threats to free speech.
The Blue-State Education Nightmare
What is the top education story in the country? Measured by press coverage, Ron DeSantis’s pushback against woke education in Florida takes the prize. Yet in truth, DeSantis’s pushback is only the second-most important education story of our day. The deeper mystery is the rise of the movement he’s resisting.
Taken for a RIDE by David Randall
How Rhode Island’s Social Studies Standards Shortchange Students
How Walmart Pushed Arkansas Public Schools to Go Woke
Documents reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show a private company’s unprecedented effort to inject DEI into classrooms
University at Buffalo Trying to Use Loopholes to Shut Down YAF Chapter Following Successful Michael Knowles Lecture
The Student Association (SA) at the University at Buffalo is attempting to evade its responsibility to uphold conservative students’ constitutional rights to free speech and expression by shutting down their Young Americans for Freedom chapter using flimsy loopholes and excuses.
Yeesh. New L.A. Mayor wants to “rebuild” the LAPD
Now that former Congresswoman Karen Bass has taken over as the Mayor of Los Angeles, she has plenty of work in front of her. One job will be to get the crime rate under control, a promise her opponent in the race also vowed to do. That job has been made even more challenging by the fact that the LAPD has been losing police officers at an alarming rate. So Bass has now announced a plan to “rebuild” the police force through a program of incentives and “lifting barriers” to recruitment. What could possibly go wrong?
Middle school hosted ‘disturbing’ licking game with staff and students
A middle school principal is facing discipline for an inappropriate, “sexualized” licking game between students and staff.
Arkansas Enacts Given Name Act. Here’s What Parents of Schoolchildren There—and Elsewhere—Need to Know.
Arkansas lawmakers delivered a clear message to parents of K-12 students this week: You have the right to know how your child is being treated in school.
Phonics-based education continues to make progress in school districts across the country
Yesterday the NY Times published an article about angry parents, activists and teachers who are pushing school boards to adopt phonics-based reading curriculums. The Times correctly points out that evidence strongly suggests phonics is the best way to teach reading, even if some teachers don’t like it.
Fears of a ‘Rainey Street Ripper’ serial killer in Austin after EIGHTH body in less than a year is pulled from Lady Bird Lake in the city
John Christopher Hays-Clark, 30, was the latest body to be recovered from the lake on Saturday
Fox, Dominion reach $787M settlement over election claims
Fox and Dominion Voting Systems reached a $787 million settlement Tuesday in the voting machine company’s defamation lawsuit, averting a trial in a case that exposed how the top-rated network chased viewers by promoting lies about the 2020 presidential election.
Musk mocks Twitter’s past ownership, says platform was run like a ‘glorified activist organization’
Twitter CEO Elon Musk on Monday mocked the social media company’s previous ownership for overseeing an “absurdly overstaffed” operation run like a “glorified activist organization.”
Brutal Mob Attack On Woman During Chicago Teen Rampage – Where is the Media and Political Outrage?
Mainstream media almost completely silent.
Teens Charged in Dadeville Massacre
Police have previously said that, based on the cartridge casing found at the scene, the shooters used pistols, not rifles. That’s kind of important, considering that the shameless fool Joe Biden used this Alabama shooting as an excuse to blame the NRA and Republicans for opposing “commonsense gun safety reforms,” when there is (as usual) zero evidence that any such “reforms” would have prevented this atrocity.
Undercover Video Reveals Indiana Schools Hiding Critical Race Theory Curriculum From Parents
As a parent, I don’t want to believe that schools would deliberately indoctrinate kids and try to hide what they’re doing from parents. But, sadly, in recent years, it’s become impossible to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Oregon legislature votes to fund transition but rejects funding detransition
I ran across this thread from Oregon State Representative Ed Diehl. He sits on the House Behavioral Health and Health Care Committee in the Oregon House of Representatives, where the committee just did a markup of House Bill 2002-A, which among other horrible provisions relating to abortion “care” also mandates the coverage for gender transition “care.”
Detransitioner Katie Lennon testifies in favor of New Hampshire Parental Rights
A parental rights bill is under consideration in New Hampshire which would require school authorities to inform parents about their child’s social transition but only if the parent asks. Yesterday about 5,000 people on both sides showed up to debate the bill.
California’s ban on Skittles and Sour Patch kids moves one step closer – as second committee OK’s plan to ban cancer-linked food additives
California’s Democrat-controlled Committee on Health rubber-stamped bill
Minnesota baking antiracism into school curriculum
Antiracism and gender ideology are all the rage in public schools.
Biden’s Black Astronaut Reads Anti-White Poem to Prep for Mission
Are they ‘astronauts’ or ‘cosmonauts’?
Prof and drag queen discuss ‘gender-affirming care’ and drag for kids at university event
Georgia Southern University’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies department co-hosted ‘The Politics of Drag’ with an LGBTQ organization on Apr. 12.
‘Mature Enough’: Undercover Video Reveals Docs Routinely Approve Puberty Blockers for Kids as Young as Eight
An undercover video released Wednesday by Project Veritas revealed that doctors in Texas and New York are routinely prescribing puberty blockers to children as young as eight years old.
Fox to Receive Massive Tax Write-Off for Defamation Settlement
The $787 million defamation settlement Fox News reached with Dominion Voting Systems this week may end up leaving the right-wing news giant with a bloody nose instead of the sucking chest wound that its legion of haters were rooting for.
The Sex Binary is Not ‘High School Biology’
A biologist breaks down an activist’s arguments against biological reality.
‘Diversity in Recruiting’: LinkedIn Implements Feature Allowing Recruiters to Find People by Their Demographics
“LinkedIn may use your personal demographic information in recruiting features to surface qualified members that may diversify the group of candidates displayed to recruiters.”
Illegal aliens who are LGBTQ ‘may not be detained’ under Democrats’ new bill
Democrats said current detention rules strip aliens of their humanity and due process
Do GOP Voters Think Anti-Wokeness and Entitlement Reform Are in Conflict?
The latest Wall Street Journal poll of Republican voters quantifies the imprecise but general sense that Florida governor Ron DeSantis has been losing ground to Donald Trump over the course of this year. And while there is still plenty of game left to be played in the Republican presidential primary, DeSantis’s camp should be worried.
‘What are they afraid of?’: Student govt. rejects hosting anti-woke survivor of Maoist China
During an Apr. 12 meeting, the Associated Students of Whitworth University voted 9-4 against hosting Xi Van Fleet, a survivor of Maoist China, on campus and cited her anti-woke tweets.
Crazy Moms Are Dangerous
Last month, I commented on this situation (“Hiding In Plain Sight: Jeanette Jennings and Transgender Munchausen by Proxy”) wherein the TV reality show personality known as “Jazz Jennings” was obviously being manipulated by his/”her” mother, Jeanette, in what was clearly a case of Munchausen syndrome by proxy.
DEI receiving ‘a performance review’ by state auditors in Mississippi
Mississippi’s public colleges and universities have until Apr. 20 to send an accounting of their spending on diversity, equity, and inclusion to the Office of the State Auditor.
Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Butter or spray; liars and bad cops; and SecretAgentRandyBeans.
Study Shows Mothers of Boys With Gender Issues Are Mental
The abstract of a scientific study undertaken in 1994 has been making the rounds on social media, and it is shocking on two levels. The first wave of shock (although not surprise) comes at you from what the study discovered: the mothers of gender dysphoric boys tend to suffer from a host of mental illnesses of their own.
Economy & Taxes
Meta paid people to literally do nothing
As you’ve likely already heard, Facebook’s parent company Meta is laying off large numbers of people in an effort to remain financially viable. This stressful situation has been exacerbated by the absence of much of its management who are working remotely, some from other countries. How could things have possibly gone so far downhill so quickly? Do you suppose there might have been something less than ideal about their business practices and how they managed their workforce? Perhaps that idea will resonate a bit more after you hear from Madelyn Machado, who was a recruiter for Meta earning an eye-popping $190,000 per year. And what did she do for Meta while she was there? Nothing. She wasn’t even asked to do anything. So she was obviously quite sad when they let her go.
Biden to hike payments for good-credit homebuyers to subsidize high-risk mortgages
Homebuyers with good credit scores will soon encounter a costly surprise: a new federal rule forcing them to pay higher mortgage rates and fees to subsidize people with riskier credit ratings who are also in the market to buy houses.
Workers of the World . . . Yeah, Right
The Port of Long Beach markets itself as “the port of choice.” It doesn’t seem wise to emphasize choice at a time when many shippers are choosing to send their cargo elsewhere. The West Coast ports’ declining market share, as many shippers opt for more-efficient East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, doesn’t help West Coast dockworkers either.
Democrats’ Atrocious Attack on Personal Responsibility
It’s difficult to understate the perverse incentives that penalizing homebuyers with good credit will create.
On The Record With NV Senator Ira Hansen
Sen. Hansen: ‘If we are in the super minority after the next election, it isn’t going to matter who the Governor is’
How you may wind up paying for San Francisco’s reparations plan
“Play stupid games, win stupid prizes” seems to be the conservative response to San Francisco’s proposed reparation plan, which would dole out $5 million to each Black resident. After all, paying for this latest obsession of the radical left would transform the city into a bankrupt “21st century Detroit.” If you live in California, you’ve probably figured out that at least part of the bill would fall on your doorstep. However, Americans around the nation — including those in conservative states — would likely be on the hook for California’s radical reparations payouts, as well.
Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks
Acouple of years ago Jake Morgan, a farmer who lives just outside Raleigh, in North Carolina, realised he needed a new vehicle to get around his property. At first he was looking at “side-by-sides”—a sort of off-road utility vehicle. But watching a review on YouTube of one that costs around $30,000 made by John Deere, he saw a comment that said something like “Why don’t you just get a minitruck instead?” That is, a tiny four-wheel drive pickup truck, sometimes known as a “Kei” truck, mostly made in Japan to take advantage of laws there which tax smaller vehicles less.
Argentina’s Economy Teeters on the Edge of Deeper Crisis as Market Anxiety Grows Reuters Poll
Argentina’s economy will teeter on the edge of a deeper crisis in the run up to October’s presidential vote as growing market anxiety adds to a harmful mix of drought-induced recession and skyrocketing inflation, a Reuters poll showed.
International
What Do Americans Want in a European Vacation? Fewer Americans
As the hottest spots get overrun with U.S. tourists, some visitors plan vacations to new countries and regions
University confiscates research for violating The Narrative™
These days the answer is simple: you are canceled and your research is stolen and buried by the university.
Haunted by Insurrection, Lula Is In a Hurry to Change Brazil
Late on the afternoon of Jan. 8, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stared out at Brazil’s ravaged capital from a third floor balcony of the presidential palace and reflected on how his presidency had been upended.
Sudan’s generals battle for 3rd day; death toll soars to 185
As explosions and gunfire thundered outside, Sudanese in the capital Khartoum and other cities huddled in their homes for a third day Monday, while the army and a powerful rival force battled in the streets for control of the country.
UN report calls for legalizing pedophilia
The United Nations has sent yet another disturbing signal that it is working to radically normalize societal movements that are far outside long-accepted cultural norms. A new report from a UN committee that ostensibly seeks to address issues involving drug abuse, HIV, and homelessness somehow included legal guidance on consensual sex. As part of that, the report indicates that children under the age of 18 can consent to sexual relations with adults. In other words, the UN is moving toward the legalization and legitimization of pedophilia. Pedophiles around the world will surely welcome this news, but at some point, the United States needs to recognize that the United Nations is no longer an organization that seeks the betterment of mankind and should not continue to host its headquarters in our country.
AMLO Demonstrates That Democratic Backsliding Isn’t a Symptom of Just Rightist Politics
A common refrain among progressives is that democratic backsliding is a symptom of only rightist politics. That’s a load of hogwash.
Isaac Newton’s eerie 1704 doomsday prophecy has people terrified of imminent apocalypse
The pioneering scientist who wrote the rule book on gravity, built the first reflecting telescope and even figured out the exact shape of the Earth calculated the date of the End Times
King’s College London rejects research on trans athletes for calling men ‘males’
Ordered professor to consult with DEI office on language
China’s population is declining and that could be a big problem for their economy
There were a bunch of stories earlier this week highlighting the fact that, in the coming months, China will no longer be the nation with the largest population on earth. Instead, India will become the most populous nation sometime this summer.
Opinion
When Will they Come for Waugh?
Since the cancel culture censors have come for Dr. Seuss, Agatha Christie, Roald Dahl, and P.G. Woodhouse (among others), how come they’ve overlooked Evelyn Waugh, for passages like this one—my favorite—in Scoop
Feeling Gloomy? Perhaps Black Sabbath Will Cheer You!
It seems like folks around National Review have been a bit down in the mouth lately, what with all the unfortunate political news and Boston Celtics victories. (I haven’t been paying terribly close attention, but I think Joe Biden might actually still be lost somewhere in the Irish countryside, roaming free while his perplexed Secret Service detail hunts for him like a lost dog.) So I thought it might help things if I cheered everyone up with an enormous dose of the band Black Sabbath instead. Embrace the bleakness!
The United States of Queer
You are here. You are Queer. Get over it.
Here’s the Campus Left-Wing Brainwash
“Thought reform” at American universities is real and terrifying.
The Populist Right Stumbles into Boilerplate Progressivism — Again
Republicans inclined toward voguish populism — many of whom have only recently soured on reforming America’s unsustainable entitlement programs, turned away from a foreign policy that checks Moscow’s violent expansionism, become disenchanted with free markets, and even questioned the political utility of pro-life policy prescriptions — are apt to cast a rueful aspersion on their conventionally conservative counterparts within the GOP: “You’ve changed.”
Al Jaffee and how Mad magazine created modern American humor
Al Jaffee has died. The cartoonist, best known for his work with the storied humor Mad magazine, died in Manhattan this month. He was 102 years old.
The Left is turning students into the Red Guards
Americans need to wake up to the fact that the Left–including the teachers’ unions and the activists they collaborate with–is turning America’s students into an American version of the Red Guards.
Real Life Effects of Equity
The current attempt to turn our society on its head by establishing equity as the standard for advancement instead of excellence has become quite apparent. The failures are right in front of us.
