News of the Week for December 30th, 2023
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Abortion
Dobbs Decision
Abortion debate creates ‘new era’ for state supreme court races in 2024, with big spending expected
The 2024 elections will be dominated by the presidential contest and the battle for control of Congress, but another series of races is shaping up to be just as consequential. Crucial battles over abortion, gerrymandering, voting rights and other issues will take center stage in next year’s elections for state supreme court seats — 80 of them in 33 states.
Gun Rights
‘Repugnant’: Federal Judge Halts California’s Near-Universal ‘Sensitive Places’ Carry Ban
A rare moment of good constitutional-law news comes to us, from all places, California.
Gibbon, Guns and Government
In the course of writing Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon encountered Mohammed, who pursued the Jews with “implacable hatred” to the end of his life. The historian also called out Theodoric the Great, the Ostrogoth king who invaded Italy in 488 AD and “condescended to disarm the unwarlike natives of Italy, interdicting all weapons of offence, and excepting only a small knife for domestic use.” Call it an early display of the totalitarian mindset.
Gaston Glock, the man behind the gun, dies aged 94
The Austrian won loyal followings among police and military across the world with the weapons that bore his name. Forbes estimated his and his family’s fortune at $1.1 billion in 2021.
Activists: Honolulu Has Cut Off Gun Sales
Gun sales have been blocked for much of December in Hawaii’s largest city. That’s what the Hawaii Firearms Coalition, a local gun-rights group, claimed in a statement on Wednesday. It said the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) has advised gun purchase or carry permit applicants they won’t process them without a currently-unattainable training certification. And it’s unclear when those permits might become available again.
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
Green Train, But No Green Money
Even ESG investors aren’t stupid enough to put money in High Speed Rail
Ottawa expected to release promised EV sales regulations Tuesday
Sales targets meant to ensure automakers ramp up EV production to keep up with demand, says source
Half of U.S. Buick Dealers Take Buyouts Rather Than Sell EV‘s
Smart businesses don’t sell things customers aren’t buying.
NYT Pushes “Groundwater Crisis” to Attack America’s Poultry and Dairy Industries
It appears 2024 may be the year of the manufactured “Water Crisis”.
Sonja Semyonova, 45, claims she is in an ‘erotic’ relationship with an OAK TREE – after feeling a ‘connection’ while lying on top of it during lonely Covid walks
Sonja has always felt lonely but says her new relationship with the tree has filled a void
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
Cuba Legalizes Euthanasia
We have seen how bad euthanasia can get when a (continually less) free country like Canada legalizes medicalized killing. But now a tyranny — Cuba — has joined the Let Doctors Kill Sick Patients Club.
Death by Doctor May Soon Be Available for the Mentally Ill in Canada
Canada already has one of the most liberal assisted death laws in the world, offering the practice to terminally and chronically ill Canadians.
War & Terror
Germany Will Deploy Troops for First Time Since World War II
A new agreement between Germany and Lithuania will lead to German troops’ first permanent foreign deployment since World War II.
Are We Finally Going to Hit the Houthis?
Earlier this month, I asked what seemed to be a fairly obvious question. Why aren’t we attacking the Houthis in Yemen? It’s not as if they haven’t given us more than valid reasons to do so. Their attacks have become so frequent that a lot of commercial shipping is being rerouted away from the Red Sea. They’ve also regularly launched strikes at American military vessels, though we have thankfully been able to deter them. Now, after weeks and months of stalling, the Biden administration is reportedly talking about possibly doing something about it. There are clearly plenty of options on the table. The question is whether or not Joe Biden has the spine to take some significant action that would deliver a firm message to the terrorists.
U.S. intelligence finds Cuba tried to influence Florida races during 2022 elections
The Cuban government conducted influence operations in the United States “aimed at denigrating specific U.S. candidates in Florida” during the 2022 midterm elections, the U.S. intelligence community said in a report published Monday evening.
Russia summons Finland ambassador over US border accord
Russia has summoned the Finnish ambassador in Moscow, after Finland signed a new agreement on military co-operation with the US.
The US has released an ally of Venezuela’s president in a swap for jailed Americans, the AP learns
The Biden administration has released a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a swap for jailed Americans, The Associated Press has learned.
Iran threatens to close Mediterranean Sea citing US ‘crimes’ in Gaza
Iran threatened Saturday that the Mediterranean Sea could be “closed” if the U.S. and Israel continued “crimes” in Gaza, state media reported, according to Reuters.
Ukraine strikes Russian naval landing warship, Moscow admits damage
Ukraine struck a large Russian landing warship in Crimea with cruise missiles in an overnight attack that killed at least one person and could hinder any Russian attempt to seize more Ukrainian territory along the Black Sea coast.
Sweden moves a step closer to NATO membership after Turkey’s parliamentary committee gives approval
The Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee gave its consent to Sweden’s bid to join NATO on Tuesday, drawing the previously nonaligned Nordic country closer to membership in the Western military alliance.
Russia threatens to take US military bases in NATO territory as chilling warning issued
A prominent Russian broadcaster said ‘American occupation troops should be withdrawn from Europe’ during a furious rant live on state television.
U.S. Military Launches “Operation Prosperity Guardian” to Protect Shipping in the Red Sea, with Mixed Results
Several nations refuse to sign up for U.S.-led maritime operation, but merchant shipping may be restarting in the Red Sea
An AK Christmas to Remember
Christmas celebrations are in full swing but worth remembering that it wasn’t that way in the Communist dictatorships of Eastern Europe. Romania’s Nicolae Ceaucescu, for example, banned the holiday and bulldozed churches in Bucharest. Nicolae and wife Elena lived like royalty as the people lined up for the barest necessities. Midnight arrests, torture and assassination were common, and by the late 1980s the people weren’t going to take it anymore.
The Marines Transformed to Take On China. Will They Be Ready for Everything Else?
A plan to redesign the Corps stirred warnings that it might have gone too far
Footage shows Russian soldiers ‘executing kneeling Ukrainian troops’
Newly released footage has shown the moment three kneeling and surrendering Ukrainian paratroopers were shot dead by Russian forces.
Report: Chinese Spy Balloon Used U.S. Internet Provider
“Officials familiar with the assessment said it found that the connection allowed the balloon to send burst transmissions, or high-bandwidth collections of data over short periods of time.”
National
Florida Republican leaders vote to strip authority from party chairman accused of rape
Party leaders hope to formally oust him during a second emergency meeting next month.
Presbyterian college cancels ‘BDSM 101’ event led by pro-LGBT chaplain
On Nov. 10, Rhodes College canceled a ‘BDSM 101’ workshop event that its chaplain planned for students to attend on campus the following Wednesday.
Pope approves blessings for same-sex couples if they don’t resemble marriage
Pope Francis has formally approved allowing priests to bless same-sex couples, with a new document explaining a radical change in Vatican policy by insisting that people seeking God’s love and mercy shouldn’t be subject to “an exhaustive moral analysis” to receive it.
The Indoctrination of Kids Has Worked
If you still need evidence that the kids are not all right, the latest Harvard-Harris poll should finally convince you.
Two-Thirds of Americans 18-24 Believe That Jews Are Oppressors
A Harvard/Harris poll conducted on December 13 and 14 found that 67 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 believe that “Jews as a class are oppressors.” While the question posed isn’t worded as well as one would hope for a survey — “Do you think that Jews as a class are oppressors and should be treated as oppressors or is that a false ideology?” should probably be a true/false query instead of the oppressor/false ideology construction — the other age groups appear to have the moral clarity and reading comprehension to understand what’s being asked of them. With ages 18–24 (Gen Z) being a full 23 points more Jew-distrustful than their next closest group, 25–34 (Millennials), one has to wonder how the youngest respondents came to their answers.
Exclusive: Crenshaw to Introduce Bill Stripping Federal Funding from Universities That Require DEI Statements
Representative Dan Crenshaw (R., Texas) will introduce legislation Monday to prohibit institutions of higher education from requiring students to write or endorse diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) statements
Nevada GOP ‘fake electors’ plead not guilty to felony charges in Las Vegas
The six Republicans now await a March 4 trial date for forgery charges that carry multiyear prison sentences.
Harvard/Harris Poll: Huge Majorities of 18-to-24-Year-Olds Believe Jews, Whites “Are Oppressors”
The survey was of 2,034 registered voters
Gen Z Now Plagued by ‘Menu Anxiety’
There is a semi-old joke about Gen Z. It essentially goes like this: If you want to completely disorient a member of Gen Z, simply tell that person to meet you in a certain place at 3:00 PM. Then, leave them alone in a room with an analog clock and the directions written in cursive. While it is true that this particular generation snarls with more alacrity than any prior demographic, it may be that all of the chanting and screaming, threats, and finger snaps are more bluster than we originally thought. As with most wild animals, the saying “they are more afraid of you than you are of them” may apply. As it turns out, Gen Z may be more afraid of everything. This includes things like menus.
Dark Genome Discovery: Researchers Reveal “Ancient Genetic Parasite” Implicated in Human Diseases
Understanding the mechanism of LINE-1 is key to developing potential new treatments for cancer, autoimmune disorders, neurodegeneration, and even aging.
Legendary LA radio personality Jim Ladd dies at 75
The news of Ladd’s death came as his colleagues from SirusXM Deep Tracks channel announced on the air that the longtime radio personality had suffered a heart attack over the weekend.
Trump campaign says it will “swiftly file an appeal” to the US Supreme Court following Colorado ruling
The Trump campaign said it would “swiftly file an appeal” following the Colorado Supreme Court decision.
The New Ebonics Movement and the Elimination of Whiteness
Mainstreaming mediocrity and demonizing excellence.
Teacher Fired For Refusing to Use Male Pronouns For Female Student Can Sue School, VA High Court Rules
VA Supreme Court: No appellate court, federal or state, has ever held, in the school context, that referring to a transgender student by preferred name and avoiding the use of any third-person pronouns to refer to the student is harassment under Title IX.
Harvard appears to delete then republish two DEI-related web pages
Two seemingly deleted Harvard University pages on heritage months and pronouns have been added back to the school’s Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging website.
Trump recorded pressuring Wayne County canvassers not to certify 2020 vote
Then-President Donald Trump personally pressured two Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers not to sign the certification of the 2020 presidential election, according to recordings reviewed by The Detroit News and revealed publicly for the first time.
AI transistor works just like the human brain
Scientists have made a significant leap in the field of artificial intelligence. Researchers from Northwestern University, Boston College, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a new synaptic transistor that works just like the human brain. This advanced device, capable of both processing and storing information simultaneously, marks a notable shift from traditional machine-learning tasks to performing associative learning — similar to higher-level human cognition.
‘TRANSforming Gender’ conference coming to CU Boulder
The Center for Inclusion and Social Change will host a conference titled ‘TRANSforming Gender’ in March 2024, the theme for which is ‘Breaking Chains, Forging Community.’
Saying ‘Gender Is Binary and Cannot Be Changed’ Got an Award-Winning California Teacher Fired. He’s Fighting Back.
A gay fifth grade teacher in Glendale, California, is suing the Glendale Unified School District after he was suspended then fired for condemning transgender ideology at a school board meeting in April.
University of Utah threatens YAF group for not following unenforced rules
School says YAF should have followed rules the day before they were in effect
Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Two-faced federal prosecutors, a state prosecutor who needs to chill on Netflix, and an iconic naked baby.
Cornell Holiday DEI Poem
Cornell Alum: “Hanukkah, Christmas should be times of good cheer. But up north in Ithaca, the climate is fear. The DEI dogma now reigns at Cornell.”
Michigan Supreme Court rejects ‘insurrectionist ban’ case and keeps Trump on 2024 primary ballot
The Michigan Supreme Court has rejected an attempt to remove former President Donald Trump from the 2024 primary ballot based on the US Constitution’s “insurrectionist ban.”
Boebert rolls the dice: Controversial congresswoman SWITCHES election run from Colorado’s 3rd District to the Republican stronghold 4th – amid fierce fight with her Democratic rival
Conservative firebrand Lauren Boebert has announced she will switch congressional districts for the 2024 election, after scraping to re-election in 2022 by only 546 votes.
Pressure Mounts on the Supreme Court to Rule on Trump Ballot Eligibility
The decision of the Colorado Supreme Court disqualifying Donald Trump from the primary ballot has been followed by the Maine secretary of state doing the same following an administrative hearing. This deepens the divisions among the states: for now, at least, the California secretary of state and the Michigan Supreme Court have joined the Minnesota Supreme Court in declining to remove Trump from the ballot. Notably, however, both the Minnesota and Michigan courts ruled under state law that the issue was premature in advance of a primary, so both kept their options open to let Republicans nominate Trump and then disqualify him later, effectively handing Joe Biden the presidency. None of the final state rulings has yet come to a conclusion that directly conflicts with those of Colorado and Maine in interpreting federal law.
Maine’s top election official rules Trump ineligible for 2024 primary ballot
The decision by Maine’s Democratic secretary of state is likely to fuel similar efforts in other states after Colorado’s top court disqualified Trump from its ballot.
Ohio Gov. DeWine Vetoes Bill Banning Child Mutilation, Males From Competing in Female Sports
Riley Gaines:”“@GovMikeDeWine is a spineless coward that needs to be removed from office.”
Economy & Taxes
Japanese company to buy US Steel, valuing the famed American manufacturing company at roughly $15B
Famous American businessmen including JP Morgan, Charles Schwab and Andrew Carnegie formed the company back in 1901
Don’t Forget the ‘Too Few Goods’ Part of Inflation
One of the things I am most mystified by is why people shrug off the “supply chain” causation of 2022 inflation, when the data have been so massively reinforcing of that thesis. I can sympathize with the camp that doesn’t want a monocausal explanation (I am among those), but even for those with an alternative axe to grind — “Biden did it by passing Trump’s spending request” or “the Fed finally did it via monetary easing that failed to do it the prior 15 years” — one would think charts like this would, you know, at least factor in
Argentina’s Milei orders major deregulation of economy
Argentina’s new leader Javier Milei unveiled Wednesday a series of measures to deregulate the country’s struggling economy, eliminating or changing more than 300 rules via presidential decree, including on rent and labor practices.
Mickey Mouse, Long a Symbol in Copyright Wars, to Enter Public Domain: ‘It’s Finally Happening’
In 1971, he launched a countercultural attack on Mickey Mouse. In his underground comic book, “Air Pirates Funnies,” the lovable mouse was seen smuggling drugs and performing oral sex on Minnie.
International
Relatives find gravestones laid flat by council
Newcastle city council says the headstones posed a safety risk, but relatives say they only found out when visiting with flowers
Ontario School Board Replaces Reference to ‘Parents’ to Be ‘More Inclusive’
An Ontario School board is changing the word “parent” to family or caregiver in its policy documents to be “more inclusive,” and said they were working on an updated list of lexicon for the board.
How China Is Rewriting the History of Hong Kong’s Democracy Protests
Back in August 2020, shortly after China had pushed through a new security law in Hong Kong, 200 police officers were sent to the offices of Apple Daily, a pro-democracy newspaper run by Jimmy Lai. Lai himself was arrested at home but was brought into the office and paraded around in handcuffs. The police also arrested other high ranking staff at the newspaper and seized papers and laptops.
Rahim Mohamed: Whoops! ‘Sankofa Square’ comes with a slave trade connection of its own
Toronto fumbles attempt to cancel abolitionist Henry Dundas
Life-size nativity figures beheaded in the migrant stronghold of Rüsselsheim, Germany
Attack on the life-size nativity scene in the city of the Opel car. On Sunday night, all the nativity figures were decapitated: Joseph, Mary, the Three Wise Men and even the donkey.
Lost Civilization Discovered Off Coast of Australia
Alost civilization more than 1.6 times the size of the United Kingdom has been discovered off the coast of Australia, according to a new study from the journal Quaternary Science Reviews.
Many prehistoric handprints show a finger missing. What if this was not accidental?
Canadian scientists say evidence from cave art all over the world shows digits may have been ritually removed to appease deities or aid social cohesion
Four Alberta churches burned in the weeks before Christmas
There have been 15 suspicious church fires so far in 2023 and police have arrested suspects in five of them
WHO quietly announces controversial gender guidance
A few days before Christmas, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that it would be developing guidelines on “the health of trans and gender diverse people”, with a focus on access to hormones and surgeries (what it calls “gender-inclusive care”) and legal recognition of gender self-identification.
Opinion
The U.S. Must Secure Red Sea Trade Routes
Noah’s piece today about how the U.S. must restore deterrence against Iran is spot-on. He notes that Iran and its proxies have carried out nearly 100 attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria since Hamas attacked Israel, and the Houthi movement in Yemen, which is Iran-backed, has been attacking commercial ships with missiles and drones.
Colorado Supreme Court Rules Trump is Ineligible for the Presidency Under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment
The Colorado court got this issue right. The case is now likely headed to the US Supreme Court.
What Do Falling College-Readiness Scores Mean?
American K–12 schooling is getting steadily worse. Yes, grades look splendid, but that’s because of grade inflation. Teachers like to give all their students good grades to avoid trouble with parents and administrators. Many students coast through to their high-school diplomas without learning much.
Ballot Disqualification and the Worst Sort of MAGA Anti-Strategy
Perhaps predictably, the Colorado supreme court decision throwing Donald Trump off the ballot on the theory that he engaged in an insurrection has led to three different sets of responses on the right. Some of us have criticized the decision’s legal reasoning, and/or worried aloud (as Ron DeSantis did) about where this reasoning could lead. Some have more bluntly attacked the decision as undemocratic and part of a larger pattern of lawfare against Trump. But then there are people — including some elected Republicans such as Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick and prominent commentators such as Sean Davis of the Federalist — who argue that red-state Republicans should retaliate by ginning up excuses to throw Joe Biden off state ballots in retaliation.
The Vegas train is crony capitalism
And now, a story that’s sure to become a holiday classic, “Christmas in Crony Capitalism.”
A Child’s Christmas in Space
It’s quiet in the cold of our little orbit around the sun, starless and bible black. But if you’ve got the time to indulge in a bit of holiday sentimentality, then I would like to share the happiest Christmas memory of my childhood with you, an experience that shaped the young adult and the man I would become as much as any book or teacher ever would. I was accidentally given an inestimable gift – one which unwittingly dared me to grow intellectually and culturally so that I could be properly worthy of it, and which has since comforted me through endless long subsequent years of disappointment, heartache, personal growth, and triumph. And there’s no better time to write about it than during a season of joy. So if you will graciously permit me, on this Christmas Eve 2023 I’d like to take you back to the “not-too-distant future.”
This Is CLEARLY Voting Fraud, Right?
Hearken back, dear readers, to March 4, 2021. That was the day Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald showed up on the doorsteps of the Nevada Secretary of State and dropped off four boxes of what, as reported by Sam Metz of the Associated Press, McDonald “described as 120,000 ‘election integrity violation reports’ that allege widespread voter fraud during the 2020 election.”
Tocqueville on How Self-Government Dies, Part One: The Fall of the July Monarchy
Alexis de Tocqueville warned France in 1848 that ‘the spirit of the government’ was ‘driving you into the abyss.’
Tocqueville on How Self-Government Dies, Part Two: The Failure of the French Socialists
Alexis de Tocqueville observes how the revolutionary socialists of 1848 failed in France because they alienated the people.
Tocqueville on How Self-Government Dies, Part Three: The Flawed Making of the French Second Republic
Alexis de Tocqueville tried to make an American-style constitution work in France. The character of its first president killed it.
Tocqueville on How Self-Government Dies, Part Four: Unmaking the Republic
Alexis de Tocqueville tried to save the French Second Republic by working with a rogue president the restraints of law could not hold.
“To Carthage Then I Came”
Advice for the classical high schooler turned undergrad.
Education isn’t the priority in public schools. Competing agendas are
Education isn’t the societal, or even political, force it’s cracked up to be, and anyone who says differently is selling something. American education is instead captive to ever-mushrooming political, educational and societal agendas.
Dissolve the Universities?
The superstitio in our universities may lead those institutions to the same fate as the monasteries under Henry VIII.
This is What Decolonisation Looks Like
“This is what decolonisation looks like!” yelled a gleeful online activist the day after the October 7th Hamas massacre of 1,200 Israelis. He was not alone and he was right: horror and suffering very often are what ‘decolonisation’ looks like. The decolonisation and subsequent partition of India in 1947, for example, led to excess mortality of around one million says the occasionally reliable Wikipedia. Other sources put the number much higher. The African Gold Coast’s (Ghana’s) independence from Britain in 1949 produced a riot and various shortages, a decline but less costly than India’s. Independence in S. Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), at that time the second most prosperous nation in sub-Saharan Africa, soon led to the one-party rule of Robert Mugabe and a descent into hyperinflation, poverty and starvation. The effects of decolonisation were severe.
A Wise Man from Mississippi Reflects on 2024
Last week, I reported on the RNC’s dismal fundraising through November (less than $10 million on hand compared with the DNC’s roughly $20 million).
How and Why Are American Minds Being Canceled?
A new book by Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott provides a compelling answer.
