News of the Week for July 28^th, 2024

• Election 2024
• Abortion
• Gun Rights
• Hide the Decline
• Obamacare
• War & Terror
• National News
• Economy & Taxes
• International News
• Opinion

Election 2024

 

In Private Speech, J.D. Vance Said the “Devil Is Real” and Praised Alex Jones as a Truth-Teller
Vance gave the speech to the secretive Teneo Network. The GOP vice presidential nominee has been a member of the Leonard Leo-backed group, which seeks to cultivate conservative influence in business and culture.

Kamala Campaign Sends Vetting Materials to Slew of VP Candidates — With One Notable Exception
Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign sent vetting materials to a slew of VP candidates on Monday, with one notable exception: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.

Stunning audio leak finds J.D. Vance ‘pushing for federal response to stop out-of-state abortions’
A purported audio leak from a past interview features Senator J.D. Vance suggesting that a “federal response” should be used to prevent women from crossing state lines to obtain abortions.

Trump Has Tucker Carlson to Blame for the Abject Disaster of Selecting JD Vance as His Running Mate
By any objective measure, JD Vance has had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week following former President Donald Trump’s selection of him as his running mate.

J.D. Vance Was a Mistake
Reports suggest that Donald Trump had settled on North Dakota Gov. Doug Bergum (R) as his running mate when his two sons, Don Jr. and Eric, “went bat shit crazy” and insisted he choose Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) instead.

JD Vance’s transgender classmate leaks trove of private emails and text messages with former ‘buddy’ – including GOP VP pick’s bombshell remarks about Trump
A former classmate of JD Vance has leaked a trove of emails and texts from the GOP Vice President pick – including remarks about Donald Trump in which he called the former president ‘a morally reprehensible human being.’

Michigan voters prefer pathway to citizenship over mass deportation, poll finds
Michigan voters are divided on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s plan to orchestrate the largest deportation effort in U.S. history, according to a new poll commissioned by The Detroit News and WDIV-TV (Channel 4).

 

Abortion

Dobbs Decision

 

Judge strikes down a North Carolina abortion restriction but upholds another
A federal judge ruled Friday that a provision in North Carolina’s abortion laws requiring doctors to document the location of a pregnancy before prescribing abortion pills should be blocked permanently, affirming that it was too vague to be enforced reasonably.

Gun Rights

 

Second Amendment Roundup: 8th Circuit Rules for 18 to 20-Year-Olds
Court relies on Rahimi in support of liberalized gun carry permits.

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &“Green Energy”

 

NYU law school project seeks to obtain rights for non-living entities: trees, rocks, and nature itself
‘The forest is alive, there are spirits in the forest, they are the real rulers of the forest’

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

Spanish Government Plans to Okay Euthanasia for Mental Illness
Once a society generally accepts killing as an acceptable answer to human suffering, the categories of “suffering” permitting termination continually expand. Latest example: Spain, where people with serious mental illnesses may soon be permitted to be put down.

War & Terror

 

China’s domestic turmoil risks escalating space tensions
After a year of high-level diplomacy, relations between China and the West are no longer in free fall. And yet China’s somewhat warmer outward posture belies it becoming a more closed society at home. President Xi Jinping’s predecessors anticipated China’s so-called great rejuvenation would be attained through economic growth. Xi, by contrast, believes that if China is to realize its ambitions as a global superpower, national security is paramount.

‘Sabotage’ hits French trains hours before Olympics
Arson attacks scrambled France’s high-speed rail network for tens of thousands of passengers on Friday, after what officials called premeditated acts of “sabotage” just hours before the Paris Olympics opened.

Finland Says Russian Ship Sailed Into Its Waters in Territorial Breach
Finland said a Russian ship is suspected of a territorial violation in the eastern Gulf of Finland, the latest in a string of border breaches by Moscow.

NATO Nation Preparing Mass Evacuation Plans for Russian Invasion
NATO member state Lithuania is drawing up plans for a mass evacuation of civilians in preparation for the possibility of a war breaking out, the country’s Interior Ministry said.

Russia’s business elites signal they are tired of propping up the wartime economy
Some of Russia’s business elites appear to be getting impatient with the country’s wartime economy.

U.S. Launches Military Command in Tokyo to Counter China
American forces in Japan to be overseen from a headquarters there as Washington tries to strengthen allies in Asia

 

National

 

UCLA admits it put up barriers to ‘reinforce’ anti-Israel camp, legal group claims
The school admitted that it ‘set up barricades reinforcing’ the anti-Israel encampment on campus, according to a legal group.

Scientist grows male genitals in lab – and there are fears it could make blokes obsolete
“Male fertility is in crisis, and unless we do something about it the human race is going to be in a total mess,” one expert has warned following the news of the creation

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle Resigns After Trump Assassination Attempt
Bye bye.

Challenging new Title IX rules, legal group says women in STEM award discriminates against real men
The Equal Protection Project filed a civil rights complaint against the Rochester Institute of Technology, alleging that the eligibility criteria of an award for women in STEM discriminates against biological males who identify as male.

Scientists find ‘dark oxygen’ being produced from metals on the seafloor
Organisms normally need light to produce oxygen through a process known as photosynthesis.

Silicon Valley Billionaires Scrap Plan for Utopia City Ballot Initiative after Damning Report
It turns out that Utopia is expensive.

‘Untouchable’: NV state workers have few ways to hold managers accountable for misconduct
More than 30 state government employees said they do not trust that powerful leaders can be held accountable through the state’s processes.

Kids’ Online Safety, Privacy Legislation Advances in Senate
The Senate took its first major step to regulate the technology industry in more than two decades, advancing bipartisan legislation that intends to improve safety and privacy protections for children on social media platforms.

Google’s Exclusive Reddit Access
DuckDuckGo, Bing, Mojeek, and other search engines are not returning full Reddit results any more.

Dogs can smell your stress and are influenced by it
Dogs can sniff out whether a human is stressed or relaxed, new research suggests, and that sensory feedback appears to influence canine emotions and choices.

STEM-ing the Tide of Scientific and Mathematical Illiteracy in the Law
Attorneys need to understand how numbers work. It’s time we teach them.

STEM-ing the Tide of Scientific and Mathematical Illiteracy in the Law
Attorneys need to understand how numbers work. It’s time we teach them.

Dogs can smell your stress and are influenced by it
Dogs can sniff out whether a human is stressed or relaxed, new research suggests, and that sensory feedback appears to influence canine emotions and choices.

Federal Court Says Warrant Required for Device Searches at the Border
Cites concerns about chilling effects of warrantless searches on free speech & press freedom

Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Venue roulette, a sham affidavit, and uninspected bloomin’ onions.

House Republicans continue to flail, further endangering their majority
In his bid to claim the House speaker’s gavel and end three weeks of chaos last fall, Rep. Mike Johnson mapped out an ambitious agenda.

 

Economy & Taxes

 

America’s Smallest Apartments Are Getting Even Smaller
In studio units with 10% less space than a decade ago, tenants and developers have to get creative

2 in 5 Americans feel like they’re stuck living where they are
Soaring housing prices are causing Americans to rethink their “dream home” and “dream workspace,” where luxury is out and practicality is in.

Unconditional Cash and Its Effect on Employment
What’s the impact on employment of giving a large amount of cash to people unconditionally? A new study by Eva Vivalt, Elizabeth Rhodes, Alexander W. Bartik, David E. Broockman, and Sarah Miller looks at this question.

The Harm the Economic Populists Do
It appears to be the case that economic populism now dominates both of our major parties. In his latest Bastiat’s Window post, Bob Graboyes decries this development.

No, We Don’t Need ‘Balanced Trade’ with Other Nations
One of the many catchphrases that people who seek to use government power employ is that we need to have “balanced trade” with other nations. Supposedly, danger lurks if the United States has a “trade deficit.” Invariably, the protectionists point to China to make their case.

En Banc Fifth Circuit Concludes FCC’s “Universal Service” Fee Is Unconstitutional
A majority of the judges concludes this fee constitutes a tax, the authority for which is improperly delegated.

SEC Finalizing a ‘Big Brother’ Database to Track Americans’ Stock Trades in Real Time
The Securities and Exchange Commission is close to completing a project creating a database of all Americans’ stock and equity transactions and portfolios in order to track investments in real time. Known as the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT), the database poses significant constitutional and practical problems, those familiar with its workings tell National Review.

Uber and Lyft Win California Ruling to Treat Drivers as Contractors
State Supreme Court decision preserves gig-economy business model

America Is Running Out of Generic Drugmakers. Another One Is on the Brink.
A quixotic investor revived this antibiotic maker and helped ease a drug shortage, but now needs a way to make money

Taiwan’s largest bank intends to open Lithuanian branch
Click “I accept and go to the website” to consent to the use of automatic tracking and data collection technology, access to information on your end device and its storage, and to the processing of your personal data by Telewizja Polska S.A. w likwidacji , Trusted Partners from IAB* (887 company) and other Trusted TVP Partners (88 company), for marketing purposes (including for automated matching of advertisements to your interests and measuring their effectiveness) and others, which we indicate below.

Michigan worker groups strip union bosses of collection powers, sue others
Nearly six months after the Michigan Legislature repealed Right to Work laws, more groups of workers are taking action against what they say are coercive measures of some unions to collect fees.

The Problem of the Tariff in American Economic History, 1787–1934
This essay investigates the historical development of tariff policy between the Founding era and the end of World War II.

Kamala Harris’s Tax Plan Is a Testament to the GOP’s Success
The implications of this ought not to be ignored. As my colleague Dominic Pino likes to observe, the Democrats’ insistence that nobody who makes under $400,000 should pay more in taxes than they currently do means that we have one party that opposes tax increases on 100 percent of Americans and another party that opposes tax increases on 98.2 percent of Americans. Moreover, in the case of the Democrats, that number is going up rather than down. In 2016, the party defined “middle-class” as anyone who made less than $250,000 per year. Now, its number is $400,000. And when it does attack Republicans on taxes, it tends to do so from the right.

The Real Reason Vance’s Child-Tax Comments Are Bad
ABC News reported today on comments J. D. Vance made on the Charlie Kirk Show podcast in 2021 in which he said people who don’t have children should pay a higher tax rate than people who do have children. Left-wing activist groups such as American Bridge have clipped the comments and shot them around social media

The ‘Pro-Worker’ GOP Is Anti-Worker
The New Right talks a big populist game, but their policies hurt the people they’re supposed to help.

New Study Exposes the Problem with Unconditional Aid
Giving people unconditional aid causes them to work less. That’s the conclusion of a new study that’s breeding increased skepticism of policies that rely on unrestricted cash transfers to reduce poverty. In a carefully conducted randomized controlled trial involving 3,000 participants, the authors find that giving low-income families $12,000 annually reduced the share who work by two percentage points.

Rural Towns Are Aging, Cash-Strapped and in Desperate Need of Workers
With younger labor in short supply, aging workers often find themselves pulling double—or triple—duty to keep towns afloat

 

International

 

Scientists Discover Cocaine Sharks in Brazil
Forget cocaine bear!

Transfemicide becomes a crime in a ‘watershed’ moment for Mexico City
Galvanized by the 2016 murder of trans sex worker Paola Buenrostro, activists applaud law as critical for feeling safe

Adults have stopped reading – no one cares and I hate it
Two wise people had similar messages when it comes to the subject of kids. “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven,” said one. “I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way,” said the other. The first was Jesus, the second, Whitney Houston. Ten points to Gryffindor if you correctly guessed both.

No Increase in Suicides among Gender-Confused Youth since Puberty Blockers Blocked in U.K.
The ideologues never quit. After the U.K. closed its major gender-transitioning clinic for youth as “not safe for children” — and later blocked the prescribing of puberty blockers — ideologues spread the rumor on social media that suicides among gender-confused youth had increased dramatically.

New Type of Fungal Infection Claims Two Lives in China
“Experts” endeavor to tie the highly mutating fungus to “global warming”…ignoring the comprised immune system of the victims.

Sperm donor wins custody of boy over his birth mother and her lesbian partner in landmark court case
Birth mother, who used donor eggs, loses custody. Her lesbian ex-partner won shared parental rights with donor

 

Opinion

 

Do We Need a Federal Department of Education?
We got by just fine without one until Jimmy Carter paid back the teachers unions for their support by creating the U.S. Department of Education in 1979. Since then, it has done nothing to improve education. Its numerous diktats have actually made things worse in schools and colleges. Ronald Reagan talked about abolishing it, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.

Diversity-Statement Bans Don’t Go Far Enough
Reformers should keep up the pressure to ensure anti-DEI compliance on campus.

Kamala Harris Could Actually Win
She’s a tragically flawed candidate, but so is Trump, who doesn’t have the media cheering for him from here to November.

The Rule of Law vs. the Rule of Lawyers
Three principles guide the first

J. D. Vance’s Insult to America
My dad came here for a reason, and it wasn’t the dirt of a graveyard.

Potemkin Populism
Populists said the 2022 midterms would prove they were the future of the conservative movement. Rebuffed by voters, politicos who pinned their careers on grandiose, grievance-driven central planning are left manning storefronts in a populist Potemkin village.

Republicans Shouldn’t Write Off Women — Childless, Unmarried, or Otherwise
The Kamala Harris campaign recently circulated an old clip of J. D. Vance on Tucker Carlson’s Fox show in which Vance discusses a speech he gave on family policy and the American Dream. In the 30-second Fox clip, Vance suggested that progressivism is a selfish ideology that forsakes posterity for the whims of those living in the present. He observed that some of its most prominent proponents tend to be childless.

Red Shift
A recent book suggests that local economic and cultural developments have shaped the rightward evolution of rural and small-town communities.