News of the Week for August 25th, 2024
- Election 2024
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Election 2024
With false ‘coup’ claims, Trump primes supporters to challenge a Harris win
From the moment Vice President Kamala Harris emerged as the surprise Democratic presidential nominee, former president Donald Trump began arguing that she was anointed through a “coup” rather than chosen by primary voters. After barely mentioning election integrity at the Republican convention in July, Trump is now casting the upcoming election as “rigged” against him and baselessly labeling any hurdle in his path as election interference.
Deluded Trump asked his staff why an election is needed as he’s ‘leading in polls’
When attacking Kamala Harris during a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump seemed to suggest he doesn’t need an election to become president.
Trump’s Nickname Game Is Slipping
Quick: What are Donald Trump’s nicknames for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz?
Republicans worry Trump blowing their chances for Senate majority
Senate Republicans are worried former President Trump could be blowing their chances of winning back the majority as he flails in his response to Vice President Harris’s surge of momentum, according to GOP aides and strategists.
Trump Teases a Judges List. It’s Overdue
Donald Trump offered traditional conservative voters two big things in 2016: Mike Pence as vice president, and a judges list of jurists, academics, and politicians he’d consider appointing to the Supreme Court.
GOP Senate Candidates Continue to Poll Terribly
One week ago, I noted that of the seven states with Senate elections currently rated as toss-ups by RealClearPolitics, five of them had Republican candidates polling worse than Kari Lake, the proven loser in Arizona.
Donald Trump Hosting Jan. 6 Awards Gala Sparks Fury: ‘Absolutely Horrid’
A January 6 “awards gala” is due to be hosted at Donald Trump’s New Jersey golf resort, and the former president is listed as an “invited guest speaker,” along with former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Oh, Perfect. A ‘January 6 Awards Gala’ at Trump’s Golf Club in Bedminster
Come on. A “J6 Awards Gala” being held at Donald Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club on September 5 feels like a Tom Wolfe feature article from an alternate dimension.
Kemp and Trump
Yesterday, Donald Trump put out a statement thanking Georgia governor Brian Kemp for all his help. I quoted it and commented, “Trump backs down.” Some people say that’s a misread: Both sides have buried the hatchet. That’s the way Ed Morrissey sees it: “Kemp made the first move to repair the breech, which Trump also noted with Baier in his phone interview last night.” He’s referring to a Fox interview in which Kemp said, “We gotta win from the top of the ticket on down. We need to send Donald Trump back to the White House. We need to retake the Senate. We need to hold the House.”
Trump Is Behind Not Because the Press Is Hyping Kamala but Because He’s Unpopular
Let me stipulate for the record: The American press is an embarrassment. Journalists are being unfair in their coverage. CNN and Politico and the New York Times and the Associated Press and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt and NPR News are hyping Kamala Harris as the second coming and putting a thumb, two hands, and a 45-pound dumbbell on the scales in an attempt to prop her up.
The 1992 Democratic Platform Is More Conservative Than Donald Trump
For decades, it’s been a cliché among New Right intellectuals that elected Republicans were just “progressives driving the speed limit.” In a search to determine the accuracy of that characterization, I took a look back at the 1992 Democratic platform. I have compiled some of the sections that are more conservative than the policies Donald Trump is likely to effectuate should he return to the White House
Democratic convention energy, Harris hot streak making Republicans nervous
The energy emerging from the Democratic National Convention and Vice President Harris’s hot streak is making Republicans increasingly nervous.
Trump Calls for Increased Immigration: ‘We Need More People, Especially With A.I. Coming’
Former President Donald Trump on Thursday called for increased immigration, insisting “we need more people, especially with AI coming.”
Abortion
Dobbs Decision
Trump’s Abandonment of Pro-Lifers Is Complete
Over the course of the campaign, as he’s internalized the idea that opposition to abortion is a drag on Republicans, President Trump has been tempted to revisit his old pro-choice positions. Up until now, however, he has calibrated his statements in a way that could still be defensible from a pro-life perspective.
Gun Rights
Federal judge tosses Kansas machine gun possession case on Second Amendment grounds
A U.S. District Court judge in Kansas on Wednesday dismissed machine gun possession charges against a defendant, finding that prosecutors hadn’t proven the weapons can be banned under the Second Amendment.
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
Hunga Tonga Eruption Behind “Record” Warming
The spike in temperatures over the past year has been much in the news, with dozens if not hundreds of “record-breaking month/record-breaking year/record-breaking streak” stories making headlines in the mainstream media. While climate change has been blamed for the phenomenon, sound analysis, as opposed to uninformed speculation, has been lacking.
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
Boosters of Assisted Suicide Want It to Be Much More Common
Doctors killed more than 15,000 people in Canada in 2023. I think that’s a terrible toll that should concern even supporters of euthanasia. But in California, some assisted-suicide boosters are upset that a similar number of Californians didn’t end their own lives by assisted suicide. In other words, they see Canada’s gob-smacking statistic as aspirational.
War & Terror
Mexico to bring charges against capo, not for drugs, but for turning over another drug lord to US
The strange saga of how two Mexican drug lords were detained after landing in a plane in the United States in July just got stranger.
Chinese Coast Guard Rams Two Philippine Ships in the South China Sea
Early Monday morning, Chinese Coast Guard vessels rammed into two different ships belonging to the Philippines Coast Guard leaving huge holes in the ships. The incident happened near Sabina Shoal as the Philippines’ ships were on a resupply mission to Second Thomas Shoal.
New ‘Great Game’ Unfolds in Pacific as U.S., China Vie for Backing
Island nations scattered across the Pacific Ocean are at the center of an intensifying competition between China and the US for maritime routes, deep-water ports and other strategic assets in what the Lowy Institute calls a new “Great Game.”
Tanker Adrift After Multiple Attacks in Red Sea
A Greek-flagged tanker was adrift in the Red Sea on Wednesday after repeated attacks that started a fire on the vessel and caused the ship to lose power, the UK maritime agency said.
Navy Could Sideline 17 Support Ships Due to Manpower Issues
Military Sealift Command has drafted a plan to remove the crews from 17 Navy support ships due to a lack of qualified mariners to operate the vessels across the Navy, USNI News learned.
Biden Approves New Strategy Related to Nuclear Confrontations with Russia, China, and North Korea
The Chinese have responded to the news by accusing the US of creating the largest nuclear threat in the world.
Chinese Planners Push Creation of Post-Takeover ‘Shadow Government’ for Taiwan
Chinese researchers have proposed a “shadow government” with which the Chinese Communist Party would rule over Taiwan following the island’s potential annexation, the latest indication that Beijing would brutally take out its enemies in such a scenario.
Venezuela’s Maduro Intensifies Repression
The strongman is stripping away civil liberties after the opposition disputed his election victory
National
What Superfans Know That the Rest of Us Should Learn
The Taylor Swift and ‘Star Wars’ obsessives have unlocked a key to happiness
UCLA medical school hired students to write course curriculum emphasizing ‘Structural Racism and Health Equity’
The University of California, Los Angeles Medical School hired students to write the curriculum for the school’s required Structural Racism and Health Equity (SRHE) courses.
Colossal rogue object spotted shooting through space at 1million mph and Nasa scientists are baffled about what it is
The “new object”, dubbed CWISE J1249, has not yet been identified by experts, Nasa has revealed.
U. Illinois has 42 ‘illegal’ race, sex-based scholarships: federal complaint
‘The array of discriminatory scholarships collectively discriminates against almost everyone,’ legal scholar says
Parents baffled by high school principal Robert Nunes ‘giving mascot lap dance’ as opinion of ‘great influence’ sours
Some parents have come out in defense of the principal as the alleged theme of the rally has been shared
Attorney for far-right Oath Keepers extremist group pleads guilty to Capitol riot charges
An attorney who represented the far-right Oath Keepers pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges stemming from a mob’s Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, including members of the extremist group.
U of Tampa RA training includes scenario of student feeling ‘threatened’ by conservative roommate with MAGA flag
The University of Tampa’s Resident Advisor (R.A.) training featured a hypothetical scenario in which a student complained about feeling ‘unsafe’ because of a conservative roommate.
Ole Miss announces closure of DEI division
The University of Mississippi is closing its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion department, citing a trend of state governments prohibiting public funding for DEI initiatives.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln shuts down DEI office, eliminates $320k vice chancellor position
?The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has closed its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office and eliminated its vice chancellor position.
University of Kentucky shuts down DEI office amid concerns over its divisiveness
The school president acknowledged that the DEI office made some believe that the University of Kentucky may ‘appear partisan or political on the issues of our day and, as a result, narrowly interpret things solely through the lens of identity.’
Pittsburgh Med School Punishes a Professor Who Dissents on Diversity
One of the more common stories in higher education in recent years has involved leftist school administrators punishing or firing faculty members who annoy them by daring to disagree over the supposed benefits of DEI.
Voyager 2 and Neptune’s Rings
A lot of amazing science was done in my lifetime. Most people are not paying attention. Voyager 2 confirms Neptune’s rings on this date in 1989
Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Nonaggressive dogs, tactical vests, and the entire internet.
Your TV set has become a digital billboard. And it’s only getting worse.
TV software is getting loaded with ads, changing what it means to own a TV set.
Microsoft will try the data-scraping Windows Recall feature again in October
Initial Recall preview was lambasted for obvious privacy and security failures.
Northwestern offering ‘universal trans rights’ course this fall
‘Of particular interest will be the notion of universal trans rights, as recently articulated in UN Documents arguing that trans rights are human rights,’ the course description reads.
Fauci recovering after hospitalization for West Nile virus
Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is recovering at home after being hospitalized with West Nile virus, a spokesperson said.
Evolutionary biologists reject ‘white, male’ framework, embrace ‘queer’ DEI research
Recent conference illustrates growing trend to embed DEI, social justice into field
Economy & Taxes
U.S. Department of Labor: Oopsie, We Overcounted New Jobs Created by 818,000!
For the past few days, rumors and reports have indicated that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics was going to downwardly revise their assessment of the number of jobs created from April 2023 to March 2024 “by up to 1 million. This means that all ‘beats’ recorded in the past year will have been misses and the US job market is in far worse shape than the admin[istration] would admit.”
No Customers, No Success: The Postal Banking Failure Exposed
It has been three years since the postal banking pilot program made headlines in 2021, but it hasn’t had a single customer in at least two years. It is long past time to put this idea to rest.
Beijing restricts trading data as foreign investors flee Chinese stocks
Overseas flows into China’s equity market have turned negative for the year after $12bn exodus since start of June
Mexico City assembly OKs strongest rent control since the 1940s, limiting rises to inflation rate
The legislature of Mexico City approved the most ambitious rent control law since the 1940s Thursday, limiting rent increases to the rate of inflation in the previous year.
International
Venezuela could charge opposition leader Machado with murder, regime’s prosecutor says
Venezuelan leader María Corina Machado and other senior members of the opposition could soon face legal charges for the deaths that happened during the wave of violence over the past few weeks, the attorney general for the Nicolás Maduro regime, Tarek William Saab, said.
The Rape Capital of Europe
Where in Europe is a woman most likely to be raped? The answer probably will surprise you:
Signs and portents
The contradictions that undermine civil society seem to have reached a perilous stage in Great Britain. Censorship follows in its wake. Britain’s Spiked observes the phenomenon in this note: “The UK has become a posterboy for the perils of censorship. In the wake of the recent race riots, the British state has set about arresting and jailing not just the rioters, but also those who posted hateful memes or spread misinformation during the unrest.”
Sweden’s Migration Turn
Sweden has seen a massive increase in immigration in the 2000s under governments of both left and right, a product of (take your pick) generosity, naïvety, and a self-congratulatory sense of mission (the belief, which has manifested itself in different ways over the years, that Sweden was a moral or, more modestly, humanitarian superpower) supplemented, under center-right governments between 2006-14, by a sort of libertarianism.
Opinion
People Without Meaningful Lives Seek Power Over Others
One of my more memorable exchanges with a student came in a principles of economics class. Part of the assignment for that week was chapters from Matt Ridley’s The Rational Optimist. Ridley compared the living standards of an average worker today with those of The Sun King, Louis XIV, in 1700. Some of my more ahistorical students were incredulous at Ridley’s description of the grinding poverty of the average person just a few centuries ago.
How the UK’s Tory fracture may foretell a GOP break with Trump
Despite protestations to the contrary on both sides of the Atlantic, there have been several periods over the last half-century when British and American politics have seemed to align.
‘A Friendly Argument with David French’
On episode 67 of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast, I argued with David French about his column, “To Save Conservatism From Itself, I Am Voting for Harris.” I disagree strongly with this argument, and do not think that refusing to vote for Trump necessitates voting for his opponent. Among the questions I asked David are why he has changed his view of Harris since 2019, why she hasn’t reached the disqualification threshold, whether her support for abortion is a problem for him, and whether he thinks that she will win.
It’s a Failed Administration, Not a Failed Nation
Every challenger argues that the incumbent, or the party in power, has screwed things up and made things worse, and every incumbent or member of the party in power insists that things are, at minimum, improving and in some cases, outlandish hyperbole, such as “Joe Biden has given us the best economy ever,” as Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research claimed.)
The Perils of Isolationism
The World Still Needs America—and America Still Needs the World
I Hate Everyone
Election 2024 has no redeeming features whatsoever.
Republicans Better Get on the Ball
They haven’t made the case against Harris. The clock is ticking.
What Walz and Vance Get Wrong About Opportunity and Mobility
Walz is wrong to attack Vance for leaving home to go to Yale. Vance is wrong to support policies that would close off similar opportunities to others.
Trump’s Humiliation of Social Conservatives Is the Rational Response to Their Cowardice
Phil writes of Trump’s total abandonment of pro-lifers. This is but the latest step in Trump’s broader humiliation of social conservatives and New Right organizations, a phenomenon that both Kayla Bartsch and I have written about. Notes Phil: “The idea that his administration would be ‘great’ for ‘reproductive rights’ is hard to interpret in any other way than as an affirmatively pro-choice statement.”
Freedom and Opportunity Is a Good Message
The 2024 Democratic National Convention has come to an end. During her speech last night, VP Kamala Harris repeated a theme of her campaign: Democrats are the party of freedom and opportunity.
