News of the Week for June 8th, 2025
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Socialized Medicine
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Abortion
Court Cases & Legislation
Pennsylvania senators push for abortion shield law to create haven from states with bans
A pair of Pennsylvania lawmakers are looking to pass a so-called shield law that would offer legal protections for out-of-state women seeking abortions in the commonwealth and for the doctors who perform the procedure.
Gun Rights
Supreme Court Shoots Down Anti-Gun Lawfare by Mexico’s Government
The second big, unanimous victory at the Supreme Court this morning came in Smith & Wesson Brands v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, a ridiculously overreaching effort by the Mexican government to impose its own vision of gun control within the United States by means of a lawsuit.
US Supreme Court rebuffs challenge to Washington, DC’s high-capacity gun magazine ban
The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Friday to hear a challenge to the legality of a restriction imposed by Washington, D.C., on large-capacity ammunition magazines in a case that gives the justices a chance to further expand gun rights.
Second Amendment Roundup: Cert denied in rifle and magazine ban cases.
Justice Kavanaugh: “this Court should and presumably will address the AR–15 issue soon.”
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
‘Climate Homicide’ Is a New Front for Ridiculous Lawfare
There is a huge difference between a society under the rule of law and a society under the rule of lawyers. The rule of law treats law as a product of legitimate, deliberate democratic acts, which remains stable, predictable, written down for all to know until changed by another such act of the people. As George Washington described in his farewell address, “The Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all.” The rule of lawyers, by contrast, sees law as an invitation for creativity by a small coterie of legal elites who can make it the vanguard for social change without consulting the governed.
Rare Earths: Car Crash
If you are going to pick a fight, be sure you are ready to do so. The administration’s objective of reducing this country’s unhealthy dependence on China is worthwhile and increasingly urgent. Nevertheless, so deep are the trade relationships between the U.S. and China (something that should never have happened, but that is another topic) that disengagement was always going to take a scalpel, not a chain saw. That’s not the way that things have been going lately.
Socialized Medicine
Government in Healthcare
Trump administration ending multiple HIV vaccine studies, scientists and officials say
The Trump administration has moved to end funding for a broad swath of HIV vaccine research, saying current approaches are enough to counter the virus, multiple scientists and federal health officials say.
Kennedy has tasted power. Suddenly ‘freedom’ seems less important.
The “MAHA” movement sought to protect “medical freedom,” but its approach is far from libertarian.
The Callous Cruelty of Canadian Euthanasia Illustrated
The New York Times Magazine has a very long article out today highlighting cases of nonterminally ill people being killed by doctors in Canada. It is too long to comment on the whole thing. (Please take the time to read it.) But one story described was so starkly abandoning, I have to bring it to your attention.
‘Broken’ Euthanasia Activist Dead by Suicide
Euthanasia activist Florian Willet committed suicide last month in Germany after he was arrested late last year for facilitating the Sarco suicide-pod-induced death of a 64-year-old American woman.
War & Terror
NATO Is Pushing for Fivefold Boost to Ground-Based Air Defenses
NATO is asking European member states to expand ground-based air-defense capabilities fivefold as the alliance races to fill a key gap in response to the threat of Russian aggression, people familiar with the matter said.
Ukraine carries out underwater strike using 1,100kg of TNT on Crimea’s Kerch Bridge
The country’s secret service, the SBU, say they blasted the underwater pillars of the Crimean Bridge overnight after a months-long operation. Video shows a detonation erupting underneath the bridge after 1,100kg worth of explosive devices had been covertly planted by SBU agents.
Britain to build a dozen nuclear submarines as forces arm for war
Sir Keir Starmer will also announce £15 billion for the UK’s nuclear warhead programme as a major defence review calls for a shift to warfighting readiness
Trump official who shut down Russia propaganda unit has links to Kremlin
Darren Beattie, who alarmed the State Department with his pro-Moscow views, is married to a woman whose uncle has ties to Putin
Aiming to Change Putin’s Calculus, Ukraine Exposes Russia’s Vulnerability
Kyiv’s attack on the country’s bomber fleet appeared designed to show Russia’s leader that continuing the war carries big risks for Moscow.
Chinese scholar at UM tried to smuggle biological pathogen into the U.S., feds say
Federal agents have arrested a University of Michigan scholar from China on charges she tried to smuggle a biological pathogen into the United States characterized as a potential agricultural terrorism weapon that can be used for targeting food crops.
Gunfire and gold: How Venezuela is using criminal gangs in border conflict with Guyana
The ambush, launched on May 13 from the Venezuelan side of the border, was the first of three coordinated attacks over a 24-hour period. Guyanese troops returned fire and withdrew without casualties. But the rapid succession of assaults has fueled mounting fears that the regime of Nicolás Maduro is using criminal proxies to destabilize the long-disputed region.
National
Cornpreneurs Save Us From Davos Elites
US corn yields are increasing 3.56 times faster than the population.
Texas Legislature Bans LGBT Student Clubs in K-12 Schools, Violating the Constitution and Federal Law
Signaling legislative contempt, one sponsor called the student groups “sex clubs.” But in targeting the content of student speech the bill probably infringes First Amendment free speech rights and tramples the Equal Access Act of 1984
Supreme Court makes it easier to claim ‘reverse discrimination’ in employment, in a case from Ohio
A unanimous Supreme Court made it easier Thursday to bring lawsuits over so-called reverse discrimination, siding with an Ohio woman who claims she didn’t get a job and then was demoted because she is straight.
Trump Issues Proclamation Banning International Students at Harvard From Entering U.S.
United States President Donald Trump issued a proclamation Wednesday evening barring foreign students from entering the U.S. to attend Harvard, citing national security concerns and accusing the University of failing to comply with federal agencies.
Three Unanimous ‘Conservative’ Opinions by Liberal Justices
The Supreme Court today issued rulings in five argued cases (and dismissed the certiorari petition in a sixth). Four of those rulings were unanimous, and the fifth (Blom Bank Sal v. Honickman) was nearly so, with Justice Jackson concurring in all but one part of the majority.
Supreme Court Rules That Discrimination Laws Ban Discrimination
After a battery of hasty decisions on its emergency docket, the Supreme Court finally got around to issuing five opinions this morning — and the dismissal of a sixth case, over a dissent — in cases fully argued on the merits. In all five cases with opinions, the Court was unanimous, albeit with varying levels of concurrence in the final opinion. The results were something close to a clean sweep for conservatives.
He’s a Master of Outrage on X. He’s Also Broke.
An online creator went from a “nobody” to a conspiratorial sensation on X. What he gets in return is less clear.
Big States’ Government Employment Is Not a Red-Blue Story
This is a kind of golden age for big-state political comparisons because, of America’s four most populous states, two are red (Florida and Texas) and two are blue (California and New York). Sometimes they line up like you’d expect, but sometimes they don’t.
Is the Supreme Court Really That Divided? The Facts Say No.
Unanimous rulings on discrimination, guns, and religion once again challenge the common media narrative that the Court is hopelessly polarized.
Republican said Sikh should not be allowed to deliver House prayer
Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) posted — then quickly deleted — that a Sikh should have “never been allowed” to lead the House of Representatives’ daily prayer on Friday after initially incorrectly calling the man a Muslim.
Nervous Republicans flee Trump-Elon Musk blast radius
Analysis: GOP lawmakers and operatives said Republicans should be scared of getting crosswise with either Trump or Musk — a tough task when they’re fighting each other.
FBI Director Kash Patel announces Covid breakthrough after seizing Anthony Fauci’s phones and hard drives
The Trump administration has recovered a cell phone and hard drives used by Dr Anthony Fauci during the Covid pandemic, the president’s FBI chief has revealed.
Nevada Governor Continues Veto Spree with Latest Round of Rejections
Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo has delivered another significant batch of vetoes this week. This brings his total to at least 49 vetoes so far this legislative session. Back in 2023, Lombardo set a state record with 75 vetoes in a single session.
Short Circuit: An inexhaustive weekly compendium of rulings from the federal courts of appeal
Frigid cells, raw sewage in cells, and expressive activity on public beaches.
Remove Inferior Officers (Even When He Has Power to Remove Department Heads)
In yesterday’s Aviel v. Gor, D.C. Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas, joined by Judge Nina Pillard, held that the President likely lacked the power to fire the CEO of the Inter-American Foundation, though he had the statutory authority to fire the Foundation’s Board of Directors
NASA, Pentagon push for SpaceX alternatives amid Trump’s feud with Musk
The fight between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk highlights the government’s outsize dependence on a single company for missions.
Trump Deploys 2,000 Troops To L.A. As Backlash & Protests To ICE Raids Surge; POTUS Action “Purposefully Inflammatory,” Newsom Warns
Reeling from widespread harsh ICE raids and responding protests and resistance over the past 24 hours, Los Angeles has become a powder keg with Donald Trump deploying 2,000 California National Guard troops over the objection of Governor Gavin Newsom and other SoCal leaders.
Trump deploys 2,000 National Guard members after Los Angeles immigration protests
ICE vowed to continue making arrests and enforce immigration laws.
Economy & Taxes
JD Vance Defies the Market’s Gravity
Whether economics is a ‘science’ or not, its laws apply to everybody.
Socialism, Not the Embargo, Explains Nearly All of Cuba’s Poverty
A synthetic control allows researchers to disentangle causal effects: the primary cause of Cuba’s poverty is its repressive socialist regime, with just 10 percent of the gap resulting from the trade embargo.
In Defense of Taft-Hartley: Protecting the Public
The past few years should be an object lesson in why the Taft-Hartley principles limiting unions’ power to disrupt commerce and society—remember the parade of horribles that President Truman detailed during the 1946 railroad strike—should be toughened, not weakened.
What Becomes of DOGE Without Elon Musk?
The agency sowed chaos early in Trump’s term, and legal challenges continue.
Sunoco Logistics drivers free from union control
Over 420 petroleum haulers across four states successfully petition to force Steelworkers Union bosses out of their work unit.
Musk Sets Fire to the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ on His Way Out the Door
On the menu today: For the first time since 2018, the U.S. began the year 2025 with a Republican president, a Republican House majority, and a Republican Senate. We’re not in a recession, even if there are intermittent rattles in the economic engine. And the president appointed the world’s richest man, a man of hyperactive energy and drive, to a special advisory group focused entirely on spending cuts. On paper, this is the best opportunity for significant reductions in federal spending in many years. But it’s probably not going to happen. Yes, the work of the Department of Government Efficiency will cut a few hundred billion dollars in spending, and that’s not chopped liver. But the projected deficit for this current fiscal year is $1.9 trillion, and the “Big Beautiful Bill” will increase the deficit by $3.8 trillion over ten years. The elected leaders of this country haven’t been serious about the deficit or the debt for a long time, and as Elon Musk prepares to leave DOGE behind, he’s apparently tired of pretending that everyone else around him ever took this seriously.
Trump doubles tariffs on steel and aluminum, raising ire of Canada and Mexico
President Trump signed an order Tuesday doubling tariffs to 50% on steel and aluminum imports — drawing swift criticism from officials in neighboring Canada and Mexico.
Compendium of Writings About the Trump Tariff Case
Links to my writings about our case against Trump’s “Liberation Day” Tariffs and related Issues
Economists Raise Questions About Quality of U.S. Inflation Data
Labor Department says staffing shortages reduced its ability to conduct its massive monthly survey
U.S. economy stalled in May, Fed survey finds
Consumers pulled back on spending and businesses delayed hiring decisions given uncertain outlook
U.S. Lacks Strategic Response to Surging Ag Trade Deficit
USDA projects a $49.5 billion agricultural trade deficit for fiscal year 2025, nearly double the gap from two years ago.
Cleveland-Cliffs scraps $500M hydrogen-based Ohio steel project
Cleveland-Cliffs said Tuesday it has officially abandoned its $500M hydrogen-based steel project in Middletown, Ohio, due to concerns over insufficient clean hydrogen supply, shifting focus to extend the life of its coal-fired blast furnace instead. CEO Lourenco Goncalves cited delays in hydrogen production and pending Trump administration policies as key reasons for the decision, despite earlier support from a $500M U.S. Department of Energy grant under former President Biden that would have replaced the coal-based blast furnace with a hydrogen-fueled plant.
Japanese Negotiators: We Can’t Reach a Deal Because Trump’s Negotiators Disagree Among Themselves
Back in April, I wrote a Morning Jolt entitled “Why Team Trump Is So Gung-Ho About Tariffs.” The title was a little tongue-in-cheek, because the answer was that different figures within the Trump administration like tariffs for completely different and often directly contradictory reasons.
Carmakers Use Stealth Price Hikes to Cope With Trump’s Tariffs
Quiet cuts to incentives are boosting how much Americans pay for cars, even if the sticker price stays the same.
Treasury leads negotiation as “revenge tax” looms
Top Treasury officials are privately explaining to GOP senators that Section 899 of the House-passed budget bill is already forcing foreign countries to the negotiating table, according to administration officials.
Amid Recession Fears, Americans Are Completely Changing How They Handle Money (And It’s Not What You’d Expect)
With concerns of a potential recession looming, people are ditching credit card chaos for something surprisingly old-school: predictability.
The silent bloodbath that’s tearing through the middle-class and rapidly flipping the US economy on its head
Elon Musk and hundreds of other tech mavens wrote an open letter two years ago about how AI was coming to ‘automate away all the jobs’ and upend society.
International
Conservative historian wins Polish presidential vote
With all votes counted, right-wing historian Karol Nawrocki has been elected Poland’s new president, the state electoral commission (PKW) said.
“Absurd”: Thuringia Democracy Award Goes to … the Antifa
In a scene that could well sum up the ideological confusion of certain European governments, the Ministry of Social Affairs of Thuringia (Germany) has granted an official democracy award to a group within the Antifa sphere. The group, openly surprised, not only harshly criticized those who gave them the award but also accepted the money, stating it would be used to cover legal costs for antifascist activists.
Colombia presidential hopeful shot in head at rally
A Colombian presidential candidate remains in intensive care after he was shot three times – twice in the head – at a campaign event in the capital, Bogotá.
Opinion
Feudalism Is Our Future
What the next Dark Ages could look like
The Radical Right Is Coming for Your Sons
It is easy to denounce our political enemies. It is much harder to do when our friends and allies embrace wicked ideas.
Open the door to new worlds: Poor kids have a right to Shakespeare, Bach, Plato
There is nothing compassionate about teaching an easier, more familiar, “culturally relevant” curriculum to disadvantaged children, writes Mark McCourt on EMaths, a British blog. It’s condescension.
A Test University Officials Should Use in Enforcing Conduct Rules for Protests
Would a white supremacist group be allowed to engage in this conduct? If not, no group should be allowed.
Dependent Ideologies and the Illusion of Revolution
Liberal democracy, for all its flaws and contradictions, was the fruit of slow-growing wisdom.
Trump and Musk’s Knock-Down, Drag-Out Fight over the Big Beautiful Bill
On the menu today: Oh, you know what we’re talking about this morning. On Thursday afternoon, Washington, D.C., was treated to its own destructive battle between the political equivalents of Godzilla and Mechagodzilla.
Why I changed my mind on gay marriage
According to a new Gallup poll, support for same-sex marriage among Republicans has dropped 14 percentage points in the past three years. Support now stands at 41% within the GOP, and 68% overall. Gay marriage is still popular, though perhaps not as popular as one might be led to believe.
Make America Boring Again
On Thursday, simmering tensions between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk erupted into a war of words on social media platforms owned by each of the billionaires.
The Supreme Court’s Big Win for Building Stuff
Justice Kavanaugh and the majority deliver a blow against judicial environmentalist meddling in the economy.
Higher Education Reform Can’t Only Come from the Top
After colleges across the country tolerated anti-Israel encampments, DEI offices were exposed for their futility (and their perfidy), and multiple plagiarism scandals rocked academia, conservatives had a strong mandate to fix universities. Squandering this mandate would reverse the right’s recent strides in higher education reform.
The Nondelegation Case Against Trump’s Massive New Travel Ban
Trump v. Hawaii may block a challenge based on unconstitutional discrimination. But it does not preclude a nondelegation case. Other recent developments may actually bolster that approach.
ICE, the LA Protests, and Trump’s Domestic Use of the Military
Trump’s domestic use of the military to counter anti-deportation protests in LA is so far very limited. But that could change. A big part of the root of the problem is the lawless behavior of federal immigation-enforcement agencies.
Without a Badenoch/Farage pact, the Left will rule Scotland for decades to come
Reform has the passion, the Tories can come up with the policies. The two would make a perfect match, if only they dare
