News of the Week for May 12th<\/sup>, 2019<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Booker: Let\u2019s require federal licenses – and an interview – for gun ownership<\/a> Brazil’s President Signs Decree Easing Gun Restrictions for Citizens<\/a> California Dems Legalizing Soviet-Style Reporting of Legal Gun-Owning Co-Workers<\/a> Colorado Students Walk Out Of School Shooting Vigil After It Turns Political <\/a> Cory Booker’s Microstamping Mandate Would Amount to a Ban on New Handgun Models<\/a> America: #56 In Mass Shootings<\/a> The Second Amendment Saved These Gun Owners’ Lives in April<\/a> Cory Booker: “If I Had the Power” to Ban Guns “I Would”<\/a> Kamala Harris vows to take executive action on gun control if elected<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Reason Renewables Can’t Power Modern Civilization Is Because They Were Never Meant To<\/a> California May Go Dark This Summer, and Most Aren’t Ready<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nine Elderly Couples Were Euthanized in the Netherlands<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kirsten Gillibrand Mad That Not Every Military Sexual Assault Accusation Leads To Conviction<\/a> Taiwan and the Challenge of Modern Strategic Defensive Posture <\/a> After Clearing a Hellenic Hurdle, Macedonia’s Bid to Join NATO Heads to Senate<\/a> U.S. seizes North Korean ship suspected of violating U.N. sanctions<\/a> Taiwan Remains a Strong US Partner 40 Years After Key Legislation<\/a> Several killed in attack on Catholic church in Burkina Faso<\/a> Defending Europe: scenario-based capability requirements for NATO\u2019s European members<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Half the Earth’s oceans may have come from asteroids<\/a> The Wrong Narrative<\/a> A separate election for the VP?<\/a> Bernie’s Soviet honeymoon<\/a> Google Censors the Claremont Institute<\/a> Trump Strengthens Medical Conscience, San Francisco Sues<\/a> Conservative group attacked while at UNLV<\/a> “One of our best events”: College Republicans hold affirmative action bake sale in response to new law <\/a> Kentucky Judges Pre-Signed Blank Legal Documents So That Child Services Could Take Custody of Kids on Nights and Weekends<\/a> Oregon Elementary School Teacher Tried to Convince 8-Year-Old Student He’s Transgender<\/a> Parents sue Oregon school district over attempts to transgender 8-year-old<\/a> Not here legally? UMN has a scholarship for that<\/a> California’s Sex Ed Guidelines Suggest Asking Kindergartners What Gender They Identify As<\/a> Marianne Williamson demands reparations “whatever it costs,” and she just qualified for Dem debates<\/a> High-Speed Alternatives to High-Speed Rail<\/a> Texas legislator accuses scientist of “sorcery”, measles outbreaks continue to rise<\/a> Expert Psychologist Blocked on Twitter for Expressing Clinical Opinion on Transgenderism<\/a> Illegal Alien Rapes Dog to Death<\/a> Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n ‘Deficit Hawks Have Become an Endangered Species,’ GOP Congressman Says<\/a> What these wannabe Dem presidents plan for u$<\/a> Ocasio-Cortez: We need a “public option” for banking \u2014 modeled on the US Postal Service<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Brexit BETRAYAL: Theresa May GAME PLANNING for a second referendum after Labour pressure<\/a> Turkey’s president didn’t like an election outcome so he’s “fixing” it<\/a> If Hong Kong Passes Extradition Bill, The Freest City In Asia Will Slowly Die <\/a> Canadian Man Who Insists on Using Male Pronouns Ordered to Pay Transgender Woman<\/a> Police probing historic child sex abuse and exploitation in Rotherham arrest 38 men and two women in two months following claims of 13 victims<\/a> US, Russia Vie Over the Future of Venezuela<\/a> In Venezuela, the arrests of the coup leaders have begun<\/a> As 30th anniversary of Tiananmen Square approaches, China launches “stability maintenance” campaign<\/a> Toddler fed vegan diet so malnourished she had no teeth, court told<\/a> Transgender Tyranny: UK Tax Expert Fired for Tweeting ‘Men Cannot Change Into Women’<\/a> Australian School Renames Mother’s Day. Principal States, “We No Longer Subscribe To A Binary World”<\/a> British EU Parliament elections set to deliver a surprise<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/impeachreno.org\/politicalhat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Newsboy.jpg\" "\\"News")
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<\/a>Gun Rights<\/h1>\n
\n“We do this for people driving cars,” Cory Booker tells CNN about his new gun-control proposal, which is not only not true but also irrelevant. Booker employs easily demolished arguments in his push for requiring federal licensing for gun ownership, so much so that it’s impossible to believe that it’s not being prompted by anything other than electoral desperation. After last week’s disarray at the NRA annual meeting, Booker must have thought the time was ripe for everyone to forget about the Second Amendment<\/p>\n
\nWhile Democratic candidates in America are falling all over themselves to prove how badly they want to attack the rights of law-abiding citizens, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro is going in the opposite direction for his people<\/p>\n
\nA little over a year ago I left one of the most beautiful places on Earth — California — because the Democrats running the state were even worse than the Democrats ruining various other states and municipalities throughout America.<\/p>\n
\nSen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Jason Crow each took a turn calling for gun control at the Douglas County event before students streamed out in protest.<\/p>\n
\nThe Democratic presidential candidate promises to fight for a design requirement that is not currently feasible.<\/p>\n
\nThat the U.S. leads the world in mass shooting events, and that the cause is our liberal gun laws, are articles of faith on the Left. <\/p>\n
\nThe right to keep and bear arms is based on the natural, immutable right to defend oneself and one’s liberties from crime and tyranny. <\/p>\n
\n“In my urban environment, I see little to no need for guns at all”<\/p>\n
\nSen. Kamala Harris pledged Sunday that she will pursue executive action on gun control measures if Congress fails to act in the first 100 days of her presidential administration.<\/p>\n<\/a>Hide the Decline<\/h1>\n
Environment &
\n“Green Energy”<\/h2>\n
\nOver the last decade, journalists have held up Germany\u2019s renewables energy transition, the Energiewende, as an environmental model for the world. <\/p>\n
\nPG&E plans to cut power on windy days to avoid sparking fires<\/p>\n<\/a>Obamacare<\/h1>\n
Government in Healthcare<\/h2>\n
\nJoint suicides by elderly couples used to be considered a tragedy. In the Netherlands, doctors killing elderly couples together is a considered medical treatment (Belgium too, and at least once in Canada).<\/p>\n<\/a>War & Terror<\/h1>\n
\nThe senator who has been the most vocal about how we must “believe all women” who make sexual assault accusations recently expressed anger to a decorated general because not everyone who is accused is convicted.<\/p>\n
\nWhat is a good strategy and posture for Taiwan to take for her defense? Are there things she can learn from Japan?<\/p>\n
\nPresident Donald Trump on April 29 officially sent to the Senate for ratification the protocol for the Republic of North Macedonia to accede to the NATO.<\/p>\n
\nThe 17,000-ton freighter, called the Wise Honest, was stopped in Indonesia last year after it was found to be carrying coal.<\/p>\n
\nThe Senate last week passed a bipartisan resolution by unanimous consent that reaffirms America’s commitment to Taiwan and to the Taiwan Relations Act. <\/p>\n
\nA Catholic church in north-central Burkina Faso was attacked by armed men on Sunday morning, leaving at least six people, including the priest, dead, Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported. <\/p>\n
\nThe IISS has conducted an independent open-source high-level assessment of how the defence of Europe, and of European interests, would look if the United States had left NATO and did not contribute militarily.<\/p>\n<\/a>National<\/h1>\n
\nAsteroids may have provided up to half of the Earth’s ocean water, new research shows.<\/p>\n
\nSeattle elites show little sympathy for a woman raped by a homeless man.<\/p>\n
\nWe’ve seen plenty of protest movements lately seeking to change the way we handle national elections. The most high-profile one is probably the push to do away with the Electoral College and go to a popular vote model. Others want the states to award all of their EC votes to the winner of the popular vote, leading to basically the same result. But there’s another effort underway to make a slightly more subtle, but still significant change. Vice.run is trying to gather signatures and build support for putting the VP on a separate ballot line, allowing the voters to directly elect the Vice President rather than having to accept whoever the party’s candidate picks as a running mate.<\/p>\n
\nThe Washington Post runs a worthwhile account of Bernie Sanders’ 1988 honeymoon in the Soviet Union. The Post claims that this event is “little understood.” However, the article confirms, albeit sheepishly, what I take to be the common understanding of Bernie’s honeymoon: Sanders went because he had an affinity for the Soviet Union and left finding much to admire about it.<\/p>\n
\nLast week Facebook kicked Milo Yiannopoulos, Alex Jones, Louis Farrakhan and Paul Watson off of their platform because of their extremism. While I have no brief for any of these individuals, I agreed with the critics who said “don’t think it will just stop with them.”<\/p>\n
\nThe Left once honored conscientious objection, such as the civil-rights movement’s campaign of peaceful civil disobedience (who didn’t?) and men refusing to be drafted during Vietnam. But when conscientious objectors refuse to obey policies with which the Left agrees, the screaming, howling, and name calling could shatter eardrums.<\/p>\n
\nAll across the country, leftists have been attacking conservatives on college campuses. Last week, it happened at UNLV.<\/p>\n
\nDemocrats in Washington state overturn an anti-discrimination law<\/p>\n
\n“Children are being illegally taken from their home without judges’ proper authority.”<\/p>\n
\nIt doesn’t get much crazier than this. According to KPTV-TV, an Oregon elementary school teacher tried to convince an 8-year-old student that he was transgender. The schoolteacher did this without involving the parents. The result? The boy is now aggressive, depressed, and confused.<\/p>\n
\nWhen does in loco parentis cross over into just plain loco? A story from Oregon earlier this week demonstrates at least one instance where the line got crossed. A lawsuit alleges that a teacher took an 8-year-old aside to repeatedly question his gender identity, and then began giving him instruction on transitioning to female.<\/p>\n
\nThe University of Minnesota offers scholarships to illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n
\n“It’s pornography.” That\u2019s how one mom described California\u2019s new guidelines for sex ed.<\/p>\n
\nWith Williamson on stage staking out a clear and aggressive reparations plan, leading Democrats will have to move either further left or buck their base.<\/p>\n
\nCalifornia needs to shelve its boondoggle and consider alternative proposals from the private market.<\/p>\n
\nSorcery. That’s not a word read every day among news reports about Texas state legislators, yet that’s exactly what happened when a scientist addressed his concerns about a growing segment of the state’s population that is not vaccinating their children.<\/p>\n
\nIn the early hours of Sunday morning, an expert Ph.D. psychologist who helped write the official psychological position on transgender identity was blocked on Twitter for expressing his opinion informed by clinical experience. His well-reasoned position was flagged for “hateful conduct.”<\/p>\n
\nProtected by “sanctuary” laws<\/p>\n
\nInvading agricultural land, re-plowing the CFPB’s structure, and solitary confinement.<\/p>\n<\/a>Economy & Taxes<\/h1>\n
\nAs the deficit approaches $900 billion, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) told PJM that “deficit hawks have become an endangered species” in both the Republican and Democratic parties.<\/p>\n
\nMost policy proposals during party primary campaigns are essentially pipe dreams designed to attract the largest number of politically faithful voters who are also delightfully gullible.<\/p>\n
\nI’m confused. Didn’t Twitter suspend the AOC satire account? The idea that the US Postal Service is a good model for any kind of “public option, let alone banking, is an absolute riot. Get a load of the Bernie Sanders look-alike the producers used here too, nodding along and saying “that’s right” to this nonsense. Whatever else is wrong with our politics, at least it produces first-rate comic acts.<\/p>\n<\/a>International<\/h1>\n
\nTHERESA MAY is making plans for a second referendum in the event that talks between herself and Jeremy Corbyn fail this week.<\/p>\n
\nOur “ally” in Turkey continues to blaze a trail toward a future for his country that looks less and less democratic by the day. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s PK party didn’t fare all that well in the country’s recent round of parliamentary elections. They didn’t lose power, but there was definitely a shift in the electorate and opposition parties fared better than in previous years. One place where Erdogan’s candidates did especially poorly was in the major city of Istanbul. Erdogan\u2019s party’s candidate for mayor was defeated there by Ekrem Imamoglu of the CHP party. That apparently didn’t sit well with the President, so he’s decided to take an unusual course of action. He’s having the election run again. <\/p>\n
\nHong Kong has been, until now, one of the freest places in Asia. A new extradition bill, only the latest in Beijing’s demands, threatens that status.<\/p>\n
\nThere’s no such thing as “free” speech in Canada. If Christians want to express themselves, it’ll cost them. And the going rate isn’t cheap. According to the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal, the price tag for agreeing with the Bible\u2014and biology\u2014on gender is a whopping 55,000 Canadian dollars.<\/p>\n
\nSouth Yorkshire town has been rocked by exposure of Asian sex gang abuse<\/p>\n
\nThe crisis in Venezuela is only getting worse by the week. And with Russian backing, it looks less likely that dictator Nicolas Maduro will step aside. Ana Quintana of The Heritage Foundation explains what’s at stake, and what’s going on.<\/p>\n
\nVenezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro is sending out the goon squad this week to quietly begin rounding up the people who participated in the attempted coup last week. While he\u2019s not yet going after the person who actually sent out the call to revolt, his secret police force started with someone very close to the top. National Assembly Vice President Edgar Zambrano was picked up last night after leaving his office. <\/p>\n
\nNext month will be the 30th anniversary of pro-democracy demonstrations which were brutally suppressed in China and have been a forbidden topic of discussion there ever since. Today the Guardian reports China is launching it’s annual “stability maintenance” campaign in advance of the anniversary. That includes getting activists connected to the event out of cities where they might influence people to speak up against the defacto one-party communist state<\/p>\n
\nA baby girl fed a vegan diet by her parents was so malnourished by the time she was 19 months old she didn’t have any teeth and looked like she was just three months old, a Sydney court has heard.<\/p>\n
\nEarly this week, British tax expert Maya Forstater was fired over tweets in which she disagreed with transgender identity, saying that “men cannot change into women.” In the days since, she raised more than \u00a360,000 to cover legal fees for an appeal.<\/p>\n
\nAn Australian school renamed Mother’s Day, calling it “Acknowledgment Day” as the principal stated, “We no longer subscribe to a binary world.”<\/p>\n
\nThe Brits have an election coming up where they will select their representatives to the European Union Parliament. As I’m sure you’ve heard, Brexit is still just about the hottest topic in British politics these days (though a majority of voters there say they are simply “exhausted” by the process at this point). Given the natural intersection of the EU and the Brexit process, that’s probably going to be driving people\u2019s choices. So which parties will dominate the British delegation to the EU?<\/p>\n