News of the Week for July 19thth<\/sup>, 2020<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Vandals Tear Down 9\/11 Memorial Flagpole in New York<\/a> Portland #BlackLivesMatter Rioters Manufacture “White Supremacist” Hoax<\/a> Orwellian Marxists Claim Free Speech Letter Is an Attempt to Silence Minorities<\/a> College Democrats of America’s leadership implodes amid internal accusations of racism, elitism<\/a> Professor: Term “low-hanging fruit” is a microaggression because it reminds blacks of lynching<\/a> Thomas Sowell to Mark Levin: concept of systemic racism “has no meaning”<\/a> Time Op-Ed: Forget Statues. We Need To Start Renaming The Whole Map<\/a> Students want prof fired for allegedly falling asleep during anti-racism zoom call<\/a> An outrageous prosecution in Atlanta turns scandalous<\/a> How Is the Left of the ’60s Different From the Left of Today?<\/a> California faculty union demands free tuition for black students, removal of armed campus cops<\/a> A Brief Note on the Burning of San Gabriel Mission<\/a> Perils of wokery, &c.<\/a> Shamed Straight?<\/a> Abolitionist Mural at Vermont Law School Deemed Racist<\/a> Abolitionist mural called “racist”<\/a> When the Young Toppled the Old and Reset the Clock to Zero: ‘The Killing Fields’<\/a> Columbus’ Proposed Police Witch Hunt Will Send Chills Down Your Spine<\/a> Seattle Reconfiguring Hiring To Favor “Social Justice Advocates”<\/a> The Effort To Cancel Academic Steven Pinker Isn’t Going Well<\/a> Berkeley To Have Unarmed Civilians Perform Traffic Stops<\/a> NY Times: What Lies Beneath Anti-Racism Training Is An Attack On Capitalism, Rationalism And Excellence<\/a> CHAZ\/CHOP Cases Still Being Prosecuted: Attempted Arson At A Police Precinct And The Shooting Of A Protester<\/a> What It’s Like To Be A Black Police Officer On The Front Lines Of Portland’s Nightly BLM Protests<\/a> Black Lives Matter sculpture erected in UK town removed after 1 day<\/a> How Black Lives Matter’s Hatred Of The Family Feeds Its Desire For Revolution<\/a> Orthodox Privilege<\/a> UConn student government leaders resign because they’re white<\/a> Reports: Camouflaged Feds Grabbing Vandals \u2014 And Protesters? \u2014 In Portland And Carting Them Off In Unmarked Vans<\/a> 4 Things to Know About the Mob Violence in Portland<\/a> Minneapolis Declares Racism a Public Health Emergency<\/a> White Lives Don’t Matter: Democrats Encourage Murderous Racial Hatred<\/a> George Washington U. Reading List Includes Book That Equates Conservatism With Racism<\/a> UNDER SIEGE: Antifa Rioters Throw Cans, Shoot Fireworks at Cops in Battle for Columbus Statue<\/a> San Francisco Police Commission votes to install “Black lives matter” posters in every station<\/a> Juniata College calls cops on student for sending email that mocked diversity demands<\/a> In Defense of The Letter<\/a> Why is Wokeness so white supremacist?<\/a> Pompeo denounces “Marxist” 1619 Project as gift to Chinese Communist Party<\/a> Crayola Enters The Face Mask Wars… Just In Time For Back-To-School Shopping<\/a> An Oregon Criminal Prosecution of Federal Officers Could Be Removed to Federal Court<\/a> Antifa Rioters Break Into Portland Police Union and Set It on Fire as Mayor Hamstrings Federal Troops<\/a> Universities implement mandatory anti-racism training for students, faculty<\/a> Portland’s Mayor Is Still On The Side Of The Rioters<\/a> The Insane Grift of ‘Diversity’ Training In Federal Agencies<\/a> Antifa Rioters Break Into Portland Police Union and Set It on Fire as Mayor Hamstrings Federal Troops<\/a> ‘They’re Liars!’ Screams a Black Woman as She Pours Paint Over BLM Mural<\/a> Police union HQ burns, feds clash with Portland protesters<\/a> #BlackLivesMatter and the Political Mythology of “Systemic Racism”<\/a> Cisco Fires Employees for Criticizing Black Lives Matter During Online Diversity Forum<\/a> Noxious diversity training in federal government flourishes under Trump<\/a> 18 police officers were hurt in a Chicago protest. ‘We were outnumbered and unprepared,’ one says<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n China & Kazakhstan disagree over designation of “new” virus as worse than COVID-19<\/a> What Miniature Lab-Grown Brains Reveal About the Effects of Covid-19<\/a> Groundbreaking: Scientists Create An Air Filter That Kills The Coronavirus<\/a> O.C. Board of Education tells schools social distancing isn’t necessary for students and masks could be “harmful”<\/a> Moderna reports success in Phase 1 of coronavirus vaccine trials<\/a> Immunity to Covid-19 could be lost in months, UK study suggests<\/a> How to Be an Anti-Intellectual<\/a> Teenager dies of bubonic plague in Mongolia<\/a> WHO calls for help in fight against Ebola in DRC<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wisconsin’s Vote-By-Mail Looked Bad. It Was Actually Worse<\/a> California rejected 100K mail-in ballots because of mistakes<\/a> Today’s Great Mystery: Why Did California Trash Over 100,000 Mail-In Ballots In March?<\/a> Should Biden Give Up On Texas?<\/a> Trump On The Confederate Flag: Look, People Love It<\/a> Battle in ‘Bama: Tuberville Wins Alabama Senate Republican Primary Runoff In A Walk<\/a> The Biden Campaign Starts Spending Money in Texas<\/a> Will Biden’s War on the Suburbs Become a Campaign Issue?<\/a> Some Scary Propositions<\/a> Trump Rises Seven Points In A Week Against Biden In New Rasmussen Poll, But…<\/a> Split Ticket? Two New Polls Show Congressional Republicans Doing Surprisingly Well<\/a> Trump presses attack on Biden’s war on the suburbs<\/a> Tens of thousands of mail ballots have been tossed out in this year’s primaries. What will happen in November?<\/a> The Future Shape of the Senate<\/a> Trump Sketches Campaign Themes, Promises More on Suburbs<\/a> Common Core Tries to Buy a Senate Seat<\/a> 3 Weeks After Primary, N.Y. Officials Still Can’t Say Who Won Key Races<\/a> Chuck Grassley: I Wouldn’t Hold A Hearing On A SCOTUS Vacancy Before The Election<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Missouri governor says St. Louis couple ‘had every right’ to wave guns at protesters<\/a> 11 Incidents in Which Lawful Gun Owners Made a Difference<\/a> US Gun Sales Surge in “Seismic Shift” Amid COVID-19, Widespread Protests<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Burger King Claims to Reduce Cow Farts in Bizarre New Video<\/a> Federal Court Allows Dakota Access Pipeline To Keep Pumping Oil, Dealing Blow To Environmental Activist<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another great idea<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 21 Taken to Hospitals as Firefighting Effort Continues in USS Bonhomme Richard Fire<\/a> Florida man lights Catholic Church on fire with parishioners inside<\/a> For first time ever, US officially rejects China’s “unlawful” South China Sea claims<\/a> US Navy Destroyer Performs Freedom-Of-Navigation Operation In South China Sea<\/a> Chinese Military Exercises Threaten to Invade Taiwan<\/a> Burning USS Bonhomme Richard Signals More Trouble for Navy<\/a> VPN providers rethink Hong Kong servers after China’s security law<\/a> Iranian Spies Accidentally Leaked Videos of Themselves Hacking <\/a> Trump considering banning all Chinese Communist Party members and their families from US<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n University of Kentucky faces lawsuit over removal of mural<\/a> Guess Which Phrase You Can’t Place on a Jersey on the NBA’s Custom Store<\/a> Damaged Human Lungs Can Be Repaired by Attaching Them to Pigs, Experiment Shows<\/a> Justice Ginsberg Hospitalized With Possible Infection<\/a> Museum Curator Resigns After He Is Accused of Racism for Saying He Would Still Collect Art From White Men<\/a> Resignation Letter of Bari Weiss<\/a> Professor emeritus, frequent campus speaker Angela Davis says she’s a communist…again<\/a> San Francisco reporter details ‘disaster’ of city’s ‘hotels for homeless’ program: ‘It is pandemonium’<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/impeachreno.org\/politicalhat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Newsboy.jpg\" "\\"News")
<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n\n
<\/a>Riots & Revolution<\/h1>\n
\nPolice in New York are looking for the vandals who cut down a flagpole at a memorial honoring five firefighters who died in the September 11 terrorist attacks. <\/p>\n
\nThe #BlackLivesMatter\/#Antifa mob in Portland, Oregon, has been “protesting” \u2014 which is to say, rioting \u2014 for the past six weeks. The “mostly peaceful” protesters in Portland are a horde of dangerous criminals, and no one is safe on the streets of Portland so long as this vile crew is allowed to continue congregating there. Did I mention that Portland is a Democrat-controlled city in a Democrat-controlled state?<\/p>\n
\nIn recent years, America has witnessed the rise of a terrifying “cancel culture.” Those who dare question the left’s stifling orthodoxy on issues like transgender identity, institutional racism, and claims of systemic oppression have found themselves subject to an outrage mob and censured, fired, or worse. Earlier this week, 1960s-style liberals like J.K. Rowling and Noam Chomsky wrote a letter in Harper’s lamenting this cancel culture’s attack on free speech. On Friday, 163 pro-cancel culture journalists, academics, and activists shot back with a letter of their own, accusing the likes of Rowling and Chomsky of using “coded language” to try to silence supposedly marginalized voices in the name of “free speech.”<\/p>\n
\n“They needed a villain,” says former College Democrats of America president<\/p>\n
\nThe official definition of the term low-hanging fruit is “a thing or person that can be won, obtained, or persuaded with little effort,” according to the Oxford dictionary.<\/p>\n
\n“It really has no meaning that can be specified and tested in the way that one tests hypotheses”<\/p>\n
\nMaybe it’s just me, but it almost seems like there’s a contest going on among the progressive faithful to see who can go the furthest and the fastest when it comes to erasing history. The beginners (or simply the lazy) stick to pulling down statues of Confederate soldiers or possibly Columbus. The more creative ones pick out paintings or statues of the Founding Fathers or other random slave-owners from the 16th through 18th centuries who went on to achieve some level of fame. Special award status goes to the cretins who are trying to cancel the Blessed Virgin Mary.<\/p>\n
\nProfessor Patricia Simon is being condemned by students after she allegedly fell asleep on a zoom call.<\/p>\n
\nThe charge of murder brought against Garrett Rolfe, the Atlanta police officer who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks, seemed dubious the moment it was filed. On examination, it became clear that the prosecution is outrageous.<\/p>\n
\nHow do the radical movements of today\u2014Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and others\u2014compare with their counterparts of the 1960s, such as the Black Panthers and the Weather Underground? <\/p>\n
\nThe California Faculty Association, a union for faculty in the California State University system, is calling for free tuition for black and indigenous students, a mandatory ethnic studies course, and for the defunding and removal of armed campus police, among other demands<\/p>\n
\nThe San Gabriel Mission, founded in 1771 and located about twelve miles east of Los Angeles, burned the other day. My heart hurts. I grew up about five miles from the old mission, and my grandmother of blessed memory is buried in its cemetery. I helped carry her to her grave.<\/p>\n
\nOn whiffs of the Cultural Revolution; the musical Hamilton; Dr. Anthony Fauci; college daze; and more<\/p>\n
\nIn Impromptus today, I begin with the wokery that now plagues us, and that carries a whiff of the Cultural Revolution in China. Just a whiff, but pungent enough. I wrote my column before news broke of Bari Weiss’s resignation from the New York Times.<\/p>\n
\n“Apparently, the real problem is that the mural shows whites helping blacks.”<\/p>\n
\nVermont Law School will paint over a mural depicting abolitionists helping blacks escape slavery because several students and alumni complained<\/p>\n
\nThe Killing Fields is one of the most important films ever made. It\u2019s also difficult to watch if you know much about the true story it depicts. <\/p>\n
\nThe city council of Columbus, Ohio, is considering legislation to screen police officers for any connection to “hate groups” (including secretly harboring the beliefs of “hate groups”), citing the ever-so-reliable Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Former SPLC employees have confessed to taking part in a hate-for-pay scheme, exaggerating the number of “hate groups” in order to bilk donors, and the SPLC faces numerous defamation lawsuits regarding that “hate group” accusation. Even so, a city council member told PJ Media that the council will define “hate group” in such a manner as to include organizations accused by the SPLC, and to go further.<\/p>\n
\nDespite all of the damage and unrest, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan is still refusing any federal help in restoring the rule of law to her city. If they’re going to handle the problem themselves, so be it, I suppose. But what does she plan to do? In yet another instance of bowing to mob rule, Durkan and the City Council have decided that the way to calm the masses is to change the way they hire municipal government workers. What that has to do with the death of George Floyd is anyone’s guess, but the new plan certainly sounds woke enough to fit the 2020 narrative. Going forward, if you want a job with the city, you’ll need to prove your social justice credentials before anyone worries about whether or not you’re actually qualified for the job you’re seeking.<\/p>\n
\nA group of 620 academics signed an open letter to the Linguistic Society of America arguing that the group should distance itself from academic and author Steven Pinker. The reasons? Most of the offenses listed are rather vague references to tweets from as far back as 2014, but the gist of the letter is that Pinker isn’t sufficiently supportive of Black Lives Matter. The letter claims the signatories don’t want to “cancel” Dr. Pinker but then immediately admits that, actually, many of the signatories may believe that<\/p>\n
\nWe’ve long since reached the stage where pointing out something totally insane going on in Berkeley, California is generally received with a combination of yawns and sad, knowing nods of the head. But even with that sort of a track record, the liberal enclave has announced plans for a new “law enforcement” initiative that should still give everyone pause. Having already determined that they need to slash their police budget by a full 50% (because starving the evil cops of funding will clearly cure all of society’s ills), the city is planning to pull actual police officers almost entirely out of the loop from one of their most common and important roles. Instead of having trained, uniformed officers conducting traffic stops, they will be dispatching “unarmed civilian city workers” to handle these chores. And yes, I’ll once again invoke the tired old phrase we’ve all become accustomed to. What could possibly go wrong? <\/p>\n
\nThe NY Times has published a lengthy feature titled “‘White Fragility’ Is Everywhere. But Does Antiracism Training Work?” That title is misleading in some ways because the piece only briefly touches on the question of whether training sessions held by people like Robin DiAngelo (author of White Fragility) work. The answer to that question is that there’s no real evidence they do and maybe some evidence that they are likely to create a backlash. But none of that research seems to penetrate the bubble in which people like DiAngelo thrive.<\/p>\n
\nTuesday a man was arrested on a federal arson charge for trying to set fire to a police precinct that was at the center of the former CHAZ\/CHOP protest area in Seattle. A press release from the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the western district of Washington identified the attempted arsonist as Isaiah Thomas Willoughby, age thirty-five.<\/p>\n
\nThere have been a seemingly endless series of Black Lives Matter protests in Portland, some of which eventually get declared riots as the protesters get out of hand. One week ago KGW8 was on hand for a press availability where Officer Jakhary Jackson was questioned by Lt. Tina Jones about what it’s like to be on the front line of those nightly protests. His responses were eye-opening to say the least.<\/p>\n
\nA sculpture of a Black Lives Matter protester installed without authorization on the site where a monument to a 17th-century parliamentarian and slave trader was ripped down by protesters last month was taken down by the city after just one day, according to a report.<\/p>\n
\nBy preserving culture and supporting children, the nuclear family consequently becomes the highest and most effective form of empowerment.<\/p>\n
\n“Cancel culture” is arguably the dominant force in American life today. Many see the squelching of dissenting views as a threat to free society. A group of prominent, mostly liberal writers recently wrote an open letter in Harper’s denouncing “an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty.”<\/p>\n
\nOne of them pressures other whites to resign as well<\/p>\n
\nHow widespread this is, and whether they’re targeting vandals or casting a much broader net at demonstrators, are open questions as I write this. The two stories about this circulating today, one from WaPo and the other from Oregon Public Broadcasting, claim that “protesters” are being snatched as well.<\/p>\n
\nResidents of the Portland area have “become accustomed to chaos,” says William Deatherage, 22, a recent college graduate who has lived in a suburb of the Oregon city since he was 5 years old. <\/p>\n
\nWe are literally in the middle of a global pandemic, but sure, let’s make racism our top health emergency<\/p>\n
\n#BlackLivesMatter is a racial hate movement promoted by Democrats who believe that it will help them win elections. The essential message of the movement’s propaganda is that all white people are evil racist oppressors. If any white person dares object to this hateful message, his objection will be cited as proof that he is a racist. The wave of criminal violence inspired by #BlackLivesMatter is not an accidental consequence of this propaganda; violent crime is the desired result because Democrats have embraced a radical “worse is better” mentality. The worse conditions become in the black community, the more motivativation there will be for black voters to go to the polls in November, and (because Democrats always get about 95% of the black vote) this increase in turnout will mean that Democrats win more elections.<\/p>\n
\n“Conservatism as a philosophy and ideology … is and always has been hostile to the aspirations of Africans in America, incompatible with the struggle for freedom and equality”<\/p>\n
\nChicago descended into a war zone on Friday night as a protest at the Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park devolved into a violent riot, complete with assaults on police and an attempt to pull down the statue of the Genovese Catholic who connected the Old World and the New.<\/p>\n
\nSan Francisco’s Police Commission voted Wednesday evening to display a “Black lives matter” poster in every station throughout the city, despite objections from the rank-and-file’s union.<\/p>\n
\nSuspended him because “hateful email” also violated unspecified campus rules<\/p>\n
\nThe chilly climate for dissent is real<\/p>\n
\nWhen you have lost NYMag: Is the Anti-Racism Training Industry Just Peddling White Supremacy? <\/p>\n
\nThe New York Times’s 1619 Project is an attack on “the American way of life” that aligns with the Chinese Communist Party, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.<\/p>\n
\nIt’s a new world out there for everyone, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, and that includes back-to-school supplies for students. This year parents are tasked with providing face masks for their children, as they will be required to wear them. Crayola knows an opportunity when it sees it.<\/p>\n
\nState Prosecutors would then prosecute state criminal offenses in federal court.<\/p>\n
\nOn Saturday evening, two groups of antifa and Black Lives Matter rioters terrorized Portland, squaring off against police and federal troops. One group attacked the Portland Police Bureau\u2019s North Precinct and the Portland Police Association (PPA) \u2014 the police union \u2014 while the other group targeted the federal courthouse and Justice Center, returning to set yet another bonfire at the ruins of the elk statue nearby. Antifa broke into the PPA and set it on fire. Before the violence began on this 51st day of unrest in Portland, Mayor Ted Wheeler (D-Portland) decided to hamstring federal troops, aiming to prevent local law enforcement from teaming up with them.<\/p>\n
\nUniversities across America have implemented anti-racism training, required on certain campuses.<\/p>\n
\nWhile I’d have loved to come to you this morning with some good news out of Portland, Oregon, I’m afraid that there isn’t much in that category to be found. The situation on the streets there continued to deteriorate last night, with rioters once again attempting to seize control of public property, both state and federal, eventually setting fire to the Portland Police Association building. The federal building in downtown Portland was similarly attacked, with rioters tearing down barricades that were constructed to prevent the mob from overwhelming the facility. In response, as shown in one of the more underwhelming headlines to be seen at CNN in recent memory, the police “asked the protesters to leave” or face possible arrest. Presumably, they are still acting under the direction of Mayor Ted Wheeler. <\/p>\n
\nAccording to Christopher Rufo, a so-called “diversity” training is continuing apace within the federal government. Using the term “diversity” to explain the content is a complete sham. The foundations of the program are critical race theory. It assigns thoughts, values, and behaviors to people by race as if skin color creates homogeneous populations.<\/p>\n
\nOn Saturday evening, two groups of antifa and Black Lives Matter rioters terrorized Portland, squaring off against police and federal troops. One group attacked the Portland Police Bureau\u2019s North Precinct and the Portland Police Association (PPA) \u2014 the police union \u2014 while the other group targeted the federal courthouse and Justice Center, returning to set yet another bonfire at the ruins of the elk statue nearby. Antifa broke into the PPA and set it on fire. Before the violence began on this 51st day of unrest in Portland, Mayor Ted Wheeler (D-Portland) decided to hamstring federal troops, aiming to prevent local law enforcement from teaming up with them.<\/p>\n
\nThis may be one of the most underreported aspects of the entire “conversation” about race in America that’s been happening these last few months.<\/p>\n
\nPortland Police Bureau officers and federal police used force against separate crowds on Saturday, July 18. <\/p>\n
\nYou have probably never heard of Jamarcus Glover or Adrian Walker, a couple of dope dealers with criminal records (including possession of firearms as convict felons) who police say were running their operation out of a house on Elliot Avenue in Louisville, Kentucky. Cops had the house and the two dealers under surveillance and, according to an affidavit, detectives observed Glover and Walker making frequent visits to an apartment at 303 Springfield Drive, about 10 miles south of the dope house on Elliott Avenue. According to the affidavit, Glover listed this as his home address and had been seen picking up at least one package there. Detectives believed that Glover might be using the Springfield Drive address to receive or conceal his narcotics supply.<\/p>\n
\nAnother example of criticism of Black Lives Matter movement falsely being equated with racism: “the world’s largest networking company, said it fired ‘a handful’ of workers for inappropriate conduct because it ‘will not tolerate’ racism”<\/p>\n
\nChristopher Rufo reports that “critical race theory \u2014 the far-left academic discourse centered on the concepts of ‘whiteness,’ ‘white fragility’ and ‘white privilege’ \u2014 is coursing through the federal government’s veins. Under a GOP administration, no less.”<\/p>\n
\nEighteen Chicago Police officers were injured in a protest Friday, the department said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/a>Corona Virus<\/h1>\n
\nThe disagreement smacks of China’s aggressive approach to dominate the region by any means necessary.<\/p>\n
\nOrganoids are helping scientists study the coronavirus<\/p>\n
\nThe coronavirus is spurring on all kinds of innovation and creativity from the scientific community as well as the business community. The main focus now is on developing a vaccine and therapeutic drugs to combat the virus. Businesses have shut down normal production of products and switched to manufacturing essential medical equipment, like ventilators, as well as personal protection equipment to meet the needs of hospitals and first responders. All of this is good.<\/p>\n
\nThe Orange County Board of Education voted Monday to push for the reopening of campuses without many of the widely recommended coronavirus safety protocols.<\/p>\n
\nThere’s a little bit of good news on the Wuhan coronavirus front. Moderna Inc’s experimental vaccine for the virus proved to be safe and to provoke immune responses in all 45 healthy volunteers in an ongoing Phase 1 study.<\/p>\n
\nExclusive: King\u2019s College London team found steep drops in patients’ antibody levels three months after infection<\/p>\n
\nA lauded book about antiracism is wrong on its facts and in its assumptions.<\/p>\n
\nA teenager died of the bubonic plague in western Mongolia after eating an infected marmot, a sign the disease may be spreading after reports of it emerged earlier this month.<\/p>\n
\nAs the world grapples with a deepening coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization has called for international support in its fight against a growing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.<\/p>\n<\/a>Election 2020<\/h1>\n
\nBack on April 7th, Wisconsin held the first in-person primary election since the pandemic outbreak began. Well, it was at least partially “in-person”\u201d but the state attempted at the last minute to turn it into some sort of hybrid, combining a smaller number of in-person polling places with the option to request mail-in ballots. And the results were predictably chaotic. There was confusion regarding where and how to vote and the massive increase in mail-in voting meant the results were delayed far longer than normal. In short, it was a mess.<\/p>\n
\nMore than 100,000 mail-in ballots were rejected by California election officials during the March presidential primary, according to data obtained by The Associated Press that highlights a glaring gap in the state’s effort to ensure every vote is counted.<\/p>\n
\nSeems like a good question, especially since Gavin Newsom recently signed legislation making California a vote-by-mail state. In the primary that took place weeks before that move, the state ended up throwing more than one hundred thousand mailed ballots into the trash. Why?<\/p>\n
\nThat’s a burning question on the occasion of him dropping half a million bucks or thereabouts to run a new TV ad in the Lone Star state. He’d have to be a sucker to waste money on Texas this year when there are so many more promising targets on the map, argues Sarah Longwell. I think that’s right and I suspect Team Biden agrees. The new ad buy is probably more of a “psy op” aimed at encouraging the media narrative that Biden has Trump on the run even in red states than it is the beginning of an earnest play to win the state. <\/p>\n
\nDisplaying the flag is freedom of speech, he says, which is true, but Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the anthem was also freedom of speech. Where was this argument on Kaepernick’s behalf when the NFL decided to ban anthem protests before games a la NASCAR deciding to ban rebel flags at races?<\/p>\n
\nFormer Trump Attorney General Jeff Sessions faces off against former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville in tonight’s runoff to determine which of them advances to the general election in the fall.<\/p>\n
\nThe “mid six figures” that the Biden campaign is going to spend on television ads in Texas is probably going to generate its worth in good press alone. Regardless of whether the Biden campaign genuinely thinks it can win Texas, spending $500,000 or so on TV ads in July will make Democrats feel even more confident, perhaps make some Republicans nervous or dispirited, and who knows, maybe spook the RNC or Trump campaign into spending money in the Lone Star State. It will probably spur at least one news cycle of “Joe Biden has huge momentum” stories that campaigns love and that will probably infuriate President Trump.<\/p>\n
\nIn remarks Tuesday in the White House Rose Garden, President Trump promised to reverse what is arguably the most radical action of the Obama-Biden administration: promulgation of the rule on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH). Trump went beyond his tweet of a couple of weeks ago, when he said he “may” end the rule. Now he says he will in fact \u201ctake out\u201d AFFH. This will need to be by amendment or modification, since the Obama-Biden AFFH is actually a wild over-reading of the phrase “affirmatively further” in current law.<\/p>\n
\nEver since Gov. Hiram Johnson in 1911 instituted the right to initiative, recall, and referendum, California has embarked on an unparalleled level of direct democracy \u2014 something that has turned elections over propositions into more heated affairs than elections over candidates. Although such majoritarianism is the centerpiece of century-old progressive politics, conservatives often have embraced it as their only way to circumvent Democratic legislative majorities.<\/p>\n
\nLast week it was Biden 50, Trump 40, a shocking result given Rasmussen’s usual Trump-friendly lean. A week later it’s Biden 47, Trump 44.<\/p>\n
\nWere not going to declare a trend based on two polls, but what’s shaping up here is a major storyline for the fall if it’s borne out by further polling.<\/p>\n
\nYesterday, we asked whether President Trump will make Joe Biden’s war on the suburbs an issue in this campaign. Today, Stanley Kurtz reports that Trump already has.<\/p>\n
\nMore than 18,500 Floridians’ ballots were not counted during the March presidential primary after many arrived by mail after the deadline.<\/p>\n
\nThe Constitution divides the Senate into three “classes” that face the voters on six-year cycles. Under today’s political dynamics, the class that faced the voters in 2018 was favorable to the Republicans, while the class that faces the voters in 2020 is favorable to the Democrats.<\/p>\n
\nPresident Trump’s remarks on regulatory reform on the South Lawn of the White House yesterday were much more than a recap of past achievements. The president laid out key campaign themes and linked them to overarching concerns such as democratic versus bureaucratic control, endangered law and order, and, ultimately, the survival of liberty itself. The Democratic “unity platform” (unity between Biden’s pliancy and Sanders’s socialism) shows all too clearly that order and liberty are indeed under threat from a bureaucracy that may soon be stocked with leftist radicals.<\/p>\n
\nMillions of American parents have always heard conservatives complaining about Common Core, but never understood until they had to homeschool their kids in the last few months. Five thousand years of doing math one way are out the window thanks to corporate innovation, greed from textbook publishers, and an interest in having good little automatons who can work for the Fortune 500 without competing against them.<\/p>\n
\nTens of thousands of absentee ballots in New York are still uncounted and many races have yet to be called. What will November look like?<\/p>\n
\nHe first said this in 2016, then reiterated it in 2018, then reiterated it yet again for reporters yesterday. The McConnell standard for election-year vacancies is, of course, that they shouldn’t be filled if the presidency and the Senate majority are held by different parties. That\u2019s not the case this year so it’s full speed ahead for Cocaine Mitch if any seats on the Court open up before November.<\/p>\n<\/a>Gun Rights<\/h1>\n
\nMissouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) defended the St. Louis couple who was seen in viral footage last month pointing guns at protesters outside their home and said they “had every right to protect their property.”<\/p>\n
\nAs the Supreme Court continued its decadelong silence in protecting the Second Amendment, Americans last month nevertheless proved that they understand the importance of the right to keep and bear arms.<\/p>\n
\nThere has been a rise in gun sales in the US as concerns about personal safety increase amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to both recent data and firearm experts. <\/p>\n<\/a>Hide the Decline<\/h1>\n
Environment &
\n“Green Energy”<\/h2>\n
\nThere is nothing new under the sun, except for maybe this weird hyper-environmentalist song about reducing cow farts<\/p>\n
\nThe multi-billion dollar Dakota Access Pipeline can continue pumping oil for the time being, a federal court ruled Tuesday.<\/p>\n<\/a>Obamacare<\/h1>\n
Government in Healthcare<\/h2>\n
\nThis reminds me somewhat of the Sesamecare site which “takes the reduced-fee, cash only model and expands it to include primary care and dental visits, eye exams and MRIs, and other services.” So there’s precedence: “I’m building a network of cash friendly medical providers in the DC Metro area.”<\/p>\n<\/a>War & Terror<\/h1>\n
\nA fire that broke out Sunday morning in amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) sent 17 sailors and four civilian workers to local hospitals, Naval Surface Force Pacific officials said.<\/p>\n
\nA Florida man lit a Catholic Church aflame on Saturday, while people inside prepared for morning Mass.<\/p>\n
\nThe U.S. released its very first official statement rejecting most China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea as “unlawful.”<\/p>\n
\nMonday the U.S. State Department rejected China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea saying the PRC had no rights to any territory beyond 12-nautical mile territorial limit.<\/p>\n
\nChina’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is currently staging a military exercise across from the Taiwan Strait that looks as if it plans to culminate in an amphibious assault on an island in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n
\nThe latest incident in a long line of recent trouble suggests continued internal weakness<\/p>\n
\nIn recent decades, Hong Kong has been considered a haven for data centers given its strategic location in Asia, a legal system trusted by international businesses and reliable internet connectivity. Many virtual private network (VPN) operators keep servers in the city, serving mainland users who want to conceal their internet activity or access websites blocked by the Chinese authority.<\/p>\n
\nIBM’s X-Force security team obtained five hours of APT35 hacking operations, showing exactly how the group steals data from email accounts\u2014and who it’s targeting.<\/p>\n
\nPresident Donald Trump and members of his administration are in the early stages of discussing plans to block members of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from entering the U.S., according to four sources familiar with the discussions who spoke with The New York Times.<\/p>\n<\/a>National<\/h1>\n
\nThe University of Kentucky planned to remove a mural from a building on its campus because of its portrayal of enslaved Africans and Native Americans.<\/p>\n
\nThe NBA’s online store allows buyers to purchase jerseys with customized phrases. The one phrase you can’t put on a jersey? “FreeHongKong.”<\/p>\n
\nThe sad reality of terminal lung illnesses is that there are simply far more patients than there are donor lungs available. This isn’t just because of the low number of donors, which would be problem enough, but many donor lungs are significantly damaged, rendering them unusable.<\/p>\n
\nThe U.S. Supreme Court’s leftwing Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized today, according to a statement from the court reported by CNN.<\/p>\n
\nIrate employees of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art said the removal of Gary Garrels was “non-negotiable.”<\/p>\n
\nIt is with sadness that I write to tell you that I am resigning from The New York Times. <\/p>\n
\nIn a recent virtual town hall, former Black Panther and Professor Emeritus Angela Davis said she identifies as a “communist” and “anti-capitalist.”<\/p>\n
\n‘You are talking drug-fueled parties, overdoses, deaths’<\/p>\n