Politics, the Animal Kingdom, and a closer look at “the woke.”
Friday News Roundup – 10 May 2024
This Week’s News
Political News
Trump’s classified documents trial has been postponed – In a trial already viewed by many as “lawfare,” it’s hard to tell if there’s real cheating going on or if it just looks very, very bad. In one corner we have a judge appointed by Trump, Aileen Cannon, ordering “a new pretrial schedule for motions and discovery” which will likely push the trial until after the 2024 election, and in the other we have a special council appointed by the Democrats admitting that evidence previously stated as “intact” was in fact “rearranged after the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in August 2022.” At one time “justice is blind” meant she doesn’t judge on appearances; it may now mean you can do whatever you want, and she won’t notice.
With friends like these… - MSNBC contributor and former Biden White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki theorizes that many Republican politicians support Trump because “Maybe he’ll go to jail. Maybe he will die” and they would be next in line to be President. I wouldn’t put this past any politician, but they can’t all be Trumps VP and many who have no chance of getting that role still support him. It may be that she’s overlooking another possible reason so many Republican politicians support Trump, he’s not a Democrat.
In recent weeks Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre has been accused of wanting to take away peoples’ rights and of wanting to destroy democracy for stating that he would use the notwithstanding clause of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to “legislate stiffer penalties for convicted criminals and those charged with crimes who have a record of violence.” This clause, which is part of the Canadian Constitution, allows the “government to pass laws that override parts of the Charter for up to five years.” While one may debate whether it should be used, I fail to see how using something in the Constitution can be unconstitutional, but as I’m not a legal scholar I’m forced to rely on common sense instead of years of legal education.
Many have label Trump the “luckiest” politician in history. Despite everything he does he something always seems to come along to help him out. Often that “something” is his political opponents. Earlier this week Governor Kathy Hochul did her best to distract voters from Trumps many legal troubles. While speaking about her desire for a more diverse workforce Governor Hochul stated “Right now we have, you know, young black kids growing up in The Bronx who don’t even know what the word ‘computer’ is.” Ouch! At the moment opinion seems to be divided over whether this is Democratic condescension or just plain old stupidity. Either way Trump probably owes her a “thank you.”
As of May 8th, Biden continues to lead Trump based on bids placed by “investors” (let’s be honest, these are gamblers):
Biden 51 cents (+1)
Trump 47 cents (-)
Who doesn’t like graphs? I can’t be the only nerd so let’s take a look at the polls before we move on to the only thing that does matter:
How many times can you say, “the popular vote doesn’t matter?” I guess for me its weekly. Here’s the lates prediction based on the Electoral College:
And if you want a laugh:
The Animal Kingdom
Fish are shrinking and it’s due to overfishing and climate change. This threatens the food supply of billions of people and yet…
If we run out of fish there’s always yummy, yummy Soylent Green. - the law of conservation of mass says the lost fish mass has to go somewhere (yes I know that’s not what it means, just go with it) and I think I know where it went. Congratulations to West Virginia for being named the most obese state in the nation. America may be #10, but you’re #1.
A new poll has found that “nearly 1 in 3 Americans live in constant pain.” The previous article made me wonder how this compares to health choices. Turns out that 42.4% of Americans are obese and 46.3% don’t get enough exercise. Don’t worry though, I’m sure it’s unrelated. Just kick back, grab a big bag of Doritos or a hunk of deep-fried butter, or whatever your snack of choice is, turn on some reality TV, and let your worries fade away. Just remember to put on your CPAP machine before you go to sleep.
Does your dog require too much attention? Do you want all the home protection that a dog provides but without the need to take it on healthy walks? Does Onyx Industries have a product for you (you may have to get in line behind the military though)! “The United States Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) looks to be the first organization within the U.S. military to be using rifle-wielding "robot dogs." So cute and so deadly! But remember, if the pit-bull debate taught us anything, “It’s not the breed, it’s the owner.”
What I’m Reading
Social Order – @Arnold Kling over at “In My Tribe” describes what he sees as the three necessary components for good social order, specifically, economic, political, and moral, and the worries he has for all three. His conclusion is not optimistic as Biden “cannot restrain the disorderly wing in his own party” and he doubts “most people feel that Mr. Trump represents their idea of order.”
The “open” vs. the “neurotic” – Staying with @Arnold Kling for a moment, I found his effort to compare and contrast the woke campus politics of today with the hippie culture of the 60s as insightful. He argues that the hippies were on firm moral ground and were not anti-American and consequently were able to win the support of mainstream America, influence policy, and ultimately blend into mainstream society within a few years. Today’s woke protestors on the other hand seem anti-American, antisemitic, and pro-Hamas and appear to be more of a cult than an anti-war movement.
Another theory for the rise of “wokeness” – “After the passing of the Civil Rights act – by which time most cognitive elites had embraced racial environmentalism – America went five decades without a Great Awokening.” Could the “problem” have been caused by smartphones, social media, and Occupy Wallstreet?
Noah Carl at Aporia Magazine takes a look at affirmative action, and the actions its supporters take in pursuit of its stated goals. Carl begins with Jordan Peterson’s insight that “you can define an almost unlimited number of intersectional categories” and consequently, to be “truly ‘diverse,’ an organization needs not only the right number of women and black people, but also the right number of disabled people, the right number of people from working class backgrounds, the right number of transgender people etc.” From this starting point, Carl concludes that, when taken to its logical conclusion affirmative action, “implies that we should select people at random – not just in institutions, but in our capacity as individuals as well.”
My Podcast Recommendation(s) of the Week
Another refreshingly non-political recommendation this week.
The Michael Shermer Show – The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos
Michael interviews astrophysicist Lisa Kaltenegger, founding director of Cornell University’s Carl Sagan Institute, regarding the challenges of finding life on distant planets. Kaltenegger discusses the many disciplines involved in the search and how we can use Earth as a Rosetta Stone to aid in the search.