This Week’s News
As promised, until the election in November we will use the combined genius of the gamblers to track how Biden and Trump are doing. As of April 10th, here’s how much each candidate is worth (metaphorically of course, their real values are likely much lower than this):
Biden 53 cents (+5)
Trump 45 cents (-1)
Of course, if you realize (remember?) that the presidential election is based on the electoral college and not a popular vote perhaps this type of analysis is more relevant to you:
In the latest – as far as I know – front in the battle for free speech (or against misinformation as the censors would have it called), Elon Musk, owner of X (formerly known as Twitter) has squared off against Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes (former member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants).
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes shortly before his battle with the X-Men
The Brazilian Supreme Court has forced X to “block certain popular accounts in Brazil” threatening it “with daily fines” if it fails to comply. Musk responded on the 6th with the following tweet:
Where does the American public stand on the issue? Well, if you go by party affiliation, the party against future dictator Donald Trump seems very happy taking the authoritarian position of limiting your right to free speech. Odd, isn’t it?
Let’s turn our attention to a lighter topic, abortion. Yes, that subject that no one disagrees on because it’s so simple and clear cut. Earlier this week, former President Donald J. Trump issued a statement “that abortion rights should be left up to individual states' discretion.” With that, the press announced the issue settled and moved on to other matters. Just kidding of course. Statements from Biden and abortion rights activists immediately accused Trump of lying and intending to ban abortion in every state. Trump’s position isn’t helped by an Arizona Supreme Court ruling this week upholding “the state's 1864 near-total abortion ban.”
In what can only be seen as a blow to the Trudeau governments “it’s all under control” message, “Canadian unemployment rate jumped up to 6.1 per cent in March amid rapid growth in the labour pool” (read immigration) as Canadian employers collectively shed 2,200 jobs last month. This compares to the U.S. jobs report which stating that “payrolls jumped by 303,000 and unemployment dropped to 3.8%.” If this is good economic stewardship what does incompetence look like?
Election have you down? Economic worries distracting you? Inflation taking a big chunk of your paycheck? Why not go passport shopping? For a measly 500,000 euros (roughly $541,000 USD) investment “in a fund or private equity,” Portugal will grant you “a path to residency and citizenship — with visa-free travel in Europe.” My problems are solved!
What I’m Reading
Two contrasting articles about Trumps recent abortion position. The first argues that it’s all a lie (it’s Vox. Of course, they see it as a lie. If Marx were alive today and he’d read Vox and think they were a bunch of left-wing loons). The second that Trumps “moderation” on the topic is “Biden’s Worst Nightmare” is, in my mind, closer to the truth. Some thoughts on the matter:
It’s interesting that when Trump oversteps his authority, he’s a wannabe dictator, and when he argues for devolving power to the states, he’s still a wannabe dictator, but a lying one. I guess when you’ve made your mind up, then you shouldn’t let a little thing like what people say influence your position.
What does the U.S. Constitution say? Despite the protests of pro-choice activists, the overturning of Roe v. Wade has not led to a Handmaiden’s Tale dystopia nor was it a terrible injustice. In fact, based on an albeit very simple reading of the Constitution, it makes a lot of sense. Why?
Abortion is not mentioned in the Constitution; and
The Tenth Amendment clearly states that: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
What do polls say? It’s complicated (of course) but most are in favor with limitations.
Whenever the topic of the COVID lockdowns comes up I can feel my blood pressure begin to rise as I recall the lies that were told by the experts and the authoritarian rules that were imposed on society because “the experts” “knew best.” My inability to let the topic go might lead some to say that I’m filled with an irrational level of anger and resentment…that I want revenge, not justice…that I dream of a future when every medical bureaucrat in North America is thrown in jail to rot for the rest of their lives. That sounds fair. I can live with that. All joking aside, the extent of the abuse of power that we witnessed during the pandemic does anger me and the fact that more of the lies continue to leak out does make me long for some form of justice. I am, however, mature (cynical) enough to know that my desire for justice will go unfulfilled.
What if we lost our smartest 5%? - Over at Aporia, Mathew Archer uses an imaginary “Gifted Virus” to explore intelligence, IQ, “the importance of the division of labor in modern societies” and our reliance on highly intelligent people to maintain and advance civilization.
Here’s how NPR lost the plot – In an article that screamed “CBC” to me, Uri Berliner, a senior business editor at NPR describes how journalists became “agents of change” rather than…well journalists and in the process “lost America’s trust.” Examples include:
Maintaining positions with respect to “Russiagate,” Hunter Biden’s laptop, and the Lab Leak story (sorry can’t let it go) long after the evidence had proven NPR wrong, and then pretending, the stories “never happened, to move on with no mea culpas, no self-reflection.”
Placing politics over journalism and the truth: “the timeless journalistic instinct of following a hot story lead was being squelched. During a meeting with colleagues, I listened as one of NPR’s best and most fair-minded journalists said it was good we weren’t following the laptop story because it could help Trump.”
And in a section that would be comical if it weren’t so reflective of the damaging approach that left is taking, Berliner describes “a burgeoning number of employee resource (or affinity) groups based on identity” including:
MGIPOC (Marginalized Genders and Intersex People of Color mentorship program); Mi Gente (Latinx employees at NPR); NPR Noir (black employees at NPR); Southwest Asians and North Africans at NPR; Ummah (for Muslim-identifying employees); Women, Gender-Expansive, and Transgender People in Technology Throughout Public Media; Khevre (Jewish heritage and culture at NPR); and NPR Pride (LGBTQIA employees at NPR).
My Podcast Recommendation(s) of the Week
For those wishing to understand how a political realignment led to Trumps victory in 2016 and how, 8 years later, the legacy media still fails to understand this, I suggest the following podcast:
Honestly with Bari Weiss – How the Working Class Became America’s Second Class