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JULY 8,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

GETTING THE FACTS OUT – FROM DAILY MAIL:  Children face an 'extremely low' one in 500,000 risk of dying from the coronavirus, researchers have found.  In England, just 25 under-18s have died from Covid, which equates to around two in a million, experts said.  Young people with pre-existing medical conditions, like heart disease and cancer, and severe disability, which can include cerebral palsy and autism, have a higher chance of becoming seriously ill from the virus.  But the scientists - from three top British universities - said this risk is no higher then the risk from flu.  Teenagers, black and obese children were also at higher risk from dying with Covid but these numbers were still very low, they found.  Researchers said their findings - which were published in three separate papers today - will help inform vaccine and shielding policy for under-18s.  They will submit the studies to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the Department for Health and the World Health Organization (WHO).  The findings come amid a row over whether the prime minister should expand the vaccine roll-out to youngsters.  I wonder if the commissars in Washington will allow this to be discussed.  I doubt it. 

ANOTHER NUT CASE HEARD FROM – FROM DAILY MAIL:   Rashida Tlaib called on Congress in a Wednesday interview to defund every federal enforcement agency tasked with protecting U.S. borders as Joe Biden's administration continues to struggle to address a growing migration crisis at the southern border.  'We must eliminate funding for CBP [Customs and Border Protection], ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and their parent organization DHS [Department of Homeland Security],' the progressive 'squad' member demanded.  Tlaib insisted during a virtual interview published Wednesday with Just Futures Law, an immigrants rights group, that advocates and human service agents 'continue to see over and over again that these agencies are inept.'  The Michigan representative said that rather than 'humanely guiding migrants through our immigration system', these agencies 'continue to terrorize migrant communities located within our communities.'   Apparently, Rashida hasn't gotten the memo – defunding law enforcement is thoroughly unpopular throughout the United States, and a losing issue for her party.  She's becoming radioactive, a good thing for America.

July 8, 2021       Permalink

LEFTIST IMMATURITY GETS EVEN YOUNGER – AT 11:55 P.M. ET:  There is division on the left, leading to a grand excuse to avoid China's miserable human-rights record.  At least there is creativity in the lying.   From Politico: 

A political fight is brewing among wings of the Democratic Party over Beijing’s help in curbing climate change versus curbing its human rights abuses.

As a new Cold War takes shape between the U.S. and China, progressives fear the result will be a dramatically warming planet.

Over 40 progressive groups will send a letter to President Joe Biden and lawmakers on Thursday urging them to prioritize cooperation with China on climate change and curb its confrontational approach over issues like Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong and forced detention of Uyghur Muslims.

It's the latest salvo in the months-long drama between progressive Democrats who say cooperation on climate change should take precedence over competition with China, and moderates who think the administration can do both things at once. As the Biden administration solidifies its China strategy, and as anti-China legislation moves through Congress, this intra-Democratic tussle could define the U.S.-China relationship for years to come.

The progressive organizations, including the Sunrise Movement and the Union of Concerned Scientists, “call on the Biden administration and all members of Congress to eschew the dominant antagonistic approach to U.S.-China relations and instead prioritize multilateralism, diplomacy, and cooperation with China to address the existential threat that is the climate crisis,” their letter reads. “Nothing less than the future of our planet depends on ending the new Cold War between the United States and China.”

They've been trying to sell this line for years.  So, tell me, when is the end of the world?  I want to watch.

“To combat the climate crisis and build a global economy that works for everyday working people — in the U.S. and China alike — we must shift from competition to cooperation,” the groups continued.

Challenging China’s regional human rights abuses and aggressions is central to Biden’s foreign policy, while the struggle between American-style democracy and Chinese-style authoritarianism serves as his presidency’s animating idea. “It is clear, absolutely clear ... that this is a battle between the utility of democracies in the 21st century and autocracies,” Biden told reporters in April.
The standoff has led to frosty relations between the world’s most powerful countries with no signs of thawing any time soon.

Progressives say Biden must quickly reverse the trend or risk failing on another of his priorities: ending climate change. “His entire climate change agenda could be at risk if his anti-China campaign continues and grows,” said Erik Sperling, the executive director of Just Foreign Policy, one of the groups that signed on to the letter.

COMMENT:  Well, I'll be.  The left has debates.  And in making a choice between human rights in China and fighting "climate change," climate change wins.  It's so, it's so, now.  It's so woke.  This debate is being watched closely in Beijing, and probably laughed at.  But, far from seeing Biden as a tough competitor, the Chinese probably see him as an impaired president incapable of leading his party into a strong competition, and certainly incapable of leading the free world.

I fear a miscalculation.  Miscalculations cost lives. 

July 8, 2021       Permalink 

JULY 7,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

TRUMP IS NO QUITTER – FROM FOX:   Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that he will lead a lawsuit over alleged censorship against Twitter, Facebook and Google – three tech companies that removed him from their platforms after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters.  The lawsuit will be a class-action, with Trump as the lead plaintiff, claiming that he's been censored by the companies. He spoke about the legal action from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. 
"I stand before you this morning to announce a very important... development for our freedom and freedom of speech," Trump said. "In conjunction with the America First Policy Institute, I'm filing, as the lead class-action representative, a major class-action lawsuit against the big tech giants, including Facebook, Google and Twitter, as well as their CEOs."  "There is no better evidence that big tech is out of control than the fact that they banned the sitting president of the United States earlier this year," Trump added. "If they can do it to me they can do it to anyone."   One key point here is the lawsuit's claim that the people of the United States were damaged by not being able to read the comments of their president, a powerful argument.  This could be a very interesting, and important, lawsuit. 

RON RISES MORE – FROM NEWSMAX:   Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis remains focused on his 2022 reelection campaign, but if former President Donald Trump opts out of a 2024 presidential election run, surging popularity has the Florida governor positioned as a GOP primary front-runner.  DeSantis garnered the plurality of support in a 19-candidate field in a survey conducted last month by Echelon Insights. He was a 7-point favorite at 21% over the runner-up, former Vice President Mike Pence (14%).  While DeSantis leads those who received votes in the poll, it should be mentioned "unsure" actually led the poll's non-Trump candidates at 26%.  Registered Republicans and registered voters who lean Republican were asked: "If Donald Trump does NOT seek the Republican nomination for President in 2024 and the presidential primaries were being held today, for whom would you vote?"
1 Ron DeSantis 21%.
2 Mike Pence 14%.
3 Donald Trump, Jr 7%.
4 Nikki Haley 6%.
5 Ted Cruz 6%.
6 Mitt Romney 4%.
7 Marco Rubio 3%.
8 Tim Scott 2%.
9 Tucker Carlson 1%.
10 Greg Abbott 1%.
11 Kristi Noem 1%.
12 Rick Scott 1%.
13 Liz Cheney 1%.
14 Chris Christie 1%.
15 Mike Pompeo *%.
16 Larry Hogan *%.
17 Tom Cotton *%.
18 Ben Sasse *%.
19 Josh Hawley *%.
20 Someone else 2%.

Look, it's awfully early, but one has to be impressed by DeSantis's rise, and how he has conducted himself as governor.  He will need a big re-election victory next year, which he will certainly have if he keeps up his current run.  At the same time, he can hit a bump.  We note the depth of the Republican field.  The party has a good supply of presidential candidates.  Compare please with the opposition.  Maybe they can draft John Kerry.

July 7, 2021       Permalink

SOME PROGRESS, MAYBE? – AT 11:37 P.M. ET:   Teachers unions may be recognizing that they're becoming some of the most disliked organizations in America.  They're hard left, and they just adore Critical Race Theory.  But maybe an instinct for self-preservation is appearing, as they contemplate the start of the school year and confrontations with an increasingly angry army of mothers.   From Epoch Times: 

The nation’s largest teachers’ union has quietly taken down a series of adopted and proposed resolutions from its website, including one that calls for the organization to defend the teaching of Marxism-rooted critical race theory (CRT) in public schools.

The National Education Association (NEA), which represents more than 3 million employees in public education, previously showed on its website resolutions proposed during its 100th Representative Assembly. As of the morning of July 6, three days after the online convention concluded, visitors could use the website to track the status of those proposals, including whether they were approved, denied, or referred to a committee.

On Tuesday afternoon, however, a number of those agenda items disappeared from the NEA’s website. Their pages now redirect visitors to the 2021 assembly home page instead.

Among the now-hidden approved resolutions was Business Item 39, which would cost the union at least $127,600 to advance a pro-CRT agenda. According to the plan, the NEA would share and publicize information about “what CRT is and what it is not,” dedicate a “team of staffers” to assist union members who “want to learn more and fight back against anti-CRT rhetoric,” and provide a study that critiques “power and oppression” in American society, including “white supremacy,” “cisheteropatriarchy,” and capitalism.

The measure would also affirm the NEA’s opposition to attempts to ban CRT or the New York Times’s highly controversial “1619 Project,” which recasts American history on the claim that the United States was founded, and remains today, a racist nation.

In addition, the measure called for an “accurate and honest” teaching of “unpleasant aspects of American history,” and described CRT as an appropriate framework for educators to address those topics.

“The Association will further convey that in teaching these topics, it is reasonable and appropriate for curriculum to be informed by academic frameworks for understanding and interpreting the impact of the past on current society, including critical race theory,” it said.

Another erased resolution, classified as New Business Item 2, essentially called for NEA to “research” into organizations that are pushing back against efforts to indoctrinate American children with CRT, such as The Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based conservative think tank that has been hosting vocal CRT opponents. It was passed with an initial annual budget of $56,500.

COMMENT:  We hope that even some of the approved actions will quietly disappear, and that teachers will go back to being teachers, not simply spreaders of Marxist propaganda.  If that doesn't happen, American parents will likely take the necessary action at the polls, especially in local school-board elections.

July 7, 2021       Permalink