- US judge blocks some North Carolina restrictions on abortion pill
Source: Reuters
“A federal judge has struck down parts of a North Carolina law restricting patients’ access to the abortion pill mifepristone, which has become the subject of legal battles nationwide. Chief U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles on Tuesday struck down the state’s requirements, opens new tab that mifepristone be prescribed only by doctors and only in person, as well as a requirement that patients have an in-person follow-up appointment. … The ruling comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is considering a case brought by anti-abortion groups that, if successful, would reimpose those same restrictions nationwide. At the same time, Eagles upheld other North Carolina restrictions, including a requirement that patients have an in-person consultation before taking the pill and undergo an ultrasound and blood test, saying those requirements had never been explicitly rejected by the FDA.” (05/01/24)
- Police arrest pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University while clashes break out at UCLA
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“The pro-Palestinian demonstration that paralyzed Columbia University ended in dramatic fashion, with police carrying riot shields bursting into a building that protesters took over the previous night and making dozens of arrests. On the other side of the country, clashes broke out early Wednesday between dueling groups at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). New York City officers entered Columbia’s campus late Tuesday after the university requested help, according to a statement released by a spokesperson. A tent encampment on the school’s grounds was cleared, along with Hamilton Hall where a stream of officers used a ladder to climb through a second-floor window. Protesters calling on the Ivy League university to stop doing business with Israel or companies that support the war in Gaza seized the hall about 20 hours earlier.” (05/01/24)
- In new photos by NASA’s Webb telescope, horse-shaped nebula gets its close-up
Source: SFGate
“NASA’s Webb Space Telescope has revealed the sharpest images yet of a portion of a horse-shaped nebula, showing the ‘mane’ in finer detail. The Horsehead Nebula, in the constellation Orion, is 1,300 light-years away. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles (9.7 trillion kilometers). Discovered over a century ago, its nickname derives from its striking appearance — a wispy pillar of gas and dust that resembles a horse rearing its head. Webb’s latest infrared images released Monday captured the top of Horsehead in greater detail, illuminating clouds of chilly hydrogen molecules and soot-like chemicals. These glamour shots can help refine astronomers’ understanding of the nebula, which acts as a nursery for big stars to brew. Horsehead is a favorite target of space observatories including the Hubble Space Telescope. Last year, the European space telescope Euclid took fresh photos of the nebula.” (05/01/24)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/a-horse-shaped-nebula-gets-its-close-up-in-new-19429514.php
- Poland: Pols condemn Warsaw synagogue firebombing
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Poland’s political leaders have condemned a firebomb attack on a synagogue in Warsaw. The Nozyk Synagogue in the capital was attacked with three firebombs early on Wednesday. The building sustained minimal damage, and there were no casualties. Police said they have not established a motive for the attack and no perpetrator has been identified. Attacks against Jewish targets have risen around the globe since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October. However, it is also suspected Russia may be seeking to use the rising tension to encourage social divisions in Europe.” (05/01/24)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/1/synagogue-in-warsaw-firebombed
- Spain: Regime abducts “Bitcoin Jesus” on US regime charges of avoiding extortion payments
Source: CoinTelegraph
“Officials with the United States Department of Justice announced charges against early Bitcoin investor Roger Ver, known by many as ‘Bitcoin Jesus.’ In an April 30 notice, the Justice Department said authorities in Spain had arrested Ver based on criminal charges in the United States, including mail fraud, tax evasion and filing false tax returns. The U.S. government alleged Ver defrauded the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) out of roughly $48 million with his failure to report capital gains on his sale of Bitcoin and other assets.” (04/30/24)
- US DOJ moves toward re-scheduling cannabis, just in time for Biden campaign usefulness
Source: CNN
“The Biden administration will move Tuesday to reclassify marijuana as a lower-risk substance, a person familiar with the plans told CNN, a historic move that acknowledges the medical benefits of the long-criminalized drug and carries broad implications for cannabis-related research and the industry at large. … For more than 50 years, marijuana has been categorized as a Schedule I substance — drugs like heroin, bath salts and ecstasy that are considered to have no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse — and subject to the strictest of restrictions. The expected recommendation comes after the US Health and Human Services department, following a thorough US Food and Drug Administration review at the direction of President Joe Biden, who in 2022 sent a letter to the Justice Department supporting the reclassification to Schedule III.” (04/30/24)
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/30/economy/dea-marijuana-rescheduling/index.html
- Russia: Ryazan oil refinery ablaze after apparent drone strike
Source: Yahoo! News
“A major fire broke out at the Ryazan oil refinery overnight on May 1 after drones attacked Russia’s Ryazan Oblast, Russian media claimed. Debris from the attack shattered windows in nearby buildings. There were no casualties in the attack, the governor claimed. Ukraine has been regularly targeting Russian oil refineries with long-range drones since late January. At least 13 strikes on Russian refineries have been recorded, said Ukraine’s SBU Security Service.” (05/01/24)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/russias-ryazan-oil-refinery-ablaze-075700513.html
- NY: Judge fines disgraced former president, warns of jail for further gag order violations
Source: Axios
“The judge overseeing former President Trump’s New York criminal trial on Tuesday ruled he violated the gag order against him. He was ordered to pay a $9,000 fine. The judge warned that he would ‘impose an incarceratory punishment’ if Trump continued to violate the gag order in the case. He also said that the former president must remove seven ‘offending’ social media posts and two posts on his campaign website by 2:15 pm ET. … The gag order prohibits Trump from commenting on witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors, as well as their relatives.” (04/30/24)
https://www.axios.com/2024/04/30/trump-contempt-hearing-gag-order-new-york
- Hamas and Fatah Officials, Longtime Rivals, Met in China
Source: New York Times
“Officials from Hamas and Fatah, the main Palestinian factions that have long competed for power in Gaza and the West Bank, met in Beijing recently for what Chinese officials on Tuesday called ‘in-depth and candid talks on promoting intra-Palestinian reconciliation.’ The discussions in Beijing were not expected to produce much. Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has deepened support for Hamas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority — controlled by Fatah — has administered cities and towns for decades. U.S. officials have suggested that the Palestinian Authority could help govern a postwar Gaza, though that would most likely require approval from Hamas. … for Beijing, the meetings most likely served a larger purpose: To present China as a great power and peacemaker in opposition to the United States.” (04/30/24)
- House Democrats say they’ll shield Johnson from MTG’s motion to vacate
Source: The Hill
“House Democratic leaders announced Tuesday that they will protect Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) from a potential conservative coup, all but ensuring the Speaker will keep the gavel through the remainder of the term. The proclamation from Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.) and caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (Calif.) is a remarkable development in the turbulent Speaker saga that’s hobbled the GOP’s governing majority from the earliest days of the 118th Congress — an unprecedented promise by the minority party to prop up an opposing leader for the sake of stabilizing chamber business. Their announcement serves as a response to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) threat to oust Johnson over a series of deals he’s cut with President Biden, most recently on federal spending, government surveillance and aid to Ukraine.” (04/30/24)
- WV: Middle schoolers who protested trans athlete’s participation banned from future competitions
Source: New York Post
“Five West Virginia middle schoolers who protested a transgender athlete’s participation in a track and field competition have been barred from future meets — prompting the state attorney general to ask the US Supreme Court to weigh in on transgender student-athlete bans for a second time. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey filed a lawsuit against the Harrison County Board of Education on the dissenting students’ behalf after they were blocked from upcoming meets following their protests at the April 18 shot put competition, West Virginia Watch reported. Five girls from Lincoln Middle School stepped up to the circle for their turn before refusing to throw in the event, which was won by Becky Pepper-Jackson …. While West Virginia law bans transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams, a recent federal appeals court ruled that the law couldn’t lawfully be applied to the eighth-grader.” (04/30/24)
- Finnish hacker imprisoned for accessing thousands of psychotherapy records & demanding ransoms
Source: SFGate
“A Finnish court on Tuesday sentenced a 26-year-old man to six years and three months in prison for hacking tens of thousands of patient records at a private psychotherapy center and seeking ransom from some patients over the sensitive data. The case that was initially revealed in October 2020, has caused outrage and shock in the Nordic nation, with a record number of people — about 24,000 — filing criminal complaints with police. In February 2023, French police arrested well-known Finnish hacker Aleksanteri Kivimäki, who was living under a false identity near Paris and deported him to Finland. His trial ended last month. The Länsi-Uusimaa District Court said Kivimäki was guilty of, among other things, an aggravated data breach, nearly 21,000 aggravated blackmail attempts and more than 9,200 aggravated disseminations of information infringing private life.” (04/30/24)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/finnish-hacker-gets-prison-for-accessing-19430652.php
- US regime challenges “bogus” patents on Ozempic and other drugs in effort to spur competition
Source: ABC News
“Federal regulators are challenging patents on 20 brand name drugs, including the blockbuster weight-loss injection Ozempic, in the latest action by the Biden administration targeting industry practices that drive up pharmaceutical prices. The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday sent warning letters to 10 drugmakers, taking issue with patents on popular drugs for weight loss, diabetes, asthma and other reparatory conditions. The letters allege that certain patents filed by Novo Nordisk, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and seven other companies are inaccurate or misleading.” (04/30/24)
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-challenges-bogus-patents-ozempic-drugs-effort-spur-109794066
- Republic First seizure signals more bank failures to come, expert warns
Source: Fox News
“Republic First Bank, a regional lender based out of Philadelphia, became the first bank failure of 2024 on Friday when it was shut down by Pennsylvania’s bank regulator and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) seized control of the operation. The FDIC quickly made a deal for Fulton Bank to buy Republic First’s assets, but one expert on financial regulatory reform and bank failures says the collapse could be a harbinger of things to come. ‘This bank failure indicates that additional failures will occur and will range between smaller community banks and larger banks,’ said Joseph Lynyak, a banking attorney at Dorsey & Whitney, regarding the seizure of Republic First by U.S. regulators.” (04/30/24)
- Sudan: As famine looms, the hungry eating soil & leaves
Source: Reuters
“There is so little food in some areas of Sudan that people are taking extreme measures to survive. In the Al Lait refugee camp, they are eating dirt. The impoverished camp, located in North Darfur, has seen a new influx of displaced people as Sudan’s year-old civil war has brought fighting to large swathes of the country and a campaign of ethnic cleansing to Darfur. Garang Achien …. Akok, his wife and their five children abandoned their home in the southern region of Kordofan after Arab militiamen on camels stormed their village and torched their hut …. At times, they go two or three days without eating. When that happens, Akok said, he watches helplessly as his wife and children dig holes in the ground with a stick, slide their hands in and grab some soil. Then they roll the soil into a ball, put it in their mouths and swallow it with water.” (04/30/24)
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/sudan-politics-hunger-aid/
- Philippines: Drought dries up dam to reveal centuries-old town
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The ruins of an almost 300-year-old town have resurfaced as searing temperatures in the Philippines partially dried up a major dam. Pantabangan town was submerged in the 1970s to build a reservoir. But it emerges from the water on extremely rare occasions, when the weather is dry and hot. It comes as almost half the country is experiencing a drought, with temperatures reaching highs in several areas. This is the longest the town has ever been above water since the dam was constructed, Marlon Paladin, an engineer with the state agency that operates the country’s dams, told news agency AFP. The extreme heat has disrupted the daily lives of millions as schools are shut for days and office workers are advised to work from home.” (04/30/24)
- Mali: Army says it killed an Islamic State group commander who attacked US, Niger forces
Source: ABC News
“A senior Islamic State group commander wanted in connection with the deaths of U.S. forces in Niger was killed in an operation by Malian state forces, the country’s army said. Abu Huzeifa, known by the alias Higgo, was a commander in the group known as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara. The State Department had announced a reward of up to $5 million for information about him. Huzeifa is believed to have helped carry out an attack in 2017 on U.S. and Nigerien forces in Tongo Tongo, Niger, which resulting in the deaths of four Americans and four Nigerien soldiers. Following the attack, the U.S. military scaled back operations with local partners in the Sahel.” (04/30/24)
- CA: Cal Poly Humboldt campus closed through end of semester amid protests
Source: SFGate
“Cal Poly Humboldt announced on Friday that its campus will remain closed through the rest of the semester due to the ongoing protests and occupation of Siemens Hall and Nelson Hall East. The semester was set to end on May 10. The university said remote instruction and work will continue until that time. On Monday, several dozen demonstrators took over Siemens Hall, one of the main buildings on campus. Another group of protesters was outside the building. University officials said the ongoing occupation of the two buildings has caused an ‘ongoing inability to open other campus facilities.’ They said vandalism and theft have continued across campus. The university made an offer to protesters who were barricaded inside campus buildings, giving them the chance to leave the buildings with no arrest by 5 p.m. Friday.” (04/30/24)
- Study: Cancer immunity gets a boost from vitamin D
Source: Fox News
“Vitamin D could be a surprise weapon against cancer, new research suggests. A study of mice published in the journal Science last week found that eating a diet rich in vitamin D changed the gut microbiome in a way that boosted cancer immunity. The micronutrient increased levels of the bacterium Bacteroides fragilis, which has been shown to improve cancer immune response. The mice that received vitamin D showed improved responses to cancer immunotherapy and greater immunity to new tumor development, according to researchers at the Francis Crick Institute in London, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Aalborg University in Denmark.” (04/30/24)
- NY: Pro-Palestinian Columbia students occupy academic building
Source: Politico
“Pro-Palestinian student protesters at Columbia University early Tuesday entered the same campus building that students advocating for racial justice occupied in the 1960s, a significant escalation at the elite institution that launched dozens of campus demonstrations across the world. ‘We will not leave until Columbia meets every one of our demands,’ one of the students yelled from a balcony window. The demands include university divestment from Israel, disclosure of Columbia investments and protections for protesters. About a dozen students and two janitors were in the building, according to a student inside who was granted anonymity to avoid retaliation from the university. The janitors left the building shortly after the students entered.” (04/30/24)
- Laos-born immigrant with cancer wins $1.3 billion in US Powerball
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A Laos-born immigrant battling cancer has won a massive $1.3bn (£1bn) on Powerball — America’s lottery game, competition officials have revealed. They say Cheng Saephan, aged 46, bought the lucky ticket for the 7 April draw in the city of Portland, in the northwest of Oregon state. He chose to take his winnings as a lump sum of $422m after taxes to be shared evenly with his wife and a friend. ‘Now I can bless my family and hire a good doctor for myself,’ he said. ‘My life has been changed,’ Mr Saephan told CBS affiliate KOIN, revealing that he had prayed to God for help. He added that he now wanted to buy a dream family house, and would continue playing Powerball. ‘I might get lucky again.'” (04/30/24)
- UN-led talks wrap up without deal on capping plastics production
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“A fourth and penultimate round of UN-led negotiations to solve global plastic pollution wrapped up in Ottawa early on Tuesday with a world-first pact said to be within reach by year’s end but without a cap on the production of polymers. For the first time in the negotiations, delegates from 175 countries and observers discussed a draft of what is to become a global treaty on ending the scourge of plastics that are found everywhere from mountain tops to ocean depths, as well as within human blood and breast milk. The current session picked up where talks in Kenya left off five months ago.” (04/30/24)
- Chinese scientist who first published COVID sequence stages protest after being locked out of lab
Source: SFGate
“The first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus in China staged a sit-in protest outside his lab after authorities locked him out of the facility — a sign of the Beijing’s continuing pressure on scientists conducting research on the coronavirus. Zhang Yongzhen wrote in an online post Monday that he and his team had been suddenly notified they were being evicted from their lab, the latest in a series of setbacks, demotions and ousters since the virologist published the sequence in January 2020 without state approval. When Zhang tried to go to the lab over the weekend, guards barred him from entering. In protest, he sat outside on flattened cardboard in drizzling rain, pictures from the scene posted online show. News of the protest spread widely on Chinese social media and Zhang told a colleague he slept outside the lab — but it was not clear Tuesday if he remained there.” (04/30/24)
- GOP pols say MTG’s motion to vacate has fizzled
Source: Axios
“A sizable number of GOP lawmakers cast doubt on the odds of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) pulling the trigger on her motion to vacate Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), with some arguing her efforts lost momentum after members went home for recess. Greene told reporters she felt members would hear from constituents back home in support of her motion shortly before House lawmakers left town. But multiple members said GOP voters have largely been against another speaker ouster attempt this Congress. … Conservatives are fuming about Johnson’s decision to bring Ukraine funding without border language attached to the floor, but many say they don’t want the chaos at this point in the game.” (04/30/24)
https://www.axios.com/2024/04/30/marjorie-taylor-greene-johnson-motion-vacate-gop
- Ukraine war: Russian missile kills five in Odesa
Source: Reuters
“A Russian missile attack on an educational institution in a popular seafront park in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa on Monday killed at least five people and injured 32, local officials said.
Regional governor Oleh Kiper, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said that in addition to those killed in the attack, one man died after suffering a stroke attributed to the strike. Kiper said eight of the injured were in serious condition, including a 4-year-old child. Among the injured were another child and a pregnant woman Reuters Television footage showed the roof of the ornate building, a private law academy, all but destroyed after the strike. Firefighters were directing water on small fires still burning.” (04/29/24)
- Tulsi Gabbard Takes on Today’s Real Racists
Source: Town Hall
by Bill Martinez“Former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard’s new book, For Love of Country: Leave the Democrat Party Behind, is the must-read of our time. As we head into a fateful election, Americans will hear accusation after accusation slung by politicians and their mouthpieces in and out of the media from both sides. As the noise reaches its inevitable deafening crescendo, and Americans must choose the nation’s direction for the next four years and perhaps forever, it may become more and more difficult to separate fact from farce and discern who is telling the truth. Gabbard, the former congresswoman from Hawaii and first Hindu to seek the presidency, breaks through the noise and exposes one party and its elites for using race and racism to divide Americans against each other. And she exposes why they are doing it.” (05/01/24)
- Is a Vote for a Third Party Really a Waste?
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Sam Branthoover“In 2016, Michelle Obama told Pennsylvanian university students that ;[i]f you vote for someone other than Hillary … you are helping to elect Hillary’s opponent.’ Her appeal to third-party voters is a common one: third-party candidates will certainly not win, and thus supporting them is an utter waste. Why not, as she says, vote for a candidate with a chance of winning? At least then your preference will be captured in some way, right? This argument has been around for decades, and I imagine politicians play no small part in propagating it. They want you to think that elections are winner-takes-all — that being a part of the winning coalition is what makes your vote matter. But it isn’t.” (04/30/24)
https://fee.org/articles/is-a-vote-for-a-third-party-really-a-waste
- Shutting Down Pro-Palestinian Campus Protests Will Hurt the Cause of Learning
Source: The UnPopulist
by Emily Tamkin“Some of the discourse about the campus protests, at Columbia specifically and throughout the country more generally, has made it sound as though the protests are motivated by antisemitism and seek to endanger Jewish students. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went as far as to liken the protests to Nazi Germany. Leaving aside that it is grossly ahistorical to conflate student protests against a war carried out by the Jewish state to a historical episode in which the state carried out violence and discrimination against Jews, this narrative is simplistic and, more than that, wrong. The protests are an opportunity to remind ourselves of the function of universities; that no identity is a monolith; and why students are moved to protest in the first place.” (04/30/24)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/shutting-down-pro-palestinian-campus
- At What Cost: The Social Costs of Drug Prohibition
Source: EconLog
by Tarnell Brown“Every public policy comes with its own set of externalities and unintended consequences. Moreover, because politics exists at the nexus between competing interests, outcomes can often approach zero-sum, whether or not this was the initial aim of policymakers. Simply put, someone gains while someone loses; there is always a cost. In my previous post, we ended by taking a cursory glance at some of the social costs of drug prohibition, such as increased violence, property crimes, and a rise in the incidence of overdose deaths. In this post, we will take a deeper look into the (sometimes hidden) costs imposed by the War on Drugs[TM].” (04/30/24)
https://www.econlib.org/at-what-cost-the-social-costs-of-drug-prohibition/
- Why May Day Continues to Capture Hearts & Imaginations of Workers
Source: In These Times
by Raechel Anne Jolie“May 1 has an energy that is palpable across the globe. On this day, every year for more than a century, workers across the world gather for International Workers Day, also known as May Day. These marches have inspired everyone from retired mechanics to immigrant fast food workers to high school students to take the streets in honor of labor — and in a show of respect for the power of a strike. Amid the Trump administration’s egregious assaults on the lives of workers and immigrants, showing up for a day that asserts the dignity of workers from all backgrounds is more important than ever.” (05/01/24)
- The Difference Between Justice and the Rule of Law
Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
by Ilya Somin“In the course of an interview mostly devoted to other issues, a Japanese reporter recently asked me whether there is a difference between justice and the rule of law. Some of his (understandable) confusion was purely linguistic. Both ‘justice’ and ‘rule of law’ are fuzzy terms that different people use in different ways. It’s easy to see how non-native English speakers could get confused. Nonetheless, there are differences between the two concepts that go beyond semantics.” (04/30/24)
https://reason.com/volokh/2024/04/30/the-difference-between-justice-and-the-rule-of-law/
- Campus Protests: The Kids May Not Be Alright, But They Are (Mostly) Right
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“I’m told by some ‘pro-Israel’ friends that the student protesters are all ‘anti-semites’ and ‘supporters of Hamas,’ and that if I support them I must also hate a particular ethnic group and support terrorism as a tactic. But I don’t hate any ethnic groups, nor do I support Hamas any more than I support the Israeli Defence Forces. … I just want a government that claims it works for me to stop handing out weapons and cash to other governments. Especially, though not only, to crybully regimes that constantly play the victim while also occupying territory outside their borders for decades on end, imposing apartheid regimes on the inhabitants of those occupied territories, murdering anyone who resists (along with many who don’t), etc. To the extent that the kids on campus are seeking the same thing, they’re doing God’s work and have my full support.” (04/30/24)
- Mark Twain’s Anti-Imperialism and the Boxer Uprising
Source: CounterPunch
by David S D’Amato“Mark Twain was a key figure in the foundation of the American Anti-Imperialist League, becoming one of the organization’s Vice Presidents in 1901. He was a forceful and adamant opponent of war and imperialism and became a ‘red-hot anti-imperialist.’ In 1900, in a piece for the New York Herald, Twain had written of his conversion experience, remarking on his time as a ‘red-hot imperialist’ who ‘wanted the American eagle to go screaming into the Pacific.’ Twain soon came to understand that the mission of the U.S. government in the Philippines was the same old one, a mission not to free, but to subjugate — not to redeem, but to conquer. Twain’s experience reflects that of so many anti-war and anti-empire activists, who have been disabused of their jingoism by a growing awareness of history and respect for their fellow human beings.” (04/30/24)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/04/30/twains-anti-imperialism-and-the-boxer-uprising/
- Should weed be legal? Biden and Trump have chance to back popular idea in swing states.
Source: USA Today
by USA Today“American voters face a November rematch for president that many did not want, and the winner will be the oldest man ever to hold or retake the White House. So courting young voters makes plenty of sense for President Joe Biden and the man he defeated in 2020, Donald Trump. And there’s an issue that, while polling strongly with all Americans, really appeals to voters under the age of 35 − the legalization of marijuana. Three of the anticipated seven swing states already have approved full recreational and medical use for marijuana − Arizona, Michigan and Nevada. The other four − Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin − all still have strict limitations. This, despite plenty of polling in those states and nationwide that shows strong support for full legalization.” (04/30/24)
- They Can Always Find More Money for War
Source: Jacobin
by Branko Marcetic“There’s a quote (allegedly) from his father that President Joe Biden likes to use: ‘Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.’ We could just as well tweak it: ‘Don’t tell me what you value. Show me how hard you fight for something, and I’ll tell you what you value.’ If we look at the contrast between the mammoth military aid package funding a trilogy of global conflicts the president signed into law last week, and the ambitious social safety net expansion that faded into oblivion in December 2021, it is hard to come to a different conclusion than this: Biden, and by extension the US Congress, simply didn’t consider the passage of this progressive wish list a priority, and cared far more about shipping nearly $100 billion off for foreign wars.” (04/30/24)
https://jacobin.com/2024/04/congress-biden-bill-foreign-wars/
- The Ruination of Plane Travel
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Jeffrey A Tucker“The best time to write about how horrible plane travel has become is immediately following, or, in this case, during a scheduling and delay disaster that completely upends the routines of life. When it doesn’t happen and your flight goes well, you just don’t care that much. But when you are in the thick of it – I’m writing now from a 36-hour international travel time on a 19-hour delayed domestic flight that just took off – it feels like the apocalypse. … The sadistic ruling class now running the show hates the ability of regular people to travel the way we did decades ago. Many top elites have dreamed of ending commercial plane travel completely because, they say, this would be good for the planet. But they dare not. Instead, a much easier path is to impose deep and abiding regret on everyone who’s willing to leave their 15-minute cities.” (04/30/24)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-ruination-of-plane-travel/
- For Love of Country: Why it’s time to leave the Democratic Party behind
Source: Fox News
by Tulsi Gabbard“We have no time to waste. We live in troubled times. Our nation is bitterly divided. Our future as a republic, as a union, appears bleak. The news – the noise, the insanity, the darkness – is something many of us want to shut out. There are times when all I want to do is grab my surfboard and paddle out into the ocean, or go for a hike in the mountains, and appreciate the peace and majesty of Mother Nature. But there is too much at stake, in this moment, to put our heads in the sand and go about our lives with blinders on hoping the insanity will fade away. The insanity and threats to our constitutional democracy will not fade away and will only increase unless we stand up and remind those trying to destroy this country that ours is a government of, by, and for the people.” (04/30/24)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/for-love-of-country-why-its-time-leave-democratic-party-behind
- The Death Of Politics
Source: Cobden Centre
by Martin Gundinger“Governments’ encroachments on liberties and privacy have become the norm. The way governments responded to Covid was not an accident. It was the manifestation of a mindset that has taken root in practically all societies on the political level. The essence of this mindset is this: ‘We know what is good for society, and we have the right to enforce it using all means necessary.’ It is this belief that practically all politicians are basing their actions on – at least in some areas. The result is what we are seeing now – a society where politicians don’t care about individual rights anymore. Where freedoms are taken away for the ‘good of society’ – which is of course defined by politicians. Remember that famous quote of George Orwell: ‘If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.'” (04/30/24)
- We Make Cities and Cities Make Us
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders“When it comes to emergence, we have to understand the difference between protocols and plans. The former enables order to emerge, while the latter limits emergence.” (04/30/24)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/we-make-cities-and-cities-make-us
- The best way to fix a democracy
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by Mark Sappenfield“A woman in Australia, it turns out, knows exactly what is needed to fix democracy. ‘There should be longer terms of government to promote longer-term vision,’ she told a recent survey by the Pew Research Center. That makes sense. People need time to make big changes. But wait. A man in the United States is equally sure that he, too, knows exactly what is needed to fix democracy. ‘I believe term limits on senators and representatives in government would greatly improve our process of democracy. Career politicians must end,’ he told the survey. OK, so maybe that’s not it. Maybe the solution is somewhere else. Maybe the way to better-functioning democracies is fewer parties. ‘We need fewer parties, less fragmentation, and more concrete debate,’ a woman in the Netherlands told the survey. That sounds logical enough.” (04/29/24)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/From-the-Editors/2024/0429/The-best-way-to-fix-a-democracy
- Why Are Prominent Republicans Who Despise Trump Voting for Him Anyway?
Source: The Daily Beast
by Matt Lewis“If you want to understand why Donald Trump could win in 2024, look no further than Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, former Attorney General Bill Barr, and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu. These three top Republican voices who previously condemned Trump now say they plan to vote for him again this November. … To a normal observer, McConnell, Barr, and Sununu have made assertions about Trump that should logically preclude him from serving as president again. What is more, McConnell (who is stepping down from his leadership post in November) and Barr (who was just mocked by Trump) seemingly have little to gain by sucking up to Trump — and little to lose by opposing him. Only Sununu has a political future to consider. So why are they all sticking with Trump?” (04/30/24)
https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-are-republicans-who-despise-trump-voting-for-him-anyway
- The Creature From Palestine
Source: Libertarian Institute
by John Weeks“The state is a monster that eats itself, along with individuals within its domain, its spheres of influence, and beyond. Citizens typically don’t perceive this due to the crafty rhetoric generated by the state’s intellectuals. Sometimes the rhetorical machinery breaks down and we get to see the monster in all its gruesome majesty. This has happened in Israel due to its ‘plausibly genocidal’ savagery in Gaza, coupled with its structurally flawed, adolescent dependence on the United States’[s] information warfare apparatus. Much as Israel created a ‘Palestine Laboratory’ for the workshopping of occupation technology, the Israeli state itself has become a vast research field for the study of political modernity. Someday dissertations on the topic will stack up faster than the bodies exhumed from an IDF created mass grave. But for now, we must do our part to bear witness and understand.” (04/30/24)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-creature-from-palestine
- As good Americans, we should get rid of the National Day of Prayer
Source: Washington Post
by Kate Cohen“This week, the United States will celebrate an official National Day of Prayer, as it has every year since 1952. The National Day of Prayer kicked off a profusion of official endorsements of religion: the National Prayer Breakfast (1953); ‘under God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance (1954); a Congressional Prayer Room in the U.S. Capitol (1955); ‘In God We Trust’ as the U.S. motto (1956), on our money (1957) and inscribed on the rostrum of the speaker of the House (1962). Of those, it is the most benign. It’s less ubiquitous than the cash we handle, less coercive than a pledge that schoolchildren recite every day, less freighted with significance than a permanent fixture in the People’s House. A person might absolutely ignore the National Day of Prayer as she ignores other holidays that grant neither time off nor an excuse to drink green beer. But we shouldn’t ignore it. We should get rid of it.” (04/30/24)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/04/30/abolish-national-prayer-day/
- The FTC’s New Ban on “Noncompetes” Helps Workers Reclaim Their Power
Source: Common Dreams
by Heidi Shierholz“Changing jobs can often be the best way to get a raise. But employers frequently force workers to sign ‘noncompete clauses,’ contract stipulations that make it harder for workers to move to better jobs and artificially depress wages. That will change later this year. The Federal Trade Commission recently issued a new rule declaring that most noncompete clauses in employment contracts are unfair. The new rule bans employers from requiring workers to sign these agreements and prohibits the enforcement of existing ‘noncompetes’ for workers other than senior executives. This is an important step toward fostering fair competition and empowering workers. Noncompete agreements are employment provisions that ban workers at one company from working for, or starting, a competing business within a certain period of time after leaving a job. They’re ubiquitous.” (04/30/24)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/the-ftcs-new-ban-on-noncompetes-is-a-win-for-workers
- Defending Individual Liberty
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya“The ideal of individual liberty is perennially under attack not only from socialists, as one might logically expect, but also from conservatives who regard individualism as a form of selfishness. The ordinary meaning of selfishness is ‘caring only about what you want or need without any thought for the needs or wishes of other people,’ and many conservatives see this as a major contributing factor in social decline. The conservative British journalist Nick Timothy attributes many social ills to selfishness, arguing that ‘our society has become more about ‘me’ than ‘we,’’ leading to higher rates of crime, antisocial behavior, and a ballooning welfare state as selfish people try to take as much as possible from the public purse while contributing little or nothing to it. This school of conservative thought regards ‘excessive individualism’ or ‘hyperindividualism’ as a cause of social decay.” (04/30/24)
- Responsibility Is the Antidote to the Poverty Mindset
Source: Mindset Shifts
by Barry Brownstein“Recently, a psychologist friend sang a familiar refrain: ‘My clients want their problematic circumstances alleviated, but few want to change how they see the world.’ Most intransigent among his clients are those with government benefits and mandated weekly therapy. Some have been coming to him for years. Their mindsets are characterized by hopelessness, but they have shelter and food and seem averse to change. Going to therapy is a big event in their week. Qualifying for benefits is important to them. An oft-repeated question is, ‘Can you get me eligible for more benefits?’ They were unlikely to take steps to hold a steady job, since doing so is at odds with keeping their benefits.” (04/30/24)
https://mindsetshifts.substack.com/p/responsibility-is-the-antidote-to
- Rocky Loses
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson“There’s some kind of ‘Mandela effect’ thing going on with the plot of Sylvester Stallone’s 1976 masterpiece …. On more than one occasion, I have heard somebody talking about the film clearly under the impression that Rocky Balboa, the hardworking underdog, trains hard, beats his hands bloody on some sides of beef, and then defeats sneering champion Apollo Creed in the big fight. But that isn’t what happens at all. Rocky is treated with contempt and condescension, written off as a joke opponent who has no business being in the ring with the heavyweight champion. Then he gets beaten to a pulp and loses the big fight.” And it is glorious. Rocky’s vindication doesn’t come from victory; it comes from showing up, doing the work, going the distance, and enduring everything Creed throws at him.” (04/30/24)
- If Trump’s guilty of “election interference” so is Bill Clinton
Source: New York Post
by Rich Lowry“The Alvin Bragg case has gotten grander at trial, but also more ridiculous. The Manhattan district attorney has a meaningless business-records misdemeanor wrapped within a theory about an alleged Trump conspiracy to defraud the voters by denying them disparaging information before the election and obscuring after the fact the payments that were used to do so. Bragg is accusing former President Donald Trump, in effect, of stealing the election. He, thus, joins all the other progressives who have denied the legitimacy of Trump’s 2016 election, although he finds the culprit not in Russia (at least not in this case) but in the shady maneuverings around Stormy Daniels. If this is the standard by which we judge elections, we need to go back and conclude that Bill Clinton wasn’t elected legitimately in 1992, either.” (04/29/24)
- US Congress Makes Downpayment on World War III
Source: Antiwar.com
by Roger D Harris“The US Congress authorized a $95 billion military aid package for continuing the wars in Ukraine and Gaza as well as for war preparations against China. This represents, in effect, a downpayment on World War III. US President Joe Biden, reading from a playbook that could well have been scripted by George Orwell, announced: ‘it’s a good day for world peace.’ And in order to dispel any doubt, he added, ‘for real.’ Biden proclaimed: ‘It’s going to make the world safer.’ In fact, the bipartisan authorization, passed on April 23, could nudge the doomsday clock a little closer to midnight.” (04/30/24)
https://original.antiwar.com/roger_harris/2024/04/29/us-congress-makes-downpayment-on-world-war-iii/
- Where is the US military’s $320 million pier project?
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos“According to reports today, satellite images are showing that the massive U.S. project to build a pier and causeway to help surge humanitarian aid into Gaza has finally begun. President Joe Biden first announced the plan during his State of the Union speech, on March 4. The problem is it was supposed to be complete in ‘early May’ but Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS, system is no where near being in place. In fact, according to this Associated Press report, an American military engineering unit is currently ‘training’ to build the 1800-foot causeway, which is supposed to be anchored right off the Gazan beach, with another Israeli military unit, up the coast.” (04/30/24)
- A New Paradigm is Needed
Source: Law & LIberty
by Daniel Miller“Revolution is a social expression of the logic of entropy which the science of politics consists in holding at bay. The revolutionary crisis which irrupted in France in 1789 didn’t come out of nowhere, but can be traced back to forces that began to coagulate under the centralizing, absolutist regime of Louis XIV. The contemporary revolutionary crisis can likewise be traced back to the establishment of the progressive, centralizing administrative state by FDR, and especially to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The common factor in both cases was the destruction of organic authority by a centralized, administrative power animated by a new ideology serving to justify its expansion.” (04/30/24)
- Live Nation Strikes Up the Band in Washington
Source: American Prospect
by David Dayen“The vast majority of Americans who pay no attention to the social event of the year in Washington, last weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, probably also don’t know that a weeklong series of parties have sprung up around that event, bringing together traditional media, policymakers, lobbyists, and other facets of the Capitol blob. D.C. tipsheet Axios, for example, hosted not one but two events during Correspondents’ Dinner week. Axios’s partner was Live Nation, the ticketing and entertainment giant that is currently under investigation at the Justice Department for antitrust violations. Axios held a co-branded event at the OAS Building last Thursday, and a second one at the National Building Museum last Friday, where Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino was listed as a co-host, along with Axios co-founders Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz. Jelly Roll played a set at the Thursday night event; Live Nation produces his tours.” (04/30/24)
https://prospect.org/power/2024-04-30-live-nation-strikes-up-band-washington/
- Hypocrisy’s Cash Value
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“‘If these corrupt Democrats didn’t have HYPOCRISY,’ the Republican National Committee explained, ‘they’d have NOTHING!’ After months of Biden surrogates savaging former President Donald Trump for the dastardly deed of using campaign monies to cover his mounting legal fees from the plethora of trumped-up indictments brought by partisan Democratic prosecutors, it turns out the Democrats have been doing the same thing.” (04/30/24)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2024/04/30/hypocrisys-cash-value/
- Taxpayer Rights Revival in California
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Thomas Savidge“A year and a half ago, a colleague and I wrote about California’s need for a revival of fiscal rules. At the time, in November 2022, voters were considering Proposition 30, a personal income tax increase that would have raised the top personal income tax rate to over 15 percent of income earned over $2 million. By 2022 it had become abundantly clear that taxes and the heavy hand of government were chasing families and businesses alike out of California. Voters rightfully rejected Proposition 30, with just under 58 percent of voters rejecting the ballot initiative. Despite the resounding rejection of another tax hike, Sacramento continued to tax and spend. To the surprise of many, however, Golden State residents are finally fed up with taxes.” (04/30/24)
https://www.aier.org/article/taxpayer-rights-revival-in-california/
- A 15-Hour Workweek?
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Peter Jacobsen“A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about why the Bernie Sanders plan to legislate a 4-day workweek while keeping pay the same was doomed to fail. You can read the article for more detail, but the summary is that economic fundamentals determine wages — not the government. In response to that, I received an ‘Ask an Economist’ question from one of FEE’s readers — Larry L. He says: ‘On the same lines of Bernie’s work hours reduction, there are claims that historically humans used to work 15-hour workweeks long ago. I cannot imagine that being plausible being that the levels of technology and knowledge were much, much lower. But, it seems to correlate to this same kind of socialist-like thinking: we can have the same amount of stuff without the same effort. What are your thoughts?'” (04/29/24)
- Behind The Scenes: FBI Surveillance And The Truth About Protest Monitoring
Source: Town Hall
by John Nantz“Last week, during an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt, FBI Director Chris Wray said that the FBI doesn’t ‘monitor protests’. Subsequently, an incredulous public response ensued via every social media platform imaginable. Having supervised the FBI’s Washington Field Office (WFO) surveillance squads, I can say with complete confidence that the FBI does monitor protests. But, that statement doesn’t necessarily contradict Director Wray’s comments to Holt. During the summer of ‘mostly peaceful’ protests in 2020, the FBI was involved in monitoring protestors — more accurately described as rioters. The BLM movement, supplemented by ANTIFA anarchists, capitalized on the [police murder] of George Floyd.” (04/30/24)
- FDA Once Again Stands Athwart Biomedical Innovation, Yelling “Stop!”
Source: Reason
by Ronald Bailey“As earlier threatened, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just issued new rules that will significantly slow down the development of new diagnostic tests. Specifically, the agency requires that all laboratory-developed tests (LDTs) be submitted to its regulators before the tests can be offered to patients and physicians. … Interestingly, most of the thousands of current LDTs must be OK since the new FDA rules grandfather them in. As the agency reasonably observes, imposing its new regulations now would result in ‘the risk that laboratories may stop offering safe and effective tests on which patients and the healthcare community currently rely.’ Well, yes. The unstated flip side of this observation is that the new costs and red tape will almost inevitably result in the development of fewer safe and effective LDTs that would otherwise have been available to future patients and clinicians.” (04/29/24)
https://reason.com/2024/04/29/fda-once-again-stands-athwart-biomedical-innovation-yelling-stop/
- Tariffs are Sanctions Against Consumers
Source: EconLog
by Art Carden“Who do tariffs punish? Many people think they punish unscrupulous, shifty foreign manufacturers who aren’t playing fair and ‘dumping’ their shoddy wares on American markets at prices below American producers’ costs, but that’s not true. Tariffs are sanctions and penalties imposed on American consumers for not paying enough.” (04/29/24)
https://www.econlib.org/tariffs-are-sanctions-against-consumers/
- President Biden’s Costly New Student Loan Relief Scheme
Source: Independent Institute
by Craig Eyermann“Who knew canceling student loans for millions of highly educated, well-to-do Americans could run up the federal government’s budget deficit by billions? The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget knows. The CRFB ran the numbers on how costly President Biden’s latest effort to zero out the student loan debt of millions of Americans will be. They came up with some very large numbers …” (04/29/24)
https://blog.independent.org/2024/04/29/president-bidens-costly-new-student-loan-relief-scheme/
- Celebrating Links Across Species Amid a Nightmare of War
Source: TomDispatch
by Rebecca Gordon“He’s a funny little chap: a sharp dresser with a sleek grey jacket, a white waistcoat, red shorts, and a small grey crest for a hat. With his shiny black eyes and stubby black beak, he’s quite the looker. Like the chihuahua of the bird world, the tufted titmouse has no idea he’s tiny. He swaggers right up to the feeder, shouldering bigger birds out of the way. A few weeks ago, I wouldn’t have known a tufted titmouse from a downy woodpecker. (We have those, too, along with red-bellied woodpeckers, who really should have been named for their bright orange mohawks). This spring I decided to get to know my feathered neighbors with whom I’m sharing an island off Cape Cod, Massachusetts. So I turned up last Saturday for a Birding 101 class, where I learned, among other things, how to make binoculars work effectively while still wearing glasses.” (04/29/24)
- Hubwonk, 04/30/24
Source: Pioneer Institute
“Losing Local Labor: Retaining Workers Remains a Massachusetts Challenge.” (04/30/24)
- SolutionsWatch, 04/30/24
Source: The Corbett Report
“How to Scale a Paywall (and other useful tips).” (04/30/24)
- Liberty at Night, 04/30/24
Source: Free Talk Live
“Campus Protests :: Bidenomics :: Government Spending out of control :: The future of the liberty movement :: Dumb Bleep of the Week :: 2024-04-30 Hosts: Nate, Chuck.” (04/30/24)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/liberty-at-night-2024-04-30
- System Update, episode 263
Source: System Update
“Dems Vow to Save Mike Johnson and Jill Stein Talks Campus Protests, PLUS: Interview with Lee Fang.” (04/30/24)
- Free Speech Unmuted, 04/30/24
Source: Hoover Institution
“Free Speech On Campus.” (04/30/24)
- Rising, 04/30/24
Source: The Hill
“Briahna Joy Gray and Robby Soave discuss the occupation of Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall by pro-Palestine protesters.” (04/30/24)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/4633163-rising-april-30-2024/
- The Bryan Hyde Show, 04/30/24
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“I’m joined by Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos for our weekly chat. The world always seems to make a bit more sense after a visit with Eric.” (04/30/24)
- The New Abnormal, 04/30/24
Source: The Daily Beast
“What We Are Seeing on College Campuses Is Truly Disturbing.” (04/30/24)
https://www.thedailybeast.com/what-we-are-seeing-on-college-campuses-is-truly-disturbing
- Conflicts of Interest, episode 585
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Israel Wants to Silence American Protesters.” (04/30/24)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/coi-585-israel-wants-to-silence-american-protesters
- Pod Save America, 04/30/24
Source: Crooked Media
“Kissing Rings and Killing Puppies.” (04/30/24)
- Power Problems, episode 179
Source: Cato Institute
“Drones, Secrecy, and Endless War.” (04/30/24)
https://shows.acast.com/cato-power-problems/episodes/drones-secrecy-and-endless-war
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/30/24
Source: Antiwar.com
“US to Spend $320 Million on Gaza Pier, Attorneys Inside Biden Admin Say Cut Off Israel, and More.” (04/30/24)
- Nonzero, 04/29/24
Source: Bloggingheads.tv
“A Debate on Israel-Palestine | Robert Wright & Coleman Hughes.” (04/29/24)
- Declare Your Independence, 04/29/24
Source: Free Talk Live
“Chace Barber of Edison Motors comes on the show to discuss the grant scandal involving the Commercial Vehicle Innovation Challenge and suspicious dealings involving MNP :: 2024-04-29 Host: Ernest Hancock.” (04/29/24)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/declare-your-independence-2024-04-29
- Reason Roundtable, 04/29/24
Source: Reason
“Where Do Libertarians Stand on the Campus Wars?” (04/29/24)
https://reason.com/podcast/2024/04/29/where-do-libertarians-stand-on-the-campus-wars/
- Rising, 04/29/24
Source: The Hill
“Briahna Joy Gray and Robby Soave the latest back and forth between Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Donald Trump.” (04/29/24)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/4629325-rising-april-29-2024/
- Conflicts of Interest, episode 584
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Will Biden Save Netanyahu From the ICC?” (04/29/24)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/coi-584-will-biden-save-netanyahu-from-the-icc
- EconTalk, 04/29/24
Source: EconTalk
“The Top EconTalk Conversations of 2023 (with Russ Roberts).” (04/29/24)
https://www.econtalk.org/the-top-econtalk-conversations-of-2023-with-russ-roberts/
- The Bryan Hyde Show, 04/29/24
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“One of the biggest curiosities of our time is that so many people trust coercion over voluntary choice. Doug McCullough lays out why markets are better than mob rule.” (04/29/24)
- Finding Freedom, episode 435
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Radical Transformation with with James Whitfield.” (04/29/24)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/radical-transformation-with-with-james-whitfield