“Today, Friday, 22 November 2024, is the 61st anniversary of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of these United States. A very public event, yet still decades later shrouded in mystery. It never hurts to look back and compare then with now. Let’s do that briefly.” (11/22/24)
“The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and a Hamas military leader, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity. … US President Joe Biden called the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for top Israeli leaders ‘outrageous’ in a statement Thursday. … In an earlier statement, the White House said it ‘fundamentally rejects’ the calls for arrests.” (11/22/24)
Source: Independendent Institute
by Christopher Calton
“The United States faces a growing housing shortage, which is driven heavily by the scarcity of available apartments. According to a joint study from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), the US needs to add 4.3 million apartment units to the housing supply by 2035 to catch up to demand. November 22 marks the 98th anniversary of Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Company, the US Supreme Court decision that upheld the authority of municipal governments to enforce zoning regulations. Although zoning is a widely acknowledged contributor to the housing crisis, most reform advocates believe that the scarcity of apartments is an unintended consequence of well-meaning policy. The reality is that today’s apartment shortage reflects the desired outcome of the Euclid decision.” (11/21/24)
“President Vladimir Putin confirmed that Russia fired a new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile into Ukraine on Thursday in response to Kyiv’s use of advanced weapons provided by the U.S. and U.K. earlier this week, marking another escalation in the intensifying war. In a televised statement, the Russian president claimed the new missile, nicknamed ‘Oreshnik,’ struck an industrial complex in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Putin said that ‘as of today there are no means of counteracting such a weapon,’ asserting that the new missiles move at 2.5-3 kilometers (1.6-1.9 miles) per second — a speed he claimed air defense systems used by the U.S. and Europe ‘cannot intercept.'” (11/22/24)
“We are still operating under many of the trade policies Trump set during his first term. After campaigning in 2020 against the broad-based and damaging tariffs Trump imposed, President Biden maintained and even expanded U.S. trade restrictions and other forms of economic nationalism. The motivation for such consistency, however, was in large part political: It was an open secret in Washington that Biden’s advisors, needing ‘Rust Belt’ votes to win reelection and facing a vocally protectionist opponent in Trump, viewed economic nationalism as the only viable approach. Now unburdened by such concerns and facing the reality of a failed political strategy, Biden has a short time to remedy past policy errors and improve the United States’[s] economic and geopolitical prospects before Trump takes office.” (11/21/24)
“Bitcoin came within a whisker of closing above $100,000 for the first time on Thursday as the election of Republican Donald Trump as U.S. president spurred expectations that his administration will create a friendly regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies. The world’s largest cryptocurrency was trading between $98,000 and $99,000 in late afternoon trading in the U.S. on Thursday, after briefly touching $99,073. Bitcoin has more than doubled in value this year and is up about 40% in the two weeks since Trump was voted in as the next U.S. president and a slew of pro-crypto lawmakers were elected to Congress.” (11/21/24)
“The debate over disinformation today reveals a fundamental divide not merely between Republicans and Democrats, but between two philosophies of human nature that both trace their lineage to the Enlightenment. Those advocating government suppression of disinformation believe that individuals are products of their environment, molded by the inputs they receive. Confident that society can be perfected by carefully controlled influences, they envision a government capable of shaping an informational landscape that fosters collective well-being. Opponents, however, see this ambition as profoundly misguided. They believe in the individual’s capacity for self-direction and doubt the wisdom giving the state the authority to impose or encourage such controls. This clash is not just political; it is philosophical, reflecting a deep-seated disagreement about man’s potential and his autonomy.” (11/21/24)
“Donald Trump started over on his search for an attorney general on Thursday, ending up with former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi hours after Matt Gaetz’s surprise withdrawal. … Allegations of sexual misconduct against Gaetz, combined with a very poor whip count in the Senate, proved too big to overcome: The former congressman, who resigned from Congress the day Trump announced his intention to nominate him as attorney general, said Thursday on X that it was ‘clear’ his ‘confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.'” (11/21/24)
“The US Constitution forbids the US government to regulate immigration with the sole exception of imposing a small head tax …. The US Constitution forbids government at all levels to infringe the right to keep and bear arms …. Laws repugnant to the Constitution are void …. QED, when someone attempts to abduct, cage, or deport an immigrant, even under color of one of those void unconstitutional ‘immigration laws,’ that person is just a common criminal …. The prospective victim, and/or others acting in the defense of the prospective victim, are entitled by both right and constitutional protection to resist, up to and including the use of deadly force. … I’d rejoice if the country’s ICE agents and such voluntarily handed in their gang colors and returned to useful jobs in the private sector. But if they need stronger incentives to straighten up and fly right, that’s on them.” (11/21/24)
