Rising, 12/02/24
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave delivers a radar on President Joe Biden’s pardoning of so Hunter Biden.” (12/02/24)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5017539-rising-december-2-2024/
Seeking Truth versus Seeking Esteem
Source: EconLog
by Arnold Kling
“Michael Huemer believes that some important components of progressive ideology rest on flimsy empirical foundations. By exposing these as myths, he hopes to guide truth-seekers away from the misguided elements of progressivism. But he is not optimistic.” (12/02/24)
https://www.econlib.org/library/columns/y2024/klingtruthvesteem.html
Long-lost Beatles break-up notes found in drawer
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Long-lost notes relating to the acrimonious break-up of The Beatles will go under the hammer next week. More than 300 pages of typed documents, compiled by the Fab Four’s various advisors and legal representatives, were found in a cupboard where they had lain untouched since the 1970s. Denise Kelly, from auctioneers Dawsons, said the ‘fascinating’ papers were used by lawyers during an acrimonious High Court legal battle which resulted in the band’s official split in 1974. The papers will be auctioned on 12 December in Maidenhead and are expected to fetch between £5,000 and £8,000. Online bidders will be able to participate. Dawsons did not reveal where the notes had been found, only that they had been discovered within the last year.” (12/02/24)
History will judge Biden harshly on Gaza
Source: Washington Post
by Chris Van Hollen
“Nothing will haunt President Joe Biden’s foreign policy legacy as much as his failed policies in the Middle East. His ineffective approach, coupled with Donald Trump’s election, now sets the stage for an unprecedented deterioration in our efforts to secure a two-state solution and address the root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The president has a chance to correct some of the mistakes he has made both before and during the war in Gaza, but only if he acts quickly and decisively.” (12/02/24)
Germany: Volkswagen workers launch “warning strike”
Source: United Press International
“Workers at nine of Volkswagen’s care and component factories in Germany were on strike Monday amid a dispute over labor contract changes and factory closings. The ‘warning strike’ includes employees temporarily pausing work and/or cutting work shifts short to show their disapproval of talks with management. … The union said it started considering action when Volkswagen announced plans to close three factories, lay off thousands and slash the paychecks of those remaining by 10%. The factory closings are the first domestically in the company’s history. Volkswagen and the union made no headway in three talks over the changes with more talks scheduled for later in December.” (12/02/24)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2024/12/02/Germany-Volkswagen-warning-strike/1211733145442/
The Bryan Hyde Show, 12/02/24
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“If you listen to this program, you are likely out of step with society in some way or another and that’s a good thing. Learn why being a transitional character is a profound and courageous role.” (12/02/24)
How the Ancient Greeks ‘Protected’ Democracy — and What It Teaches Us Today How the Ancient Greeks “Protected” Democracy — and What It Teaches Us Today
Source: The Daily Economy
by Jon Miltimore
“In the 1960s, archaeologists digging at Athens discovered thousands of pottery fragments in a landfill. The shards of pottery were the remains of ballots from a 471 BCE election, but the fragments were not votes to send candidates to political office. They were votes to banish citizens, a process known as ostraca that involved exiling citizens for a period of ten years. … Banishing citizens by vote is an extreme policy, but one can find a certain logic to ostraca. Since the rights of Athenians were subject to the whims of the state, and the state was controlled by the people, demagogues posed a genuine threat to the system and to Athenians. The problem, of course, is that ostraca violated the individual rights of Athenian citizens. The natural right to privacy, due process, and free speech do not come with a ‘threat to democracy’ clause.” (12/02/24)
Biden’s pardon of son Hunter cements his legacy as liar in chief
Source: Fox News
by Jonathan Turley
“President Biden’s decision to use his presidential powers on Sunday to pardon his own son will be a decision that lives in infamy in presidential politics. It is not just that the president used his constitutional powers to benefit his family. It is because the action culminates years of lying to the public about his knowledge and intentions in the influence-peddling scandal surrounding his family. Even among past controversies about the use of this pardon power, Biden has cemented his legacy for many, not as the commander in chief, but as the liar in chief. Despite its noble origins and purpose, the pardon power historically has not been a pristine power used by past presidents. As I have previously written, it was used to benefit the political cronies of past presidents.” (12/02/24)
NYC: Defense lawyer says veteran “acted to save” people by using chokehold on erratic subway rider
Source: SFGate
“A defense lawyer asked jurors to put themselves in the shoes of frightened subway riders as closing arguments began Monday in the trial of a Marine veteran charged with choking an irate, homeless man to death after an outburst on a New York underground train. Daniel Penny claims he acted in self-defense against threatening behavior when he grabbed and put Jordan Neely in a chokehold on May 1, 2023. Penny has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Prosecutors contend that Penny recklessly killed Neely. But defense attorney Steven Raiser told jurors to imagine they were on that train when Neely got on, ‘filled with rage and not afraid of any consequences.’ Witnesses said Neely shouted about being willing to die, willing to go jail or — as Penny recalled — willing to kill.” (12/02/24)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/summations-set-in-trial-of-veteran-charged-with-19952906.php
A New Paradigm For Assisted Dying
Source: Persuasion
by Matt Johnson
“Liberal democracies are rights-based societies. Citizens have a right to equal protection under the law, to safety, and to a wide range of public services. We have the right to freedom of conscience, expression, and assembly. We have the right to choose our leaders through free and fair elections. The idea of rights is foundational to governance and society across the democratic world. But there’s one right that many democratic societies refuse to grant, and it may be the most consequential of them all — the right to die. It’s a strange incongruence that so many rights-focused democratic societies force terminally ill people to remain in a state of immense and indefinite suffering against their will.” (12/02/24)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/a-new-paradigm-for-assisted-dying