Friday • May 3 • 2024
Vol.XVI • No.XVIII
Manchester, N.H.
Power Line: Protest Everything Edition
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Mark Wauck, Meaning in History: The Culture War Is Alive And Well
On the GOP end of the political spectrum, the wild success of Ron DeSantis—following on the wild success of Glenn Youngkin in VA—seems a clear indication that the culture wars will be front and center. Just as clear an indication is Trump’s continuing and overwhelming success in getting his selections elected in GOP primaries. Never mind the quality of some of his endorsements. The point is that Trump, the leader of populism in America, is showing that he owns the New Right and that the New Right continues to be the ticket for GOP electoral success.
In all this we see that cultural issues are combined with class differences, as well. The Dems are increasingly identified not only with cultural issues but those cultural issues are being recognized by Americans as the expression of class differences, as well. The aberrosexual issues that Dems are trying to foist on Blacks, Hispanics, and suburban moms are now seen to be part and parcel with the upper class of urban Whites. What happened in VA, and is happening increasingly across the country, is that people—like suburban moms—who may have once aspired to become part of the genteel urban Upper Class are having second thoughts. They are no longer certain that the class that controls the Dem party and despises their lifestyle is their kind of people, or that they want to entrust their children to them. Identifying themselves as the class that is willing to trash even the most cherished American institutions in their quest for power may also prove to be a losing card for Dems. Americans remain, in many ways, a people that is bound to tradition.
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Samuel Gregg, Common Sense: 'That Doesn’t Feel Like $150 Worth of Groceries'
In 2011, the last time inflation was on the rise, the then-president of the New York Federal Reserve, William Dudley, ventured into a working-class neighborhood in Queens, New York, to give a speech explaining why inflation wasn’t a big deal. Finding that he wasn’t making an impact, Dudley famously picked up an iPad 2 and told his audience, “Today you can buy an iPad 2 that costs the same as an iPad 1 that is twice as powerful.”
“I can’t eat an iPad!” someone in the audience shouted back.
I was reminded of this story recently while standing in the checkout line of my local grocery store. An elderly neighbor standing in front of me saw the total price of her purchases flash up on the screen. For a moment, her eyes registered shock. Then I heard her mutter, “That sure doesn’t feel like $150 worth of groceries.”
What my neighbor was sensing was the general increase in the price of goods and services and an associated decline in her money’s purchasing power. That’s the essence of inflation.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that a bag of groceries isn’t included in what’s called the “core inflation” measurement.
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— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) May 4, 2022
Jerry Dunleavy, Washington Examiner: Durham convinces judge to review concealed documents in Clinton privilege battle
Judge Christopher Cooper said Wednesday he would grant the government’s motion, arguing he did not believe it was breaking attorney-client privilege for him to review the records in dispute in an “in camera” setting, away from the public and the press.
British ex-spy Christopher Steele created a dossier on then-candidate Donald Trump after being hired by the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was itself hired by the Perkins Coie law firm and Marc Elias, the general counsel for Clinton’s campaign.
The judge repeatedly pointed to the difference between hiring a firm to do “fact-checking” versus hiring it to do “opposition research.”
Hillary for America, the DNC, and Perkins argue claims of attorney-client privilege should keep the records concealed and claim Fusion simply provided them legal services.
Durham is insisting those groups played a coordinated role in pushing false collusion claims.
The judge said he didn't doubt Elias’s claims about Fusion being hired to provide legal advice but said that didn’t mean everything Fusion did in 2016 is covered by privilege. The judge said he would review the Joffe records too.
It remains to be seen how the judge will rule on the privilege claims after taking a look at the Alfa Bank-related documents. Thirty are internal Fusion emails, and eight relate to Joffe and Fusion.
Clinton’s 2016 campaign and Fusion united in court on Wednesday.
Fusion’s lawyer said the firm asserted privilege over 1,500 documents, adding it also “produced hundreds of documents.” Fusion said the Clinton campaign, DNC, and Perkins had made “judgment calls” on what was privileged.
The judge asked Durham prosecutor Jonathan Algor whether Durham would come back for the other 1,500 documents if the judge ended up agreeing with the prosecution about these 38 records. Algor said “not for this trial” but left the door open for the future, saying that “Your Honor’s decision is important” for the investigation.
Algor told the judge the Clinton campaign and Fusion wrongly "advanced a very broad and novel theory” of attorney-client privilege that “opposition research” is “somehow protected.” He pointed to Fusion emails that have been released and said “nothing shows” any of that related to “legal advice.”
Algor stressed the opposition research was pushed to the FBI, Congress, and the media.
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Dear Rest Of America: Why Censorship Further Divides America, and How Young People Are Protecting the First Amendment
The framework of America and its ideals, given to us by the Founding Fathers, continues to stand against every un-Constitutional blow because there are still enough people in America who are willing to live by those ideals—even if they’re not fully aware of it.
Originally from New Zealand, millennial Hamish McKenzie co-founded Substack in 2017. The online newsletter platform is pretty hands-off around content moderation. Consequently, the site has hosted writers such as retired tech entrepreneur Steve Kirsch, who has shared and discussed a wealth of statistical and medical data relating to the efficacy and safety of the post-lockdown injections while banned elsewhere on the Internet.
Another millennial, Andrew Torba, is an entrepreneur in northeastern Pennsylvania. As a conservative and Christian, he launched the social media website Gab.com in 2016 after leaving Silicon Valley. Torba and his team have worked to keep Gab online despite being de-platformed from payment processors and mobile app stores in response to the company’s firm stance on free speech. Consequently, the likes of Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was banned on Twitter earlier this year, can use Gab to share her message with potentially millions of users.
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Miranda Devine, New York Post: Repairman who revealed Hunter Biden laptop sues Schiff, CNN, Politico and The Daily Beast
The Delaware computer repairman who blew the whistle on Hunter Biden’s laptop — filed a multi-million-dollar defamation suit Tuesday against Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, CNN, The Daily Beast and Politico, saying they falsely accused him of peddling Russian disinformation.
The former shop owner, John Paul Mac Isaac, decided to fight back after losing his business and being harassed for 18 months by Big Tech, the media and Delaware locals in President Biden’s home state.
“After fighting to reveal the truth, all I want now is for the rest of the country to know that there was a collective and orchestrated effort by social and mainstream media to block a real story with real consequences for the nation,” the 45-year-old Mac Isaac told The Post.
“This was collusion led by 51 former pillars in the intelligence community and backed by words and actions of a politically motivated DOJ and FBI,” he continued. “I want this lawsuit to reveal that collusion and more importantly, who gave the marching orders.”
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Statistics show that the 330 million residents of the united states disagree on nearly every major issue. From 2016 to 2022, over 230,000 respondents to the question ‘Do you think abortion should legal or illegal?’ resulted in the following:
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