Reason Interview: Ford Fischer
Source: Reason
“Why You Should Surveil the State.” (04/24/24)
https://reason.com/podcast/2024/04/24/ford-fischer-why-you-should-surveil-the-state/
The Republicans Who Want American Carnage
Source: The Atlantic
by Adam Serwer
“Tom Cotton has never seen a left-wing protest he didn’t want crushed at gunpoint. On Monday, the Arkansas senator demanded that President Joe Biden send in the National Guard to clear out the student protests at Columbia University against the Israel-Hamas war, which he described as ‘the nascent pogroms at Columbia.’ Last week, Cotton posted on X, ‘I encourage people who get stuck behind the pro-Hamas mobs blocking traffic: take matters into your own hands. It’s time to put an end to this nonsense.’ He later deleted the post and reworded it so that it did not sound quite so explicitly like a demand for aspiring vigilantes to lynch protesters. This is a long-standing pattern for Cotton, who enjoys issuing calls for violence that linger on the edge of plausible deniability when it comes to which groups, exactly, are appropriate targets for lethal force.” (04/24/24)
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/columbia-national-guard-tom-cotton/678163/
In This Dystopia, Opposing A Genocide Considered Worse Than Committing One
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“All the frenzied shrieking about pro-Palestine protests at universities these last few days makes it clear that our civilization is so twisted and insane that it sees protesting a genocide as far worse than committing one. Which is about as backwards as any society could possibly be. Seriously, try to imagine a crazier, more upside-down civilization than one which gets more angry at people protesting genocidal atrocities than it does at people committing them. A civilization where people wear their pants on their head and walk backwards all day? That would be less crazy. A civilization where the dogs own the people and the children go to work while the parents go to school? That would be less crazy. It’s as wrong as you can possibly get anything in this world. It’s actually hard to imagine how anyone could get anything more wrong.” (04/24/24)
NY: Patient Gets First-Ever Pig Kidney Transplant Plus Heart Pump
Source: US Newes & World Report
“New Jersey native Lisa Pisano was staring down the end of her days. The 54-year-old had heart failure and end-stage kidney disease, but several chronic medical conditions excluded her as a candidate for heart and kidney transplants. … But Pisano has gotten a new lease on life, thanks to a combined transplant of a mechanical heart pump and a gene-edited pig kidney. It’s the first time the two vastly different medical technologies have been performed on one patient, said surgeons at NYU Langone Health in New York City. There are no documented instances of anyone with a mechanical heart pump receiving an organ transplant of any kind, they added.” (04/24/24)
What Austerity?
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall
“If government spending has risen by 6% of GDP — which is a lot, even a lorra lots — then what is this story about austerity?” (04/24/24)
Mean Age Daydream, 04/24/24
Source: Lions of Liberty
“The Political Class Just Sh*t In Our Mouths.” (04/24/24)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/the-political-class-just-sht-in-our-mouths
Blinken goes to China to maintain the illusion of stability Blinken goes to China to maintain the illusion of stability
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jake Werner
“Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to travel to Beijing this week in the latest round of high-level diplomacy between the U.S. and China. Since the U.S.-China relationship hit new lows in late 2022 and early 2023 — thanks to incidents like then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan and a Chinese spy balloon’s visit to U.S. airspace — both sides have made a welcome effort to slow the slide toward crisis and conflict. … As the State Department signals that no new positive initiatives are on the agenda for Blinken’s visit, U.S.–China diplomacy increasingly seems devoted to talks for the sake of talks, without any ambition to make progress on the deep and powerful underlying forces driving both sides toward confrontation.” (04/24/24)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/antony-blinken-china-visit/
City Where Emergency Response Time Is 36 Minutes Wants to Ban Civilians Carrying Guns for Protection
Source: Town Hall
by John R Lott, Jr.
“In 2023, New Orleans had the third highest per capita murder rate in the country according to the FBI. Last week, New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick claimed that the city can lower this rate by creating a ‘firearm-free’ zone encompassing the French Quarter and beyond. Kirkpatrick is particularly concerned about the dangers of Louisiana’s new Constitutional Carry law. But Kirkpatrick’s proposed gun-free zone will create a magnet for criminals to commit crimes in that area. To criminals, gun-free zones make victims easy targets. Police are critical to stopping crime. Academic research shows that policing is probably the most important factor in reducing it. But the police themselves realize that they virtually always arrive at the crime scene after the crime has occurred.” (04/24/24)
Slovakia: Regime moves to reorganize state broadcaster amid fears of press crackdown
Source: Politico
“Slovakia’s government approved a controversial proposal to scrap its public broadcaster RTVS and replace it with what free speech advocates fear could be a mouthpiece for the government of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico. Fico’s government approved the measure on Wednesday. The country’s parliament is expected to vote on it in June and, given Fico’s majority, it is expected to pass. The new channel, Slovak Television and Radio (STVR), will become what the government called a ‘state institution.’ The government will have more control than before over the hiring of the channel’s director-general and board of directors. The broadcaster will also be obliged to broadcast the Slovak national anthem at least once per day.” (04/24/24)
Idaho Foils Foul Harvest
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“One can be for free trade yet still demand, while sticking to principle, certain restrictions on international trade. The State of Idaho has demonstrated one sort of restriction compatible with a free society’s free-trade rules. ‘As of July 1, it will be illegal in Idaho for health insurers to cover an organ transplant or post-transplant care performed in China or any country known to have participated in forced organ harvesting,’ explains Frank Fang in The Epoch Times (No. 508, A5). The legislation had been passed unanimously in both legislative houses earlier in the month and was signed by the governor on April 10. … The problem to be addressed? The suspiciously short waiting time for organ transplants in China, especially after the Chinese government cracked down on the Falun Gong decades ago.” (04/24/24)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2024/04/24/idaho-foils-foul-harvest/