Source: Town Hall
by Stephen Moore
“Everything that is happening in our fractured nation today seems so worrisomely reminiscent of America’s last lost decade — the 1970s. For those who don’t remember, the late 1970s under part-time President Gerald Ford and then much worse under President Jimmy Carter was one economic and national security setback after another. The witches’ brew of high inflation of 7% to 10% by 1979 and ever-increasing tax rates — which rose as high as 70% — drove the economy into a ditch. Real family incomes cratered under Carter because inflation rose so much faster than family take-home pay. Homes became unaffordable, with interest rates on mortgages skyrocketing up to 17%. Gas prices tripled. Carter blamed ‘Big Oil’ and ‘invested’ in pipe-dream green energy alternatives that all went bankrupt. Every time inflation rose, the economic whiz kids in Washington assured us the high prices were just temporary.” (05/08/24)
https://townhall.com/columnists/stephenmoore/2024/05/08/that-70s-show-is-biden-taking-america-back-to-the-age-of-jimmy-carter-n2638760
Source: Associated Press
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has challenged Donald Trump to a head-to-head debate for when both address a Libertarian convention later this month, a move that comes as the presumptive GOP nominee has ramped up both criticism of Kennedy’s independent bid and demands that President Joe Biden meet him on a debate stage. Arguing that he is ‘drawing a lot of voters from your former supporters,’ Kennedy said to Trump in an open letter posted Tuesday to X that the Libertarian convention provides ‘perfect neutral territory for you and me to have a debate where you can defend your record for your wavering supporters.'” [editor’s note: I’m hoping (a little) that if this happens, it might include the LP nominee in that debate, assuming one has been nominated by then – SAT] [editor’s note: It’s about as likely to happen as my wedding to Jennifer Lawrence – TLK] (05/08/24)
https://apnews.com/article/robert-f-kennedy-jr-trump-debate-libertarian-fb72b3da879e368aad055d0fc86861c9
Source: Semafor
by David Weigel
“The Republican counteroffensive against the protesters has taken two forms. One has been a wave of legislation and hearings that aim to limit criticism of Israel on campus. The other is a combination of hearings and media hits that highlight, and sometimes overstate, the most offensive reports of what’s happening there. … The White House has tried for weeks to differentiate between ‘peaceful protesters’ and agitators. Comer and other Republicans don’t get so specific. The existence of the campus protests is a reason to pull back government grants to universities and student loan forgiveness; Cotton’s ‘No Bailouts for Campus Criminals’ legislation would bar people ‘convicted of any offense’ from getting that.” (05/08/24)
https://www.semafor.com/article/05/07/2024/the-great-republican-counter-protest-of-2024
Source: United Press International
“Former President Donald Trump unsurprisingly captured Indiana’s Republican nomination on Tuesday when voters cast ballots in the state’s presidential and state primaries. Trump secured the nod and picked up Indiana’s 58 GOP delegates with a little more than 78% of the vote, according to election results from WHAS11 and NBC News. However, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley won nearly 22% of vote share, representing more than 125,000 ballots, despite having dropped out of the race in March. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden ran uncontested for the Democratic nomination.” (05/08/24)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2024/05/08/Indiana-Primary/1781715151853/
Source: System Update
“TikTok Constitutionally Challenges Forced Sale, Lawmakers Exploit Holocaust to Feed Moral Panic over Antisemitism; PLUS: The Ozempic Craze with author Johann Hari.” (05/07/24)
https://rumble.com/v4tsx2b-system-update-show-268.html
Source: Foreign Policy
by Keith Johnson
“With Donald Trump the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, with a fair chance of securing victory in November, all eyes are turning again to his plans for trade policy, one of his pet subjects. As disruptive and arguably ineffective as Trump’s policies were during his one term in office, including costly trade wars with China and Europe and the final death knell to global trade rules, he is promising much more a second time around.” (05/07/24)
https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/05/07/trump-trade-policy-second-term-economy-election/
Source: SFGate
“The pharma giant AstraZeneca has requested that the European authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine be pulled, according to the EU medicines regulator. In an update on the European Medicines Agency’s website Wednesday, the regulator said that the approval for AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria had been withdrawn ‘at the request of the marketing authorization holder.’ AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine was first given the nod by the EMA in January 2021. Within weeks, however, concerns grew about the vaccine’s safety, when dozens of countries suspended the vaccine’s use after unusual but rare blood clots were detected in a small number of immunized people. The EU regulator concluded AstraZeneca’s shot didn’t raise the overall risk of clots, but doubts remained. Partial results from its first major trial — which Britain used to authorize the vaccine — were clouded by a manufacturing mistake that researchers didn’t immediately acknowledge.” (05/08/24)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/european-medicines-agency-pulls-authorization-for-19445906.php
Source: spiked
by Molly Kingsley
“The World Health Organisation’s proposal for a global ‘pandemic treaty’ has been a political and public-relations disaster. Talks between WHO member states began in late 2021 and resumed last month, with final negotiation sessions taking place this week. WHO officials aim to settle on a new pandemic agreement and amendments to existing International Health Regulations (IHR). The initial pandemic agreement plan (or ‘zero draft’) was so controversial when it was published in 2023 that much of the negotiation process has since been conducted in secret. This draft agreement would have granted the WHO the power to issue legally binding mandates to member states and their citizens during pandemics. This would include imposing lockdowns, quarantines and mandatory vaccinations. This threatened to fundamentally redefine the relationship between nation states and the WHO. As resistance to these changes mounted internationally, the WHO has responded by smearing those critical of its ambitions.” (05/07/24)
https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/05/08/the-whos-plan-for-public-health-tyranny/
Source: In These Times
by Nashwa Bawab
“Students and faculty on campuses across the country are facing repression and violent attacks from police and racist mobs for establishing ‘Popular University for Gaza’ encampments that have become some of the latest sites and frontlines in the U.S. and international resistance to the genocide in Gaza. More than 2,000 students and others have reportedly been arrested since the encampments began. … The New York Police Department has repeatedly shown up in full riot gear at Columbia University and arrested a large number of students last week. At the University of California, Los Angeles students faced off with a violent Zionist mob for hours with seemingly no protection from campus police or otherwise. Several student journalists were also attacked and injured.” (05/07/24)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/palestine-israel-student-movement-sjp-gups-gaza-encampments-popular-university-gaza
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“An appeals court in Hong Kong has banned a popular song that was penned during the Chinese territory’s pro-democracy protests of 2019. The ban on Glory to Hong Kong, issued on Wednesday, came as the territory’s authorities sought to remove the song from internet search results and content-sharing platforms. The popular song incorporates defiant lyrics, including the key protest slogan ‘Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times.’ It was later mistakenly played as Hong Kong’s anthem at international sporting events, instead of China’s ‘March of the Volunteers,’ in mix-ups that upset city officials.” ()5/08/24)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/8/hong-kong-court-bans-protest-song-glory-to-hong-kong
