Just One Thing: House passes massive aid package; Biden probably will sign Tuesday
On Saturday, the House of Representatives passed a massive foreign aid package that includes aid for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and other Asian nations, along with some sanctions against Russia and Iran and, interestingly, a measure that will require TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell it or else have the app effectively banned in the US. We’ll talk about TikTok another time. Many Democrats and a few Republicans including, unfortunately, Lauren Boebert, opposed the aid to Israel. Many Republicans opposed aid to Ukraine. I understand the arguments that we must secure our border and that our government is spending far too much. My take is that the US has far more to lose by NOT helping Ukraine than by helping. The other issues are 100% valid, but should be dealt with separately and not used as an excuse to let Putin win.
There's a lot more in the bills, but these are the big-number items: What's in the $95 billion foreign aid package for Israel and Ukraine? | AP News
An important read: China-Russia-Iran Axis Is Bad News for Trump and GOP Isolationists - Bloomberg
Mike Lee Is Wrong about Ukraine Aid | National Review
By the way, the right "pay for" at this very moment is to repeal all the "renewable" (meaning inefficient) energy subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act. And then undo any past and future illegal Biden moves to "cancel" student debt. Flood of Comments Condemns Biden’s New Student Loan Scheme (dailysignal.com)
The bill likely passes the Senate today and will likely be signed by Biden on Tuesday.
Obviously all the foreign aid stuff is very important. Politically, the TikTok thing is fascinating. I believe the reason that the time for ByteDance to divest itself of TikTok was extended from 6 months to a year so that it would extend pass the election. The TikTok potential ban poses a massive electoral threat to Democrats and I'm surprised they'd go along with it.
Part of the problem is that there is a lot of insinuation that TikTok is giving data to China (or that it will if asked) but so far there isn't evidence of that. Also, so far, legal challenges against state and local TikTok bans have had some (but not complete) success. The AP story here talks about that while the Forbes story claims that current and former TikTok employees say the company really is under full control of bosses in China:
House passes possible TikTok ban in the US | AP News
Oh, Donald Trump said something quite close to "I support this aid to Ukraine...as close as he can come without giving his followers whiplash."
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One More Thing: The "best" schools generally, and Columbia specifically, are lost
READ THIS: They Were Assaulted on Campus for Being Jews | The Free Press (thefp.com)
TODAY: Columbia University Opts to Hold Remote Classes amid Anti-Israel Campus Chaos | National Review
How is this possible in the 21st century? And how is this possible at a school and in a city with such a large Jewish population? I guess the same way the Holocaust was possible.
Columbia: Pro-Palestinian Protesters Urge Hamas to 'Burn Tel Aviv to the Ground' | National Review
No, it’s time to send in the riot police or the national guard: ‘We need a reset’: Shafik breaks silence, announces same-day shift to virtual classes (columbiaspectator.com)
There's a little pushback from colleges at this point, but not enough. From Axios: 1 big thing: College protest crackdown
Republicans in Congress are calling for action. Yes, we have to be careful about gov't involvement where the true issue is free speech. But here it's not. It's about threats and ongoing harassment and shutting down the operation of a university. One would think that the school would be concerned about violation of federal law and loss of any lines of federal financial aid, not that Columbia actually needs any:
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Today's Guests
Jonathan Spencer is founder of The Spencer Company, “average adjusters and marine insurance consultants”. ("Average adjusters" is a term of art in maritime insurance, not a comment on the quality of their work!)
We'll discuss the financial/insurance implications of a very old provision of maritime insurance as it applies to the Key Bridge disaster in Baltimore
The Dali's owner has declared "general average" (baltimoresun.com)
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Coleman Hughes is writer, podcaster, thinker, and a graduate of Columbia University (BA in philosophy). As a Black Hispanic man, you might not expect him to be among America's best young conservative intellectuals, but that's just what he is. And not a bomb-thrower. He was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 a few years ago.
His new book is The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America
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Mike Lynch is the House Minority Leader (GOP leader) in the CO State House of Representatives and also a candidate for the GOP nomination in the 4th Congressional District. We'll discuss a bit about that race but the catalyst for today's conversation is news that the out-of-control "leadership" of the state GOP is subpoenaing Lynch regarding the state party's undying efforts to exclude unaffiliated voters from the GOP nominating process. (David Williams, Randy Corporon, and friends have lost their minds...or at least they don't care about whether the GOP ever wins another important election in Colorado.)
The actual subpoena: Republican-Subpoena_00001.pdf (newspack-coloradosun.s3.amazonaws.com)
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Other Stuff
Build a Trump (or Biden) voter: Can you build an American voter? | The Economist
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This is fascinating...and make sure to read Dan's comment in the 2nd tweet:
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Historic: Trump hush money trial: Jury set to hear opening statements | AP News
Great piece by Andy: Trump Criminal Trial: Alvin Bragg, Election Denier | National Review
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The far-left Biden administration might use these new rules to insist that biological men be allowed to participate in women's college sports: Biden’s new Title IX rules protect LGBTQ+ students, but avoid addressing transgender athletes (msn.com) It will require an act of Congress to fix this, most likely. Maybe a Trump administration would undo the change but then a subsequent Dem would likely just put it back in. So Congress needs to make sure they can't.
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At the Supreme Court today: Supreme Court to hear case on criminal penalties for homelessness - SCOTUSblog
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Mike Pence is why Republicans should and will keep losing close elections: Opinion | Mike Pence: Donald Trump Has Betrayed the Pro-Life Movement - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
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This story is actually a couple of years old but still interesting: Scientists Attempt to Pull a Jurassic Park on Extinct Animal (newser.com)
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I get why Uber (or the app) had the initial reaction that it did. The real problem is how long it took to get it fixed. It is all but impossible to get actual help from Uber. Believe me, I've tried.
'Swastika' Chandra banned from Uber App for unusual first name (nypost.com)
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They already barely recline: Reclining Seats on Planes May Soon Be No More — Here’s Why Airlines Are Getting Rid of Them (yahoo.com)
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Today's Video
Only sharing this in the "Today's Video(s)" section on this day that brings a great need for moral clarity:
I'm beyond grateful to John Ondrasik aka "Five for Fighting"