Archive for 2018

DAVID SOLWAY: Aboriginal Claims of Sovereignty in Canada Are Complete Fiction. “A separate chapter [in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)] on Indigenous Rights failed to make the cut, a serious blow to the aboriginal resistance movement which has become a rallying cry not only for Native activists but for the Canadian political, media and academic elites. These latter are committed to abrogating national jurisdictions and dismantling the historical structure of the country in a torrent of land-claim and legal negotiations favoring the so-called First Nations.”

NOW LET’S BUILD SOME NUCLEAR PLANTS TO POWER THEM: 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV.

“I WAS WEARING AN ONION ON MY BELT, WHICH WAS THE STYLE AT THE TIME:” Every Older Patient Has a Story. Medical Students Need to Hear It.. But this is serious: “In health care, ‘you hear a lot of infantilizing language: ‘sweetie,’ ‘cutie,’ ‘honey,’’ said Tracey Gendron, the gerontologist who started the senior mentoring program at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. ‘You hear that people are not worth treating because of their age.'”

FIRST MAN, THIRD BOX OFFICE: One Giant Flop for Ryan Gosling? “Planting our flag with national pride, while also stating that we ‘came in peace’ and ‘for all mankind,’ no less — that’s a very American thing, isn’t it? Exceptional, you might even say.”

Wrong link before — fixed now!

SEE, ONCE ONE PARTY CREDIBLY THREATENS IT, THE OTHER PARTY IS STRONGLY INCENTIVIZED TO PREEMPT WHILE THEY CAN:

For all the talk about Trump overturning norms and institutions, the Democrats’ hysterical inability to accept losing an election is what seems to be doing the work here.

More:

GUY BENSON: Sad Trombone: Curtains for Media Heartthrob ‘Beto’ O’Rourke in Texas? “Might the Kavanaugh firestorm have helped focus the minds of some Texas voters, now that they’ve been vividly reminded of what’s at stake in the United States Senate? Quite possibly. I recently mentioned that a source close to the Cruz camp told me that their internals were tracking close to a ten point lead. We then noted an in-progress New York Times survey showing Cruz’s advantage on the cusp of double-digits.”

KING OF THE WORLD: Trump just met with a classic-rock legend and a missile-defense expert — and it was the same guy.

Jeff “Skunk” Baxter has earned eight platinum records in a music career that started in the 1960s, and he has received numerous security clearances and contracting jobs since the 1980s as a self-taught expert on missile-defense and counterterrorism.

Baxter was one of many luminaries at the White House on Thursday to watch President Donald Trump sign the Music Modernization Act, which reforms copyright laws.

Unlike every other musician in the room, including Kid Rock, Baxter has built a successful second career as a defense consultant.

Baxter dropped out of college in Boston in 1969 to join a short-lived psychedelic-rock band. After that, he moved to California and become one of the original six members of Steely Dan.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to play for Steely Dan — but it helps.

21ST CENTURY SPORTSMANSHIP: Biological Male Wins World Championship In Women’s Cycling.

Rachel McKinnon, a professor at the College of Charleston, won the women’s sprint 35-39 age bracket at the 2018 UCI Masters Track Cycling World Championships in Los Angeles.

McKinnon, representing Canada, bested Carolien Van Herrikhuyzen of the Netherlands and American cyclist Jennifer Wagner to take home the gold.

McKinnon celebrated the victory on Twitter, writing: “First transgender woman world champion…ever.”

Allowing biological males who identify as transgender women to compete in women’s athletic events has been a controversial subject, as critics have argued that it puts the female competitors at an inherent disadvantage.

Sorry, ladies, but you were warned.

AS SOMEONE SAID ON TWITTER, IF I HAVE 1/1024TH OF A MILLION DOLLARS, IS IT PROOF I’M A MILLIONAIRE? Elizabeth Warren Releases DNA Test Results.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) made public the results of a DNA test on Monday, which an expert said shows “strong evidence’’ that she has a Native American ancestor.

Warren provided the test results to The Boston Globe on Sunday, the newspaper said, “in an effort to defuse questions about her ancestry that have persisted for years.” The disclosure is another strong sign that she is seriously considering running for president, according to the publication.

“The vast majority” of Warren’s ancestry is European but “the results strongly support the existence of an unadmixed Native American ancestor” six to 10 generations ago, according to Carlos D. Bustamante, a Stanford University professor who analyzed the results.

This means she could be just 1/1,024th Native American if the ancestor is 10 generations back, the Globe said.

She possesses 12 times more Native American blood than a white person from Great Britain, the report found, and 10 times more than a white person from Utah.

Well, that’s one way to spin it. Here’s another:

I’d also like to know if this is the only DNA test she took, and if there were others, what did they show?

UPDATE: Heh: