IT’S A CABAL: Revealed: George Soros, Clinton and Obama staffers and European governments are behind anti-Musk campaign to force big corporations to boycott Twitter – after Elon demanded to know ‘who funds these organizations?’ “Twenty six NGOs and advocacy groups signed a letter expressing concern about the world’s richest man’s plan. Musk himself responded to the letter asking who funded them: the answer being an assortment of ‘dark money groups’ like George Soros’s Open Society Foundation; NGOs founded by former Clinton and Obama administration staffers; wealthy Democrat donors and their family foundations; labor unions; and the governments of European nations.”
Archive for 2022
May 4, 2022
GET’EM SKEERED AND KEEP THE SKEER ON ‘EM: Florida Democrats Terrified of ‘Unstoppable’ DeSantis.
CRISIS BY DESIGN: Biden invents new way to keep illegals in country with circular process. “What the Biden administration did is create interim rules that significantly bypass the immigration judges, allowing civilian bureaucrats working for the Customs and Immigration Service to take new actions that delay or circumvent expedited removal.”
CONSERVING CONSERVATISM MOST CONSERVATIVELY: Democrat Bill Kristol Shows His Financial Support For Ohio Democrat Tim Ryan.
REMEMBER, THEY DON’T SAY THIS BECAUSE IT’S TRUE, THEY SAY IT AS AN EXCUSE TO OPPRESS THEIR POLITICAL OPPOSITION: Biden says ‘MAGA crowd’ is ‘most extreme political organization that’s existed’ in recent American history.
And yet nobody thinks they’d have had to put barriers around the Supreme Court and put the Justices under 24/7 guard if the draft opinion had upheld Roe. I wonder if Alito has had to go into hiding?
STAY ACTIVE: Merrell Men’s Moab 2 Vent Hiking Shoe. #CommissionEarned
RARE GUITARS ON DISPLAY AT THE 2022 DALLAS INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL: My latest post, over at Eddriscoll.com.
HEARTBREAKING VIDEO: Starving Elderly Man in Shanghai Weeps When Given Food.
SOCIAL ENGINEERING FAILS AT STATED GOAL: Ban on sale of cheap alcohol has cost Scots £270m, new research finds.
Minimum unit pricing (MUP), introduced in Scotland in 2018 to prevent the sale of cheap alcohol, has cost consumers almost £200m more than projected, research by the Institute of Economic Affairs has found. . . .
Prior to implementation, MUP was projected to cost consumers £76 million.
But new research by the Institute of Economic Affairs has revealed that the actual cost to consumers could be closer to £270 million, the equivalent of £59.39 per adult or £71.12 per drinker.
The policy was initially justified on the basis of computer modelling from the Sheffield Alcohol Policy Model (SAPM), a team at the University of Sheffield, which projected various health-related and social improvements.
Initial modelling estimated that over the first five years of minimum unit pricing there would be 400 fewer alcohol-related deaths and 8,000 fewer hospital admissions, according to the Scottish Government’s website.
“Minimum unit pricing is designed to impact most on harmful drinkers – those who regularly drink more than the lower risk drinking guidelines. Those who drink within the lower risk guidelines should only be marginally affected because they consume a small amount of alcohol and don’t tend to buy as much of the low-cost high strength alcohol that should be most affected by a minimum unit price,” the website states.
MUP was also implemented to reduce alcohol-related crime rates. But research from Manchester Metropolitan University published late last year found no significant statistical changes in alcohol-related crime, disorder and public nuisance offences as a result of its implementation.
According to the Scottish Government website, prior to the implementation of MUP it was possible to buy 14 units of alcohol for approximately £2.50. With minimum unit pricing in place, this cannot be legally sold for less than £7.
Christopher Snowdon, co-author of the report and IEA head of lifestyle economics, said: “Our estimate suggests that minimum pricing has cost Scottish drinkers more than a quarter of a billion pounds. Now in its fifth year, minimum pricing is a reminder that politicians are often responsible for the rising cost of living.
“Although alcohol consumption has fallen slightly in Scotland, we find no evidence that this has led to an improvement in health outcomes. Consumers have simply switched from the most affordable alcohol to mid-range brands, to the benefit of alcohol producers and retailers. The policy could be dropped tomorrow without costing the government a penny.”
Will those who proposed and inflicted this policy face any consequences for its failure? Haha, I crack myself up.
YEAH, THAT’LL GET THE LATINAS AND LATINOS BACK: ‘Latine’ is the new ‘gender-neutral’ term out to replace ‘Latinx.’
KRUISER: Where Was the Lefty Outrage When Jeff Bezos Bought WaPo? “The reporting when Bezos made his move to own the newspaper of record in our nation’s capital was almost all pretty straightforward and opinion free. There was no ranting about a ‘ZOMG BILLIONAIRRRRRRE!’ controlling such an important source of information. If there was, it didn’t get much traction.”
SEGREGATION NOW, SEGREGATION TOMORROW, SEGREGATION FOREVER: White people should not teach about black history, Harvard newspaper editor opines.
AS INDIANA GOES, SO GOES THE GOP? We don’t hear much anymore about the split within the GOP between the so-called “economic conservatives” and the “social conservatives,” but this trenchant analysis by Aaron Renn of the Indiana GOP’s recent history deserves a close reading by anybody with an interest in the future of the party.
Here’s a sample:
“Indiana holds important lessons for both conservatives and liberals. For conservatives, it shows that the low taxes/low regulation/libertarianish economic policy approach does not always create growth and prosperity.
“For both liberals and conservatives, it shows that social policy has far less impact on talent attraction and economic growth than they commonly believe.
“When California passed Prop 8 banning gay marriage, was there a mass exodus of people and business out of the state on that account? Not that I saw. In fact, the exodus of people and business has been picking up more recently, as California has become a more solidly progressive environment.
“How much credit did Indiana get, and how much high wage investment did it attract as a result of killing a marriage amendment? None that I saw. Though people still talk endlessly about RFRA even years afterward, the fact that Indiana killed off its marriage amendment is already forgotten. California passed a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Indiana did not. Think about that.
“Or look at Texas, which did pass a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, passed a RFRA law, and which just passed a very strong anti-abortion bill. None of that seems to have even dented their growth. Facebook even announced a major office expansion in Austin after the abortion law passed. Texas shows that states can grow while remaining very conservative, while at the same time having cities within them that have their own independent brand and are viewed as progressive. What the state did actually did not harm Texas’ cities. The Texas-Austin, and Indiana-Indianapolis parallels should be explored in more depth.”
ITS A HOLIDAY DESIGNED TO SELL BEER AND TEQUILA: ‘CHIPOTLE DOESN’T COUNT’: Universities publish woke messaging ahead of Cinco de Mayo.
OUCH: Ford Reports Devastating Losses Thanks to Electric Vehicle Gamble. “Ford reported revenue of $34.5 billion between January and March, a 5% decline relative to the same period in 2021, and a net loss of $3.1 billion, according to the company’s earnings report released Wednesday. The Detroit automaker said its large investment in Rivian accounted for $5.4 billion in losses during the first quarter.”
DON’T GET COCKY: No, Dobbs v. Jackson Isn’t Going to Hand the Midterms to Democrats. “All the states in the union are aware of the impending court decision and have already or are currently preparing their own laws regarding the practice of abortion. As these laws will be crafted at a more local level, they will better reflect the preferences of each state’s citizens. By the time November rolls around, there may even be less discord and strife regarding abortion than there is now.”
TIK TOK IS CASH COW FOR THE CARTELS: If your teenage son or daughter, who watches a lot on the Chinese APP, tells you they are driving somebody’s car as a favor to them this weekend “to make a few bucks,” Joseph Simonson has the explanation for what’s really going on.
EXPAND THE SUPREME COURT? YES, LET EACH GOVERNOR APPOINT A MEMBER. ‘Expand the Supreme Court’: The Left Goes Crazy Because Roe v. Wade *Might* Go Away.
We need a Supreme Court that looks more like America than it does now.
My plan for Supreme Court expansion is here.
UPDATE: From the comments:
Heh.
THE PRESENT CRISIS IN ONE SENTENCE: It’s from John Daniel Davidson in The Federalist as he dissects the roots and ramifications of The Leak: “Whenever the left feels they have lost control of an institution, they try to destroy it.” This is a strong candidate for today’s Must-Read.
APPLE SHAREHOLDERS SHOULD HAVE SOME VERY POINTED QUESTIONS FOR TIM COOK: Over Reliance on China Could Cost Apple $8 Billion.