RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://amgreatness.com/2020/03/08/california-is-a-cruel-medieval-state/

One way of understanding California is simply to invert traditional morality. What for centuries would be considered selfish, callous, and greedy is now recalibrated as caring, empathetic, and generous. The current ethos of evaluating someone by his or her superficial appearance—gender or race—has returned to the premodern values of 19th-century California when race and gender calibrated careers. We don’t pay medieval priests for indulgences of our past and ongoing sin, but we do tweet out displays of our goodness as the penance price of acting amoral.

A paradox ensues that Californians both have a high, indeed smug, view of themselves and yet do a lot of damage to their fellow human beings. Their haughtiness is based largely on the reality that Silicon Valley, sandwiched between Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley, became the birthplace of the global computer, internet, social media, and a high-tech revolution. For progressives who deprecate the capitalist lifestyle, having a lot of money still allows one to say one thing and live out the opposite.

The state’s multi-trillion-dollar companies have hired tens of thousands of seven-figure, mid-level executives and computer experts who assume that life in the California coastal corridor is a birthright paradise.

The resulting tax revenue bonanza to the state allows one-party-rule to rid California of the old bothersome Reagan-Deukmejian-Wilson working- and middle-classes by embracing not-in-my-backyard zoning, identity politics, anal-retentive regulations, steep tax rates, utopian green agendas, open borders, and decriminalization of things that used to be felony offenses.

Indeed, the bigger and wealthier California became, the more the rich sought to privatize their lives and to give up on public services, the more the middle classes left the state, the more the poor from Mexico and Latin America crossed the southern border illegally, the more its schools deteriorated, and the more its infrastructure ossified and became decrepit, from century-old power transmission towers to pot-holed and jammed highways.

https://www.city-journal.org/coronavirus-and-the-economy

The spread of the coronavirus has led to fears of a worldwide economic slowdown. China, where the virus first leaped into the human population, has quarantined large sections of the country, virtually shutting down economic activity. In South Korea, several companies—including the automaker Hyundai—closed facilities when workers there tested positive for the virus. The Italian government, meantime, has shuttered schools and universities and banned public attendance at sporting events—including the nation’s popular soccer league—for 30 days. Such responses, likely to spread to other countries as the virus itself travels, have led to estimates that containment efforts could cut worldwide economic growth in half this year. Whether that prediction proves accurate, or whether the toll proves even worse, may depend on how the economic impact of the virus plays out in the United States, the world’s largest and most consequential economy.

The U.S. has already taken several basic steps to stem the spread of the virus, including suspending flights from China and quarantining those returning from areas of the world where the infection is most intense. But as the virus spreads, officials contemplate stricter measures. These include banning public gatherings such as concerts, movies, and sports events; advising businesses to keep workers home; or even shutting down firms where the virus is detected.

It might be easy to justify such draconian measures based on the toll that the coronavirus can take on society. But what’s also worth contemplating is the human toll that a potentially sharp decline in economic activity would exact. While the simplest way to measure an economy may be in dollars and cents, economic activity also produces well-being. A decline in the economy sparks deterioration in public welfare. Those are human costs that must be measured against the inevitable cost of the virus itself. Extended school closures, for example, place a burden on employed parents, who must miss long periods of work; on households living paycheck-to-paycheck; and on the self-employed.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/03/in_america_ignorance_and_antisemitism_drive_the_animus_against_israel.html

Samantha Mandeles, the Senior Researcher and Outreach Director at the Legal Insurrection Foundation, has regularly attended AIPAC conferences over the past several years. This year, however, she opted not to attend the AIPAC conference itself but, instead, to report on the anti-Israel protests that invariably take place outside of the conference venue.

What Mandeles discovered after spending nearly four hours observing the protesters and interviewing them is that they are driven by historical ignorance and revisionism, baseless conspiracy theories and, underlying it all, anti-Semitism. This last point is noteworthy because one of the central claims the anti-Israel crowd makes to give itself legitimacy is that it’s not anti-Semitic; it’s merely “anti-Zionist.” Scratch an anti-Zionist, though, and you’ll almost invariably find an anti-Semite.

Because Mandeles carefully documents her conclusions about the misinformation, conspiracy theories, and anti-Semitism powering the protests outside of the AIPAC conference, her article is long and cannot easily be summarized. However, several important points deserve to be mentioned here.

https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/486424-how-the-media-ignores-pattern-of-democratic-attacks-on-the-courts

“I am from Brooklyn.” That statement made by Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer was meant to excuse threats he has made against two conservative justices the day before on the steps of the Supreme Court. His “apology” seemed to be a mix of claiming a license for all New Yorkers to use “strong language” and claiming justification because some justices are “working hand in glove” with Republicans. This was like a bizarre road rage defense from a Brooklyn driver who apologizes for the situation but explains that it was all due to the lousy driving of the other guy.

The problem is that this the latest in a pattern of Democratic leaders attacking and threatening jurists if they rule the “wrong” way in certain cases. Although Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin advised the public “not to dwell” on the comments by Schumer, there is much more to dwell on than just this incident. Indeed, Democratic senators, including Durbin, have made threats against the Supreme Court and the judiciary.

It is certainly true that the media has not dwelled on these attacks, at least not from Democrats. Another New Yorker has used “strong language” to attack jurists, and many of us have criticized President Trump for those comments. Not surprisingly, Schumer has not cited a New York license for Trump to do as he did, perhaps since Trump was born in Queens. Indeed, Schumer recently denounced Trump for criticizing the judge in the trial of Roger Stone. Schumer called on Chief Justice John Roberts to “defend the independence” of the judiciary from such unwarranted attacks.

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/mark-meadows-new-white-house-chief-of-staff-replacing-mike-mulvaney/

President Trump on Friday named Representative Mark Meadows (R., N.C.) as White House chief of staff, replacing acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

“I have long known and worked with Mark, and the relationship is a very good one,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “I want to thank Acting Chief Mick Mulvaney for having served the Administration so well. He will become the United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. Thank you!”

Meadows announced in December that he would not seek reelection after an eight-year run in the House, during which he clashed with former House speaker John Boehner, called for balanced budgets, and was chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. More recently, the congressman has been a staunch ally of Trump, and has called the impeachment proceedings against the president “a baseless, fact-free sham that ignores rules, obliterates precedent, and ultimately runs directly contrary to the will of the people.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/06/business/economy/jobs-report.html?emc=edit_

For the second month in a row, the economy churned out a blockbuster number of jobs, the government reported Friday, an impressive performance in an era of slow-and-steady employment growth.

With the coronavirus outbreak shaking economic confidence, the solid showing in February may not be a harbinger of continued strength.

Still, the report from the Department of Labor offered a refreshing breath of positive economic news. Employers expanded payrolls by 273,000 jobs in February, while revisions to data from previous months added 85,000 more jobs to the tally. The jobless rate ticked down to 3.5 percent.

“It’s certainly a relief that we had a strong tailwind,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton. “Service, leisure and hospitality, these are all very vulnerable. The good news is that these workers had some cushion ahead of time. It helps blunt the blow.”

https://worldisraelnews.com/us-house-democrats-block-anti-bds-bill/?utm_source=M

Lawmakers defeated consideration of the bill by a tally of 219-194.

By JNS

Democrats blocked a bill on Wednesday in the U.S. House of Representatives that would have prohibited U.S. support for the anti-Israel BDS movement.

The Israel Anti-Boycott Act, introduced by Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), would have expanded the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 to include prohibiting U.S. support for foreign boycotts of Israel from groups including the European Union and the U.N. Human Rights Council.

“We cannot be quiet when it comes to combating anti-Semitism and anti-Israel mentalities,” said Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) on the House floor. “We need to work together in Congress and pass common-sense legislation on this issue. H.R. 5595 does just that.”

https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/commentary/why-it-bad-threaten-supreme-court-justices

The bipartisan shredding of America’s established constitutional norms continues apace. The latest culprit is Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Standing on the steps of the Supreme Court, he issued a chilling, direct threat to two sitting justices, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. He deserves broad condemnation. He received it only from Republicans. Save for some prominent lawyers, Democrats remained silent.

Schumer told a cheering crowd, “I want to tell you Gorsuch. I want to tell you Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price!” The crowd was rallying for abortion rights as the Supreme Court heard a case on that issue. The minority leader was there to support them, a perfectly legitimate political act. What’s illegitimate is his call to arms, his over-the-top threats. Schumer concluded by saying the two justices “won’t know what hit them” if they decide the wrong way.

Could a US politician’s behavior get much worse? Actually, it could. Schumer doubled down when he was rebuked. It took him a full day, some tongue-lashing on the Senate floor, and doubtless some phone calls behind the scenes for him to admit he was wrong.