Presents for Putin? “Republicans in Congress are willing to give Putin the greatest gift he could hope for,” stated President Joe Biden this week, in response to fiscal conservatives holding up a spending bundle that will dole out $110 billion in funding for Ukraine.
Republicans are saying that addressing the scenario on the southern border is a mandatory prerequisite, one thing that Biden should prioritize if he desires Ukraine support authorized. Biden stated his political opponents, in opposing that huge chunk of presidency spending, “are playing chicken with our national security” however that he’s additionally considering “mak[ing] significant compromises on the border,” if that is what is deemed essential to get Ukraine cash authorized.
“Biden now faces a difficult choice about how much to throw himself into talks on an issue that for decades has defied efforts to reach bipartisan compromise,” reviews The New York Occasions. “And he will have to decide how far to go in giving in to conservative demands that he substantially choke off the number of migrants admitted to the United States while their asylum claims are considered.”
It is a disgrace there are so few legitimately principled fiscal conservatives in Congress; holding up one type of spending to get one other kind greenlit is a time-honored custom, however not one that really dials again authorities spending.
Congressional testimony fallout: After the presidents of Harvard, the College of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Know-how all testified in entrance of Congress earlier this week on the problem of antisemitism on campus, the board of Penn’s enterprise college, Wharton, is looking on President Liz Magill to resign.
It is loopy that the free speech hypocrisy on elite campuses has gone on for this lengthy and gotten this dangerous. Excessive-up college donors and governing our bodies ought to have in all probability pushed for cleansing home way back, and extra forcefully communicated opposition to the imposition of variety, fairness, and inclusion (DEI) bureaucracies, campus speaker shout downs, and the like.
In the meantime, the mainstream media remedy of the problem has modified fairly a bit over the previous couple of days.
Distinction between Day 1 and Day 2 Protection of the identical occasion by the NYT. What occurred within the meantime? I imply the NYT noticed the occasion unspool, and initially thought it was parrying not dodging. pic.twitter.com/R2EiIcFscQ
— Mike Pesca (@pescami) December 7, 2023
The excellence made between conduct and speech by all three presidents stays largely right. College directors ought to push for and implement insurance policies which are broadly speech-permissive. It is simply that there is a hollowness to this being their stance now after years of skirting this dedication.
“What does it mean to make Jewish students feel safe on campus? One way would be to crack down on anti-Israel rhetoric that might make many Jews feel threatened. That would be consistent with the methods universities have sometimes employed to protect other minority groups,” writes Intelligencer‘s Jonathan Chait. “But it would also be deeply illiberal.”
“When elite university presidents claim that even hateful speech should enjoy ironclad protection on college campuses, they are absolutely correct,” writes Cause‘s Robby Soave. “But if they are asserting that speech characterized as hateful currently enjoys ironclad protection on their campuses, they are blind.”
Scenes from New York: Loved chatting with Matt Taibbi on digital camera final evening (attainable Cause video forthcoming) at his provocatively-titled occasion “Hey, Haters: Come to Argue about Free Speech and Censorship in Park Slope.” Folks have been principally wise Taibbi superfans involved by the federal government jawboning of social media firms.
QUICK HITS
- Cause‘s Matt Welch and I shall be on The Megyn Kelly Present in the present day at midday. Tune in!
- You severely can’t make this up:
This man received a vasectomy as a result of he was nervous a child would trigger local weather change after which he and his spouse took a 4-year touring honeymoon round Asia operating a journey writing gig and racking up about 4-12x a standard particular person’s emissions multi functional go. https://t.co/xPry1lh0c9
— Lyman Stone 石來民 ???????????? (@lymanstoneky) December 7, 2023
- “Special counsel David Weiss leveled a nine-count indictment against Hunter Biden late Thursday, accusing President Joe Biden’s son of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2020,” per ABC Information.
- The unemployment fee has reportedly gone up, from 3.9 % to 4. Bloomberg has extra on the early indicators of a recession.
- South Africa is experimenting with common healthcare, which is proving controversial.
- “Should Biden really run again?” asks The New York Occasions, citing dropping approval rankings and gesturing towards his senility (whereas characteristically spending far more time explicitly dinging Trump for his age). I feel I may help the Occasions with this stumper: No, he mustn’t. Down with the gerontocracy!
- New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams’ ballot numbers are dropping.
- Excellent news:
The Residence Act handed yesterday at Austin Metropolis Council!
– 3 items allowed in SF-1,2,3 zones
– Duplexes allowed on 5,000 SF tons
– expanded FAR
– entrance setbacks now 15 ft
– discount in occupancy limits
– tiny houses authorized 400 SF and underneath
Largest adjustments in many years.
— ATX RE Podcast (@atxREpodcast) December 8, 2023
- The state of California—which is hemorrhaging its inhabitants—is staring down a $68 billion finances deficit subsequent yr.
- Is Chinese language garlic…a nationwide safety menace?
Yesterday, a sitting US Senator truly claimed that imported garlic was a nationwide safety menace pic.twitter.com/IWPAfafNR3
— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) December 7, 2023