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We’ve got to protect our phony-baloney jobs, gentleman!
— Governor William J. Le Petomane (Mel Brooks), Blazing Saddles (1974)
Reading Time: 4 minutes 45 seconds
Today is Thursday, September 22nd, the 265th day of 2022. There are 100 days left in the year. It is Elephant Appreciation Day, Hobbit Day, National Centenarian’s Day, National Ice Cream Cone Day, National White Chocolate Day, and World Rhino Day.
On This Day
In 1761, George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz were crowned monarchs of the Kingdom of Great Britain.
In 1776, Connecticut’s Nathan Hale was hanged for spying during the American Revolution.
In 1789, the office of United States Postmaster General was established.
In 1896, Queen Victoria surpassed her grandfather George III as the longest reigning monarch in British history.
In 1939, a joint German-Soviet military parade in Brest-Litovsk was held to celebrate the invasion of Poland.
In 1975, Sara Jane Moore tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford, but was foiled by the Secret Service.
In 1979, a bright flash was observed near the Prince Edward Islands in the Indian Ocean, midway between Africa and Antarctica. Many believe that it was caused by an undeclared joint nuclear test carried out by South Africa and Israel.
In 1991, the Dead Sea Scrolls were made available to the public for the first time.
In 1995, an E-3B AWACS crashed outside Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska after multiple bird strikes; all 24 airmen on board were killed.
In 2006, 23 people were killed in a maglev train collision in Germany.
Today’s Birthdays
Singer, actress, choreographer, and dancer Toni Basil, born Antonia Christina Basilotta, is 79. Singer David Coverdale is 71. Singer Debby Boone is 66. Singer Andrea Bocelli is 64. Musician and singer-songwriter Joan Jett, born Joan Marie Larkin, is 64. Actress and left-wing jackass Tatiana Maslany is 37.
The Links
The U.S. Government’s Vast New Privatized Censorship Regime (New Civil Liberties Alliance)
“The Founders of our country understood that line-drawing becomes virtually impossible once censorship begins and that the personal views and biases of those doing the censoring will inevitably come into play. Moreover, they recognized that sunlight is the best disinfectant: The cure for bad speech is good speech. The cure for lies, truth. Silencing people does not mean problematic ideas disappear; it only drives their adherents into echo chambers.”
Big Tech is waging financial war on dissenters (spiked)
“What we see here is an alarming new development in Big Tech censorship — the use of financial warfare to silence would-be heretics. While the likes of Facebook and Twitter can deplatform you, now payment firms like PayPal can essentially defund you — cutting you off from swathes of supporters who rely on those services to donate to the organisations they support. (A third of FSU members used PayPal to pay their membership fees.)”
Scientists defend censorship, cancel culture as ‘recalibrating,’ ‘consequences culture’ (Student Free Press Association)
“The term ‘cancel culture’ has lately been twisted into an epithet that is used to discredit progressive policies.”
‘Inflation: State-Sponsored Terrorism’ - Jeff Deist at RPI 2022 Washington Conference (Ron Paul Liberty Report)
“Hyperinflation can happen here.”
Elon Musk blasts Robert Reich as ‘idiot, liar’ for saying self-made billionaires are ‘myth’ (New York Post)
“Musk tweeted that he ‘paid my own way through college, ending with ~100k student debt’ and that he started his first company ‘with no funding & just one computer I built.’”
Google co-founder’s flying car startup is winding down (CNBC)
“Kittyhawk showcased a flying car model called the Flyer in 2018 that could hold one person and fly up to 20 miles. Thrun told CNBC in an interview earlier that year that the models could take to the skies within five years.”
Lessons from the 2022 Primaries — what do they tell us about America’s political parties and the midterm elections? (Brookings Institution)
“Of the issues mentioned by each party only abortion and guns fell into the top five for both parties. Democrats also talked about health care, climate change and electoral integrity, while Republicans talked about immigration, taxes and regulation and inflation.”
Making Space for Men to Become Fathers (The American Conservative)
“CHANCE FOR A SPINSTER. — A young man in Aristook County, Maine, advertising for a wife, speaks of himself as follows: ‘I am eighteen years old, have a good set of teeth, and believe in Andy Johnson, the star-spangled banner, and the 4th of July. I have taken up a State lot, cleared up eighteen acres last year, and seeded ten of it down. My buckwheat looks first-rate, and the oats and potatoes are bully. I have got nine sheep, a two-year-old bull, and two heifers, besides a house and a barn. I want to get married. I want to buy bread-and-butter, hoop-skirts, and waterfalls for some person of the female persuasion during life. That’s what’s the matter with me. But I don’t know how to do it.’”
FACT SHEET: The Kigali Amendment—More Hot Air (America First Policy Institute)
“The Amendment would empower the Environmental Protection Agency to begin enforcement immediately, risking further utility bill increases for American millions of American consumers and businesses at a time of skyrocketing cost of living increases.”
Ad Hoc Climate Blame (Tony Heller)
“Humans are creating an unhealthy forest by preventing forest fires.”
“Stuart Chase, a key advisor to former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, envisioned an early version of the Great Reset in the 1930s and 1940s, complete with calls for government ‘control of energy sources—hydroelectric power, coal, petroleum, natural gas.’”
Three Martha Vineyard Migrants File Lawsuit Against DeSantis (Jonathan Turley)
“The filing is a Jackson Pollock of legal claims with twelve claims thrown against Florida from false imprisonment to intentional infliction of emotional distress to misuse of the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund. The splattering of claims face considerable legal barriers based on the consent of the migrants, as shown in a waiver released by Florida.”
Information Environment: Opportunities and Threats to DOD’s National Security Mission (Government Accountability Office)
“National and DOD strategies and documents identify a number of institutional challenges that DOD must address. The challenges include a lack of leadership emphasis, lack of resources, the implications of new technologies, and dated processes. DOD components identified personnel, funding, IT, organization, and training as the most important institutional challenges they face related to the information environment.”
Russian Oil Price Controls: How They Would Work and What They Might Do (Cato Institute)
“Even before the new effort to reduce Russian oil revenue, the Kremlin shut off the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, blaming Western sanctions for preventing it from acquiring a turbine needed to safely restart gas flows. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is already having to tour the country, fending off questions about what many Germans fear as they head into winter: the choice between heating and eating.”
Stop the escalatory ladder in Ukraine, we want to get off (Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft)
“The reason Goldstein, who for 20 years served on the faculty at the U.S. Naval War College, counsels restraint is due to what he calls the ‘nuclear paradox.’ Namely, ‘if the U.S. and NATO increase their military spending and conventional forces in Europe, the weakness of Russian conventional military forces could prompt Moscow to rely more heavily on its nuclear forces.’”
Your Turn
1. One hundred days left in 2022 — how’s your year going so far?
2. Is Robert Reich an idiot?
3. Whatever happened to the word “spinster”?
4. Elephants or rhinos?
5. Did the Israelis and South Africans test a nuke in 1979?
1. Going ok, despite inflation. Just happy to be alive and healthy.
2. Yes
3. I don't know! Good question!
4. Elephants.
5. It is possible.
Excellent quote today! Need to watch that movie again.