Israeli Dreams

 

We had a fascinating Shabbat dinner this last week. By coincidence, one of our guests was one of the world’s foremost experts on Syria (he’s hard at work today!). We also had a very well-informed doctor and dentist and their four kids. When the subject of Syria came up, the oft-repeated fever dream of so many Israelis from across the political spectrum was raised. What is this dream? This highest of aspirations? No, it isn’t conquest or subjugation or destruction. The most-secretly held dream of many many Israelis is just this: A European Road Trip.

Over a decade ago, Israel was a world leader in electric cars. A company called Better Place worked with Renault (and Carlos Ghosn — boy, would I love him to be the PM of Lebanon) to roll out battery-swappable electric cars in Israel. They chose Israel because range anxiety isn’t really a thing here. 24.5% of new cars are electric because it is never cold and you never have to go far.

It’s Not Retribution: It’s Accountability

 

I don’t understand the outrage that people are demonstrating over Biden’s potential “preemptive pardons.” First, I don’t think he’s going to do it—precisely because of the anger he’s generating over the very idea. But more than that, we have to look at the last four years and ask ourselves whether we want to spend the next four years drowning in legal prosecutions.

Don’t get me wrong. I hope that Kash Patel and Pam Bondi will link arms and decide the best way to hold these despicable people accountable for their abhorrent behavior. If they can’t be charged with crimes, how about “charging” them with the hiding the truth?

The Next Chapter in the Transgender Issue

 

A divided US Supreme Court has heard all oral arguments in United States v. Skrmetti, where the plaintiffs challenged a decision of the Sixth Circuit written by Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton, which upheld a Tennessee statute banning medical and surgical interventions in transgender cases for minors. Sutton reached that conclusion only after making extensive findings about the improprieties of the practice and by stressing the risks associated with the procedure, including hormonal risks, removal of sex hormones, sterility, and adverse effects of other diseases, as well as long-term consequences that “are experimental in nature and not supported by high-quality, long-term medical studies.”

The Sutton opinion drew a sharp dissent from Senior Circuit Judge Helene White, who took a leaf from the work of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which she said “is the leading association of medical and mental health professionals with expertise in treating gender dysphoria,” and from the Endocrine Society, “an organization representing more than 18,000 endocrinologists.” According to these organizations, “Gender-affirming care”—the name given to these procedures by their supporters—“improves short- and long-term outcomes for adolescents with gender dysphoria by reducing rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicidality, and brings their mental health into alignment with their peers.”

The fascism of stay-at-home moms

 

Source: Shutterstock, Sheila Fitzgerald. ID: 1441453388

As the Democrat party becomes ever more radically left-wing, I often wonder how they get half the population to vote for them.  I mean, not everybody is a lesbian sociology professor at Amherst.  How do anti-American radicals maintain the support of people who are neither stupid nor communists?

When Tong and I Went to the DMZ

 

The “Boat People” started arriving in Oklahoma in the mid-1970s. Oklahoma City got a lot- you can even still see the occasional South Vietnamese flag here and there, and they definitely still fly it, below the Stars and Stripes of course, at Vietnamese Public Radio on Classen Blvd. Nearby is a small memorial, paid for by these grateful immigrants.

It’s been an amazing and radiant weekend as Ricochet people from as far away as Califorian and Michigan arrived in Panama City Beach, Florida for a meetup and a show. Though all good things must come to an end, the warmth of genuine friendships and exhilarating conversation that infused the gathering remains in the minds and hearts of the attendees.

To make matters even more interesting, our own Dave Carter teamed up with NewsTalk@101FM’s powerhouse host, Brian Rust, to record a special edition of the Dave Carter Show for Ricochet and Talk Radio listeners alike at the resplendent Harrison’s Kitchen & Bar in downtown Panama City. Highlights of the show included compelling interviews with local historian Bob Hurst, Ricochet Member and military historian Brady Kiel, and Ricochet Contributor Susan Quinn.

Lesson Learned

 

The Globalists have learned their lesson. The German and French showcase Globalist governments have collapsed, Italy has been lost, but they have a bold new(?) strategy on display in Romania (from the Washington Times 12/5):

LONDON — European Union regulators ordered TikTok on Thursday to retain any information related to Romania’s presidential election, after the country’s top defense body released declassified intelligence alleging that Moscow arranged an online campaign to support a candidate who emerged as a surprise front-runner.

A Gifted Songwriter/Singer

 

Nanci Griffith was one of the most influential country and folk music singer-songwriters of the late Twentieth century. She was a consummate storyteller. Her songs were called “three-minute novels.” They had universal appeal.

Love at the Five and Dime: The Songwriting Legacy of Nanci Griffith, by Brian T. Atkinson, is a new biography of Nanci Griffith.

Atkinson tells Griffith’s story through the words of those who knew and intersected with her. Although he provides interstitial material to tie the book together, most of his quotes are extracted from either numerous interviews he made researching this book, or from previously published memoirs, or reminiscences of others in the country music scene.  This includes quotes from Griffith herself.

Twitter’s Trillionaires

 

Seen just now on Twitter.  (You can call it X if you want to.)

If you’re flying in a plane do you want the pilot to have a truthful altimeter, or a loyal one that just keeps telling him how brilliant he is?

Quantify This

 

Today was a reminder that so much of value in life is difficult or impossible to quantify.  I put in my time today as a volunteer for an annual local food drive that is a logistical masterpiece. A sizable set of volunteers take up soliciting food donations (canned or dry packaged items) each from a designated neighborhood, leave notices, instructions and bags, and then collect it all on the given Saturday. They take the donations to a collection point where a small horde of other volunteers (mostly older kids and teenagers) unloads the bags and transfers them to cars, vans and trucks driven by a third set of volunteers for delivery to as many as 60 providers (churches, food banks, soup kitchens, etc.). On that one day each year, from my back-of-the-envelope figures based on reported rough counts, this drive collects and delivers enough food for 70,000 to 100,000 meals.

Efforts like this one take place on various scales all over this country, all the time.  My inner geek wonders (a) what is the net value of these kinds of efforts, and how would you ever go about measuring/calculating that? And (b) what would it cost to replace all such efforts with government or privately paid programs?

A Date Which Will Live in Infamy

 

USS Oklahoma (BB-37), named for my home state, in flames after the dastardly surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.

Today is the 83rd anniversary of the date that will live in infamy. Among many other losses, 4 battleships were sunk, 188 airplanes destroyed, and 2403 lives were lost. But crucially, the carriers were at sea, and the Japs failed to attack the fuel tank farms or repair shops.

The Three Whisky Happy Hour gang is finally all back in the U.S. after weeks of galavanting overseas, and boy is there a lot to catch up on. Among our topics this week are the signs and wonders that the Age of Trump is fully established; the Biden pardons; the farcical Penny trial; whether World War III is indeed under way, and the attempted coup in Korea, about which our resident Korea expert (and resident Korean!) John Yoo has lots of thoughts.

Along the way some fresh new insults are thrown around, with John leveling the ultimate low blow against Steve—calling him a Hegelian! Thems is fightin’ words!

Should we wake the President?

 

Charlie Cooke at NRO has a Corner post detailing discussions within the White House advocating preemptive pardons for Biden allies. Perhaps most curious, however, is that Mr. Biden is not involved in those discussions at this point. This got me thinking…

Obviously, the constitutional pardon power is exclusive to the President and is generally unreviewable. But what happens to a pardon if it can be argued that the president didn’t understand what he was doing or was incapable of making the decision? Do we even know whether Mr. Biden knows he pardoned Hunter? Should the judges in Hunter’s matters ask for a sworn statement from Mr. Biden?

United States Supreme Court and “Transgender” Minors

 

The United States Supreme Court heard on Wednesday (December 4) oral arguments on a case in which the federal (national) government and others challenged a law passed by the Tennessee legislature that governs what “treatments” medical personnel can provide to minors (not legal adults) who claim to be “transgender.”

I have not followed this particular case closely, so I am not familiar with the details of the Tennessee legislation nor with the details of the legal points made in the courts (including the Supreme Court).

It’s a trip to a romantic, exotic locale… you know, the Diner. Have a seat and a cup of Joe, por favor.

Vanguard TV-3 Blew Up 67 Years Ago

 

As many of you know, my father co-wrote the 1955 proposal for Project Vanguard. After it won, he designed the space tracking system Minitrack and the small test vehicle satellites.

In September 1957, the head of Vanguard, Dr John Hagen, discussed the schedule of the test vehicle satellites.

Pardons Do Not Imply Guilt

 

The deluge is on the horizon. A blanket pardon of anyone named, or related to someone named, Biden seems imminent. And the marsupial J6 Committee. And the Faucis of the Great Fake Pandemic. Maybe Ray Epps? Will it include the unacknowledged granddaughter of the POTUS? And, of course, all of this would be completely unnecessary except for Orange Man Bad. This phenomenal moment is in no way the fault of the child sniffer-in-chief or his involvement in a grift with a maze of holding companies laundering alleged eight-figure “considerations” from foreign powers. No, this is entirely laid at the feet of the evil of the epoch, and his cruel victory dance. And we will be reminded, endlessly, forever, that pardons do not imply guilt.

What luck that we have a Biden to protect the American rule of law.

John Yoo returns to discuss a lotta legal stuff this week. He talks presidential pardons, Daniel Penny, United States v. Skrmetti and the murder of UnitedHealth’s CEO in Midtown Manhattan.

Plus, after an extra-long Thanksgiving season hiatus, the boys are back with much to be grateful for.

Stories of the week:

  • President Dementia has seen the future
  • Pete Hesgeth and Alcohol
  • Conspiracy theories
  • Fox News discovers immigration
  • Fixing Social Security

 

Is this the Golden Age for American government reform?

 

America’s friends of limited government have had a rough go lately. Government bureaucrats and spenders of all stripes have been living it up.

Since 2001, the last time the federal budget was balanced, federal revenues have shown a healthy growth of 3.9% annually, while inflation averaged only 2.5%. These figures would normally signify a sound, sustainable economy. But spending has grown at a rate of 5.5%, so instead we have a destabilizing gross federal debt of $36 trillion.