Daily Headlines | Wednesday March 23, 2022

Good Morning! 

The great Thomas Sowell might have been onto something – intellect doesn’t always equate to wisdom: 

“The charge is often made against the intelligentsia and other members of the anointed that their theories and the policies based on them lack common sense,” he once wrote. “But the very commonness of common sense makes it unlikely to have any appeal to the anointed. How can they be wiser and nobler than everyone else while agreeing with everyone else?” 

We begin with head-scratching moments from yesterday’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings: 

 

1. Supreme Court Nominee Can’t Define Woman 

From Townhall: 

 

The somewhat ironic if not tragic revelation came courtesy of a line of questioning from Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) who — even some 13 hours after the hearings started — was fired up and ready to roll. 

“Can you provide a definition for the word woman?” Blackburn asked.  

“Can I provide a definition?” Judge Jackson responded somewhat surprised. 

“Mhmm, yeah,” Blackburn responded. 

“I can’t,” Jackson said. 

“You can’t?” Blackburn responded. 

“Mmm, not in this context — I’m not a biologist,” Judge Jackson said. 

 

RELATED: 

Judge Jackson Can’t Say When Life Begins 

From CBS News: 

 

Jackson says she doesn’t know when life begins for equal protection but has religious beliefs on the topic 

Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana had an exchange with Jackson in which she said she doesn’t know when life begins. She said although she has religious views on the matter, she doesn’t know when the equal protection clause begins to apply.  

Here is that exchange.  

KENNEDY: “When does life begin, in your opinion?” 

JACKSON: “Senator, I don’t know.” 

KENNEDY: “Ma’am?” 

JACKSON: “I don’t know” 

KENNEDY: “Do you have a belief?” 

JACKSON: “I have personal, religious and otherwise beliefs that have nothing to do with the law in terms of when life begins.” 

KENNEDY: “Do you have a personal belief though, about when life begins?” 

JACKSON: “I have a religious view— 

KENNEDY: “Religious belief?” 

JACKSON: “— That I set aside when I am ruling on cases.” 

KENNEDY: “OK. When does equal protection of the laws attach to a human being?” 

JACKSON: “Well senator, I believe that the Supreme Court — actually, I actually don’t know the question to that, I’m sorry.”  

 

RELATED: 

Ketanji Brown Jackson Calls Abortion ‘Settled Law’ During Heated Day 2 of Confirmation Hearing 

From CBN: 

 

During the proceedings, Jackson, who stated her belief in God during opening statements, faced questions on her faith.  

“Do you attend church regularly?” asked Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).   

Jackson replied, “I am reluctant to talk about my faith in this way.” 

Sen. Graham assured Jackson that her faith, unlike Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s, will be treated respectfully. “Imagine you’re on late-night TV being called an (expletive) nut and speaking in tongues because you practiced the Catholic faith in a way they could not relate to or found uncomfortable,” Graham stated. 

While Republicans raised concern about Jackson’s record on abortion, she was clear about her stance on the subject. 

“Roe and Casey are the settled law of the Supreme Court concerning the right to terminate a woman’s pregnancy,” she said. “They have established a framework that the court has reaffirmed, and in order to revisit, as Justice Barrett said, the Supreme Court looks at various factors because stare decisis is a very important principle.” 

 

Utah governor becomes latest to veto transgender sports ban 

From Politico: 

 

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox vetoed a ban on transgender students playing girls’ sports on Tuesday, becoming the second Republican governor to overrule state lawmakers who have taken on youth sports in a broader culture war over how Americans view gender and sexuality. 

Cox joins Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, who vetoed a statewide ban on Monday. Holcomb said Indiana’s Legislature had not demonstrated that transgender kids had undermined fairness in sports. 

“I struggle to understand so much of it and the science is conflicting. When in doubt however, I always try to err on the side of kindness, mercy and compassion,” Cox wrote in a letter to Utah legislative leaders. 

The vetoes come as Cox and Holcomb’s counterparts in nearly a dozen conservative-leaning states have enacted similar legislation and politicians have honed in on transgender kids in sports as a campaign issue in states ranging from Missouri to Pennsylvania. 

 

How to Respond to “Trans” and Gender Ideology? Simple: Live Not by Lies 

From The Daily Citizen: 

 

At the precise moment of his arrest and exile from Soviet Russia in 1974, the celebrated literary dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn released a document that was as powerful as it was brief: Live Not By Lies. 

At the precise moment when so many are speaking plain truth today – saying 2+2=4 –and getting kicked off popular social media platforms for doing so, Solzhenitsyn’s words are deeply relevant and essential. 

It was the great novelist’s simple and profound answer for how his people could resist the soul-crushing tyranny under which they lived. It is our answer today as well. 

Communist ideology re-fashioned basic reality in a way the masses knew to be false; giving established words new meaning for political and ideological purposes. Dissent from the new order was not tolerated. Citizens were required, through excruciating political, economic, and ideological pressure, to speak and give assent to a carefully constructed, but wholly false reality. The people wrongly believed they controlled no real levers of power. 

Does this sound like anything you recognize in culture today? 

 

Woke Harry’s Razors Accuses Daily Wire Of ‘Hate’ After Jeremy’s Razors Launch 

From the Daily Wire: 

 

On Tuesday morning, The Daily Wire announced the launch of Jeremy’s Razors. The new razor company is a response to Harry’s Razors pulling their ads from The Daily Wire last year over “inexcusable” opinions— in Harry’s words —  expressed by The Daily Wire on gender. 

By Tuesday afternoon, Harry’s was forced by market pressure to respond to their latest competitor. 

In a statement given to Spy.com, Jeff Raider, co-founder and co-CEO of Harry’s, maintained that they believed in free speech, but were drawing “the line at hate.” 

We created Harry’s to offer better shaving and grooming products for everyone. We believe deeply in free speech but draw the line at hate.” 

Spy.com added: “A spokesperson from the brand continued by saying that Harry’s does advertise across various media, including the conservative FOX News; however, the brand does not associate with entities that engage in or endorse ‘hate speech.’” 

 

WA schools adopt race-based discipline, white students to get harsher punishment 

From KTTH: 

 

A Washington school board butted heads over a new student discipline policy that considers a student’s race before deciding on a punishment. 

The Clover Park School District debated its new “culturally responsive” student discipline policy. It means student discipline would not be consistent based on conduct. Instead, a school considers a student’s race and background. It would likely offer harsher punishments to white students, even if the conduct is identical to that of a Black or Hispanic student. 

The disparate treatment is championed in the name of inclusion. But it’s not just a Clover Park School District controversy. 

The culturally responsive policy impacts every Washington school district after Democrats passed a law institutionalizing critical race theory in student discipline. 

 

CensorTrack Logs 3,500 Censorship Cases by Big Tech 

From MRC: 

 

MRC Free Speech America’s CensorTrack database reached an important milestone as it continues to monitor the war Big Tech companies have waged on free speech online. 

CensorTrack has now surpassed 3,500 total censorship cases documented by the MRC Free Speech America team. People and accounts across the internet were suppressed for various reasons, including COVID-19 commentary, criticism of President Joe Biden, election-related content, and much more. One reality is clear, censorship algorithms will target anyone who disagrees with established narratives, regardless of their status. 

Big Tech technocrats have targeted: former President Donald Trump, members of Congress, media personalities like conservative radio hosts Mark Levin and Dan Bongino, popular podcasters like Joe Rogan and Tim Pool, journalists like Just the News founder John Solomon, and doctors like mRNA vaccine technology innovator Dr. Robert Malone.  

Recently, an MRC Free Speech America study found a whopping 808 cases of Big Tech companies like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, TikTok and Google Ads silencing any opinion they didn’t agree with on the COVID-19 pandemic. 

 

Colorado school district ditches valedictorian honors for high school graduates 

From the Washington Examiner: 

 

A Colorado school district announced it will eliminate class rank and the valedictorian designation for graduating classes for the Class of 2026 and beyond. 

Cherry Creek School District near Denver, Colorado, announced last week that beginning in 2026, district high schools would no longer recognize a valedictorian during high school commencement exercises. 

The announcement came in the form of a letter to families that said, “The practices of class rank and Valedictorian status are outdated and inconsistent with what we know and believe of our students,” according to KDVR. “We believe all students can learn at high levels, and learning is not a competition.” 

Valedictorian and salutatorian designations have long been standard methods of honoring the top academic performers in a graduating class. 

 

More Americans 65 and Under Died from Alcohol-Related Causes Than Covid-19 in 2020, Study Finds 

From National Review: 

 

Alcohol-related deaths increased 25 percent from 2019 to 2020, with alcohol-related deaths among adults younger than 65 outnumbering deaths from Covid-19 in the same age group in 2020, a new study found. 

Alcohol-related deaths, including from liver disease and accidents, increased to 99,017 in 2020, up from 78,927 the year prior, according to the study performed by researchers with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, a division of the National Institutes of Health. 

While 74,408 Americans ages 16 to 64 died of alcohol-related causes, 74,075 individuals under 65 died of Covid-19, the study found. The rate of increase for alcohol-related deaths in 2020 (25 percent) was greater than the rate of increase of deaths from all causes (16.6 percent). 

The study shows just another unintended consequence of Covid-19 lockdowns and mitigation measures. 

 

Russia’s Ukraine war threatens to blow US food prices sky-high 

From Fox Business: 

 

As war continues to ravage Ukraine, Americans, particularly those who live paycheck to paycheck, are beginning to feel the financial squeeze on their food prices from the conflict half a world away. 

It began with a rapid rise in gas prices. Now, with Russian oil banned in the United States and energy scarcity heightened globally, experts say shoppers can expect their grocery bills to rise in coming months – especially if Ukraine misses its wheat planting season.  

“It comes an absolutely horrible time for American consumers because we’re looking every day at inflation almost reaching 10%,” Dan Varroney, a supply chain expert and founder of Potomac Core, told FOX Business. “Last month’s figures were close to 8%. And that means that consumers, including those that are living paycheck to paycheck, are going to pay more for food.” 

Russia and Ukraine produce 25% of the global wheat supply, according to the Observatory for Economic Complexity. While neither of these countries export wheat to the U.S. directly, their absence from the global market is expected to strain supply and push prices higher. 

 

10. The Kindest Person My Son Knows is the Mother He’s Never Met 

From The Daily Citizen: 

 

As we drove about town recently, I posed a question to each of our three boys: 

“Who is the kindest person you know?” 

Without missing a beat, Will, our happy eleven-year-old replied, “My birthmother.” 

“But Will,” one of his brothers countered. “You’ve never met her.” 

“I know I’ve never met her,” Will said to his brother that afternoon in the car. “But she must be the kindest person because she didn’t abort me. She gave me a chance at life.” 

I took a big deep breath, holding back the tears. 

It would be impossible to overstate the courage of birthmothers, who likewise carry their children to term knowing full well they will not enjoy the privilege of raising them each day. It is the ultimate expression of sacrificial love. 

But I wonder how many abortion-minded women might have a change of heart if they knew their children would see them as heroes for doing the right thing. 

I hope they know Will speaks from the innocence of his heart for many other children like him.