Month: November 2023
SpaceX: FAA Is Slowing Progress to the Moon
Are Gavin Newsom’s Presidential Aspirations Limiting His Progressive Instincts?
“Progressive Democrats who control California are intent on regulating our lives and raising our taxes, which leads to a sense of vulnerability as hundreds of intrusive bills head to the governor’s desk.
This year, however, Gov. Gavin Newsom pulled a few surprises. He insists that he’s not running for president, but his vetoes of the fringiest measures suggest his promises aren’t ironclad. He rejected nearly 20 percent of bills that reached his desk, which is an “unusually large percentage,” per CalMatters. Many veto messages, it noted, include boilerplate language warning that some bills would add to the state’s deficit. He seems to be channeling his predecessor, deficit-weary Jerry Brown.”
https://reason.com/2023/10/20/are-gavin-newsoms-presidential-aspirations-limiting-his-progressive-instincts/
Gazans turn on Hamas as food shortage fuels disorder
“Desperate Palestinians have begun attacking Hamas security forces as tensions grow in Gaza over chronic shortages of food, water and medicine.
In rare acts of defiance, Gazans hurled rocks at Hamas police who tried to jump a queue for water”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/gazans-turn-hamas-food-shortage-120846775.html
What Israelis Fear the World Does Not Understand
After Losing Billions to Scammers, This COVID Aid Program Won’t Require All Loans To Be Repaid
“With so much money stolen, it is likely that many EIDL loans will never be repaid. That doesn’t mean the SBA should just throw up its hands and stop trying.”
https://reason.com/2023/10/20/after-losing-billions-to-scammers-this-covid-aid-program-wont-require-all-loans-to-be-repaid/
Government-Run Grocery Store Is Predictably Losing Money
“Grocery store chains don’t have some anti-Chicago bias. If the people in charge of the city made those neighborhoods safe and economical places to do business, groceries would be as plentiful as they are anywhere else in America. Reducing Chicago’s high crime rate would surely help, though that’s admittedly a long-term project. But there is something city officials could do almost overnight: Reduce Chicago’s commercial property tax rates, which are some of the highest in the country, or the city’s high sales taxes that incentivize consumers (the ones who can, anyway) to do their shopping outside the city.
At best, a government-run grocery store is merely addressing the symptoms, not the underlying problems plaguing Chicago—and it seems unlikely to improve the symptoms, for that matter.”
https://reason.com/2023/10/23/government-run-grocery-store-is-predictably-losing-money/
Why Are Some African Economies Growing and Others Not? | African Economy | Econ
Cities are asking the Supreme Court for more power to clear homeless encampments
“In 2018, a federal court issued a consequential decision about homelessness in America: People without housing can’t be punished for sleeping or camping outside on public property if there are no adequate shelter alternatives available.
The Ninth Circuit’s decision, Martin v. Boise, said that punishing homeless people with no other place to go would violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Ever since, cities and states have struggled to comply with it, crafting convoluted policies like a new camping ban in Portland, Oregon that prohibits homeless camping during the hours of 8 am to 8 pm.
As municipal backlash to Martin grew, so has the nation’s homelessness crisis, especially in the nine Western states under the Ninth Circuit’s jurisdiction, where some 42 percent of the country’s homeless population now lives.
The Supreme Court declined to hear Martin in 2019. But they now could reconsider the decision. A petition was filed in late August concerning a similar case in Grants Pass, Oregon, a city of 38,000 people. In 2022, the Ninth Circuit decided it would be unconstitutional for Grants Pass to fine homeless people sleeping on public property if there was nowhere else for them to go. The city is challenging that decision.”
https://www.vox.com/2023/10/10/23905951/homeless-tent-encampments-grants-pass-martin-boise-unsheltered-housing
China increasing nuclear arsenal at exponential rate, expected to double by 2030, Pentagon report says
https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-increasing-nuclear-arsenal-exponential-223204996.html