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Tuesday, June 20, 2023

BLM Records Lowest Level of Support Since 2017

Just the News: As the government observes Juneteenth as a holiday Monday for the third straight year, support for the Black Lives Matter movement has plummeted significantly as black Americans grapple with rising urban crime and stubborn inflation and grow pessimistic about racism in the future. Juneteenth, the day that all enslaved Americans found out they were free when news of the Civil War’s end reached Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, was celebrated by black Americans for years. President Joe Biden declared Juneteenth a federal holiday in June 2021. Just 51% of U.S. adults say they support the Black Lives Matter movement, which is the lowest percentage since Pew Research Center started asking the question in 2017. Support for the movement was at an all-time high of 67% in June 2020 during the height of the George Floyd protests. While most Americans, 52%, said in 2020 that the increased focus on race has or will help black people, 57% in the latest survey said it will not lead or has not led to improving the lives of black people (Just the News). Pew Research: In assessing the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement, 32% say it’s been highly effective at bringing attention to racism against Black people (Pew Research).

Gavin Newsom Tries to Deny California Exodus

Washington Examiner: In an interview with Sean Hannity last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) claimed the idea of an exodus from California is a myth. But the data tell a far different story. Let’s start with the basics: Between April 2020 and July 2022, California’s population decreased by more than 500,000 people. And when considering net domestic migration, 700,000 more people moved out of California than moved in during that period. Newsom pointed out that other states such as Mississippi and Louisiana lost more people per capita than California, suggesting all is fine in the Golden State. But the truth is that comparing these numbers to other states does not make the picture any brighter for California. In 2022, California had the worst raw domestic net migration numbers of any state, losing almost 350,000 people. When one looks at the number as a portion of the total population, California is still in the bottom 10, losing 0.3% of its residents (Washington Examiner).

Teacher Calls 13-Year-Old Student ‘Despicable’ for Questioning How Peer Could be a Cat

Townhall: A 13-year-old girl and her friend were reportedly called “despicable” by one of their schoolteachers last week after one of them challenged their classmates about “how she identifies as a cat” after a lesson about gender ideology. The 13-year-old girl and her friend are students at Rye College in the United Kingdom. The students were in their end-of-year lesson on “life education” where they were told they can “be who you want to be and how you identify is up to you.” After the lesson, one of the students asked her classmate: “How can you identify as a cat when you’re a girl?” The schoolteacher reprimanded the student and her friend and said that they were being reported to school officials. And, the teacher reportedly said that they would no longer be welcome at the school if they “continued to express the view that only boys and girls exist” (Townhall). HotAir: Young children, whatever else they might be, are not cats. Nor unicorns. Nor space aliens, right? However unique we all might be, being grounded in a basic reality is a requirement for life itself. If you believe you are a rock and insist you don’t need food, you are not only wrong but soon to be dead. Feed the person, not the delusion (HotAir).

Blinken Meets with President Xi Jinping, Immediately States US Does Not Support Taiwan Independence

If this is true, why did Nancy Pelosi bother to visit Taiwan last August even after China threatened her? Daily Wire: Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that the U.S. does not support Taiwan’s independence after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday. Blinken was in Beijing to warm U.S. relations with China, which have become strained in recent years over several issues, including Taiwan (Daily Wire). Colin Rugg: Secretary of State Anthony Blinken gives China the green light to invade Taiwan during his visit to Beijing, China. “We do not support Taiwan independence.” What a pivot from Biden’s previous comments from just months ago. What happened? “Yes, if in fact, there was an unprecedented attack,” Biden said after being asked if he would defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion (Twitter). HotAir: We can’t simply ignore the way that China has been aggressively expanding its military and forging stronger alliances with other adversarial nations, including Russia and Iran. They know that we’ve outsourced so much of the global supply chain to them for so long that the situation can’t be turned around overnight (HotAir).

Gender Reassignment Industry Valued at $1.9 Billion, Expected to Grow 11 Percent Annually Until 2030

Grand View Research: The U.S. sex reassignment surgery market size was valued at USD 1.9 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.23% from 2022 to 2030. The rising incidences of gender dysphoria and the increasing number of people opting for gender confirmation surgeries are expected to boost the growth during the forecast period. According to a study conducted by Cedars Sinai in June 2020, approximately 78% of transgender males experienced gender dysphoria by the age of 7 (Grand View Research). Daily Signal: The head of a facility that carries out so-called “gender-affirming care” has published a study confirming that transgender surgeries do not improve mental health and make people feel lonelier than those who avoided surgical intervention altogether. The researchers also reveal that people who identify as members of the opposite sex experienced greater isolation if they played sports (Daily Signal). NCBI: The prevalence rate of loneliness was 83.3% (NCBI).

Intel to Invest $32.8 Billion in Germany to Build Semiconductor Facilities

This allows us to not be as reliant on China, Taiwan. Associated Press: Intel and the German government signed a deal Monday that will see the U.S. company spend more than 30 billion euros ($32.8 billion) to build a chip manufacturing site in the eastern city of Magdeburg, after Germany pledged to cover a third of the investment required. Intel acquired the land for two semiconductor facilities in Magdeburg in November. It says the first one is expected to start production in four or five years (Associated Press) Financial Times: Last week, Intel also announced plans to build a $4.6bn semiconductor assembly and testing plant in Wrocław, Poland, which it expects it to be ready by 2027 (Financial Times).

San Francisco Bracing for Defaults Worth Billions in Commercial Real Estate Market

Financial Times: Lenders to San Francisco’s beleaguered commercial real estate market are braced for defaults on billions of dollars of debt after the owners of the city’s largest shopping mall and biggest hotel ceased loan payments and handed back the keys on what was once the city’s most valuable property. This week, Westfield and Brookfield Properties announced they had stopped making payments on a $558mn loan secured against San Francisco’s sprawling downtown mall that they have owned since 2002, and would surrender the premises to its lenders. Days earlier, New York-listed Park Hotels & Resorts said it expected to hand over ownership of two of its prime San Francisco hotels — the Hilton Union Square and Parc 55 — after it stopped making payments on a $725mn loan. The hotels were valued at more than $1.5bn when the loan was issued in 2016, suggesting that its owners believe their value has more than halved. The large defaults were the latest in a number of distress signals by landlords of offices, hotels, apartment blocks and retailers in San Francisco. The city has been struggling with a steep decline in tourism and business travel since the coronavirus pandemic, downsizing by technology companies, an exodus of residents, and international scrutiny over crime, drug use and homelessness (Financial Times).

Company Offers a “Baby Bonus” to Employees Who Choose to Have or Adopt Children

Good on them. Townhall: After Roe v. Wade was overturned nearly a year ago, several “woke” companies decided to unveil “abortion benefits” for their employees. This included covering travel for out-of-state abortions, and some companies announcing that employees could relocate out of pro-life states. One company is going the opposite direction and is offering its employees a “baby bonus” to push a pro-life, pro-family agenda. PublicSq. is an app designed to connect “freedom-loving Americans in shopping quality products, services, and exclusive discounts from values-aligned businesses” (Townhall). CEO Michael Seifert: While other companies like Target are paying for their employees’ abortions, we at PublicSq are paying $5,000 to any of our employees who have a baby or adopt. We’re calling it the “baby bonus.” Strong families make a strong nation (Twitter).

West Coast Port Unions Reach Tentative Deal

The dispute has cost many small businesses. Journal of Commerce: Longshore workers on the US West Coast secured a 32% salary increase over the life of a tentative six-year contract agreed to Wednesday, but they did not receive the increased manning for conventional terminals they sought during the 13-month negotiations with employers. Two sources who asked not to be identified said the agreement calls for a $4.62-per-hour wage increase in the first year, with increases of $2 per hour in each of the remaining five years of the contract. In addition, a one-time $70 million bonus intended to reward dockworkers for remaining on the job (Journal of Commerce). National Review: A tentative agreement is not a sure thing, as the U.S. learned last year when a tentative agreement in the railroad industry was not approved by some of the rail unions, leading to congressional intervention under the Railway Labor Act to prevent a nationwide work stoppage. Dockworkers are governed by the National Labor Relations Act, which does not have provisions for congressional intervention. Approval for this deal will likely take about three months. There are local contracts within each region in addition to the coastwide contract. The local contracts will be approved first, then a vote of all ILWU members will be scheduled for the coastwide contract. There are 70 employers in the PMA, and they will also meet to approve the deal (National Review).

10.

Dodgers Present Award to Anti-Catholic Hate Group to a Near-Empty Stadium

Federalist: The great Battle of Dodger Stadium is finally over, and the final score was Dodgers zero, Catholics one, and ugly men in clown paint and nun costumes negative 1 billion. After all the sturm und drag surrounding the Dodgers’ “pride night” ceremony honoring a pornographic Catholic hate group known as the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the pride event itself barely registered. The cowardly Dodgers executives buried the ceremony by holding it a full hour before the game even began and in front of a nearly empty stadium. Just TWO of the brave and proud Sisters dared to show their clown-painted faces! There was no strip show performance, no dancing, no twerking on the crucifix, and no rousing ovation by a packed crowd of rainbow-clad LGBT activists. There was zero fanfare. The Dodgers engineered a rainout for the guys who had caused them nothing but grief (Federalist). Savannah Hernandez: DODGER STADIUM-The “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” are recognized for Pride night to a mostly empty audience. Two Dodgers fan nearby begin loudly booing after they’re announced (Twitter).