Today's Takes: Tuesday, September 21

Good morning, everyone.

There's a rhetorical trick pointed out by Michael Anton that once you see, you can't unsee called the "Celebration Paradox". The paradox describes the phenomenon that a statement of fact is either true or false depending on who says it.

The clearest example of this involves immigration. The Left claims that concerns over the "great replacement" are rooted in "white supremacy" and represent a dangerous, "racist" tendency that amounts to a conspiracy theory. On the other hand, columnists at the New York Times can write pieces entitled "We Can Replace Them" or a Washington Post columnist can proclaim "now we need to prevent minority White rule" with impunity.

From the right, any effort to point out this political strategy amounts to heresy. When coming from the left, though, it becomes laudatory statement worthy of song.

And one last thing: inanimate objects (like shoes) do not have political identities.

Thanks for reading.

Headlines

📰 Today's Front Pages

A quick look at this morning's front pages so you know what you're supposed to be mad about.

• Reuters: China Evergrande's rising default risks shift focus to possible Beijing rescue (Read)
• New York Times: ‘Can’t Compete’: Why Hiring for Child Care Is a Huge Struggle (Read)
• Wall Street Journal: U.S. Stock Futures Bounce After Global Market Selloff (Read)
• Fox News: Gabby Petito: Autopsy of body in case due Tuesday; FBI intensifies search for Laundrie (Read)
• CNN: A nurse's training didn't protect her from vaccine misinformation. Now, she's one of the victims of Covid-19 (Read)
• NPR: Johnson & Johnson Says Its Booster Shot Provides Increased Protection From COVID-19 (Read)
• Breitbart: CDC: Afghans Arriving in U.S. Infected with Measles, Malaria, Tuberculosis (Read)
• HuffPost: Progressives Mount Campaign To Pressure Conservative Hawaii Democrat (Read)

🏛 From the Hill

• Democrats Press Ahead With Debt-Limit Vote Amid Standoff With GOP (WSJ) It's become a ritual for Republicans to saber-rattle against raising the debt-ceiling, only to cave to Democrat demands. No reason to expect this time around to be any different. Janet Yellin penned an op-ed in the WSJ saying that a failure to act would “produce widespread economic catastrophe.”
• Immigration Measure Can’t Be Included in $3.5 Trillion Package, Senate Parliamentarian Says (WSJ) Democrats’ plan to provide a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants living in the country illegally couldn’t be included in a wide-ranging $3.5 trillion proposal expanding the safety net and responding to climate change.
• Yellen, IRS Push Democrats to Require Banks to Report Taxpayers’ Annual Account Flows (WSJ) In letters to lawmakers, the administration officials again asked Congress to require banks to report annual inflows and outflows from bank accounts with at least $600 or at least $600 worth of transactions. The current limit is $10,000.

🗺 From the Frontier

• U.S. Spat With France Shows Challenge of Keeping Allies Unified (WSJ) The US needs European and East Asian allies more than ever in order to combat the growing Chinese presence. US leaders seem confident that France will stop pouting soon and the conflict will fade away. Yet another US effort that would appear to embolden China's maneuvers to protect its interests in the South China sea.
• In Overwhelmed Del Rio, Texas, Migrants Cross the Border Freely (WSJ) "No, no, no. It's not what you think. They are illegal immigrants."
• New Photo of Justin Trudeau in Blackface Emerges Night Before Canadian Federal Election (Gateway) Conveniently absent mainstream press coverage in Canada.

🌦 Climate Faux Pas

When talking about climate change, the solutions are the problem.

• The practical ways to reduce your carbon footprint (that actually work) (Wired) "Yeah, you're going to need to stay in your house for the whole month of October for, you know, the climate and everything." The real question should be who is willing to die to save the climate?
• Major Calif. battery outage highlights energy storage risks (E&E News) ...caused by the batteries overheating. How much energy does it take to cool down the batteries?
• Democrats Aim To Choke Off Arctic Drilling With Provision Tucked Into Reconciliation Package (Federalist)

🦄 Woke-acracy

• The Biden Administration Is Still Banning White Farmers From Federal Aid (Federalist) In particular, one Tennessee farmer sits at the center of the fight against the discriminatory policy.
• Designer of AOC’s ‘Tax The Rich’ Met Gala Dress Owes Over $100K in Back Taxes, Accused of Being a Rent Deadbeat and Running ‘Sweatshop’ of Unpaid Interns (Mediaite) A phenomenal conclusion to this saga.
• Washington State University adds fat studies course to curriculum (WSU) Fat studies will never make AOC less attractive than Stacy Abrams, or Kate Beckinsale than Rosie O'Donnell.
• Apple shut down a voting app in Russia. That should worry everyone. (Recode) Imagine that. An American tech company working hand in glove with a government to "fortify" an election.
• San Francisco Mayor Defends Criticism After Video Catches Her Dancing Maskless at Night Club (KPIX5) Decries the "fun police"... Pot, meet kettle.

Nashville Politics

• Senate committee on redistricting named (Main Street)
• Attorney General Questions Legality of Biden Vaccine Mandate (Scene)
• Lee requests transparency on Afghan refugees coming to Tennessee (Main Street)
• Trump endorses Harshbarger’s re-election bid (TNJ)

Nashville News

• Rate the Plate: Lee administration puts four proposed tag designs to a vote (TNJ) The plates express the high preference Tennessee places on tourism.
• In the Heart of Nashville, Rolling Parties Rage at Every Stoplight (NYT) Nashville's Transpotainment industry goes national.
• Businesses push back against vaccine mandate (Main Street)

Nashville Development

• Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford releases plans for $110 million expansion (Bix Journal)
• The New 370-Unit Multifamily Development Proposed In Edgehill, Nashville (Now Next)
• West Davidson County apartment complex sells for $155M (Post)
• Germantown site sells for $1.25M (Post)
• Vanderbilt looks to double computer science faculty (Post)
• Antioch apartment property sells for $75.25M (Post)

COVID Gutter

Patron Saint Fauci received a new accolade last week: the sexiest man alive. This is excellent news for the short kings out there insecure about their height and lacking in talents.

Headlines

• CDC Warns of ‘Alarming’ Increase in Child Obesity During Pandemic (Epoch Times) "The portion of 5-11-year-olds who are classified as overweight or obese is now 45.7 percent, up from 36.2 percent before the pandemic."
• Biden Administration to Lift COVID Restrictions on Foreign Travelers (NRO)
• Pfizer says its COVID vaccine is safe and effective for kids ages 5-11 (NY Post)
• 11 of 15 NYC restaurants not enforcing vaccine mandate (NY Post)
• Madrid is set to remove most of its restrictions on Monday. (NYT)

Opinion

• Covid Is Boring (Justin E. H. Smith)

Good to Know

🎭 What scientists really mean (Read)
‣ "a promising area for initial study" = "I have to do this to get funding"
‣ "more research is required" = "I need more funding"
‣ "various sources" = "I forgot the name and author of that one paper"
‣ "an extensive literature review" = "a quick Google search"

Stat of the Day

🏜 Utah’s population grew faster than that of any other state between 2010 and 2020. Salt Lake City has the lowest jobless rate among all big cities, at 2.8%, compared with a national rate of 5.2%. Utah also ranks near the bottom in "gender equality" due, for the most part, to Mormon's tendency to marry young and prioritize raising their children over career opportunities. (Read)

Something to Watch

Have a great Tuesday