It was a week full of big news. Some real wow moments. But every report left me hanging; I still have questions.
SCOTUS ruled against affirmative action in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard Justice Thomas concurred with a clarity that should carry us far into the future. Among many memorable things, he said, “the Constitution continues to embody a simple truth: Two discriminatory wrongs cannot make a right.” Ha! Take that, Ibram X. Kendi!
But does this abolish racial (black-owned), sexual (woman-owned), geographic (Asian-owned), tribal (Native American-owned), and linguistic (Hispanic-owned) preferences in U.S. Government contracting? To the 118th Congress, maybe there ought to be a law?
Justice Gorsuch writing for the majority in the 303 Creative case said, “the opportunity to think for ourselves and to express those thoughts freely is among our most cherished liberties and part of what keeps our Republic strong.” If that wasn’t a 2x4 upside the head of Michigan’s House of Representatives, I don’t know what would be.
Image by DALL-E AI.
Governor Whitmer tweeted, “In Michigan, we stand with the LGBTQ+ community. We stand for their basic rights to be who they are and love who they love. Anything less is unacceptable.” Will she sign the “say our pronouns” legislation if it comes to her desk? Has anyone asked her? And if she does, how long until Michigan is sued into bankruptcy by those prosecuted under this law?
A French policeman shot and killed a French teenager of Algerian descent. The police officer is in jail and charged with murder. France has a volatile population, and the influx of developing-world immigrants over the past several years only makes it more so. This week’s riots and burning sure look like France Floyd. However, has anyone considered that France and Algeria have had a hostile and fraught relationship, with thousands upon thousands of Algerians dying at the hands of the French, since the early 1800s?
The Wagner Group marched out of Ukraine and headed for Moscow, apparently to respond forcefully to the Russian military shelling the Wagner Group. Abruptly turning west toward NATO, the Wagner Group is expected to lodge in Belarus. By some, Belarus is seen as a frontier of an expanding Russian empire. Another perspective sees it snuggled right up against Poland. Regarding Poland, the US State Department just approved purchasing $15 billion in missile defense systems. This is on top of last year’s big-ticket sales of arms from Korea and the US.
Has anyone considered this is how Wagner (and Belarus, too) might protect themselves in case Russia loses its war with Ukraine? Can Prigozhin perhaps see the handwriting on the wall from farther away than most?
President Biden identifies as a devout Catholic. As such, confessing his sins is second nature to him and, if not to a priest, then to others. He blurts such things out almost compulsively, as when we recently heard him discuss meeting a 17-year-old beauty when he was 40.
This week we saw Indian Prime Minister Modi’s startled face when Joe told him, “I sold a lot of state secrets.” The reaction caused President Biden to backtrack into his frequently used “it was just a joke.” I wonder, though. Does China know a whole lot more about India than most would suspect?
And finally, we now seem to have evidence that Hunter and his dad were in cahoots in squeezing some Chinese fellas. All this started two administrations ago. That administration and its heavy hitters were surely aware of what was going on. After all, everywhere that Joe traveled, he went on signed government orders. We know about the 10% for the Big Guy. So, I’m just wondering: How much of that was for the Black Guy?
Anony Mee is the nom de blog of a retired public servant.