Exactly What You'd Think
Plus: Charter cities, bitcoin, nuclear energy, San Francisco, and more...
Utterly predictable: Yesterday was Super Tuesday, the day on which voters in 15 states decided they would apparently like more of the same.
With the exception of Vermont, where Nikki Haley won the Republican primary, it was a huge night for both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, who essentially won their respective parties' nods.
Roughly 19 percent of Minnesotan Democrats—or 45,000 votes, with 95 percent counted—pulled the lever for "uncommitted" in a protest vote over Biden's handling of the war in Gaza (similar to what went down recently in Michigan).
Meanwhile, Haley staffers hinted that she plans to drop out of the race at 10 a.m. this morning. "As she exits the race, it is hard to know whether Haley is part of the party's future or a last gasp of more traditional Republicanism that favors a hawkish foreign policy, fiscal discipline and limited government," reports the Wall Street Journal. In the last few months, she's demurred when asked if she'll endorse Trump. It frankly might not matter much: Haley has not garnered the support she had hoped, so her supporters are not exactly a formidable political force to reckon with.
MSNBC dismissiveness: Jen Psaki, the former Biden administration press secretary who has her own MSNBC show now (which may strike a discerning viewer as a questionable choice on the part of network executives, given that she remains essentially a White House flack), got into some hot water for the most cringe immigration segment:
MSDNC panel mocks the fact immigration is a top issue for voters across the country@jrpsaki: "I live in Virginia. Immigration was the number one issue…you're thinking like what?!"@JoyAnnReid: *laughs*@maddow: "Well, Virginia does have a border with West Virginia!" pic.twitter.com/CpzBUxWNFG
— Chad Gilmartin (@ChadGilmartinCA) March 6, 2024
Psaki and her fellow panelists, like Joy-Ann Reid, chose to spend a Super Tuesday segment laughing at the fact that voters care about the crisis at the border, with Rachel Maddow making a crack at West Virginians.
On one hand, they had a lot of time to fill, and it is odd that some political issues loom large in people's imaginations even if the effect on daily life is minimal. Immigration, for people who live far from the border and not in receiving hubs for new arrivals, arguably qualifies. When people worry about illegal immigration, they frequently cite economic worries—job stealing and strain on social services—and crime fears.
Voters are wrong to overcorrelate the decline of American cities and the influx of illegal immigrants at the southern border, but they're not wrong to be concerned that an uncontrolled inflow could impose costs. We have record numbers of border crossings, from a greater variety of sending countries than before (not just Mexico and the Northern Triangle). Our asylum processing times keep getting longer. Blue cities like mine, which have a legal obligation to guarantee shelter for those who seek it, are running into fiscal issues since the demand for social services simply outstrips the supply.
The bill always comes due in the end, both literally for expanded welfare services and figuratively when a problem is insufficiently addressed and the rule of law gets further eroded. Elite dismissiveness does the Democratic Party no favors, and you probably should spend Super Tuesday analyzing electoral outcomes instead of laughing at voters' priorities.
Scenes from Roatan: I was in Honduras this past weekend, speaking at Reason's invite-only conference on alternative governance. We taped a live episode of Just Asking Questions and visited Prospera, a privately built charter city that operates in a Honduran ZEDE (Zone for Employment and Economic Development).
With my JAQ cohost Zach Weissmueller:
At beautiful Prospera:
Lots of biohacking and cyborg talk within the ZEDE in Honduras (which I disliked at times, but was a great IRL follow-up to the themes explored in this recent episode with Bryan Johnson). At least one conference attendee got their Tesla key implanted into their hand at a lab run by the dudes at Vitalia (word choice is deliberate: not a real human lady in sight)…
Check out Melissa Chen's write-up below:
Just like how people are building new universities (@uaustinorg ) and new media companies (@TheFP, @triggerpod), I like the initiative to build new cities.
To paraphrase Justice Brandeis: charter cities, start-up cities, and special economic zones, etc. offer "laboratories of… https://t.co/hldfTQ16y2 pic.twitter.com/bydS4YNR8B
— Melissa Chen (@MsMelChen) March 5, 2024
QUICK HITS
- Down with the Food and Drug Administration:
My brave friend @Judy__Stecker writes about how cutting FDA red tape could help kids with rare diseases, like her brave kiddo @WheelersWarrior. They've used this flexibility bf & can again for very small groups of patients for whom time is of essence. pic.twitter.com/7cCW9oO8kd
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) March 6, 2024
- NEW must-watch documentary from aforementioned Weissmueller on nuclear power:
In 1953, Dwight Eisenhower gave the "Atoms for Peace" speech, urging nuclear power leave "the hands of soldiers" and be adapted "for the purpose of peace."
For awhile, that's what happened. Until it stalled.
Here's what happened.pic.twitter.com/cxfWpUSSWW
— Zach Weissmueller (@TheAbridgedZach) March 5, 2024
- Democrat-turned-independent Kyrsten Sinema just dropped out of the Arizona Senate race.
- RECORD BITCOIN HIGH!!!
- RFK Jr. announced that he won ballot access in Nevada.
- Scenes from S.F.:
san francisco progressives made "algebra is racist" one of their ideological battle cries and a landslide of voters are telling them to fuck off. it's beautiful. https://t.co/6w13VKAulH
— Kane 謝凱堯 (@kane) March 6, 2024
