Spectator A.M. #2104

Fifth Amendment Fauci

Anthony Fauci responded to questions from our elected officials on Wednesday the same way that mobster Vito Genovese and former communist Lillian Hellman did during in the 1950s. A man never in the mood to social distance from a microphone suddenly treated the one in front of him as though infected with the AIDS virus of his 1983 imagination that spread through “close contacts.” I react to it all—first @ The American Spectator with the written word and second @ RightWingWilderness under a blinding rainstorm in the woods. Please do watch the YouTube episode in full and, if you have not already, hit the subscribe button at my channel.

Market Wants Easy Money

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 1,153 points yesterday, which ranks as the 13th largest drop in terms of points. Given the market’s current size, the freefall amounted to just over two percent of the overall value. That does not approach the largest daily depreciations in terms of percentage. Please do not attempt to explain the price slide in such a way to holders of Parsons Corporation, which lost 35 percent of its value yesterday. Ouch!

Fed Stays Course

The cause for the selloff largely derives from the Federal Reserve’s prudent decision to hold steady on rates. “The Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3-1/2 to 3-3/4 percent, in support of the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate,” the Federal Open Market Committee’s statement read. The lack of unanimity in the 9-3 vote interestingly came about because the three “no” votes, all appointed to the Fed during Democratic presidential administrations, supported a hike in rates. Increasingly, one sees partisan votes on this committee traditionally free such naked political motive. Trump appointees, in recent votes, inexplicably supported rate cuts when inflation above the two-percent target instructed otherwise. And now with the consumer price index down substantially from May to June, the anti-Trump caucus pushes for a rate hike. The Dow dropped by more than 1,000 points based largely on the rate staying the same. How might yesterday have played out had those calling for a rate increase prevailed? A 2,000-point drop? 3,000?

Please Send Your Regrets

Seven weeks from today, Americans commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Some New Yorkers want Zohran Mamdani to skip the memorial events. An online petition, supported by thousands to include Everybody Loves Raymond star Patricia Heaton, states that “we, the family members of those murdered on 9/11, write to express our concern regarding the potential inclusion of Zohran Mamdani in the 25th-year commemorative events.” The Change.org petition lists examples of the mayor’s association with extremists and his extremist rhetoric. “Mr. Mamdani’s own father, whom he has acknowledged as having shaped his views, penned a book shortly after 9/11 in which he argued that suicide bombers should be ‘understood as a feature of modern political violence rather than stigmatized as a mark of barbarism,’” one bullet point noted. “He also argued that there was a moral equivalence between the United States and al-Qaeda.” After 9/11, Rudy Guiliani became the most popular politician in America because of his leadership within New York City. A quarter-century later, Gracie Mansion feels like the set of a Twilight Zone episode.

Letter: Doctors Are Human, Humans Succumb to Weakness

Thank you for including the link to the do-no-harm piece—a powerful reminder that medical and technical expertise often walks hand in hand with hubris and greed. It is also a reminder that the institutions overseeing such efforts are often too internally and externally conflicted to be trusted with such responsibilities. For ethics and safety, we in America often prided ourselves that “at least we’re not like the Chinese.” If Covid, Fauci, and thousands of local and state political hacks taught us anything, it is that human weakness is no respecter of politics and titles.

Greg Paulson

Nashville, Tennessee

Letter: Utility Player

Sir,   

Rod Carew in the spokes of your bike? In the late 1950s, I had several Mickey Mantle cards in my spokes. I just knew I liked him but didn’t know he would be legendary.

Barry Cheek

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma