Supreme Misinformation, Bowing Before China & Florida’s Flourishing – Top 3 Takeaways – July 10th, 2023
- Sorry Mrs. Jackson. In 2000 Outkast may have had some apologizing to do (yeah, it’s really been that long) but in July of 2023 – it's the socially promoted Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson that has some apologizing to do. It’s one thing to say stuff that’s wrong. It’s a whole other kind of thing to say stuff that’s wrong when one’s a Supreme Court justice writing a legal opinion. And in this case not just wrong – but stunningly so. Miami-native Mrs. Jackson’s dissenting opinion on the recently decided Supreme Court Affirmative Action college admissions case cited a Florida study using data from between 1992 and 2015 stating... For high-risk Black newborns, having a Black physician more than doubles the likelihood that the baby will live, and not die. There’s only one problem with that remarkable statement...there’s absolutely no truth to it. In fact, the claim was so false that the sympathetic author of the study's findings reached out to the stunningly ignorant Supreme Court justice telling her that she needed to amend and “clarify” her comments. As for the facts as illustrated in the study, it showed there was a 0.13% to 0.2% improvement in high-risk infant mortality rates for Black babies born under the care of a Black doctor. Interesting, yes. Statistically significant? No. The monitored difference based on sample size is within a possible margin of error which is to say that the study literally showed a very slight improvement under those circumstances, but not one that’s conclusive scientifically. And certainly not one that evidences Black babies surviving birth at twice the rate. What’s remarkable here is two-fold. First that Justice Brown-Jackson was so stunningly wrong in attempting to advance the falsehood in her opinion to buttress her point, but also that Justice Kagan didn’t bother to fact check her assertion before signing onto it. I’m sorry Mrs. Jackson, I am for real – unlike you. There are two sides to stories and one side to facts. You’re full of it. And as an aside, isn’t it ironic that a justice who supports abortion on demand which disproportionately eliminates Black babies, attempted to use the survival rate of Black babies to support her opinion. Maybe Alanis Morrissette could work that into a remake of her 1996 hit.
- Bowing before the Chinese. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, she of “transitory inflation” back in 2021, like many Biden Administration officials has made an impressive career out of frequently being wrong. But being frequently wrong about American economic policy is one thing. Projecting inferiority and subordination to Chinese economic policy is another. On Saturday, while in China meeting with her Chinese Communist counterpart – she repeatedly bowed before him before beginning discussions. Not only is this a breach of official conduct of US officials who aren’t to bow before anyone, as that’s an official sign of subservience, it happened to be before our biggest adversary and greatest threat in the world. It also happened at a time when the Chinese are said to be operating a spy base in Cuba and are positioning themselves to stage military operations from the island just south of those of us in South Florida. The odds are that the breech in conduct and protocol were just the latest example of Janet Yellen getting something wrong, as opposed to an intentional sign that the United States is truly yielding before the Chicoms, but projecting that kind of weakness when Joe Biden is already president, is the last thing the US, Taiwan and for that matter the world from a point of stability needs right now. Nothing good comes from bowing before the Chinese.
- Florida’s flourishing. My third takeaway today comes from a story I first brought to you on Friday during my news from around the state. The Florida Chamber of Commerce, in issuing its 2023 Business & Economic Mid-Year Report, showed Florida as the 16th largest economy in the world currently – just behind Mexico and just ahead of Indonesia. But as impressive as that is to think about, that the economic output of the state Florida is only right behind the entire country of Mexico, the most immediate and impressive bit of new information in the report was the impact of net migration into Florida. The report shows a stunning $39.2 billion in wealth has been brought into Florida over the past year by individuals and businesses which have relocated to our state. Texas was the #2 gainer at $10.9 billion. That figure is so impressive that it’s on par with the remaining top ten gainers combined. Much has been made about Florida’s battle with Disney and culture war issues which have been claimed by those on the political left, and their allies in news media, to be a deterrent to businesses and many higher net worth individuals. Well, they’re continuing to flock to Florida in record numbers. The fact of the matter is that there’s been an acceleration of businesses and wealth coming into Florida over the past year while those battles and issues have been going on and are frequently in the news. Florida’s clearly flourishing and it’s as clear as ever that the state which Florida used to battle with for business relocations and economic supremacy with – Texas, has been left in the rearview mirror. I’ve often said that Florida’s economic story is a great one that just continues to get better. That’s not only still the case, but the reality is also that despite the insurance and affordability challenges we have, it’s truer today than ever before. And Florida is well on its way to being a top ten economy in the world by 2030 – which is the Florida Chamber’s goal.