Also on today’s menu:
NH House Takes Up Capital Budget
Then There Were Three
I Want It And I Want It Now
Choosing Sides In A Global Arena
Hunt Auctions has announced the private sale of a bat used by Babe Ruth in 1920-21 for $1.85 million, a record price for a baseball bat. The bat was manufactured by the Draper-Maynard Manufacturing company in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Between 1900 and 1937, Draper-Maynard served as a major supplier of baseball equipment for amateur and professional teams.
The previous record also belonged to a Ruth bat, selling privately for $1.68 million through Heritage Auctions last August.
Ruth's 1921 season established records for single-season home runs (59) and career homers (139). The bat received a perfect 10 grade from PSA/DNA Photo Authentication Services.
NH House Takes Up Capital Budget
Republican Majority Leader Jason Osborne and Democratic Minority Leader Matt Wilhelm spent the day Wednesday working on a budget compromise ahead of today’s full House vote. House Republicans have a narrow 201-196 majority which can pass a budget along party lines if all members show up and stay united, but that may not happen. The Wilhelm-Osborne budget amendment makes a number of concessions to Democrats in order to draw support from across the aisle.
“I think the bipartisan negotiations that took place over the last couple of weeks were productive and ultimately led to some things that make it easier for Democrats to vote for a final package,” Wilhelm said, but “there’s still going to be plenty of debate on the floor.”
If enough Republicans are absent, Democrats could have an opportunity to amend the budget in their favor, but Osborne said, “I’m guessing on a very important day like this, everyone will turn out, unless there’s an emergency situation.”
Then There Were Three
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has filed election paperwork to run as a Democrat for U.S. president in 2024. He joins Marianne Williamson in the presidential race. President Joe Biden Jr. is expected to announce his intention to run for re-election this summer.
In New Hampshire last month, Kennedy said, “If I run, my top priority will be to end the corrupt merger between state and corporate power that has ruined our economy, shattered the middle class, polluted our landscapes and waters, poisoned our children, and robbed us of our values and freedoms.”
His sister, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, brother Joseph P Kennedy II, and niece Maeve Kennedy McKean have called his anti-vaccine views “tragically wrong” with “deadly consequences”.
Meanwhile, Marianne Williamson has been criticized as being verbally and emotionally abusive toward staff during her 2020 campaign for president.
I Want It And I Want It Now
A number of commentators have decried the provisions of the federal CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 that bundle a number of progressive goals into legislation intended to make the United States more competitive in the manufacturing of semiconductors. Of the $280 billion spending contained in the bill, about $50 billion is directly focused on building domestic semiconductor production, but unrelated provisions that require companies accepting the money to provide child care and follow strict hiring practices puts brakes on the process.
“Progressives need to realize that this is not the 1970s,” writes Noah Smith in Noahpinion. “A much better way [of addressing society’s needs] would be to split these priorities off and work on them independently — for example, to fund education and child care without forcing chip factories to do it. The risk of bundling everything with everything is that nothing gets done despite all the dollars spent, and progressives are left futilely calling for yet more funding as disgusted voters turn back to the Republicans.”
In today’s column, he elaborates on that theme, saying, “Progressives need to build — to create green energy and green infrastructure to fight climate change, to create housing so renters can afford to live where the jobs are, and to create high-tech manufacturing industries in order to prevent the U.S. from turning into an industrial backwater. This is a very very good thing! But in order to follow through on those promises, progressives are going to have to abandon the ‘laundry list’ approach that they embraced over the last 50 years, where every government project is sold as a way of paying out a huge assortment of interest groups and micro-constituencies.”
Choosing Sides In A Global Arena
Saudi Arabia and Iran have reached an agreement brokered by China to reopen diplomatic missions and to study the prospects of resuming flights between the two nations and facilitating the visa process for the citizens of both countries. It is a step forward for the long-time regional rivals and may reduce the chance of direct armed conflict and proxy conflicts around the region.
Earlier this week, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and there are rumors that Saudi Arabia may normalize relations with Syria as well. The meetings could have an impact on security and stability in the Red Sea area, as well as Yemen, Libya, Sudan, and Ethiopia, and affect discussions about the Palestinians which may have an impact on Israel.
As for the United States, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s meeting with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has China’s Foreign Ministry condemning the meeting and pledging to take “strong and resolute measures” as a result. American and Taiwan officials have portrayed Tsai’s visit as nothing out of the ordinary.
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