| ◼ Yet again, a group of twenty- and thirty-somethings has convinced themselves that communism works and that their version will somehow succeed where every other has failed. Forget about the USSR, Cuba, or China—because, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report, a meeting of “15 comrades” in Pennsylvania discussed how to best bring communism to America. Many cited the 2008 financial crisis as the moment that capitalism supposedly collapsed, using the group as an echo chamber to reinforce their ideology. Communism may have historically meant corruption, suppression of free speech, and often mass starvation, but surely it won’t lead to the same outcomes this time . . . right? The Revolutionary Communists of America are only one example of the troubling resurgence of support for communism among young Americans. Disturbingly, a Cato Institute/YouGov survey found that 62 percent of Americans ages 18–29 hold a favorable view of socialism, while 34 percent support communism outright. As Cato warns, “To favor socialism is to flirt with tyranny.” Indeed, but look at the bright side: Anti-communists have a new opportunity to send this satanic utopianism to the ash heap of history.
◼ Gold has been seen as a safe haven for centuries. Alarmingly, its price has nearly doubled since January 2024 in dollar terms, driven higher by the combination of mounting geopolitical tension and increasing concern that the U.S., land of the greenback, is losing (or has already lost) control of its finances. Trump’s tariff policy and his pressuring of the Fed to cut rates have only increased those worries. The latest surge in the gold price followed the speech by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell in August in which, with inflation still well above targeted levels, he signaled that rate cuts were on the way. Since then, the dollar has fallen against gold but so have other major currencies, against which the greenback has remained relatively stable. This suggests that lack of fiscal discipline is not seen as a solely American problem. A broader crisis of confidence is on the way. Keep a close eye on France and the U.K.
◼ The world awoke on Sunday, September 28, to the news that someone or something known as “Bad Bunny” would be performing at Super Bowl LX. The announcement was greeted with mystification from some of the NFL’s typical fans. The young Puerto Rican rapper appeals to two audiences, one of which (young males) is the NFL’s core demographic, and the other of which (Latinos) the league’s marketing executives are extremely keen on courting. Most of Mr. Bunny’s work is sung in Spanish, which may be a barrier to mass understanding come February. But aside from a recognition of American football’s increasing commercial grasp, it is a recognition that musical trends have not only left the Boomers in the dust; they perplex even Millennials these days.
◼ Joanne Chesimard passed away peacefully at 78 in September. At least, that’s what we’ve heard from the authorities in Cuba, where Chesimard resided as a fugitive from American justice since at least 1984. Chesimard, better known in the United States by her nom de guerre, Assata Olugbala Shakur, should have died in jail. She spent much of her youth as a revolutionary guerrilla with the Black Liberation Army. She robbed banks and churches; planned and executed attacks on police; and, in 1973, was involved in a shootout on the side of a New Jersey highway in which Trooper Werner Forrester was killed with his own gun. But Chesimard is not reviled on the left. Rather, she was eulogized. The Guardian described her as somehow “exiled” to Cuba. She was “a towering figure” for “black liberation and racial justice,” according to NPR’s Alisa Chang. Chesimard lived the life of “a revolutionary fighter, a fierce writer, a revered elder of Black liberation, and a leader of freedom whose spirit continues to live in our struggle,” the Chicago Teachers’ Union gushed. She was, in fact, a “revolutionary fighter,” and she fought against the United States government in a treasonous campaign of death and destruction along with dozens of Marxist guerrilla groups in the 1960s and ’70s. In death as in life, Chesimard was revered by her compatriots on the left not for her poetry but for the violence of which she, and they, were so fond.
◼ Much of the best of science involves observation, patience, a point of view, a willingness to learn—and to be proved wrong. Jane Goodall suspected that the great apes, our closest relatives, might have something to teach us about early (and perhaps modern) man himself. So Goodall, a formidable autodidact (she eventually was awarded a Ph.D., without going through the usual undergraduate preliminaries) went to Kenya, initially with her mother and a cook in tow, to spend what became a long time hanging with chimpanzees in the wild. A great primatologist and ethologist was born. She saw that chimps were social creatures and established that they could make tools and—vegans avert your eyes—that they ate meat. To her horror, she found that, contrary to her earlier conviction that they were “nicer” than us, they indulged in organized warfare and could go in for cannibalism, too. Unsurprisingly, she was a conservationist, and the great apes certainly needed her help. Perhaps surprisingly to some, she was open to the idea that Bigfoot exists. Sadly, her instincts also led her into our era’s cruder, more superstitious environmentalism—from climatism to opposition to GMOs. She died at 91, while on a lecture tour. A force of nature. R.I.P. |
