THE EV BUBBLE DENIES DEFLATION RUMORS: Lucid dismisses report that it is weighing filing for bankruptcy or going private after shares plunge.

A site focused on electric vehicles called EV reported Tuesday Lucid was considering going private or filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. According to the site, the company asked AlixPartners to review those options and deliver its findings to Lucid’s board before its next meeting.

The report from EV also said AlixPartners had encouraged the board to further restructure in the U.S. and Europe and to focus on the Gravity SUV.

AlixPartners said it had no comment on the report. Lucid said in a statement that “the rumors are completely false.”

I guess we’ll see. But unlike Tesla or even Rivian, I never see any Lucid vehicles in EV-friendly Colorado.

THE MARKET HAS SPOKEN:

Hearing from tradesmen that one of their main job criteria is bureaucracy.

Employers will hire them away from other employers with the promise of same money, but not having to deal with all the app shit.

The compliance/app regime is getting that bad, even out in the field.

— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) July 16, 2026

PRINCIPLES GET EXPENSIVE WHEN YOUR SIDE IS IN POWER. Real nonpartisanship means criticizing allies, crediting opponents, resisting ideological drift, and defending free speech without checking the speaker’s party registration first.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: The Commie Call Is Coming From Inside the Democrats’ House. “Until President Trump upended the political tradition apple cart in 2016, the Democrats used to be better at playing a more subtle long game in politics. Since then, they’ve been singularly focused on being consumed by hatred for the man who denied their alcoholic Ice Queen the presidency that they felt she was entitled to.”

CHANGE: Warren Buffett stops Gates Foundation donations, will give $6 billion to family foundations. “Omaha billionaire Warren Buffett said Tuesday that he stopped donating money to the Gates Foundation after revelations about interactions between the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.”

For a guy who spent a lifetime picking winners and dumping losers, he sure held on to Gates for a long time.

SHE’S SERVED HER PURPOSE, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, SHE KNOWS IT:

Notice how Nithya Raman just completely disappeared after they blocked us out of the general election?

She's not campaigning at all. Like a pickpocket disappearing into the crowd. Just a ghost. I told you her campaign was a scam. Colluding with Bass from the start.

— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) July 15, 2026

MY LATEST SUBSTACK ESSAY: Seizing the Day: Will Trump invoke the Guarantee Clause to impose election integrity? A prediction.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN:

#BREAKING @PaulSperry_ reports: The "really big news" President Trump plans to announce in Thursday's primetime address, according to an administration source who's read a draft of his speech, includes bombshell evidence China interfered in the 2020 election to help Joe Biden…

— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) July 16, 2026

READ THE WHOLE THING:

How the FIFA tournament matters more than you realize:

Earlier this week I spoke with someone close to senior European defense officials.

He tried lecturing me. My response?

The greatest gift FIFA gave America is not soccer. We don’t care about soccer. It’s sharing pints with… https://t.co/fW9ecogeEr

— John Ʌ Konrad V (@johnkonrad) July 15, 2026

IT’S MY THURSDAY ESSAY FOR VIP SUBSCRIBERS: Our Love/Meh Relationship With AI.

“People wanted more than just text,” former CEO Eric Schmidt later said of the company’s moonshot effort to design, build, and launch the first image search engine as quickly as humanly possible. “Google Image Search was born” on July 12, 2001, Schmidt later recalled.

Google Image Search immediately became one of the company’s most-loved and most-used tools, and constant refinements over the last 25 years helped keep it that way. I moved on from Google years ago — mostly because I despise the company’s business practices — but when the copycats fail, I find myself back on GIS.

Then this week — on Image Search’s 25th birthday — Google just had to go and ruin it.

Say it with me now: “By adding AI nobody asked for.”

But this isn’t really about Google, Image Search, or even AI. It’s about tools.

Much more at the link.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. ‘Diversity’ Is Not Our Strength if They Hate Us.

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Florida student’s historic 11.99 GPA triggers district policy overhaul.

WHAT IF: The laws of nature actually aren’t able in and of themselves to create life as we know it? Systems Engineer Steve Laufman, ably teamed with Dr. Howard Glicksman, examine the significance of the problem of increasing complexity in the search for solutions.

WELL, GOOD: Senate GOP poised for largest turnover of the millennium due to Trump primaries, retirements.

CCP TOOL: Trump blasts Hochul over data center moratorium.

Hochul imposed a one-year moratorium on new data centers this month as national backlash to their explosive growth has increased in recent months. Trump, for his part, expressed support for data centers and encouraged states to embrace them.

“One of the biggest Driving Forces in the Future for Jobs, are Data Centers. They are big, strong, bold, and Money Machines for the State in which they are built. Governor Kathy Hochul, for political reasons, has terminated all Data Centers being built, or to be built, in New York State,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

“These Companies are now being sought in Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arizona, and many other States. Both the Taxes and the Jobs amount to LIQUID GOLD!” he added. “New York State has made a terrible decision. All of this Income, and other Benefits, will be going to Red States, and some Blue, where Data Centers are sought as Cash Cows, with Lower Taxes and Record Setting Jobs.”

“They must pay for their own Water and Power, and any leftover goes back to the State and local Community. Data Centers are tremendous WINS for the States and Communities that are lucky enough to get them,” he added. “New York should change its Policy, IMMEDIATELY.”

But what would Comrade Xi say?

LIGHTNING DEAL: NORTHYARD Men’s Athletic Running Shorts. #CommissionEarned

PLAUSIBLE:

pic.twitter.com/BFmCTjxh4g

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 15, 2026

CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN:

Things are going so well that even anti-gun publications are basically being forced to write headlines that come across as pro-gun.

The data is so undeniable that even they are struggling to spin it as a negative. pic.twitter.com/bLUZmEtCKA

— National Association for Gun Rights (@gunrights) July 15, 2026

SCOTT PINSKER: The Political Castration of Chuck Schumer — and the Rise of GOP Superman Brandon Gill.

FASTER, PLEASE — LITERALLY: Here’s What Boom Supersonic Still Hasn’t Solved About Overture’s 2029 Passenger Service Promise.

AMERICA’S PAPER OF RECORD HAS A GOOD IDEA:  Trump To Secure Strait Of Hormuz By Posting Old Man Who Asks You 3 Questions Before You May Pass.

IT’S BEEN DOING THAT ON A LOT OF THINGS LATELY:  The medical profession is going backwards with autism.

POLITICS IS THE ART OF THE POSSIBLE, THE IDEAL WILL HAVE TO WAIT:  Our only chance is a right-wing party on 30 per cent of the vote. I fear it has to be Reform.

EXPERTS MUST BE PERMITTED TO PURSUE RESULTS NO MATTER HOW UNCOMFORTABLE IT IS FOR IDEOLOGUES:  When experts become targets: How fear is silencing family court professionals.

LIKE HARRY REID’S LIE ABOUT ROMNEY’S TAXES, IT SERVED ITS PURPOSE:  Ro Khanna’s West Bank Hostage Myth Is Now Downright Embarrassing.