“MILTON FRIEDMAN ISN’T RUNNING THE SHOW ANYMORE:” Fourth of July BBQ price up $10 one year after White House celebrated 16-cent discount.
I’VE SEEN THE LOCKDOWNS AND THE DAMAGE DONE: How the pandemic and social distancing have changed our perception of time.
FALLOUT: Russian Industry Faces Code Crisis as IT Providers Pull Out.
“All industries are facing the same problems,” Dunaev said. “Many processes in modern units are controlled by software.”
The exodus is a challenge for the nation’s oil and gas industry, where domestic software accounts for only 5% to 10% of industry-specific tools and is often “suboptimal,” according to First Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin.
The situation is made worse with the depletion of Russia’s traditional oil deposits, forcing producers to tap hard-to-recover reserves that require more complicated equipment and programs if the country wants to maintain output at current levels.
Just what the world needs right now: Less oil.
KEVIN DOWNEY JR’S WOKE WEDNESDAY: Disney’s Creepy Baymax Character Just Got Creepier, Teaches Kids How to Shop for Tampons for Women AND Men.
IN THE BIDEN ERA, IT’S COME TO THIS: Doctors urge caution over tampon shortage: Avoid DIY products.
TEXAS: Harris County Democratic Judge Indicated For ‘Official Oppression.’ “Jordan was briefly taken into custody and released Monday on a $500 bond from the 339th District Criminal Court under Judge Teiva Bell. Although Official Oppression charges under Texas Penal Code are a Class A Misdemeanor, such cases are referred to felony courts for prosecution.”
KAMALA WHO? “Her name hasn’t appeared in The Washington Post in 20 days.”
Plus: “Would Jennifer Rubin like to revisit the notion that Kamala Harris finally found her moment and her message? I can’t see that there’s anything there.”
NOW OUT FROM JOE PAPPALARDO: Red Sky Morning: The Epic True Story of Texas Ranger Company F.
WELCOME BACK, CARTER! Oil industry agrees. Refineries likely not coming back online under current conditions.
UNSURPRISING: Payday Lenders: More and More, DC’s Leftists Are Siding with Big Business.
While the GOP has become a multiracial party of the middle and working classes, the Democrats are the party of the rich/woke white people and their poor dependents. And the latter are growing increasingly restive.
IT’S SO NICE HAVING THE GROWNUPS BACK IN CHARGE: White House Face Plants Doing Damage Control After Migrant Death Disaster.
I THINK WE’RE SEEING THAT ABORTION ISN’T A HOT-BUTTON ISSUE FOR AS MANY PEOPLE AS THE POLITICAL CLASSES BELIEVED: NYT: Suuuuure doesn’t look like the end of Roe impacted turnout.
FINALLY, THE CURE FOR RISING OIL PRICES, INFLATION AND AN OUT OF CONTROL BORDER: Democrats unveiling ‘Transgender Bill of Rights.’
SPACE: NASA aims to launch the SLS rocket in just 2 months. “After more than a decade and more than $20 billion in funding, NASA and its litany of contractors are very close to declaring the 111-meter tall rocket ready for its debut launch.”
It seems silly saying SLS will launch “in just two months” for a rocket that was supposed to have first flown in 2016, but here we are.
PUTTING OUT FIRE WITH GASOLINE: California’s Newsom Loads Billions Into the Cash Cannon to Pay Off Voters in November.
BE PREPARED: The Prepper’s Medical Handbook.#CommissionEarned
READER FAVORITE: RAK Magnetic Pickup Tool. #CommissionEarned
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Bed Bath & Beyond turning off AC in stores to save money.
Related: Bed Bath & Beyond CEO ousted as sales collapse 27%.
Is turning off the AC the way to bring customers back?
“SOMEONE COMPLAINED, AND IT WAS GONE.” Cornell library removes Gettysburg Address, Lincoln bust.
Hey, he was a Republican.
LET A THOUSAND MEMES BLOOM: Trump J6 Beast Mode Meme Fest.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Let Beefdom Ring! “My mom taught me to never hate, but she is long dead and I’m a grown man. I will hate anyone or anything I choose. I’ve earned the right to detest the detestable.”
2012 BARACK OBAMA IS UNAVILABLE FOR COMMENT. ALSO 2022 BARACK OBAMA. NATO declares Russia its ‘most direct threat,’ offers Finland, Sweden membership.
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: 14,000 Army Guard Troops Could Be Axed Thursday for Refusing COVID Vax.
A friend suggests that Ron DeSantis should offer them relocation packages and use them as the core of his newly expanded Florida State Guard.
SHOCKER: THE ACLU DISCOVERS FEDERALISM. After Dobbs, the Path Forward Is Not Through the Courts. “While it may sound strange coming from the lawyer who heads the ACLU, the real path forward is not through the courts. We must turn to the political process and increase pressure on elected officials—especially at the state and local level. State Constitutions will provide opportunities for new advocacy. We can enact constitutional amendments and pass ballot measures that expand abortion rights and access, as we are doing in Michigan this November.”
DEAL OF THE DAY: Beard Bib Beard Apron. #CommissionEarned
DON’T GET COCKY: Democrats spending millions to protect two blue state senators.
Less than a year ago, a GOP Senate victory in deep blue Washington state would have been unthinkable. But now, Democrats are spending millions on advertising in several once-reliable Democratic strongholds, including Washington, as Republicans build national momentum and push for new Senate pickups.
There’s a similar panic in Colorado, where Tuesday’s GOP Senate primary has also drawn millions of dollars in Democratic-funded ads to boost a far-right candidate, a massive last-ditch campaign to keep a moderate Republican off the ballot this fall.
Washington’s Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, meanwhile, has spent more than $1 million on television ads in recent weeks, including two attacking her Republican opponent, Tiffany Smiley, in a state President Joe Biden won by nearly 20 points.
Both sets of ad buys suggest that Republicans are pressing to expand the number of Senate races in which they might pick up a seat in the narrowly divided chamber — and Democrats are worried they may be becoming even more vulnerable.
Get’em skeered and keep the skeer on ’em.
TWITTER REMAINS GARBAGE:
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE:
Title IX campus officials are often highly-paid people with exceptional power. Harvard boasts more than 50 Title IX coordinators, more than 80 percent of them women. These careers depend on a steady stream of complaints. Too many people have too much invested in making campus sexual politics a problem that can’t be solved.
Bureaucracies don’t solve problems, they exploit them.
OH, I WOULDN’T BE THIS IS THE PEAK! The Biden Administration Hits Peak Energy Absurdity.
“SCIENTISTS” ARE GOING TO DAMAGE OUR SANITY: Scientists claim rocket launches are going to damage ozone layer.
THE EQUALITY WE NEED IS EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW: When rights depend on one’s ideology.
HE’S NOT REALLY JOKING AS MUCH AS IT SOUNDS: The Rapid Onset Ruling-Class Disorder Crisis.
SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT: Analysis: Kamala Harris Is a ‘Petty Ass Bitch’.
THERE IS NO ONE THE LEFT HATES SO MUCH AS SOMEONE WHO WONDERS OFF THE MINORITY PLANTATION: The Left’s Racist Reaction to Dobbs v. Jackson.
THE JUNTA WOULD LIKE US TO HAVE AN ARMY: Amid Recruitment Crisis, Defense Dept. Poised to Axe At Least 14,000 Army Guard Troops For Refusing COVID Injections.
IT FEELS LIKE 2020 NEVER ENDED: This couldn’t have had a good effect on people’s health.
HILARY HASN’T BEEN A KID FOR ALMOST A CENTURY: Hillary, The Comeback Kid? “Now Is Her Moment”.
AND THIS IS WHAT THEY’RE TRYING TO DISTRACT YOU FROM: Joe Biden Voicemail to Hunter Indicates He Spoke to His Son About His Chinese Dealings.
THESE SHOW TRIALS AREN’T EVEN THAT GOOD A SHOW: Multiple Reporters: Secret Service to Dispute J6 Committee Star Witness.
June 28, 2022
“VINDICTIVE SORE LOSER BUREAUCRATS HAVE ENDANGERED PEOPLE’S LIVES AND INVITED CONFLICT BY ILLEGALLY RELEASING CONFIDENTIAL PRIVATE INFORMATION:” Massive Trove of Gun Owners’ Private Information Leaked by California Attorney General.
OPEN THREAD: Don’t run out of space.
FASTER, PLEASE: Venus Aerospace unveils its new dart-like Mach 9 hypersonic plane design. The subhed claims it will circle the earth in an hour, but it’ll have to go faster than 7,000 mph to do that.
THE CORBYNIZATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONTINUES APACE: ‘The Jewish Factor, It’s Money:’ Biden Ambassador Pick Under Fire for Anti-Semitic Tirade.
It’s two Trumps in one!
UPDATE (FROM GLENN): That didn’t last long:
As usual, the salacious stories about Trump turn out to be made up.
ANOTHER UPDATE (FROM GLENN): From the comments: “Will someone in D.C. please dress up as a steering wheel and hold a dramatic press conference? ‘Ohhhh, he tried to grab me! And Mark Judge saw the whole thing!'”
Plus, this, via the open thread:
Also, from tonight’s Open Thread: “If the Ds are doing so awesome with the abortion issue, why did they change the news cycle with the bogus Trump steering wheel stupidity?”
AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Ghislaine Maxwell Sentenced To Prison In Spite Of Years Of Faithful Service To Nation’s Leaders.
I COULD USE AN ATTACK CAT: Cat chases bear away from owner’s driveway in British Columbia.
BEGUN, THE STATE ABORTION WARS HAVE: Abortion-rights groups sue to stop ‘trigger’ bans in several states.
GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY REFUSES TO CANCEL CLARENCE THOMAS: A friend forwards this email from the Provost and Law Dean:
Dear Members of the George Washington University Community,
Since the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, we have heard from members of our community who have expressed feelings of deep disagreement with this decision.
We also have received requests from some members of the university and external communities that the university terminate its employment of Adjunct Professor and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and cancel the Constitutional Law Seminar that he teaches at the Law School. Many of the requests cite Justice Thomas’ concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, in which he called the substantive due process doctrine a “legal fiction.” Justice Thomas has been a consistent critic of the Court’s legal philosophy on substantive due process for many years. Because we steadfastly support the robust exchange of ideas and deliberation, and because debate is an essential part of our university’s academic and educational mission to train future leaders who are prepared to address the world’s most urgent problems, the university will neither terminate Justice Thomas’ employment nor cancel his class in response to his legal opinions.
Justice Thomas’ views do not represent the views of either the George Washington University or its Law School. Additionally, like all faculty members at our university, Justice Thomas has academic freedom and freedom of expression and inquiry. Our university’s academic freedom guidelines state: “The ideas of different faculty members and of various other members of the University community will often and quite naturally conflict. But it is not the proper role of the University to attempt to shield individuals within or outside the University from ideas and opinions they find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive.”
Just as we affirm our commitment to academic freedom, we affirm the right of all members of our community to voice their opinions and contribute to the critical discussions that are foundational to our academic mission.
Too generous to the critics, but it comes out the right way.
BUT OF COURSE: Voicemail indicates Joe Biden knew of Hunter deals with ‘spy chief of China.’ Most corrupt administration ever.
THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Justice Nominee Promises She’ll Divest Her Stake in Avantor.
President Joe Biden’s nominee for a top post at the Justice Department intends to sell her remaining $14.5 million stake in a company her father chairs, amid questioning about a report the company sold chemicals diverted by Mexican drug cartels to make heroin.
Vanita Gupta made the pledge in written responses to questions from Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, as part of the nomination process. Grassley cited a Bloomberg Businessweek investigation that found a chemical Avantor Inc. makes, acetic anhydride, was easily tapped by narcotics gangs.
I guess that did the trick, as Gupta was confirmed in April.
THE FDA’S DEADLY PROHIBITIONISTS: Warning: This Agency is Hazardous to Your Health. The dramatic decline in smoking among teenagers and adults during the vaping era has been a great public-health success story, but it threatens the activists, academics and bureaucrats who have built careers in the anti-smoking movement. To keep their jobs — and their cut of the $800 million in tobacco user fees that the FDA collects — they need a new enemy, so they’ve declared war on nicotine, which in itself is safe and provides genuine benefits to tens of millions of Americans.
The nicotine prohibitionists want to ban Juul vaping sticks, the most effective technology ever developed for inducing smokers to quit, and mandate lower levels of nicotine in cigarettes. This pointless and hopeless war is a boon for activists and bureaucrats — the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products has more than doubled its staff — but a disaster for public health.
PHIL MAGNESS IS MANFULLY FIGHTING LEFTIST DISINFORMATION ON LIBERTARIANS: Setting the Record Straight on “Setting the Record Straight on the Libertarian South African Economist W.H. Hutt and James M. Buchanan.”
Nancy MacLean’s 2017 book Democracy in Chains has become a quintessential example of this literature. The book’s primary villain – described in MacLean’s words as an “evil genius” – is 1986 Nobel laureate economist James M. Buchanan, who she places at the center of an elaborate academic conspiracy to “enchain democracy” at the behest of a plutocratic elite. Race naturally plays a central part in MacLean’s argument as she places Buchanan in league with the segregationist “Massive Resistance” movement of 1950s Virginia as part of an intellectual project to allegedly rehabilitate the pro-slavery constitutional theories of John C. Calhoun.
In a paper published in 2019, we subjected MacLean’s thesis to careful scrutiny, including retracing her steps through the archival materials she claimed to have used and adding other sources that she missed. The results were not pretty for MacLean’s thesis. We found that she had failed to substantiate her central allegation of Buchanan’s complicity with the segregationists, while also ignoring extensive evidence that worked against this claim. Her archival work produced a long list of misrepresented sources, misread documents, mistaken citations, faulty inferences, historical anachronisms, and outright factual errors. They nonetheless allowed her to construct a narrative about Buchanan that many on the political left accepted for its “truthiness.” Quite simply, MacLean had told a tale that seemed “true” to others who wanted to believe it. Her evidence did not support that story.
One of the main areas where MacLean’s segregationist narrative falters is the case of South African economist W.H. Hutt. In 1965, Buchanan recruited Hutt for a year-long visiting professorship at the University of Virginia. Shortly before he arrived, Hutt published The Economics of the Colour Bar – a withering economic broadside against the racist Apartheid regime in South Africa. The book built on decades of Hutt’s anti-Apartheid work, which had previously induced the South African government to suspend his passport in an effort to silence him. After arriving at UVA, Hutt continued his attacks on Apartheid and gave a string of public lectures pointing out its similarities to the segregationist policies of the Jim Crow South. Clearly, something did not add up in MacLean’s book. If Buchanan’s project at UVA existed to give an academic cover to the segregationist “Massive Resistance” movement, as MacLean maintains, why would Buchanan personally invite an economist who was widely known as an outspoken critic of Apartheid?
Because MacLean’s politics needed him to be racist.
YOU’LL OWN NOTHING, AND YOU’LL LIKE IT! Buyout Begone: Ford Says You Can Never Own Leased EVs.
MADE IN THE USA: The Classic Leather Everyday Belt. #CommissionEarned
WELL, BYE: Netflix cancels another show after just one season. “Q-Force is an adult animated comedy that focuses on a group of LGBTQ+ superspies, known as Queer Force, who are looking to prove themselves to the American Intelligence Agency (AIA) that undervalues them.”
LET ME JUST GET OUT AHEAD OF THE STORY AND SAY THAT GHISLAINE MAXWELL DID NOT COMMIT SUICIDE: Ghislaine Maxwell Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Sex Trafficking Crimes.
Maxwell was sentenced on Tuesday to 20 years in prison in her New York sex-trafficking case for procuring teen girls for Jeffrey Epstein for him to abuse. Maxwell, 60, has maintained her innocence.
Epstein, a convicted sex offender and financier whose elite associates once included Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton, was captured by federal authorities in July 2019, on sex-trafficking counts. He killed himself in a New York City federal jail just over one month after his arrest.
Maxwell’s attorneys had pushed for leniency in sentencing, saying that she should receive “well below” the 20 years recommended by federal probation officials. Prosecutors pushed for a sentence of 30 to 55 years in prison.
Maxwell, a former British socialite, was convicted on 29 December of five of the six charges she faced.
Related: “Maxwell looked at her victims, saying, ‘I am sorry for the pain that you experienced.’ ‘I hope my conviction and harsh incarceration brings you pleasure.’”
CORPORATE AMERICA TAKES SIDES: Google tells U.S. workers they can move to states where abortion is legal. They wouldn’t do this for gun rights. . . .
But if it staunches the flow of lefties to red states, I’m for it.
UPDATE: From a friend:
FASTER, PLEASE: Tissue model reveals key players in liver regeneration.
Obligatory Stephen Green reference goes here.
PARTY OF RERUNS: The whispers of Hillary Clinton 2024 have started. “Clinton is exactly the right person to put steel in the Democrats’ spine and bring attention to the reality that ‘ultra-MAGA’ Republicans, as President Biden calls them, are tearing apart the nation.”
THIS’LL HELP MORALE: Quote from Beijing official on ‘5 years’ of COVID-19 restrictions causes stir. “Residents of Beijing reacted with confusion and alarm Monday when a top Communist Party official was quoted in official media saying strict COVID-19 policies could be in place for five years. A story first posted in the Beijing Daily, the official publication of the capital’s ruling party, quoted former mayor and current party chief Cai Qi as saying the city will uphold the controversial ‘zero-COVID’ policy ‘for the next five years,’ the Guardian and CNN reported.”
This is the 21st Century version of the Chinese Communist Party’s many other stupid policies inflexibly applied, from “little steel” to the one-child policy.
BIDEN’S SANCTIONS CONTINUE UNDERMINING THE DOLLAR: Oil shippers are hiding Russian cargoes by paying in Chinese yuan, exchanging weapons for crude, and ‘going dark.’ “Yuan-ruble trading volumes have soared 1,067% since Russia began its war with Ukraine, though this is broadly seen as a sign of the allies strengthening ties to help weaken the influence of the US.”
ICYMI: Astonishing Testimony From Dr. Birx Lost Amid Landmark SCOTUS Rulings.
Jordan asked Birx if the government was lying or guessing when it told the public that people who received the vaccination couldn’t get COVID. Birx responded that she did not know. However, she continued, “All I know is there was evidence from the global pandemic that natural reinfection was occurring. Since the vaccine was based on natural immunity, you cannot make the conclusion that the vaccine will do better than natural infection. Although it can often do slightly better.” [Emphasis added]
Why didn’t she speak up about this while still in office? Public health “experts” like Dr. Anthony Fauci actively tried to convince Americans that natural immunity was inferior to the jabs. It’s not clear what large numbers of reinfections Birx was referring to since most positive post-infection tests were reported in asymptomatic people. One study in preprint finds that the spike protein, the part of the virus the tests detect, can remain in a recovered patient’s body for up to 12 months post-infection. How this could affect post-recovery testing in asymptomatic patients is unknown.
Jordan went on to challenge Birx about what the government knew and when. “You were part of this effort when you were in the previous administration. And you’re saying in this administration that you can’t rule out the fact that our government was lying to us when they told us the vaccinated could not get the virus,” he charged.
Birx responded, “I don’t know about their discussions that they had in the task force. So I can’t tell you that.” Then, as she often did on the Trump task force, she traded on her personal situation. “I can tell you as a family member who had individuals that were susceptible, of course, we got everybody vaccinated. But we still used layered protection during surges.”
So, why was Dr. Birx vaccinated and masked? She continued: “Because I knew potentially vaccine immunity would wane like natural immunity waned. There was evidence that every four months, reinfection was occurring in South Africa.” Huh. That seems like it should have been part of informed consent before Americans decided to take an experimental vaccine or give it to their children. Four months of coverage seems like a risk-benefit ratio Americans should have been able to calculate for themselves.
Jordan continued, “When the government told us that the vaccinated couldn’t transmit it, was that a lie or is it a guess? Or is it the same answer?” Remember when the anchors on CNN and members of the administration told you to “trust the science”? Do you recall all the accomplished clinicians and researchers who have been silenced and unpersoned over their COVID-19 comments? If so, Birx’s response may infuriate you. “I think it was hoped that the vaccine would work in that way,” she said.
Hope is not a plan. Except it was the plan.
SRI LANKA, WE MAY BE JOINING YOU SOON: “Here’s What Life Looks Like in a Country That’s Run Out of Fuel.“
REPORTS: At Least 42 People Found Dead Inside Truck Carrying Migrants In Texas.
But no need to worry: Karine Jean-Pierre: It’s a fact that the border is closed.
Although Blake included it in his quote from Ginsburg’s speech, he doesn’t otherwise mention no-fault divorce. Let’s talk about why Ginsburg connected the no-fault divorce movement with the abortion-rights movement — and why these movements happened in the same time frame. One could say both movements pushed government out of the intimate sphere that belongs to the individual. Another way to put that was both movements served the agenda of the sexual revolution.
Well, that was a top Gentry Class priority at the time, so of course the courts were on board.
VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR WEEKLY INSANITY WRAP: Was Hunter’s Russian Escort Paid for by Joe?
Plus:
- Yeah, that’s grooming
- You’ll never guess the one place where you can still find tampons
- Consistency is not the hobgoblin of little Reichs
So much more at the link, you’d have to be crazy to miss it.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Biden’s Sex Police: The White House’s new regulations will gut due-process rights for college students accused of sexual misconduct.
The new rules recommend a return to a “single investigator” model that was barred under the DeVos reform. This means one administrator can act as detective, prosecutor, judge, and jury on a Title IX complaint. The new rules also undo many of the procedural protections for the accused—including the right to see all the evidence, inculpatory and exculpatory, gathered against him. “It’s an evisceration of the procedural protections given to the accused,” says historian KC Johnson, co-author of The Campus Rape Frenzy: The Attack on Due Process at America’s Universities.
Under the DeVos rules, adjudication of a formal complaint required a live hearing be held that included cross examination. The Biden administration lifts this obligation. The Biden rules also call for a return to investigations initiated by third parties, even if based on rumors or misunderstandings, in which male students can be subjected to Title IX proceedings over the objection of their female partners. (Robby Soave at Reason has a good summary of the Biden proposals.) . . .
One frustrated Title IX coordinator told me she sometimes thought of her job as running “The Break Up Office.” She said many young people lacked the skills to navigate relationships themselves, and often didn’t want to. Why should they? Instead of focusing on punishing students who commit truly bad acts and aiding their victims, campus administrators transmitted the message that recasting any sexual experience as malign, and then reporting it to school authorities, is an act of bravery.
Colleges shouldn’t be policing relationships. Assaults should be reported to the police. Bad experiences not rising to that level should be learned from.
RANDY BARNETT ON BRUEN: A minor impact on gun laws but a potentially momentous shift in constitutional method.
NOW OUT: Battle for the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation. #CommissionEarned
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Against the Great Reset: ‘The Great Regression.’
DAN HART: The Catastrophe of 12 Million Fatherless American Boys.
Amongst the heated public rhetoric in the aftermath of the Uvalde school massacre, one tragic detail remains stubbornly paramount: the 18-year-old male shooter came from a broken family and was estranged from his father.
While it would certainly be unfair to pin all the blame for monstrous crimes committed by young men on the failings of their parents without considering other factors, there’s no denying what is arguably the central issue facing our nation (and what the Left persistently brushes aside): the breakdown of marriage and the children that grow up fatherless as a result. The Institute for Family Studies recently summed up the situation well: “The decline of marriage and the rise of fatherlessness in America remain at the center of some of the biggest problems facing the nation: crime and violence, school failure, deaths of despair, and children in poverty.”
American boys are at the center of this crisis: they grow up to commit crime, drop out of school, and take their own lives at far higher rates than women do. From 1960 to 1996, the percentage of boys who lived without their biological father almost doubled—from 17% to 32%. Today, the Institute for Family Studies reports that “an estimated 12 million boys are growing up in families without their biological father.”
Read the whole thing.
WELL, GOOD: The Ukraine war is bleeding Russia dry.
SAFE, LEGAL, AND… AWESOME? NYC Mayor, Deputy Mayor Credit Their Success to Abortions.
When lefties started bragging about their abortions they lost the moderates.
UPDATE (FROM GLENN): It was all me starting this trend.
Okay, that was actually an ancient (2004) photoshop by Allahpundit, in response to an absurdly confused t-shirt complaint by lefty blogger Duncan Black, nee Atrios.
Ancient blogosphere history, I know, but I was there for it, as were many of you.
And I call this look “Blue Steel.”
Because of course.
ANOTHER UPDATE (FROM GLENN): From the comments: “No one would have guessed in 2004, but in 2022 Glenn’s (photoshopped) t-shirt message is both plausible and celebrated!!!”
What a long, strange trip it’s been. . .
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Fat studies is the field that teaches students to view obesity as ‘oppression.’
OF COURSE HE DOES: Biden sends team to make nice with Venezuela.
I’m not going to fault Joe Biden for trying to secure the release of the hostages. Sometimes we have to deal with unsavory leaders in the interest of getting our people back. We’ve had to do the same thing with Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey and even the Iranian Mullahs in the past. But this trip involves some very uncomfortable realities for the White House that can’t be ignored.
In case the President has forgotten, our government does not recognize Nicolas Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela. Nor does most of the civilized world. He stole the last election in 2018 and we recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as the legitimate leader of that country. But now we’re going back into negotiations with Maduro’s people. . . .
Also, while it’s not being announced through official channels, it seems obvious that the Citgo connection is giving the Biden administration an opportunity to speak to Maduro’s people about the possibility of arranging for some oil exports for us. We’re not supposed to be taking any oil from Venezuela because of the sanctions, but why let a little thing like that stop us, right? There’s also the inconvenient fact that Russia now controls a majority interest in Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA. So we are now apparently considering doing business indirectly with the Russians and an illegitimate socialist regime in South America rather than pumping our own oil domestically.
Fossil fuels are only bad if they come from America.
DON’T GET COCKY: More Than 1M Voters Switch to GOP in Warning for Dems.
More than 1 million voters across 43 states have switched to the Republican Party over the last year, according to voter registration data analyzed by The Associated Press. The previously unreported number reflects a phenomenon that is playing out in virtually every region of the country — Democratic and Republican states along with cities and small towns — in the period since President Joe Biden replaced former President Donald Trump.
But nowhere is the shift more pronounced — and dangerous for Democrats — than in the suburbs, where well-educated swing voters who turned against Trump’s Republican Party in recent years appear to be swinging back. Over the last year, far more people are switching to the GOP across suburban counties from Denver to Atlanta and Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Republicans also gained ground in counties around medium-size cities such as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Raleigh, North Carolina; Augusta, Georgia; and Des Moines, Iowa.
Ben Smith, who lives in suburban Larimer County, Colorado, north of Denver, said he reluctantly registered as a Republican earlier in the year after becoming increasingly concerned about the Democrats’ support in some localities for mandatory COVID-19 vaccines, the party’s inability to quell violent crime and its frequent focus on racial justice.
“Progressive” causes aren’t doing the Democrats any favors.
NOW OUT FROM JOE PAPPALARDO: Red Sky Morning: The Epic True Story of Texas Ranger Company F.
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