I WISH THEM SUCCESS: Uber’s Pittsburgh Project Is a Crucial Test for Self-Driving Cars.

21ST CENTURY POVERTY: 15 Facts About US Poverty the Government Hides.

Poor households routinely report spending $2.40 for every $1 of income the Census says they have.

The average poor American lives in a house or apartment that is in good repair and has more living space than the average nonpoor person in France, Germany, or England.

Eighty-five percent of poor households have air conditioning.

Nearly three-fourths of poor households have a car or truck, and 31 percent have two or more cars or trucks.

Nearly two-thirds of poor households have cable or satellite TV.

Half have a personal computer; 43 percent have internet access.

Two-thirds have at least one DVD player.

More than half of poor families with children have a video game system, such as an Xbox or PlayStation.

One-third have a wide-screen plasma or LCD TV.

Poverty ain’t what it used to be.

BREAKING NEWS FROM 2015, 1985, 1955, AND 1855: DeLorean driver clocked by police at 88mph insists ‘I wasn’t trying to time travel.’

WE’VE BEEN HEARING THAT MEN ARE OBSOLETE, BUT MAYBE WOMEN ARE, TOO: Groundbreaking fertilisation technique could allow gay couples to have babies with each other. “A new experiment defies nature and might one day let two males have babies with each other. The shocking new study overthrows the idea that it is only possible to produce children using an egg, and fertilising it with sperm. Instead, the research suggests that it might be possible to conceive children using skin cells.”

NOWHERE TO HIDE: Algorithms Are Learning to ID Pixelated Faces: The new tech can identify faces or numbers even if they’ve been blurred out. Obviously, you need pixelation apps that produce random pixels.

DEALMAKER: Details of Syria Pact Widen Rift Between John Kerry and Pentagon.

Mr. Carter was among the administration officials who pushed against the agreement on a conference call with the White House last week as Mr. Kerry, joining the argument from a secure facility in Geneva, grew increasingly frustrated. Although President Obama ultimately approved the effort after hours of debate, Pentagon officials remain unconvinced.

On Tuesday at the Pentagon, officials would not even agree that if a cessation of violence in Syria held for seven days — the initial part of the deal — the Defense Department would put in place its part of the agreement on the eighth day: an extraordinary collaboration between the United States and Russia that calls for the American military to share information with Moscow on Islamic State targets in Syria.

“I’m not saying yes or no,” Lt. Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, commander of the United States Air Forces Central Command, told reporters on a video conference call. “It would be premature to say that we’re going to jump right into it.”

Kerry can’t even get the Pentagon to go along with his deals — how is he supposed to get anything but the short end of the stick from the Russians?

DISPATCHES FROM YOUR INTELLECTUAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL BETTERS: “LOL—The geniuses at DNC realized their emails were hacked, then EMAILED new passwords to everyone…”

Hey, you can hand the bureaucrats a copy of Websites for Dummies, but you can’t make ’em crack it open and read the bloody thing.

HACKED POWELL EMAIL REVEALS HILLARY ‘HATES’ OBAMA FOR BESTING HER IN 2008, “and she dismissively referred to him as ‘that man,’ according to emails hacked from the general’s account.”

“That man,” about whom previously, her husband said should be getting him and Teddy Kennedy coffee, and whom Harry Reid described as having “no negro accent.”

But Hillary’s opponents are “deplorable.” Nice bunch, those elite leftists.

RELATED:  Leaked Colin Powell emails reveal Clinton can’t forgive President Obama for ‘kicking her a** in 2008’, and ‘was so sick giving paid speech she could barely walk up steps.’

OH GOOD: The DoJ is using a boring procedure to secure the right to unleash malware on the internet.

A power-trio — Senator Ron Wyden; security ninja Matt Blaze; and engineer/mathematician/social scientist Susan Landau — have published a joint op-ed in Wired sounding the alarm about the use of an obscure, technical, fantastically boring procedure to radically expand the powers of American law enforcement under cover of dullness.

But the results will be anything but dull. Even with advanced testing and scrutiny, the construction of “cyberweapons” is tricky business, nearly impossible to get right. The FBI’s history in this area does not inspire confidence: one FBI agent testified that he ascertained that a cyberweapon was safe because he tried it on his home PC and couldn’t see anything wrong with it. This is not sufficient testing for technology that could end up infecting hospitals, or cars, or voting machine, or insulin pumps, or nuclear reactors.

A bipartisan Congressional effort to stop this is now underway: the Stop Mass Hacking Act, which will require the DoJ to get Congressional approval before giving itself these sweeping, deadly new powers.

That last sentence would have had the Founders up in arms — literally.

You can help the EFF take nonviolent action here, but Congress has only until December 1 to stop the Justice Department’s dangerous usurpation.

DNC LEAK: DEMOCRATS ADMIT OBAMA’S POLICIES HELP CREATE ISIS.

Analysis: True.

NOTHING’S SHOCKING:

Iran Reportedly Diverted $1.7 Billion from Nuclear Deal to Support Military, Terrorist Groups https://t.co/5CIfH8YRsa

— IJR Politics (@TheIJRPolitics) September 14, 2016

SHOT: NPR CELEBRATES TUPAC SHAKUR’S ‘PRO-FEMINIST,’ ‘PRO-CHOICE’ LEGACY.

—NewsBusters, yesterday.

Chaser:

When Bing died, most Americans knew he was the guy who sang “White Christmas”. Elvis? “Heartbreak Hotel”. Lennon? “Imagine”. But 2Pac is a model of contemporary shortcut celebrity: he became a household name without ever having had a household song. First, he was famous for sexual assault; next, he was famous for being shot; now, he’s famous for being dead. His latest album, the prophetically titled All Eyez On Me shot (as we say) from 69 on the Billboard album chart to 18. Twenty years ago in Britain, a guy called Pete Wingfield had a hit single called “Eighteen With a Bullet” — a reference to Billboard’s practice of highlighting fast-selling records with the aforementioned ammunition. Poor old Tupac is the first guy on the Hit Parade to be literally 18 with a bullet.

—Mark Steyn from Mark Steyn’s Passing Parade: Obituaries & Appreciations expanded edition, 2014.

Hangover, and/or Exit Question: Why Aren’t Social Justice Warriors Trying to Ruin Hip Hop?

LIES, DAMNED LIES, AND MORE DAMNED LIES: Interim DNC Chair Warns Not to Look at New Hack — Could Have Malware!

Interim Democratic National Committee Chair Donna Brazile warned against perusing the documents released in the latest DNC hack, alleging that they could have viruses which damage your computer.

Read the whole thing.

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 1224.

RATS ON THE WEST SIDE, BEDBUGS UPTOWN: Does your hotel clean the sheets? Investigation reveals the New York establishments that don’t wash their bedding before new guests arrive.

ED MORRISSEY: It’s not the cough. It’s the cover-up.

It’s also the cough — embrace the healing power of “and,” Ed!

VIA PAUL RAHE, Observations on Pravda-on-the-Hudson from an old liberal.

So let me tell you about what the New York Times has been doing in its silo recently. In its editorials it has — repeatedly — thoroughly condemned Trump and passionately endorsed Clinton. I would expect no less on the editorial page of a liberal New York newspaper and, as a private business, the Times certainly has a right to express its opinion. But — ?מה לעשות — the Times still claims on its masthead that it will print “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” in which case it still claims to print what is true, yes? But that principle has gone out the window, and with it, in my opinion, the journalistic excellence that used to characterize much of political reporting in the Times.

Here are recent headlines from the International New York Times, where the original articles (not editorials) come from the New York paper. “Trump Losing Support of G.O.P Women” (August 11); “One Backer Stands Firmly With Trump: The N.R.A.” (August 12); “Trump’s Lapses Hamper Him in Key States” (August 13-14); “Inside the Operation to Save Trump From Himself” (August 15); “Secret Ledger in Ukraine Lists Cash for Trump Aide” (August 16); “Psychiatrists Are Torn Over Weighing in on U.S. Race” (August 17); “Big Break: Trump Casinos’ Tax Debt Cut Under Christie” (August 18).

Every one of these articles started on the front page, except for “Inside the Operation…” which appeared on p. 6. Every one of them projected a negative image of Trump, either for his odious character, his perverse remarks, his deranged supporters, or his incompetent staff. And this happens every day, some of it fed by what Clinton says about her opponent while she offers little beyond opaque platitudes about where she stands. I am still wondering, for example, exactly what she “got done” (encouraging Bill to support NAFTA? advising Obama to bomb Libya?) in order to justify saying that “I am a progressive who gets things done” (as opposed to Bernie Sanders, who was naïve and unrealistic, right?)

Posting articles which blast Trump is a form of editorial promotion on the page where news rather than opinion is supposed to appear. But beyond that, the truth is that — substance-wise — many of these same articles flow from rumors, innuendoes, gossip, libelous accusations, malicious put-downs, partisan contentions, and anonymous sources. Such articles are less like top-notch journalism than they are like character assassinations.

Well, the NYT ran a bogus story claiming an affair between John McCain and a lobbyist in 2008, so, you know. . .

HEALTH: Scientific evidence grows for e-cigarettes as quit-smoking aids.

Researchers at University College London (UCL) analyzed the latest data on smoking and quitting in England – including details on smokers who worked with the health-worker devised Stop Smoking Services to set a quit date.

While they found no direct evidence that e-cigarettes prompted more people to make the decision to try and quit, the team did find that as more people used e-cigarettes, more people also successfully stopped smoking.

In a separate scientific analysis also published on Tuesday, researchers at the Cochrane Review found that the overall weight of evidence on e-cigarettes suggests they can help people stop smoking and have no serious side-effects.

Nannystaters however see e-cigarettes as important sources of revenue and scolding, rather than a source of pleasure and improved health.

IN THE NEW YORK SUN: Conrad Black argues that Trump has “re-calibrated” during the campaign and is taking the political center. Black isn’t surprised. Trump has leveraged Hillary’s slew of mistakes. Black mentions Trump’s trip to Mexico as a plus. It was. I think that trip was a political master stroke.

BRAVO! Black Conservative Woman Stands Up to Racist Liberal Insults (Video).

BUSINESS BOOTSTRAPPING: Advice from a couple that started their own business. It was risky. They spent their life savings. They didn’t get a paycheck for four years. They pulled if off. How? Scrimped, worked, adapted…worked. “There were times when we were both delirious with sleep deprivation.” Typical? The abstract elements are typical. The experience is always unique.

Excerpt:

Everyone starts out building a company pretty much the same way – brimming with pride about their new idea, eager to gush their intentions to anyone who will listen. But time has a tendency to separate the entrepreneurs from the “wantrepreneurs”. Success in business usually takes a little luck, but more than anything it takes hard work and the determination to do whatever it takes . For me that meant transitioning from a cushy desk job to scrubbing pots in a commercial kitchen in the middle of the night. For years we couldn’t afford to pay anyone else to do the dirty work, so we either did it ourselves or we stalled. To bootstrap successfully, you’ll need to drop any notions about low-level or high level tasks; everything is important and it’s all on you.

STUDY: Sex Ed Is Negative, Sexist and Out of Touch.

In the study published in the journal BMJ Open, researchers pored over 55 qualitative studies that examined the views of young people — mostly ages 12 to 18 — who’d received sex-and-relationship education at school in the U.S., UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Iran, Brazil and Sweden between 1990 and 2015.

Even across all of those different countries and a 25-year time span, kids’ views were remarkably consistent: sex ed sucks.

The problems, researchers found, were numerous. “Everything we got in our class had a really clinical feel,” said one student. ‘They don’t mention anything about same-sex relationships,” said another. A group of students recalled their PE teacher Miss Plum, who was so uncomfortable giving her own presentation that she cried during it.

Amazingly, the human race seemed to date, marry, and propagate itself just fine even before the educators involved themselves.

HILLARY’S DEPLORABLES: New Poll Finds That Hillary Supporters Are Pretty Racist Too.

BRADLEY AREHEART ON antidiscrimination law and the principle of symmetry.