AUTOMATION FOR LABOR DAY: A massive rise in the popularity of self-driving farm tractors is predicted, as “California State Assembly recently passed a bill that received minimal recognition by the press, outside of the state, but has substantial negative consequences for basically everyone in the country.  Once signed by Jerry Brown, the bill, known as AB 1066, will make California the only state in the entire country to provide overtime wages to ag workers after 8 hours a day or 40 hours per week.  This change will add about $1.7BN annually to the cost of growing food in California which will ultimately be passed along to consumers.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GONGcSCnusc

IT’S NOT SURPRISING THAT THIS COMES FROM KNOXVILLE, WHICH IS ALSO THE HEADQUARTERS OF HGTV: Clayton home building group unveils tiny home designer series.

KURT SCHLICHTER EXPLAINS THINGS: Because Famous Liberal Women Are Special, You Peasants.

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Plus, save up to 30% on top Outdoor Clothing brands.

THE NEWEST FORM OF SOCIAL PROTEST: Banking Black.

And this remains evergreen, alas:

UNEXPECTEDLY. German Electoral Shocker: Merkel’s Party Finishes 3rd in Regional Election.

As Jim Geraghty quipped in December:

Apparently, Merkel winning that Time magazine “Person of the Year” cover story last year wasn’t worth the massive upheaval it inflicted on her countrymen.

THE HORROR OF “INTROVERT HANGOVERS:”

An “introvert” hangover is a pretty terrible thing to experience. It starts with an actual physical reaction to overstimulation. Your ears might ring, your eyes start to blur, and you feel like you’re going to hyperventilate. Maybe your palms sweat. And then your mind feels like it kind of shuts down, building barriers around itself as if you had been driving on a wide open road, and now you’re suddenly driving in a narrow tunnel. All you want is to be at home, alone, where it’s quiet.

Is it just me, or does there seem to be a growing Introvert-Rights movement? I guess now that technology lets you wage a campaign like that without having to leave the house. . . .

PARTYING LIKE IT’S 1699: 75 Arrested for Underage Drinking at ‘Large Amish Party’ in Ohio.

RIGHT-WING PEOPLE ARE MOST LIKELY TO BE ‘SATISFIED’ WITH THEIR SEX LIVES, the London Independent reports.

Perhaps we’re more relaxed because we have less existential crises threatening to destroy all life as we know it everywhere throughout the planet to gin up to worry about. Which brings us to this reminder of the Independent’s finest hour:

NOBODY TELL NOTORIOUS ROBOPHOBE MATTHEW YGLESIAS ABOUT THIS: Humans could become addicted to mind-blowing romps with SEX ROBOTS, according to expert.

QUESTIONS ASKED: The Mel Gibson-’Hacksaw Ridge’ debate “parallels that of Nate Parker, the director of ‘Birth of a Nation.’ Parker was acquitted in 1991 of rape, yet the story of that case has now been raised as the well reviewed movie is getting ready for release. The big Oscar debate of 2016 will be how to weigh the actions of these directors vs. their movies. Are we supposed to separate the man from his art? And how does the director’s personal actions color the way we look at the movies?”

Doesn’t Hollywood expect us to separate out from their work Roman Polanski and Woody Allen’s crimes and misdemeanors (to coin an Alvy Singer-approved phrase)? Spike Lee and Samuel L. Jackson’s racialism? Sean Penn and Oliver Stone’s love of totalitarian thugs? Alec Baldwin’s frequent assaults on well, seemingly everyone? Given how low the bar has been set by the industry, I’m not sure why Gibson alone should expect to be tossed down the memory hole.

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GAWKER EMPLOYEES AND OTHER MONSTERS OF HISTORY REMEMBER GAWKER.

POSEUR STRIKES POSE: Obama gives Putin his best death stare: Tense moment the world’s two most powerful men squared up at the G20 summit in China.

Shades of Al “Earth Tones” Gore trying to invade Dubya’s space and give him the Lurch in the Balance death stare at the 2000 presidential debate.

COOKING OUT FOR LABOR DAY? MOTHER JONES HAS A ‘SMOKY, SAD’ REMINDER ABOUT YOUR GRILL’S EMISSIONS.

Mother Jones’ carbon footprint is much larger than mine. When they shutter their office doors and turn off their air conditioned server farm, I’ll take their warnings a bit more seriously.

THIS ISN’T THE 21st CENTURY I WAS PROMISED: “Rachel Dolezal, the white lady who got busted pretending to be a black lady, has somehow managed to get herself invited to be a feature at a rally for natural black hair.”

ANSWERING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Why Are There Not Taco Trucks On Every Corner? “The War on Street Food been going on for more than 100 years. And it’s not just tacos. There are also illegal tamales. Look at this headline from a story last year in the Los Angeles Times ‘450 illegal tamales from Mexico seized at LAX and “incinerated”‘.”

DAMN IT FEELS GOOD TO BE A CLINTON – OR HER FINANCIAL ENABLERS: Gorgeous models, NBA pals and ‘hide-and-seek at his mansion: Welcome to the lavish life of investor George Soros’ playboy son who’s set to inherit $24bn.

(Classical reference in headline.)

THEY CHOSE…POORLY: If you’ve ever wanted to go to Burning Man, hurry up those plans.

(Classical allusion in headline.)

MAMMOTH PIRATES: “Tuskers” in Siberia sell “ethical ivory” to China. No, I’m not kidding. Ivory from extinct mammoths. Dig a 65 kilogram tusk out of the permafrost and you can sell it for $34,000 to an agent. Ah, but the mark up. When sculpted by master carvers a pair will “regularly sell for more than $1 million each.” (Scroll through the article to see the pair on display in Hong Kong.) Tuskers occasionally find woolly rhinoceros horns — these are sold in Vietnam.

OBAMA DEFENDS KAEPERNICK’S NATIONAL ANTHEM PROTEST.

Unexpectedly.

IT’S COME TO THIS: The Transgender Community’s Ridiculous Crusade against Acting — “If every actor had to share his character’s life experience, the film industry would die.”

Marvin Gaye, call your office.

DAMN, IT FEELS GOOD TO BE A CLINTON! From FBI fragments, a question: Did Team Clinton destroy evidence under subpoena?

Classical reference in headline:

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 1215.