HARSHING THE NARRATIVE:

UPDATE: CBS Video: Trump visits Harvey victims in Houston.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Video: President Donald Trump Comforts & Feeds Victims of Hurricane Harvey.

MORE: CNN: President Trump hugs a little girl who ran up to him as he meets with people affected by Hurricane Harvey in Texas.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Transhumanism and Libertarianism Are Entirely Compatible.

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BIG DEAL. I DO THIS WITH A REGULAR MICROWAVE BY TURNING THE PLUG AROUND AND REVERSING THE POLARITY. I LEARNED THIS TRICK FROM DOZENS OF STAR TREK EPISODES: Want a cold beer? Just pop it in this insane microwave.

DISPATCHES FROM THE INTERSECTION OF 21st CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS AND THE 21st CENTURY IS REALLY NOT WORKING OUT THE WAY I HAD HOPED CATEGORIES: “Obama Service Award Recipient Now Researching ‘Butt-Fisting’” and bestiality, the Washington Free Beacon reports, along with some presidential-level trolling in their choice of photos to accompany the article…

NOT EXACTLY BACKING DOWN, BUT CERTAINLY BACKING AWAY: The Nation issues editor’s note on story questioning whether the DNC was hacked.

SUCH A RULE WOULD BE OPPRESSIVE TO DIONYSEXUALS, AND A VIOLATION OF THE SEXUAL PRIVACY ENSHRINED IN LAWRENCE V. TEXAS: Judge overrules university that said drinking any alcohol negates sexual consent.

THE PAST IS A DIFFERENT COUNTRY: “It’s probably just about impossible for anybody under the age of forty to believe, but there was a time when the Pontiac Trans Am was just about the fastest thing money could buy in the United States.”

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HEH: “He was doing these commando moves, but I grew up in Glasgow… I knew a wee forearm smash would sort it out.”

Plus: “I’m a builder, and went back to work the next day. I’ve honestly never lost a moment’s sleep over what happened.”

I’M NOT ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT THAT: China’s Navy in the 2020s will have a lot of modern subs, carriers and sea bases.

THANKS, BLACK HOLES! Black Holes Once Cleared The Way For Light in Our Universe, Say Astronomers.

I WILL SOON BE OFFERING A VARIETY OF HATS LINED WITH THIS STUFF: Shielding Effectiveness of Expanded Metal Foils (EMFs).

ANN ALTHOUSE DEPLORES the Penn Law faculty’s inability to argue a point cogently: “I can understand feeling outraged and combative in response to these ideas, but how do you categorically reject them without saying more than ‘We categorically reject Wax’s claims’? There are no references to studies, no arguments at all. It’s just a stark expression of hating these ideas — or fearing them. It feels so insubstantial, as if they’re only saying we don’t want to talk about this and we want to make you feel the same way.”

To be fair, that is all they’re saying.

Plus, from the comments: “I’ve come to expect the Spanish Inquisition.”

OSCAR GOLDMAN HAS LEFT THE OSI BUILDING: Richard Anderson, of ‘Six Million Dollar Man’ and ‘Bionic Woman,’ Dies at 91. RIP.

DOES HURRICANE IRMA POSE A THREAT TO THE US? Too early to be sure, but if I lived anywhere along the gulf or east coasts I’d be making my initial preparations and keeping a close eye.

Related: Hurricane Irma expected to strengthen in Atlantic Ocean this weekend.

UPDATE: Good advice:

PARENTING: Forget the Terrible Twos, It’s ThreEVILs You Have to Worry About.

Our boys both got through the Terrible Twos with barely an incident, but they have no idea how lucky they were that we allowed them to see the age of four.

WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Armed Robots Fight Alongside Soldiers at National Guard Exercise.

I WANNA BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS ME. I WANNA BITE THAT HAND SO BADLY. I WANT TO MAKE THEM WISH THEY’D NEVER SEEN ME: Washington Post writer slams Jeff Bezos in op-ed for mistreating workers.

(Classical reference in headline.)

IN THE 21st CENTURY, JOURNALISM IS ALL ABOUT DECIDING WHICH FACTS THE PUBLIC SHOULDN’T KNOW BECAUSE THEY MIGHT REFLECT BADLY ON DEMOCRATS: Nets Censor Bombshell That Comey Didn’t Wait for Facts to Rescue Hillary.

Just think of them as Democrat operatives with lavaliers, and it all makes sense.

(Classical reference in headline.)

JOURNALISM: The Post’s bizarre story on President Trump and a statue of Robert E. Lee at Antietam. How bad is the story? The person criticizing it as “bizarre” is Erik Wemple — of the Washington Post.

WELL, IT’S NOT LIKE THEY’RE A GATEWAY DRUG TO PATRIOTISM, CHIVALRY, AND CLASSIC NOVELS, OR ANYTHING: Millennials don’t really care about classic movies.

That explains why landmark films are being banned because of their problematics, which is why the reels that contain Gone with the Wind are now currently smoldering in the Memory Hole. In Casablanca, Ingrid Bergman’s character once refers Dooley Wilson’s Sam as being Rick’s “boy.” Time to ban that one as well, despite the counterculture falling in love with Rick’s coolness in the 1960s?

Found via Kathy Shaidle, who writes, “This is literally the cause of all our problems…I’m not being sarcastic. You can learn almost everything about life from movies,” adding, “You will learn, for example, that you are not the first generation to have Problem X or ‘Solution’ Y.”

Creationists believe that life on earth began 5,000 years ago. Millenials seem to think it started with the Beatles. Or maybe Star Wars.

ENDORSED: Every Cop Involved in the Arrest of This Utah Nurse for Refusing to (Illegally) Draw a Patient’s Blood Needs to Be Fired. “In fact, the claim that this blood draw was part of an ‘investigation’ at all adds another layer of revulsion to Payne’s behavior. The unconscious man Payne wanted blood from was not suspected of any crime and had done nothing wrong. He was, in fact, a victim of a crime.”

This is just the latest example of why qualified immunity for law enforcement — an idea with no constitutional foundation, basically made up out of whole cloth by judges — should be abolished.

UPDATE: SLC mayor, police chief apologize for officer who arrested nurse; criminal investigation to follow.