REVIEW: Ruger Security-9 Pistol. “A simple, easily operated semi-automatic pistol of adequate chambering that just about anyone can afford. It works as a concealed-carry piece, a woods gun or a home-defense pistol and probably fits 90 percent of adult hands, yet offers 15+1 rounds of firepower.”

TONI AIRAKSINEN: Feminist Research Less Likely To Get Funding Than Race Theory Research.

NAMES THAT HAVE BEEN TOSSED AROUND FOR McCAIN’S SEAT: Kirk Adams, Barbara Barrett, Mark Brnovich, Eileen Klein, Jon Kyl, John Lopez, Cindy McCain, Karrin Taylor Robson, Matt Salmon, John Shadegg, Kelli Ward, Grant Woods and many others, great and small.

The first thing Gov. Ducey has to do is decide if he wants a caretaker for the job or someone who might run in the next election for that seat (2020). Since he is running for re-election himself now, he needs to consider how his choice will go over with his supporters and potential supporters.

Instapundit readers: Feel free to leave advice for Gov. Ducey here.

A MILLION HERE AND A MILLION THERE AND PRETTY SOON YOU’RE TALKING REAL CORRUPTION: Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Implicated In $84 Million Campaign Finance Scandal.

THE MODERN SPOILS SYSTEM: Further to Mark’s post this morning, I’d like to encourage you to check out my colleague Chris Horner’s new report Law Enforcement for Rent. It really is an appalling form of spoils system when a political office holder gives over some aspect of that office to donors in the form of privately-funded prosecutors. Chris says, “This mercenary use of state law enforcement power should be the subject of prompt legislative oversight.” Indeed.

WELL, IF YOU’RE DRIVING A MALIBU, YOU REALLY DON’T WANT PEOPLE TO NOTICE: The 2019 Chevrolet Malibu RS Makes a Virtue of Being Unobtrusive.

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THE BOT BEHIND THE CURTAIN: Leaks, Lawsuits, and Government Likely to Reveal Facebook Algorithm, Cyber Lawyer Says. “With 25,000 censors, it’s impossible to keep the secret sauce secret for long.”

FLORIDA, MAN: Gillum Wants 40% Corporate Tax Rate Hike. “Bernie Sanders-backed candidate Andrew Gillum has won the Democrat nomination for the governorship of Florida. Taxpayers beware: Gillum wants to impose a massive tax increase on Floridians, starting with a corporate tax rate hike of over 40 percent.”

It seems the Progressive Left has learned nothing, and forgotten nothing.

LIFE IN THE 21ST CENTURY: Starkey’s new Livio AI hearing aid translates 27 languages in real-time and also doubles as a hands-free earpiece. It’s not flying cars, but it’s something.

HERE’S WHAT ANGERED MSM MOST ABOUT BOLYARD’S REPORTING: That she simply reported the straight facts? That’s about the size of it, PJ Media’s Paula Bolyard told Laura Ingraham this morning. LifeZette’s Brendan Kirby has more on how liberal journos react when a colleague gives “just the facts, ma’am.”

OVERREACH: Missouri Might Imprison You for False Meat Advertising.

The first statute of its kind in the United States, the law bans companies from describing meat substitutes as meat. These products, to be clear, are invariably marketed as alternatives to eating animals; no one is trying to pass them off as actual beef or pork or poultry.

Violations of the new law are punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and/or a year in prison. The Missouri Department of Agriculture can’t prosecute violators, but it can refer them to county prosecutors or the attorney general’s office.

The legislation’s foes include Tofurky, a company that uses tofu to make vegetarian meat alternatives. Yesterday, Tofurky filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri claiming the law violates the First Amendment. Tofurky’s co-plaintiffs include the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Missouri, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and the Good Food Institute, a nonprofit that advocates for plant- and lab-based food substitutes.

“Americans don’t like censorship, and they don’t like the government picking winners and losers in the marketplace,” Good Food Institute Executive Director Bruce Friedrich said in a statement. “We’re confident that the Court will overturn this anti-competitive and unconstitutional law.” In their lawsuit, the groups say no consumers have complained to the state about being tricked by meat alternatives.

If anyone did get tricked once into eating fake meat, they probably never got tricked a second time.

INTERESTING: Removable balloon as effective as permanent stent, study says.

WHO ELECTED GOOGLE? Google Maps unilaterally changed the name of Russell Senate Office Building to “McCain Senate Office Building.”

AS HUNTER S. THOMPSON WARNED IN 1972, “THE ONLY WAY TO SAVE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS TO DESTROY IT.” The protesters have become the Democratic Party.

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THE THING IS, THANKS TO FRACKING WE DON’T HAVE TO BE ABLE TO KEEP THE GULF OPEN. WE ONLY NEED TO BE ABLE TO KEEP IT CLOSED. Iran Just Claimed Control Over the Persian Gulf. Here’s How They’d Defend It.

CHANGE: China’s Navy Could Soon Have an Aircraft Carrier Battle Group.

Building the ships and planes in one thing. Training up the crews and aviators, perfecting doctrine, and instilling institutional knowledge and esprit de corps take longer.

I HAD BEEN ASSURED TRUMP WAS DESTROYING OUR ALLIANCES: Japan Seeks Stronger Missile Defense Alliance With U.S.

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHPS: STDs hit all-time highs in US for fourth straight year, CDC reports.

PRIVACY: Yahoo Admits It Scans Emails to Collect Data to Sell to Advertisers.

RICHARD FERNANDEZ ON THE FAILURE OF THE INSTITUTIONS: “When the totality of cultural warfare and revolution now raging throughout the world is summed we may be watching an event bigger than the fall of the Soviet Union. The event doesn’t have a name yet, on the day we finally understand, it will. But understanding may prove the most difficult part.”

CALIFORNIA’S POTEMKIN ENVIRONMENTALISM:

● Shot: California assembly passes bill mandating 100 percent clean electricity. “California’s assembly has voted to move the state’s electricity completely off fossil fuels. The state assembly on Tuesday passed S.B. 100, a proposal to transition California to 100 percent emissions-free electricity sources by 2045. Amid heavy lobbying from environmentalists and other groups, the bill passed, 43 to 32.”

—CBS News, yesterday.

● Chaser: ‘Green’ California Is More Reliant On Foreign Oil Than Ever Before: “California’s biggest source of crude oil imports is now Saudi Arabia with more than 98 million barrels in 2017.”

—The Daily Caller, yesterday.

Even during the Schwarzenegger era, Max Schultz of City Journal, who coined this post’s headline, noted that California’s “celebrated green economy produces pollution elsewhere, ongoing power shortages, and business-crippling costs.” Look for that trend to accelerate with this week’s news out of Sacramento. As Sean Davis of the Federalist tweets, “California is about to discover that the only thing worse than rolling blackouts is non-rolling blackouts.”