WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN? My column this week about the abandonment of self-appraisal by modern media.

“But I think President Trump’s greatest mistake is calling the press “the enemy of the people.” When you look at the way journalism has abandoned their promise of self-accountability, it may be more accurate to say that “the press is the enemy of the press.” As far as credibility goes, these are mostly self-inflicted wounds. To be sure, Trump has cleverly milked this populist view for all it’s worth, but there are a lot of moving parts to the all-time low esteem in which journalists are held.”

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Elon Musk’s Brain Isn’t Like Yours.

BUT OF COURSE: Hillary Clinton Joined Planned Parenthood, Kamala Harris in Spreading Blatant Kavanaugh Birth Control Lie.

SEGWAY PERSONAL TRANSPORTER GOES COMMANDO: The two-wheeled Segway PT hit the market in 2001. It is still a cool vehicle. Now SOCOM is interested in the EZ Raider HD4 tactical electric manned vehicle. The name’s a great pun on Easy Rider. The EZ Raider is essentially a Segway PT with four wheels.

Why is SOCOM interested? From the StrategyPage post:

Motorized stealth in modern combat has been a long sought, but rarely achieved goal.

More:

For Special Operations troops EZ RAIDER enables a raiding party to be landed by helicopter far enough from the target to avoid being heard or seen. Then, using their EZ RAIDERs, the troops can silently approach the target, carry out the raid and travel on their EZ RAIDERs for pickup by helicopter.
The Israelis have been using EZ RAIDER for stealthy border patrol, to catch infiltrators who believe they have not been spotted (until it is too late). EZ RAIDER can also be used for outer security at high value facilities. SOCOM will only say that it has purchased several EZ RAIDERs for field testing and is so far satisfied with their performance.

The vehicle has a range of 40 to 80 kilometers. The entire post is worth the read and has some commentary on recent military experience with ATVs and motorcycles. The video at special-ops.org is worth watching.

HOW CAN WE MISS HIM IF HE WON’T GO AWAY? Only 38% Welcome Obama Back on the Campaign Trail.

OLD AND BUSTED IN WASHINGTON: Jews Control the Weather.

The New Hotness? Trump Controls the Weather:

To paraphrase the new emo motto of a once respected newspaper, democracy dies in clickbait.

FACTS ARE RACIST: ThinkProgress Accuses Facebook of Censorship After Conservative Factchecker Correctly Points Out an Error. “‘Brett Kavanaugh said he would kill Roe v. Wade last week.’ Except he didn’t.”

A DECADE LATER, MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME BACK TO 2008 LEVEL: New data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau, based on its Current Population Survey, shows median household income — half of the entries are smaller, half are larger — has returned to the levels seen in 2008. If Obama is responsible for this milestone, he sure took his sweet time about it.

WHAT CAN THE MARKET KNOW THAT THE FDA DOESN’T?: The FDA announces new restrictions on vaping products, and tobacco stocks trend upwards. Hmmm.

COULD CHRISTIANS BE THE BIGGEST FOOLS OF ALL TIME? For believers and non-believers alike — including those of any faith or of no faith at all — that could be one of the most important questions ever. And if that doesn’t pique your curiosity …

TYLER O’NEIL: Susan Collins Will Not Cave to $1.1M Leftist ‘Quid Pro Quo Bribe’ to Vote No on Kavanaugh. “This may violate federal law…”

STUCK IN REVERSE: “China’s Tesla” A Dud: Breaks For Trading Below IPO Price.

BUT IT WAS MORE ABOUT POSTURING THAN RESULTS: Had They Bet On Nuclear, Not Renewables, Germany & California Would Already Have 100% Clean Power.

Related: Germany Unlikely To Meet Carbon Reduction Targets for 2020.

VOTING RIGHTS REPORT: The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released a report today entitled “An Assessment of Minority Voting Rights Access in the United States.” The press release repeatedly emphasizes that the report was “unanimous.” This is technically true, but highly misleading. My mother died about an hour before the telephonic meeting at which the vote was taken, so I was unable to call in. As I wrote in my Commissioner Statement, if I had been present, I would have voted no. I believe the same is true of my colleague Peter Kirsanow, who was stuck in a deposition at the time. Only Commissioners appointed by Democrats voted to approve the report.

The most remarkable part of the report can be found in the Statement of Commissioner Michael Yaki (the Pelosi appointee) on page 301:

[The Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder] has turned the concept of voting rights on its head, where officials now work to restrict, and not expand, the franchise. Worse, there is little attempt to conceal the racial animus underlying these actions or the transparency of their actions to block the franchise and empowerment of minorities. In this way, there is a direct line from Shelby to Charlottesville, where alt-right, neo-Nazi, and hate groups, in their putsch-filled delusions, believe they can turn back the clock and preserve the supremacy of their self-defined racial purity. When government is acting under the color of law to enact the legal equivalent, it becomes a distinction without a difference.

Got that? State legislatures enacting voter ID laws and other anti-fraud measures are the same as “alt-right, neo-Nazi, and hate groups” who “in their putsch-filled delusions, believe they can turn back the clock and preserve the supremacy of their self-defined racial purity.”  And it was all made possible by a Supreme Court that “turned the concept of voting rights on its head.”

Yaki has a history of intemperate statements. But the Chair Catherine Lhamon (an Obama appointee) concurred in his Statement. If it were a 40-page Statement with the crazy parts buried in the footnotes, I might be inclined to believe she just didn’t see it. But it isn’t even two pages long, and the crazy parts dominate the text. I have to assume she agrees with him.

I’ll post a link to my Statement in the report when I get a chance.

PROFILES IN COURAGE: Kavanaugh Fight Has Red State Dems Ducking for Cover.

Republicans and an array of conservative groups have zeroed in on the red-state Democrats, calling on them to address their colleagues’ behavior. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has issued challenges to Manchin and Heitkamp demanding to know if they agree with their fellow senators’ tactics. The NRSC released a series emails and online posts aimed at each red-state Democrat, tying them to Schumer and the organized protests that took place inside the hearing room. One such post reads: “Does Joe Manchin agree with his Democrat colleagues’ tactics of throwing tantrums and attempting to drag an incredibly qualified nominee through the mud? Or will he finally speak out and give his support to Judge Kavanaugh?”

In Indiana, Republican challenger Mike Braun’s campaign called on Donnelly to address the “chaos” at the hearings. “Donnelly’s silence is a reminder that the least effective senator in Washington can’t even advocate for a fair Supreme Court hearing for President Trump’s highly qualified nominee,” said spokesman Josh Kelley.

In North Dakota, the GOP sent out an email following the first day of the hearings: “Heidi Heitkamp may be in more trouble than ever before,” it stated. “Senate Judiciary Democrats and 2020 presidential contenders have decided their own national ambitions matter more than saving Heidi Heitkamp’s failing campaign.”

You’d need a heart of stone not to laugh.

CHANGE: It’s Better To Rent Than To Buy In Today’s Housing Market. Certainly true in some areas.

ACTUALLY THEY HAVE A VERY GOOD REASON: Drunken British sailors are invading Florida and beating each other up, because why not?

AT AMAZON, deals in Hurricane Preparedness.

Plus, save on Generators and Portable Power.

And don’t forget the Water Bob emergency water storage system.

SATIRE… OR IS IT? Taco Bell #1 in Mexican Food at 2 a.m., Wasted.

“CONSENT” MEANS WHATEVER A WOMAN WANTS IT TO MEAN AT THE MOMENT, BECAUSE EQUALITY: Old “affirmative consent”: Ask permission at every step of sex. New “affirmative consent”: You have to call the next day, too.

You know, you can make a pretty strong argument for patriarchy just based on how fragile and gullible women are according to feminists.

POLL: Millennials would rather live in socialist or communist nation than under capitalism.

In the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation’s “Annual Report on U.S. Attitudes Toward Socialism,” 58 percent of the up-and-coming generation opted for one of the three systems, compared to 42 percent who said they were in favor of capitalism.

The most popular socioeconomic order was socialism, with 44 percent support. Communism and fascism received 7 percent support each.

Marion Smith, executive director of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, said the report shows millennials are “increasingly turning away from capitalism and toward socialism and even communism as a viable alternative.”

“This troubling turn highlights widespread historical illiteracy in American society regarding socialism and the systemic failure of our education system to teach students about the genocide, destruction, and misery caused by communism since the Bolshevik Revolution one hundred years ago,” Mr. Smith said in a statement.

That’s no accident.

OF COURSE HE DOES. ANTI-SEMITES ARE NOW AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE DEMOCRATS’ COALITION. Florida Dem Gov. Candidate Gillum Aligns With Groups That Support Boycotts of Israel.

I’D LIKE ONE OF THESE: The Augmented Posthuman Body.

COLD WAR II: U.S. Intel Agencies Say Russia Behind Attacks on Embassy Staff in Cuba. “Officials say that signals intelligence has fingered Moscow in the attacks.”

SO VERY HILLARY: