THE IMPORTANCE OF VOTING RIGHTS … as illustrated by the behavior of two politicians in history.

LEFTIST ACTIVISM CULTURE AND THE “SPARTACUS ILLUSION.”

NEWS YOU SHOULDN’T NEED TO USE: Men, Please Brush Your Teeth.

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Plus, save on Generators and Portable Power.

And don’t forget the Water Bob emergency water storage system. It may be too late for Florence, but there will be more storms in the future.

MICHAEL BARONE: If Democrats can’t run Chicago, can they run anything?

No. Next question?

OPEN THREAD: Comment like it’s Saturday night.

I DON’T “BELIEVE IN SCIENCE.” I BELIEVE IN EVIDENCE. Harrison Ford: “Stop Giving Power to People Who Don’t Believe in Science.”

HEH: Save the Democrats! Vote Republican.

JON GABRIEL: No, Trump isn’t ‘normal.’ Neither are the Democrats who protested Brett Kavanaugh:

No one on either side of the aisle would call this political moment “normal.” Even the most enthusiastic members of Team MAGA would call our chief executive’s comments and actions, ahem, “unusual.”

In truth, that’s a big reason they voted for him. After all, undermining norms is a two-way street.

Republicans have seen every party nominee since Reagan smeared as racist, sexist, this-ist and that-ist. By the time those attacks were rolled out against Trump, they had lost their moral impact. The donkey cried wolf too many times.

Trump has proved worthier of those epithets than the other presidential candidates, but GOPers know that any generic conservative would be called the same, deservedly or not. And the unhinged reaction to Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court is just more proof.

And as Steve noted way back in July, it’s all just a dress rehearsal for Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s eventual replacement.

WELL, GOOD: Calorie counts on menus are helping people lose weight, study says.

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NEW CIVILITY WATCH. Arizona Senate: Kyrsten Sinema’s anti-war group blasted ‘U.S. terror,’ depicted soldier as skeleton in 2003 flyers.

I eagerly await Paul Krugman’s condemnation of this eliminationist clip-art:

As Veteran Twitter user “Comfortably Smug” writes, “Reminder: Sinema is running against [Martha McSally] who is the first woman to fly combat missions in the Air Force. This is going to hobble Sinema’s campaign. She’s finished.”

CLIMATE CRUSADERS MOVING UP FROM PRIVATE PLANES TO PRIVATE ROCKETS: Clean energy crusader Jerry Brown’s plan to launch Calif. ‘climate satellite’ into orbit could hit a few eco snags.

I  don’t want to hear another goddamn word about Glenn Reynolds’ carbon footprint.

SCORCHED EARTH POLITICS: Why everyone should be angry at what Feinstein did re Kavanaugh, and why everyone is not.

I’M CONCERNED WITH BLOOD PRODUCTS OUTSIDE OF THE MEDICAL CONTEXT: ‘Vampire Facial’ Spa Clients to be Tested for HIV.

QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED: What’s In It for Republicans to Stand By Kavanaugh?

Read the whole thing.

JACK DUNPHY: LAPD Video Shows Female Officer Being Shot at Point-Blank Range During Traffic Stop.

“What would happen,” asks The Week columnist Matthew Walther in a Sept. 13 piece, “if American police officers carried whistles instead of guns?”  He muses further: “Would the country descend instantly into a chaos of looting, arson, and mass murder?  Or would we just go on with our lives, commuting to jobs, raising children, watching sports, whatever — the same routine, albeit with a little bit less of the low-key anxiety that comes with seeing cops with weapons?”

I invite you to read Mr. Walther’s entire piece, but be warned you might take it as a parody.

Read the whole thing.

WELL, THAT’S BAD: Study: Mumps outbreak at Texas cheerleading meets spread quickly.

SUPER DISAPPOINTING: “University of Chicago astronomers found no evidence for extra spatial dimensions to the universe based on the gravitational wave data.”

JULIA SALAZAR, THE LEFT’S POST-TRUTH POLITICIAN: The democratic socialist lied. And lied. And lied. Then she won handily in Brooklyn.

To be fair, she was elected by a post-truth constituency. She’ll soon be ready to stand between the Styrofoam Greek columns, and then a career of promising “If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan,” and flip-flopping on gay marriage.

I’M SO OLD, I REMEMBER WHEN GOOGLE’S MOTTO WAS “DON’T BE EVIL:” Google Built China A Prototype Search Engine That Allows Government To Spy On Citizens’ Search Queries.

I wonder if anyone at Google ever asks, “Are we the baddies?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1VxaMEjRU

ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION, NFL? Battered by Florence, the American Flag Becomes Symbol of Defiance and Hope.

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