OOPS: Russian Nuclear Sub Misfires During Putin-Supervised Drills.

The Ryazan Delta III class nuclear-powered vessel was one of five submarines, more than 100 aircraft, 200 missile launchers and 12,000 troops involved in the Grom-2019 military exercises last week. Putin supervised Grom-2019 on the last of three days of drills on Thursday.

The Ryazan submarine fired only one one ballistic missile into a test range in the Barents Sea instead of the two that had been announced by the Russian military before the launch, Vedomosti reported.

“The second R-29R [missile] did not exit the silo launcher, and the submarine returned to its home base with an unexploded missile,” it wrote, citing two unnamed sources close to Russia’s Defense Ministry.

Embarrassing.

COLOR ME UNSURPRISED: Study shows class bias in hiring based on few seconds of speech.

TEXAS JURY RULES SEVEN-YEAR-OLD BOY CAN UNDERGO ‘GENDER TRANSITIONING:’ “What the hell is going on in Texas? I always thought it was one of the few states left that could discern fantasy from reality, but clearly not. If this can happen in Texas, it can happen anywhere. I feel bad for this little boy. It’s not his fault. He shouldn’t be punished. He’s just a kid being a kid, and his lunatic mom is so #woke that she wants to ruin his life under the guise of helping him.”

COMMUNISM, INC: All About the Money: Why Hong Kong Matters So Much to China.

Since 1997, mainland Chinese companies have raised $335 billion by floating in Hong Kong, tapping a broader range of shareholders than they could onshore.

Over the years, the pool of capital available at home has gotten much larger. But since the Hong Kong dollar is pegged to its U.S. equivalent, and the city has no capital controls, a listing there can generate hard currency for foreign takeovers and investments. It would be harder to use a Shanghai stock sale for the same goal.

For technology firms and others, New York has been another favored listing destination, but worsening U.S.-China relations could make this more problematic. Hong Kong offers a convenient way to tap many investors who are familiar with China.

For global investors, Shanghai and Shenzhen have become more accessible. But investors typically prefer Hong Kong’s legal protections, and they have other concerns about mainland markets, including the difficulties of moving money out.

Plus: “Foreign companies and state investors have long used Hong Kong as a staging post for investing in companies or building facilities in mainland China. As it grows richer, China is also deploying larger sums abroad through foreign direct investment, which rose from $2.6 billion in 1997 to $143 billion last year, according to data from China’s Ministry of Commerce. Much of this outbound FDI goes through Hong Kong.”

Hong Kong is a goose that lays golden eggs, but also contains a poison pill.

MAKE THEM LIKE BOLOS: A Path Towards Reasonable Autonomous Weapons Regulation.

CHANGE: Proposed Trump Administration Plan Would Require DNA Samples from Detained Migrants. “While the administration says the proposal will help solve crimes, the move is likely to anger rights advocates.”

There’s no right to enter the country illegally.

WE NEED TO PURGE ALL THE OFFICIOUS PECKSNIFFS FROM THE VETERANS’ ADMINISTRATION, BUT I’M BEGINNING TO WONDER IF THERE WOULD BE ANYONE LEFT: California VA bans calendars, tells WWII glamour girls their outfits must be approved before visiting patients.

I’ve known Gina Elise and her Pinups For Vets organization for years. There’s nothing at all inappropriately racy by modern (or even 1940s) standards to what they do. There seems to be someone in the California VA organization who doesn’t like them. That person needs to be found and reeducated. Or fired.

FLORIDA MAN GETS DUI…ON SEGWAY!

Is there nothing he can’t do?

WHEN IN ROME… Faithful Catholics Throw Amazonian Idols Displayed in the Vatican into the Tiber River.

CHINA SYNDROME: Recall Expanded for Common Heartburn Medication Zantac: Over-the-counter treatment may contain carcinogen, authorities say.

MEDIA ATTEMPT TO SCHOOL REPUBLICANS IS A DISINGENUOUS FRAUD: “What we are witnessing with such gems of hysterical mendacity are the pathetic death throes of a discredited political franchise and its rapidly disintegrating narrative,” Roger Kimball writes.

Think of it as the flip-side to the DNC-MSM’s triumphalism during the “We Are Socialist Now,” “40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation” days of Obamamania in late 2008 and early 2009.

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Sofia Vergara Ordered to Pay Ex Nearly $80,000 Amid Frozen Embryos Legal Battle.

A SMALL MEASURE OF ACCOUNTABILITY: Judge Allows Chicago Suit Against Jussie Smollett To Proceed.

BAN IT NOW, FOR THE CHILDREN! Pro soccer players more likely to develop brain diseases, study finds.

SO MITT’S DEADLY SINS ARE ENVY AND VANITY, THEN: Turns Out “Pierre Delecto” Approved Of Various Tweets Criticizing Republicans In The Senate, And Elsewhere.

Related: Pierre Delecto: Mitt Romney reveals his porn star name.

HMM: Venezuela’s Guaido holds ‘exploratory’ talks with China, Russia. “Oil-rich Venezuela’s economy is crumbling amid a political standoff between leftist President Nicolas Maduro and Guaido, the national assembly speaker widely recognized as the country’s legitimate leader.”

Well, no.

The economy isn’t crumbling due to a political standoff. There’s a political standoff due to the crumbling economy after years of increasing socialism.

WELL, SHE CERTAINLY WOULDN’T DO IT ON PURPOSE: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Accidentally Makes the Case for School Choice.

THE ROLLING STONES, ELTON JOHN HARDEST HIT: Banned In Boston! Beacon Hill bill would ban the B-word.

STUART BROTMAN: The Google Antitrust Investigations—Learning From Germany’s Facebook Inquiry.

JEFF DUNETZ: It’s Fun Time: Tulsi Declares War On Hillary And Democratic Establishment. “If you need any more evidence that Gabbard is correct and Hillary is just being an idiot is that Joy Behar agrees with the former secretary of state. ‘She hasn’t denied it,’ Behar said. ‘She’s just going after Hillary. I just think that she could be a useful idiot the way that Trump is a useful idiot to the Russians’.”

Corn, popped.