JOHN SOLOMON: A dozen document troves that could change the Ukraine scandal if Trump released them.
He may not bother: Swing State Dem Flips on Impeachment. If a black Democrat from Detroit is waffling. . . .
Possibly related: Emerson, Rasmussen Polls Show 34% Black Voter Approval For Trump.
More here.
OPEN THREAD: It’s Threaderiffic!
TO BE FAIR, WOULDN’T YOU? Biden’s senior Latina adviser quits in frustration.
ZONING EARTH “RESIDENTIAL.” Jeff Bezos’ Plan to Save Earth? ‘Move All Heavy Industry into Space.’ This idea isn’t original with Bezos, but it’s a good one.
IT’S COME TO THIS: “‘Indian food is terrible’ tweet sparks hot debate about racism” – and the BBC is on it.
Naturally though, the BBC left off the best tweet on this terribly important topic, from the dead-on SJW satirist, “Titania McGrath:”
Related: They used to be made of sterner stuff in England: Whaley Bridge police chief ‘left Twitter over hairstyle abuse.’
The next update to Peter Hitchens’ The Abolition of Britain continues to write itself.
THE RIGHT FILM, RIGHT NOW: Ford v Ferrari shows how masculinity can make the world a better place.
Audiences are thrilling to “Ford v Ferrari” because in an age when every corner of the culture is shrieking “toxic masculinity,” the movie is a true account of how masculinity can make the world a better place. That obsessive need to compete pushes man to higher and higher levels. Sometimes that instinct to fight over everything — “to find quarrel in a straw,” in Hamlet’s words — manifests itself in strange ways, as when the two principals beat each other up with the contents of a sack of groceries. The New Yorker dubbed this scene “an erotic tangle,” but the spirit of it is Mars, not Eros. The two men are essentially brothers, and sometimes brothers communicate with their fists. Bravo to a movie that resists the mass psychosis telling us that there is something inherently wrong with acting like a man.
As if the above wasn’t enough of an endorsement: ‘Ford v Ferrari’ is the climate change horror film nobody needed.
All the greatest hits of American exceptionalism are baked into the script. Individualism? The central tension of the movie is between Shelby’s desire to do things on his own and the auto company’s habit of succeeding via collaboration. (“You can’t win a race by committee,” Shelby tells Ford at one point, articulating the film’s thesis statement.) Norm-breaking? Shelby and Miles’ masterstroke for winning Le Mans is to swap out their car’s brakes midway through the race, a violation of the spirit if not the letter of the Le Mans rulebook. Xenophobia? Ferrari’s execs are painted as backstabbers who deserve a comeuppance, and frequently their Italian dialogue doesn’t even get subtitles, so uninterested is the movie in their perspective.
White masculinity? There is not a single character of color in the film, and only one female character with a name: Ken’s wife Mollie, played by the appealing Irish actress Caitriona Balfe. In lieu of interiority, Mollie is given a lust for speed to match her husband’s, at one point zooming the family car around a winding suburban road, careening past other cars, while Ken yells at her to slow down. (Ford v Ferrari’s idea of feminism: Women ? can ? pollute ? and ? endanger ? people’s ? lives ? too ?.)
Geez, wait until the author discovers Shirley Muldowney, and her 1983 biopic, Heart Like a Wheel.
WE’VE DESCENDED INTO SOME SORT OF BIZARRE HELL-WORLD IN WHICH PIERS MORGAN IS A VOICE OF SANITY: Michael Bloomberg’s sickening suppression of his own journalists would shame even Putin, proves Trump is right about fake news, and makes him unfit to be President.
Not to mention this: Warning! Mayor Bloomberg Is A Radical Nanny-Stater.
FLORIDA LIZARD: As invasive iguanas boom, Florida unsure what to do.
History shows again and again, how nature points up the folly of man.
SHOCKING NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF SCIENCE: Study Finds College Students May Benefit From More Sleep.
CONAN THE TERRORIST-KILLING DOG VISITS THE WHITE HOUSE — AND JIM TREACHER IS ON IT: “Trump praised the hero dog who hunted down the terrorist, so that means dogs are bad now and terrorists are good. You can’t like dogs anymore. In any dispute between a Trump dog and a terrorist, you have to root for the terrorist or else you love Trump. If you still like dogs after today, you have to wear a MAGA hat all the time. Sorry, those are the rules.”
Related: Trump honors hero dog Conan. Media goes barking mad.
Unexpectedly.
THE WAR ON PUBLIC HEALTH: The CDC Proves Trump Right on Vaping. After frightening vapers to go back to smoking, the CDC has confirmed its own incompetence. Its research shows the e-cigarette scare was deadly misinformation. Fortunately, as I write in City Journal, Trump is learning to ignore the bad science and advice from the CDC, the FDA and the rest of the public-health establishment.
FRED HOYLE SMILES: Sugars essential to life detected in meteorites, a first.
In these early stages — yes, despite this being the fifth primary debate, these are still the early stages — the perception of success gets treated as if it’s the real thing. Bafflingly, this seems to have the supporters of other candidates spooked. At a Bernie event yesterday, Sanders surrogate Nina Turner blasted Buttigieg, saying he ‘can’t take care of the black folks’ in his city.
‘When a black woman says to you over the shooting of a black man in your city … “I’m not going to vote for you for president”, and you say to this black woman, “I didn’t ask you for your vote,” I don’t think you are in any position to be the president of the United States of America.’
Others have grumbled about the fact that only 8,000 people have ever voted for him. Yet by treating Buttigieg like the contender we’re told he is, his opponents further propel his candidacy.
But as legendary fictitious rock manager Ian Faith would say, Buttigieg’s appeal is rather selective: Black Leader in Pete Buttigieg’s Hometown Endorses…Biden for President. Pete’s in Trouble.
THIS IS CNN: CNN Determined to Normalize ‘Throuple’ Queen Katie Hill.
Also at CNN: Steven Hassan Tells CNN’s Brian Stelter That Trump Is ‘Destructive Cult Leader’ Who Uses ‘Mind Control.’
Between Hassan, Hill, and the regular appearances by Dan Rather, Stelter’s Reliable Sources show is really living up to its name.
SHOTGUN NEWS: The Maximum Practical Range of Slugs & Buckshot.
AT AMAZON, save in Power and Hand Tools.
Plus, deals on Irons and Steamers.
IT’S A VODKAPUNDIT TWOFER! RBG, Steve Jobs, Cancer, and the Public’s Right to Know. “I looked up the half-forgotten timeline of Jobs’s public-yet-private years-long decline after being shown a series of tweets from an anonymous user with the Twitter handle ‘au ng.’ Some of what he says is pure speculation, but given Ginsburg’s serious disinterest in being forthright with the American people, and the media’s seeming acquiescence to her wishes, speculation is all we have right now. For what it’s worth, I found au ng’s tweets to be interesting throughout, and sometimes compelling.”
Much, much more at the link. That’s from my daily column outside the VIP paywall.
And for PJMedia’s VIP members: Are Apple TV+ and Disney+ Worth Your Streaming Time and Money?
I have a quick overview of both streaming services best and worst offerings, but this bit deserves getting broken out for non-members:
For All Mankind is the show I thought I’d love. It’s set in an alternate history where the Soviets beat Apollo 11 to the Moon by a few weeks. Then, just as NASA is really getting its act back together, the Soviets double down and land a woman on the Moon as part of a huge propaganda effort. The show is well-acted, lovingly produced, and totally had its hooks in me for the first two or three episodes. Things went downhill quickly as the show descended into the preachy strain of feminism. Worse, Ted Kennedy is presented as a feminist hero, a plot development I feared might come after catching a small tell in the first episode. When the Soviets reach the moon, it’s mentioned on the news that Kennedy cut short his weekend in Chappaquiddick. So of course Mary Kopechne lives, and of course Ted gets elected in ’72 as the most woman-loving president evah. Which I guess kinda works if you forget all the waitress sandwiches and pantsless pickup lines and stuff. Oh, and because of the extra-heated space race, Nixon got us out of Vietnam years earlier, too… yet still couldn’t manage to get reelected.
In other words, the premise of For All Mankind seems to be that the world would be a much better place if only the Communists had been more competent. Talk about your alternative histories, right?
If you’re interested in becoming a VIP member, the promo code VODKAPUNDIT is good for a nice little discount.
JUST ANOTHER DAY IN HONG KONG: From Michael Yon: “HK police apparently trying to cripple someone. Who appears unconscious. Normal.”
Related: WTH is going on in Hong Kong? Solidarity hero Lech Walesa’s advice for pro-democracy protesters. Walesa talks with Marc Thiessen on Thiessen’s American Enterprise Institute podcast.
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