ANALYSIS: TRUE. Liberals Hate Free Speech When We Presume To Use It. And this is quite an opening by Kurt Schlichter:

I have a confession to make: I hate the pseudo-conservative scribblings of David French with the same kind of smoldering loathing I reserve for foot fungus, movies about spunky young women who triumph over the patriarchy, and the music of Maroon 5. With rare exceptions explicable due only to the vagaries of chance, I hate his prose, his premises, his conclusions and his insufferable fussiness. I contend that his writings are fit only to be served up to traitors and terrorists at Gitmo to wring out confessions, and the only thing I enjoy about his terrible, terrible views is that they validate my longstanding negative impression of Army JAGs. But it has never occurred to me that David French should be barred from writing whatever the hell he pleases.

The whole idea that, simply because his opinions make me long for the joyous peace of death, he should be in any way prevented from sharing them with those people who inexplicably wish to endure them, and those unfortunate enough to stumble upon them unawares, is utterly foreign to me and to all actual conservatives. Censorship, to us, is both alien and appalling, like an Oberlin College feminist hot oil twerk-off.

Needless to say, read the whole thing.

YES. NEXT QUESTION? Is Hillary Positioning Herself to Jump in if Biden Falters?

UNEXPECTEDLY: As predicted, the $15 wage is killing jobs all across the city.

AT AMAZON, deals in Blu-Ray and DVD.

Plus, save in Arts, Crafts, and Sewing.

MEDIA HORRIFIED BY LACK OF VIOLENCE AT JOKER SCREENINGS.

I’m so old, I can remember back to when the Babylon Bee was still satire, before morphing into America’s Paper of Record.

Or as this Human Events article by Ian Miles Cheong concludes, “Ironically, the media is behaving very much like how the Joker would were he an institution. The Joker is a free radical, a force of nature that sows chaos and discord wherever he goes—and benefits from it. Just like the Joker, the Fourth Estate is operating as a force unto its own, creating its own narratives about dangers to society, and then reporting on those dangers after they manifest—all for the sake of views, clicks, and engagement metrics on a quarterly sheet. Joker will cause incel violence, they argue, and then goad the violence: ‘hey, incels, don’t do anything violent. Wouldn’t it be terrible if you did, and we gave you the infamy you wanted all along?’”

FLASHBACK: Chuck Todd has always been a left-wing hack.

He’s always been embarrassingly prickly when called on it, too.

THE PATRIARCHY STRIKES AGAIN: F.D.A. Approves New H.I.V.-Prevention Drug, but Not for Women. “The approval explicitly excludes women, and does not outline a plan for making the drug available to them. Some activists and scientists said the approval sets a dangerous precedent by allowing companies to dodge the expensive trials needed to test medicines in women.”

What would we do without “activists?” “At a hearing in August, some activists urged the F.D.A. to deny approval for use of Descovy in women, or to require Gilead to test the drug in a large number of women promptly after approval.”

ANALYSIS: TRUE. The Media Is Way Too Easily Distracted By Twitter-Friendly Stories.

Political Twitter is easily distracted by stories with a dangerously unbalanced ratio of news value to entertainment value, even more so than the cable networks. (I’m not excluding myself from this.) Because the conversation is driven by coastal journalists who use our accounts for social and professional purposes, there’s a premium on media gossip, insular Beltway chatter, and amusing viral content. Neither of the stories mentioned above speak to broader trends whatsoever.

The problem is that news outlets also use Twitter as an assignment editor, which has the effect of artificially inflating the importance of such stories—in newsrooms, boardrooms, and living rooms.

Related:

I still read a couple of my own curated Twitter lists, for the same reason I have to read fake news outlets like WaPo and the NYT. But getting off the platform as a participant is one of the best decisions I’ve made all year.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: Anyone Want to Become a Law Professor? Anyone? “The largest annual entry-level law school hiring event kicks off Friday in Washington, but the scene at the host hotel will likely be more subdued than the frenzied atmosphere from a decade earlier. The number of candidates vying to become doctrinal legal academics is about half what it was 10 years ago.”

BABY STEPS: Saudi Arabia to allow foreign couples to rent hotel rooms. “Saudi women can rent hotel rooms and foreign unmarried couples can share a room as restrictions eased to boost tourism.”

The easing of stringent regulations governing social interactions comes after Riyadh launched its first tourist visa scheme, as part of efforts to open up the country to foreign visitors and diversify its oil-reliant economy.

The Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage posted the new requirements on Twitter on Sunday, confirming a Friday report by the Saudi daily Okaz.

The commission said women will be allowed to rent hotel rooms with proof of identity – an ID card for Saudi women, residency card for foreign residents living in the kingdom or passport for tourists.

The same would be required of foreign couples, without the need for them to present a marriage certificate. Previously women needed permission from a male guardian to rent a hotel room.

Plus: “Unmarried Saudi couples will still need to provide proof of a marital relationship.”

To each other?

PROTESTERS STAGE ‘DIE-IN’ AT WALL STREET BULL STATUE, COVER IT WITH BLOOD AND CLIMB ATOP IT.

As a result, 25 radical environmentalists were arrested. “The ‘Extinction Rebellion’ rally is part of a global network of protests and events this week to raise awareness of what they call the climate crisis’ potentially disastrous effects.”

It’s important to maintain the myth that there are no environmentalists in the corporate boardrooms.

Earlier: Climate change activists hose ‘fake blood’ at UK Treasury from fire engine.

HOLD ME I’M SCARED: Cory Booker warns, ‘If you come after Joe Biden, you’re going to have to deal with me.’

CHANGE: Nearly 12K Illinois educators have stopped paying a teachers union.

MUST-FLEE TV: Jeff Daniels to Play James Comey in Four Hour CBS Miniseries.

PROJECTION, ALL THE WAY DOWN: Lee Stranahan On The Clinton State Department Crony Origin Of The Russian Collusion Hoax.

SEEMS EMINENTLY FAIR: Lawmaker Wants To Make Gun-Free Zones Liable If Someone Hurt: Bills would remove governmental immunity, make private zone owners responsible for security. If you make it impossible for people to defend themselves, you should be made fully responsible for their safety.

JOHN FUND: The Longer Elites Ignore Populist Outcries, the More They’ll Be Surprised.

During the discussions, it became clear that much of the conventional media wisdom about populism in Europe is out of date. British academic David Goodhart noted that populist parties are generally portrayed in the media “as little more than a refuge for bigots, Rust Belt rejects, victims of the Great Recession, and angry old white men.”

In reality, the vote for Brexit in Britain took place as unemployment was at its lowest rate since the 1970s. Goodhart noted that Nigel Farage and his Brexit Party draw the bulk of their support from a diverse alliance of skilled workers, middle-class Conservatives, affluent pensioners, and the self-employed. Switzerland’s People’s Party often places first in elections in a country with one of the highest per capita incomes in the world.

Similarly, the hostility of populist movements toward immigration is misunderstood. While certainly racists who oppose immigration often cast their votes for populist parties, it would be foolish to ignore the many populist voters who believe that the EU has prevented their countries from undertaking legitimate steps to control the pace and scale of immigration. Dismissing these voters as yahoos or white supremacists doesn’t help anyone understand why people are angry at their leaders.

Much of that anger stems from the fact that an educated elite increasingly controls the political process in Europe.

I’d quibble with the premise that they’re being ignored. Far from it. The elites are using every means at their disposal to paint populists as hate-filled bitter clingers, whose wishes ought to be ignored.

It’s a powder keg situation, and the elites are playing with matches — which they’ve mistaken for fire extinguishers.

HMM: Supreme Court session begins without ill Clarence Thomas.

ILHAN OMAR HEADED FOR ANOTHER DIVORCE.

Flashback: Ilhan Omar Must Get Stoned for Illegal Sex, According to Sharia.

PRIORITIES:

Not a good look.

REALCLEARPOLITICS: The Curious Case Of The Incurious Press. “So what happened? How did we reach the point where journalists presented with a major scandal — an almost self-evident abuse of power — just yawn and turn away?”

Well:

UNEXPECTEDLY: Ilhan Omar files for divorce from husband Ahmed Hirsi amid affair allegations.

APPARENTLY, THE PUSHBACK OVER THEIR BANNING THE APP FROM THEIR APP STORE WORKED: Apple approves Hong Kong protest location app.

INTIMIDATION: China’s military warns protesters they may be arrested for targeting Hong Kong barracks with laser light.

In the first direct interaction between the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and protesters, the PLA raised a yellow flag with the arrest warning written in large letters, said a Reuters witness.

As a few hundred protesters shone laser lights on the barrack walls, troops in fatigues on the roof of the building shone spotlights at protesters and used binoculars and cameras to monitor protesters.

This is the PLA, not the local Hong Kong police.