SOCIALISM: “[A]nti-Capitalist Societies Have [Newspapers], But Only in the Sense That Grigory Potemkin Had Villages.”

ENDGAME: Venezuela shifts oil ventures’ accounts to Russian bank.

GLOBAL BABY BUST UPDATE: Hungary Unveils Subsidies as It Seeks to Raise Fertility Rate.

Unveiled measures include the expansion of subsidized mortgages for families with two or more children, as well as handouts for buying cars and favorable loans to newly-wed couples. Women with at least four children will be exempt from paying personal-income tax, while the government will also spend 700 billion forint ($2.49 billion) on healthcare investments.

Generally, the impact of this sort of thing is limited, but it’s certainly evidence of the problem.

THE DEMOCRATS’ CLOWN CAR GETS BIGGER: Scandal-Plagued Sen. Amy Klobuchar Announces 2020 Presidential Run: “Minnesota Nice” branding belies mean streak and temper, said staff. Will it harm her presidential chances?

BURDEN-SHARING: Trump’s Jawboning Leads to Increase in South Korea Payments for U.S. Military Presence.

POPULAR MECHANICS HAS REALLY GONE DOWNHILL SINCE JIM MEIGS LEFT AS EDITOR, BUT THIS PIECE IS THE SADDEST YET: The Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ‘Green New Deal’ Wants to Get Rid of Nuclear Power. That’s a Great Idea. And it’s not the only piece of fact-free cheerleading on the “Green New Deal” on their page now. They still run some decent pieces, but Hearst is busy turning Popular Mechanics into an appendage of Cosmopolitan.

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Federal Judge Orders University Of Iowa To Reinstate Christian Group That Rejected Gay Student For Leadership Role.

I REMEMBER WHEN LOYALTY OATHS WERE SUPPOSED TO BE BAD: More Colleges Are Asking Scholars For Diversity Statements. Here’s What You Need To Know.

NEW, FROM ALMA BOYKIN:  Against a Rising Tide: The Powers Book 3.

The World War has ended. The battles rage on.

Five years after the end of the World War, men, Half-Dragons and True-Dragons labor to repair the damage. The English and French insist on punishing the nations of the Habsburg Confederation and Germany, while nationalists and Communists threaten to tear the alliance and the Houses apart from within. As chaos swirls and tensions rise, István Eszterházy and Archduke Rudolph von Habsburg struggle to preserve order, and to preserve both Houses and Powers. Worse, an old enemy from the war stalks István, intent on revenge.

But true danger lurks to the east. The forces that destroyed Galicia threaten to devour all of the Powers and Houses, killing the very soil of the land as they do. As another war rages, István and Rudolph must hide the secret of the Powers from forces more terrible than the Mongols and ottomans combined.

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME:  Frozen cat found buried in snow thawed by animal clinic.

OKAY THEN. MOVING RIGHT ALONG:  Bikini baristas fight for their right to bare butts.

SO MUCH FOR PETA AND THEIR LETTUCE LEAF BIKINIS:  ‘Sexy images’ of women make men crave red meat: study.

LISTEN TO THE MAN: AOC: The Perfect Graduate of Today’s Biased Colleges.

I WANT TO EMPHASIZE THAT I THINK THAT ABORTION IN THE FIRST TRIMESTER IS STILL A MORAL WRONG AND MURDER, BUT I ALSO BELIEVE WE STAND A BETTER CHANCE OF CURBING IT THROUGH SOCIAL DISAPPROVAL AND EDUCATION THAN POLICING:  And part of the reason I think that is that I came of age in a country where abortion was illegal. It still happened. It was just rare and safe (because the practitioners didn’t wish to get caught): But Is It Human?

SO THEY’RE SAYING WOMEN ARE… LESS MATURE?  Study suggests women’s brains are ‘younger’ than men’s brains.  Also, is this one of those irreproducible studies?

IT DOES TEND TO MAKE IT IRRELEVANT, HOWEVER:  Surprising study finds that marijuana use may not hurt male fertility.

ARM YOURSELF:  # 1 in My New Series – Leftism for Beginners.

YEAH. REPUBLICAN DIRTY TRICKS.  REPUBLICANS STOLE THE BRAINS OUT OF DEMS HEADS. PLAUSIBLE:  GND Undergoes Mysterious Overhaul.

THIS: She Just Doesn’t GET It.

IF IMBECILITY WERE MUSIC OCCASIONAL CORTEX WOULD BE AN ENTIRE SYMPHONY WITH AN EXTRA PART SCORED FOR HOT WIND INSTRUMENTS:  Green New Deal, Pink Unicorns, Leprechauns, and Pipe Dreams.

AN EVENING IN THE LIFE OF AMERICAN POLITICS:

Rep. Omar: Regarding Israel, Congress has been bought off by “Benjamins”

Sensible Twitter: Suggesting that Congress’s policy on Israel is based primarily on campaign donations, especially when public opinion is staunchly pro-Israel, sounds kinds anti-Semitic, especially coming from someone who has made anti-Semitic comments in the past

Counter-twitter reaction from the left: Everyone knows that she was referring to how Israel uses AIPAC to buy off Congress

Sensible twitter: AIPAC doesn’t give money to candidates, and as an American organization all its donations come from Americans, not Israel or Israelis

Counter-twitter: Whatever, money from pro-Israel groups, then

Sensible twitter: You mean she’s saying that the 0.2% of campaign money that pro-Israel groups give, $10+ million out of $5+ billion, is enough to buy off the entire Congress?

Counter-twitter (covering ears): La La La, I can’t hear you.

SOMEONE TELL THAT MAN THE FIRST RULE OF HOLES. THEN TAKE HIS SHOVEL AWAY:  Northam on “Indentured Servants”.

OH GOOD LORD!  Don’t sleep on “Spartacus”.