RETURN OF THE PRIMITIVE: Bubonic Plague ‘Likely’ Already Present In Los Angeles.

Related: As Two LAPD Officers Are Treated for Typhus, Here’s How LA City Gov’t Helped Create the Problem. “The politicians Pinsky blames for the crisis accuse him of hyperbole, blaming the massive homeless population for the ‘adverse conditions’ and claim that they just need more money (more money!) to help the homeless. But, it turns out that the city political machine’s insatiable appetite for grift and control has played a big part in creating and perpetuating this problem.”

OPEN THREAD: Make it special.

PEOPLE IN 1951 WERE SLIMMER AND BETTER-DRESSED: Same Pictures. Same Places. 68 Years Apart.

BATTLEFIELD PREP: Vox’s Carlos Maza calls on YouTube to ban Steven Crowder for harassment.

Related: Louder with Crowder’s Vox Rebuttal: Conservatives control the media?! (Video.)

More: Ratings Collapse And Layoffs Are Making The Media Go Crazy (Video).

ENDORSED: Nation Approves Plan To Push Hollywood Into Pacific Ocean.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—A new law passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump Thursday approves a plan to push Hollywood into the Pacific Ocean, sources in Washington are reporting.

The new law calls for federal officials to build or acquire a giant hand saw and make a rough incision along the outside of the central district of Los Angeles, leaving a large enough buffer so as to be sure that none of Hollywood would remain, allowing the scandal-ridden Tinseltown and its occupants to simply drift out to sea.

The plan comes amidst a continuous string of sexual scandals and horrific crimes that have come to light, perpetrated by some of the biggest Hollywood stars.

Note to Snopes: This is the Babylon Bee, so it’s satire — or is it?

WHY YOU SHOULDN’T TRUST YOUR FOOD CRAVINGS. Your gut bacteria may be manipulating you.

AT AMAZON, save on Blu-Ray and DVD. Buy your favorite movies before the woke censors kill them.

Plus, deals in Arts, Crafts, and Sewing.

STEPHEN KRUISER: Having Achieved World Peace, UN Turns Its Attention to Alexa and Siri—Symbols of the Patriarchy.

The grievance peddlers around the world live in a fictional world. They see oppressive shadows everywhere, none of which exist. That’s right, I said “none.”

Look, I am the patriarchy. I’ll admit, it’s fun most of the time. We really don’t have the vision and reach that we’re given credit for, however.

Most of us are also smart enough to differentiate between a disembodied, programmed voice and a real live woman. A huge, relaxing part of being the patriarchy is that we never, ever overthink things. None of us are listening to Alexa’s weather update and spinning that into a “My Hot Secretary” fantasy.

Well, with the exception of Raj Koothrappali, of course.

QUESTIONS NOBODY IS ASKING: Can Joe Biden be both the future and the past?

ARISTO LIBERALISM: ‘Kamala Harris for the People’ Holds Fundraiser at Getty Home on ‘Billionaires Row’ in SF.

JAMES LILEKS: Meet the skyway’s Lazarus of Leather — Minneapolis shoe rehab owner can repair anything, including the broken man he once was.

When you leave the shoe-rehabilitation establishment run by one Robert Napoleon Steele the Third, you will walk a bit taller, stride a bit quicker. You’re guaranteed to be well-shod and shiny, for you’ve just visited the Lazarus of Leather. The man who can bring the most battered, hopeless, despairing shoe back to its showroom state.

You might say he did the same for himself. Ask Napoleon about his life story and he might ask which part you want — the stand-up comedian days, or the 19 years on the street, homeless?

“I remember when I was homeless, sleeping in an alley on a stinking mattress, didn’t matter, when you’re homeless, you don’t care how it is,” he said.

“I saw this family coming back from church. I was praying — God, get me off crack. Get me off drugs. And I did! And now I got kids, and it’s ‘Sit down! Boy, leave your brother alone! Don’t set the cat on fire!’ And I think, ‘God, get me back on crack.’ ”

He grins. Got you. Of course, he wouldn’t trade fatherhood for anything.

It’s Lileks and a great human interest story, so needless to say, read the whole thing.

YOU CAN’T TRUST SOCIAL MEDIA: Sexual misconduct claims at Jamaica’s resorts still buried on TripAdvisor.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Harvard Is An Embarrassment To American Higher Education. “Students who feel so traumatized by thoughts differing from their own obviously do not belong at a serious university and should be encouraged to transfer elsewhere.” Like a nursery school.

CAR & DRIVER’S JOHN PEARLEY HUFFMAN: Enthusiasm Matters, and Mine is for Cars and Magazines.

Of all the things that could have grabbed my enthusiasm, I’m at a loss as to why it was cars and car magazines. Or why Bill Gates was obsessed with writing code, Michael Jordan spent more time in the gym than anyone else, Wynton Marsalis could spend all those hours practicing the trumpet, and Quentin Tarantino would train himself by watching every movie ever made. Why do we love what we love?

Adam Alter, an associate professor of marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business and the author of the books Irresistible and Drunk Tank Pink, has some ideas. “A huge part of this is accidental,” he wrote in an email. “Malcolm Gladwell has written about this in Outliers where he explores why so many tech titans, like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, were born within a few years of one another. He suggests they happened to be born at a time when they had access to large-stack computers at universities and so had time to develop competencies that ultimately made them billionaires. Born five years earlier or later, they may have explored very different pursuits.”

There is a “moment in time” aspect to all this. If nothing else, my early years are saturated with advertising for cars at a time when being unapologetically in love with cars was an okay thing. Plus, I was six when Mattel introduced Hot Wheels cars with a massive marketing blitz aimed right at me in 1968. And that was a prepubescent gateway drug for car nuttery if there ever was one.

Heh, Indeed. Read the whole the thing.™

I’LL TAKE “HEADLINES I WASN’T EXPECTING IN THE NATION” FOR $500, ALEX: How Did Russiagate Begin? Why Barr’s investigation is important and should be encouraged.

THE COCKINESS — IT IS BEST TO ESCHEW IT, YOUNG PADAWAN: New poll has great news for Trump ahead of campaign season, bad news for Democrats.

IT’S AMAZING HOW MUCH “SCIENTIFIC” HEALTH ADVICE IS LIKE THIS: Newest science myth: the 10,000-step rule: The supposed activity target was simply made up — most likely by a Japanese clock company. To sell pedometers.

ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: ‘He’s finally getting his due.’ Serial ADA filer faces tax charges as California store owners rejoice.

(Via Ace of Spades.)

DEMOCRATS POLITICIZE VIRGINIA BEACH SHOOTING TO PUSH GUN CONTROL: Second Amendment Supporters Push Back.

Related Twitter thread: “It seems like many people on the right do not understand the concept of a political battle. The left understands it. That is why when they lose a battle, they just regroup and try again and again and again until they win. The left lost the political battle for gun control decades ago. Yet, they are still out there trying to push their gun grabbing ways after every shooting. They are still trying to get businesses to stop doing business with gun sellers and/or pro 2nd amendment people. It’s unrelenting not just on the gun issue but every issue. Due to this constant pressure the right has fallen into a defender role to conserve the status quo so to speak. It’s easy to understand how this defender role came about but it’s harder to change from defense.”

Read the whole thing.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Staying Alive: Tips & Tactics for Personal Security.

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Plus, deals on Power and Hand Tools.

#JOURNALISM: The NYT risks looking transphobic, with “Chest Binding Helps Smooth the Way for Transgender Teens, but There May Be Risks/People who use binders report symptoms like back and chest pain, overheating and shortness of breath.”

ICYMI: ANOTHER SATIRICAL CLASSIC, BLAZING SADDLES, GETS THE SJW TREATMENT.

Better get it on Blu-Ray while you can. As John Nolte warned in 2014, “Buy a Copy Before the Left Burns Them All.”

I FIND THEIR VIEWS ON THIS SUBJECT LESS THAN DISPOSITIVE: Most Clinicians Are Against Money-Back Healthcare Guarantees. “Most physicians and nurses would not support physicians or hospitals offering refunds or rebates if patients found their care unsatisfactory, a recent Medscape poll shows. The poll followed a story in Medscape Medical News that reported in China Pfizer has offered to reimburse up to 33% of the cost of its breast cancer drug palbociclib (Ibrance) if a patient’s disease progresses within 4 months. That offer is not good in the United States, where the average cost for the drug is nearly $13,000 for one bottle of 21 capsules.”