MAYBE THE RUSSIANS GOT’EM: Seems 59 of the 96 government-owned cell phones issued to Mueller probe staffers, according to Just the News, have not been accounted for (i.e. returned to the government). For some strange reason, senators Charles Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson would like to know why those phones have not been returned.

Perhaps they read that famous maxim of Sen. Everett McKinley Dirksen, who once said “a billion cell phones here, a billion there, and pretty soon, you’re talking about the government.” Or words to that effect.

AT HELEN’S PAGE: Korving & Co. authors of Before I Go and Before I Go Workbook answer your reader questions on general finances.

MARCO RUBIO COMING IN HOT:

WHY PEOPLE DON’T TRUST “PUBLIC HEALTH” EXPERTS:

NOT THE BEE: Circle Back And Watch Psaki And The Biden White House REFUSE To Blame Communism For The Unrest In Cuba.

I almost headlined this one with “NO ENEMIES TO THE LEFT,” but how far to the left of the Biden Administration is the Cuban regime, really?

MAKE THEM PAY: Alabama university sued for violating recently implemented free speech law.

PJ MEDIA VIP ROUNDUP: Don’t forget that VODKAPUNDIT promo code if you’ve been thinking of joining us.

Paula Bolyard: Toronto Police Refuse to Say Whether This ‘Female’ Bearded Child Molester Has Boy Parts. “‘I understand that Eby identifies as a woman, but does this individual have male anatomy?’ I asked Constable Laura. ‘As I’m sure you’re aware, random sexual assaults in parks are typically not attributed to genetic females, so this would seem to be an outlier if Eby has female anatomy.’ Twelve hours later, I still haven’t heard back from her — assuming Constable Laura is a woman, which may be presumptuous of me.”

Bryan Preston: Vinyl Sales Keep Outrunning CDs and This Makes No Sense. “Some music connoisseurs swear that vinyl sounds richer than digital audio on a CD. I think they’re mildly full of it.”

Yours Truly: It’s Official: The Fed Has No Clue What’s Going On or What It’s Doing. “While Powell has said he believes the burst in inflation is caused by ‘temporary’ issues such as COVID-related bottlenecks, it’s almost as though he has no clue about what’s going on in the White House and on Capitol Hill.”

RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY AT (CHECKS NOTES) NOTRE DAME: Notre Dame students, faculty are trying to keep Chick-fil-A off campus.

AND THEY’RE RIGHT: 55% BELIEVE DEFUND THE POLICE MOVEMENT LED TO INCREASED CRIME.

DOG BITES MAN (AND THEN DEMANDS A TREAT): Democrats look to keep Coloradans’ tax refunds.

WELL, YES:

IN AMERICAN POLITICS, “OUTRAGE” IS JUST MEDIA FUROR DIRECTED AT REPUBLICANS ON BEHALF OF DEMOCRATS: Good question: Where is the outrage over Biden rejecting Cuban refugees.

Biden doesn’t want them because they tend to vote Republican. That trumps all the “compassion” crap they’ve been ladling out for years.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Democrats Are Looking More Commie Every Day. “As far as we know, Sinaloa cartel members are allowed to stay here and hang out in California and my home state of Arizona. Not so much for any pesky freedom seekers who might want to flee communism.”

VOTING REFORM: 70% WANT ALL MAIL-IN BALLOTS RECEIVED BY ELECTION DAY.

Seventy percent (70%) of voters want all mail-in ballots to be received by Election Day. A Scott Rasmussen national survey found that 21% are opposed to that requirement and 9% are not sure.

Those totals include 47% who Strongly Favor the Election Day deadline and 11% who are Strongly Opposed.

Requiring mail-in ballots to be received by Election Day is favored by 83% of Republicans, 63% of Democrats, and 55% of Independent voters. In fact, that requirement is favored by a majority of every measured demographic group.

The survey also found that 65% believe government agencies should be required to report the vote totals from all ballots either on Election Night or the next day.

Plus, 76% favor Photo ID for voting.

Also: 57% want Ballot Harvesting banned, only 20% disagree.

None of this, of course, is what the Democrats are offering in their new HR4 “voting rights” bill, the whole point of which is to insulate a Democrat-run government from what voters want.

BAMBI TRAINING: A USN MH-60S Knighthawk conducts aerial firefighting training at Naval Station Norfolk. The collapsible Bambi Bucket was developed in the 1980s. It turns a helicopter into a firetruck.

CUBAN FREEDOM REBELLION SHAKES CUBAN, CHINESE AND AMERICAN SOCIALIST ELITES: A relevant quote-

The communist regime believes the protests and the demands are coordinated. By whom? Cuba’s foreign minister claimed — without evidence — the U.S. had financed the protests. Typical communist narrative warfare — blame the U.S. The CCP blamed the U.S. for inciting Tiananmen’s and Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests.

Fidel Castro had charisma. International “progressive” leftists — sad cases like Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY — still venerate Fidel and excuse the regime’s vicious tyranny.

Diaz-Canel has minus personality, so 2021’s regime suffers from a severe charisma deficit it cannot blame on America. He just isn’t capable of jiving mass audiences with “hope” and utopian rhetoric. However, he is as long winded as Fidel. The BBC reported he gave a four-hour-long televised rant calling protestors “counter-revolutionaries.” He stated, “The order of combat is given, the revolutionaries take to the streets.”

More narrative warfare: “Revolutionaries” translated from Commie propaganda means “armed thugs the regime provides with food and toilet paper.” Diaz-Canel was ordering his security forces to attack the demonstrators. He hopes repression works.

Read the entire essay.

PROBING THE DEPTHS OF FBI CORRUPTION: Sundance at The Last Resort points to the most disturbing “highlights” of that damning FBI Inspector-General’s report on how the FBI mishandled the investigation of U.S. Olympic gymnastics physician Larry Nassar. Where is a real-life Efrem Zimbalist Jr. when we need him most?

CHARLES LEHMAN: Why Cops Are Quitting.

Officers I spoke with who had left their old departments all offered the same explanation: since last year’s explosive protests, they no longer feel that they have the support of the public or of civilian officials. As one now-retired NYPD officer put it: “One day, the good guys became the bad guys and the bad guys became the good guys.”

That moment, the officers to whom I spoke agreed, came last June, when tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of major cities, calling for the “defunding” of police departments in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis. Analysis of an unnamed midsize, midwestern city estimated that resignations nearly quintupled specifically in the months following the Floyd protests, supporting the claims of officers on the ground.

The officers grew worried by the ferocity of some protesters, particularly those who came to perpetrate violence after the peaceful majority had gone home for the night. Seattle has a proud history of protest—and riot, one former officer who left the SPD for a suburb told me. But this time was different: “It was people blowing up police cars. It was people throwing gasoline on to police headquarters and seeing if they could light the headquarters. It was people cementing my coworkers into a precinct and seeing if they could light the precinct on fire.”

As I’ve been saying for a year now, demoralizing the police is just as “effective” as defunding them — and more immediate, too.

JUST SAY NO TO GESTAPO: Go away: Biden’s ‘door-to-door’ hunt for unvaccinated rejected.

ANOTHER WAY OF LOOKING AT YOUTH SPORTS: Not sure I agree with everything about Matt Feeney’s analysis here, but he’s certainly expressing concerns that many parents have these days about the state of things in “Little League” sports. If you have a child or grandchild involved in organized baseball, lacrosse, football or soccer, this is definitely worth reading and pondering.

MORE EVIDENCE THAT VARIANT-PANIC IS JUST PANIC: Preliminary Data From Israel Suggests Durable Immunity to the Delta Variant in Recovered COVID-19 Patients.

CHANGE? South Africa Burning. “If officials are actually arresting rioters, that would be a significant difference from how many Democrat-run cities and counties (especially those with George Soros-backed DAs) handled last summer’s riots.”

THE BLUE MODEL DOESN’T WORK, EXCEPT FOR POLITICIANS AND THEIR CRONIES: Why Cops Are Quitting: Police officers no longer feel that they have the public’s support.

AT HELEN’S PAGE: Professor Carol’s Why Freshmen Fail: and How to Avoid It. (Bumped)

OK, EXPLAIN THIS: This week’s HillFaith installment focuses on the dramatic changes in the lives of four men, Peter, James, the brother of Jesus, “Doubting Thomas,” and Paul the Apostle. Something happened to each of these guys that dramatically reversed the course of their lives. What’s your explanation?