PRIORITIES: As American Hostages Languish in Afghanistan, Joe Biden Will Jet Off to California to Campaign for Newsom.

BUT THERE’S NO HOSTAGE CRISIS, NO SIR, NOT AT ALL: Blinken: The Taliban still aren’t letting the chartered flights carrying Americans depart.

COMPARED TO WHAT? The .22 Magnum: Good for Self-Defense? I mean, pretty much any round is lethal with proper shot placement.

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Can Joe Rogan Break Fake News’ Back Before It’s Too Late?

THE WAR ISN’T OVER UNTIL THE TALIBAN AND AL QAEDA AND ISIS AGREE IT’S OVER: ‘The Threat Will Be So Large’: Lindsey Graham Says Biden’s Decisions Will Force U.S. Back to Afghanistan.

THE NEW NEW MATH: Math merit matters. “One problem asks for a ratio of girls to boys. The student wonders whether one of the boys might identify as female, or one of the girls as male. In another problem, Ms. Hernandez knitting a scarf for her grandson should be changed to Mr. Hernandez knitting for a grandchild, the student says.”

OUT ON A LIMB: Unemployed people losing benefits are not victims. Stop complaining and get a job.

QUESTIONS FROM MY FRESHMAN YEAR. OF HIGH SCHOOL. What is a hangover? And can you cure it?

SHOCK POLL: Biden Approval Under 40% Overall, Even Core Dems Fleeing. “Biden is so deep underwater that he must be suffering from nitrogen narcosis.”

TO BE FAIR, THOUGH FAUCI IS A LYING LIAR WHO LIES, HE’S NOT REALLY USED TO BEING CONTRADICTED, SO HE’S BAD AT IT: Rand Paul Has Won Every Single Round Against Fauci.

A REMINDER ABOUT THE RECALL:

NEW GHOSTBUSTERS SEQUEL COMING ALONG NICELY: Report on Baltimore high school reveals ghost students were attending ghost classes.

HMM: Stable memory test scores for Alzheimer’s patients with omega-3 intake.

JAMES LILEKS’ WEDNESDAY REVIEW OF MODERN THOUGHT:

First, a stern reply to people who believe our institutions have lost faith in our fundamental ideals and principles.

They didn’t lose it. They threw it away.

It’s odd when the paper of record is simultaneously a parody account.

Makes you wonder why the chaplains didn’t ease into it gradually, appointing a Deist first. It also makes you wonder whether the Times, or the chaplains, believe that atheism is the same as “religiously nonaffiliated.”

But I’m sure everyone else in Harvard is deeply devoted to the fundamental concepts of Western Civ and does their best to carry them forward into the next generation. Well, maybe not the English department, which will probably decide to dump the usual texts and teach the oral traditions of Madagascar. For those students who increasingly identify as “liking stories” but are “literacy nonaffliated.”

Read the whole thing.

SHUT UP, KAREN: Pathetic Mask-Nazi Prof Whines About ‘Emotional Hellscape’ of Unmasked Students.

BREAKING: Original ‘Blue’s Clues’ Host Steve Burns Finally Addresses His Sudden Departure in Viral Twitter Clip.

SPACE: Mars: Perseverance rover takes a sample, Ingenuity notches 13th flight.

CONRAD BLACK: Barring a Miracle (They Do Occur), It Is Hard To See Biden’s Presidency Going on Three More Years.

Hourly pay scales are increasing at 7.5%, new car prices at 10%, rental accommodation at 12%, and new homes at 20%, all well ahead of the official rate of inflation, contrary to the smug assurances of Treasury Secretary Yellen and even some Federal Reserve spokespersons, that inflation was a mere bubble.

Historically, the only sustainable way of fighting stagflation has been to counter inflation with increased supply and achieve that goal and the corresponding non-inflationary increase in demand through the encouragement of demand in the tax system. The present administration is committed to raising taxes and to colossal spending increases, which would exacerbate both stagnation and inflation.

After 13 years of negligible interest rates, there isn’t much that’s useful left in the toolbox. The inflation of the sort that is already building up historically has been attacked by reducing demand and sharply increasing interest rates. Any such policy now would produce a disaster that would be a fiscal and monetary replication of the debacle in Afghanistan.

Not since Herbert Hoover prescribed higher taxes, higher tariffs, and a shrinkage of the money supply as the remedy for the Great Depression has an American administration more poorly judged the policy prescriptions necessary to fight deteriorating economic conditions.

Read the whole thing.

QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED:

● Shot: California’s mask mandate has an end date. What about social distancing?

—The San Francisco Chronicle, May 18th.

● Chaser: SF Leaders, Advocates Kick Off Public Transit Campaign With Ride-Along, Rally.

—NBC Bay Area, today.

NOT THE BABYLON BEE: State Department voices concerns over all-male Taliban government.

—The Hill, yesterday.

Still though, it’s obvious that these are sensitive new age chaps: Taliban Poetry: Yes, They Write Poems, and They’re Surprisingly Diverse.

—The Atlantic, June 11, 2012.

REMINDER:

UPDATE YOUR NEWSPEAK DICTIONARIES ACCORDINGLY: The CDC Just Made an Orwellian Change to the Definition of ‘Vaccine’ and ‘Vaccination.’

TRUNALIMUNUMAPRZURE! “When Biden gives public remarks, some White House staffers will either mute him or turn off his remarks, according to White House officials. It’s not that they’re indifferent to what their boss has to say. Indeed, their livelihoods are directly invested in it. Rather, they’re filled with anxiety that he’s going to take questions from the press and veer off the West Wing’s carefully orchestrated messaging.”

It’s just a stutter.

NICE. DOES THIS MEAN MY BETA PROGRAM WILL START SOON? SpaceX Produces 5,000 Starlink Dishes Per Week, But Plans a Production Boost. “The company currently has over 600,000 pre-orders for Starlink. So producing only 5,000 dishes per week means SpaceX would need more than two years to address its backlog. Waiting that long would be especially painful for prospective Starlink users since many are saddled with unbearably slow internet speeds. The good news is that SpaceX plans on increasing the 5,000-dish capacity by ‘multiples’ in the coming months, according to Johnsen’s remarks at the conference.”