BEHOLD! MY SHOCKED FACE:  China Seeks More Advanced Nuclear Weapons Systems, Says Senior U.S. Diplomat.

BECAUSE SHE’S VERY VERY DUMB AND VERY VERY EVIL:  Why Is Kamala The Last Democrat Still Arguing Against Voter I.D.?

That just about covers it.

OBVIOUSLY:  Awakening To The Loss of Institutions: Critical Race Theory Fight Is About Preventing Society From Turning Against Itself.

I WISH HIM THE BEST:  Devin Nunes trying to rescue California from insanity.

Might be too late.

MOSTLY BECAUSE IT’S INCOMPREHENSIBLE:  Nobody Ever Expects Authoritarian Imposition!

Fortunately we don’t need to make it make sense. We just need to disobey. It’s very freeing. Try it.

OOF, INDEED:

MEDIA MYTH ALERT: Insidious: Off-hand references signal deep embedding of prominent media myths.

The disclosure about the existence of Nixon’s tapes was pivotal in the Watergate saga — and it was a disclosure not by Bernstein and Woodward or by “Deep Throat,” but by a former Nixon aide in testimony before  a U.S. Senate select committee. (In a book about their Watergate reporting, Bernstein and Woodward claimed to have had a lead about the existence of the tapes, but did not pursue it because the Post’s executive editor, Ben Bradlee, didn’t think it would lead to a high-quality story.)

The “Deep Throat” source was W. Mark Felt, a senior FBI official who fed Watergate-related information, and sometimes misinformation, to Woodward (as well as a reporter for Time magazine named Sandy Smith). Felt was motivated not so much by altruism or distate for Nixon’s White House as by ambition to become director of the FBI, a position that opened up in May 1972 with the death of J. Edgar Hoover.

By leaking to reporters, Felt believed he could undercut his rivals for the FBI directorship. Those motives were persuasively described in Max Holland’s 2016 book Leak: Why Mark Felt Became Deep Throat.

It’s useful and revealing in this context to recall what Woodward once said about the notion that he and Bernstein toppled Nixon. Woodward told an interviewer in 2004:

“To say that the press brought down Nixon, that’s horseshit.”

Plus the reality of another long running media myth, LBJ’s apocryphal “Cronkite Moment.” Read the whole thing.

OPEN THREAD: Wear glasses if you need ’em.

SPACE: It’s been a long road to passenger spaceflight for Virgin Galactic and rival Blue Origin.

Related: Billionaires and Space — The Right Race.

THEY ALWAYS SHOW YOU WHAT YOU’RE AFRAID OF: “Liberals know which politics threatens their hegemony….”

Plus:

The GOP establishment, which has long claimed to want inroads with minority voters, simultaneously refuses to consider actually fighting for any of the issues which would make inroads with those voters. I believe that this is because the GOP establishment is largely Northeastern WASP mixed with a larger white-collar managerial class. Breitbart’s dictum that “politics is downstream from culture” was correct. The GOPs politics is downstream from its culture, which, at least in terms of the party leadership: very restrained, very “dignified,” very managerial and technocratic. They seem to believe that if they’re just slightly better than the Dems, blacks and hispanics will flock to pull the lever for more corporate tax cuts and endless military interventions.

Trump was a rejection of this in favor of a more blue-collar, scots-irish hillbilly, evangelical, latin machismo mixed-up culture. Pro-US, pro-working man, pro-American Industries. Trump also understood that political theater isn’t bad, it’s necessary. People want to feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves, and political theater helps do that. MAGA isn’t merely a political slogan, it has become a cultural identifier. There’s no policy position associated with boat parades and American flag bikinis and guerilla-style political pranks, but they do work to help cement your coalition with a group identity, “we’re the fun ones, and we’re not going to apologize for it.” Once that’s done, you can figure out policies that help the group.

Also: “It is pointless for Morning Joe to spend airtime on the Ohio Senatorial Primary candidates. The number of Ohio Republicans that watch Morning Joe has to be infinitesimal.” I dunno, if they can drum J.D. up into a Trump-like bad guy maybe they can get some of their viewers back.

Related: Dems are losing the multiracial working class on basic lifestyle issues.

AD ASTRA: British billionaire Richard Branson plans to soar into space Sunday.

THREAD: WHY TRUMP VOTERS DON’T TRUST THE GOVERNMENT:

Here are the facts – actual, confirmed facts – that shape their perspective: 1) The FBI/etc spied on the 2016 Trump campaign using evidence manufactured by the Clinton campaign. We now know that all involved knew it was fake from Day 1 (see: Brennan’s July 2016 memo, etc). 3/x

These are Tea Party people. The types who give their kids a pocket Constitution for their birthday and have Founding Fathers memes in their bios. The intel community spying on a presidential campaign using fake evidence (incl forged documents) is a big deal to them. 4/x

Everyone involved lied about their involvement as long as they could. We only learned the DNC paid for the manufactured evidence because of a court order. Comey denied on TV knowing the DNC paid for it, when we have emails from a year earlier proving that he knew. 5/x

This was true with everyone, from CIA Dir Brennan & Adam Schiff – who were on TV saying they’d seen clear evidence of collusion w/Russia, while admitting under oath behind closed doors that they hadn’t – all the way down the line. In the end we learned that it was ALL fake. 6/x

At first, many Trump ppl were worried there must be some collusion, because every media & intel agency wouldn’t make it up out of nothing. When it was clear that they had made it up, people expected a reckoning, and shed many illusions about their gov’t when it didn’t happen. 7/x

We know as fact: a) The Steele dossier was the sole evidence used to justify spying on the Trump campaign, b) The FBI knew the Steele dossier was a DNC op, c) Steele’s source told the FBI the info was unserious, d) they did not inform the court of any of this and kept spying. 8/x

Trump supporters know the collusion case front and back. They went from worrying the collusion must be real, to suspecting it might be fake, to realizing it was a scam, then watched as every institution – agencies, the press, Congress, academia – gaslit them for another year. 9/x

Worse, collusion was used to scare people away from working in the administration. They knew their entire lives would be investigated. Many quit because they were being bankrupted by legal fees. The DoJ, press, & gov’t destroyed lives and actively subverted an elected admin. 10/x

Much more at the link. (Via Ann Althouse).

I’VE NEVER BEEN A FAN OF THESE: Study questions whether muscle relaxant drugs ease low back pain.

The couple of times I’ve taken these they didn’t do much. In the words of my doctor, “in my experience, they relax every muscle except the one that’s causing the problem.”

IS THE NEW YORK TIMES A LIBERAL NEWSPAPER? OF COURSE IT IS: ‘Yes, I am biased’: Ex-New York Times editor fired for saying she got ‘chills’ when Joe Biden became president defends inserting her personal views into stories and says they’re needed to counter ‘lies.’

[Lauren Wolfe] argues that there is no way to be totally neutral as a reporter.

‘As journalists, we can all use what appears to be a ‘neutral voice,’ but that doesn’t mean our implicit bias isn’t guiding our choice of sources, or even what stories we decide to cover,’ she explains.

‘Pretending that we’re all able to be constantly and utterly objective just feels absurd to me. Instead, I’ve always believed it is better to be open about my views on the issues I cover, which for a long time have been war and international human rights. And yes, I often do write with an agenda—with an eye toward creating change,’ Wolfe added.

That’s fine — as long as you, and/or your publisher disclose your biases. Fortunately, the gray lady did just that in 2004.

THE CALLS ARE COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE! The Biggest Names On Aspen Institute’s Disinformation Commission Have A Checkered Past When It Comes To Accuracy, Freedom Of The Press. “The commission’s well-known figures include media personality Katie Couric, Prince Harry, and liberal mega-donor Kathryn Murdoch.”

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Testosterone therapy reduces heart attack and stroke. “Of 412 men on testosterone therapy, 16 died and none suffered a heart attack or stroke. Of the 393 men who chose not to take testosterone supplements, 74 died, 70 had a heart attack and 59 suffered a stroke. Even when discrepancy in age was taken into account—the group taking testosterone was on average five years younger than the other group—these differences remained clear cut. For the men under 55, the risk of heart attack and stroke was reduced by 25 percent; for men over 60, the risk was reduced by 15 percent. The health of the men on testosterone therapy also improved by other measures. They lost weight, had more lean muscle mass, their cholesterol level and liver function improved, their diabetes was better controlled and their blood pressure dropped.”

JIM TREACHER: Brett Kavanaugh Is on the Supreme Court and Michael Avenatti Is in Prison.

As we’ve all learned over the last couple of years, the Italian word for schadenfreude is “Avenatti.” The rise of the once-ubiquitous TV lawyer was meteoric, but meteors also fall. Now the pugilistic pettifogger is going to prison for 2 1/2 years for trying to extort Nike out of $20 million.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! That’s great. It makes me genuinely happy when bad things happen to bad people.

This seems like a good time to look back at how the media treated Avenatti when they found him useful. Back in 2018, he was all over cable news. And they absolutely worshipped him.

The media will never apologize for all of the blind alleys they led their viewers down as a result of their raging TDS, and will quickly move on to whatever the narrative du jour demands. Being a Democratic Party operative with a byline means never having to say you’re sorry, because having a strong sense of amnesia is an absolutely vital job requirement.

HMM: Elite Haitian assassin suspect once worked with Sean Penn.

Related: Suspected mercenary got job by applying to job ad on the Internet.

A more elite assassin would have had a sturdier exfiltration plan. . .

Plus: “A lone security guard at the Taiwanese embassy in Haiti was responsible for the arrests of 11 suspects in the assassination of president Jovenel Moïse, after a group of heavily armed commandos invaded the diplomatic compound the evening after the murder.”

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: CALIFORNIA TO REQUIRE MASKS AT SCHOOLS; CDC SAYS MASKS NOT NEEDED IF VACCINATED.

Why is the left such a cesspit of science-deniers?

AT HELEN’S PAGE: Gerald Hoover’s The Committee Wars.

ROGER SIMON: A Defeat in the Courts for Biden’s Racist ‘Equity’ Policies.

Perhaps the administration should have dressed up their racism, as they have before, under a more high-toned, pseudo-intellectual name like “Critical Agriculture Theory.”

For some time now, since during the during the election really, they have lied to us and themselves constantly about race, either swallowing Critical Race Theory whole or not commenting on the racism inherent in it to give themselves deniability from ultimate evil.

The roots of this behavior go way back, further back even than the obvious Obama administration and into an exploitation of black people inherent in the Democratic Party since Lyndon Johnson and well before when they could be overtly racist.

We find this playing out in our time in an extreme, though covert, manner. Whether Biden is stupid (doesn’t understand the implications of what he does) or is senile is moot. Those around him do. They see race as the royal road to power. Nothing could be more reprehensible, more retrograde and more dangerous for the future of our country. They should be opposed at all costs.

Bravo to the Southeastern Legal Foundation.

Related: Buckle Up, Democrats: The Left’s Demoralizing Attacks on Conservatives May Reap the Whirlwind.

PROGRESS: For the First Time, Scientists Detect a Moving Photon Multiple Times Without Destroying It.

TRUNALIMUNUMAPRZURE! Biden Glitches Mid-Sentence, Forgets Osama bin Laden’s Name (video).

THIS HAS BEEN OBVIOUS FOR A WHILE: COVID: Risks of severe illness in children shown to be very low in largest study yet.

YOU KNOW YOU’RE OVER THE TARGET WHEN YOU START RECEIVING FLAK: When they smear you as a conspiracy theorist, you’re onto something.

Here’s how to tell when Republican politicians or journalists or activists are making headway: left-liberal media networks start accusing them of being — wait for it — conspiracy theorists. In recent days, for instance, NBC’s Ben Collins and Joy Reid claimed that the grassroots parent uprising over critical race theory in schools was being driven by QAnon.

Or remember last February when Sen. Tom Cotton raised questions about the origins of the coronavirus? The New York Times headline read, ‘Senator Tom Cotton Repeats Fringe Theory of Coronavirus Origins’.

In May, when Sen. Rand Paul pressed Dr Fauci on the Wuhan lab and gain-of-function research, Newsweek wrote, ‘Senator Paul didn’t directly accuse Dr Fauci of engineering the pandemic, but that seemed at times to be his implication; it’s a line of questioning that appeared to play to conspiracy theories that circulate on the internet.’

In October 2020, the New York Post and a handful of sites decided to report on Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop scandal. The press knew this would be bad for Joe Biden. So the collective mind warp began. Politico declared ‘Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say.’ Rolling Stone’s E.J. Dickson, wrote ‘Moreover, the Delaware repair shop owner, a Trump supporter and conspiracy theorist, told reporters that he is “legally blind” and did not even see who dropped off the alleged laptop, only believing it to be Hunter’s because it allegedly had a sticker from the Beau Biden Foundation.’

Nobody should be surprised at Blue-Anon’s levels of projection, or its ability to pivot on a dime when necessary to keep the narrative current.