IT’S GRIFT ALL THE WAY DOWN: Climate grants meant for poor places went to rich states. Well, and graft, of course.

BREAKING NEWS FROM 1939 — INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST PRAISES NATIONAL SOCIALIST: Feminist account’s glowing tribute to lesbian ‘world-class athlete’ Violette Morris left out some pretty important details.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Low-dose aspirin cuts heart risks in people with pneumonia.

WE’VE DESCENDED INTO SOME SORT OF BIZARRE HELL-WORLD IN WHICH ANDREW SULLIVAN IS A VOICE OF SANITY: What Happened To You?

It’s a question I get a lot on Twitter. “When did you become so far right?” “Why have you become a white supremacist, transphobic, misogynistic eugenicist?” Or, of course: “See! I told you who he really was! Just take the hood off, Sully!” It’s trolling, mainly. And it’s a weapon for some in the elite to wield against others in the kind of emotional blackmail spiral that was first pioneered on elite college campuses. But it’s worth answering, a year after I was booted from New York Magazine for my unacceptable politics. Because it seems to me that the dynamic should really be the other way round.

The real question is: what happened to you?

The CRT debate is just the latest squall in a tempest brewing and building for five years or so. And, yes, some of the liberal critiques of a Fox News hyped campaign are well taken. Is this a wedge issue for the GOP? Of course it is. Are they using the term “critical race theory” as a cynical, marketing boogeyman? Of course they are. Are some dog whistles involved? A few. Are crude bans on public servants’ speech dangerous? Absolutely. Do many of the alarmists know who Derrick Bell was? Of course not.

But does that mean there isn’t a real issue here? Of course it doesn’t.

Take a big step back. Observe what has happened in our discourse since around 2015.

Read the whole thing.

DEVELOPING: Terminals at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport evacuated due to security investigation.

UPDATE: All-Clear Given After Terminals Evacuated At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport Due To Threat Investigation.

THE POWER LINE WEEK IN PICTURES: Legos and Logos Edition.

AIRLINES SEEM TO BE GETTING BOSSIER. SHE LOOKS FINE. Bodybuilder accuses American Airlines of banning her from flight over attire.

The flight attendants were probably just jealous.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: The worst speech of Biden’s presidency.

On Thursday President Joe Biden spoke in defense of his ill-considered, hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan, in remarks peopled with straw men and littered with false assertions.

First, Biden contended that he was bound by a 2020 Trump administration agreement with the Taliban to withdraw all US troops by May 2021. But that was an agreement conducted by a previous administration – so it’s not binding – and it was predicated on the Taliban breaking with al-Qaeda.

They didn’t, according to the UN in a report released just last month. It was also predicated on the Taliban engaging with the Afghan government in real peace negations.

They haven’t. . . . Biden also claimed that Afghanistan has never been unified, an odd assertion when a united Afghanistan has existed since 1747, making it older than the United States.

This is from Biden-friendly CNN, so you know it’s bad. But to correct the CNN headline-writer, it’s not the worst speech of Biden’s presidency. It’s the worst speech of Biden’s presidency so far.

HEH:

THE ENEMY WITHIN: Professors take to media to rationalize church vandalism in Canada.

OUT SOON: Mark Levin: American Marxism.

More here.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE JOE’S ABILITY TO FUCK THINGS UP, AS A FAMOUS MAN ONCE SAID: Biden is badly fumbling the US pullout from Afghanistan.

TO BE FAIR, THAT’S WHAT THE COMMIES WHO INVENTED IT INTENDED: Critical race theory undermines military effectiveness.

PROGRESS:

BUT WILL OLDER AMERICANS LEAVE A BIG INHERITANCE TO A GENERATION THAT CALLS THEM RACISTS? WSJ: Older Americans Stockpiled A Record $35 Trillion. The Time Has Come To Give It Away.

UPDATE: Reading the comments here, maybe I should copy the stuff Yale sends me and start posting “Remember InstaPundit in your will!” regularly. . .

THE GREAT RESIGNATION OF 2021: Central planners were warned that these kinds of problems would result from their policies, and yet they persisted anyway.

LOOKING INTO MURDER: Michigan Auditor General To Investigate Whitmer’s Role in COVID Nursing Home Deaths.

11TH CIRCUIT JUDGE WON’T USE STATUTORY TERM “ALIEN” BECAUSE REASONS. Not very judicious.

WELL, THEY HAVE TO DANCE WITH THE ONES WHO BRUNG THEM!  Biden Puts OPEC & Russia First, US Oil Industry Last.

I mean, it’s not like America elected them.

DON SURBER: Voter reform is winning. And he’s no Pangloss.

DINGBATS LISTEN UP, JUST BECAUSE POLAR BEARS ARE WHITE IT DOESN’T MEAN THEY NEED OR WANT ICE:  Polar bears have begun to come ashore on Western Hudson Bay.

Also, no, ice isn’t disappearing. yes, we know your grants depend on alarmism, but we’re really going to need to see some proof of IQ here soon.

WELL, DUH. CAN’T HAVE THE PROLES GET IDEAS:  Today’s blacklisted American: YouTube shuts down channel that routinely broadcasts Trump rallies.

I’M SHOCKED IT’S BEING SCRUTINIZED:  Ethics Scrutiny Over Hunter Biden Art Sales.

I mean, Hunter is a big fat roll of kompromat, but it’s all been kept under a veil of secrecy so far.

YOU KNOW? YOU GUYS DO WHATEVER YOU WANT, BUT IF I HAD MINOR KIDS THEY’D BE HOMESCHOOLED:  CDC Wants Schools Fully Reopened, with Caveats.

Because in the history of stupid mandates, this one takes the cake. Kids are more or less immune from it. Teachers are at no more risk than normal adults (who have a chance of surviving the virus, if caught, of close to 99.9%. Now the very elderly and the ill, that’s different, but most teachers aren’t either.) But mask or vaccine? How about no? How about take a long walk off a short pier? How about behold my set of matched middle fingers?