BUT SINCE THE FAA HAS BANNED DRONE FOOTAGE, IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING? 12,000 migrants wait under Del Rio bridge to surrender to Border Patrol.

Related: Can’t stop the signal!

ROBOTS THAT CAN OPEN DOORS: SKYNET SMILES. Boston Dynamics’ Spot can now handle push-bar doors and dynamically replan in complex environments.

A NATION RULED BY A CABAL OF ITS ENEMIES: Federal Court Ruling Just Made the Border Crisis Infinitely Worse. “It doesn’t seem to bother the ACLU that the government does not have the facilities to house and care for the tens of thousands of families who will now make a mad dash for the border.”

DAVID BARON, CALL YOUR OFFICE: Wyoming to ask US to lift Yellowstone grizzly protections. “Wyoming will ask the federal government to remove its protections for grizzly bears in the Yellowstone region and permit the region’s three states to manage and potentially allow hunting of the big bruins in certain areas, Gov. Mark Gordon said Thursday. . . . The Fish and Wildlife Service considers Yellowstone’s grizzlies ‘biologically recovered.’ The Yellowstone region’s population has rebounded from about 100 in 1975, when they were first listed, to as many as 1,000 today. As they’ve recovered in number, the bears have been showing up ever farther and more frequently away from their core habitat in and near Yellowstone National Park.”

The good news is that if people shoot at them now and then, they’ll become much more shy of people.

THE CAYMAN COMPASS EDITORIALIZES: It’s time to take the reopening leap.

We’ve heard the phrase “guided by the science” over and over during the past 18 months, which is why government’s decision to “pause” Cayman’s border reopening plan makes little sense. It’s a decision we believe was based on fear rather than logic; one that will have dire consequences for all of Cayman. . . .

It would be sad and tragic if Cayman were to open its borders and we were hit with a dozen or so deaths from COVID among the unvaccinated – something other small island territories have experienced.

But the elevated risk is something that many of those who insist they will not get the jab, say they are prepared to take.

In the same way that we don’t ban cars because some people drive without seatbelts, we can’t continue to close the island off to the world because of COVID-19.

The vast majority of people in the Cayman Islands have willingly accepted and respected enormous limitations on their own freedoms during the pandemic.

The right to travel, the right to a family life, the right to make a living are all fundamental entitlements that continue to be impacted. It is time for those rights to be restored.

Most of Cayman’s tax revenue comes from banking and insurance, and of course that’s where most of the rich people’s money comes from too. Most of the employment, though, is in tourism. That’s been basically destroyed, to the point where one major dive operator just relocated to Turks & Caicos.

IT’S GOOD TO BE THE NOMENKLATURA (DENVER EDITION): Tay Anderson to get time out for flirting with school girls, intimidating board member.

What’s next for Denver School Board Director Tay Anderson now that he’s been deemed super creepy, intimidating, and clearly overstepped his bounds by trying to date and flirt with two high school girls?

The school board plans to censure him, which carries about as much weight as 10 minutes in the time-out corner.

Then we just have to wait and see if Anderson has learned his lesson and stops hitting on girls in the workplace or schoolyard. Not at all assuring to Denver school parents.

Plus: “Investigators also examined complaints by two witnesses and a school board member who believed Anderson was trying to intimidate them in tweets while the investigation was underway this summer into remaining silent.”

I HOPE WE’RE NOT TOO MESSIANIC, OR A TRIFLE TOO SATANIC: Spanish bishop known for exorcisms resigns after falling for writer of satanic erotica.

NOTHING HE SAYS HERE IS WRONG: In Exclusive Interview, Trump Calls Sept. 18 Rally A ‘Setup,’ Says GOP Senate Should Fire ‘Disaster’ McConnell.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Thousands of Migrants Huddle in Squalid Conditions Under Texas Bridge: The temporary camp in Del Rio has grown with staggering speed in recent days during a massive surge in migration that has overwhelmed the authorities.

To be fair, the authorities at the top want us to be overwhelmed. Still it’s bad:

Thousands of migrants were crowded under a bridge outside the border community of Del Rio on Thursday, part of a massive surge in migration across the Rio Grande this week that has overwhelmed the authorities and caused significant delays in processing the arrivals.

The U.S. Border Patrol said that more than 9,000 migrants, mostly from Haiti, were being held in a temporary staging area under the Del Rio International Bridge as agents worked as quickly as they could to process them.

The temporary camp has grown with staggering speed in recent days, from just a few hundred people earlier in the week. The authorities and city officials said they expected thousands more to cross the ankle-deep river between Mexico and Del Rio in coming days.

But hey, no coverage, no problem: FAA grounds Fox News drones near where thousands of migrants are sheltering under a bridge. That’s an abuse of authority, by all appearances. “The FAA’s website said the temporary flight restriction (TFR) over the Del Rio Port of Entry and the International Bridge was put in place for ‘special security reasons,’ but did not elaborate.”

Trying to secure the Biden Administration from the consequences of its disastrous policies is certainly special.

SUPPLY CHAIN: Why a record number of container ships are backed up off the coast of California. “The implementation of COVID restrictions caused many of the problems at the ports.”

MASKLESS SAN FRANCISCO MAYOR BREAKS HEALTH ORDER, SEEN PARTYING WITH BLM CO-FOUNDER AT NIGHTCLUB.

As Stephen Kruiser suggested: Let’s Start Jailing Lawmakers Who Violate Their Own COVID Restrictions. “Imagine the pure, poetic justice of seeing Newsom, Cuomo, and some of the other Hitler youth (stole that from Animal House) cooling their heels in a holding cell after being caught with their masks off and their pants down.”

MATT TAIBBI, NADINE STROSSEN, AND AMNA KHALID RESPOND TO NPR’S SMARTY-PANTS ATTACK ON FREE SPEECH. On FIRE’s excellent podcast, So To Speak. (Or catch it on YouTube if you love Google.) Yes, I know, “government-owned station attacks rights of people opposed to government” is one of those dog-bites-man stories, but the level of smugness NPR brings to the table (“Harpsichord music will tell people something is old and therefore dumb, hyuk yuk yuk”) has to be some of the weirdest kind of propaganda known to man.

THE BLACK FACE OF WHITE SUPREMACY: CNN Clown Don Lemon Shames Unvaxxed People (i.e. Majority of Blacks in NYC).

WELL, OF COURSE. HE’S INCOMPETENT AND TREASONOUS. Howie Carr: Gen. Milley is now the Democrats’ latest crush.

Why is that the most reprehensible person in any big national news story always seems to be from Massachusetts?

C’mon down, Gen. Mark “Thoroughly Modern” Milley, the 63-year-old Winchester-born chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

It turns out that last January, in the final days of the Trump administration, this bloated beribboned buffoon phoned the head of the Chinese military, took the proverbial knee and basically begged for absolution for non-existent sins:

“Gen. Li, if we’re going to attack, I’m going to call you ahead of time. It’s not going to be a surprise.”

In other words, the groveling generalissimo was going to surrender before the war — any war — began.

Never mind that there was no such armed conflict in the works anywhere except in Milley’s unhinged mind.

The fact is, when it came to committing the U.S. military to foreign entanglements, Donald Trump was the least bellicose president since Eisenhower. Apparently Milley, suffering as he did from a full-blown case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, never noticed this.

Milley was — and is — far crazier than even the fictional coup-leading general in the old movie Dr. Strangelove, Gen. Jack D. Ripper.

Sadly for Milley, he didn’t get the opportunity to surrender to the Red Chinese. He had to wait seven months before he could preside over the greatest military humiliation the United States has ever endured, in Afghanistan. . . .

Think back in history — what usually happens to a general who conspires with his nation’s foes to defeat his own military.

Usually they’re allowed to smoke a cigarette, after which they are blindfolded and rudely pushed up against a wall …

How is that single phone call alone not disqualifying for the nation’s top uniformed military service member?

But it’s not. Milley is now the Democrats’ latest crush, their flavor of the month. He’s the new Michael Avenatti, the next Robert Mueller.

By the way, Milley is the same guy who just described the Predator drone strike in Kabul last month as a “righteous strike.” Now we find out the dead were not terrorists, but 10 Afghan civilians, including seven children. The driver of the car that was bombed was a worker for a humanitarian nonprofit who’d been picking up not explosives, but water bottles.

Imagine if a Trump general had described such a misguided hit as a righteous strike.

It’s called Trump Derangement Syndrome for a reason. But why are we allowing ourselves to be ruled by the deranged?

HOW ABOUT A 40% TAX ON MONEY PAID TO POLITICAL CONSULTANTS?

I’VE SEEN THE LOCKDOWNS AND THE DAMAGE DONE: Pandemic-related screen time increases tied to rise in kids’ near-sightedness.

TO ASK THE QUESTION IS TO ANSWER IT: Today’s Cowardly Liberal Comedians Loved Norm MacDonald, So Why Can’t They Be Funny Like Him? “Norm wasn’t a great comedian because he was conservative. He was a great comedian because, without any boasting or self-aggrandizement, he actually did what most comedians merely pretend to. He challenged the sacred beliefs of the society and particularly the privileged elites around him. He deflated the arrogant, the smug, and the self-righteous. He was honest, consequences be damned.”

THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS:

Shot: AOC wears ‘Tax the Rich’ dress to Met Gala.

—The New York Post, Monday.

Chaser: SALT Break Would Erase Most of House’s Tax Hikes for Top 1%.

High-earning taxpayers would face much smaller tax hikes — or even cuts — if Democrats decide to restore the federal deduction for state and local taxes in legislation that’s now moving through the House.

If the SALT deduction were fully reinstated, the top 1% of taxpayers — those earning at least $401,601 — would face a tax increase less than half as large as that if the current cap on the write-off were retained, according to data from the right-leaning Tax Foundation.

* * * * * * * *

The figures shed light on a key debate among House Democrats over how to address the politically important tax break that benefits residents of Democratic strongholds, including New York, New Jersey and California. The tax portion of the economic legislation that passed the House Ways and Means Committee earlier this week omitted any plans to address SALT, instead leaving the issue to be negotiated by Democratic leaders.

—Bloomberg News, today.

Hangover: Sorry, AOC, The Rich Already Pay Their Fair Share.

You don’t have to agree with me that (over)taxing the wealthy undermines job creation and growth, or that a tax system that relies so heavily on the fortunes of the few creates more cronyism in Washington and more volatility everywhere else. But the idea that the rich don’t pay their “fair share” is absurd.

At this point in the conversation, progressives will set aside their calls for a “wealth tax” and start complaining about capital gains. Here, we simply have a point of disagreement: Ocasio-Cortez would see investment profits in the hands of Bernie Sanders, head of the Senate budget committee. I would rather see them in venture-capital projects and private-equity funds that churn investment dollars and boost technology and jobs. Progressives grouse about accumulation of wealth and then want policies that dissuade risk.

—David Harsanyi, Jewish World Review, today.

HOW THE MEMORY HOLE GETS BUILT: Border Crisis: Biden’s FAA Bans Drones Over Migrant-Packed Texas Bridge.

AN ARMY OF KARENS: Deaf Woman Terrorized by Mask-Obsessed Store Clerks After Asking to Read Their Lips.

PRECEDENTS: Will Biden override Trump on executive-privilege claims on January 6 records?

And given the catastrophic and cowardly debacle just executed by Joe Biden in Afghanistan, perhaps this one in particular. Or does Biden relish the idea of having a Republican-controlled congressional committee getting the green light from a Republican president to strip away all of his privilege requests to get to the bottom of how Biden abandoned thousands of Americans to the Taliban?

To paraphrase Breyer, karma will be a real beeyotch under those conditions, and not just for Biden. It might end up burning some of Biden’s advisers who can expect a longer time living with what the betrayal they perpetrated in Afghanistan. Even if Biden can be expected to indulge his desire for revenge against Trump, at least some of his advisers don’t follow Biden’s lead in playing checkers in a 3-D chess world. They know what the risks are if they set this precedent.

Read the whole thing.

LOCKDOWN FALLOUT: Rising Shipping Costs Are Companies’ Latest Inflation Riddle.

Transportation costs—typically a fraction of a finished product’s price—are emerging as another supply-chain hurdle, overwhelming some companies already paying more for raw materials and labor.

The fabric and crafts retailer Jo-Ann Stores LLC said it has spent 10 times more than its historical cost in some cases to move products from one point to another.

“Sometimes the ocean freight now is actually more expensive than the cost of the product,” Chief Executive Officer Wade Miquelon said in a recent interview. The company hasn’t raised any base prices and is hoping the extra supply-chain expenses are temporary. “I think they probably are, but does transient mean six months or 24 months?” he said.

“We are not counting on material improvements in 2022, especially in the first portion of the year,” Michael Witynski, CEO of the discount retailer Dollar Tree Inc., DLTR 0.94% said last month. He noted that experts expect ocean-shipping capacity to normalize no later than in 2023.

The longer the supply chain, the easier it is to disrupt — and the longer it takes to unravel.

FOLLOW THE SCIENCE: The Data Are In: Trigger Warnings Don’t Work.

PROGRESSIVISM MADE SIMPLE: In Portland, Doing the Polar Opposite of Anything Conservative Is More Important Than Safety and Prosperity.