EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: “Japanese Economy Continues To Crater” – Another Casualty Of The Energy Crisis.

“CRUMBLED,” PAST TENSE: The Crumbling Foundations of the Fourth Estate.

Skepticism is a bedrock principle of journalism. “If your mother says she loves you, go check it out,” the old adage goes. So is full disclosure (“the more information the better”) and transparency (“Always tell readers how you know what you know”).

The board that oversees journalism’s most prestigious award, the Pulitzer Prize, and many of America’s most prestigious news outlets violated all three of those values this week.

This disquieting episode began on Monday when the board released a short statement saying that, “In the last three years, the Pulitzer Board has received inquiries, including from former President Donald Trump, about submissions from The New York Times and The Washington Post on Russian interference in the U.S. election and its connections to the Trump campaign – submissions that jointly won the 2018 National Reporting prize.”

The board said it had commissioned two “independent reviews” of the contested coverage, which “converged in their conclusions: that no passages or headlines, contentions or assertions in any of the winning submissions were discredited by facts that emerged subsequent to the conferral of the prizes. The 2018 Pulitzer Prizes in National Reporting stand.”

Read the whole thing.

“CLASSIFIED” REVIEW AND PODCAST UPDATE: My book on racial classification’s official publication date was Tuesday, and it’s already garnered several reviews and I have appeared on a bunch of podcasts. So if you want to listen in on what all the cool kids are talking about…

Reviews

Review by Goldwater Institute President Tim Sandefur for the Objective Standard 

Review by Prof. Bill Jacobson, Legal Insurrection

Review by Ed Whelan, National Review

Podcasts

The Remnant, with Jonah Goldberg

American Institute for Economic Research

CSPI Podcast with Richard Hanania

Essential Liberty with Bob Zadek

First Things Podcast with Mark Bauerlein

Institutionalized with Charles Lehman and Aaron Sibarium

Washington Outsider Report with Irina Tsukerman

I wish I could tell you I had a favorite, the *one* podcast to listen to, but I have really  been blessed with excellent hosts, who each took the interviews in different directions depending on their interests and the natural flow of conversation.

ON THE ONE HAND, THIS IS ENTIRELY TRUE. On the other hand, NeverTrump Republicans, heavily represented at National Review, told us that this geriatric incompetent was indisputably a better choice than Trump, who was neither geriatric nor incompetent. What’s more, this was a view rooted largely in aesthetics, class loyalty, and self-importance. Everything that has gone wrong in the Biden era was predictable, and in fact was predicted, by those not blinded by Trump-hatred.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Republicans Just Might Find a Way to Blow It for November. “We are dealing with the Republicans though, and they have a habit of being their own worst enemies.”

OH: Italy Government On Verge Of Collapse After Coalition Members Abandon Draghi; Euro Tumbles.

Also: European Central Bank raises rates by 50 basis points, its first hike in 11 years.

JOEL KOTKIN ON GOOGLE: Whatever happened to ‘Don’t be evil?’

THE NEW SPACE RACE: The SLS rocket finally has a believable launch date, and it’s soon. “Under the agency’s current plans, the stacked SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft will roll out to its launch site at Kennedy Space Center on August 18. Then, there would be three opportunities—August 29, September 2, and September 5—to launch the vehicle before the window closes.”

TO BE FAIR, THAT’S ONLY BECAUSE IT WAS AWESOME, AND THE GREEN NEW DEAL SUCKS: Americans Want Their Old Fossil-Fuel Economy Back — I&I/TIPP Poll. “Just 32% of those answering the poll, which has a margin of error of +/-2.5 percentage points, said they support Biden’s climate change policy even if it means higher energy prices. But a far larger majority of 57% answered in the negative. They either said they disagreed with his policies and want more and cheaper energy (41%), or don’t think climate change should be a U.S. policy priority (10%), or don’t even believe that the climate is changing (6%).”

CHANGE: Voters of color are backing the GOP at historic levels.

CHANGE: AR-15 and AK-47 rifle sales surge to 24 million, more than Ford F-150s.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Uh oh: Home sales fall, mortgage demand crashes to 22-year low.

FAREWELL: ‘Mission Largely Accomplished’: Boris Johnson Goes Out as Prime Minister With a Bang.

CORRUPTION AND HYPOCRISY ARE THE DEMOCRATS’ STOCK IN TRADE: Mark Kelly Says Lawmakers Shouldn’t Use Their Offices for Profit. He May Have Done Just That.

DEAL OF THE DAY: Bed Neck Pillows for Sleeping. #CommissionEarned

CHRIS RUFO: Gender Ideology in Public Schools.

I’D HAVE TOLD HIM FOR HALF THAT: Cuomo Spends $93,211 on Poll to Tell Him He’s a Loser.

THE SHOE IS ON THE OTHER FOOT, AND IT PINCHES:

I SWEAR I’M NOT MAKING THIS UP: Russia’s Excuse for Losing: Ukraine’s Mutant Bio-Lab Supersoldiers. “That’s according to two Russian lawmakers, who otherwise do not appear to have dropped any acid, heading up a commission looking into Ukraine’s supersoldiers.”

FROM LYRISSA LIDSKY: Excellent advice for new law professors.

NEWS YOU CAN USE:  Beer could help you survive a heatwave, doctor says.

IN CASE YOU NEED SOMETHING MORE TO WORRY OVER:  If Neptune’s orbit moves 0.1%, it could destabilize the solar system.

BELIEVE ME ON THIS: I’m Not A Widget.

I GUESS IT IS NICE TO KNOW THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT WHICH THAT STUDIO CAN BE EMBARRASSED:  Fans blame ‘wokeness’ as Disneyland cuts Walt speech from anniversary.

I guess it’s not true old Walt is frozen somewhere. By now, he’d have heated up, at the speed he’s rotating.

SANITY:  Let’s talk about the weather (and the lies they tell us).