TICK, TOCK: Democrats Freak Out as Manchin and Murkowski Become Latest Victims of Senate COVID Outbreak. “Unlike the House of Representatives, the Senate does not have any provision for allowing lawmakers to ‘phone it in’ and vote remotely or by proxy. With their razor-thin majority, Democrats can’t afford to be without swing-vote Republicans — and they need every single Democrat — in order to pass high-profile legislation before leaving for their home states on August 8.”

OOPS: CRISPR therapeutics can damage the genome.

OH:

New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern:

"We will continue to be your single source of truth… Unless you hear it from us it is not the truth"https://t.co/r03MhqCgzI

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) July 25, 2022

DEAL OF THE DAY: Baseus Handheld Vacuum. #CommissionEarned

WHISTLEBLOWERS: One of the “Analysts” Who Declared the Hunter Biden Laptop “Russian Disinformation” Just Happened to be One of the “Analysts” In Crossfire Hurricane Who Vetted the Carter Page Warrant.

NOT SPACE, BUT ALASKA: Revisiting The Last Frontier.

OF COURSE: Biden’s Cybersecurity Czar Says ‘Systemic Racism’ Is Major Threat to US Security.

President Joe Biden’s incoming cyber defense deputy has claimed that “systemic racism” is one of the greatest threats to U.S. cybersecurity.

Camille Stewart, a former Google strategist whom Biden reportedly tapped for White House deputy national cyber director, has argued that “our #NatSec apparatus must be a part of dismantling systemic racism,” and “pursuing anti-racist and anti-hate policy outcomes” should be a chief national security focus for the administration.

Biden’s new hire is likely to stoke concerns from Republican legislators that his administration has been more focused on pushing a race-focused ideological agenda than on traditional national defense issues—such as the increasing risk of cyberattacks from Russia, Iran, and China. The Department of Justice said in June it is bracing for more cyberwarfare from adversarial countries. Last month, the FBI revealed it intercepted an Iranian-backed cyberattack against Boston Children’s Hospital, and Russian hackers targeted an American satellite company in Ukraine earlier this year.

Stewart, who served as policy adviser for the Obama administration’s Department of Homeland Security, has criticized the United States as an intrinsically racist society in her writing and on social media.

But is “systemic racism” a bigger threat to cyber security than it is to the US roadway system?

Or: Yale Medical Professor Says Biden Working With Covid “Epitomizes White Supremacy Urgency.”

Or: “The healthcare system is built on a system of racism:” CBS Mornings guest says doctors are trained to have biases against black people.

THAT’S WHAT LEFTY HACKS DO: The Lincoln Project Praises Biden’s Terrible Economy.

A CENSORSHIP RETREAT: Facebook parent Meta to reconsider removing COVID-19 misinformation.

It’s awkward now that so much of the “misinformation” has turned out to be true.

I HAD COVID, BUT I RETAIN MY HAIR AND MY LIBIDO, AND MY BRAIN IS NO FOGGIER THAN USUAL: Long COVID may cause hair, libido loss, as well as brain fog, study says.

Actually, one weird side effect is that my sense of smell — which has been lousy since a nasty flu back when I was in junior high — has actually improved. The other day I was upstairs and could smell Helen making a cup of Keurig coffee downstairs, which never happened before. I did lose smell for a few days when I had Covid, but maybe that rebooted the system or something? Who knows, but it’s interesting.

FOREIGN POLICY: Actually, the Russian Economy Is Imploding.

IT’S SAFE, THEY TOLD US. IT’S REVERSIBLE, THEY SAID: FDA warns of brain swelling and permanent vision loss found in children taking puberty blockers.

THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT GOODLIFE WOULD SAY: How Science Fiction Dystopianism Shapes the Debate over AI & Robotics: From Hal to the Borg and Cylons, fictional AIs and robots have been out to get us, which is fun as entertainment but doesn’t reflect reality.

Classical reference in headline.

EVERYTHING IS POLITICIZED NOW: Qualitative Study Finds Gaps in Medical Care for Gender Detransition: Insufficient clinical assistance for those who wish to stop gender-affirming interventions.

ROLLING STONES FRONTMAN MICK JAGGER TURNS 79 TODAY:

The Rolling Stones singer and living rock icon Mick Jagger turns 79 years young today, and the man who has spent over five decades on the band’s nonstop adventure doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.

Jagger has lived long enough and well enough to actually prove himself wrong, finally finding that most elusive and ethereal of concepts, satisfaction, but it certainly wasn’t always this way. Jagger was born to humble parents during wartime in Kent, England in 1943. His father was a teacher, as his father, Basil “Joe” Jagger, had been before him, and it was expected that the youngest Jagger would follow in their footsteps. With a stern mother, Mick got away from home as quickly as he could, eventually running into a long-missed former classmate and friend Keith Richards in university. Jagger’s life would never be the same.

“If you think Mick Jagger will still be out there trying to be a rock star at age fifty, then you are sadly, sadly mistaken:”

AND IN OTHER NEWS FROM THE LUNATIC ASYLUM: Alana Goodman of The Washington Free Beacon reports that Camille Stewart, the deputy national cyber director in the Biden administration, views “systemic racism” as a threat to national security. Bet you sleep better tonight knowing that!

TREAD LIGHTLY, IT’S PROBABLY THE BLUE HADES’ WORK: ‘They look almost human made.’ NOAA finds weird lines of holes in Mid-Atlantic floor.

HOW MANY FEDERAL RESERVE OFFICIALS HAS CHINA BOUGHT THIS WEEK? That’s a relevant question, given the report of the minority staff investigators on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs on China’s bribing of Federal Reserve economists and other officials there.

ATHENA THORNE: Pot Was a Gateway Drug After All, and Here Come Psychedelic ‘Shrooms.

ADVOCATES THREATEN TO SHUT DOWN CONGRESSIONAL BASEBALL GAME UNLESS CLIMATE LEGISLATION PASSES:

A coalition of climate advocacy groups says it’s time to leave everything on the field and plans to disrupt this year’s annual Congressional Baseball Game on Thu., July 28 unless Democrats pass climate legislation.

Organizers of The Coal Baron Blockade, which includes West Virginia Rising, along with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and Beyond Extreme Energy, say they don’t believe sweeping climate legislation included in President Biden’s Build Back Better plan will pass the Senate. As a result, they are calling for this “Now or Never” action to push for the provisions to be included in a reconciliation bill that would be easier to pass since it would only require a simple majority. Build Back Better proposed $555 billion to fund electric vehicle tax credits, renewable power, and other clean energy initiatives.

“This action is coming from a deep, long-building frustration with Democratic failure to pass a reconciliation package that addresses the climate crisis as well as the crisis of rising costs,” says Jamie DeMarco, federal policy director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “We all know the government is currently considering a package that would reduce the cost of energy, reduce the cost of prescription drugs, or possibly reduce the cost of health care, and do it all while reducing our emissions and fighting inflation by reducing the deficit.”

This wouldn’t be the first time that leftist “advocates” have “shut down the congressional baseball game,” but curiously, typing CTL-F “Scalise” on the article brings back zero results.

Evergreen:

HANG ON TIGHT: Nouriel Roubini says predictions for a mild recession are ‘delusional’ as severe financial crisis looms. “The famed economist, who called the 2008 financial crash, told Bloomberg that the economy is headed for a severe recession as well as a severe debt and financial crisis.”

Meanwhile: Yellen Says We’re Not In A ‘Recession,’ We’re In A ‘Transition In Which Growth Is Slowing.’

HMM: The Biden Administration Is Crawling With Conspiracy Theorists. “New filings in the John Durham investigation of Hillary Clinton’s Russia collusion hoax indicate that those Biden administration conspiracy theorists could drag the president into the investigation.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: The Last Leg Universities Stand On Is Collapsing: The world of education is not what it used to be. I’ve noticed a lot of Coursera ads that seem to be aimed as much at parents and grandparents as at students, which isn’t surprising as it’s often family that’s most invested in the “prestige” of a degree, not the students themselves.

In other words, all is proceeding as I have foreseen.

DEAL OF THE DAY: Insignia 32-inch Class F20 Series Smart HD 720p Fire TV. #CommissionEarned

TRUMP’S BIGGEST MISTAKE WAS NOT FIRING HIM AND DEBORAH BIRX: Fauci’s Fanaticism. Don Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek rounds up criticism of Fauci’s latest lunacy — Covid restrictions should have been “much, much more stringent” in 2020 — and diagnoses the cause:

Fauci again proves that he has the heart, soul, and mind of a dangerous fanatic. He focuses obsessively on one goal; all other considerations are ignored or treated with disdain. And he has no qualms about using as much coercion as is necessary to further as much as possible his lone goal. When someone attaches value only to one goal, that someone experiences – and can see – no meaningful costs, for even the tiniest further movement toward the full attainment of that goal is by presumption worth whatever that movement costs. No such fanatic should possess any power or influence.

Fauci’s fanaticism contributed to more than 170,000 excess deaths from non-Covid causes during the pandemic in America, many of them among younger and middle-aged adults. In Sweden, meanwhile, there was no excess mortality among people under 70. That’s one of the reasons I cite in nominating Sweden’s Anders Tegnell for a Nobel prize.