DOG BITES MAN: Biden and the Democrats Are About to Raise Your Taxes.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Inflation, tuition hike make life unaffordable for these students.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Parents, If You Don’t Get A Grip On Your Kids’ Social Media, Trans Activists Will.

TOP. MEN. How the U.S. Let 20 Million Doses of Monkeypox Vaccine Expire: At the start of the monkeypox outbreak the U.S. stockpile contained just 2,400 doses of vaccine, a far cry from the more than 20 million it once held.

Trust the public health professionals. They know what to do!

Plus:

Flashback: CDC, You Had One Job.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Tulsi Gabbard Is SO Close to Being Cool. “It would be nice to think that Gabbard is already moving in our direction, but for now, she is just reminding us that not all Democrats have to be crazy all of the time.”

IT’S NOT A RECESSION: Share of Consumers Spending More Than They Earn Rises on Inflation.

EVERY INSTITUTION HAS BEEN CORRUPTED: ‘Wokeness’ overtakes ‘three R’s’ in college teacher training.

WAS JESUS A VEGETARIAN? Quite a few folks who abstain from eating meat claim Jesus as one of them. On HillFaith this morning, Kyle Butt offers a quick, compelling four minute video explanation for why that makes no sense at all.

I’m skeptical of the vegetarian Jesus claim, too, plus, my family is from Oklahoma and Texas where I am pretty sure it is illegal to be a vegetarian. Unless you live in the Norman or Austin city limits.

MAYBE THE JAN 6 COMMITTEE WILL LOOK INTO THIS… NAH: Harvard Study Wrecks Insurrection Narrative of Capitol Riot.

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Virginia Dem Defends Multimillion-Dollar Stock Holding That Even Pelosi Thinks Is Too Controversial.

AUSTRALIA USED TO SEEM LIKE A FUN PLACE. NOW NOT SO MUCH. Workers’ paradise lost? Biggest beer tax hike in 30 years serves up the ‘$15 pint.’ “Brewers and pub and club operators were extremely disappointed the former government did not deliver on a proposed reduction in beer tax at this year’s March budget.”

DEAL OF THE DAY: 8-Inch Chef’s Knife made of German High Carbon Stainless Steel. #CommissionEarned

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Ground beef prices surge as farmers sell off cattle herds.

The cost of putting food on the table is the highest it’s been in 40 years, and inflation is specifically impacting a summertime staple: ground beef.

Ground beef prices are up 12% since this time last year, which is higher than the current inflation rate for the United States, which currently stands at 9.1%. . . .

As of July 1, the nation’s inventory of cattle and calves stands at 98.8 million head, down 2% from a year earlier, according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The USDA says it’s seen a huge number of female cattle sent to the feedlots, which means there’s a lot of supply right now, but not for long.

“You build that genetic supply in your herd, so you’ve got a quality cow and calf that you’ve built up and if you have to liquidate, it is going to take a while to build back again,” Baker said.

Experts predict that meat prices could go up another 9% to 10% next year, and cattle experts say it could take years to get back on track.

Just like the rest of the country.

HMM: GEICO closes all California offices, lays off workers.

GEICO has reportedly closed all 38 of its agent offices in California, laid off hundreds of employees, and will no longer sell insurance through telephone agents in the state.

Californians can still obtain GEICO policies in the state, but only through a computer or a mobile device, posing a challenge for those who are not technologically proficient.

The precise reasons for the closures in California and massive layoffs remain unclear.

Maybe California’s appeal is just becoming more selective.

THE NEW YORK TIMES IS CHEERING THAT EFFORT ON, BUT IS THAT WISE? Lies for profit: Can Sandy Hook parents shut Alex Jones down?

MARK JUDGE: Beyoncé’s Awful New Album and the End of Pop Music Criticism.

“RULE OF LAW:”

PJ MEDIA VIP ROUNDUP: Don’t forget that VODKAPUNDIT promo code if you’ve been thinking of joining us.

Matt Margolis: Is ‘Paid Menstrual Leave’ the Next Big Cause of the Left? “I’m trying hard to ignore that Sara Youngblood Gregory, while calling for paid menstrual leave, refuses to acknowledge that women menstruate.”

Stacey Lennox: Do Not Let Food Be the Next Shortage Biden Tries to Pin on Putin. “In July, Biden’s EPA also proposed new herbicide regulations that touch almost every method farmers have to protect their crops from pests and disease without providing any alternatives.”

Yours Truly: A Tale of Two Joe Bidens: It Was the Best of Joes, It Was the Worst of Joes. “Whatever you want to call it, Democrats right now seem to fall into one of two camps: Those who can’t wait to see Biden go and those deluded few still clinging to the hope that Biden is just one big spending bill away from the love he deserves.”

JOEL KOTKIN: Free Trade for China, Not for the Deplorables.

The pandemic demonstrated in the starkest possible way the vulnerabilities brought about by the de-industrialization praised by Ivy League geniuses. As noted by Tom Mahoney, a principal figure at Mforesight, a firm that studies and advocates for manufacturing innovation, the usual first answer to how to boost profits is to shift production abroad. The belief that “a manufacturing firm (can) maintain itself long-term without controlling its own production” is virtually a dogma. To this end, Mahoney contends, firms like McKinsey are “the great evil empire along with anyone with an MBA.”

In accordance with this trend, U.S. medical equipment producers have left en masse for abroad, notably to China. As a result, Chinese dominance of the medical supply chain undermined our initial pandemic response, exposing us to the reality that we’re unable even to produce masks for our own people. Instead, we were forced to genuflect to Beijing, while they refused to share critical information on the pandemic. As observed by Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, “China’s decision to block exports of these goods led to widespread shortages.” Moving forward, “there is also the concern that an increasingly assertive China might seek to exploit the world’s dependence on it for political purposes.”

China’s ambitions go beyond the role of cheap labor supplier. It now seeks control of key tech industries, in part so they can impose their own standards for telecommunications, artificial intelligence, and other sectors. The movement of tech to China, widely boosted by U.S. firms, has made us dependent on our biggest global adversary, even, remarkably, for defense components.

That’s the kind of policy that can only be endorsed by morons who pay no price for getting things wrong — which is to say, our current governing class.

HIAWATHA BRAY: The Heck With The Hype: Electric vehicles still aren’t a thing.

Apparently, they’re only selling in any number in a few places.

UM. NO:  Purina’s Fancy Feast expands into human cuisine, to open NYC pop-up restaurant.

HE’S A CORRUPT LEFTIST, NO MORE NO LESS:  Krugman doubles down on his “O’Brien-crossed-with-Humpty-Dumpty” persona.

HERE COMES A ‘TREASURE TROVE:’ Of Biden administration documents, that is, according to Louisiana Attorney General Greg Landry, The Epoch Times reports. He and Missouri AG Eric Schmitt sued the administration in May, contending that the government and Big Tech colluded to violate the First Amendment rights of Americans.

Now, thanks to the ruling of U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, an appointee of President Donald Trump, the discovery phase is underway and Landry is quite optimistic: “We’ve got a treasure trove of information that we think are going to come to us here shortly,” he told EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders.”

This could be one on which to keep a close eye.

IT CAN’T BE THIS BAD WITHOUT BEING INTENTIONAL:  New Surface Stations Report Released – It’s ‘worse than we thought’.

IN OTHER NEWS, UNICORN FARTS NOT RELIABLE SOURCE OF ENERGY:  Green Nightmare: Aussie Power Prices Rising Out of Control.