NOW OUT: All-new Fire 7 tablet. #CommissionEarned

WHEN CUSTOMERS ARE LAB RATS: LinkedIn ran secret experiments on 20M users in study on the strength of social ties.

TEXAS: Abbott-O’Rourke Race Update: There Isn’t One. “O’Rourke’s gubernatorial candidacy was always going to be a longshot in an off-year election that was going to favor Republicans. But the disastrous incompetence of the Biden Administration, spiraling inflation, the Biden Recession, resentment of wokeness, and deeply unpopular open borders policies that have pushed more and more Hispanics to switch to the Republican Party have turned the basic headwinds of an off-year election into a howling gale that’s going to blow O’Rourke to his third high profile defeat in five years.”

Well, also Beto’s promise to take away people’s guns, which didn’t play that well in Texas, despite the reassurances of his campaign manager Ian Faith that “I wouldn’t worry about that, Texas isn’t a big gun state.”

UPDATE: Wow, fewer Spinal Tap fans out there than I thought, to judge from the comments.

MORE EVIDENCE INMATES ARE RUNNING THE FBI ASYLUM: Just the News’ John Solomon reports that an FBI Agent has told the federal whistleblower office in Washington, D.C. that the bureau’s leadership is falsifying evidence against J6 defendants, inflating Domestic Extremist Violence (DEV) data and grossly misusing SWAT teams to make misdemeanor arrests.

“Special Agent Stephen M. Friend, who works for the FBI in Florida and serves as a SWAT team member, told the main federal whistleblower office in Washington he had an ‘exemplary’ work record since he joined the bureau in 2014 and even won awards but was suspended in recent days after he began raising concerns about the FBI’s and DOJ’s conduct in the Jan. 6 investigation

“‘I believed the investigations were inconsistent with FBI procedure and resulted in the violation of citizens’ Sixth and Eighth Amendment rights,’ Friend wrote. ‘I added that many of my colleagues expressed similar concerns to me but had not vocalized their objections to FBI Executive Management,” Solomon quotes Friend.

One wonders if a new FBI Director might not be among the growing list of whistleblowers from within the bureau who are coming forward to Republicans Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.

(BUMPED, BY GLENN).

ANDY KESSLER: A Nation of Quitters: A new class, the Cyber Bohemians, avoid work while living off their affluent parents.

The unemployment rate was 3.5% in July, the same as in February 2020, but the U.S. has three million fewer workers. Where did everyone go? This in an economy with 11.2 million job openings. It’s mostly men 25 to 54 who haven’t come back to work. Now a McKinsey study suggests that 40% of workers are thinking of quitting their jobs. Does anyone want to work anymore?

Everyone has an explanation for the Great Resignation: extended unemployment benefits, eviction moratoriums, baby boomers retiring, work-from-home complacency, anxiety, long Covid. Sure, all reasonable excuses. Here’s my theory: Too many got a taste of not working and liked it. A lot. Until recently, many people could make more money by not working and became glued to screens, Insta-Tok-ing and living the easy life by sponging off the rest of us. What’s not to like? Parisians called those with unconventional lifestyles “bohemians.” Now we have unemployed, perpetually plugged-in, dopamine-addled Cyber Bohemians—let’s call them Cy-Bos.

Before you send me hate mail, I’m only talking about the underachievers, including those who traded crypto and NFTs and lost all their stimulus and unemployment money after the crypto crash. Now Cy-Bos, with nothing better to do, are streaming away, including the first five of an eventual 50 hours of Amazon’s new “Lord of the Rings” show—“and in the darkness bind them.” I’ve also discovered that a huge idle couch-bound class spends its days playing the battle-royale videogame “Fall Guys,” the latest craze, with 50 million players. It’s nonviolent, almost cuddly, and—be warned—ridiculously addictive fun.

Zoned-out Cy-Bos, at least in 19 states, can buy weed at dispensaries (Twinkies optional), including Oakland, Calif.’s descriptively named Smoakland, which delivers! Yes, while you’re working, many 20- and 30-somethings are giggling and wasting away playing mindless games and humming along to those classic Styx lyrics, “Is it any wonder I’ve got too much time on my hands?”

It is cultural malaise, motivational submission. Society now promotes mediocrity and calls it equity—witness the scarcity of SAT test-score requirements for college. Sadly, once you get a taste of the easy life, it is difficult to pull up your socks and try hard again—self-induced avolition.

Why so many quitters? And who’s paying for DoorDashed dinners and the exorbitant rent for all these un- and underemployed? Government handouts are dwindling, so, you guessed it, now it’s mom and dad—enabling parents.

Shocking. Plus: “This may go on for a while, until the money is cut off or runs out or work opportunities become more enticing during a future bull run.”

UNEXPECTED HEADLINES: Pinch Me: CNN Actually Fact Checks Biden Over False Claims.

WHOOPS: Tom Elliott rains inconvenient truths on all the media libs screeching that new conservative Italian PM Georgia Meloni is the new Mussolini.

That doesn’t stop CNN from getting the vapors, though:

POMERANIAN OR OTHERWISE: Michael Walsh: ‘Not Worth the Bones of a Single Grenadier.’

Personally, I’m happy to see Putin weakened and frustrated. But our establishment seemed to be rooting for Putin at the very beginning, only to do a 180 when Ukraine refused to fold. Maybe Zelensky blackmailed ’em into supporting him by threatening to release info on their corruption. . . .

JOE BIDEN’S NEGOTIATING PARTNERS: Iran vows to crush women-led protests with ‘no leniency’ as unrest enters 10th day. “The number of dead during clashes between protesters and security forces increased to 41 people, including some members of the security forces, according to state TV. However, the real figure is believed to be much higher.”

PRIORITIES: Half of 2023’s Diversity Visas to Be Given to Migrants from Muslim Countries.

HEH: ‘Biggest, Best Gift I’ve Ever Received’: Kari Lake Reacts To Liz Cheney’s Vow To Campaign Against Her.

AGITPROP ORGANS GONNA AGITPROP: CNN’s John Avlon acknowledges media failure on ‘racist’ BYU allegations.

OUCH: Americans Tell U.S. ‘Health Experts’ Where They Can Shove Their Booster Shots.

Personally, I’m on Day 489 day without a booster and (approximately) Day 981 without COVID.

INSTITUTIONAL RACISM: “Some in the Rowan University community are upset that a ‘self-identifying Black’ suspect who wrote ‘I hate (N-word)’ on a female black student’s dorm door isn’t being charged with a hate crime.”

GOOD LORD: The terrifying flesh-eating drug meant for horses that is now hitting the streets of America. “The drug prolongs the highs felt from heroin, but results in users passing out for hours at a time, while injection points ulcerate and lead to grisly wounds that spread across the body. Some users even report severe sores erupting across their body where they never injected the drug, and many are left disfigured as fingers, arms, feet, legs and toes are forced to be amputated. In Philadelphia – considered to be ground zero for the Xylazine crisis – about one-third of all fatal opioid overdoses in 2019 were related to the drug.”

DEMOCRATS KEEP BLOCKING REPUBLICAN EFFORTS TO ALLOW THIS:

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Democrats Won’t Be Derailing the Trump Train Anytime Soon. “Their hatred of Trump is pretty much serving as steroids for his popularity. He takes their tears, anguish, and vitriol and uses it to grow stronger.”

SAN FRANCISCANS GET THE VAPORS, DIVE FOR FAINTING COUCHES: San Francisco firefighter wears “Lets go Brandon” shirt while on duty.

Flashback to America’s Newspaper of Record last year: ‘I Just Think This Let’s Go Brandon Thing Is Really Disrespectful,’ Says Man Wearing F— TRUMP T-Shirt.

I’M EXPECTING AN ASTEROID-NUDGING KABOOM: NASA’s DART Spacecraft Crashes Into Asteroid Dimorphos. “The asteroid Dimorphos, which circles a larger asteroid known as Didymos, poses no threat to Earth. The mission is designed as a test run of planetary defense with the intention of proving that a deep space collision can alter the orbit of a space rock. The carefully arranged death dive will destroy the DART and, if all goes to plan, alter the orbit of Dimorphos around its parent Didymos ever so slightly.”

SHOCKER: Most Democrats don’t want Biden as 2024 nominee: Poll. “The president hit new lows in approval among liberals (68%), southerners (33%), and people in the middle- to upper-middle income range (34%). Biden also hit a record low on approval from black adults at 31%.”

RIGHT-WING COALITION WINS IN ITALY, AMERICAN PRESS LOSES ITS MIND:

Meloni does not, in fact, lead a “neo-fascist” movement. Is she “far-right” in the European sense? Sure, she is, but that doesn’t make her a fascist, and as far as I can tell, none of her proposed policies are fascist. They may make those on the left upset, especially regarding immigration and LGBT stuff, but that’s not the standard for fascism.

Ironically enough, American Democrats base their accusations on the fact that Meloni’s party has its historical roots in turn-of-the-century fascism in Italy. Of course, the problem with that is obvious. The Democrat Party was the party of slavery and Jim Crow, and it remains a party of mass death in regard to abortion. So if the assertion is that a political party with a checkered history is unacceptable, then the Democrats might as well close up shop, otherwise, they are just massive hypocrites.

They won’t, though, because they truly believe they are more enlightened than their political opponents. If you don’t want kids being sexualized by the LGBT lobby, then you must be a fascist. If you don’t want unlimited Muslim immigration that is driving up crime rates, then you must be a fascist. We all know how the game is played, and it’s all meaningless at this point. No one takes the left’s rantings seriously.

“If CBS News is right and Giorgia Meloni is a ‘fascist,’ then I’m telling you, half of America is fascist,” Rod Dreher adds. “Then again, they probably do believe that in the CBS Newsroom in New York. Please, I want you to watch this, or at least part of it. It’s important to see and hear for yourself the radical distance between what CBS News and other media say Giorgia Meloni is, and what she actually is. It’s important so you can grasp how badly you and all of us are gaslighted by the media when it comes to politics, especially when politics intersect with culture. They hate Meloni because she takes a hard line on out-of-control immigration, and because she believes in defending the traditional family (which entails rejecting transgender ideology). Ergo, ‘FASCIST!'”

NEWS YOU CAN USE: 5 Hidden Costs of Inflation and Some Things You Can Do About It.

WHEN PEOPLE TELL YOU WHO THEY ARE, BELIEVE THEM: Arizona Dem To Campaign With Group That Promoted ‘F— the 4th’ Event.

HOW IT STARTED: Minneapolis City Council members intend to defund and dismantle the city’s police department.

—CNN, June 8th, 2020.

How it’s going: Once nicknamed ‘Murderapolis,’ the city that became the center of the ‘Defund the Police’ movement is grappling with heightened violent crime.

—CNN, yesterday.

Evergreen:

EXCELLENT: Elon Musk Says He’s Activating Starlink in Iran After U.S. Eases Restrictions on Tech Companies

The transceiver dishes will have to be smuggled in, but that’s probably not a huge obstacle.