FOR ME IT WAS 1988: This is the moment I gave up on Joe Biden. Possibly earlier. But yeah, he’s a putz today:

Gone was the empathy guy. Gone was the unity guy. Gone was the moderate guy. Be mean, Joe. Get them, Joe. Get tough, Joe. Tell them their participation in democracy is a threat to … democracy!

Yes, tell them, Joe. Tell the “MAGA Republicans” they’re not welcome in their own country. Tell them their participation is a threat to a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Tell them that democracy means they have to sit down and shut up.

Tell the truck driver who travels coast to coast, working the graveyard shift, to bring freshly cut meat to supermarket shelves. Tell the police officer, the waitress, the bartender, the cable guy, the grocery store clerk, the grandmother, the garage mechanic, the veteran who served in Afghanistan who now has been kicked out of the military for not taking the vaccine, the mother of two who now must home-school her children that they are the violent extremists posing the biggest threat to the country they call home.

Tell them, Joe, that you’ve decided to throw them away like human garbage and that you’re hoping for another Jan. 6 so you can arrest anyone who ever voted for or supported Donald Trump. Tell them that you and you alone ARE America, and any threat to your power is a threat to the State because that’s not fascism at all.

Why did Joe Biden give that speech? Who thought that was a good idea?

Weird that a guy this mean, and lame, and mentally sub-par managed to get 81 million votes.

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D): Teacher charged with 24 sex crimes after posting TikToks of students, school says. “A former Tennessee elementary school teacher is facing two dozen child sex charges, including rape, after police say she posted inappropriate videos of students to TikTok. Taylor Cruze, 23, was indicted last week by a grand jury in Smyrna after a police investigation in connection to the felony crimes, Rutherford County Schools spokesperson James Evans told USA TODAY. Evans said that before her arrest last month, Cruze was a first-year fifth grade teacher at John Colemon Elementary School in Smyrna, about 25 miles southeast of Nashville.”

PUNCH BACK TWICE AS HARD: Mike Lindell Is Suing the FBI and the Government for Violating His Rights. Pay Attention. “This was more than gathering evidence under a warrant. This was meant to intimidate him. And by extension, everyone else. Including you and including me.”

A WHITE COLLAR RECESSION? “Big banks, tech and real estate companies are cutting staff at a concerning rate.”

SAY HER NAME: “We are living in a real-life version of The Purge. Murders are up at least 44 percent in two years. . . . The rush to minimize the crimes against the three young women I mentioned and swiftly memory-hole their names is appalling. They are not alone, of course.”

JULIETTE OCHIENG: All the Little Tribal Wars.

Related: Tribalism is natural.

MY NEW YORK POST COLUMN: Sorry, Lindsey Graham: Congress doesn’t have the power to legislate on abortion.

WHY ARE AMERICANS TOLERATING THIS? Facebook spied on private messages of Americans who questioned 2020 election.

Stewart Baker comments:

But as the story is written, it has one big problem. The conduct it describes would violate the law in a way that neither the FBI nor Facebook would likely be comfortable doing. Federal law mostly prohibits electronic service providers from voluntarily supplying customer data to the government.

What’s more, Facebook has issued a denial. A very careful denial. It says that “the suggestion we seek out peoples’ private messages for anti-government language or questions about the validity of past elections and then proactively supply those to the FBI is plainly inaccurate and there is zero evidence to support it.”

A compound denial like that often means that portions or slight variations of the statement are true. Thus, if Facebook is screening for something just a bit more alarming than “anti-government language or questions about the validity of past elections,” the denial is inoperative.

The Post tries to square the denial with its story by suggesting that the FBI has recruited a Facebook employee as a confidential human source (CHS). I doubt that. Being a CHS doesn’t mean you can do things with your employer’s data that your employer can’t do. And I doubt the FBI would feel free to evade a limit on its investigative power by using a CHS this way.

But there is a provision of federal law that allows electronic service providers to volunteer information to law enforcement. To do so, they need to believe “in good faith … that an emergency involving danger of death or serious physical injury to any person requires disclosure without delay of communications relating to the emergency.” 18 USC 2702(c).

So, Facebook and other Silicon Valley companies could have developed an AI engine to search for strings of words that its legal department has precleared — in good faith — as evidence of an emergency involving a danger of death or serious injury.

I question the “good faith” part.

Plus:

Any mass effort to find “bad” speech on a big social media platform is bound to make a lot of mistakes, as all students of content moderation know.

And, as with content moderation, no one would be surprised if mass Silicon Valley criminal referrals were biased against conservatives. (That bias would be built in if Justice is using an existing grand jury tied to January 6 to generate the subpoenas.)

So, assuming I’m right, it’s fair to ask how any such effort was designed, how aggressively conservative complaints were turned into emergency threats to life and limb, who’s overseeing the process to prevent overbroad seizures of legitimate speech, and whether the same thing could be done to Black Lives Matter, environmental groups, animal rights campaigners, and any other movement whose more extreme followers have sometimes lapsed into violence.

There should be serious consequences for this, but apparently consequences are only for the little people. Which over time is likely to backfire unpleasantly.

SCIENCE: Re-analysis on the statistical sampling biases of a mask promotion trial in Bangladesh: a statistical replication. “The purpose of randomized control trials is to establish a causal link between interventions and outcomes. However, causal implications are diminished in the presence of unblinding, ascertainment bias, and bias-susceptible endpoints. Unfortunately, in the Bangladesh mask trial we evidence of all of the above. . . . The mask intervention was highly effective at modifying behaviors (distancing, mask-wearing, symptom reporting). Nonetheless, the data is consistent with mask wearing having modest or no direct effect on COVID-related outcomes in this experimental setting.”

RAMIFICATIONS OF Russian Imperial Decline. “It means that the image of the Russians as a regional power, much less a global one, is gone, and it’s not coming back.”

We don’t like Russia, but that doesn’t mean we’ll like what comes next, either.

OPEN THREAD. Make it fun.

WELL, IT’S ABOUT TIME: In the works: An artificial-gravity space station.

Years ago, McCaleb jokingly told friends, “‘If I ever have a ton of money, I’m going to mine asteroids.” After founding three successful crytocurrency firms, McCaleb is focused on solving problems standing in the way of moving people further into the solar system.

Because the longterm health impacts of microgravity can be serious, Vast is focused on creating a large spinning structure that creates a gravity-like pull.

“Vast’s innovations will serve the role of a research platform, which is what the ISS did historically,” McCaleb said. “But we also want to be a machine shop where national and private sector astronauts can iterate and prototype things in orbit. Ultimately, our contributions will enable something akin to a way station for human habitation that orbits the moon – maybe even Mars.”

McCaleb acknowledged the inherent challenges in creating spinning structures like managing and controlling momentum. In addition, “docking to a spinning module” and communications will be complicated, he said.

All are soluble.

SO LONG AS IT DOESN’T HAPPEN AGAIN: Clams Tell Us Why Earth Tipped Into a Mini Ice Age Hundreds of Years Ago. “The ‘Little Ice Age’ first started in the 13th century in the North Atlantic and only came to a halt when anthropogenic heating reversed the natural trend.”

So, basically, we’ve learned that Fallen Angels is nonfiction.

OKAY, GROOMERS: Disney Employees, 12 Others Arrested In Florida Child Sex Sting: Sheriff.

HMM: Justice Kagan Enters the Debate on the National Injunction. “During her remarks on Wednesday in a conversation with Northwestern Law Dean Hari Osofsky, Kagan took a notably hostile and forceful stand against a practice that hasn’t generated much public debate but has roiled the legal community in recent years: individual U.S. District Court judges blocking federal government policies nationwide. . . . ‘In the Trump years, people used to go to the Northern District of California, and in the Biden years, they go to Texas. It just can’t be right that one district judge can stop a nationwide policy in its tracks and leave it stopped for the years that it takes to go through the normal process.'”

HOW IT STARTED: How the AP Slanted Border Coverage to Hide the Crisis.

A March 25 Washington Post op-ed by the editorial director of the pro-immigration site Futuro Media revealed that AP changed its directive at the demands of activists. Julio Varela said in his column he complained to the AP about the use of words like “surge” in its immigration coverage, suggesting news outlets use “entering,” “crossing the border,” and “increase” instead.

The AP told Varela his complaint came at the perfect time: Editors there were already “discussing word choices internally” and just assembled a memo addressing concerns by Latino activists. Varela, pleased with the news, called on the rest of the media to follow suit lest they be accused of using a “dehumanizing term.”

“The AP deserves recognition for moving in the right direction,” the author wrote. “I urge all reporters, TV producers, and editors in newsrooms all over the United States to pay close attention to the words they use in their coverage.”

Shortly thereafter, left-wing members of Congress such as New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D.) told supporters that using the word “surge” is a “white supremacist idea.”

The AP’s recommendations were adopted by news organizations such as Politico, which asked its staff, among other things, to no longer describe the unprecedented flood of illegal immigrants to the southern border as a “crisis.”

At the time of the AP’s new guidance, the United States saw unaccompanied migrant children cross the border at levels not seen in decades, according to data provided from Customs and Border Protection. The agency said it saw a more than 70 percent increase in illegal border crossings in March compared with the previous month.

The AP did not respond to a request for comment.

President Joe Biden called the situation on the border a “crisis” on April 17, although the White House backtracked two days later with an unnamed official telling CNN “there is no change in position” and that “children coming to our border … is not a crisis.”

—The Washington Free Beacon, May 18^th, 2021.

How it’s going:

● Martha’s Vineyard responds to crisis.

—NBC Boston, today.

● Migrant surge strains NYC, D.C. resources.

—NBC, August 22^nd.

As Karol Markowicz writes: DeSantis was right to send migrants to Martha’s Vineyard. We need to bring border crisis to Democrats.

In theory, everyone should be happy with the move. Migrants get to be taken to this beautiful location in Massachusetts, a “sanctuary” state where they should feel welcome.

Instead, the left is angry about this. “Deeply deeply sick and dehumanizing to fling human beings somewhere vindictively.” tweeted MSNBC host Chris Hayes.

But why? What is the point of being a sanctuary city or state if not to specifically provide sanctuary? It’s not vindictiveness to make the policymakers share the burden they are creating. In fact, it’s the only way change is possible.

The left are also angry that the tactics that St. Alinsky would love are being used against them. “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules…A good tactic is one your people enjoy…Keep the pressure on. Never let up.”

Why, it’s as if: The GOP is Learning How to Fight.

RELATIONSHIPS IN JAPAN: “While salaries among male workers have declined since the ‘Bubble Economy’ of the 1980s, research shows that women’s expectations of income in a potential mate remain unrealistically high.”

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Martha’s Vineyard Resident Calls Police To Report A Hispanic In The Neighborhood Not Operating A Leaf Blower.

AFP FACT CHECKER FACT CHECKS SATIRIC POSTS: “Social media posts claim Queen Elizabeth II announced before she died that she had information that could lead to the arrest of Hillary Clinton. This is false; there is no record of the queen making such a statement, and the claim matches a years-old meme that reflects a conspiracy theory that the former secretary of state and her husband kill their political opponents.”

To be fair though, I would like to get out ahead of another developing story and say that Ghislaine Maxwell did not commit suicide.

CHUNKY: 2023 Honda Pilot TrailSport Shows Its Chunky New Looks.

I was out in Arizona recently hiking with a high-school buddy whose 13-year-old Honda Pilot was in mint condition, good off road, and with an immaculate interior. Of course, that just means they were good 13 years ago . . .

I DON’T MIND. I DON’T MIND. UK: Russian troops fleeing “in panic” and disarray from Kharkiv defeat — which the Kremlin acknowledges.

21st CENTURY HEADLINES: Wrecked semi shoots load of dildos and lube all over  I-40. “We haven’t received official confirmation of what cargo the truck was carrying, but A) That sure looks like a bunch of vibrator boxes and tubes of lube scatter over the highway, and B) The accident did occur near a major adult-product-focused distribution hub near [Oklahoma’s] I-40 and Morgan Rd., so if your vibrator of the month shipment is delayed, that may explain why.”

WAS IT OVER WHEN TED CRUZ BOMBED PEARL HARBOR?! Karine Jean-Pierre partly blames ‘Texas Governor Ted Cruz’ for lax border security (Cruz appreciates the free rent). “The White House wants you to ignore that fact that DHS has been flying plane loads of illegal immigrants to cities around the country in the dead of night for a year and a half.“

LINCOLN BROWN: Finally! A Twitter Fight That Matters! “Normally, Twitter is reserved for baseless accusations, name-calling, smut, threats, and various and sundry cancellations. But every once in a while, the planets and stars align, and for 50 seconds or so, sometimes during a leap-year solstice, Twitter actually does not suck and becomes vaguely interesting. Like sightings of Sasquatch or Nessie, these occurrences are rare but noteworthy when they happen.”

HOW IT STARTED: Immigration Issue Stirs Heartfelt Response on Martha’s Vineyard:

“These warrant articles have always been about community policing and community safety and supporting local law enforcement,” said Irene Bright-Dumm, a spokesman for We Stand Together. “I think this morning we had a really productive dialogue to reiterate all of that. And I think we are lucky enough to live in a place where our police understand the value of community policing.” It was unclear exactly what the joint statement will say, although Aquinnah police chief Randhi Belain told the Gazette that the same statement would be read at each town meeting and help create a unified message. West Tisbury selectman Richard Knabel, who has been attending We Stand Together’s weekly meetings at the charter school, said Monday that the warrant article aims only to affirm current practices and send a message of support to the immigrant community. “It’s basically a slap on the back to the police force, saying, ‘Hey, we basically like what you are doing, keep doing it,’” he said.

One effect of the article has been to help clarify the relationship between ICE and Island police departments in terms of enforcing federal immigration law. As in other communities, information about people who are jailed at the Edgartown house of correction is automatically sent to ICE. If bail is later posted, it could trigger a so-called detainer notice from ICE, requesting that the county continue to hold the person for up to 48 hours. But Mr. Ogden said that doesn’t happen very often, and when it does, the county refuses.

“Primarily, we take our orders from the commonwealth,” he said. “In our facility, we have a standing order that states that any request for voluntary action from ICE, we will not uphold.” He added that all police on the Island have the same mandate and that Island police officers do not make arrests based on immigration status. “Someone would not come here just based on ICE, but because they broke the law,” he said.

Some communities in the state, including Barnstable and Bristol counties, have special agreements with the federal government, known as 287(g) programs, that allow them to carry out ICE activities on their own. But Mr. Ogden said that would place a heavy burden on Island police departments, since they would need to cover the additional costs. Mr. Knabel said Island chiefs had no interest in forming that type of agreement on the Vineyard.

But recent federal efforts surrounding illegal immigration, including President Trump’s Jan. 25 executive order aimed at strengthening federal immigration procedures and punishing sanctuary cities, have created a climate of uncertainty on Martha’s Vineyard and among its large Brazilian community.

—The Vineyard Gazette, April 6th, 2017.

How it’s going: Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Declares ‘Humanitarian Crisis’ over Arrival of 50 Migrants.

“To our Island community, here is an update on current humanitarian crisis on Martha’s Vineyard….we thank people for their continued help,” the island’s Chamber of Commerce tweeted Thursday.

A statement from the Dukes County Emergency Management Association included in the tweet said the island is providing “shelter, food, and care” to the illegal immigrants who arrived yesterday and that “a coalition of Vineyard towns, community-based, and nonprofit groups are assisting in this effort.”

“We will continue to work very closely with our state partners, who have pledged support and resources for any unmet needs that we may nave,” the statement continued.

The migrants were flown to Massachusetts from Texas, though the state of Florida paid for their travel out of a fund specially designated for that purpose.

—NRO, today.

Related: Jim Acosta could not be reached for Statue of Liberty quotes:

"We're in a housing crisis as we are on this island"

This is incredible https://t.co/DOhNyo0omQ

— jimtreacher.substack.com (@jtLOL) September 15, 2022