NO. NEXT QUESTION? Is AP a news organization any more? “The Associated Press is hardly some random blogger like me without the resources to check their facts independently, and yet their social media team tweets out a story from 4 days ago as if it were current.”

A CAT, HOWEVER, MAY GIVE YOU TOXOPLASMOSIS: Petting a dog can be good for your brain.

JIM TREACHER: Old Man Yells at Mushroom Cloud.

“We have not faced the prospect of armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis… [Putin’s] not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons because his military is, you might say, significantly underperforming… I’m trying to figure out, what is Putin’s off-ramp? Where does he find a way out? Where does he find himself in a position that he does not not only lose face, but lose significant power within Russia?”

Remember when Trump’s big mouth was gonna get us into World War Three?

Last week, Biden was trying to talk to dead people. This week, he’s trying to make us all dead people.

Why is the president of the United States saying this stuff in public? What is Biden’s off-ramp? How will babbling about this at a fundraiser convince Putin not to do it?

The answer, of course, is that Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was an incredibly stupid man with diarrhea of the mouth even before he was caught in the throes of dementia. Now he’s a thousand times worse. He’ll just blurt out any old $#!+, especially if it makes life tougher for everybody else.

I hate Vladimir Putin. I also don’t want to die in a nuclear war. The Democrats need to do something about Grandpa Joe before he gets us all killed.

As always with a Biden gaffe, the timing is spectacular. As Jim Geraghty writes, “You know, now that I think about it, ‘Armageddon is coming’ probably isn’t a great message for Democrats in the midterm elections.”

No matter what though, Biden is smack-dab in the War Room monitoring the situation. Or not: Biden Warns Armageddon Is Coming, But It’s Time For Him To Enjoy Another Weekend in Delaware.

And no wonder — think of the upside! In 2011, the Huffington Post pondered: Could A Small Nuclear War Reverse Global Warming?

UPDATE: Never mind! Just a stutter, folks: WH walks back Joe Biden’s warning that we’re on the verge of nuclear Armageddon.

HARD TO BELIEVE, WHEN ONE OF THE ARCHITECTS OF OBAMACARE, WHICH FIXED EVERYTHING, IS PRESIDENT NOW: Survey: Nearly half of Americans rate healthcare as poor or failing.

INCOMPETENCE + GREED + A TOUCH OF EVIL = McKINSEY:  I just got through Walt Bogdanich and Mike Forsythe’s explosive new book, “When McKinsey Comes to Town.” Everyone I know (myself included) who has worked in a corporate environment in which McKinsey has operated usually comes to the conclusion that McKinsey has a racket going that beats even the legal profession for sheer sliminess.

In my first hand experience, McKinsey was hired (no doubt at great expense) to “review” and “improve” the faltering Bloomberg TV network. What did they do? First, the “consultants” asked all the employees what they did, and how things worked. Then they created mountains of PowerPoint presentations and simply repeated what they’d been told. Finally, they recommended a “reduction in forces” (corporate-speak for layoffs). This pattern is the modus operandi for McKinsey: “Teach me what you do, and then I’m going to tell you how to do it.” Another pattern is that often consultants convince clients that they ought to be hired “in-house.” McKinsey doesn’t mind that at all because it’s one more “in”, one more tentacle reaching into corporate America.

That’s where the deep investigative work of Bogdanich and Forsythe really makes its mark, by comparing the company’s vaunted “ethical values” with the real-world activities of the company:

“McKinsey’s clients included corrupt governments in Russia, South Africa and Malaysia. There were the Russian companies put under US sanctions to punish Putin for seizing Crimea. And state-owned Chinese companies that provide the economic and military support for it’s powerful ruler, Xi Jinping.”

Worse yet, the revelations show that McKinsey had a hand in helping create or exacerbate severe domestic problems:

‘The most shocking revelation, was McKinsey’s decision to help companies sell more opioids when the abuse of those drugs had already killed thousands of Americans. Two senior partners discussed possibly purging records, apparently to hide their involvement.” […] When best-selling business author Tom Peters was interviewed for the book, he said of McKinsey’s role in increased opioid sales: “It’s nauseating […] How do you do that and pretend you are a values-driven company? How do you have a Values Day and do that shit? It’s unbelievable.”

Oh, it’s believable, all right. And Bogdanich and Forsythe are just the reporters to show the world what’s behind the McKinsey curtain. Bogdanich has taken on huge industries before, including a story about Phillip Morris allegedly “adding” nicotine to its tobacco. That story resulted in an infamous libel suit in which accountants and money-driven executives at ABC News promoted settlement instead of a jury trial. Forsythe is also not one to shy away from offending very powerful interests. By way of disclosure, I worked with him closely on his shattering expose for Bloomberg News about “The Princelings,” a group of secretive, corrupt and litigious young Chinese ultra billionaires who had familial relations with members of the CCP, ranging from Chairman Mao’s cadre to Xi Jinping.

Both are solid reporters and this book tells you in a smooth and well-sourced way what’s at stake when powerful entities with deep political connections run amok.

SHOT: California residents to get massive $1,050 direct payments today.

CHASER: California Quietly Raises State Income Tax Rate to 14.4%.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Considerable discussion in the comments questioning the accuracy of the tax-increase report.

YES. NEXT QUESTION? Are Vegetarians Twice as Depressed as Meat Eaters?

Vegans and vegetarians who eat a colorful rainbow of fruits and vegetables (or, you know, a lot of french fries) might be more prone to dark feelings. A new study found that people who excluded meat from their diets had twice as many depressive episodes as omnivores.

To investigate the relationship between a meatless diet and depression among adults, a team of Brazil-based researchers gathered data from more than 14,000 people between the ages of 35 and 74 over a six-month period. They evaluated participants using the Clinical Interview Schedule-Revised instrument, a questionnaire that helps diagnose common mental disorders like depression and anxiety. “Depressive episodes are more prevalent in individuals who do not eat meat,” the authors concluded.

The researchers don’t yet know what’s causing the surprising relationship, but say they’ve ruled out some obvious suspects: nutritional deficiencies, socioeconomic conditions, and lifestyle factors like drinking, smoking, and differing levels of physical activity. More “longitudinal data are needed to clarify causal relationship,” the authors wrote.

Related:

SAY ANYTHING: What’s Biden Doing Warning of ‘Armageddon’ at a Political Fundraiser? “Extraordinary statements from the president of the United States, made at a political fundraiser of all places. Why should Putin try to climb down from the ledge he’s walked out on when the U.S. president has pointed out that he can’t extricate himself without losing significant power?”

GAY PALESTINIAN BEHEADED AND PARADED THROUGH WEST BANK STREETS IN SICKENING DISPLAY:

A gay Palestinian was kidnapped and beheaded this week and his body paraded through a Palestinian neighborhood in a sickening video that underscores the danger LGBTQ people face at the hands of Islamic extremists.

Gruesome footage of Ahmad Hacham Hamdi Abu Marakhia’s body being carried through the West Bank city of Hebron and then left dismembered on a roadside went viral on social media after his death Wednesday. Palestinian Authority police have opened an investigation, according to the Jerusalem Post.

“We are shocked,” Rita Petrenko, CEO of The Different House, which provides a haven near Tel Aviv for LGBTQ Muslims and Arabs who face persecution from Palestinian extremists, told the news site N12. “He was part of an LGBT pride group we started in the South. Many people knew of him.”

Bay Area protest group “Queers for Palestine”  could not be reached for comment.

OH: Trans Hormone Profiteer Planned Parenthood Teaches Public School Sex Ed In 16 States, Including Red Idaho.

ST. LOUIS: Police Captain David Dorn’s Widow Blasts Defund the Police Democrats in Reaction to Murderer’s Sentencing. “I find it funny that she says ‘defund the police.’ But yet, she spends $400,000-$700,000 on security alone just for herself, using police officers to do it. And her own city that she came from is being destroyed by crime. Police are needed and the community does not want to defund the police. They want more police.”

READER FAVORITE: Kitchen Mama Electric Can Opener. #CommissionEarned

KIDS DON’T LIKE DRESSING UP AS HEROES AND MONSTERS AND GETTING CANDY, ANYWAY: Elementary school cancels ‘exclusionary’ Halloween, won’t answer basic questions.

FOLLOW THE SCIENCE: Students boycott class after professor declares there are only two sexes.

GET ‘EM SKEERED: Project Veritas Has One High School Principal Scrambling.

WITH SO MANY HOAXES, I NOW ASSUME THAT CLAIMS LIKE THIS ARE FALSE UNTIL PROVEN OTHERWISE: University ‘unable to verify’ black student’s claim white students dumped water on her.

HEATHER HEYING: What Do Girls Do?

There is an eight-year-old girl who likes to play in streams and look under rocks for squirmy critters. She not only knows how to throw a ball but enjoys doing it. She loves math and logic, and has no interest in dolls or dresses. She will grow up to be a woman. Because that’s what girls do.

There is another eight-year-old girl who likes to give tea parties for her stuffed animals. She likes to dance all the dances, often with other girls who like to do the same thing. She loves to read, and has no interest in trucks or trails. She will also grow up to be a woman. Because, again, that’s what girls do.

One of these girls may want to be an astronaut. The other, a chef. Or a mother. Or a lawyer. An actress. A racecar driver. Are all of these desires equally likely among girls? They are not. Girls are likely to want some things more than others. But guess what: the girls who aren’t girly are still girls. You can tell, in part, by the fact that they grow up to be women. Because that’s what girls do.

Sex isn’t assigned at birth. Sex is observed at birth.

Read the whole thing.

DEAL OF THE DAY: 12 Inch Shower Head with Extension Arm. #CommissionEarned