MY NEW YORK POST COLUMN: Team Biden’s refusal to admit we’re in a recession is just another reason Americans don’t trust our institutions.

The news is bad on the lack of trust. A recent University of Chicago Institute of Politics poll found that a majority of Americans think that the government is “corrupt and rigged against people like me.” . . .

Why do people feel that way? Well, that’s a real poser, but I’m going to offer a suggestion: They feel that way because they’ve noticed that the government is corrupt and rigged against people like them.

Just spitballing here.

STRANGE HOW HE’S MOSTLY DROPPED OFF THE FRONT PAGES: Would-Be Kavanaugh Assassin Was ‘Shooting for Three’ Justices, Sources Confirm.

OUT: SHRINKFLATION. IN: DISQUALIFLATION. “Packaging less stuff for the same price doesn’t fool consumers or economists. But diminishing quality imposes equally maddening extra costs that are almost impossible to measure.”

BECAUSE THEY’RE LYING LIARS WHO LIE? Christina Pushaw explains to Politico’s Jack Shafer why Gov. DeSantis doesn’t give interviews to the liberal media.

Hey, I got it right!

FROM STEPHEN PALMER:  The Unlikely Candidate: A Novel of Politics, Religion, and the Media.

#COMMISSIONEARNED

After completing his second and final term as governor of Mississippi at age fifty, Jeff Ackerman is seeking direction for the next stage in his life. On a whim, Ackerman decides to run for president in the 2016 election against incumbent Democrat Upton Landers. Landers is a reasonably popular sitting president during a time of peace and a stable economy. The well-known Republican politicians elect to sit on the sidelines for the 2016 election, implicitly conceding re-election to Landers. This leaves the Republican field open to squishy moderates, has-beens, and never-have-beens such as Jeff Ackerman.

The Unlikely Candidate takes the reader on a thought-provoking and sometimes infuriating journey into the Oval Office, Air Force One, a New York City newsroom, the pulpit of an African-American church in Detroit, and the headquarters of an agribusiness conglomerate in Iowa. One part political commentary, one part media criticism, and one part Christian apologetic, this novel prioritizes ideas and ideals. Author Stephen Palmer weaves various threads into a compelling, fast-moving narrative that keeps the reader thinking while anxiously turning pages.

After a successful twenty-year legal career, Stephen Palmer retired from a major international law firm at age 46 in order to focus on writing and public speaking. He’s originally from Jackson, Mississippi and now lives in Marietta, Georgia with his wife Jennifer and their two daughters.

SO I HADN’T SLEPT MUCH (FOR REASONS) AND IT’S SOMEWHAT MORE TYPOEY THAN USUAL, BUT: On Being A Flea.

I QUESTION THE METHODOLOGY AND STUDY POPULATION; WHERE DID THEY FIND 38% WILLING TO SAY “SIGNING PETITIONS” WOULD PRODUCE SOCIAL CHANGE?  Most Americans don’t think health care or gun violence will get better: Poll.

I also question their definition of “Better.”

In fact, I feel like they should be turned into newts.

BECAUSE THEY ARE SOMEWHAT BEYOND RIDICULOUSLY MAL-EDUCATED?  Why for the Brahmandarins, populism is good in the Arab world but “dangerous” in the West.

Also bizarre oikophobes.

THEY HAVE CHOSEN THE FORM OF THEIR DESTRUCTOR:  “They Can’t Let Him Back In”.

So be it.

AS THOUGH WE NEEDED MORE:  More evidence of Biden’s corruption.

THE BETTER TO EAT US WITH:  Manchin, Schumer Agree on Bloated Economic and Climate Bill.

BECAUSE THE LEFT USES EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO PUSH ITS VERSION OF EVENTS:  Why people become rock stars after they flip politics.

It’s weasels all the way down.

AND AGAIN, WHY WOULD YOU THINK THIS IS UNINTENDED:  Military Recruitment Crisis Underway as Biden Admin Continues Emphasis on Wokeness, Vaccine Mandates.

OF COURSE, HE DOES. HIS GOAL IS TO DESTROY US:  RECESSION: Economy Shrank at Annual Rate of 0.9% in Second Quarter, Biden Thinks We’re on the Right Path.

Such a creature, purchased by our enemies, stuck in by massive fraud of those who hate us and everything we stand for…. and you think he’s on our side? Why?

RULES ARE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE:  Report: Chicago Mayor Lightfoot Hasn’t Paid Speeding, Red Light Tickets.

BEHOLD: MY EXTREMELY SHOCKED FACE:  Gaza: Hamas Building New Terror Tunnels and Weapons Depots Near Hospitals, Schools, and Mosques.

Dog to his vomit, pig to his mire, fool’s burned finger, yadda yadda yadda.

THE…. WHAT?  D.C. Mayor Bowser Wants National Guard to Help With Illegal Immigrants Bused to Capital.

LEFTIST DOGMA MAY NOT EVEN BE QUESTIONED: UNC Chapel Hill Student Gov’t Cuts Off Funding & Contracting to Anyone Who “Advocates” for Limits on Abortion.

IT’S TIME FOR OBERLIN TO PAY UP: Gibson’s Bakery “May Only Survive for the Next Couple of Months,” Pleads With Court To Collect Against Oberlin College.

OPEN THREAD: Display your creativity and erudition.

NEW VIDEO FROM AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Is Your Teenager Secretly A Libertarian? Nine Warning Signs To Look For.

Also from the Bee: 11 Pick Up Lines For Libertarians To Use If They Ever Meet A Girl.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Russia wants to build its own space station, as early as 2028.

CHANGE: Controversial Transgender Clinic Shuts Down in U.K., Deemed ‘Not Safe’ for Children.

NUKES, NUBS, AND CONERS: The Unique Social Hierarchy Aboard A Nuclear Submarine.

I just reread Ned Beach’s Run Silent, Run Deep, and then read the sequels, which I had never read. (I met him once in Georgetown, when my girlfriend was renting a place next door to him). The later ones take place on nuclear subs, and the last one is in the Arctic, which was a nice warmup (er, so to speak) for rereading Alistair MacLean’s Ice Station Zebra, which I read in high school, but which is holding up rather well so far. Before Beach, I read William Roskey’s series.

CHANGE: Yale Law School shuts down listserv tied to protests. “Yale Law School has made a lot of news over the past year, much of it embarrassing to the school. For instance, in March of this year a group of protesters shouted down a panel discussion which included a representative from Alliance Defending Freedom. The protesters did leave the room when asked; however, the same protesters continued shouting in the hallway and made it difficult to hear the speakers and also disrupted other classes taking place in the building. Today, Aaron Sibarium at the Washington Free Becaon reports that a listserv used to organize several recent protests at Yale Law has been shut down.”

Going back to the old physical bulletin board they had in my day.