THIS SORT OF THING TENDS NOT TO: Asia is spending big to battle low birth rates – will it work?

The costs and benefits of parenthood go way beyond what you can override via subsidies.

Flashback: The Parent Trap.

Related: Montesquieu’s Warning About Our Childlessness.

Also related: car seats as contraception: “Since 1977, U.S. states have passed laws steadily raising the age for which a child must ride in a car safety seat. These laws significantly raise the cost of having a third child, as many regular-sized cars cannot fit three child seats in the back. Using census data and state-year variation in laws, we estimate that when women have two children of ages requiring mandated car seats, they have a lower annual probability of giving birth by 0.73 percentage points. Consistent with a causal channel, this effect is limited to third child births, is concentrated in households with access to a car, and is larger when a male is present (when both front seats are likely to be occupied). We estimate that these laws prevented only 57 car crash fatalities of children nationwide in 2017. Simultaneously, they led to a permanent reduction of approximately 8,000 births in the same year, and 145,000 fewer births since 1980, with 90% of this decline being since 2000.”

IT’S COME TO THIS: Vanity Fair Compares Elon Musk To KKK Grand Wizard David Duke For Interviewing DeSantis.

WELL, TO BE FAIR, THE PRESS LIES A LOT: Another MSM meltdown: The DeSantis/Florida “book ban” that was … none of those. “Did Florida and Ron DeSantis embark on a crusade to ban a poem read at Joe Biden’s inauguration from public schools? As it turns out, the incident in question had nothing to do with DeSantis, nothing to do with the state of Florida, and poet Amanda Gorman’s book never left the one school library in question. But if you read the story in the national media — fueled by Gorman’s own misinformed Instagram post — you’d think that DeSantis spent the day dancing around a poetry pyre.”

DEAL OF THE DAY: Generac 8250 GP2500i 2,500-Watt Gas-Powered Portable Generator. #CommissionEarned

CRISIS BY DESIGN: A New Low: Biden to Halt Familial DNA Testing at the Border.

WILFULLY AND FOR POLITICAL REASONS? RealClearInvestigations: How Black Lives Matter Got Police Violence Wrong.

The collapse in race relations began in 2014. Exactly why this year was pivotal is unknown, though it coincides with the debunked “hands up, don’t shoot” framing of the Michael Brown killing and a larger “great awokening” wherein extreme identitarian views became more influential on the political left. Since 2014, little data suggests race disparities have gotten worse. Racist attitudes in the United States are at historic lows. However, news media coverage worrying over racism soared.

I studied this issue empirically in 2021. I wanted to see whether actual police shootings of unarmed black men correlated with race relations or whether news media coverage highlighting police shootings of black men was a better predictor. It turns out race relations are unrelated to actual police shootings, but correlate with news media coverage, which tends to obsess over shootings of black Americans while ignoring shootings of other individuals.

This pattern holds up in so many places. Think of the news media as hostile disinformation sources and you won’t go far wrong.

DISTURBINGLY PLAUSIBLE: The Future Belongs to Morons.

HEALTH: Life-changing vaccine provides long-lasting protection against rheumatoid arthritis. “According to the report, the vaccine, which uses a protein called 14-3-3 zeta, promotes a strong and immediate response from the body’s innate immune system, providing long-lasting protection against rheumatoid arthritis.”

PRIORITIES: Newsom’s Nanny State: California Set to Ban Skittles & Other Candy Over Health Concerns.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY (ITALY EDITION): Italian ‘pasta strike’ proposed amid soaring prices.

Pasta costs rose by 17.5% in March and 16.5% in April. That’s more than double Italy’s roughly 8% inflation rate.

The reason is simple: Much of the pasta now making its way to store shelves (and imported here to the U.S.) was manufactured during the pandemic, when commodity costs were higher.

As a result, retail costs now reflect the higher production expenses.

Even so, that’s not sitting well with Italians.

“High prices are maintained in order to have greater profits,” an Italian consumer group called Assoutent told CNBC.

The group is seeking a “pasta strike” by consumers lasting at least 15 days to reduce demand and force retailers to lower costs.

It’s hard to imagine Italians giving up pasta at any price.

CHANGE: New Tennessee law bans colleges from requiring agreement with ‘antiracist’ concepts

CHANGE? Romney Faces a Challenger for His Senate Seat.

I REMEMBER WHEN HIGHER EDUCATION WAS SOLD ON THE BASIS OF PREVENTING TOTALITARIANISM: At Kent State, 2,500+ sign petition to hold Republican students ‘accountable’ for daring to screen Matt Walsh film.

COOL. NOW ELIMINATE THE DEPARTMENT: Washington state fires first-ever director of equity after failing to maintain stable work environment.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Vin Scully Is Rolling In His Grave After Dodgers Cave to Pride Mob. “The Dodgers are glorifying a blasphemous hate group that delights in mocking Roman Catholics. Los Angeles has the largest Roman Catholic population in North America. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has almost five million members, a number that I’m sure is far greater than however many drag queens might be buying Dodger Dogs one day.”

DON SURBER: Already lying about Trump’s second term. “The reporter — Sophia Cai — neither talked to the president nor did she quote his public statements much. She just speculated and exaggerated his positions. In other words, she did the same piss-poor reporting that one has come to expect from the DC press corps. . . . What Cai did reveal was the 2024 version of Orange Man Bad. Spoiler alert: They will call him a fascist again.”

Wow. Didn’t see that one coming.

WELL, YES. The FBI is now just flipping the bird to Congress.

Indeed, the entire Deep State has decided that it’s not accountable to the people, and it wants to make that clear.

MY NEW YORK POST COLUMN: The biggest threat to our military just might be DEI indoctrination. “Last fiscal year, the Army fell 25% short of its recruiting goals. This is a Bud Light-level failure.”

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Joe Biden isn’t speaking coherently enough to fact-check him.

THEY’RE TREATING HIM LIKE A JANUARY 6 PROTESTER: WSJ Reporter Arrested In Russia Has Pre-Trial Detention Extended By Three Months. I wish that comparison was a joke.

EH, SO BLUE MOBS WILL TRASH BLUE CITIES. The “squad” signals riots if they don’t get their way.

COWARDS: L.A. Dodgers Issue Groveling Apology to Satanic Drag Queens and Reinstate Them as ‘Heroes.’

FIGHT THE POWER:

#Macron's order to hang his portrait in the administration of each city from 1,500 residents.
Locals are glad to oblige pic.twitter.com/XkXNhGjVPM

— Arthur Morgan (@ArthurM40330824) May 15, 2023

LIGHTNING DEAL: Thrive Roadside Emergency Car Kit. #CommissionEarned

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY (RUSSIA EDITION): Fighting in Russian Border Region Following Incursion Enters Second Day.

Russian military correspondents said battles were continuing well into the afternoon on Tuesday, with Russian forces trying to stop two units of combatant reinforcements from joining up with the groups inside Russia.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it had launched attacks against the combatants using artillery and air power. Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the groups had been encircled and at least 70 members had been killed.

The extent of the original incursion and the affiliations of the combatants couldn’t be confirmed independently but the incident has exposed embarrassing weaknesses around Russia’s border areas as Moscow’s troops prepare for an expected Ukrainian offensive.

When reports first starting coming in on Monday morning, the incursion looked like a propaganda stunt — and in some ways, is sure is. But it’s also turned into an aggravating game of Whack-a-Mole for Moscow.