I REMEMBER WHEN ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE WANTED TO INVOKE THE 25TH AMENDMENT FOR TRUMP. NOW, CRICKETS. Robert Weissberg on the 25th Amendment and Biden’s Dementia.

CENSORED. IN AMERICA. The Top 3 Censored Topics in America in 2023.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY, CHAIRMAN XI: China’s leaders are downplaying their economic troubles (but seem worried the real data will get out).

The economy was booming, then he injected communism back into it and it started to die. It’s like that stuff is poison or something.

DOING THE JOB AMERICAN-BORN CANDIDATES WON’T DO: Vietnamese refugee Hung Cao runs for Senate in Virginia against Democrats on an openly anti-communist platform.

UPDATE: From the comments: “If there were actually any justice in the world, every establishment-GOP squish for the last 60 years would watch that video and die of shame.” Well, There Ain’t No Justice.

BECAUSE IT PROFITS THE SOCIALISTS TO OBSCURE THE TRUTH:  Must-hear interview: Steve Koonin on why so much that people “know” about “climate change” is wrong.

I DON’T CARE HOW CRAZY A STORY THEY WANT TO TELL, BUT CAN THEY STOP CALLING IT BY THE NAME OF SOMETHING OLDER THAT WORKED?  Former Disney Designer Asserts Walt Disney Would “Very Much Disagree” With Rachel Zegler’s Vision For ‘Snow White’.

Also, for the record from the comments, it’s not just their vision being very odd, it’s that the world-building doesn’t work at all:

IF YOU TINKER WITH THIS STUFF:  Starting Points.

BECAUSE THE TRUTH MATTERS: Painting that covered up enslaved boy restored, set to hang in Met.

SO MUCH FOR LEARNING TO CODE?  Clerical workers most likely to suffer job losses from generative AI: study.

FRAUD ALLOWED TO STAND HAS CONSEQUENCES:  Open floodgates at Arizona border allow thousands of migrants to walk into the country.

WELL, HE’S TELLING ONE TRUTH:  Social Security Will Be Bankrupt in 11 Years: Chris Christie.

Though technically it’s bankrupt now, since all our government does is print money, and Social Security is part of a general slush fund.

THIS SHOULD BE THE BASELINE, NOT A CONSIDERATION:  More Southern California School Districts Considering Informing Parents of Child’s Gender Status.

THE ONES HE DOESN’T ADMIT TO WERE EVEN BIGGER FAILURES:  Actually, Joe, All Your ‘Objectives’ Were Failures.

SOME SANITY:  Uniparty’s Plan to Save ‘Our Democracy™’ Unfolds.

I AM NOWHERE AS OPTIMISTIC AS PEOPLE THINK. IT’S GOING TO HURT. BUT WE WON’T  LOSE: A Clearer Picture.

IT WAS TIME 20 YEARS AGO:  It is time to devalue the software research of climate models.

NOT REMOTELY READY FOR PRIME TIME:  Traveling with electric vehicles a non-starter, apparently.

You can’t rush real science, much less discovery.

RONAN’S RECORD HASN’T EXACTLY SPARKLED: This Ronan Farrow story about Elon Musk isn’t great. “The gist of the story is that Musk is really rich and, because of the success of his companies, has a lot of say when it comes to the use of his technology.”

OMG, that’s really awful. Plus: “Musk’s demand that the defense department pay him for the ongoing use of the satellites doesn’t strike me as an outrage. If the US government wanted to send planes built by Boeing to Ukraine to bolster the war effort it wouldn’t expect Boeing to send them for free. They are a real company that can’t afford to simply donate its very expensive products wherever the Pentagon feels they are needed. Starlink is the same.”

Also: “Elon is a very clever nerd who doesn’t have a lot of patience for moving at the speed of government regulation. This may make him difficult and even somewhat reckless at times but it also means he gets things done while everyone else seems to be moving in slow motion trying to catch up. His brand of initiative and boldness is something we used to value in America but it feels like now we have a lot more critics whose contribution is to scold anyone who takes an actual risk that hasn’t been approved by a government committee.”

We used to call those people “losers.” Now we call them journalists. Which, to be fair, is a harsher insult in 2023.

NOW OUT FROM ANDREW WAREHAM: The Great South Sea (The Call of the Sea Book 9).

OPEN THREAD: Monday, Monday.

MY LATEST SUBSTACK ESSAY: Neurosis and the Curley Effect: The politics of mental health, and the mental health of politics.

JOHN HINDERAKER: Finally, some good news on energy. A North Carolina coal-fired plant will be replaced with nuclear, not wind. So there’ll be, you know, actual power. “Still, one has to wonder: why are these victories so hard to achieve? Why would utilities and politicians not want to save hundreds of billions of dollars? And why would they not want an electric grid that can keep the lights on?”

Completely unrelated: Why Team Biden might be purposefully grinding down the middle class.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Poland signs agreement to fly astronaut on Axiom Space ISS mission.

WHEN THE PROLES GET SKINNY, WHAT’S AN ELOI TO DO? Almost 100 Million Americans Eligible For New Weight Loss Drug. “That’s a lot of people by any measure. Projections suggest it would mean some 43 million fewer people with obesity, and the prevention of around 1.5 million heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular problems over the course of 10 years. The estimates, from a team at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) in the US, are based on a recent trial involving 1,961 adults, targeted at people with obesity and who were given a weekly 2.4 milligram dose of semaglutide, the pharmaceutical on which Wegovy is based.”

SPACE: SpaceX rolls rocket to pad ahead of Crew-7 astronaut launch.