LAZY LEADERSHIP: Eric Adams Blames Media — Again — of Creating Perception NYC is a Dangerous Place.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams basically admitted Wednesday morning that his “mission” is to make people forget about the crime that’s plaguing the city — without actually doing anything about said rising crime. Makes sense for a far-left activist. Diversion and deflection is what they’re good at.

“[M]y mission is to move people from what they felt to what they’re feeling,” Adams said. “And no one can take away the fact this city is humming.”

What does that even mean? In what way is it “humming?” Typically when you say something is “humming,” you’re implying that things are going along smoothly with no issue. That’s simply not the case in Adams’ NYC.

Adams also blamed the media for reporting about “the most horrific events that may happen throughout the previous day” and its contribution to the perception that New York City is dangerous.

You know why? Because it is.

And while the New York Post inexplicably tried to play defense for the crime plaguing the city, their reported stats didn’t do them any favors.

If you’re a Democrat mayor of the media capital of the planet – the New Yorker claimed in March that the city has “a hundred and sixteen” community newspapers – and crime is on the rise, you don’t get to blame newspapers for doing their job, especially when your predecessors knew a thing or two about reducing the problem.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Lifting even light weights builds strength, muscle.

MICROBIOME NEWS: Gut bacteria may affect clogged arteries.

OVER AT MY SUBSTACK: Thoughts on the Population Implosion.. (Bumped).

SONNY BUNCH: Tom Cruise, the Living Manifestation of Kino.

Late-stage Mission: Impossible movies are absolutely perfect pop art confections, and Dead Reckoning: Part One is no exception. Imagine The Fast and the Furious series, but good: headlined by a genuine star, featuring coherently shot set pieces, and looking like they exist in something like the real world instead of a CGI-composited bag of garbage. I’m glad Tom Cruise is making them and I’m glad they are resounding successes; theaters need evangelists like Cruise if they are to survive.

But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little sad to see Cruise’s complete absorption into franchise fare over which he has near-total control. Since Edge of Tomorrow, he’s been in precisely one non-franchise feature (American Made); the movie he’s shooting with SpaceX isn’t likely to be that different from the recent Mission: Impossible films.

Such is the way of the world, I suppose; all of Hollywood has been consumed by intellectual property. Perhaps it’s just one final way that Tom Cruise truly is the living manifestation of American cinema.

The latest Mission: Impossible film is also Critical Drinker approved. He compares it to the new Indiana Jones movie, except that the elements that are disastrous in Harrison Ford’s film — the stunts, the age of the lead, his female costar, and the McGuffin — all work in the latest M:I.

EVERY DIME. ONLINE. IN REAL TIME: Nobody has done as much for genuine, day-to-day transparency and accountability in government as this guy and the organization he founded. As the maxim holds, nothing disinfects so well as sunshine.

HOSPITAL FOOD: “Not Fit for a Dog.” “There was a concern that this overhaul would be too costly. However, we learned that fresh ingredients were actually less expensive than processed and pre-cooked meals.”

SCIENCE: Searching for alternatives to alcohol. On the later Star Trek episodes, they have “synthohol,” which will give you a buzz but one that doesn’t increase with increased consumption. On TOS, they have Romulan Ale and Saurian Brandy. I can’t help but think that that summarizes the difference in the shows right there.

DISPATCHES FROM THE STERLING-COOPER AD AGENCY: Is Christina Hendricks the latest Ozempic tragedy?

NO WORD YET IF CHRISTOPHER NOLAN HAS HIRED A PAIR OF B-29s TO DISTRIBUTE THEM TO THEATERS: The Oppenheimer 70mm Film Reel Weighs 600 Pounds and is 11 Miles Long.

RIP: Corvette Legend Reeves Callaway Dead at 75.

YES. NEXT QUESTION? Matt Taibbi: Are Authorities Using the Internet to Sap Our Instinct for Freedom?

THE POWER LINE WEEK IN PICTURES: Peak Farce Edition.

RON DESANTIS DELIVERS STRONG PERFORMANCE IN TUCKER CARLSON INTERVIEW, THROWS SHADE AT NEWSOM:

Speaking of our porous southern border, DeSantis said he’d call a national emergency on day one and use all the forces at his command to stop the tsunami.

The two also spoke about the threat from China–“at the end of the day, what the CCP respects is hard power,” DeSantis said, adding that Joe Biden is projecting the opposite.

They also talked at length about COVID, energy, Russia, cocaine in the White House, digital currency, parents’ rights, Hunter’s laptop, the economy, and more.

But DeSantis didn’t leave without taking a shot at his cross-country rival, California Governor Gavin Newsom. Should President Biden somehow step out of the race, DeSantis is prepared:

I’m fully prepared to have a Florida-California showdown and let the people choose what’s the better vision for the United States of America, because I’m very confident that the freedom in Florida is what more people would choose rather than the public defecation on the streets of San Francisco. 

That cracked Tucker up.

To me, DeSantis seemed at ease, spoke knowledgeably about the issues, laughed frequently, and didn’t seem awkward at all. That is not an endorsement or an expression of any preference in the GOP presidential primaries, it’s just my opinion about his performance at this event.

Exit quote:

Killer answer, but especially on the necessity of preparation. "You can't wait two years to get your people in place," DeSantis says, if you want to fight the bureaucracy. That's absolutely right. https://t.co/eqtO3j59qR

— Ed Morrissey (@EdMorrissey) July 14, 2023

CONSEQUENCES: Acquitted Yale student can sue rape accuser for defamation: court.

SCIENCE! University scientists tell doctors to avoid ‘traumatizing’ and ‘harmful’ sex info in notes on trans patients.

YES, THEY REALLY SAID IT: House Republicans approved a $52.4 billion appropriations bill for State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs that includes prohibitions on any U.S. tax dollars going to research labs controlled by China, Russia, North Korea, Iran or Venezuela, or to fund gain-of-function research such as that in the Wuhan lab that produced the Coronavirus.

The Washington Free Beacon’s Andrew Kerr reports the response of Democrats:

“To Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee, led by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D., Conn.), these measures unravel ‘the hard-fought credibility and influence the United States has earned as a global leader,’ the lawmakers said in a press release Wednesday. ‘The bill threatens our national security and puts the American people and global health at risk,’ the Democrats added.”

No, they really did say that. It hurts U.S. national security to not fund research labs controlled by America’s adversaries. They actually said it.

LARRY PURDY ON FOOTNOTE 4 OF THE SFFA DECISION:  Why should our nation’s service academies be exempt from the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision?

FUNNY, THAT: And Just Like That, It’s No Longer an Insurrection.

.@Timcast cracks up when he notices that Rolling Stone is referring to Jan 6 as “protests” now that they are in the position of defending Ray Epps. pic.twitter.com/5BKhJOY2co

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 13, 2023

SO THE PARTY MAY REPLACE BIDEN, BUT BIDEN MAY REPLACE KAMALA: “She is seen even by some of her advocates as an empty suit given to awkward laughter and poorly worded comments. She polls horribly. So it’s natural that there is renewed talk that President Joe Biden should consider replacing Vice President Kamala Harris on the 2024 ticket.”

KAMALA: “When we invest in clean energy and electric vehicles and REDUCE POPULATION, more of our children can breath clean air and drink clean water.”

WHAT DID THE VP JUST SAY?

KAMALA HARRIS: “When we invest in clean energy and electric vehicles and reduce population, more of our children can breath clean air and drink clean water.” pic.twitter.com/MbMiDx9Xoc

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 14, 2023

Did she mean “reduce pollution“??

If so, what a Freudian slip!!

Considering the administration is in many ways Obama’s third term, his former “science” “czar,” John Holdren flashes his best Dr. Strangelove smile:  “Dr. John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy—better known as the ‘science czar’—has been a longtime prophet of environmental catastrophes. Never discouraged but never right. And thanks to resourceful bloggers, you can read excerpts from a hard-to-find book co-authored by Holdren in the late 1970s, called Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment, online. In it, you will find the czar wading into some unpleasant talk about mass sterilizations and abortions.”

OUT ON A LIMB: Disney’s problem isn’t just that it is woke; it is creatively dead.

Look at this controversy: everybody is focused on the wokeness; fine, whatever. Just as important is that Disney can’t come up with anything but a remake of a movie of which they are apparently ASHAMED. They declare Snow White to be toxic but are too creatively bankrupt to come up with anything but a race-swapped Snow White with an empowerment message that Princes are unnecessary appendages to a strong Latina woman.

Geez. If you dislike Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, make a different movie. You have billions of dollars, after all. But instead, Disney wants to live off the legacy of “white supremacy” while decrying it.

It’s like Ben and Jerry’s wanting everybody else to return “stolen land” but hanging on to its own in order to crank out cash, only worse. Ben and Jerry’s actually has an edible product; Disney is recycling what it claims to be its own trash.

That isn’t just hypocrisy, but pathetic.

Hollywood isn’t incapable of coming up with good stories, and good stories don’t even have to be complicated. Tom Cruise (whose religious beliefs seem utterly bizarre to me, but so what?) knows how to make a good movie. Disney? It recycles its own IP, injects idiotic political messages (Indiana Jones is a pathetic old man who will be upstaged by a personality-free girl boss), and begs you to part with your cash.

I wouldn’t even stream it if I could. Sounds awful, as does every Disney movie of late, and the box office receipts reflect that.

As Spinal Tap’s legendary manager Ian Faith would say, I wouldn’t say that Disney’s audience is shrinking, but I would say it’s becoming…more selective. And Disney will employ plenty of fanbaiting to insult those who point out the corporation’s obsession with sexism, racialism and grooming.

A PRESIDENT SO “NORMAL” HIS OWN PARTY IS WORKING ON REPLACING HIM: Top Dems Prepare Replacement for Biden: Donors and officials privately say the president ‘won’t actually be running for reelection,’ CNN reports.

SAN FRANCISCO HAS PASSED DETROIT IN DECLINE, NOW MORPHING INTO GOTHAM CITY: SF business owner patrols neighborhood with imitation gun, ski mask to scare off thieves.

UPDATE: Masked San Francisco Car Break-In Vigilante Arrested, Unmasked.

“IF A MAN WROTE THIS, WE’D BE HAVING A NATIONAL CONVERSATION:” Feminist Eyebrow Beat Reporter Attacks Casey DeSantis’s Looks.

Well, if a man wrote this about a Democratic woman, anyway.