CRACKS IN THE RAINBOW: “As the Manhattan Institute’s Zach Goldberg has noted in his research, the increasing divergence between the Democrats’ elites and proles is getting harder to manage. It prompts the Democrats to obsess over social issues that are important to their elite demographic but not their actual voting base (Climate Change! Transgenderism!), while doing nothing to serve liberal white Democrats who, as has been shown in study after study, are actually miserable, self-hating, and basically crazy.”

Harsh, but fair.

KEVIN WILLIAMSON: Ron DeSantis did what he does best during Hurricane Idalia: Govern.

DeSantis the good governor might make a good president, but that guy isn’t in the race: DeSantis the right-wing zealot and brawler is running for president, and not having much luck at it.

DeSantis is in the unfortunate position of trying to sell de-Trumped Trumpism to Republican primary voters who don’t particularly want their Trumpism de-Trumped.

But Hurricane Idalia presented that other DeSantis — the one whose main presidential credential is being good at the very important job he already has — a chance to shine.

Whether DeSantis is a capable enough politician to make the most of that remains an open question. So is whether Republicans are inclined to be impressed by a display of mere good governance.

It is tempting to say, “Will the real Ron DeSantis please stand up?” But it might be just as good if the phony one sat down — and remained seated.

Exit question: Does it matter that DeSantis has no plans to meet with Biden during president’s visit to Florida?

Chris Christie could not be reached for comment.

JOHN TIERNEY: No Masks, Please, We’re Rational.

IT WASN’T EVEN IN TEXAS: Man Totes Actual Humongous Pet Bull In Ford Sedan, Attracts Police.

READER FAVORITE: Gel Seat Cushion for Long Sitting. #CommissionEarned

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Burning Man ‘shelter in place’: Mud closes roads; thousands told to conserve water, food.

LAW IS FOR REPUBLICANS, DEMOCRATS DO WHAT THEY WANT: Snek in the grass: KY gov may not follow law if McConnell retires.

RIP: Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson dead at 75.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: India just landed on the moon. Now it’s headed for the sun.

JIM TREACHER: Libs Vow to Never Leave You Alone – Ever.

Remember CNN+? You know, the streaming service that made Quibi look like Netflix. It lasted for 30 glorious days in the spring of 2022, and it was only the first time within the next three months that Brian Stelter would lose a job.

No terrible idea ever really goes away, which is why now this is happening. Brian Steinberg, Variety:

Warner Bros. Discovery plans to unveil a 24/7 live-streamed news service called “CNN Max” on September 27, and indicated the outlet would focus initially on breaking news. Anchors including Jim Acosta, Rahel Solomon, Amara Walker, Fredricka Whitfield and Jim Sciutto have been given assignments, with Sciutto set to lead breaking news in the afternoons…

CNN Max is likely to evolve over time. Among the features the company will try out are ways of alerting Max viewers to breaking news while they are watching something else on the service, whether it be an HBO series, a Turner Classic Movies selection or an old episode of Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.”

This is great news if you’re one of the approximately 600,000 people who ever, ever watch CNN anymore. For the rest of us, it sounds like being told to eat our vegetables. Except the vegetables are actually dog turds.

It isn’t 1965 anymore. A TV network can break into programming to tell you about some current event they think is important, but a streaming service can’t. The whole point of a streaming service is that you don’t have to watch anything you don’t want to. That’s the agreement they make with you. And if they break that agreement, you can cancel your subscription before they can say, “And now, let’s go to Anderson Cooper.”

These people aren’t our gatekeepers anymore, and it really pisses them off. The audience now has the one thing these creeps wish we didn’t: a choice.

CNN Max’s programmers apparently don’t realize that everybody watching streaming media has their iPhone and/or iPad on the couch next to them when watching streaming media. If the Space Shuttle explodes or someone flies a plane into the World Trade Center, we’ll all know in real time – or at worst, we’ll find out one or two hours later when whatever streaming show we’re watching concludes. Or as Noah Rothman writes, “If Max’s executives think that you do not deserve uninterrupted access to escapist entertainment such that you can shut yourself off to the world, Max’s executives don’t think highly of you at all.” And like Bud Light’s executives, they really don’t.

READER FAVORITE: The Survival Medicine Handbook: The Essential Guide for When Help is NOT on the Way. #CommissionEarned

SCIENCE: LDL not the be all, end all in heart disease, heart attacks and stroke.

OLD AND BUSTED: Cocaine Bear.

The New Hotness? Weekend Parting Shot: Cocaine Raccoons.

BOB GRABOYES: Take Your Clothes Off, Oppressor: When Doctors Discard Sacred Oaths.

MOVE ALONG, NOTHING TO SEE HERE: Thousands of Minors Went Under the Knife to ‘Affirm’ a Transgender Identity, Study Shows.

PARTS OF AMERICA STILL WORK: SpaceX sends 22 new Starlink satellites into orbit in 60th launch of 2023.

IS THE NEW YORK TIMES A LIBERAL NEWSPAPER? OF COURSE IT IS: New York Times Column Strains to Find Nefarious Reason Conservatives Oppose Chinese Totalitarianism.

(Classical reference in headline.)

NEWS YOU CAN USE: The Critical Drinker on What A Lightsaber Would Really Do To You (Video).

RIP: Jimmy Buffett, enduring ‘Margaritaville’ singer turned mogul, dies at 76.

UPDATE: Jimmy Buffett’s cause of death revealed: Margaritaville singer ‘died following secret skin cancer battle,’ says friend, after star ‘lived his life in the sun’ and was diagnosed four years ago.

THE POWER LINE WEEK IN PICTURES: Geezer Edition.

COLLUSION: Chinese influence on higher ed remains concern of Congress.

ONLY ONE? THAT’S A BIG WIN, DUDE: The Washington Post’s Review of My New Book Contains a Direct Factual Error.

It is a clear and unforgivable error. We’ll see if they correct it.

DEAL OF THE DAY: Bose SoundLink Micro Bluetooth Speaker. #CommissionEarned

TRY THAT IN A SMALL TOWN VILLAGE: ‘We don’t need police’: the New Forest village taking the law into its own hands: At the village with the most unsolved burglaries in the UK, shopkeepers are turning to vigilante-style tactics. “A level of basic interest [from the police] would be nice.”

Ultimately, police exist not to protect the public from criminals, but to protect criminals from the public. Meanwhile, this article blames budget cuts for inadequate policing, but I note that British police have time to go after people for Facebook posts, and after children who make politically incorrect statements.

FDA: “YOU ARE NOT A HORSE.” JUDGE DON WILLETT: “FDA is not a physician.” Doctors’ ivermectin lawsuit against the FDA revived.

“Even tweet-sized doses of personalized medical advice are beyond FDA’s statutory authority.”