LEON PANETTA: I Don’t Regret Signing Hunter Biden Laptop Letter, ‘Disinformation Is Involved Here.’

Baier followed up, “You don’t think that it was real?”

Panetta responded, “I think that disinformation is involved here. I think Russian disinformation is part of what we’re seeing everywhere. I don’t trust the Russians, and that’s exactly why I was concerned that the public not trust the Russians either.”

Baier then asked, “[O]bviously, Hunter Biden said it was his laptop and this investigation continues. So, you don’t have any regrets about doing what you did?”

Panetta responded, “No, I don’t have any regrets about not trusting the Russians.”

As Jonathan Turley notes: “Denial Ain’t Just a River in Egypt”: Panetta Repeats Debunked Russian Disinformation Claims on Laptop.

ARNOLD KLING: I Condemn. . .But.

AMERICA TO FORD: Your Electric Trucks Can Drop Dead. “Buck notes today that with sales of the F150 Lightning tanking, Ford has now canceled all dealer stock orders for the vehicle. Dealers are stuck with thousands of trucks they cannot sell. As Buck puts it, dealers are ‘choking on a 97-day supply of Lightnings nationwide with 3,632 for sale.’ Ideally, dealers stock a 60-day supply of vehicles they need to sell.”

HEH: “There’s a strong correlation between white people who read The Nation and white people still wearing masks outdoors. A ‘robust’ statistic. About as robust as statistics get. . .”

OUT ON A LIMB: Hard Evidence Warranting The Impeachment Of Joe Biden.

BUT TRUMP SUPPORTERS ARE FAIR GAME: DOJ Warns Financial Institutions That They Can’t Reject Illegal Immigrants’ Credit Applications.

VIA EMAIL FROM A FRIEND ON THE NORTHWESTERN LAW FACULTY:

October 12, 2023

TO: Northwestern Pritzker Law School Community

FROM: Concerned Faculty

RE: Terrorism in Israel

On Saturday, October 7, Hamas terrorists perpetrated the greatest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust. The massacre took the lives of over 1300 peaceful civilians of many nationalities, including at least 20 Americans. Many children were among the dead. Adjusted for population that would be about 45,000 deaths in the U.S., or fifteen 9/11 attacks in a single day.

Celebrants at a music festival were gunned down without mercy. Homes were invaded by gunmen, who used explosives to ensure there would be no survivors. There was no military purpose to the attack, only the goal of murdering as many Israeli civilians as possible. The terrorists posted videos of their barbarous acts. Over 100 hostages were kidnapped and taken back to Gaza, evidently including two women from Evanston.

These events have affected many students and faculty, of all faiths and backgrounds, in the Northwestern Pritzker community. In Israel, 23 students and community members from our partner Tel Aviv University are among the murdered.

As faculty members dedicated to the rule of law, we choose to make clear that we unequivocally condemn Hamas’s wanton acts of terrorism, which have made the establishment of a just peace, recognizing the human rights of every community, all the more difficult to achieve.

Some have claimed that the Hamas atrocities must be blamed on Israel. What Hamas perpetrated was unspeakably evil. It is dehumanizing to blame the murders on the victims. We absolutely reject such acceptance, and near-endorsement, of terrorism.

[67 Signatures.]

OPEN THREAD: Bring the excitement.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: UK’s Asteroid Mining Corp. unveils SCAR-E robot.

A WARNING FROM AUSTIN BAY: Pay Attention: Don’t Let Ukraine-Gaza Lead to WWIII Taiwan.

SO WINE TO PROTECT YOUR EYESIGHT, AND SEX TO PROTECT YOUR BRAIN? I’M ON IT! Sex Appears to Protect Brain Health in Older Adults, Scientists Say.

CAN YOU TAKE THEM IN FERMENTED LIQUID FORM? Scientists Discover New Health Benefits of Grapes.

2023 LEXUS RX350H FIRST TEST REVIEW: Best Yet?

YOSH MANTINBAND: A word from my (soldier) son.

One last thing — I saw someone tweet something like “You can’t tell an oppressed nation how to retaliate.”

There is a pretty clear line (trigger warning — graphic descriptions of actual events from the past 4 days): Don’t shoot babies in the head in front of their mothers. Don’t rape women on the bodies of their friends they just partied with at a music festival. Don’t murder parents who managed to save their 10-month-old twins (now orphans) only by hiding them in a last act of desperation. Don’t parade naked dead bodies in the street. Don’t send mothers a video of their son being murdered from his own WhatsApp. Don’t livestream killing an elderly grandmother from her own Facebook account for her granddaughter to see live. The list is way, WAY longer than this, and we are just finding out just how bad it is (as I’m writing this, they found 40 dead babies). Heartbreakingly, this is not based on stories, this is all documented, posted, and celebrated proudly by Hamas on social media.

I’ll end this post by saying: Hamas has brainwashed some of the Palestinians in Gaza. Not all, but some. These terrorists are not looking for peace. They are looking to murder me, my family, and every single person in my country.

I’m not sure how your country’s army would react, but I know that my army is in an impossible situation trying to keep the country safe while trying not to harm civilians. If you’re not seeing it, consider diversifying your news sources.

Read the whole thing.

ELON MUSKS SPEAKS THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH, AS USUAL:

The left hates Asians

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 11, 2023

QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED: So, Is the Frasier Reboot Worth Watching?

GERMANY IS PARTYING LIKE IT’S 1939 ONCE AGAIN: Anti-Semites Marking Jewish Houses With Star Of David In Berlin: Reports.

Perhaps if Hamas supporters bristle at being compared to Nazis, they should stop doing stuff that Nazis used to do. Err, like this fellow: Author Dylan Evans tweets about ‘final solution’, things immediately go horribly wrong for him.

Dylan Evans is currently research officer in Evolutionary Robotics at the University of Bath. Previously he was a research fellow in the Philosophy Department at King’s College London, where he was involved in a project on the evolution of the emotions. His previous books include Emotion: the Science of Sentiment and Introducing Evolutionary Psychology. He contributes regularly to the Guardian, and broadcasts frequently.

Including broadcasting this, before nuking his account:

Exit question: “Are we the baddies?”

TEENS HELD DOWN INTO IMMATURITY: “Our thesis is that a primary cause of the rise in mental disorders is a decline over decades in opportunities for children and teens to play, roam, and engage in other activities independent of direct oversight and control by adults.”

Teens are treated this way for the convenience and self-importance of adults, who pretend to be helping them.

BILL MAHER: ‘Your Moral Compass Is Broken’ if You’re a Lefty Siding with a Regressive Terror Group over Progressive Israel.

ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: Cancel Culture Finally Comes for the Left, and I Can’t Stop Laughing.

As I wrote previously, all the geopolitical arguments in the world, right or wrong, do not excuse mass murder, including the massacring of children. When Hamas crossed the border and started indiscriminately killing people and taking hostages, there was no question that the gloves would have to come off. Complaints about settlements and the Al-Aqsa mosque became academic at that point.

Still, in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, some people actually came out in open support of Hamas’ atrocities, justifying them and blaming Israel for the murder of its own people. Joint letters were put out by universities and protests were held with chants glorifying Hamas “martyrs.”

Naturally, some companies decided that was a bridge too far and rescinded job offers to those who participated, and now the crying has begun.

The Israel-Gaza war is still in its first week, but some people in the United States and around the world have lost their jobs, or have faced discipline or backlash, for their criticism of Israel. https://t.co/SNgxTCRK7P

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 12, 2023

Does the Washington Post know it’s the Washington Post? It worked very hard to cancel Eric Clapton in 2021 over his anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine mandate stance, by dredging up racist remarks the guitarist uttered on stage 45 years earlier while he was drunk out of his mind, and concurrently worked very hard to pretend that cancel culture isn’t a thing:

https://t.co/Wo1zZlbjbq pic.twitter.com/d2LARNWoFW

— Jarvis (@jarvis_best) October 13, 2023

‘I DON’T GIVE A ‘F**K:’ The Anti-Israel Talking Point That Sent This TV Host Over the Edge.

Tensions boiled over during the Thursday broadcast of The Hill’s Rising show when Briahna Joy Gray peddled anti-Israel talking points that co-host and Reason senior editor Robby Soave couldn’t stomach. Gray contends that Hamas’s atrocities against the Israeli people during this heinous terror attack were embellished, casting doubt on the confirmed reports of babies being burned alive and beheaded. It was done to strip their humanity away, she added. She tried to further bolster her erroneous point by painting with a wide brush, citing some random GOP operative, which is where Mr. Soave couldn’t handle it. Gray interjected that if what this official said didn’t matter, why are liberals facing questions about apologizing for Hamas’ terrorism?

Well, that’s self-explanatory: every pro-Palestinian rally in this country that we’ve seen over the past few days has endorsed the killing of children, the terrorism, and the wholesale killing of Jews. It’s here that Soave exploded at his co-host (via The Daily Caller):

"I don't give a F*** Briahna." – @robbysoave https://t.co/GCaAneuAqp

— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) October 14, 2023

To sum up the left’s worldview:

pic.twitter.com/JDloUbpbdY

— Inez Stepman ⚪️🔴⚪️ (@InezFeltscher) October 14, 2023

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY, EV EDITION: Ford Considers Cutting Shift at F-150 Lightning Pickup Plant, UAW Memo Says.

The official, who leads the union’s local chapter that represents workers at the truck factory, said in a letter dated Tuesday that the automaker was considering canceling the shift and indicated that it was looking to build more gas-engine trucks instead.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that our sales for the Lightning have tanked,” the union leader wrote in the memo, which was viewed by The Wall Street Journal. . . . Sales of the EV pickup, which initially had long wait lists, have sputtered in recent months. Ford recorded a 45.8% drop in U.S. vehicle sales of its electric truck in the third quarter.

Government mandates, and even government subsidies, ultimately can’t make people want a product they don’t want.

WELL, GOOD: AI predicts 70% of earthquakes a week before they occur.

THE 21^st CENTURY IS NOT TURNING OUT AS I HAD HOPED: Burned-out parents seek help from a new ally: ChatGPT. “Parents have used it to script ‘the talk’ with young teens or draft a toast for their child’s wedding.”

OUT ON A LIMB: Dylan Mulvaney Is The Babylon Bee’s Man Of The Year.