SO I’M IN IOWA, AND JUST DROVE UNDER AN OVERPASS ON INTERSTATE 74 THAT WAS FULL OF TRUMP SUPPORTERS. Lots of Trump banners, American flags, and signs reading “Honk if you love Trump.” People were honking.
Alas, no photo because I was driving. But I wonder if that’s happening other places.
DISPATCHES FROM THE DC BANANA REPUBLIC: Here’s What Happened at Trump’s J6 Hearing Today.
THIS IS A SERIOUS FLAW: Chatbots Sometimes Make Things Up. Is AI’s Hallucination Problem Fixable?
HOW’S THAT SPACE PROGRAM COMING ALONG? New Algorithm Spots Its First Potentially Hazardous Near Earth Asteroid — And It’s 600 Feet Long. Strange that we missed it before.
THIS IS THE WAY: Florida bans AP psych, pointing to lessons on gender, sexuality.
OUT ON A LIMB: Florida versus California is the election we should be having.
National elections should be about contrast and choice — and those choices should offer the clearest opportunity for parity in the candidates and the parties. If the polls are to be believed, the 2024 election as it stands now, before any debates or primaries, does not offer that. Instead the country currently faces the prospect of two senior citizens clashing, both with low approval ratings, personal and legal baggage and questions of mental acuity.
There is a side debate forming, however, between Florida governor Ron DeSantis, a declared candidate for president in 2024 and the only polling alternative to Donald Trump at the moment, and California governor Gavin Newsom, an all-but-declared candidate running a standby campaign, should Joe Biden decide to step aside and Kamala Harris be found unviable (as her own polls would suggest).
This week, while appearing on Hannity, DeSantis accepted a debate offer from Newsom, with Hannity moderating, possibly to happen in the fall. It’s an unorthodox move by a presidential candidate to appear in a debate with a non-candidate, and it carries risk for DeSantis. It also carries a huge reward as he continues to poke Newsom into declaring against Biden, where he would certainly be viewed as a serious alternative to a president whose own party is concerned about both his age and stamina for another five years in office.
Related: “Stock up on popcorn. It’s almost political debate season. Later this month will be the first Republican primary debate. The second Republican debate will be in September. Then, November will bring the battle of the governors. DeSantis will get some good experience during the GOP debates because the others will be gunning for him, especially if Trump doesn’t show up for them. “
STRATEGYPAGE ARMOR UPDATE: Revival Of The Assault Gun.
In Ukraine Russia has revived the WW2 assault gun concept using older T-55 and T-62 tanks as mobile artillery for infantry units.
ELIZABETH STAUFFER: Unlike the Trump indictments, the case against Biden is straightforward.
The average American understands bribery, greed, and lies, concepts that are as old as mankind.
And
The straightforwardness of the Biden family’s influence peddling operation makes it easy for all but the most rabid Democrats to understand.
Indeed. Read her entire post.
FROM THE COMMENTS: I was impressed with Stauffer’s post and began wondering about Insta-reader reaction. Glad I did. Context: I recall commenting on a couple of Insta-reader comments seven or eight years ago. Googling fact-checkers, check it out. Which leads to this reader comment. I think this comment expresses the media-legal situation succinctly and with the Watergate reference provides relevant historical context: “In the Trump case, vast amounts of resources are needed to “prove” ephemera. Joe Biden’s former allies, like Devon Archer, are at a late-Watergate stage of confession. Only the presence of a man with less legal objectivity than Roland Freisler, aka Merrick Garland, is keeping the Biden regime away from major criminal investigations.” Congrats to the commenter. Garland is a corrupt actor and among fact-based historians will likely go down as one of the worst attorney generals in American history — vying with Eric Holder and Mitchell Palmer. But in the “worst AGs” evaluation I defer to legal historians like Glenn.
READER FAVORITE: Beside Table Lamp for Bedroom Nightstand. #CommissionEarned
BREAKING: Trump Pleads Not Guilty to J6 Charges.
SO, THAT’S WHAT JOE BIDEN GAVE TO DEVON ARCHER:
Hunter’s emails to Archer, which were recently released, show the First Kid worried about Foreign Agents Registration Act violations. That’s the least of it, but Joe chiming in over the phone the 20-plus times could rope him into a FARA legal pickle. Archer claimed that the father-son duo would discuss things like the weather. Try again. All these calls happened to have occurred when a business deal was being hashed out. Archer told Carlson that Joe on the phone was proof to prospective clients that they would have platinum-level access in DC. What about the money?
Well, mountains of cash were funneled into shell companies, which dinged the Biden clan with over 170 suspicious activity reports from six banks. Archer admits the influence-peddling operation the Bidens had established was an “abuse of soft power.” And to make matters worse for Joe Biden, there’s this letter he sent to Archer in 2011, where the then-VP said he was “happy” that Archer and Hunter were “together” (via NY Post)[.]
Exit quote: “Archer tells Tucker Carlson that by putting Joe Biden on the phone with his business associates, Hunter was giving them ‘the pinnacle of power in D.C.'”
AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Governor Of State People Are Fleeing From Agrees To Debate Governor Of State They Are Fleeing To.
WHO YOU GONNA BELIEVE, JOE OR YOUR OWN LYIN’ WALLET? The Miracle of Bidenomics Is Not Impressing Anyone.
ENDORSED: The best predictor of happiness in America? Marriage.
Americans who are married with children are now leading happier and more prosperous lives, on average, than men and women who are single and childless.
Is that statement surprising? In an age that prizes individualism, workism, and a host of other self-centric “isms” above marriage and family, it may well be. But the reality is that nothing currently predicts happiness in life better than a good marriage.
This truth is borne out yet again in new research from the University of Chicago, which found that marriage is the “the most important differentiator” of who is happy in America, and that falling marriage rates are a chief reason why happiness has declined nationally. The research, surveying thousands of respondents, revealed a startling 30-percentage-point happiness divide between married and unmarried Americans. This happiness boost held true for both men and women.
I’m forwarding this non-shocker of a story to my wife — mostly because today is our 21st anniversary.
YES. NEXT QUESTION? Is Lizzo’s Woke Facade Crumbling in Real Time? “Two days. Two blistering accounts of Lizzo’s work demeanor. Will more follow? Allison suggests the answer is a resounding, ‘Yes.'”
DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT HISTORY, PART DEUX: BBC apologizes after presenter Sally Nugent calls Dambusters Raid ‘infamous.’
DISSENT IN POST-COVID CHINA: As China’s economy sputters, expressions of dissent proliferate.
MEMPHIS JEWISH SCHOOL NARROWLY AVOIDS SCHOOL SHOOTING: Here’s How They Saved Lives.
Memphis Police told reporters that school officials provided them with a picture of the suspect and a description of his vehicle. Officers located him and pulled him over. “MPD said the gunman jumped out of his red pick-up with a gun and was shot by an officer,” according to the report. “That man was then rushed to Regional One Hospital in critical condition, according to police.”
This situation could have been far worse. Fortunately, the school’s foresight led them to put robust security measures in place to prevent a possible mass shooting. The swift response of law enforcement ensured that the suspect was apprehended before he could find another school or public area to target.
What the anti-gunner crowd doesn’t want you to focus on is the reality that their cherished gun control laws did not stop this individual from trying to murder children. In fact, the would-be assailant was carrying a handgun, not one of the “assault rifles” that the elite media uses to terrify Americans into supporting restrictions on responsible gun owners.
This is just one story showing how security measures are far more effective at decreasing lives lost to school shootings than passing gun control legislation. As more states focus resources on implementing these measures, it will not be surprising to see more of these stories crop up. Stronger security not only prevents shooters from gaining access to school campuses, but it can also discourage them from trying in the first place.
Naturally, the media will ignore the lessons of this story:
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