INFILTRATION: Backdoored firmware lets China state hackers control routers with “magic packets.”

We really shouldn’t be sourcing electronics or pharmaceuticals from China.

REPORT: Biden Crime Family ‘Earned’ $24 MILLION from China, Russia, Ukraine, Others.

WHAT LOST CREDIBILITY LOOKS LIKE: Fewer than half of U.S. adults say they’re likely to get new COVID-19 vaccine.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Oil Is Near $100. Shale Isn’t Coming to the Rescue.

The U.S. remains an oil and gas superpower. Rystad Energy forecasts that American crude production is on track to hit a record 13 million barrels a day in September. But the industry’s recovery from the pandemic was relatively slow—it last recorded 13 million barrels a day in November 2019—and it appears that it is no longer willing to grow rapidly to meet rising demand.

Some of the recent growth came from private operators, who added rigs in response to higher oil prices last year and helped push up the national output.

But smaller companies have run out of sweet spots, forcing them to slow down. Higher costs of equipment, labor and steel in the oil patch has also reined in their activity, executives and analysts said, as has an outflow of investment from the sector.

Where did the investment dollars go?

Here: Biden’s Climate Law Is Reshaping Private Investment in the United States. “Private investment in clean energy projects like solar panels, hydrogen power and electric vehicles surged after President Biden signed an expansive climate bill into law last year, a development that shows how tax incentives and federal subsidies have helped reshape some consumer and corporate spending in the United States.”

Just not in ways that make economic sense.

SPACE: Peter Beck’s Vision Of Rocket Lab Extends Beyond Himself. Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck explains how the company is transitioning to a new phase of scaling up operations to get its new Neutron rockets in orbit, break launch supply bottlenecks, and become the world’s premier end-to-end space company.

KRUISER ON LAST NIGHT’S DEBATE: A Trump/Ronna McDaniel Conspiracy Theory:

Who was her most prominent supporter when she was running for a fourth term after presiding over three elections that were unmitigated disasters for the GOP?

Oh yeah, Donald Trump.

At this point, I’m beginning to think that this is all by design. Trump and McDaniel struck a deal: he’d help her reelection bid; she’d set up some of the worst debates in GOP primary history and he’d avoid them. Yes, I believe that he would be opting out even if he didn’t have a big lead in the polls.

This way, the other candidates can endure the pontificating and inane questions from the moderators, none of which will make them look good, and Trump can hit the tanning bed, unscathed.

As conspiracy theories go, this one has merit.

It’s also the only way to make sense of this debate mess without coming to the conclusion that Ronna McDaniel is just ignorant and incompetent.

OK, that theory does have merit too.

The best “conspiracy” is where you install people who’ll do what you need without being told, either through inclination or through their own nature.

XI’S GOTTA HAVE IT: CCP Propaganda Has Infected Hundreds of U.S. K-12 Classrooms.

LEFT WEAKENED BEFORE OUR ENEMIES? At least our pronouns are immaculate.

Guess what, the primes and their supplier base won't make this gap up – the military has to step in. This is what happens when you don't invest in the industrial base and incentivize innovation in manufacturing. https://t.co/Opc1gBjhnt

— Aaron Slodov (@aphysicist) September 27, 2023

But there’s this:

We have allies who know how to build ships! pic.twitter.com/FkF6lOoIXL

— Connor J. Tabarrok 🏗🚀🌏 (@ConnorTabarrok) September 28, 2023

HEADLINES WE’LL SEE AGAIN IN 10 YEARS: Nuclear fusion to power US cities within the next 10 years.

QUESTIONS PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ASKING SINCE ARIZONA 2020: Whose Side Is Fox on Anyway?

OUCH: Meta Rips Off The Author And Passes The Savings On To Skynet. “The fact that Meta is not only training AI on author’s works without their permission, but using pirated copies to do so adds insult to injury.”

ANTHROPOLOGY ONCE PURPORTED TO BE A SCIENCE, NOW IT’S ERASING WOMEN AND SEX: Anthropology groups cancel all-female panel defending biological sex as ‘necessary category.’

LAST NIGHT’S DEBATE: Ed Morrissey is NOT happy. “The biggest loser of the debate was Fox Business Channel, with the RNC that arranged it a close runner-up.”

20 YEARS OF ENORMOUS GROWTH IN SPENDING PER STUDENT IN NC UNIVERSITIES. Your state’s probably not much different. And we’re running headlong into a generation of people like me whose parents could afford tuition at a place like Duke at a stretch, but who can’t themselves afford it for their kids even though their lifestyle is otherwise about the same. More bad news for goodwill towards higher ed.

PRIORITIES: 95-Year-Old War Vet Gets the Boot to Make Room for Illegal Immigrants.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Cornell renames English Department as part of ‘decolonization efforts.’ Check out the new name.

UGH. WAY TO GIVE THEM MORE IDEAS. “What can you do if the government declares you dead?” Basically nothing, and you can’t sue them thanks to sovereign immunity. Expect this to start happening to Trump supporters in about 10 seconds.

THEY NEVER GIVE UP: FCC Chair Confirms Plan to Reinstate Net Neutrality Rules Eviscerated Under Trump. “Rosenworcel intends to release the full text of the proposal on Thursday and hold a vote regarding whether to kick off rulemaking on October 19. While Brendan Carr, one of the two Republican commissioners, signaled his opposition to the Title II approach on Tuesday, Gomez’s confirmation earlier this month gives Democrats a 3-2 majority at the FCC.”

Net neutrality was Barack Obama’s gift to Netflix, who then gave him a sweetheart production deal a short time after he left office.

I wonder what Joe Biden expects to get.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Movin’ on up – oil, that is. The rest of us are toast.

SPACE: Reusability and speed-of-launch.

OOPS: Delta CEO: Airline ‘probably went too far’ with SkyMiles changes.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: After 2 GOP Debates, Trump’s Sabotage Is Almost Complete. “The big question then is: Why is the GOP still letting this crap happen?”

RACISM IN AMERICA: Just 6 Percent of New S&P Jobs Went to White Applicants in The Wake of George Floyd, Analysis Shows: Findings raise questions about the scope of corporate race discrimination.

BIDEN’S CRISIS BY DESIGN WASN’T WITHOUT A PURPOSE:

Without the mass deportation of tens of millions, including their children, covering over a decade of illegal entry since DACA, the US population and electorate is going to be defined by recent arrival illegal aliens in your lifetime. pic.twitter.com/Lord75zeCY

— ib (@Indian_Bronson) September 27, 2023

Mission accomplished.

A WIN FOR THE NEW CIVIL LIBERTIES ALLIANCE: SEC Surrenders to NCLA Client Michelle Cochran in Wake of Her Unanimous Supreme Court Win.

Reminder/Disclosure: I’m on the NCLA’s advisory board.