KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Confirmed — Joe Biden Is No Ladies’ Man. “The latest news about a once-reliable demographic for Biden and the Dems must have them shotgunning Pepto-Bismol these days. Well, most of the Dems; Biden’s days are spent wondering if Corn Pop will be coming over after school to have some Ovaltine.”

SO MUCH FOR THE EMERGING DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY? Latino Voters Trust Trump on Immigration Over Biden.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Jobless Claims Exceed Estimates, Philly Fed Index Declines, Housing Starts And Permits Fall Sharply.

In May 2024, housing starts saw a significant decline, dropping 5.5% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 1.27 million. This was a decrease from a revised 1.352 million in April and fell short of the 1.37 million forecast.

Single-family housing starts decreased by 5.2% to 982,000, while starts for buildings with five or more units were at 278,000.

Building permits also dropped by 3.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.386 million in May 2024, down from 1.44 million in April, the lowest level since June 2020 and below the expected 1.45 million.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s general activity index fell by 3 points to 1.3 in June, the lowest since January 2024 and below the forecast of 5.2. The current shipments index decreased by 6 points to -7.2, its lowest since December. The new orders index, while still negative, improved from -7.9 in May to -2.2 in June.

The employment index rose but remained negative for the eight straight month, indicating a continued overall decline in employment levels.

Regarding prices, both price indexes suggested ongoing overall price increases. The prices paid index rose 4 points to 22.5, while the current prices received index soared 7 points to 13.7.

None of this sounds like the claims made by the White House and the Mainstream Media, but I repeat myself.

IT’S SATIRE, BUT IS IT?

FBI Firearm Training Facility Replaces Paper Targets With Copies Of The Constitution https://t.co/hNMI1LpR0Q pic.twitter.com/5FDzkiAx9k

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) June 20, 2024

Probably interspersed with pictures of family dogs.

IF WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A CLOWN SHOW GOVERNMENT, WE MIGHT AS WELL GET SOME LAUGHS OUT OF IT:

Holy shit this is funny! @MarlonWayans killed it! https://t.co/SzsUA5zUA9

— Joe Rogan (@joerogan) June 20, 2024

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Pentagon picks SpaceX, Blue Origin and ULA for $5.6 billion launch deal.

WISING UP? Women’s Support for Democrats His a 20-Year Low with Biden.

AS IT SHOULD: Joel Kotkin: The media’s great awokening is alienating the masses: Audiences are fed up with newspapers, Hollywood and Big Tech all singing from the same woke hymn sheet.

It’s bad enough that it’s oppressive groupthink. It’s also dumb-as-rocks, batshit-crazy groupthink.

WHY IS THE IVY LEAGUE SUCH A CESSPIT OF ANTI-SEMITIC CONSPIRACY THEORIES: Columbia Professor: Avoid MSM Because It’s ‘Owned by Jews.’

THIS IS UNFAIR. GARTER SNAKES ARE USEFUL AND HARMLESS. Don Surber: Garter Snake Mitt speaks. “In 2012, he begged Trump to endorse him.”

And in 2016 he sucked up in the hopes of being Secretary of State. Then when he was passed over, he suddenly developed principles.

GROWTH: Nvidia’s Gains Have Made It Bigger Than Europe’s Largest Stock Markets.

Nvidia (NVDA) shares continued to rise on Thursday, extending the AI chipmaker’s lead on Microsoft (MSFT), which it overtook as the world’s most valuable company on Tuesday.

Nvidia’s rise in the ranks of the world’s largest companies has been meteoric to say the least. Its market value has already doubled this year, after tripling last year. It has added $1 trillion in market capitalization—more than Warren Buffett’s storied Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), in the 23 trading days since May 20, according to a Deutsche Bank note distributed Thursday morning.1

And with a market capitalization of more than $3.4 trillion, Nvidia has in recent weeks become larger than the respective stock markets of Germany, France, and the U.K.

I don’t know if Nvidia can maintain a valuation like that or if it’s just the main driver of an AI bubble that’s sure to pop. But two other US tech firms, Microsoft and Apple, aren’t far behind Nvidia — nearly the size of “the respective stock markets of Germany, France, and the U.K.”

If there’s any tech innovation left in Europe, it isn’t easy find.

JOHN LUCAS: The Continuing Politicization of the Military.

Insignia and patches on a soldier’s uniform used to serve the purpose of telling you something about the military qualifications and experience of the soldier. Under the Biden administration, they can also signal whether a soldier ascribes to the Democrat party’s current political trends.

A glance at a soldier’s uniform can tell you a lot about the person including their current assignment, the unit they served with in combat, their time in service and in overseas deployments in a combat theater, campaigns in which they have served, and, sometimes, their performance in combat.

The patches and badges on a soldier’s uniform are not just informative, they are sources of immense pride in military assignments and achievements. For example, soldiers take great pride in being assigned to an elite unit, such as the Ranger Regiment, Special Forces, or the 82d Airborne, and proudly wear their patch or insignia on their uniforms. When you see a soldier proudly wearing a Ranger scroll as the patch on his right shoulder, you know he has served in combat with one of the most elite military units in the world.

The Combat Infantryman’s badge, known as a “CIB,” also is a prestigious and coveted award that veterans of infantry combat wear proudly. In short, these and other insignia, patches, and ribbons on a soldier’s uniform are like a biography of his military career and accomplishments. They tell you who he is, where he’s been and what he’s done. And, although they are not called “pride” patches or insignia, they are worn with pride in what they represent. . . .

The latest example of this politicization (and there are many) has been revealed by the Stars and Stripes. It reports that the commander of the OSAN airbase in South Korea has authorized troops on the base to wear a “pride morale patch” on their military uniforms, in public and while on duty.

The commander’s spokeswoman told Stars and Stripes that “The patch represents the advancement of the Air Force’s commitment to diversity, inclusion, dignity, and respect within the mission.” Now, there is a commander who understands what his political masters want to see.

Frankly, I would prefer an Air Force that prioritized a “commitment” to winning our wars, but that’s just old-fashioned me.

Like, say, Boeing, they’re put diversity over their actual mission. Put simply, the rewards for parroting the ruling class’s sacred phrases exceed the rewards for being good at your job, even in the military.

ANNALS OF CENSORSHIP: My First Job, at the Stanford Internet Observatory: The research center, which is shutting its doors, was supposed to tackle “misinformation.” Instead, they hired a bunch of interns to flag social media posts.

To me, that meant ending internet abuse like the glamorization of anorexia on social media or financial scams that steal billions every year. But mostly I worked on the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP), which SIO ran during the 2020 and 2022 elections. The purpose of that project was to identify so-called “fake news” spreading on social media.

In actuality, SIO hired a load of interns to scan social media for posts deemed to be mis- and disinformation. It turns out that the posts we students flagged were often sent along to moderators at Twitter (now X), Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, which took them down in order to quash dissenting viewpoints—viewpoints that sometimes ended up being right, as in the case of Covid likely being the result of a lab leak, or Hunter Biden’s hard drive being his actual hard drive—not Russian disinformation.

Thanks to the work of independent journalists, the SIO’s work has come under a lot of scrutiny, including in Washington. A recent House Judiciary Committee report alleges that, by cooperating with the Department of Homeland Security, the SIO’s Election Integrity Partnership “provided a way for the federal government to launder its censorship activities in hopes of bypassing both the First Amendment and public scrutiny.”

Well, that’s what it was.

BLUE STATE BLUES: Democracy Just Died a Painful Death in California. “In a stunning anti-democratic move, the California Supreme Court ruled on Thursday to block an anti-tax initiative from appearing on the ballot.”

I’m not usually a huge fan of ballot initiatives but the court’s decision appears to be nothing but slobbery government-loving partisanship.

FROM ALIDA LEACROFT:  CECILY.

Wicked uncles, abductions, courage and romance…
Her father lost at sea, under seemingly scandalous circumstances, Miss Cecily Winiard is brought to the northern Spa town of Harrogate, to make her come-out under the aegis of her great aunt. Her family are in dire straits, and she must make an advantageous marriage. Except… her great aunt’s ideas of an advantageous marriage and Cecily’s do not run in tandem. Her great aunt wants birth and breeding, and certainly no-one with an interest in vulgar commerce. Young Lord Coleford, is, as far as her great aunt is concerned, a vulgar Cit and entirely unworthy to even breathe the same air as a Winiard, let alone have further pretentions. It’s a trifle awkward that Cecily likes him. It’s even more awkward that she, on the instructions of great aunt, snubbed the eligible young man severely. That is not something he’s accustomed to. He’d come to Harrogate expecting to be bored, not to be treated like a hatstand.
And stalking behind the gaiety and social whirl, there lurks the scandal of her father’s disappearance, and the plots that surround it.

SHOOTING: The Things You Learn In Competition May Save Your Life One Day.

IVE BEEN SHOUTING IN THE DESERT FOR THE LAST 20 YEARS:  The Daily Chart: The Baby-Makers.

PRETTY MUCH NOTHING IS WHAT THEY SAY IT IS:  The real “nakba” is not what they say it is.

OCCASIONAL CORTEX IS A SHALLOW IGNORANT BINT WITH THE INTELLECTUAL DEPT OF THE PUDDLE OF SPIT PRODUCED BY A SEVERELY DEHYDRATED FLEA:  Benjamin Netanyahu Is A War Criminal, Says Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

SOCIALISTS ALWAYS RUIN THE ENVIRONMENT:  Chemicals From East Palestine Train Derailment Reached 16 States.

DOES HE NOW? I HOPE ISRAEL GIVES IT BACK TO HIM TWICE AS HOT:  Hezbollah Terror Chief Nasrallah Threatens Israel With War ‘Without Limits’.

NO, NO, IT IS A JOKE. THE LEFT JUST DOESNT SEEM TO KNOW IT IS:  Not Satire: Study Links Climate Change to a Politician’s Decline in ‘Speech Complexity and Productivity’.

SHOCKED, SHOCKED, SHOCKED. BEHOLD MY SHOCKED FACE:  Mexican Cartel ‘Travel Agencies’ Selling $15,000 Packages to Illegal Aliens for Help to Cross Border.

IT’S ODD HOW OFTEN THAT HAPPENS WITH THE MSM, HERE AS THERE:  Reform ahead of Lib Dems to win seats – the poll news the MSM didn’t lead with.

THERE’S STILL TIME TO INVEST IN POPCORN FUTURES:  There Will Be a Price to Pay: Consequences Are Coming for Universities That Allowed Pro-Hamas Mobs.