THE CHINESE ARE MESSY: China’s Long March 6A rocket appears to have an orbital debris problem.

PLAUSIBLE:

Biden's Popularity Skyrockets After He Announces Trump Is His VP https://t.co/J5r0OFUcxY pic.twitter.com/OrvP3NX1lM

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 12, 2024

BOTTOM STORY OF THE DAY: SUSAN COLLINS WON’T SUPPORT TRUMP? WHEN HAS SHE EVER?

I don't think these idiots realize that regular red state America hates Susan Collins just slightly less than they hate Liz Cheney. https://t.co/oFINLORncX

— Larry Correia (@monsterhunter45) July 12, 2024

OF COURSE THEY DID: Elon: EU Offered Me a Secret Deal to Censor X.

Why are the governments of the West suddenly so eager to control what their citizens know?

LIFE ON MARS (SORTA): Lessons From NASA’s 378-Day CHAPEA Experiment. “The CHAPEA simulated missions are unique because they test the impacts of extended isolation and confinement with the addition of Mars-realistic time delays of communicating to Earth – up to 44-minutes roundtrip – along with resource limitations relevant to Mars, including a more limited food system that can be supported on the space station and in other analogs.”

BUT OF COURSE: Judge dismisses Alec Baldwin manslaughter case due to suppressed evidence.

WHICH MAKES IT MORE SURPRISING THAT WE HAVEN’T DISCOVERED IT ANYWHERE ELSE: Gobsmacking Study Finds Life on Earth Emerged 4.2 Billion Years Ago.

WELL, IT IS: Home Invasion Illustrates Why Gun Control Is Stupid.

If four guys invade my home, I’m gonna want a 20 round magazine.

THEY NEVER LEARN:

I’m sure politicizing the ESPYs will work out well for viewership

— Motown (@Motown0) July 12, 2024

Say what you will about Harrison Butker, but he’s a harbinger of things to come.

WHAT IF WE KNEW THEN WHAT WE KNOW NOW ON COVID? The Heritage Foundation’s Bob Moffit, writing in The Daily Signal, offers this fascinating fact:

“Did you know that four months before the world had ever heard of COVID-19—on Sept. 3, 2019—authorities in the Veneto region of Italy discovered COVID-19 antibodies in local blood samples. Of course, you didn’t. The deadly and mysterious COVID-19 was around much longer than anyone had previously suspected.”

And this:

“The genomic features of the novel coronavirus are incompatible with a natural origin. Among the many reasons pointing to a lab origin, Dr. Quay noted, ‘ … the genome of SARS-CoV-2 has seven features that would be expected to be found in a virus constructed in a laboratory and which are not found in viruses from nature. The statistical probability of finding each feature in nature can be determined and the combined probability that SARS2 came from nature is less than one in a billion.’”

And that’s just for starters!

Just think – How many lives would have been saved with a four-month head start on responding to what became the Pandemic that has thus far killed an estimated six million people around the world, including 1.2 million Americans.

THAT’S NOT VERY MANY IN A NATION OF OVER 330 MILLION: Hot car deaths reach 9 in 2024, highlight increased risk amid intense heat.

OUT: THE GULF STREAM COULD SHUT DOWN, TRIGGERING A NEW ICE AGE!!!

IN: The Atlantic Gulf Stream was unexpectedly strong during the last ice age – new study.

OH: Former NSA chief revolves through OpenAI’s door. “General Nakasone was just appointed to the board — which doesn’t inspire confidence in the company’s ‘non-military’ future.”

It’s the intel community connection that bothers me.

FAITH ALL OVER THE PLACE: Stephen Kruiser and Chris Queen introduce a new PJMedia podcast, “Faith All Over The Place,” which promises to be an interesting mix of faith perspectives from Catholic Kruiser and evangelical Queen. Love the accompanying shot-glass artwork, too.

Earlier this week, PJMedia Editor-in-Chief and Writer Lincoln Brown debuted their podcast, “The Intersection of Faith and Politics.” Some really interesting stuff going on with PJMedia, folks!

CHRIS QUEEN: The IRS Gloats About Its Successful Efforts to Soak the Rich.

JOURNALISTS AND OTHER LIARS: Narrative Over News – The AP Refuses to Correct Another Anti-Gun Story.

CHANGE: Redbox set to close as DVD market withers in streaming’s shadow.

Redbox’s parent company, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, changed its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, filed last month, to a Chapter 7 liquidation case on Wednesday. The conversion signifies that the company couldn’t come up with a repayment plan for its outstanding debts and will soon turn to selling off assets to pay back creditors.

With the change to a Chapter 7 case, all employees will now be laid off and Redbox’s 24,000 kiosks will close. Lawyers for Chicken Soup for the Soul told the court they had worked “day and night” to find a solution to avoid the outcome, Deadline reported.

A current Redbox employee, who asked not to be identified due to uncertainty over future legal actions he said some at the company are considering, said the news has been destabilizing.

Sad.

If there are movies you love — particularly those at risk of getting canceled or altered — buy them on disc and make digital backups.

NEW CIVILITY WATCH: Biden Advisors Threaten To “Beat The Shit Out Of” Staffers Who Don’t Keep Quiet.

From those crazy right wing MAGA nuts at, err, CNN:

Weird one… CNN reports that a prominent Democrat has claimed Biden’s advisors have threatened White House staffers, saying they will “beat the shit out” of anyone who says anything about Biden’s health that runs contrary to their narrative. Full report: https://t.co/bKUXT4Vct4 pic.twitter.com/mlyvpNev2c

— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) July 12, 2024

HEH: I Don’t Know What You’re Talking About. Joe KILLED IT at His ‘Big Boy’ Presser!

LIMITED TIME DEAL: DEWALT 20V MAX Cordless Drill and Impact Driver. #CommissionEarned

A WIN FOR THE INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE: Court Prohibits California Regulators from Enforcing Private Investigator Licensing Law Against Anti-Spam Crusader.

ABOUT THAT ‘BIG BOY’ NEWS CONFERENCE: Where were the big boys of the Mainstream Media is the question I ask in my latest PJMedia column. Threat to democracy? How about when independent journalists stop being independent?

PRIVACY: AT&T says ‘nearly all’ of its customers’ call and text data has been leaked in massive security breach.

MISCEGENATION ‘R’ US: ‘A history of contact’: Geneticists are rewriting the narrative of Neanderthals and other ancient humans. “This is the first time that geneticists have identified multiple waves of modern human-Neanderthal admixture.”

VDH: Our Brezhnev, Our Pravda, Our Soviet Union…:

Leonid Brezhnev led the former Soviet Union as General Secretary of the Communist Party until 1982. But like most Russian apparatchiks who excessively smoked, drank, and gained weight, he aged prematurely. Also like them, his disabilities never led to his abdication.

By Brezhnev’s late 60s and early 70s, he was too ill to travel abroad or make public appearances. Indeed, his debility left the Soviet Union without a real leader for the final six or seven years of his tenure.

Brezhnev got away with it because the Soviet state-controlled media doctored photos and videos to attest to his supposedly vigorous health and constant hands-on involvement.

“Journalists” sent out false communiques. They spun narratives that Brezhnev was robust, hale, and working long hours on behalf of the Russian people. Any dissenting journalists who sought to report the true, sad state of affairs were in danger of losing their jobs, freedom — or even their lives.

Instead, the “reporters” of Pravda (“Truth”), the official print megaphone of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, wrote lies about Brezhnev’s busy workdays. Pravda’s handlers spun fables about the respect (and fear) the rest of the world held for such a dynamic leader — even as Brezhnev became an ill virtual recluse.

The cynical Russian people shrugged because they had long been accustomed to their lying media and the falsehoods they peddled. And besides, Brezhnev was a doctrinaire Stalinist communist. So his job was not to rock the boat or upset the Russian communist hierarchy.

Instead, he reigned over the penultimate Soviet “era of stagnation,” while an ossified communism increasingly destroyed all incentives and hope, leaving the Russian people poor, cynical, and helpless.

The first time as tragedy, the second time, well, as another tragedy, to paraphrase Marx: Niall Ferguson: We’re All Soviets Now.