HOW IT STARTED: Preliminary Philly Budget to Reduce Police Funding by $14M, Adds Reforms.

—NBC Philadelphia, June 18th, 2020.

How it’s going: Philadelphia Police Chief Resigns amid Homicide Wave.

Philadelphia police commissioner Danielle Outlaw will be resigning from her post later this month, leaving the City of Brotherly Love reeling from a crime spike after three tumultuous years in office.

Over the course of her tenure, annual homicides in Philadelphia rose from 499 in 2020 to 516 in 2022. Before Outlaw’s arrival, between 2007 and 2019, murders in the city ranged between 246 and 391 per year.

—NRO, today.

DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT HISTORY: Mayor of Tijuana erects piece of Berlin Wall along US border to teach ‘lesson.’ “While Mexico’s message-driven move comes as the United States aims to stop the flow of illegal immigration, the Berlin Wall was installed by the Soviets to divide a nation against itself, unlike the US-Mexico border wall.”

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: People At Burning Man Punished By Being At Burning Man.

CNBC’S LIST OF ‘WORST STATES TO LIVE IN’ PERFECTLY ILLUSTRATES THE LEFT’S POLITICAL PATHOLOGY:

If you live in a red state, you probably consider yourself lucky. In most cases, doing so means you’ve got a baseline of freedom granted to you that many other Americans don’t have. Certainly, the fact that, by the numbers, people are flocking to Republican-led states testifies to the fact that blue bastions aren’t all they are cracked up to be.

No mind, though. CNBC is here to let you know what the “10 worst states to live in” are. Apparently, many of you are living in an oppressive third-world hellhole and just didn’t know it. Thankfully, our liberal betters are here to set the record straight.

So what are the states in question? Coming in at number 10 is Florida, followed by Arkansas, Tennessee, Indiana, Missouri, Alabama, South Carolina, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. Yes, according to these geniuses, one of the most popular destinations in the country is actually the worst state to live in.

I hope leftists moving to Texas know what they’re getting themselves into: ‘Douche’ father-of-seven sales exec who moved his family from California to Texas then BACK again is blasted for complaining about Austin’s ‘rude locals, bland culture, oppressive heat and Yelp’s bad food choices’ in scathing Op-Ed.

In parts of Texas it’s not just a monoculture, but a monoculture that doesn’t seem to be aware of its own blandness. Think about it: Are you ready to have your son judged based on his suitability for a future career in football? Are you ready to network by attending the local high school football game with the guys? Because that’s a thing in Texas.

Really? Who knew that Texans were obsessed with football, especially high school football? It’s not like Hollywood ever made a movie on that topic that was eventually transformed into a weekly TV series.

RIP: ‘Dream Weaver’ Singer Gary Wright Dead at 80, Had Parkinson’s, Dementia.

UNEXPECTEDLY! Federal deficit unexpectedly set to double this year.

What’s happening: Bigger interest payments + lower tax receipts, despite strong economic growth.

• “A strong economy usually reduces the deficit. Not this time,” Stein writes.

Perhaps the economy isn’t as strong as the DNC-MSM pretends it is: Interest rates are soaring, raising the alarm for a painful reckoning for America.

ANDREW FERGUSON: Memoirs of a Closet Conservative.

He gives the same pithy (and accurate) explanatory treatment to Freud, the “free love” movement, the rise of racial politics, and much else, across a wide range. For 50 years [Martin] Peretz taught at Harvard in a baggy discipline called “Social Studies,” a variant on the history of ideas. I envy his students.

Like a lot of professors, Peretz’s true interest was politics. He became an activist early on. His prominence and effectiveness were guaranteed by his marriage to an heiress named Anne Labouisse, whose family was “astoundingly, alienatingly rich.” Their money, however, was not so alienating that he refused to spend it. Candidates and causes flocked to him as if he were a milch cow with a thousand teats. (Perhaps this explains the unbuttoned shirts.) Starting as a radical in the 1950s, he gradually worked his way rightward, almost to the center, and eventually, on most subjects, well beyond.

A watershed moment came in 1967 when he organized a left-wing lollapalooza called the National Conference for New Politics that could have been scripted by Tom Wolfe. The leaders met at Peretz’s seaside mansion on Cape Cod (natch) and were instantly at each other’s throats (also natch). Later, the conference keynoter, Martin Luther King, was heckled by the black caucus, whose leader took the stage and proclaimed himself “dictator.” A rabbi announced that all white men should be “castrated” because of slavery. The conference dissolved in an acid bath of anti-Semitism, but not before Peretz had an instructive peek into the future of the left.

And his own future, when the then-young turks of the Journolist viciously attacked him as a racist (but of course) in 2009: JournoList Revealed! Inside the Secret Liberal Media Email Cabal.

JONATHAN TURLEY: In Democrats’ incessant prosecution of Trump, progressives ignore free speech rights.

One of the most telling moments came in a congressional hearing in February when I warned of the dangers of repeating the abuses of prior periods like the Red Scare, when censorship and blacklisting were the norm. In response, Rep. Dan Goldman, D-New York, invoked Oliver Wendell Holmes’ view that free speech does not give a person the right to yell fire in a crowded theater. In other words, citizens had to be silenced because their views are dangerous to others.

When I attempted to point out that the line came from a case justifying the imprisonment of socialists for their political viewpoints, Goldman cut me off and “reclaimed his time.”

Other Democrats have used the line as a mantra, despite its origins in one of our most abusive anti-free speech periods during which the government targeted political dissidents on the left.

Flashback to Brandon’s former(?) boss: Obama administration cracks down on journalists more than any since Woodrow Wilson.

BURNING MAN FESTIVAL EXODUS BEGINS THROUGH DRYING MUD:

Thousands of Burning Man attendees readied to make their “exodus” on Monday as the counter-culture arts festival in the Nevada desert ends in a sea of drying mud instead of a party around its flaming effigy namesake.

Rain over the weekend turned the once hard-packed ground to pudding. One person died at the event in the Black Rock Desert, authorities said on Sunday, providing few details. An investigation is underway.

Organizers posted online that they expected to formally allow vehicles to leave at noon Monday local time, but some attendees told Reuters that a steady stream of vehicles have left since predawn, many struggling through the slop.

The exit is via an unpaved five-mile (8-km) dirt road out to the nearest highway. Photos shared on online sites showed hefty recreational vehicles sunk up to the tire rims in mud, with some using boards under the wheels to help get traction.

Aging rock fans are always looking for the next Woodstock. Finally, Burning Man delivers!

TWO WHITE HOUSES IN ONE!

● Shot: Biden makes appeal to unions as possible UAW strike looms over 2024 reelection bid.

—The Washington Examiner, today.

● Chaser: Pete Buttigieg Wants You to Stop Driving Cars.

No gas stoves, no gas-powered cars, and no beer are just a few things the Biden Administration has put the kibosh on.

The Democrat-controlled White House is now fear-mongering Americans into believing all cars cause climate change and promote racism and should, therefore, be banned. 

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg appointed an Obama-era group made up of 24 “leading experts” to advise him on “transportation equity,” claiming the privilege of owning a car ignites “systemic racism” and should be banned because of their negative impact on the environment. 

Members of the Advisory Committee on Transportation Equity include “spatial policy scholar” Andrea Marpillero-Colomina, who says, “All cars are bad” and calls for “zero emission transit.” 

However, she told the Free Beacon that she is not “advocating for a complete erasure” of cars but hopes to convince Buttigieg to re-direct the U.S. from relying on private motor vehicles.

—Townhall, today.

Why isn’t Biden supporting the UAW’s strike, then?

GEORGE ORWELL TO THE RED COURTESY PHONE, PLEASE: How a kids playdate in Oakland became a flashpoint for racists.

The equity and inclusion committee at Oakland’s Chabot Elementary School didn’t publish the emails and phone numbers of organizers when advertising its “playdate” for students of color on Aug. 26.

“Something told me not to do it,” said Briana, the co-chair of the committee who is Black, has a child who attends the school and asked that I not use her last name due to safety concerns. “Maybe it was my ancestors talking to me.”

Those ancestors must have known racism is still thriving in the nation. The Bay Area is no exception.

Two days after the playdate, hate mail, racist phone calls and bomb threats were sent to the school and several Oakland residents after extremists online deemed the event an affront to their delusional idea of equality. About 30 students and staff members were safely evacuated from the school before classes began. Parents dropping their kids off for school were told to go home. Police eventually swept the campus with bomb-detecting dogs but turned up nothing suspicious.

“Creating spaces for Black, brown and AAPI kids is seen as some kind of zero-sum game for people who are against it,” said Macheo Payne, a professor of social work at Cal State East Bay. “They ask where the white spaces are, which disregards how those spaces exist by default in society.”

Exit quote:

"Racists tried to stop segregation that violates civil rights." is a fun one. https://t.co/58cYbtIDmQ

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) September 3, 2023

AUTHORITIES INVESTIGATING DEATH AT BURNING MAN AS STORMS LEAVE THOUSANDS STRANDED IN NEVADA DESERT.

NATIONAL SOCIALISTS DECLARE THEIR SUPPORT FOR JOHN GILL! So-called Nazis resurface in Orlando, voice support for Biden over Trump: ‘He sends rockets to Ukraine.’

TRUNALIMUNUMAPRZURE! Biden says he hasn’t ‘been able to break’ for East Palestine visit, despite Lake Tahoe getaway and DE trips. ‘I haven’t had the occasion to go to East Palestine,’ Biden says seven months after Ohio train derailment.

Or as America’s Newspaper of Record notes: Nation Torn Between Being Mad Biden Never Shows Up For Work And Being Glad He Never Shows Up For Work.

FASTER, PLEASE: Let me show you some proof that US culture is trending quickly to the right.

.@BillMaher: "Murders have been happening in Chicago among the African American community for far too long and not really reported in the way they should be. It's amazing how black lives don't seem to matter when they are taken by black lives."@JoeRogan: "Austin defunded the… pic.twitter.com/HZS5vgcKRy

— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) September 2, 2023

DISPATCHES FROM THE MEMORY HOLE: Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds Scrubs Her Lockdown Record.

HOWIE CARR: Let’s set up Bidenvilles in posh Martha’s Vineyard, maybe Nantucket and Naushon Island, too.

I have a modest proposal.

Now that Labor Day is here and the Beautiful People will be flying back to New York in their private Gulfstreams and Lear Jets, let’s round up all the illegal aliens and ship them over to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, and Naushon Island makes three.

Plenty of room over there for the winter, and not just in the $20 million oceanfront mansions and swank resorts. How about new tent cities on all the conservation land and private golf courses?

The undocumented Democrats could set up Bidenvilles in the posh boatyards. Their welfare grub could be delivered by all those world-class restaurants — the Chanticleer, the Wauwinet and the White Elephant, just to name three on Nantucket.

After Monday, the islands will be basically empty. Sure they’re zoned NHP — No Hoi Polloi, hoi polloi being defined as anyone who goes to church on Sunday and/or doesn’t have a trust fund.

But this is an emergency, dammit. Gov. Maura Healey called out the National Guard Thursday to make sure the foreign freeloaders can get all their free stuff with no inconvenient waits like American citizens must endure.

Flashback: “Immigration Issue Stirs Heartfelt Response on Martha’s Vineyard” – until actual illegal immigrants begin to arrive, and the locals rapidly lose their “heartfelt response,” and declare a “humanitarian crisis.”

OLD AND BUSTED: Global Warming.

The New Hotness Coolness? Burning Man freezes! Revelers are catching hypothermia and fleeing to local bars for warmth as torrential rain and biting winds cause havoc at Nevada hippie festival.

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Margaritaville Orders All Little Umbrellas To Be Flown At Half-Staff.

SOGGY MAN: Burning Man attendees told to shelter in place because of rain.

More than 73,000 Burning Man attendees remain confined to their camps Saturday and are blocked from leaving the event after a slow-moving rainstorm turned their desert playground into a soupy, muddy morass.Organizers banned vehicle traffic from the roads Friday afternoon and kept the exit gates closed as of 5 a.m. Saturday. Even walking was treacherous as thick, slimy mud clung to shoes and anything else it touched.Organizers warned attendees to conserve their food and water, indicating the closures could be lengthy.Dawn revealed puddled water and ruts in the streets, which are just delineated routes along the ordinarily rock-hard desert floor. More rain was expected through Sunday, along with whiteouts, event organizers said.

“No driving is permitted on playa except for emergency vehicles,” event organizers said in a 5 a.m. statement. “If you are in (Black Rock City), please shelter in place and stay safe.”They added separately: “If you are in BRC, conserve food and water, shelter in a warm space.”The road closures appeared to have forced a halt to cleaning and servicing of the thousands of port-a-potties used by attendees who spent Friday night huddled in muddy tents and RVs as the temperature dropped into the low 50s.

* * * * * * * *

Hannah Burhorn, a first-time attendee at the festival, told CNN in a phone interview Saturday she and her friends were not expecting any rain – only extreme heat.

The sand on the desert has formed into thick clay, Burhorn said, and puddles and mud are everywhere.

“It’s unavoidable at this point,” she said. “It’s in the bed of the truck, inside the truck. People who have tried to bike through it and have gotten stuck because it’s about ankle deep.”

People are wrapping trash bags and Ziploc bags around their shoes to avoid getting stuck, while others are going barefoot, Burhorn said. The mud is so thick that it “sticks to your shoes and makes it almost like a boot around your boot,” making it even more difficult to move around, she added.

I’m sure the attendees are enjoying the history they’re learning this weekend — the long awaited mashup of Woodstock and Stalingrad has finally arrived.

However, there is a bit of good news, at least: No, There’s Not An Ebola Outbreak At Burning Man.

PELOSI ATTACKS TRUMP SUPPORTERS: They’re ‘Afraid’ Of ‘Diversity, Women, Minorities, LGBTQ.’

Ben Carson, Kayleigh McEnany, and Richard Grenell could not be reached for comment.

KEVIN WILLIAMSON: Ron DeSantis did what he does best during Hurricane Idalia: Govern.

DeSantis the good governor might make a good president, but that guy isn’t in the race: DeSantis the right-wing zealot and brawler is running for president, and not having much luck at it.

DeSantis is in the unfortunate position of trying to sell de-Trumped Trumpism to Republican primary voters who don’t particularly want their Trumpism de-Trumped.

But Hurricane Idalia presented that other DeSantis — the one whose main presidential credential is being good at the very important job he already has — a chance to shine.

Whether DeSantis is a capable enough politician to make the most of that remains an open question. So is whether Republicans are inclined to be impressed by a display of mere good governance.

It is tempting to say, “Will the real Ron DeSantis please stand up?” But it might be just as good if the phony one sat down — and remained seated.

Exit question: Does it matter that DeSantis has no plans to meet with Biden during president’s visit to Florida?

Chris Christie could not be reached for comment.

JOHN TIERNEY: No Masks, Please, We’re Rational.

RIP: Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson dead at 75.

JIM TREACHER: Libs Vow to Never Leave You Alone – Ever.

Remember CNN+? You know, the streaming service that made Quibi look like Netflix. It lasted for 30 glorious days in the spring of 2022, and it was only the first time within the next three months that Brian Stelter would lose a job.

No terrible idea ever really goes away, which is why now this is happening. Brian Steinberg, Variety:

Warner Bros. Discovery plans to unveil a 24/7 live-streamed news service called “CNN Max” on September 27, and indicated the outlet would focus initially on breaking news. Anchors including Jim Acosta, Rahel Solomon, Amara Walker, Fredricka Whitfield and Jim Sciutto have been given assignments, with Sciutto set to lead breaking news in the afternoons…

CNN Max is likely to evolve over time. Among the features the company will try out are ways of alerting Max viewers to breaking news while they are watching something else on the service, whether it be an HBO series, a Turner Classic Movies selection or an old episode of Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.”

This is great news if you’re one of the approximately 600,000 people who ever, ever watch CNN anymore. For the rest of us, it sounds like being told to eat our vegetables. Except the vegetables are actually dog turds.

It isn’t 1965 anymore. A TV network can break into programming to tell you about some current event they think is important, but a streaming service can’t. The whole point of a streaming service is that you don’t have to watch anything you don’t want to. That’s the agreement they make with you. And if they break that agreement, you can cancel your subscription before they can say, “And now, let’s go to Anderson Cooper.”

These people aren’t our gatekeepers anymore, and it really pisses them off. The audience now has the one thing these creeps wish we didn’t: a choice.

CNN Max’s programmers apparently don’t realize that everybody watching streaming media has their iPhone and/or iPad on the couch next to them when watching streaming media. If the Space Shuttle explodes or someone flies a plane into the World Trade Center, we’ll all know in real time – or at worst, we’ll find out one or two hours later when whatever streaming show we’re watching concludes. Or as Noah Rothman writes, “If Max’s executives think that you do not deserve uninterrupted access to escapist entertainment such that you can shut yourself off to the world, Max’s executives don’t think highly of you at all.” And like Bud Light’s executives, they really don’t.