BE LIKE DAVE: We told him not to come to the wedding, but we still wanted his money.

Four months before my daughter’s wedding, she told me that her uncle (my brother, “Dave”) would make her feel unsafe if he was a guest. She asked me not to invite him.

My daughter is very politically progressive, as are many of her friends, and although she and Dave have always had a good relationship (I thought), he is a conservative voter and has supported candidates we all abhor.

Dave has always been very nice, so my daughter’s request surprised me.

I wrote Dave a very nice note, telling him that we would not be comfortable with him at the wedding and that he would not be invited.

Dave did not respond and did not attend.

Afterward, I sent him a card and pictures from the wedding, all in an effort to make him feel like he was not being totally left out.

I have not heard from Dave since then. When my siblings found out what I had done they were angry with me.

That is just one problem.

Another problem is that Dave has not sent my daughter and son-in-law a wedding gift.

We won’t tolerate your political views being diverse from ours, but we’ll certainly take your money sight unseen is the very definition of “Progressivism” in action.

THE STRUGGLE IS REAL: Michelle Obama Takes Time From Opulent Greek Isles Vacation to Tweet About Muh Oppression.

WHY IS THE LEFT SUCH A CESSPIT OF RACISM? Soledad O’Brien tries to shame Asian-American immigrant over affirmative action.

Racialism from someone who declared Rev. Wright’s infamous 2008 NAACP speech “a home run?” I’m shocked!

DISPATCHES FROM WEIMAR AMERICA: Two NorCal sheriff deputies arrested for sex crimes in 48 hours.

UNEXPECTEDLY: White House cautiously opens the door to study blocking sun’s rays to slow global warming.

The White House offered measured support for the idea of studying how to block sunlight from hitting Earth’s surface as a way to limit global warming, in a congressionally mandated report that could help bring efforts once confined to science fiction into the realm of legitimate debate.

The controversial concept known as solar radiation modification is a potentially effective response to fighting climate change, but one that could have unknown side effects stemming from altering the chemical makeup of the atmosphere, some scientists say.

The White House report released late Friday indicates that the Biden administration is open to studying the possibility that altering sunlight might quickly cool the planet. But it added a degree of skepticism by noting that Congress has ordered the review, and the administration said it does not signal any new policy decisions related to a process that is sometimes referred to — or derided as — geoengineering.

Biden is an Obama administration retread, and Obama’s Dr. Strangelove-esque “Science” “Czar” John Holdren told a completely nonplussed AP in 2009 that he was fine with the idea of reducing exposure to the sun:

The president’s new science adviser said Wednesday that global warming is so dire, the Obama administration is discussing radical technologies to cool Earth’s air. John Holdren told The Associated Press in his first interview since being confirmed last month that the idea of geoengineering the climate is being discussed. One such extreme option includes shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun’s rays. Holdren said such an experimental measure would only be used as a last resort.

“It’s got to be looked at,” he said. “We don’t have the luxury of taking any approach off the table.”

“Progressivism:” Where time stands still.

It could be worse, of course:

HMMM: The Wagner ‘Coup’ Was Staged by Putin—and the West Fell for It.

By now, everyone has heard about the narrowly avoided coup in Russia: Last Friday night, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, one of Putin’s most trusted allies and the commander of the notorious Russian mercinary Wagner Group, marched on Moscow in an apparent coup d’etat, only to come to a swift agreement with Vladimir Putin and decamp for Belarus. While most commentators acknowledged that things didn’t quite add up, the “expert” class happily concluded that at least it had weakened Putin in his war against Ukraine.

None seemed to realize the obvious truth: The coup was staged, and completely faked false flag operation.

Think about it: An army invades Russia, race right up to Moscow, and no one gets hurt? With just a few thousand men, it achieved what Hitler with almost a million men wasn’t able to? And Putin holds his military back? And then, with Moscow supposedly within his grasp, Prigozhin decides, “Oh well, never mind” and heads to Belarus?

Let’s see if Prigozhin gets a severe case of Russian “window flu” in the not too distant future before deciding.

IS PARIS BURNING? Macron dances at Elton John concert as France burns amid ongoing violence.

10 PERCENT FOR THE BIG GUY: Joe Biden Says He Wants To Crack Down on ‘Privilege’ in Education. He Once Called UPenn’s President To Get His Granddaughter In.

ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: Just Stop Oil protesters disrupt London pride parade over ‘polluting’ sponsors.

THANKS, HARRY REID, RBG! The Four People Responsible for the Conservative Supreme Court Majority.

THIS IS CNN: What Caused a CNN Host to Quickly End Her Segment on Affirmative Action.

CNN host Abby Phillip ended a segment with a fair admissions advocate on Thursday when he used facts to demonstrate the downside of affirmative action.

Kenny Xu — a board member for Students for Fair Admissions, the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case — told Phillip that academic excellence, not race, “should be prioritized” in college admissions.

“I think that admissions should be only based on merit,” he said. “Why are we asking a university to calculate somebody’s level of diversity? I think that sets a very bad precedent for anybody trying to get into college. We should be treated on the basis of our merits. We should be treated on the basis of how hard we work, or study, our SAT scores, our grades.”

But Phillip pushed back. She asked why admissions boards should not consider “other factors” that students “bring to the table” like socio-economic background.

Xu argued you cannot do that fairly because, inevitably, admissions standards are changed for applicants from a disadvantaged socio-economic background versus applicants from a privileged background.

“We don’t want that. We want black students to succeed. We want every student to succeed, low-income students to succeed,” he pointed out. “But you have to put them in scenarios, in places where they are likely to succeed. And lowering your standard to admit somebody of a socio-economic status or race would not help you do that. In fact, you would harm their graduation rate and excellence.”

When Phillip tried to say the standards weren’t lowered, Xu whipped out data on SAT scores and admission rates, and the CNN host quickly fled to the bunker. Xu is right. Thomas Sowell explained this glaring problem with affirmative action in front of a US Senate committee, adding that these protocols often set up these applicants for failure.

How Affirmative Action FAILS minorities — Thomas Sowell pic.twitter.com/rxyb9rV0Od

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 29, 2023

Read the whole thing.

DISPATCHES FROM THE INTERSECTION OF THE K-12 IMPLOSION AND WEIMAR, AMERICA: Watch: Dad of the year brought receipts and 🔥 to a school meeting about the trans bathroom issue.

Father of the year brought the receipts.

Enough with the lies. Protect the children. pic.twitter.com/PJ0TVnfJzi

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) June 30, 2023

THE POWER LINE WEEK IN PICTURES: Halfway Point Edition.

STEVE GREEN: Kathleen Kennedy Does to Indiana Jones What Nazis, Supernatural Cults, More Nazis, and Space Aliens Never Could.

We’re about to witness the release of an Indiana Jones movie that will be lucky to break even.

Rotten, woke dialog like these two samples apparently remain, even after the reshoots:

Indiana Jones: You stole it!
Dr. Voller: You stole it!
Helena: Then I stole it! It’s called capitalism.

And:

Indiana Jones: I fought the Nazis you know!
Helena: And you stole from indigenous people, too!

Helena is Indy’s goddaughter, played by the aggressively unlikable Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and who is reportedly being groomed to don the fedora as the franchise’s new leading lady. You might have last seen Waller-Bridge — heard her, actually — as the voice of L3-37, the droid in the execrable Star Wars flop, Solo. L3 was the droid that galactic playboy Lando Calrissian was romantically attached to. Lando!

You will not be surprised to learn that Disney’s Lucasfilm chief, Kathleen Kennedy, was in charge of both productions. And so it appears that Kennedy, fresh off of driving Star Wars into the ground, will do to Indiana Jones what Nazis, supernatural cults, more Nazis, and space aliens never could: Murder the man with the hat.<

The Critical Drinker agrees:

THE SLOW MOTION INVASION: The Chinese government seems to be everywhere in the U.S.

IT’S SUMMERTIME. SHOULDN’T THEY BE OUTSIDE HAVING FUN? Number of teens who ‘don’t enjoy life’ has doubled with social media.

IS PARIS BURNING? An “Adolescent” (Surely a Gentle Giant) Is Killed by Police During His 13th Brush with the Law in France, And BLM-Style Rioting, Arson, and Looting Engulfs the Nation.

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN! It’s the Return of the Chalkening! Libs Demanded Sarah Huckabee Sanders Remove a Cross Drawn by Her Kids. Here’s Her Response.

Joyless leftists, as they are prone to do, got all triggered when Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ kids used chalk to draw a cross surrounded by colorful stained glass-like shapes on the driveway at the governor’s mansion this week.

Gov. Sanders had shared a photo of her kids and their artwork to social media, which naturally upset the usual suspects.

Never mind, apparently, that “separation of church and state” is not found in the Constitution, nor does having a kids’ chalk depiction of a rather universal religious symbol rise to the level of establishing a state religion.

In what should come as a surprise to no one, Gov. Sanders is not backing down, bending to the will of the no-God-in-government crowd at Americans United, or agreeing to relegate her family’s beliefs to only private expressions.

In an official letter of her own obtained by Townhall on Friday, Sanders responded to Americans United.

What is it about chalk that triggers the left? Flashback to 2016: DIAL 911 FOR THE CHALK SQUAD! #TheChalkening: U of Michigan Students Call Police Over ‘Trump 2016,’ ‘Stop Islam’ Chalk Markings.

Related: This tweet neatly sums up the schizophrenic worldview of, as Iowahawk dubbed them, today’s screaming campus garbage babies:

MESSING WITH TEXAS:

NEW: Video from source in Eagle Pass shows Border Patrol cutting through razor wire placed by the state of TX to allow migrants to enter & be processed after crossing illegally. @TxDPS tells me this is the first time they know of this happening, and that it’s being looked into… pic.twitter.com/jESPbzj9sw

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) June 30, 2023

RIP: Alan Arkin, Oscar-Winning Little Miss Sunshine Actor, Dead at 89.

BREAKING: Supreme Sides With Christian Who Refused to Create Same-Sex Wedding Websites.

Related: “You Do Not Have to Bake the Cake:” The Supreme Court continues its winning streak with a major victory for religious liberty ✊.

MORE SCOTUS: Biden’s student-loan forgiveness plan is dead, 6-3.

TRUNALIMUNUMAPRZURE! Unwell-Looking Joe Biden Tells on Himself in SCOTUS Comments During Trainwreck MSNBC Interview.

At the end of the interview, something awkward happened. After Wallace thanked him for being on the show, Biden got up before the segment went to commercial break and as the cameras continued to roll:

Bathroom run?
Biden gets out of his seat before the commercials start and awkwardly walks off-set. pic.twitter.com/Ne9BAuXo0t

— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) June 29, 2023

I wrote yesterday that I felt Biden wasn’t fit for another term based on his declining health and mental fitness. But it’s not just that. Comments like the ones he made today in response to the ruling are dangerous and do in fact undermine the legitimacy of the court by design, regardless of what he says about packing the court.

He has once again demonstrated his fair weather tendencies on “respecting our institutions” not to mention his rank hypocrisy on the matter.

2024 cannot come soon enough.

If Biden can’t handle the softest of softball interviews without glitching, he has no business pretending he’s still (p)resident.

And it really was a softball interview: Nicolle Wallace Fails to Ask Biden About His Son Hunter’s Guilty Plea During 20-Minute Interview.

MARK JUDGE: The New York Times wants you to read banned books — just not conservative ones.

New York Times critic A.O. Scott is concerned about America’s reading crisis. “Across the country,” he wrote in a recent Sunday edition of the Times, “Republican politicians and conservative activists are removing books from classroom and library shelves, ostensibly to protect children from ‘indoctrination’ in supposedly left-wing ideas about race, gender, sexuality, and history.”

Scott has fallen for the fake story that conservatives are banning books, when in reality school parents are simply requesting that books with sexual content be subject to parental approval, educational, and only available to the proper grade level. Scott selling this lie is a shame, because his piece also makes a rousing defense of reading, which he rightly describes as a transformative activity that can steer its practitioner away from leftist politics as much as towards them.

New York Times critic A.O. Scott is concerned about America’s reading crisis. “Across the country,” he wrote in a recent Sunday edition of the Times, “Republican politicians and conservative activists are removing books from classroom and library shelves, ostensibly to protect children from ‘indoctrination’ in supposedly left-wing ideas about race, gender, sexuality, and history.”

Scott has fallen for the fake story that conservatives are banning books, when in reality school parents are simply requesting that books with sexual content be subject to parental approval, educational, and only available to the proper grade level. Scott selling this lie is a shame, because his piece also makes a rousing defense of reading, which he rightly describes as a transformative activity that can steer its practitioner away from leftist politics as much as towards them.

To me, reading has always meant reinforcing or rediscovering deep truths about the human person, while also delving into edgy, challenging, and countercultural books that are deemed dangerous or offensive. I read and loved The Lord of the Rings, C.S. Lewis, and the Bible, but also Henry Miller, Hunter S. Thompson, and The Killer Inside Me by pulp fiction master Jim Thompson. I always figured that’s how it should be — this is America, we can read what we want.

Until we can’t: The Woke Bell Tolls for Ernest Hemingway.

KINSLEY GAFFE: “For First Time, Majority of Americans and Democrats Think Pandemic is Over,” says Gallup. Good to see the polling firm separating the two groups out:

Gallup has asked Americans whether they think the COVID-19 pandemic is over since June 2021, and until now, found less than half saying it was. This includes a 49% reading in February. Since then, the percentage of Americans who think the pandemic is over has jumped 15 percentage points to 64%, while 36% say it has not ended yet.

Although Americans across party lines increasingly believe the pandemic is over, Democrats’ views have changed the most since February. For the first time in Gallup’s trend, a majority of Democrats, 51%, now say the pandemic has ended, marking a 23-point increase since earlier this year. At the same time, Republicans’ (84%) and independents’ (65%) views of the pandemic’s demise have grown by nine and 10 points, respectively.

These changes may be due, at least in part, to a series of official announcements about the pandemic nationally and globally. In April, President Joe Biden signed a congressional resolution to end the nation’s state of emergency, and in May, both the U.S. and global declarations of a public health emergency ended.

Still though, there’s at least one hardline elderly socialist not willing to part with her masks and Purell:

She's gone insane https://t.co/ByHK3cly1F

— Tim Pool (@Timcast) June 26, 2023