MARVIN KALB WRITES THAT THE PRESS CORPS HAS FAILED PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN, DEPICTING HIM AS A DODDERING OLD MAN.

Buried lede: Marvin Kalb, at age 92, is still alive. (And still serving as a Democratic Party operative with a byline.)

JULIE BURCHILL: The toxic cult of the superhero.

Finally shipped them off to college, but they’re still finding life hard, and seeking comfort in the myths of their youth? No worries; just let them transfer to Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, USA, where they can be wet-nursed through the awful business of coming to maturity in the most affluent and free country the world has ever known by seeing it through the eyes of superheroes: ‘Many topics that dominate the conversations in modern society – race, feminism, immigration, gender and sexuality, politics, religion, and more – can be daunting to students who may not know how to engage in discussions about these topics. “These conversations, to young people, are threatening,” says Professor Annika Hagley. “To take these seemingly scary conversations and put them in a character they love or know, it’s a very effective way to give them access to have a conversation.”’

It’s hard for me to express the contempt I feel for the pretentious fools who peddle this stuff and the privileged saps who swallow it. All around the world children are dreaming of education above all else, which will enable them to get a decently paid job to pull themselves out of poverty. Meanwhile, a sizeable minority of first-world students apparently need to be coaxed and babied by mythical beings in order to take the next step towards adulthood.

It’s probably not surprising. We live in an era in which – due to everything from social media to computer games – everyone is encouraged to see themselves as a hero in their own game of life. It’s interesting that it’s often people on the left – like the Veep – who are into this way of thinking, when it’s historically more of a right-wing thing, going right back to Ayn Rand. With so many experiences lived online, it’s hardly surprising that life has started to seem like a game – with points to collect (the obsession with fitness data), money to be made (crypto coins) and (fictional) battles to be won.

Exit quote: “We need sensible stoics – not self-deceiving, self-diagnosed superheroes.”

In a world of participation trophies and since it seems like superhero movies are the only thing that Hollywood produces these days, it’s not surprising that schools and therapists have glommed on to them to coddle students, thus producing an endless feedback cycle.

NICHOLAS ROSKE USED REDDIT AND DISCORD TO PLAN ASSASSINATION OF KAVANAUGH AND POTENTIALLY TWO OTHER JUSTICES.

Related:

JIM TREACHER: Dems Suddenly Oppose Illegal Immigration. “Washington mayor requests troops to aid with migrant arrivals from Texas and Arizona…So much for ‘Give me your tired, your poor,’ etc. But look on the bright side, DC residents:”

ADVANTAGE: ED! The Economist: The silver linings of a recession. Lower inflation and greener energy are worth the price of a short downturn.

Yet in the same way that a downturn should purge the American economy of its inflation problem, so Europe could emerge from recession having overcome its complacency about the supply of energy. Policymakers have belatedly realised that a carefully managed shift to clean energy also eases their dependence on autocratic regimes.

Around the world, investment in renewable energy is surging and governments that were previously sceptical about nuclear power—an essential part of a low-carbon energy grid—are reconsidering their opposition to it. Even Japan, which suffered the Fukushima disaster in 2011, is hoping to restart more nuclear reactors. If the world emerges from the coming downturn with inflation under control and on the path to greener, more secure energy supplies, the pain will not have been for nothing.

As I predicted in February, “the left will then justify the ensuing recession by praising its benefits to the environment, as John Kerry and Claire McCaskill did during the early Obama years, and multiple lefties did last year during the Covid shutdown.”

ROLE REVERSAL: Some Americans Are Moving to Mexico; Mexicans Are Angry. “One of the new stories sweeping the interwebs is the tale of Californians fleeing the land of plenty and moving to Mexico because California has become too expensive. They are buying cheaper homes down south and working electronically. The homes are cheaper, the taxes are much lower, and their U.S. dollar goes much farther down there, according to Hot Air. But some Mexicans are not very happy about their new American neighbors moving into their Mexican neighborhoods. One reason is that these American transplants are driving up the values of their property and pricing Mexicans out of their homes.”

YOU CAN ONLY BE AVANT-GARDE FOR SO LONG BEFORE YOU BECOME GARDE: Kenan Thompson: ‘It might not be a bad idea’ for Saturday Night Live to end.

“There could be a lot of validity to that rumor, because 50 is a good number to stop at.” Thompson went on. “That’s an incredible package. [Lorne Michaels] will be, probably, close to 80 years old at that point, and you know, he’s the one who’s had his touch on the whole thing.”

The “Kenan and Ken” star continued: “So, if somebody tries to come into his shoes, you know it’s a good opportunity for NBC to save money as well, you know what I’m saying?”

“[NBC] might slash the budget and then at that point, you can’t really do the same kind of show. So that’s unfair to watch it just really go down kind of in flames for real because of those restrictions…. so capping it a 50 might not be a bad idea,” he said.

Flashback to 2015: Report: Hillary Clinton ‘Negotiated Limits’ With NBC News to Avoid ‘Vicious Humor’ On ‘SNL.’

Contrast SNL producer-creator Lorne Michael’s kid glove treatment of Hillary with how Gerald Ford’s press secretary Ron Nessen was demolished when he stupidly volunteered to host the show in its first season. Michaels’ then-wife (and a writer on the show) admitted afterwards, the goal of the show’s writers was “The President’s watching. Let’s make him cringe and squirm” — and he certainly did.

A big difference though: despite many of them being Democrats, NBC’s elite old guard upper management were genuinely shocked by the tone of Michael’s then-new show; for that same reason, Johnny Carson would have little to do with them, despite sharing virtually all of their politics.

These days, Lorne Michaels, as the producer of both SNL and the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon is NBC’s upper management, and the tone he instilled via SNL is the tone of NBC-MSNBC-Comcast.

But then, as original Saturday Night Live writer Anne Beatts liked to quip, “you can only be avant-garde for so long, before you become garde.” Or palace guard, in the case of Michaels, who last year was accused by one of his writers of giving Mr. Obama veto power over SNL jokes. Wouldn’t want the president cringing and squirming or anything.

SORE LOSER! Rep. Linda Sanchez flips the bird to GOP bench during Congressional Baseball Game:

Pelosi lives in her own bubble. Rep. Steve Scalise doesn’t have that privilege. He was nearly killed about five years ago when a Bernie bro progressive madman began shooting Republicans as they practiced for the game. Fortunately, thanks to the quick response to some fellow Republicans saving him from bleeding out on the field, he survived. He came back to play in the game the next year and each year since.

Since Rep. Sanchez proved to be a sore loser during a friendly game of baseball that raises money for charity, imagine what her reaction is going to be in November as she watches election results come in. She should be ashamed of herself. She’s a progressive, though, and we know they ruin everything.

You stay classy, Linda:

BIDEN’S LATEST ABSURD SPIN ON GAS PRICES (DEBUNKED): “Biden doesn’t get to have it both ways. If the president had no culpability for higher gas prices, he can’t take credit for lower gas prices. And vice versa: If he does deserve credit for these lower prices, then he deserves blame for the higher prices. Consistency, people. Is it really too much to ask for?”

MINISTRY OF TRUTH UPDATES CHOCOLATE RATION FIGURES: Wikipedia joins in the gaslighting! Online encyclopedia suspends edits to its ‘recession’ page after woke users changed definition to align with Biden’s claim that the US isn’t in one.

Wikipedia has suspended the edit feature on its ‘Recession’ page after users flocked to amend it to concur with President Biden’s claim that the US isn’t suffering a downturn.

The page was altered at least 47 times over a roughly 24-hour period, with an administrator locking unregistered users out until August in an effort to curb what the encyclopedia website characterizes as ‘vandalism,’ and ‘malicious’ edits.

The edit-freeze comes as numerous members of the Biden administration have tried to argue the country is not in a recession by casting doubt on the word’s definition, which commonly agreed upon to be two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth.

One member made repeated edits to the Wikipedia page to insist there was ‘no global consensus’ on the definition of recession, in what appears to be a bizarre attempt to push White House messaging.

Winston Smith and company have been working overtime:

Of course, it’s possible some of the revisions were attempts to re-insert the correct definition:

UPDATE: The Pelosi-approved definition:

(Updated and bumped.)

THE 21^st CENTURY IS NOT TURNING OUT AS I HAD HOPED: San Francisco Declares State of Emergency over Monkeypox Outbreak.

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS:

● Shot:

If you follow the trendline of plummeting trust in newspapers, as just updated by Gallup, you could make an argument that by the year 2030 or so, 0 percent of respondents will say they have any “confidence” in newspapers and TV news.

It sounds ridiculous, but that’s the direction the data is headed. In 1979, 51 percent of those polled said they had a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in newspaper journalism. But in Gallup’s latest poll this week, the number dropped to 16 percent, marking a steep four-and-a-half decade decline. Confidence in TV news has fared even worse, dropping from 46 percent in 1991 to 11 percent today.

Will the last poll respondent to lose confidence in newspapers and TV news, please cancel his subscription and turn off his TV?

This downer news about the news — and its hell-bound trajectory — surely measures something, but what? Other surveys by the Pew Research Center and the Reuters Institute bring similar findings. Could it be that newspapers are demonstrably worse than they were decades ago? No. Would anybody who was reading newspapers in 1979 say that? No, any honest assessment would find today’s newspapers more timely and accurate, fairer, and often better-written than the newspapers of 1979. So, what gives?

—Jack Shafer, “You Trust the Media More Than You Say You Do.  A new poll shows confidence in the press is still sinking. Don’t believe it,” Politico, July 20.

It must have been quite a miraculous turnaround for the media in the last 14 years:

● Chaser:

In 1993, novelist Michael Crichton riled the news business with a Wired magazine essay titled “Mediasaurus,” in which he prophesied the death of the mass media—specifically the New York Times and the commercial networks. “Vanished, without a trace,” he wrote.

* * * * * * * *

“[T]he American media produce a product of very poor quality,” he lectured. “Its information is not reliable, it has too much chrome and glitz, its doors rattle, it breaks down almost immediately, and it’s sold without warranty. It’s flashy but it’s basically junk.”

* * * * * * * *

As we pass his prediction’s 15-year anniversary, I’ve got to declare advantage Crichton. Rot afflicts the newspaper industry, which is shedding staff, circulation, and revenues. It’s gotten so bad in newspaperville that some people want Google to buy the Times and run it as a charity! Evening news viewership continues to evaporate, and while the mass media aren’t going extinct tomorrow, Crichton’s original observations about the media future now ring more true than false. Ask any journalist.

—Jack Shafer, “Michael Crichton, Vindicated,” Slate, May 29, 2008.

NEW VIDEO FROM AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Is Your Teenager Secretly A Libertarian? Nine Warning Signs To Look For.

Also from the Bee: 11 Pick Up Lines For Libertarians To Use If They Ever Meet A Girl.

CHANGE: Controversial Transgender Clinic Shuts Down in U.K., Deemed ‘Not Safe’ for Children.

GOVERNOR ABBOTT BLASTS MAYOR BOWSER FOR WHINING ABOUT ILLEGAL ALIEN ‘CRISIS’ COMING TO D.C. FROM TEXAS:

“With pledges from Texas and Arizona to continue these abhorrent* operations indefinitely, the situation is dire, and we consider this a humanitarian crisis — one that could overwhelm our social support network without immediate and sustained federal intervention,” Bowser wrote in requesting help from the National Guard.

“We’ve had a number of discussions,” she said. “We’ve facilitated FEMA’s involvement with a million dollar grant that has now been increased to work with a lead nonprofit agency. We’ve facilitated using those grant funds to set up respite center in a neighboring jurisdiction and I’ve also asked the Secretary of the Army to deploy the D.C. National Guard to help lead that effort.”

Abbott responded on Twitter, writing: “D.C. is experiencing a fraction of the disastrous impact the border crisis has caused Texas.”

“Mayor Bowser should stop attacking Texas for securing the border & demand Joe Biden do his job,” Abbott added.

* “Abhorrent?” Past performance is no guarantee of future results:

FOX NEWS CAPS OFF JOE BIDEN’S RECESSION DENIALISM WITH THE PERFECT CHYRON:

OLD AND BUSTED: Ernie Pyle reporting from the front lines of the war.

The New Hotness? Annie Leibovitz shooting glamorous cover stories of the war! In Case You Weren’t Convinced Volodymyr Zelensky Is Serious, Vogue Is Here To Tell You. “I don’t blame the Zelenskys for wanting to draw attention to their struggle. I do blame them for trying to guilt the West into escalating it. And after seeing the Vogue cover story, I blame them for thinking their veneration in the minds of Americans is so sacrosanct that sitting under hair and makeup artists for an almost comically dramatic photoshoot would not make anyone question their sincerity.”

I wonder if Zelensky knew of Leibovitz’s cursed streak? Flashback: The New Bad-Luck Curse in Politics: Jim Geraghty rounds up the names of four (insert “infamous” or “superstar” here, depending upon your worldview) leftists, including Robert “Beto” O’Rourke, who have undergone a dramatic reversal of fortune in recent days, who have all been lovingly photographed for Vogue or Vanity Fair by Annie Leibovitz, and confirms Iowahawk’s observation: “Whom the gods would destroy they first make pose for Annie Leibovitz.”

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? U.S. Offers to Exchange Russian Arms Dealer for WNBA Star and Former Marine. “If the swap is successful, wouldn’t this set a very bad precedent? Yes, it would, but the political benefits to Biden outweigh any danger to Americans traveling abroad. Biden’s agreement to exchange a terrorist for a basketball star and security consultant puts a bullseye on the back of Americans overseas — not just in Russia but everywhere that a thug thinks he can grab an American and exchange him or her for someone in our jails. Future hostages have Joe Biden to thank for their ordeal.”

CAROL ROTH: The GDP numbers are out: The Great Reset-sion. “Where does the economy go from here? At the end of the day, the label doesn’t really matter. Whether we have stagflation (a stagnating economy with high inflation) or a recession, we know that the economy is generally headed in the wrong direction. What truly matters is that Americans are hurting financially, that this outcome was caused by government and Federal Reserve policy, and that it was completely avoidable. That’s the bottom line.”

GREAT MOMENTS IN DEFUNDING THE POLICE: Stacey Abrams Can’t Find a Georgia Cop Who Supports Her.

‘SCHLONG COVID:’ Tucker Asks Viewers For Best Alternative Names For Monkeypox.

QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED: WTH happened to an objective news media? Ari Fleischer joins us to talk about his new book.

BIDEN GOES FULL CHIP DILLER: Economy “on the right path.”

Is that how the economy feels to millions of American households — “on the right path”? As I predicted yesterday, Joe Biden has decided to stick to the Chip Diller playbook in response to today’s second consecutive negative GDP report. Biden insists that we need to stay his course regardless of the outcomes:

Coming off of last year’s historic economic growth – and regaining all the private sector jobs lost during the pandemic crisis – it’s no surprise that the economy is slowing down as the Federal Reserve acts to bring down inflation. But even as we face historic global challenges, we are on the right path and we will come through this transition stronger and more secure. Our job market remains historically strong, with unemployment at 3.6% and more than 1 million jobs created in the second quarter alone. Consumer spending is continuing to grow. Earlier this week, I met with the Chairman of SK Group from Korea, just one of the companies investing more than $200 billion in American manufacturing since I took office, powering a historic recovery in American manufacturing.

My economic plan is focused on bringing inflation down, without giving up all the economic gains we have made. Congress has an historic chance to do that by passing the CHIPS and Science Act and Inflation Reduction Act without delay.

One has to wonder whether this response got written yesterday. Consumer spending is not “continuing to grow,” for instance; PCEs barely made it to positive territory at an annualized 1% growth rate, but spending in all goods categories contracted. One company may be investing in the US (from South Korea?), but domestic business investment fell in Q2 at an annualized 13.5% rate.

Another indicator of the “path” is real disposable income, and it’s clearly going in the wrong direction.

How will we know when the economy is recovering? That’s surprisingly easy to judge:

REPORT: Joe Manchin Agrees to Tax Hikes, Spending Increases, Green New Deal Agenda Items.

As John Cooper of the Heritage Foundation tweets, “Screwing over your own state is a rare feat, but boy is [Manchin] about to do it.

THE 21st CENTURY IS NOT TURNING OUT AS I HAD HOPED: Democrats bring woman who is a witch and a furry as witness for abortion hearing.