“WEATHER ‘TOO HOT’ FOR SOLAR PANELS: Blistering Temperatures In Britain Cause Solar Panels To Stop Working.

RIP: Ace of Spades Coblogger Emeritus Dave In Texas Has Passed. “His humor could also be broad and silly, as in the case of the Crap Tree. His wife liked a nice classy Christmas tree. Dave liked hanging up crap ornaments he got from 7-Eleven and postcard give-aways from Hawaiian Punch on the tree. So his wife got him his own special, stupid Crap Tree he could hang his Dumb Ornaments on.”

UPDATE: Also in Ace’s obit for Dave in Texas:

In every thread, Proud Liberal Vet appeared to tell us that Bush ordered him to use White Phosphorus on civilians. Dave asked, “What was your M.O.S.?” Proud Liberal Vet would suddenly disappear.

Ultimately Dave cornered him and it became clear that Proud Liberal Vet did not have the faintest idea what an M.O.S. is, which of course is impossible if you were ever in the military; you can’t not know what job you have, or what code is assigned to your job. You have to repeat that number and write it on forms ten thousand times a year.

All of this inspired Dave in Texas to write one of the finest parodies ever written on the Ace of Spades blog: “Antarctica Now,” a first person account, ostensibly from Proud Liberal Vet’s POV, about fighting Charlie in Antarctica. He wrote in in the comments.

I later put it in a post, but who knows how to find that old thing. Fortunately, Mrs. Peel found it and sent it over to Michaels Comments to post. So you can read “Antarctica Now” there, if you like.

And you really should — it’s long, but very funny:

Antarctica, shit. I’m still only in Antarctica. Every time I think I’m going to wake up back on the ice floe. When I was home after my first tour, it was worse. I’d wake up and there’d be nothing… I hardly said a word to my wife until I said yes to a divorce. When I was here I wanted to be there. When I was there, all I could think of was getting back into McMurdo. I’ve been here a week now. Waiting for a mission, getting softer. Every minute I stay in this tent I get weaker. And every minute Charlie squats in the snow he gets stronger.

Each time I look around the tent flaps move in a little tighter.

Everyone gets everything he wants. I wanted a mission, and for my sins they gave me one. Brought it up to me like room service.

******

I was going to the worst place in the world, and I didn’t even know it yet. Weeks away and hundreds of miles up a glacier that snaked through the ice like a main circuit cable and plugged straight into Byrd. It was no accident that I got to be the caretaker of Admiral Richard E. Byrd’s memory, any more than being back in McMurdo was an accident. There is no way to tell his story without telling
my own. And if his story is really a confession, then so is mine.

*******

How many penguins had I already killed? There was those six that I know about for sure. Close enough to blow their last fishy breath in my face. But this time it was an American and an officer. That wasn’t supposed to make any difference to me, but it did. Shit…charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out snow shovels to Roald Amundsen. I took the mission. What the hell else was I gonna do? But I didn’t know what I’d do when I found him.

Read the whole thing when you have a few minutes to spare.

(Updated and bumped.)

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Kamala Harris Speechwriter Leaves Administration To Write For Sesame Street.

According to sources within the White House, Kamala Harris is once again losing another staff member as her top aide is leaving the administration after taking a new job. Sabrina Singh, Harris’ current deputy press secretary and main speechwriter, has been poached by Sesame Street to write speeches for them instead.

“I’m at a point in my career where I need to grow and be challenged and that’s not going to happen here with Vice President Harris. I want to move into the big leagues and start writing for legends like Big Bird, and Bert and Ernie,” said Singh. “With Sesame Street, I’ll be writing more intricately crafted speeches for an audience that simply won’t tolerate rambling, incoherent gibberish.”

Seems pretty racist though: Sesame Place to undergo bias training after calls of racism.

WORKING CLASS HERO: Springsteen Silent on Outrageously High Ticket Prices.

STEVE BANNON CONVICTED IN JANUARY 6 CONTEMPT-OF-CONGRESS CASE.

A jury found former Trump adviser Steve Bannon guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress on Friday over his refusal to comply with subpoenas from the House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot.

Bannon refused to testify and turn over records as requested by the House panel.

Jurors handed down the verdict in the Washington, D.C., federal court after just three hours of deliberations on Friday afternoon.

Bannon faces a minimum sentence of 30 days in jail per count. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 21 at 3 p.m.

Flashback: What Democrats said when Obama-appointed Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt of Congress.

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Biden Races To Sniff One Last Girl Before Losing Sense Of Smell From COVID.

JIM TREACHER: So the Pandemic Is Officially Over, Right? If Biden doesn’t need to obey the rules, why do we?

CRISIS BY DESIGN: Head of TSA Makes Stunning Admission on Illegal Immigrants Using Arrest Warrants As IDs. “Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) pressed the head of the Transportation Security Administration about the number of immigrants released by Border Patrol who have used arrest warrants as a form of ID to board airplanes. TSA Administrator David Pekoske said under 1,000 people had used arrest warrants or deportation orders in order to travel.”

THAT WAS THE WEEK TRUNALIMUNUMAPRZURE THAT WAS: Does Biden have Covid, cancer, and dementia?

BO KNOWS CLASS: Legendary Athlete Bo Jackson Anonymously Donated To Pay For Uvalde Victims’ Funerals.

GREAT MOMENTS IN MAGICAL THINKING: Protesting gun violence, Pat Benatar won’t sing ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot’ on tour. “Fans ‘are having a heart attack’ over the decision, Benatar says, ‘I’m sorry, in deference to the victims of the families of these mass shootings, I’m not singing it. I tell them, ‘if you want to hear the song, go home and listen to it.’”

THIS IS CNN: “It is self-indulgent to insist on chilly temperatures in the middle of summer and rooms at t-shirt warmth in winter. The donning of sweaters indoors when it’s cold outside, not because the AC is cranked up so high, is surely a habit one can adapt to. ”

You know what else is self-indulgent? Air-conditioned server farms. Let us know when you switch them off, CNN.

In both cases, as Glenn has written, why not start with a pilot program first? Ban A/C for DC! “We won two world wars without air conditioning our federal employees. Nothing in their performance over the last 50 or 60 years suggests that A/C has improved things. Besides, The Washington Post informs us that A/C is sexist, and that Europeans think it’s stupid.”

GOODER AND HARDER, NEW YORK: Man Accused of Attack on GOP Rep. Zeldin Immediately Released after Being Charged with Felony. “The attacker walked free shortly after Zeldin predicted he would ‘likely be instantly released.’ ‘His words as he tried to stab me a few hours ago were ‘you’re done’, but several attendees, including @EspositoforNY, quickly jumped into action & tackled the guy,’ Zeldin wrote in a tweet. ‘Law enforcement was on the scene within minutes. The attacker will likely be instantly released under NY’s laws.’”

UPDATE: “The State of New York immediately releasing [Zeldin’s] attacker with no-cash bail is the best argument for electing Lee Zeldin that Lee Zeldin could have made,” Larry O’Connor tweets.

(Updated and bumped.)

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Mainstream media carried out a massive fake news operation against Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin last week and now they’re being forced to correct the record.

MINNEAPOLIS VENUE CANCELS DAVE CHAPPELLE PERFORMANCE, VOWS TO BECOME ‘THE SAFEST SPACE.’

First Avenue can invite and disinvite whomever it wants, of course. But it’s hard to see this move as anything other than cowardly and counterproductive.

For one thing, canceling the performance does not even accomplish the narrow goal of stopping Chappelle from speaking. As the statement noted, the performance was merely being transferred to an alternative location—and all ticket holders will be able to watch him there. If ever there was an example of virtue signaling, this is it.

Then again, is it really virtuous to punish a comedian for engaging in transgressive artistic expression? First Avenue never used to think so. The venue is featured heavily in Prince’s film, Purple Rain, and was known for promoting artists who defied boundaries and flouted social conventions. Today, First Avenue is afraid of offending a small number of hypersensitive progressives.

And given that it’s Minneapolis, getting its building torched.

Literally, that is. It was metaphorically torched by Chappelle at the venue that stepped up to host him: “So, Chappelle performed at the Variety Theater, where he laughed off the controversy like he was always going to do. No cellphones were allowed. But Chappelle was said to have called his critics a ‘small group of transgender lunatics’ and slammed First Avenue for not having more courage. ‘I can see a transgender hit squad from a mile off.’”

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Brutal: Biden Contracts COVID Just One Day After Miraculous Recovery From Cancer.

OLD AND BUSTED: Sharks with Frickin’ Laser Beams Attached to Their Heads.

The New Hotness? Robot dog with machine gun hints of a dystopian future.

The design of the robot looks a lot like Go1 robot dog Unitree Robotics makes. For example, the back side of the device in the video exhibits a distinct pattern on a plastic covering between its hind legs. A similar design is visible on devices in Unitree’s promotional material.

The Hangzhou-based company is selling the Go1 model of the robot for $2,700 on its website, a fraction of over $75k that American-made Spot would cost its owner.

While the robot doesn’t seem to handle recoil very well with the gun on ‘burst fire’ mode, switching to a ‘semi-automatic’ setting allows the robot to hit targets without moving around too much.

The robot in the video has patches on its surfaces with insignia associated with the Russian military: a Russian flag on one side and what seems to be a Wolf, which Russian special forces use.

Cкайнет улыбается.

SLOWLY ROASTING IN HEATWAVE BRITAIN:

There’ll always be Rome, Barcelona, Athens — but chances are you haven’t considered [vacationing in] Manchester, the northern English industrial powerhouse that inspired Karl Marx to write The Communist Manifesto and gave the world the Smiths, Joy Division and Oasis (you know, the ones who wrote “Wonderwall”).

Yet as I write from the downtown offices of the Mill, the city’s up-and-coming quality local journalism newsletter, the windows are wide open, two fans are working overtime, the desk plants are shuffling off the mortal coil and the thermometer reads “36 degrees Celsius” — which translates to 97 degrees Fahrenheit.

I know what you’re thinking — “97 degrees? Is that it? No wonder those lily-livered limeys wilted when faced down by Founding Fathers.” In the US, 97 degrees is code for “turn the AC up, dip in the pool and put the extremely watery light beer in the cooler.”

But Manchester was not built for this heat. Buildings here don’t come equipped with air-conditioning units — no one has ever needed them — and in the two local cafes I sampled this afternoon, the baristas were clearly rookies at making iced coffee.

Naturally Britain has been brought to its knees: schools closed early and trains are being canceled (though frankly this happens all the time anyway). The H&M on Market Street is sold out of sunglasses. If you tried to order an AC unit on Amazon Prime on Monday, it likely wouldn’t be with you until Friday. Down in Oxfordshire the Royal Air Force halted flights after the runway at their Brize Norton base “melted.” That makes this the perfect time for President Biden’s allies in Ireland to invade.

Meanwhile, let’s check in on Germany:

JOE MANCHIN IS SAVING DEMOCRATS, YET THEY HATE HIM FOR IT:

Manchin properly represents his constituents in a state where Donald Trump defeated Joe Biden by 39 points; he’s also preserving the party and country when no other Democrat tries.

Seemingly apathetic to soaring inflation crushing hardworking Americans, Democrats kept pushing massive spending. Manchin and Republicans have been proven correct to oppose it, while the Sanders wing is wrong.

And yes, the lifelong West Virginian supports the fossil fuel industry because he represents an energy-producing state, and his voters, like most Americans, want cheaper fossil fuels.

He’s also served the Mountain State for decades in various leadership capacities. He knows he holds a valuable seat that will be in Republican hands for generations once he retires, perhaps in 2024 at age 77.

Sanders does not care about Biden’s agenda; he’s irked because Manchin is undermining his totalitarian goals.

Earlier: Robert Reich: Perhaps it’s time to kick Joe Manchin out of the Democratic party.

Yes, your terms are acceptable:

ANTI-GAY TELESCOPE TYRANNY! Homophobic Telescope Reveals First Hi-Res Images of Deep Space.

As Rod Dreher responds to the above headline, “You think: that just has to be the Babylon Bee, right? Nope — it’s part of the Microsoft News network, same as MSNBC:

Because really, when you think about it, the only thing significant about a scientist’s life is how he felt about gay people in the 1950s. NPR, naturally, tried to warn the space agency last fall to turn back from its gay-bashing ways, but NASA for some reason wouldn’t listen.

When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez becomes our Woke Cromwell, they will rename the Webb telescope the Big Freedia Space Telescope, or, alternatively, they will blow it up so our vision of deep space isn’t tainted by homophobe emanations.

Not only was James Webb homophobic, I’m told he had terrible taste in shirts as well.

AP AND NPR SUDDENLY NOTICE: Corruption concerns involving Ukraine are revived as the war with Russia drags on.

QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED:

● Shot: Biden Wanted an F.D.R. Presidency. How’s He Doing So Far?

—The New York Times, October 26^th.

● Chaser: First Case of Polio in United States in Almost a Decade Reported in New York.

—Mediaite, today.

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE: Department of Defense establishes office to track UFOs in space.

The Department of Defense has created an office to track unidentified objects in space and air, under water, or even those that appear to travel between these domains.

UFOs, or as they are now known, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) have been receiving newfound levels of government scrutiny not seen in decades. Multiple hearings and classified briefings have taken place in the halls of the U.S. Congress in recent months, and many lawmakers have expressed concern that America’s airspace may not be as safe as we think due to the many sightings of unidentified objects military aviators and other armed forces personnel have reported.

With that in mind, the Department of Defense (DOD) announced the creation of this new office in a statement (opens in new tab) published Wednesday (July 20). The office is known as the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, and was established within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security. The new office will be led by Sean Kirkpatrick (opens in new tab), who previously served as the chief scientist at the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Missile and Space Intelligence Center.

America is so behind the times. Didn’t England already do this 42 years ago?

SNOWFALLS ARE NOW JUST A THING OF THE PAST: One Simple Graph Shows Why Biden’s ‘Climate Emergency’ Would Be Worse Than Useless. The president is considering drastic action that would actually accomplish almost nothing.

What does a president do when Congress won’t pass the legislation he wants? Grab a pen and try to cram it through via executive order, apparently—at least if that president’s name is Joe Biden.

Congress just shut down Biden’s hopes of passing major legislation intended to address climate change through massive taxpayer spending, subsidies, and regulations. But the president isn’t giving up.

Rather, the White House is planning on issuing several executive orders taking unilateral action to supposedly halt climate change. And the president is even reportedly considering declaring a “climate emergency” to unlock more emergency powers Biden could use to impose climate policies without actually going through the democratic process of legislation.

These efforts are constitutionally suspect, economically unsound, and politically unwise. But more than that, if he does go through with it, President Biden’s “climate emergency” would be worse than useless, accomplishing next-to-nothing despite its many downsides.

With the Covid panic now in many Americans’ rear-view mirrors, Team Biden needs a “new” crisis (see our headline above) to justify the left’s century-old organizing principle, the moral equivalent of war. Not to mention they don’t know what else to do:

WORKING CLASS HERO: Bruce Springsteen Fans Complain About Steep Ticketmaster Prices.

Hey, those polo ponies and that 384-acre horse farm don’t pay for themselves, you know.