SCIENCE, UNSETTLED: Galactic Surprise: Milky Way’s Slower Outer Stars Suggest Dark Matter Overestimated.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China launches Jielong-3 rocket, paves way for more commercial missions.

THE WAY THINGS WORK TODAY: The Bad Guys Gotta Be White Males or It’s Racist. Preferably Christian:

In London, a man named Abdul Shakoor Ezedi is wanted for an “alkali attack” against a woman and her three-year-old daughter. He threw some sort of corrosive substance on them, causing severe burns. . . .

So this guy flees Afghanistan for the UK, rapes someone, gets a slap on the wrist, and is granted asylum. Then he runs around splashing toxic chemicals on people and attacking children.

That’s happening right now.

I thought about that story as I watched the latest episode of Criminal Record, streaming now on Apple TV+.

It’s a pretty good show, a bit slow-moving but well-acted, intriguing plot, all that. But the fundamental premise really rankles me. If we’re to believe the screenwriters, the worst problem facing London in the 21st Century is racist right-wing cops.

Peter Capaldi plays DCI1 Daniel Hegarty, who’s sort of half-supercop, half-politician. He knows everybody, he sees everything, and he can pull the strings to make his colleagues’ lives as easy or as tough as he wants. And of course, you know he’s the villain because he’s a white male. Boo, hiss!

Hegarty comes into conflict with DS2 June Lenker (Cush Jumbo), and I won’t spoil any of the plot details. But Hegarty and his crew of likeminded white male cops are despicable, and Lenker keeps butting heads with them because they don’t see her as an equal.

Are there racist cops? Of course. Is that a worthy dramatic premise? Sure.

But just once, I’d like to watch a show that actually reflects other stuff that’s happening in the real world. A scenario where the cops are trying to protect the public from, say, insane Islamic immigrants who attack children in the street after being let out of prison for rape.

It’s not racist to notice. It’s not bigoted to empathize with the victims of a crime committed by somebody who’s been designated a victim because he’s not white.

I had a similar problem with another recent thriller series, Condor, currently streaming on MGM+.

Shocking.

MAGAZINES: The Wisdom of Downloading. “The answer to the age-old question of whether or not to top off a magazine to maximize the number of on-board rounds depends on the firearm in question. Even within the same model, individual examples can yield different conclusions.”

IT’S STYLISH, SO IT MUST BE GOOD FOR THE PLANET: Over 2 percent of the US’s electricity generation now goes to bitcoin.

HMM: Is hypnotizability related to risk-taking behavior?

THEY’RE STILL STYLISH, THOUGH: Lead aprons no longer necessary for dental X-rays.

HIGHER EDUCATION HAS GONE PAST SELF-PARODY: Robot Racism: Pittsburgh Professor Sounds Alarm Over “Interacting with White Robots.”

SAME REASON SUVS REPLACED STATION WAGONS: Why Are Pickup Trucks Ridiculously Huge? Blame Government.

LIFE IN THE BIDEN ERA: East Palestine residents still displaced, suffering 1 year after toxic train derailment.

EVERY INSTITUTION HAS BEEN CORRUPTED: Inside the Censorship Scandal That Rocked Sci-Fi and Fantasy’s Biggest Awards. “Three months later, the truth came out when McCarty shared the Hugo nominating statistics on Facebook: Someone had stolen nominations from The Sandman legend Neil Gaiman, Babel author R. F. Kuang, Iron Widow novelist Xiran Jay Zhao, and fan writer Paul Weimer. All four of them earned enough votes to be finalists—and therefore eventually winners—but for unknown reasons, someone had secretly marked their works as ‘ineligible’ after the first rounds of voting. . . . When McCarty finally shared last year’s nominating statistics on his Facebook page, authors, fans, and finalists were shocked. In the history of the awards, no works had ever been deemed ineligible like this. Many people who had expected Kuang to win for Babel were now stunned to see she very well could have, and McCarty’s refusal to explain what happened made everything worse. (McCarty did not respond to interview requests for this story.)”

Plus: “All four ‘ineligible’ writers have criticized the Chinese Communist Party or its policies at some point in the past.” Insiders deny that was a factor, but . . .

OH NO! ANYWAY . . . Harvard Faces New Threat Of State Tax On Its $51 Billion Endowment. Subsidizing higher education is like subsidizing tobacco.

UPDATE: From the comments: “Harvard is so loathsome they have made me root for the state government of Massachusetts. Go Massachusetts Go!!”

EVEN A FLATWORM IS SMART ENOUGH TO TURN AWAY FROM PAIN: Californians eager to junk soft-on-crime law pushed by Kamala Harris.

Related: Biden reelection rating worst in 32 years, most want him gone: Gallup.

A MESSAGE FROM A PART OF AMERICA THAT STILL WORKS:

Super Heavy boosters for the next three flights, with a fourth ready to stack, in the Starbase Megabay pic.twitter.com/0GLwlDvjNu

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 2, 2024

It’s nowhere near the only such part, but it is highly visible and impressive.

SHOT: “But you don’t get Hitler because of Hitler. There are always potential Hitlers out there. You get Hitler because of Weimar, and you get Weimar because the people charged with maintaining a liberal polity are too corrupt and incompetent — or crazy — to maintain a liberal polity.”

Chaser: Germany Is Being Served Up on a Platter to the Far Right: On the unintended consequences of anti-nuclear zealotry.

Though the sensible prescriptions the “far right” is offering — mostly clean cheap energy and an end to unrestricted immigration by foreigners with no desire to assimilate peacefully — is hardly worthy of comparison to Hitler, or Nehemiah Scudder.

NEW YORK “JUSTICE:” Bragg Lets Cop-Beating Illegal Aliens Go Free While Trying Trump’s CFO … Again.

BECAUSE THEIR DEFINITION OF DEMOCRACY IS “US IN POWER.” If Democrats Love ‘Democracy,’ Why Do They Attack Election Security Measures Voters Want?

AN IDEA SO CRAZY IT JUST MIGHT WORK: Prosecuting crimes can fix DC’s crime problem.

I’M SENSING SOME LEFTY REGRET ABOUT UNLEASHING THE HATE:

You sowed that. Now reap your whirlwind, George.

Seriously, this dude had no problem cheering on toxicity as long as it was his people being the assholes. But once the shoe he helped cobble was on the other foot, and the assholes have turned on him in an asshole Cannibal… https://t.co/jRDISw8v5h pic.twitter.com/6v8NKDwgux

— Larry Correia (@monsterhunter45) February 2, 2024

IT’S HARD TO PUT THE HATE-GENIE BACK IN THE BOTTLE ONCE YOU GLEEFULLY RELEASE IT, JOE:

President Dotard doesn’t remember declaring war on one-third of the country, smearing them as White Supremacists, discriminating against them in employment, and jailing J6ers, while lawfaring their preferred candidate.

You are indeed my enemy, Mr. President. We are not in the… https://t.co/mk41P4SuGo

— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) February 2, 2024

MAYBE DROP EVERYTHING AFTER THE B? Andrew Sullivan: The Meaningless Incoherence Of “LGBTQ+”: Time to drop the ubiquitous term. It obscures and misleads more than it clarifies.

OPEN THREAD: Do it on the weekend, and it’ll beeee allll right.

THE TOUTING WOULD BE MORE IMPRESSIVE IF THEY WERE PUTTING STUFF IN ORBIT: Blue Origin touts capabilities of Blue Ring ORBIT transfer vehicle.

IT’S COME TO THIS:

Rep. Jayapal Demands Slur ‘Illegal Immigrants’ Stop Being Used To Describe Immigrants Who Are Here Illegally https://t.co/BVCGTJeuhU pic.twitter.com/5n98IugADW

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) February 2, 2024

UPDATE: From the comments. Mike Lee has had it.

Earlier today, a reporter standing outside the Senate chamber told me that, after four months of secrecy, The Firm™️ plans to release the text of the $106 billion supplemental aid / border-security package—possibly as soon as tomorrow.

Wasting no time, she then asked, “if you…

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) February 1, 2024

HELP US, ELON, YOU’RE OUR ONLY HOPE: Could a Giant Parasol in Outer Space Help Solve the Climate Crisis?

It needs to do double duty as a solar power satellite.