FLASHBACK: The ‘cabal’ that bragged of foisting Joe Biden on us must answer for his failed presidency.

OUR SOCIETY IS TURNING PETS INTO PSEUDO-CHILDREN: Their Job Is to Help You Grieve Your Pet: Though still rare, social workers in animal hospitals are growing in their ranks.

Ms. Maxwell is a veterinary social worker, a job in a little-known corner of the therapy world that focuses on easing the stress, worry and grief that can arise when a pet needs medical care.

Pets no longer exist at the periphery of the human family — to take one example, a survey in 2022 found that almost half of Americans sleep with an animal in their bed. As that relationship has intensified, so has the stress when something goes wrong. Those emotions can spill over at animal hospitals, where social workers can help pet owners work through difficult choices, such as whether to euthanize a pet or whether they can afford to pay thousands of dollars for their care.

Though still rare, social workers in animal hospitals are growing in their ranks. Large chains, like VCA, are beginning to employ them, as are major academic veterinary hospitals. The service is typically offered for free. About 175 people have earned a certification in veterinary social work from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, which is a center for the field.

I predict rapid growth. I don’t really approve of people treating animals like substitute children — it smacks too much of Children of Men and I think it’s socially destructive — but it’s a huge trend.

JUST BECAUSE AI IS GETTING BETTER DOESN’T MEAN IT DOESN’T CONTAIN STUPIDITIES: ChatGPT’s much-heralded Mac app was storing conversations as plain text.

COLOR ME SKEPTICAL: Study explores the link between stock market fluctuations and emergency room visits in China.

BUT WE ALL KNOW THE TRUTH, DON’T WE? Colleges, experts disagree on why taxpayer-funded Truman Scholarships skew liberal.

PUSHBACK: Arizona regents move forward with ban on student groups’ support for terrorists.

The measure would prohibit student groups from “knowingly [providing] material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization as defined in 18 U.S. Code § 2339B.”

It would also stop student groups from calling “for violence and/or genocide against any individual or group based on race, color, national origin, or shared ancestry,” and from engaging in “other conduct” that “interferes with maintaining a school environment free from discrimination based on race, color, or national origin, including shared ancestry.”

Wait, unfair. “Antidiscrimination” law is only supposed to discriminate against white conservatives.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: White House Report Card: Biden’s excuses fuel push to exit 2024 race.

ICYMI: GOOD NEWS YOU LIKELY WON’T BE TOLD ABOUT:

Doesn't fit the narrative, but

2024 record coral cover for Great Barrier Reef

Based on official data for all 11 sectors of GBR,

Last three years, 2022-2024, have been unprecedented

Data: https://t.co/MQ0qkITsby pic.twitter.com/fJN15BjHMk

— Bjorn Lomborg (@BjornLomborg) July 2, 2024

HE, AND THE “CABAL” WHO INSTALLED HIM IN 2020, HAVE MADE US AN INTERNATIONAL JOKE: Biden’s Dénouement Hurts U.S. Standing.

And there’s no pretending that didn’t happen, given that the “cabal” — Time magazine’s approving term — bragged about it after.

There needs to be accountability, and it needs to go way beyond an election.

POLITICALLY MOTIVATED JUDICIAL CENSORSHIP: Court Threatens First Amendment Rights of Tennessee Star After Release of Covenant School Shooting Documents.

THEY’RE DOING THEIR BEST TO CONCEAL IT UNTIL AFTER, THOUGH:

And we will see a big inflation spike before the Nov 2024 election as a result. https://t.co/5IRe26zLA8

— Trent Telenko (@TrentTelenko) July 7, 2024

IT MUST BE THE FAULT OF GUN MANUFACTURERS. AND THE NRA. AND, UH, RACISM, YEAH, THAT’S THE TICKET! Why Does One City Account for More Than a Third of America’s Holiday Weekend Homicides?

FEDSTROTURF?

I would imagine the feds have their plates protected.

— Capitalist Mike 🇺🇲 (@Capitalist_Mike) July 6, 2024

ICYMI: PHIL HAMBURGER: No Remedy for Censorship: The Perils of Murthy. “Last week, in Murthy v. Missouri, the Supreme Court hammered home the distressing conclusion that, under the court’s doctrines, the First Amendment is, for all practical purposes, unenforceable against large-scale government censorship. The decision is a strong contender to be the worst speech decision in the court’s history.”

I WASN’T. Matt Yglesias: I Was Wrong About Biden. “Most people have been seeing the duck all along. But I was seeing the rabbit.”

I wasn’t.

ED MORRISSEY: NYT exposes Biden radio interviews as “cheap fakes.” “Two weeks ago, the NYT was gaslighting its readers by amplifying the ‘cheap fakes’ propaganda from the White House. Now they’re essentially claiming that the White House is setting up cheap-fake interviews for Biden in an attempt to keep the cover-up over his senility in place.”

UPDATE (From Ed): Philly Radio Station ‘Parts Ways’ With Anchor Who Told CNN About Biden White House Interview Questions.

As Ed M. noted at the first link, “Book authors have interviews arranged by publishers and/or PR firms, and books get shipped to hosts ahead of the interview:”

That package comes with a publicity kit that almost always includes several questions the author is prepared to answer. For the most part I avoid those, but they can be helpful for conversation focus if there’s no time to read the book ahead of the interview. Authors are also largely focused on their own book and little else unless they are prolifically published. To a certain extent, the same is true for experts on various topics where the host has much less expertise.

It sounds very much like Philadelphia AM radio station WURD fired radio host Andrea Lawful-Sanders more for letting the cat out of the bag than for accepting questions from the Biden White House in the first place, or that the radio station was pressured by the White House to take action:

This is the Biden regime once again sending a warning to anyone who embarrasses them

— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) July 7, 2024

In any case, not a good look by the station.

OPEN THREAD: Ring out the weekend.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: SpaceX’s Starship to fly again ‘in 4 weeks,’ Elon Musk says.

ANCIENT ALIENS, OBVIOUSLY: Mysterious Symbols on 4,000-Year-Old Rock Art Hint at an Unknown Culture.

SCIENCE: Fewer Side Effects: Safer New MDMA “Ecstasy” Variants Discovered.

I was promised flying cars.

HMM: Jimmy Carter’s long stay in hospice dispels myths about end-of-life care.

Hey, he’s still eligible to serve another term. . . .

GOOD QUESTION: Why is the pundit class suddenly stampeding to get rid of Biden? “They seem to have gone into cabal mode to capture the post-debate narrative. Was it — to use Solnit’s phrase — ‘a sort of insider coup’? Who did this without knowing that they could — via stampede — drive their own candidate out of the race?”

Well, it’s not because the pundit class has suddenly found out he’s senile and incompetent. It’s because they realize that the voters have found that out.

JUST AS IN THE UNITED STATES, A “CABAL” TRIUMPHS OVER A POPULAR MOVEMENT: French left set to beat Le Pen’s far right in election shock: France on course for a hung parliament with the left holding the most MPs, in a defeat for the National Rally.

If you’re a French Jew, it’s time to leave. An Islamist/Left fusionist ruling coalition is about the worst possible outcome. But hey, they beat the “far right” crowd that just wanted to have a normal country.

And if the “cabal” has this much power, is it time for a revolution?

UPDATE: A cheerier take: In response to a claim that people on the right just need to persuade, a friend writes: “When Mr. Le Pen made it into the second round of the presidential election in 2002, he got 18% of the vote. When his daughter made the second round in 2017, she got 34%. When she did it again in 2022, she got 41%. They are persuading, just very slowly.”

SELF-DEFENSE: No Safe Place: No one can predict when and where we might have to defend themselves from a criminal attack.

ARNOLD KLING: The Courtier Game:
When Presidential aides are intoxicated with the thrill of being close to power.

Finally! someone else who seems worried about what Biden’s infirmities mean for the country, not just for the election.

Drum goes on to propose that Kamala Harris choose a moderate Republican as a Vice President. But my guess is that such a person would be thrown off the ticket by the Democratic convention.

In fact, if Harris gives the Democratic pros second thoughts about dumping Biden, imagine what thinking about the convention delegates does to them. I doubt that the party leaders relish creating a situation that puts the focus on convention delegates. If I were a party leader, I would not look forward to giving lots of TV exposure to the grass roots as represented at the convention, much less giving those assorted nuts real power to choose the nominees. Now, on to the topic at hand.

Read the whole thing.