WWDD?* GOP Governors Must Stand Up to the Medical Authoritarianism of Biden Administration.

*What Would DeSantis Do?

BUSINESS CULTURE REVOLUTION: China’s biggest private companies are in chaos. It’s all part of Beijing’s plan.

The end goal of Beijing’s aggressive bid for control isn’t about creating chaos. The government wants to make clear to its corporate champions that tapping capitalist markets is fine — as long as it is on the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s terms.

The heavy selling has accelerated in recent months as Chinese authorities slap companies with fines, ban apps from stores and demand that some firms completely overhaul their businesses.

Hundreds of billions of dollars in market value has been erased in the last week alone, after regulators announced curbs on China’s for-profit education industry and its food delivery sector.

The way Beijing sees it, the efforts to rein in private enterprise are meant to protect the economy and the country’s citizens from instability. They’re also intended to fix longstanding concerns around overwork, data privacy and inequality in education.

“Ultimately, Beijing’s crackdown on private business is about control,” said Alex Capri, a research fellow at the Hinrich Foundation.

It always is.

“Too much” success in the private sector is a threat to the CCP, but crushing it is no way to maintain a dynamic, innovative economy. Still, it’s no surprise that Xi prefers maintaining or increasing Communist power over modernity.

WE WENT FROM #FOLLOWTHESCIENCE TO #SILENCETHESCIENCE SO QUICKLY EVERYBODY NOTICED: Twitter Suspends Journalist for Repeating CDC Vaccine Data They Don’t Like.

IT REALLY IS: The Babylon Bee made a parody of John Lennon’s “Imagine” about communism and it’s quite simply the greatest thing you’ll see on the internet today.

CHANGE: Democrats Panic as Latinos and Asian Voters Leave The Party.

CHANGE (IT BACK): Austin Police Refunding Proposition Makes November Ballot. “The petition is to restore a statutory level of 2 officers per 1,000 citizens, add an elected head of police oversight (not appointed by the council) and double officer training per year, among other things.”

RICHARD FERNANDEZ: An Epidemic of Mandatory. “The epidemic of ‘mandatory’ suggests that rather than becoming more flexible and adaptive before an endemic disease, the experts are hanging on to the mantle of certitude. Slate sadly concludes: ‘Noble lies are a trap. We cannot predict the public’s behavior, and loss of trust is devastating. The general population is far too skeptical to blindly follow the advice of experts, and far too intelligent to be easily duped.’ True. And that loss of trust is how we arrived at mandatory.”

Read the whole thing.

PRIVACY: Facebook is reportedly trying to analyze encrypted data without decrypting it. “Regardless of intent, the whole thing feels disgustingly immoral and could potentially open up a whole new can of worms. If Facebook or others (Amazon, Google and Microsoft were named specifically by The Information) can glean actionable information from encrypted data, can you still technically label it encrypted?”

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Will the Sleazebag House of Cuomo Finally Fall Down? “While I can’t pretend to know what was in the minds of the Founding Fathers of this great nation, I’m pretty sure that they were hoping that one of the upsides to winning the Revolution would be that we wouldn’t have to suffer under the rule of one family and its descendants.”

SCRUBBED: Boeing announces decision on Wednesday launch of Starliner. “NASA and Boeing have announced they will not be attempting to launch the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station on Wednesday, August 4.”

HMM: Nassau County Bill Allows Cops to Sue Protesters for Harassment. “The bill is controversial because it would hold protesters accountable for their actions at a demonstration. The legislation is aimed at discouraging protesters from engaging in actions and words that are designed to provoke a violent response from police.”

FIGHT THE POWER: Jefferson County parks & rec district drops concealed carry ban effort after ‘numerous’ public comments.

Foothills Parks and Recreation District (FPRD) Executive Director Ronald Hopp told Complete Colorado on Monday that the board of directors had decided to indefinitely table discussion of banning concealed carry of firearms by lawfully permitted citizens in Foothills facilities and outdoor spaces.

Complete Colorado initially broke, and exclusively covered the developing story.

Hopp said there will not be an agenda item on the August meeting or “any other board meeting in the foreseeable future,” citing numerous comments from the public.

“The Foothills Park & Recreation District’s Board had discussed various options, including the possibility of new policies, in response to recent gun-related incidents in both our facilities and parks, at least one of which involved the mishandling of a properly permitted concealed firearm,” Hopp said in a statement.

The ink from Gov. Jared Polis’ pen on Senate Bill 21-256, allowing FPRD to ban all firearms, including concealed carry, from its facilities had only been dry for three days when FRPD staff brought up the idea at its board of directors meeting on June 22.

Civil rights enthusiasts made themselves heard, and it worked.

PRIORITIES: As D.C. Murder Rate Soars, FBI Arrests Jan. 6 Protester Who Spent 17 Minutes in the Capitol, Mostly Snapping Selfies.

WITH RUTHLESS EFFICIENCY: How the Gender Industry Weaponizes Empathy to Convert Human Insecurity Into Cash. “Compassion is weaponized into word-salads chock full of meaningless jargon intended to confuse the reader into conflating true empathy with bovine-like acceptance of the transgender movement writ large.”

STACEY LENNOX: California’s Liberal Utopia: Blackouts, Bacon Shortages, and Maxi Pads for Boys. “California only produces 45 million pounds of the 255 million pounds consumed by residents. California residents decided the piggy needed more room to wiggle, which, according to one analysis, will cause bacon prices to jump 60%. For pork producers, the desires of California voters are just not profitable.”

California is the Sackcloth State.

IT ISN’T ALWAYS NICE TO MAKE TWITCHY: ‘Man, people just really hate her’: Detailed thread about Kamala Harris’ shocking unpopularity will give you ALL the warm fuzzies.

MARK RIPPETOE: If They Can Make You Believe a Big Strong Man Belongs in the Women’s Division, They Can Make You Believe Anything.

#RESIST: Soros-Backed Virginia Prosecutors Face Recall Amid Crime Surge. “A new Virginia nonprofit, Virginians for Safe Communities, is launching a campaign to recall Fairfax County’s Steve Descano, Loudoun County’s Buta Biberaj, and Arlington County’s Parisa Dehghani-Tafti from their respective offices, the group announced in a Monday statement. The progressive attorneys took office in January 2020 after Soros spent more than $2 million supporting their campaigns. All three have since implemented lenient law enforcement policies, decisions that have coincided with a rise in crime.”

HIGHER EDUCATION IMPLOSION UPDATE: Professor Sues Student, University After Provost Overrules Her and Awards Him a Participation Grade.

FOR THE CHILDREN™: New Study Shows Just How Much School Lockdowns Harm Innocent Kids. “The McKinsey report uses testing results from spring 2021, translating points-based scores into a “months-of-learning-lost” metric and comparing this year’s results to pre-pandemic levels. The results show that, on average, elementary school students lost the equivalent of five months—or half a school year—of learning in math, and four months in reading. Results varied by race and income, and unsurprisingly, students of color and from poorer families suffered most.”

EVERYTHING IS RACIST: Now You Are a Racist if You Don’t Want Your Kid Near a Pit Bull.

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: It Just Got Harder to Buy a Gun in Colorado.

HB21-1298 “Expand Firearm Transfer Background Check Requirements,” went into effect on June 29, and is specifically designed to “address the epidemic of gun violence we have seen in Colorado,” said bill sponsor Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver.

Under existing federal law, if a background check doesn’t come back after three days, gun dealers can transfer a firearm to another person. However, HB 1298 undoes this and requires gun dealers to get approval — no matter how long it takes — before transferring a gun.

Additionally, before the enactment of HB 1298, when a background check resulted in denying someone a firearm transfer, they could appeal the decision, and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation was required to review that person’s background records and render a final decision within 30 days. HB 1298 changes that 30-day deadline to 60 days and allows for indefinite denial in certain instances.

Finally, HB 1298 adds 11 misdemeanors the list of background check disqualifiers and makes it so those convicted of these misdemeanors can’t purchase or possess a gun for five years from the date of conviction.

Spoiler: None of these provisions will do anything to combat the surge of so-called “gun violence” occurring in badly-run, Democrat-controlled (but I repeat myself) cities.

THEY DON’T EVEN WISH THEY KNEW HOW TO QUIT HIM: NYT Says It’s Trump’s Fault Biden Isn’t Pleasing the Climate Change Cult Quickly Enough.

PORKULUS II: THE REVENGE. 2,702 Pages Of Pork. “All this only scratches the surface of a bill week-kneed Republicans are telling us is acceptable only because it doesn’t have every leftwing wishlist item the $3.5 trillion “infrastructure” bill does.”

VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR DAILY INSANITY WRAP: Fourth Capitol Hill Riot Police Officer Commits Suicide, Welcome to Insanity Wrap Conspiracy Central.

Plus:

• Soros financier has us wondering if QAnon was right all along
• Neurodivergent minors are using kitty and pup and bunnyself pronouns because our stupidest possible timeline somehow just got stupider
• It’s news when a reporter reports news

So much more at the link, you’d have to be crazy to miss it.