BIDEN’S RETURN TO NORMALCY: Team Biden’s bizarre ‘Blame Canada’ border slap.

Canada (after a rocky start because it didn’t do as wise a job of advance-buying vaccines as the Trump administration) is now better-vaxxed than we are — 52.6 percent fully jabbed to just 48.7 percent of the total US population, and 69 percent with at least one dose to our 56 percent. (Trudeau expects to hit 80 percent fully vaxxed by month’s end.)

And Ontario, the province bordering New York, is at 64 percent fully vaxxed.

That matters because Upstate will now miss out on some much-needed tourism. And Team Biden’s slap puts needless stress on separated families and businesses all along the world’s longest international border.

They told me if I voted for Donald Trump we’d end up with a foreign policy naif who would anger and annoy our allies — and they were right!

JOE BIDEN’S NEGOTIATING PARTNERS: At Least Three Dead After Iranian Police Open Fire on Protesters Demanding Water.

INCENTIVES: 1.8 Million Americans Have Turned Down Jobs To Stay On Unemployment.

HMM: Is This Austin Murder Connected to Travis County District Attorney Garza’s Lenient Arrest and Release Policies?

AND HOW ABOUT HIS CHINESE PARTNERS? Fauci Defends U.S.-Funded Research at Wuhan Lab: ‘We Have Always Been Very Careful.’

FACT-CHECKING THE FACT-CHECKERS: PolitiFact Claims Joe Biden ‘Doesn’t Want to Ban Handguns,’ But Here Are His Actual Words.

PolitiFact lies? Analysis: True!

THEY’RE WELCOME TO IT: China Risks Being Pulled Into Afghanistan’s Civil War.

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has intensified the civil war between the Afghan government and the Taliban, which has caused substantial anxiety amongst Chinese policymakers. This concern can be traced to two reasons: First, Afghanistan is an appealing target for Chinese investment. Already, China has invested billions of dollars into the infrastructure of countries surrounding Afghanistan through its massive Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and Afghanistan—due to its strategic location along the land route from China to the Middle East and Europe—has long been an appealing target for Chinese development. Afghanistan also has an abundance of resources such as gold, platinum, silver, lithium, and aluminum, which China’s vaunted mining industry would be well-poised to develop.

More importantly, China seeks stability in the Central and South Asian countries that border Afghanistan. Chaos in Afghanistan could spill over to these border regions and into China itself, imperiling Chinese economic and security interests.

Beijing got big into the neocolonialism business with the Belt and Road Initiative so now they must bear what used to be called the white man’s burden.

TRUNALIMUNUMAPRZURE: Joe Biden Had the Opportunity to Denounce ‘Defund the Police.’ But He Says Something Disturbing and Unhinged Instead.

IT’S GOOD TO BE THE NOMENKLATURA: Jeff Richetti, Top Biden Staffer’s Brother, Lobbying WH on China Issues for General Motors.

CANCEL CULTURE IS ALL IN YOUR MIND: Educators FIRED for Opposing Transgender Orthodoxy and the Equality Act.

REALDUMMEPOLITIK: Biden Tried to Silence the Ukrainians but They’re Exposing the Threat He’s Created.

Not only did Biden reverse America’s longstanding opposition to the completion of the pipeline by waiving sanctions on the Russia-controlled company involved, but as I reported a few days ago, the Biden team had been leaning on the Ukrainians and folks in Eastern Europe to keep quiet and not voice their objections to the deal that Biden has worked out with Germany to allow the completion.

Politico reported that they’ve been told by four people “with knowledge of the conversations” that the U.S. has been telling Ukraine to shut up about any opposition, not to go public with it, and not to talk to Congress about their concerns, unless they want to “damage” the relationship they have with the Biden administration.

But to Ukraine’s credit, they’re refusing to shut up, despite the threat by Biden to go along to get along.

Good for them.

FILLING THE VOID: Texas Gov. Abbott Begins Arresting Illegals for Trespassing at Border.

WE WANT ACTUAL INFRASTRUCTURE, NOT NEW LABELS AND MORE MONEY FOR DEMOCRAT PET CONSTITUENCIES: Americans Want Better Roads and Bridges More Than Untraditional Infrastructure, Poll Finds. “President Joe Biden and a bipartisan Senate group compromised on a $973 billion infrastructure plan in June, but Democrats are working to pass a $3.5 trillion reconciliation package that allocates funding for child care, tax credits, schools, climate change, and more.”

STACEY LENNOX: Dear GOP: Stop Using Frank Luntz If You Want to Know What Your Voters Really Think.

WELL, DEMOCRATS: Colorado’s prosperity ranking has slipped in the last decade. “Colorado saw large drops in two pillars: Safety/security and economic quality. Safety/security measures ‘the degree to which mass killings and injuries, violent crime, and property crime destabilize the security of individuals,’ the study says. Economic quality quantifies how well the state’s economy generates wealth.”

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Democrats Want to Weaken Section 230… to Target ‘Health Misinformation.’

VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR DAILY INSANITY WRAP: FOMO Alert? Desperate De Blasio Tries to Save NYC with Cringeworthy Slogan.

Plus:

• Is greysexuality as drab as it sounds?
• You won’t believe be told how well Sweden is doing against COVID
• A big win against CRT

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

MORE VOTES THAN ANY PRESIDENT IN HISTORY: CNN’s Biden town hall flops, finishes behind Fox News, MSNBC with only 1.5 million viewers.

HMM: Was This Labor Shortage Bernie Sanders’ Plan All Along?

MOST GOVERNMENT ‘HELP’ IS: Colorado’s ‘affordable’ housing scheme a con job on the poor. “The real cruelty happens when the ‘poor’ homeowner tries to sell her property and realizes she only kinda, sorta owns her home.”

PJ MEDIA VIP ROUNDUP: Don’t forget that VODKAPUNDIT promo code if you’ve been thinking of joining us.

Matt Margolis: The Biden Administration Is About to Force a No-Win Situation on Parents. “We’re on the verge of having parents being put in the position of choosing between having their kids wear masks in school, despite the health risks, or having their kids get vaccinated, despite the unknown long-term impact of the vaccines.”

Bryan Preston: The Black Rifle Coffee Incident Is a Media Info Op Against Conservative Brands. “The Times hit piece is a media battlefield operation against people it considers and treats as enemies.”

Yours Truly: The Bad (And Good) News About Going Unvaccinated. “When ABC News and the Left’s adoring Twitteratti say that COVID-19 has become a ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated,’ they’ve defined ‘pandemic’ so low as to be meaningless.”

SPACE RACE II: China Launched a Little Baby Version of the X-37B Spaceplane. “The unnamed craft reportedly takes off like a rocket and lands like an airplane, much like the U.S. Air Force’s X-37B, but can’t go all the way into orbit like the American spaceplane can. The Chinese version is the first of a series of reusable spacecraft that will benefit the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).”

If it isn’t an orbital, long-duration spaceplane, then it’s no X-37B.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Sorry Libs, Ron DeSantis Isn’t Going to Fall Apart. “What’s impressive about DeSantis’s continued success is that the Democrats and the media have been working overtime to set him up and make him fail. Much to their chagrin, he keeps not failing. The Democrats, bless their hearts, seem to have not grown tired of being embarrassed by DeSantis yet.”

THE DIFFERENCE IS, IRAN MEANS IT: Iran Throws Support Behind Cuban Government as Biden Admin Champions Protesters.

CLOSE TO THE VEST: Trump Explains Why He Has Not Announced 2024 Decision Yet.