NICK KRISTOF, DOG-RAPE ENTHUSIAST:

You know you're never getting over the dog rape thing, right? Trying to pull the dog rape shtick on @elonmusk, USAID and Africa, it's still dog rape. All the way down. https://t.co/hVN9ZJYGeV

— Northern Barbarian (@xnoesbueno) July 2, 2026

SPACE: ‘PROMISE’ me the moon? NASA wants to send spare nuclear-powered Mars rover to the lunar surface.

Isaacman also announced the potential repurposing of an engineering development model built to mirror the agency’s Perseverance and Curiosity rovers on Mars. “There is another,” Isaacman said, quoting Yoda’s line from “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.”

That test rover is called PROMISE, short for “Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping, and In-Situ Exploration” (though it was formerly known as Optimism). PROMISE was developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, where it has been used as a test platform for fixes or commands that engineers want to try on the ground before permanently sending them to Perseverance and Curiosity. Now, NASA wants to send PROMISE on a mission of its own.

Though sending PROMISE to the moon would leave Perseverance and Curiosity — both of which remain active on Mars — without an Earth-based testbed, Isaacman thinks it would be worth it.

“We’ve had years now of experience operating the two rovers on the surface of Mars, and we’ve got this hardware that the taxpayers have invested a lot in,” he said. “So the question was posed: ‘What if we send it to the moon?'”

Beats the hell out of staying in California.

THE CHAIN OF COMMAND, HOW DOES IT WORK?

This is the very cancer Trump and Hegseth are purging from our military.

I appreciate this nitwit self-identifying. It makes things so much easier. https://t.co/ru0rFgaYqn

— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) July 2, 2026

Of course, we know how the Left works:

A left wing tax exempt entity will make sure this guy gets a steady paycheck because the communists understand how to incentivize behavior.

Remember Spenser Rapone? He’s part of the University of Chicago history department now. https://t.co/1qvq8sQgcC

— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) July 2, 2026

Change the incentives, change behavior.

NO. NEXT QUESTION? Do Democrats Still Believe in Israel’s Right to Exist?

KEMI BADENOCH: “DEFENSE OF THE REALM IS THE FIRST DUTY OF GOVERNMENT.”

As usual, a thumping and strong #PMQs from Kemi Badenoch.

Kemi is the prime minister we need. She’s strong, determined, and knows what the country needs to succeed.

She’s taking the Conservatives in the right direction. pic.twitter.com/CyLSg1tLcD

— Kevin Edger (@KEdge23) July 1, 2026

JUST STEP BACK AND LET BIBI DO HIS THING: Netanyahu touts Israel’s strength, commits to ‘take care of what is left of the Iranian axis.’

GOODER AND HARDER, NEW YORK:

Socialism
Scarcity
Rationing <— you are here
Coercion
Authoritarianism https://t.co/pneAdRwxB1

— Omri Ceren (@omriceren) July 2, 2026

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: I’m Rather Enjoying the Democrats’ ’50 Shades of Commie’ Fight. “The reason that establishment Dems don’t call out the freaky fringe is that they don’t disagree with them. Any of them, no matter how whacked-out they are. The wilder commie youth have been the Democrats’ useful idiots in the streets since the 1960s. What’s happening now is that the useful idiots want an elected seat at the table. And they are not fans of the elected officials who have been using them.”

UNEXPECTEDLIES STILL PLENTIFUL: Minimum wages rise in Chicago, Cook County.

Minimum wages have gone up for workers in Chicago and Cook County, but efforts to raise state and federal minimums remain on hold.

As of July 1, Chicago’s minimum wage is $17.05 per hour for employers with four workers or more, up from $16.60 the day before.

The $12.96 minimum for tipped workers remains in effect after the city council moved in May to pause a scheduled increase.

Cook County’s minimum wage increased from $15 to $15.40 on Wednesday, and the tipped minimum rose from $9 to $9.25.

National Federation of Independent Business Illinois State Director Noah Finley said minimum wage hikes impact small businesses’ ability to grow.

“Small businesses often have smaller margins, and raising the cost of labor puts additional pressure on them,” Finley said.

For the well-connected (and well-heeled) who push these measures, that’s the whole point.

LEADERSHIP MATTERS:

The U.S. Navy just hit its recruiting goal of 45,000 Sailors – 3 months ahead of schedule. Even more impressive: they raised their goal by 10% and still exceeded expectations.

This is what happens when strong leadership under President Trump, high standards, a return to… pic.twitter.com/nlpr5TsHPo

— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) July 1, 2026

IT’S MY THURSDAY ESSAY FOR VIP SUBSCRIBERS: So Who’s Winning the Air War? “Back in January, I wrote a Thursday Essay headlined, “So How’s That Russo-Ukraine Oil War Going?” I won’t drag you through the whole thing, but my conclusion back then could be fairly summed up as, ‘Not very well because Kyiv remains too obsessed with Crimea to wage an effective, systematic campaign on Russia’s energy infrastructure.’ Well, times change.”

COME SEE THE VIOLENCE INHERENT IN THE LEFTISM:

🚨 WOW: Wisconsin Democrat staffer, Teha Delaruelle is calling on activists to "K*LL YOUR LOCAL REPUBLICAN."

“We’re going to make this the moderate position for the state of Wisconsin”

WTF!? pic.twitter.com/NdFeWaCjMX

— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) July 1, 2026

ROBERT SPENCER: Kamala Harris Reaches Out to Mamdani and AOC, and Yes, That’s What It Means. “Well, it looks as if Kamala Harris is indeed planning to run for president in 2028, and that she is counting on the Democrat Party’s rapidly growing Marxist wing to propel her into the White House.”

WELL, WHEN YOU PUT IT LIKE THAT…:

https://t.co/WdpEy43dmC pic.twitter.com/Fd3VdZ28fw

— Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry (@pegobry_en) July 1, 2026

CORN, POPPED:

The Skid Row Express (also known as the D line expansion) is set to open in LA soon. Skid row junkies will soon be able to travel from their homeless camps downtown to new homeless camps in Westwood, with convenient stops at Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills for naps, open air… pic.twitter.com/GPSGsAs9Ny

— Peachy Keenan (@KeenanPeachy) July 1, 2026

LISTEN UP, SCOTUS: DOJ Sues to Stop California’s GLOCK Ban and End Its State-Approved Handgun Roster.

My contact at Shooting News Weekly forwarded me this report along with, “I may need a cigarette.”

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, but I know exactly what he means.

ED MORRISSEY: DemSoc Goes National: Socialists Boot Progressive Dem in Colorado.

If you loved IngSoc and Big Brother in George Orwell’s 1984, you’re gonna love DemSoc in 2026 America. It won’t be confined to just New York City and the oyster farms of Maine. And in fact, it has only ever been confined to Academia, but last night’s primary in Colorado shows that “Democratic Socialism” has broken out of the lab and may start a pandemic.

House Democrat Diana DeGette served 15 terms in Congress, belonged to the Congressional Progressive Caucus and even got its endorsement, and helped Colorado shift left over the last 20 years. DeGette got repaid by having DemSoc paint her as a stooge of the establishment, and DeGette’s constituents dumped her for the new flavor of anti-Semitic Communism.
…
The Wall Street Journal notes that the results in New York had already frightened “centrists” in the Democrat Party. DeGette wasn’t a centrist, the report later acknowledges, and it never quantifies how many “centrists” still remain within the ranks of party leadership.

Enough to keep feeding the crocodile, apparently, hoping to be eaten last.

UPDATE (From Ed): Fresh new faces, pushing very old and clapped out ideas: Mamdani Is Ignoring 40 Centuries of Economic Lessons.

I get what you mean here, but saying "the socialists" will have the "new ideas" is like saying "the Shakers have all the fresh thinking." Socialism is not new. The label is about 2 centuries old, give or take. The idea is thousands of years old. There's not a single major idea… https://t.co/e3tqtK9PQP

— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) July 1, 2026

Jonah’s tweet concludes, “There’s not a single major idea proposed by the DSA crowd that wasn’t an old idea before I was born. From price controls and rent-freezes, to wealth taxes, or shunning Jews. It’s all old, old hat. You can agree with it. Or admire it’s newfound energy or something. But the ideas are old, tried, and failed.”

MORE (From Ed):

Wobblies tossing bombs at Pinkertons, Pullman Car workers singing Woody Guthrie tunes, wildcat strikes at waistcoat factories…

Yeah, that century-old Industrial Age Utopianism is filled with “new ideas.” https://t.co/CXURg7A1vr

— Jon Gabriel (@exjon) July 1, 2026

NOTED:

Never forget that even before this wave of DSA, communists were elected, 48 Democrat Senators voted to nuke the filibuster and promised to expand the Supreme Court. The difference between radical communist Democrats and mainstream Democrats is mostly tone. https://t.co/MC1aUsCEUW

— Fusilli Spock (@awstar11) July 1, 2026

NIFTY: U.S. Pacific Air Forces Flex B-2 Stealth Bomber LRASM Capability. “LRASM, originally conceived under a broader program to active a variety of maritime strike missiles over a decade ago, has become the most capable air-launched ship-sinking capability known to be deployed by American forces. With a range of over 200 nautical miles and a warhead of 1000 pounds, the Lockheed Martin missile is derived from the stealthy Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile. Its low-observable capabilities and use of modern technologies represents a marked leap from the Cold War-era Harpoon missiles.”

Stealth antiship missiles carried by stealth bombers with global reach is exactly the 21st Century you knew America could do.

ICYMI: Is This Gavin Newsom’s Biggest Lie Ever? “California Gov. Gavin Newsom, perhaps best described as ‘seven lying serpents in a skinsuit,’ just told a lie so big that even my jaded self had to sit back, take a sip of coffee, and admire the handiwork of whoever steam-cleaned the soul out of his body.”

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD:

pic.twitter.com/Qpinjfn98Z

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 1, 2026

FAST RESPONSE: The DOJ Goes to War on Birth Tourism After Losing at SCOTUS.

GET THE FEELING THIS MIGHT BE THE START OF A PERMANENT TEMPORARY SUSPENSION?

New York City to suspend evictions for two days due to heat dome https://t.co/t8uTiUUD4I

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) July 1, 2026

THE DUMBEST STORY OF THE WEEK… SO FAR: Dumbest Story of the Week Reveals Liberal Bullying 101. “It’s not meant for Johnson, though. It’s a warning to stars without the actor’s fame, wealth and celebrity cache. Think like us, or you’re next.”

CONCLUSION: EUROPE WANTS BURDENSOME OLD PEOPLE TO DIE.

Air conditioning has reduced heat deaths in the US by three quarters since the 1970s. https://t.co/oMmrKiOeml

— Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) July 1, 2026