YES: What does it mean to be a good man? Boys need fathers — or male mentors.

One in five children grows up without a father at home, she notes. Fatherlessness especially disadvantages boys.

Black boys, who are the most likely to be raised by a single mother, “do better in neighborhoods where there are more fathers around, even if not their own,” research has shown.

Even when disadvantaged children are matched with mentors, a majority are women, writes Miller. Mentoring groups find it hard to recruit enough men to meet the demand.

Sports, Scouts and church are the primary places where boys without involved fathers find male mentors. It makes a difference, young men told the Times.

Boys need dads. So do girls.

YES, I VOTED FOR THIS: Kennedy’s HHS Bans Illegal Alien Beneficiaries.

THEN DON’T COME HERE ILLEGALLY: Families and immigrant detainees allege ‘horrible’ conditions at ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’

Vladimir Miranda, a migrant from Cuba who has been at the facility since Sunday, said that “right now the generators apparently can’t cope and the electricity is going out,” he told Telemundo 51 via telephone call. When the electricity goes out there’s no water and the phones and air conditioners don’t work, “and we’re here sweating” profusely, Miranda said in his native Spanish.

His girlfriend, Eveling Ortiz told NBC 6 that Miranda crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and, like many Cuban migrants, was given the I-220A form that documents that a migrant has been released into the U.S. by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“He had the final hearing two weeks ago,” she said.

But days later, Miranda, 32, was detained by immigration officials at his job in Orlando and moved to the Everglades facility.

“The conditions they’re going through, they’re horrible,” Ortiz alleged. “They don’t have water, they can’t use the bathroom properly. They’re not taking a bath.”

Seems to me like self-deportation might be preferable to all that.

SCHUMER’S TANTRUM: One Purple Crayon Away from a Shutdown. “The Senate majority leader is stomping around in diapered outrage, threatening a full-blown government shutdown because House Republicans dared to introduce a rescissions package that trims a fraction of a percent from the federal budget. Not 5%. Not 1%.”

CHANGE: Boeing delivers most airplanes since late 2023 after ramping up 737 Max output.

Boeing delivered 60 airplanes last month, the most since December 2023, as the plane maker seeks to raise production of its bestselling 737 Max jets after a series of manufacturing and safety problems.

The tally was the highest since before a door plug from one of its new 737 Max 9 planes blew out midair in January 2024, sparking a new crisis for the company and slowing production and deliveries of aircraft. Of the monthly total, 42 were 737 Maxes, going to customers including Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines and United Airlines.

CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took the top job at Boeing last August, has said the company has made progress in improving production rates and quality on its factory lines.

For the three months ended June 30, Boeing handed over 150 airplanes, its best second quarter since 2018, before two crashes of Max planes five months apart grounded the jets and sparked a multiyear crisis at the top U.S. exporter. That was also the last year Boeing posted an annual profit. Its problems also gave rival Airbus a bigger lead over Boeing.

Boeing isn’t out of the woods, and the company’s space business appears at least partly defunct with Starliner still grounded and SLS on the chopping block. But for airliner deliveries and quality control, the lines are at least moving in the right direction.

HMM: Firefighters Want Austin Chief Fired for Refusing Deployment to Texas Flood.

ONE OF THESE DAYS, TRUMP WILL RUN OUT OF PATIENCE WITH THIS GUY: Russia launches record drone attack on Ukraine, hours after Trump criticizes Putin.

The massive aerial assault involved 728 drones and 13 missiles, Ukraine’s Air Force said, eclipsing the previous record number of 539 drones, set on July 4, by hundreds – but it was largely repelled, with the damage limited.

One civilian in the western Ukrainian district of Khmelnytskyi sufffered fatal injuries from debris from a Shahed drone, local authorities said.

“This is a demonstrative attack, and it comes at a time when there have been so many attempts to achieve peace and cease fire, but Russia rejects everything,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram.

Previously:

President Trump: "We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth. He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless." pic.twitter.com/VMnXSTuCiK

— CSPAN (@cspan) July 8, 2025

He’s catching on.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: The Loony Left Would Be Protesting Something Even if Kamala Had Won. “Whenever they get what they say that they want, it’s only a reason to pause for a moment to figure out what they want next. As we’ve seen all to often with them, they feel that merely wanting something is justification for any aberrant or violent behavior.”

ENTENTE ATOMIQUE CORDIALE: UK and France Agree to First Ever Nuclear Weapons Pact to Fend Off Threat to Europe.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain and President Emmanuel Macron of France will announce on Thursday the details of a new defense relationship that will include a first-ever pledge to have their nuclear arsenals work together in the event of serious danger to allies in Europe.

The announcement will come as the two leaders conclude a three-day state visit with a trip to a British military base as they seek to underscore their support for defending Ukraine against Russian aggression.

The agreement between the two countries will affirm that “there is no extreme threat to Europe that would not prompt a response by both nations,” according to a statement published late on Wednesday by the British Ministry of Defense.

The announcement expected on Thursday is not a full guarantee of nuclear protection for European nations, but experts said it is a small step in that direction.

Smart.

But this might be the summit’s real news: “Mr. Starmer and Mr. Macron, who last held a similar summit before President Trump’s return to power in January, are also expected to announce some kind of migration agreement that could reduce the number of people attempting to cross the English Channel in small, crowded boats launched from the beaches of northern France.”

IT’S MY THURSDAY ESSAY FOR VIP SUBSCRIBERS: How the Trump Team Lost the Epstein Narrative.

TO BE FAIR, THAT’S A LOW BAR: Chris Cillizza Thread on Biden’s Decline PROVES Public Is Better at Journalism Than He and His Colleagues. “Imagine if Melania Trump and staffers tried to do this with Trump. Do any of us believe the media would just drop the story only to write books about it later?”

INSURRECTION, STRAIGHT UP: Saboteurs Busted for Spiking Tires of LA ICE Vehicles. But Wait, What About Those Bags? “Four saboteurs arrested by Border Patrol for spiking their tires while on an immigration operation on Tuesday have been identified. And, you could say, they left their seeming benefactor, a government-subsidized NGO, holding the bag.”

BREAKING: JFK Airport Issues Travel Warning Over Anti-Semitic Protests.

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Get your own soapbox.

A music teacher in a Maine elementary school, Marissa McCue Armitage has decided to teach about controversial topics, she writes in Education Week. She knows some parents don’t want their kids hearing about settlers stealing Indian land at Thanksgiving, the dangers of climate change, challenging gender norms or the horrors of slavery. But, after attending DEI workshops, she’s decided to “cover the hard stuff.”

Yes, she teaches music. Or that’s what she’s paid to teach.

She needs to be taught to stay in her lane.

VICTORIA TAFT: Commie Congresswoman and Harvard Prof Are Put on Blast for Holding Mob Boot Camp.

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: The Jig is Up: Everytown Has Figured Out That Eliminating the $200 Transfer Tax is Just the Latest Step Toward Eliminating the NFA Completely.

BRUTAL: Understanding The Speed Of The Texas Flood.

HOW IN THE TANK WAS THE MEDIA FOR HARRIS? THIS IN THE TANK: Behold the World’s Most Awkward Interview.

GOOD. NOW MULTIPLY IT AGAIN: US Army multiplies PAC-3 MSE missile production by four to support long-term air defense strategy.

WELL, GOOD: Meme Maker’s Conviction Thrown Out in Free Speech Win.

FORMER PYTHON TERRY GILLIAM: Trump Saved Us from Humorless Woke Scolds. “Gilliam may be mad about his project’s plight, but he seems happy that President Donald Trump made it safe to laugh again stateside. That revelation came through in a surreal Hollywood Reporter interview with the 84-year-old legend.”

THEY ALWAYS HAVE: Legal Immigrants Say No Amnesty for Illegals.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO NONPROLIFERATION? Russia ‘Ready to Assist Tehran in Refilling’ Uranium Stockpiles, Foreign Minister Says.

Russia’s foreign minister on Tuesday said that his country is prepared to help Iran replenish its uranium stockpiles, offering Tehran a path to a rebuilt nuclear program in the wake of the U.S. and Israeli campaign to prevent the Islamic Republic from building a bomb.

“Moscow is ready to assist Tehran in refilling its depleted uranium stocks,” Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov reportedly said during a meeting with BRICS member nations in Brazil.

“Russia has technological solutions for uranium depletion and is ready to work with Iran in this field,” Lavrov said in remarks published by Iran’s state-controlled media. “We have technological capacities and we are ready to offer them, taking the excess of overly enriched uranium and returning the power-generation-grade uranium to the Islamic Republic and its nuclear facilities.”

The U.S. and Israeli air campaign destroyed Tehran’s top nuclear sites, including the mountain bunker at Fordow that stored much of the country’s uranium. Russia’s offer to replace the uranium could lay the groundwork for Iran to restart its weapons work.

Then again, the Kremlin either could not or would not assist Tehran in its greatest moment of need, so this might just be more stupid bluster.

INDEED: No Brother Left Behind: Why Men Need Encouragement and Each Other.

DOG BITES MAN: The Media Deploy A Cadre Of ‘Experts’ And ‘Advocates’ To Lie About Medicaid.

But the bias doesn’t end there. Weixel’s Medicaid story includes all manner of cues designed to tilt a reader’s bias toward the leftist perspective.

Only Leftist “Experts” Consulted: The story quoted analysts from the Center for American Progress, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Kaiser Family Foundation. While Weixel described CAP as “Democratic-aligned,” he neglected to mention that the other two foundations also have a leftward slant; while not as outwardly partisan as CAP, they definitely have an ideology behind them. Of course, he didn’t quote any policy experts who support Medicaid reform.

Politicians versus “Experts:” Rather than quoting conservative analysts who can speak to the merits of reforming Medicaid, Weixel instead used a generic quote about the legislation from President Trump, followed by a quick rebuttal that “experts … say … the legislation would enact an unprecedented reduction” in Medicaid. Of course, only some “experts” take the view that said reduction will cause harm — but Weixel didn’t bother to quote any who disagree. A variation on this trick has the reporter describing one side’s position — “Republicans argue that …” — allowing him or her to characterize, or mischaracterize, policy views without giving voice to any of the people who hold them.

“Advocacy” Bias: In addition to using the term “experts” to describe the leftists claiming the legislation will harm Medicaid, Weixel also trots out a similarly loaded term: “advocates.” The left and the media (but I repeat myself) use this term frequently. One will almost never hear the term used to describe someone conservative, who “advocates” for less spending — or protecting the unborn, for instance. Instead, the media invariably apply the term to someone promoting more taxes, more spending, and more welfare — more government control, in other words.

The bias, and the contrast, are practically self-evident.

Read the whole thing.