BIDENOMICS: Austin’s Unemployment Rate: A Data Point. “The official Austin unemployment rate is 3.6%. But having just attended a job fair at an area Texas Workforce Commission which was geared toward older workers, I can give you firsthand evidence that things are a lot worse than official statistics let on, because that place was slammed.”

Austin is one of the country’s comparative hotspots, too.

Previously: VP Harris helped create ‘Bidenomics,’ White House says.

It’s almost as though Bidenomics isn’t working and the White House is trying to hamstring Harris with it.

JUST THINK OF IT AS A DONATION-IN-KIND FROM TERRORISTS: Someone Is Still Hacking the Trump Campaign, Probably Iran.

DECOUPLING CUTS BOTH WAYS: Huawei laptop teardown shows China’s steps toward tech self-sufficiency.

The “safe and reliable” device features a self-designed processor and a Chinese-made operating system, having stripped out foreign-made components and software as much as possible.

The computer, which is being snapped up by governments and state groups across the country, has become the signature model of China’s localization campaign known as Xinchuang, or “IT application innovation.”

For decades, Chinese officials have dreamt of creating a domestic tech supply chain, especially in building-block components like semiconductors. Progress was slow. But Washington’s ratcheting embargo on high-tech goods has spurred Beijing to redouble its efforts.

“We must ramp up R&D efforts in semiconductors, machine tools, and foundational software,” President Xi Jinping exhorted top scientists and policymakers this summer. “They provide the technological backbone for independent, secure, and controllable supply chains,” he said.

Chinese officials are now combining the heft of state spending and financial support with top-down directives to buy local tech, particularly in semiconductors.

All that state control might help China catch up to where the West (including Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan) is now — but likely won’t do much for innovation.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Joe Biden Goes Off-Leash to Help Write a Campaign Ad for Trump. “Perhaps they just needed to get him out of the way for a while so that DOCTOR Mama Jill Biden could run another Cabinet meeting. For some reason, Joe Biden’s handlers decided to juice him up with an Adderall cocktail and let him babble with the shrieking harridans on ‘The View.’ That was a real heavyweight intellectual roundtable. When you divvy up one brain cell among that many people, it’s rough to watch.”

GRIFT AS USUAL: Nancy Pelosi’s husband sold more than $500K in Visa stock ahead of DOJ action. “The X account “Nancy Pelosi Stock Tracker” flagged the trade on Tuesday, the same day the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Visa, alleging that the company maintained an illegal monopoly over the U.S. debit card market.”

The VodkaPundit Plan™ is to implement a capital gains tax of 100% on returns earned by politicians and their families in excess of the 7% annual return that private investors hope to make.

Paying your fair share is patriotic, I’m told, and what could be more patriotic than financial solidarity with your constituents?

DON’T GET COCKY: Will This Scandal in Maryland Cost Democrats Another Senate Seat?

COLD WAR II: China Says It Test-Fired Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.

Drew Thompson, a senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, wrote on X that the timing of China’s launch appeared to be motivated at least in part by geopolitical frictions with Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan.

“Timing is everything,” wrote Thompson, a former Pentagon official, who said separately that he believed it was Beijing’s first public acknowledgment of an ICBM test launch since 1982. “This launch is a powerful signal intended to intimidate everyone.”

China is developing its nuclear arsenal, including expanding its stockpile of warheads, the Pentagon has said.

One likely motivation in that buildup is to limit the U.S.’s ability to intervene in any conflict over Taiwan, the self-ruled democracy that China claims as its own. China’s leaders have seen U.S. wariness over direct involvement in Ukraine as a validation of the need for a powerful nuclear force, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

Previously: Don’t Look Now, But There’s a Nuclear Nightmare A-Brewing. “China is engaging in what the Pentagon calls a ‘strategic breakout.’ Over the last few months, it’s been revealed that Beijing is constructing silos for an additional 230 nuclear-tipped ICBMs.”

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Biden Is Totally Trying to Sabotage the Harris-Walz Campaign.

GLEICHSCHALTUNG:

.@CocaCola's custom can website allows you to use "Harris Walz 2024" but restricts you from using "Trump 2024" because it's "political in nature" or "offensive."

Care to explain @CocaCola? pic.twitter.com/sr37epWhdn

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 25, 2024

UPDATE: Community notes for the win once more. It’s nice to see a major corporation not taking sides but part of me wonders if Coke banned both out of fear that Trump would win the “Coke poll.”

OR MAYBE HE JUST DOESN’T KNOW WHAT HE’S SAYING — YOU MAKE THE CALL! Biden Is Totally Trying to Sabotage the Harris-Walz Campaign.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: For the first time, Blue Origin has ignited an orbital rocket stage.

Twenty days after it rolled out to Blue Origin’s launch site in Florida, the second stage of the massive New Glenn rocket underwent a successful hot-fire test on Monday.

The second stage—known as GS2 for Glenn stage 2—ignited for 15 seconds as part of the “risk reduction” hot-fire test, the company said. The two BE-3U engines, fueled by liquid oxygen and hydrogen and each producing 173,000 pounds of thrust, burned with a nearly transparent flame that approached a temperature of 6,000° Fahrenheit.

This marked the first time that Blue Origin, a space company founded by Jeff Bezos more than two decades ago, has integrated and fired an orbital rocket stage. After the test, Blue Origin said it is still tracking toward a November launch of the New Glenn rocket.

This vehicle is really big, standing 320 feet (98 meters) tall. By comparison, NASA’s titanic Saturn V Moon rocket was 363 feet tall. New Glenn’s first stage will be powered by seven BE-4 rocket engines, which burn methane and liquid oxygen. The performance of these engines has previously been demonstrated in flight on the debut of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket at the beginning of this year.

Although Monday’s test checked an important box for Blue Origin, there is still much work to do to prepare the New Glenn rocket for its debut. Crucially, the company must complete assembly of the first stage, and then roll this vehicle out from its assembly building a couple of miles to Launch Complex-36, along the Atlantic Ocean.

Then, the first and second stages will be mated. This is a complex endeavor, and as it will be the first time technicians and engineers from Blue Origin attempt the procedure, they will undoubtedly find some issues that need to be addressed. After the vehicles are integrated, the combined stack is due to undergo a short hot-fire test. Following a review of this data, the company is expected to launch the vehicle.

Godspeed.

While I love the work Elon Musk is doing with SpaceX — and fully appreciate how vital it is to our national security and the future of humanity — Musk himself would be the first to tell you it’s unwise to keep all your eggs in one basket.

LIKE THE COUNTRY, THE CANDIDATE IS IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Secret Service Knew of Trump Shooter 27 Minutes Before Shots Fired.

GOOD LORD:

NEW: In a multi day operation on Nantucket Island, ICE’s Boston office announces they arrested four illegal aliens who are charged with raping or sexually assaulting Nantucket children or residents – all of whom were released from local custody despite the serious charges.

They… pic.twitter.com/K3LlfR6NqP

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) September 24, 2024

H.L. Mencken warned them, if only they would listen.

CHRIS QUEEN: The ‘Science’ Has Spoken. “The only way Scientific American could make it more obvious is to give Harris a halo and Donald Trump a mustache to twirl. The magazine gives us details that continue to lay out the devil vs. angel lens through which ‘science’ views the election.”

Heh.

YOU STAY CLASSY, BOBBY: De Niro Hijacks ‘Megalopolis’ Q&A, Rages Against Trump.

Francis Ford Coppola’s dream project arrives with plenty of bad buzz, from seriously negative reviews to press reports suggesting the director misbehaved on the set. (Coppola is suing Variety about said allegations).

Monday offered Coppola the chance to change the conversation. He appeared via livestream to share the journey behind “Megalopolis” and what the film means to him.

And us.

He was joined by Robert De Niro and Spike Lee, old industry friends who shared stories of their first meetings In conjunction with the 62nd New York Film Festival.

Dennis Lim, artistic director of NYFF, moderated the live event.

The Q&A, shown to dozens of theaters across the country before the movie, started with Coppola, Lee and De Niro recalling their early days in Hollywood. Lee unofficially kicked off the event’s partisan nature with a reference to “eating cats and dogs.”

The quip recalled allegations that Haitian immigrants are doing just that in the small town of Springfield, Ohio.

That was just the progressive appetizer.

Much more at the link.

I fully expect “Megalopolis” to be a hot mess, but it’s a Francis Ford Coppola hot mess that he spent $100-plus million of his own money to produce, so there’s no way I can resist going to see it.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: It’s the ‘Caddyshack’ Election. “‘The slobs versus the snobs’ might be America’s greatest contribution to the art of cinema, and when I say, ‘art of cinema,’ I mean ‘movies’ because I’m not one of those snobs — and we’re watching that classic theme play out once more in the presidential election.

WHATEVER DID HAPPEN TO THAT EPSTEIN CLIENT LIST…

Diddy's bodyguard says there are videos of politicians at 'freak offs'. The monstrously grotesque culture of a corrupt system.https://t.co/IEuttcY01e

— wretchardthecat (@wretchardthecat) September 25, 2024

…or to Epstein, himself, for that matter?

INCITEMENT: Top Kamala Surrogate Calls to ‘Extinguish’ Trump ‘for Good.’

HER POSITIONS EVOLVE ALONG WITH THE NEEDS OF THE PARTY:

🚨Kamala wants to abolish the filibuster, but here's the letter she signed as Senator pledging to support the filibuster to ensure the Senate "continues to serve as the world's greatest deliberative body."

Her word is meaningless.

She'll say anything to get elected. pic.twitter.com/XzDY4ZfJ8S

— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) September 24, 2024

KRUISER: Zombie Journalism. “A perfect example is this very column. I’m writing about AI doing what those of us who work in media worry about, yet I used AI (that I paid for) to generate the feature image. Apparently, the Luddites won’t need to worry about having to welcome me any time soon.”

WOEING: FAA boss: Boeing faces yearslong safety culture change.

In response to an FAA request, Boeing earlier this year provided the agency with a comprehensive action plan to address quality issues following the door-plug blowout on a Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines flight. But that plan doesn’t end the FAA’s increased oversight of Boeing and its suppliers, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said at a House Transportation Subcommittee on Aviation panel.

“There must be a shift in the company’s safety culture to holistically address its systemic quality assurance and production issues,” Whitaker said during his prepared remarks. “Our goal is to make sure Boeing implements the necessary changes and has the right tools in place to sustain those changes in the long term.”

Boeing declined to comment on Whitaker’s and lawmakers’ remarks. The company is dealing with an ongoing work stoppage from 33,000 Machinists, whose strike began Sept. 13 after they voted down a tentative contract. Boeing substantially raised its contract offer Monday in an effort to end the strike. The aviation giant also faces an ongoing criminal probe, lawsuits and federal investigation related to the Alaska incident.

Whitaker said the FAA is following the strike, to which Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Everett, interjected “you’re not the only one.”

Boeing’s plan includes, in part, increased employee training and enhanced reporting systems that encourage workers to report concerns; decrease in “traveled work” so work happens in the correct sequence; and greater supplier oversight.

Here’s to hoping they get the job done.

MOCK HARDER: Cartoonist Dares to Mock Rashida Tlaib, Gets the Predictable Response

HERE’S SOME GOOD BACKGROUND ON THE GROUNDING OF THE USNS BIG HORN: Perfect Biden-HARRIS Metaphor: Only Navy Oiler in ME Runs Aground, Springs Leaks.

If there ever was a need for a poster child for the neglect and indifference that characterizes the Biden-HARRIS administration’s attitude towards governance, someone now could easily slap up a picture of the USNS Big Horn.

The ship’s sad story has all the elements that are now bedeviling the Americans it serves thanks to the malevolent, arrogant, indifferent clowns who currently rule over us.

Almost a year ago, I wrote something I headlined, “US Maritime Woes: God Forbid We Go to War.” I was trying to shine a light on the utterly shameful, almost downright criminal neglect with which the Biden-HARRIS administration had treated our US Merchant Marine Fleet. It operates under the auspices of the US Maritime Administration (MARAD), which belongs to the Department of Transportation (aka Mayor Pete) – perhaps you’re already beginning to sense part of the problem if you don’t remember or haven’t read the column.

The administration has an “admiral” named as head of MARAD, one RADM Ann Phillips, who has performed exactly as damn near any other Biden cabinet secretary, particularly Mayor Pete – they haven’t seen her.

Much more at the link.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Israel Continues to Alter Terms of Hezbollah Leaders’ Retirement Packages. “Until Joe Biden and his band of his radical progressive puppet masters began occupying the Oval Office, the United States of America was Israel’s staunchest ally. During Israel’s wholly justified war against Hamas, its government and its people have had to deal with mixed messaging and, on occasion, diplomatic threats from the superpower they could once count on.”

BAD NEWS BEES:

About 20 years ago, some honeybees died from “colony collapse disorder.”

The media went into a buzz.

But beekeepers rebuilt lost colonies and the disorder soon diminished.

Now, there are 31% MORE bees in America.

Since the media won’t report on that, I will: pic.twitter.com/JTYcvGXPIb

— John Stossel (@JohnStossel) September 23, 2024

You’d think that the heroic efforts of beekeepers would warrant some attention from the State Steno Pool but then what approved narrative would that push?