MAKE AMERICA PLAY NICE WITH OUR ENEMIES AGAIN: Biden Regime’s Clueless Military Has Former Official of Government That Chants ‘Death to America’ Address Symposium.

INSTAPUNDIT READERS KNEW THIS AT THE TIME: Philadelphia Fed GDPplus Measure Sure Looks Like Recession Started in 2022 Q4. “In 100 percent of the cases, with no false signals, no misses, and no lead times more than two quarters, every time GDPplus had two consecutive quarters of negative growth, the economy was in recession.”

Lots of data and charts at the link, if you’re into that kind of thing.

FINGERS CROSSED THAT NOBODY IS STUPID ENOUGH TO START ONE: Yeah, We’re Going to Lose World War III to China.

OUR SPACE INFRASTRUCTURE IS LACKING: NASA officials sound alarm over future of the Deep Space Network.

Dodd doesn’t take a starry-eyed view of the challenges operating the Deep Space Network. She said there are currently around 40 missions that rely on the DSN’s antennas to stay in communication with controllers and scientists back on Earth. Another 40-plus missions will join the roster over the next decade or so, and many of the 40 missions currently using time on the network will likely still be operating over that time.

“We have more missions coming than we currently are flying,” Dodd said. “We’re nearly doubling the load on the DSN. A lot of those are either lunar exploration or Artemis missions, and a lot of Artemis precursor missions with commercial vendors. So the load is increasing, and it’s very stressful to us.”

“It’s oversubscribed, yet it’s vital to anything the agency wants to do,” she said.

Vint Cerf, an Internet pioneer who is now an executive at Google, sits on the committee Dodd met with Tuesday. After hearing from Dodd and other NASA managers, Cerf said: “The deep space communications system is in deep—well, let me use a better word, deficit. There’s a four-letter word that occurs to me, too.”

Plus: “The agency’s internal watchdog said a project to upgrade the three DSN sites with more 34-meter antennas and higher-power transmitters is five years behind schedule, and the cost of the upgrades has increased to $706 million.”

Infrastructure isn’t nearly as sexy as a moonshot, but you don’t get there without it.

BIDENOMICS, IT’S WORKING! Poor Americans Skip Meals, Can’t Afford Power Bills, Miss Rent Payments, In Era Of ‘Bidenomics.’

This leaves us with a Bloomberg report citing fintech startup Propel, an app aimed at Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients, that reveals an increasing number of Americans are struggling to pay rent and put food on the table.

Among households using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s boosted pandemic benefits, 42% skipped meals in August and 55% ate less because they couldn’t afford food, more than double last year’s share, according to a Wednesday report from Propel Inc., a benefits software developer.

Bloomberg said:

The data also highlight that households were worse off in August from just a month ago. Since July, an increasing share of low-income households had utilities shut off, couldn’t afford the prior month’s utility bill or couldn’t afford rent. More than two-thirds of those surveyed who were receiving boosted SNAP payments said they had some form of debt.

Propel’s alarming report is an eye-opener, considering we’ve pointed out that mid/low tier consumers have depleted savings and racked up insurmountable credit card debt to make ends meet in the era of ‘Bidenomics’ inflation.

It isn’t so easy for the middle class, either.

SAD: Hurricane Response Reveals Ron DeSantis’ Competence and Leadership and Trump’s Pettiness.

MISSISSIPPI: ‘Never Going Back’: Governor Refuses to Implement COVID Mask Mandates. “Amid chatter about the possible return of COVID-19 mask mandates, at least one governor said that they will not return to his state under any circumstances.”

PUBLISHING IN THE AGE OF CENSORSHIP: Here’s This Month’s Trove of Censored COVID Articles.

THANKS, BUT NO: X Plans to Collect Biometric Data, Job and School History.

“Based on your consent, we may collect and use your biometric information for safety, security, and identification purposes,” the company said in its new policy. X doesn’t define what it considers biometric, though other companies have used the term to describe data gleaned from a person’s face, eyes and fingerprints.

A representative of San Francisco-based X confirmed the new policy change, but didn’t elaborate further.

I deleted Twitter’s tablet app last week, even though I don’t use it much, because it incessantly forces users back to the For You tab that I don’t use at all. With today’s news, I’d recommend anyone still on Twitter not use either the phone or tablet apps at all. With most browsers (and certain extensions) you’ll gain more control over what Twitter can collect.

CHRIS QUEEN: Can MLB Get Its Security Issue Under Control?

UM, PROGRESS? Zuckerberg’s metaverse avatars now look slightly less ridiculous. “It hasn’t helped Meta that the company’s visuals have thus far have had a certain cartoonish quality to them – especially when compared with the sleek AR style of the recently revealed Apple Vision Pro. Perhaps the most mocked aspect of Meta’s avatars has been their lack of legs – but the limbs have finally been added.”

Virtual leg men, rejoice.

HMM: Mysterious, Unexplained Red Meat Allergies Reportedly Explode in Virginia. “I have reported previously at PJ Media that the CDC has been warning lately of an unexplained rise in what was previously a rare red meat allergy called alpha-gal syndrome (AGS) that develops in humans by way of a molecule passed into the bloodstream by a species of tick called the Lone Star Tick.”

If I were only slightly more paranoid, I’d think that the CDC had weaponized AGS and launched a test run for making us proles allergic to red meat. But give it a day or two and I might get there.

JOANNE JACOBS: Low-SES Asians are top students: Can ‘excellence gap’ be closed?

Thirteen percent of Asian-American Pacific Islander (AAPI) eighth graders from very low socioeconomic families (mom didn’t finish high school) scored “advanced” in math on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), concludes Fordham’s new report on “excellence gaps.” That’s more than any other group except for very high SES (mom completed college) whites, note Meredith Coffey and Adam Tyner. Reading is not quite as dramatic, but AAPI students again are very high achievers at all SES levels.

Coffey and Tyner analyzed data from 2003 to 2022. Asian students started as high achievers and improved significantly — especially those from less advantaged families.

This is why elite colleges can’t get the “diversity” they want by giving an admissions advantage to high achievers from disadvantaged backgrounds: Too many Asians.

“Too many Asians” or any other race is only a problem for actual racists.

BUT IT’S ACTING LIKE ONE AND AT THE BEHEST OF ONE: RFK Jr. vs. YouTube Update: Judge Rejects Restraining Order Request, Claims Parent Company Google Is Not ‘State Actor.’

HMM: Tesla’s hidden ‘Elon Mode’ has NHTSA regulators extremely concerned.

Despite its name, Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology is not actually fully self-driving. Both FSD and Autopilot require the constant supervision of the driver with eyes on the road and hands on the wheel; the car is designed to “nag” the driver if and when that supervision lags. If the driver repeatedly ignores this nag, the feature could be disabled permanently.

But The Street reported in June that there exists a configuration hidden within Tesla’s software that doesn’t have this nag. Nicknamed “Elon Mode,” this iteration of self-driving was discovered by a hacker who then drove 600 miles with it enabled.

The hacker’s experiment with “Elon Mode” went viral, eventually catching the attention of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The regulatory agency sent Tesla a letter and special order on July 26, demanding more details about “Elon Mode,” including the number of cars that have access to it.

The special order additionally requested a step-by-step rundown of how to enable the configuration, as well as Tesla’s “basis or purpose in installing the software in consumer vehicles.”

The NHTSA posted the letter and special order on its website Aug. 29.

I’m curious whether Elon Mode does anything other than disable the nags. If so, maybe it’s a useful development tool for Full Self-Driving. If not, it looks like another case of begging for trouble.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: DeSantis Not Letting Politics Distract Him From Hurricane Response. “DeSantis is off the campaign trail right now, dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia. It’s not a time for politics — at least to decent people. The American media, as we are all too painfully aware, is running low on decent people.”

BEN DOMENECH: McConnell can resign without leaving the Senate.

Many Republicans point out that McConnell needs to stay in his seat to prevent Kentucky’s Democratic governor Andy Beshear, currently being challenged by McConnell ally Daniel Cameron, from naming a replacement. But that is a reason for McConnell to stay in the Senate, not one that requires him to stay on as its minority leader.

The truth is that McConnell is not so dramatically reduced in his capacity that he needs to step down as a senator. He shows far greater capacity than current Senate Democrats Dianne Feinstein or John Fetterman, nor does he have the health struggles of the likes of Thad Cochran or Johnny Isakson in their final years. But continuing on as minority leader headed into a critical election year is a different question entirely.

Yes.

NOT ALL OF HOLLYWOOD LEANS LEFT: Jon Voight Drops Rhetorical Bombs on Biden Admin Over Attacks on Trump.

ADAM COROLLA: Gov’t, Media to Run COVID Playbook for Climate Change. “The perfect storm is, agitate and frighten the citizens, especially the moms … then, people in power go, ‘now I get to act and I’m gonna start shutting stuff down.’ Anybody who brings up anything contrary, I will make sure they’re stamped out. We’ll go after them … anyone pushes back.”

KEVIN DOWNEY JR HILARIOUSLY SHOWS HOW TO WRITE ABOUT THE CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX WITHOUT TRIGGERING BIG TECH CENSORS: 1,600 Scientists Humiliate the Climate Ghouls Once and for All.

FLORIDA MAN: DeSantis Has a Double-Barrelled Message for Would-Be Idalia Looters.

AN IDEA SO OLD-SCHOOL, IT JUST MIGHT WORK: How to Save Hollywood With This 1 Weird Trick.

FINALLY: U.S. Navy’s F/A-XX in Design Maturation, Competing Companies Announced.

The Navy issued its formal request for a sixth-generation carrier-based fighter back in 2012 and 11 years later there’s not even a prototype.

UGH: Sen. McConnell Freezes (Again) During Press Conference.

YOU’LL SIT IN THE DARK, BE COLD, AND EAT THE BUGS: Millions Of Brits Told Not To Heat Homes At Night As Part Of ‘Net Zero’ Climate Goals. “Chris Stark, head of the CCC, wants ordinary citizens to turn off their electric heaters (heat pumps) at night as part of a wider drive to deliver ’emissions savings,’ which includes a shift away from gas boilers – which Chris, a hypocrite, still has.”