PUNCH BACK TWICE AS HARD: Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers File Suit Against Illinois Law Targeting Them.

AMERICA: Up to 60% of Americans could own guns, twice estimate.

A surge in “quiet gun owners,” much like the so-called “silent majority” in political circles, is leading firearms analysts to believe that far more Americans own weapons than the accepted 30% cited in polls.

At the highest end, it’s possible that up to 60% of Americans own guns, especially with the pandemic-era rise in gun buying among women and minorities, especially in suburban and urban areas.

At the lowest end, it’s likely that at least 40% of Americans own guns, according to a groundbreaking study of those who lie to pollsters about firearms.

The study from Rutgers University’s New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center is spreading like wildfire in the industry, which for years has tried to accurately estimate United States gun ownership and determine why polls show support for gun control, but then there is little follow through when legislation is proposed.

On the other hand, think of all the former gun owners who tragically lost all of theirs in various boating accidents.

CHINA: China tries to boost consumer spending as factory sector contracts for fourth month.

The official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which measures activity in the manufacturing sector at mainly larger business and state-owned firms, came in at 49.3 in July, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday.

That result was slightly up compared with 49 in June but the industry has now contracted each month since April. A PMI reading above 50 indicates expansion, while anything below that level shows contraction.

The official non-manufacturing PMI, which looks at activities in services and construction, also fell, to 51.5. That is the lowest rate since December, when the index hit its weakest level since February 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

By the end of last year, Covid infections were sweeping through China after Beijing abruptly ended nearly three years of draconian pandemic restrictions that initially kept the virus at bay while hammering local businesses and isolating the world’s second largest economy.

“Boosting consumption is the key in stimulating recovery and expanding demand,” said Li Chunlin, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s top economic planner, at a press conference in Beijing.

I’ve learned over the last 18 years that nothing boosts personal spending more than having kids, but China isn’t really doing that.

KEVIN DOWNEY JR: Clown Alert! Four Things the Leftists Hope You Missed This Week.

SO CLOSE TO TAKING THE RED PILL: Hunter Biden ‘broke the law,’ Democrat Rep. Jim Himes says.

“And it is clear that he broke the law with respect to taxes and possibly the ownership of a handgun. He should be held accountable for that.”

Himes rapped Republicans for not calling out former President Trump, 77, when he was indicted, but said Hunter Biden should be prosecuted and convicted if he used his father’s influence to commit crimes.

“If he traded on his father’s influence, he should be held accountable for that. And I’m emphasizing this because you never, ever heard a Republican say the same thing about Donald Trump or his family,” Himes said.

Still, the Democratic congressman — serving his eighth term — insisted there was no evidence that President Biden, 80, colluded with his son on any crimes.

How much more evidence would it take to convince him?

2024: Will He or Won’t He? Trump Flirts With Participating in August Debate.

LIKE? “Like Organized Crime” – Multiple Banks Filed Over 170 ‘Suspicious Activity’ Reports On The Bidens.

These SARs are submitted and sent to the Treasury Department when banks “have a strong suspicion” that a crime has been committed, so as to protect the bank.

As Comer emphasized, these are submitted “very seldom.”

If someone were to have two, the chairman explained, it would be hard for that person to open up a bank account.

Submitting an SAR, Comer added, also is “inviting the regulators to come in and regulate,” which is the last thing banks want.

The 170 reports are thus quite significant.

Hard to open a bank account, surprisingly easy to enter the Oval Office.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Miserable Lefties Just Can’t Quit Their COVID Fetish. “Misery and grievance are the family business over on the Left and — thanks to their warped political views — business is always booming. They are rather generous over there though. Not only do they want to be miserable, but they want everyone else to join them.”

UNEXPECTEDLY: Trans activist Dana Rivers – who murdered lesbian couple and their 19-year-old son in hate crime – is ‘preying on inmates’ at women’s prison in California.

At her sentencing last month, judge Scott Patton said the killings were ‘the most depraved crime I ever handled in the criminal justice system in 33 years’.

But a 2021 California law allowing criminals to request their prison based on their gender identity has allowed Rivers to wreak havoc in Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, California.

‘Rivers has been a problem since (she) rolled in the door,’ one inmate at the facility told the Washington Free Beacon. ‘(She) is trying to control the women, saying he gets to bypass everything — special treatment.’

Well, why wouldn’t he think he’s entitled?

CHANGE (IT BACK): Trump Will Reinstate Title 42 to Fight Child Trafficking on Day One.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: After $700 Million U.S. Bailout, Trucking Firm Is Shutting Down. “Yellow has been locked in protracted labor negotiations with International Brotherhood of Teamsters over a new contract that the company has said is essential to its ability to move forward with a restructuring plan.”

UGH: Pentagon Investigating ‘Critical Compromise’ of Air Force Communications Systems.

THE TIMING ISN’T AT ALL SUSPICIOUS: Biden DOJ Threatens to Arrest Devon Archer Before Bombshell Testimony.

NOT SUCH A LOSS FOR THEIR NEWER RELEASES, BUT…: Disney to Cease Releasing Physical Media in Certain Countries.

In response to a change in customer behavior toward watching movies on digital platforms like Disney+, Disney recently announced it was discontinuing its Movie Club program in Canada. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment will no longer be delivering physical discs in Australia, according to Digital Bits, numerous industry, distributor, and store sources.

Just another reminder that anything you want to keep — and keep in its original form — you’d better own a hardcopy:

The problem with this shift, is that it allows media companies offering digital versions the ability to make edits and changes to the original material, sometimes subtly, sometimes, clumsily, and sometimes stealthily. Disney also happens to be one of the most egregious offenders of this, editing everything from Daryll Hannah’s bum in Splash, to removing dialogue from Academy Award winner The French Connection.

I do hope you kept your Splash DVDs.

FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: Eagle vs Shark vs Fisherman — Guess Who Wins! “This week we have and air-sea-land battle to rival the invasion of Okinawa, how not to park a Maserati, and what happens when California Man tries that in a small town.”

JUST A FEW YEARS AGO, FEW PEOPLE WOULD HAVE GIVEN THIS MUCH CREDENCE: Malcolm X’s former security guard says black leader’s killer was ‘definitely working’ for US government.

THE LEFT’S WAR ON WOMEN: How Does a Sexual Assault Survivor Feel About Sharing a Locker Room With a Transgender Male?

THEY SEEK TO EXTINGUISH YOUR CULTURE: Biden admin withholding key funding for schools with hunting, archery programs.

MESSAGE SENT: Biden Regime Denies RFK Secret Service Protection.

THE MYSTERY IS WHY SO MANY COMPANIES KEEP TRYING TO CLONE TWITTER, WHEN TWITTER IS MOSTLY AWFUL: Mark Zuckerberg: Threads users down by more than a half.

IT SURE LOOKS THAT WAY: Did Hunter Biden’s Admission in Court Prove That Joe Biden Lied?

IT’S ALWAYS IN THE LAST PLACE YOU LOOK: A Giant Planet Seems to Be Lurking Unseen in Our Solar System.

When we look at really distant objects, such as dwarf planets beyond Pluto, we find their orbits are a little unexpected. They move on very large elliptical (oval-shaped) orbits, are grouped together, and exist on an incline compared to the rest of the Solar System.

When astronomers use a computer to model what gravitational forces are needed for these objects to move like this, they find that a planet at least ten times the mass of Earth would have been required to cause this.

It is super-exciting stuff! But then the question is: where is this planet?

The problem we have now is trying to confirm if these predictions and models are correct. The only way to do that is to find Planet Nine, which is definitely easier said than done.

Clyde Tombaugh discovered the ninth planet in 1930 and named it Pluto. Wherever Planet 10 is to be found, it might require traveling through the 8th dimension to get there.

KRUISER: Climate Crazies Have Discovered That Summertime Is Hot. “The summer of 2023 in the northern hemisphere is a little toastier than usual so — PRESTO! — weather is climate again. It’s easy to make things up when you’re on the side of the political aisle that has decided that words have no meanings and absolute truths are for suckers.”

DELAY: Launch of heavyweight commercial communications satellite reset for Friday night. “The unique choreography of a Falcon Heavy launch—with three rockets in controlled flight simultaneously—is becoming a familiar sight on Florida’s Space Coast. This will be SpaceX’s seventh Falcon Heavy launch and the third of five planned this year. It’ll be SpaceX’s 50th Falcon rocket launch in 2023—or 51st launch if you count the test flight of the Starship mega-rocket from Texas in April.”

BIDEN CRIME FAMILY UPDATE: Jill Biden’s Ex-Husband Calls Joe Biden ‘Very Dangerous,’ Says the Biden Family Targeted Him.