FALLOUT: Russia’s economy dealt a crushing blow as its current-account surplus collapses by 93%.

The nation posted a current-account surplus of $5.4 billion for the April-June quarter, which marks a 93% plunge from a record $76.7 billion in the same period of 2022, Russia’s central bank data show. That’s also the smallest excess since the third quarter of 2020.

It shows the heavy blow that Western economic sanctions – imposed on Moscow in response to its war on Ukraine – have dealt to the country’s economy, by squeezing its energy exports.

The worsening trade dynamics are also reflected in the plunging fortunes of the ruble. The Russian currency tumbled to a 15-month low of around 94.48 per dollar earlier in July, hit hard by the country’s weakening terms of trade.

Russia has enough resources to get by with a lot less trade, but the damage to the ruble and hard currency reserves make it more expensive to buy sanctioned goods on the black market.

GOOD: Free Speech Win: Biden Administration Bid to Overturn Censorship Injunction Fails.

PRAETORIAN GUARD: Secret Service to brief House committee on cocaine found at White House. “The briefing will take place behind closed doors in a SCIF — a sensitive compartmented information facility used to handled classified information.”

SKYNET IS NOT AMUSED: Ice Cube Goes Scorched Earth on Artificial Intelligence. “I think it’s the worst s**t ever. I think it’s gonna put a lot of people out of business and out of work. Everything is gonna be more vanilla. It’s not gonna be more creative. It’s actually gonna go the other way.”

I’ve played around quite a bit with ChatGPT and other generative AI writers, and the results always, always sound like an earnest, well-informed 10th-grader who also happens to be deeply uninteresting.

OH: Seattle public schools will offer ‘gender affirming care’ to students as young as 11 years old at no cost – as critics say it’s a ‘whole new level of awful for schools to be involved.’ “While puberty blockers are still barred for prepubescents, kids as young as 10 will still have access to cross-sex hormones such as estrogen and testosterone, according to Country Doctor’s website outlining their policies.”

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Another Lie-Filled Day for the FBI’s Christopher Wray. “So…the Director of the FBI is unaware if he had anyone working during the event that the Democrats have turned into a high holy day? The sad thing about 21st century America is that half of the country is dumb enough to believe him.”

AGING: 96-Year-Old Federal Judge Has Been Asked to Step Down. She Won’t. Should She Be Forced Out?

Should Newman quit? Her colleagues think she should. Newman never married and has no children. There is no family member to persuade her to step down. But should she? Newman was a brilliant woman. A brilliant scientist. A brilliant lawyer. A brilliant judge. Should she step down?

Her answer has been consistent. No, and hell no. In an hour-long interview with a Bloomberg reporter, Newman showed confidence and “full command” and answered complicated questions. No “minder” was in the room to help her either physically or with answering questions. She never said, “I don’t remember.” But Chief Judge Kimberly Moore clearly wants her out. And it has become personal. Newman sees her age as a lazy attack by Moore for her frequent dissents. In the span of 18 months, she wrote 23 concurring or dissenting opinions.

In the Bloomberg article, there is an embedded recording of Newman speaking to the reporter. Newman’s voice sounds “old,” but she is clearly in command and never sounds tired or confused. I’ve been around 96 year olds. An hour is a long time to keep them engaged, and Newman had no problem doing that. I’ve never liked bullies. And Newman seems to be a unicorn – a completely capable judge who happens to be 96 years old.

Remarkable.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Compare the way the Establishment is treating her, versus the way it’s covering for the Dotard-in-Chief, and you may well conclude that it’s the establishment that should be retired.

DEFUND THE FBI: FBI Director Admits COVID-Era Persecution of Parents Wasn’t Evidence-Based.

HMM: Google hit with lawsuit over new AI data scraping privacy policy. “The class-action lawsuit was filed on July 11 by eight individuals who claim to represent ‘millions of class members’ — internet users and copyright holders — who have had their privacy and property rights violated in light of Google’s recent updates to its privacy policy.”

THIS IS NOT QUITE THE APOLOGY BOYCOTTERS WERE EXPECTING: Anheuser-Busch: Buy Bud Light, or We’ll Fire Some Idiot Peasants Like You.

If AB-InBev were actively trying to sabotage their (formerly) most popular brand, what would they do any differently?

And Kira Davis reports in from southern California, which isn’t exactly overrun with conservatives: “They’re not even selling Bud Light at my local Costco anymore. Don’t know when it stopped but I’ve noticed it’s not in stock anymore.”

FACTS NOT WANTED: University scientists suggest doctors avoid ‘traumatizing’ and ‘harmful’ sex info in notes on trans patients.

TIME FLIES: Remember the Left’s Obsession With Cocaine at the White House a Few Years Ago?

BUT THE NARRATIVE! More Black Americans Support Supreme Court Affirmative Action Ruling Than Oppose It.

Affirmative Action has never been popular, except among the elites who love picking winners and losers based on anything other than merit.

TRANSLATION: HE’S SURE. Christopher Wray ‘Not Sure’ There Were FBI Assets at Capitol on Jan. 6.

VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR WEEKLY INSANITY WRAP [VIP]: California Officially Becomes ‘The Child-Trafficking State.’

Plus:

• The curious case of Elizabeth Holmes and the shrinking prison sentence.
• Just when you thought it couldn’t get any weirder, it got weirder.
• In which I politely disagree with James Woods and his excellent taste in music.

So much more at the link, you’d have to be crazy to miss it.

SPACE: NASA releases spectacular image to celebrate James Webb Space Telescope. “The scientific community was a little conservative in planning their agenda for the first year of observations, but this next year of science will take full advantage of what the telescope can do, Rigby said. ‘We’re getting bolder in year two.'”

CRISIS BY DESIGN: Another Biden DHS Program to Release Thousands of Illegals into U.S..

CHANGE: An Explosion of Life Happens on Earth Every 36 Million Years. Now We Know Why.

A deep analysis of the fossil and geological record reveals a changing sea level that occurs in response to a 36-million-year cycle of tectonic movement.

This, a team led by geologist Slah Boulila of Sorbonne University in France has found, disrupts several ecosystems, causing many species to struggle – and new ones to blossom to fill the new ecological niches that emerge.

“In terms of tectonics, the 36-million-year cycle marks alterations between faster and slower seafloor spreading, leading to cyclical depth changes in ocean basins and in the tectonic transfer of water into the deep Earth,” says geoscientist Dietmar Müller of the University of Sydney.

“These in turn have led to fluctuations in the flooding and drying up of continents, with periods of extensive shallow seas fostering biodiversity.”

A close look at the fossil record shows that biodiversity is not a nice, even constant. Instead, it fluctuates dramatically on scales of tens of millions of years, punctuated by extinction events and the rise of new species.

It’s unclear how SUVs are involved in the process.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: Ohio School District Spent $24,000 Instructing Educators on How to Hide Kids’ ‘Gender Transitions’ From Parents.

READINESS: Nearly 40% of US Attack Submarines Are Out of Commission for Repairs. “As of this year, 18 of the US Navy’s 49 attack submarines — 37% — were out of commission, according to previously undisclosed Navy data published by the Congressional Research Service. That leaves the US at a critical disadvantage against China’s numerically superior fleet.”

DON’T MISS IT ON THE BIG SCREEN: The VodkaPundit Review of ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.’ “The short version is: This is a perfect summer popcorn flick. Continue on for the slightly longer review with only the tiniest of spoilers that you might already have gotten from the trailer.”

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY (CHINA EDITION): China’s economic downturn is more shocking than outsiders realize, says former Chinese property mogul.

According to Desmond Shum — once at the head of a multibillion-dollar development firm that he left in 2015 upon tighter control by Beijing — sales across industries, even those thought to be insulated from any slowdown, are falling, and the economic outlook among Chinese consumers is so dire that executives are reporting blatant acts of theft by employees.

“Several things have shocked me in conversations I’ve had with businesspeople in China,” he said. “A big dairy company is producing more milk powder because people are cutting back on buying milk. Normally this is one of the last things you would cut out.”

Shum’s description of conditions on the ground in China provide an inside look at stagnating growth, as the country’s post-pandemic recovery has fizzled dramatically since the first quarter.

Plus: “People talk about ‘deglobalization,’ but the proper term is ‘reglobalization minus China.'”

I suppose it’s some small comfort to know that China’s elites are doing as bang-up a job as our own.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Air Force Suspends Bonuses and Personnel Moves Due to ‘Funding Shortfall.’

Related:

And that’s with the first major land war in Europe since 1945 and Communist Chinese navy larger than our own.

WHEN YOUR HOT TAKE IS JUST TOO GOOD TO CHECK:

This is the current headline and editor’s note above a completely rewritten story: We got it wrong: More people moved out of New York and California than Florida in 2021. “This story has been updated to correct an error regarding Census data. In 2021, an estimated 469,577 people moved out of Florida, while 674,740 people relocated to the state. An earlier version of the story switched those numbers.”

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Team Biden Doubles Down on Its Soviet Censorship Freak Flag. “Then the Wuhan Chinese Bat Flu came ashore in America. The Dems found it impossible to hide their fondness for totalitarianism. It’s been one headlong rush to the commie cliff ever since.”