FLORIDA, MAN! DeSantis Makes Universal School Choice a Reality.

COLD WAR II: Russia Close to Persistent Nuclear Cruise Missile Attack Sub Presence off U.S. Coasts.

BREAKING: Multiple Fatalities in Shooting at Nashville Christian Elementary.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT [VIP]: Is GenX the Last Generation of Americans?

Don’t forget that VODKAPUNDIT promo code if you’ve been thinking of joining us.

CHANGE: 32 states and counting: Why parents bills of rights are sweeping US. “The proposed laws have fueled questions about the role parents should play in their children’s education. At the same time, they have fanned partisan flames, weaponizing a longstanding concept – parental rights – that academic experts and advocates alike say should not be politically charged.”

By and large, “academic experts and advocates” seem to believe that parents should just sit down and shut up.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Study reveals map of moon’s water near its south pole. “It’s clear, however, that even at its lowest limit, the moon contains much more water than we once believed.”

APPARENTLY THIS IS THE NEXT DAMN THING WE’RE SUPPOSED TO CARE ABOUT: CNN Accuses White Users of ‘Digital Blackface’ for Sharing Memes.

MAYBE IT’S TIME FOR THE SILENT GENERATION AND THE FIRST-WAVE BOOMERS TO STEP ASIDE: Trump troubles, McConnell absence create GOP leadership vacuum.

HMM: Florida Doctor Stripped of Board Certification for COVID ‘Misinformation.’

GEORGE MF WASHINGTON: Escape from L.A. – Dispatches from a once-great city in decline.

In my very first Substack essay, published here a little over a year ago, I argued that Decline is a Choice. That many of the public and private sector Oligarchs running Big Blue cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, along with the braindead government fucntionaries who do their bidding and the Press who covers for them, assume that the days of TAXI DRIVER and DEATH WISH have been forever buried in our past, never to return. But they haven’t yet learned that history isn’t always an arc… sometimes it’s a circle. And the policy choices being made in America’s bluest cities are indeed bringing the DEATH WISH era back, like a zombie from a very different kind of movie.

Worse, the choices that these Oligarchs and their Government lackeys make are done without much input from the public… a public which nevertheless must suffer the consequences of those choices when they inevitably fail.

Enter, Los Angeles… A once great city, something like a paradise on earth, really… now in the grips of a terrifying and, I suspect, irreversible decline.

Read the whole thing.

CUOMO ISN’T RED-PILLED SO MUCH AS LOOKING FOR A WAY BACK INTO POLITICS: You’ll Never Guess Who Is Ripping the Investigations Into Trump as ‘All Politics.’

COLD WAR II: Why is China strengthening its military? It’s not all about war.

For some, the buildup alone provides reasons to fear conflict. Observers point to the rapid modernization as unambiguous evidence that China is preparing for war with the United States. In March 2021, Adm. Philip Davidson, then-head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, warned that China could take military action against Taiwan by 2027. Adm. Michael Gilday, the chief of naval operations, added that he can’t rule out a Chinese attempt to invade as early as 2023.

Preparation for war is one possibility for the PLA’s buildup, but it is not the only one. The military’s modernization goals serve a variety of political and military purposes, none of which imply any intent to actually start a war. A grasp of the myriad drivers could help observers more accurately assess the danger posed by the PLA’s modernization.

A first major reason Chinese leaders seek a powerful military owes to basic security. History matters greatly here: Chinese leaders are acutely aware of the downfall of past dynasties when a weak military permitted adversaries to bring the empire to its knees. Chinese leaders routinely invoke past humiliations, such as the Opium Wars, to remind the population of the dangers that weakness might pose. Maintaining a strong deterrence, including through a large nuclear arsenal, is a fundamental reason that China seeks a powerful military.

Second, a growing China requires a more capable military to handle a growing range of missions, including the possibility of a conflict with Taiwan. China faces a difficult geography, with many hostile and suspicious powers along its periphery. Defense whitepapers highlight a multitude of threats, including the dangers of Taiwan separatism, disputes in the East and South China seas, border disputes, and the dangers of great power rivalry with the United States.

I’m not sure what the author means about the “dangers of Taiwan separatism.” The Republic of China on Taiwan already is separate and merely wants to stay that way — any danger comes from Communist China on the mainland.

That aside, a potential rival needs to be judged on their capabilities, not on their intent — which can change in a heartbeat.

OH: Emergency Motion Claims FBI Didn’t Disclose Informant Inside Proud Boys Defense Team.

21ST CENTURY HEADLINES: You’ve Probably Never Been ‘Woman Of The Year,’ But These Men Have.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Libs of TikTok Is the Beating Heart of the Anti-Woke Movement. “The frothing, rabid Woke freaks have been incessantly harassing Raichik in an attempt to cancel her. She continues undaunted, and rather cheerful in the face of pressure that would make a lot of people quickly decide that none of it was worth the effort.”

CULTURAL VANDALISM: Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Miss Marple Classic Mysteries Rewritten For Modern Sensitivities.

ELIZABETH WARREN SYNDROME IS REAL: Prominent Hollywood Native American Turns Out Not to Be Native American at All.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Again, if “white supremacy” is a thing, why are so many white people pretending to be nonwhite?

DID ANYONE ACTUALLY THINK THAT IT WAS? Meltdown in Deutsche Bank Shares Shows Banking Crisis Is Not Yet Over.

The volatility in the markets reflects the delicate state the U.S. economy is in. On Wednesday, the Fed raised interest rates by a quarter point – less than had been expected as recently as a week before its meeting – as it battles inflation that is still running at levels twice its annual average target of 2%. But, at the same time, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell warned that a credit crunch from the banking crisis could slow the economy in the weeks to come.

At the same time, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was telling Congress that not all bank deposits were going to be protected, a statement she later amended to say the government would take “additional steps” if needed to address stability in the banking system.

The Dow fell more than 500 points on Wednesday. The sudden drop in bond yields also suggests that the market believes the next move from the Fed will be to cut rates to spur the economy should a recession occur.

The Fed can fight inflation or it can fight recession but it can’t do both at once. Recessions are supposed to crush demand enough to tame inflation, but there’s still so much stimulus money out there and Washington has no taste for reining in debt-financed borrowing — so who knows.

PUNCH BACK TWICE AS HARD: NY Parents Set to Sic the Law on School Board That Insists on Porn in School.

FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY: Ever Dance With the Devil in the Pale Security Video Light? “This week we have the strip joint bouncers who might have prevented a massacre, the least-candid candid camera, and the world’s bravest Amazon delivery guy.”

JONATHAN TURLEY: The National Archives Just Torpedoed Biden’s Sgt. Schultz Defense. “The National Archives has released emails that show that then-Vice President Joe Biden approved an official statement in December 2015 about Hunter Biden’s position on a Ukrainian energy company’s board.”

HEH: Why Do You Hate Gwyneth Paltrow More Than You Love Due Process?

THE NEW ANTI-RACISM LOOKS AND AWFUL LOT LIKE THE OLD RACISM: ‘Woke’ DOD official Kelisa Wing reassigned after GOP highlights anti-white tweets.

ICYMI: Gay Dating App Grindr Threatens to Out GOP Lawmakers, but There’s Just One Problem…

CHANGE: Denver Schools Superintendent takes stand against anti-police policy after spate of school shootings: ‘I can no longer stand on the sidelines.’ “The Denver School Board unanimously voted to remove school resource officers in June 2020 after the murder of George Floyd. All officers were phased out from the city’s middle and high schools by the summer of 2021. The decision was declared a victory by community activists who had long campaigned to remove police officers from schools.”