MORE ELIMINATIONIST RHETORIC FROM THE LEFT: U.S. Senate Candidate Vows to ‘Kill and Confront’ MAGA Movement.

BOOKMARKED FOR LATER: MicroRNA found to regrow 90% of lost hair, new study finds.

TO BE FAIR, SHE’S A KNUCKLEHEAD ABOUT PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING: Congressman Calls Kamala Harris a ‘Knucklehead’ for Saying the Border Secure.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY (RUSSIA EDITION): Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, September 13.

The Kremlin acknowledged its defeat in Kharkiv Oblast, the first time Moscow has openly recognized a defeat since the start of the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
…
Kremlin sources are now working to clear Putin of any responsibility for the defeat, instead blaming the loss of almost all of occupied Kharkiv Oblast on underinformed military advisors within Putin’s circle.[4] One member of the Kremlin’s Council for Interethnic Relations, Bogdan Bezpalko, even stated that military officials who had failed to see the concentration of Ukrainian troops and equipment and disregarded Telegram channels that warned of the imminent Ukrainian counter-offensive in Kharkiv Oblast should have their heads ”lying on Putin’s desk.”[5] ISW has previously reported that the Kremlin delayed Putin‘s meeting with Russian defense officials immediately after the withdrawal of troops from around Kharkiv, increasing the appearance of a rift between the Kremlin and the Russian MoD.[6] The Kremlin’s admission of defeat in Kharkiv shows that Putin is willing and able to recognize and even accept a Russian defeat at least in some circumstances and focus on deflecting blame from himself.

If only Comrade Putin knew!

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Democrats Are Quite Comfortable Being Violent Extremists. “The Democrats’ ongoing fairy tale about the nonexistent right-wing domestic threat is on my last nerve now, especially since we all know that the real dark evil in this country is lurking on the left. It’s not even on the fringes.”

TWITTER IS A CESSPIT: Twitter Whistleblower Says There Was at Least One Chinese Spy Working at the Company. “I’m reminded of one conversation with an executive when I said, ‘I am confident that we have a foreign agent,’ and their response was, ‘Well, since we already have one, what does it matter if we have more? Let’s keep growing the office.'”

CRIMINALIZING OPPOSITION: House Dems Target New Narrative ‘Deniers’ for Persecution. “Now, the totalitarians in the Democrat-controlled House have begun an investigation (aka harassment) of a new group of recalcitrant naysayers: Public Relations companies that have the audacity to work for fossil fuel companies and blaspheme against the Church of Climate Change.”

OUT OF ALL THE OBAMA RETREADS HE HIRED, BIDEN COULDN’T HAVE CHOSEN LARRY SUMMERS? ‘A Serious Inflation Problem’: Top Obama Economist Sounds The Alarm Over Prices As White House Celebrates.

Core inflation — the price level increase for all items except for food and energy — rose by 0.6% in August, marking a faster rate of increase than July and producing a 6.3% year-over-year rate. Analysts were expecting the measure to rise 0.3%.

“Core inflation is higher this month than for the quarter, higher this quarter than last quarter, higher this half of the year than the previous one, and higher last year than the previous one,” Summers commented on social media.

Summers remarked that median inflation — an alternative metric of core inflation favored by those who once said inflation was “transitory” — rose to “its highest ever reading.” Indeed, median inflation rose from 6.3% in July 2022 to 6.7% in August 2022, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

I’m old enough to remember when inflation was 2%, gas was two bucks, and tweets were mean instead of major presidential addresses.

HMM: The Biden Administration Has a Secret Plan to Interfere With the Midterm Elections. “The exact plan of the Biden administration is not known, and they are refusing to divulge the details of what they intend to do. There have been some clues though.”

NO MANDATES: Top Doctors Argue Against All COVID Vaccine Mandates.

DID ANYONE OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY EVER BELIEVE OTHERWISE? New Inflation Numbers Mean The U.S. Economy Is Destined For ‘Hard Landing.’

HMM: Trump’s Choice for Mar-a-Lago Raid Special Master May Be Brilliant…or Disastrous.

HOW’S THAT ZERO COVID POLICY WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? Millions of people under lockdown for 1,100 cases. When will China’s zero-covid policy end?

Plus: China’s tourism revenue came in at 60% of pre-Covid levels this holiday weekend.

And: Paralyzed by Covid Restrictions, China’s Consumers Are Closing Their Wallets.

Finally: Goldman Says China Will Stick to Covid Zero Even After Communist Party Meeting.

NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES: Sixth Graders Protect Their Fellow Students From a Creepy Teacher.

THE DIFFERENCE IS, IN 1984 WE WERE STILL FILLING THE THEN-NEW SPR: U.S. emergency oil reserves tumble to lowest since 1984.

FRAUD, BULLYING, INTIMIDATION: FBI Shows up on Trump Supporter’s Doorstep, and She Wasn’t Even at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): When this happens, the names of the agents in question need to be made public. Intimidating citizens is a public, official act. There’s no reason why they should be able to hide behind bureaucracy. Likewise the superiors who sent them, whose identities should also be made public.

THANKS FOR NOTHING, MITT (REDUX): Mitt Romney Urged Biden to Run.

“POLITICS LIES DOWNSTREAM OF CULTURE,” THE WISE MAN ONCE SAID: Republicans Could Learn Something About Messaging From a Tattooed, Pierced Rapper.

COLORADO: Thompson school board passes armed staff resolution; all district employees potentially eligible. “Although the arming of school staff is a topic with passionate views on both sides, the 4-2 vote came without public comment or board discussion. One of the longest tenured and most liberal members of the board, Pam Howard, made the motion to approve the resolution.”

More like this, please.

VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR WEEKLY INSANITY WRAP: The Fetterman Video That Could Destroy His Campaign.

Plus:

• Teaching kids not to judge pedos
• You’ll never believe what pollutes more than an oil refinery
• Biden’s gonna party like it’s 1979

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

JOANNE JACOBS: Do good citizens listen to leaders? “Ilya Somin was taken aback by the worksheet his seven-year-old daughter brought home from school, he writes on Facebook. ‘Some of these are highly dubious!'”

IF THEY’D JUST GO BACK TO PRODUCING FAMILY-FRIENDLY, APOLITICAL CONTENT, THEY WOULDN’T HAVE TO KEEP CALLING THEIR FANS AND CRITICS RACISTS: Next Up on Disney’s ‘You’re a Racist if You Don’t Like This Reboot’ List…

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China discovers new mineral – and a possible energy source – on the Moon.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Democrats Still Don’t Know Who the Real 9/11 Terrorists Were. “We’re now sending people to Washington to make laws who are outright terrorist sympathizers. Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and their idiot bartender queen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are all pro-jihad.”

COLD WAR II: China’s economy is slowing, its population aging. That could make it dangerous.

Two foreign policy scholars, Hal Brands of Johns Hopkins and Michael Beckley of Tufts, have offered a frightening thesis: China’s leaders know their power is about to diminish, and that will make them more likely to take risks in the short run — to invade Taiwan, for example.

China “is losing confidence that time is on its side,” they write in a recent book, “Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict With China.”

“China will have strong incentives to use force against its neighbors … even at risk of war with the United States,” they warn. The “moment of maximum danger,” they suggest, is this decade: the 2020s.
A chorus of other China scholars have disagreed.

First, they note, there’s no evidence that Xi or other leaders believe their power is declining; they continue to predict the rise of China and the decline of the West.

Even if China’s economy slows down, it will be growing — still the second-largest in the world.

“Countries can muddle along with a great deal of poor economic performance and still be a major force in international politics,” noted Aaron L. Friedberg of Princeton, author of “Getting China Wrong.”

Besides, Xi and other Chinese leaders have a strategy for solving their economic challenge, he argued. “They see advances in technology as the key to solving all their problems,” he told me. “That’s how they plan to achieve higher productivity and reasonably high economic growth.”

Hopefully, recent developments in Ukraine will convince Xi that jaw, jaw is much better than war, war.