Read it.

As the American left argues openly for socialism, it’s helpful to keep in mind just how dreadfully those policies have failed—and just how viciously socialists have responded to those who got in the way—in countries throughout the world. Watch the recent protests in Cuba and you will see how regular people feel about the direction the American left wants to take. They aren’t happy.

Since the communist revolution in 1959, leftists in America have celebrated purported Cuban progress in areas such as health care and education. Little mention was made in those quarters about the Cuban government’s human rights abuses, which include political executions, arbitrary imprisonments, an unfair legal system, and severe limits on freedom of expression, free association, free assembly, free movement, and, of course, a free press.

Howard Stern staffers score fast buyers for their homes amid NYC exits

CNN’s Cuomo Tries to Prove Illegals Commit Less Crime, But It Backfires

Wikileaks Co-Founder: Site Now Promotes Leftist Establishment Propaganda

‘The Government Is Losing Ground’ Residents Say as Gangs Take Territory in Venezuela’s Capital

Dozens Arrested As Antifa Clash With Police Outside Controversial Korean LA Spa  But Trump is obviously to blame.

Republican Confidence In “Science” Collapses: Gallup  With good reason.

Telemundo: Texas’ Election-Security Law Is Just Like Brutal Communist Cuba Repression

Read it.

For whatever the truth of the charge he levels, Francis himself seems to have weaponized the Latin Mass in the very act of suppressing it. The obvious goal of the motu proprio is to dissolve certain communities devoted to it, communities that have been a thorn in his side for too long. In the waning days of his pontificate, the thorn is being plucked.

It is rumored that earlier drafts were less charitable than the final documents. Yet the measures are draconian and the tone, though dignified, remains severe. To make matters worse, Francis has assigned to diocesan bishops the difficult task of suppression while reserving to Rome the right to veto particular acts of clemency, including (at article 4) any permission granted new ordinands to say the Latin Mass. For this, few of his brethren will thank him. Some, who themselves love and respect the vetus ordo, will resist him.

Read it.

Gas-fired stoves are emerging as a burning issue as American cities consider phasing out natural-gas hookups to homes and businesses to reduce carbon emissions.

Many restaurant and home chefs prefer cooking on gas-burning ranges, and persuading some to switch to electric stovetops is proving to be a hard sell—a sentiment the natural-gas industry has seized on to rally opposition to new local ordinances.

‘Buying Votes’ Is Good, Actually

Who is Assata Shakur, convicted cop killer granted asylum in Cuba and praised by Black Lives Matter

Betting On The Everything Bubble: Governments Worldwide Are Testing The New Limits Of Debt

Two-thirds of Southern Republicans want to secede  I’m surprised it’s that low.

“Let Them Die”: Fairfax PTA & NAACP Officer Calls For The Death Of Those Who Oppose CRT

Only 2 Networks (Barely) Mention New Record in Border Crisis, All Skip Hunter Biden Scoop

Read it.

In March 2019, tax expert Maya Forstater was dismissed from her job — legally, according to a later judicial ruling — for voicing the view that “sex is a biological fact, and is immutable.” When author J.K. Rowling came to Forstater’s defence, she was bombarded with abuse, including an invitation from one lady to “choke on my fat trans cock”. The case became a cause célèbre. But it is only one of many such cases. Today, anyone who ventures a controversial opinion on “trans”, race, disability, Middle Eastern politics and a handful of other issues risks being fired, insulted, intimidated and possibly prosecuted.

Read it.

It wasn’t easy to ruin California, but the Democrats have accomplished it.

Read it.

Quietly, proceeding by stealthy cat-like steps, the open-borders lobby has decided that permanent legal status for illegal aliens is something that Congress must cram into the “reconciliation” legislation.

‘Squad’ member Pressley donates to bail fund group that supports abolishing police

University of Alabama in Huntsville sued for allegedly violating state’s ‘Campus Free Speech Act’

Biased CBS Reporter QUITS, Now Free to Be ‘Candid’ About Pro-Abortion Views

Chinese Communist Party Officials Share Viral Video Urging Nuclear Strikes On Japan

CNN Praises Texas Dem Lawmaker for ‘Sacrifice’ of Abandoning Her Post

Arizona Senate Seeks More Voter Data as Election Audit Raises Questions

Ontario’s Grade 9 Will Be Taught That “Mathematics Has Been Used To Normalize Racism”

CHINA: Taliban Welcome Their New Chinese Overlords

Illinois first state to tell police they can’t lie to minors in interrogations

White Boy Summer, Qatar Edition: Fart Denier Eric Swalwell Rides Camel, Bares Nipples on $84K Desert Junket

Superintendent Who Eliminated Entrance Exam at Nation’s Top High School To Resign

Facebook axes CrowdTangle team over data suggesting right-wing success

Democrats Openly Assault Honest Elections, Ohio’s Top Election Official Says

Read it.

Michigan’s Republican senators, who hold a majority in the state Senate, used a procedural method this week to support the repeal of a decades-old emergency powers law with a petition that cannot be vetoed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Michigan senators voted along party lines, 20-15, backing the petition to repeal the Emergency Powers of Governor Act of 1945, which was brought by the group Unlock Michigan and various people critical of Whitmer’s use of emergency powers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Severian scratches his head.

Everyone has asked that about the Republican Party at some time, and while the last few years have changed the answer, in most sentient beings’ minds, from “maybe” to “oh hell yes,” it’s not always the case. I’m not going to defend the GOP here — I know full well they’re merely the “right” wing of GloboHomo — but it’s interesting to think about those situations where emergent behavior looks like deliberate failure.

Navy more focused on diversity training than potential China threat: report

“Woke Coke” – UK Drug Dealers Peddling ‘Ethically Sourced’ Cocaine

Full-time minimum wage workers can’t afford rent anywhere in the US

Colbert Lies: GOP Voting Laws Will ‘Effectively Disenfranchise’ Blacks

What the Hell Happened to Bill Kristol?

BLM Under Fire for Praising Cuban Government

Tucker Goes All In, Airs Evidence “Improperly Duplicated” Ballots From 2020 Election

MSNBC Celebrates 25th Anniversary By Fantasizing: 16 More Years of Dem Rule!

Minneapolis Police Destroyed Evidence During Floyd Protest Last Year

Nancy and Paul Pelosi Making Millions in Stock Trades in Companies She Actively Regulates

MSNBC’s Ruhle Eager to Live in ‘Barbie DreamHouse’ of Socialism

YouTube Pulls Live Feed Of Arizona State Senate Election Audit Hearing

The Continued Betrayal of David French

Cuba Officially Promoted To ‘Not Real Communism’  Babylon Bee.

After Defending BLM Riots, MSNBC Ready to Jail Cuba Protesters

Nicolle Wallace: As an Ex-Republican, I Know They NEED Minority Voter Suppression

Another School Falls to Woke Culture by Erasing Its Catholic History

Democrats Agree to Return to Texas if Greg Abbott Leaves (The New Yorker)

Texas State Democrat mocked for calling himself ‘fugitive’ after fleeing state to block voting bills

De Blasio wants Manhattan congestion fee ‘as fast as humanly possible’

NAACP Offers Bail for Texas Democrats Who Left State

‘HOW DO YOU FIGHT THIS?’ MSNBC Panics Over a Possible Midterm Red Wave

CensorTrack EXPOSES Big Tech, Amasses 2,500 Cases of Online Censorship

FLASHBACK: Media Enabled Castro’s Brutal Communist Regime

Twitter sees jump in govt demands to remove content of journalists

Largest Peaceful Protest In Cuba In 6 Decades, Why Is AOC Hiding?

Twitter Says Government Demands To Remove Tweets From Journalists, News Outlets Jump 26%

Brave Texas Toddlers Flee State On Jet When Told To Eat Their Vegetables  Babylon Bee.

After Mocking Rising Crime, Cuomo, Lemon Worry Voters Now Blaming Democrats

Many Hong Kong Citizens Fleeing Amid China’s Crackdown

Governor Abbott Bribes Charter Plane Pilot To Take Texas Democrats Back To California Babylon Bee.

Facebook Knifes Its Own Analytics Tool to Hide Its Ben Shapiro Problem

Pa. County Won’t Offer Up Voting Machines to Election Audit

Georgia County Ballot Images Prompt Speculation Of “Provable Fraud”

Read it.

The attacks on meritocracy in higher education come from multiple directions. Universities throughout the country are discontinuing the use of school entrance exams like the SAT because they are “racist.” The National Educational Association, the largest teachers union in the country, even peddles this argument.

One Harvard University professor has written an entire book explaining how meritocracy is a myth that needs to be reconsidered. Other college professors go so far as to call meritocracy an example of white supremacy. For someone consuming the predominant narrative, it seems that merit is a stumbling block for creating an optimal system of higher education.

Gavin Newsom loses bid to list himself as Democrat on recall ballot

Twitter U-turns after conferring society’s highest honor – a blue check mark – on very obvious bot accounts

Abbott: Texas Dem Lawmakers Who Fled State Will Be Arrested Upon Return

MSNBC’s McCaskill Admits ‘Painful’ Truth: Fleeing TX Dems Akin to GOP Filibuster

Democrat Groups Plan To “Fact Check” Private Text Messages

NBC Applauds Texas Dems Subverting Democracy With Shameless Stunt

Democrat Governors Afraid Cuban Desire For Freedom Could Spread To The U.S.  Babylon Bee.

YouTube Censors Video of School Board Meeting on Mask Mandates

Other States Look To Texas For Advice On How To Get Democrats To Leave  Babylon Bee.

“It Needs To Be Hard For People To Remain Unvaccinated”: Making The Case For COVID Challenges

House’s Democratic Socialists Notably Silent on Cuba Protests

California Reconsiders Math ‘Social Justice’ Curriculum Overhaul Following Opposition

Cuban Police Arrest Regime Critic During Live Interview

Rapper Shot 64 Times as He Leaves Chicago Jail  Yet more Republican lawlessness

33% of Adult Male African Americans Have Felony Convictions,

Read it.

Apple might leave the UK market if it is forced to pay too much money to a patent troll, after losing a case last month, says the company’s lawyer. The case relates to a claim by Optis Wireless, which initially won a $506M award against Apple in the US, before the judgment was overturned on appeal.

Optis – which bought some standards-essential LTE patents in order to make claims like this – then won a separate case against Apple in the UK, this time claiming billions rather than millions …

A poster child for the potential damage that can be done under the current ‘intellectual property’ government-enforced monopoly

Moves to silence critical race theory have only amplified its virtues (The Hill)

Globe & Mail: Black Men Are More Psychotic, Whites Therefore Must be at Fault

MSNBC Doctor’s Conspiracy Theory: White Racist Pols Use Anti-Vaxxers to Endanger Blacks

Grief Counselors in Short Supply With Gun Violence Rising

Death at Chuck E. Cheese

Ibram X. Kendi’s Parents Worked to Give Him a Good Life. He Called Them Racists.

Shoplifting surge across the U.S.

Capitol Police to use Army surveillance system on Americans to ‘identify emerging threat’

There’s a New Review of Potential SARS-CoV-2 Origins. Here’s What Experts Think

Why so many geographic sites in the US still have racist names (CNN)

White House reporter: Democrats expect journalists ‘to be on their side,’ have ‘much thinner skin’

Guardian: Mass Immigration is Easing the Transition to a Climate Friendly Low Birthrate Future

Dems Now Woke to Being Alarmed About Crime

“Utterly Unacceptable”: Judge Blasts DC Jail For Not Allowing Jan. 6 Capitol Defendant Access To Evidence

Teachers Union Boss Weingarten: ‘We Will Teach Good and Bad’  Mostly bad, if you’re white.

How Long Will We Tolerate Teachers’ Unions Abusing Their Power?

NY Times Loves Commie Revival of Mao in China: ‘Violence Against Capitalists’

Joy Reid and Guests Proclaim: ‘We Will Never Have a Fair Election Again’  What does she know that you don’t?

Mom Says School Board Threatened to Sue Her for Seeking Public Information on Critical Race Theory in Curriculum

Tennessee Law Forcing Trans Restroom Warnings Blocked by Judge

Running for the School Board? You’re QAnon!

Illinois 1st State to Require Asian-American History in Schools

In Many Cities In America, The Criminals Are Starting To Gain Firm Control Of The Streets  A good reason not to live in a city, most of whom are run by Democrats.

Texas State Dems Consider Leaving State to Block Voting Reform

MSNBC Deceptively Edits McConnell In Attempt to Portray Biden Agenda as Popular

Former New York Times Editor: “I’m A Biased Journalist And I’m Okay With That”

Arizona Senate Conducting New Count Of Maricopa County Ballots

If You Ever Doubted Movie Critics Were Overwhelmingly Liberal …

Growing Number of Dems Fear Party Has Become Too Woke  ODF.

25K Applicants In First Week After Indiana Offers Free Gun Carry Licenses

Read it.

Dua Lipa is being sued after allegedly putting a paparazzi photo of herself on Instagram.

According to US court documents, the star was snapped queuing at an airport in February 2019 and later shared the shot with her fans “without permission or authorisation”.

Integral Images says Lipa profited from the photo, as her Instagram feed acts as a marketing tool for her music.

It is seeking $150,000 (£108,000) damages and has asked for a jury trial.

This demonstrates the Kafkaesque quality of current ‘intellectual property’ laws. Somebody takes a picture of YOU in a public place WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION and then sues YOU for using the photo.

Read it.

Hundreds of migrants rescued in the central Mediterranean disembarked on Friday in the southern Italian town of Augusta, in Sicily, after Rome-based maritime authorities agreed to give their ship a port.

The Ocean Viking vessel, operated by SOS Mediterranee, carried 572 people, including around 180 minors, after picking them up in six separate operations in Maltese and Libyan search and rescue areas, the European NGO said.

The way this ‘rescue’ scam works is as follows: Migrants set out from North Africa in some wretched excuse for a boat (often having notified one of these ‘charity’ NGOs beforehnd). As soon as they are outside of the original country’s territorial waters, an NGO ‘charity boat’ swoop in and ‘rescues’ them, then takes them the rest of the way to whichever EU country is the easiest target that day. Once they land as ‘refugees’, they get all sorts of assistance and benefits, eventually disappearing into mainland Europe where they can huddle together in ethnic ghettos and cause problems for local police and citizenry.

Many Mediterranean coastal municipalities are getting wise to this racket and refusing to let them land, triggering massive hand-wringing on the part of the Usual Suspects.

Read it.

Apparently the assassination wasn’t in favor of any particular successor, they just wanted to get rid of the current guy.

He must have really pissed somebody off.

I think, as a working hypothesis, that if a politician is worth assassinating, he has too much power.  Nobody would bother assassinating Creepy Joe, for example, because nothing would change.

Read it.

Daniel Horowitz points to an analysis by the Chicago Sun-Times showing that judges are signing off on the release of gang leaders and other notorious criminals. They are doing so pursuant to the First Step Act, the bipartisan, pro-criminal sentencing act that Donald Trump supported and signed into law.

Local prosecutors reportedly are at wits’ end over this development, as they should be. Chicago has been plagued by a surge in violent crime. Over the July 4 weekend, 22 people were killed and 90 wounded in the city. A 20-year-old college student was killed by a stray bullet that smashed through a window while he was sitting on a train.

How can violent criminals obtain release under the First Step which, its advocates assured us, would apply to drug felons, not violent ones? The answer stems to a large extent from the fact that drug charges are the tip of the iceberg for many violent felons.

Read it.

If you don’t like the explosion of violent crime, you’re a racist.

That’s the message sent by a top aide to the San Francisco district attorney to a self-described “Democrat” who had said on Twitter that the jump in crime had made people afraid for their lives and dubious about the city’s future.

The Democrat tweeted that “every single one of my friends right now is considering leaving” San Francisco because of the big increase in crime, adding: “My friends are scared for their children, and their husbands are scared for their wives.”

9 Countries Rejected Global Minimum Tax, Possibly Killing Deal

New Zealand Prof Kicked Off Twitter After Mocking Chinese Leader

In one-party states like California, recalls are the only way to keep pols accountable  Jonah Goldberg.

ABC, CBS Skip July 4 Weekend Shootings, NBC Downplays NYC’s Shooter Releases

UK Government Launches Multi-Front Attack On Freedom Of Expression Under Guise Of National Security

EU Parliament approves mass surveillance of private communications

Reports: 3 Enforcement Officers Shot and Wounded Outside Chicago Police Station

WORST Censorship in June: 5 Ways Big Tech Silenced the American People

Trump Sues Jack Dorsey, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai Over Social Media Censorship Of Conservatives

Sports Were Completely Saturated With LGBT Propaganda During June Pride Month

‘Decolonize your bookshelf’: Leaked documents show defense contractor Raytheon uses critical race theory

Thousands of teachers pledge to break anti-critical race theory laws  Don’t send your kid to a government school.

Amid critical race theory controversy, teachers union chief vows legal action to defend teaching of ‘honest history’  Unions are by their nature anti-American.

It’s Tough to Prove You’re a ‘True Conservative’ in the Trump Era (New York Magazine) Proglodytes like Ed Kilgore just love to lay down the law as to what constitutes a ‘true conservative’.

CBS Hides 1619 Project’s Distortions, Suggests Only Republicans Oppose It

Illinois’ Education Spending Soars While Outcomes Flatlined, New Census Data Shows

Read it.

You’ve got sliding blades, switchblades, even complicated blades triggered by linkages, but what Koss Workshop’s latest creation does is quite unique. The knife, literally titled ‘Weird Folding Knife’, sports a split handle design and a couple of linkages that allow the blade to slide in and out. The blade comes with a slot too, that keeps it aligned as you open and close the knife… and it’s entirely made from scratch using scrap metal and a fully-equipped metal workshop.

Severian reviews the ascendency of the face diaper.

In the previous installments in the series, I suggested that the purpose of PoMo propaganda isn’t, pace Dr. Dalrymple, to humiliate people by forcing them to repeat obvious lies. Rather, the purpose of PoMo propaganda is narrative reinforcement.

In part, I think the difference in our viewpoints is simply one of time. The Soviets weren’t history’s first attempt at a totally ideologized society — that would be Revolutionary France — but as students of the French Revolution, the Bolsheviks concluded that Robespierre and the gang hadn’t done enough to get the masses onside. Thus the Soviets seemed to assume that they needed to propagandize everyone. The Nazis followed a similar trajectory, because they, like the Soviets, were ideologically committed to the idea that the laboring masses were the backbone of their movements.

The Third Reich didn’t last long enough to figure it out, but in their 70-odd years the Soviets learned that “the masses” can be more or less ignored. They’re no threat to the regime. Your average Soviet “citizen” — Ivan Sixpack — would follow pretty much any rule, so long as he had a steady and predictable life course. That’s no slander on Ivan; it’s just the way people are. If you want proof, go look around — if I’d told you, back in the summer of 2019, about all the masks and the social distancing and the lockdowns and everything else, you’d have laughed at me. “There will be blood in the streets! No one will stand for it!”

Read it.

Video footage showed that at least nine vandals smashed display cases, took handbags and left the building before police arrived. They were seen entering a possible getaway car with their hands full of looted merchandise.

The San Francisco Police Department has not arrested anyone yet; however, according to the Washington Examiner, law enforcement is ”analyzing videos and speaking with witnesses” to identify the culprits.

Time to leave.

ABC’s Martha Raddatz and Her Panelists Thump the DNC Tub on ‘Voting Rights’

US Women Soccer Players Protest 98-Year-Old WWII Vet’s Harmonica Anthem

How Corey Johnson and Bill de Blasio spent your money like drunken sailors on their way out

San Francisco Neiman Marcus hit by shoplifters who fled with merchandise

Twitter has lost liability protection in India, government says

150 people fatally shot in more than 400 shootings over the 4th of July weekend

Twitter Restricts Tweets of Academic Who Mocked China Leader

Love Thy Neighbor… Or Go Burn Down a Retail Store. Your choice.

George Soros’ Open Society Foundations Pledge $100M to Spread Radical Feminist Ideas

Watch: Looters Ransack San Francisco Neiman Marcus In Broad Daylight

Happy July 4th! New Captain America Comic Says American Dream ‘Never Really Existed’

Antifa Attacked Protesters Outside Wi Spa in Los Angeles

Read it.

Max Lewis, 20, was commuting home from his summer internship Thursday when a bullet passed into his train and struck his neck. First responders transported Lewis, who was in critical condition, to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he passed away Sunday. Police say the student was not the shooter’s intended target, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Authorities have not provided a description of the suspect.

Thursday’s shooting follows the killing of 31-year-old Anat Kimchi, a Jewish University of Maryland doctoral student who was stabbed by a homeless person while visiting the city in June. Kimchi’s assailant, who has been charged with first-degree murder, allegedly attacked two other women over a nine-day span last month.

Both killings come amid a surge in violent crime in Chicago.

NASA Satellites Find Upper Atmosphere Cooling and Contracting Due to Climate Change

Sixty years of climate change warnings

NY Times Claims First US Flag Divides People  The ‘first flag’ was modeled after the flag of the Honorable East India Company, thus establishing the American connection to free trade.

Target To Close Stores Early In San Francisco Due To Chronic Shoplifting

The “Deprogramming” Begins: Public Defender Representing January 6th Defendants “Re-Educates” Them

Michigan’s Gov. Whitmer Trails In New Poll  Gee, I wonder why.

Target, Walgreens make drastic changes due to increase in San Francisco thefts

Apple defeats attempt by TikTok and others to bypass App Tracking Transparency in China

Corporate Climate Claims in Australia Now Subject to Hard Regulatory Review

Leftists Blame Capitalism, Global Warming For Mexican State-Owned Oil Company’s Gulf Fire  State-owned oil production in Mexico has exactly zero to do with ‘capitalism’.

At Least 118 Shot in Chicago, NY Over July 4 Weekend

Calls to Defund NPR Over Its Talk of ‘Flawed’ Declaration of Independence

China State Media on July 4: America ‘Selfish,’ ‘Racist’  Although not as selfish and racist as the Chinese. You can look it up.

Biden’s illegal immigration mess

Top Biden Allies Worked for Group With Close Ties to Chinese Communist Party

Biden Tells Americans Getting Vaccinated Is “The Most Patriotic Thing You Can Do”  Democrats have very limited imaginations.

Treasury Announces Minting Of New Biden Coin Worth Sixteen Cents  Babylon Bee.
Ya save sixteen cents, whaddaya get?
A lot more government, and deeper in debt….

Read it.

Liberals get very testy when you suggest they lack patriotism, or worse, that they are ashamed of or actually hate the country deep down inside. But even the New York Times can’t conceal this any longer.

Read it.

Pope Francis plans to restrict priests from celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass, according to the Italian website MessainLatino.

In a story about French priests facing expulsion from an archdiocese due to their refusal to concelebrate Mass, National Catholic Register’s Edward Pentin reported Pope Francis aimed to limit the celebration of Mass in the Extraordinary Form, aka the Traditional Latin Mass.

The problem with having one guy at the top making all the decisions is that when he stumbles, everybody falls.

The Vatican ought to read a little history, such as that of the Old Believers in Russia.

Read it.

At a Los Angeles spa, a “trans woman” used the women’s locker room and waved his unit around in front of a group that included small girls. The women were understandably unhappy.

70% of San Francisco residents say quality of life has declined: poll  That’s what happens when Democrats run your state.

Former Police Officer Recounts Witnessing “Industrialized” Organ Harvesting In China

Bezos, Gates back fake meat and dairy made from fungus as next big alt-protein (CNBC) I doubt seriously that either of them eat any of that crap.

Squatters terrorizing NYC neighborhood flee after being outed by The Post

The battle for Mount Rushmore: ‘It should be turned into something like the Holocaust Museum’ (The Guardian)

Spain’s Proposed ‘National Security Law’ Would Allow Seizure Of Citizens’ Property During Health “Crisis”

NY Times Mocks Claims of ‘Mostly Peaceful’ Jan. 6, But Floyd Protests ‘Overwhelmingly Peaceful’

Facebook Censors #Revolution Hashtag

‘Harmful Extremist Content’? Why Does Facebook Want You to Be ‘Concerned’?

LA Violence Erupts Between SoCal Antifa, Protesters of Trans-Friendly Spa

Cities ranked by surveillance cameras per kilometer:

1. Seoul

2. Paris

3. Boston (Democrat-run)

4. NYC (Democrat-run)

5. Baltimore (Democrat-run)

6. San Francisco (Democrat-run)

7. Tokyo

8. London

9. Chicago (Democrat-run)

10. Philadelphia (Democrat-run)

11. Bangkok

12. Washington, D.C. (Democrat-run)

13. Milwaukee (Democrat-run)

14. Singapore

15. Seattle (Democrat-run)

16. Los Angeles (Democrat-run)

See whether you can spot the trend.

Megan McArdle.

So this isn’t just an essay about pie. It is a polemic. I want to convince you that American pie is special, because it is. American pie is great, in part, because of its rich, unlikely history. But American pie is also in dire straits, because American cooks have mostly forgotten how to make the most important part.

Which means that we are at risk of losing not just a dessert, but a little piece of who we are as a country.

She’s right. Nobody makes good pie any more.

Read it.

For the past three years, engineers at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science have been developing a type of material they’ve dubbed “metallic wood.” Their material gets its useful properties and name from a key structural feature of its natural counterpart: porosity. As a lattice of nanoscale nickel struts, metallic wood is full of regularly spaced cell-sized pores that radically decrease its density without sacrificing the material’s strength.

The precise spacing of these gaps not only gives metallic wood the strength of titanium at a fraction of the weight, but unique optical properties. Because the spaces between gaps are the same size as the wavelengths of visible light, the light reflecting off of metallic wood interferes to enhance specific colors. The enhanced color changes are based on the angle that light reflects off of the surface, giving it a dazzling appearance and the potential to be used as a sensor.

Read it.

This is just so entertaining that I had to mention it.

Schnorring is a Yiddish word for very aggressive begging. Both parties do it. But, at least for now, I am registered as a member of the Republican Party, so that is what I will be discussing. During election “season,” I get probably 100 daily texts, calls, and emails from the Party. Even during the merciful two or three weeks before the start of the NEXT campaign, I get somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 emails and 10 texts A DAY.

Some obscenely overpaid consultant has obviously conducted a seminar hitting every major psy-ops persuasion technique known to man in the eternal quest to separate me from my hard-earned money. And believe me, I am very small potatoes, barely a Tater Tot. I can only imagine the pleas and bribes for the major donors. “I think I can get you an ambassadorship to Uganda. I know you wanted to be the US Ambassador to the United Nations, because the restaurants in New York are so much better than the one in Uganda, but I’m afraid the Democrats have promised that to legendary billionaire Conservative Biden supporter, Cindy McCain.”

There are so many opportunities in life to be importuned by people wanting to spend your money that sometimes it seems a shame that they don’t have monasteries around any more. This is why my wife and I have a NO SOLICITING sign on the door, and why we regularly have to report two or three people a year for blowing past it. (They invariably start their spiel with ‘I’m not soliciting, but….’)

Since I regularly vote in the Democrat primaries (in my part of Texas the Republican primaries are pretty self-managing) in order to cause as much trouble as I can, the stuff I get is pretty much SJW bullcrap. Yeah, it gives me a chance to insult people who richly deserve it, but some days it gets wearing – I went to college with these people, I don’t want to be reminded that they actually exist in real life.

Read it.

After a year of violence and unrest, large American cities serve as a cautionary tale for the progressives in Washington who want to move the country further to the left. The Democrats’ airtight lock on the urban vote has allowed political leaders to pursue ideological agendas without fear of reprisal, which has revealed just how much the elite left – comprised mostly of affluent, liberal whites who dominate media narratives – is out of step with the concerns of rank-and-file urban residents.

(Hint: No.)

Victor Davis Hanson.

The military is not yet a revolutionary people’s army overseen by commissars. But it is getting there.

History Canceled? House Passes Bill to Remove Confederate Statues From Capitol

ABC Gawks at Police Overwhelmed By Killings, Ignore Dems Defunding

Nickelodeon Promotes Transgender Programming to Kids

Chinese censorship found at Australian universities – rights group

NYC mayoral primary race thrown into chaos as BOE appears to botch vote count

Rep. Ilhan Omar Doubles Down Comparing US, Israel to ‘Terrorists’

San Francisco Homeless Camp Costs $60,000 Per Tent, Per Year

Shocker: Bill Gates Thinks Caring About Diversity Has Nothing to Do with the Success of Microsoft

Dems Turn Major China Bill Into Green Slush Fund

Nation’s Largest Teachers’ Union Will Debate Resolution Accusing Israel of ‘Ethnic Cleansing’

HK media erase their archives amid rising arrests

NYC Election Board re-counting votes after 130k are discovered from a test run

Concerns Raised About Election Integrity After Biden Wins 80 Million Votes For NYC Mayor  Babylon Bee.

Nets BLASTED Georgia’s Elections Law, But Bury New York Debacle

NFL Introduces Rainbow Flag For Refs To Throw When Players Aren’t Being Gay Enough  Babylon Bee.

CNN Pundit Admits NYC Elections Board ‘Corrupt,’ But It’s a ‘Uniquely’ NYC Problem

NY Assembly to Begin Issuing Subpoenas in Cuomo Impeachment Investigation

In Hong Kong, Pro-Democracy Newspaper Closes and Editor Is Arrested

University Bans The Phrase “Trigger Warning” Because It Might Be… Triggering

Partygoers leave NYC park littered in trash after chaotic Pride event

CBS, NBC Skip Marine Shot in NYC, ABC Downplays Bloody Weekend

FISA Lie Brings Just One-Year Bar Suspension for FBI Lawyer

NBA, Nike, Apple, Google Silent on China’s Crackdown on Journalists in Hong Kong

Olympics To Kick Off With Ceremonial Lighting Of The American Flag  Babylon Bee.

UK celebs call for tax on iPhones & Macs to help fund creative arts  ‘Artists’ never lack schemes for how other people ought to fund the artists’ hobbies.

Panic at the New York Times: Leftists Are Losing Black and Brown Voters!

White House Defends Olympians “Protesting” Anthem As GOP Leaders Urge Ban On “Activist Athletes”  If the U.S. is paying for you to go to the Olympics, you don’t get to disrespect the flag.

Green New Deal Insurrectionists Blockade the White House, Demand Money

Woke Non-Binary MSNBC Guest Calls Track and Field Too ‘Gendered’

Mental Health Professionals Have Begun Suing Stanford

8th Grade Teacher Distributes Flyer Saying No Consent Needed for Abortion, Birth Control

Supreme Court Says Students Who Identify As Teachers Must Be Allowed To Use Teacher’s Lounge  Babylon Bee.

Ohio Democrats Bang on Desks to Disrupt Vote on Amendment to Protect Women’s Sports From Men

The Left’s War on Gifted Kids

Andy Ngo Is Latest Conservative Voice Canceled by Big Tech

Steve Sailer.

While this may sound like a new low in public disorder in the northern Bay Area, robbing news crews while they are on the air has been a Thing for at least a decade.

Since news crews are almost always white and robbers are almost always  black, this ought to surprise nobody.

Rapinoe No Victim: US Women’s Soccer Team Earned More Than Men’s Team

China’s Secrecy Affects US

Just Do It For China! Nike Declares Its Brand ‘Of And For China’

Hong Kong Police Arrest Former Apple Daily Journalist at Airport

Chicago Data Appears to Contradict Lightfoot’s Claim of Decline in Crime  BRAAAAAAAINS!

Oakland ‘Defunds’ $17 Million From Police Budget  Prediction: Crime will increase. Preduction: That increase will be predominantly black people. Prediction: Politicians will blame lack of gun control laws.

Facebook Soars Past $1 Trillion Market Cap After District Judge Dismisses FTC’s Anti-Trust Case

Experts SLAM Facebook for Allowing China’s Uyghur Genocide Propaganda

JUSTICE: Facebook Can Be Held Liable for Human Trafficking Cases, Court Rules

Over 500 Election Fraud Cases Are Pending In Texas Courts: Attorney General

CUNY Professor Resigns From Teachers’ Union That Condemned Israel