Read it.

The robots are coming, oh no, oh no….

Read it.

You can lead a Dem to data but you can’t make him think.

Read it.

Spokesman for the Saudi coalition fighting in Yemen, Col. Turki al-Maliki, announced Monday that “Houthis attempted to attack a commercial ship south of the Red Sea using a booby-trapped boat with explosives,” according to a statement from the Saudi Press Agency.

Read it.

Last week, Joe Biden joined the bandwagon of Democrats (started by Elizabeth Warren this year) promising to name a public-school teacher to be Secretary of Education if he wins the presidency. It’s an easy commitment to make in front of a teachers’ union audience, and it wouldn’t be all that odd to do it—several past presidents of both parties have named former public-school teachers to the job.

But the promise is another example of a thoroughly bipartisan misconception about the work of the federal education department. Even if they haven’t been former teachers, nearly every education secretary since the Department of Education was created in the Carter years has been someone with expertise or experience in K-12 education—whether as an educator, administrator, reformer, or policymaker. But the Department of Education actually has a lot more say over higher education than primary or secondary schooling, and its work has suffered from the lack of focus on higher ed over the years. If we must have a Department of Education, it could at least be run by someone who knows something about higher education.

Damned straight.

Read it.

Yes, in an Alternating Current system there is no “plus” and “minus,” so in theory the two wires should be interchangable. However, the real world is a bit more complex than the theory. Other issues crop up and cause trouble.

ZMan does some deconstruction.

As America becomes majority-minority that old formula can no longer work. In the current Democrat party, blacks make up a majority of primary votes in some states. It’s not enough for candidates to promise them free stuff. More important, the loyalty of those tribes to the whole is transactional. Their first loyalty is to their tribe and their loyalty to the cause of the party is conditional. That means identity politics within the party is an endless negotiation to redress of past grievances.

Jim Goad is not impressed.

It takes an extreme level of ethical retardation to walk up to someone who is not threatening you, punch them in the face, and claim it’s in self-defense. But that’s exactly how the masked pussies of Antifa depict their street violence.

Audacious Epigone questions some assertions.

While I’m certainly no expert on white nationalism, I was aware of It’s okay to be white, NPCs, and clown world. These all made inroads into mainstream culture. I can’t recall ever seeing the Betsy Ross flag used in any such context, though.

Is the assertion nothing more than a blatant lie employed for the purposes of suppressing criticism of a radical request made by Kaepernick and granted by Nike?

Or, rather than reactive damage control, is this a test run for an aggressive escalation in the culture war unlike anything that has come before?

Climate Extremists Plan to Attack Airport with Small Drones

Melting permafrost in Arctic will have $70tn climate impact – study

Ancient life awakens amid thawing ice caps and permafrost  Can Godzilla be far behind?

WashPost Columnist Can’t Mourn MAD Magazine Without Trashing Trump

‘Science’? NBC Still Hyping Slanted Studies That ‘Russian Propaganda’ Helped Trump Win

There is no ‘right’ v ‘left’: it is Trump and the oligarchs against the rest  Robert Reich, another Ghost of Clinton Past.

British Ambassador Describes Trump Administration As ‘Clumsy And Inept’ In Leaked Documents  And yet it keeps winning. What a puzzle.

CNN’s Bernstein: Trump Is on the Verge of Igniting a ‘Civil War’ in America

MSNBC Panel Compares Trump to Archie Bunker and ‘Racist Uncle Jerry’

Read it.

That would be useful.

Global greening is happening faster than climate change, and it’s a good thing

Antarctic sea ice is declining dramatically  Women and minorities hardest hit etc.

RIP Climate Skeptic Christopher Booker

Wine comes to islands of Brittany with the help of climate change as heatwave boosts chances of vintage year in France

Call for green burial corridors alongside roads, railways and country footpaths  Sounds stupid to me.

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes Wails About ‘Mad King’ Trump’s July 4th

MSNBC Wrongly Suggests Trump Tried to Jail All Asylum Seekers

Joy Reid: Trump Treating Migrants with ‘Cruelty’ Because ‘Base Wants to See This’  Actually the base wants to see somebody bitch-slap Joy Reid, but I don’t suppose that’s going to happen.

The Media’s Fake News Reporting on the Fourth of July, Presidents, and Tanks

Read it.

Anyone who has spent even a short period of time in California’s cities will immediately notice the homelessness crisis that has grown to stunning proportions in recent years. The “explanation” that’s often thrown around is that people who become homeless travel to the Golden State, where, presumably, the mild weather blunts some of the difficulties of living without a roof over one’s head. But this, like most justifications for inhumane problems, is just that: a justification to make Californians feel slightly less terrible every time they come across a person in need on the streets of some of the wealthiest, most progressive cities in the world.

Check it out.

A handy thing to have in the back yard.

Read it.

A Tempe, Arizona Starbucks ejected six police officers on the Fourth of July because a customer complained that they “did not feel safe” in their presence, according to Fox 10 Phoenix.

In such a case as that, I would go over to the ashhole’s table, take out my gun, and put it on the table.  ‘Now – you’re the safest person in this city, because I’m here to protect you.’

I would also find drugs in that barista’s car.

Read it.

Thank God for the First Amendment.

It’s not the same in the city of Chemnitz, in eastern Germany. There the police can tell you whether or not you can serve pork. The rule seems to be this: Pork is allowed to be cooked if no one can easily tell if what you are cooking is in fact pork. That means no head, tail, trotters, or clearly visible pig shape. And the police will come and check to make sure your pork barbecue abides by those rules.

Chemnitz lies in the former East Germany.

Read it.

A charity rescue vessel on Saturday brought 41 shipwrecked migrants into port in Lampedusa, the second boat to defy far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini’s bid to close Italian ports to them.

Mediterranea’s Italian-flagged Alex was met by a strong police presence on the quayside but people were not allowed to disembark after spending two days with the rescued migrants and asylum-seekers on the sailboat.

Read it.

The zero-sum bias is a cognitive bias that causes people to mistakenly view certain situations as being zero-sum, meaning that they incorrectly believe that one party’s gains are directly balanced by other parties’ losses. For example, the zero-sum bias can cause people to think that there is competition for a resource that they feel is limited, in situations where the resource in question is actually unlimited and freely available.

This is behind all of the hair-on-fire bloviation about ‘wealth inequality’. The unconscious substrate of this worry is the conviction that if person X has more, then person Y (or many persons Y) therefore have less.

if you give person X $10 and person Y $2, there are dimwits who will argue that person Y is somehow worse off, even when it is objectively obvious that person Y is actually better off.

Many of these dimwits work for the news media.

Read it.

You see, lenses are made from spherical surfaces. The problem arises when light rays outside the center of the lens or hitting at an angle can’t be focused at the desired distance in a point because of differences in refraction.

Which makes the center of the image sharper than the corners. Which leads to countless YouTube reviews on lenses. And countless hours of watch time. And makes advertisers and YouTubers happy.

Read it.

Decentralised blockchain technology will not just destroy industries and reinvent others; it will destroy and reinvent political systems and the mere idea of a political system. In this post I will argue that, not only will this happen inevitably, but when it happens, it will not be messianic, but a worldwide catastrophe.

Whom would you rather have in charge of the country? Politicians? Or rich people?

Freeberg has a bone to pick.

All of this is leading up to a salient point though, more important than all the rest of that. The mind behind the debacle. He’s been taking to Twitter to defend his work, and although he’s a humble dedicated creative type who takes the criticism in stride and is busying himself with seeing how he can channel it to make his future efforts better…

No. No he isn’t. To my knowledge, he hasn’t been doing that at all. You M-U-S-T like his work, dammit! If you don’t, then YOU are the problem.

It isn’t just Rian Johnson who has been doing this. It’s the default behavior now among filmmakers. “Here is how I re-imagined it, and if you don’t like it then go screw yourself.” Female-led action movies, as Matt Walsh has noted, are ensconced in this special exalted status in which you are required to like them. Even if a contrary leitmotif has emerged that you shouldn’t be allowed, due to your gender and your race, to watch them.

Read it.

Sounds about right.

The Other McCain looks for Emmanuel Goldstein.

For decades, liberals have blamed the United States for everything wrong in Latin America. Now that we have an immigration crisis caused by bogus “refugees” making phony asylum claims, this “Blame the Gringo” game is being played with a vengeance. Left-wing journalist Alex Rubinstein noted on Twitter that “a US-backed coup 10yrs ago fueled the migrant crisis with skyrocketing poverty & repression by death squad.”

Read it.

And you, the American taxpayer, are paying his salary.

Check it out.

I’m in.

Read it.

Heh.

THE COST TO SOCIETY OF RADICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM

The Carbon Tax Scam

The most effective way to tackle climate change? Plant 1T trees  Well, then, we’ll get right on it.

CNN: Climate Change (fly) on Collision Course with US LNG Exports (windshield)

Adding 1B hectares of forest could help check global warming  Plus, you get a pony.

Here’s the Worst Parts of CNN’s Deranged Hatefest After Trump’s Fourth of July Speech

On Debating Trump, Biden Says He Would ‘Smack’ Bullies  My money is on Trump.

US billionaire and Trump donor Chris Cline killed in Bahamas helicopter crash  They had to mention ‘Trump donor’ to make sure you knew he was evil.

Media Predictions Of “Tiny Crowd” For Trump July 4 Speech Proven Spectacularly Wrong

DC Barbecue Joint Kicks Out Patron For Harassing Customer In MAGA Hat

Joyless Celebrities Spend Holiday Whining About Trump’s ‘Fascist’ 4th of July

U.S. Soccer Player Krieger “Absolutely Refuses” to Respect Trump  Fortunately, nobody gives a shit about soccer.

Read it.

The number of undocumented African migrants Mexican officials registered tripled in the first four months of 2019, reaching 1,900 people, compared to the same time in 2018, Reuters reported Friday.

How are they getting to Mexico? It’s not as if they could swim. I suspect that there are radical NGOs out there just hauling migrants from wherever they can find them, attempting to overwhelm our border control facilites.

Read it.

A Muslim obstetrician in Sri Lanka has been accused of sterilizing thousands of Buddhist women when he had them on the operating table to perform Caesarian sections. He has now been stopped from practicing, but it is not clear if he is being prosecuted.

Read it.

Sand and gravel are being extracted faster than they can be replaced. Monitor and manage this resource globally, urge Mette Bendixen and colleagues.

Women and minorities hardest hit, etc.

The latest hair-on-fire crisis that needs to be ‘monitored and managed globally’, i.e. more trans-national government.

Two words: Sahara Desert.

You’re welcome

UPDATE: Melting Greenland Is Awash in Sand

Read it.

Manufacturers such as Westinghouse Electric Company and Framatome are hastening development of so-called accident-tolerant fuels that are less likely to overheat—and if they do, will produce very little or no hydrogen. In some of the variations, the zirconium cladding is coated to minimize reactions. In others, zirconium and even the uranium dioxide are replaced with different materials. The new configurations could be slipped into existing reactors with little modification, so they could be phased in during the 2020s. Thorough in-core testing, which has begun, would have to prove successful, and regulators would have to be satisfied. In a bonus, the new fuels could help plants run more efficiently, making nuclear power more cost-competitive—a significant motivation for manufacturers and electric utilities because natural gas, solar and wind energy are less expensive.

Read it.

Think of it as evolution in action.

Read it.

Stringent fuel economy regulations imposed on cars in the 1970s had made it practically impossible for automakers to keep selling big station wagons. Yet many Americans still wanted roomy vehicles.

The answer, Mr. Sperlich and Mr. Iacocca realized, was to make family vehicles that were regulated as light trucks, a category of vehicles that includes pickups. The government had placed far more lenient fuel economy rules on light trucks, as well as more lenient safety and air pollution standards.

Read it.

Many if not most professors and higher education leaders enjoy pontificating about their high-minded ideals in contrast with the grubby, self-interested world outside of academia. What few people have done is to turn the lens around and ask about the morals of those professors and leaders. Are they in fact paragons of virtue, or could it be that their own actions are suffused not with concern for students or society, but their own welfare?

Iraqi protesters storm Bahraini embassy after Jared Kushner summit

Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas: No Peace as Long as Israel Exists

Actor: ‘Super Scary’ to ‘Be Muslim Right Now,’ ‘Lives Quite Literally at Stake’

Close family of Khuram Butt insisted they had no idea he was capable of murder  The neckbeard was kind of a giveaway.

Thousands march in Sudan’s biggest pro-democracy rally since June 3 massacre 

Christians In Africa: “You Have Three Days To Go Or You Will Be Killed!”

Video Of Danish Middle-Schoolers Taught To Chant “Allahu Akbar” Sparks Controversy  Gee, I wonder why?

Are Prisons Actually Fueling Jihad?

“Libya Under Turkish Invasion”: Haftar Releases Hostages But Vows War On Turkish Planes, Vessels  Yet more Toyota pickup trucks with anti-aircraft guns mounted on the beds.

3 Nigerian Women Beg for US to Help Stop Persecution of Christians

Europe’s Missing Islamic State Fighters

Iraq tries to bring Iran-backed militias in country to heel as tensions escalate

Iran Preparing a Worldwide Terror Network  I thought that they already had one.

In Germany, Some Hate Speech Is “More Equal Than Others”

Libya airstrike ‘kills at least 40 migrants’ as detention centre in Tripoli hit

“Intentional Massacre”: US-Backed Libyan Warlord Blamed For Migrant Center Airstrike That Killed 44

Survivors of strike on Libyan migrant centre say they were made to work in weapons factory

China Muslims: Xinjiang schools used to separate children from families

Read it.

If there was one legal clue telegraphing Occidental Chemical’s recent investment by Warren Buffett before it happened, it was that an Occidental owned private jet had been spotted at the Omaha airport. That’s why, according to Bloomberg Businessweek, more hedge funds are now tracking private jets and flight data for information on potential coming merger and acquisition deals.

Life imitates the movies. (I really dislike the colloquialism ‘try and’ for ‘try to’.)

ABC, CBS: Trump ‘Muddying’ 4th of July With ‘Trump-Focused Campaign’ Rally

Matthews Fears Trump Supporters Will Bring Confederate Flags, Violence to National Mall  Like ‘Antifa’?

The Genius of Trump, the Madness of the Libs

Looking to Dems For a Savior to Rescue USA From ‘Cruel’ ‘Dictator’ Trump

Everything You Need To Know About Trump Military Parade Day, Also Known As July 4th  The NeverTrumpers have succeeded in making it all about Trump.

MSNBC, TV Networks Refuse to Carry Trump’s July 4 Celebration Live  Trump-hatred is sufficient to cancel Independence Day, apparently.

MSNBC’s Robinson Frets About Trump’s ‘Kim Jong-un Military Style Parade’

Boston Paper Pitifully Pun-Puffs Warren, But Trashes ‘Tinpot Trump’ for July 4 Tribute

A giant heat dome over Alaska is set to threaten all-time temperature records  Has anybody checked with Alaskans to find out whether that’s a good thing?

To keep temp at 1.5ºC: “No new fossil fuelled infrastructure, anywhere, ever”

Volkswagen boss criticizes Germany’s decision to privilege coal over nuclear

Read it.

Quite a surprise, coming from reliable Voice of the Crust WIRED.

Read it.

I’m a sucker for these ‘divvy the states up anew’ schemes.

Read it.

Except, of course, for those who refuse to subject themselves to the TSA by flying.

Read it.

I have worked with Indian co-workers and haven’t noticed this going on. But it is not inherently implausible.

Read it.

Last one: In 2002, the medical journal The Lancet published an article on the concerning potential for depleted uranium—the waste leftover after uranium-235 extraction—to end up on the battlefield. The concern is that its high density would make it an incredible projectile, capable of piercing even the most well-enforced battle tank. Worse yet, it could then contaminate the surrounding landscape and anyone it.

Except that it doesn’t, any more than other traditional munitions. The ‘depleted uranium’ is U-238, which the article has just informed us is not radioactive. This ‘contaminate the surrounding landscape’ is just eco-Nazi fear-mongering. Sure, if it’s ingested, it’s bad for you — but so is lead.

Depleted uranium makes an excellent anti-tank penetrator rod because (a) it’s damned heavy, (b) it’s damned hard, (c) when it abrades going through something, it does so in a way that sharpens, rather than blunts, the projectile, and (d) it is pyrophoric.  It’s about as effective a munition as you’re going to find.

The autocannons used by the Stryker fighting vehicle and the A-10 Warthog use depleted uranium ammunition, but the eco-Nazis have managed to get rid of uranium ammo for tanks and the Navy’s Phalanx CIWS.

Read it.

A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled against Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) in a case that could expose the online retailer to lawsuits from customers who buy defective products from third-party vendors through its website.

Numerous other courts, including two federal appeals courts, have held that Amazon cannot be held liable as a seller of products from third-party vendors. The new ruling from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, which reversed a lower court decision, appeared to be the first to buck that trend.

A conflict between Circuits is a classic precursor to Supreme Court review.