Read it.

“Honolulu native and American Army veteran with a gift to serve, he felt a duty to himself and his fellow citizens to be fully vaccinated,” reads a statement from his reps provided to People. “Although he was fully vaccinated, Ing was first diagnosed with pneumonia in mid-July then confirmed to have COVID-19 a few days later. After two weeks of battling COVID-19, Ing passed away due to cardiac arrest.”

Yeah, gonna run right out and get that vaccine.

ZMan peers behind the curtain.

Within this political structure, there is very little room for any dispute, much less disputes over consequential matters. Our political class, which includes the mass media, the commentariat and the donor class, is left to fight pitched battles over trivial issues, often invented for the purpose. In the case of the media, the selection pressure over the last thirty years has resulted in a collection of performers highly tuned to personalize trivial issues and express those emotions on the stage.

It is why the Trump years were a cacophony of hysterics. This is how everyone responds to everything. In the case of Trump, the entire dramatis personae just happened to be on one side. Note how none of the claims about his administration were rooted in policy. They never engaged in policy disputes with him. It was all highly personal and ridiculously petty.

Read it.

The new domestic “War on Terror,” kicked off by the riot on Jan. 6, has prompted several web giants to unveil predecessors to what effectively could become a soft social credit system by the end of this decade. Relying on an indirect hand from D.C., our social betters in corporate America will attempt to force the most profound changes our society has seen during the internet era.

China’s social credit system is a combination of government and business surveillance that gives citizens a “score” that can restrict the ability of individuals to take actions — such as purchasing plane tickets, acquiring property or taking loans — because of behaviors. Given the position of several major American companies, a similar system may be coming here sooner than you think.

Read it.

Two rockets launched from Lebanon on Wednesday struck Israel, which responded with several rounds of artillery fire amid heightened regional tensions over an alleged Iranian attack on an oil tanker in the Gulf last week.

Read it.

Missouri GOP Gov. Mike Parson said Tuesday he has granted pardons to Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis couple who drew international attention for brandishing guns at racial justice protesters last year.

In addition to the McCloskeys, who are personal injury lawyers, Parson also pardoned 10 other people Friday, a document from his office showed.

Mark McCloskey, 64, pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor fourth-degree assault June 17. His wife pleaded guilty to second-degree harassment, also a misdemeanor, online court records showed.

Read it.

The Panama-flagged Asphalt Princess was temporarily hijacked on Tuesday when it was roughly halfway between Iran and the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman, according to a Gulf government official. Armed men boarded the vessel and then left around midnight local time, the official said. Bloomberg was unable to contact the ship’s Dubai-based owner or operator to confirm the information.

Rad it.

You aren’t going to like it.

Trump Amends Big Tech Lawsuit As 65,000 Americans Submit Censorship Stories

American democracy’s infrastructure is crumbling (CNN)

Nets Hide Massive Group of Illegals Apprehended at Border, Over 1,000

Pelosi Asks Biden to Extend Eviction Moratorium in Violation of Supreme Court Ruling

NBC Hypes U.S.-Bashing Sprinter, Ignores Belarusian Sprinter Defection

DC Police Confirm 4th Suicide Among Officers Defending Capitol Jan. 6  Perhaps they can’t live with their shameful role in these political show trials.

It’s Not All Fun and Games At The Olympics

Mitchell Touts ‘Very Special’ Jane Mayer Hit Piece on Conservatives ‘Suppressing the Vote’

Illinois Gov. Pritzker to Enforce Background Checks for Private Gun Sales

Pelosi Says She Will Arrest Any Congressperson Caught With Copy Of The Constitution Babylon Bee.

Elizabeth Warren Tells Teen Vogue ‘Access to Abortion’ is ‘About the Functioning of Our Democracy’  Apparently democracy includes killing bablies. Aristotle would be surprised.

Head of Group for Exiled Belarusians Found Hanged in Ukraine

New York County Passes Bill To Allow Cops To Sue Rioters

Nearly 14,000 Scientists Warn That Earth’s ‘Vital Signs’ Are Rapidly Worsening

NIMBYism Puts The Kibosh On America’s Largest Solar Power Plant God forbid people should have some say in what goes on in their neighborhood.

The New Pause lengthens again

Comments On Federal Scientific Integrity

Hill Op-Ed Cites 9/11 Attacks to Insist NATO Invoke Art. 5 on Climate Change

Guardian: Covid-19 Lockdowns are Driving Up CO2 Emissions

Elder abuse at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Journalists Must Stop Covering the Biden Presidency Like It’s Normal

VIDEO: TV Media Desperately Conceal Biden’s Gaffes from Viewers

It’s Not Just Little Girls

Appeals Court Upholds Indiana University’s Vaccine Mandate

IMF Creates Record $650 Billion Slush Fund For Pandemic Relief

A Psychologist Explains Why the Pandemic Has Destroyed Your Memory (and What to Do About It)

Watch: White House COVID Response Coordinator Says It’s “Time To Impose Vaccine Requirements”

NYC to Require Restaurant Customers to Show Vaccination Proof

‘Experts’ Move The Goalposts, Declare Herd Immunity Threshold Now 90% Due To Delta  It used to be 70% – but That Was Then, This Is Now.

Experts Warn Of New ‘Cuomo’ Variant That Is Dangerous To Young Women, Fatal To Elderly  Babylon Bee.

Biden ‘Knowingly Importing COVID-19 At Extreme Rates’ As Unvaccinated Illegals Flood Into Country: TX Gov

The Dangerous Ideas of “Longtermism” and “Existential Risk”

Going To Public Places Should Be A “Privilege” Reserved For The Vaccinated, Elitist Profs Declare

Fired For Refusing COVID-19 Vaccine? You May Not Receive Unemployment Benefits

AI Can Detect Race from X-Rays Even When Humans Can’t,

MSNBC’s Sharpton Tells Left: ‘Rise Up’ Against ‘Racist Cowards’ Who Oppose CRT  If there actually were any white supremacists in America, Al Sharpton would have been put down long since.

Black Lives Matter Protesters to Receive $5K Each for Iowa Capitol Ban

‘Activist Athlete’ Who Protested National Anthem at Olympic Trials Finishes Second to Last in Tokyo  Financially, however, I suspect it will profit her more than winning a medal.

1st Black American Woman To Win Wrestling Gold Loves Being an American  How did that happen?

The most damning evidence against Trump (Washington Post)

‘A one-man scam Pac’: Trump’s money hustling tricks prompt fresh scrutiny (The Guardian)

Bad week in Trumpland signals hope for American democracy (The Hill)

We warned in March 2019 of a coup attempt if Trump lost the 2020 election. We were right. (USA Today)

The Trump campaign’s ‘Four Seasons’ landscaping fixation went deeper than you know (Politico)

Jihadists flood pro-Trump social network with propaganda (Politico)

Billie Eilish Faces Backlash For ‘Hi Israel’ Video  Apparently purple hair is not enough.

Read it.

When researching construction, you invariably discover that any new or innovative idea has actually been tried over and over again, often stretching back decades. One of these new-but-actually-old ideas is the idea of a mechanical bricklayer, a machine to automate the construction of masonry walls.

It’s easy to see the appeal of this idea – masonry construction seems almost perfectly suited for mechanization [0]. It’s extremely repetitive – constructing a masonry building requires setting tens or hundreds of thousands of bricks or blocks, each one (nearly) identical, each one set in the same way. It doesn’t seem like it would require physically complex movements – each brick gets a layer of mortar applied, and is simply laid in place next to the previous one. And because each brick and mortar joint is the same size, placement is almost deterministic – each brick is the same fixed distance from the previous one.

On top of this, masonry, especially block masonry, is one of the most physically punishing construction tasks, since it requires hours and hours of repetitively moving extremely heavy objects. All together masonry seems like the perfect candidate for a task to hand over to a machine, and it’s something people have been attempting for over 100 years.

Read it.

I’m pretty alert to such problems these days. Soap doesn’t work. Toilets don’t flush. Clothes washers don’t clean. Light bulbs don’t illuminate. Refrigerators break too soon. Paint discolors. Lawnmowers have to be hacked. It’s all caused by idiotic government regulations that are wrecking our lives one consumer product at a time, all in ways we hardly notice.

Dennis Prager.

In my last column, I published comments written by New York Times subscribers about how proud they were of their children for deciding not to have children of their own. Though they acknowledged how much they ached to be grandparents, they nevertheless reveled in the fact that this would never happen.

Why did these parents take so much pride in their children’s decision not to give them grandchildren?

Because of climate change.

You read that right. Better not to have grandchildren than to have grandchildren who will suffer and quite possibly die because of global warming.

I applaud this decision, and strongly encourage left-wingers not to reproduce.

Think of it as evolution in action.

Read it.

Israel said it had given allies “hard evidence” that Iran was behind last week’s deadly attack on a tanker in the Gulf of Oman, as the U.K. Navy on Tuesday reported another shipping “incident” in the same area of water without giving further details.

Tensions have escalated in the narrow shipping lanes of the Persian Gulf since Thursday’s drone attack on an Israeli-managed tanker. The U.S. has vowed an “appropriate response” along with its allies after two crew members — a Briton and a Romanian — were killed. Tehran has denied involvement.

“No one has any doubt who is behind the incident, but we supplied hard evidence for good measure,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said. Israel is seeking international support for a concerted response to the attack, but it “also knows how to act on its own,” he added.

Read it.

A powerful blast followed by sporadic gunfire hit Afghanistan’s capital Kabul on Tuesday near the city’s heavily fortified “Green Zone,” an area home to government buildings and foreign embassies, police officials said.

At least three people were killed and seven wounded, said Ghulam Dastagir Nazari, a health ministry spokesperson, adding that clashes were continuing.

A senior security official said the blast appeared to have been caused by a car bomb and the apparent target was the residence of a member of parliament.

Democracy is not a Muslim value.

Read it.

“The Iliad”, Western literature’s foundational text, kicks off with a meeting. The Greeks are nine years into the siege of Troy, a plague has ravaged their ranks and they gather to ponder the flagging campaign (good teamwork is conspicuously absent: Achilles, the Greek’s foremost warrior, comes close to killing the commander, King Agamemnon).

In detailing the twists and turns of this conference, and subsequent ones held by the Greeks, Trojans and gods of Mount Olympus, Homer nails meeting behaviour with a precision that management gurus today can only dream of. Where Homer blazes a trail, other literary greats follow: the Western canon is ripe with unharvested wisdom on how to make meetings more productive. Time to put yourself on mute, turn off your camera and get reading.

To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell;
Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.

Read it.

The Delta variant of the novel Coronavirus has delivered a tremendous opportunity for Democratic officeholders and public health authorities to feed their will to power. The Democratic officeholders have also seized the moment to replay the freestyle stupidity that carried us through the epidemic. Here are four columns that shed light on dark corners.

Read it.

No one likes to use bug spray. It smells bad, can cause respiratory troubles if you inhale it, and can damage your clothing. But getting mosquito bites can be even worse because the annoying insects also transmit diseases.

You probably know you’re better off covering up your skin, but mosquitoes can bite through lots of clothing. Now, there is another option. Researchers at North Carolina State University in Raleigh have created insecticide-free, mosquito-resistant clothing and tested it with actual bugs to confirm that it is bite-proof.

Read it.

President Joe Biden’s nominee for U.S. attorney for Massachusetts is facing opposition from the halls of Congress to the streets of Boston as her nomination moves to a vote.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) said he plans to block Rachael Rollins’s nomination in light of her refusal to prosecute crimes as district attorney for Suffolk County. Rollins has said she will not prosecute a number of crimes, including theft and drug dealing. The Washington Free Beacon has reported that Rollins worked closely with a criminal justice reform group that wants to defund police departments.

Read it.

So-called thermoelectric generators turn waste heat into electricity without producing greenhouse gas emissions, providing what seems like a free lunch. But despite helping power the Mars rovers, the high cost of these devices has prevented their widespread use. Now, researchers have found a way to make cheap thermoelectrics that work just as well as the pricey kind. The work could pave the way for a new generation of greener car engines, industrial furnaces, and other energy-generating devices.

Read it.

Nuclear energy is considered a crucial part of fighting climate change with experts such as Bill Gates being big supporters of the technology. But nuclear energy comes with issues such as meltdown accidents and toxic waste.

While some might argue those are small fees to pay for clean energy (when compared to fossil fuels’ toll on the environment and humans), others argue there is a better way to do nuclear energy and that is through the use of thorium. For starters, thorium is three times more abundant in nature than currently used uranium.

But that’s not thorium’s only advantage. It turns out that when T-232 is hit by a neutron, it turns into a fissionable version of thorium called T-233. This new reaction makes its own fuel as it goes along making it also self-sustaining.

The thorium-based reactions also produce a lot less toxic waste than uranium-based ones. This is partially due to the fact that the reaction chain from thorium has a lot more steps than the uranium one resulting in fewer final products.

Read it.

The current demographic debacle was foreseen long ago, all the way back in the 1960s and 1970s. The preferred solution back then was to import immigrants from the fecund Third World, who would become productive citizens, generating the tax revenues that would be crucial to supporting the Boomers in their dotage. In addition, Aisha and Mehmet would be trained to take jobs as nurses and medical technicians to staff the nursing homes that would eventually be bursting at the seams with the Aged of Aquarius.

Alas, the scheme failed to work out as planned: the newcomers tend to consume more in government benefits than they contribute in taxes. Furthermore, their occupational skills haven’t managed to reach the level of the natives they are supplanting, so that providing adequate care for the elderly becomes problematic. If the experience of the National Health Service in the UK is any indication, the on-the-job behavior of third-world immigrant caregivers goes beyond negligence to active abuse, and even becomes homicidal on occasion.

Read it.

Leaving California would be an obvious first step.

The Weird, Sustainable Booze of the Future

Biden Has A Solar Panel, Climate Change Dilemma; Will Hypocrisy Rule?

Green Deal: Fear of yellow vests rebellion spreads across Europe

Sunny-Day Flooding Is About to Become More Than a Nuisance  But ‘climate change’ hysteria you have always with you.

If the Hardiest Species Are Boiled Alive, What Happens to Humans? (The Atlantic) They have to read the Narrative Media?

Environmentalists have got it wrong – we’re not facing an insect apocalypse  Matt Ridley.

A New Crisis for Climate Science?

Ashli Babbitt and George Floyd, compare and contrast

LGBT American Olympian Stages Victory Podium Protest

Michael Che Scrubs Social Media Account Amid Backlash Over Simone Biles Joke

Donors Bash UNC Over Marxism, BLM Affiliation as Creator of 1619 Project Sought for Tenured Job

DC Mayor Denies Breaking Own Mask Mandate, Despite Photo

Drone Video of Border Migrants Shows Biden’s ‘Catastrophe

Watch: Dramatic Footage Reveals 1,000 Migrants Under Texas Bridge 

‘Back Off!’ Desperate Joy Behar Blames VP’s Unpopularity on Racism, Sexism

Higher Gas Prices Mean Higher Taxes: Illinoisans Now Pay The Nation’s 2nd-Highest Gas Taxes

AOC Hires Heavy Security, Ex-Blackwater

Minneapolis Crime Update

Pick Your Pronouns Wisely

Culture & Conduct Risk: The Normalization of Deviance

‘The Chi:’ ‘People of Chicago Don’t Need Policing,’ Reality: 50 Shot This Weekend

Home Depot Is Selling Power Tools That Require Activation In-Store  Shoplifting has gotten pretty bad. Try Amazon.

Home Depot is introducing power tools that won’t work if they’re stolen  Thank you, George Soros.

Governments reportedly used Pegasus spyware to post private photos of female journalists

NY Spent $106M on Cuomo’s Halted Bridge Lighting Plan

Hypocrite NY Times Troubled By Targeting of Left-Wing Arsonists: ‘Extreme Crackdown’

‘The Muppets’ Spin-Off Teaches Toddlers the Beauty of Transgenderism

Senate May Move on Universal Pre-K

Libertarians built a Bitcoin economy in a New Hampshire town, feds tore it down

ABC Touts Jailed Murderer Elected in DC, Lobbies for Prisoners to Vote

German High Court Rules Facebook Illegally Censored Content

Soros-Backed Virginia Prosecutors Face Recall Amid Crime Surge

MSNBC Contributor Spews HATE: Fox News Is Al Jazeera, Trump Is Bin Laden

Taibbi: Can History Itself Violate ‘Community Standards?’

Pro-Trump social network becomes safe haven for ISIS (Politico)

Angry Journos Attack ‘ENEMIES OF THE STATE’ Who Support ‘WAR CRIMINAL’ Trump!  But not, of course, war criminal Obama.

Police Org Says Facebook Rejected Ad Honoring Brave Police Officer

Chicago Officials Trying To Block $1 Million Tax Refund On Trump Building

Read it.

If, of course, that’s what you want to do.

We have the technology.

David Brooks.

The creative class was supposed to foster progressive values and economic growth. Instead we got resentment, alienation, and endless political dysfunction.

Read it.

The Biden administration filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas challenging Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order targeting the transportation of migrants spreading COVID-19 in the state, according to court documents filed Friday.

Abbott, a Republican, announced restrictions on the ground transportation of illegal migrants in federal custody who could spread COVID-19 around Texas communities and directed law enforcement officials to intervene and reroute any vehicles suspected of violating the order, according to the executive order released on Wednesday.

Read it.

The biggest local crime story this year may be the beheading of America Thayer in broad daylight on the streets of Shakopee, Minnesota last week. America was murdered by one Alexis Saborit. Saborit was her abusive boyfriend.

In a 2017 Carver County proceeding against him for abusing America (Thayer, that is), Judge Kevin Eide indicated in the court’s release order/bail hearing document that “Defendant has ICE hold.” At his initial appearance on the murder charge on Friday, Saborit asked to be deported to his own country rather than stand trial in Scott County.

Saborit was on his way to court with Thayer on a 2020 arson charge when he murdered her. In the arson case Saborit is described as a Puerto Rican male. If so, he would be an American citizen.

What is Saborit’s immigration status? So far as I can tell, Alpha News editor Anthony Gockowski is the only reporter pursuing an answer to the question. He reports: “[N]either the Shakopee Police Department nor ICE responded when Alpha News asked for clarification.” One way or another we intend to achieve clarity.

ZMan peers behind the curtain.

The 18-month campaign against Covid has seen trillions shifted from the white middle-class to elements of the ruling class. The tech oligopoly has profited wildly from the massive changes in society in the name of Covid. Small business has been devastated, much in the same way the kulaks were crushed by Stalin. On the other hand, similar to Stalin’s revolution from above, the great reset is not going to plan. The purge of Trumpism did not end resistance to the party.

Another clue here is the slow maneuvering to pass what is being called an infrastructure plan but is in reality the end of the two-party charade. The $4T plan working its way through the Senate will lock in the gains made by the Left over the last year and foreclose any electoral resistance. The show trial appears to be an effort to whip up support on the left in order to force some elements of the right to sign onto what amounts to their own death certificate.

Read  it.

People often limit their creativity by continually adding new features to a design rather than removing existing ones.

Government activity follows the same paradigm. Politicians typically attempt to solve problems by adding regulations when removing them would be more beneficial.

Joel Kotkin.

In a world that seems to be divided between neoliberal orthodoxy and identitarian dogmas, it is possible to miss the waning presence of traditional social democracy. Born of the radical Left in Marx’s own time, social democrats worked, sometimes with remarkable success, to improve the living standards of working people by accommodating the virtues of capitalism. Today, that kind of social democracy—learned at home from my immigrant grandparents and from the late Michael Harrington, one time head of the American Socialist Party—is all but dead. This tradition was, in retrospect, perhaps too optimistic about the efficacy of government. Nevertheless, it sincerely sought to improve popular conditions and respected the wisdom of ordinary people.

In its place, we now find a kind of progressivism that focuses on gender, sexual preference, race, and climate change. Abandoned by traditional Left parties, some voters have drifted into nativist—and sometimes openly racist—opposition while more have simply become alienated from major institutions and pessimistic about the future.

Ideologues traditionally attempt to skew the traditional definition of terms in order to hijack them politically by sticking a qualifier on the front; ‘social justice’ is the poster child here, with its mutant progeny ‘environmental justice’, ‘racial justice’, and ‘[insert your favorite buzzword here] justice’. One can usually say that if a term has a politically-biased addition on the front, it’s no longer the same term. ‘Social justice’ isn’t justice, any more than ‘gay marriage’ is marriage. Similarly, ‘social democracy’ isn’t democracy.

Read it.

Turns out, the Red Delicious apple used to be, well, delicious. Here’s what went wrong.

My wife likes Gala apples but I have yet to find an apple that actually tastes good to me.

Read it.

The Taliban have been advancing in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of American and NATO troops from the country and in recent weeks the fundamentalist Islamist group said they have captured over half of all Afghanistan’s territory, including border crossings with Iran and Pakistan.

My, what a surprise. Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.

Read it.

By inserting a gene found in humans and animals into potato and rice plants, an international team of scientists increased the amount of food they grew by 50% in real world tests — and it also boosted photosynthesis and made them more resistant to drought.

Cue outrage (and lawsuits) by Eco-Nazis.

Read it.

Chancellor Angela Merkel famously welcomed the world to Germany in 2015. Among the culture-enriching customs imported with the “refugees” was that of gang rape.

Can you do something about stubborn unvaccinated people? Yes, you can. (CNN)

Require the vaccine. It’s time to stop coddling the reckless.

CDC’s Walensky Shrugs Off Idea That Illegals Are Spreading COVID At The Border, Promises “Guidelines” Someday

Why Are Globalists And Governments So Desperate For 100% Vaccination Rates?

YouTube Suspends Sky News Australia Channel  Go against the Narrative, you will get canceled. Surest thing you know.

Plandemic Revisited: A Planned Disinformation Campaign

Protesters Rage In Paris Against “Health Passports”

Walensky’s wiles

Major Unions Push Back Against Biden’s Vaccine Mandates

Illinois Unconcerned As Communication And ‘Science’ Behind COVID Policy Slip Toward Chaos

Kamala Harris Has No Future

A lawyer hoped history books would help her Capitol riot clients grow. She was called a traitor — and worse. (Washington Post)

California Parents Are Pulling Children From Public Schools

American Medical Association: Remove Sex from Public Birth Certificates

TikTok Star Shot Dead at US Cinema

Bacon may disappear in California as pig rules take effect

NPR Allows Its Reporters to Engage in Direct Activism

Belarus Runner Alleges Olympic Team Tried to Send Her Home

California Fighting Federal ‘Let It Burn’ Policies, Annual Wildfires

San Fran DA Chesa Boudin Stands Up For Shoplifters And Drug Dealers

Trump tries to defend ‘just say the election was corrupt’ demand (The Guardian)

Family farm banned from city farmers market over refusal to host gay weddings awaits ruling in legal battle

No children, no vote: Fox News’s latest asinine suggestion (The Guardian)

ABC’s Karl Pitches New Anti-Trump Book as Must-Read for Jan 6 Committee

People Are Sharing Examples Of Outdated Boomer Thinking, And They’re All True (Buzzfeed)  Anybody who isn’t a 20-something hipster is obviously placed on Earth by God to be a laughingstock.

Stelter Drives Smear-Wagon Into the Ditch, Compares Trump ‘Cult’ to JONESTOWN

Climate change may not be altering winter jet stream, research shows

Extreme Weather In 1971

Why Norway Won’t Give Up On Oil & Gas

Sow the Wind Turbine, Reap the Wind Turbine Noise

To Advance The Climate Agenda: Never Waste Bad Weather

Farm Robots Are the Future – We Must Prepare Now to Avoid Dystopia Your future must be planned, preferably by the government.

Earth’s energy imbalance removes almost all doubt from human-made climate change  NBC News pushes the Narrative.

Surge in Survival Courses for Manhattan Climate Change Worriers  You can tell they aren’t serious because there’s no mention of ‘gun’ in the referenced article.

18 Shot, 2 Killed in NYC Saturday Into Sunday Morning

DaBaby Booted From Lollapalooza After Homophobic Comments