Conflict Of Interest? AG Garland’s Family Getting Rich Selling Critical Race Theory Materials To Schools

Axios Cheers Fidel’s Communist Indoctrination As ‘Hispanic Heritage’

Caught on Video: Rashida Tlaib Admits She Only Wears Mask for Cameras

Biden Banking Nominee Scrubs Karl Marx Paper From Résumé

Australians Being Mandated To Provide Police With Geo-Trackable Selfies To Prove They’re Quarantining  I know what Texans would say to such a thing.

Klobuchar Staffer Announces Apple Gig Hours After Senator Slams Big Tech Revolving Door

7 States Push Noncitizen Voting, 4 States Say No

CBS Pesters Texas Tourists on Climate Change, Hopes for ‘Revolution’

Famed Billionaire Who Called for National Guard Threatens to Leave Chicago

‘Working In Fast Food Would Be Humiliating,’ Says Man Living On Government Handouts In Parents’ Basement Babylon Bee.

No Surprise: The AP Got School Board Fact-Check Wrong

Wokeness kills

Down With South Dakota!

Academia’s ableist culture laid bare  Nature magazine is upset that defective people can’t do everything that the rest of us can.

Badges of obedience

Experts Predict LGBTQ Acronym Could Circle The Earth 3 Times By 2022  Babylon Bee

Biden Sows Confusion By Claiming He Spoke To President Xi About The “Taiwan Agreement”

Aides Quickly Drag President Away As He Tries To Join In ‘F*** Joe Biden’ Chant Babylon Bee.

Ex-Biden Border Chief Warned Policies Would Send Border Out of ‘Control’

‘I’m A Little Worried About What My Son Is Learning In School,’ Says Dangerous Domestic Terrorist  Babylon Bee.

Afghan Gun Shops Sell US Weapons Seized by Taliban

NY Times Slimes Mexican Preacher Who Took in Migrants as ‘Good Samaritan’ Gone Bad  No good deed goes unpunished.

Memo: Biden Admin Weighing Plans To Send Migrants to Vermont  Vermont is far too white as it is.

Brilliant: Biden Solves Debt Crisis By Writing ‘One Trillion’ On Dollar Bill With Permanent Marker

Terrorists Released From Guantanamo Bay To Make Room For Parents Who Protested At School Board Meetings  Babylon Bee.

Read it.

Increasingly, companies include unlimited paid time off as part of their job offers, as it’s an enticement popular with millennials and Gen Z workers. But you’ll want to think twice about whether it’s really all that great—studies show that workers often take less time off with unlimited vacation days. Why would that be so? I’ll explain.

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The adventure of ‘Florida Man’ continue.

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As they do.

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There must a Robert Ludlum series lurking in the saga of OCC Comptroller nominee Saule Omarova. One installment of the series would be The Omarova Thesis — the thesis she wrote at Moscow State University on the Lenin Personal Academic Scholarship: “Karl Marx’s Economic Analysis and the Theory of Revolution in The Capital.” It must have been a good one — so good that she has scrubbed it from her current résumé.

ZMan points out how there is nothing new under the sun.

One of the things you can count on, one of the universal constants of American politics, is the Republicans will always find a way to save the Democrats from whatever mess they have created for themselves. It is the reason the Republican party exists. They are the guys at the back of the circus parade with shovels. They scoop up what gets plopped onto the streets by the Left. The main job of the GOP is making sure the suckers in the suburbs never lose faith in the system.

Read it.

A new class conflict is emerging across the world. You can see its face in the mass protests over COVID-19 restrictions from Paris, Berlin and London to southern California and Melbourne. The protestors are often cast as a death cult of ignorant rubes, but they are exposing a new class conflict that’s pitting two increasingly irreconcilable populations against each other: those who wish to obey and those who refuse restraints.

…

Lockdowns in particular have sparked an incipient civil war between rival classes, not just in the U.S. but across Europe. “There are people who can work in the virtual world, which tells them how to act and think, and they can stay safe,” Laure Mandeville-Tostain of the Paris-based Le Figaro noted astutely. “Then there are those who object to the rules—people who have to go to work and see this as another way in which the elite is telling them how to live.”

Read it.

The ISIS-K suicide bomber who killed 13 US service members and dozens of Afghans in an August terrorist attack at Kabul international airport was released from the Parwan prison at Bagram Air Base less than two weeks earlier, according to three U.S. officials who spoke with CNN.

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Like any regime, Woke Communism is built on a particular understanding of justice. For the woke comms justice is outcome equality. That is, all identity groups proportionately represented in all aspects of American life. So for example, the woke communists believe that blacks, who count for about 13% of the population, should have 13% of the nation’s chief executive officers, prisoners, heart attacks, wealth, top test scores, homes, corporate board seats, school suspensions, and everything else you can think of.

Sarah Hoyt explores the zeitgeist.

But it doesn’t take a very deep thinker, or delving too much into anything at all to realize all the population figures, PARTICULARLY the ones from the UN, are bullshit, and overinflated bullshit at that.

I might have a leg up on you guys on that, since I grew up in a nominally modern, industrialized country which tries really hard to know everything about its people, but is guesstimating when it comes to how many live there because: people lie. They lie for benes. They lie because it’s Tuesday. They lie because it’s fun. Also, even when they’re not lying, they make assumptions. Of course, for instance, I live with my parents. Because for the longest time they assumed that was my real home. Do I count twice? We’re lucky if it’s only twice. A few years ago, I found out that under my pre-citizenship name, I was still voting in North Carolina. Which is a puzzle, as I never voted under that name. But apparently I’ve been living for 30 some years in our starter apartment and am registered to vote. (It’s disconcerting. Oh, fraudulent too. But disconcerting. Like looking into a parallel world.)

Ben Thompson at Stratechery. Highly recommended.

What I did want to do is — word limit be damned — write a post about Facebook’s political problems, as I perceive them, in their entirety. I do think the media gets a lot of things wrong about Facebook, not because there aren’t problems, but because the problems are more profound than the issue of the day. So here’s my best shot.

Dallas officer accused of promoting pyramid scheme made $48,000 in money transfers, affidavit says

Seattle ‘anti-racist’ training teaches city employees Whites are ‘oppressors’ Do they actually need a special program for that? They could just turn on the ‘news’.

Don Lemon Sees ‘Racism’ in Comparing BLM to January 6 Capitol Rioters  Of course, Don Lemon sees ‘racism’ if he encounters a red light on the way to work.

How Many Racial Hate Hoaxes Will This $137 Million Payoff Incentivize?  How many ya got?

Plaques for Blacks in London

Lemon DEMANDS Social Media Regulate Opinions, Show Where His Critics Live  Surely someone with as many white ancestors has he has ought to deserve some White Privilege?

Are Gun Battles Between “Mutual Combatants” More or Less Legal in Chicago?

These are the countries historically responsible for the climate emergency (CNBC) Responsible! (for progress) Historically! (so we can avoid mentioning China).

A hotter and drier climate is set to hurt agriculture in the West and help farmers in Asia

China Folds, Unloads Australian Coal Despite Import Ban Amid Power Crunch

“Climate Emergency” – Nothing But Politics And Propaganda Unsupported By Scientific Data

Climate change is a big problem for farmers in Hawaii

The Grid Isn’t Ready for the Renewable Revolution

“Insulate Britain” Compares Climate Protest Deaths to WW2 Collateral Damage

Trump Claims He Fell Off Forbes’s Richest List Because They Failed to Count Rubles (The New Yorker) I think he’s just yanking their chains. He does that periodically just for the entertainment value.

A Pyrrhic victory for plutocrats at Yale (Washington Post) Apparently ‘plutocrat’ means ‘somebody with money who doesn’t agree with me’. It ought to come as no surprise that the people who run Yale these days are whores; the surprise is that being a whore apparently sometimes trumps (no pun intended) being Woke.

Judge Refuses To Toss Weapons Charge Against Rittenhouse (CBS News) Not a surprise. They realize that in a fair trial he’ll get off on the murder charges because he obviously acted in self-defense; they need something to put him in jail on, so this will probably be it.

Trump’s former press secretary says she didn’t vote for him in 2020 (CNN) Don’t think of it as selling out; think of it as buying in.

Hollywood Hatred of Kavanaugh Resurfaces in Clinton ‘Impeachment’ Miniseries

ZMan peeks behind the curtain.

One of the weird aspects of this age is how important people appropriate the emotions and feeling of others and make them their own. They will make statements about their feelings on a subject, but those feelings are not really their feelings because they cannot actually be experiencing the feelings in questions. Our Cloud People have normalized emotional appropriation as a way of projecting to the Dirt People that they have genuine human emotions.

The easy example here is the public person who has a rare moment of honesty and posts what they really think on Twitter. This sets off the familiar drama on-line in which people rush to their favorite platform to express their outrage. The fact that they have no reason to care, much less be outraged, goes unnoticed. Eventually, the director of this drama tells the star to waddle out on stage and issue an apology. In that apology, the star claims to feel things that cannot be felt.

Read it.

Of course Taiwan knows the beaches likely to be used for an invasion. You’d want to install beach obstacles to make a landing difficult. But you wouldn’t call them that. How about an artificial reef program? Taiwan has been building artificial reefs for decades. Guess where? (Google it.)

Senators alarmed after Afghan refugees walk off military bases by the hundreds

Texas Gearing Up for Possible Surge of 60,000 Haitian Migrants

Global Warming? Not Lately

Can Nuclear Fusion Put the Brakes on Climate Change? (The New Yorker)

Water Shortages Threaten the Economy and Our Food Supply (Barron’s)

MSNBC Uses Oil Spill to Spread Climate Hysteria, Lobby for Wasteful Dem Spending

UN Report Warns of Global Water Crisis Amid Climate Change

Top State Department official resigns, assails Biden’s use of Title 42 to remove migrants

Foreign money secretly floods U.S. tax havens. Some of it is tainted. (Washington Post) Foreign! Tainted!

Tensions erupt between environmental justice leaders and White House (Politivo) Sticking an adjective on front of a term is always an attempt to hijack that term in service of a political agenda. ‘Environmental’ justice isn’t justice.

Billie Eilish stops mid-performance at Texas music festival: ‘My f**king choice!’ (CNN) Keepin’ it classy.

Facebook Apologizes for January 6th: “We Put the Lives of Politicians We Own at Risk” (The New Yorker) And they’re the best politicians money can buy, too.

Medical Tyranny and Climate Tyranny

Dark Money Dems Use Fake Newspaper To Influence Virginia Election

Canada’s gender ideology obsession

AG Garland “Weaponizes” DoJ Against Dissenting Parents After School Board Association Pleas

Chinese Detective Details Torture Campaign Against Uyghurs

Nets Yawn at GROSS Bathroom Harassment of Kyrsten Sinema

Merrick Garland threatens America’s parents

UN Silences Watchdog for Calling Out Anti-Semitism at Relief Agency

Shocker: Study Shows Transgendered Female Athletes Have Edge On Real Female Athletes

‘Culturally Fluid’ Woke White Woman Pretends to Be Black on CBS Sitcom

Black Lives Matter comparison roils court in Jan. 6 cases (Politico) As well it ought.

Texas pardons board votes unanimously to recommend posthumous pardon for George Floyd (CNN) Considering the racial makeup of the board, this is no surprise. Of course, he didn’t die in Texas  but in Minnesota, so this is just pointless Virtue Signaling.

Chicago Mayor, State’s AG Clash Over Deadly Shootout After AG Declines to File Charges  BRAAAAAAAINS!

What Is Your Oppressed Intersectional Identity? Use This Handy Chart To Find Out!  Babylon Bee.

3 women in Carmine’s hostess assault incident arraigned on charges in court in Manhattan

‘What’s at Stake’: CBS, NBC Are TERRIFIED By Start of SCOTUS Session

The Inhumanity of the Animal Rights Lobby

AG Garland Mobilizing FBI Against School Board Protest ‘Threat’

Trump’s Sprawling Use of NDAs Now Threatens to Humiliate Him (Daily Beast)

The revelations about Mike Pence’s role in Jan. 6 keep getting worse (Washington Post)

Trump, talked out of announcing a 2024 bid for now, settles on a wink-and-nod unofficial candidacy (Washington Post) Remember: If you hear the dog-whistle, then you’re the dog.

The GOP has become the stupid party — and proud of it (Washington Post) Max Boot phones it in.

Omarosa: It’s Time for Trump to ‘Come Clean’ About His Health (Daily Beast) All Trump! All the time!

Stalking Sinema: The Biden variations

Jemele Hill: I’d ‘Vomit’ if Ted Cruz Supported My Vaccine Stance  Well, that’s worth doing, then.

CNN Propagandists Laughably Accuse Fox News of Being ‘State-Run TV’

Read it.

A Virginia prosecutor backed by progressive billionaire George Soros tried to use his status as an elected official to avoid a courthouse security checkpoint, leading to a vulgar confrontation between Descano and the security guards stationed on site.

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. But when it hands you cow pies, you’re kind of stuck.

Sarah Hoyt (who grew up under socialism) is delightfully dyspeptic today.

But at least FDR and his successors IMAGINED themselves benevolent. They imagined a better future for humanity, even while they f*cked us over. They thought humanity could become, of its own volition, collectivist and non-greedy and– and it’s a case of their not having any introspection, yes — but they wanted to gift humanity things like electricity and better/faster industrial production and such.

The current progressives have soured. We broke their little RedMarxist wagon. The USSR was not as wonderful as they knew it was, because humans refused to play along. And here in the US we hold onto the constitution, which prevents them doing all their wonderful stuff.

They not only disdain us, they hate us. All humans. Every single man jack and woman jill of us. They want us reduced, destroyed, diminished, humiliated; forced to grovel in the dirt for their favor.

That’s the progress in their minds.

It’s important to remember that progressivism has always been wrong. Always been evil. It’s the imposition of a vision of the future by people who think of themselves as anointed. I don’t see any way it wasn’t always wasteful, evil and wrong, and forcing humanity into paths better left untrod.

Can’t add anything to that.

Read it.

In case you care. (I don’t.)

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I am a professor who just had a prestigious public science lecture at MIT cancelled because of an outrage mob on Twitter. My crime? Arguing for academic evaluations based on academic merit. This is the story of how a cancellation is carried out, why it should worry all of us, and what we can do to stop this dangerous trend.

Read it.

In recent days, a senior Iranian military commander boasted that his country has built “six armies outside its borders that work for it.”

The commander attributed the statement to Qassem Soleimani, the late commander of Iran’s overseas Quds Force, and went on to name these armies as Hizballah in Lebanon, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, the Iranian-sponsored militias in Syria, the Iranian-backed militias of Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen.

What the officer did not say, however, is that one of these terror armies – Hamas – is busy building a second front against Israel in Lebanon, and that it is trampling on Hizballah’s toes in the process. While Hizballah monitors Hamas’s activities in Lebanon, this is not always sufficient to control its activities, and Hamas is capable of not giving Hizballah the “head’s up” before it uses Lebanon as a base to attack Israel.

Reminder: Islam is an oppressive totalitarian ideology with which no co-existence is possible.

David Cole is delightfully dyspeptic today.

Sometime in the early 1990s a friend suggested that I watch a movie called The Handmaid’s Tale. I was vaguely aware of the book…I knew it was authored by some ugly old bat from Canada, and honestly you couldn’t have paid me enough to read it. But I have a fondness for dystopian sci-fi, and my friend was like, “The movie’s really good! Give it a try.”

As it was on cable and didn’t cost me anything, I figured, sure.

I’m going on memory here, but this is what I recall. Most of the world’s women have been rendered infertile by the Evils of Man, a theme incredibly common in dystopian sci-fi but that withered old bag probably thought she was the first to think of it. And the movie starts with women being processed to sort the barren from the birthing.

Margaret Atwood is to writing what Maya Angelou is to poetry, i.e. a cheap Politically Correct substitute for the Real Thing.

Read it.

The new government prefers to be called the IEA (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) to differentiate itself from the elected government it recently replaced. That government now prefers to use its official name; IRA (Islamic Republic of Afghanistan). IEA formally requested that they be acknowledged by the UN as the government of Afghanistan and entitled to replace the IRA overseas ambassadors and diplomatic staff. The IRA government has now established itself in Tajikistan and is led by the senior vice president in the IRA Amrullah Saleh. Currently only Pakistan, China and Russia are still maintaining their embassies in Afghanistan. All the Afghan ambassadors, including the one in the UN, remain loyal to the IRA government the Taliban overthrew. Pakistan is counting on China and Russia to use their influence to change minds.

Imagine the reaction of the global Wokerati if a country dared to call itself ‘the Christian Republic of X’.

Read it.

A Chinese gene company selling prenatal tests around the world developed them in collaboration with the country’s military and is using them to collect genetic data from millions of women for sweeping research on the traits of populations, a Reuters review of scientific papers and company statements found.

U.S. government advisors warned in March that a vast bank of genomic data that the company, BGI Group, is amassing and analyzing with artificial intelligence could give China a path to economic and military advantage. As science pinpoints new links between genes and human traits, access to the biggest, most diverse set of human genomes is a strategic edge. The technology could propel China to dominate global pharmaceuticals, and also potentially lead to genetically enhanced soldiers, or engineered pathogens to target the U.S. population or food supply, the advisors said

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From the revelation that the whole Russia collusion narrative was the result of dirty tricks played by the Hillary Clinton campaign to the validation of the Hunter Biden laptop leaks, to the realization that the Biden administration knows nothing about how corporations make money and pay their taxes, current events are a cornucopia of ironies.

Man Asks California Reparations Task Force For “40 Acres & A Tesla”  I wasn’t aware that California had any slaves.

NC School Board Withholds Funding to Block Critical Race Theory

Our under-incarceration problem, Omaha edition

Our New Gods “The dissonance is the message.”

Black Lives Matter Led to a 62% Increase in Black Murders  Way to go, guys.

Rolling Stone Writer: ‘Joe Manchin Just Cooked the Planet’  I’m impressed.

Concerned Parents, Or Domestic Terrorists?

The delights and the dangers of deplatforming extremists

Trump seeking to elevate Republicans who refuse to accept Biden victory (The Guardian) The swine!

Kristi Noem Tries to Mop Up Damage From Nightmare Week (Daily Beast) Nightmare!

‘Unprecedented’: Ted Cruz accused of ‘undermining’ America’s national security (Salon)

Why Are Matt Gaetz & Co. Pushing ‘White Replacement Theory’? (Daily Beast) Uh … because it’s true?

Durham’s Attempt to Discredit Trump’s Enemies Is Falling Apart (New York Magazine) Looks more as if the Narrative Media’s attempt to discredit Durham’s investigation is falling apart.

Sinema Locks Door to Bathroom Stall as Protesters Demand Answers If they were Trump supporters, of course, they would have been arrested. (In Surprise Move, Democrats Endorse Harassment of LGBTQ Women)

Facebook Whistleblower Claims Profit Was Prioritized Over Clamping Down On Hate Speech Not often than you see a call for more censorship. I guess she loves Big Brother.

Activists Harass Sens. Sinema, Manchin Over $3.5 Trillion Budget Bill

Capehart Lets Bitter Ex-Republican From Disgraced Group Trash GOP

Left-Wing Billionaire George Soros Bankrolling Group Behind Harassment of Kyrsten Sinema  If there actually were a bunch of right-wing terrorists wandering America, Soros would have been in the ground long since.

Hostin Bullies Ex-Pence Aide: You Were a Stormtrooper in Darth Vader’s WH!

Ex-NBA Coach Plays Race Card On Sen. Cruz, Gets Schooled on Democrats & KKK

90,000 Educators Beg Biden: We Need FBI Protection From “Mobs” Of Parents Irate Over Mask Mandates  Good luck with that.

Rockefellers have a message for Joe Manchin (CNN) Advice on how to be a Democrat from people whose first car was a limousine.

Conservative Activist Calls Out Facebook for Suppressing His Posts  The Narrative, the whole Narrative, and nothing but the Narrative.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee and the BBC stage a very British coup to rescue our data from Facebook and friends

Brutal Domestic Homicide Sparks Backlash Against Soros Prosecutor

WashPost Style Guide Updated to Curtail the Exclusionary Use of ‘Pregnant Women’

Huge Hack Outs NYPD Officers Moonlighting as ‘Oath Keeper’ Militiamen

Taiwan Informs Australia It’s ‘Preparing For War’ As China Sends Record 52 PLA Jets Toward Island 

Nets Hide OUTRAGE of Harris Nodding Along to ‘Truth’ of Israel ‘Genocide’ Smear

WashPost Thinks Dems Spending Trillions = ‘Grueling Cuts’

Government Orders Google to Identify Anyone Who Searched Name, Address & Phone N

A Non-Binary Performer Walks Into a Bar: LA Times Hypes Socialist Comedy

Andrew Yang ‘Breaking Up With Democratic Party’

China Threatens Taiwan on Twitter as Warplanes Swarm Island

China sharply escalates warplane provocations near Taiwan

Biologically Male Athletes Have Competitive Advantage Over Women, Sports Group’s Study Finds

71.5% of Voters Reject Stephanie Ruhle’s $3.5T ‘Barbie DreamHouse’ Budget Fantasy

Dowd Gets Surprise Grilling from CNN’s Keilar for Deleting Tweets

EV Buyers Beware — Fires, Scarce Charging, and Parking Restrictions  SMUGMOBILE!

Lomborg on Intergenerational inequities in exposure to climate extremes

Business Insider: Abolish Fossil Fuel To Stop Global Warming  Despite it’s name, Business Insider is Yet Another Narrative Media Shill.

LinkedIn Bans Geologist for Climate Change Posts: ‘This Type of Content Is Not Allowed’  The Narrative, the whole Narrative, and nothing but the Narrative.

Earth Seems to Be Losing Its Shine Due to Warming Oceans

British Army Begins Deliveries To Ease Fuel Crisis

House Republicans Probe Climate Groups’ Ties to China

Read it.

Reporting their findings today in the journal Nature Catalysis, the team say the results could revolutionise water disinfection technologies and present an unprecedented opportunity to provide clean water to communities that need it most.

Their new method works by using a catalyst made from gold and palladium that takes in hydrogen and oxygen to form hydrogen peroxide – a commonly used disinfectant that is currently produced on an industrial scale.

Read it.

The available evidence certainly suggests so.

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Noncitizens will be able to vote in two Vermont cities as part of a growing national trend, unless lawsuits prevent new laws from taking effect.

The cities of Montpelier, with about 7,375 residents, and Winooski, with about 7,335, both will allow noncitizens to vote in local elections for offices such as mayor, city council, and school board.

Related changes to the two city charters required the approval of voters as well as the state’s Democrat-controlled Legislature, which in June overrode a veto by Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican.

“These are very liberal cities with progressive Democrats,” Rob Roper, president of the Ethan Allen Institute, a free-market think tank based in Montpelier, told The Daily Signal.

“Throughout much of the state, there is a general distaste for allowing anyone other than citizens over the age of 18 to vote,” Roper said. “Many oppose the idea [of noncitizen voting] and worry about the precedent.”

Babylon Bee.

A chilling prospect.

Read it.

A Democratic legislator said he will propose a bill to force men to get vasectomies if they have more than three children.

Rep. Chris Rabb of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives tweeted Saturday that his bill would require “all inseminators” to get vasectomies after having their third child or 40th birthday, whichever comes first. The bill, he said, would allow women to take civil action against men who “wrongfully conceive a child with them” and would reward $10,000 to those who report violations of the law.

“As long as legislators continue to restrict the #ReproductiveRights of cis women, trans men & non-binary folx, there should be laws to address the responsibility of men who impregnate them!” Rabb tweeted.

I’ll bet he ‘identifies’ as African-American.

Read it.

In 2004, Thomas Frank published a widely-discussed book called What’s the Matter with Kansas? I didn’t read the book, but my understanding of Frank’s smug thesis is that Kansans, and by extension Americans (the title of the book overseas was What’s the Matter with America?), were voting against their interests, as Frank saw them, because they were distracted by cultural issues.

These days, Democrats are asking, “what’s the matter with Florida?” As they see it, Florida twice voted for the devil incarnate for president. It also elected Ron DeSantis, someone almost as bad as Donald Trump, to be governor. And now, despite ruinous governance (as the Dems see it), they seem likely to reelect DeSantis.

That would be a great title for a book: What’s The Matter With Thomas Frank?

Read it.

A service that post offices in Europe and Asia have offered for decades.

USPS: Always on the bleeding edge of yesteryear.

God does not subtract from our allotted lifespan the time spent petting a cat.

Read it.

One-third of inmates freed by Democratic Kentucky governor Andy Beshear during the pandemic were later charged with a felony, according to a state report.

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When was the last time you stated a thought like, “At least we haven’t completely lost our republic,” and followed that with a quickly stated, “Knock on wood,” looking for a wooden object or knocking your forehead as an easy substitute? Or made a wish when blowing out candles on your birthday cake? Or carried a rabbit’s foot or other favored item for good luck? Many of us follow these practices and sometimes even realize that we do them playfully, without an expectation for results. Mostly. These wishes and desires are a form of “magical thinking” and are relatively harmless in most situations. But I propose that in this time of COVID-19, magical thinking has infected the worldwide population.

Read it.

The stalking of Senator Kyrsten Sinema into a bathroom stall during her return to Arizona over the weekend (video below) is disgusting. I would like to say it is disgusting beyond comment, but there is much that might be learned or inferred from it. Here are 10 notes and queries that occur to me this morning.