Read it.

We’re used to getting the short end of the stick out here in Flyover Country, whether it’s from a lack of regular news-media attention or from our vastly inequitable share of investments by venture capitalists.

Now you can add the dismal science to the list of coastal biases against the heartland that are doing real harm not just to how we’re perceived, but also to how we live.

“They don’t see the economy that many of us see and that I see,” Ernie Goss, an economist at Creighton University in Omaha, told me. “We’re speaking to farmers and bankers, and what they see isn’t the same as what [economists] in New York or D. C. see. They have blinders on. They don’t even have a feel for the distances involved our here for EV chargers.”

What Scientists Just Discovered About Monkeypox Virus on Surfaces (SciTechDaily)

Ultra-contagious BA.4, BA.5 subvariants fuel coronavirus spread across much of California (L.A. Times)

Canada’s Health Minister: “You Will Never Be Fully-Vaxxed”

Midsummer Mask Madness

Abrams campaign has spent over $450K on private security, despite radical ‘defund the police’ group ties

Glenn Greenwald slams CNN’s Rex Chapman for ‘racist’ attack on Clarence Thomas

North Carolina thieves steal $7K in copper wire from Lowe’s: report

L.A.’s Black Spoilers

Shameless: Aussie Climate Council Now Claims Floods Caused by CO2

Climate Activist Hypocrisy Example Eleventy Gazillion

Spain and Portugal suffering driest climate for 1,200 years, research shows (The Guardian)

Parts of The World Now Have Drought Patterns That Haven’t Been Seen in 1,200 Years

Methane much more sensitive to global heating than previously thought – study (The Guardian)

Sydney is flooded, again, as climate crisis becomes new normal for Australia’s most populous state (CNN)

Bill Nye says the main thing you can do about climate change isn’t recycling—it’s voting (CNBC)

Don’t let SCOTUS undo decades of progress on climate change (The Hill)

War in Ukraine is driving demand for Africa’s natural gas. That’s controversial (NPR)

158 Tesla Mega-Batteries Will Boost Hawaii Green Energy By 10%, And Shut Down Coal-Fired Power Plant

UK Fuel Price Protests Cripple Motorways With “Go-Slow” Convoys

Claim:  Hidden in Caves: Mineral Overgrowths Reveal Unprecedented Modern Sea-Level Rise

Climate Change Breaks Plant Immune Systems. Can They Be Rebooted?

Megafires: Fixing 100 years of mistakes in 10 years

Another Energy Imbalance Paper.

Dutch farmers organise mass protests in face of farm closures

Dutch Farmers Block Food Distribution Centers; Undercover Cops Chased Away From Protest

The Military Situation: Part II –the First Week

Russia is set to switch off the gas for work on a key pipeline — and Germany fears the worst (CNBC)

Nickel Prices Surge As UK Sanctions Major Russian Miner

Iran, Russia, China To Run War Drills in Latin America

The Test Of Strategy

Ukraine Says $750BN Needed To Rebuild, Wants To Use Seized Russian Assets

Ron Paul: Biden’s Sanctions Are A Windfall For Russia, Foreign Policy Fail

Biden’s Job Approval Enters Marianas Trench

More Kamala Deep Thoughts

Hunter Biden joins dad for July 4th as federal investigation grinds on

Oil Billionaire Blasts Biden’s Gas-Price Blame-Game, Says Only One Thing Will Fix Inflation

You’ve Got To Be Kidding! Rapinoe Tapped For Presidential Medal of Freedom

Disgusting: Biden DoE Hire Defended Underage Gay Prostitution Website in Op-Ed

Open Borders Cost Lives. Biden Doesn’t Care.

Read it.

California startup Mojo Vision finally has a human being wearing its smart contact lens — bringing the future of AR, and superhuman sight, a major step closer.

Read it.

It would seem Kamala Harris isn’t the only senior person in the Biden Administration afflicted with a case of Severe Banality Syndrome (SBS). Behold our boy genius and Rhodes Scholar Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who had this to say to CBS News about the large number of airline flight cancellations and delays over the weekend:

This is something that’s affecting all of us and it’s affecting the economy when that happens because so many people can’t get to where they need to be for work, so many people can’t get to loved ones. We sent a lot of taxpayer funding, specifically for purpose of keeping people employed at these airlines. And now, they need to have the people and they need to have the resources to get people where they need to go.”

Statements like that remind us that we are in the presence of no ordinary mind.

Read it.

In the past 20 years—and particularly the last 10 to 15—the average age of actors appearing toward the top of the bill in film and TV projects has risen significantly. Whereas the star, or the top two or three stars, of the typical movie or TV series released in the closing decades of the 20th century was typically in their late 30s—several years older than the median age of the United States population at the time—today’s average actor age has reached the mid-40s and is steadily climbing toward 50. Actors who became fixtures on big screens and small in previous decades haven’t given way to new blood as quickly as was once customary. As a result, Hollywood’s leading men and women of today bear a strong resemblance to the leading men and women from the ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s after a trip to the beach from Old—except, of course, for the fact that actors like Cruise (who’ll turn 60 next week) don’t always look their age. The graying of actors—the ones with their natural hair colors, at least—appears to be the product of a confluence of factors that reflect the fracturing of culture in the post-monoculture age, the industry’s gravitation toward franchises and sequels, shifts in audience demographics, efforts to promote more inclusive casting, and a growing range of options for maintaining a more youthful appearance.

Read it.

The man who opened fire in an Oslo gay bar on Pride Night last month has deep ties to an extremist leader dubbed “the most dangerous person in Norway.”

The Religion of Peace is still out there and Muslims are still killing people.

Read it.

European lawmakers have given the green light to antitrust law changes targeting self-preferencing by Apple and other big tech companies, but there are fears that it will be difficult to enforce the regulations.

Read it.

The phenomenon of the “panic masters” hasn’t died with the pandemic — if anything, the term is set to become a permanent addition to the student lexicon.

The charge of enrolling in one (also known as a “procrasta-masters”) is being levied at the latest crop of post-grads, generally by unsupportive parents or peers who signed away their twenties to American law firms. As graduation nears, they sneer that “snowflake” students are making last minute applications to MA programmes to keep putting off the day they have to venture out into the “real world”.

This year half a million students will be finishing their undergraduate degrees. But the paths post-pandemic graduates are choosing are markedly different to those of their predecessors. They are opting to stay in education, and they are doing so in droves. The latest data shows a ten per cent increase in postgraduate students, and there are no signs of this changing soon. The “panic masters” are here to stay. I should know, I am doing one.

Read it.

Three physicians are suing Twitter, alleging the company violated its own terms of service and community standards when it suspended their accounts for posting “truthful statements regarding COVID-19 policy, diagnosis and/or treatment.”

Drs. Robert Malone, Peter McCullough and Bryan Tyson on Monday filed the lawsuit in Superior Court in California, San Francisco County.

John Hinderaker at Power Line.

I am so old, I can remember when liberals at least pretended to be patriotic. And some of them really were. George McGovern, for instance, was a legitimate World War II hero, flying a B-24 Liberator in combat. He was wrong about many things, but he wasn’t wrong because he hated his country.

Fast forward to now. We have been seeing poll data for some years, indicating that liberals generally are not proud to be Americans. The Washington Times headlines: “Independence Day on track to be a conservative holiday, experts say.” The article cites the sorts of poll data that are now familiar.

What Is the Origin of COVID-19 Variants Like Omicron? (SciTechDaily)

Emerging COVID variants can now be identified within hours. Here’s how (Mint)

Is Omicron BA.5 ‘Worst Version’ Of Covid-19 Coronavirus Seen? (Forbes)

Advocates warn US at risk of losing control on monkeypox (The Hill)

‘My body, my choice’: How vaccine foes co-opted the abortion rallying cry (NPR) Didn’t take much.

Omicron’s newest variant might be a threat to your July 4 weekend—here’s how to stay safe (CNBC)

US energy producers roast Biden for demanding ‘companies running gas stations’ lower pump prices  Which they have absolutely no control over.

Mayorkas says immigration crisis not unique to US: ‘Reflective of the economic downturn’ and ‘climate change’ Yeah, that’s why all those people from Canada and the U.S. are trying to sneak into Mexico and other Latin American countries.

Judge puts Biden on the spot over immunity for Saudi crown prince (The Guardian)

Judge asks U.S. if Saudi crown prince should be immune from suit (Washington Post)

US Immigration Crisis Due to Climate Change: DHS Secretary Mayorkas  Yeah, that’s the ticket.

White House Quiet As BBQ Inflation Roils Americans On July 4

Ukraine war to shift to Donetsk after fall of Luhansk; Russia claims major victory (Reuters)

Ukrainian forces withdraw from Lysychansk, their last holdout in key region (CNN)

The last city in Luhansk has fallen to Russia. What does that mean for Ukraine? (NPR)

The G-7 is considering a price cap on Russian oil. But energy analysts think it’s impossible (CNBC)

Can the G7 proposal for a cap on Russian oil prices work?  (Al Jezeera) No.

SURFACE  FORCES : Ukraine Rebuilds

Putin Says Western Sanctions Speeding Up Russia-Belarus Unification

Are US Weapons Supplied To Ukraine Ending Up On DarkNet Marketplaces?

Bulgaria Expels 70 Russian Diplomats As Kremlin Says Kiev Must Accept ‘All Conditions’ To End War

Blocked Persons and Letters of Marque

Racial inequities in vaccination are emerging again, this time among Philly’s elementary age kids (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Chicago Violence: 7 Killed, 29 Others Shot Over Fourth of July Weekend

Watch: Body Cam Video Of Akron Police Shooting Jayland Walker 60 Times

How the Founders Intended to Check the Supreme Court’s Power (Politico) As if anyone at Politico knew squat about the Founders.

Here’s how much money it takes to be considered wealthy in 12 major U.S. cities (CNBC) Being the Narrative Media, it ignores anything outside of cities.

Twitter roasts Washington Post’s Max Boot for his call to ‘abolish the electoral college’

Women’s rights have suffered a grim setback. But history is still on our side (The Guardian)  Sorry, but history isn’t on anybody’s side.

Wisconsin Democrat Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes says founding of America ‘awful’

CNN Host Peppers Noem with Child-Rape Hardballs, Kinzinger Gets ‘Armpit Farter’ Banter

How a few unions are hijacking California environmental law (S.F. Chronicle)

The climate-change agenda can survive the Supreme Court’s EPA ruling (Washington Post)

Environment Agency chief hits out at greenwashing by businesses (The Guardian) A natural response to witch-hunting by government bureaucrats.  Better get used to it.

A Florida county is quarantining after discovery of invasive Giant African land snail (CNN)

Technofixes Are the Elite’s Attempt To Sidestep Blame for the Climate Crisis

US Immigration Crisis Due to Climate Change: DHS Secretary Mayorkas  Yeah, that’s the ticket.

More Geoengineering: Salting the Oceans to Defeat the Carbon Monster

Dutch Protesters Pour Manure On Government Offices Over Industry-Killing Regulations

“No More Excuses”: Aussie Academics Demand Global Paris Agreement Compliance

Kinzinger calls Cheney primary challengers ‘a bunch of armpit farters’ (The Hill) Taking a dump on his way out.

Cheney says January 6 committee could make multiple criminal referrals, including of Trump (CNN) Could but won’t.

Why Colorado’s Democratic secretary of state won’t stop warning about ‘insider threats’ (NBC)

Jan. 6 panel member ‘surprised’ by prosecutors’ reaction to Hutchinson testimony (The Hill)

What we know about the Patriot Front march through Boston (Axios) More accurately, what we want you to believe.

We can no longer avoid a criminal investigation into Donald Trump (Washington Post) Well, I guess we’ll see.

Homeland Security chief: ‘We are in a heightened threat environment’ (Politico)

Gavin Newsom goes on the air against Ron DeSantis as political rivalry grows (CNN)

Appeals court rejects Whole Foods workers’ discrimination claim over dress code crackdown during BLM protests

Fox and friends confront billion-dollar US lawsuits over election fraud claims (The Guardian)

Jeh Johnson: Jan. 6 hearings have ‘been a profile in courage among women’ (The Hill)

Kinzinger says more witnesses have come forward after Hutchinson testimony (The Hill)

Washington Posts columnists slam a New York Times op-ed that criticizing the ‘far left’ for erasing women

George Conway On CNN: Trump Guilty Like . . . O.J. Simpson?!

Read it.

If you want to keep up with the news about Ilhan Omar, the Daily Mail has been a good place to turn over the past several years. Minneapolis’s Star Tribune — not so much.

Today the Daily Mail’s US homepage features the story we reported yesterday morning: “‘Get the f*** out of here’: Squad member Ilhan Omar is booed by 10,000-strong Somali music festival crowd in her OWN district – days after she suggested Minnesota is worse than a refugee camp.” For some reason or other, the Star Tribune hasn’t gotten around to it yet.

One of my Somali friends happened to be in a good position to update the story. My friend has forwarded the photo below snapped at MSP airport last night. It captures Omar leaving town with husband Tim Mynett for London. My friend comments: “She’s out of the USA for the 4th! She didn’t miss Pride or Somali week but for the 4th she’s gone.”

Read it.

Only an idiot would sell the same product to everyone at the same price.

…

A reader writes to remind me about IN-N-OUT burger, a chain that is popular on the West Coast.  They have a simplified menu, fast service, and fixed low prices.  Sort of the model McDonald’s had back in the 1960’s.  Sadly, the lady who owns the place is not only anti-gay but an anti-vaxxer as well.  She makes Chik-Fil-A look progressive.  Then again, most successful major corporations are run by heartless conservatives.  The companies run by bleeding-heart liberals all went out of business.

Read it.

The Southwest Chief made an unexpected stop near Mendon, of all places.

The Chief was traveling 87 mph, bound for Chicago. There were more people aboard than there are living within Mendon’s city limits.

Up ahead a dump truck was on the tracks. The truck was obstructing the crossing of County Road 113. This was not a small truck. This was a vehicle about the size of a Sonic Drive-In.

The train never slowed.

The sound of the collision could be heard from as far away as Westville. It was the noise of two General Electric diesel locomotives and seven Superliner cars plowing into a mass of Dearborn steel. The train was derailed.

Who takes the train any more?

Read it.

Read it.

Hunter Biden was lying from the moment he met his future wife, Kathleen Buhle, in 1992. The less-favored son of Joe Biden, then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, insisted he came from a normal middle-class background. During her first visit to the sprawling Biden estate in Delaware, Kathleen explained to Hunter that “a kid from a middle-class family does not have a ballroom.”

The only member of Buhle’s family who saw any red flags was Grandpa Dutch, who served prison time for armed robbery. “What does he want from us?” he wondered after meeting Hunter. His first impression of the Biden estate: “Who’s buried here?” Game recognize game, as the saying goes.

Read it.

Joe Biden is celebrating July 4th with a massive expansion of the IRS. How better to celebrate the colonists who chased British tax collectors out than by replacing them with Biden’s tax collectors.

Read it.

Yesterday a couple of female culture-enrichers in Norway took exception to the burning of a Koran by a Counterjihad organization, and attacked a vehicle carrying members of the group, causing it to overturn.

Freedom of speech is not a Muslim value.

Read it.

It’s pretty clear that the left is organizing to dump Joe Biden when it becomes evident that he’s a certain loser in 2024. Rather that waiting for a Ted Kennedy-like figure to challenge him in the 2024 primaries, which would likely doom Democrats to certain defeat, the left will need to push him out early, and clear the calendar for one or more Democrats to organize a serious presidential campaign. (It goes without saying the Democratic Party intelligentsia knows that Kamala Harris is a hopeless candidate.)

Read it.

Germany, like other European countries, has boxed itself in with its response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Now the government is preparing its citizens and businesses for the cold and dark winter that lies ahead. Rather than revise national policies, it is recommending the acquisition of emergency generators to get through the coming blackouts. There’s no word on how people will be able to afford the inflated prices for fuel to run those generators.

Read it.

Over the past couple of days, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin has been giving a preview of how journalists and other liberals are going to keep trying to blame gerrymandering for Republican power no matter what the facts are.

What a wanker.

As he fearmongered about the possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court will rule that state legislatures can overrule the popular vote and the courts by choosing their electors for presidential elections, he incorrectly claimed that state legislatures in Arizona and Pennsylvania have been heavily gerrymandered, making the bodies very right wing.

Read it.

Within an hour of the US Supreme Court striking down a law which required New York residents to show “proper cause” to obtain a concealed carry license, Governor Kathy Hochul (D) promised legislation to counter the ruling.

To that end, Hochul on Friday signed sweeping gun legislation into law that adds several layers of red tape for those who wish to obtain a gun in the state – including a new rule requiring anyone applying for a concealed carry permit to submit a three-year history of their current and inactive social media accounts. The new law will take effect on September 1, 2022.

Applicants for concealed carry permits must also undergo 16 hours of firearm training, provide four character references, and list the contact information for domestic partners or adults who reside in the same house.

You may not love Big Sister, but Big Sister sure loves you.

Read it.

It isn’t just the U.S.: around the world “green” fanatics are destroying livelihoods and dragging down standards of living. This instance comes from the Netherlands: “Dutch farmers protest livestock cuts to curb nitrogen.”

Read it.

The New York Post continues to mine the contents of Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop. Via Miranda Devine’s Twitter feed we are alerted to Jon Levine’s story “Hunter Biden’s laptop had contacts for Google execs, US officials for China policy.” I would have missed it otherwise and want to bring it to the attention of interested readers. It is an excellent story.

As BA.4 and BA.5 COVID-19 Subvariants Spread, Will CDC Change Quarantine Guidance? (NBC)

Can You Get COVID Twice? New Omicron Subvariants May Lead to More Reinfections: Top Doc (NBC)

CDC recommends 6 Washington counties should wear masks again

Supreme Court lets vaccine mandate stand, tosses rulings on guns, abortion (Washington Post)

WHO: Monkeypox not a serious threat at the moment

An Actuarial Armageddon

The FDA is Increasing Skin Cancer

SF couple gets $1,500 fine for parking in their driveway despite doing so for nearly 40 years

With Roe overturned, Democrats present a patchwork of countermeasures (Washington P0st)

Prepare to pay more for gas in California starting today as tax increases (L.A. Times) ‘Gas prices are too high? Increase taxes!’

Left renounces Independence Day on Twitter: ‘Burn this country to the godd— ground’

California Gives Free Healthcare To Illegal Immigrants

NY Times Hates Court’s EPA Ruling: Can USA Be a ‘Civilized Society’ Without Regulations?

Leaked Documents Reveal Wide Scope Of China’s Human Rights Violations In Xinjiang  But nobody who can actually help actually cares.

Melissa Harris-Perry Compares Dobbs Case to Dred Scott on NPR Stations

Aussie ‘Ambassador for Women’ claims ‘climate change’ causes rape! ‘Exacerbates the risks of sexual & gender-based violence’

DOJ subpoenas two Arizona state senators for communications with Trump attorneys: reports (The Hill)

In Florida, DeSantis’s plans for colleges rattle some academics (Washington Post) My, what a surprise.

Florida’s ‘don’t say gay’ law may sound vague – but its purpose is clear (The Guardian) Also clear in the proglodyte lie that it means ‘don’t say gay’.

Group wielding White nationalist flags march along Boston’s Freedom Trail on July 4 weekend (CNN)

The Women Who Leave Anti-Abortion Picket Lines to Get Abortions (Daily Beast) One woman is now ‘women’ and apparently invalidates an entire movement. Who knew?

Jan. 6 showed two identities of Secret Service: Gutsy heroes vs. Trump yes-men (Washington Post)

Merrick Garland’s Ex-Law Professor Says Trump Will Likely Be Indicted (CNN)  Tribe has been obviously senile for a number of years.

David Brooks: Why on Earth is Pelosi supporting the crazy Trumpists? (Salt Lake Tribune)

Election deniers have taken their fraud theories on tour — to nearly every state (NPR)

Meghan McCain Mulling Run for Office—’This Fever of MAGA Has to Break’ (Newsweek)

‘I was the propagandist for the Oath Keepers’

January 6 committee’s Kinzinger: Secret Service agent who may dispute Hutchinson claim ‘likes to lie’

Pro-abortion protesters target Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s home Which is illegal, but the DOJ and DC police do nothing about it.

MSNBC’s Cross: Pro-Life is ‘Dancing With the Devil,’ Pro-Abortion is ‘Dancing With the Lord’

Crime blotter: iPhones seized from two lawyers associated with January 6 probe

ABC’s This Week Rails Against Supreme Court as ‘a Malignant Force’

Can we beat climate change by geoengineering the oceans? (New Scientist)

Biden EPA proposes regulation that farmers warn will drive food prices higher

Equilibrium/Sustainability — Wildfires and mass extinction events (The Hill)

Wildfires may have sparked Earth’s largest mass extinction event, new research reveals (Daily Mail)

How the climate crisis is forever changing our national parks (CNN)

The U.S. is ditching coal. The Supreme Court ruling won’t change that. (Washington Post) So then why all the hubub?

Antarctic fish growing grotesque skin tumors thanks to climate change is resulting in a disease outbreak among the creatures, study shows (Daily Mail)

RI commits to 100% renewable energy by 2033

Fossil fuels are far better than blackouts (The Hill)

Lowy Institute: Climate Concern “Plateauing” in Australia

British Greens Pushing for a Home Wood Heater Ban

This super-tree could help feed the world and fight climate change Or maybe not.

Blasts kill 3 in Russian border city, Ukraine hits base in the south (Reuters)

Deep in the eastern Ukrainian forest, this group of volunteers waits as Russia’s military creeps closer (CNN)

Russia Asserts Full Control Over Luhansk Region With Fall Of Lysychansk

Kremlin Says 4 Dead After “Deliberate” Ukrainian Missile Attack On Russian Border City

US Funding Software For Russians To Access Banned Websites

The Supreme Court’s originalism is white supremacy (NBC)

Impeach Clarence Thomas Petition Hits 700k Signatures Week Since Roe Ruling (Newsweek) He’s just Not Black Enough.

2 teens killed during shooting at pool party in north Harris County identified, deputies say

New Topics Expanding the Frontiers of Social Science

Read it.

USING carrots to create concrete, turning wood into plastic, or even compressing it into a “super wood” that is as light and strong as titanium might sound like a series of almost Frankensteinish experiments. Yet all three are among the latest examples of employing natural fibres from plants as eco-friendly additives or alternatives to man-made materials.

Read it.

Los Angeles and Mumbai, India, share many superlatives as pinnacles of cinema, fashion, and traffic congestion. But another similarity lurks in the shadows, most often seen at night walking silently on four paws.

These metropolises are the world’s only megacities of 10 million-plus where large felines—mountain lions in one, leopards in the other—thrive by breeding, hunting and maintaining territory within urban boundaries.

Long-term studies in both cities have examined how the big cats prowl through their urban jungles, and how people can best live alongside them—lessons that may be applicable to more places in coming decades.

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What is the point of university? It used to be, when Harvard was founded in 1636, “to advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity”. But in recent years the university has taken on an altogether narrower character. Learning is no longer enough. Activism is demanded. Yale and Harvard have come to resemble the mythical Ouroboros, eating their own tails to satisfy an insatiable appetite for conformity.

…

Take the case of Roland Fryer. A hugely gifted and until recently celebrated black professor of economics at Harvard, he was suspended for two years without pay following the most tenuous sexual harassment claims. Many suspect the real reason for his humiliating treatment was his research showing that African Americans are not disproportionately the targets of lethal violence by the police. There were, Fryer wrote, “no racial differences in either the raw data or when contextual factors are taken into account”.

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In southeast Asia, the Philippines has ordered more warships from South Korea. This time it is six OPVs (Offshore Patrol Vessels). This came after a competition involving proposals from Australia, Turkey and several other nations. The South Korean entry was the export version of the new HDP-1500 OPV. The export version is customizable but the basic features are an 81 meter (260 foot), 1,700-ton ship with a top speed of 38 kilometers an hour and endurance of 28 days. There are accommodations for 51 personnel, including the 41 crew. Standard armament consists of a 76mm cannon and four CIWS (Close In Weapons Systems) for missile defense and other threats within a few thousand meters of the ship. There is a landing pad and hangar for a helicopter. Under the helipad there is space for additional weapons or equipment in four cargo spaces. The HDP-1500 can be equipped with anti-ship missiles or to hunt and attack submarines as well for mine-clearing. The Philippines needs the OPVs to patrol the South China Sea waters that China is seeking to steal from the Philippines.

The HDP-1500 is a very clean-looking design and shows a lot of good thought.

You want inflation? I got yer inflation, right here.

Read it.