Lightfoot’s security detail dramatically reduced (Chicago Sun-Times)

Brandon Johnson’s first City Council meeting likely to be tamer than Lightfoot’s debut, observers say (Chicago Sun-Times) For one thing, he doesn’t look like a zombie.

Top Lightfoot aide rips move to dump him from the McPier board — but he says he might quit if Johnson asks (Crain’s Chicago Business)

Joy Behar: Tim Scott, Clarence Thomas Clueless on Being Black in America  It takes an ugly white woman to lecture black guys on How To Be Black In America.

NYC college professor who threatened Post reporter with machete is fired as her lawsuit against NYPD emerges (N.Y. Post)

Wanda Sykes on Her New Netflix Special, Dave Chappelle and Being a ‘Woke Comic’: ‘They Say That Like It’s an Insult’ (Variety)

The Leftists Loathe Tim Scott’s Racial Optimism

NAACP’s Florida Travel Ban ‘Pure Partisan Activism’

The Soros Activist at the Heart of California’s $800 Billion Slave Reparations

How Much Media Coverage Will There be of the Third Anniversary of George Floyd’s Death?

U. of Minn. Removes Race Requirement on $6K Internship

WATCH: Liberal Media Can’t Stop Talking About Tim Scott’s Race  Hey, race is all they’ve got.

How the technology behind ChatGPT could make mind-reading a reality (CNN)

Here’s how AI is being used to unlock secrets still hidden in the human brain (Fox)

How AI is learning to read the human mind (UK Telegraph)

Commentary: MRI scans and AI could read what we’re thinking. The implications are terrifying (Channel News Asia)

‘I Don’t Want Any Other Parent to Live Nightmare That I Am Living,’ Woman Tells House Panel of Daughter, 20, Killed by Illegal Alien

Top 10 Companies That Ignore First Amendment Rights

Musk Signals Twitter’s HQ May Leave in San Francisco

NY Governor Tells Local Leaders Not To Be So ‘Bigoted,’ Let Migrants in

European-Level Taxes Coming to America If US Keeps Up Unsustainable Spending (The Foundry)

Target Stock Sinks Nearly 10 Percent Amid Pride Backlash

Nebraska Enacts Bill Protecting Minors From Gender Transitions, Unborn After 12 Weeks

Texas Set to Give Boot to Leftist DEI Offices at Public College Campuses

Montana 1st to Ban People in Drag From Reading to Kids in Schools, Libraries

Chicago Carnival Invaded By “Flash Mob” Of Over 400 Teenagers

Parents Sue Elite Schools For ‘Indoctrinating’ Their Kids With DEI ‘Bait And Switch’

University Of California Moves Toward Hiring Illegal Immigrants In Violation Of Federal Law

Senate Finance Committee Dems Said They’d Fight Dark Money. They Just Fawned Over a Liberal Dark Money Operative.

Target removes some Pride Month products after facing threats (Washington Post)

Watch: Hillary Is Still Whining About Losing 2016 Election

PolitiFact Goes To Bat For Gender Ideology: ‘Gender Is Different’

GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna seeks $16 million fine against Adam Schiff for ‘lies’ about Trump-Russia collusion

Seeking asylum and work, migrants bused out of NYC find hostility (Associated Press) That’s what happens when people break the law, especially people named Mohammed.

LGBT Pride ‘Youth Carnival’ Bars Parents From Attending

LA’s Soros-Backed DA Sitting on 10,000 Cases

Ethics Committee Ends Swalwell Probe: No Action Taken The Crust take care of their own.

Roberts says Supreme Court will address ethics issues (Washington Post)

Roberts: Supreme Court seeks to assure public on justices’ ethics (Politico)

Chief Justice John Roberts seeks to assure the public about the Supreme Court’s ethics (CNN)

Harlan Crow Rebuffs Senate Democrats’ Questions About Gifts To Clarence Thomas (Huffington Post)

Illinois GOP Sen. Threatens Violence Over Bathroom Bill (NewsMax) Well, actually, no, he didn’t.

April Ryan, KJP Team Up to Trash DeSantis Using Far-Left NAACP’s ‘Travel Advisory’

She stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. Then Gov. Ron DeSantis made her a state regulator (USA Today)

Busted: Ron DeSantis appointee breached Capitol on Jan. 6 (Raw Story) So what?

Elon Musk’s right-wing media venture scores another big win (Washington Post) Philip Bump expands his Republican-bashing.

Twitter Is a Far-Right Social Network (The Atlantic) I’ll bet you didn’t know that.

Why Republicans want to repeal Biden’s student debt relief now (Politico) Did you know that writers for Politico can read minds? Minds of people they hate? Isn’t that amazing?

Trans activists shut down controversial book launch, sparking free speech debate (Jerusalem Post)

MAGA Media Runs Wild With BS Claim of ‘Tuck-Friendly’ Target Kidswear (Daily Beast)

Male GOP Senators Ignore Women, Vote for Abortion Ban in South Carolina (Daily Beast)

House Republicans Pretty Much Admit They Are Taking Debt Limit ‘Hostage’ (Huffington Post) No, they don’t–except in the fever dreams of the Narrative media.

Reid: GOP Saving Women’s Sports is Transphobia Disguised As Feminism

Franklin Graham warns of data, bank cancellations of Christian ministries (Washington Times)

GOP unites in brinkmanship over default, rejecting Biden compromises (Washington Post) In the Narrative media, ‘brinksmanship’ means ‘failing to roll over for the Democrats’. For Democrats, ‘compromise’ means ‘do it my way’.

How conservative activists worked to kill an effort to protect Florida election workers from harassment (CNN) In prog-speak, ‘protect Florida workers from harassment’ means ‘protect Forida Democrat election workers from adult supervision’.

Trump’s worst judge will hear a $1.8 billion attack on Planned Parenthood (Vox)

The Atlantic Claims Twitter Is Now A ‘Far Right Social Network’  Certainly, compared to The Atlantic.

Newsom knocks Target CEO for pulling LGBTQ merchandise from stores (The Hill)

Republican debt ceiling plans could see most vulnerable Americans lose aid (The Guardian)

Clarence Thomas should resign from the supreme court, for the good of the court (The Guardian) I’m sure he’ll get right on that.

Conservative Americans Are Participating in Democracy, AP Warns

MSNBC Dubs DeSantis ‘The Face of The Erosion of Those Freedoms’

Whoopi Goldberg Calls Out Right-Wing ‘Snowflakes’ for Target Pride Merch Outrage (Daily Beast) Yeah, we’re all really intimidated by the opinions of fat ugly black shrews.

Clarence Thomas’s image takes a hit (Washington Post) Only in the minds of the Narrative media, and they all hated him already.

The next pandemic ‘even deadlier’ than COVID is coming, warns WHO (N.Y. Post) So I guess we’d better PANIC!

Rich nations must do more to fight pandemics -WHO draft treaty (Reuters)

Prepare for next pandemic, future pathogens with “even deadlier potential” than COVID, WHO chief warns (CBS News) And don’t forget to PANIC!

WHO Warns Of Next Pandemic, “With Even Deadlier Potential” (NDTV) So now’s the time to PANIC!

Dems think twice about clawing back COVID-19 funds for debt limit (Axios) Give money back? That’s not what government is about!

COVID Vaccine-Injured Sue Biden Administration Over Censorship

Biden Admin Demanded Big Tech Censor Vaccine Injury Horror Stories: Lawsuit

The Spectator.

Was Elon Musk antisemitic when he compared George Soros to Magneto, the Jewish Marvel Comics supervillain? Whatever one’s view on this question, Musk’s comments may be taken as a pointed marker of a time in which life and art are increasingly indistinguishable.

Musk claimed in a tweet to his 140 million followers that Soros is akin to the X-Men anti-hero Magneto, of comic book and movie fame. Like Magneto, Musk said, Soros “hates humanity” and “wants to erode the very fabric of civilization.”

Not flattering, but the claim that it’s antisemitic, because the atheist billionaire Soros, aged ninety, is ethnically Jewish, bears interrogation.

The Foundry.

What can America learn from Israel? David Rubin, former mayor of Shilo, the modern settlement close to the ancient site of Israel’s Tabernacle Tel Shiloh, survived a Palestinian terror attack and urges the U.S. to take seriously the axis between radical Islam and the American Left.

Speaking to The Daily Signal at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Orlando on Monday, he outlined attacks “from those on one hand who want to make the world secular, the hardcore leftists that you saw rioting during the George Floyd riots, and at the same time, you have it coming from the other side, from the Islamic radicals who want to bring down both of our houses, the Jews and the Christians.”

“They want to bring down both of our houses,” he reiterated, “and that’s why it’s important for us to be standing together in these times.”

Nebraska governor signs bill that bans most abortions at 12 weeks, gender-affirming care for those under 19 (CNN)

AP Warns of ‘Far Right’ in Red States, But Touts ‘Drag Laureates’ in San Francisco

Fla. Sued for Halt to Chinese Citizens Owning Homes, Land

Susan Rice Meets With Activist Lawyer Who Stoked Online Mob Against Pregnant Nurse

DeSantis’s $13.5m police program lures officers with violent records to Florida (The Guardian)

Tucker Insider: Carlson was Fired from Fox Due to Dominion Suit

House GOP Members Rip Texas VA Clinic for ‘Cross’ Removal

North Carolina’s Democrat Governor Declares Emergency Over School Choice ‘Scheme’

GOP donor denies influence over Clarence Thomas, despite lavish gifts (Washington Post) I guess Clarence Thomas isn’t allowed to have any rich friends.

You Cannot Hear These 13 Women’s Stories and Believe the Anti-Abortion Narrative (N.Y. Times) Michelle Goldberg loses her shit.

In Florida, reproductive care nightmares become tragically common (MSNBC) Note that this complaint doesn’t mention the tragedy of unborn babies being murdered.

Republican witness faces questions over whether he lied under oath to key panel (The Guardian)

Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign could be brief (Washington Post)

Dodgers apologize and invite Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to Pride Night (L.A. Times)

Free Advice for Ron DeSantis: Don’t Run for President (Daily Beast)

Santos Sent GOP Allies ‘Thank You’ Notes After Expulsion Vote Failed: Report (Daily Beast)

U.S. lawmakers OK’d more pro-gun bills than safety measures since Uvalde (Axios) Note the obvious assumption that ‘pro-gun bill’ and ‘safety measure’ are opposites.

Abortion bans drive off doctors and close clinics, putting other health care at risk (NPR) Abortion doctors are there for the money; they don’t practice general medicine. This is like saying that closing extermination camps would reduce availability of police protection.

Here’s How Bad CNN’s Post-Trump Town Hall Ratings Have Been (Daily Beast) Hey, Annhauser-Busch thought Dylan Mulvaney was a good idea, too.

Trump Organization finishes last in brand reputation survey for second straight year (The Hill) That’s like saying that witches have a bad reputation.

Democrats sue W.Va. Gov. Justice over refusal to disclose work schedule (Washington Post)

How DeSantis and other GOP lawmakers are killing LGBTQ young people (Robert Reich) The deranged ravings of a Clinton-era proglodyte. Why anybody pays attention to these derelicts is beyond me. (Next up: Carl “Worse Than Watergage” Bernstein….)

How Vivek Ramaswamy helped make Martin Shkreli the ‘pharma bro’ (Politico) Vivek must be getting some traction if the Usual Suspects feel the need to witch-hunt him.

DeSantis Sued Over Ban on Drag Shows

Republican John Kennedy: southern plain-talk or Foghorn Leghorn shtick? (The Guardian) Not a trace of journalism here, just pure smear. Scraaaaaaape that barrel….

Why Don’t Americans Recognize that Inflation is Down and Incomes Are Up? (Washington Monthly) Maybe because they look at their monthly bills and refuse to buy what the Usual Suspects are selling?

Trump’s Truth Social Sues Washington Post For Over $3 Billion  Two can play at this sue-their-pants-off game.

Casey DeSantis Is ‘Lady MacBeth.’ Jill Biden Is a Doctor. Got It?

Teachers’ Union ‘Triggered’ After Republican Lawmaker Brings Educators Donuts

VINDICATION: Alan Dershowitz Defends Musk’s Criticism of George Soros

CBS’s Gayle King Fears for Her Sisters Because of NAACP Travel Advisory for Florida  These people spend too much time breathing their own exhaust.

Republican Debt Ceiling Lies (The American Prospect) Bias? What bias?

Southern Poverty Law Center Classifies Everyone Not Currently Wearing A Pride Shirt As A Hate Group  (Babylon Bee)

Republicans Are Trying to Seize Control Over Voting In Texas’ Largest Democratic County (Mother Jones) Of course they are, because otherwise Democrats try to steal the election, as they have been doing since LBJ in 1960.

Gulfport Trans Girl Misses Graduation After Refusing To Dress As Boy

The NAACP Says Florida Isn’t Safe for Black People. Data Tell a Different Story.

NAACP, the Embodiment of Inept Hypocrisy

TikTok criminals off our streets

The Myth of White Supremacy

CNN Condemns Scott For Opposing ‘Civil Rights Laws,’ DEI  I guess he’s Just Not Black Enough.

NYC college professor cursed out anti-abortion students tabling at school (N.Y. Post)

WATCH: NAACP President Confronted With Data Contradicting Florida ‘Travel Advisory’ for Blacks

TikToker Who Filmed Himself Committing Crimes For Clout Says Outrage Is Only Because He’s A “Black Male”  Sure–if he were a white male, everybody would be fine with it? These people actually believe this shit.

To Diversify Their Audience, NPR Hosts Race Hustling Monday

A Black professor has long said what the IRS now admits: The tax system is biased (NBC News) The IRS admitted no such thing.

Stacey Abrams: Mississippi Is Ripe for Liberal Transformation  No doubt led by fat ugly black women like her.

Ga. Dem: Immigrants Prioritized Over Black Communities

Tim Scott’s Vision for America Isn’t for Black People (Daily Beast) I guess he’s Just Not Black Enough.

Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra girlbosses against historical fact

Unhinged NYC college professor who cursed out anti-abortion students holds machete to Post reporter’s neck (N.Y. Post) Must be another one of those Quaint Indigenous Customs.

Largest US Gay Rights Group Issues Fla. Travel Advisory  Can’t let black people get ahead of us in Victim Points.

Biden’s Message to Black College Graduates: You’re Victims, Not Leaders  Can’t say he’s wrong.

California Grants Lakers Reparations Of 10 Extra Points After Playoff Loss  (Babylon Bee)

“Show Me Where I Got My Science Wrong!”: Pres Hopeful RFK Jr. Debates Krystal Ball Over Vaccines

Rep. Cohen: Biden will likely have to use 14th Amendment to raise debt ceiling (NBC News) Which would be unconstitutional.

Here’s how Biden can avoid default and a constitutional crisis (The Hill)

Second Hunter Biden IRS whistleblower emerges after dismissal despite five years on case (N.Y. Post)

Expert says case is ‘going nowhere’ as IRS whistleblower in Hunter Biden case is removed (CBS)

Here are the whistleblowers scorching the Biden administration on Hunter probe, IRS, FBI (Fox)

“Everything’s On The Table”: Jim Jordan Threatens To Cut FBI Funding, Open Clinton Probe

‘Playing Hide the Ball’: Hunter Biden’s Mistress Asks Court To Jail Him Over Failure To Provide Financial Disclosures

Biden’s Border Chaos Is Neither an Accident, Nor Incompetence. It’s Intentional. (The Foundry)

Biden Admin Says School District Can’t Remove Sexually Explicit Books Because It Violates Students’ Civil Rights

Former Deputy Nat’l Security Adviser: FBI, CIA & DOJ Will Rig 2024 Election

Biden again claimed son Beau died ‘in Iraq’ to Marines at Japan stop (N.Y. Post) In fact, Beau died of brain cancer at Walter Reed Hospital in Maryland.

America’s Missile Defense System Is in Tatters, Government Report Finds

The Student-Loan Payment Pause Led Borrowers to Take on More Debt  Yeah, that worked out great.

Hillary Clinton: Biden’s Age ‘Is an Issue’

GOP extortion has backed Biden into a corner. He still has a way out. (Washington Post)

Lawyers: Another IRS Agent Alarmed by Hunter Biden Case

Let’s Play a Game: Fun with Hunter Headlines!

New York Democrats Urge Biden To Fast-Track Illegal Alien Work Permits

Oil giant Shell braces for shareholder revolt over climate plans after record profits (CNBC)

University investment funds urge ‘bold action’ to stop new fossil fuel projects (The Guardian)

Public being ripped off by ‘pitiful’ Shell tax contribution, say campaigners (Barrhead News)

Carbon Markets Heating Up: How to Invest (NASDAQ)

Majority of United States Faces ‘Elevated Risk’ of Summer Power Blackouts Amid Green Energy Push

House GOP Condemns Kerry’s Anti-Agriculture Remarks

How a temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius impacts billions

Panama Canal Hit By Shipping Restrictions As Water Crisis Set To Worsen

The True Cost Of Energy Generated From Wind Turbines

Here Come the Blackouts

Europe can achieve Net Zero by demolishing historic buildings and starting again, Central Bank claims

Waste coffee husk turned into a wonder material key to mitigating climate change

The little-known unintended consequence of recycling plastics (Washington Post)

Another Day, Another Priceless Artifact Wrecked by Climate Fanatics

Supreme Court saves California’s bacon with this ruling (Fox)

Whitmer signs red flag law allowing temporary removal of guns from those deemed dangerous (Detroit Free Press)

Anheuser-Busch to Buy Back Unsold, Expired Bud Light

Anheuser-Busch Loses Highest LGBTQ+ Equality Rating

Teens Throw Prom for Transgender Youth

‘Psst! Hey Kid, Wanna Change Your Gender?’ Says Target Dog Emerging From Clothes Rack (Babylon Bee)

Ed Dept.: Book Removals May Have Violated Student’s Rights

Lawmakers Want Answers On NIH Trans Kids Study That Led To Two Suicides

Texas Passes Law to Ban DEI at State Universities

Michigan State professor forces students to fund personal political group

NYC’s Migrant Welcome Center Filled to Capacity  Just think of what it’s like in Texas.

CBS Gives 2+ Minutes to Fake Travel Warning, Only 40 Sec to Tim Scott

Infanticide: The Next Logical step?

7 news outlets reimagining political journalism in smart ways (Washington Post) All of them pushing the Narrative.

There’s no hypocrisy in treating Dianne Feinstein and John Fetterman differently (MSNBC) The fact that they have to say that in print is damning.

The looming existential crisis for cable news (Washington Post)

Stolen Valor? NBC Takes Credit for Scoop Reported by NewsNation…ONE Month Ago

Do Americans really want “unbiased” news? (Vox) The Narrative media would like you to think that they do not.

Gov. Kathy Hochul urges suburban county executives to reject “bigoted policies,” welcome asylum seekers (CBS News) Good luck with that.

Dem Governor Declares State of Emergency Over Republicans’ School Choice Plan

CNN needs a new chief. Here’s the ideal candidate. (Washington Post) Of course! An openly biased reporter with no executive experience is the ideal pick! Thank you, Jennifer Rubin!

DISD parents concerned about ‘run, hide, fight’ Winnie-the-Pooh book

Google Doodle Celebrates First Indigenous Transgender Water-Skier With No Legs (Babylon Bee)

AI scanner used in hundreds of US schools misses knives

Target holds ’emergency’ meeting over LGBTQ merchandise in some stores to avoid ‘Bud Light situation’ (Fox) Good luck with that. I, for one, will never cross the threshold of a Target again.

Sanctuary City Bummed Now That It Has To Do The Actual ‘Sanctuary’ Part  (Babylon Bee)

‘Blood in the water for DeSantis’: Trump world embraces Tim Scott’s candidacy (Politico) Scott Adams likes him for Vice President.

E. Jean Carroll seeks fresh damages from Trump after CNN town hall (Axios)

DeSantis hits Trump over ‘Warp Speed’ COVID-19 vaccine mandates (N.Y. Post)

Trump warned Ron DeSantis not to run. Now, he plans to keep hammering away. (NBC News)

Trump’s attorney took notes that say the former president wanted to fight subpoena for classified docs (CNN)

Trump faces $10 million defamation claim by E. Jean Carroll after CNN town hall remarks (CNBC)

Prosecutors Sought Records on Trump’s Foreign Business Deals Since 2017 (N.Y. Times)

Trump to appear remotely in N.Y. criminal court to hear judge’s warnings (Washington Post) Try to figure out why a court would be ‘warning’ Trump not to share evidence revealed to his lawyers by the prosecution. What are they trying to hide?

AG Merrick Garland Needs to Get Out of the Business of Defending Trump (Daily Beast) I’ll bet you didn’t know that AG Merrick Garland was in the business of defending Trump. Thank God we’ve got the Daily Beast on top of this stuff for us.

Judge sets 2024 date for Trump’s criminal trial in Stormy Daniels case (ABC News) Of  course it has to be as close to the election as possible.

Washington Free Beacon.

It goes without saying: The mainstream media is run by liberal activists. This ideological bias manifests itself in several ways, including the words journalists are allowed to use when discussing controversial issues.

For example, the New York Times might publish an article about how “a group of anti-fascist uterus-bearing individuals deployed Molotov cocktails to peacefully express their grievances over Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, which critics say could prevent access to gender-affirming care and reproductive freedom for undocumented Latinx immigrants, substance-affected unhoused citizens with prior justice system involvement, and full-figured sex entrepreneurs.”

The story would read a lot differently if it wasn’t written, edited, and published by liberal activists and members of the cultural elite who are constantly trying to impose their “correct” opinions on the general public. The woke words and phrases used in media reports would make a lot more sense to the average American if these people weren’t in charge—if journalists were forced to abide by the Washington Free Beacon Alternative Style Guide for Reporting on Issues of Controversy (ASGRIC).

Sarah Hoyt.

Phantom — in comments, recently — mention at the basis of all the leftist policies is the idea of overpopulation: the Malthusian hot mess that believes humans, like some kind of fungus will reproduce till the Earth can’t support them.

I’d never realized that. It is true sort of, though it’s perhaps based on an even crazier premise which in turn is at the very heart of not just socialism/communism but the idea that anyone gets to arrange all of human life from the top down, to spare individuals’ making wrong decisions. Which is, objectively, an idea so crazy that you can’t figure out how any human alive can think it.

And yet, if your theories tell you that humans are too stupid to stop reproducing when they’re starving, then any level of intervention is justified, because, OBVIOUSLY humans are brainless.

Except for the Ruling Class, of course.

The American Mind.

Many policy experts, politicians, and everyday citizens have long been concerned with the breakdown of the family as a result of divorce or separation. But the lack of family formation in the first place is now an even more pressing problem. Birthrates have been falling around the world, a complex phenomenon with many contributing factors. Women are not finding partners in time to become mothers (though the vast majority want children), and young men are disproportionately single.

Sociologist Andrew J. Cherlin has observed that marriage—to the extent it is desired at all—is now viewed as a “capstone” rather than a “cornerstone” of life. That is to say, marriage is no longer considered the foundation of adult life but a kind of feather in the cap of a successful person. We have lost a shared understanding of the human person, of how familial and civic responsibility provide meaning, and what encompasses a life well-lived (as evidenced by this recent Wall Street Journal-NORC poll). These shifts in beliefs have affected marriage rates. But technologies like the smart phone, social media, and online dating have exacerbated the family formation crisis for the youngest generations.

Think of it as evolution in action. The only women who will have children are those who put family ahead of career, and thus the Power Feminists will slowly get weeded out of the gene pool. Natural Selection works even when you don’t want it to.

John Hinderaker at Power Line.

At the G7 meeting in Japan, Joe Biden went on a riff that seems to be about our federal budget. See if you can figure out what he is trying to say….

The Spectator.

Ah, Seattle, that environmentally obsessed city where all is decorous, the sidewalks immaculately swept, the parks rigorously trimmed, proverbial for its shimmering lakes and charming rows of variegated tents housing those of no fixed abode — and recently, too, for a municipal government with much the same level of restraint as a bus being driven downhill by the Marx Brothers.

Readers may be familiar with the strange phenomenon of a civic treasury that marries heady rhetoric about its prudent stewardship of public money with a cynical disregard for the suckers who actually foot the bills. Surely our bureaucrats know no greater pleasure than when it is given to them, as the poet has it, to scatter plenty o’er a smiling land and read their fortune in the people’s eyes, or, failing that, to drop a million or two without any recourse from the hapless taxpayer.

Our story begins in June 2020, that era of social distancing mandates and mass race protests on American city streets, when the almost heroically inept mayor of Seattle, one Jenny Durkan, informed CNN: “We’ve got four blocks here that [are] like a party atmosphere. It’s not an armed takeover… I don’t know how long it will last. We could have the Summer of Love.”

ZMan peers behind the curtain.

Since the late Middle Ages, political thought in the West has started with the assertion that the point of social organization was to reduce coercion. The ideal society is one in which everyone naturally played their role without being forced into it. The assumption is that forcing people into roles for which they are not suited, or they do not wish to perform is both unjust and dangerous. It is also more costly to compel people to obey the law than if they voluntarily abide by the law.

If the goal of your political model is to reduce coercion to the absolute minimum, then you ideally want a society that agrees on everything. After all, if everyone agrees that society must have gong farmers and some people are better suited for the task than others, then everyone is going to agree on having gong farmers. Even the guy chosen for the task will agree if it is explained to him. He may not like the task, but he will understand he is playing a vital role in his society.

Straight away you can see the problem for individualism and the natural rights crowd when it comes to organizing society. If we start from the assumption that we are all unique individuals in control of our own destiny, then we are free to not go along with being the town’s gong farmer. Even if all the facts point to that role being best for the person and his community, he is free to reject it because he is an autonomous person free to live his life as he sees fit.

Associated Press.

A divided federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld the constitutionality of a new admissions policy at an elite public high school in Virginia that critics say discriminates against highly qualified Asian Americans.

The 2-1 ruling from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond overturns a ruling last year from a federal judge who found that the Fairfax County School Board engaged in impermissible “racial balancing” when it overhauled the admissions policy at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.

The school frequently is cited among the best in the nation, and parents jockey and prepare for years to get their children admitted. But for decades Black and Hispanic students have been woefully under-represented, while Asian Americans made up more than 70% of the student body.

And, since we all know that Black and Hispanic students are just as smart as Asian students, this is obvious racism. The swine. (I guess Asian Is The New White. Good to know.)

Taking book on how long this schools reputation lasts once they start stocking up on students chosen for their skin color rather than smarts….

Gandalf The White Returns As Gandalf The Black Upon Hearing About $1 Million Reparations

Whoopi, Hostin: Tim Scott Has ‘Clarence Thomas Syndrome’ on Race in US

Ron DeSantis’s context-free history book vanished online. We got a copy. (Washington Post) In the Narrative media, ‘context-free’ means ‘doesn’t hate on white people’.

Dodgers fail miserably, crumble under pressure by disinviting Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (USA Today)

Uber’s Diversity Chief Put on Leave After Complaints of Insensitivity (N.Y. Times)

Civil Rights Groups to Tourists: Florida Laws ‘Openly Hostile’

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO Heckled During BU Commencement Speech

The campaign against the Supreme Court’s legitimacy

Uber Suspends Its Asian DEI Boss for Objecting to the “Karen” Ethnic Slur

NAACP Chief Aims to Get Rid of DeSantis ‘Once and for All’  Good luck with that.

Fla. GOP Official Offers Moving Costs for NAACP Chair

TV Journalists Cheer NAACP’s Absurd ‘Travel Advisory’ Dinging DeSantis

DeSantis wants to ‘make America Florida.’ That could mean many more uninsured (L.A. Times) But it certainly gives them a stick with which to attempt to beat DeSantis.

A US foreign policy for the middle class (Financial Times)

NYT op-ed mocked for dismissing border crisis as fearmongering tactic: ‘Reprehensible excuse for journalism’ (Fox)

ABC’s Raddatz Asks: Could GOP Let America Default on Its Debt? (Newsbusters) The qustion is, could Democrats?

Miami Mayor Suarez on Migrant Crisis: No Help From Federal Govt

Hunter Biden Faces Call For Key Business Associates In The Arkansas Proceedings

‘Let’s Take the Fight to Them’: Why This Legal Group Keeps Suing Biden Administration

Biden’s Refugee Numbers Paradox, and His Nation-Wrecking Welcome Corps, (John Derbyshire)

AP-NORC Poll: Biden Losing Ground on Key Issues

WH Prepares to Release National Antisemitism Strategy  I’ll bet you didn’t know that we needed a ‘national antisemitism strategy’. I suppose it goes alongside of our efforts to suppress ‘white supremacy’. Missing, however, is a national strategy to suppress socialism, of which there seems to be an even more urgent need.

FBI abused spy law but only like 280,000 times in a year  Well, that’s all right, then.

Sucharit Bhakdi & the prosecution of “thought crime”

Why was this massive Trump scandal hiding in plain sight for 28 months? (Philadelphia Inquirer) Will Bunch holds the Jennifer Rubin Chair at the Inquirer.

Why won’t conservatives ask Trump tough questions? (The Spectator) Maybe because they don’t have to? There are plenty of progs and RINOs queueing up to do that job.

The GOP Is in an Abusive Relationship with Trump (The Bulwark) The Bulwark is certainly in an abusive relationship with Trump, with them doing most of the abusing.

Why Trump Wants U.S. to Default on Debt (The Bulwark) Of course Trump doesn’t really want the U.S. to default on the debt; he wants Republicans to be willing to go that far in order to get concessions from Biden, rather than the usual go-to-the-brink-and-then-roll-over that Republicans have historically done. But any excuse will do for an invented smear by the left-adjacent Bulwark.

GOP Rep. James Comer Implies Biden Family Probe Is Really About Helping Trump In 2024 (Huffington Post) No he doesn’t–but I’m sure they’d like to believe that he does.

Can carbon removal become a trillion-dollar business? (The Economist)

Is it too late to halt deep-sea mining? Meet the activists trying to save the seabed (The Guardian)

DAVID BLACKMON: The EU Chief Just Let Slip the Dirty Secret Behind The ‘Green’ Transition

WATCH: Radical Climate Activists Vandalize Historic Rome Fountain

STUDY: AP Pushes Woke Terms Across 64 Climate Stories After $8M Grant from Leftist Orgs

These Simple Food Choices Can Drastically Reduce Your Environmental Impact  (LifeHacker)

Biden Announces More Aid for Ukraine as Group of 7 Powers Meet in Japan (N.Y. Times)

Russia-China, Will Talk Security Monday

Biden: Zelenskyy Promises Not to Use F-16s in Russia  And if you believe that one, he’ll tell you another one.

Weapons contractors hitting Department of Defense with inflated prices for planes, submarines, missiles (CBS News)

As hold on Bakhmut slips, Ukrainian forces push to encircle city (Washington Post)

US National Security Experts Urge No More Weapons For Ukraine In NY Times  The drumbeat for war appears to be faltering.

On the migrant crisis, NYC Mayor Eric Adams is everywhere and nowhere (N.Y. Post)

NYC Mayor Adams: Migrants should be sent to every city ‘throughout the entire country’ (Fox) No,  just the ‘sanctuary cities’, to remind them not to be virtue-signaling hypocrites.

Mayor Eric Adams on asylum seekers: NYC carrying “burden” of “nation problem” (Face the Nation) Guess he hasn’t seen any video from Texas or Arizona.

Back in hoodies and gym shorts, Fetterman tackles Senate life after depression treatment (Associated Press)

“Isolated Event” Again? All Voters Of New York County Falsely Identified As Democrats In Voter IDs

“Not Our Beliefs” – Bud Light Distributor Sends Out Public Plea to Bring Back Customers

NYC Has A Shoplifting Problem… And Kiosks Aren’t Going To Stop It!

Democrats Create a Transgender Child Kidnapping Network

How Much Does PolitiFact Favor Kamala Harris Over Mike Pence? Bigly

Female High School Track Athlete Loses Spot In State’s To Biological Male

Fox News Employee Handbook Embraces Woke Gender Rules

The American Mind.

In Japan, social withdrawal among young men is now so severe that the Japanese have a very specific term for it: hikikomori. Hiki means “to withdraw,” and komori means “to remain inside.” At least 1.5 million Japanese people, many of whom are young men in their twenties and thirties, have completely withdrawn from society.

They don’t date; they don’t mate; they don’t work; and they don’t socialize. In short, they refrain from doing anything that requires them to leave their hyper-isolated chambers.

Many of these young males are hurting—financially, spiritually, and psychologically.

Up until very recently, hikikomori was considered a culture-bound syndrome, a problem unique to Japan. That is no longer the case. Hikikomori is now a global phenomenon, observed across the world regardless of culture—from Asia to Europe to the United States.

Huh. I didn’t know this was an option.

The American Mind.

Marymount University sits on a high hill over the Potomac River, in northern Virginia. Founded in 1950 by a religious order devoted to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the school’s undergraduate courses focus on the humanities—or they did until the president and the board of governors met to “restructure” earlier this year. This meant gutting nearly all the humanities, plus mathematics, science, and even theology and religious studies.

The sheer extent and suddenness of this transformation caught the public’s imagination. A small university’s restructuring is not typically the stuff of frontpage, international headlines. But these cuts perfectly illustrate how Christian education has squandered its moral, intellectual, and religious inheritance in a 100-year search for prestige—a search which has been inevitably followed by a retreat into rootless, commercial secularism and left-wing, political glad–handing. In this, the plight of Catholic universities offers a microcosm of the institutional capture that afflicts traditional institutions around the country. But it also offers instructive, object lessons in how to fight back.

Prior to, oh, say, Vatican II (early 1960s), this could not have happened. The entire reason for ‘Catholic schools’ was to provide education with a Catholic intellectual foundation explicitly separate from secular intellectual fads and fashions. But that was then; this is now.

ZMan turns over a rock.

In The Past is a Future Country, Ed Dutton and J.O.A. Rayner-Hilles, argue that the West is about to be swamped by an unsustainable wave of stupid people. This is not the result of immigration, but rather the culmination of an evolutionary process that began in the Industrial Revolution. Darwinian selection weakened along with the increase in living standards. The result is a steady increase in narcissistic stupid people who undermine the fundamentals of Western society.

In this post, Ed Dutton makes the point that liberal female politicians are getting dumber, as a result of this process he outlined in his book. He relies on two examples, Sanna Marin of Finland and Angela Rayner of Britain, to make his point. Both women are on what we insist on calling the Left and both women are morons. Not only are they stupid, but they appear to have come from stupid parents. They are Nth generation morons who have risen to the top of politics.

It is an amusing and satisfying read for people who think of themselves on the Right, even if he is making sweeping claims from just two examples. For as long as anyone can recall, the people we call the Left have claimed that their opponents are unsophisticated morons who should be dismissed. Having this turned on its head with the use of the human sciences is good fun, but it may be missing the real cause for the great dumbing down of Western politics.

Charles C.W. Cooke at National Review.

Rich points to a column by Ezra Klein in the New York Times, in which Klein objects to President Biden taking the “14th Amendment option.” Rich notes that Klein has a practical objection to the idea — namely that “if the administration declares the debt ceiling unconstitutional, only to have the Supreme Court declare the maneuver unconstitutional, then Biden owns the market chaos that would follow.”

This is probably true. But it’s notable that, as usual, Klein and those who share his politics seem to live in a completely lawless world, in which there is no such thing as truth, in which ridiculous ideas that were arrived at yesterday by transparent political hacks are as worthwhile as centuries of universal understanding, and in which the only reason to avoid violating the Constitution is that one might get caught.

The Spectator.

Shortly before the coronation of Charles III, a group of indigenous leaders from around the Commonwealth released a statement. They called on the King “to acknowledge the horrific impacts on and legacy of genocide and colonization of the indigenous and enslaved peoples,” including “the oppression of our peoples, plundering of our resources, (and) denigration of our culture.” Charles was told to “redistribute the wealth that underpins the crown back to the peoples from whom it was stolen.” Yet the argument that Britain should pony up for its historical sins is based on a number of rickety assumptions.

One of these is that a substantial portion of the wealth of the UK, or the British Crown, derives from slavery or colonial exploitation. Famously, empire often cost more than it brought in. And, like the rest of northwest Europe, the UK was already wealthy before colonialism or the slave trade. Western Europe would have remained rich even in the absence of overseas adventurism. Germany, for example, was one of the world’s richest areas, long before it gained any colonies. It’s true that overseas resources were exploited; but this was not the sole source of Europe’s wealth. Far from it.

Even more questionable than the call for reparations are the claims of “genocide” in the context of New World colonialism. Until a few years ago, only a tiny fringe of historians believed that European colonialism in the New World was “genocidal.” In the six-volume, 3,000+ page Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas (published 1996-2000) several dozen specialists saw fit to mention genocide precisely twice. In both of these instances, the scholars in question do so only to reiterate that it did not apply.

Read it.

We are always told by today’s woke Stasi that “language matters.” They’re quite correct: that’s why their own attempts to police our words have to be so assiduously resisted by conservatives. When the language being policed is scientific in nature, the need for resistance is even greater. To redefine the discourse of science along political lines is to redefine the very parameters of reality itself.

The latest attempt to do so comes in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Language Project (EEBLP), launched in February 2023 by a network of clearly left-leaning scientists from universities across the U.S. and Canada. Predictably, the EEBLP commissars seek to decolonize their subject, whose very origins are supposedly steeped in the Western civilizational filth of white supremacy and cis-heteronormative oppression alike.

In their online “Team Statement of Positionality” (‘positionality’ here being a fancy euphemism for ‘sexual, racial, and political bias,’ but in a good way), EEBLP proselytizers are encouraged to “critically assess their subfield’s terminology,” asking whether it helps “celebrate dominant narratives or oppressive norms”—norms such as the sole existence of the two traditional binary human sexes of ‘male’ and ‘female,’ and not any recently invented new made-up ones like those of the popular entertainer Sam Smith, who self-identifies both as ‘non-binary’ and as a professional singer.

John Hinderaker at Power Line.

The scientific method works as follows: 1) You come up with a hypothesis. 2) You look for the implications of the hypothesis. What will be the case if the hypothesis is true, but will not be the case if the hypothesis is wrong? 3) You carry out observations or run experiments to find out whether the facts implied by the hypothesis do or do not obtain. 4) If you find that a fact implied by the hypothesis is indeed the case, it provides support for the hypothesis. If you find a number of such facts to be true, as implied by the hypothesis, then you may have strong support. 5) But it is not conclusive: if a fact or condition implied by the hypothesis is shown by observation or experiment not to be the case, then the hypothesis is refuted, and you go back to the drawing board.

Global warming hysteria is politics or religion, not science. This conclusion follows from the fact that the global warming models have generated many predictions that turned out to be wrong. A single wrong prediction is enough to disprove a model. Numerous, consistently repeated failures mean that the model is a joke.

Read it.

French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has asked the U.S. government for greater intelligence sharing and warned of a resurgence in Islamic terrorist threats in Europe ahead of France hosting global sporting events in the coming year.

Let us not forget that Islam presents an existential threat to Western civilization, and always will.

Ukraine Situation Report: Russia Gains In Bakhmut, Talk Of Imminent Fall Swirls

Zelenskyy says ‘Bakhmut is only in our hearts’ after Russia claims control of Ukrainian city (Associated Press)

Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin claims control of Bakhmut (UK Telegraph)

Ukraine war: Kyiv rejects Wagner claim over Bakhmut (BBC)

Explainer: How important is the claimed capture by Russia’s Wagner Group of Ukraine’s Bakhmut? (Reuters)

US to sign strategic pacts with two Pacific states, hopes for third in weeks (Reuters)

Russia Issues List Of 500 Americans Under Sanctions, Including Obama & Stephen Colbert  Would that we could do the same.

Russian mercenaries behind slaughter of 500 in Mali village, UN report finds (The Guardian)

G-7 Leaders Respond To China’s Economic Bullying At Hiroshima Summit, Warn Of ‘Consequences’

Trump or DeSantis? Neither, say Ukrainian-American voters angry at war stance (Reuters)

Russia scrutinized for placing Hague prosecutor on wanted list after Putin ICC warrant

UK’s Sunak: China Poses World’s Biggest Threat to Peace  After all, look at all the wars it’s been in during the last 50 years.

SEA TRANSPORTATION: Notorious North Korean Smuggling Fleet

Ukraine Admits Murdering “Quite A Few” Russian Civilians Who Back Putin And His Invasion

Ukraine Expands Weapons Training For Children As Bakhmut Reportedly Falls

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch Shreds Lockdown Authoritarianism

Officials Warn Of Monkeypox Resurgence Ahead Of Summer LGBT Festivals

GOP Pushes Back Against WHO Plans For ‘Global Governance’ On Emergencies

The Truth About Randi Weingarten And The School Closures

Looking Back On The Sadism Of The COVID-19 Shaming Campaign

FDA Advisers Back Maternal RSV Vaccine As Pfizer Says Safety Concerns Can Be Studied Post-Approval  “Verdict first, trial after!” said the Red Queen.

Report: Texas Bill Trades National Guard Troops for New ‘Border Force’

2023: Echoes Of 1973

Musk Demands AP Back Claims Or Retract Article Over ‘Unchecked’ Stolen Election Tweets

Colorado GOP fears it’s ceding ground to Democrats (The Hill)

“Deep Level Of Corruption”: Gen. Flynn Condemns FBI Following Durham Report

Is Self-Defense Becoming Illegal?

David Axelrod: After Barack Obama, America will never be the same (CNN)

Activist moms spy on each other in culture wars over schooling (CNN)

Trans-Madness

Satanists Find a Home at SatanCon in Boston  Not a surprise.

Victor Davis Hanson: Hillary ‘Colluded’ With Russia, ‘FBI Knew’

The Durham Report Indicts The Deep State… And The Media

High School Boys Send a Clear Message to Trans-obsessed State Legislators – Report

The New Bar Exam Puts DEI over Lawyer Competence

A call to arms: Defending America’s soul in an age of extremism (The Hill) The Law of Liberal Projection strikes again. Apparently the people wanting to kill unborn babies and mutilate children aren’t the extremists he’s talking about.

Hillary was protected from investigation by the same agencies who hounded Trump on false charges

Former Trump Lawyer Describes Conflict Inside Legal Team (N.Y. Times)

The GOP’s heart of darkness: Why Ron DeSantis can never beat Donald Trump (Salon)

Federal inquiry details abuses of power by Trump’s CEO over Voice of America (NPR) I don’t think so.

Ron DeSantis Is About To Run For President. Andrew Warren Has A Warning. (Huffington Post) *yawn*

Trump’s 2025 vision, revealed (Axios) The chance that anybody writing for Axios knows squat about ‘Trump’s vision’, for 2025 or any time, is negligible.

How solar farms took over the California desert: ‘An oasis has become a dead sea’ (The Guardian)

Can ‘enhanced rock weathering’ help combat climate change? (BBC)

Under the EPA’s watch, unchecked insecticides are causing another ‘Silent Spring’ (The Hill)

Societies that destroy themselves: the war on agriculture

Exxon Crushes Progressive Dreams That “Net Zero” Has Any Chance By 2050: It Would Mean Collapse In “Global Standard Of Living”

“It’s Criminal”: Central Wisconsin Communities Unite To Stave Off Looming Wind Turbine Industry

Returning Germany to the Stone Age

Germany’s Growing List Of Bans: Next Up: Wood Stoves And Heating With Wood

King Charles backed these care homes for 40 years – now Net Zero is forcing them to close

John Kerry targets farmers: ‘We can’t get to Net-Zero…unless agriculture is front & center as part of the solution’ – ‘I refuse to call it climate change anymore. It’s not change. It’s a crisis’

Cultured meat might not be that environmentap friendly  Oh, ya think?

Is Mexico doing the US’s ‘dirty work’ when it comes to migration? (CNN)

He Became Convinced the School Board Was Pushing “Transgender Bullshit.” He Ended Up Arrested — and Emboldened. (ProPublica)

Why Ron DeSantis should hope he’s the second coming of John McCain (Politico) The Narrative media certainly hopes he is.

AOC to DeSantis: ‘Read a Bible’ for Defending Daniel Penny

PBS’s Amanpour Agrees with Democrat: Republicans Competing for ‘Most Extreme’

We’re all hostage to one man’s ambitions (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

Politico’s Dirty Hit Piece on Casey DeSantis: ‘Lady Macbeth,’ ‘Ice Queen,’ ‘Vindictive’ MF-er

What Christian Nationalism Has Done to My State and My Faith Is a Sin (N.Y. Times) RINOs gotta RINO. Nobody who writes for the NYT has any faith to speak of, except in Wokeism.

Chicago’s new Mayor Brandon Johnson is already bad for business (N.Y. Post)

NAACP Issues Travel Advisory in Florida (NAACP)

Daniel Penny, charged in Jordan Neely death, breaks silence: ‘I am not a white supremacist’ (N.Y. Post)

NAACP issues travel warning in Florida: the state ‘has become hostile to Black Americans’ (The Hill) By which it means ‘black Democrats’.

Police: 3 Dead, 2 Wounded in Early Morning Shooting at Kansas City Bar  During a ‘rap night’.

The California Reparations Commission Fails State History

‘Absolutely not’: Americans weigh in on whether Kamala Harris can lead on AI after Elon Musk mocked her (Fox)

Energy Commissioner Warns Of ‘Major Threats’ To Power Grid

Biden Administration’s New Mortgage Policy: Unjust And Dangerous

FBI Improperly Used Surveillance Program To Spy On Jan. 6 Suspects

Biden says he thinks he has authority to use 14th Amendment on debt ceiling (The Hill)

Chuck Todd Says You Shouldn’t Worry About Biden’s IRS If You Pay Taxes

The U.S. Left Them Behind. They Crossed a Jungle to Get Here Anyway. (N.Y. Times) The U.S. didn’t leave them behind; Biden left them behind.

Biden bets DeSantis’ ‘Florida blueprint’ will help him flip the Sunshine State and win reelection (CNN) More fool he.

Experts Warn Border Policies Will Overrun Texas Jails

Biden Taunts Russia At G7 When Asked About “Colossal Risk” Of Escalation

Read it.

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah put on a show of force Sunday, extending a rare media invitation to one of its training sites in southern Lebanon, where its forces staged a simulated military exercise.

Masked fighters jumped through flaming hoops, fired from the backs of motorcycles, and blew up Israeli flags posted in the hills above and a wall simulating the one at the border between Lebanon and Israel.

The exercise came ahead of “Liberation Day,” the annual celebration of the withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon on May 25, 2000, and in the wake of a recent escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza. Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers and Hezbollah have had long-standing ties.

Wherever you go,
Whatever you do,
A Muslim waits there
To try to kill you.
Especially if
You might be a Jew.

Read it.

Between Matamoros, Mexico and Brownsville, Texas lies the Rio Grande river. On one side is the Matamoros migrant camp where thousands of illegal invaders prep for the invasion with the aid of American open borders non-profit groups, squatting in their own filth, fighting, shaking each other down and starting fires like those that killed 40 male migrants. Across is America.

At 160 feet wide and only 2 feet deep, the invaders have little trouble making their way across. Despite the slur ‘wetback’, little actual swimming is usually required. Past proposals to widen and deepen the river so it’s a tenth of a mile and twenty feet deep would have been fairly expensive, but was shut down by open borders advocates who claim the invaders might drown.

In one week in April, some 15,000 illegal invaders traversed the river. The media regularly features dramatic photos of migrants crossing the Rio Grande and offers sympathetic portrayals of the invaders such as the New York Times story: “Desperate Migrants on the Border: ‘I Should Just Swim Across.” The coverage often describes these invasions as “sudden” or “unexpected”.

But there’s nothing sudden or unexpected about them. They’re the work of the Coyote-in-Chief.