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It’s a story we’ve seen before. In the US and Europe during the pandemic lockdowns, far-left rioting and looting in the name of BLM was widely celebrated by the corporate media and protected by government officials. The lockdown mandates were not enforced when it came to progressive unrest. Conservative anti-mandate protesters, on the other hand, were treated as terrorists and governments were quick to censor, suppress and intimidate. A two tier policing system and legal system bubbled to the surface.

Wherever conservative, nationalist or “right wing” protests arise in the west the full force of government power is applied to frighten the public into compliance. It might be to enforce covid mandates or it might be to prevent the populace from questioning open border policies. In the UK The mask has truly come off. The message? You will accept mass immigration from the third world, or else…

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recent announcement on the government response to British protests are highly revealing. To summarize, indigenous and “right wing” Brits are not allowed to take to the streets (or online) because their ideology is “wrong.” Armed Muslim migrant gangs and leftists, on the other hand, are apparently free to do whatever they please.

Government everywhere are losing sight of what they’re supposed to be doing.

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The top global agency, part of the United Nations system, for promoting preparedness in advance for health emergencies and crises and coordinating national responses, is the World Health Organisation. Unfortunately, its performance in helping the world manage Covid-19 proved, to be kind, very patchy. This makes it all the more surprising that there should be a concerted effort underway to expand its authority and boost its resources.

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Gasparino, a veteran financial journalist at Fox Business, initially focused on the bank’s poor risk management. But he soon stumbled upon something more troublesome—an unhealthy fixation on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies.

This misplaced focus, Gasparino argues, played a significant role in the bank’s ultimate demise.

…

Through extensive interviews and research, Gasparino documented how corporations eagerly embraced woke idea, only to face harsh financial realities. His new book “Go Woke, Go Broke: The Inside Story of the Radicalization of Corporate America” offers a stark warning to CEOs who might be tempted to follow this path.

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Post-election demonstrations in Venezuela continue as pressure mounts against disputed President Nicolás Maduro, who has firmly stood his ground amid ongoing calls to release voting details from the July 28 general election. In the streets, clashes between Venezuelan security forces and protesters have resulted in at least 20 deaths, according to Human Rights Watch.

Socialism red in tooth and claw.

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Seattle is infested with so much crime, its jails are running out of space. And, because King County Jail is running out of space, the city is now considering a program that “would pay for jail beds at the SCORE jail facility in Des Moines,” according to KIRO 7.

Its a move that the report says “would cost Seattle millions”. And, unsurprisingly, it isn’t winning any fans in Des Moines, as the SCORE facility would be used for offenders who are locked up only for 24-48 hours, before being released.

The report says that the Seattle City Council Public Safety Committee met Wednesday to discuss a pilot plan, with public comments varying from full support to calling it “theatre.” The proposal would fund at least 20 beds, costing $1.5 to $3 million annually, depending on usage.

Read it.

The commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan Force, Ali Jamal Aldin Jawad, was eliminated Monday evening local time.

Read it.

A federal judge ordered a California community college on Aug. 2 not to enforce a poster policy that was used against three students whose anti-communist posters were taken down.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston found that the poster policy of Fresno-based Clovis Community College violated the students’ First Amendment and 14th Amendment rights.

The policy forbade students from displaying material at the taxpayer-funded school containing language or themes deemed “inappropriate” or “offensive.”

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A California school district’s superintendent said its now-taken down LGBTQ Resources did not include links to an LGBTQ youth center’s “Affirming Therapy” page, though screenshots from The Daily Signal’s report tell a different story.

Newport Harbor High School in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District had posters around its halls as recently as May with scannable QR codes that take students to a number of “LGBTQ+ Resources,” including the LGBTQ Center of Orange County’s website, according to photos shared with The Daily Signal.

A QR code poster can be found in the background of a May 7 Newport Harbor High School Instagram post of students posing with a teacher in a classroom.

The now-deleted resources included this link to “LGBTQ Affirming Therapy” provided by the LGBTQ Center OC. The link takes students to a form that helps them connect with a therapist who can write a referral letter for transition procedures.

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The driver said that he was heading to Dallas and had also been in Florida to “play”.

The vehicle was rented under the name of the passenger, 46-year-old Wenqiang Lin, who consented to a search but appeared uncertain. A K9 unit alerted to the front passenger door.

Inside, officials found a Spirit Airlines boarding pass indicating that Weijian Chen had flown from Los Angeles to Atlanta on July 30-31 without any bags. The rental agreement showed the car was rented in College Park, Georgia, on July 31 and was due in Los Angeles by August 3, the report continued.

A bag behind the driver’s seat contained gold bullion bars worth an estimated $200,000 to $250,000, including:

Seven 1-ounce 999.9 gold bars
Three 5-gram 999.9 gold bars
One 1-gram 999.9 gold bar marked with 20 squares
Eight 10-ounce 999.9 gold bars

After arresting Chen and Lin, Sgt. Hughes contacted U.S. Homeland Security, which revealed both men had entered the country illegally. Lin entered on September 15, 2023, and was awaiting immigration processing in Los Angeles. Chen entered on December 17, 2023, and is also pending immigration judicial action.

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The United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency has spent more than nine months denying its employees work alongside Hamas, dismissing these claims as Israeli propaganda. On Monday, the organization fired nine staffers for participating in the Oct. 7 terror spree that killed more than 1,200 Israelis.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) announced that it will fire a handful of its employees based in the Gaza Strip for working alongside Hamas as it slaughtered Israeli civilians. “For nine people,” UNRWA spokesman Farhan Haq said, “the evidence was sufficient to conclude that they may have been involved in the seventh of October attacks.”

It marks an abrupt about-face for the contested humanitarian group, which has long faced accusations that its employees double as Hamas agents and divert aid to the terror group. Israel alleges that at least 12 UNRWA employees directly participated in the Oct. 7 attack and that around 10 percent of its workforce is affiliated with the terror group, including around 450 employees who serve as Hamas foot soldiers.

‘Fired’? What ever happened to ‘executed’?

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During the “White Women: Show Up for Kamala Harris” Zoom call, actress Connie Britton described the joy created by supporting the vice president: “Have you seen Kamala glisten in the brilliance and shine of her true power and leadership? And what does that feel like? Feels like self-love.”

Women, prepare to be pounded with messages that we must support Vice President Kamala Harris not only because—as the seemingly never-ending Kamala campaign hype-reel shows—she’s giving, she’s girl boss, she’s brat. But also because supporting Kamala Harris makes you girl boss and brat, by embracing this campaign’s vibes.

Yes, this candidate for president is being sold like my 12-year-old’s favorite overpriced, celebrity-endorsed makeup line on YouTube, and has just as much substance. Voting-age Zoomers, undoubtedly, will soon recognize that the tactics are insulting and embarrassing to everyone involved.

Guess Who Kamala Harris Blames For Disastrous Jobs Report?

Former Trump administration official Kellyanne Conway registers as lobbyist for Ukrainian billionaire with past ties to Trump (ABC News)

What’s Rattling Trump: The Size of Harris’s Crowds (Shawn McCreesh/New York Times)

ABC Host Received Death Threats Following Trump Interview (Owen Lavine/The Daily Beast)

Trump says he has ‘no choice’ but to support electric vehicles because Elon Musk ‘endorsed me very strongly’ (Kenneth Niemeyer/Business Insider)

The NABJ interview with Trump provides a model for media coverage (Jennifer Rubin/Washington Post)  “Orange Man Bad!”

THE QUIET PART OUT LOUD: CBS’s Weijia Jiang Admits The Regime Media Drove Anti-Vance ‘Weird’, ‘Cat Ladies’ Narratives

Surprise Poll Reveals a Key Trump Weakness Against Kamala Harris (Greg Sargent/New Republic)

It’s fine to laugh at JD Vance and his couch (Liz Dye/Public Notice)

Trump anointed Vance as MAGA crown prince – but DeSantis isn’t going away (Politico)

GOP senators say Trump caught ‘off guard’ by Harris’s strength (Alexander Bolton/The Hill) Names?

CNN’s Kasie Hunt: Trump Calling Kamala Low-IQ ‘Definitely Race-Related’

Trump leans into religious extremism to energize rightwing evangelicals (Adam Gabbatt/The Guardian)

Kennedy: Trump ‘Terrible Human Being,’ ‘Sociopath’

Indignant CNN and MSNBC Still Obsessed with Vance’s ‘Cat Ladies’ Remark  Hits a little bit too close to home.

A Harris presidency would give the GOP time to purge Trumpism (Geoff Duncan/Atlanta Journal-Constitution)  Too bad it’s not going to happen.

With Putin, Trump ignores ‘do not congratulate’ advice (again) (Steve Benen/MSNBC)  I’m sure he’d happily ignore advice from MSNBC.

The Woman Who Engineered Donald Trump’s Rise From the Ashes of 2020 (Meridith McGraw/Vanity Fair)

GOP gaslighting gets weirder: Why Trump and Vance spread lies about race and gender (Amanda Marcotte/Salon)  As Amanda Marcotte spreads lies about Trump and Vance.

Donald Trump is set to be interviewed by streamer Adin Ross, who has hosted white nationalists and neo-Nazis (Justin Horowitz/Media Matters for America)

Inside the legal plans by foes of Donald Trump and Project 2025 to fight his second-term agenda (Tierney Sneed/CNN)  Whatever it may be, they’re against it.

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” — Upton Sinclair

Kamala Harris & The Masque Of Magical Thinking

ABC’s Rachel Scott Swoons Over Idea of ‘Prosecutor’ Harris at Debate

Taliban Gets $239 Million In US Aid After State Dept. Fails To Vet Recipients

Rep. Donalds Rips Stephanopoulos for Meltdown

Bronx ADA Resigns After Being Caught On Camera Allegedly Attempting To Meet 13 Year Old Boy

ABC’s Stephanopoulos Loses His Crap When Rep. Donalds Refuses to Back Off on Kamala’s ‘Blackness’ (Streiff/RedState)

Stephanopoulos Accuses Rep. Donalds of Unspecified ‘Slur’ of VP Harris

Kamala Harris’ ‘Reproductive Freedom Week of Action’ Is a ‘Lie,’ Pro-Life Activist Says

Far-Left Climate Activists Say Kamala Harris Is One of Them

Kamala Harris Wants a Reparations Commission Like California’s, Which Called To Decriminalize Public Urination

Enablers: CBS Cues Up Nancy Pelosi to Put Joe Biden on Mt. Rushmore

What’s shaping up as tension points between Harris and the left (Politico)

Kamala’s ABC connection

CNN Cites Taliban’s SHARIA LAW for Their Innocence in $1 Billion Defamation Suit

What Does Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Actually Want? (Clare Malone/New Yorker) I suspect he wants Democrats to quit being stupid.

6 Things to Know About Josh Shapiro

Samuel Block: High tax-and-spend states apparently will never learn

Russell Vought, a Project 2025 architect, is ready to shock Washington if Trump wins second term (Richard Lardner/Associated Press) By the extent of his frustration, apparently; Trump has already said publicly that he has no interest in Project 2025.

Pelosi: Put Biden on Mount Rushmore With a speaking tube like the Wizard of Oz.

Interviewer Laughs At Pelosi For Saying Biden Should Be On Mount Rushmore

The Democrats Will Unite Behind Any VP Choice (Tim Miller/The Bulwark) Because they know that Kemala will just be a sock-puppet for the Dem leadership, just like Biden.

Progressive Dems In Michigan Tell Undercover Journo They Were ‘Ballot Harvested’ Out Of Office By Muslim Voter Fraud Network

Former Secret Service Chief Wanted To Destroy Cocaine Evidence

Harris Hits Trail with Name-Calling, PBS’s Barron-Lopez Adds Own ‘Creepy’ Phrase

Inside Donald Trump’s Effort to Woo Arab Americans (Isaac Chotiner/New Yorker)

Why ‘We’re not going back’ is such a powerful statement – Harris’ platform is all about going forward. (Molly Jong-Fast/MSNBC) Yup, right over the cliff.

Has Harris finally broken Trump? He’s flailing, glitching and running scared. (Rex Huppke/USA Today) Or at least that’s what they want their NPCs to believe.

Larry Elder.

When I ran for governor, a reporter accused me of believing “men are smarter than women.”

Research shows, I wrote in a 20-year-old column, women know and care more about social security, health care and education. When asked, however, about 25 political questions, men were more likely to answer correctly in 15, men and women answered the same in nine, and women answered more correctly than men in only one. I quoted a left-wing journalism professor who said the reason women knew less than men about those questions is that they are more likely than men to watch local news. She said, “Watching local news makes you dumber.” This became translated to: “Elder thinks women are dumber than men.”

This brings us to Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, former President Donald Trump’s running mate. The AP wrote: “During Vance’s bid for the Senate in Ohio, he said in a Fox News interview that ‘we are effectively run in this country via the Democrats,’ and referred to them as ‘a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too. … How does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?’”

The Atlantic.

But, at the risk of giving Vance any credit here, I must admit that progressives do have a family problem. The problem doesn’t exist at the level of individual choice, where conservative scolds tend to fixate. Rather, it exists at the level of urban family policy. American families with young children are leaving big urban counties in droves. And that says something interesting about the state of mobility—and damning about the state of American cities and the progressives who govern them.

Read it.

Don’t let water’s apparent simplicity fool you. Inside every molecule there’s a single oxygen bullying its hydrogen sidekicks for more than its fair share of electron time, creating an imbalance in charge referred to as a dipole.

This imbalance gives water its mix of unusual properties, allowing it to loosely stick together in ways that account for surface tension, or to spread out in a wide variety of formations as it freezes into ice.

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Understanding the difference between assets and liabilities is crucial for building wealth and achieving financial freedom. An asset puts money in your pocket, generating income or appreciating in value over time.

However, many middle-class individuals and families mistakenly categorize some possessions as assets that drain their finances. This misconception can lead to financial stress and hinder long-term wealth accumulation.

Robert Kiyosaki, in his monumental Rich Dad, Poor Dad, points out that an asset is something that puts money into your pocket, while anything that takes money out of your pocket is a liability. He says “Buy assets, rent liabilities”.

Read it.

It took them four-and-a-half years, but the IRS has issued final rules governing mandatory distributions from traditional 401k’s, IRAs, and other retirement plans inherited in 2020 or later. To the great disappointment of beneficiaries and their financial planners, the agency embraced the most complex procedure possible as it interpreted a law passed by Congress in 2019.

The new rules apply when the deceased IRA owner was old enough to be making required minimum distributions (RMDs) of their own before they died. Currently, that requirement starts at age 73, but in 2020, it was age 72. It’s scheduled to rise to age 75 in 2033. (Yes, we’re only in the second paragraph and things are already getting knotty. Bear down.)

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Twenty years ago, professor Fredrik Almqvist, an organic chemistry professor at Umeå University in Sweden, was asked by his collaborating researchers at Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) to design a compound that would prevent urinary tract infections, which are often caused by Gram-negative bacterial infections.

Read it.

Historically, many people have had less to eat than they’ve needed to thrive, or simply survive. Hence, many have hailed the Green Revolution: a late 20th-century agricultural project encompassing plant genetic modification, modern irrigation systems, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides that increased food production, especially of wheat, rice, corn, and soybeans.

But the Green Revolution hasn’t been a cost-free, magic bullet. Neither mass nor energy is created nor destroyed; everything physical derives from something else physical. Newer crop varieties yield more because they use more water, synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, expensive farm equipment, and fuel.

Green Revolution practices have caused serious environmental harm. Aquifers are being depleted as irrigation water is pumped from the ground faster than rain recharges it. Unimaginable amounts of fertile soil have been washed or blown away. Fertilizers and pesticides pollute soil, air, and water beyond the agricultural lands themselves, including rivers and oceans. Converting forests, grasslands, and wetlands into farmland has destroyed much wildlife/game habitat and lessened atmospheric carbon uptake. Consequently, the natural resources needed to produce food have been degraded, portending eventual, widespread crop failure and food shortages.

CNN.

Rioters set fire and broke into hotels used to shelter asylum seekers in northern England on Sunday, as the country grapples with the worst social unrest it has seen in years.

The violence was triggered by the stabbing of three young girls in Southport, northwest England, earlier in the week. The far right has seized on and spread a wave of disinformation, including false claims the attacker was an immigrant, to mobilize anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant protests. Police say the suspect was born in Britain.

Footage geolocated by CNN shows protesters on Sunday vandalizing and setting ablaze two Holiday Inns in northern England: one in Tamworth, which had previously been criticized by a local politician for housing asylum seekers, and another in Rotherham.

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If you’ve been following the headlines, particularly coming out of America’s larger cities, it’s been impossible to miss all of the stories about crimes involving illegal migrants in some fashion. In New York, for example, there have been at least eight gun-related murders so far this year where either the shooter, the victim, or both were migrants. Mostly we hear about the most horrifying crimes involving violent attacks, rapes, and abuse involving migrants, but many incidents of property crimes and lower-level assaults take place as well. But are actual crime rates higher among the illegal migrants or is this all hyperbole cooked up by the “right-wing media” during an election season, as some leftist commentators have suggested? The problem, as pointed out by Nicole Gelinas in an op-ed at the NY Post this week, is that we simply don’t know. We aren’t getting the sort of data we would require to draw any firm conclusions.

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The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ top leader, in Tehran last week has brought the Middle East closer than ever to the brink of all-out war ahead of the US presidential elections in November. After a two-week lull, Iran-backed Houthis targeted a Liberian-flagged container ship traveling through the Gulf of Aden, and rebel forces claimed to have downed a US military spy drone this weekend.

Bloomberg reported a Houthi missile struck the container ship “Groton” just above the waterline, causing minor damage to the hull.

British maritime agency UKMTO said Groton was “hit by a missile,” adding, “No fires, water ingress or oil leaks have been observed.”

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On Saturday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued a surprising correction after claiming for a week that Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting were actually born women and have Differences in Sexual Development (DSD), a range of rare conditions in which a person’s genitalia do not necessarily match with their chromosomes or hormone levels. In this weekend’s column, I cited that IOC claim that Khelif is not a transgender athlete. Yet, there remains considerable confusion on how the IOC and the boxing governing body is framing this issue and the question of gender.

I was wrong about Kamala Harris. And that’s a huge problem for Donald Trump  Why, yes, I am very important. Do you doubt it?

For multiracial Americans, Trump’s attack on Harris felt personal (Washington Poop) Whose turn is it to be the victim?

Senate Republicans forgot Trump’s recklessness. It’s back to haunt them. (Paul Kane/Washington Post)

How JD Vance Thinks About Power (Matt Flegenheimer/New York Times)

The Washington Post’s Phony Story on Trump at the Black Journalists Convention

MSNBC Warns About Shapiro and the Left, Works ‘Couch’ Into J.D. Vance Mockery

Judge Chutkan Denies Trump’s Motion To Dismiss Election Case, Sets Status Conference

Trump goes low as Harris gains ground (Politico)

Whistleblower: Rowe Lied, Made ‘Significant Cuts’ to Security Assets

Kamala Harris Mocks Donald Trump for ‘Running Scared’ Over Debate (Jason Lemon/Newsweek)

Dog whistling past Dixie: Republicans are in over their heads playing the Kamala Harris race card (Salon)

Gov. Kemp Fires Back at Trump

‘Trump Is Scared To Debate!’ Says Party Whose Last Candidate Had To Quit Politics After Debate

Ex-GOP congressman Riggleman endorses Harris, rips Trump’s ‘thirst for power’ (Laura Vozzella/Washington Post)

Sen. Tim Scott Shares LOVELY Wedding Pics of Himself With His Bride and A-Hole Lefties Just Can’t DEEEAL (Sam J./Twitchy)

FLASHBACK: Decades of Lib Media Fawning Over Democratic Veeps

Trump claims he’s pro-worker. Project 2025 will gut labor rights (Steven Greenhouse/The Guardian)

Republicans for Harris launches, aiming for Biden-like appeal to anti-Trump voters (Edward-Isaac Dovere/CNN)

Democracy dies if we drop the case of Trump, Egypt and $10 million in cash (Will Bunch/The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Jimmy Carter Says He’s Hanging On to Vote for Kamala Harris (Isabel van Brugen/The Daily Beast)

Jimmy Carter says he’s hoping to vote for Kamala Harris as 100th birthday approaches (Sarah D. Wire/USA Today)

Harris Adds ‘American Taliban’ Lawyer to Campaign

New York State Supreme Court Blocks NYC Mayor Adams’ Attempt To Pause Migrant Arrivals

Jimmy Carter: ‘Trying to Make It’ to Vote for Kamala Harris

Obama People Take Over Harris Campaign, Push Out Biden Team

High Profile Dems Face Lawsuit Over ‘Inciting’ Columbia Riots

Luntz: Trump Can End Harris’ Campaign With One Question

Conservatives POUNCE on Team Kamala’s Trash Talk and Strange Hypocrisy on Debate Dates

Dems Launch ‘Republicans for Harris’ Push  Great idea. Flush out all the RINOs for later termination. (Harris team launches GOP group with endorsements from ex-Trump officials, key Republican voices (Alex Gangitano/The Hill))

Biden is a master of confronting no-win scenarios (Robert Farley/The Hill)  Like walking and chewing gum at the same time?

That ‘White Dudes for Harris’ Zoom Call Was … Weird

Trump White House Aides Desert Donald for Kamala in ‘Republicans for Harris’ Drive (Philippe Naughton/The Daily Beast)

X suspends ‘White Dudes for Harris’ account after fundraiser

Predicting Harris’ VP nominee based on who’s scrubbing their Wikipedia page most

Unusual Whales Subversive Democratic Trading ETF

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Imagine that. Stop the presses….

Tyler Cowen.

Typically, if one candidate wins a majority of first-place votes, the election is called. If no one gets more than 50% of the votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and votes for that candidate are reallocated to his or her voters’ second choices. This process is repeated until a winner emerges.

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Words everywhere. Words in laws passed by Congress, words in instructions for the devices that make our lives easier, words in novels and newspapers that edify us, words we use to convey our heartfelt sympathies, words we use to debate what course of action is good for our families and our country.

We rely on words all of the time. Rarely, however, do we consider their intrinsic importance in holding our society together. Rarely do we recognize the ways we corrupt words.

We live in a time of fuzzy, destructively inaccurate, and phony words. This chips away at political and economic democracy and trivializes the most basic human interactions, such as love.

Read it.

Anti-immigration protesters broke hotel windows and set bins on fire in northern England on Sunday in the latest wave of unrest that has presented a major test to new Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government.

UPDATE: Anti-Immigration Protests In UK Spreads As Elon Musk Warns “Civil War Is Inevitable” 

Quillette.

Hugo Chávez, the legendary socialist leader who preceded Nicolás Maduro, has long been a mythical figure. With his signature red beret and bombastic speeches, the man is to the West’s college Marxists what Justin Bieber once was to teenage girls. Some of this process has been organic—Chávez was indeed an icon, after all, and a person can be iconically awful. But much of the late leader’s mythologisation has been the result of an organised and persistent propaganda effort managed by adept political operatives, instructed by Cuba’s revolutionary regime, and exported by its backers.

Like the Soviets, the Chavista regime understood the importance of symbolism. They changed the official name of the country and its states; they changed their nation’s flag and shield; they added a little red heart and the words Hecho en Socialismo to the products of the companies they expropriated; they elevated historical figures like tribal leader Cacique Guaicaipuro; and they reimagined Simón Bolívar, the oil-rich country’s independence hero, as a Chavista God and made Chávez his son. They even remade Bolívar in the image of their revolution. The man whose portrait now hangs in public schools and government buildings looks nothing like the one painted more than two centuries ago.

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The bookshop is the pool-hall for nerds. For those of us who look upon books as near-sacred objects and the places where they are sold as temples of sorts, bookshops are places of pleasure, education, and camaraderie, and as such are indispensable to the good life.

Note please I write “bookshops,” not “bookstores.” A store you enter knowing what it is you want—groceries, hardware, pharmaceuticals—you purchase it, and depart. In a shop you browse, you engage in conversation with the owner or salespeople, you make discoveries you hadn’t previously known existed, you meet people with interests similar to your own, you hang out. In “The Bookshop in America,” an essay of 1963, Edward Shils wrote: “I have gone to bookshops to buy and browse. I have gone to them to buy books I wanted, and because I just wanted to buy a book, and much of the time I wanted to be among books to inhale their presence.”

The problem just now is that they, bookshops, are in danger of going under. In his In Praise of Good Bookstores, Jeff Deutsch notes that in 1994 there were roughly 7,000 bookshops in America, though by 2019 that number had been reduced to roughly 2,500. The reduction is owing, among other things, to the rise of Amazon.com as the principal purveyor of books, the spread of digital culture with its many distractions, and the reduction of reading generally in a country that has never harbored a vast readership.

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Wednesday’s PBS News Hour segment posed as an even-handed examination of declining trust in the news media, setting up Fox News on the right matching MSNBC on the left as both being to blame. But veteran reporter Judy Woodruff’s framing of bias, as a problem only for cable news and its opinion-heavy political coverage, leaves out the constant bias that occurs on those presumed bastions of objectivity, the Big Three broadcast networks, not to mention PBS and CNN.

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And that tells you everything you need to know about the Crust.

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A recent study indicates that higher dietary tellurium levels, stemming from mining and manufacturing, are linked to increased blood pressure, though foods high in tellurium like cereals and legumes do not directly cause hypertension. Researchers stress the importance of monitoring tellurium in foods globally, given its potential role as a risk factor for hypertension.

“Linked to” means “We have no proof that they’re connected, but we want you alarmed just the same.”

Director Rowe Personally Crippled Trump’s Secret Service Team (David Strom/HotAir)

Why Trump isn’t celebrating as Americans return home from Russia (Steve Benen/MSNBC)

MSNBC Fearmongers That Election Is ‘Life Or Death Choice’ For Women

Elon Musk’s Insidious New Strategy to Help Trump Win (Edith Olmsted/New Republic)  Dunh-dunh-DUNHHHHHHHH….

Harris campaign calls Trump ‘too scared’ to debate, says he ‘needs to man up’ (Alex Gangitano/The Hill)

Harris blames Trump for latest dreadful jobs report nearly a full term after he left office (Brooke Singman/Fox News)

Morning Joe Doubles Down: Trump Not Just ‘Deeply Damaged’—Also ‘Dangerous’

UAW Chief: Trump Has ‘Never Supported’ Working Class

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Found Vance’s Democrat Ex-Roommate to Trash Him as ‘Dark’ & ‘Creepy’

With Vance’s elevation, Pennsylvania voters reexamine Trump’s views on women (Maeve Reston/Washington Post)

Trump’s Racist Attacks on Kamala Harris Are Part of a Larger, Unhinged Plan (Rolling Stone)

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Assuming this is correct, the goal of selecting Shapiro is to put Pennsylvania back in play for the Democratic ticket—if not completely out of play for Donald Trump. But, Shapiro’s Jewish heritage and pro-Israel positions are likely to cause a real problem with the far left. Shapiro is one of the only candidates that is outwardly auditioning to be Kamala’s running mate, and sadly, he’s already trying to memory-hole his support of Israel.

UnHerd.

sense. The Rust Belt kid turned Yale graduate is an ideal figure to both troll America’s elites and woo its working-class whites. It is the Rust Belt states, after all, a collection of what was once America’s industrial core, that will decide the race. Stretching from the Upper Midwest to the Northeast, this is Vance’s cultural backyard.

The Rust Belt is my backyard, too. And in Erie, Pennsylvania, where I live, Vance’s schtick plays well. Folks here feel left behind — because they are. In their despair, they want a scapegoat.

In 1950, the Rust Belt was home to 43% of all American jobs. In Vance’s lifetime, industrial jobs have plummeted by 35%; in his early adulthood alone, 5 million factory jobs vanished. Deaths of despair filled the vacuum. Suicide in slow motion, the Rust Belt’s white working class leads the nation in early deaths caused by alcoholism, addiction and risky life choices. Before the term was even coined, Vance wrote in his 2016 Hillbilly Elegy memoir: “The statistics tell you that kids like me face a grim future — that if they’re lucky, they’ll manage to avoid welfare; and if they’re unlucky, they’ll die of a heroin overdose.”

Gothamist.

A New Jersey developer is mysteriously walking away from a proposal to build more than 2 million square feet of warehouses in Roxbury, New Jersey after more than two years of negotiations with the township.

Thomas Germinario, an attorney for the township’s planning board, confirmed to Gothamist that the company, Hartz Mountain, withdrew its application to build the warehouses at the former home of Hercules LLC, a powder explosives company that has not operated at the site since the 1990s.

Germinario said that the real estate development firm did not give a reason for withdrawing from the project, which was expected to generate 1,200 construction jobs and an additional 1,200 jobs once the warehouses were completed.

Why does building a warehouses require two years of ‘negotiation’ with the ‘township’s planning board’? Either because the local politicians wanted a bribe, or the company wanted restrictive regulations waived.

If it weren’t for the government, it would have been built. I think that’s safe to say.

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Despite the growing popularity of the practice, it usually fails. The New York Times has published multiple reports over the past several years detailing the grim statistics, including the results of a 2023 study that showed few women successfully gave birth to a child after freezing their eggs. As Evie Magazine noted, “Women under 38 have between a 2% and 12% chance that a healthy frozen egg will result in a baby.” The corporations, of course, are chuffed by this outcome. Childlessness is the point. This has given rise to an even viler industry in which wealthy women pay young women—often university-aged, cash-strapped girls—for their eggs.

Rollo Tomassi, The Rational Male.

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In Venezuela, there is a tyranny that has held power for more than two decades. Through its elections, Venezuela has tried to maintain an image of a democratic system in the world’s eyes. In 2024, the opposition—led by the conservative María Corina Machado—managed to prevail and overcome all kinds of obstacles to transform the presidential election into a unique opportunity to free Venezuela. Although Machado, who is the most popular person in Venezuela, was illegally disqualified from running for office by the regime, she gave her support to Edmundo González, a moderate Venezuelan diplomat who until recently was an unknown figure.

Freeberg nails it.

something to do with feminism and The Patriarchy. The guy with the microphone allowed the radicalized social-studies girl, who seemed very nice by the way, no facial piercings or green/purple hair, to sound off with all the familiar bumper sticker slogans and college-words. “Patriarchy” must have been one of those, because he had an interesting question: What would a “matriarchy” look like?

Oh, well I suppose guys could still go to school, but women would graduate more often and they’d get the better and higher-paying jobs. Guys would still work, and doing the lower, menial jobs the females don’t want to do. Something like that.

Follow-up: What’s the difference between that, and what we have?

Um, err, ah, uh…don’t know.

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American voters who have bought tote bags decorated with pictures of Mrs Clinton or sweatshirts promoting abortion rights have inadvertently funded disruption in the UK.

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Last week, President Joe Biden proposed an 18 year term limit and an ethics code for Supreme Court justices, and a repeal of the Court’s presidential immunity decision. Presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris promptly agreed. The unseriousness of this proposal is visible in its brevity, at just 500 words. This isn’t a plan, it’s a press release.

It’s a dangerous press release because, though it has no chance of being enacted, it is part of a campaign to undermine the public’s belief in the Supreme Court, with the goal of ending the Court’s independence from progressive mandates.

Since 1953, every Chief Justice has been nominated by a Republican president. Seventeen of the associate justices who have served since then were nominated by Democrat presidents, and 17 by Republican presidents. Earl Warren, a former Republican governor of California, sought the Republican nomination for president in 1952. He was defeated by Dwight Eisenhower, who, after going on to win the presidency, nominated Warren to serve as Chief Justice. He was confirmed by acclamation and served until 1969, presiding over a transformation of the role and politics of the Supreme Court.

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Roughly 40 percent of Ukraine’s electricity imports pass through the Ukrainian-Hungarian border, which means Hungary is not entirely powerless in the face of a Ukrainian blockade on oil supplies. In fact, Hungary may be forced to cut electricity to its neighbor if push comes to shove.

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Two migrants who bit and attacked two New York City Police officers are…wait for it…back on the street, according to the New York Post.

Manhattan prosecutors reportedly agreed to set them loose back on the streets without bail after both were arrested on Sunday for fighting with traffic cops on Eighth Avenue.

Police confronted suspects outside the Row NYC Hotel at 700 Eighth Ave. after allegedly spotting one of them recklessly riding a moped without ID.

Time to leave.

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The study surveyed 10,000 licensed drivers and compared all 50 states in nine categories. Some of the categories included drivers who force other cars off the road, drivers who exit their cars to fight with others, tailgating, and honking—each weighted on a percentage basis to equal a total score of 100.

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The Chevron Corporation announced Friday that it will be moving its corporate headquarters out of California and into Texas over the Golden State’s hostility.

“The company’s headquarters will move from San Ramon, California, to Houston, Texas,” the gas company said in a press release. “The company expects all corporate functions to migrate to Houston over the next five years.”

Go where you’re treated best.