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.

The Foundry.

In an Aug. 1 decision over redistricting of county commission seats in Galveston, Texas, the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has issued a decision that stops the political misuse of the Voting Rights Act by Democrats and their allies to create voting districts loyal to the Democratic Party instead of protecting the voting rights of minorities. This decision may also affect the political makeup of Congress and state legislatures in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas—the states within the jurisdiction of the 5th Circuit—moving dozens of seats from Democrat to Republican.

In Petteway v. Galveston County, the full appeals court concluded that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act does not protect or “authorize coalition claims, either expressly or by implication.” Coalition districts are districts in which no single minority group constitutes a majority of the voters. Instead, in those districts, there is a combination of different minority racial, ethnic, or language groups that make up a majority of voters.

The citizen population of Galveston County is 58% white, 22.5% Hispanic, and 12.5% black. Although the black population is concentrated in the center of the county, the Hispanic population is evenly dispersed throughout. The county commission consists of five seats: four elected from specific districts and one elected at-large. Neither the black nor the Hispanic population of Galveston County is large enough and concentrated enough to draw a single commission district in which either group constitutes a majority of the voters in that particular district.

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The Department of Homeland Security is abruptly stopping a program that has allowed close to half a million immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela into the United States following allegations of widespread fraud, reported the New York Post.

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On Thursday, Mayor London Breed told city officials to offer homeless people a one-way ticket out of San Francisco before offering them housing and sheltering services.

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A Texas rancher has filed a lawsuit against President Joe Biden and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accusing them of adopting policies that have resulted in “the biggest influx of illegal aliens into America in our history.”

Newsbusters.

On Thursday’s edition of ABC’s The View, the penultimate for the season, Republican Governor Chris Sununu (NH) sent the liberal ladies into a tailspin by pointing out how the Democratic Party – the self-appointed defenders of democracy – had a very undemocratic method of anointing Vice President Kamala Harris the presumptive nominee.

Staunchly racist and anti-Semitic co-host Sunny Hostin (the descendant of slave owners) tried to argue that Democratic primary voters “voted for Harris too. She was on the ticket.” But she wasn’t. During the primary season, President Biden’s was the name at appeared on the ballot. Hence why vice presidential nominees have to approved at conventions; not to mention the fact that none of the other Democratic challengers had veep picks.

“She has 2,000 delegates she has already,” Hostin continued to brag. Sununu countered her on that point by calling out how party elites had made calls to push Biden out and wrangle the delegates to fall in line, causing moderator Whoopi Goldberg to blow a gasket.

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An anti-Israel group that scorned Joe Biden’s reelection bid over the president’s response to the Jewish state’s war on Hamas is now embracing Vice President Kamala Harris, saying she is more likely to push for a permanent ceasefire that would embolden Hamas.

The Black Muslim Leadership Council Fund endorsed Harris on Thursday, according to NBC News, making it the first Muslim group to back Harris that previously declared itself “uncommitted” toward Biden.

Harris, the group’s founder Salima Suswell said, received the group’s support because she skipped Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s congressional address and has otherwise “shown more sympathy towards the people of Gaza.” As a result, the group is hopeful that Harris will help it achieve its policy goals, which include an end to Israel’s war on Hamas that would establish the “rebuilding of Gaza as a Palestinian region, with no Israeli oversight.”

The odd affection for Islam by Americans of African descent as always struck people who are aware of Muslim involvement in the black slave trade as bizarre.

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If anyone still believes that the U.S. economy is doing just fine, they should take a closer look at what is happening to the retailers that depend upon the faithful American consumer to “shop, shop, shop” to keep the economy afloat. American consumers are rapidly running out of firepower, and now, so too are the retailers that depend on them.

Thank you, Joe Biden.

BBC.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has revoked a pre-trial agreement reached with men accused of plotting the 11 September 2001 attacks.

In a memo on Friday, Mr Austin also said he was revoking the authority of the officer overseeing the military court who signed the agreement on Wednesday.

The original deal, which would reportedly have spared the alleged attackers the death penalty, was criticised by some families of victims.

I have a question: Why are these people still alive?

Fallout over Trump’s race comments grows (The Hill) Especially in the Narrative Media. A more accurate phrase would be ‘dandruff’.

‘He wants to take us back’: Democrats eye new strategy against Trump’s attacks on Harris (Politico) And, to the extent that he does (not as great as Democrats would have you believe) Ah’m fur it.

Scoop: Trump stalled Black journalists interview over fact-checking (Axios) A more accurate term would be ‘fart’.

What Donald Trump Doesn’t Understand About Race in America (Politico) Getcher Narrative right here!

He’s a Racist – It’s not a surprise – By now you’ve probably seen clips … (Joyce Vance/Civil Discourse …)

Incredulous laughter, audible gasps: Trump’s performance at Black journalists’ panel left him exposed (Andrew Lawrence/The Guardian)

Prompted by right-wing radio host, JD Vance linked Roe v. Wade to Dred Scott decision allowing slavery (Eric Hananoki/Media Matters for America)

Republicans Freak Out Over Trump’s New Race-Based Attack on Harris (Dan Ladden-Hall/The Daily Beast)

Why Trump Can’t Banish the Weirdos (Adam Serwer/The Atlantic)

Donald Trump’s gag order remains in effect after hush money conviction, New York appeals court rules (Michael R. Sisak/Associated Press)  They can’t afford to let him speak.

The Media POUNCED on Trump at NABJ, But What Did They Omit or Downplay?

Trump’s Disastrous Interview Shows He’s Afraid of Kamala Harris (Dan Pfeiffer/The Message Box)

Doctors told Pelosi of concern for Trump’s mental health, ex-speaker says in book (Martin Pengelly/The Guardian)

‘CBS Mornings’ Uses Russian Prisoner Swap to Mock Trump, Celebrate Biden’s ‘Legacy’

Morning Joe’s New Attack Line On Trump: ‘A Deeply Damaged Man’ (and ‘Fat Elvis’)

Get ready for even more JD Vance in the spotlight after shaky rollout (CNN)  The monkeys are filling their hands with poop….

Whoopi Declares GOP Banned from Black Community After Trump Meets NABJ

The MAGA Abuse of the English Language (Brian Klaas/The Garden of Forking Paths)  Not to mention forking tongues….

Vance defends Trump over former president’s false claims about Harris’ racial identity (CNN)

How to Fact Check Trump’s Lies about His Document Case (emptywheel)

JD Vance Is An Investor In A Far Right Video Platform Filled With Neo-Nazi Content (Hunter Walker/Talking Points Memo)

NPR on NABJ Convention: Trump Talk Was ‘Unsettling,’ ‘Kind of Nuts All the Time’

Trump’s Racist Attack on Kamala Harris Was No Accident (Susan B. Glasser/New Yorker)

What happened to JD Vance? (Davidrlurie/Public Notice)

Dear Media, You Are Allowed to Call Trump a Racist (The Left Hook with Wajahat Ali)  So presumably we’re allowed to call Muslims terrorists?

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A new nonprofit organization has released a map revealing leftist groups spewing hate and inspiring violence, countering the narrative that all animus and political violence comes from the Right.

The map aims to balance the notorious far-left bias of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which gained its reputation by suing Ku Klux Klan groups into bankruptcy and creating a map to monitor Klan groups and others it claimed were fellow travelers.

The SPLC’s “hate map” has since grown to include many mainstream conservative and Christian nonprofits that have nothing to do with hate, much less white supremacy, yet the SPLC continues to claim the map shows the “infrastructure upholding white supremacy.”

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Go where you’re treated best.

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Beyond the obvious Cloward-Piven agenda in play throughout most of Europe and the US, open border policies accomplish much more than simply erasing western culture with third-world migrants. The introduction of violent peoples from violent countries and ideologies is a perfect way to generate public hostility and getting them to react in anger. When a government refuses to represent the interests of actual citizens that are under attack by foreign elements the only avenue left to that populace is self defense.

Establishment elites understand very well that their malicious activities are going to generate a vengeful response. Their first measure is to shame the public with accusations of “extremism” when the public fights back. When that doesn’t work, the next measure is to use popular riots as an excuse to impose authoritarian controls “in the name of safety.”

In other words, government officials invite brutal people into the society, let those people run amok while refusing to protect the public, then those same officials punish the public for protecting themselves after leaving them no other choice.

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An investigation into a Maryland school system’s electric bus initiative found that it resulted in millions of dollars in “wasteful spending” due to issues with the vehicles, according to a report from the county’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released in late July.

In February 2021, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in Maryland announced it was replacing 326 diesel school buses with electric buses as part of its sustainability initiative, the county OIG concluded in the report.

Due to delayed deliveries and frequent mechanical issues with the electric buses, the county has had to partially resort back to diesel buses despite the roughly $170 million it paid for the new fleet.

Newsbusters.

Google is redirecting users searching for former President Donald Trump’s name toward news about Vice President Kamala Harris in what appears to be another search term switcheroo, an MRC Free Speech America search found.

The MRC findings corroborate reports from X owner Elon Musk and others who noted that when users search for “donald trump” or “trump rally,” the banner with news results listed Harris’s name.

On the latest episode of “The Tony Kinnett Cast,” we don our foreign policy glasses and celebrate the freedom of two Americans formerly held as political prisoners in Moscow, while criticizing the potential release of over a dozen Russian hackers and a plea deal for two terrorists involved in the September 11, 2001, attacks. For an administration that bragged, “The adults are back in charge,” it certainly doesn’t feel like that’s the case.

An Algerian boxer almost breaks a female athlete’s face in an Olympic boxing match as equity is proclaimed at the top of LGBTQ+ activists’ lungs.

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Undercover footage reported by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project from Muckracker.com reveals that 14% of illegal immigrants in a single apartment complex in Georgia admitted to being registered to vote. The video, taken by journalist Carlos Arellano, has over 21 million views as of this writing.

Thank you, Joe Biden.

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President Joe Biden’s administration’s rewrite of Title IX went into effect on Thursday, an effort that seeks to allow men in women’s private spaces, athletics, and educational opportunities.

The White House did not appear to issue a statement or weigh in on the rule going into effect, nor had Vice President Kamala Harris or Biden issue statements or social media posts on the matter.

“Today, the Biden-Harris administration‘s harmful Title IX rewrite goes into effect,” said Riley Gaines, a former collegiate swimmer forced to compete against a man. “This rule says sex = gender identity. 52 years of progress & sex-based protections have been erased with the stroke of a pen.”

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As the 2024 presidential race heats up, a crucial question looms: How have American workers fared under the Biden-Harris administration compared with the prior Trump administration?

The June 27 presidential debate spotlighted the issue, and the data presents a stark reality. Working Americans are grappling with the worst economic conditions in decades.

Inflation, once a term relegated to academic discussions, now dominates kitchen table conversations across the nation.

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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., will introduce legislation Thursday reaffirming that presidents do not have immunity for criminal actions, an attempt to reverse the Supreme Court’s landmark decision last month. Schumer’s No Kings Act would attempt to invalidate …

UPDATE: Schumer Bill Aims to Nullify Court’s Presidential Immunity Ruling

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Couldn’t happen to a nicer group of people.

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Brooklyn prosecutors say Dexter Taylor is a danger to society. The 53-year-old built more than a dozen illegal firearms in his Bushwick apartment and is now serving a 10-year sentence in a maximum-security prison.

But Taylor and his friends say he’s not a threat, he’s a tinkerer — a software engineer, electronic music composer and amateur TikTok philosopher — who made guns as a hobby. They say he doesn’t belong behind bars.

Taylor was convicted earlier this year of various charges, including criminal possession of a weapon, unlawful possession of pistol ammunition and violating New York’s prohibitions on homemade firearms, known as ghost guns. His case blurs the lines of the traditional political debates about gun rights and gun violence.

Of course, the fact that he’s black has absolutely nothing to do with it. Perish the thought!

Cat Rotator’s Quarterly.

Clothes make the man. It also allows for quick identification and classification. Metal-heads, preps, punks, country-music sorts, nerds, back-to-nature types (old school and recent), firearms folks, faculty with or without tenure**, they tend to blur. Think of all the professional women in solid-color sheath dresses, or blouses and pencil skirts, jackets, office heels (2-3? heel but not spike usually), tasteful jewelry. Even without a set dress code beyond “professional,” everyone gravitates toward an unspoken but acceptable look. Even in a less formal setting, we all lean toward blending in with the flock. There’s safety and acceptance in numbers, and in not standing out.

The military have a technical term for people who Stand Out. They’re called ‘targets’.

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Thank you, Joe Biden.

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A Shia sect claims to be raising money to buy a remote territory in Scotland, which it would rule under Shia law.

Sheikh Yasser al-Habib and his Mahdi Servants Union (MSU) group are preparing such a bid. The cleric was in advanced talks to buy Torsa, a 270-acre island off the coast of Oban, Western Scotland, reports the Telegraph. To date, nearly £3 million (€3,557,280) of a £3.5 million target has been raised towards this target.

An MSU supporter filmed Torsa and two smaller neighbouring islands. This footage was included in videos posted to his Fadak TV channel, based in Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, in which al-Habib says the island represents an “irreplaceable opportunity” to create a “homeland” for his brand of Shia Islam, administered under his interpretation of Sharia law. Promised new buildings include a Mosque, a hospital, and a hawsa (Shia seminary).

Freeberg nails it.

The more I listen to Trump, the more I realize he is not a master salesman after all. He is an extremely competent salesman. He is better at selling things than I would be. He is much better than most. But among his talents, contrary to popular opinion, selling things is not his peak performance.

He really finds his groove un-selling things. Listing the reasons not to buy the other guy’s stuff. It’s like watching Winter by Antonio Vivaldi performed by a virtuoso. It’s like a vortex-confluence of raw natural born talent, lessons learned over years and years of doing it, and an earnest love and joy of actually doing it. You just want to bottle the performance and put a cork on top. Living greatness.

But after the atmosphere built up by the contagious enthusiasm has come and gone, and the tent has been dismantled and a good night’s sleep has restored sobriety — the core message remains. It’s not a druggy high. It’s durable logic and common sense. It’s truth. Everything he says, once you examine it objectively with patience for the details, is true. It’s only shocking or novel in some way because some people have become hooked on deceptiveness and duplicity. The conflict comes from people who are the problem. Like the villagers who’ve become accustomed to pretending the Emperor is wearing fine clothes, and their churlish attitude against the little boy who points out he’s actually naked.

The American Mind.

Some say Hillary Clinton lost in 2016 because, during the run-up to the election, she put Donald Trump’s supporters in a basket of deplorables. In response, MAGA masses started self-identifying as deplorables. Clinton electrified her opponent’s base, boosting turnout. Either something changed about the electorate, or maybe Kamala Harris is not learning from her predecessor, because this year, too, the Democrats are running not just on smearing their opponent and his family, but his supporters, too.

Democrats are gearing up to what might just become the most negative campaign in American history. That this election season is going to get ugly was obvious from the first official video released by Kamala Harris after she was anointed head of the Democrat ticket. Flashing images of opposition—Trump, January 6, Vance—Harris narrated the mean girl message to American dissidents: “There are some people who think that we should be a country of chaos, of fear, of hate. But us, we chose something different.”

Maybe attacking Trump feels stale to the Democrat electorate circa 2024, or perhaps his running mate J.D. Vance gave too memorable of a convention speech, because the latter is now finding himself the prime target of lefty vitriol. Among the first salvos directed at him was the social media gossip that his autobiography contains a passage about making out with a couch—which some Democrat voters apparently believed.

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God forbid that teachers be held accountable for their performance.

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Twenty years ago such an incident would be widely regarded in the UK and Europe as a terrorist attack. In the woke haze of 2024, though, the 17-year-old child of Rwandan migrants who went on a stabbing spree at a kids dance recital in the town of Southport, England is treated as a run-of-the-mill criminal. The response from the British public is one of rage as riots erupt across the country.

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Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is touting her as a tough-on-crime prosecutor who “put murderers and abusers behind bars” as part of a $50 million ad blitz in several battleground states.

But that PR effort will have to contend with Harris’s record as San Francisco district attorney, which includes lenient plea deals and probation for a string of career criminals—a serial domestic abuser who later murdered his girlfriend, a repeat felon who gunned down a newspaper editor in Harris’s hometown of Oakland, and others.

Harris’s fledgling campaign is leaning on her prosecutorial past—as San Francisco district attorney, then California attorney general—to fend off criticism of her soft-on-crime record. “I took on perpetrators of all kinds—predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain,” she said at a campaign rally in Wisconsin last week. “So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type.”

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Ever since the 2015/16 migrant crisis, Syrians have arrived in Germany in ever-increasing numbers, and now number at least 972,000 at the end of 2023, according to Statista. There are 22 million Syrians living in Syria itself, meaning those in Germany represent nearly 1 for every 20 in their native country.