Read it.

“Let your rage fuel you.” Those words from Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger captured what I have called “rage politics” in America.

Across the country, politicians and pundits are fueling rage, encouraging voters to embrace it. If you turn on the television, you would think that Darth Sidious had taken over: “Give in to your anger. With each passing moment, you grow stronger.”

I do not think for a second that Spanberger supports violence. She was sharing with voters the “sage advice” of her mother, which she said she has applied in her political career. However, the anger is all around us.

I think she supports violence–if it’s against Republicans. It seems pretty obvious.

Read it.

In hockey, it is routine for a defenseman to project a slap shot from the blue line into a crowd in front of the net. The hope is that his or her teammate’s stick—or, inadvertently, an opponent’s body—will deflect the puck, alter its course, and steer it past a goaltender who is moving in the opposite direction and, thus, has little chance to make a save. While not a fan of soccer (a.k.a. “football”), I suppose this play has its equivalent in other sports, where the kick is projected toward the goal and a teammate “heads” the ball into the net past the flailing goalkeeper.

Speaking of projection, deflection, and kicks to the head, this routine maneuver undoubtedly constitutes page one of the left’s political playbook. The question is whether the right can keep their eye on the puck and prevent the left from firing unfounded shots into the electoral scrum and, abetted by a gaggle of media milling about the goal crease, scoring partisan points and winning elections through projection and deflection.

Newsbusters.

Sunday’s New York Times front-page investigation, “Remarks on Kirk’s Assassination Bring On Broad Wave of Firings,” by Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Bernard Mokam, was galling for anyone whose sense of history goes back five years.

During the 2020-era George Floyd hysteria, the Times ran little news coverage of the many people (many not even conservatives) getting cancelled and fired or pushed out of positions for insufficient worship of Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. Yet when the reverse is happening regarding Charlie Kirk, it’s disturbing front-page news?

The 2020-era firings were mostly ignored by corporate media. But the online job screening firm FAMA posted a gleeful blog listing some of the myriad firings in the aftermath of the George Floyd’s death and the resulting protests, many of which devolved into rioting and killing: “People are Getting Fired for Racist Comments about George Floyd Protests.”

Read it.

Democrats in Congress are calling on the Federal Communications Commission to protect subsidies that help reduce the cost of Wi-Fi on school buses.

In a letter led by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., the lawmakers argue against FCC Chair Brendan Carr, who said in a press release last month that the commission should end expansion of the E-Rate program, which provides discounts on Wi-Fi on buses and hot spots on school campuses.

“Rolling back the E-Rate hotspot and school bus decisions would undercut some of the most effective tools for addressing inequities in home connectivity and would reverse progress in closing the ‘Homework Gap.’ For millions of students, especially those from low-income households, internet access outside of school walls is not a luxury but a prerequisite for academic success,” reads the letter, which was signed by Sens. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and Peter Welch of Vermont, and Rep. Grace Meng of New York, all Democrats.

Holding out for the Really Important Stuff.

Newsbusters.

On Sunday’s The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper, CNN host Jake Tapper spent an hour mourning the six-day suspension of ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel — a personal friend Tapper didn’t disclose — as dangerous for free speech, regardless of Kimmel’s vile comments about it on September 15.

Most disgusting was Tapper relegating the September 10 murder of Charlie Kirk to a supporting role, thus painting a narrative (via use of his time) that Kimmel’s suspension had more dangerous consequences than someone’s murder allegedly by someone who did so because of Kirk’s political views.

A January 6 “false flag” claim made it to the president (Matt Gertz/Media Matters for America)

Sen. Chris Murphy sends funds to anti-Trump organizing groups (NBC News)

How Trumpworld inflates the perceived danger of the left (pbump)  Philip Bump loses his shit.

GOP Strategists: Dems Will Pay for ‘Fascist’ Anti-Trump Language

Karoline Leavitt Says MAGA Shooter Just Hated Mormons (Tom Latchem/The Daily Beast)  There’s that MAGA guy again. He sure gets around–but, surprisingly, only among Democrats.

The abortion pill is safe. But why should Trump let facts get in the way? (Moira Donegan/The Guardian)  No, it’s not safe. That is the FACT that the Woke refuse to admit.

Stephen Miller: Donald Trump’s ‘prime minister’ executes his plan to reshape America (Guy Chazan/Financial Times)

MSNBC Lets Democrat Defend Violent Attack on ICE Agents, ICE Is ‘Terroristic’

Trump bashes Zohran Mamdani after Eric Adams drops out of New York mayor’s race (Erin Doherty/CNBC)

The New York Times, a Voice of the Crust.

For close to a year, Democrats have been locked in debate over their path out of the wilderness. In party retreats and private Slack channels, along with testy exchanges on social media and strategic leaks to reporters, Democratic insiders have wrestled over the mistakes of the Biden administration and the shortcomings of the Harris campaign.

The stakes of those arguments have risen even higher in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, with the White House intensifying its crackdown on dissent, and MAGA leaders declaring holy war against the left.

But an air of denial — and, more recently, panic — has pervaded the discussion about what comes next. It’s easy to say drastic reform is needed, but there’s no agreement on what this should look like. In practice, the party establishment is doing what party establishments always do: counting on the other side to self-destruct so it can squeak back into power while changing as little as possible.

The strategy would be a lot more defensible if Democrats could write off Trumpism as a fever that was bound to break with time. But the evidence of the past few years points in the opposite direction — shrinking populations in blue states, an alarming drop in Democratic voter registration, dire math for retaking the Senate and crushing majorities who say the party is out of touch. Worst of all is the ongoing rightward shift in the working class, a challenge that goes beyond winning elections to strike at the heart of what it means to be a Democrat.

A few campaigns have bucked those trends. The problem for Democrats is that the best examples come from candidates running against the Democratic Party.

Read it.

It is a familiar sight for revelers traveling Interstate 15 from Southern California to Las Vegas: In the final stretches of the Californian Mojave Desert, just before the Nevada border, there is little else interrupting the vast, Martian expanse aside from a near-abandoned border town and this glittering relic of California’s renewable energy boom.

A little more than a decade ago, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System opened to great fanfare, with a $1.6 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)—part of the Obama administration’s push to install green energy production on public lands—and a promise to help California meet its increasingly ambitious decarbonization goals.

At the time, it was the world’s largest solar plant, its nearly 4,000 acres covered in a blinding array of high-tech mirrors, arranged in supplication around three 450-foot towers. It nearly doubled the amount of solar thermal energy then produced in the United States, according to the DOE.

Originally, the project had an estimated operational life of 50 years, according to the final environmental impact statement. Its two buyers, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), had purchase agreements through 2039.

Now, Edison has pulled out of its contract, and Ivanpah is set to close. The facility’s concentrating solar power (CSP) technology will likely be converted to a photovoltaic (PV) installation, a technology that experts say has outpaced CSP in terms of cost, efficiency, and versatility.

”To save money for our customers, Southern California Edison has agreed to stop buying electricity from the Ivanpah Solar Power Plant,” Jeff Monford, a spokesperson for the utility, told The Epoch Times. The decision, he said, has been an “ongoing negotiation among a few parties, including the owners of the plant and the Department of Energy.”

Read it.

The swamp never wastes time protecting its own, and James Comey is no exception. The disgraced former FBI director, who has finally been indicted for lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding, is already benefiting from the familiar playbook: put the right judge in place, create an appearance of fairness, and then quietly shield him from any real accountability.

Military.com

The white hats of the graduating class of the U.S. Naval Academy sailed high in the clear skies above Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis in May of 1994, after President Bill Clinton gave the commencement address and the Navy’s Blue Angels roared overhead.

Mikie Sherrill, now a New Jersey Democratic congresswoman running for governor, saw none of it.

She was caught up in a months-long investigation of the worst cheating scandal in the academy’s history, leading to the expulsion of 24 midshipmen. Sherrill says she did not cheat but was penalized because she would not turn in her classmates involved in the infamous scandal.

Which is just as much a violation of the Honor Code as actually cheating.

While allowed to graduate, Sherrill was not permitted to walk in the procession with the rest of her classmates in that joyous ceremony. She was among 64 who received lesser punishment.

Read it.

A viral video showing a group of high school seniors in Argentina chanting antisemitic slogans during their graduation trip has prompted a wave of condemnation, including from President Javier Milei.

The video, recorded in the city of Bariloche, shows students from Escuela Humanos, a private school in Greater Buenos Aires, chanting “Today we burn Jews.” A coordinator from the travel company Baxtter appears to join in the chants.

It is common during graduation trips to the southern mountain city for tour companies to combine buses from different schools for certain excursions. Students from Escuela Humanos were traveling with students from a Jewish school, Escuela ORT.

Sarah Hoyt.

I want you to consider — other than possible activation by mysterious behind the scenes forces, to change the national conversation, and note I’m not laughing at this, which means “ten years ago Sarah” is staring at me in horror from the back of my mind — that 2020 broke people. It broke people BADLY. I see it in my own family. I see it in my circles. And I see it in myself.

Mind you, a lot of us broke in the sense of “I’m now full blown introvert, and will just glare at people if you take me out, and spit like a cat if I’m forced to be around strangers for a full day.” But other people broke in other ways. And I doubt very much there are any of you out there, who don’t know what I’m talking about. In fact doing impromptu, small mental health adjustments has become a thing in everyone’s friendship circles.

Terms I used for my own mental health management (keeping in mind that I’m a raging depressive) have escaped and are now in the wild, seemingly everywhere “out of spoons.” “Reality testing” and of course “kicking the black dog.”

Lindsey Graham: FBI Misled Courts to Target Trump  Well, duh….

The week in Trump absurdities: from Turkey’s ‘rigged elections’ to ‘your countries are going to hell’ (David Smith/The Guardian)

What Is the ‘Med Bed’ Conspiracy Theory Trump Promoted? (Peter Wade/Rolling Stone)  Don’t call them ‘conspiracy theories’; call them ‘spoiler alerts’.

CNN’s Jake Tapper Tries to Trip Speaker Johnson on Comey Indictment, Gets WRECKED

Trump confident ahead of Monday showdown, says Democrats’ position makes shutdown likely: “I just don’t know how we’re going to solve this issue” (Robert Costa/CBS News)

Trump threatens mass firings of federal workers if government shutdown isn’t averted, NBC News reports (Erin Doherty/CNBC)

Oregon sues to block Trump from deploying troops to Portland (Maxine Bernstein/Oregonian)  Of course they do.

Oregon sues to block Trump from deploying state’s National Guard in Portland (Politico)

Trump’s troop deployment to Portland, Oregon, faces immediate pushback in court (Steve Benen/MSNBC)

Comey and the lessons of pre-capitulation (Noah Berlatsky/Public Notice)

Oregon Sues Trump Over National Guard Deployment to Portland

A plan to send troops to Portland remains riddled with uncertainties (Justin Jouvenal/Washington Post)

Trump’s Plan to Send Troops to Portland, Oregon, Prompts Frustration (Anna Griffin/New York Times)

Oregon sues Trump administration over order to deploy troops in Portland (Washington Post)

Trump says he ‘would think’ DOJ is investigating former FBI Director Christopher Wray (NBC News)

Yet Again, Deep State Attacks DNI Tulsi Gabbard

OH, NOW IT’S A PROBLEM: The New Yorker’s David Remnick Laments the Indictment of James Comey (A brief example of James Comey’s dishonesty (Byron York/Washington Examiner))

On PBS, Steve Hayes Taps Brakes on Liberal Hysteria Over Comey Indictment

In Going After His Foes, Trump Sets a Precedent That Could Haunt His Allies (Peter Baker/New York Times)  Do tell.

Small Businesses Wither Under Trump’s Tariffs: ‘It’s Hard to Breathe’ (Sydney Ember/New York Times)

“No one is safe”: Democrats fear Trump will prosecute them next (Andrew Solender/Axios)

The Man Behind Trump’s Push for an All-Powerful Presidency (Coral Davenport/New York Times)  Woodrow Wilson.

Trump Is a Weak, Failing President. These Brutal New Polls Confirm It. (New Republic)  Apparently truth is now determined by ‘polls’. Sorry, but the only ‘poll’ that counts is in November.

The U.S. is not a Functional Democracy (Jennifer Rubin/The Contrarian)  Jennifer Rubin loses her shit, and is apparently back from vacation.

Criminal investigation launched after feds fire pepper ball at CBS Chicago reporter’s truck (CBS News)  I doubt that ICE is worried about ‘the Village of Broadview’.

Justice Department Loses a Third of Career Leaders Under Trump (Bloomberg Law)  A good start.

Again: Why isn’t the media reporting on Trump’s growing dementia? (Robert Reich)  Perhaps because it exists only in the fever dreams of people like Robert Reich.

Godfather Glop: CNN’s Tapper Analogizes Trump To Movie Mob Boss

Dems Outraged By Unprecedented Political Prosecutions Of People Not Named Trump (Babylon Bee)

Read it.

On Sunday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth officially deployed the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, to counter far-left groups targeting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and facilities. The state of Oregon immediately filed a lawsuit seeking to block the deployment. This move comes as dark-money-funded leftist NGOs, far-left groups, and radicalized leftist lone wolves resort to violence this year, with some of this mayhem referred to as “civil terrorism” … and attacks have intensified this month.

Hegseth wrote in a memo, “This memorandum further implements the President’s directive. 200 members of the Oregon National Guard will be called into Federal service immediately as part of the previously authorized call.”

Read it.

The UK recorded its largest-ever migrant crossing on a single vessel this weekend, according to Bloomberg – piling further pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer as his Labour Party convenes for its annual conference in Liverpool.

The Home Office confirmed that a boat carrying 125 people crossed from France to England on Saturday, breaking a previous record set in August when 107 people arrived in what was dubbed a “mega-dinghy.” The surge underscores the worsening crisis despite Starmer’s vow to “smash” the smuggling networks responsible for ferrying people across the Channel.

“These small boats crossings are utterly unacceptable and the vile people-smugglers behind them are wreaking havoc on our borders,” Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in a statement. “Protecting the UK border is my priority as home secretary and I will explore all options to restore order to our immigration system.”

The problem is that, unlike the U.S., U.K. law allows you to stay if you can reach their shores.

Read it.

In this age of modern warfare, the U.K. might already be at war with Russia, according to the former head of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency.

Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller, who led MI5 from 2002 to 2007, told the Lord Speaker’s Corner podcast that Russia’s escalating hybrid warfare tactics indicate a sustained campaign of hostility against Britain and its allies, The Times U.K. reported Monday.

“Fiona Hill may be right in saying we’re already at war with Russia,” Manningham-Buller said, referencing the prominent foreign policy expert and Vladimir Putin biographer who was key in testifying against President Donald Trump in the first impeachment.

Read it.

Many socialists have bypassed the foundational principle of collective ownership of production and have instead jumped straight to demands for ownership or redistribution of the output of production. Production is seemingly taken for granted. This conceptual shortcut makes socialism seem like a dream economic system by avoiding what socialism really is.

Therefore, although many public and political arguments are made in the name of socialism, what is often advocated for is not true socialism. In reality, the debate has rarely centered on collective ownership of the means of production—such as the factories, tools, land, and capital that make production possible—but instead on ownership or control of the outputs of production (goods and services).

Simply put, many self-identified socialists are less interested in owning the means of production and more interested in claiming entitlement to what is currently being produced or the production that someone else already owns.

Thus, the economic system debate is rarely about who controls the means of production itself but rather about the redistribution of final goods and services.

Read it.

A new finding by American surgeon John Sottosanti adds an astonishing detail to the Shroud of Turn debate: the faint outline of human teeth beneath the cloth’s imprint.

…

But to Sottosanti, trained in facial anatomy, the discovery is groundbreaking, according to an article published in The Blaze.

It not only demonstrates the Shroud came from a real human being, but also deepens the mystery of how the Shroud’s image was formed.

Read it.

Chinese gangs are taking advantage of loose marijuana rules in Oklahoma to grow and transport marijuana to other states for sale on the black market, authorities say.

Oklahoma narcotics officials told Congress $153 billion worth of marijuana is unaccounted for and likely leaving the state for the black market in other states.

As many as 85 percent of licensed grow sites have connections with Chinese owners or operators, according to Mark Woodward, information officer with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

Since 2022, the state has shut down more than 6,000 illegal growing operations. Most U.S. states have made marijuana legally available, but taxes and regulations have pushed up its price, leaving an opening for black market sale

Read it.

It’s only been a couple of days since Biden stepped down and endorsed Kamala Harris. I’ve lost count of the “first Black/Indian American/Asian American female president” emails and ads flooding my inbox. Just last week, I learned that JD Vance was Trump’s running mate when I got a dozen messages asking about the Telugu-speaking Kamma caste. And no, these weren’t from the extended family WhatsApp group gossiping about a cousin. Most messages were from Americans trying to understand the buzz around JD Vance’s wife, Usha Vance (née Chilukuri), an American born to Telugu-speaking Indian immigrants.

That buzz around Indian Americans in politics only intensified with Vivek Ramaswamy’s speech at the Republican National Convention (RNC) and Nikki Haley following the party line to endorse Trump. With Kamala Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket, Indian Americans are making waves on both sides of the political aisle, and everyone’s taking notice.

Indian Americans, though just 1.5% of the U.S. population, have an outsized impact. They’re not only the highest-earning ethnic group but also occupy top positions at Microsoft, Google, IBM, Adobe, and FedEx. They dominate the field in STEM and medicine, and now, they’re stepping into the political spotlight on both sides of the aisle.

…

How did the children of Indian immigrants reach the top of US establishments in just one generation? Should we view them as part of the elite or categorize them as BIPOC — Black, Indigenous, and People of Color? Are they more likely to vote – or now, increasingly run – as Democrats or Republicans? And what does all this mean for the broader political landscape and policies on immigration, race, and DEI?

I answer all these questions by explaining (1) the composition of Indian Americans in the US, especially from the lens of caste; (2) the origins of when and how Indian Americans came to the US; (3) the political leanings and views of the more recent Indian immigrants on immigration reform and DEI as a relatively small minority in the US.

BBC.

Scientists have discovered “dark oxygen” being produced in the deep ocean, apparently by lumps of metal on the seafloor.

About half the oxygen we breathe comes from the ocean. But, before this discovery, it was understood that it was made by marine plants photosynthesising – something that requires sunlight.

Here, at depths of 5km, where no sunlight can penetrate, the oxygen appears to be produced by naturally occurring metallic “nodules” which split seawater – H2O – into hydrogen and oxygen.

Several mining companies have plans to collect these nodules, which marine scientists fear could disrupt the newly discovered process – and damage any marine life that depends on the oxygen they make.

Epicurious.

As you cut sweet, creamy, and slightly airy slices of yellow banana into your morning cereal, it may be hard to imagine the familiar fruit tasting any different. Like the prisoners in Plato’s allegory of the cave, most Americans are unaware that today’s yellow banana is like a shadow of the one that preceded it—a yellow banana with a sweeter flavor, firmer texture, and better culinary versatility was once the norm. The long, curved, school-bus yellow banana that America first marveled at was a variety called the Gros Michel, or “Big Mike.”

…

For a long time, I casually searched for the Gros Michel. I knew it would be difficult to find in stores, though from what I’d read the variety still existed. The longer I searched and the more I paid attention, the more it became incredibly clear to me how many bananas this country has for sale. Bodegas, convenience stores, airport kiosks, chain grocery stores, corporate cafeterias, hotel breakfast buffets—everywhere I happened upon a yellow banana, it was always a Cavendish.

Finally, one day, I was pleasantly surprised to find an online Gros Michel retailer called Miami Fruit. I ordered a small box of Gros Michel bananas and patiently waited for them to arrive at my door but realized I didn’t quite know how to qualitatively judge one banana against another. To truly understand how the elusive Gros Michel from years past compares to the Cavendish that litters produce stands today, I knew I had to speak with a bona fide fruit expert.

Read it.

Watering and fertilizing crops to provide enough food for a changing world is a major challenge in agriculture. Now, scientists at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a “smart soil” that can keep plants better hydrated and provide a controlled release of nutrients. In tests it drastically improved crop growth while using far less water.

It’s been estimated that around 70% of the world’s freshwater usage goes towards agriculture. That of course means that in areas where water is more scarce it can be hard to grow crops and feed populations, so scientists are investigating ways to boost efficiency.

Building on earlier work, the new study marks a good step in that direction. The soil gets its “smart” moniker thanks to the addition of a specially formulated hydrogel, which works to absorb more water vapor from the air overnight, then releasing it to the plants’ roots during the day. Incorporating calcium chloride into the hydrogel also provides a slow release of this vital nutrient.

Trump falsely suggests FBI agents to blame for igniting Jan. 6 violence (Politico)

Trump’s war on Tylenol is also very much a war on women (Arwa Mahdawi/The Guardian)

Trump’s central role in Comey case may become key to defense strategy (Washington Post)

Poll: Public Confidence in Higher Ed Growing (Kathryn Palmer/Inside Higher Ed)  “Despite the Trump administrations ongoing attacks on colleges and universities….”

Why Donald Trump is obsessed with Portland (Politico)

On MSNBC, Sen. Murphy Claims Radicalization Unimportant, Trump Destroying Debate

Brennan: Trump Won’t Intimidate Me With Charges

Colombian president accuses Trump of violating UN principles after visa revoked (Axios)  He ought to learn to keep his mouth shut.

‘I’m not going to be intimidated by the likes of Donald Trump’: Fmr. CIA Director on being targeted (MSNBC)

Inside the Trump Administration’s Push to Prosecute James Comey (New York Times)

NPR-Ipsos poll: Americans don’t broadly support Trump’s National Guard deployments (Debbie Elliott/NPR)

MSNBC’s Willie Geist Downplays N.J. Democrat’s Naval Scandal, Turns Shame on Leakers

Donald Trump’s Disapproval Rating Among Republicans is Now in Double Digits (Kate Plummer/Newsweek) Which means 10%. The horror! The do admit that 86% approve, which is very white of them.

FBI’s Patel clarifies role of hundreds of agents on Jan 6, says Wray lied to Congress (Brie Stimson/Fox News)  My, what a surprise.

Trump’s transportation department pulls trail and bike grants it deems ‘hostile’ to cars (Jeff Mcmurray/Associated Press)  Trump just keeps on winning for regular Americans.

Trump’s shutdown plans: Mass layoffs, deregulation, military deployments (Jacob Bogage/Washington Post)

The full force of Trump’s federal job cuts is about to hit the D.C. region (Washington Post)

What the Right Really Means When It Says ‘Free Speech’ (Sarah Jones/New York Magazine)  More mind-reading by the Narrative Media.

The Race to Save America’s Democracy (Garry Kasparov/The Atlantic)

Trump’s Politicized Prosecutions May Hit a Roadblock (Adam Serwer/The Atlantic)

US set for largest mass resignation in history as Trump continues deep cuts (Michael Sainato/The Guardian)

What to know about Trump’s new pharmaceutical tariff plan (Joseph Choi/The Hill)  Don’t bother to read it, we’ll tell you what to think.

Greene, Straying From Trump, Reflects an Emerging MAGA Split (Annie Karni/New York Times)  There’s that MAGA guy again. He really gets around.

What the Trump regime doesn’t want you to know about Dallas ICE shooting (Will Bunch/The Philadelphia Inquirer)  Will Bunch loses his shit. Jennifer Rubin must be on vacation.

Sen. Chuck Schumer says he has ‘no faith’ in Trump’s judicial system after Comey indictment (Alexandra Marquez/NBC News)  Welcome to our world, Chuck.

Green Meltdown: Trump’s Second Term Breaks the Back of Climate Activism

Democrats Rage, Leftist NGO Mobilizes After ICE Arrest Of Iowa’s Top School Superintendent

Read it.

Liberalism forces the immense existential burden of self-invention, a power disclosed at best to the mere handful of Elon Musks in this world, onto the great mass of humanity. To the self-regarding few, Locke’s understanding of the human person as an autonomous individual, a free agent whose identity is chosen rather than inherited, will taste like liberation. To the humble majority, it will be felt as a crippling weight—akin to the kind of choice-oversaturation we are liable to feel at an obscenely varied all-you-can-eat buffet. Except that in this case, the saturation is writ large, applying not only to food but to life’s most fundamental questions.

Such considerations have prompted a notorious right-wing internet meme: “Liberalism but exclusively for 130+ IQ Anglos.” A society that consisted solely of Lockes and Musks, the idea runs, would unquestionably benefit from a liberal ethos in which all were free to think, act, and innovate for themselves, each man doing so in accordance with a self-fashioned conception of the good life. But since no such society has ever existed, the next best option is to make do with the less impressive species we have before us: a human race that naturally organises itself into tribal collectives and craves the security of order and tradition. If only the wary 99% were cut from the same cloth as their intrepid superiors in the 1%, the conservative brakes on liberalism might be relaxed without danger. In the event, prudence dictates that they cannot be.

The rarer move is to doubt whether this celebrated 1% in fact exists. To be sure, intelligence and other forms of natural hierarchy are very real. But, albeit to varying degrees, are we not all prone to tribalism? Is there any man who does not stand in need of the innumerable funds of social knowledge greater than himself?

The Foundry.

I’ll give you the key:

It starts with a “D”.

The Foundry.

President Donald Trump just visited the United Nations to offer a customary annual presidential address.

Before he arrived, there were reports that U.N. staffers had joked about shutting down the escalator to chastise Trump for cutting out aid to some U.N. programs.

Upon arrival, as if on cue, Trump was met by a series of mysterious coincidences.

As soon as he and first lady Melania Trump mounted the escalator, it suddenly froze—forcing them to walk up.

Other escalators worked fine. Shortly afterward, the supposedly broken escalator was just as mysteriously running again.

When Donald Trump went to the podium, his teleprompter mysteriously quit—and his alone.

As he delivered his speech from a text, the amplification in parts of the assembly was mysteriously lowered to near imperceptible levels.

Despite U.N. denials, all three “accidents” were too closely tied to Trump to be coincidences.

The Other McCain.

People in Iowa and around the country are mystified by this situation. How did this guy get hired? And how much of his biographical information is actually true?

Read it.

A German court has sentenced far-left activist Hanna S. to five years in prison for her role in a string of violent assaults in Budapest last year, German media reported. The ruling by the Munich Higher Regional Court is not yet final.

Between 9 and 11 February 2023, masked attackers linked to the Antifa movement targeted people they claimed were “fascists,” assaulting them with sticks and knives at five locations across the Hungarian capital. Nine people were injured, six of them seriously.

The case has gained attention because one suspect, Italian activist Ilaria Salis, was elected to the European Parliament this year. Her new parliamentary immunity has so far blocked efforts by Hungarian prosecutors to bring her to trial.

Hungary’s government has since officially designated “Antifa” and “Hammerbande / Antifa Ost” as terrorist organisations. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said the decision was the “first step” in treating Antifa as a terror group under Hungarian law.

Read it.

Belgium will soon link refugee benefits to integration efforts as part of a broader crackdown on illegal migration and asylum abuse, Asylum and Migration Minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt has confirmed.

Under the plan, recognized refugees will continue to receive full social benefits, but payments could be cut if they fail to learn the language or look for work. People with subsidiary or temporary protection—such as many Ukrainians—will start with lower payments but can earn “integration bonuses” by completing language courses or training programs.

The reform was promised in the federal coalition deal and comes alongside tougher asylum measures, including the closure of reception centres to migrants already protected elsewhere in the EU and a target of cutting migration costs by €1.6 billion by 2029. Van Bossuyt argues Belgium must stop being a “magnet” for asylum seekers and crack down on what she calls “asylum shopping.”

In July, Belgium reintroduced internal border checks on buses, flights, and major roads from France, Italy, and Greece, following similar moves in Germany and the Netherlands. The government insists the checks are needed to prevent secondary migration.

Meanwhile, Brussels is challenging Europe’s top courts after rulings blocked deportations of failed asylum seekers. Former Constitutional Court president Marc Bossuyt has accused the European Court of Human Rights and the EU’s own Court of Justice of “tying governments’ hands” and called for stricter limits on judicial intervention.

Van Bossuyt said regional governments will be responsible for integration checks, with talks already held in Wallonia and Flanders and Brussels next on the agenda.

Read it.

A coalition of 16 states and the District of Columbia is suing the Trump administration to keep materials they say “recognize and affirm gender identity” in their federally funded K-12 sex education programs.

Read it.

A gunman opened fire inside a Mormon church in Michigan during Sunday services before apparently setting the building ablaze, killing at least one person and injuring nine before police shot him, authorities said

Hundreds of people were inside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township when a 40-year-old man rammed a pickup truck through the front door, then got out of the vehicle and started shooting, Police Chief William Renye told reporters. Police believe he “deliberately” set the building on fire.

After the suspect left the church, two officers pursued him and “engaged in gunfire,” Renye said. The man was killed.

I think we can safely say that this guy was not a Republican.

The New York Times, the Paper of Record of the Crust.

For those who felt denigrated by his rhetoric, the bipartisan tributes to him as a champion of free speech augured something dangerous: the mainstreaming of formerly extremist views.

It’s all about feelings, compared to which facts don’t matter.

Newsbusters.

The New York Times reported on the death of convicted cop killer Assata Shakur, but remembered her now as a “Convicted Revolutionary.” The Black Liberation Army extremist was convicted for the murder of state trooper Werner Foerster in a 1973 shootout. She broke out of prison in 1979 and sought refuge in communist Cuba, where she died.

ATQUE: Leftists ‘Honor’ Cop-Killing, Black Militant Assata Shakur

Read it.

Chinese communist-style digital tracking is coming to the UK with a new “right to work” scheme in the form of a universal ID called the “Brit Card”. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, facing unprecedented backlash from native born citizens for his open border policies and two-tier justice system protecting migrants from prosecution, is attempting to exploit public anger to gain support for an Orwellian surveillance rollout.

The government says the mandatory ID, based on the UK One Login system, will help to stop “illegal” immigrants from crossing the channel by denying them access to work. The UK One system was introduced in 2023 and is built on biometric tracking; similar programs have been attempted for two decades in the UK but they have been consistently thwarted by public pressure.

The problem with the immigration claim is that it is a clearly baseless con.

Take note that Starmer distinguishes “illegal migrants” as the targets of the ID, but most immigrants coming to the UK are allowed in legally, aided by numerous subsidized programs and asylum policies. Starmer’s choice of words is very deliberate and highly disingenuous.

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For years, many of us have raised concerns over the political weaponization of the New York legal system from the civil fraud case against the Trump company by New York Attorney General Letitia James to the criminal prosecution by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The popularity of these lawfare warriors shows how a dual legal system has taken hold in the city. That was never more evident than in the outrageous decision of Bragg to drop the case against Brianna J. Rivers, 30, who assaulted a pro-life advocate in a case of political violence. The refusal to prosecute Rivers is only the latest example of enabling those who turn to violence in our political system.

Rivers was captured on videotape attacking Craven Antao after she asked Rivers questions about abortion and repeated her answers.

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In a recent opinion column, former Univision anchor Jorge Ramos attempted to make sense of Charlie Kirk’s senseless murder. In the process of failing to do so, Ramos fell back on familiar tropes.

The Substack column, titled Charlie Kirk, Guns and the Internet, danced around the actual motive behind Kirk’s assassination. Instead, Ramos ascribed the murder to ideologically vague “extreme polarization” and “disinformation on social networks”, while also lashing out against the right to keep and bear arms.

To his credit, he did these things after unambiguously condemning the murder of Kirk. Such is the state of our political discourse that this even warrants mentioning, as opposed to being a normal thing that everyone assumes.

Guns don’t shoot themselves.

Misinformation comes from the leading purveyors of supposed information, when they get it wrong–as they habitually do.

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Scientists are leveraging quantum physics to develop new energy production methods, aiming to address the computing industry’s growing energy demands.

Researchers at MIT have devised a novel approach to observe the quantum Hall effect by mimicking it with superchilled sodium atoms, enabling deeper study of frictionless electron flow.

This breakthrough in understanding “edge-state” physics could lead to highly efficient electronic circuits and quantum computers, offering a solution for energy loss in data and energy transfer.

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Bias? What bias?

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Think of it as evolution in action.

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Three women have been indicted by a federal grand jury in California on accusations that they doxed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent after following him home last month, according to the Justice Department.

Cynthia Raygoza, 37, of Riverside, Californina; Ashleigh Brown, 38, of Aurora, Colorado; and Sandra Carmona Samane, 25, of Panorama City, California, face charges of conspiracy and of publicly disclosing the personal information of a federal agent, The Hill reported.

Prosecutors said the suspects allegedly followed the agent from the Los Angeles Civic Center district to his home on Aug. 28, while livestreaming their pursuit on Instagram and broadcasting directions to the agent’s residence.

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After back-to-back hurricanes devastated Florida’s Gulf Coast last year, residents of this artsy waterfront city are facing wrenching choices: demolish, rebuild to costly flood-resistant codes, or walk away from homes that defined their community’s charm, The New York Times reported.

Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which struck within weeks of each other, left a trail of destruction across the state. In Gulfport, a city of about 12,000 near Tampa Bay, nearly 100 homes were deemed “substantially damaged” under federal flood insurance rules. That triggered requirements to either elevate houses to modern standards or tear them down. For many, the cost was overwhelming.

“The locals are disappearing,” said Nancy Poucher, 70, an artist whose mustard-colored bungalow was flooded beyond repair. Unable to afford the six-figure cost of elevating her home, she and her husband sold the property at a loss to a developer.

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Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, in 2018 privately admitted the likelihood of an association between the drug in pregnancy and neurodevelopmental disorders, according to a report by the Daily Caller.

“The weight of the evidence is starting to feel heavy to me,” Rachel Weinstein, U.S. director of epidemiology for Janssen, the pharmaceutical arm of Johnson & Johnson, said in company documents obtained by the Daily Caller from the law firm Keller Postman LLC, which brought a class action lawsuit against Kenvue in the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York.

“We are talking with Rachel Ochs-Ross, the neurologist in CNS [Central Nervous System] today. Originally it was to talk about biologic plausibility for benefiting acetaminophen, but now we’ve added the studies in prenatal exposure and neurodev outcome.”

Newsbusters.

After a Friday World News Tonight report on the possibility of a government shutdown, ABC might need to rename its network DNC because throughout the segment, host David Muir and White House correspondent Rachel Scott combined to utter the phrase “Democrats say” three times while never once using the equivalent “Republicans say.”

Muir kicked things off by declaring, “We turn next tonight to this potential government shutdown, now just five days away. The White House threatening mass firings of federal workers. Democrats say they’re fighting to reverse Medicaid cuts and to keep health insurance premiums from going up for millions. Democrats say the White House has refused to meet. Here’s Rachel Scott.”

Navy Matters.

ComNavOps has expressed both hope in SecDef Hegseth and an ominously growing sense of disappointment about the Secretary. Hegseth talked the talk but has, thus far, failed to walk the walk.

He had the opportunity to come in and clean house throughout the services and, with a couple of welcome exceptions, has failed to do so. The same service leadership is still, largely, in place. All the incompetent and politically motivated flag officers are still there and still running things.

Who has he fired over the disastrous Afghan pull out? No one.

Who has he fired over the Chinese spy balloons? No one.

Who has he fired for the military’s multi-year failure to pass an audit? No one.

Who has he fired for allowing the Navy’s fleet to look like a bunch of rusted out garbage scows? No one.

Who has he fired over the lowering of physical fitness and qualification standards? No one.

Who has he fired over the burning of the USS Bonhomme Richard? No one.

Who has he fired over the decades long debacle of the USS Boise (SSN)? No one.

I can pose these questions all night and the answer is the same for all of them: no one! Hegseth is holding no one accountable.

But ComNavOps, you whine say, we can’t afford to fire every flag officer. That would cause insurmountable problems! Bad as they might be, we need flag officer leadership. Really? You’re saying that we’d have problems if we fired all the people who have, over the last several years, hollowed our military, driven readiness into the toilet, allowed maintenance to become an afterthought, and wasted obscene amounts of money on failed programs?

It’s a shame. Based on his pre-nomination public statements, I had high hopes for Mr. Hegseth. Unfortunately, his actions to date, or lack thereof, suggest he’s yet another failed SecDef who lacks the courage to take sweeping and decisive action. All talk, no walk.

Comey’s indictment is a warning to the Supreme Court justices (Ian Millhiser/Vox)

Trump demands Microsoft oust president over Biden-era ties (Ben Berkowitz/Axios)

Donald Trump’s US attorneys, unvetted by the Senate, move full steam ahead (Politico)

About those unconfirmed US attorneys (Politico)

Supreme Court clears way for Trump to withhold $4B in foreign aid approved by Congress (Politico)

The Charges Against Jim Comey Are Even More Bogus Than You’d Imagine (Slate)

Ice detains superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district (Maanvi Singh/The Guardian)

ICE arrests criminal alien serving as Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent; prior weapons charges and in possession of loaded handgun at time of arrest (ICE)

Trump Fired a U.S. Attorney Who Insisted on Following a Court Order (New York Times)

Trump asks Supreme Court to decide whether he can end birthright citizenship (CNN)

Musk, Thiel And Bannon Mentioned In Latest Epstein Files From Oversight Committee (Arthur Delaney/HuffPost)  OH, NO! TRUMP COOTIES!

U.S. preparing options for military strikes on drug targets inside Venezuela, sources say (NBC News)  Sources say! That proves it!

James Comey’s Indictment–and the Danger of Political Prosecutions (Jed Rubenfeld/The Free Press)  Funny how this never came up when Obama and Biden were doing it.

False statement charge against Comey appears to center on Hillary Clinton email probe (CNN)

Trump’s attacks on Comey and leadership shifts in prosecutors’ office could undermine case, legal experts say (Melissa Quinn/CBS News)

Scoop: Congressional trips cancelled ahead of potential shutdown (Axios) The horror!

The Supreme Court Just Rewrote the Constitution to Give Trump Terrifying New Powers (Mark Joseph Stern/Slate)  Terrifying!

Trump Asks Supreme Court to Curb Birthright Citizenship (Greg Stohr/Bloomberg)

Clarence Thomas Says the Supreme Court Is Coming for More Precedents (Edith Olmsted/New Republic)  Good. There are a lot of bad ones out there, starting with the case the imposed birthright citizenship.

FBI fires agents photographed kneeling during 2020 racial justice protest, AP sources say (Eric Tucker/Associated Press)  Sounds like a step in the right direction.

Why the case against James Comey may end in humiliation for Trump’s DOJ (Politico) Or might not.

On NPR’s ‘Fresh Air,’ Ex-WashPost Editor Compares Kimmel Suspension to McCarthyism  Of course.

Justice Department Seeks Information on Georgia D.A. Who Prosecuted Trump (New York Times)

FBI fires agents who kneeled at protest after George Floyd’s death: Sources (ABC News)

Trump’s Targeting of Soros Foundations Sparks Fear and Defiance on Left (New York Times)  I would imagine that it does.

Economic anxiety grows under Trump, creating a new political liability for the GOP (NBC News)  Or at least that’s what they’d like you to believe.

Epstein calendar released by Democrats mentions Elon Musk, who denies visiting his island (David Ingram/NBC News)  Tentatively expected! That proves it!

Trump Displays Little Interest in Fostering Unity Amid Political Violence (Jeremy W. Peters/New York Times)  Neither do Democrats, but of course the NYT can’t be expected to mention that.

“The first domino”: Comey indictment sets MAGA retribution in motion (Axios)  You mess with the bull….

The Tax on Being a Girl — President Trump’s cuts to humanitarian assistance abroad have hurt all kinds of people. (Nicholas Kristof/New York Times)  Because, as we all know, providing ‘humanitarian assistance’ to girls around the world is TOTALLY the resposibility of the U.S. govenment–and the U.S. taxpayer.

Trump asks Supreme Court to uphold restrictions he wants to impose on birthright citizenship (Associated Press)  Note the slanted phrasing. Your Narrative Media at work.

Trump’s fuzzy math (Josephine Walker/Axios)  Not to be confused with Axios’ fuzzy math.

‘Don’t trust Trump’: how UK health experts are fighting back against a war on medicine (Denis Campbell/The Guardian)

The real cost of Trump’s $100,000 visas (Vox)

F.B.I. Fires More Agents, Including Those Who Knelt During Racial Justice Protests (Devlin Barrett/New York Times)  And rightly so, since the demonstrated themselves to be Woke partisans.

An Ugly American berates the United Nations — and shames the rest of us (Chauncey DeVega/Salon)

“Extremely Disturbing”: What Does Trump’s “Antifa” Executive Order Actually Do? (Schuyler Mitchell/Mother Jones)

Hegseth’s mystery military meeting broadcasts a damaging message of U.S. instability (Claire McCaskill/MSNBC)  Much like the ‘journalism’ of MSNBC.

Trump deploys troops to Portland, authorizing ‘full force’ if necessary (Michael Birnbaum/Washington Post)

Trump says he’ll send troops to Portland, Oregon, in latest deployment to US cities (Chris Megerian/Associated Press)

FBI Fires 15 Agents Who Knelt At 2020 George Floyd Protest  Note that they are all female.

Trump administration official physically assaulted at UNGA by ‘deranged leftist,’ White House says (Brooke Singman/Fox News)

Federal Grand Jury Charges Three Women with Following ICE Agent Home from Work and Livestreaming His Home Address on Instagram (US Department of Justice)

It’s Called America’s “Weirdest” City. But Just Wait Until You Hear What’s Going On in Its Coffee Shops. (Jacob Grier/Slate)

Protesters Chant ‘Shoot ICE’ in Suburban Chicago

Trump says he’s sending troops to Portland to protect ICE facilities (Kit Maher/CNN)

John Roberts Wrote Trump a Permission Slip to Indict Comey (Cristian Farias/New York Magazine)