SURPRISED? Former Obamacare chief to lead top insurance lobby.

Time for Instapundit's revolving door surtax. Only I'd increase it to 100%.

HEH: Congressman calls for Endangered Species Act protection for farmers. It's tongue-in-cheek, but I'll bet California's farmers wish it was for real....

AVIATION: We Wish This Luxury Airship Was Real. And I that I could afford to fly in it.

THE SCOREKEEPER: People now cannot eat cheese without government assistance.

"[T]he government forced the Kraft Heinz Company to recall 36,000 cases of Kraft Singles individually wrapped slices because three customers were too stupid to peel off the plastic, and choked. Ten other morons couldn't figure out how to get all the plastic off and complained."

"Meanwhile, McDonald's continues to have to warn customers that hot coffee is hot."

THE SUPREME COURT SAYS AGAIN: Words don't mean what they say.

I'm reminded of this passage from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass:

"I don't know what you mean by 'glory,' " Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't—till I tell you. I meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!' "
"But 'glory' doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down argument'," Alice objected.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master—that's all."

Italics mine, and the essence of progressivism. The encouraging part is that we know from the nursery rhyme that

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

Again, italics mine. 2016 can't come too soon.

JUNK SCIENCE leads to garbage policy.

"I can't think of a single major environmental, dietary or public health story in my career that has not been driven in some way by junk science. But we are still awash in junk science that affects our health or costs us money, peace of mind and our liberties."

I blame progressive activists and a supportive media that has a nasty habit of reporting false information as 'science'.

POPULAR MECHANICS: High-definition videos of Earth taken from the International Space Station.

Smile. You're on Candid [ISS] Camera.

JACK DUNPHY on the folly of police de-escalation. The comment thread seems to be uniformly negative, but I tend to lean toward Dunphy's view. I'm reminded of two expressions, one from my youth:

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil, because I am the meanest son-of-a-bitch in that valley.

And one from my two tours in Iraq in 2006 and 2009:

Be polite, be professional, and be prepared to kill anyone you meet.

Judging from the comments, it's worthwhile to be reminded occasionally that police officers spend much of their time in a 'different valley' from the one most of us walk through.

SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS: Global Hawk ‘payload adaptor’ plan gaining momentum. I admit to being somewhat surprised by this, as this discussion had already begun when I retired [from Lockheed Martin Skunk Works] some 16 years ago.

CHOLESTEROL: A 30-year government science fraud.

The nation’s top nutrition advisory panel has decided to drop its caution about eating cholesterol-laden food, a move that could undo almost 40 years of government warnings about its consumption....

Frankly, we know so little about nutrition that we would be better off without the federal Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.

Yet another government agency worthy of defunding.

DRIVING AMERICA TO DRINK: Since 2007, 1.4 million manufacturing jobs lost; 1.4 million waiter/bartender jobs gained. Remind me again: when did Obama take office?

So how's that hope & change stuff working out?

EXCEPTIONAL AMERICANS: Desi Arnaz.

From the ScoreKeeper.

MORE CARLY: A podcast interview with Steven Crowder.



Much more here. Crowder is a millennial, and obviously very much a supporter.

COMMUNISM FAILED HERE. In 1620. And its successor, socialism, will fail again. In 2016.

EVERY DAY, multiple times.

And almost every time I catch up....