PAST ITS 'SELL BY' DATE: Northeastern Illinois gender studies major enrolls just 4 students.

It's a spoiled product. Always has been, but now people are recognizing it for what it is....

TOP ONCOLOGIST says the wellness industry is 'toxic' and getting it all wrong.

He's right.

OLIVE GARDEN is now more secure than elections.

Olive Garden is controlled by a free market, not a Democrat cabal....

And your access to fettuccine is secure.

INSTAPUNDIT ON THE CONSTITUTION'S GUARANTEE CLAUSE: Will Trump invoke it?

I certainly hope so.

THE DEGENERATE SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA: This is what your children and grandchildren will inherit.

Vote like their lives depend on it -- because they will.

SMART MAN: World Cup Freddy returns to X.

PowerLine explains why.

NEXT UP IN IRAN: Pickaxe mountain?

[VIP] WELCOME BACK, MARCHING MORONS: Einstein never would have used artificial intelligence.

Also recommended, a classic cult film, Idiocracy.

THE DEGENERATE SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA: This is what your children and grandchildren will inherit.

Vote like their lives depend on it -- because they will.

THE WORLD MADE ANEW: America's allies are stronger, its rivals weaker, and the global balance has shifted.

THERE’S MORE PROOF OF ELECTION FRAUD than Global Warming, Israeli Genocide, and Socialism Working.

WELCOME BACK, KAROLINE LEAVITT: Her first press briefing back after maternity leave.

Update from PowerLine: maternity leave. The full (Twitter) picture is great, but unfortunately you have to be a Twit to see it.

SCHLICHTER: Leftist women are an abomination.

MACHIAVELLI'S THE PRINCE -- “The only people who haven’t read it are the ones who keep losing.”

WORKING CLASS GETTING HOSED by the victim class politics of hosepipe (water hose in American english) bans.

THIS USED TO BE ACTIVE SABOTAGE, now it's bureaucratic standard practice.

To mangle the famous quote that graced President Harry Truman's desk (the buck stops here) "The buck slows here".

Linked from Instapundit (Sarah Hoyt).

PORTLAND'S ADOPT-A-BUM PROGRAM isn't working out as well as the mayor hoped.

NOT IF IT'S TAUGHT BY COLLEGE FACULTY: Scholars argue for mandatory college civics.

HEH: Taco Bell manager confident Cyclospora came from farmers market down the street.

Click on the link.

I DO: Who gets to choose America?

I'm an American citizen and I want my vote back.

[VIP] DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS eye Michigan Senate seat ahead of August primary.

I don't normally post [VIP] material, simply because it isn't visible to everyone, but the Democratic Socialist candidate Abdul El-Sayed is calling for Bernie Sanders' cradle-to-grave 'Medicare for All'.

'Cradle-to-grave' is Democrat-speak for 'abortion to assisted suicide'.

SEEN AT THE LOCAL CONSERVATIVE GROUNDS CAFE: "It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." The sticker is now on the back of my truck.

RANDOM THOUGHT on political management styles:

Republican: wealth management
Democrat: poverty management

Need I say more?

IN AMERICAN ENGLISH: Socialism . Fails . Every . Time .

WITH SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM'S DEATH a power vacuum has opened up in the GOP Senate.

A GLIMPSE INTO COLORADO’S FUTURE and you’ll find yourself casually browsing real estate listings in Texas.

Just don't bring DEM-ocracy with you.

AMUSING (AND A BIT HISTORICAL) IF NOTHING ELSE: How the fortune cookie crumbles.

‘HARD FOR ANY DEMOCRAT TO WIN’: Top Democrat gives the game away on the Save America Act.

Cliffs Notes version: If we can't cheat, we can't win.

COMMUNISM IS A LOT EASIER TO SWALLOW WHEN YOU'RE IGNORANT:

Item 1: Part of this is that they’ve been subsidized by grift and fraud for so long.

Item 2: The education apocalypse.

The 'Valley Girls' -- and dudes -- from years ago have returned....

RANDOM THOUGHT: 'Valley Girls' have returned as Democratic Socialists.

SCHLICHTER: No Democrat has the brains or courage to not be crazy.

It should be 'brains and courage' above....

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: More than 200 FBI agents swarm Fulton County GA to investigate 2020 election fraud.

SHIFF'S NAME SHOULD BE SHITT: After Republicans lost Lindsey Graham Adam Schiff wasted no time counting votes.

UNFORTUNATELY THEY'RE SUCCEEDING. With extreme poverty at all-time lows, Democratic Socialists hope to reverse the trend.

ACCESSIBILITY; WE'VE MADE RAPE MORE ACCESSIBLE. Mamdani's explanation of why NYC is dealing with rising rate of rapes.

FLORIDA GOV. RON DESANTIS bars H-1B visas at public universities.

We already have enough home-grown idiots.

THE DEFINITION OF GREED: Bernie’s coming to town.

Is government, not billionaires.

SHE'S NORMAL: Here is the real reason why they hate Caitlin Clark so much.

RUBIO TO THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC): Hands off the United States — Oh, and we're shutting you down.

CNBC’S WOKE ‘WORST STATES’ LIST makes Red America look great.

I live in one of the worst. Thank God.

BECAUSE HE'S A FAILURE: Why Democrats are furious with Bernie Sanders.

NOW A RING GIRL: the versatile Sophie Cunningham.

I saw a picture somewhere of her with Sidney Sweeney with her caption "One of us forgot our tits at home." That girl lady has class.

VICTORY GIRLS: Show us the money, Randi Weingarten.

LARRY ELDER: What's the real defining image of race in America?

[T]here is a race problem in America, and it's the blatant racism of prominent figures on the left. This is the real defining image of this era of American history.

Truth.

JOHN STOSSEL: Spoiled socialists.

JONATHAN TURLEY: James Talarico's defense of gun control leaves out a key word.

For the maleducated, here's the Cliffs Notes version: Texas Opie should just keep talking.

IF THIS DOESN'T MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD, NOTHING WILL: Young man uses money he saved for a house to give his granddad a World Cup adventure.

SO WHAT DO THESE PEOPLE ACTUALLY DO? Michigan State University spends almost $900,000 on five DEI staffers.

Other than create havoc?

THEY'RE NO LONGER 'DEMOCRATIC SOCALISTS', OR EVEN JUST SOCIALISTS. Bernie Sanders and the Democrats' coalition of the appalling.

They're just idiots. Mostly overeducated, mostly undermedicated idiots.

END WOKENESS: The interracial violence narrative vs. reality.

Linked from Instapundit.

THE SOONER THE BETTER: Make Iran great again.

NOW CONQUERING INNER SPACE: This human habitat at the bottom of the ocean is now operational.

Linked from Instapundit.

THE BEST WAY TO HONOR SEN. GRAHAM [R-SC] is to pass the Save America Act now.

SOUTH CAROLINA SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM: dead at 71.

Rest in Peace. We've got this.

I LIKE THE IDEA: Trump's plan for triumphal arch wins a key early approval.

But I'd go a bit smaller....

REPUBLICANS LEARN ABOUT BRANDING: "In the spirit of designating every minority enclave of the city, I'm officially renaming my district 'Little America'."

'LUXURY BELIEFS' are killing people.

YGBFKM: The FCC Chair casts doubt on ABC's claim that 'The View' is a 'bona fide news program'.

Of course 'The View' is a bona fide news program....

SEND HIM --AND ALL HIS FAMILY --BACK TO UGANDA: Mamdani's embittered Fourth of July rant to America.

KICKED OUT BY HIS OWN DEEP BLUE 'COLLEAGUES': Platner is a hilarious symptom of progressive failure.

Still, I was hoping he'd stay in the race to further embarrass his fellow Democrats.

CERTAINLY; IT SHOULD BE OBVIOUS: Is AI leading to a dumbed-down and misled populace?

The author is right. Absolutely right.

POWERLINE'S Week in Pictures has posted. Two favorites, this week:

And one I'm somewhat partial to ...

... although given what academia has done to education I'd choose 'PhD to Prision' instead.

That said, go see the rest.

JASMINE CROCKETT says the Texas Democratic Senate primary was racist.

Jasmine Crockett was the racist in the race. She lost.

DO YOU REALLY WANT TO GO ON A GAY CRUISE? Stop in Israel (see last chart).

BUT, BUT ... WAS IT CONSENSUAL? Prehistoric cave discoveries hint at shared culture between Neanderthals and modern humans.

INSTAPUNDIT IS BEATING MY DRUM: Don't lock young Americans into Social Security.

I agree, as I have for years. Here are some of my old Social Security posts. [if given the option, sort by relevance; the ones of interest come up faster.]

AND NOW THEY'VE RUN OUT OF CLOWNS. It looks like the Democrats have been sending their best all along.

MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY: You’re just going to have to kill them or walk away from Iran.

I'd prefer we kill them. Rabid animals can't be allowed to live.

THIS IS WHAT 'MUH DEMOCRACY' LOOKS LIKE: Residents vow to take matters into their own hands at block party nightmare.

Thanks, Democrats....

HEH: How about “no apparatchiks” instead?

I'M REMINDED OF SGT. SCHULTZ FROM HOGAN'S HEROS: "I know nothing."

I’M NOT SURE, I’D HAVE TO CONSULT WITH CHATGPT: Is Artificial Intelligence making us dumber?

AN EXCELLENT QUESTION: Why is gun rights the only civil right with a federal bureaucracy purpose-built to regulate its exercise?

CREDENTIALED, DEPENDENT, AND UNEMPLOYABLE: The Washington Post’s cautionary tale backfires.

BECAUSE THERE'S MORE TIME TO EAT? Losing sleep leads to weight gain.

DEMOCRATS DISCOVER Trump's latest crime against humanity: home maintenance.

It seems like Democrats can neither maintain or improve -- only destroy.

HALF A CENTURY OF MANAGED DECADENCE, packaged as progress.

I MISSED President Trump's Mt. Rushmore speech on Independence Day. It's about 30 minutes long, but well worth the time.

Linked via Instapundit.

MAINE'S GRAHAM PLATNER WOES have been accumulating faster than I can track so I've decided to just list the ones I've been watching.

(7/7) PLATNER WOES: The Left has a new narrative about Graham Platner; Scott Jennings just nuked it.

(7/8) DON'T GO GRAHAM. Your party -- and you -- desperately need a swift kick in the ass.

(7/8) GOOD NEWS; BAD NEWS: Platner just killed the Democrats' brand; you’re gonna hate what replaces it.

(7/9) GRAHAM PLATNER suspends his Maine Senate campaign. I was hoping he'd stay in the race.

Apparently he has only suspended his campaign, not withdrawn from the race, which he's supposed to announce on Monday, the last day to (legally) withdraw. I hope he doesn't; it will serve the Democrats their just deserts.

PITY: Former Wisconsin judge avoids jail time for obstructing arrest of illegal immigrant.

She deserved at least some jail time. At a minimum she should have her license to practice law revoked and never allowed to be in a courtroom again (except as a defendant).

I'VE NEVER THOUGHT MUCH OF STEPHEN A. SMITH. This just confirms why.

NO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WAS INVOLVED. How my father mastered cooling our house without air conditioning.

IN SEATTLE, NATURALLY. 'Professor' gets National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to study rural gender-diverse youth.

ANYTHING THAT CAN BE ALREADY IS: How much is AI manipulating us?

I'D GET THE WILLIES ANYPLACE INSIDE SUNNY HOSTIN'S BUBBLE. 'The View' co-host Sunny Hostin laments 'I suddenly feel unsafe' in neighborhoods with American flags.

"THE GREAT SECRET OF THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS is that Progressivism is an elitist, technocratic ideology crafted by academia."

WELL, YOU DEMANDED IT: Seattle residents pull red card on socialist mayor as street becomes 'dumping ground'.

You got it -- good and hard. Enjoy....

APPARENTLY THE WOKE MIND VIRUS IS CATCHING. Bill Clinton's July 4th post proves the Democrat party is truly done.

HOW'S COMMUNISM WORK? Like this: Cuba goes dark as island nation hit with massive blackout.

ON THE LEFT, dogma beats reality.

The Left is bubble-wrapped, packed into a box, taped shut, and stored far, far away from the real world.

VOTE LIKE YOUR LIFE, LIBERTY, AND PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS depend upon it.

Because it does.

SCHLICHTER: Chip away at birthright citizenship until we can finish it off entirely.

BINGO! Elon Musk decimates Mamdani's America 250 speech with one simple fact.

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM SOMEONE WHO CAN'T GRILL A HAMBURGER? NY Sen. Chuck Schumer's beef industry bill risks raising prices, not lowering them.

PROGRESSIVE POLITICIANS ARE IDIOTS. California high school battles Newsom's state law ordering it to change 'Indians' mascot.

NO ARGUMENT FROM ME: Socialists are disqualified for public office simply by being socialists.

Or should be....

THE VENEZUELAN EARTHQUAKES EXPOSED SOMETHING — and it wasn't just shoddy infrastructure.

MY PLATNER PREDICTION JUST CAME TRUE. Here’s what’s next.

SEND THEM BACK. All of them.

IT IS AMERICA, AFTER ALL: UFC President Dana White suggests God himself kept storm from UFC event. Now it appears the storm actually did split in two around the White House.

IF AMERICA IS TO SURVIVE Democrats and Republicans must stop lying about their deficit spending and debt.

HEH: "If you don’t like getting told what temperature to set your thermostat, you probably won’t like socialism."

JONATHAN TURLEY: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro could've been a contender, but he caved to the loons.

I posted on his refusal earlier. I would add that my Senator (Raphael Warnock [D-GA]) did the same -- unfortunately we're stuck with him for another term

THIS IS your Democratic Socialist party.

TAKE A WILD GUESS. What is Iran building now in the Zagros mountains?

It probably isn't low-rent housing....

TANSTAAFL: The 1.9% solution.

^*TANSTAAFL: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.

HERE'S HOW Fauci can still face prosecution despite his pardon.

Do it: Either option will be devastating for his legacy.

THE COLLEGE EDUCATED VOTER: a problem in search of a solution.

It's somewhat uplifting; watch the video at the bottom of the post.

SOCIALISM: So many eggs broken yet no omlets.

AIR CONDITIONING: Proof of Europe's decline.

You can also scroll down to see the cartoons.

TELL ZORHAN MAMDANI: Detective union chief warns 'this has to stop' after bloody weekend in Brooklyn.

SITUATION NORMAL -- UNCHANGED: Disinformation starts at the top — with America’s elites.

I SIMPLY CAN'T BELIEVE THIS: Virginia and Montana top list of the most patriotic states in new survey for America’s 250th birthday.

Montana, I believe. Virginia, no; it elected a far, far Left progressive, Abagail Spanberger, as Governor for the next 4 years.

Well, to a limited extent, I will agree that outside the DC metro area, Virginia is patriotic....

YEAH, PRETTY MUCH. The New Socialists: elite, ungrateful, and toxic as ever.

And narcissistic. Don't forget narcissistic.

SO POUND SAND. Trump’s DOJ tells the International Criminal Court (ICC): Americans answer to America.

DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA (DSA) LEADER says his group would be 'thrilled' with AOC running in 2028.

I can easily see her doing TikTok videos from Air Force One....

NOT REALLY, but ... need another reason to loathe Michelle Obama?

ANY WIN IS A GOOD WIN. Trump scores appeals court victory in battle over National Park historical displays.

THOUGHTS ON LAST NIGHT'S AMERICA 250 INDEPENDENCE DAY GATHERING IN WASHINGTON DC.

The Mall had been evacuated earlier in the evening due to severe weather. Some events were canceled (mostly the flyovers that had been happening throughout the day) and others rescheduled. Around 11 pm the the gates were reopened and America 250 restarted with President Trump to speak at 11:20 pm.

Surprising me, the Mall area started refilling quickly. Apparently most of the attendees had stayed around expecting it reopen. I heard estimates of upwards of 100,000 people, including many families with young children staying up well past their bedtimes. People were still coming in when President Trump began speaking.

His speech was essentially a guided military/crisis history of the United States from 1776 through 2026 using the real flags that had flown during those periods. He brought to the stage people (or surviving family members of those) who had actually participated in the events of which he spoke to remind us of the essential greatness of the American spirit. It was a very moving speech.

Then the fireworks began, and President Trump delivered what he promised -- they were spectacular. And they weren't launched from a single point -- from behind the stage, to the left, to the right, all over. I can only think of it as an IMAX theater performance. It lasted a bit over 30 minutes, at least twice as long as any I have ever seen.

And then the people left. Quietly. Not a fight to be seen; not a riot; not a shot fired.

The way an Independence Day celebration should be....

BEEGE WELBORN: This is my Happy Birthday to this magnificent country.

HEH: How do you say "MAGA" in Spanish?

Maybe it's time to change 'Gulf of America' to 'Gulf of the Americas'.

JUST ANOTHER teapot tempest.

THE LEFT ASKED FOR THIS; they got it.

And America won....

CIVIL SERVICE HAS NEVER WORKED WELL, so yes, bring back the spoils system.

And yes, I was a 'civil servant' for a short while. It was a mistake.

Go read the whole post.

TEN BLUE STATES chose to boycott the America 250 State Fair. They are Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusettts, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.

Pennsylvania and Maine also 'officially' boycotted, but their own citizens chose to step up to the task.

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL [D-WA] insists socialism is popular. Its true it's popular in her circles -- but her circles don't include America.

JUST STEP BACK and let Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu do his thing.

Let him concentrate on the mullahs and IRGC while Hegseth's Department of War takes care of the rest.

WHEN REALITY BITES: Gavin Newsom has no clue on concealed carry.

Actually, he has no clue on just about everything....

IT'S CALLED GOVERNMENT. Everyting temporary is permanent.

THE RIDICULOUS REASON why Queen Camilla has angered the Left.

"Sod off, swampy" sounds right to me.

WHO KNEW? Seizing private property is the endgame of socialism.

Normally I would accuse myself of being sarcastic, but with the state of American higher education being what it is, no longer.

THERE AREN'T ENOUGH DONALDS BEING BORN? Trump is negatively impacting ... birth certificates?

How about Muhammads? Zorhans? Baracks? Are there enough of them?

CELEBRATE AMERICA 250? REALLY? Zohran Mamdani delivers a socialist manifesto to celebrate America 250.

POWERLINE: America at a crossroads.

The author's not optimistic. Neither am I.

JOSH SHAPIRO SHUNNED AMERICA 250, and now it’s a success. Normal people and businesses stepped up with pride.

Linked from Instapundit.

I DON'T KNOW BUT I CAN HOPE: Can we restore the principles of 1776?

MALLARD FILLMORE:

AMERICA'S NEXT 250 YEARS begins with patriotic education.

IN YOUR FACE, EUROPOORS, I'm setting my thermostat to 1776 for Independence Day.

SOME PEOPLE ARE PUSHING BACK: Massachusetts woman steps in after 'shameful' Democrat Governor boycotts the Great American State Fair.

Good. We need more people like Donna Festinger and Judith Kalaora, and fewer like Gov. Maura Healey.

THE REPUBLIC AT 250 and the merchants of chaos.

PATRIOTISM IS ALIVE AND WELL on America's 250th Birthday.

THE LINCOLN SPEECH every American should read on this America 250 Independence Day.

HEH: At 10:24 am this morning I wrote "It's not even 90 yet and already the weather 'panicans' are out with a heat advisory. Our cats have been outside all day enjoying the warm weather.

IT'S INDEPENDENCE DAY. A bit late for my July 4th posts, but we had a rather significant power outage here in the hinterland and power has just returned. Herewith are a pair of archive photos from 2021 and here is one from today.. insert Flag1 Except for having put the flagpole in a different place, nothing much has changed. Except grass (finally). I wish America has changed as little as it has here.

THE BRITISH got what they wished for....

MAMDANI WANTS YOU to enjoy the warmth of socialism.

So enjoy.

IN 2026 JFK would be a Republican....

AI ‘FACT-CHECKER’ says there may be 72 genders.

Artificial Intelligence is only as good as its training set -- and who defines the training set? If you're considering AI you might think about considering its parentage and education.

From the comments: "AI is the most powerful censorship tool yet created. It can be trained/tuned to only provide approved opinions and information." Many of the other comments (more than I expected) are on that point. Kudos to Real Intelligence....

IT STARTED OUT AS A JOKE. But now no one is laughing at this candidate’s chances for 2028.

A warning to Americans: This could happen to YOU.

HE'S RIGHT: Spencer Pratt furious as LA Mayor Bass uses fire for political posturing.

Spencer Pratt, the reformer and firebrand whom California Democrats managed to cheat out of the Los Angeles mayoral primary, is absolutely disgusted with “soulless goblin” Bass for pontificating that the fire at a particular L.A. facility must be a “turning point.” When the arson-triggered Palisades fires devastated huge swathes of land, killed dozens of people, and turned some of the most beautiful neighborhoods into heaps of charred logs and ashes, Bass wasn’t fazed. But now that a building which a donor of hers owned has burned, suddenly she is calling for drastic change.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Democrat.