EH, THEY GO WITH WHO PAYS ‘EM:

Bulwark: This is more evidence we’re losing, you guys!

NASA’S RETURN TO THE MOON IS THE REBOOT WE NEED RIGHT NOW:

The mission, which launches today, even follows the playbook that governs Hollywood reboots. While not challenging Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s near-final form of ‘diversity’, with virtually no men of recognisably European extraction at all, the lunar mission will return in a gender swap for the ages: Apollo has been replaced with Artemis, the Graeco-Roman god’s girl-boss twin sister. Artemis is Rey to Apollo’s Luke, Galadriel to Apollo’s Aragorn, Nahla Ake (captain of the USS Athena, funnily enough) to Apollo’s Kirk.

In some regards, the NASA mission is not quite as eccentric as Hollywood. DEI considerations are clearly visible in the four-strong squad actually riding in the warhead, but all are well qualified in traditional terms and, on the ground, NASA is at least still staffed by top scientists and engineers. And unlike the new Lord of the Rings proposal, which will adapt scenes from the books that didn’t appear in Peter Jackson’s trilogy, Artemis is at least intended to retell the whole story, and then start layering in sequels.

Faster, please; the surviving men who walked on the moon during the Apollo program aren’t getting any younger:

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES:

KEEP ‘EM SCARED AND RUNNING:

HMM: Reserve Sheriff’s Deputy Sues VW After He Was Fired for Having His Service Weapon in His Car.

Luis Rivera worked for Volkswagen at the company’s Chattanooga, Tennessee plant for 14 years. He was a production team leader there. Rivera is also a reserve deputy in the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office. Last June Rivera stopped at the VW plant after some training to pick something up and had his service gun in his car. That, VW says, violated the company’s no-weapons-in-the-workplace policy and the German auto maker fired him.

However…Tennessee is one of the most gun-friendly states in US of A. Volunteer State law — Section 39-17-1313 — permits lawful gun owners to store firearms in their vehicles as long as the firearm is kept out of sight. Rivera has now sued Volkswagen for violating Tennessee law and he’s seeking at least half a million dollars.

He seems to have a strong case.

DON’T BE SURPRISED IF THAT FIGURE TURNS OUT TO BE LOW-BALL:

UPDATE (FROM GLENN):

GAVIN NEWSOM’S EMPIRE OF FRAUD:

California is a cash machine. The state collects some of the country’s highest income, business, and fuel taxes, and now spends more than $300 billion per year. And yet, everywhere you look, California seems to be falling apart.

The roads are crumbling. Mismanaged wildfires have turned neighborhoods into ash. Drug addiction and homelessness have metastasized, turning parts of Los Angeles and San Francisco into no-go zones. And the cost-of-living crisis is pricing middle-class taxpayers out of basic necessities like groceries and gas, even as the state spends billions on welfare programs that never seem to lift anyone out of poverty.

Californians are beginning to ask: Where is all this money going? On paper, it funds hospitals, universities, schools, prisons, infrastructure, and other public services. But beneath the surface, something else is happening that California Governor Gavin Newsom does not want you to see: massive, systematic, brazen fraud.

We conducted interviews with public officials, fraud experts, and political figures, and reviewed hundreds of pages of government reports, state audits, criminal indictments, and other public records on California fraud. From unemployment insurance and Medicaid to failed homeless initiatives and welfare programs, seemingly every state program has been compromised by criminals. The best estimates suggest that, on the governor’s watch, fraudsters, scammers, and organized crime rings have stolen at least $180 billion from taxpayers.

Welcome to Gavin Newsom’s empire of fraud.

Read the whole thing.

ABORIGINAL RIGHTS!

JUST ANOTHER WELL-TO-DO RED-DIAPER GRIFTER:

ONCE AGAIN I SAY, LET IT ALL OUT, KURT: