Get Smart

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Weekend project complete: Build and hang new shutters.

Fun squirrel sighting in the front yard.

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U.S. Payroll Growth Slowed in August - WSJ

Frustrated by the lack of employer interest and understanding his jobless benefits were slated to end in September, Mr. Abdo hired a professional resume writer. His revamped application helped him quickly land a job.

Growth underperformed expectations.

18 paragraphs in this article and I had to read to paragraph 17 before finding even a passing mention about the enhanced unemployment benefits that will expire soon.

Not even a short paragraph acknowledging the view of some that perhaps those top-offs may have played a role.

Fact check: Biden honored service members during dignified transfer - USA Today

Based on our research, we rate MISSING CONTEXT the claim that Trump saluted the caskets of fallen U.S. service members, while Biden checked his watch. The way Biden honored the 11 caskets presented at Dover Air Force Base, with a hand over his heart, was similar to how Trump paid respects to fallen service members during his presidency. However, Biden did check his watch at least three times, according to photos and video reviewed by USA TODAY. Several family members of fallen service members who attended the ceremony have criticized Biden for checking his watch.

There’s a growing acceptance that “fact checking” is opinion masquerading as journalism. Here’s a clear example.

They’re “fact checking” a Facebook post that shows Trump saluting a casket versus Biden checking his watch. That is true, times three.

But makes the fact checkers uncomfortable. So, they pulled in an irrelevant comparison about how Biden put his hand over his heart during other parts of the ceremony to fit their narrative. Thus, false comparison in place, they can give a more benign rating.

What context is missing, exactly?

He checked his watch, he shouldn’t have done it.

Today is Day 90 of keto. Down 25 lbs.

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Hospitals Swamped With Delta Cases Struggle to Care for Critical Patients - WSJ

Normally, Ozarks Community Hospital would have been able to transfer the patient within a day, Mr. Taylor said. Now the hospital is rushing to assemble the staff and equipment to create a makeshift ICU to care for patients it can’t transfer, he said.

Where is the support from the federal government that we saw last year? Field hospitals, hospital ships, military and Public Health Service physicians and nurses?

Why I Won’t Support Spending Another $3.5 Trillion - WSJ Opinion

Instead of rushing to spend trillions on new government programs and additional stimulus funding, Congress should hit a strategic pause on the budget-reconciliation legislation.

Uh, Senator, is this a bad time to inform you that you unlocked this process with your Yea vote?

I, for one, won’t support a $3.5 trillion bill, or anywhere near that level of additional spending, without greater clarity about why Congress chooses to ignore the serious effects inflation and debt have on existing government programs.

Excellent writing, sir. You are the master of giving yourself an out for every one of your noble stands.

Psaki: ‘A Record 331 Million Americans Have Not Been Abandoned In Afghanistan’ - The Babylon Bee

Critics pointed out that Biden did not uphold his promise to rescue all Americans, and on top of that gave those still trapped one less day to attempt the dangerous road to the airport. Sources inside the administration say they are sick and tired of journalists saying things like that, instead of praising them for being so awesome.

Republican Politicians Vow To Get Real Mad And Stuff Following Afghanistan Crisis - The Babylon Bee

They will then send a bunch of angry emails to their email lists saying how angry they are—with links to donate to their reelection campaigns.

So true.

White House Solves Budget Crisis By Renting Out Ad Space On Biden’s Back - The Babylon Bee

“Your brand will be seen by millions of Americans as they anxiously wonder what the president has to say about Americans we’ve left stranded abroad, inflation, the economy, gas prices, the border crisis, and every other crisis. As soon as the press asks a question, your brand will be captured by dozens of television cameras.”

SPAC Rout Erases $75 Billion in Startup Value - WSJ

Over the same span, an exchange-traded fund that tracks companies that recently went public through initial public offerings slid 12%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 13%.

Boring wins.

The Proposal

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The Entitlement State’s Bankruptcy Dates - WSJ

The Trustees report is shouting not to expand entitlements when you can’t pay for the ones you have, but today’s politicians don’t care.

Cleaning my favorite window in the house.

Spirit Halloween Sets Up Shop In Abandoned U.S. Military Bases In Afghanistan - The Babylon Bee

“Sorry if it seems too soon,” said CEO Samuel Svengoolie, “but this is what we do. We have satellites in space constantly monitoring the surface of the earth for deserted buildings, and we are contractually obligated to immediately move in as soon as they’re empty. This is just what we do.” 

It’s great to see the Taliban playing with all of the tools and toys that I bought them.

China Limits Online Videogames to Three Hours a Week for Young People - WSJ

The new regulation, unveiled by the National Press and Publication Administration, will ban minors, defined as those under 18 years of age, from playing online videogames entirely between Monday and Thursday. On the other three days of the week, and on public holidays, they will be only permitted to play between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Tyranny.

Tencent Holdings Ltd., the world’s largest videogame company by revenue, has used a combination of technologies that, for example, automatically boot off players after a certain period and use facial-recognition technology to ensure that registered users are using

And Big Tech happily obliges with its own intrusive technologies.

Climate Change to Be Treated as Public-Health Issue - WSJ

Asked how HHS would reduce carbon emissions from healthcare facilities, Mr. Becerra said: “We will use every authority to its greatest advantage because it is time to tackle climate change now.”

Not much going on in the healthcare sector right now, so let’s use their idle time greening the place up.

U.S.’s Pledge to Fight Terrorists in Afghanistan Will Be Harder Without Boots on the Ground - WSJ

U.S. officials acknowledge the military has lost 90% of the intelligence collection capabilities it had using drones before the drawdown of forces began in May.

Probably not a good idea to offer informants assurances of protection and safe passage to America.

When the U.S. pulled its troops from Iraq in 2011, many officials and analysts say, it lost much of its ability to closely track the growth of Islamic State, which seized swaths of Iraq and Syria in 2014 and prompted the U.S. military to return.

We weren’t even gone before ISIS-K developed capability to attack our interests.

Intelligence agencies had estimated it would take terrorist groups about two years following the U.S. departure to reconstitute themselves and possibly pose a threat to the U.S. or U.S. interests globally. That timeline is being reassessed following the U.S.-backed Afghan government’s collapse, senior military officers said.

We’re super good at estimating.

Robinhood Stock Drops After SEC Chairman Warns on Payment for Order Flow - WSJ

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler in which he said a full prohibition of payment for order flow was “on the table” as part of a broader agency review.

What’s this? A former Goldman banker doesn’t like the compensation method that eliminated commissions and brokerage fees for the average American investor? Huh.

Joe Biden Bets on Cynicism - WSJ Opinion

When Mr. Biden announced in April that we were pulling out, he promised it wouldn’t be a “hasty rush to the exit,” that it would be done “responsibly, deliberately and safely” in “full coordination with our allies and partners.” The next month in the Atlantic, Elliot Ackerman, a former Marine who served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he appreciated how tired so many Americans are of this war. But he went on to say this: “To simply wash our hands of an entire country and its people is deeply cynical.”

Last Flight From Kabul - WSJ Opinion

The Washington Post reports that, amid the Afghan government’s collapse, the Taliban offered to let the U.S. provide security in Kabul. Mr. Biden and the U.S. military said all they needed was the airport.

No comment necessary.