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LIFE IN THE 21ST CENTURY: The Rise Of Restaurants With No Diners As Apps Take Orders. “Inside a bright red building in Redwood City, just south of San Francisco, cooks plunge baskets of french fries into hot oil, make chicken sandwiches and wrap falafel in pita bread. If you’ve been in a restaurant kitchen, it’s a familiar scene. But what’s missing here are waiters and customers. Every dish is placed in a to-go box or bag. Delivery drivers line up in a waiting area ready for the name on their order to be called. Behind the counter, racks of metal shelves hold bags of food. Each bag sports a round, red sticker with the logo of DoorDash, America’s biggest food delivery app. DoorDash manages this building, the drivers, the counter staff — everything but the food, which is made by five restaurants that are renting kitchens here.”

What do you call a restaurant with no diners? A factory.

WINNING: The Average FICO Credit Score Rises To 706 For The First Time In History.

WHAT HAPPENED? IN A WORD, DEMOCRATS:

Related:

That kind of thing is only a threat to the Republic if a GOP president does it. Also related:

They’ll rue normalizing this sort of thing when the Fusion GPS emails all come out. But they’ll just pretend that’s the first time anything like that ever happened.

INCLUDING FROM DONALD TRUMP, PRESUMABLY: Hillary Says She Has Been ‘Deluged’ With Requests to Run for President Again.

YEP: Unprecedented Leaks Underscore Deep Discontent Inside China. China spent decades putting Mao’s excesses behind them; Xi’s effort to be Mao II cuts directly against that.

HE’S TURNING OUT TO BE EVEN MORE AWFUL THAN I EXPECTED: In Appeal to Hard Left, Bloomberg Praises Chinese Communism. “It may be difficult to discern the logic of Bloomberg’s apologia for Xi. But it’s quite easy to posit a logical reason for Bloomberg to spew illogical apologies for the Communist Party: The billionaire has vast financial interests in China, and those interests have allegedly compromised his civic-minded endeavors in the past. In 2013, the New York Times reported that Bloomberg News had killed an investigation that had threatened to upset Chinese officials.”

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES: A convicted German murderer won the right to have all mention of his crime scrubbed from internet search results under ‘right to be forgotten’ laws.

THE ENEMY WITHIN: Government workers more likely to support socialism, repealing Second Amendment: Poll.

#JOURNALISM: Bloomberg News will only investigate Donald Trump, not Mike Bloomberg or any of the Democrats he’s running against.

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN: As School District Implements Busing Over Near-Unanimous Opposition, Chinese Immigrants See Communism. “The Howard County, Maryland, school board voted to implement a massive, 1970s-style busing program Thursday, despite overwhelming opposition. After one vote failed, members went into a back room, and when they came out, one of the members who voted ‘no’ was crying. They did a do-over and she changed her vote. Board member Jennifer Mallo lectured to constituents who voiced displeasure, saying it was a ‘privilege’ that they got to witness the meeting, admonishing them not criticize her on social media, and complaining about her salary. Immigrants from China and the former Soviet Union said that what they were witnessing reminded them of the totalitarian regimes where they grew up.”

I’D FAVOR MAKING GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS PERSONALLY LIABLE FOR BAD DECISIONS: California Regulators Shut Down a Distillery for Serving Alcohol.

“While Type 74 license states that distilleries can only serve up to 1.5 oz. of alcohol per person per day, we are allowed to have private events, in which the drink restriction is waived,” Blinking Owl explains. “It is under this section of code which many small distilleries in the state have found a much-needed revenue source by hosting private events or functions. To that end, we segregated private events with wristbands, something we believed the public was accustomed to and well understood the meaning of, and we subsequently operated in a manner we understood to be in complete compliance.”

That seems eminently reasonable. But what seems eminently reasonable to a business often strikes regulators—who are interpreting the same, oftentimes poorly worded regulations that businesses are, but with an eye to punishing scofflaws—as something entirely different. Just how the temporary closure came about demonstrates this fact.

Before making his first undercover visit, according to his account, ABC trade enforcement officer Eric Gray did not speak with anyone at Blinking Owl about being part of a private party. When he arrived at the distillery, he was served one drink and was told Blinking Owl could not serve him another legally. He paid and left.

Before his next visit, Agent Gray called Blinking Owl. He was told this met the requirements for being considered a private party. After arriving at the distillery, Blinking Owl confirmed Gray had called ahead to be placed on a private party guest list and was served a second drink.

It was this second visit that caused Agent Gray to conclude Blinking Owl had violated ABC rules, allegedly “by exceeding the amount of 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits that is permitted to be served per person per day by selling two separate cocktails to Department Agents that contained 1.5 ounce in each drink.”

For this purported transgression, the state chose last week to punish Blinking Owl by forcing the distillery to close for 25 days.

But we can at least make clear that Eric Gray seems like kind of a jerk.

Plus: “These laws largely serve no purpose other than to ensnare small business owners and produce fines for agencies that struggle to justify their own existence.”

DON’T DO THIS: Russian ‘Popeye’ has 3 pounds of ‘dead’ muscle removed after DIY bodybuilding injections. You’re not building your body when you inject oil into your muscles to create fake size.

CHINA DYSTOPIA: The Chinese Govt Is Scanning Churchgoers’ Faces, Fingers.. “Those believers who do not have their biometric data in the system will not be allowed into churches in the future.”

LONGEVITY: Rapamycin Anti-Aging Medicine: An Update with Alan S. Green, M.D.

MEAT IS HEALTH FOOD: Meat, Saturated Fat, and Long Life.

THIS WOULD MAKE A GREAT MOVIE, EXCEPT THAT HOLLYWOOD WOULD NEVER MAKE A MOVIE THAT WOULD OFFEND CHINA: Besieged Hong Kong protesters resort to daring sewer escapes.

#JOURNALISM: When the villain is Obama, not Trump, news suddenly becomes not worth reporting.

So the United States has “the world’s highest rate of children in detention.” Is this worth reporting? Maybe, maybe not. Nevertheless, Agence France-Presse, or AFP, and Reuters did report it, attributing the information to a “United Nations study” on migrant children detained at the US-Mexico border.

Then the two agencies retracted the story. Deleted, withdrew, demolished. If they could have used one of those Men in Black memory-zappers on us, they would have. Sheepishly, the two news organizations explained that, you see, the UN data was from 2015 — part of a border crackdown that had begun years earlier.

We all know who the president was in 2015. It wasn’t evil, child-caging monster President Trump. It was that nice, compassionate, child-caging monster President Barack Obama.

Zap. The story made Obama look bad. Hence the story was removed. Not updated or corrected, removed.

Well,

SOME PEOPLE THINK HIGHER ED IS A SCAM THAT’S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY. BUT WHY? University Of Florida Wants $2 Million Research Prize Won By Professors.

NEW SOCIALIST “IT GIRL” CONTINUES TO PAY DIVIDENDS: Impeachment “is not just about something that has occurred, this is about preventing a potentially disastrous outcome from occurring next year,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told CNN yesterday.

Or as Texas Rep. Chip Roy responds, “So – wait – who is it that is using the power of government for political purposes?”

SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D-HI): We Should Believe in Climate Change as If It’s a Religion, Not a Science.

“…These are times that call for us to do those things that we believe in, and to march, and not just to march, cause that’s important to show solidarity, but then to do those things such as voter registration, get people out to vote, so that we can have people here who are truly committed to human rights, environmental rights — climate change…believe in climate change as though it’s a religion, it’s not a science — and all the things that need to be done, and there is a lot,” Sen. Hirono told the crowd.

While Nietzsche assured the Jurassic “woke” class of the late 19th century that “God is dead,” most of the branches of the “Progressivism” that followed are forms of a substitute religion to fill the void, including both radical environmentalism, and even socialist health care. As the late Tom Wolfe wrote in his epochal 1976 article, “The ‘Me’ Decade and the Third Great Awakening,” “It is entirely possible that in the long run historians will regard the entire New Left experience as not so much a political as a religious episode wrapped in semi military gear and guerrilla talk.” (That line was written with early ‘70s radical chic in mind, but reverberates quite nicely today, given Antifa’s current love of paramilitary cosplay.)

Want to start a business? Imagine having to get your competitors' permission first.

John Stossel points out that in 35 states, laws block new businesses from operating unless they get their competitors' permission. One such law prevents Phillip Truesdell from operating ambulances in Kentucky.

"You're going to tell me that I'm not fit to work in your town?" he asks.

He and his daughter Hannah Howe run Legacy Medical Transport, an ambulance service, in Ohio.

When they tried to expand into Kentucky, which is just a few minutes away from them, they learned it would be illegal.

It's illegal due to Certificate of Need laws, also called "CON" laws. In Kentucky and three other states, you have to get a Certificate of Need to run an ambulance service.

Truesdell doesn't think this is right.

He tells Stossel, "Anybody that draws breath ought to be allowed to work. Who gives the big man the right to say, 'You can't work here?'"

"The government. The law," Stossel responds.

Then "Kentucky ought to change that law," says Truesdell.

To do that, he and his daughter are working with the Pacific Legal Foundation, which filed a lawsuit with the goal of getting CON laws declared unconstitutional.

Kentucky authorities and established companies resist. One ambulance provider told us, "When saturating a community with more [Emergency Medical Services] than it can financially support, all agencies become watered down."

Truesdell's attorney, Anastasia Boden, calls that "absurd." She tells Stossel, "It is an abuse of government power to restrict somebody's right to earn a living. [It's] just as a handout to the other businesses."

"It's not a handout. It's protecting a vital service," Stossel pushes back.

"It's protecting a vital service for the current operators only," she responds.

Boden says we need competition, "because competition has been the driving force of innovation, lower prices, and better services."

Stossel agrees: "Competition works! CON laws are a bad deal for both consumers and entrepreneurs. No one should have to ask permission to compete."

The views expressed in this video are solely those of John Stossel; his independent production company, Stossel Productions; and the people he interviews. The claims and opinions set forth in the video and accompanying text are not necessarily those of Reason.

I’M BEGINNING TO THINK THEY’RE JUST NOT VERY GOOD AT THEIR JOB: CDC Started a Vaping Panic, Now It’s Admitting Vitamin E Acetate In Illegal Products Is to Blame: The deaths and lung illnesses being associated with vaping have nothing to do with legal nicotine e-cigarettes.

ALL THE DEMOCRATS HAVE TO DO IS NOT BE CRAZY, AND THEY CAN’T EVEN DO THAT: Snopes Confirms Dems Tried to Impeach Every Elected GOP President Since Eisenhower.

Hey, Alvy Singer was ready to impeach Reagan four years before he actually took the White House!

REVENGE FOR ASSANGE: Wikileaks Drops A Bomb.

FORMER SLAVE FREDERICK DOUGLASS, 1860: “To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.”

CHAPEL HILL PROF AT UNC-GREENSBORO CONFERENCE, 2019: “The very idea of freedom, postulated in universalist terms in the 19th century, and serving as the ontological structure for the First Amendment, doesn’t allow the black.”

You kind of have to read the description of this conference to believe it.

GENTLEMEN, YOU CAN’T COMMIT JOURNALISM HERE – THIS IS A NEWSROOM! ABC News Conspires with CBS to Get Whistleblower Who Leaked Amy Robach Video Fired:

So, in summary:

1. ABC News protected Jeffrey Epstein
2. Amy Robach complained, on camera, about the network protecting Jeffrey Epstein
3. An ABC employee had access to the clip of Robach’s complaint, and it made its way to James O’Keefe
4. That employee, who has since moved to CBS News, has been fired

If you were still under the impression that journalists are in the business of giving you the news, this might come as a surprise. For those of us who’ve been paying attention, it’s just another day. Here, put this on a coffee cup:

More here: “Looks like two media outlets conspired to retaliate against a whistleblower. Meanwhile, they’re claiming Resistance talking point that merely identifying Ukraine leaker — even though he’s protected from retaliation— is unacceptable. Interesting.”

Earlier: The House of Stephanopoulos Airbrushes Jeffrey Epstein Down the Memory Hole

Flashback: Jennings and Brokaw Defend Rather Who Sees Effort to “Smear” Him.

HMM: Mysterious Brazil oil spill linked to Greek-flagged ship that left Venezuela, investigators say.

LEFT WON’T TALK ABOUT ROLE OF CRONYISM IN INEQUALITY. CATO WILL: The more government regulation there is, the more opportunities there are for cronyism, influence-peddling and insider lobbying. Lefties wailing about growing inequality of wealth won’t talk about that. Cato Institute’s Chris Edwards and Ryan Bourne have no such qualms.