After much drama, rending of clothes, high fiving, screaming, crying, cheering, and all around idiocy, we have a new Supreme Court justice, after successfully avoiding any actual rational discussion by our elected chimps of his statist jurisprudence and why he might not be a good choice on substantive grounds. Well done, Team Blue, you’ve managed once again to drown out useful debate with social signaling and culture wars. And while you’re at it, the two-three mailers a day like the above one that I’ve been getting from you for our local election have been effective in swaying me from, “Meh, don’t care, I’ll likely abstain,” to, “Fuck you guys, I’m voting for Idstein, whoever the hell he is, but he’s not filling my mailbox with mendacious garbage.”

Not that I’m annoyed. But I’m annoyed. The only thing that will make me feel slightly better will be watching Baker Mayfield being welcomed to the NFL today by that kind and gentle soul, Terrell Suggs. And a recitation of key birthdays: Niels Bohr, whose Copenhagen interpretation muddied the quantum waters for decades,  Del Lord, who directed the greatest comic trio of all time (do not argue with me), slimeball Catharine MacKinnon, and scam artist and all-around Jew-hater Elijah Muhammed and his spirit animal Heinrich Himmler.

On to the actual news.

To demonstrate that there’s at least one agency in DC that has yet to be cleaned up, the FDA took action to ban seven food additives in response to money-grubbing litigation-focused “public interest” groups armed with the pernicious Delaney Amendment.

The decision comes in response to a petition brought by environmental and consumer groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Center for Food Safety, and the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “We think this is a win for consumers,” says Erik Olson of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The FDA had concluded that these flavoring compounds do not pose a health risk to consumers. “The synthetic flavoring substances that are the subject of this petition are typically used in foods available in the U.S. marketplace in very small amounts and their use results in very low levels of exposures and low risk,” concludes an FDA statement on the petition. “While the FDA’s recent exposure assessment of these substances does not indicate that they pose a risk to public health under the conditions of their intended use, the petitioners provided evidence that these substances caused cancer in animals who were exposed to much higher doses,” the FDA statement says.

The three named groups are the food and environmental lawyer equivalent of the SPLC. After interacting with them professionally in the past, I came away with an even more cynical attitude, something I thought impossible. When “public interest” related to “science” is driven by lawyers, it’s safe to default to a Bullshit! mode.

Pie will be terribly disappointed to learn that his countrymen are insufficiently woke.

Romania is one of several Eastern European nations that already ban both same-sex marriage and same-sex unions in civil law. Now it’s trying to ban it in the constitution. The government is spending millions holding a two-day referendum this weekend so voters can approve the change. “Do you know what a traditional family is? It’s a man and a woman who are able to bear children,” declared Liviu Dragnea, the leader of the ruling Social Democrats, after he cast his vote on Saturday. “I have voted for what millions of Romanians have been demanding, for what I think defines us as a society and as a nation.”

I love that it’s “social democrats” leading this charge. Sigh. Maybe one day, someone rational will successfully convince people that marriage should not be subject to the whims of the State. One day. Maybe.

Will Vinton died this week. As a fan of great animation, I am saddened by this; Vinton’s work was not only great in its own right, but it inspired the next generation of claymation art. For those of you who only know him through dancing raining commercials, here’s an example of the greatness of his serious work. And another. And another…

If there’s anything more inevitable than cops being murderous jackboots, it’s their sleazy unions defending them, no matter how egregious their behavior.

“This sham trial and shameful verdict is a message to every law enforcement officer in America that it’s not the perpetrator in front of you that you need to worry about, it’s the political operatives stabbing you in the back,” the FOP said. “What cop would still want to be proactive fighting crime after this disgusting charade, and are law abiding citizens ready to pay the price?”

If “the price” means “cops being accountable and going to jail when they commit crimes,” yep. And as several commenters have pointed out, the cop who murdered Tamir Rice is back at work, looking for the next kid to gun down. Police abuse is, of course, another issue that Team Blue has completely fucked up, making sure that we’re distracted by racial social signaling instead of the real issues of immunity, union protections, and far too many goddamn laws.

OK, not all cops are bad. Here’s one who provided a public service, fulfilling consumer demand. So of course, THAT had to be stopped.

A Florida police officer was arrested late Friday after state officials say he used his patrol car to sell drugs near an assisted living facility. “At the time of purchase, White was selling the drugs out of his marked patrol vehicle, while in uniform and was using his personal cellphone to facilitate the drug deals,” FDLE said in a statement.

I’m trying to imagine the brass balls of someone who would buy dope from a uniformed cop.

In Old Guy Music, I was listening to Swiss talk sadly about the dwindling numbers in his local VFW post. On the other hand, maybe that’s a good sign that we’ve been going in the right direction- foreign wars haven’t gone away (thanks Bush and Obama!), but they’re a lot smaller now. We can only hope they converge on zero. And that reminded me strongly of this wonderful song from a wonderful songwriter.