https://newrepublic.com/post/173740/giuliani-says-key-biden-informant-dead

«Only right-wing outlets have reported Lisin’s wife’s death. Lisin died in a car crash in 2011—well over a decade ago. Hunter Biden didn’t join the board of Burisma until 2014. And the $10 million bribe Republicans keep mentioning, first pushed by Giuliani and Donald Trump, supposedly occurred in 2016.

What’s more, the FBI did investigate Giuliani’s claim. The bureau, alongside a U.S. attorney appointed by then-President Trump, had reviewed the bribery accusation when it was made in 2020 and found it to be unsubstantiated.

The GOP investigation into Biden is rapidly going off the rails. Multiple Republicans have admitted they don’t know if the recordings even exist, while House Oversight Chair James Comer, who is leading the probe, said he doesn’t know if the audio is “legit.”»

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-indictment-can-only-hurt-trump-mar-a-lago-arrest-election-maga-voters-national-security-43159f31

No, Peggy Noonan, former Reagan speechwriter, it is not true that “the indictment can only hurt Trump.” The MAGA folk are so blind and seething in their hatred of the system that Trump will play this to his advantage as long as he is the symbol of the “burn it all down” mentality. That mentality has not gone away.

Here ya go, Peggy Noonan: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jun/16/barbara-kingsolver-rural-people-are-so-angry-they-want-to-blow-up-the-system

In the words of your pal Paul Wolfowitz, you are very far off the mark and always have been.

Wow. “I don’t want to set the world on fire; I just want to start a flame in your heart.”

https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/recipes/pasta-alla-gricia-recipe

Gonna have to try this. Apparently, it’s an old Roman recipe from back in the days before tomatoes were discovered in the New World.

https://www.eatthis.com/cocktails-bartenders-order/

Some fun-sounding cocktails in here.

The end of Western hegemony, one data point.

《Still, the threat to Western auto market share posed by Chinese EVs is one for which Western policy makers have no obvious answer. “You can shut off your own market and to a certain extent that will shield production for your domestic needs,” said Sebastian. “The question really is, what are you going to do for the global south, countries that are still very happily trading with China?”》

https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-ev-juggernaut-is-a-warning-for-the-west-1389f718?st=e88hda3fy76y7zu&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/24/blood-and-gold-review-second-world-war-spaghetti-western-is-good-pulpy-fun

Indeed. It’s like Tarantino made this flick, title font, kitschy music, and all.

https://www.tastingtable.com/1304627/grilled-ingredient-upgrade-summertime-chartreuse-swizzle/

Falernum, eh?

https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2023/06/usaf-calls-killer-ai-report-anecdotal/387046/

I.e.: never happened.