Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 7/15

[SVPete]

WHY ARE SO MANY AMERICANS “DISABLED”?

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/07/why-are-so-many-americans-disabled.php

Through pretty much all of human history, if you wanted to survive you had to work. Of course, there have always been people who were truly disabled and needed to be cared for by others, but their numbers were small. In recent years, that has changed. Now, there is a virtual army of people who to all appearances are able-bodied, but who for some reason have successfully claimed to be totally disabled. Failed Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner is a good instance of this phenomenon.

The numbers of the allegedly disabled are skyrocketing. The Unleash Prosperity Hotline displays the trend graphically:

embedded graph

Looking at the chart, one is tempted to say that covid marked a weird and entirely negative turning point in American life. I would offer a different interpretation: the Biden administration marked a weird and entirely negative turning point in American life. Why did millions of Americans, including a great many young men, suddenly decide that they were “disabled”? Because there was money in it. The Biden administration unleashed a torrent of trillions of dollars in unearned income, which just about anyone could qualify for by, among other things, being “disabled.”

DUpipo were pioneers!  

[SVPete]

Hilarious: Ro Khanna's Stunt Not Enough for Pro-Hamas Crowd

https://hotair.com/david-strom/2026/07/15/hilarious-ro-khannas-stunt-not-enough-for-pro-hamas-crowd-n3816948

Ro Khanna can't catch a break.

The man calls himself a "long shot candidate for president," and he has that description about right. While always left-leaning, his rapid rise in Democratic politics was fueled by representing the tech bros of Silicon Valley in Congress. It's been a very good deal for him; he has managed to dramatically increase his wealth by becoming the most prolific stock trader in Congress, cement relationships with money people who could fund his run for the presidency, and present himself to the Democratic Party oligarchs as a guy they could do business with.
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So now he has become Israel's #1 enemy among the potential presidential candidates, doing his own Pallywood production in the West Bank and attacking Israel for "detaining" a US Congressman.

Now that's the ticket, right? All Democrats can agree that the Joos are the root of all evil.
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Only...the most vocal activists in the Democratic Party and the "progressive" movement don't just want Israel destroyed. They want blood, and are willing to defend Hamas as legitimate resistance.

Khanna went on the podcast of the highly disreputable Drop Site News, which makes Glenn Greenwald almost look Israel-friendly, and all he got for his troubles was a talking-to. Actually, a yelling at.

Mere anti-Israel theater is insufficiently Prog, comrade!