Joel Kotkin.

We will soon be leaving the first quarter of the 21st century behind us. But in the minds of our transportation planners, the punditry, and some real estate interests, the way forward is actually to step back to the glories of the 19th century. At the state level, and most significantly in Washington, we are about to pour an unprecedented $20 billion more into transit, especially subways and other trains. This is folly: changing demographics and geography, as well as new technologies, suggest a very different future for how most of us get around. We are simply not going to become a nation of train travelers, and it would be pointless—not to say destructive—to try.

There’s nothing new here. Much of the national media, in chorus with urban political and economic leaders, have been pushing these train-focused approaches since the days of Jimmy Carter. The stated aim is usually to move Americans away from their supposedly evil and pernicious love of the private automobile. Americans drive not because they irrationally love cars—although some do—but because it is simply by far the best way to get around.

Trains take you from where you aren’t to where you don’t want to be. That was fine when the alternative was horses or bicycles, but we have moved beyond that now.

Recession Odds Rise To Highest In 40 Years: Fed

German newspaper cancels corruption report on Biden’s Albanian buddy

‘All We Want Is to Be Safe’: Migrants Push North After End of Title 42

The Disinformation Governance Board Is Out; The “Foreign Malign Influence Center” Is In…

Why Must the Washington Post Fact Checker Discount the Hunter Laptop Factor?  Because it’s contrary to the Narrative. Duh.

US Homeland Security Chief Says Border Crossings Are Down 50%

Comer: Key Informant in Biden Probe Is Missing  Apparently Biden has Hillary on speed-dial.

Chuck Todd Suggests GOP More to Blame for Border Crisis Than Biden  The Law of Liberal Projection strikes again.

McCaul: Will Pursue Contempt Charges on Blinken  How about ‘impeachment’?

The Case for Violating the Debt Limit Is Dangerous Nonsense (N.Y. Times) NYT, Democrat mouthpiece.

7 doomsday scenarios if the U.S. crashes through the debt ceiling (Washington Post) WaP0, Democrat mouthpiece.

Biden Heads To Beach House To Recuperate After Grueling 5-Hour Work Week  (Babylon Bee)

John Hinderaker at Power Line.

Well, probably not all. But when did public school education become, on net, a force for evil? At some time after public sector unions were legalized in, as I recall, the 1960s. One of the worst mistakes in the history of our democracy. Now, the teachers’ unions have mobilized teachers as left-wing activists, and a great many of those who were not comfortable with that politicization have left the profession.

John Hinderaker at Power Line.

The Democratic Party press has done its best to suppress the Joe Biden corruption story, beginning with the “Dirty 51” letter that successfully blocked the story during the 2020 presidential campaign, and continuing up to the present day. Moreover, when the issue has been discussed, it has far too often been framed as relating to Hunter Biden, as though Hunter, an unemployable and degenerate crackhead, had anything to sell to a foreign power. As I have written many times, no one has ever bribed Hunter Biden.

Ukraine live briefing: Russian strikes reported in three cities; concerns over safety at nuclear plant (Washington Post)

US Military to Bolster Defensive Posture in Gulf After Iran Seizes Tankers

Why The Economic War Against Russia Has Failed

China Has ‘Supreme Access’ to TikTok, Former Exec Alleges

Russia Establishes Anti-Drone Police As Threat To Cities Grows

The Battle for Bakhmut

MARINES: U.S. Marine Corps Tomahawk Missile Batteries

Zelensky Uninvited to Eurovision Stage

Germany Announces Its Biggest Military Aid Package for Ukraine (N.Y. Times)

US Blocks China’s Attempt To Condemn Israeli Attacks On Gaza At UN

Bad To Worse For Russia: Multiple Aircraft Downed In 24 Hours – Ukraine Gains In Bakhmut

Kathy Hochul begs Biden for more aid to confront escalating NY migrant crisis (N.Y. Post)

The White House Says Immigration Officials Don’t Release Migrants. The Border Tells a Different Story.

Texas Gov. Abbott: Biden WH Pulling Patrol Agents Off Border

New York Times Mocks Comer’s Case: ‘GOP Finds No Evidence of Wrongdoing by Biden’

Migrants Reveal Plans To Sneak Into US Since Title 42 Has Expired

White House accuses fed Judge Kent Wetherell of ‘sabotage’ after blocking potential mass release of migrants (N.Y. Post)

Record-Setting 83,000 Migrants Illegally Crossed US Border This Week

Watch: Texas Governor Buses More Illegal Migrants To Kamala Harris’ House  Hey, she’s the Border Czar.

Read it.

Revised award to EcoHealth Alliance will no longer involve studies of hybrid coronaviruses

Scott Johnson at Power Line.

President Biden refuses to do his job. He has erased our southern border and facilitated the systematic invasion of our country by illegal aliens from all over the world. With the imminent expiration of Title 42, the invasion he has facilitated seems to be approaching a peak, but you never know. It can get worse.

We look on as helpless bystanders. His excuses and lies grow increasingly absurd, if that is possible, which it probably isn’t. Biden speaks as though he himself is an innocent bystander to the catastrophe he has wrought: “It’s going to be chaotic for a while.”

He would have us believe he can’t do anything about it. What is to be done with a president of the United States who refuses to do his job?

U.S. finalizes asylum restriction to ramp up border deportations once Title 42 lapses (CBS News) Sure, I believe that….

Biden admits migrant surge is ‘going to be chaotic’ when Title 42 ends (N.Y. Post)

In pictures: The surge at the US-Mexico border (CNN) Machine guns and a mine field would take care of it, as the East Germans learned long ago.

Border chaos in Arizona seems inevitable as Title 42 ends (Arizona Republic)

Brownsville bus stop crash survivor and family members in Colombia plead with Biden for help (NBC News)

Border Patrol Outraged at Biden CBP Plan in El Paso

Retired Navy Commander Applauds Drag Influencer  No wonder they have a recruiting problem.

Jacqui Heinrich Calls Out KJP Over ‘MAGA Republican Extremists’ Rhetoric on Debt Limit

WATCH: Biden’s Presidency Collapsing Before Our Eyes

Hunter Biden Claims He Took Out Personal Loans To Pay Legal Team, Has Incurred ‘Substantial’ Debt  Maybe he could ask the Big Guy for his 10% back.

Biden says he’s exploring 14th amendment to defuse debt ceiling standoff (Politico)

UGA football team declines invitation to White House celebration (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Congress Must End the Exploitation of Unaccompanied Alien Children

NJ Mayor Denied White House Access Praised ISIS

Social Security’s Buying Power Eroded by 36%

Comer Set to Unveil Details in Biden Family Probe

US Prices Pick Up, Inflation Still Hot at 4.9%

CIA Solicited Signatures For Hunter Biden Laptop Letter, Congressional Testimony Shows (Federalist)

House Oversight: Biden Family Got Over $10 Million From Foreign Entities While He Was VP

April Report Shows ‘Inflation Is Still Firmly Entrenched in the Economy,’ Economist Says

Watch Live: Comer Unveils Evidence Of Biden Family Corruption

Biden admin to allow for the release of some migrants into the U.S. with no way to track them (NBC News)

After disruptions, new White House press rules prompt retaliation concerns (Washington Post) Yeah, Trump will love this new rule when he becomes President.

Wind And Solar Aren’t Nearly Enough: Why Biden Is Suddenly Supporting Fossil Fuels

WTI Extends Losses After Biden Admin Drains SPR By Most Since December

Biden Campaign ‘Coordinated’ with Ex-CIA Official to Shop Hunter Biden Letter, House Report Says

Biden family ‘got $1 MILLION from ROMANIA’ while Joe vowed to clean up corruption: GOP ‘influence-peddling’ probe into $10M in foreign cash reveals Hunter set up 15 companies AFTER his dad became VP and lay out how money came from China (Daily Mail)

To Get His Poll Numbers Up, CNN Says Biden Must Go Further Left  But that trick never works….

Party of the People: Biden Schmoozes Billionaires in Manhattan as Border Crisis Worsens

Border Patrol apprehends over 10,000 migrants a day ahead of Title 42’s end, highest ever recorded

Biden Oblivious to National Debt Larger Than Economy

FLASHBACK: Biden Tells Migrants To ‘Surge to the Border’

‘The Dam Is About To Break’: Border Sees Highest Ever Crossings Just Days Before Title 42 Ends

Schumer on Cusp of Defunding DC Police Department as Crime Explodes

5 Keys to Understanding Biden’s Nominee for Top Economist Who Pushed for IRS Expansion, Green New Deal

FBI Denies Request For Nashville Shooter’s Manifesto, Writings

Biden’s Border Crisis Doesn’t Look Very Made Up Now

The four times the United States government defaulted on its debt (2021)

Biden DHS Coordinating Illegal Immigration In-Flows with Mexico (Center for Immigration Studies)

Ukraine Situation Report: RQ-4 Global Hawk Flies Off Sochi

Chinese Spaceplane Docked With Another Object Multiple Times Data Indicates

China Retaliates After Canada Expels Its Diplomat Over ‘Political Interference’

AIR DEFENSE: China Ahead In SHORAD Tech

AFGHANISTAN: Banking On China

Ukraine Unit Says Russian Brigade Routed Outside Bakhmut

NKorea Warns Japan Against Joining SKorea-US Nuclear Group

UK poised to label Wagner group terrorists as France urges EU to act (The Guardian)

The west must be ready for this moment of opportunity and risk in Ukraine (The Guardian)

Pakistan’s Army Polices Capital As Provinces Urge Military Help Against Protests

Watch: Panic Hits Tel Aviv Beach As Over 100 Gaza Rockets Pound Israel

TikTok’s Parent Company ByteDance Doing Communist Chinese Gov’t’s Censorship Work

After ‘inflection point’ of Ukraine, Switchblade maker AeroVironment unveils upgrades, goes global

Weapons tracing shows Russia firing new cruise missiles at Ukraine just weeks after production

Scott Johnson at Power Line.

Rep. James Comer called a press conference this morning to release the House Oversight Committee’s second bank records memorandum on the Biden family business. The committee press release is posted online here. The 36-page bank records memo released today is posted here. I have posted video of the press conference below.

There is a lot of information to digest here and I haven’t done so. The 50-minute press conference provides a useful summary of what it’s all about and what is to come. Mark Tapscott asks a question seeking to place this matter in historical context at about 40:00. I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything quite like it before.

Read it.

The Bureau of Land Management was formed out of the General Land Office, which sold and distributed public land to settlers, and the Grazing Service, which settled the range wars on the side of the farmers. Its mission under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) is “the management of the public lands and their various resource values so that they are utilized in the combination that will best meet the present and future needs of the American people”.

Unfortunately BLM became a bastion of environmentalists opposed to any kind of development and, under Biden, even outright eco-terrorists, like Tracy Stone-Manning, his BLM director.

Tracy Stone-Manning had been the spokeswoman for the eco-terrorist group EarthFirst and had sent a threatening letter to the Forest Service warning that the terrorists had rigged a forest with traps and concluding with, “You bastards go in there anyway and a lot of people could get hurt.”

Read it.

What will President Biden do if his son is indicted by the federal prosecutor in Delaware?

That’s one of three questions looming over U.S. Attorney David Weiss’ fateful choice.

The second is whether the indictment will go after a larger, coordinated family scheme of influence peddling or confine itself to smaller, tightly-confined issues like lying to get a gun permit and not registering as a foreign lobbyist.

The third is whether Attorney General Merrick Garland will approve Weiss’ proposed charges.

Significant political calculations follow from those decisions.

Even if he is, nothing will come of it. The Crust take care of their own.

The Foundry.

The Internal Revenue Service  not only is involved in voter registration, it should get more involved, a coalition of over 50 liberal groups argues.

Meanwhile, the Obamacare exchange will attempt to drive up voter registration, while agencies within the Justice Department have acted to ensure that prisoners in federal custody may cast a ballot if eligible.

President Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14019, which requires federal agencies to get involved in boosting voter participation, is a little over 2 years old.

However, members of Congress, the press, and watchdog groups unsuccessfully have sought information on how Biden’s order is being implemented. The Justice Department has claimed presidential privilege to shield related documents from release.

CBP, ICE to launch enforcement operation in El Paso as migrant numbers surge ahead of Title 42’s end (Fox) Oh, yeah,  election coming up, I guess we’d better pretend to do something.

El Paso mayor on surge of migrants in the city as COVID-era immigration order expires (PBS)

Border Patrol Union criticizes feds after ‘warning’ sent ahead of migrant ‘enforcement operation’ in Texas (Fox)

Juarez mayor speaks about more Texas troops coming to the border (KVIA)

Top Republican investigating Biden administration withdrawal from Afghanistan threatens to hold Blinken in contempt of Congress (CNN)

This Is Why Our National Debt Rises In Good Times And Explodes Higher In Bad

Tanked Biden pick highlights escalation of dark-money forces (Associated Press) It couldn’t have possibly been that she (he? it? was a left-wing wacko.

Trump, DeSantis Beat Biden In ABC/WaPo Poll As Joe’s Approval Hits Record Low

Nearly 610,000 public sector workers got student loan forgiveness after Biden loosened the rules (CNN) One hand washes the other.

Biden Would Veto House GOP Immigration Bill

Texas Gov. Abbott Deploys ‘Tactical Border Force’

Axios With Hard-Hitting Scoop: Jill Hates How Old Joe Loves Ice Cream, Pizza

Kamala Harris Is Finding Her Stride as Team Biden’s Voice to Black Voters (Bloomberg) If that voice is a cackle.

Union Lawsuit Wants Biden, Yellen to Ignore Debt Limit  Look for … the Union label….

Biden Wages War On Small Businesses During National Small Business Week

The food fight in the White House: Biden’s diet (Axios) Another pro-Biden thumbsucker from the Narrative media.

Mexico: Smugglers Using Title 42 Expiration to Lure Migrants

Border Patrol Agents Seized Enough Fentanyl in Single Weekend to Kill Entire Population of Chicago

White House Blocks New York Post Reporter From Rare Biden Event

Nets Ignore Biden White House Banning NY Post Reporter Who Asked About Hunter

Watch: Drone Footage Shows Wave Of Migrants Approaching Texas Border

Retired Navy SEAL to Newsmax: ‘We Need Pipe Hitters, Not Pole Dancers’

Journos Spar with KJP Over Biden’s Lack of Focus on Job

Biden Admin Won’t Let Authorities Seize Sanctioned Iranian Oil Tankers

Biden Is Draining the Strategic Oil Reserve. Republicans Are Demanding an Investigation. I don’t know why we have a Strategic Oil Reserve in the first place. It might have made back in the 70s when we were an oil-importing nation, but today we have enough oil to sell it to other nations (when Democrats aren’t choking off the supply).

‘Nothing Like This Has Been Seen Before’: Migrants Crowd Border To Await End of Title 42

Biden to be first sitting president to visit Papua New Guinea (The Hill) But he can’t be bothered to visit the American border.

Politico Invokes ‘Russian Misinformation’ to Defend the Bidens on Bribery Allegations

Biden Taps Economist Who Slammed ‘Low’ Gas Prices

CNN Blasts State Dept on Afghanistan Withdrawal Cable

The Inhumanity of Biden’s Border Policies

‘Sad Joke’: Border Patrol Union Slams Biden Admin for Tipping Off Illegals to Enforcement Operation

Biden Delays SPR Refill Again, Now Says Must Wait For Storage Repairs First

Migrants Flow North to US Border Ahead of Policy Changes

Mayorkas Heads To Border To Fire Starter Pistol When Title 42 Expires (Babylon Bee)

The Antiplanner.

In 2004, Denver voters approved spending $4.8 billion building six new rail transit lines, and the first line opened ten years ago. This was soon followed by four more to the gushing praise of various outsiders.

Inside Denver, however, people are beginning to realize that the whole thing was a miserable failure, suffering massive cost overruns and never attaining its ridership projections. The West line, which had its tenth anniversary last week, never carried as many passengers as were projected in its first year. It’s too bad that the reporters who are questioning this now weren’t asking the same questions in 2004.

Denver’s Regional Transit District (RTD) suffers from numerous problems that can be traced back to its rail construction projects. It is heavily in debt and doesn’t have the money or the borrowing power to build the last rail line it promised in 2004. It also doesn’t have enough money to pay enough drivers to keep its trains and buses running, and staff shortages have led to many delays and reduced service. The rail lines never attracted enough riders to put a dent in traffic congestion or reduce air pollution before the pandemic.

Read it.

Of all living Americans, Angela Davis may have the most disgraceful history. She is a Communist–her description, not mine; she was twice the Communist Party’s candidate for vice president, and was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize by the Soviet Union. She once participated in the murder of a judge in California. She was acquitted of the crime by a biased jury, but there was never any serious doubt about her guilt: the murder and associated crimes were perpetrated with her guns.

Since then, Davis has gone on to a lucrative career as a taxpayer-supported professor. Above all, she has gotten rich on the college lecture circuit. Universities pay her tens of thousands of dollars to deliver an hour-long rant against free enterprise. Nothing original, just warmed-over Marxism. Apparently today’s college students are too dumb to notice the irony.

US weighs restrictions on investment in Chinese AI firms (Fox)

Brussels to Sanction Chinese Tied to Russia

China Wants Killer Robots To Fight The Next War

Iran Hid Arms in Earthquake Aid to Syria In Order to Attack US Troops

Growing Pushback Over BlackRock In Ukraine: “Taxpayers Pay The War Bills, Private Firms Get The Profits”

Arab League Agrees To Reinstate Syria After 12 Years

Russia Launches Mass Strikes Across Ukraine

Sanctions don’t work

WARPLANES: Shahed-136 Scam

SUBMARINES: Iran Builds More Big Submarines

China’s Arctic Ambitions Pose a Threat to the Western World

Mayorkas deflects blame on border crisis, says it’s been an issue ‘since the ‘90s’ (Fox) Yeah, but it’s your job to fix it.

In Bordertown USA, Biden sends in troops — and Trump rubs his hands (The Times)

Abbott: We don’t need 1,500 soldiers at the border, we need 15,000 or 150,000 (The Hill)

Mayorkas ripped for saying there are ‘orderly pathways’ to enter country legally: ‘That’s for suckers’ (Fox)

Hunter Biden’s ex-business partner Devon Archer urged to spill Biden dirt to avoid prison (N.Y. Post)

Biden Black Voters Lacking ’20 Enthusiasm

Desperate Dems Float 14th Amendment As Debt Ceiling Override

Will Biden’s Plan To Tax Crypto Mining Reduce Emissions? Critics Say No

New Disinfo Office to Combat Foreign, US ‘Public Opinion’

Parody Becomes Reality: Babylon Bee Predicts Gender Bender Friendly Military Recruitment

Biden Admin Backs Down In Standoff With Catholic Hospital Over Chapel Candle

Israeli Whistleblower With Info On Biden Corruption Disappears In Cyprus After Saying Biden Regime Wants To ‘Bury Him’

How Did They Get Here? What We Know About Unaccompanied Children Arriving at Southern Border

U.S. Offers Palestinians $100k to Promote ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ in Arts and Sports

Media’s long con to bury Hunter Biden’s laptop scandal (N.Y. Post)

Yellen Warns Against Debt Ceiling Talks With ‘Gun to the Head of the American People’  That’s not what she minds; what she is really objecting to is the gun held to the head of the ruling class.

Gingrich Steamrolls Williams on Hunter’s Corrupt Business Dealings

‘Not a Good Number’: CNN Reports on Bad Polling Numbers for Biden

Russian Tank With ‘Cope Cage’ Covered In Explosive Reactive Armor Emerges  Obviously a defense against Javelin and similar ATMs.

Ukraine Situation Report: Kyiv Claims Patriot Intercepted Kinzhal Air-Launched Ballistic Missile

Digital Fentanyl: The CCP’s Cyber Campaign To Destroy America

Steven Hayward at Power Line.

There is no way Joe Biden can make it to election day next year. His growing incapacity to function is becoming more obvious by the day.

Ukraine Situation Report: Russia Rains Incendiaries On Bakhmut

US-Russia On Verge Of “Open Armed Conflict” After Kremlin Drone Attack: Foreign Ministry

Jake Sullivan: Israel Has Freedom to Act on Iran Nuclear Threat

Watch: Fist-Fight Breaks Out Between Russian & Ukrainian Diplomats At Conference

Offshore Wind Anyone? NATO Claims Russia has MINED Undersea Pipes and Cables

ARMOR: Iran Reveals a New Retro-Tech ATGM

Navy’s Growing Shortfalls on Ship Readiness Frustrate the Marine Corps

Ukraine downs Russian hypersonic missile with US Patriot

Unpacking the Claim that Blinken ‘Lied’ to Congress (FactCheck.org) Narrative damage control.

Biden tells reporters he will hold a ‘major press conference’ – but White House says he was referring to an interview (CNN)

Hunter Biden Fought To Exclude Laptop Info From Child Support Case, Filing Shows

WATCH: Joe Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week (Vol. 41)

Biden Bribery Allegation Could Mean Impeachment, Republican Policy Chair Says

“Russian Disinformation” Memo Was a Biden Campaign Op

Bracing for impact: Biden world preps for Hunter Biden fallout (Politico)

Ruhle Defends Biden on Hunter, Mourns Unpopularity ‘Despite All These Wins’

Former Intel Heads Brennan, Clapper To Testify To House Panel Over Role In Hunter Biden Laptop Letter

Election Fraud Made Clear

Rule Will Mean Asylum Denials for Many Migrants

Read it.

On May 2, a Texas House committee passed a bill to create 100% reserve gold and silver-backed transactional currencies. Enactment of this legislation would create an option for people to conduct business in sound money, set the stage to undermine the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money, and possibly create a viable alternative to a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

Washington Free Beacon.

Roughly 700,000 migrants are waiting in Mexico to cross the southern border upon the expiration of Title 42 next week, according to Border Patrol officials.

“Border Patrol shared with us their intelligence that there are approximately 700,000, as of three weeks ago, in the shelters in Mexico waiting to come into the United States,” Jonathan Lines, supervisor on Arizona’s Yuma County Board of Supervisors, said this week. He added that border officials said there is a 500 percent increase in migrants crossing the Darién Gap, which connects South and Central America.

Title 42, a pandemic-era rule that allows agents to immediately turn migrants away at the border, expires on May 11. Once it lapses, the Biden administration plans to expand catch and release protocols that will potentially allow hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants into the country.

The Foundry.

The White House wants every K-12 student to be part of the welfare system. And in its zeal to achieve that goal, pesky things like Congress or the risk of expanding already poorly performing programs pose no obstacles.

President Joe Biden’s administration is continuing the work of President Barack Obama’s team and trying to put as many students as possible on federal school meal programs. The current administration is proposing a significant expansion of school meals, turning a program meant for children from low-income families into an entitlement—akin to welfare—for all students.

Created in 1946 to help poor school-aged children who did not have food to eat at school, the National School Lunch Program has since spawned breakfast and other meal services.

Read it.

A freshman Democratic congressman who just happens to represent Wall Street made a perfectly timed sale of his ownership stake in a troubled California bank, exiting his position just days before it saw its stock price enter freefall.

Rep. Dan Goldman (D., N.Y.), who represents the Financial District in Lower Manhattan, sold upwards of $15,000 worth of stocks of PacWest Bancorp on March 6, his financial disclosures show. The timing of Goldman’s sale couldn’t have been more fortuitous—its stock plummeted in value just two days later as investors fled from small and mid-sized banks amid news of Silicon Valley Bank’s pending failure. PacWest’s stock was valued at $27.40 the day Goldman exited his position in the bank. It’s now worth just $3.42, a staggering decline of more than 87 percent.

Such trades are standard fare for Goldman, who is giving former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) a run for her money as Congress’s most prolific stock trader. In his first four months in office, Goldman has made over 500 stock trades valuing between $10 million and $30 million, according to a Washington Free Beacon review of his financial disclosures.

Associated Press.

Republican state senators in Oregon didn’t show up to work on Wednesday, denying the Democrats who control the chamber a quorum and casting doubt on planned votes later this week on legislation pertaining to gun safety, abortion rights and gender-affirming health care.

Cal Thomas.

The very term “debt limit” makes a mockery of any kind of responsible budgeting. Each time the government reaches the “limit” it gets raised with the familiar scenarios that include threats of a government shutdown (an idea that increasingly appeals to some conservatives) and the claim that the “full faith and credit” of the U.S. is at stake. We have faith and credit? Who knew?

Republicans usually cave, or in the case of a shutdown, succumb to media pressure and the Democrats and allow the spending and debt to grow, along with trillions in interest on our $31.4 trillion debt.

And Republicans are no different. President Ronald Reagan took the deficit from $70 billion to $175 billion. Bush41 took it to $300 billion. Clinton got it to zero. Bush43 took it from zero to $1.2 trillion. President Obama halved that to $600 billion. Trump jumped it back to 3.3 trillion.

How Biden’s Plan to Penalize Responsible Homebuyers Could Ravage Retirement Savings by $31,000

Secretive Su: Biden Admin Won’t Release Records of ‘Transparent’ Labor Secretary Nominee Julie Su

Fallen Journalists Memorial Approved for D.C.’s National Mall

HHS: Two Hospitals That Denied Abortions Broke Law

Nets Skip Deadbeat Hunter Biden’s Court Appearance Over Child Support

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott promises to keep busing migrants to Democratic cities (NBC News)

Mark Morgan Calls Out Hypocrisy of Corporate Media’s Silence Over New Photos of ‘Kids in Cages’

Biden won’t move on debt ceiling terms even as he seeks to restart talks (Politico) So, for Biden, ‘talks’ means ‘do it my way’. Good to know.

Blinken Denies Role in Hunter Biden Laptop Russian Disinfo Letter

Biden “Punishes Responsibility” As New Mortgage Equity Program Begins

Washington Post Fact Checker Hurls ‘Bottomless Pinocchio’ at Biden on Deficit Reduction

All the President’s Islamists

Feds rethink warrantless search stats and – oh look, a huge drop in numbers

Muslim NJ mayor demands answers after being turned away from White House Eid celebration

GOP Senators: Hunter Emails Show Blinken Lied to Congress

DHS Expects Biden Admin to Deploy Military to Border After Title 42 Repeal: Internal Memo

Biden sends 1,500 troops to Mexico border for migrant surge (Associated Press)

WATCH: Karine Jean-Pierre Claims Border Crisis Is ‘90%’ Solved as Biden Deploys Troops

White House Announces Illegal Immigration Has Decreased 90 Percent Since They Redefined It  (Babylon Bee)

With Vice News Closing, White House Will Have To Lie To Public Directly  (Babylon Bee)

Congress Must Defund Nonprofits Aiding Biden’s Open-Border Operations

‘Difficult To Describe With Words’: CNN Reporter Stunned By Number of Illegal Immigrants In Texas City

New York Times.

As the government heads toward a possible default on its debt as soon as next month, officials are entertaining a legal theory that previous administrations ruled out.

…

Under the theory, the government would be required by the 14th Amendment to continue issuing new debt to pay bondholders, Social Security recipients, government employees and others, even if Congress fails to lift the limit before the so-called X-date.

I’ve always thought that a federal debt limit was about as useless as a Balanced Budget Amendment. You can’t force people to make smart choices if they’re determined to make dumb choices, and that especially goes for politicians. The federal debt limit has never, not once, prevented the federal debt from growing by leaps and bounds–every time it comes close, the entire Ruling Class rises up to wring their hands about how Disaster Looms and we must Loosen the Belt. Republicans have attempted to use the debt limit to restrict government spending more times than I can count, and it never worked. Not once.

Death Toll Rises As Ukraine Ramps Up Attacks On Russian Border Towns

COUNTER-TERRORISM: Iran Goes After Israel

AIR DEFENSE: Advanced AUDs

Waves of Russian Missiles Hit Ukraine

Russian Freight Train Derails In Sabotage Attack As Airstrikes Pummel Ukraine For 2nd Day

Never-before-seen Chinese military blimp caught on satellite images of remote desert base

Sen. Ron Johnson says Antony Blinken ‘lied boldface’ to Congress about Hunter Biden (N.Y. Post)

Rep. Gonzales: Border Worse as Title 42 End Nears

Sudan Shows Leaving Americans Behind Enemy Lines is the New Normal

Biden Attacks Media for ‘Lies of Conspiracy and Malice’  Media pick up a mirror and shine it right back at him.

Crowding-Out. The Fed May Be Killing The Private Sector To Save Government

Maybe Becoming President Takes More Than Just Being a Dick (Mother Jones)

Joe Rogan: Biden Dying Is Only Solution for Democrats  They might get lucky.

It’s Not Funny Because It’s True: Biden Jokes About Never Taking Questions And Doing Nothing

Peter Schiff: We Can’t Afford To Let Biden “Finish The Job”

Scarborough: World Leaders’ Complaint—America TOO Powerful Under Biden!  And if you believe that one, Joe’ll tell you another one.

BUST: How Paul Krugman Flip-Flopped from Prophesying ‘Biden Boom’ to Defending ‘Not So Bad Economy’

The 6 Mistakes of Biden’s Emergency Immigration Plan

Watch: Biden Awkwardly Wanders Away During Air Force Football Ceremony

WATCH: DHS Secretary Mayorkas Gives Bizarre Definition of a ‘Secure Border’

‘Disaster’: State Financial Officers Slam Biden Admin’s ‘Upside Down’ Mortgage Policy

States Revolt Against Biden’s Mortgage Redistribution

In Court, Hunter Biden Cries Poor to Reduce Child Support Payments

National Guard leaders petition Biden, Harris for dedicated Space Force branch  The virtue of a Space National Guard is that there is no possibly chance that you will be activated to do bullshit crowd control duties.

Senate GOP Seeks Damning Memo by Labor Nominee

Hunter Biden’s Hollywood Attorney Now Controls His Stake in Chinese Private Equity Firm

Two Years After Botched Withdrawal, The Biden Administration Has Yet to Properly Vet 88,000 Afghan Refugees

Biden’s Presidency Built Atop an Actual ‘Big Lie’

The American Mind.

Americans suspicious of our elites’ lust for foreign entanglements and of their sending billions down foreign policy ratholes probably have looked askance at recent news of fighting coming from the African country of Sudan. What does it all mean, and why should we care, beyond the fact that thousands of U.S. passport holders were left behind when the Biden Administration evacuated diplomats from our embassy in Khartoum?

The fighting in Sudan is essentially between two armies, both of them with a grim past and a history of corruption and human rights abuses. Each one seeks to dominate and replace the other while eventually controlling the state. The struggle is over power, money, personal ambition, and institutional rivalry tinged with ethnocentrism. The two sides have different geographic and ethnic origins.

The Antiplanner.

The bill also includes more funding for “affordable housing.” Some of that funding is supposed to come from a “fee” on new housing, thus making that housing (and all housing that competes with it) more expensive. But how is this a fee and not a tax?

Under Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR), a constitutional amendment, the state can’t increase taxes without voter approval. But it can increase fees, so the legislature is redefining many taxes as fees so they can raise them without having to go to the voters.

Read it.

Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com recently determined from official Federal Freedom of Information Act filings that we pay Beltway bureaucrats in the federal executive agencies outside of the Defense Department and the U.S. Post Office some $576 million per day.

That’s more than $210 billion per year for the 1.44 million employees of 125 rank-and-file general administrative, civil enforcement and federal law enforcement agencies.

Hunter Biden’s twisted attempts to keep his little girl from using his name are now in a new realm (Fox)

As Biden Runs Again, Black Voters’ Frustration Bubbles (N.Y.Times) What are they going to do? Vote for a Republican?

VP Kamala Harris becomes Republicans’ go-to target after Biden launches 2024 reelection bid (USA Today)

Blinken Draws Fire Over Afghanistan Blame Game, ‘Stonewalling’

Defaulting on the national debt is much closer than anyone realizes (Washington Post) Well, if Democrats keep spending money they don’t have….

Biden Authorizes Southern Border Deployment Of Reservist Troops  Never mind what disruption it brings to their lives.

Inflation Still Too High? Let Them Eat EVs

‘Modern-Day Slave Traders’: Hawley Demands Probe Into 85,000 ‘Lost’ Migrant Children

Dead Migrants, Dead Americans: Pro-Border Security Rally Highlights Scourge of Cartels and Fentanyl

Texas Border City Struggles With Large Arrival of Migrants

Over 10,000 FBI Agents Can Access Data From Secretive Surveillance Program: Inspectors General

Sen. Ernst on Military EV Push: ‘You Don’t Fight a War That Way’

Former DNI Ratcliffe: Impeach Blinken Over Laptop Scheme

Biden Administration Hiring 360 Armed IRS Agents Ready to Use ‘Deadly Force’

Russia Mounts First Large-Scale Air Raids On Ukraine In Nearly 2 Months

Sudan War Rages Despite Truce Pledges

House Republicans Plan to Stop New Iran Nuclear Deal

US Sends “Shadowy Unit” Of Atomic Experts To Wire Ukraine With Nuke-Blast-Detecting Sensors

Quiet US Seizure Of Iranian Crude Prompted Iran’s Capture Of Houston-Destined Tanker

Doug Casey On The US Government Declaring War On Mexican Drug Cartels

Is China Winning, Part Two: “How Do You Stop A Superpower”

Unease In Israel As US Depletes Reserve Stockpiles To Fuel Ukraine War

EU Reaches Ukraine Grain Deal With Eastern European Member States

“We Simply Don’t Have The Ammo” – Polish General Says Can No Longer Supply Ukraine, Warns Russia Has Resources To Continue War

Ex-CIA Moscow station chief reveals why he refused to sign Hunter Biden laptop ‘disinfo’ letter (N.Y. Post)

Ex-CIA Moscow chief refused to sign Hunter laptop letter: ‘No evidence’ Putin involved (Fox)

Border Patrol releases plan for migrant surge as Title 42 end nears, 40K amass feet away (N.Y. Post)

How Biden’s New Communications Director Made His Millions (The Lever)

Chinese hackers outnumber FBI cyber staff 50 to 1, bureau director says (CNBC) They’re spending all their time on ‘terrorist’ Republican parents.

WATCH: Joe Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week (Vol. 40)

Hunter Biden’s Ex-Mistress Wants to Know Who’s Paying His ‘Stable of American Super Lawyers’ (Washington Free Beacon)

Biden’s New Hampshire mess (Politico)

Biden Forgets He Went To Ireland, Tacitly Disowns Grandchild-Via-Stripper

Biden DOJ: Kids have A Constitutional Right To Puberty Blockers

Kamala’s Affair – Sleeping Her Way To The Top

The Age Issue: Biden Vs. Reagan

Read it.

significant victory for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

McCarthy managed to corral just enough votes to secure a slim 217-215 majority in favor of the deficit-reducing bill.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated Monday that the legislation would reduce the budget deficit by $4.8 trillion over 10 years. The House passed some modest amendments to the bill Tuesday night.

Trapped Americans In Sudan “Shocked & Disgusted” – Left By Biden To Fend For Themselves

Biden DHS Chief Admits The End of Title 42 Will ‘Strain’ Immigration System

WATCH: KJP Pathetically Insists to WH Press Biden Wasn’t Given a Pre-Screened Question

Biden Challengers Issue Warning To Democrats If Biden Becomes Nominee

Republican Bill Would Slam Brakes on Biden’s Student Loan Agenda

Only One Question Remains As Susan Rice, Biden’s Shadow President, Leaves The White House

RFK Jr. on running against Biden: ‘I just disagree fundamentally with him’ (The Hill)

Doug Watt: The La Christiada Has Crossed the Border

The Times Says Senility Is A-OK

Biden’s ‘Freedom’ Platform of Grooming and Killing Kids

Kamala Harris must keep walking a tightrope for Biden’s reelection bid (Washington Post) Not sounding like a drunk would be a good start.

Biden Already Semi-Retired, Analysis of His Schedule Finds

WATCH: Trump Imitates Biden Getting Lost on Stage

Hunter Biden’s Ex-Mistress Wants to Know Who’s Paying His ‘Stable of American Super Lawyers’  The Big Guy, I shouldn’t wonder.

Biden Commutes Sentences of 31 Drug Convicts  All of whom vote Democrat. \

Biden Unable To Participate In Democratic Debates Due To Looming Screenwriters Strike (Babylon Bee)

Veterans Blast Biden for Pattern of Leaving Troops Behind

IRS Hiring Hundreds of Armed Agents

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The Democratic representative from Minnesota says she may be the first member of Congress to end a bachelor’s degree requirement for all staffers.

Steve Sailer.

On March 15, 2023, two guys were out drinking in Washington D.C. They did the right thing and called a Lyft driver in an Accord for a ride home.

A few minutes later, though, all three were dead, when a Lexus SUV with 44 outstanding tickets totaling $17,000 in upaid fines fleeing a police stop crossed over onto their side of Rock Creek Parkway.

Police are there for a reason.

The American Mind.

Many J6 protestors have been sentenced to lengthy jail terms without evidence that they engaged in violence. The “QAnon shaman” Jacob Chansley, for example, was sentenced to four years imprisonment for obstructing an official proceeding, though it was subsequently reported that he had been escorted to the Senate floor by Capitol police. Another protestor, Kevin Seefried, got three years for marching into the Capitol carrying a Confederate flag (less than the seven-year sentence prosecutors had requested).

There is room for debate about whether the sentences meted out to these nonviolent protestors were merited. On the one hand, any attempt to overturn a lawful election outcome constitutes a threat to the preservation of our constitutional order and must be met with penalties sufficiently severe to deter such actions by others in the future. On the other hand, violent criminals (especially in states with “decarceration” policies like New York) often get off with much lighter penalties—or sometimes no punishment at all.

The Antiplanner.

The city of Portland announced yesterday that it received a $2 million federal grant to get it to ban gasoline (and, presumably, Diesel) delivery vehicles in a sixteen-block area of downtown Portland. That means all supplies to offices in that area will have to be transferred from petroleum-powered vehicles to electric vehicles before they enter the zone, thus driving up costs.

Whistleblower to tell House that US govt is ‘middleman’ in multibillion dollar migrant child trafficking op (Fox)

Voters say no to Biden, but Joe is intent on finishing the (awful) job (N.Y. Post)

Democrats Refuse to Deal as House Republicans Deliver a Pro-Growth Bill to Reduce Spending

Biden Admin Taps Ford’s Top Electric Vehicle Lobbyist as Energy Department Adviser

Inside Biden’s strategy to repair Harris’ image (Axios) Good luck with that.

Biden Admin Preps for Surge in Border Crossings as Restrictions Set To End

WTI Bounces Off OPEC+ Lows As Biden Admin Draws SPR Down For 4th Straight Week

Senate Dems Advance Nomination of Biden Labor Secretary Nominee Who Presided Over Mass Fraud in California

80-Year-Old Biden Once Criticized 63-Year-Old Opponent as Too Old for Office

Is Kamala Harris the ‘dumbest person’ ever to be elected Vice President in history?

Buttigieg Announces Closure Of Interstate System For 8-10 Days As Highways Undergo Racial Sensitivity Training  (Babylon Bee)

Biden Campaign Launch Celebrates Unpopular Kamala in Bid To Repair Her Image  Cacklin’ Rosie could sure use it.

‘Fossil Gas’: Climate Activists Press Biden To Stop Companies From Calling Gas ‘Natural’

WIRED.

The escalating risks of Russia’s war in Ukraine have led scientists to study the unthinkable and model the aftermath of nuclear detonation.

Russia ‘will not forgive’ US denial of journalist visas (Associated Press)

Russia ‘will not forget or forgive’ US refusal of journalist visas (The Hill)

EU’s Borrell Wants European Navies To Patrol & Protect Taiwan Strait

‘Addicted to Funding From China’: Stanford Rakes in Chinese Cash

A Secret Police Station Grows in Chinatown

INFORMATION WARFARE: Palestinians Praise and Promote Terrorists

AIR DEFENSE: Finland Prefers David’s Sling

The polity that is Russian markets in everything

Ukraine’s Long-Awaited Counteroffensive Begins, Troops Move Into Kherson

Ukraine: Russia Relocating Civilians in Kherson

Chinese Ambassador Suggests Ex-Soviet States Aren’t Real Countries, Sparking Fury In Europe

America’s Afghan Watchdog Says “You’re Gonna See Pilferage” Of Ukraine Aid  Not that anybody in government cares.

Navy failing to learn lessons from shipboard fires over the years: GAO

Biden’s false Hunter laptop letter interfered in election beyond ‘anything China or Russia’ could do: GOP pol (N.Y. Post)

NY Post scorches ‘fake’ intel letter used to sink laptop story: ‘Actual disinfo operation’ helped Biden (Fox)

Antony Blinken and the ‘made men’ of the Biden administration (The Hill)

2 GOP Leaders: Blinken Should Resign Over Laptop Letter

Sad Trombone: NYT Calls Out WH for Hiding Biden from the News Media

Rep. Chip Roy’s Prescription to Secure Border: Use Power of Purse to ‘Bring President to His Knees’  Never happen.

DOJ Appeared to Minimize Leftist Role in Violent Pro-Abortion Attacks Ahead of ‘Night of Rage’

Bad-Luck Biden? Former Phillies Star Tells 76ers Not To Invite Jill If Philly Reaches NBA Finals

Hunter Biden may be living at the White House to evade legal papers from his baby mama (N.Y. Post)

Biden Opens a New Back Door on Immigration (N.Y. Times)

WH’s Susan Rice Steps Down Amid Migrant Children Report

“Where Am I? Where Am I?”: Trump Mocks Biden For Always Getting Lost

While Under Felony Investigation, Crack Addict Influence Peddler Hunter Biden Demands Ethics Probe Into MTG

WATCH: Veep Thoughts with Kamala Harris (Africa Edition)

Hiding Hunter?

Biden’s Pick For Top Africa Job Twice Failed Foreign Service Officer Test, ‘Couldn’t Get Through the English Grammar Section’  He ought to fit right in, then. Biden has the same problem.

ALERT: Biden Taps Nepo Baby With Troubled Past To Manage Reelection Campaign

Biden’s Trillion Dollar Clean Energy Grab Bag In Pictures And Quotes

Biden Administration Evacuates Sudan Amid Unrest, Leaving 16,000 Americans Behind  Sorry about that, guys. Better luck next time.

Man Avoids IRS Audit By Labeling All His Venmo Transactions ‘Payments To Ukraine’  (Babylon Bee)

WH Press Stay Silent on KJP Rant About GOP Giving ‘Asthma to Kids,’ ‘Melt Bones’