John Hinderaker at Power Line.

Some observers consider the New York Times’ belated admission that Hunter Biden’s laptop was genuine to be a big deal. I don’t. For one thing, the Times hasn’t acknowledged, and won’t report on, the specific information on the laptop that told the story of Joe Biden’s corruption.

Moreover, there was never any doubt about the genuineness of the laptop and the data it contained. The owner of the repair shop had a receipt with Hunter Biden’s signature on it, the laptop contained a large number of self-validating videos and photos of Hunter in various compromising situations, and the authenticity of emails on the laptop was confirmed by the presence of the same emails in other accounts. The idea that the laptop was “Russian disinformation” was a desperate and absurd invention intended to fool those who paid no attention, and those who wanted to be fooled.

Politico.

Berger Action Fund, founded by the Swiss-born billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, sent $31 million of that money to Sixteen Thirty Fund, the left’s leading “dark-money” hub.

NewYork Post.

They are the supposed nonpartisan group of top spies looking out for the best interest of the nation.

But the 51 former “intelligence” officials who cast doubt on The Post’s Hunter Biden laptop stories in a public letter really were just desperate to get Joe Biden elected president. And more than a year later, even after their Deep State sabotage has been shown again and again to be a lie, they refuse to own up to how they undermined an election.

The officials, including CNN pundit and professional fabricator James Clapper — a man who was nearly charged for perjury for lying to Congress — signed a letter saying that the laptop “has the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

What proof did they have? By their own admission, none. “We do not know if the emails .?.?. are genuine or not,” the letter said. They’re just “suspicious.” Why? Because they hurt Biden’s campaign, that’s evidence enough.

In a World on Fire, Stop Burning Things (The New Yorker)

Climate change: Wildfire smoke linked to Arctic melting (BBC)

Mac Studio is far better for the climate than the iMac Pro—even with the display (Ars Technica) As an Apple shareholder, I urge you to buy one of each. Heck, buy two – they’re small.

Miami, a fave among spring breakers, is feeling effects of rising seas (N.Y. Post)

It’s 70 degrees warmer than normal in eastern Antarctica. Scientists are flabbergasted. (Washington Post) And that’s not a good look for them.

Money might save your property, but who wants to live in a country where the poor drown and the rich are saved?  (The Guardian) Well, me, if I’m one of the ‘rich’.

Biden admin canceling Keystone ‘not going to solve global warming’: Steel pipe and tube manufacturer It will, of course, destroy the livelihoods of those depending on that work to live, but nobody cares about the rubes in Flyover Country.

Mark Ruffalo, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Stiller and more stars sign letter protesting Canada Gas Pipeline

Where Rising Seas Threaten Drinking Water, Scientists Look for Affordable Solutions (Scientific American)

Four climate investors explain the new boom — where the money’s going and risks ahead  (CNBC)

Utah Lake Restoration Project must complete Environmental Impact Statement

Lawmakers pursue $15 billion plan for climate justice in New York (Gothamist) ‘Climate justice’?

Sea ice over Antarctica just shrank to its smallest on record (Washington Post)

Climate Change Weekly #429: Climate Change Poses No Existential Threat. Nada. Not Any.

The Climate Change Spiral is Back

Climate Change Is Disrupting the Global Supply Chain Too  (Wired ‘Science’)

Elites Suggest Price Controls, Dystopian Travel Restrictions To ‘Manage’ Soaring Energy Costs

GREEN THINKING:  Geopolitical considerations

Large net gain of usable global land due to climate change

Why is J.D. Vance getting canceled by his fellow Republicans? (Washington Post)  Maybe because he’s sounding like a RINO?

Will ‘Trump Enablers’ Eat Lunch in This Town Again? (Politico) The ‘town’ in question, of course, being Washington D.C. (Not if Politico has anything to say about it….)

Former GOP state lawmaker pleads guilty in Capitol riot (CNN) I guess it isn’t an ‘insurrection’ any more.

Fact check: Democratic activists falsely claim Marjorie Taylor Greene refused to applaud Zelensky (CNN) Too big a lie even for CNN to support.

Indicted Congressman Blames Lying Charges on Spotty Cell Service (Daily Beast) The Congressman in question is, of course, a Republican.  Were he a Democrat, the Daily Beast wouldn’t even mention it.

Jan. 6 trial centers on lingering mystery: Where was Mike Pence as riot raged? (Politico) Raged!

A Chick-fil-A in California may be declared ‘a public nuisance,’ city council plans vote

‘You look like a Republican’: Anti-tech bro flyers pop up in SF (S.F. Gate)

DeSantis and his acolytes mounting hostile takeover of Florida’s university system (Gainesville Sun) Acolytes! Hostile!

DeSantis Might Be Trump-Lite, but at Least He’s Not Trump (Daily Beast)

Democrats Sue To Disqualify 3 GOP Congressmen From 2022 Ballot, Alleging Role In Insurrection, Election Manipulation Ah, we’re back to ‘insurrection’.

CBS Tees Up Biden Education Secretary to Trash Florida in Cartoonishly Soft Interview

Huh?! Meyers: Trump Russia Policy Was Akin to Letting a Dog Pee on the Rug

Omicron survives longer on some surfaces, studies find. That may help explain why it’s more contagious, but it’s no reason to panic (CNN)

Fauci warns COVID-19 infection rates likely to increase (The Hill)

Fauci warns Americans could face more lockdowns amid spread of new COVID-19 variant

As picture of Covid vaccine durability gets clearer, J&J makes a strong showing

Highly-transmissible COVID-19 subvariant increasing in CA, expert ‘doubts’ lockdowns will be needed

The CDC needs to fix its new school mask guidance before a BA.2 variant wave hits (S.F. Chronicle) There’s still time to PANIC!

LAUSD will lift indoor mask mandate next week

Pfizer CEO scored big raise—to $24M—as drugmaker played a leading role in pandemic fight KA-CHING!

Austria To Reintroduce COVID Mask Rules Just Two Weeks After They Were Abolished

One shot of this COVID-19 drug reduces risk of death by ??60%

How can the White House fix environmental injustice if it won’t take race into account? (L.A. Times)

Jussie Smollett’s lawyers fire back at Osundairo brothers’ defamation suit as judge rules it can go forward

Kim Foxx’s office to begin arguing to cut sentences no longer in ‘the interests of justice’

Kim Foxx, the top prosecutor in Chicago, is seeking early release for some prisoners

People’s Convoy Reveals Ridiculous New Goal: ‘Take Back’ Black Lives Matter Plaza (Daily Beast)

NYC Mayor Adams taps Laurie Cumbo as cultural commissioner, despite racially-charged remarks My, what a surprise.

Black Civil War luminaries from Virginia among potential new names for Forts Lee, A.P. Hill and Pickett

When saving a symbol of white supremacy is a way to resist it (Washington Post)

CBS Swoons Over Ketanji Brown Jackson With Her BFF ‘Hype Team’

What Happened When Jackson Went Easy on This Sex Offender

Aspiring Rapper Update

New York Times LOL: ‘Why Abrams Isn’t Embracing Her Stardom (So Far)’

Read it.

The following article reports on an incident in the French city of Nice, where a culture-enricher who wished to become a martyr had his “Allahu Akhbar” moment. The unfortunate youth failed in his quest, however, and survived his encounter with police.

Nice, as you may recall, was the scene of a truck jihad attack on Bastille Day of 2016, when Mohamed Salmene Lahouaiej Bouhlel succeeded in killing 86 infidels before attaining his own cherished martyrdom.

Read it.

For the last few months a wave of thousands of African migrants has been attempting to jump the border fence at the Spanish enclave of Melilla, and more than a thousand have succeeded in gaining access to the European Union. Michael Copeland’s new essay discusses this latest iteration of a longstanding crisis.

Read it.

Are you starting to notice a pattern by now? For the past six years, the American people have been emotionally manipulated by what I call “manufactured waves of outrage”. Once the corporate media identifies a trigger, it will obsessively focus on it for weeks or months on end, and the narrative that develops will be echoed and magnified by millions upon millions of social media denizens. Before too long, much of the population is whipped up into an irrational emotional frenzy, and that frenzy is used to move certain agendas forward.

Read it.

We have a kerfuffle in Florida prompted by a very sensible call to prohibit the radical sexual indoctrination of kids in pre-school through third grade. The “alphabet people,” as one popular stand-up comic likes to call them, have their nickers in a twist over the possibility that other people’s young children won’t be fed a load of malarky regarding their gender identity — won’t be, at least, until they turn nine.

We have stories out of Washington state about schools informing teachers that “Parents are not entitled to know their kids’ [imagined sexual] identities. … That knowledge must be earned.” (Apparently birthing, raising, and protecting the little monsters isn’t enough to earn it.)

In the Commonwealth of Virginia we have (another) instance of the public school system deliberately covering up a horrific act of sexual predation that occurred within the school… because, apparently, parents have to earn the right to know that their kids might end up in the hospital after being sexually assaulted in school by a mob of fellow students. At least we can be thankful that there were no in-school police present, lest anyone feel triggered.

Joel Kotkin.

Once working-class protests were often organised by leftists or even Communists, but many of today’s working-class radical movements take on a different, more populist and distinctly anti-statist character. One can question the positions adopted by protesters, particularly on vaccines, but also recognise that the new wave of working-class unrest, whether in Canada or among the gilets jaunes in France, reflects a deep-seated frustration with diktats issued from above by an increasingly authoritarian state.

Read it.

Senolytics are an emerging class of drugs designed to target zombie-like cells that have stopped dividing and build up in the body as we age, and the past few years have seen some exciting discoveries that demonstrate their potential. Adding another to the list are Mayo Clinic researchers, who have shown that these drugs can protect against aging and its related diseases, by acting on a protein long associated with longevity.

The zombie-like cells involved in this research are known as senescent cells, and their accumulation during aging is associated with a range of diseases. Recent studies have shown that using senolytics to clear them out could serve as new and effective treatments for dementia and diabetes, and also improve health and lifespan more broadly.

A chemical recently dsicovered in grape seeds, Procyanidin C1, has this effect. Grapeseed extract can be purchased commercially as a nutritional supplement.

Read it.

Your DNA holds the blueprint to build your body, but it’s a living document: Adjustments to the design can be made by epigenetic marks. Cataloguing these marks and how they work is important for understanding biology and genetics—and coming up with therapies to address diseases and disorders.

In humans and our fellow eukaryotes, two principal epigenetic marks are known. But a team from the University of Chicago-affiliated Marine Biological Laboratory has discovered a third, novel epigenetic mark—one formerly known only in bacteria—in small freshwater animals called bdelloid rotifers.

Love Wins: Columnist Celebrates Tornado Hitting Home of FLA ‘Gay’ Bill Author  Democrats: Party of Fear/Party of Hate/Party of Death

Trump White House aide was secret author of report used to push ‘big lie’ (The Guardian) No, not that Big Lie, the other Big Lie … Wait, let me check the list….

Here are the possible new names for 9 Army bases that honored Confederates (Politico)

U.S. wants prison time for rioter who said she would ‘absolutely’ storm Capitol again (NBC)

DHS relaunches independent council after ousting Trump-era officials last year (CNN)

Why Democrats should impeach Justice Clarence Thomas  (MSNBC) After all, he’s Not Really Black.

YouTube Flags Tulsi Gabbard’s Criticism Of “War Machine” As “Offensive” Content

Stephanie Ruhle Furious Over Barr Book, Vows to Cut Any Twitter Followers Who Bought It

Federal Judge Dismisses Felony Obstruction Charge In Second Jan. 6 Case In Eight Days

Why Current and Former Employees Are Trashing Left-Wing Propaganda Operative Tara McGowan

The View Avoids Jackson’s Leniency with Pedos, Targets Conservative Justices

Biden Supreme Court nominee Jackson praised NYT’s 1619 Project during MLK Day speech

Kanye West suspended from Instagram for 24 hours after directing racial slur at Trevor Noah

Her Experience at Yale Unsettled Her. So She Wrote a Horror Film About Being Black in Academe. When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Jackson a tough sell on racial-bias claims (Reuters)

Smollett Ducks Jail Time for Hate Crime Against Self

Republican Senator Slams Biden’s SCOTUS Pick for Record on Sex Crimes

Serial Inseminator Update

Georgia’s ‘Mathematics Equity’ Program Told Educators to Teach CRT-Aligned Curriculum to Remove ‘Bias’ From Classrooms

Soft on Crime? Here’s Jackson’s Record on Sex Offenders and Other Criminals

The Scam That Was BLM

Today in Stupid Wokery: Steam Engines

Welcome Aboard the Asylum Express!

Nets Ignore Biden SCOTUS Nominee’s Record of Being Soft on Child Porn

Jussie Smollett’s Defenders Just Can’t Let Themselves Take the L

Black Lives Matter Activist, Husband Charged With Fraud

The NYT Now Admits The Biden Laptop – Falsely Called “Russian Disinformation” – Is Authentic Glenn Greenwald

‘TSA has screwed this up’: Pipeline cyber rules hitting major hurdles (P0litico)

Now that Joe Biden’s president, the Times finally admits: Hunter’s laptop is real

Psaki dodges questions on past dismissal of Hunter Biden laptop as ‘Russian disinformation”

Rep. Carter introduces bill to restart Keystone XL pipeline, says Biden ‘threw away’ energy independence

The Kamala korrections

WashPost ‘Fact Checker’ Claims ‘Little Evidence’ Biden to Blame for Energy Inflation

Networks Punt on MASSIVE Hunter Biden Story as NYT CONFIRMS Laptop Emails

British Air Travel Goes Maskless While Biden Still Has US in Pandemic Mode

Nation Wishes There Were Some Way They Could Have Known About The Hunter Biden Laptop Story Before The Election  Babylon Bee.

GOP Moves To Bar Biden Admin From Lifting Iran Sanctions That Would Expand Russia’s War Machine

Biden Throttled US Energy Production When We Needed It Most

The View Blames GOP for Biden Not Approving MiG Transfer to Ukraine

US State Department Thinks It’s An Authority On Fake News

The Stagflation Trap Will Lead To Universal Basic Income And Food Rationing

Getting Squeezed at Pump? Blame Biden, Not Putin

Biden Lying About Oil and Gasoline Prices… Again

Full Tank, Empty Wallet?

Years Late and Millions Short on Hunter Biden.

Lawyer For Mother Of Hunter Biden’s Daughter Says He Expects President’s Son To Be Indicted

Free Beacon Presents: ‘Cackle Queen’ Tournament of Champions

The madness of slow Joe, Iran edition (10)

Psaki Ducks Questions About Hunter Biden’s Laptop, Including Her Own Past Comments

Hunter Biden Likely To Be Indicted, Says Baby Mama’s Lawyer

An Unprecedented Wave Of Brazen Gasoline Thefts Is Rippling Across The US

Taxes, ‘mystery’ surcharge intensify Californians’ pain at the pump (The Hill)

Solve California’s mystery gas surcharge of 48 cents a gallon (Mercury News)

Living in red America can be life-threatening (Washington Post) I wish I was a sure about anything as Jennifer Rubin is about everything.

Turning Red celebrates how pop fandom shapes our lives for the better (The Guardian) At least according to the narrative.

Pennsylvania Senate candidate David McCormick takes fire for corporate history on transgender activism

Yale free speech event disrupted by irate protestors targeting conservative speaker  Free speech is not a Woke value.

Fox News countersues a voting machine maker, saying its damage estimate is inflated (NPR)

Mitt Romney Issues Stark Warning in Liz Cheney Fundraiser Speech (Daily Beast) Making the world safe for RINOs.

‘Cancel Culture’ Becomes Entertaining at the New York Times (Politico) Nothing to see here – move along, move along….

New data explores Chesa Boudin’s handling of San Francisco retail theft cases

NBC Reporter: Democrat Outreach to Florida’s Venezuelan Exiles Is a ‘Lead Balloon’

Republicans WHACK Big Tech After NYT Confirms Hunter Biden ‘Laptop from Hell’

Haley Slams Cornell for Not Protecting Uyghur Who Spoke Out Against China

Confused Woodruff Questions Why McConnell Doesn’t Support Jackson

If He’s Not a Man, It Can’t Be Rape

Homeowner Suing Michigan County Over Home Equity ‘Theft’ Appeals To 6th Circuit

MSNBC Demands Transgender Swimmer Lia Thomas Be Celebrated

Kansas Weighs Protecting Rights of Children, Families in Education

Trans Swimmer Dominates Field To Become Female NCAA National Champion

Hey NewsGuard, Does Your CEO Steve Brill Still Think Hunter Biden’s Laptop Is a ‘Hoax’?

Fed Judge Warns Against Hiring From Yale Law

Iowa Hawkeyes Use Uniforms to Promote Woke Ideology

Another Democrat Quietly Breaks Self-Imposed Corporate PAC Money Ban  I mean. let’s be practical.

‘The Equal Rights of Female Athletes Are Being Infringed’: Women’s Group Files Civil Rights Complaint Over Transgender Swimmer

PETA Asks for NFL to Change the Name of ‘Horse Collar Tackle’

The man who could help big oil derail America’s climate fight (The Guardian)

Swiss Re cuts fossil fuel cover for oil, gas to protect climate (Reuters)

Oregon and the West may be stuck in perpetual drought, study says (Oregon Public Broadcasting)

Target looks to massive solar panels in a California parking lot as a green model to power its stores Signal that virtue! Signal that virtue!

Clean energy superstar or smokescreen for fossil fuel use? Here’s what you need to know about hydrogen. (Washington Post) At least, according to the Narrative.

Kansas impasse shows green energy opposition has lost steam (Associated Press)

Democrats Don’t Want You To Know How Much Fossil Fuel It Takes To Power Electric Cars

Bloomberg Green: We All Need E-Bikes Because Climate Change

Aussie SMH Gives Up on the Snowy River Green Energy Pumped Hydro Scheme

A ‘Plan B’ for Addressing Climate Change and the Energy transition

Proxy Rates of Sea Level Rise

Tyler Cowen.

That is the theme of my latest Bloomberg column, induced by a timely tweet by Conor Sen. It turns out the state of Maryland is abolishing the four-year college degree requirement for many state jobs. In Missour, neither the governor nor the lieutenant governor have a four=year college degree, so perhaps they should follow suit?

Read it.

Whether you call it a Cause or a Cult, an entity that seeks to take all your time, all your money, and control where you live, what you do for a living, and, in extreme cases, even who you marry, is a Hydra from which it is difficult to escape.

 

Read it.

Researchers at the University of Washington reckon handset lidar can determine fluid properties, sparing you from having to use expensive lab gear. The amount of liquid needed for a smartphone lidar test is significantly less than that for a medical lab, too, they said.

One application of lidar would be testing blood for coagulation. The researchers also found their method was able to determine the fat properties of milk and whether the liquid had been adulterated, and to identify a particular liquid from among ten samples.

Read it.

Read it.

his story is so strange it sounds like a satire: A ship called the Oscar Wilde is anchored in Dusseldorf and is being used as an accommodation for Ukrainian refugees. While on the ship, an 18-year-old Ukrainian woman was raped by two “Ukrainians” from Nigeria and Iraq.

Read it.

Lou Zocchi is a man who cares deeply about dice. Zocchi’s well practiced speech on on dice quality is famous. It’s fairly entertaining if you have 20 minutes to spare. Part of his argument is the above photograph. Zocchi stacked twenty-sided dice from several companies. Each stack places the same numbers on the top and bottom. For example, one stack might have 1 placed on top of 20 repeatedly, while the next stack might have 9 placed on top of 12 repeatedly. Based on the height of the stacks, it appears that everyone’s dice are irregularly shaped. Everyone’s, except for Zocchi’s.

Read it.

Take whatever action you deem appropriate.

Read it.

Americans became richer and more multicultural in the years between 2016 and 2020, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

In the span of these years, ??which were marked by Donald Trump’s presidency, the American Community Survey (ACS) reports that the median household income across the U.S. increased to $64,994, compared to about $58,844 reported between 2011 and 2015.

Such an increase was reported by 48 states and the District of Columbia, while the median household income didn’t change in Wyoming and Puerto Rico.

Senate candidate Herschel Walker questions evolution, asking, ‘Why are there still apes?’ (Washington Post)

Herschel Walker doesn’t understand how evolution works. ‘Why are there still apes?’ (CNN)

Builder who hoped to save a piece of Madison’s Black history seeks to demolish and rebuild

Boston social justice activist, hubby scammed at least $185K from donors: feds

Boston BLM leader and her husband hit with federal fraud, conspiracy charges

MSNBC analyst claims Jussie Smollett being jailed is ‘unjust’: ‘Justice system out to get him’

Washington Post Column: Jussie Smollett is “Just Another Black Man Serving Time-in a System More Perverted than his Crime.”

Architect from West Africa wins prestigious Pritzker Prize  They have to tell you it’s ‘prestigious’ because otherwise you might not realize it.

Omarosa Manigault Newman ordered to pay more than $60K in Trump-era ethics case

NYT: Shocking Revelation: a GOP Candidate Has Read “The Bell Curve”,

Activist investors attempt to push through racial diversity probe at Salesforce

Antisemitic Cop Killer to Speak at University

Texas and other states want to punish fossil fuel divestment (NPR) “Momeee! Johnny hit me back!”

We finally have a Chesa Boudin recall election poll, and it’s bad news for him (S.F. Gate)

Texas mail ballot rejections soar under new restrictions (Associated Press) Some people just can’t follow instructions – or don’t want to.

Los Angeles DA Gascon gives ‘tips’ on how to avoid auto thieves amid crime wave  Move to Texas or Florida.

How Did Pixar’s Delightful ‘Turning Red’ Become the Target of Sexist, Racist Controversy? (Daily Beast)

The myth of online misinformation

Wokeism: It’s Not the Law

Today in Wokery: Whiteboards and “Whiteness” in Physics

Leftists’ War on Kids

FCC gives Pacific Networks 60 days to leave the US

Climate-driven water woes spark Colorado rush to conserve ‘liquid gold’ (CNBC)

Methane emissions cuts as an Arctic ice shield (Axios)

Satellites show Arctic sea ice is melting even faster than scientists realized (Space.com)

California’s rooftop solar decision remains on hold (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Proposed air pollution limit in England is twice as high as WHO recommends (The Guardian)

Sea-level rise creating ‘ghost forests’ in North Carolina (CBS)

Climatologists warn Granite State about future climate trends in 2022 climate assessment

Critics respond to EPA’s plan to rein in trucking pollution (Salon)

Natural gas is expensive, dirty and financing war. Here are 5 ways to use less of it to heat your home (CNN)

Record ‘bomb cyclone’ bringing exceptional warmth to North Pole (Washington Post)

With composting, Californians can take climate change into their own hands (L.A. Times)

Ancient Ice Reveals Scores of Gigantic Volcanic Eruptions

Climate Alarmists Bidding to Claim the Coming Food Price Crisis

The BBC’s Fake News About Fracking

The western elite is preventing us from going after the assets of Russia’s hyper-rich (The Guardian) Thomas Piketty wants to be the European Krugman.

A Russian oligarch’s superyacht is stuck in Norway because no one will sell it fuel Do you get a special ID card if you’re a ‘Russian oligarch’?

Nordic countries wonder if they are next on Putin’s list (CNN) All Putin, all the time.

Anonymous declared a ‘cyber war’ against Russia. Here are the results

China Praises Ukraine Resistance, Pledges Economic Support

Putin only understands strength so it’s time for free world to ‘step up’ and meet this moment: Fmr VP Pence All Putin, all the time.

Andrea Mitchell Hopes War In Ukraine ‘At Least Is Helping the Democrats’

Flotilla Of 12 Tankers Carrying Russian Oil Approaching The US

International army of hackers joins Ukraine’s cyberwar

Ukraine: Yet Another Russian General Killed as Invasion Week Three Concludes

‘Effects of Aggression’ Will Last, Nonprofits Aiding Ukraine Say

Ukraine’s Corn Harvest May Plunge By A Third, Estimates Show

“Mounting Difficulties Replacing Combat Losses”

Soros Worries About Putin-Xi Partnership, Hopes They Can Be Stopped “Before They Destroy Our Civilization”  We must make the world safe … for Soros.

‘Russia–Ukraine War Would Have Never Happened Under Trump’: Rep. Hice

The West is still betraying Ukraine

She Was in Kyiv the Day Russia Invaded Ukraine. Here’s What She Saw.

Should America Enact a No-Fly Zone in Ukraine?

“What I Understand About Ukraine”

Why Russians are fleeing to Armenia

Ruhle: It’s a ‘Far-Right Narrative’ to Say US Isn’t Helping Ukraine

Ukraine War Is Leading To Massive US Military Buildup In Europe

The Nuclear Reactors of the Future Have a Russia Problem

Kremlin: Reports Of Major Progress In Ukraine Talks “Wrong” – Biden’s Putin Remark “Unforgiveable”

U.S. intelligence estimates that 7k Russian soldiers have died in Ukraine

Wimbledon May Force No. 1-Ranked Russian To Denounce Putin

Free Speech and Power in the Time of Ukraine

CDC: Omicron variant BA.2 spreading rapidly across New York and New Jersey (CBS) It ,might even be true.

This key indicator may determine how bad a BA.2 wave could be in the US (CNN)

Some hospitals ask patients, visitors to remove N95s, citing CDC (Politico)

Mitt Romney only Republican senator to oppose repealing TSA mask mandate My, what a surprise.

WHO says global rise in Covid cases is ‘tip of the iceberg’ (NBC)

A covid surge in Western Europe has U.S. bracing for another wave (Washington Post) Well, the Narrative Media, anyway.

JetBlue, American, Southwest pilots sue CDC over federal mask mandate

Western Europe Sees Alarming Uptick In COVID Cases

Nets Ignore New Report Cuomo Covered Up COVID Deaths by 50 Percent

‘Overwhelming’ Need To Investigate COVID-19 Vaccine Tinnitus: Researchers

When Trust and Safety Encounter Fact and Science

Biden demands faster drop in gas prices as oil tumbles (CNN) Oh, if only that were all it took….

Biden’s oil blame game backfires  Now that the price of oil is back down, what is he going to blame inflation on?

President Biden refers to VP Kamala Harris as ‘first lady’

Biden Encourages China by Lax Response to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine, Pompeo Says

Nets Skip Biden Eyeing Lifting Terror Label from Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps

Facebook ‘Fact-Check’ Claims Video Citing Biden’s Own Words on Oil Drilling ‘Could Mislead’

Easy Money: Kamala to Hand Out ~$100k Each to HBCUs Claiming a Bomb Threat

The madness of slow Joe, Iran edition

Chris Cuomo Throws His Bestie Don Lemon Under the Bus in Pursuit of CNN Cash (Daily Beast) Money beats friendship – and politics.

Document on plan to ‘occupy’ Capitol Hill buildings, Supreme Court on January 6 discovered by prosecutors (CNN) Good thing they weren’t planning to occupy Wall Street, or then they’d really be in trouble.

Judge orders DOJ to produce documents related to decision to prosecute Steve Bannon (Politico)

‘Incels’ are a rising threat in the US, Secret Service report finds (The Guardian)

GOP senator gives trucker protesters a Capitol tour (Politico) “A senior Hill aide alerted the DOJ afterward.”

Florida and Texas can’t outlaw my family (CNN)

Chinese plot to smear US Congress hopeful unveiled (BBC)

https://madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/builder-who-hoped-to-save-a-piece-of-madisons-black-history-seeks-to-demolish-and/article_8cbe4dd1-f6c7-57b1-ba82-f2a4588bd891.html

https://madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/builder-who-hoped-to-save-a-piece-of-madisons-black-history-seeks-to-demolish-and/article_8cbe4dd1-f6c7-57b1-ba82-f2a4588bd891.html

Always a good policy.

Read it.

So many actions that then (in my childhood) branded my family as “cheapskates” are now lauded as “environmental responsibility.” Same actions. Different social status.

Oil prices dropped 30% in a week. What gives? (CNN) People got tired of the PANIC!

Are S.F. residents getting their money’s worth from police? (S.F. Chronicle) The ones they’re trying to defund?

‘We’ll kill you’: Uyghur exile who fled to Arctic Circle still fears reach of Chinese state (The Guardian)

Election ‘Vigilante‘ Group Posing as County Workers, Says New Mexico’s State Auditor (Daily Beast)

SF’s ‘worthless’ traffic-calming speed cushions cost $15,000 each (S.F. Gate)

The US Tried Permanent Daylight Saving Time in the ’70s. People Hated It (Washingtonian)

‘I tried everything’: Michelin-starred SF restaurant closes  (S.F. Gate) This is why we can’t have good things.

Tough Luck, Ladies: USA TODAY Names Trans HHS Sec. ‘Woman of The Year’

Hollywood Gay Lobby Will Now Grade Hollywood Studios On Donations to LGBTQ Groups

Issues & Insights SLAMS Google for ‘Totalitarian’ Censorship: Report

Salesforce sued in attempt to block release of Capitol riot info

WWW: World War Woke

Richard Blumenthal Denies Owning Stocks. His Portfolio Tells a Different Story.

Texas University’s Insistence on Critical Race Theory, Ideological Conformity Draws Overdue Pushback

‘The Gray Lady Winked’ Exposes NY Times Welcome of Hitler, Stalin, Castro

Hundreds of Yale Law Students Disrupt Bipartisan Free Speech Event

5 Charged with Stalking, Harassing, Spying on US Residents for PRC Secret Police

He Wants How Much?! Cuomo Files MASSIVE Suit Against CNN for ‘Smear Campaign’

Disney Workers Walkout Over CEO’s Soft Response to ‘Don’t Say Gay Bill’

Is Merrick Garland finally ready to indict Donald Trump? (The Hill)

Trump-endorsed candidate asked about January 6. Watch what happened next (CNN)

This billionaire wants to pick your next senator (Philadelphia Inquirer) No mention of George Soros, of course.

Fearing political violence in 2024, judges sentence Jan. 6 defendants to probation through the next election (Washington Post)

The Supreme Court has declared open season on constitutional rights (Washington Post)

Adam Kinzinger blasts ‘evil’ Tucker Carlson, then zaps Marjorie Taylor Greene with ‘space laser’ zinger (N.Y. Daily News)

Tulsi Hates Daily Beast Report on Her Alleged Russian Agent Donor (Daily Beast) No mention of Eric Swalwell’s commie Chinese girlfriend.

Alleged Capitol Rioter in Cowboy Hat Accidentally Outed by Rioting Co-Worker (Daily Beast) It’s just so tiresome typing ‘alleged’ all the time.

Democratic group runs ad hitting Ron Johnson over Trump 2017 tax bill (The Hill)

Mug shot: Republican Josh Hawley told to stop using January 6 fist salute photo (The Guardian) “The mug featured prominently on Hawley’s website on Tuesday despite a cease and desist letter issued by Politico.”

Thomas and Gorsuch blasted for not understanding history of media protection (Washington Post)

Why aren’t Arizona’s treasonous fake electors in jail? (The Arizona Republic)

Why so many Russian billionaires are called oligarchs (NPR) It’s called a ‘smear’.

Tulsi Gabbard Demands Romney Resign After Calling Her a ‘Treasonous Liar’  She ought to retaliate and call him a RINO jerk-off.

California city may declare Chick-fil-A a “public nuisance” (CBS)

The super PAC hammering Mehmet Oz as a RINO is getting money from longtime Democratic donors (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Presumed Guilty Until Proven Guilty…(of something…eventually)

FAKE NEWS: How One Reporter’s Blatant Lie About Glenn Youngkin Became a Democratic Talking Point

Fake News, Bezos Post! Paper Tries to Muddy Waters Over Piece Smearing Youngkin

Chris Hayes Accuses Poland of Racism for Accepting Ukraine Refugees But Not Syrians  I didn’t know that ‘Syrian’ was a race.

Zero Class: MSNBC Segment Makes Death of Fox Journalists About Trump

YouTube Removes CONVERSATION with Trump

‘Anti-Racism Act’ sinks at the end and takes more bills out in its wake

Alabama committee denies debate from Black lawmakers, OKs ‘divisive concepts’ bill

‘Un-American Express’: Anti-Woke Group Takes Aim at Credit Card Company’s Race-Based Hiring

Privilege-Checking in a World on Fire

Probably Not a Trump Supporter

A Look at Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Most Noteworthy Judicial Decisions

Get Ready for Puffball Coverage of Ketanji Brown Jackson in 3…2…1

Crazy People Are Dangerous

Allergy season will start much earlier than normal and be far more intense because of climate crisis, study suggests (CNN)

Air pollution linked to higher risk of autoimmune diseases (The Guardian)

Energy conference leader pans Kerry’s 2050 climate goals: ‘Going to still be an energy mix’

Why Raskin’s climate change views sank her Fed nomination (Axios)

A pro-fossil fuel Disney ride voiced by Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Nye? Yes, it existed (The Guardian)

Florida’s anti-solar bill helps Vladimir Putin. DeSantis should veto it (Miami Herald)

Legal eagles: how climate litigation is shaping ambitious cases for nature (The Guardian)

House Democrats to Biden: Use climate action to restart negotiations on a spending bill (CNN)

Regulators Just Halted Assembly of the World’s Largest Tokamak Reactor (Popular Mechanics) This is why we can’t have good things.

Bees, trees and seas crises stem from unsustainable food production (The Hill)

Sea Ice Story Breaking Up?

Demand for ornamental plants is ravaging South Africa’s rare desert flora  (National Geographic)

Satellite and Surface Temperatures

Climate Change ‘Science’ = Propaganda

Study: Climate Change Boosted Plant Growth is Bad

Tyre Extinguishers

Has Russia Been Financing Western Environmentalism?

Green Fuel Folly: Forest Thinning (For Wood Pellet Production) Has A Profound Surface Warming Impact

Climate Models Don’t

The Atlantic Cries Nuclear War Is a ‘Climate Problem’

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Call it the paradox of meritocracy. When talent is given space to flower, if barriers to success are pushed aside, what happens if success does not come? When society lifts external weights from the shoulders of the downtrodden, a new set of weights inevitably settles in people’s hearts and minds. That deadweight belief, however unrealistic: this is down to me. I failed not because of the system, the man, the establishment, but because of my inadequacy.

No wonder people turn to conspiracies or theories of identity oppression.

Read it.

In recent decades, anxieties afflicting Western democracies have arisen from new beliefs and conflicts about how citizens relate to each other—their relative status in society, notions of mutual respect, and the patterns that the past has imposed upon their thoughts and actions. What had seemed to be settled is now unsettled as citizens search for a new identity or try to adjust the identity they believe they have. Quarrels over race, gender, class, and equality have produced a social crisis and a fraying of common values, in which activities and opinions formerly accepted as part of collective existence have become bitterly contested. As a result, identity coated with resentment is now among the most potent of political forces.

Read it.

And in other news, the War Zone Cesspit of Seattle/Tacoma continues to produce tales of woe, mostly caused by the political policies of the Far Left who run most cities around here. They have favored criminals over victims, homeless over taxpaying citizens, and teachers unions over parents for decades. Here is what those policies have wrought.

Read it.

Higher energy prices worrying you? Be afraid because Congress is coming to the rescue. Legislators are introducing a new bill called the “Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act.” The bill’s objective is to reduce the price of oil. The bill pans to tax the windfall profits of large energy companies at a 50% rate. They define windfall profits as profits above and beyond those in the year before Covid. The proceeds from the tax would be returned to consumers earning less than $75k through direct payments.

If Congresses goal is to inflate oil prices further and generate more inflation in the process, the bill, as currently written, is right on track. This article walks through the proposed legislation to better understand why it is grossly flawed. As we will discuss, the bill will not only generate higher prices at the gas pump, but the premise behind the bill, windfall oil profits, is dubious.

But first, it is worth looking beyond Russia’s effect on energy prices and reviewing another reason oil prices have been rising.

‘Windfall profits” is the term Democrats use when they want to pick somebody’s pockets.

Read it.

Around a third of Ukrainian refugees arriving in France are actually economic migrants from other areas of the world, mostly North Africa and the Middle East, according to an investigation by newspaper Le Figaro.

Read it.

The Qatari government and Northwestern University are “training a new generation of journalists who will legitimize anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, and anti-American positions,” according to a report by a watchdog group.

Read it.

No state advertises its egalitarian bona fides more than California. Governor Gavin Newsom brags that his state is “the envy of the world,” a place that is “not going to abandon our poor people.” In his inauguration speech, he claimed that “unlike the Washington plutocracy, California isn’t satisfied serving a powerful few on one side of the velvet rope. The California Dream is for all.” Yet even as Newsom and his progressive allies have backed Black Lives Matter and enacted a racialized “ethnic studies” curriculum in public schools, reality tells a less positive story. The Golden State’s racial minorities are far from thriving. Increasingly, they’re seeking fortunes elsewhere—often to redder, less “enlightened” states.

The minorities leaving California are not running away from beautiful weather or scenery but toward an opportunity horizon that no longer seems achievable in the Golden State. In a new report for Chapman University, my coauthors and I found that African-American and Latino Californians’ real earnings ranked between 48th and 50th among the states. Blacks in California earn roughly the same, or slightly less, than do their counterparts in Mississippi. The state has the nation’s worst cost-adjusted poverty rate and the third-highest Gini Inequality index (behind New York and Louisiana). According to the United Way of California, over 30 percent of California residents lack sufficient income to cover basic living costs even after accounting for public-assistance programs; this includes half of Latino and 40 percent of black residents.