OPEN THREAD: Let it all out.

Or try this version.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: “The U.S. Space Systems Command — the Space Force organization that oversees procurement of new technology — is being restructured in an effort to re-energize the bureaucracy and bring fresh focus on the competition with China, officials said March 4.”

A little sad that we have to “re-energize” a bureaucracy that has only been around for a couple of years.

FASTER, PLEASE: This Anti-Inflammatory Molecule Could Be The Next Big Thing in Asthma Treatments.

WHY SO SLOW? Novavax Takes Another Step Toward FDA Approval.

LAW: New Pepperdine Religious Liberty Clinic Asks Supreme Court To Rule For High School Coach Fired For Praying On Football Field After Games.

HOW’S IT GOING?

MARK RIPPETOE ON BODYBUILDING MYTHOLOGY.. “Such low bodyfat levels are abnormal for human physiology, and are almost completely dependent on a genetic predisposition for thin skin and poor adipose storage capacity. The pictures you see of The Greats that are burned into your mind are snapshots: a very narrow glimpse into a very-temporary (maybe only hours-long) condition of dehydration, glycogen-full muscle bellies, low bodyfat, oil and tan, and good lighting directors. This is where the media boys have done their jobs.”

I REMEMBER WHEN REPURPOSING APPROVED DRUGS FOR COVID WAS DANGEROUS MISINFORMATION: Covid-19 news: Arthritis drug shows promise to treat severe cases.

DON SURBER: Trumpenfreude for Twitter.

BBC, Bloomberg and CNN are shutting down their bureaus to avoid the law. Their call. They don’t always stand up to censorship. From 1991 to 2003, CNN kept its bureau open in Baghdad by acquiescing to Saddam Hussein’s demands. No one in the media batted an eye when CNN finally admitted it as the Hussein regime fell.

So really, I don’t want to hear media complaints about Putin, who may or may not be as bad as Hussein.

I ain’t a farmer but I hear you reap what you sow.

And this crop of Trumpenfreude tastes mighty good.

Read the whole thing.

Related: Putin Is Doing All He Can to Shut Down the News, but CNN Just Did Him a Favor.

TO BE FAIR, THAT’S BECAUSE THEY’RE MORONS: Montana Governor Greg Gianforte Shoots a Mountain Lion and the Left Explodes With Outrage.

BE PREPARED: HM Mountain House Adventure Meal KIT, Breakfast – Lunch – Dinner. #CommissionEarned

WELL KIDDIES, IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR FASCISTS, YOU MIGHT WANT TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR:  University of North Texas students drown out speaker with chants of “F*** these fascists.”

JUST AS LONG AS SLIM PICKENS ISN’T IN THE COCKPIT: Take a peek inside the massive “Stratofortress” B-52s currently doing laps around Eastern Europe.

WHY IS SILICON VALLEY SUCH A CESSPIT OF RACISM? Indians Trapped in Silicon Valley’s Caste System.

THAT SHOULD DO IT: Biden OKs release of 30 million barrels of oil from Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Earlier: The Strategic Petroleum Reserve only covers a fraction of US energy demands.

THAT’S BECAUSE PEOPLE RUNNING THINGS ARE STUPID: You still probably have to wear a mask while traveling: Most forms of public transportation in the US, including trains, buses, and ride-shares, are still requiring masks despite the CDC relaxing indoor regulations.

“WHAT IS BAD FOR THE REDS IS GOOD FOR ME:” Sarah Weinman on the Not-So-Unlikely Friendship Between Vladimir Nabokov and William F. Buckley, Jr.

“Let me simplify matters by saying that in my parlor politics as well as in open-air statements . . . I content myself with remarking that what is bad for the Reds is good for me,” Nabokov told the New York Times in 1968. Nabokov, of course, was not answering this question off-the-cuff over a telephone line, but in a carefully composed written response to queries sent in advance. Which is perhaps why the continuation of his answer went into more detail without giving too much away:

I do not have any neatly limited political views or rather that such views as I have shade off into a vague old-fashioned liberalism. Much less vaguely—quite adamantically, or even admantinely—I am aware of a central core of spirit in me that flashes and jeers at the brutal farce of totalitarian states, such as Russia, and her embarrassing tumors, such as China. A feature of my inner prospect is the absolute abyss yawning between the barbed-wire tangle of police states and the spacious freedom of thought we enjoy in America and Western Europe.

What Nabokov did not reveal to the paper was that, by this point, he had been such an avid reader of National Review that William F. Buckley had given him and his wife, Vera, a lifetime subscription. (“The National Review has always been a joy to read . . . and your articles in the Herald Tribune counteract wonderfully the evil and trash of its general politics,” Nabokov wrote Buckley in 1973.) A couple of years later, in August 1970, Vera Nabokov sent a check for $49.95 (nearly $360 in today’s dollars) to cover a two-year subscription to the magazine. “As long as I am alive, you will receive National Review with my compliments because you made the mistake of being so generous with me,” Buckley replied a month later.

The Buckley-Nabokov friendship dated to the late 1950s, around the time of the American publication, and astounding success, of Lolita. The novel’s triumph after several frustrating years of limbo, including its original, error-filled, argument-inciting 1955 publication by the Olympia Press, was the culmination of the Nabokovs’ time in the United States, a far cry from their imperiled emigre status escaping the Nazis in 1940. Lolita meant freedom, not just from tyranny, but from having to earn a living in academia. The novel’s success eventually afforded Vladimir and Vera the means to leave Ithaca, New York, where Nabokov taught literature at Cornell University, for Montreux, Switzerland, in 1961.

Read the whole thing.

SOLVE THIS WITH YEAR-ROUND DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME: Biological clock shock? ‘Springing forward’ may have drawbacks for heart health.

WHY IS THE LEFT SUCH A CESSPIT OF RACISM? UC Berkeley Prof. Zeus Leonardo: Abolish Whiteness, Abolish White People.

CHANGE: Florida Senate passes bill to ban abortions after 15 weeks. Things are going so badly, we may wind up with abortion laws as restrictive as France’s.

VISA, MASTERCARD GRANT ZELENSKY’S REQUEST, BAN ALL OPERATIONS IN RUSSIA.

The Breaking News Online (by way of the Wall Street Journal) reports, “Visa and Mastercard cards account for 74% of payment transactions in Russia.”

Similarly: Paypal Shuts Down Services in Russia Over Ukraine Invasion.

UPDATE: Russian Banks to Switch to Chinese Card System after Visa, Mastercard Suspend Operations in Russia. “Multiple Russian banks on Sunday announced plans to begin issuing cards using a Chinese card operator’s system with Russia’s Mir network after Visa and MasterCard pulled out of Russia. Sberbank, Alfa Bank and Tinkoff all said they would begin using the Chinese UnionPay system, according to Reuters.”

MORE: American Express Suspends Operations in Russia and Belarus.

(Updated and bumped.)

IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROPHECY:

Here’s the underlying Free Beacon article: As Russia Wages War, US Army Trains Officers on Gender Identity.

MR. SULU HAS SPOKEN: George Takei says Americans should consider paying higher gas and food prices to be a ‘patriotic donation in the fight for freedom’ (and people have thoughts).

Of course, some people can absorb those “patriotic donations” much more easily than others:

Or to put it another way:

DISPATCHES FROM THE INTERSECTION OF THE GRIFTERS, AND “I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER WORD ABOUT GLENN REYNOLDS’ CARBON FOOTPRINT:” Members of Congress Received 8,000 ‘Free’ Trips, Some From Groups They Gave Tax Money. “Members or staffers took about 2,600 trips to foreign destinations vs. about 5,490 trips to domestic destinations. Half the foreign trips went to just five popular overseas destinations: Israel (939); Berlin, Germany (103); Tokyo, Japan (100); Paris, France (102); and Brussels, Belgium (76).”

I’ll believe global warming is a crisis when the people who tell me it’s real start to act like it’s real themselves, to coin an Insta-phrase. I know most congresspeople are Luddites themselves, but shouldn’t some of their staffers introduce them to Zoom?

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN! Microlino EV, Adorable Two-Seater, Going into Production in Europe.

The bubble-shaped Microlino 2.0 is headed into production in a matter of weeks, despite delays and disruptions prompted by the pandemic. Micro Mobility Systems has revealed that production will begin in March 2022, following the model’s favorable debut at the Munich IAA Mobility show last fall.

The Isetta-styled EV, designed and engineered by a Swiss company, is slated to be produced in Turin, Italy, and to go on sale in Switzerland later this year before a wider rollout in Europe. The two-seater will feature a 25-hp motor drawing power from a choice of three batteries, offering 6.0-, 10.5-, and 14.0-kWh capacities, which are expected to be good for 60, 109, and 143 miles of range, respectively.

Micro Mobility Systems says that it is already producing pre-production examples for testing and process optimization, despite some component shortages. The company projects that the first customer examples will be delivered in April or May. The configurator is expected to go live in February, with the company reporting more than 24,000 reservations in fall 2021.

I need a chiropractor after looking at the above photo, but that’s a body style I’ve not seen for a long time — a long time: