ROGER SIMON: William Barr and Trump’s 2024 Conundrum.

If, as predicted, the congressional elections in November are a disaster for Democrats, you can look for that party to start changing their tune, if disingenuously. They already have to some extent, Biden having sounded something like “Trump-lite” during his State of the Union address, though with none of Trump’s fire.

The challenge for Trump will be to show that he’s the true carrier of his own ideas, enough to convince at least some of the enmity crowd so deeply committed to despising his “character.”

It’s unlikely he will have any luck with William Barr, who long ago found Trump too “divisive.” But outside the Beltway, where The People live, he will have a much better chance.

I know “it’s a long way to Tipperary,” but I suspect Trump will succeed against any adversary—Biden, Newsom, or another.

Unfortunately, that’s assuming the greatest of all elephants in the room—or is it the continent: genuine electoral integrity in our country. Can we have it—or even something close— by 2024?

That one, more than anything, is up to We the People. It will be our toughest job.

Related: The ‘cabal’ that bragged of foisting Joe Biden on us must answer for his failed presidency.

THE CORBYNIZATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONTINUES APACE: Biden Blames the Jews for His Ukraine Policy.

How did Vice President Biden show his appreciation for Israel’s principled stance against Putin’s war in Europe? Less than a week later, he strong-armed the Ukrainian president to vote for Security Council Resolution 2334, finding that Israel was in occupation of Palestinian land—which according to the resolution included historical Jewish holy sites. The Ukrainians asked to abstain, but Biden said no. Kyiv then asked for a delay. There was a large and influential Jewish community in Ukraine with family ties to Israel. And after all, what would the optics be of turning against Jerusalem just days after the Israelis had stood with Ukraine? That was not good enough for Biden. So the Ukrainians joined the other powers the Obama team had corralled into voting against Israel.

WELL, THAT’S NOT GOOD TIMING: Launch of U.S. Space Force missile-warning satellite delayed indefinitely.

Related: DoD decommissions two missile-tracking satellites after 12 years in orbit. I might have waited a few months.

RUSSIA’S DESPERATE BID TO REPLACE MCDONALD’S EXPOSED — NEW CHAIN’S LOGO ‘SUSPICIOUSLY FAMILIAR:’

The decision by McDonald’s to stop serving in 850 branches across Russia stoked anger among Russia’s flailing leadership.

Vyacheslav Volodin, the Speaker of Russia’s Duma, told the parliamentary house last week: “McDonald’s announced that they are closing.

“Well, good, close down! Tomorrow there won’t be McDonald’s, but Uncle Vanya’s.”

His comments followed those of Sergey Sobyanin, Moscow’s mayor, who said that the city would allot the equivalent of £3.3million for the creation of a new Russian fast-food chain.

Yesterday, ITV reported that the Kremlin was now drafting a bill that would allow it to seize the assets of multinational companies that withdraw from Russia.

The new law provides the framework for McDonald’s stores in Russia to be requisitioned and allowed to continue trading without paying a licence fee to the brand.

The Uncle Vanya logo was filed for trademark by Russian Field-Logistics LLC.

I don’t know; I personally can’t see any similarity between the two logos:

Live look at a Moscow Uncle Vanya’s restaurant hiring new employees:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXgx7Uzislo

ENDORSED: The Hater’s Guide to Woodrow Wilson. “I come now not to explain Wilson, but to hate him. A national consensus on hating Wilson is long overdue. It is the patriotic duty of every decent American. While conservatives have particular reasons to detest Wilson, and all his works, and all his empty promises, there is more than enough in his record for moderates, liberals, progressives, libertarians, and socialists to join us in this great and unifying cause.”

(Bumped.)

SETH TILLMAN: Purim and My Bangladeshi Friend.

HOW’S IT GOING, VLADIMIR? “In 36 days of fighting on Iwo Jima during World War II, nearly 7,000 Marines were killed. Now, 20 days after President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia invaded Ukraine, his military has already lost more soldiers…”

JOEY, HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN A TURKISH PRISON? Biden Makes Bizarre Comment About ‘Naked’ Blackmail That Has Everyone Talking.

“I bet everybody knows somebody…that in an intimate relationship, what happened was the guy takes a revealing picture of his naked friend, or whatever, in a compromising position and then…blackmails…,” Biden declared.

Oh, my, one of those things you never expected someone in the office to say.

Um, no, I don’t know about you, Joe, but I don’t know personally know anyone who this has happened to. So who is it that Joe Biden is speaking about here? What naked “friend” of Joe’s was caught in a compromising position and blackmailed? Or is he talking personally? Or about his son, Hunter, who seems to have been involved in all manner of sketchy activity that Joe could be blackmailed over?

What is he concentrating on, making naked cheaters a protected class now? What the heck is he talking about? Why would that be a “new civil rights cause of action”?

Maybe Biden is about to announce something that we don’t know about yet. Are we about to hear about even worse pictures on the laptop? The ones we already know about are bad enough. Blackmail material would be something else. And in case you think this is idle speculation, let’s flashback to a story I wrote last August about what Hunter Biden said on video, allegedly to a naked prostitute, about Russians having possible blackmail on him.

As Matt Margolis writes at PJM, “Biden’s Latest Pervy Comment May Be the Most Awkward Yet,” along with this juxtaposition:

THAT WAS FAST: Court orders Jussie Smollett release from jail during appeal. “Smollett was ordered released from jail Wednesday by an appeals court that agreed with his lawyers that he should be released pending the appeal of his conviction for lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack. The ruling came after a Cook County judge sentenced Smollett last week to immediately begin serving 150 days in jail for his conviction on five felony counts of disorderly conduct for lying to police. The appeals court said Smollett could be released after posting a personal recognizance bond of $150,000.”

THIS DOESN’T SHOCK ME: Psychopathy might be a trait, rather than a mental disorder. “Psychopathy can at once be unwanted under one set of circumstances and prized in another, without invoking models of disease. It can be both an alternative strategy to survival, helping in some social contexts before becoming a disorder in another.”

It may even be adaptive for a group to contain some psychopaths — they’re destructive internally to the group, but may also be highly valuable in conflict with other groups. That said, this study doesn’t seem super strong to me.

BOB ZIMMERMAN HAS THOUGHTS about my paper on Orion-style space propulsion.

WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Robotic telekinesis: Allowing humans to remotely operate and train robotic hands.

CAN YOU “SMEAR” SOMETHING THAT DOESN’T EXIST? Chris Cuomo accuses CNN of ‘smearing’ his journalistic integrity in new filing.

BLOWBACK FROM THE GREAT RESIGNATION: Survey shows a majority of job quitters regret their exit: Nearly 3 in 4 say their next job didn’t live up to expectations, and almost half indicate they’ll try to get their old jobs back.

A majority of the restaurant workers who quit during what’s been dubbed The Great Resignation likely regretted the decision after they started their next job, new research suggests.

A survey by the job-finding website TheMuse.com shows that 72% of workers who walked away from their positions during the pandemic found their next job or employer failed to meet their expectations. That proportion applies to employees across all industries, including restaurants.

The researchers dubbed the phenomenon Shift Shock.

Nearly a third (29%) of the acknowledged Shift Shock victims said their disappointment extended both to the new position and the company they joined. Roughly 2 of 5 (41%) indicated they’d give the new gigs two to six months before doing something about the job.

Nearly half (48%) said they’d try to get their old jobs back.

About 781,000 restaurant and hotel workers left their jobs in January, a slight acceleration from the 776,000 who quit in December, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released last week. The absolute numbers, seasonally adjusted to reflect the upswing in hiring during the holidays, amount to 6% of the hospitality workforce.

A significant portion of the departing workers are presumed to have taken other jobs in the field, though the exact number was not revealed by the federal agency. Restaurant operators say they’re increasingly feeling competition in their recruitment efforts from companies in other industries, such as Amazon and Uber.

“This is a generational shift, driven by Gen Z and millennial candidates who are more likely to believe the employer-employee relationship should be a two-way street,” TheMuse.com co-founder and co-CEO Kathyrn Minshew said in a statement posted on the website SalesJobInfo.com. “On top of this, the pandemic has emphasized for many that ‘life is short,’ which means candidates are less likely to stick around in unfulfilling jobs.”

That may change as the economy tightens.

STRANGE NEW RESPECT: As Virus Data Mounts, the J.&J. Vaccine Holds Its Own: Once dismissed as less effective, the vaccine now seems to be preventing infections and illness about as well as the two mRNA options.

Roughly 17 million Americans received the Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine, only to be told later that it was the least protective of the options available in the United States. But new data suggest that the vaccine is now preventing infections, hospitalizations and deaths at least as well as the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. . . .

Until last June, the cumulative data from the C.D.C. showed that immunization with the Moderna vaccine resulted in the lowest rates of breakthrough infections; those who got Johnson & Johnson saw the highest rates, with Pfizer-BioNTech somewhere in the middle.

During the summer months, the gaps — particularly between J.&J. and Pfizer — began to narrow. By now, all the vaccines seem to be performing about equally well against coronavirus infections; in fact, Johnson & Johnson appears to be holding up slightly better.

None of the vaccines has lived up to the initial hopes. They’re not worthless, but they’ve underperformed.

I’VE FREQUENTLY LINKED GEORGE LEEF IN MY HIGHER EDUCATION POSTS. Now he has a new novel out, The Awakening of Jennifer Van Arsdale: A Political Fable For Our Time. Looks good!

BIDENFLATION: Tesla Raises Prices Twice This Week.

WOULD THAT ACTUALLY HELP? HAVE YOU SEEN HIM WHEN HE DOES SHOW UP? WaPo: Maybe Biden might want to start showing up on Ukraine, eh? “When your Democrat president has lost the Washington Post as thoroughly as its front web page suggests, you’ve really entered into uncharted territory. Volodymyr Zelensky’s thinly veiled scolding of Joe Biden for leading from behind had a dramatic impact on Biden’s coverage, at least for now. . . . Until now, US media outlets have tried to paint Biden as a behind-the-scenes c