HEH. YES.

WELL, GOOD: New drug fezolinetant shows promise for reducing hot flashes during menopause.

ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: Nevada lithium mine pits Biden green agenda against radical environmentalists.

CAROL ROTH: Debunked and Explained: No, greedy oil companies are not to blame for gas prices.

U.S. gas prices hit an average of $5 per gallon for the first time last week, according to AAA. Americans are having to spend more of their hard-earned money on energy. But who is really to blame?

It is probably helpful to start with a breakdown of the components of the price of gas.

The cost of crude oil is the biggest cost component of a gallon of gas and can skew the cost. In January, via the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the cost of crude was just over half the cost of gasoline, at 52%. In February it was 61%, and as of March 2022, it was 59% of the total cost of a gallon of “regular” gasoline (diesel varies slightly). Given its overall weighting to cost, changes to crude oil prices have an outsized impact on final gas prices.

The remaining major cost areas include refining, marketing and distribution, and taxes. As of March 2022, refining was about 18% of the total costs, distribution and marketing about 12%, and taxes (federal, state, and local) about 12%, depending on your location.

It is worth noting that gas stations make very little, and they don’t reap windfalls when prices go up. Most gas stations are independently operated, even those that bear a brand associated with a major oil company. It is estimated that a retailer’s markup on a gallon of gas is around 15 cents, and the profit after expenses averages around 2 cents per gallon. Because of this low take, most gas stations supplement their business with selling a variety of other things, from cigarettes to beverages.

Read the whole thing.

SOMEBODY SET UP US THE TRUNALIMUNUMAPRZURE: Biden bombs again by misidentifying civil rights leader as ‘Karen Nagasaki.’

But don’t worry though! Karine Jean-Pierre: I can’t even keep up with that ageless dynamo in the Oval Office, or something

WELL, THAT SUCKS: More than 14% of world’s population likely has (had) tick-borne Lyme disease.

…AND SPEAKING OF WEIMAR AMERICA: Why Drag Events for Kids Are Inappropriate—And Actually Work Against the LGBT Community.

Shades of the classic Onion headline from 2001: Gay-Pride Parade Sets Mainstream Acceptance Of Gays Back 50 Years.

DISPATCHES FROM THE INTERSECTION OF WEIMAR AMERICA AND THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Nancy Pelosi Appears On RuPaul’s Drag Race: “Drag Is What America Is All About.”

Related: House Republicans Slam Defense Secretary For Focusing On Pride Month, ‘Woke LGBTQ Agenda.’

AN OCCURRENCE AT TOP GUN BRIDGE:  Sonny Bunch reviews Top Gun: Maverick and has an…interesting…theory about the film’s plot. It’s “slightly spoiler-y, so [Bunch places it at the end of his column] after these stills of people from the movie looking stylish next to amazing military hardware.

I HOPE IT FAILS. NOTHING GOOD WILL COME OUT OF THIS CONGRESS. While the Media are Already All-In on the Senate Gun Control Deal, It Still Has a Long Way to Go.

I HOPE HE LIVE-TWEETS IT: Elon Musk to Participate in Twitter All-Hands Meeting Thursday. “With Monday’s announcement, it couldn’t be determined whether the plans for Mr. Musk to speak to Twitter employees this week mean the two sides have come to an agreement about how to count the spam accounts.”

IF NOT, IT LOOKS LIKE IT WILL MAKE AN EXCELLENT BATMOBILE: Here’s the hybrid that Cadillac hopes will win the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE JOE’S ABILITY TO, WELL, YOU KNOW: Get ready for the catastrophic DEF shortage. “DEF is the acronym for Diesel Exhaust Fluid. Every diesel truck that has been made since 2010 is required to use it. It’s a product made of 67% urea (made from natural gas) and 33% de-ionized water. DEF is kept in a separate tank in the truck and the trucks using it will not start unless the DEF system is working properly. There are regulators inside the engine that mix DEF with the diesel exhaust to reduce diesel emissions. That’s the purpose of DEF. . . . So: US urea imports are falling, US DEF imports are falling. And US domestic manufacture of DEF is likewise falling and may very quickly turn critical. But what about consumer sales? How will that be affected? Let’s connect some dots. Here is dot one, Flying J and the Union Pacific railroad. . . . Remember that the trucks will not run if their DEF tanks run dry. DEF is sold through the same pumps at fuel stations as diesel fuel is. If a driver cannot fill both tanks, he can only park the truck.”

Bottom line: “Unless the nation’s truckers can refill with Diesel Exhaust Fluid, the trucks will stop. Literally. DEF production is about to crater and the country’s largest truck-fueling company, Flying J, has been directed by Union Pacific railroad to decrease its DEF-receiving shipments by 50 percent or be 100 percent embargoed. Unless resolved, this demand may cause countless thousands of 18-wheelers to be force-parked very soon, perhaps starting this month. That would be a very, very terrible event, because according to the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the trucking industry transports almost three-quarter of all goods shipped in the country. Union Pacific’s largest two shareholders are Vanguard and BlackRock. Vanguard’s largest shareholder is BlackRock. BlackRock’s key figure for strategy and policy is Tom Donilon, President Obama’s former National Security Advisor. Donilon’s wife, daughter, and brother work at the Biden White House. There is no wand to be waved to make the DEF shortage simply disappear. But doing nothing is both reprehensible and indefensible. There is no one better positioned to bring this looming catastrophe to the front burner than two men and two women named Donilon. Yet nothing is exactly what is being done. Why? Well, draw your own conclusions.”

UPDATE: A Knoxville friend writes: “Ha, Rural King literally had pallets of 2.5 gallon DEF containers in their stores. $6.99, then $9.99. Now none. Same at Walmart. Tractor Supply etc. All of the newer ag equipment, tractor’s, combines etc require DEF. Talk about food shortages!”

We just need a hack so it’ll run without it. But EPA will probably block this. I liked it better when Atlas Shrugged was just a novel.

ANOTHER UPDATE: They were warned this was coming 6 months ago: The DEF Shortage – As Prices Rise, Supply Challenges Continue.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY (CONT’D): Small business optimism drops to record low: Inflation, supply chain woes, labor shortages all taking a toll on economic conditions. “Small business owner optimism edged down for the fifth straight month in May, hitting the lowest point ever recorded as high inflation, supply chain challenges and labor shortages continue to take a toll. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Optimism Index released Tuesday showed small business sentiment fell by 0.1 points last month to 93.1, with the number of small business owners expecting conditions to improve over the next six months dropping four points to a net negative 54%. That is the lowest level in the survey’s 48-year history.”

HARD TARGET: Ohio Becomes Tenth State to Allow Teachers to Carry Firearms.

I CAN’T SAY I’M SURPRISED TO HEAR THIS: Stress accelerates immune aging, study finds.

COMMIES RUIN EVERYTHING: The Dismantling of Hong Kong. “After the national security law passed in June 2020, friends began leaving Hong Kong every few weeks. One by one, they disappeared from the camera reel on my phone, leaving me with things they couldn’t take with them: an oven, a Sodastream, a sous-vide machine, a stone diffuser, and five bottles of ground cinnamon. From 2020 through 2021, it was reported that 116,000 residents had left, often departing for countries like Britain and Canada, which, amidst the turmoil, announced residency schemes for Hong Kongers. Every other day on social media, someone pens a eulogy for the city. They were leaving; there was no way to plan for a future in this place, where every day brought about an unexpected change to the existing set of rules. Hong Kong had ‘become a place that could no longer tolerate truth,’ pollster and moderate commentator Chung Kim Wah said earlier this year. He was born and raised here, but he craved broader skies and fresher air where he would no longer have to worry about shifting red lines.”

NEWS YOU CAN USE, IF YOU’RE GOING BACK TO THE FUTURE: 1981-’83 DMC De Lorean Buyer’s Guide.

UPSIDE OF BEING LOCKED IN YOUR HOME: Teens ate less junk food during the pandemic, study shows. I’ve heard people in the restaurant industry say that a significant number of folks who used to eat out most nights now cook at home most of the time. That’s got to be a benefit. I love to eat out, but restaurant food is usually a lot more fattening.