HILLARY DID IT, WSJ EDITION. “I would like to enlarge the context for assessing what we have learned to date. Putin ‘never came close to doing as much disinformation damage’ and, I would add, Nixon never came close to doing as much harm to the objects of his criminal misconduct. However, Hillary Clinton will never face the consequences. That much I can tell you.”

WELCOME BACK, CARTER: Tool de Force: CNN’s John Harwood Defends Biden, Insists Inflation Pain Is a GOP ‘Charade.’

Flashbacks:

● CNBC Hack John Harwood Is Really, Really Upset That Al-Baghdadi Was Killed.

● NYT/CNBC’S John Harwood Advises Hillary Campaign, Gloats About Provoking Trump At Debate.

● CNBC’s John Harwood Has No Business Moderating A GOP Presidential Debate.

● CNBC Alters Transcript of John Harwood Question About Hillary’s Email.

● “Everyone in the [CNBC] newsroom knows [John Harwood is] extremely far left.”

UPDATE: CNN’s John Harwood used to think that higher inflation was a bad thing (guess what changed).

(Updated and bumped.)

FASTER, PLEASE: First Patient Injected With Experimental Cancer-Killing Virus in New Clinical Trial.

HMM: Theories emerge for mysterious liver illnesses in children.

BUILD BACK BRANDON: It’s not just electricity. We’re heading for shortages of diesel, jet fuel and gasoline.

Our total operating refinery capacity dropped by 4.5 percent between 2020 and 2021 to 17.7 million barrels per day. That’s the lowest level we’ve seen since 2013. The current U.S. stockpile of diesel fuel is at a nearly two-decade low. The distilled fuel oil stockpile also declined precipitously. Meanwhile, the price of jet fuel has been rising due to supply and demand issues. Because the vast majority of food and other goods are all transported by a combination of aircraft and trucks (the vast majority of which use diesel), when those prices rise, the cost of everything goes up. And when the supply of those fuels falters, the supply chain shuts down. We already saw examples of this over the past six months. If something doesn’t change, it’s going to get worse.

All of this is taking place during the same period of time when President Biden has canceled three oil and gas lease sales.

Crises by design: Biden praises high gas prices as part of ‘incredible transition’ of the US economy away from fossil fuels.

CORAL CURES: Watch dolphins line up to self-medicate skin ailments at coral “clinics.” “When lead author Gertrud Morlock, an analytical chemist and food scientist at Justus Liebig University Giessen in Germany, and her team used planar separations combined with on-surface assays and high-resolution mass spectrometry to analyze samples of the gorgonian coral Rumphella aggregata, the leather coral Sarcophyton sp., and the sponge Ircinia sp., they found 17 active metabolites with antibacterial, antioxidative, hormonal, and toxic activities. This discovery of these bioactive compounds led the team to believe that the mucus of the corals and sponges is serving to regulate the dolphin skin’s microbiome and treat infections.”

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Law & Order: Microaggression Victims Unit (Video).

NATURALLY THIS MEANS WE MUST MASK TODDLERS IN SCHOOL: Expert: Monkeypox likely spread by sex at 2 raves in Europe. Because science!

STACY MCCAIN: “John Durham has already won. Regardless of how the Michael Sussman trial ends, the Special Counsel has proven through evidence and testimony that the person responsible for the ‘Russian collusion’ smear against Donald Trump was none other than Hillary Clinton.”

JUST IN TIME FOR THE SUMMER BLACKOUTS: Electric Vehicle Registrations Surge Across the U.S.

GOD AND MAN AT THE SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER: SF Examiner editorial board demands Pope remove archbishop who barred Pelosi from communion over abortion.

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Philadelphia Reimposes School Mask Mandate.

YOU CAN’T SUSTAIN AN ANTIGUN NARRATIVE WITHOUT LYING, SO THEY LIE: Ministry of Truth: Politicians and Media Misinformation Shape Public Misperceptions of Violent Crime and Guns.

HMM: China launches an autonomous mothership full of autonomous drones.

China christened a remarkable new 290-foot ship last week – the world’s first semi-autonomous drone carrier. It’ll carry, launch, recover and co-ordinate the actions of more than 50 other autonomous aerial, surface and underwater vehicles.

The Huangpu Wenchong Shipyard began construction on the Zhu Hai Yun last July in Guangzhou. According to the South China Morning Post, it’s the first carrier of its kind, a self-contained autonomous platform that will roll out with everything necessary to perform a fully integrated operation including drone aircraft, boats and submersibles.

t’s kitted out with everything it needs to deploy its own boats, subs and aircraft, communicate with them, and run co-ordinated missions, including conducting “task-oriented adaptive networking to achieve three-dimensional views of specific targets,” according to the shipbuilding company. The aerial drones can land back on its deck, and it stands ready to retrieve the boats and subs once they’ve made their rounds.

“The Intelligent, unmanned ship is a beautiful new ‘marine species’ that will bring revolutionary changes for ocean observation,” said Professor Dake Chen of the Chinese Academy of Science’s School of Oceanography.

While it’s mainly pitched as an ocean research platform, the SCMP also reports that it has “military capability to intercept and expel invasive targets,” a capability at the forefront of many autonomous marine projects.

Please note that Beijing went from laying down a new class of ship to christening is less than a year.

VICTORIA TAFT: Sussmann Trial Week 2: It Was Hillary, In the Back Room, With the Chardonnay Bottle. “The institutions of the DOJ, FBI, and CIA and a special counsel appointment were put in the service of Hillary Clinton, undermining their reputations just to look good for the boss. Absolute treachery.”

READER FAVORITE: Nisaku Hori-Hori Weeding & Digging Knife. #CommissionEarned

BLUE CITY BLUES: Houston Exceeds Its Credit Limit. “It sucks when you exceed your credit limit and you can’t buy gas for your car. And ‘you’ in this case means ‘the City of Houston.'”

TRUNALIMUNUMAPRZURE! White House performs cleanup after Biden says US military would defend Taiwan.

MICROBIOME NEWS: Living with dogs (but not cats) as a toddler might protect against Crohn’s disease. “The study found that exposure to dogs, particularly from ages 5 to 15, was linked with healthy gut permeability and balance between the microbes in the gut and the body’s immune response, all of which might help protect against Crohn’s disease. Similar effects were observed with exposure to dogs across all age groups.”

YOU AND I HAVE A RENDEZVOUS WITH SCARCITY: The Age of Scarcity Begins for the Global Economy.

Unless you’re part of the nomenklatura, of course:

ANALYSIS: TRUE. The Left Will Never Stop Smearing Us.

REPORT YES. EXPERIENCE? Women more likely than men to report inadequate sleep.

THAT’S NICE. BUT WITH WHAT? Russia to bulk up military on western borders amid NATO moves, Ukraine war. “Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday it will beef up its military presence along its western borders by creating 12 new units in its Western Military District by the end of 2022.”

Between the manpower shortages that have plagued the post-Soviet military for decades and equipment losses in Ukraine, all I can say is: Good luck with that.

I HOPE WE’RE NOT TOO MESSIANIC, OR A TRIFLE TOO SATANIC: Christian influencer warns that ‘Yoga Barbie’ doll spreads Satanism.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Making Friends After 50. Key bit: “Don’t expect too much.”