SURPRISED THIS WAS AN ISSUE IN UTAH, BUT UTAH HAS SURPRISED ME A LOT LATELY: Utah Legislature overrides Gov. Cox’s veto of transgender athletes sports ban.

A LOT OF STUPID CLAIMS WERE ADVANCED IN TRUMP’S IMPEACHMENT TRIAL: Houston Community College v. Wilson Reaffirms That Elected Officials Have Free Speech Rights.

ANOTHER RECORD: Average price of gas tops $6 per gallon in L.A. County.

Flashbacks:

In September of 2019, after CNN’s seven hour “climate change town hall,” Bryan Preston wrote, “Seriously, if you see all of the above — which is just a sample — and vote for any of these people for any office at any level, it’s on you. If you like Venezuela, voting for any of them will bring you a whole lot of Venezuela.”

And as Kate of Small Dead Animals wrote after the CNN horror show, “Don’t make the mistake of thinking they don’t mean it.”

● Aren’t California’s High Gas Prices What The Left Have Wanted?

● NBC, the Washington Post, and the New York Times in lockstep call for higher gas taxes.

● 2008 L.A. Times headline: “The joy of $8 gas.”

Exit quote: “Under my plan, energy costs will necessarily skyrocket…”

In other words, Obama administration retreads are following the same playbook as the original Obama administration: “We’re going to keep at it to ensure the American people are paying their fair share for gas,” is the perfect Kinsley Gaffe for an Obama administration retread like Biden:  As Steven Chu, Obama’s then-incoming energy secretary, told the Wall Street Journal in the fall of 2008: “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.”

So is it fair to ask if Biden is on the payroll of Putin? As Walter Russell Mead wrote in 2017:

If Trump were the Manchurian candidate that people keep wanting to believe that he is, here are some of the things he’d be doing:

Limiting fracking as much as he possibly could
Blocking oil and gas pipelines
Opening negotiations for major nuclear arms reductions
Cutting U.S. military spending
Trying to tamp down tensions with Russia’s ally Iran.

“Yep,” Glenn added in late 2019. “You know who did do these things? Obama. You know who supports these things now? Democrats.”

Related: Biden tormented by Republican guerrilla campaign and ‘I did it’ stickers.

Also: 100Pcs I Did That Biden Funny Car Stickers. #Resist #CommissionEarned

GOING AFTER A BLACK MAN VIA A WHITE WOMAN? Criticism of Ginni Thomas seen as backdoor, racist squeeze on Justice Thomas.

It’s also sexist to suggest that spouses can’t have their own independent beliefs and actions, as we’d constantly be told if this were, say, Elena Kagan’s spouse.

RUSSIAN EXILE MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY: “You have to understand that Mr Putin, in his head, has long been at war not with Ukraine, but with America.”

KICK’EM WHEN THEY’RE DOWN (AND BLACK, CONSERVATIVE AND INTER-RACIALLY MARRIED): The Squad and the Mainstream Media are now targeting the Supreme Court’s lone Black Justice, Clarence Thomas, who was just released from the hospital earlier this week, and wife, Virginia Thomas, who, oh by the way, just happens to be White. Rather than “The Squad,” how about the “Raving Lunatic Lefty Caucus” (RLLC)?

WAS IT OVER WHEN J.K. ROWLING BOMBED PEARL HARBOR INVADED UKRAINE?! Putin: The west wants to cancel Russia just like it canceled J.K. Rowling for criticizing transgenderism.

EVERYTHING’S GOING UP EXCEPT BIDEN’S POLL NUMBERS: ‘It’s All Going Up’: Americans Bemoan Inflation, Call for Energy Independence in New Tuberville Video.

DEAL OF THE DAY: NEXPOW Car Battery Starter Portable,12V Car Battery Jump Starter Power Pack with USB Quick Charge. #CommissionEarned

GET RID OF THE CLASSICS? You might as well get rid of man’s ability to think logically, recognize genuine beauty and appreciate the enduring virtues. Other than that, says Jessica Hooten Wilson on this morning’s HillFaith, no big deal.

A BILLION HERE AND A BILLION THERE, AND SOONER OR LATER, YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT REAL MONEY: 10 Insane Ways Local Governments Wasted Biden’s ‘COVID’ Bailout Money.

IS THERE DIESEL SHORTAGE? These European Countries Could Run Out of Diesel Soon.

I REMEMBER WHEN WE WERE PROMISED SMART DIPLOMACY AND THE RESPECT OF OUR ALLIES: Editor Of Saudi Daily: ‘Biden Is Becoming A Master At Losing Friends And Alienating Allies’; Everyone Harmed By The Current Oil Crisis Should Realize Biden’s Foreign Policy Is Responsible For Their Plight.

Hey, he’s not wrong about that.

WHERE’S HUNTER, FAT? Hunter Biden did help secure millions in funding for US contractor in Ukraine specializing in deadly pathogen research, laptop emails reveal, raising more questions about the disgraced son of then vice president.

TRUNALIMUNUMAPRZURE! Biden tells 82nd Airborne they’ll be in Ukraine in apparent gaffe. “‘You’re going to see when you’re there, and some of you have been there, you’re gonna see — you’re gonna see women, young people standing in the middle in front of a damned tank just saying, ‘I’m not leaving, I’m holding my ground’,’ Biden said. The White House did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for clarification.”

FIGHT THE POWER: Conservative Disney employees: Our beliefs are under attack over Parental Rights in Education Bill.

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: GA School Administrator Agreed to ‘Sweep’ Student Records for Eligible Voters to Help Elect Warnock, Ossoff.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY:

OPEN THREAD: Drive safely.

THIS WILL TURN OUT WELL:

INSURRECTION: Hot Mic Catches School Board Member Asking to ‘Set Marsha Blackburn on Fire.’ “During a meeting of the Metropolitan Nashville Board of Public Education this week, a hot mic caught board members apparently pondering ‘can we just go set Marsha Blackburn on fire?’ — the latest instance of public school boards saying the quiet part out loud and revealing their partisan hostility against conservatives and Republicans.”

THE NEW SPACE RACE: For Artemis moon missions, science will reign supreme.

MEASURING the speed of sound on Mars.

AGAIN? Biden Just Stuck His Foot Straight in His Mouth in a Way That Could Set off WWIII.

Uh.

Flashback: Biden acts much more like Putin’s puppet than Trump ever did.

I’m talking, of course, about Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., who at his shambolic Wednesday press conference gave Russia the go-ahead to invade Ukraine, though it was quickly walked back by backwalker-in-chief Jen Psaki, his press secretary.

The last time something like that happened was in 1950, when Secretary of State Dean Acheson gave North Korea what appeared to be a green light to invade South Korea. The result was the Korean War. One hopes Biden’s blunder will not bear similar consequences.

Oops.

UPDATE: From the comments:

Just remember the modern function for Impeachment.

It’s for trying to remove a President who would have prevented this disaster from happening.

And then why they haven’t impeached him yet makes more sense.

Ouch.

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

ANOTHER UPDATE: At least there’s some comic relief along with the tragic incompetence:

NO FLIGHT, NO BITE: ‘Mosquito grounding’ bed net nearly halves malaria infection in Tanzanian children. “Unlike other insecticides which kill the mosquito via the nervous system, the effects of the new bed net mean the mosquito dies from starvation or being unable to fend for itself.”

Every time a mosquito dies, the world becomes a slightly better place.