OPEN THREAD: Disport yourselves in the comments.

MY NEW YORK POST COLUMN: Politicians are tearing down the guardrails because they’re convinced they’re always right. A civilizational game of Jenga.

PULLED UP TO THE GAS PUMP ON THE WAY HOME AND SAW ONE OF THESE, FIRST IN A WHILE:

I looked down and sure enough, gas was up 16 cents a gallon from last week, from $3.79 to $3.95. Wonder if they’ll start reappearing now.

Flashback: Blame at the pump: ‘I did that’ Biden stickers point finger for high prices. “The Biden stickers aren’t new, although the rapidly ascending pump prices might be making them more ubiquitous. Last fall, the Boston Herald reported on the sticker phenomenon when gas was ‘only’ $3.50 per gallon. A pack of 100 of the 3-inch-high stickers costs anywhere from $10 to $13 on Amazon.”

THE NEW SPACE RACE: NASA sets up Moon to Mars office.

I’VE GOT A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS: Three New Star Wars Movies Announced, Including Return of Daisy Ridley’s Rey 15 Years After The Rise of Skywalker.

Daisy Ridley is set to reprise her role as Rey in the next Star Wars film, which will serve as a follow-up to 2019’s polarizing The Rise of Skywalker.

As reported by Variety, the surprising reveal was made Friday at Star Wars Celebration in London. The untitled film will detail Rey raising up a new generation of Jedi. Ridley led the franchise’s sequel trilogy—2015’s The Force Awakens, 2017’s The Last Jedi, and Rise in ’19—and her comeback is set 15 years later.

Lucasfilm’s return to the big screen will be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, marking the first time a Star Wars movie will be helmed by a woman and person of color. Obaid-Chinoy recently helmed a pair of episodes for the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel. Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders, will pen the script.

Hasn’t Kathleen Kennedy driven this once-beloved franchise sufficiently into the ground yet?

UPDATE: Not surprisingly, the Critical Drinker has some thoughts on Rey’s return:

(Updated and bumped.)

EMILY LITELLA, PHD: Shock Boson Result Upending Physics Was a Miscalculation, Scientists Say. “The discovery of a discrepancy between the W boson’s theorized and experimental masses promised new insights beyond the Standard Model, the theoretical blueprint that describes how matter behaves. Now scientists have run the same numbers again using an updated technique, this time discovering the particle’s mass is a close fit with the Standard Model’s predictions after all.”

Never mind.

I’VE SEEN THE LOCKDOWNS AND THE DAMAGE DONE: Rutgers Study Reveals Shocking Increase in LGBTQ Intimate Partner Violence During COVID-19.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Health data: New Yorkers’ life expectancy plummeted in 2020.

ROGER KIMBALL: This is Easter, a holiday commemorating a miracle. That is good, because we are going to need one.

READER FAVORITE: Carhartt Men’s Loose Fit Midweight Short-Sleeve Pocket Polo. #CommissionEarned

CUTTING PRICES OVERCOMES ONE OF THE TWO BIGGEST OBJECTIONS TO ELECTRIC CARS: The Cheapest Tesla Yet? Company Hints at New Compact EV.

READER FAVORITE: Hey Dude Men’s Wally Loafer. #CommissionEarned

GRAND THEFT AUTO: There’s a new form of keyless car theft that works in under 2 minutes: As car owners grow hip to one form of theft, crooks are turning to new ones.

FASTER, PLEASE: Greg Abbott working to ‘swiftly’ pardon Army Sergeant convicted of murder in Black Lives Matter riot.

THEY’RE NOT PERFECT, YET: AlphaFault: High schoolers give fabled AI a problem it can’t crack.

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Disaster On Mandalorian Set As Lizzo Eats Baby Yoda.

WELL, GOOD, BECAUSE MY BLOOD PRESSURE WAS UNCOMFORTABLY LOW IN MY 30S: High blood pressure in your 30s is associated with worse brain health in your 70s.

As is typical in my family it started creeping up a few years ago, but on the upside I don’t get dizzy if I stand up too fast.

NO PASARÁN: Good-Bye, Friend: RIP No Pasarán’s Very Own Joe N — He Had Lived in East Germany as a Kid and Would Fire Salvo After Salvo on Leftists Arguing for Socialism.

JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: AI is here. But AGI is not. And that’s OK (for now): Big economic gains are possible even without machines that think like humans.

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE: Years After ‘Screw Your Freedom’ Statement, Arnold Schwarzenegger Issues Public Apology: “I’m Sorry for Saying Those Words.”

Per the Twitter update, the 75-year-old icon took a moment to acknowledge his fans’ acceptance and expressed his gratitude. That’s not all.

He even apologized for blurting out “Scr*w your freedom” in an interview two years ago. He tweeted, “I’m sorry for saying those words. I try to be relentlessly positive, but sometimes my mouth gets ahead of me. I should have communicated better.”

Why is Arnold apologizing for his Kinsley gaffe? Schwarzenegger’s 2021 statement is entirely consistent with his worldview, long before Covid: How Climate Activist Arnold Schwarzenegger Became Box Office Poison.

Some images are hard to shake, like a floppy-haired Hugh Grant begging for forgiveness on The Tonight Show after getting caught with a prostitute.

Similarly, close your eyes and you’ll see Schwarzenegger flaunting his fame sans guilt.

Remember the pictures of him puffing on massive cigars and driving around in a gas-guzzling Hummers? Few stars enjoyed the spoils of success quite like Schwarzenegger.

These days, he’s singing from the eco-choir. He even supports suing oil companies for hurting the planet. This week Schwarzenegger embraced the radical left’s climate change sage.

Or as Jim Treacher wrote in 2021, “An Austrian loudmouth who scoffs at freedom and demands compliance with the government’s dictates… Why do I feel like I’ve heard this story before?”

Not to mention, “Screw your freedom” neatly encapsulates Arnold’s disastrous two terms as a RINO governor of California:

GREAT MOMENTS IN INVESTING: JP Morgan Chase CEO calls for more government seizure of private property. “JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said in his annual shareholder letter Tuesday that the government may need to seize private property to advance clean energy initiatives.”

TOP 10 COOLEST T-TOP CARS EVER: The usual suspects are here, the ’68 Vette, and the Smokey and the Bandit black Firebird, but amongst them is the Suzuki X-90, one of the ugliest cars ever made:

DEAL OF THE DAY: SIHOO Ergonomic Office Chair. #CommissionEarned

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Scientists At Budweiser Attempt To Discover How Many Beers It Would Take For Dylan Mulvaney To Pass As A Woman.

Even Steve’s liver would buckle under the pressure of that much alcohol.

Earlier: Beverage Pretending To Be Beer Features Man Pretending To Be Woman.

I’M ALREADY IN FAVOR OF IT, YOU DON’T HAVE TO SELL ME: Dartmouth study: ‘Hundreds more’ major league home runs by 2100 due to climate change.