BOMBSHELL TRANSCRIPT PROVING ANTONY BLINKEN LIED TO CONGRESS LEAVES REPUBLICANS AT A CROSSROADS:

The obvious question is whether Blinken will be convicted. The obvious answer is that, of course, he’s not going to be convicted. There is immense value, though, in carrying out a very public impeachment process, exposing the fact that he did lie to Congress (and by virtue, commit a crime). Make Democrats go on record defending him. Make the press proclaim their own hypocrisy. Make Biden own the corruption within his administration. You don’t need a Senate conviction to accomplish those things.

But if Republicans drag their feet and keep waiting around to formulate the perfect case, they will lose their opportunity to really make something of this. Will there be other information that comes out after an impeachment starts? Sure, but the process itself needs to be started posthaste. Republicans are at a crossroads, and they can’t waste any more time deciding what direction to go.

Even if the GOP are in their usual “failure theater” mode, the theater aspect alone would make for powerful optics.

IT’S PERFORMANCE HAS BEEN UNINSPIRING: Ford F-150 Lightning Sales Numbers Improved But Are Still Softer Than Expected.

READER FAVORITE: UABRLA Tire Inflator Portable Air Compressor. #CommissionEarned

STICKER SHOCK: There are only 3 new cars priced under $20,000 now.

The average price paid for a new vehicle was $48,008 in March, according to Kelley Blue Book, a drop of $550 from the prior month.

“We’ve been anticipating transaction price declines, as inventory has been steadily improving and choice has expanded. More vehicles on dealer lots — and on their competitors’ lots — means dealers simply don’t have the pricing power they did six months ago,” said Rebecca Rydzewski, Cox Automotive research manager of economic and industry insights.

Prices are expected to continue their downward trend, but are unlikely to reach the $37,736 average they were at in March 2020 anytime soon, if ever again.

Last month: Biden Administration Announces Ambitious Final CAFE Standards.

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration announced final Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, which will improve gas mileage for new passenger vehicles sold in the United States between now and 2026.

The new standards require a 49 mpg fleetwide average by 2026, a 33% increase over model year 2021 standards.

We’ll soon look back fondly at $48,008.

THE HEADLINE SAYS IT ALL: The headline on today’s edition of Issues & Insights (I&I), that is. It reads: “Joe Biden is Guilty of Child Abuse – At Scale – And Nobody Cares.” That’s a profoundly disturbing headline but I&I has the facts:

“Congress last week heard from a whistleblower who told lawmakers that not only has the Biden administration lost contact with these [85,000] unaccompanied border-crossing children, it hasn’t been properly vetting the sponsors with whom the federal government places them after they get here.

“Tara Lee Rodas told lawmakers at a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing that she’d volunteered to help the Biden administration deal with the flood of illegals, but then saw first-hand what she described as a ‘sophisticated network’ of child migrant smuggling.

“’Some sponsors are criminals and traffickers and members of transnational criminal organizations,’ she told lawmakers. ‘Some sponsors view children as commodities and assets to be used for earning income – this is why we are witnessing an explosion of labor trafficking.’”

Rodas’ testimony was not the first public airing of these horrendous facts. Even the New York Times is reporting on the terrible situation that has developed at the U.S. border with Mexico since January 2021.

An estimated 85,000 children disappeared. How many of them were simply abandoned in the wilderness of Southwest Texas, left to starve, die of exhaustion or snakebite, killed and eaten by mountain lions?

TRYING TO WHISTLE UP A DANGEROUS MOB: TNR: SCOTUS is Lawless: Help Us Track These Dangerous Fascists. “As Ed said the other day when posting about Justice Alito speaking out on the Dobbs leak, this is all part of a spiraling cycle of political and physical intimidation of the court. Justice Alito believes it has marked them all as targets for assassination. The Left will knowingly pooh-pooh such notions, but then they also wiped the memory clean of one of their storm troops with the rifle looking for Justice Kavanaugh – like with a cloth.”

Related:

Unanimous … meaning Justices appointed by both Republicans AND Democrats. https://t.co/ZJ7stFhvyp

— Bex (@BexStreams) April 30, 2023

Also:

It’s almost as though left wing activist groups are feeding left wing media disinformation about the justices in a concerted campaign to undermine the credibility of one of the few institutions the left does not now control. https://t.co/wRuBDp24Oq

— Randy Barnett (@RandyEBarnett) May 2, 2023

Who are the billionaires who are funding this disinformation campaign with “dark money”? Maybe a reporter should look into this.

— Randy Barnett (@RandyEBarnett) May 2, 2023

In criticizing these stories, we need to start naming the reporters — and, ideally, the editors — involved.

Plus: Conservative Supreme Court justice hit pieces: We are being lectured on ethics by scoundrels.

HE FIGHTS: Biden Caves to McCarthy, Agrees to Meet the Speaker About Raising the Debt Limit.

NEVER GET IN BED WITH MARXISTS BECAUSE THEY’LL COME AT YOU IN THE MORNING WITH AN ICE PICK:

From the replies: “The entire world has finally found something to unite on: hatred of Bud Lite.”

Related (From Ed): Bud Light sales continue to plummet after transgender marketing controversy.

ZZZAPPP! Supernova Showers: A Deadly Rain of X-rays Threatens Planets.

PAULA BOLYARD: Trump’s Achilles’ Heel. “Why did Trump agree to do a CNN town hall in New Hampshire next week? Has he learned nothing from the last seven years?”

TECH: Those scary warnings of juice jacking in airports and hotels? They’re mostly nonsense. “Juice jacking attacks on mobile phones are nonexistent. So why are we so afraid?”

HMM: Huge Development Means IRS Whistleblower Can Soon Explode Biden Family Scandals.

As explained above, while Section 6103 authorized the whistleblower to share confidential taxpayer information with two specific committees, he or she could not give that information to Lytle or any other attorney. Section 6103(f)(4), however, provides an important workaround by allowing the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and Finance Committee to “designate or appoint” an “agent” to inspect the tax returns and return information.

In other words, the committees could appoint the whistleblower’s attorneys as their “agents,” which would allow the whistleblower to discuss freely and fully the tax information with his lawyers. In turn, the whistleblower’s lawyers could brief the committees on those details, albeit in a closed session, which is precisely what Lytle suggested when he wrote that “with the appropriate legal protections and in the appropriate setting,” he would “provide a more detailed proffer of the testimony my client could provide to Congress.”

Thus, that last week the Ways and Means Committee authorized two of the whistleblower’s attorneys to inspect the tax material is huge: It sidestepped a protracted battle over the circumstances under which the whistleblower would testify. It also ensures the House committee can learn, on an expedited basis, the whistleblower’s accusations.

Faster, please.

TOO MUCH PAPERWORK, NOT ENOUGH AUTONOMY, BAD SCHEDULES: One-third of US nurses plan to quit profession – report.

IT’S FAIR TO ASSUME IT DEPENDS ON WHICH JUSTICES WERE THREATENED: MSNBC Dismisses Concerns About SCOTUS Assassination Threats.

THE INQUISITORS WILL APPRECIATE THIS: New technology can read, translate thoughts on brain scans.

ONE HUNDRED MILLION BROKEN EGGS AND NOT A SINGLE OMELET: Observing 2023 Victims of Communism Day.

TRUNALIMUNUMAPRZURE! Biden Tells Muslim Guest At The White House To “Hush Up, Boy!” (Video.)

SARAH HOYT: “It’s the end of the world. Again. And I still feel fine.”

MAKES YOU WONDER WHAT THEY’RE DOING WITH TRUMP GONE: NIH Director Wanted Reversal of Trump’s Ban of Wuhan-Tied EcoHealth Funding. “The definition of insanity is giving power to government bureaucrats and expecting good results.”

THIS HAS BEEN MY LEAST-FAVORITE PART OF MY FIFTIES: Why You Wake Up Earlier As You Get Older.

WHAT DID DEMOCRATS USE BEFORE CANDLES? ELECTRICITY! Who turned the lights out? Joe Biden.

Does the radical climate change agenda know no end? Earlier this year, it was gas stoves — and then lightbulbs.

Then, a few weeks ago, President Joe Biden’s administration announced much less gas cars after 2032. Even though about half of Americans say they don’t want an electric car and only 6% of drivers are buying them.

But that was child’s play compared to the latest Biden scheme to shut down as many as half our electric power plants across the country. These are the plants that charge those Tesla batteries and cellphones. They also keep the lights on in our factories, schools, hospitals, stores, and homes and power the internet. Further, they cook our food and keep us warm at night. No, that power doesn’t just come magically from the socket in the wall.

Build a bunch of nuclear plants. When they’re done, you can shut down the fossil plants. When they’re done. Not before.

SO MANY FROM WHICH TO CHOOSE: Are These the Worst 9 Seconds of Joe Biden’s Political Career?

IT’S GOOD TO BE THE KING: Here Are All the Laws That Charles Is Exempt From as King. “Under the legal doctrine of ‘sovereign immunity,’ Charles is exempt from criminal and civil proceedings as the head of state. But the King’s immunity extends beyond his public duties to his conduct on privately-owned assets, estates, and businesses. Currently, more than 30 different laws bar the police from entering private royal estates without the sovereign’s permission to investigate suspected crimes. Charles is also exempt from punishment over wildlife offenses, environmental pollution, and other green crimes—a kind of legal immunity given to no other private landowner in the U.K.”

If it sounds ridiculous when applied to a single person, why does sovereign immunity make any sense for an entire class of public servants exempted by it in this country?

YOUR TERMS ARE ACCEPTABLE: ‘If that happens I’m done, I’m stopping!’ Ed Sheeran tells NYC court he’ll QUIT music if he’s found guilty of ripping off Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get it On’ – as he brands $100M copyright trial ‘insulting.’

AFFIRMING STUFF THAT EVERYONE KNOWS: Women in STEM have an advantage over men in hiring decisions, researchers found.