THERE’S MORE THAN MEETS THE MAP: About Ukraine’s ‘Failed’ Counteroffensive…

ON SUNDAY I RUN A PROMO POST FOR (MOSTLY) INDIE WRITERS. AND THERE’S A FUN VIGNETTE CHALLENGE THAT HAS SPARKED COUNTLESS NOVELS:  Book Promo And Vignettes By Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike.

THIS SEEMS ENTIRELY IN CHARACTER FOR OUR RULERS: Taxpayers Stuck Paying the Bills for Oligarchs’ Seized Yachts and Mansions: Assets taken from sanctioned Russian billionaires are costly to maintain as legal hurdles hold up sales; $28,000 a week to keep mold out of the Alfa Nero.

Since Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, dozens of governments launched an unprecedented effort to pressure Putin to end the war by going after his well-heeled cronies. The Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs Task Force, a multinational government group that coordinates on sanctions, reported in March that an estimated $58 billion of oligarchs’ assets, including yachts, mansions and investments, have been frozen or blocked because of their owners’ links to the Kremlin. . . .

So far, the grand total from the assets delivered to Ukraine by the U.S. is just $5.4 million, the U.S. said. The U.K. hasn’t turned any frozen assets into funds. Neither has the European Union. . . .

In practical terms, it is often taxpayers who are on the hook for eye-watering bills to maintain a fleet of high-end yachts and mansions that no one is allowed to use while sanctions remain in place. . . . As a rule of thumb, big yachts cost around 10% of their value a year to maintain, said Benjamin Maltby, a lawyer at Keystone Law
, which specializes in advising on megayachts. Their hulls need to be regularly scraped and air-conditioning units run nearly round the clock. The crew also needs paying. So does insurance and rent in marinas.

They have lost the use of their yachts, but on the other hand they’re sticking someone else with the bills for upkeep.

RUMORS OF OUR DEMISE ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED: On Being Americans.

THEN THE FUTURE OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY IS UNBELIEVABLY DENSE AND HAS CALLOUSED KNEES. BUT AT LEAST IT HAS UTTERLY DEFEATED ITS GAG REFLEX:  Rep. Jim Clyburn stops short of calling VP Kamala Harris ‘future’ of Democratic Party.

Which, now I think about it, makes way more sense than I’d like, metaphorically speaking.

MATH IS RACISSSSS:  Students at 40% of Baltimore high schools failed math proficiency exam: ‘Educational homicide’.

BECAUSE AN OPEN BORDER AND TONS OF BENEFITS ARE NOT ENOUGH EXPLANATION:  AOC partly blames US sanctions against Venezuelan dictator for migrant crisis.

AND LIKE THAT, SUCH APPELLATION IS NO LONGER RACIST:  President Biden refers to rapper LL Cool J as ‘boy’ while speaking to Congressional Black Caucus.

BUT SURE, THAT 2020 ELECTION SURE WAS SPARKLING CLEAN:  Articles of Impeachment Filed Against Embattled Wisconsin Election Chief Meagan Wolfe.

SPEAKING OF ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, HIS BOOK GOT A RAVE REVIEW:  Moral Choices and the Colonization of Space.

DOUBLE THE LIES, DOUBLE THE FUN, DOUBLE STANDARDS ARE BETTER FOR THE LEFT THAN ONE:  If not for double standards, they’d have none at all.

THE CHILDREN ARE ALL RIGHT:  Pushback: Pennsylvania HS students stage walk-out protesting rule allowing boys inside girls’ bathrooms.

WE INADVERTENTLY TOLD THE TRUTH! FORGIVE US:  WaPo Disavows Its Own Poll Showing Trump Up By 10 Over Biden.

STOPPED CLOCKS ARE LIKE THAT:  AOC contradicts Biden, says economy in ‘crisis’ during union workers speech.

SO THEY’RE JUST GOING TO GIVE IDS ON PEOPLE’S SAY SO, NO PAPERWORK VERIFICATION, NOTHING:  Biden admin moves to give federal IDs to illegal immigrants.

Do you guys have any idea what the paperwork trail is for immigrating legally???

Also, so, how many of us can speak a foreign language and could use two or three different IDs?

THAT’S CORRUPTION ALL THE WAY DOWN:  Adam Schiff Earmarked Millions To His Defense Contractor Donors.

AIN’T THAT FUNNY?  Biden admin about to deport German migrant family after 15 years fighting for asylum?

BOURGEOIS REVOLT: Oakland businesses will go on strike tomorrow to protest rising crime.

The woke paradise seems to be crumbling fast, all over.

CLIMATE CHANGES: Britain Pumps Brakes on “Net Zero.”

MY NEW YORK POST COLUMN: Even Bill Gates is backtracking — the air’s gone out of the climate-crisis balloon.

WASHINGTON MONUMENT STRATEGY: If the federal government shuts down, don’t be surprised to hear Democrats and Mainstream Media types crying about the sky falling.

OPEN THREAD: Monday, Monday.

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Biden Condemns Menendez For Taking Bribes In Gold Rather Than Fungible Assets Laundered By 20 Different Shell Companies.

SOME EARTH ORGANISMS, MOSTLY FOUND IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, ARE ALREADY INCORPORATING SILICONE INTO THEIR STRUCTURES: Alien life may not be carbon-based, new study suggests.

MATT TAIBBI: Justin Trudeau’s Nazi Hot Take Flexibility.

To recap: Trudeau in a clear act of official disinformation smeared thousands of Canadian protesters as Nazis last year with context-twisting descriptions of a few decidedly un-representative photos. Now, after the Speaker of the House of Commons invited an ex-Nazi to parliament in a planned political act that had to be somewhat representative of the thinking of Trudeau’s Liberal government, the Prime Minister is complaining about “Russian disinformation,” as if that were to blame for this optics Hindenburg. As the CBC put it:

Trudeau warned that this event may fuel Russian propaganda. Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed the Ukraine conflict is about rooting out Nazis.

Dude, Vladimir Putin didn’t invite a Nazi to parliament, your government did. Do Davosketeers like Trudeau have anything inside, like shame or their own thoughts, or are they just manicured readers of talking points? Sheesh. It’s almost funny, how repugnant these people are.

Jim Geraghty adds: The Intrigue Is North of the Border for Once.

As if the embarrassment wasn’t bad enough, Canada just handed Russia more easy fodder for propaganda that the Ukrainians are the real Nazis, and that the dictator who’s breaking treaties, hinting at global conspiracies involving Jews, and constantly bombing civilians — the dictator who has kidnapped at least 19,000 children — is the real hero of this war.

This morning, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, “Such sloppiness of memory is outrageous. Many Western countries, including Canada, have raised a young generation that does not know who fought whom or what happened during the Second World War. And they know nothing about the threat of fascism.” The Kremlin is a pack of damnable liars, but that’s a fair criticism of Canada.

Prime Minister Zoolander keeps digging, to coin an Insta-phrase.