BREAKING: Key Republicans Flip to McCarthy.

TO BE FAIR, HE WAS A RIDICULOUS PICK FOR THAT CABINET POST: Buttigieg Gives the Most Ridiculous Excuse Ever for Using Private Jets.

I WAS HOPING THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT BASIDIUM: ‘Micromoon’ to rise next to Orion constellation.

SKEPTICAL THAT THIS DOESN’T JUST REFLECT THE TENDENCY OF SICK PEOPLE TO STAY HOME. Study: People who travel afar report better health than homebodies.

YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BLOG: These Are The Top 7 Times The Military Went Woke In 2022.

HMM: ‘Framework’ for a Speaker Deal Emerges.

COMPLETELY INADVERTENT: Social Security numbers of Trump officials, allies posted in Jan. 6 files.

KRUISER (FOR OUR VIP SUPPORTERS): Here’s All I Want Out of the GOP’s Speaker Squabble. “Let the fights be frequent but let them be focused.”

GET IN SHAPE: CAP Barbell Olympic Trap Bar. #CommissionEarned

THE GREAT RE-SORTING: Torrent of Taxes Sends New Yorkers Fleeing on Southbound Expressway.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. NYU prof argues Gen Z is too ‘fragile,’ causing ‘national crisis.’ “When you look at Americans born after 1995, what you find is that they have extraordinarily high rates of anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicide and fragility.”

SUPREME COURT:  These days I wake up every morning wondering when we’ll hear from the Supreme Court in the Harvard/UNC cases.  Most likely it won’t be till June, but you never know.  In the meantime, here’s a reminder of one of the most powerful policy (non-legal) arguments against race-preferential admissions policies.

HOW ABOUT SOME GOOD NEWS FOR A CHANGE? The EU Just Shivved Facebook and I Can’t Stop Smiling.

SUCK IT UP, BUTTERCUPS: UW-Madison liberals ‘physically sick’ and ‘hurt’ by Matt Walsh event.

I’M SO OLD, I REMEMBER WHEN RUSSIA DIDN’T DARE INVADE UKRAINE AND IRAN WAS FULLY SANCTIONED: Russia is bombarding Ukraine with drones guided by U.S.-made technology, and the chips are still flowing.

THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Fly to space and back with SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in amazing video.

PROFITS ON UKRAINE AID: Daily Caller’s Micaela Burrow reports on Members of Congress who bought defense industry stocks and voted for more U.S. military aid to Ukraine.

HOUSE DEMS MUST GET PERMISSION FOR BATHROOM BREAKS: This morning’s update from the office of the House Democratic Whip includes this instruction:

**Members should report absences of any length to the Whip’s office via email … or by phone at x5-2020.

**Members must remain on the Floor until the Election for Speaker of the House is completed and until directed otherwise by the Whip’s office. Members should contact the Whip’s office immediately if they expect to be absent at any time.

UPDATE:

AND THE GOP WHIP’S MORNING NOTICE:

Good Friday morning. The House will meet at 12:00 p.m. for legislative business to continue the Election of the Speaker of the House.

Additional votes are possible. Please stay tuned for future alerts.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: President Harris Really Stinks at Her Job. “When President Biden refers to ‘President Harris’ we should all ponder what might happen if she does end up with the title for real.”

MORE EVIDENCE THAT ON CAMPUS, SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS. It’s creepy and corrosive to watch campuses repeatedly turn a blind eye to expression that is anti-Semitic or anti-white while instituting totalitarian crackdowns on those who say the same or even milder things about groups that are politically en vogue. I don’t believe America can survive with speech policing generally, but I know it can’t survive by making groups of people second-class citizens.

AFTER BIG GAINS IN KHERSON AND KHARKIV, AND STOPPING THE RUSSIANS AT BAKHMUT, WHY SHOULD THEY TAKE PART? Putin orders weekend truce in Ukraine; Kyiv won’t take part.

J. CHRISTIAN ADAMS: We need to talk about duplicate voter registrations.

You can’t run a clean election — especially with mail voting — when people are registered to vote more than once. All across America, some people are receiving multiple ballots because they are registered multiple times. This can happen far easier than you think. Unfortunately, some states are failing to do anything about the problem of duplicate registrations.

I’m unsurprised.

AT AMAZON, New Year Sale. #CommissionEarned

IT SEEMS A LITTLE SOON FOR THAT: What Is a Woman? Ketanji Brown Jackson Is Working on a Memoir.

THE SAUDIS AND RUSSIANS AGREE: Biden Administration Touts Drained Emergency Oil Reserves as Top 2022 Accomplishment: Biden sold millions of reserve barrels to China, other foreign entities.