CLASSICAL: Genetic analysis of lock of hair sheds light on Beethoven’s life, death.

WELL, SHE’S RIGHT: Sinema Trashes Dems: ‘Old Dudes Eating Jell-O.’

As she races to stockpile campaign money and post an impressive, statement-making first-quarter fundraising number, Sinema has used a series of Republican-dominated receptions and retreats this year to belittle her Democratic colleagues, shower her GOP allies with praise and, in one case, quite literally give the middle finger to President Joe Biden’s White House.

And that’s before an audience.

Speaking in private, whether one-on-one or with small groups of Republican senators, she’s even more cutting, particularly about Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, whom she derides in harshly critical terms, according to senior Republican officials directly familiar with her comments.

Sinema’s sniping spree has delighted the Republican lawmakers, lobbyists and donors who’ve taken in the show, giving some of them hope that she can be convinced to caucus with the GOP, either in this Congress or in the case she’s reelected as an independent.

Stay tuned…

FRED HOYLE, CALL YOUR OFFICE: Scientists discover building blocks of RNA in asteroid sample.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: Arizona Supreme Court Finally Hands Kari Lake a Win, but the Media Doesn’t Want You to Know About It.

I’VE SEEN THE LOCKDOWNS AND THE DAMAGE DONE: Decline in daily step count persists after pandemic for U.S. adults.

Living next to a park with a 6 mile running/walking trail right out my front door, my step count went up during the pandemic for lack of anything better to do.

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: West Virginia passes campus carry law, expanding gun rights.

READER FAVORITE: Serta Big & Tall Executive Office Chair. #CommissionEarned

DAVID HOGG AND JESUS CHRIST: A JUST COMPARISON. “David Hogg is a young activist who rose to national prominence after surviving the tragic Parkland school shooting in 2018. Since then, he has become a vocal advocate for gun control and has worked tirelessly to prevent further gun violence in the United States. While his mission and background may differ from that of Jesus Christ, there are certain similarities that can be drawn between the two. David Hogg may even be a bit more holy.”

EVERYTHING IS A LITTLE CONFUSED RIGHT NOW: Hey, Where Did That Trump Grand Jury Go?

WE NEED “INSENSITIVITY READERS,” WHO RESPOND TO COMPLAINTS WITH “SUCK IT UP, BUTTERCUP:” On the generational narcissism of sensitivity readers.

COFFEE ACHIEVERS: Coffee lovers gain 1,000 steps a day, but get less sleep, study shows.

The research also looked at coffee’s effect on heart palpitations, a relatively common experience for healthy coffee drinkers. The study found that in healthy men and women, coffee did not cause a common type of palpitation known as premature atrial contractions, even though some health authorities have warned that this could be a side effect of drinking coffee.

But coffee consumption can lead to an increase in another type of heart palpitation, known as premature ventricular contractions. These extra or irregular heartbeats are fairly common and benign. Almost everyone experiences them on occasion, and while they can be unnerving, most experts say they’re not usually a cause for concern in healthy people.

Drink up!

N.C. GOV JOINS OTHER STATES IN ALLOWING EXPERIENCE TO SUBSTITUTE FOR COLLEGE DEGREES. As the article points out, this is probably in the name of “equity,” but anything that reduces higher ed’s role as sole gatekeeper of “white-collar” jobs is a plus in my book.

LEAVE THE UN: UN Secretary-General Melts Down, Claims Global Warming of Glaciers Will Cause Catastrophe.

SHUT UP, THEY EXPLAINED: ‘Greatest Lie’ Silenced by Woke Mob, Media Silent. “It deserves to be seen and heard. That isn’t too much to ask … is it?”

CONSEQUENCES: Stanford law students who shouted down judge may be reported to California Bar.

HMM: WMD Weapons Inspector: Bush, Blair Should Have Faced Charges for Iraq War Crimes.

WELL: Penn’s inaugural ‘LGBTQ-specific Scholar in Residence’ has allegedly said some disturbing things about children.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Virgin Orbit’s Swift Descent.

Virgin Orbit paused all operations March 16, furloughing all of its more than 750 employees. It’s reportedly scrambling to avoid a bankruptcy filing. The company was founded in 2017 by billionaire Richard Branson.

Up to now, there’s been a relatively limited number of space startups able to demonstrate a strong enough track record to threaten SpaceX’s vice grip on government contracts. These include Relativity Space, which is gearing up for its third launch attempt of its first 3D-printed rocket this week. There’s also Impulse Space, which will launch its first satellite to transport payloads in space on a SpaceX flight by the end of this year and is also partnering with Relativity to send a lander to Mars. And Long Beach-based Rocket Lab is also a player, having sent a reusable rocket into space on July 4 of last year.

But each of these companies has found the road to launch is often packed with speed bumps, and none have been able to truly challenge SpaceX’s dominance of regular, affordable launches.

It remains to be seen how the fallout from Virgin Orbit’s collapse affects its big sister company, Virgin Galactic. Virgin Orbit is technically a spinoff of Virgin Galactic – another space-focused pet project of Branson that’s focused on commercial spaceflight (focused on human space tourism, rather than cargo).

It’s easily the most exciting time for space enthusiasts since the race for the Moon but not all of these startups can survive.

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Judge Blocks Feds From Enforcing ‘Ghost Gun’ Ban Against Polymer80.

‘WOKE, WEAPONIZED, WASTEFUL:’ That’s the description of federal spending that House Republicans are targeting in their coming showdown with the Biden White House on raising the debt ceiling, according to Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.), a member of the House Budget Committee.

It’s part of the “Social Security/Medicare off the table” strategy sired by former Trump OMB Director Russ Vought. He says GOP going for cuts in the big entitlements up front leaves them dead in the water, so why not instead go after the hundreds of billions in Diversity-Equity-Inclusion/Social Justice/Food Stamp Nation programs?

IT’S ALMOST LIKE THE GOVERNMENT DOESN’T WORK FOR US AT ALL: The U.S. Government Is Building A Vast Surveillance And Speech Suppression Web Around Every American. “While the ‘Twitter Files’ offer a glimpse into the government’s efforts to censor disfavored viewpoints, what we have seen is nothing compared to what is planned, as the details of hundreds of federal awards lay bare. Research by The Federalist reveals our tax dollars are funding the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning (ML) technology that will allow the government to easily discover ‘problematic’ speech and track Americans reading or partaking in such conversations.”

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Who Is Directing the Annoying Trump/Bragg Soap Opera? “Trump is so good at this that, at some point in the last few days, it almost seemed as if control of the situation shifted from Bragg to him. It was Trump, not Bragg’s office, who told the public that he would be arrested on Tuesday of this week. When that didn’t happen, it made Bragg look weak.”

DEMOCRATS: KILLING BLACK PEOPLE FOR POLITICAL GAIN:

It’s not as if this wasn’t a foreseeable outcome of defunding, demoralizing, and demobilizing police.

INSUFFICIENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR GRAFT: Supply-side policies would solve inflation — without the bank-system damage.

I mean, why do you think supply-side approaches are so unpopular with the Establishment?

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Kazakhstan’s seizure of Russian space assets threatens the Soyuz-5 rocket.

Russia has already spent nearly $1 billion on the development of the new Soyuz-5 rocket and plans for its launch site and ground services. When Ars wrote about the rocket’s development in 2017, it was slated to debut in 2021. Now it is unlikely to debut before at least 2024—and given the current dispute with Kazakhstan, it likely will be delayed much longer into the future.

There are some interesting and complicated politics at play between the two countries. Kazakhstan has nominally been a sovereign nation since 1991, but in the last three decades, it has maintained close ties to Russia and lies well within the Russo-political sphere.

However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine appears to have changed the calculus of this relationship. Namely, Kazakhstan’s president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, apparently sees Russia’s preoccupation with Ukraine as a window of opportunity to assert greater autonomy for Kazakhstan.

Russia keeps paying a bigger and bigger price for Putin’s stupid war in Ukraine.