LIFE IN JOE BIDEN’S AMERICA: Dining out is increasingly a domain of the wealthy. Restaurants are feeling it.

What’s for dinner? For an increasing number of Americans, especially households making less than $150,000 a year, the answer doesn’t involve going to a restaurant. And when people do go out to eat, they are spending less money.

Battered by higher-than-normal food prices, some consumers are pulling back on their spending — and restaurants are feeling the effects.

Dine Brands Global Inc. DIN, +0.32%, the owner of the pancake chain IHOP and restaurant chain Applebee’s, said in its earnings call Wednesday that fewer consumers earning $50,000 a year and below visited its restaurants in the past quarter. Even when they do, they are “more aggressively” managing the amount they spend, Dine Brands CEO John Peyton told investors.

Although some higher-income guests have traded down to eat at the company’s cheaper restaurants, behavioral changes are most pronounced among lower-income consumers, he said. “[T]he most impactful change in consumer behavior is clearly the $50,000 and below segment,” Peyton said on the call. Dine Brands Global did not immediately respond to MarketWatch’s request for comment.

While lower-income Americans are dining out less — even at fast-food restaurants — higher-income Americans are dining out more.

I’m so old, I remember when Biden promised to build prosperity from “the bottom up and the middle out.”

WHY BIDEN IS LOSING: Former Americans for Prosperity (AFP) chief Tim Phillips gets around and talks to a lot of folks across the country. He sees in a new column on Cyberreport “a jarring and growing disconnect” between decision-makers in Washington, D.C. and the rest of the country.

LINCOLN BROWN: Justice Alito Has a Stark Warning for College Grads. “Right now in the world outside this beautiful campus, troubled waters are slamming against some of our most fundamental principles. Support for freedom of speech is declining dangerously. Very few colleges live up to that ideal. This place is one of them … but things are not that way out there in the broader world.”

READER FAVORITE: 10-Minute Strength Training Exercises for Seniors: Exercises and Routines to Build Muscle, Balance, and Stamina. #CommissionEarned

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Air Force is “growing concerned” about the pace of Vulcan rocket launches.

It has been nearly four years since the US Air Force made its selections for companies to launch military payloads during the mid-2020s. The military chose United Launch Alliance, and its Vulcan rocket, to launch 60 percent of these missions; and it chose SpaceX, with the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters, to launch 40 percent.

Although the large Vulcan rocket was still in development at the time, it was expected to take flight within the next year or so. Upon making the award, an Air Force official said the military believed Vulcan would soon be ready to take flight. United Launch Alliance was developing the Vulcan rocket in order to no longer be reliant on RD-180 engines that are built in Russia and used by its Atlas V rocket.

“I am very confident with the selection that we have made today,” William Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology, and logistics, said at the time. “We have a very low-risk path to get off the RD-180 engines.”

As part of the announcement, Roper disclosed the first two missions that would fly on Vulcan. The USSF-51 mission was scheduled for launch in the first quarter of 2022, and the USSF-106 mission was scheduled for launch in the third quarter of 2022.

It turned out to not be such a low-risk path. The Vulcan rocket’s development, of course, has since been delayed. It did not make its debut in 2020 or 2021 and only finally took flight in January of this year. The mission was completely successful— an impressive feat for a new rocket with new engines — but United Launch Alliance still must complete a second flight before the US military certifies Vulcan for its payloads.

This is on the Air Force for planning 60% of their missions on a non-reusable rocket that had never flown when the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy were flight-proven.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Police clash with aggressive pro-Palestinian protesters outside Pomona College graduation.

“CHATGPT IS REALLY HELPFUL.” A non-heavy breathing interview about AI in education. (I should note that at my kids’ school, they seem to use ChatGPT to write more elaborate insults about one another, such as a Shakespearean sonnet about how someone’s face looks dumb. Really adds some gentility to the middle school experience.)

YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK: $7.5 Billion Later, Biden Is Up to 7 EV Charging Stations. “My back-of-the-envelope math also indicates that building seven stations every two years will get us to Biden’s goal of 500,000 no later than the year 144,881 AD. Assuming we’re still using AD by then.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Convicted killer spotted at Hamas-endorsed Syracuse University encampment before being arrested. Despite concerns raised to the Syracuse administration, Warren has been at the encampment several times since April 29.

HAMAS 1, HARVARD 0: Harvard surrenders to encampment occupiers. “Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine announced early Tuesday morning that it would peacefully end the encampment in Harvard Yard, bringing an anticlimactic end to Harvard’s most high-profile pro-Palestine protest this year and paving the way for Commencement to proceed as planned. The decision to peacefully end the encampment came after University President Alan M. Garber ’76 and HOOP organizers negotiated a peaceful end to the protest. Garber’s administration agreed to promptly begin reinstating at least 22 students from involuntary leaves of absence and offered protesters a meeting with members of the University’s governing boards about divestment.”

Harvard just looks more pathetic all the time.

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: Teen gunman who ‘sprayed DC neighborhood with 26 rounds from an AR-15’ is released on bail by self-confessed ‘woke’ judge.

Judge Lloyd U. Nolan Jr., a self-described ‘woke’ magistrate judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, ruled that Amonte Moody, 18, be released on bail ahead of his trial.

The 18-year-old allegedly peppered a street with 26 rounds while targeting a car of four people at 2:30am on April 22, with Ring doorbell footage capturing a suspect shooting wildly from the hip with the assault rifle.

Nobody was injured or killed in the shooting spree, which unfolded just over a mile from the US Capitol. Despite the chaos he allegedly caused, Nolan granted Moody pre-trial release and home arrest.

After his decision raised eyebrows, Fox News reported that his online presence included a post where he said he was ‘still woke’, and another where he donated to a fundraiser supporting a George Soros-backed professor.

Plus: “Judge Nolan conducted a very thorough hearing … and spoke directly with defendant about the consequences of violating any portion of the release conditions.”

A good talking to is what bullet-spraying teens need.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): “Gun violence” is the most serious problem facing America and must be dealt with with a heavy hand — unless it’s perpetrated by members of Approved Democratic Party Constituency Groups.

A PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENON: Anti-Israel campus protesters have experienced “some kind of psychiatric break.” “I’ve not been threatened about Israel. I have been threatened with my job security regarding my criticisms of Black Lives Matter, but not regarding Israel. I think that undergrad students perhaps feel more threatened than I do because they have to live among the activists. I don’t live among them.”

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Contemplating the Wussification of Americans. “While I’m all for life being easier in the sense that we don’t have to worry about polio or defecate in a bucket, I’ve found myself contemplating the conveniences that have led us to trade in our bootstraps for slip-on fashion sneakers.”

LIMITED TIME DEAL: Amazon Essentials Men’s Slim-Fit 9″ Shorts. #CommissionEarned

BRING ON THE LAWSUITS: My New York Post column: Protesters, colleges are about to find out that, yes, the law DOES apply to them, too.

POSITIVELY TRUMPIAN: Joe Biden will double, triple and quadruple tariffs on some Chinese goods, with EV duties jumping to 102.5% from 27.5%.

Biden will hike or add tariffs in key sectors after nearly two years of review. The total tariff on Chinese electric vehicles will rise to 102.5% from 27.5%, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement. Others will double or triple in targeted industries, though the scope remains unclear.

Biden and his staff spent recent weeks finalizing the measures, including which items to hit and which to avoid because the inputs are needed to fuel American growth, one of the people said. The final decision was a consensus, the person said.

It’s not clear which items were spared but Biden won’t announce tariff rate reductions, two of the people said. The administration has signaled to the US solar industry that it’ll move to exclude some items, including machinery used to make solar panel components. The shift has been sought by some equipment makers who say current levies undermine Biden’s goal of wresting clean-energy supply chains from China.

The 2024 presidential race looms large over the flagship announcement: Biden is trying to crack down on China and differentiate himself from Donald Trump — whose original tariffs Biden is set to largely renew, but who is seeking widespread hikes that the current administration views as going too far.

As I recall, it was the end of the world when Trump imposed his smaller tariffs so it’s nice to know that when Biden doubles or triples them it’s no big deal.

CHANGE: Two Virginia universities scrap DEI requirements after Youngkin audit.

Related: UNC Diverts DEI Funds Toward Campus Police: Report.

Plus:

Every month, we are reducing the perceived risk of abolishing DEI departments. By the end of the year, most red states will have abolished DEI in their public universities. Then we will move on to the next campaign.

— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) May 13, 2024

UPDATE:

NEW: The University of Wyoming has banned mandatory DEI statements and closed its DEI office:

President Seidel: “We will not allow units of UW to require job candidates to submit statements regarding diversity, equity and inclusion. We will not have a requirement for employees… pic.twitter.com/jID2XZMUbg

— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) May 13, 2024

TODAY’S HAMAS-HUMPING BEHAVIOR ISN’T REALLY A DEPARTURE: Higher Ed and the Third Reich: As Hitler rose to power, colleges in the U.S. responded with a mixture of indifference, complicity and collaboration, a new book argues. “In order to understand the whole course of development that leads us to the Holocaust, I think it’s very important to see what influential sectors in the United States were doing. And in the case of higher education, it’s a very shameful record of complicity and indifference to atrocities committed against the Jews from 1933 onward — and actually a lot of collaboration, in terms of participating in well-organized student exchange programs, participating in well-orchestrated Nazi festivals in Germany, sending delegates to those and ignoring protests.”

NEWS FROM THE NCLA: The New Civil Liberties Alliance’s Peggy Little will take oral argument before the Fifth Circiut today regarding the FCC’s illegal diversity rules.

NCLA’s client, the National Center for Public Policy Research, which owns shares in many Nasdaq companies, argues that SEC has no power to regulate in this field because the rules have nothing to do with fraud or honest markets.

The diversity rules fall outside of SEC’s regulatory authority under the 1934 Securities and Exchange Act, which empowered SEC to regulate securities to ensure honest markets and enforce federal laws that punish fraud. These longstanding laws are being misinterpreted today by SEC to allow the agency, working with Nasdaq, to impose a “meet quota, explain why, or get delisted” regime.

Oral argument begins at 9 AM, and you can listen to it here.

Also: In NCLA Amicus Win, and FTC Amicus Loss, Second Circuit Upholds Decision Dismissing Antitrust Suit.

Reminder/disclosure: I’m on the NCLA’s Advisory Board.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Jerry Seinfeld Is the Hero We Need Right Now.

SEGREGATION NOW, SEGREGATION TOMORROW, SEGREGATION FOREVER: DEI Hits the VA: Biden’s Veterans Affairs Department Offers Race-Based Training Programs That Exclude White Vets. “‘Equity’ means realizing ‘treating everybody the same might not be enough,’ VA official Shawn Liu says.”

WHO DO YOU LIKE FOR VP? “Assuming no shenanigans occur with the election (yes, a BIG assumption indeed), Donald Trump is on a very promising track to secure his second term as POTUS.”

J.D. Vance seems like the obvious choice to me, which means it will probably be someone else.

THE COMMERICAL REAL ESTATE COLLAPSE HASN’T LET UP: Fort Worth’s tallest building sells for just $12.3M at auction in stunning price drop.

Burnett Plaza, the tallest building in Fort Worth, Texas, has been purchased via foreclosure auction for $12.3 million just three years after it was sold for more than $137.5 million, according to the Dallas Business Journal.

The 40-story behemoth was bought back by Pinnacle Bank Texas in the auction held on the steps of the Tarrant County courthouse on Tuesday.

Pinnacle had claimed in public filings that the tower’s former owner, Burnett Cherry Street LLC, an affiliate of New York-based Opal Holdings LLC, defaulted on a $13 million loan used to purchase the building in 2021.

The bank bought it back with a roughly $12.3 million credit bid, just $12.30 per square foot.

That’s still better than the second-tallest building in St. Louis, the former One AT&T Center, which sold last month for about $2.50 per square foot.

IT’S NOT JUST MEXICO: Northern Border Apprehensions Highest in US History – Includes Terror Watch List Suspects.

BECAUSE IT NEEDS TO BE SAID:  In Praise of Populism.