GO TO HARVARD, PAY HUGE TUITION AND DORM FEES, get overrun with vermin. “The next morning, my roommate — after we first saw the rat — the rat got into her zipped backpack, with a zipped pouch inside with snacks, and then shat in her backpack.”

KEVIN DOWNEY JR: Tyranny Denied: Louisiana Outlaws Power-Hungry, Globalist Commie Trash.

JUDGING ADEEL MANGI: After years immersed in radical politics, the nominee claims he never knew nothing about it. “To hear the Biden White House and their allies tell it, Third Circuit judicial nominee Adeel Mangi—whose nomination is all but dead following three Democratic defections—is the victim of a vicious right-wing smear campaign.”

Accurately reporting what leftists do and say is a smear.

QUACK ALERT:  Two possibilities:  Maybe white racists make life so unpleasant for pregnant black women in the United States that they develop preeclampsia at higher rates than pregnant women of other races.  Or maybe, just maybe, there is a better explanation.  (See also my earlier writings on this issue.)

DEAL OF THE DAY: Carhartt Men’s and Women’s K87 T-shirts. #CommissionEarned

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Russia has a plan to ‘restore’ its dominant position in the global launch market.

It has been a terrible decade for the Russian launch industry, which once led the world. The country’s long-running workhorse, the Proton rocket, ran into reliability issues and will soon be retired. Russia’s next-generation rocket, Angara, is fully expendable and still flying dummy payloads on test flights a decade after its debut. And the ever-reliable Soyuz vehicle lost access to lucrative Western markets after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Yet there has been a more fundamental, underlying disease pushing the once-vaunted Russian launch industry toward irrelevance. The country has largely relied on decades-old technology in a time of serious innovation within the launch industry. So what worked at the turn of the century to attract the launches of commercial satellites no longer does against the rising tide of competition from SpaceX, as well as other players in India and China.

Through the first quarter of this year, Russia has launched a total of five rockets, all variants of the Soyuz vehicle. SpaceX alone has launched 32 rockets. China, too, has launched nearly three times as many boosters as Russia.

However, Russia has a plan to reclaim the dominance it once held in the global launch industry. In a recent interview published on the Roscosmos website (a non-geo-blocked version is available here) the chief of the Russian space corporation, Yuri Borisov, outlined the strategy by which the country will do so.

The first step, Borisov said, is to develop a partially reusable replacement for the Soyuz rocket, called Amur-CNG. The country’s spaceflight enterprise is also working on “ultralight” boosters that will incorporate an element of reusability.

“I hope that by the 2028–2029 timeframe we will have a completely new fleet of space vehicles and will be able to restore our position in the global launch services market,” Borisov said in the interview

A completely new fleet within five years? Not gonna happen.

Plus: “This may all play well with a domestic audience in Russia, but let’s be real. Russia’s launch industry is a pariah in the West, and the country is likely a decade away from deploying a vehicle that might be competitive with the Falcon 9.”

SpaceX is less than a decade away — probably a lot less — from making the Falcon 9 obsolete.

THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION NEEDS A PURGE AND CONSEQUENCES, NOT MORE POWER: John Tierney: The WHO’s Power Grab: The last thing we need: a new and unaccountable global pandemic czar.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Harvard’s application crash should scare other elite schools on antisemitism.

RICHARD FERNANDEZ: The Ghost Problem. “Conquerors and Prophets are among the two most powerful forces in history. The principal difference between the two is the time scale of their message. “

I DIDN’T GET MY USUAL PROMO POST AND VIGNETTES UP YESTERDAY, SO I CANCELLED APRIL FIRST. LOOK, IN CLOWN WORLD WE DON’T NEED A FOOL’S DAY. WE COULD USE A SANE DAY:  Book Promo And Vignettes By Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike.

HOW COLLEGES TURNED PINK: There’s a bigger gender gap today than when Title IX was passed, but the other way round: Why?

Because of the War on Boys, in colleges and perhaps more importantly in K-12.

BAD VIBRATIONS:  Virginia residents say vibrations from construction of offshore wind project causing cracks in walls

WAY TO GO JOE!  Buyers need a six-figure income to afford a typical home in 22 states — up from just six states in 2020: report.

FLORIDA’S CLIMATE APPARENTLY CAME AS A COMPLETE SURPRISE TO THESE REFUGEES FROM ANOTHER PLANET?  Florida transplants fleeing in droves over relentless heat, damaging hurricanes.

YES! NEXT?  Did panicking healthcare staff increase covid deaths?

TAKE A FRIEND, SEE SOME TRULY INCONVENIENT TRUTHS:  Climate the Movie, the film you must see.

SHE EXPRESSED “SINCERE THANKS FOR UNDERSTANDING” – ALBEIT IN NOT SO MAY WORDS. JUST THE INITIALS:  JK Rowling Could Be Arrested for ‘Misgendering’ Transgender People. Here’s How She Responded.

THE LEFT’S MODEL IS DOING EVIL WHILE APPEARING TO DO GOOD:  This is how you know they’re evil.

YOU CAN’T STAY HERE, THIS IS A SANCTUARY CITY:  A Top Denver Official Was Caught Telling Illegal Aliens Something That Isn’t Shocking.

THEY DON’T LOVE SCIENCE. THEY JUST SAY THAT TO GET IT INTO BED:  Scientist dispute stupid with, you know, facts.

REMEMBER WHEN DAVID KORESH SET UP AN ‘AUTONOMOUS ZONE’ (ON, WE SHOULD NOTE, HIS OWN PROPERTY): Another ‘Autonomous Zone’ Has Been Set Up.

A new “autonomous zone” has been set up by left wing activists in New York City. This time on behalf of the Palestinian-Hamas movement in Zucotti Park.
The zone, which commandeers public property, boasts signs like “this is the people’s park,” “no more cops,” “no pigs allowed” and much more.

I suggest we send them to set up their autonomous zone in the Gaza strip. Except the Israelis could credibly accuse us of littering.

BUT WE’D BEEN CONFIDENTLY TOLD THAT THE SCIENCE WAS SETTLED!  American College of Pediatricians Asserts ‘Gender-Affirming Therapy’ is Not Beneficial to Youth.

BUT IT CAN BE CURED BY ISOLATING THE CATTLE. BE NOT AFRAID!  Avian ‘Super Flu’ Infecting America’s Cattle.

THEY ONLY REALIZE NOW BECAUSE THEY LIVE IN A BUBBLE:  Democrats Now Realize The Biden-Trump Optics Were Bad.

YOU DON’T HATE THE AP ENOUGH:  When you hear ‘AP’ in relation to news, remember this.

It might not be possible to hate the AP enough.