YES, INFLATION IS HARD, BUT ELITES THINK WE DON’T KNOW HOW TO NAVIGATE IT:

Yes, [economics professor and Bloomberg contributor Teresa] Ghilarducci actually suggests selling your car and relying on public transportation to get everywhere. Like all elites, her default is that all of us poor, unwashed masses live in urban settings (she probably thinks we all live in slums).

Of course, the whole sell-your-car-and-take-the-bus strategy doesn’t do a thing for people who live in rural and many suburban areas, but that doesn’t matter. Nevertheless, it’s a slightly less stupid idea than Pete Buttigieg’s flippant “just buy an EV” plan.

My favorite quote when she suggests selling your car is the part where she declares, “Now may even be the time to sell your car. It certainly isn’t the time to buy a new or used one.” In other words, it’s a bad time for you to buy a car, but maybe you can convince some sucker to buy yours.

And then there’s the whole “eat lentils” thing. Actually, when you go into detail, Ghilarducci goes straight to the old lefty trope of going vegetarian.

“Meat prices have increased about 14% from February 2021 and will go up even more,” she writes. “Though your palate may not be used to it, tasty meat substitutes include vegetables (where prices are up a little over 4%, or lentils and beans, which are up about 9%). Plan to cut out the middle creature and consume plants directly. It’s a more efficient, healthier and cheaper way to get calories.”

In other words, do without, peasant. At least she didn’t try to talk us into eating bugs.

And about buying in bulk? Ghilarducci repeats the old saw about how you don’t really save that much by buying in bulk unless you “try to do it with a friend, so you can split some of the costs and ensure everything gets eaten or used.”

I picture most readers thinking, Don’t tell me how to shop! After all, buying some things in bulk can be a hedge against having to pay more for those things sooner rather than later as prices continue to rise.

And then there’s the bizarre paragraph about pet chemotherapy.

In a 2018 Forbes article, Ghilarducci defended AOC’s socialist worldview by writing that she “may not be too far left,” so no wonder she’s now writing articles straight out of the Carter era to justify Biden’s runaway inflation.

RIOTS FOR THEE, BUT NOT FOR ME: The View Throws Tantrum After Josh Hawley Questions Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Judicial Record.

UPDATE: ‘So, You Don’t Know:’ ABC Reporter Lays Trap For Josh Hawley, He Snares Her Instead.

(Classical reference in headline.)

“MAN OH MAN:” Babylon Bee Suspended from Twitter for Mentioning Richard Levine.

Biology is hate speech, and now we have proof.

Look at this tweet from the Babylon Bee, which is sort of like The Onion for people who didn’t vote for Biden:

This isn’t so much a joke as a fact, because Richard Levine is a man whose career flourished when he decided he wanted everybody to call him a woman. Levine was just named one of USA Today’s “Women of the Year,” so the Bee made fun of them for it. That’s what satirists do.

Now look at this tweet from Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon:

* * * * * * * *

That’s right: A humor website just got suspended from Twitter for stating a fact about the genetic makeup of a transgender person. Remembering biology class is “hateful conduct” that “promotes violence.”

Where’s the violence, you ask? Here’s your answer, and it’s the only one you’re getting:

Shut up.

Of course — it’s the left’s standard answer to everything:

OCEANIA HAS NEVER BEEN AGAINST CONSERVATIVE SUPREME COURT NOMINEES: Sen. Dick Durbin’s very concerned that GOPers won’t keep SCOTUS hearing civil the way Dems do.

THE LEFT COMES FOR THE PARENTS’ RIGHTS MOVEMENT:

Surveying the effect of British education on families, G.K. Chesterton wryly observed in his 1910 book What’s Wrong with the World: “The only persons who seem to have nothing to do with the education of the children are the parents.” Little more than a decade later, the compulsory public education movement was to pick up steam across the United States, often presented as a necessity for the protection and wellbeing of American children.

History, Mark Twain might say, is rhyming.

In response to initiatives to curb the influence of LGBTQ+ ideology on young people — such as Texas’ attempts to investigate parents who encourage their children to get “sex-change” procedures or Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill — liberals are employing a familiar rhetorical tool: parental choice. Children’s welfare must be protected from the ideologies of self-interested politicians, they say. It’s an ironic twist, given that it’s almost word-for-word the same language that conservatives have used in recent education-related battles over race and sex.

Texas mother Amber Briggle in an op-ed for the Washington Post defended her decision to allow her daughter to identify as a boy as having given the child “a huge boost in self-esteem and confidence.” Briggle denounced Texas Republicans for “stripping the rights of parents, including me, to raise our children as we see fit.” The WaPo had earlier cited Jennifer Solomon, whose eleven-year-old son Cooper Solomon has a female “gender expression,” meaning he wears dresses and does “girl things.” Cooper, says his mother, is “happy, healthy and successful in school.”

In other words, conservatives should butt out of parents’ choices for their children. It’s a clever tactic, given that last year there was a groundswell of political momentum from parents angered over schools’ mishandling of all manner of decisions regarding their children’s well-being. From incoherent and illogical pandemic-related health guidance to “anti-racist” curricula that is actually quite racist to policies that enabled a “gender fluid” boy to sexually assault two different kids, parents fought back against school boards and superintendents. But two can play at that game.

This political jiu-jitsu does raise an important question: is parental responsibility for children absolute? And if not, where do parents’ rights end and the state’s responsibility to swoop in and protect children begin?

The answer exposes just how severe the disagreement between right and left is on this issue.

To be fair, we’ve known where Comcast stands on this issue since 2013:

MAN, TROUBLE: Twitter just suspended The Babylon Bee for calling Rachel Levine a man and the Bee is refusing to delete the tweet because, ya know, it’s true.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Remember that Twitter also blocked people for sharing the Hunter Biden laptop story, which was true. They even blocked people from sharing it via DMs.

EVERYONE IS CONSERVATIVE ABOUT WHAT HE KNOWS BEST: New York MoMA’s tough policies are an exhibit on how to maintain order.

MoMA doesn’t let you jump over the metaphorical turnstile if you don’t have $25 (you have to apply in person for your free one-year membership under IDNYC).

But the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority is forced to ignore tens of thousands of such chronic trespassers every day.

The MTA can’t ban people after they’ve been disorderly. Even if police arrest suspects on “low-level” charges — increasingly rare — chronic lawbreakers face no deterrence. The disorderly, and even people accused of serious assaults, return, again and again, to harass and menace paying customers.

Drugstores and supermarkets summon the police to arrest a shoplifter — only to see the thief return.

It may be time to take some enlightened inspiration from the liberal arts world: If you can’t behave, you will face the consequences.

To be fair, considering what its first curator of modern architecture was up to in the 1930s, modern MoMA seems like a healthy bastion of tolerance and inclusion for all.

(Classical reference in headline.)

QUESTION ASKED: Did official figures overestimate Britain’s Covid death toll? The chaotic way mortalities were recorded during the pandemic could mean thousands were wrongly blamed on the virus.

Meanwhile, back on our side of the big pond: CDC Says It Accidentally Inflated Children’s COVID Death Numbers In ‘Coding Logic Error.’

MEGYN KELLY SLAMS LIA THOMAS: This ‘Is Not The Women’s Champion’ And Has ‘Some Nerve’ Pretending To Be.

Kelly criticized Penn swimmer, Lia Thomas, a biological male who identifies as a female, after Thomas took first place in the NCAA Women’s Swimming Championship 500 yard freestyle race on Thursday.

“This is a farce,” the host of the Sirius XM “The Megyn Kelly Show” podcast tweeted Friday to her million of followers.

“Lia Thomas is not the women’s champion and has some nerve standing there pretending to be,” she added. “There is a way to allow TG [Transgender] rights without decimating women’s sports. This ain’t it.”

* * * * * * * *

The former Fox News host’s post included a Daily Mail article with a photo taken on the medal podium showing Thomas standing in first place next to second place winner University of Virginia swimmer Emma Weyant followed by University of Texas swimmer Erica Sullivan. In the photo it couldn’t be more clear the difference in size between the biological male vis-a-vis Weyant and Sullivan.

There is a way out, but it will take courage amongst the other athletes:

In the interim, America’s Newspaper of Record reports: Nike Releases New Women’s Swimsuit With Extra Space For Male Genitalia.

THE DEATH OF THE GROWN-UP: The Big Men’s Fashion Trend of 2022? Dressing Like a Tween.

It had been a youthful year for men’s fashion. Cutesy charm necklaces often encircled the necks of Pete Davidson and Justin Bieber, making those shlumpy style icons—and paparazzi favorites—look like they’d been sprung from summer camp. Last November, Washington Wizard Kyle Kuzma pulled up to the locker room in a pink Raf Simons sweater with gigundo sleeves, calling to mind a kid wearing his big brother’s hand-me-downs. And fashion companies minted adult-size clothes with serious Children’s Place overtones. British label JW Anderson’s spring offering was littered with sweaters and other pieces in cutesy strawberry prints, while Urban Outfitters carries a “doodle” hoodie covered in infantilizing smiley faces.

DEPEND UPON IT, SIR; WHEN A MAN KNOWS THE MIDTERMS ARE IN NOVEMBER, IT CONCENTRATES HIS MIND WONDERFULLY: Biden administration resumes plans for oil and gas drilling on federal land.

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: ‘I knew the hormones wouldn’t work. Why did they play with her life?’ Bereaved mom blames LA County for her teenage daughter’s suicide, claiming school pushed her to transition to a male instead of properly treating her depression.

WHY IS THE LEFT SUCH A CESSPIT OF VIOLENCE? Libs of Tik Tok Founder Faces Death Threat.

JOHN NOLTE: The Corporate Media Owe Emma-Jo Morris an Apology. “Almost 18 months after the New York Post ran the story about Hunter Biden’s laptop, on Thursday, the far-left New York Times admitted the story was true — that the laptop was real, that the contents of the laptop as reported out by the New York Post were real. Please note that I used the word ‘admitted,’ not ‘confirmed,’ or ‘verified.’ That’s an important distinction.”

DISPATCHES FROM THE WORLD OF METRIC FOOTBALL: Protester ties himself to goalpost during Premier League match.

An ecological protester forced a stoppage in play and took center stage during a Premier League soccer match on Thursday night.

The man bound himself against a goalpost at Everton’s Goodison Park, wearing a bright orange shirt that read “Just Stop Oil.” A web address to the Facebook page of an ecological group bearing the same name was seen in white lettering on the shirt.

He stood with a zip-tie around his neck as officials rushed the area. The soccer match was halted for approximately eight minutes, according to The Mirror.

A plastic zip-tie, curiously enough.

DON’T GO FULL ‘LIBERTY CABBAGE’ ON RUSSIA: Yuri Gagarin’s name censored from Space Symposium conference.

The first man in space, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, has been stripped of his honours by the Space Foundation, which censored his name “in light of current world events.”

The organization, which runs its annual Space Symposium conference in Colorado Springs, sees attendance of top-level representatives from the international space community, including 160 space companies, 100 speakers, and thousands of participants.

In a now-deleted note, highlighted by Futurism, the Space Foundation said that it was removing Yuri Gagarin’s name from its annual “Yuri’s Night” and replacing it with “A Celebration of Space: Discover What’s Next” at the conference.

Plus: “‘It’s a rather dubious show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people, especially considering that Gagarin worked for the USSR, a completely different country from modern day Russia. And the icing on the cake? Ukraine actually appears to be rather fond of Gagarin and his monumental achievement,’ noted Futurism.”

UPDATE: Do You Remember 9/11 And How They Cleansed World History Of All Mention Of Muslims? Neither do I.

(Updated and bumped. Classical reference in headline.)

ROGER KIMBALL: Biden’s Handlers Are Preparing to Eject Him (and Kamala).

The news is full not only of stories about the New York Times fessing up, sort of, about the contents of Hunter’s laptop, but also of stories about how Hunter is likely to be indicted for tax fraud. In one sense, that is not news. I wrote about it at the end of 2020 when Hunter announced, sotto voce, that he had been informed that he was being investigated by the tax authorities. But in another sense, I suspect, that news, like the revelation from the New York Times that, what do you know, all that stuff about Hunter’s laptop was on the level, like Joe Biden’s bizarre suggestion a couple of days ago that “everybody knows somebody” who has taken nude pictures of some lover and then used them to “blackmail” the person—all that has a different valence now that the Biden Administration is seriously underwater and there are no lifelines in evidence.

The issue is never the issue. I suspect that Joe Biden is being prepped for ejection. Exactly how it will happen I do not yet know. But he is on the threshold, or possibly has even passed the threshold, where he could appear to govern. His minders understand this. They must be the ones to replace him, otherwise they themselves risk being replaced, which would be intolerable. As I say, it’s not entirely clear yet how the defenestration will take place. Obviously, Kamala will have to be dealt with first, and she will be. Look for some ground softening stories such as the Times just served up about the laptop. They won’t be long in coming.

Stay tuned.

Related: America’s Newspaper of Record reports: New York Times Announces They Have Finally Confirmed The Watergate Tapes Are Authentic.

NEWSBUSTERS PODCAST: Our Extremely Rigged Media with Mollie Hemingway.

BIDEN BLAMES PUTIN FOR HIGH GAS PRICES — BUT THIS TIMELINE PROVES IT’S THE PREZ’S OWN FAULT.

Well yes — just ask him:

The next time someone tries to say Biden isn't why gas prices are so high, show them this clip. pic.twitter.com/mfNs8kvs9Y

— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) March 17, 2022

DON’T GET COCKY: Generic Ballot Shows GOP Crushing Democrats by 11 Points in Midterm Election.

MUCH FASTER, PLEASE: Fauci hints at retirement: ‘I can’t stay at this job forever.’

“SPIES WHO LIE:” Intel experts who ‘debunked’ Hunter Biden laptop story suddenly quiet for some reason.

WALLS ARE CLOSING IN ON PUTIN: Amid Ukraine invasion, Pink Floyd, David Gilmour remove music from streaming platforms in Russia and Belarus.

THE NEW YORK TIMES, HUNTER BIDEN AND THE SUICIDE OF MEDIA CREDIBILITY:

The Fox story began: “Twitter faced unrelenting backlash after blocking the spread of a New York Post bombshell that was highly critical of Hunter Biden on Wednesday, as critics pointed out the platform gave no such treatment to stories from CNN, The New York Times and other media with highly questionable sourcing.”

And now? Over a year after The Times — and others in the mainstream media — tried to discredit the Post story? The Times runs this story — buried way inside on page A-20. The headline:

Hunter Biden Paid Tax Bill, but Broad Federal Investigation Continues
The Justice Department inquiry into the business dealings of the president’s son has remained active, with a grand jury seeking information about payments from around the world.

And, lo and behold, buried in this Times story is this admission:

People familiar with the investigation said prosecutors had examined emails between Mr. Biden, Mr. Archer and others about Burisma and other foreign business activity. Those emails were obtained by The New York Times from a cache of files that appears to have come from a laptop abandoned by Mr. Biden in a Delaware repair shop. The email and others in the cache were authenticated by people familiar with them and with the investigation.

In response to The Times red-faced admission the Post runs this editorial, doubtless laughing all the way:

Now that Joe Biden’s president, the Times finally admits: Hunter’s laptop is real

The editorial began:

Forgive the profanity, but you have got to be s–tting us.

First, The New York Times decides more than a year later that Hunter Biden’s business woes are worthy of a story. Then, deep in the piece, in passing, it notes that Hunter’s laptop is legitimate.

“People familiar with the investigation said prosecutors had examined emails between Mr. Biden, Mr. Archer and others about Burisma and other foreign business activity,” The Times writes. “Those emails were obtained by The New York Times from a cache of files that appears to have come from a laptop abandoned by Mr. Biden in a Delaware repair shop. The email and others in the cache were authenticated by people familiar with them and with the investigation.”

Authenticated!!! You don’t say. You mean, when a newspaper actually does reporting on a topic and doesn’t just try to whitewash coverage for Joe Biden, it discovers it’s actually true?

The shorthand here is that The New York Times went out of its way not to report or investigate the facts in the Post’s story. No, The Times response and that of all manner of “mainstream” media figures was to pooh-pooh the Post scoop, to pretend that it was all discredited garbage and Russian information.

There could have been only one reason: to protect then-candidate Joe Biden. As noted, Big Tech went even further, simply blocking the story altogether.

QED:

Related: The ‘cabal’ that bragged of foisting Joe Biden on us must answer for his failed presidency.

BEN RHODES SMILES: Reviving Iran nuclear deal will make Joe Biden the ‘number one funder of terrorism in the world,’ says Sen. Ted Cruz.