WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT EXPERTS? US energy dependence threatens national security, experts warn, as GOP calls on Biden to reopen Keystone XL.

ROBERT SPENCER: Trump: Democrats Say Ukraine’s Borders Are Sacred While Destroying Our Own.

YOU DON’T NEED A WEATHER MAN TO KNOW WHICH WAY THE WIND BLOWS: NYC mayor announces tentative end date to city’s vaccine, school mask mandates.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: CPAC Hangover Edition.

Megan Fox is filling in for Kruiser today, who got trapped in Orlando Travel Hell last night.

SHUT UP, SHE EXPLAINED: Leftist activist Nandini Jammi targets satire site Babylon Bee for cancellation over ‘disinformation.’

Ukraine War Took Vladimir Putin From Steely-Eyed KGB Man to Military Bumbler. “Putin had hoped for a quick and decisive win, as the US military did to Iraq in 1991. What he’s getting is more like the Soviet army in Afghanistan in 1979: A brutal mess that might go on for a long time.”

FIRST, THERE WOULD HAVE HAD TO HAVE BEEN AN INSURRECTION: Can pro-Trump congressmen be disqualified as ‘insurrectionists?’

CHRIS QUEEN: The Amazing Black History I Learned at CPAC. “A couple of items dedicated to decorated Olympian Jesse Owens — who was a Republican, by the way — were fun to see, but I was drawn to the artifacts related to black patriots who fought in the American Revolution.”

WELL, IT IS: Texas To Potentially Prosecute ‘Sex Change’ Surgeries On Minors As Child Abuse.

MATT MARGOLIS: The Most Important Thing I Learned at CPAC. “The point is, PJ Media is more than just a news site or a blog with a slate of writers and regular readers. It’s a community.”

PLEASE BE COCKY, SENATOR BENNET: Election forecaster nudges Colorado’s US Senate seat from ‘solid’ to ‘likely’ Democrat.

NEVER FORGET: Democrats Will Try to Retcon Their Response to COVID-19 With a New Narrative – Don’t Let Them.

YOU DON’T SAY: Russia’s Energy Dominance Ties West’s Hands in Ukraine War. “Even as sanctions are being imposed, the same countries doing the sanctioning are continuing to import a large proportion of their energy from Russia every day, which is in turn tying their hands in their ability to hit Moscow where it hurts most.”

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: DeSantis Day at CPAC Was a Lot of Fun. “In these contentious and often tedious political times, it’s difficult to find glimmers of good to catch our eyes, especially when hanging around on the internet all day. There is something refreshing about meeting up with like-minded people in person. It’s the right kind of booster shot.”

“THESE ARE NOT SERIOUS PEOPLE”: Check out all the Woke Cultists’ reactions to the Ukraine invasion.

SUPPLY CHAINS: Carriers urged to avoid the Black Sea as Turkish bulker gets hit off Odessa.

SAME: Even California Hates Kamala Harris.

THE EVER-EXPANDING PARAMETERS OF MODERN WARFARE: Twitter admits it mistakenly removed Ukraine open source intelligence accounts. “The people behind the suspended accounts said they believed they had been the target of an attack by Russian bots—computers that mimic the activity of human users—that had mass-reported their content as being suspicious. This led their content to be removed automatically by Twitter’s moderation technology.“

FOR PJMEDIA/TOWNHALL VIP SUPPORTERS: Vladimir Putin, National Honor, and the Folly of War.

Why did Putin give the order to do the thing I honestly thought he wouldn’t do — and how do I (and the rest of the world) avoid making a similar miscalculation in the future?

I didn’t entirely discount Putin starting a war. Last month I noted for PJ Media readers that Russia had sortied six amphibious assault ships — a significant fraction of Russian naval power. That flotilla posed a direct threat to Ukraine’s major port at Odessa, and I’ve seen at least one report (who knows, at this early stage, if it’s true) that Russian troops have indeed landed there.

“That’s the major reason why a full-scale Russia vs. Ukraine war suddenly looks more likely than ever,” I wrote back then.

Still, I figured that most likely, Putin was bluffing, merely trying to destabilize Ukraine.

The late, great historian Donald Kagan might have known better.

If you’re a subscriber, or thinking of becoming one, you’ll want to read the whole thing.

MATT MARGOLIS: CPAC 2022 Day 0: Drinking With VodkaPundit.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: WAR — With a Weakling in the Oval Office, Putin Does What He Wants. “American liberals will no doubt say that the blithering idiot in the Oval Office had nothing to to with Putin’s flex. I think we all know, however, that Uncle Vlad probably wouldn’t be so bold if the United States of America had a functional president. As we discussed yesterday, when the resident of the White House is a weak leftist, the bad people in the world tend to have a field day.”

BREAKING: Reports Circulate That Russian Invasion of Ukraine Is ‘Underway.’

GO WOKE…: Fox News Correspondent Caves to Woke Gender Theology and Uses Preferred Pronouns of Convicted Child Molester.

TRUE. BUT IT IS A NUCLEAR-ARMED GAS STATION: Harvard economist and former Obama adviser says Russia is ‘basically a big gas station’ and is otherwise ‘incredibly unimportant’ in the global economy.

Buc-ee’s doesn’t even have nukes.

LEFTISM ALWAYS COMES DOWN TO TELLING PEOPLE WHO GETS TO HAVE WHAT: Democrat Congressman Suggests the Redistribution of Trucks.