ANOTHER REASON NOT TO GET COCKY: ‘Bidenbucks’ Make ‘Zuckbucks’ Look Like Chump Change.

On Aug. 9, 2021, just five months after Biden signed the executive order that would command the federal government to serve as a get-out-the-vote arm of the Democrat Party, Adam Lioz emailed “Team USDA.” Lioz, who at the time served as senior counsel for left-wing policy activist group Demos, wanted to circle back with Department of Agriculture staff and thank them for “a productive conversation,” according to records obtained by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project.

“As we noted, we’ll have our ‘best practices’ slides ready in the next 1-2 weeks and in the meantime, y’all had asked for data on voter registration at the state level, which I’ve pasted below,” Lioz, who these days serves as senior policy counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, wrote in the email with the subject line, “Demos Meeting on Voting Rights EO.”

“We’re eager to schedule follow up conversations to dig into specific programs and help with integration in any way we can. Just let us know when you are available for that,” he added.

Not surprisingly, Biden’s USDA did just that. New York-based Demos reportedly helped draft Biden’s Executive Order 14019, which directs each federal agency head to develop a plan to “promote voter registration and voter participation.” As the Foundation for Government Accountability notes, Biden’s fiat “follows the same strategy” contained in a Demos policy paper.

If you’re filling your leftist bingo card, Demos is closely tied to the far-left Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wing of the Democrat Party, according to activist tracker InfluenceWatch.

Much more at the link.

WHEN YOU’VE LOST CNN…: Even CNN’s Legal Analyst Destroys Bragg’s Case Against Trump for its ‘Weakness.’

INFLATION, ONCE UNLEASHED, IS DIFFICULT AND PAINFUL TO REIN BACK IN:

This is not great inflation news: the disinflation in market rents proved to be really short lived https://t.co/YghTyrcuNB pic.twitter.com/ejhJITrk6P

— Adam Shapiro (@ah_shapiro) April 15, 2024

But fear not. Jonathan Chait says to believe Paul Krugman and not your lying bank statement.

DISPATCHES FROM WEIMAR AMERICA: Mother Moves Son to CA for Chemical Castration.

INDUSTRIAL POLICY: Samsung Snags $6.4 Billion For Texas Fabs. “As I’ve written before, semiconductor subsidies are the wrong solution for the wrong problem (especially if the Biden Administration demands Samsung pledge fealty to social justice before sucking the taxpayers teat). But if you are going to subsidize someone, and your goal is more cutting edge American fabs, then Samsung isn’t the worst recipient.”

You have to wonder if Samsung is hoping the social justice regs buried in the CHIPS act will get 86’d by the next administration.

FORGET IT, HE’S ROLLING: Projection Much? ‘Morning Joe’ Scarborough’s On-Air Meltdown “If a lefty isn’t projecting, it’s only because zhey haven’t had zheir soy-based coffee yet.”

BAD MOVE: Mom, 28, forced to sell her dream car after forking out $40,000 in INTEREST alone over three years – as America’s auto debt spirals to $1.6 TRILLION.

Despite paying $1,400 a month in payments totaling more than $50,000, she still owes a balance of $74,000 to her lender – GM Financial.

Not only did she not make a down payment, she said she traded in a previous car on which she had fallen into negative equity.

Negative equity occurs when a driver owes more on their car loan than the vehicle is now worth. Sometimes, a dealer or lender can offer to roll the balance of an existing auto loan onto a new one, making it more expensive.

While rolling over debt into a new loan can seem convenient, it can be very dangerous and dealers have been known to not properly inform buyers that they will still be responsible for the remaining balance.

‘Honestly, it blows my mind that I have paid $50,000 into this car and only paid off $10,000,’ Arnold said.

She told DailyMail.com the loan was issued to her on the very day she visited the dealer – and that had an APR of 10.2 percent.

‘I did not go with my husband and as a female I feel they took advantage of me. They knew I really wanted the car and that I was by myself,’ she said.

The $84,000 loan was issued to her by GM Financial, the financial services arm of General Motors and the only lender to approve her on the day.

‘The dealer pretty much told me they can get me out the door with the car within an hour. He didn’t act like it was something I should be concerned about,’ she said.

I’m trying to think of a bad decision she missed but I’m coming up short. The implied supposition that the car dealer has the shopper’s best interest at heart might be the biggest though.

KRUISER: Joe Biden Wants to Know Where His Legos Are and If WWIII Will Help Him Win Michigan.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: US drug shortages reach record high with 323 meds now in short supply. “There are myriad reasons for the hundreds of drug shortages now facing doctors and patients, many of which remain unclear. But, as Ars has reported before, the root cause of shortages of low-cost, off-patent generic drugs is well established. These drugs have razor-thin to non-existent profit margins, driven by middle managers who have, in recent years, pushed down wholesale prices to rock-bottom levels. In some cases, generic manufacturers lose money on the drugs, disincentivizing other players in the pharmaceutical industry from stepping in to bolster fragile supply chains. Several generic manufacturers have filed for bankruptcy recently.”

Left unsaid in the linked story: The US is relying more on China for pharmaceuticals — and vice versa.

IT MIGHT NOT TASTE VERY GOOD BUT AT LEAST IT HAS STUPID AMOUNTS OF SODIUM: That’s Impossible! Vegan ‘Meat’ Not So Good for You After All.

CHANGE: NASA to look for new options to carry out Mars Sample Return program.

NASA will seek “out of the box” ideas in a bid to reduce the costs and shorten the schedule for returning samples from Mars.

In an April 15 briefing, agency officials announced they would solicit proposals from NASA centers and from industry on “innovative designs” to reshape its Mars Sample Return (MSR) effort after an internal review confirmed the ballooning costs of the overall program.

That review found that the current program would cost between $8 billion and $11 billion, the same range offered by an independent assessment completed last September. To fit that into the overall planetary science budget without affecting other programs would delay the return of samples from the early 2030s to 2040.

“The bottom line is that $11 billion is too expensive and not returning samples until 2040 is unacceptably too long,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at the briefing.

By 2040, some helpful resident of Elon City might mail back a sample via SpaceXpress.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: While Biden’s World Burns, Dems Froth Over Trump’s Kangaroo Trials. “The rogue’s gallery of scofflaw prosecutors and judges they’ve put together have kept the fantasy alive for now. Legal precedent be damned, these commies are just making up the law as they go along.”

GOODER AND HARDER, GERMANY: German minister threatens ‘indefinite driving bans’ on weekends.

The federal coalition government, made up of the center-left Social Democrats, the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats, has been at odds for months over issues including a payment card for refugees, Germany’s debt brake and, lately, elephants.

The planned amendment to the emissions-reduction law allows climate goals to be reviewed for compliance by looking at all sectors together instead of individually. If the overall target is missed two years in a row, then the federal government is to decide in which sector and with which measures the permitted total amount of carbon dioxide emissions is to be achieved by 2030.

If the planned reforms are not passed through parliament by July 15, Wissing warned, the Ministry for Digital and Transport would be obliged to submit an “immediate action program that ensures compliance with the annual emission levels of the transport sector” until 2030 — which would include a driving ban on weekends.

Environmental organizations — including Greenpeace, the German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation BUND, and Fridays for Future — criticize the planned abolition of individual sector targets. They fear that an overall calculation obscures the impact of certain sectors — especially the traffic sector, which frequently doesn’t meet targets.

“This claim is simply wrong,” Green parliamentary group leader Julia Verlinden told the German Press Agency, referring to Wissing’s threat of a weekend driving ban. She added that Wissing should not aggravate people unnecessarily because there are other ways to tackle climate issues, such as a speed limit.

It’s nice to see that there are lines that the German Green party won’t (yet?) cross, but I’m not sure they’ll find many friends on the country’s autobahns if they try to impose a speed limit.

IT’S ALMOST AS THOUGH ALL THESE RIDICULOUS CHARGES WERE JUST ANOTHER WAY FOR DEMOCRATS TO RIG THE ELECTION: Judge Merchan Threatens Trump With Arrest. “The judge is essentially preventing Trump from campaigning for president.”

WHEN THE LAW NO LONGER DEFENDS PROPERTY, PEOPLE WILL: Real estate mogul concerned how Americans will deal with squatters: ‘Something really bad is going to happen.’

They bought a property. They believe in the American dream. They wanted to get ahead. And the American dream became the American nightmare because somebody took what was theirs and the law was on the criminal’s side. It’s a scary place to be,” Meaike said.

Meaike, who went on to build fruitful business in waste management and life insurance after thriving in real estate, said that he began investing rental properties in his early 20s as a way to add additional income. He eventually accumulated hundreds of properties, launching him into a successful career as a serial entrepreneur who has earned generational wealth. But nowadays, when people have the ability to break into a rental property and law enforcement isn’t able to help, it’s much more difficult to rely on an investment property.

“How many amazing Middle American families decided to pull together $40,000, put it as a down payment on two or three family home, and then somebody who doesn’t have any regard for any other human being breaks in and lives there,” Meaike said. “Now, what’s going to start happening?”

Nothing good but certainly inevitable.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Would You Like a Lesson on Free Markets With Your Clothesline From Hell?

GREAT, BUT GO TO THE RANGE AND TRAIN, TOO: Californians are buying up guns after Border Patrol starts dumping thousands of migrants on streets.

I COULDN’T DO IT: Here’s the REAL Reason the Soros-Bought NYC Prosecutor Put Trump on Trial. Try Not to Laugh.

HAPPY TAX DAY! Here are the massive tax increases coming your way in a second Biden term.

OUCH: Tesla lays off ‘more than 10%’ of its global workforce. “We don’t know which specific teams will be most or least affected by Tesla’s layoffs, but two well-known Tesla executives are now missing the ‘Tesla-affiliated’ badge on twitter – Drew Baglino and Rohan Patel.”

HMM: FBI Opens Criminal Investigation Into Collapse of Francis Scott Key Bridge

LIVE UPDATES: Trump Manhattan Trial – Day 1.

YES, LET’S: Let’s Curb-Stomp the IRS.

YET ANOTHER EMBARRASSMENT FOR A MARITIME TRADING POWER: Navy’s new landing ship could cost billions more than planned. “The CBO believes an 18-ship fleet would cost between $6.2 billion and $7.8 billion in 2024 (inflation-adjusted) dollars, or $340 million to $430 million per ship. That’s a stark contrast to Navy figures, which, according to the CBO, has an 18-ship program at $2.6 billion total, or about $150 million per ship.”

THE DEMOCRAT NATIONAL CONVENTION COULD GET INTERESTING: Anti-Israel Activists Rally in Support of Iran in Chicago.