ROBERT SPENCER: Americans Assume the Jihad Is Over. In Africa, It’s Bloodier and More Aggressive Than Ever.

FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: You Can’t Pull Me Over, I’m a Police Officer. “This week we have the world’s worst burglar, the mystery of what someone does with a case of Michelob Ultra Pure Gold, Armor All, and some Sharpies, and what happens when Colorado Man finds himself naked in Iowa.”

SPOTIFY GENERALLY DOESN’T “PART WAYS” WITH PODCASTERS WHO GENERATE REVENUE: Prince Harry and Meghan’s deal with Spotify ends as they agree to ‘part ways.’

BLUE CITY BLUES: Thugs, Gangs, and Other Criminals Welcome Chicago’s New Mayor With 38% Spike in Crime His First Month.

UH-OH: World’s Largest Fusion Project Is in Big Trouble, New Documents Reveal.

It could be a new world record, although no one involved wants to talk about it. In the south of France, a collaboration among 35 countries has been birthing one of the largest and most ambitious scientific experiments ever conceived: the giant fusion power machine known as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). But the only record ITER seems certain to set doesn’t involve “burning” plasma at temperatures 10 times higher than that of the sun’s core, keeping this “artificial star” ablaze and generating net energy for seconds at a time or any of fusion energy’s other spectacular and myriad prerequisites. Instead ITER is on the verge of a record-setting disaster as accumulated schedule slips and budget overruns threaten to make it the most delayed—and most cost-inflated—science project in history.

Fusion is the power of the future and it sure seems like it always will be.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: FBI Source: Bidens ‘Coerced’ Burisma Exec to Pay $10 Million in Bribes.

VROOM, VROOM: Automakers can’t quit manual transmissions so they’re cramming fake stuff into EVs. “Toyota is toying with an EV prototype that mimics driving a manual transmission, complete with a stick shift that doesn’t do anything and fake engine noises.”

DECLINE IS A CHOICE: Emails show what was behind closure of San Francisco mall.

People are still going to the mall, just not in downtown San Francisco. An hour south in more suburban San Jose the Westfield owned mall is booming:

“Westfield Valley Fair in San Jose has begun to attract visitors and retail activity at levels that top the big shopping mall’s activity even prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus.”

The retail center is going through a stretch where it is attracting merchants at a brisk pace, according to Sue Newsom, senior general manager with Westfield Valley Fair…

“Our foot traffic has been exceptional,” Newsom said. “We now are way beyond our pre-COVID retail sales and foot traffic.”

That story is from March. The NY Times pointed out this week that malls nationwide are seeing increases in sales.

“At San Francisco Centre, sales fell 35 percent from 2019 to December 2022. In one of the group’s malls in nearby San Jose, it said, sales increased 66 percent during that same period. Sales across its 18 U.S. malls rose 23 percent.”

So it’s not malls in general or even the Bay Area in general that is the problem. People are choosing not to go to this particular mall.

Related: ABC7 News Data Analysts looked at cities nationwide and found San Francisco ranked last out of 63 cities’ downtown recoveries.

The question isn’t whether there aren’t enough shoppers in downtown San Francisco because the offices remain empty, three years after COVID, or whether the offices remain empty because there’s nothing to do downtown any longer.

The question is why nobody wants to go downtown — which is odd because everybody knows the answer and nobody in San Francisco wants to do anything about it.

PLENTY OF DOWNSIDES, THOUGH: Dem Expert Witness Couldn’t Cite Evidence of Benefits of Trans Procedures for Children.

JAW, JAW IS BETTER THAN WAR, WAR: African Leaders Bring Peace Proposal to Ukraine as Kyiv and Moscow Vie for Support.

African leaders arrived Friday in Ukraine on a mission to help broker an end to the war, as both Moscow and Kyiv court the developing world for support.

The presidents of South Africa, Zambia, Senegal and the Comoros began the first leg of their trip with a visit to the site of a mass grave of Ukrainian civilians killed by Russian troops in the town of Bucha.

The African leaders—accompanied by Egypt’s prime minister and senior officials from the Republic of Congo and Uganda—were due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv later Friday before traveling on to St. Petersburg for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.

African officials and others involved in the mission have kept expectations low for any major breakthroughs resulting from the talks led by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Well, yeah. Kyiv refuses to talk until Moscow evacuates to Ukraine’s 1991 borders and Moscow refuses to talk until Kyiv recognizes Moscow’s control over areas they haven’t even managed to occupy.

A GOOD START: Conservative Budget Would Cut $16.3 Trillion Over the Next Decade.

IRREDENTISM: Russian State TV Presenter Just Said The Quiet Part Out Loud.

Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov appeared to lament the break up of the Soviet Union during a recent broadcast.

The anchor of an evening show on the Russia 1 state TV channel that bears his name, Solovyov has repeatedly framed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a proxy battle between Moscow and the West. His rhetoric includes calling for missile strikes on countries supporting Kyiv, as well as decrying Ukraine and the West that supports it as “satanic.”

But during his radio show Full Contact, he seemed to hanker for a Cold War world, according to a video tweeted by Ukrainian internal affairs adviser Anton Gerashchenko.

“Give back the territory,” Soloyvov said, “give back the Soviet Union its territory.”

Soloyvov didn’t really say anything Putin himself didn’t imply years ago.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: The DeSantis/Newsom Gubernatorial Throwdown Is a Welcome Distraction. “What’s happening in California is truly tragic. It remains one of the most physically beautiful places on Earth. It was once a land of great promise for people seeking any number of variations of the American Dream. Only Democrats could ruin something so grand. They did it rather quickly too.”

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Virgin Galactic sets first commercial space tourism flight for this month. “Virgin Galactic on Thursday said the flight, called Galactic 01, is targeting a launch window that opens June 27 and runs to June 30. Virgin Galactic then plans for its second commercial flight to follow in ‘early August,’ with ‘monthly’ commercial flights after that.”

WATCH: Disgraced CDC Director Dodges Accountability for Lockdowns, Censorship in Congressional Testimony.

THIS IS CNN: Why Chris Licht Was Not the Problem and Shows CNN Is Far from Getting Repaired.

One takeaway from the Stelter piece is not just how resistant to change many at CNN had been, but that many feel there is no need to fix something. This is patently delusional. The network has been hemorrhaging viewers since the 2020 election with no sign of recovery. Among just cable news shows, the best-rated shows on CNN struggle to crack the Top 30, even following Fox News shrinking with the removal of Tucker Carlson.

Another revelation to emerge was a New York Times report that showed many major players inside CNN are still turning to deposed leader Jeff Zucker for therapy and guidance. Says Benjamin Mullin: Zucker is “now serving as a kind of grievance switchboard for current and former employees of the news network.” That Zucker was working to sabotage Licht and possibly pave a pathway for a return is not speculation. Mullin alludes to this very plan: Could Jeff Zucker Fix CNN? He Seems to Think So.

What’s clear is many inside CNN lack objectivity – both in their presentation of the news and in surveying basic operations. They preferred the Zucker era, where they were encouraged to run with their bias and attack Trump, Republicans, and conservatives, as well as pushing select narratives. What they miss is that CNN had begun its spiral well before Licht’s arrival. Things were not working under Zucker, despite their preference to deliver their version of the news.

What a mess.

MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE: Ron DeSantis Calls Gavin Newsom Out. “California was probably the height of opportunity for middle-class Americans for many, many decades. In this country… people were drawn to there, and yet he’s the first governor that’s overseen a massive exodus out of California.”

CHANGE: Republican Wins Special Election, Flipping District Democrats Won Just Months Ago.

A Maine Republican candidate won a seat in the state’s House of Representatives during a special election Tuesday, flipping a spot that had gone to a Democrat in the November election.

Abden Simmons, a former state representative, was declared the winner with 52 percent of the vote, surpassing Democrat Wendy Pieh’s 48 percent, News Center Maine reported. Pieh is also a former state representative.

Simmons will replace Democrat Clinton Collamore in representing Bremen, Friendship, Louds Island Township, Waldoboro and Washington.

Collamore resigned in February after he was indicted on accusations of violating the Maine Clean Elections Act and of forging signatures to collect $14,000 worth of public campaign funds, News Center Maine reported.

Plus: “Collamore pleaded not guilty to the charges but vowed to return the campaign funds as well as his legislative salary,” which doesn’t sound at all guilty.

CHANGE: Detroit-Area City Bans Pride Flag From Public Property.

BRITAIN WOULDN’T WANT AN ARMY THAT’S TOO MASCULINE: Army considers scrapping ranks including Guardsman and Rifleman because they are too masculine in move to make regiments more inclusive.

COMEDY GOLD: Biden Laughs Off Question About Recordings of Him Accepting Bribes.

BIDEN HAS NEVER CARED ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FACT AND FICTION: Biden White House to Screen Disney’s Fake News Film ‘Flamin’ Hot.’ “It’s Fake News, the movie, yet it snagged the attention of a political team that has turned lying into an art form.”

CHRIS QUEEN: The Mainstream Media Has Declared War on Opposing Views — Here’s How to Fight Back.

FAIL, BRITANNIA: UK motorists warned of wearing jeans this summer or risk £1,000 fine and licence points.

Experts are warning drivers that they could be handed fines based on the clothes they wear when at the wheel.

When driving, motorists should have full control of the car at all times and should be paying attention to the road ahead of them.

One problem item of clothing could be long, flowy sundresses, as well as baggier bootcut jeans, with the excess material potentially inhibiting the ability to drive.
…
He said: “If you wear inappropriate clothing that restricts manoeuvring correctly, you could find yourself with a £100 on-the-spot fine and three penalty points on your licence for careless driving.

What would Britons do without bored police around to criticize their wardrobe choices?

REPORT: Democrat Party Panics Over RFK Jr. Primary Challenge.