TEXAS: State passes new law that will require electric car owners to pay $200 every year.

The law, which will take effect on Sept. 1, will also require new electric vehicle (EV) owners to pay a one-time fee of $400 to register their cars in addition to the $200 yearly toll.

The aim of the new law is to recuperate some of the tax money the state has lost through EV owners not purchasing pricey gasoline.

For example, since a Tesla doesn’t run on gas, its owner won’t pay the typical taxes that the owner of a gas-fueled car does when stopping at the pump.

Texas uses these fees for road and highway repairs and sometimes for school improvement.

Paying your fair share is patriotic, I’m told.

VICTORIA TAFT: We’ll Save You the Time: The Trump Records Indictment Is Banana Republic BS, Too.

I’LL TAKE TWO: Meet the Not-Tank Named After Two Army Heroes. “No matter what name you put on it though, the Army wants you to know that the Booker is not a tank.”

HMM: Oil Prices Will Not Rally Despite Saudi Output Cut. “Despite the Saudi cut and the extension of the current OPEC+ cuts through 2024, the EIA expects non-OPEC producers to drive global liquids production to growth of 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2023 and 1.3 million bpd in 2024, limiting the upside for oil prices. Production growth in the United States, Norway, Canada, Brazil, and Guyana will be the primary drivers of the increase in global liquids output.”

BOMBSHELL: COVID-19 Developed by Chinese Military at Wuhan Lab, Says Report.

More here [VIP]: The Sordid Details of How U.S. Experts Unknowingly Helped the Chinese Military Create COVID-19.

CHANGE: Rightward Ho: Americans are more likely to be social conservatives. “Ninety percent of Republicans and 66 percent of Independents believe gender is binary, compared to 44 percent of Democrats.”

21ST CENTURY HEADLINES: Chatbot Leads Services at German Church.

HMM: Is this why Tara Reade fled to Russia?

We received a response from Reade’s attorney, Dr. Levy. He provided us with a copy of a subpoena that Twitter’s Trust and Safety office received from a U.S. District Court in California in June of 2020. (The pdf file is attached.) The Justice Department was seeking all of Tara Reade’s personal information associated with her Twitter account. They believe this move by Twitter (pre-Musk) was meant to intimidate her.

Further, the attorney revealed to us that Reade had been in talks with Matt Gaetz of the House Weaponization of the Government Subcommittee as recently as May of this year. She was informed that her arrest could be “imminent.” A search is currently ongoing to see if INTERPOL has issued a Red Notice, allowing any nation to arrest her and extradite her. Reade has applied for asylum via the United Nations and awaits a response.

Real banana-republic stuff, if true.

STACEY LENNOX: Why Is Fox News so Desperate to Silence Tucker Carlson? “So far, Carlson has put two videos on Twitter that have garnered well over 150 million views. By way of comparison, his cable news show drew an average of 3.3 million viewers for the first several months of 2023. Between Carlson’s reach on the platform and the recent experience of the Daily Wire’s documentary, What Is A Woman, Twitter has the potential to expand audiences for content creators. Musk demonstrated during the launch of Daily Wire’s film that counter-narrative views on important topics will not be censored.”

Those numbers have to be worrisome for Fox — and even more so for networks with even fewer viewers like MSNBC and CNN.

EXERCISE YOUR CIVIL RIGHTS: More Coloradans carrying as concealed handgun permits climb above pre-pandemic levels.

Despite the practice being targeted for restrictions by some municipalities, the number of Coloradans obtaining concealed handgun permits (CHPs) in 2022 still climbed above pre-pandemic levels.

Such local gun rights restrictions are possible after Gov. Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 256 in 2021. The new law unwound decades of state preemption and allows local governments to manage their own gun laws, but only so long as they are more restrictive than those at the state level, meaning the law only allows for a one-way ratcheting up rather than true local control.

To date several communities have been successful in passing laws prohibiting concealed carry in public-owned buildings or parks, including Denver, Boulder and Broomfield. The City of Edgewater originally included such a ban in a broader package of potential ordinances but backed off after a large public outcry.

Such a patchwork of laws make it tough on gun owners to know where they can and can’t carry as they travel the state, and is one of the reasons the legislature originally passed preemption around gun laws.

If Democrats’ goal was to frighten people into not carrying — a safe assumption — it isn’t working.

WHITE SUPREMACISTS COME IN SO MANY COLORS THESE DAYS THAT IT’S DIFFICULT TO KEEP TRACK: Democrat Who Equated Muslims With White Supremacists for Opposing LGBTQ Curriculum Apologizes.

BLUE CITY BLUES: Hotel Owners Start to Write Off San Francisco as Business Nosedives.

Hotel owners in New York and Los Angeles are filling nearly as many rooms this year as they did in 2019, according to hotel-data firm STR. Their revenue per available room exceeds what it was before the pandemic.

But in San Francisco, hotels are still struggling badly in both occupancy and room rates compared with before the pandemic. Revenue per available room was nearly 23% lower in April compared with the same month in 2019.

The city’s lodging business has been squeezed by crime and other quality-of-life issues that have kept many convention bookers away. Tech companies’ embrace of remote work also undercuts business travel to the city and hotel activity.

Now, a growing number of San Francisco hoteliers are signaling they may be ready to give up. In recent months, the owner of the city’s Huntington Hotel sold the property after facing foreclosure and the Yotel San Francisco hotel sold in a foreclosure auction. Club Quarters San Francisco, which has been in default on its loan since 2020, may also be headed to foreclosure, according to data company Trepp.

Other lodging properties in the city are also vulnerable. More than 20 additional San Francisco hotels are facing loans due in the next two years, according to data company CoStar.

In San Francisco’s biggest potential hotel default yet, Park Hotels & Resorts last week said it has stopped making loan payments on debt secured by the Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Parc 55 San Francisco. The two hotels, with nearly 3,000 rooms between them, are in the heart of San Francisco’s shopping and cultural district.

Decline is a choice and San Francisco keeps choosing it, again and again.

NOBODY CARES EXCEPT FOR THE SAD HOLDOUTS STILL DOING THESE THINGS WITHOUT WHITE HOUSE GUIDANCE: White House Sends Out Guidance Mandating Face Masks and Social Distancing for the Unvaccinated.

IMPRESSIVE: SpaceX Hires 14-Year-Old Prodigy Who Dismisses Notion Of ‘Missing Out On Childhood.’ “I will be joining the coolest company on the planet as a software engineer on the Starlink engineering team. One of the rare companies that did not use my age as an arbitrary and outdated proxy for maturity and ability.”

YOU WILL BE MADE TO CARE: Blue Jays Cut Pitcher Who Shared Video Supporting Bud Light & Target Boycotts. “The team manager, Ross Atkins, claims that the primary factor behind the decision was Bass’s performance on the field. However, he also acknowledged that the distraction caused by the video was a contributing factor.”

FALLOUT: India picks Germany to supply new submarines as Russian arms exports wane. “Germany will build six submarines for the Indian Navy in its largest weapons deal with the South Asian country in 42 years. It makes Germany the latest Western nation to nibble at India’s vast arms import market as supplies of Russian weapons dry up.”

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Blind Rage Trump-Haters Want to Exhaust Us With Their Antics. “Here’s one thing I know from the anecdotal department: there’s been a lot of change in opinion among my Republican friends and relatives who are, shall we say, Trump-weary. The people who have generally been sick of all of the drama surrounding him and hoping he’d just go away are now getting sick of his haters who create the drama. I’ve talked to quite a few people since Friday who may not have become overnight MAGA enthusiasts, but they’re warming up to the old boy a bit.”

PRIORITIES: White House accused of US Flag Code violation over Pride Month display. “The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.”

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Tulsi Gabbard: ‘Trump Indictment Undermines Democracy.’

REMEMBER WHEN JOE BIDEN WAS GOING TO RESTORE RELATIONS WITH OUR ALLIES? Saudi Arabia seeks cooperation with China, ‘ignores’ Western worries.

Saudi Arabia wants to collaborate, not compete, with China, the kingdom’s energy minister declared on Sunday, saying he “ignored” Western suspicions over their growing ties.

As the world’s top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia’s bilateral relationship with the world’s biggest energy consumer is anchored by hydrocarbon ties. But cooperation between Riyadh and Beijing has also deepened in security and sensitive tech amid a warming of political ties – to the concern of the U.S.

Asked about criticism of the bilateral relationship during an Arab-China business conference, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said: “I actually ignore it because … as a business person .. now you will go where opportunity comes your way.”

Previously: Biden is trying to lure Saudi Arabia’s crown prince away from China with lucrative promises, despite once threatening to make him a ‘pariah.’

Riyadh getting chummy with China is business and personal.

HMM: Muslims Sue FBI for Religious Discrimination, Feds Base Their Defense on ‘Secret Evidence.’

BREAKING: Trump Is Facing ONE HUNDRED YEARS in Prison.

WEIMAR AMERICA: Kids subjected to bizarre nude performance at ‘all ages’ Oregon State drag event.

FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: Is That a Cardboard Box on Your Head or Are You Just Happy to Rob Me? “This week we have whatever is the opposite of a master of disguise, the curious case of the speeding ambulance that didn’t wail, and California Man getting busted for the (lamest) Crime of the Century.”

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR: Where’s Kamala Harris? Democrats Want A More Public Role for the VP.