VIDEO: J.D. Vance Fries Tim Ryan in Extra Crispy New ‘Breakfast’ Ad.

HMM: Russia Now Has a Second Frontline Set Up Just to Kill Its Deserters: Intel.

Ukrainian intelligence on Thursday released an audio recording that appears to capture in disturbing detail the mayhem and internal rifts between Russian troops on the battlefield. In the five-minute clip, described as an intercepted phone conversation between a Russian soldier and his wife, the man says he and the other men in his unit are a comfortable distance from the actual fighting.

“They moved us back to the second line, there’s shooting somewhere ahead of us, but we’re back here for now in the trenches,” he says, before boasting that he’d been lucky and found a “Rosneft jacket covered in blood, but warm.”

“They brought the inmates here… from prison. But they led them somewhere way up front. And we’re sitting here as a retreat-blocking detachment, fuck. If someone runs back, we snuff them out.”

“What a nightmare,” his wife says.

“That’s how we have it set up. We sit on the second line, guarding the first. Behind us, there’s another line. If you go that way, you also won’t make it. So it’s impossible to run away. They shoot their own.”

This could just be Ukrainian propaganda. On the other hand, Stalin had the NKVD do the exact same thing during World War II.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Might Be Time to Chill Champagne for a Republican Governor Red Wave. “Should I turn out to be spectacularly wrong about all of this, I will be the first to call myself a paste-eater.”

OH: Retired general’s pro-Saudi op-eds didn’t disclose financial incentives.

Over four years, Ret. Air Force General Charles “Chuck” Wald published a series of op-eds with Reuters, NBC News, The Hill, and Newsweek in which he promoted weapons sales, U.S. security guarantees, and closer military cooperation with Saudi Arabia while simultaneously working as a security consultant for the kingdom’s defense ministry.

Readers were kept in the dark about this potential conflict of interest.

Over 500 retired U.S. military personnel, many of them, like Wald, high-ranking officers, were approved by the State Department to conduct work for foreign governments, according to recently released records obtained as a result of Freedom of Information Act lawsuits by The Washington Post and the Project on Government Oversight, or POGO.

I’d ask why State approves such things but the answer has long been clear about the corruption of our institutions.

IT’S BEGUN: Elon Musk Lays Down the Law in Memo to Twitter Advertisers.

THIS STRIKES ME AS UNWISE OR AT LEAST UNNECESSARY: U.S. makes unusual disclosure of ballistic missile submarine’s presence in Persian Gulf.

THEY CAN’T WIN IF THEY DON’T CHEAT: In Orlando, Jaw-dropping Allegations of Systemic Ballot Harvesting in Black Neighborhoods.

RED-PILLED: Tim Robbins: ‘You Can’t Over-Regulate People’s Lives.’

TEXAS: More Harris County Graft To Democrats Uncovered. “Remember of three of Lina Hidalgo’s aides were indicted on corruption charges involving funneling Flu Manchu funding to a Democratic Party-linked political firm? Well, there’s more.”

THERE HE GOES AGAIN: Democrat U.S. Senator Under Federal Investigation.

ELECTRICITY DOESN’T COME FROM THE WALL? ‘Zero Emissions’ From Electric Vehicles? Here’s Why That Claim Has Zero Basis.

Car and energy experts, however, say there is no such thing as a zero-emissions vehicle: For now and the foreseeable future, the energy required to manufacture and power electric cars will leave a sizable carbon footprint. In some cases hybrids can be cleaner alternatives in states that depend on coal to generate electricity, and some suggest that it may be too rash to write off all internal combustion vehicles just yet.

“I have a friend who drives a Kia he’s had for about 15 years,” said Ashley Nunes, a research fellow at Harvard Law School. “He called me and said, ‘Hey, I’m thinking of buying a Tesla. What do you think?’”

“I said, ‘If you care about the environment, keep the Kia,’” Nunes said.

Nothing new here for Instapundit readers, but it’s nice to see some small amount of sense coming out of Harvard.

IT’S CCP SPYWARE, SHUT IT DOWN: Democrat Senator Admits ‘Trump Was Right’ About TikTok.

OF COURSE: PayPal Has Reinstated Its $2,500 Fine for ‘misinformation.’

THEY MUST BE EXPECTING A SERIOUS SHELLACKING: Another Democrat Talking Head Equates Voting for Economic Issues With the End of Democracy.

Remember, when millions of ordinary people vote contrary to the wishes of a privileged few, they’re subverting democracy.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Major Fuel Supplier On “Code Red” As Diesel Crisis Hits Southeast. “Diesel supplies are very scarce across the Northeast and in the Southeast. Supplies are at the lowest seasonal level for this time of year, and the US only has 25 days left of the industrial fuel in storage. The crisis gripping the diesel market appears to be getting out of hand as one fuel supply logistics company initiated emergency protocols this week.”

DON’T GET COCKY: Leftist Think Tank’s Poll: Blake Masters and Mark Kelly Are Tied.

IT’S NOT THE RECESSION, IT’S ZUCK SPENDING $10 BILLION A YEAR BUILDING A VR ‘METAVERSE’ NOBODY WANTS WHILE HIS MONEYMAKER, FACEBOOK, FLOUNDERS: Meta Stock Crash Steepens As Facebook Parent Grapples With Recession Fears.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Democrats’ Homestretch Flailing Is Both Pathetic and Hilarious. “Even Democrat candidates who haven’t had a bad week so far are still saddled with a village idiot of a president who thinks airplane seat legroom is racist and his spokesditz who is even more nonsensical than he is.”

IT COULD HAVE BEEN THE U.S.: ‘We will be the supplier…’ Saudi Arabia Indicates Readiness To Supply More Oil If Energy Situation Deteriorates.

TERMINATOR POLITICS: From J6 to John Fetterman, the Mainstream Media Never Rests.

HMM: Twitter is losing its most active users, internal documents show.

“Is Twitter dying?” billionaire Elon Musk mused in April, five days before offering to buy the social media platform.

The reality, according to internal Twitter (TWTR.N) research seen by Reuters, goes far beyond the handful of examples of celebrities ghosting their own accounts. Twitter is struggling to keep its most active users – who are vital to the business – engaged, underscoring a challenge faced by the Tesla (TSLA.O) chief executive as he approaches a deadline to close his $44 billion deal to buy the company.

These “heavy tweeters” account for less than 10% of monthly overall users but generate 90% of all tweets and half of global revenue. Heavy tweeters have been in “absolute decline” since the pandemic began, a Twitter researcher wrote in an internal document titled “Where did the Tweeters Go?”

Maybe Musk bought a pig in a poke, or maybe he can turn it around.

I’d be happy to take my once-dormant account public again, if he’d make it a paid service and cleaned out the bots.

Previously: It’s (Not) Official: Twitter Has a New ‘Chief Twit.’

PJ MEDIA VIP ROUNDUP: Don’t forget that VODKAPUNDIT promo code if you’ve been thinking of joining us.

Victoria Taft: Would You Want John Fetterman Driving Your Kid’s School Bus? “Well, I don’t want to poop in your oatmeal or anything, but those reporters, MSNBC’s writers, and John Fetterman’s doctor don’t seem to be very observant.”

Rick Moran: More and More Democratic Seats are Now in Play as the Red Tide Keeps Rolling.

Yours Truly: I Can’t Believe Moscow’s Latest Lame Excuse for the Ukraine War. “Are you ready for this? Seriously, I need you to be sitting down.”

NARCO-STATE: Cartels Buying Weapons From Mexican Military. “A massive security breach of the Mexican government unveiled documents from the Mexico Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena). The leaked documents, published online by a group called Guacamaya, reveal that the Mexican military has been supplying cartels with weapons.”

IRAN: 15 Reported Dead at Holy Site Shooting, Anti-Regime Protests Continue Countrywide. “Add yet another wrinkle to the country’s anti-regime actions that have been going on for weeks around the Mullah’s religious dictatorship.”

BREAKING: It’s (Not) Official: Twitter Has a New ‘Chief Twit.’

Update: Had been paywalled by mistake. It’s back out now.