CNN: IT’S THE BORDER’S FAULT! A ‘radical shift’ at the border is making things tougher for Biden.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: Obama-Era Tea Party Targeter Appointed to Create IRS Office Overseeing 87,000 New Agents.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Energy Emergencies Declared After BP Refinery Fire In Indiana.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has declared a regional emergency for Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin after a fire shut down the BP oil refinery in Whiting, Ind., the largest in the Midwest, though there hasn’t been an impact on gas prices so far.

The federal order temporarily lifts restrictions on the maximum working hours for truck drivers in the four states.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) also signed a similar statewide energy emergency order Saturday, saying regulations “will not hinder the delivery of gas and diesel to stations in Michigan.”

It’s not clear when the Whiting refinery, which is the sixth largest in the U.S., will get back online.

435,000. That’s how many barrels of oil are refined at the Whiting facility on an average day.

If we were still producing more of our own energy, there’d be more slack in the system to handle the occasional accident (or even sabotage) without it becoming an crisis.

But never let a crisis go to waste, the shockingly honest Lefty once said — even if you have to create the conditions for one.

VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR WEEKLY INSANITY WRAP: I Have 1 Weird Theory About Charlie Crist. “Crist’s (second!) (third?) political suicide is this week’s big crazy.”

Plus:

• A heated treat when meat-eater greets PETA freak
• Do you really know what’s coming if the GOP fails to take the House?
• Green energy — duck!

So much more at the link, you’d have to be crazy to miss it.

DECLINE IS A CHOICE — FORCED BY THOSE WHO WON’T SUFFER FROM IT: Nearly a quarter of UK adults ‘won’t turn on heating this winter’ as energy bills soar.

The survey of more than 2,000 UK adults found 23% would not turn their heating on at all over the winter months, with this figure rising to 27% among parents with children under 18.

In the poll, which was carried out by Savanta ComRes before the new price cap was announced, 69% of respondents said they would switch their heating on less, and one in 10 said they would take out a loan.

It comes amid resounding warnings that people are in for a dire winter, with the energy price cap set to rise by 80% by October, pushing the average household’s yearly bill up from £1,971 to £3,549.

Gooder and harder, Britain.

YOU’RE GONNA NEED A MUCH BIGGER BLOG: Reasons Never to Vote Democrat Again, Vol. I: COVID Tyranny Must Be Punished.

LAUGHING WOLF’S NUCLEAR WAR PRIMER CONTINUES WITH Nuclear 201: Will You Be My PAL?

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Elon Musk Just Can’t Quit Fossil Fuels Yet. “Musk is so loathed by leftists these days because he dares speak the truth about their various sacred cows and he’s too rich to cancel.”

SAY ANYTHING: Here’s the White House’s Excuse for Why Biden’s Been Ignoring Israel’s Calls.

“Prime Minister Yair Lapid has requested a meeting with US President Joe Biden during his visit to the US for the UN General Assembly next month,” The Post reported, “amid deep concern in Jerusalem over an impending nuclear deal between Washington and Tehran.”

Evidently, “Lapid hopes to meet with Biden on September 20, the day that the US president is set to address the General Assembly,” but no meeting has yet been confirmed — but it’s worse than that. “Lapid has yet to be able to speak to Biden on the phone, despite recent advances in Iran talks, according to multiple sources,” The Post noted.

That is, America’s greatest ally in the Middle East can’t even get Joe Biden on the phone as the White House works — through Russia, lest we forget — to negotiate a massive payday for the Iranian regime and more normal relations between the tyrannical regime and the rest of the world.

It really is Obama’s third term.

LINCOLN BROWN: And Justice for Some. “The problem of power is what drove people to Trump in 2016, and is one reason why so many people remain so solidly behind him, warts and all. And while selective justice may not be germane to the subject of the Mar-A-Lago raid, the American people ignore it at their peril.”

OH: Warning sign? NASA never finished a fueling test before today’s SLS launch attempt.

Space is hard, certainly. But Monday’s attempt—which NASA had promoted heavily by inviting celebrities to the launch and which included a visit by Vice President Kamala Harris—was perhaps a bit rushed. Why? Because NASA rolled a rocket out to launch without accounting for all of the things that could go wrong.
…
Beginning in April of this year, NASA conducted four separate “wet dress rehearsal” tests during which the agency aimed to fully fuel the SLS rocket and countdown to T-10 seconds, ending the test before ignition of the main engines. Each of these four tests ultimately ended prematurely, although the fourth attempt in June saw engineers bring the rocket down to T-29 seconds.

However, to reach that late stage in the countdown, NASA had to “fool” the flight computer. During the test, a 4-inch hydrogen line—smaller than the problematic 8-inch line on Monday—had a leaky seal. To complete the wet dress test, NASA chose to mask the leak from the ground launch sequencer, the ground-side computer that controls the majority of the countdown.

Because of this masking, NASA could not complete the engine chill portion of the test. Had it done so, the agency may well have uncovered the problem that caused a scrub on Monday. In hindsight, therefore, NASA probably should have completed a full wet dress rehearsal before rolling the rocket out for a launch.

Well, yes.

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

Matt Margolis: Complications From Gender Transition Surgeries Are Being Covered Up. “There are other disturbing complications, which we’ve previously covered here at PJ Media. But aside from the medical complications, the link between these surgeries and suicide is also being ignored.”

Athena Thorne: Billionaires Are Building Fascinating Cities of the Future. “In fact, if liberals want to isolate themselves away in the desert and leave the rest of us alone, who are we to complain? Just so long as they stay in their shining 3-D future cities and stop trying to assimilate everyone else in America.”

Yours Truly: The Pity of War, Ukraine Edition. “The real pity of the conflict is that in a slightly better world, this war would never have happened — for very real reasons, easily explained.”

OH MY: FBI special agent who opened Trump investigation reportedly escorted out of Bureau headquarters.

Former Washington Field Office Special Agent in Charge Tim Thibault was reportedly escorted out of the Bureau’s headquarters on Friday, amid whistleblower allegations that he showed political bias in his handling of politically sensitive investigations.

The Washington Times reported eyewitness accounts that “Mr. Thibault was seen exiting the bureau’s elevator last Friday escorted by two or three ‘headquarters-looking types.'”

Whistleblowers alleged that Thibault concealed the partisan nature of evidence from FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland to secure their approval to open an investigation into former President Donald Trump. That investigation culminated in the FBI’s raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate earlier this month.

Developing…

SHE FINALLY FOLLOWED THE SCIENCE: CNN Medical Analyst Says Masking Stunted Her Toddler’s Language Development—and Taught Her an Important Lesson about Tradeoffs.

EXPERTS FINALLY ADMITTING WHAT MOST EVERYONE ELSE ALREADY KNEW: After Proclaiming The Opposite, Medical Pros Quietly Admit Mutilating Trans Kids Doesn’t Fix Depression.

If suicide rates — which are virtually identical for those who have and have not “transitioned” — are anything to go buy, surgery doesn’t fix depression in adults, either.

HMM: Did Dave Chappelle Get ‘the Talk’ Back in 2005? “I’ve heard the story several ways. In the most creative version, a bunch of successful black comedians and entertainers, led by Oprah Winfrey, showed up in Chappelle’s bedroom at 4 a.m. and told him that if he wanted big-time money and success he was going to have to ‘toe the line’ politically.”

THIS COULD PROVE TO BE THE FIRST REAL TEST OF WHETHER THE WAR ENDS ON SOMETHING CLOSER TO MOSCOW’S TERMS OR CLOSER TO KYIV’S: Kherson Counteroffensive Finally Begins. “He notes the reports of HIMARS hitting Russian infantry positions, something we haven’t seen before and which suggest a counteroffensive is indeed underway. Plus a video of a single Russian soldier freaking out and reporting that Ukraine troops are attacking in force.”

SAY ANYTHING: Whoa, Did Biden Admit Elections Have Been Stolen?

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Texas judge overrules ban on 18-to-20-year-olds carrying handguns because they were ‘part of the militia in the founding era.’

TRUE, BUT THE ONES CAUSING THE TRANSITION THINK THEY’LL END UP JUST FINE: Elon Musk Says That Civilization ‘Will Crumble’ If We Transition From Oil and Gas Too Quickly.

BREAKING: Iraq Presidential Palace Stormed, US Embassy Helicopter Evacuation.

NO NUKES IS GOOD NUKES: Russia blocks final nuclear treaty document. “If the group could have managed to publish a final report without mentioning Ukraine, they would likely have had a good shot at unanimity and finishing their business on schedule. But that would be rather hard to do in the middle of a war featuring one of the world’s chief nuclear powers that keeps threatening to detonate some nukes.”

TRIPLING DOWN ON STUPID: Trifecta! Man Snags COVID, HIV and Monkeypox in One Bromantic Weekend.

PARTY OF YOUTH: Sanders has highest favorability among possible 2024 contenders. “Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) clocked in with the highest favorability rating among a list of 23 potential 2024 presidential contenders, according to a new USA Today-Ipsos poll.”

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: CIA Admits to Losing Dozens of Intelligence Assets Around the World. “The loss of agents is particularly troubling because there doesn’t seem to be a major intelligence leak. The problem is with the agents themselves.”