MICHAEL WALSH: Alea Iacta Est.

Now in the vengeful attorney general Merrick Garland—whose nomination to the Supreme Court by Barack Obama luckily died in the Senate in 2017 with the arrival of the Trump administration— we have the second coming of Lavrentiy Beria, the head of the secret police under Josef Stalin in the country Democrats long most admired, Soviet Russia. (They’ve since transferred their affections to Communist China.) Never before in the history of our Republic—a phrase conservatives ought to be using as a counterweight to the Democrats’ deceitful “our democracy”—has the nation’s chief legal officer ordered an armed raid on a former president, in this case on Biden’s immediate predecessor and the leading contender for the GOP nomination in 2024.

It’s step of breathtaking audacity, but hardly surprising. Not for nothing is the Democrats’ unofficial motto “by any means necessary.” Since the days of Burr and Jefferson Davis and John Wilkes Booth, violence has always lurked just below the surface of their “higher” patriotism. Indeed, as the Sixties exemplified, it’s part of their appeal.

Read the whole thing.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: American workforce continues to shrink, falls 400k since March after nearly hitting prepandemic levels.

For all the boasting the White House does about jobs, there are fewer Americans working after two years of “recovery,” and more of those who are working are forced to work part-time or work two jobs to make ends meet.

KEVIN DOWNEY JR: A WEF Op-ed Is Calling for Global Censorship. We Really Need to Cut Ties With These Commies.

IT’S NEVER ENOUGH: DC has never gotten this much in taxes — but Dems say it’s still not enough. “Washington has almost never been so awash in taxes. Since 1960, federal tax revenues have remained generally close to the average level of 17.4% of the economy. Yet after jumping last year, revenues this year are scheduled to surge again to 19.6% of the economy — the second-highest level since World War II.”

One minor distinction: World War II had an end, but there’s no limit to Washington’s appetite for taxes, spending, borrowing, and control.

VIDEO: Is Kamala Harris Talking About Space Or From There? “Alleged Vice President Kamala Harris has a way with words like a mugger has with a victim whose wallet is empty: Abusive but ultimately pointless.”

HE’S SUSPECTED OF TWO ADDITIONAL MURDERS: Muhammad Syed’s public safety assessment recommends he be released before trial.

The Public Safety Assessment is used to assess people charged with crimes in New Mexico.

“It’s basically a checklist that the pretrial services department goes down. They add up all the scores. At the end of the checklist, they can tell the judge if a person ought to be released or the person ought to be kept in jail,” said KOAT legal expert, John Day.

Recently, the assessment came down for Muhammad Syed, the man who is accused of killing two Muslim men.

“It shows that he has no convictions for any criminal offense, which is accurate. He’s of an age where the courts believe he will likely appear,” Day said.

Syed’s assessment shows his criminal activity score is a 2 out of a possible 6, and his failure to appear is a 3.

“The recommendation is that he be released,” Day said.

The assessment recommends he be released, despite his two first-degree murder charges.

“‘Why do they hate us?’ was never the right question. ‘Why do they despise us?’ is a better one.”

LGB-DROP-THE-T: Is the Transgender Cult in Trouble Now?

GREENS WANT YOU TO BE COLD, MISERABLE, AND FEW IN NUMBER: Google Searches For ‘Firewood’ In Germany Have Exploded. “Bloomberg’s Javier Blas shows in his “chart of the day”, that google searches for firewood (‘Brennholz’) have exploded in the past couple of months now that electricity is no longer a staple, but a luxury few can afford.”

THE STREISAND EFFECT IS ALIVE AND WELL: Attack on Rushdie Sends Novel ‘The Satanic Verses’ Up the Charts.

YOU’LL NEVER UNDERESTIMATE JOE’S ABILITY TO F*** THINGS UP AGAIN: Why the Afghanistan Withdrawal Was the Perfect Storm of Bureaucratic Incompetence.

President Biden wants you to forget about what happened in Afghanistan. He wants you to forget about the bureaucratic incompetence and incompetent decision-making by nearly every senior leader. To this day, no one has been held accountable. Accountability, even verbally, would mean admitting failure and taking ownership, something the Biden administration refuses to accept.

The botched withdrawal wasn’t a mistake or a one-time bad call. The catastrophe occurred due to consistent and specific inept leadership failures at the Department of Defense, Department of State, the White House, and the Intelligence Community. Failure to plan. Failure to be realistic about the strength and capabilities of the Taliban. Failure to adequately prepare and vet people to get them out of the country before the U.S. military departed. The Biden administration failed to connect the dots and keep agencies in sync. Pentagon leadership downplayed the truth about the shell the Afghanistan government and military was, as well as the reality that without the U.S. dollar and military propping them up, they would all come crashing down. Washington was hoping for an Afghanistan that they wanted – that should have been after 20 years of war and $2 trillion – but wasn’t. The withdrawal wasn’t a mistake – it was a catastrophic failure of epic proportions.

Read the whole thing.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Biden’s Revenge-Fest Isn’t Going to Work Out Well for the Dems. “The Democrats and their flying monkeys in the mainstream media will continue to lie about what they are up to. They can’t admit that the thought of Trump on the ballot in 2024 is the thing that most terrifies them. Honesty is never the best policy with them anyway, but that’s the case even more when it comes to all things Trump-related.”

CRISIS BY DESIGN: New Outbreak Of Violence on U.S./Mexican Border. “An administration interested in protecting the lives of Americans might clamp down on border security to prevent more cartel members from entering the country. That is not this administration.”

THAT’S A LOW LIMBO BAR TO GET UNDER: Biden Finally Makes Statement on Rushdie Stabbing, and It’s Even Worse Than You’d Expect.

CAM EDWARDS SPEAKS WITH FASTER COLORADO’S LAURA CARNO ABOUT Colorado teachers arming up to protect students.

YES. NEXT QUESTION? Is This Proof the Mar-a-Lago Raid Was a Fishing Expedition?

I’M POSTING LIVE UPDATES AS THEY COME IN: Salman Rushdie Stabbed on Stage in New York.

(Bumped)

BREAKING: Search Warrant and Property Receipt From Mar-a-Lago Raid Released.

FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY: He’s Got an Appetite for Destruction. “This week we have a joyriding construction equipment thief, the quickest case of recidivism ever, and Utah Man’s stolen raccoon.”

It’s VIP, so don’t forget that VODKAPUNDIT promo code if you’ve been thinking of joining us.

MATT MARGOLIS: Another Huge Red Flag in the Trump Raid Story.

I ASSUME A CUSHY MSNBC GIG WILL EASE THE PAIN: New Poll Shows Liz Cheney Getting Absolutely Crushed.

THE KNISH MAN: Dead Man Found in NYC Surrounded by Biohazard Cans and WMD Plans.

YOU’RE GONNA NEED A MUCH BIGGER FINE: Australia fines Google $40 million over location tracking on Android.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Liz Warren Says She’d Be President If She Had a Penis and I Can’t Stop Laughing.

THE LEFT’S WAR ON… PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING: 5 Transportation Industries the US Government Is Crushing With Regulations.

Energy is how you get things done and transportation is how you move things around and the Left wants control — and rationing, really — over both.

THEY WEREN’T OFF BEFORE? WOW: ‘Now, the Gloves Are Off’: Christina Pushaw Resigns as DeSantis’ Press Secretary.