FIRST-TERM LAME DUCK: Pincer Movement to Dump Biden Taking Shape.

The left’s pincer move to force Biden to step aside will have three clear parts.

First, we can expect a steady drumbeat of media stories such as the latest from mainstream political reporter Ronald Brownstein. His latest headline: “Is Biden a Man Out of Time?” What Brownsteain’s article makes clear is that the media and the Democratic base wish Biden would be even more aggressively leftist and polarizing.
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The second part of the pincer move will be party insiders who start publicly dumping on Biden. This week it is David Axelrod, the impresario of Barack Obama’s rise to power. Appearing on CNN, Axelrod said that “There is this sense that things are kind of out of control and he’s not in command.”

“Not in command” is a euphemism for you-know-what.

Then there is the polling data, which will be the third part of the pincer move to oust Biden. The worst polling news for Biden right now comes from a new Harvard-CAPS/Harris Poll that finds 71 percent of respondents don’t want Biden to run for a second term in 2024.

They underestimated Joe’s ability to f*** things up but I have to wonder if Biden might still be just wily enough to hang on (and too stupid and stubborn to let go) — and further doom his party in 2024.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: America-Hating Leftists Should Be Forced to Try the Alternatives. “A lefty comedy club owner I know once thought he could get government health care by having an anchor baby in Canada and was promptly asked to take his newborn child and leave by our neighbors to the north.”

UKRAINE WAR: Ukraine’s military withdraws from Lysychansk as Russia claims control — as it happened.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed that his forces have withdrawn from Lysychansk, the last holdout city in the eastern Luhansk region.

In his nightly video address, he vowed to restore control over the area thanks to the prospect of new, improved weaponry.

“If the commanders of our army withdraw people from certain points at the front, where the enemy has the greatest advantage in fire power, and this also applies to Lysychansk, it means only one thing,” Zelenskyy said.

“That we will return thanks to our tactics, thanks to the increase in the supply of modern weapons.”

Moscow said earlier Sunday that Luhansk was now under Russian control after the seizure of Lysychansk.

Russian forces can now concentrate on the neighboring Donetsk region, where Kyiv still controls swathes of territory.

Losing Lysychansk is a much bigger deal than forcing the Russians off Snake Island last week.

THAT’S MORE WARNING THAN HE GAVE HIS CINEMATOGRAPHER: Alec Baldwin Threatens Twitter User: ‘I’ll Find You.’

FALLOUT: Russia’s oil is in long-term decline – and the war has only added to the problem.

In the longer term, however, assuming the western boycott is maintained and even tightened, the loss will become more notable. Even before the war, the Russian government’s own forecasts expected its oil and gas production to be undermined both by depleting reserves and the effects of the technological and economic sanctions imposed by the west after the 2014 Crimea invasion. Even its most optimistic scenario predicted a short-term modest increase in oil production and then plateauing from 2024 to 2035. In the more conservative scenario, oil production was expected to decline.

Since the war began, many western oil companies, which typically bring capital and technology, have exited Russia. In a country with complex reservoirs, ageing fields and a hostile climate, the lack of investment and access to technology will accelerate the long-term decline.

The global market will ultimately accommodate such an outcome, as other supplies become available and demand responds to prices, but Russia will have to live with a shrinking market share and diminished influence on global oil markets.

At a time when Russia needs more foreign investment and friendly trade partners than ever, Putin decided to wage war instead.

UM, NO. Salon Mag on the 4th of July: Hey, You Know What? Joe Biden Is Just Like the Founding Fathers.

YES. NEXT QUESTION? Biden’s EPA Trying To Crush The Permian Basin?

GROOMERS GOTTA GROOM: Biden vows to stop DeSantis’ anti-grooming bill.

WELL, POLITICO: Politico Hit Piece on Clarence Thomas Goes Horribly Wrong.

95 YEARS IS TOO LONG: Disney could lose the exclusive rights to Mickey Mouse within two years: The iconic character’s 95-year copyright expires in 2024.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Happy Independence Day to Freedom Loving Americans! “If you live long enough, you will eventually see everything. I remember when Democrats used to get angry when right-wing nutjobs like me would accuse them of hating this great country.”

EVERYBODY KNOWS IT’S A SHAM: Text Messages Reveal What Cassidy Hutchinson Really Thought Of The January 6th Committee.

WHY, IT’S ALMOST AS THOUGH DEMOCRATS LIKE HIGH GAS PRICES: Despite Record Gas Prices, Biden Rejects New Drilling in Atlantic and Pacific.

CHANGE (IT BACK): If It Can Happen in San Francisco, It Can Happen Anywhere.

The San Francisco School Board recently returned the admissions policy at Lowell, the city’s most prestigious public high school, to the merit-based system that it had used for more than a century. Thus ended a short-lived lottery introduced in the name of racial equity. The board also abandoned a campaign to erase “The Life of Washington,” a WPA-era mural at George Washington High School by the artist Victor Arnautoff. Arnautoff was a Communist, and his mural, which depicts slaves picking cotton at Mount Vernon, was intentionally subversive. But an earlier incarnation of the board had voted first to destroy it, then to cover it up, saying that removing it from view was a form of “reparations.” The board member Alison Collins had said, “This mural is not historic. It is a relic.”

These two decisions, both 4–3 votes, represent a double rejection by the current board of the hypersensitive poses adopted by its predecessor. When you factor in the 2021 collapse of the infamous school-renaming campaign, it’s a trifecta. Our deep-blue city seems to have grown weary of the more radical elements of the new racial-justice movement. And although this story is specific to San Francisco, if it can happen here, it can happen anywhere.

Well, good.

ALL THE WHILE LECTURING EVERYONE ELSE ABOUT HATE: Why Do So Many Top Democrats Have No Problem Associating With a Virulent Anti-Semite?.

HE’S FLAILING: Bezos slams Biden for ‘misdirection’ and ‘misunderstanding’ of markets in gas price tweet. “When Joe Biden’s lost Jeff Bezos… Well, don’t get too excited.”

HEH: The Left Is Gobsmacked After Biden Makes Deal With McConnell to Name Pro-Life Judge.

FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY: Star Wars, Stealing That Star Wars…

WHY WOULDN’T THEY, WHEN BIDEN IS CLEARLY DESPERATE FOR A DEAL, ANY DEAL? Iran accused of making ‘maximalist demands’ in nuclear deal talks.

NO, IT’S ABOUT PUNISHING AMERICANS FOR BEING WEALTHY AND PRODUCTIVE AND ENJOYING IT: Biden Admin To Families Suffering High Gas Costs: ‘This Is About The Future Of The Liberal World Order.’

COME SEE THE RACISM INHERENT IN THE LEFTISM: White CNN Host Asks “Why Have You Never Seen Clarence Thomas at an NBA Game?’

GRAFT IS DELICIOUS! Ben & Jerry’s Foundation President Steered Funds to His Own Charity.

SAY ANYTHING: At NATO Summit, Biden Trashes SCOTUS, Says Dobbs Is ‘Destabilizing’ the World.

RACISM, STRAIGHT UP: White House Press Corp Is Not Pleased with Karine Jean-Pierre.

OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY: Secretary Buttigieg to Spend $1 Billion to Combat Racist Highways.