RICHARD FERNANDEZ: The War of the Zombie Empires. “Overall it’s a whole new world for all the players on the planet. The old Security Council members aren’t what they used to be. The only question is: who can adapt most effectively to the changed situation when they all have legacy baggage? In a manner of speaking the present is dominated by zombie empires run by ossified elites committed to 20th-century agendas.”

CHANGE? Growing evidence of a military disaster on the Donets pierces a pro-Russian bubble.

“I’ve been keeping quiet for a long time,” Yuri Podolyaka, a war blogger with 2.1 million followers on Telegram, said in a video posted on Friday, saying that he had avoided criticizing the Russian military until now.
“The last straw that overwhelmed my patience was the events around Bilohorivka, where due to stupidity — I emphasize, because of the stupidity of the Russian command — at least one battalion tactical group was burned, possibly two.”

Mr. Podolyaka ridiculed the Kremlin line that the war is going “according to plan.” He told his viewers in a five-minute video that, in fact, the Russian Army was short of functional unmanned drones, night-vision equipment and other kit “that is catastrophically lacking on the front.”

“Yes, I understand that it’s impossible for there to be no problems in war,” he said. “But when the same problems go on for three months, and nothing seems to be changing, then I personally and in fact millions of citizens of the Russian Federation start to have questions for these leaders of the military operation.”
Another popular blogger, who goes by Starshe Eddy on Telegram, wrote that the fact that commanders left so much of their force exposed amounted to “not idiocy, but direct sabotage.”

And a third, Vladlen Tatarski, posted that Russia’s eastern offensive was moving slowly not just because of a lack of surveillance drones but also “these generals” and their tactics.

Not good news for the Kremlin if they’re losing control of the narrative.

EVERYTHING IS POLITICAL: After Ignoring Waukesha, Biden to Visit Buffalo After Shooting.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: A severe pilot shortage in the U.S. leaves airlines scrambling for solutions. “A regional airline proposed reducing flight-hour requirements before joining a U.S. carrier, and airlines are rethinking training programs to lower the barrier to entry. Earlier this year, Delta Air Lines joined other big carriers in dropping a four-year degree from its pilot hiring requirements.”

WHAT WOULD THEY DO WITHOUT POUNCING REPUBLICANS? AP Is Aghast That the GOP Would Use Biden’s Failures as a Political Weapon. Aghast!

FASTER? PLEASE! Research breakthrough means warp speed ‘Unruh effect’ can finally be tested in lab settings. “In an unexpected twist, the team also discovered that by delicately balancing acceleration and deceleration, one should even be able to make accelerated matter transparent.”

GREATEST GAFFES COLLECTION: Kamala Harris Embarrasses the Nation Five Times in 30 Seconds.

KATIE ARRINGTON: “It only took 15 months to go from ‘Build Back Better’ to ‘there will be a baby formula shortage.'”

I had to see it for myself. #FormulaShortage #SC01 pic.twitter.com/kIFwNmpWhI

— Katie Arrington (@karringtonsc) May 12, 2022

It’s real, and it’s spectacularly awful.

ENDORSED: Your Member of Congress Can Now Order ‘Drinks on Demand’ at the Capitol.

DON’T GET COCKY: Biden hemorrhaging Trump voters who supported him in 2020. “A poll analyzing voters who supported former President Donald Trump in 2016 before casting a ballot for Biden in 2020 has found just 3 in 10 would back the incumbent again.”

MATT MARGOLIS: Here’s What the Buffalo Shooter’s Alleged Manifesto Actually Says. “When I was 12 I was deep into communist ideology, talk to anyone from my old highschool and ask about me and you will hear that. From age 15 to 18 however, I consistently moved farther to the right. On the political compass I fall in the mild-moderate authoritarian left category, and I would prefer to be called a populist.”

OK, GROOMER: Pedophile-defending prof hired by Johns Hopkins center for prevention of child sexual abuse. “Allyn Walker, a non-binary author who defended pedophiles as ‘minor attracted persons,’ was forced to resign from Old Dominion in November after an interview with Prostasia, a group that advocates to destigmatize pedophiles.”

VLAD DID THAT: Finland, Sweden inch closer to seeking NATO membership. “NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday the process for Finland and Sweden to join could be very quick. He also didn’t expect Turkey to hold up the process.”

UPDATE: Shooting at California Church Leaves 1 Killed, 5 Wounded.

BREAKING: Shooting at California Church Leaves 1 Killed, at Least 4 Wounded.

WEIRD HOW THE OIL COMPANIES STOPPED BEING GREEDY ON JANUARY 20, 2017 AND THEN STARTED BEING GREEDY AGAIN ON JANUARY 20, 2021: Democrats Just Lost Another Inflation Talking Point. “Polls show that no one was buying the blame-Putin strategy, so Biden and the Democrats are now accusing oil companies of price gouging.”

TIM COOK’S WAR ON THE WORKINGMAN: Apple circulating anti-union talking points to retail store managers.

VICTORIA TAFT: West Coast, Messed Coast™ Report – Lyin’ and Hidin’ Edition. “In this Friday the 13th edition, I lead off with the discovery of a mound of documents proving the existence of MK-Ultra-like experiments on Washington state prisoners some 50 years ago. But the question is why current COVID-19 dictator Jay Inslee suppressed them in 2021. Let’s see if you come up with the right answer.”

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: ‘Concerned’ students bringing more weapons to NYC schools, Chancellor Banks says. “Even in our schools that have not had — up until now — any significant issues, they’re expressing all kinds of anxiety because there are issues happening outside of the schools.”

OF COURSE SHE DOES: Biden’s Disinformation Czar Has a Diabolical Plan for Twitter.

SARAH HOYT’S SHOCKED FACE IS STUCK LIKE THAT: Florida, Texas students excelled while students in Democratic lock-down states lost academic ground.

A new study has found that although “high-poverty schools” suffered large losses in achievement by switching to remote learning during the coronavirus lockdowns, districts that remained largely in-person lost relatively little ground.

The report, titled “The consequences of remote and hybrid instruction during the pandemic,” was published by a team of researchers from the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research at the American Institutes for Research, and NWEA, a nonprofit research and educational services provider.

According to Harvard professor and education economist Thomas Kane, “Where schools remained in-person, gaps did not widen. Where schools shifted to remote learning, gaps widened sharply. Shifting to remote instruction was like turning a switch on a critical piece of our social infrastructure that we had taken for granted.”

In states like Florida and Texas, this is vindicating news after critics blasted the states’ Republican leadership for dismissing federal pandemic guidelines and returning to in-person learning much earlier than Democratic-led states.

Those that had the least lost the most while being awarded pittances in the form of “stimulus” checks.

Leftism in full bloom.

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: Same Old, Same Old: Career Criminal, Low Bail, and Another Mass Shooting in Chicago.

BLUE CITY BLUES: Majority of NYC workers STILL refuse to return to the office: Just 8% are going back full-time while 78% of workplaces have adopted hybrid models and 28% haven’t returned at all despite Mayor Eric Adams’ pleas for them to head back to the city.

The VodkaWife™’s employer wanted her back at the office starting this month. Her previous employer, that is.

HARRISON BERGERON, CALL YOUR OFFICE: Rhode Island parents enraged at school board for removing honors classes in ‘equity obsession.’

RED ON RED: Georgia’s GOP Civil War Heats Up as Former VP Pence Endorses Governor Kemp.