RANDOM THOUGHT: If 'equity' were a real thing, then every basketball team would have a short, white, transgender man....

MAYBE: Gloating about the Cochrane Mask Study will win the argument, but lose the war.

But after 3-plus years ofbureaucratic COVIDiocy, I'll settle for gloating.

COMMUNISM EXPLAINED: Michigan Gov. Whitmer enjoys an evening out while 700,000 Michiganders freeze without power.

A PREDICTION:

This is how the world will end. Not with hordes of shiny, red-eyed monstrosities with rail guns blowing us to smithereens. No, it will end with AI slowly driving us insane. One person at a time.

I prefer railguns, but I think insanity will prevail.

WHEN I COVERED CLIMATE CHANGE I thought CO2 was certainly to blame for rising temperatures. I was wrong.

YES INDEED: Identity politics trumps everything.

THERE'S A REASON THEY'RE CALLED QUEER: LGBT ecologists ogle racist parks, nonbinary frogs, and the importance of public places for gay sex.

Note for the ill-educated: the dictionary definition of queer is strange or odd from a conventional viewpoint, unusually different, of which the above is certainly true.

BUT WILL IT WORK? DeKalb County's dark money donation flies in the face of Georgia election law.

Unfortunately the answer is probably 'yes'.

'NEW' INTELLIGENCE? Wuhan lab leak most likely origin of Covid-19 pandemic. The Energy Department’s revised assessment is based on new intelligence.

Instapundit has 'low confidence' in the intelligence community; my confidence is bounded on the high side by 'miniscule'.

As I'm sure many others have noted, 'government intelligence' is an oxymoron.

TOO BAD HE ISN'T DEAD: Our criminal justice system is a farce.

BARNEY & CLYDE: Life in the corporate lane.

OUR ENERGY POLICY IS LITERALLY BEING RUN BY IDIOTS. Here's why.

WHERE WE STAND: This Presidents’ Day, our president was overseas promising money to the Ukrainian president, while Donald Trump offered aid and comfort to American victims in East Palestine.

Linked from Instapundit.

NEVER LET FACTS GET IN THE WAY: Whites are actually underrepresented in the construction industry.

But that's OK -- they're white!

INSTAPUNDIT ON SUBSTACK: What is a Vice President's job, anyway?

IN MINNESOTA bipartisanship has its limits.

You're always one election away from tyranny....

TOUGH LUCK, AUSTIN: 'Huge' parts of Austin left 'unpoliced' after city contract fight triggers mass officer exodus.

You got the chaos you richly deserve. Now suck it up.

I do feel sorry for the police officers who remain, though. Those who can leave, should.

HASHTAG MEDIA on force.

Linked from Instapundit.

POWERLINE'S Week in Pictures. My favorite:

Go see the rest; there are many good ones

POWERLINE'S STEVEN HAYWARD: A day with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

I'M NOT CONVINCED. Some higher education "reform" proposals in Florida pose real threats to free inquiry.

Based on what we see (almost daily) from our colleges and universities this is just a return to normalcy.

WELL, WHAT (EVEN REMOTELY) SANE MAN WOULD WANT TO DATE/MARRY A FEMINIST HARRIDAN? Pew Research reports 63% of U.S. men are alone.

BECAUSE EQUITY: Joe Biden turns the American government into Wokeness, Inc.

JUST SPREADING THE 'WEALTH': Michigan, Texas officials unaware Ohio contaminated soil, water, taken to their areas.

By the most transparent administration evah....

WAIT, WHAT? Another January 6 narrative? We can’t have that!

NEITHER DOES THE CDC: The EPA has no credibility.

I think the Biden administration has proven that the federal government is -- and has been for many years -- completely untrustworthy. And largely worthless.

The next President should take this page from Elon Musk's playbook.

UPDATE: The result of three years spent shattering public trust.

JOE JILL BIDEN is definitely running again in 2024 (according to Jill).

YES IT IS: Why ‘the right not to be offended’ is offensive.

MASK MANDATES DID NOTHING. Will any lessons be learned?

Of course not; the Left is impervious to reality.

THE SCIENCE IS SETTLED: Umm ... not yet. A Webb telescope discovery "calls the whole picture of early galaxy formation into question.”

AMMO GRRRLL: Bored and looking for a man good at banging...

Read it all.

FROM A U-2: Pentagon releases a close-up image of the Chinese spy balloon.

WITH THEIR USUAL INSANITY. How will the trans cult react to this proposed bill in Florida?

Woke companies are going to have to think hard about covering gender transitions as part of their health insurance when they'll have to cover detransitions as well.....

IS THE TIDE FINALLY TURNING? University of Texas sued by conservative professor for stifling academic freedom, threatening professors, and limiting free speech.

THE INSANITY CONTINUES: Biden has a new gambit to ban gas stoves.

We can't ban climate change so we'll ban gas stoves instead....

AMMO GRRRLL isn’t forgetting historical amnesia.

Buy the book.

BY DEMOCRAT STANDARDS, THEY PROBABLY ARE: Democrats think Fetterman and Feinstein are still fit to serve.

President(ish) Biden, too....

WELL, HE'S A BIDEN: Hunter Biden just made the Republican's investigation easier.

THAT'S FINE WITH US: Chicago claims lax gun laws make Atlanta too dangerous to host the Democrats’ National Convention.

Feel free to not come.

THERE SHOULD BE SOME LEFTOVERS AVAILABLE FROM TEXAS: Syracuse University to hire at least four new DEI staff.

TO MY SORROW, there can be no common ground with the Left.

DID STACEY ABRAMS RESIGN? "I'm surprised [Biden's] not President of the Galaxy.”

SHE'S RIGHT, BUT SHE GOT THE COLORS WRONG: MSNBC's Joy Reid thinks a national divorce would leave those in red states 'trapped in an apartheid hellscape'.

ANALYSIS, TRUE: Academia is a cancer.

RULES, RULES, STUPID RULES: Austin man threatened with fines for code violations after suspected drunk driver plows through spare bedroom.

Democrats, especially those of the progressive variety who have overrun Austin, seem to have an unbreakable lock on stupid....

CRUEL, YES; PARODY, NO: Biden EPA administrator's advice to chemical poisoning victims in East Palestine, OH, sounds like cruel parody.

INCOMPETENCE UNCHAINED: My close encounter with NPR.

Malicious incompetence, at that....

CHESTERTON'S FENCE: A lesson in second-order thinking.

It's the unintended consequences, stupid! A lesson well-understood by any semi-competent systems engineer.

YOU DON'T SAY: People don’t want to be squelched by big business or big government.

Unless they're Democrats; then they want others squelched.

GROUNDHOG DAY: Mayor Pete surfaces in East Palestine, declares everything A-OK, and retreats to his cave in Washington, DC.

POWERLINE: Special counsel crosses the Rubicon? To paraphrase John Hinderaker, "I cling to an ever-diminishing confidence in the integrity of our institutions.

And diminishing to zero the longer Democrats remain in power....

THE ANSWER IS OBVIOUS: Why does it seem only sane people get canceled?

INSTAPUNDIT ON SUBSTACK: Thoughts on our ruling class monoculture.

A TWITTER THREAD worth scrolling through.

SO HILLARY IS RUNNING: Clinton aide linked to Jeffrey Epstein ruled a suicide despite no sign of weapon.

IT'S TOO LATE. We don't need you here. Democrat-run city considers repealing law that banned travel to red states.

And we don't want you here.

MALLARD FILLMORE on 'woke' America.

AND THAT SCARES HELL OUT OF ME: Biden's SEC is coming for your investment accounts.

It's bad enough as it is.

BUT FIRST THEY HAVE TO GET SOME VIEWERS THEMSELVES. MSNBC gets incredibly weird as it discusses deprogramming Fox News viewers.

BUT IT IS READY TO REPLACE THE WOKESTERS. Artificial intelligence isn't ready to replace us just yet.

LIBERAL CITIES, JUST A FANCY NAME FOR A SEWER. A cogent thought from the comments in this story from deep blue Austin, Texas.

I used to live there. Some in my family still do. I'll never go back.

WELL SHE BROUGHT IT ON HERSELF. Megan Markle upset by portrayal in South Park episode.

TO BEAT THE LEFT'S WOKE TYRANTS the rest of us must treat them like the monsters they are.

KURT SCHLICHTER: Count out Trump at your peril.

Personally I hope he chooses to retire from the 2024 presidential campaign and concentrate on building out the MAGA base nationwide. But if he continues and wins the 2024 Republican primary, I'll happily vote for him.

SOME GOOD NEWS: In England Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office Larry the Cat is celebrating his 12th year of service this week.

NEW RULE: Whenever you see "the experts" stressing about COVID -- ignore them.

SPRING 2023 starts March 5th; our forsythia has spoken.

It's time....

DO YOUR PART: Reduce your standard of living. We -- meaning your ruling class -- need your energy for our own use.

A CONTINUING SERIES: Another journalistic disgrace at the Los Angeles Times.

TRANSMISSION LINES ASIDE, what leads these idiots to believe that other states will sell them their 'green' energy?

POWERLINE'S (LAST WEEK) IN PICTURES solves all the world's problems. In one can.

Of course there are many, many more: balloons, Buttigieg, Biden, pronouns, headlines ....

Go see them all.

IT LEARNED FROM PROGRESSIVES: Bing's AI bot tells reporter it wants to 'be alive', 'steal nuclear codes' and create 'deadly virus'.

OUR MORAL SUPERIORS: the disabled must be pitied, not cured.

Cleft palate, anyone?

Virtue signaling is not a solution.

NEW COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR at the White House checks an important identity box. And no, it's not competency.

ANOTHER EPISODE of Mallard Fillmore explains. A bit late, but the point remains.

FLORIDA VS. NEW YORK: Read 'em and weep (if you're a New Yorker). If not, you may laugh.

DON'T TRACK ME, BRO: Glenn Reynolds {Instapundit] on mileage taxes.

IN CALIFORNIA (!?) flag madness hits a walll

ME, APOLOGIZE? Over Paul Pelosi?

MIGHT? HE'S A DEMOCRAT. Newly elected Sen. John Fetterman [D-PA] might have permanent brain damage.

CARS HAVE GOTTEN MUCH SAFER; pedestrians have not. Why?

RACE EVERYWHERE: "When everything becomes racist, then nothing in particular can be racist."

NO. NO MERCY: COVIDian medical student pleads for mercy in court of public opinion for lockdown brutality.

Sanctions are well deserved. Including legal sanctions.

EXPOSING BIGOTS AND DOPES: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez explodes over vote to boot Ilhan Omar.

EXPOSING THE BOZOS FOR WHO THEY REALLY ARE: Artifical Intelligence will hit the “creative class” harder than the working class.

KURT SCHLICHTER: We deserve reparations from the Biden administration stupid people.

THE MESS OF AN ADDRESS: Victor Davis Hanson on Biden's State of the Union address.

POWERLINE'S DAILY CHART: Yes, our future is renewables.

Not.

BUY YOUR POPCORN FUTURES NOW. It's the Democrats, stupid.

FOR GOD'S SAKE shoot the damn thing down already.

We did, but only after China completed its mission. Can't piss off the paymaster....

HEH: Hispanic legislators in Connecticut want to ditch 'latinix'.

Take that, progressives.

THE LEFT UPDATES THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH (SHORT FORM): First, do no harm.

ON TOP OF EVERY HIGH-RISE IN EVERY MAJOR CITY IN AMERICA. Where are you gonna put those wind turbines?

And disconnect every fossil-fuel plant feeding those cities.

INSTAPUNDIT: "We are governed by crooks, liars, and incompetents, and the worst of them aren’t even the ones who have to stand for election."

Read it all.

IS IT POSSIBLE? Democrats get even more racist.

BECAUSE THEY'RE 'PETROMASCULINE': The Left is coming for your pickup trucks.

They're going to have to pry my cold dead 'petromasculine' hands off the steering wheel first....

FROM THE COMMENTS: a street party in Mogadishu. Lori Lightfoot campaigns for reelection as Mayor in Chicago.

KURT SCHLICHTER campaigns for George Santos. A legend in his own mind.

Sort of like Joe Biden....

SALENA ZITO: Parents want a complete overhaul of the education system.

They're right.

REP. MAXINE WATERS [D-NY] calls Rep. Lauren Boebert [R-CO] a 'domestic terrorist'. Boebert responds.

CHOOSE WISELY: 2024 might be our last election.

ANALYSIS, TRUE: There is nothing Democrats won't destroy.