A Happy Thursday to you!

Let’s get pouring with our line of the week.

Line of the Week

Our line of the week comes from the Durham Report: “The answer is not the creation of new rules but a renewed fidelity to the old.”

Somewhere Moses is saying, “I’m with you, homey.”

Seriously, as John Durham pointed out, the ultimate problem with Crossfire Hurricane was the absolute disregard of regulations and procedures in the single-minded, partisan pursuit of Trump. In other words, as Margot Cleveland writes in The Federalist, it’s a problem of “hearts and minds.” So without fidelity and integrity all the new procedures in the world won’t stop an abuse of power.

This isn’t exactly a new thought. John Adams famously said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

In how many other areas of our public lives (or private, for that matter) is the solution found not in new rules or laws, but a renewed fidelity to the old?

Start at the border. Run through the gun control debate. Even sex-changes for children. “Above all, do no harm,” from the Hippocratic Oath, goes back hundreds of years before Christ.

Biden Buying Oil for Strategic Reserves at About 3x What Trump Was Going to Pay

I was curious why the MSM was suddenly yapping in the past week about how gas prices are lower than they were a year ago. Usually you hear gas price talk for around Memorial Day. But I guess they got the memo.

On Monday, the Biden Administration announced it’ll be buying 3 million barrels of oil in August, and touting how it’s making money for taxpayers in the process. DOE declared they are “aiming to repurchase crude at a lower price than the average of about $95 per barrel it was sold for in 2022.” Reuters reports the administration said it’ll buy when prices are consistently at or below $67 to $72 per barrel. The price Monday was $71 a barrel.

That’s sounds nice. Taxpayers are “making” about $25 per barrel profit, so about $75 million.

One problem. Three years ago, Democrats stopped President Trump from topping off the Strategic Petroleum Reserve when the price was $24 a barrel. Three million barrels at $24 is $72 million. Three million barrels at $71 a barrel is $213 million. … We’re supposed to applaud their wasting $145 million?

By the way, the admin buying back 3 million barrels? A drop in the bucket compared to the 180 million barrels they sold in 2022, drawing down our Strategic Reserves to dangerous levels in order to drive down gas prices before the 2022 mid-terms.

If they’re going to play games I prefer it be Yahtzee.

Sad: Sen. Dianne Feinstein Doesn’t Seem to Know She Was Gone From Senate for Three Months

89-year-old California Sen. Dianne Feinstein was absent from the Senate for three months as she battled shingles. Her absence prevented Senate Democrats from pushing through controversial radical judges, which had members of her own party calling for her resignation. Feinstein has long been reported as being increasingly mentally incapacitated. That was famously shown when she didn’t even know about her own retirement announcement.

But today the situation borders on tragic. In an exchange with reporters Tuesday, Feinstein didn’t even seem to know she had been gone from the Senate three months.

The elderly Feinstein ran into reporters near a Senate elevator. She was asked about well-wishes from colleagues since her return last week. Just the News reports the exchange.

“What have I heard about what?” Feinstein asked.

“About your return,” the reporter responded.

“I haven’t been gone,” the senator said. “You should follow the — I haven’t been gone. I’ve been working.”

“You’ve been working from home is what you’re saying?” the reporter followed up.

“No, I’ve been here. I’ve been voting,” she said. “Please. You either know or don’t know.”

This is no dig on Feinstein. She was for decades a measured, even moderate, presence in Washington, who carried herself with dignity and class. (Especially compared to her nasty, ineffective, entitled former colleague from California, Sen. Barbara Boxer. And I say that as a former California liberal who alas voted for both.) But dragging her back to Washington for her vote, for the power — not just the party’s, but her staff’s power — seems especially cruel.

I’m reminded of the stable boss at Reagan’s Ranch tearfully recounting the sad day he had to tell former President Reagan in the twilight of his battle with Alzheimer’s that it was no longer safe for him to ride a horse.

Who around her is so cynical and consumed as to keep her in the saddle when she can clearly no longer ride? Who around Dianne Feinstein cares enough to tell her it’s time, lest she fall?

Fox News Shake-Up? Two Days After Getting Beat by MSNBC, Fox Reportedly Revamps Post-Tucker Prime Time Line-Up

Fox News ratings have plummeted in prime time since the dismaying dispatch of Tucker Carlson. The slide’s been so pronounced MSNBC actually beat Fox News Monday night.

Yesterday, word broke that Fox News is doing a complete overhaul of its prime time line-up. Drudge Report claimed Fox was moving Sean Hannity to Tucker’s 8 p.m. slot, Jesse Watters to Hannity’s 9 o’clock slot, and “King of Late Night” Gutfeld! up to 10 p.m. prime time. What does that mean for Laura Ingraham’s 10 p.m. show, or Jesse’s 7 p.m. slot? Unknown. A “Top Source” telling Drudge, “It’s our boldest and most fearless lineup ever!”

Fox News would not confirm the shuffle, saying only, “No decision has been made on a new primetime line-up and there are multiple scenarios under consideration.”

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, CNN announced Kaitlan Collins will take over their 9 p.m. prime time spot. The news comes exactly one week after her highly rated, but heavily criticized Town Hall with former President Trump.

But back to Fox News and some exciting news, our Nancy Flory sat down with Fox News host Shannon Bream to discuss her new book, The Love Stories of the Bible Speak. You can watch or read here!

Home Depot Has Dismal Quarter, as Folks Stop Spending on Home Improvement Projects

Home Depot reports a dismal first quarter, apparently because spending on home improvement projects has screeched to a halt. (I thought it was because they don’t have a Home Depot near our new fixer-upper.)

Nationally, sales are down 4.5 percent after Home Depot had a three year run of “unprecedented growth.” Thanks to Wuhan. COVID was great for Fauci, Big Pharma and fans of uncontrollable mail-in balloting. But it was also great for the home improvement industry. What else were people going to do when stuck at home, but fix up the ol’ crib?

My prediction? Business will pick up again. People are taking a breather after all the improvements of the past couple years … and because of tighter budgets. But they’ll be back at the home improvements before long. Because with DIYers, a home is never really finished … and DIYers can only contain their inner Chip and Joanna Gaines for so long.

(Speaking of which, I will likely be off working on, yes, a home improvement project. I’ll be on errand boy and crawling under the house duty. The great John Zmirak will be filling in.)

Along The Stream

Stream contributor Timothy Furnish returns an analysis of the threat posed by China in “The New Cold War: How to Be In It to Win It”

 

Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream, chief barista for The Brew and co-author, with John Zmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration. You can follow him at @StreamingAl at GETTR, Gab, Parler, and now at TRUTH Social.