INDEED: The notion that our top institutions should have to follow the law is inconceivable.

EXPOSING THE LEFT’S MEDICAID CUTS LIES: If you’ve heard it once, you heard a million times in the Mainstream Media how Orange Man Bad and those evil congressional Republicans are cutting more than $800 billion out of Medicaid spending, which will leave millions of starving, suffering women and children wandering the streets.

As usual, there is more to the story, thanks to the smart folks at the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) and it demonstrates just how the claim has little connection to reality. And I lay it all out in straight-forward, common-sense language on The Washington Stand.

COMICS PEOPLE AND LARRY CORREIA FANS TAKE NOTE:

BLUE CITY BLUES: Zohran Mamdani makes massive gains in NYC mayoral race — but still can’t topple Cuomo’s lead.

Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is seemingly gaining ground on Andrew Cuomo in the mayoral primary race — but the ex-gov continues to come out on top, a new internal poll shows.

The survey, released Tuesday by Mamdani’s camp, has the state assemblyman from Queens coming in with 27% in the first round of rank-choice voting, with the next candidate failing to even register in the double digits.

But Cuomo maintains his lead in the crowded field, nabbing 40% of the vote — with the Democratic primary just four weeks away.

Eight million people in the city and these are the best Dems that New Yorkers have to choose from.

NOT ANTI-WAR, JUST ON THE OTHER SIDE:

HOW’S THAT SPACE PROGRAM COMING ALONG? Venus Harbors Secret Asteroids That Could Threaten Earth, Study Warns. “These so-called ‘Venus co-orbitals’ share a similar path around the Sun with our neighbor planet but aren’t harmless tagalongs. According to a paper under review for the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, and currently hosted on arXiv, a yet-undetected group of the asteroids could pose a threat to Earth.”

CHANGE: Universities brace for endowment tax hike as GOP’s ‘big beautiful bill’ heads to Senate. “While some reports indicate administrators have hired lobbyists to try and water down the proposal, observers say some sort of tax hike is likely in the offing for these institutions. Rather than a flat rate, House Republicans seek to increase taxes on private university endowments ranging from 1.4 percent to 21 percent, according to the legislation.”

ROBERT SPENCER: King Charles Undercuts Canada’s Sovereignty While Trying to Affirm It. “Yeah, this was really a great idea from the beginning: show Orange Man Bad that you’re a sovereign state by reminding the world that you’re a part of an international conglomeration of former British colonies under the sovereignty of the English king. But when he actually spoke on Tuesday, Charles made it even worse.”

THE EV BUBBLE CONTINUES TO DEFLATE: Tesla Rival BYD Tumbles After Launching China EV Price War. Several Rivals Fire Back.

BYD is generally viewed as the low-cost producer in China, reflecting its in-house production of batteries and many key components as well as its ability to extract volume discounts from suppliers. So it has more scope to get prices lower than rivals, many of which are not profitable.

Rising inventories at BYD dealers reportedly spurred the automaker’s move, along with a desire to reach 5.5 million in sales this year, up from just over 4 million in 2024.

The EV maker’s discounts don’t apply to its surging overseas sales. Those already tend to have higher margins. That gives BYD another edge over rivals that are almost entirely reliant on the cutthroat China market.

Still, hefty price cuts will likely squeeze BYD’s profit margins.

China price wars are nothing new. Tesla helped kick off big discounts in early 2023, as the U.S. EV giant slashed prices worldwide.

In early 2024, BYD spurred a wave of price cuts.

The market has too many producers and not enough growth, even with mandates and subsidies.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Reports of the Dems’ Return to Relevance Are Greatly Exaggerated. “Where Politico takes this is so ridiculous it’s like reading an old copy of Mad Magazine. The Who’s Who of leftist whackos in its fever dream for this shadow cabinet is chuckle-worthy. Bill Nye the Fake Science Guy is on it. The Democrats’ media mouthpieces are even less serious people than the party leaders are.”

CHANGE: Trump admin issues pause on student visa interviews at all embassies.

The Trump administration on Tuesday reportedly issued a blanket pause on the scheduling of student visa interviews at embassies and consulates while it mulls the implementation of social media vetting for foreign students.

The interim pause came via an order from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Politico reported.

“Effective immediately, in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consular sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor (F, M, and J) visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued septel, which we anticipate in the coming days,” it read.

Somewhere, a Biden or Obama judge is trying to figure out how to put a stop to the stoppage.

IT’S ALWAYS LIKE THIS:

ELON’S DISAPPOINTED, BECAUSE AS HARD AS ROCKETRY IS, POLITICS IS HARDER:

I mean, he’s not wrong to be disappointed and disgusted with the GOP, but making deep political change is really hard, since you’re threatening so many rice bowls. If you want people to act differently, you have to make it in their interest to act differently. Carrot, stick, whatever. You need incentives that will offset the power and stickiness of the Blob.