Friday Edition

President Biden's dealings with Houthi rebels attacking ships in the Red Sea are liable to give you whiplash. (Bloomberg)

The latest: Biden's envoy for Yemen told reporters Wednesday the U.S. is considering taking the Houthis off the designated terrorist list in exchange for them halting attacks on Israel-linked ships.

Shortly after taking office, Biden lifted the Houthis terrorist designation. Following the group’s missile and drone strikes on the United Arab Emirates in 2022, the president said he was considering reinstating the designation. In January, the U.S. responded to Houthi attacks on Red Sea commercial shipping by putting the organization back on the terror list.

Townhall contributor John Hasson puts it all into perspective:

Bubba’s Two Cents: A Gallup poll released this week found only 38% of Americans view Biden as a strong leader, compared to 57% who say the same about Donald Trump. The Houthi mess is a case study in why voters feel that way.

Bubba’s Two Cents: Enthusiasm and passion are great things for a party to have. But they need to be harnessed. Simply “wanting it” more than the other guy isn’t always enough. And as Black Lives Matter protests and Jan. 6 showed us, channeling political energy in the wrong direction can actually be bad for your movement.

Green energy advocates claim wind and solar are cheaper than fossil fuels and other sources, but is that true? (Center for the American Experiment)

A new study from the right-leaning Center of the American Experiment: Traditional cost estimates for wind and solar energy, like the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), are misleading and outdated because they only look at the basic costs of producing electricity from these sources. They don't account for the many hidden expenses that come with using wind and solar power.

The hidden costs include:

• Connecting wind and solar farms to the power grid.

• Making the grid more robust to handle renewable energy.

• Taxes on the extra land needed for solar and wind.

• Costs for backup power to keep electricity reliable when there's no sun or wind.

American Experiment researchers: “When wind and solar advocates claim that renewable energy sources are cheaper than coal, natural gas, and nuclear power, they usually compare the cost of building wind or solar to building new coal, natural gas, or nuclear plants. … these comparisons are missing the main point: we aren’t building a new electric grid from scratch, so we should be comparing the cost of new wind and solar with the cost of existing power plants that these intermittent generators would hope to replace.”

The researchers came up with a new model which factors in extra costs and is more of an “apples to apples” comparison. According to researchers, “relying on wind and solar to provide the bulk of electricity demand results in much higher costs compared to using the existing coal, natural gas, and nuclear power plants currently serving the grid.”

There’s tons of focus on the things that divide Americans, but here are the areas where we might find common ground. (AP)

A new AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll:

• Roughly 90% of U.S. adults see the right to vote, equal protection under the law and privacy as crucial to America's identity.

• 90% say freedom of speech is a fundamental U.S. right.

• Roughly 75% value a democratically elected government and the ability for people to get good jobs and achieve the American dream.

• 84% of Americans view freedom of religion as very important.

• 77% value freedom of the press.

Lilliana Mason, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University, says there’s an explanation for the gap between Americans’ agreement on fundamental values and their dissatisfaction with government. Only 30% think U.S. democracy functions well; 50% see it as poorly functioning; 14% say the U.S. is not a democracy.

Mason: “Part of it is really our leaders are not reflecting the electorate, and they behave in a way that’s much more polarized than what the electorate is.”

People: “All we want is good, useful news from the media. Please –– It can’t be that hard.”

The media: