IT’S NOT FREE SPEECH WHEN YOU’RE TAKING HOSTAGES:

DON’T MISS SURBER’S WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS: Here’s just one that instantly caught my eye, but be sure and read the rest of them:

“ITEM 3: Newsweek reported, ‘The 8-month pregnant wife of pro-Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil has pled for her husband’s release in time for the birth of their baby, following his arrest and detention by federal immigration officers over the weekend.’

“So send her back to Gaza with him. The family that Hamas together stays together—until the pager beeps.”

Oh, and the NASCAR take-off on the infamous New York Times headline cracks me up. But then I only raced on road courses, never did the roundy-round stuff.

FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY: Joe Biden Commits to Picking a Woman As His Running Mate.

As PJM’s Paula Bolyard presciently tweeted at the time, foreshadowing Ketanji Brown Jackson’s career-defining moment two years later, “Please define ‘woman.’”

Of course, Joe would eventually have difficulties himself on this topic: Another Biden Interview Fumble: He’s Proud to Be ‘The First Black Woman to Serve With a Black President.’

NEWSBUSTERS PODCAST: No Media Apologies, Five Years After Covid Lockdowns.

We’ve reached the five-year anniversary of when the U.S. government locked down the country to curb the Covid pandemic. It lasted much longer than “Two weeks to stop the spread.” CBS and PBS explored the anniversary, but there were no apologies for getting so much of the “science” wrong and using the pandemic so mercilessly against Trump and Republican governors in an election year.

This wasn’t a time for the networks to reflect on everything they exaggerated or simply got wrong, from the “science” of mask mandates and six-foot separations to refusing to grant any credence to the idea that the virus came from a lab in China. Most importantly, it’s downright weird that the Left can warn of “authoritarianism” under Trump when most Americans never had their freedoms more squashed than in 2020.

Flashback to last year: Bill Maher Mercilessly Drags the Media for Being Dead Wrong About COVID.

COVID FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announces closure of Ohio bars, dine-in restaurants. “During a press conference, Gov. DeWine added that establishments can stay open for carry-out and delivery but what we can’t have is people congregating and seating.”

Also five years ago today: Fauci open to a 14-day ‘national shutdown’ to stem virus.

That (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) “14-day national shutdown” will the topic of tomorrow’s “Covid Five Years Ago Today” post.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Victor Davis Hanson: Is the Jig Up for Elite Higher Education? Elite universities face a reckoning as public backlash and new legislation threaten their finances, admissions policies, and ideological excesses, forcing them to reform or risk irrelevance. “For the first time in memory, a majority of Americans disapprove of current higher education. Only ten percent of Americans believe an Ivy League degree translates into becoming a better American worker. In a nation of declining fertility, smaller numbers of youths choosing college, and a federal government $36 trillion in debt, universities have very little leverage.”

LOL, THE DAILY BEAST:

MEMORIES:

MOSTLY THEY DON’T KNOW ANYTHING:  Team Player.