NEIGHBORHOOD KAREN* WANTS HOUSTON AREA RESIDENTS TO SNITCH ON BUSINESSES: Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo asking people to report businesses violating Gov. Greg Abbott’s closure order. The result is a pretty staggering Twitter ratio:

And the results are apparently going about as well as Bill de Blasio’s earlier efforts at baiting New Yorkers to rat on their fellow citizens:

Note that the brief Houston-area ABC affiliate’s article doesn’t list Hidalgo’s party affiliation. Which means of course…

* No word yet if Hidalgo’s is employing the same Knowledgeable Actors Reporting Edict Noncompliance (KAREN) system that America’s Newspaper of Record reported that de Blasio experimented with last month.

AT AMAZON, save on sneakers, for Men and Women. Also, deals on lingerie, sleep & loungewear for women. And on Men’s Pajamas.

IF IT WEREN’T FOR DOUBLE STANDARDS, THEY’D HAVE NO STANDARDS AT ALL.

THOUGHTS ON the mask thing. “The ‘experts,’ including the CDC, told us not to wear a mask, only to reverse themselves six weeks later. This was no doubt confusing especially for Team ‘listen-to-the-science.'”

I’M HAPPY TO CONTRIBUTE TO STACY MCCAIN’S EDUCATION, though if he’ll drill a bit deeper into the Biden reference, he may learn still more.

OPEN THREAD: The girls don’t seem to care what’s on. As long as you comment ’til dawn.

TWITTER CAN’T STOMACH DISSENT FROM GOVERNMENT CORONAVIRUS ORDERS.

Related: Legacy news, social media giants converge in new era of censorship.

Why, it’s like Twitter management openly tilts the scales to the left or something (as does virtually all of Silicon Valley). Somebody should write a book about this sort of thing.

SPACE: SpaceShipTwo makes first flight from Spaceport America.

OCEANIA HAS NEVER BEEN AT WAR WITH BRETT KAVANAUGH: Whitmer, Who Rushed to Condemn Kavanaugh, Now Says, ‘I Really Resent’ Having to Talk About Biden.

WHEN #METOO IS SOLD OUT FOR #ORANGEMANBAD:

Remember, whether as “activist” groups or “activist” individuals, feminists are just Democratic Party tools. They’ll sacrifice women’s interests — as a group or as individuals — whenever it conflicts with the goal of power for the Democrats.

Related:

NAVY HOSPITAL SHIPS, ONCE THOUGHT CRITICAL, SEE FEW PATIENTS.

POMPEO SAYS ENORMOUS EVIDENCE COVID CAME FROM WUHAN LAB. “There Are Many Labs Inside Of China, Martha. This Risk Remains.”

MORE CHINA PRESSURE: World leaders demand wet markets be shut down: Scientists estimate that 60-75% of emerging diseases are ‘zoonotic,’ or originating from animals.

AT AMAZON, Shop Amazon Warehouse Deals – Deep Discounts on Open-box and Used Products.

Plus, Shop Amazon Outlet – Clearance, Markdowns and Overstock Deals.

HEH: Newsom baffled a state that encourages illegal immigration isn’t obeying his ‘stay at home’ order.

DOES A 25+ YEAR-OLD PREDICTION THAT WE’LL HAVE A PANDEMIC SOMEDAY MAKE YOU A PROPHET? If so, there are a lot of such prophets out there. But it helps to spend a lot of time slagging Trump if you want a fawning profile in the NYT.

RICHARD FERNANDEZ:

DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: University of Texas under investigation for possible ties to Wuhan biolab.

(Via Legal Insurrection.)

GOOD: Global Backlash Builds Against China Over Coronavirus: As calls for inquiries and reparations spread, Beijing has responded aggressively, mixing threats with aid and adding to a growing mistrust of China.

China isn’t helping itself by acting guilty, which is what it’s doing with all the coverups and bluster.

JUST NBC THE CHUTZPAH:

Flashback: Al Sharpton: Power Dem.

THIS IS INTERESTING: Smokers seem less likely than non-smokers to fall ill with covid-19.

Smokers are almost certainly not protected from initial infection by SARS-CoV-2. In fact, because they first handle and then puff on cigarettes, they may be especially susceptible—for transmission often takes place through the mouth’s mucous membranes. What seems to be happening is that infected smokers are less likely to develop symptoms, or, if they do develop them, are more likely than non-smokers to have symptoms which are mild. That means they are more likely to stay home and not to show up in hospital statistics.

All this suggests that something in tobacco smoke is having a protective effect. The best guess is that the something in question is nicotine.

Note, however, that there are umpteen compounds in tobacco smoke, and nicotine is just the most obvious.

AT AMAZON, Shop Amazon Warehouse Deals – Deep Discounts on Open-box and Used Products.

Plus, Shop Amazon Outlet – Clearance, Markdowns and Overstock Deals.

A TALE OF TWO HEADLINES:

● Shot: From 9/11 to COVID-19: The last time New York was the center of a catastrophe, America rallied behind it. The nation’s reaction to its coronavirus outbreak is a different story.

—Dahlia Lithwick, Slate, April 3rd. (Link safe, goes to our post back then.)

● Chaser: Homophobic Evangelical Group Samaritan’s Purse To Leave Central Park In Two Weeks.

—Left-leaning Gothamist blog, yesterday.

Better dead than rude, to coin a phrase.