IT’S AS IF THE WHOLE THING WAS POLITICIZED CRAP ALL ALONG: The Inevitable Shoe Drops: DOJ Dismisses Mueller’s Charges against Russian Businesses.

Any competent defense lawyer would have had a field day with the Obama Justice Department’s failure to have the FBI take possession and conduct its own forensic examination of the servers that were hacked. And what fun defense counsel would have had with DOJ’s delegation of that rudimentary investigative task to a DNC contractor with close ties to the Clinton campaign. (Yes, the forensic conclusions blaming Russia were paid for by the same folks who brought you the famously dodgy Steele dossier.)

Speaking of dodgy, recall that Team Mueller and the Justice Department dodged every case that would have called for proving Russia’s cyber theft. Even when they indicted WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange, the very Ground Zero of “collusion,” they resisted charging him with the Russian hacking scheme. Given that prosecutors and the FBI spent years investigating the president of the United States for this crime of the century, it should seem astonishing that they passed on charging the guy they’ve told us is the central conspirator with this crime.

They told us a lot of stuff. And they shouldn’t get away without consequences.

RATHERGATE 2.0: Kellyanne Conway Presses CBS Reporter At Center Of ‘Kung Flu’ Controversy For Details. Reporter Refuses To Answer.

Arguably RatherGate 3.0, but Katie Couric’s worst fake news moment happened after she left CBS: Katie Couric & Gun Rights: A Study in Dishonesty.

But we shouldn’t forget her shilling for ObamaCare while a CBS anchor: Katie Couric Uses Christmas Poem To Campaign For ObamaCare.

A BILL WHITTLE PODCAST: The Cold War: What We Saw | Playa Giron – Episode 7.

DOWN AT OUR RENDEZVOUS, THREE’S COMPANY, TOO: What It’s Like to Isolate With Your Girlfriend and Her Other Boyfriend. “From the realm of woke sophistication that is New York magazine.”

HMM: Bernie Sanders Suspends Facebook Advertising, Denies He’s Ending His Campaign.

All I wanted for my birthday was a brokered convention, but a socialist can’t even deliver on that.

WELL, GOOD: Hospitals fighting COVID-19 have learned from Ebola-era mistakes.

WHY IS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY SUCH A CESSPIT OF SEXISM AND RACISM? Tulsi Gabbard suspends presidential campaign, endorses Biden.

THIS IS ENCOURAGING, IF IT CHECKS OUT: 99% of Those Who Died From Virus Had Other Illness, Italy Says.

THE MEMPHIS AIRLIFT: U.S. Air Force Flew Half a Million Coronavirus Test Swabs From Italy to Tennessee.

ACTUALLY, I DID KNOW: Andrew Cuomo: You Know Who’s Doing A Good Job On NY’s COVID-19 Outbreak? Trump.

There’s been a lot of that going around, but more would be better.

HIGHER EDUCATION TODAY: Faith lecture by religious studies professor lauds Karl Marx, doesn’t mention Jesus.

MARVEL LAUNCHES NEW HEROES, INCLUDING “SAFESPACE” and “SNOWFLAKE.”  Appears to be real, as it’s on Marvel’s website too.

ME, NEITHER: Famed economist Robert Shiller doesn’t think we are headed for another Great Recession.

ELITE STANDARDS: Ivy League students demand laxed grading system to alleviate ‘stress.’

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KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: The Stimulation Will Soon Be Upon Us, Or Something. “I’m sure that to the wealthy types who run Washington, they think that $1000 for each of the poors in the hinterlands is the grandest of gestures, largely because none of the politicos understand the real value of money.”

FISH LAUNCH IN THE PHILIPPINE SEA: The destroyer USS Mustin launches a torpedo during an anti-submarine exercise. Photo taken March 14, 2020. Torpedoes devastated Battleship Row in Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. In the 21st century torpedoes remain a threat — here’s a 2008 photo showing a USN cruiser practicing torpedo evasion maneuvers somewhere in the Indian Ocean. This post from 2013 discusses the Navy’s purchase of “upgraded” anti-submarine torpedoes. This second military technology post –from 2016– discusses defensive measures against wake-homing torpedoes. Both post are detailed– worth reading if you want to know something about modern war at sea.

THE MORE SERIOUSLY WE ACT NOW, THE LESS SERIOUS IT BECOMES LATER: Trump and health officials caution young people to ‘heed the advice’ on coronavirus.

BELLWETHER ELECTION! GOP wins three special Pennsylvania House races, including a ‘Hillary district.’

Well, it would be bellwether stuff if it were the Democrats winning, anyway.

ALL OF A SUDDEN, THE BUREAUCRACY SEEMS TO BE MOVING RATHER QUICKLY: Abbott Receives FDA Emergency Use Authorization and Launches Test to Detect Novel Coronavirus. “Abbott is immediately shipping 150,000 Abbott RealTime SARS-CoV-2 EUA tests to existing customers in the U.S. The tests are used on the company’s m2000™ RealTime System. Abbott will be working with health systems and government authorities to deploy additional m2000 systems where they are needed.”

HERE IN KNOXVILLE: Closing the Doors: Knox County plans to shutter its libraries tomorrow, after rising concerns from employees. “Knox County is the last of the state’s major metropolitan library systems to close. . . . The employees noted that closures are already widespread in the private sector, from bars and restaurants to the complete shutdown of West Town Mall announced yesterday. . . . Other employees noted that many library patrons are older, in the above-60 demographic shown to be most vulnerable to COVID-19.”

VIRTUE SIGNALING THE VIRUS GOES VIRAL: Kung Flu Fighting –Powerline puns while linking to commentaries on the absolutely silly clique of idiots who object to calling the COVID-19 “Wuhan virus” or “a virus from China.” The post includes this link to Andrew McCarthy’s column on the moniker flu-haha.

Excerpt from McCarthy’s column:

Early this year, as the outbreak became manifest in China and began its relentless march through Southeast Asia and into Europe, the American press itself alluded incessantly to the Wuhan coronavirus. The sudden case of talking-head amnesia over this is being greeted in conservative media by hilarious video montages featuring the same scolds, who now decry the term, matter-of-factly invoking it back then.

“Scolds” is far too kind a description. I commented on the Chinese Communist Party agitation propaganda name blame schtick in my weekly Creators Syndicate column.

Here’s the name blame afterthought in a column that examines Dr. Fauci’s neo-isolationist strategy:

The virus’ name game has become an absurd example of manipulative identity politics. The virus first appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan. For two months, mainstream media called it Wuhan virus. Now China’s communist dictators, attempting to evade responsibility for initially denying the disease existed and, in doing so, spawning the global epidemic — contend the name “Wuhan virus” is racist. Absurd propaganda. Lyme disease? Remind Beijing it’s named for a town in Connecticut. I’ll stick with COVID-19/Wuhan, thank you.

Manipulative identity politics — a sick social disease infecting America.