MARIANNE WILLIAMSON BACKS NANCY PELOSI’S ‘PERFECT’ PRIMARY CHALLENGER:

Saying she’s “very, very concerned with the corporatist direction of the party,” former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson is endorsing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s progressive challenger in November’s general election.

In a video posted on Instagram over the weekend, the best-selling spiritual author and Democrat endorsed self-described democratic socialist candidate Shahid Buttar as she argued that Pelosi – the first female House speaker in American history — deserved a strong challenge from the left.

I too have been “very, very concerned with the corporatist direction” of the Democratic Party for quite some time. Presumably though, under the leadership of “Democratic Socialists,” that direction would switch from corporatism, in which massive corporations are essentially treated by the Democrats as public utilities, to nationalizing them. E.g., the story that Glenn linked to earlier today about Jacobin magazine wanting to nationalize Amazon.com, and these earlier examples of the Nation magazine wanting to nationalize the news industry and Hollywood. Nationalizing socialism? I’d rather not party like it’s 1939.

NOW IN SPACE: A microwave power-beaming experiment.

A secretive military space plane will soon test the idea of using microwave beams to send solar power to Earth from space. The U.S. Air Force’s X-37B space plane is expected to launch into orbit Saturday (May 16) with an experiment onboard that tests the possibility.

The Photovoltaic Radiofrequency Antenna Module Flight Experiment (PRAM-FX) represents the first orbital test of such a sci-fi technology since the 19th century — solar satellite power. Build a big solar array in orbit, the idea goes, and it could collect enough sunlight (unfiltered by atmospheric effects or clouds,) to generate a powerful beam of microwaves. A collection station on Earth would then convert that beam into useful power. Launch any satellite into a high enough orbit and it will receive a near-constant stream of sunlight, with only brief passes through the Earth’s shadow. A whole constellation of solar arrays might offer uninterrupted 24/7 power.

I like orbital solar. The power-beaming idea isn’t new — they did a proof-of-concept experiment at JPL Goldstone 50 years ago (with, if I recall correctly, around 50% efficiency), but now they’re doing actual engineering.

ANDREW CUOMO’S reckless choices. “Bill de Blasio made terrible decisions as mayor of New York City. But as more reporting emerges about the catastrophic decisions made by New York’s governor, it’s possible Andrew Cuomo deserves even more blame than de Blasio for what the coronavirus has done to the tri-state area and consequently the nation. New York and New Jersey combined have suffered more COVID-19 deaths than any other country being tracked by researchers who run the Johns Hopkins crisis dashboard. Cuomo made three breathtakingly bad moves in March that in retrospect amounted to catastrophe. First, Cuomo failed to call for, and even actively discouraged, informal social-distancing measures in early March. Next was the delay in mid-March in ordering formal closures when the virus started rampaging through his state. Third was his March 25 edict to long-term care facilities that they must accept infected patients, which caused a mass deadly outbreak among helpless, trapped, elderly New Yorkers. Only in the last few days have some corners of the media begun to call attention to just how badly Cuomo has failed us.”

Related: NYC vs. San Francisco: the stark failure of Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio.

UPDATE: Cuomo refuses accountability in nursing home scandal, says vulnerable people were going to die anyway. Quoth Cuomo: “Older people, vulnerable people are going to die from this virus. That is going to happen despite whatever you do. Because with all our progress as a society, we can’t keep everyone alive. Despite what everything you do and older people are more vulnerable. And that is a fact. And that is not going to change.”

Maybe, but they die faster when you send infectious people into nursing homes full of older and vulnerable people.

IRISH DEMOCRACY: Lockdown Is Ending, Whether Governments Approve or Not: Executive orders may have encouraged the lockdowns, but they always depended on voluntary behavior. “The data also show something about the nature of the shutdowns. They might have been encouraged by executive orders, but they were always ultimately driven by voluntary behavior. Well before states started issuing stay-at-home orders in the final week of March, many Americans were voluntarily self-quarantining. Since officials had only limited influence over the beginning of the lockdown, they were always going to have limited influence over its ending. This was always unsustainable over the long term, and coronavirus policies need to be reconsidered in light of that. On the other hand, declaring states to be ‘open’ will be meaningless unless residents feel it is safe to venture out again.”

BRYAN PRESTON: Texas Reopens. What’s Really Happening With Its COVID-19 Numbers?

Monday morning some gyms around the state opened so I went for a quick drive around the area to see which ones were and weren’t. Mine had emailed me over the weekend that it was opening, so I went in for a quick workout. Other than the masks on the staff and a few new procedures such as touchless check-in, all seemed fairly normal. Some other gyms in the area chose to remain closed a little longer. Overall things seem pretty calm and edging back to normal.

But if you listen to CNN, coronavirus cases are outta control and there’s just no end in sight.

“Texas sees the highest number of coronavirus cases in a day!” they declare. “Deaths too!”

Sure sure, CNN. We are testing more. That means we will see more cases. You’re not likely to see fewer deaths because numbers don’t really work that way.

RealClearPolitics’ Sean Trende had had enough after seeing the report above, and went on a Twitter tear.

Read the whole thing.

I’M STILL HOPING FOR A V-SHAPED RECOVERY: “If we get it right, unemployment could be below 5 percent by next year.”

Trump’s election message in the fall: Based on experts’ models, he saved 2 million lives and fixed the worst depression in American history!

VICTORIOUS CHEERING AS COP TELLS CROWD AT NJ GYM IT’S VIOLATING EXECUTIVE ORDER — BUT ADDS, ‘HAVE A GOOD DAY’ AND WALKS OFF:

A few hours after workouts began Monday morning at New Jersey’s Atilis Gym — which is making national headlines for its early reopening in defiance of Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s coronavirus shutdown order — police showed up outside the Bellmawr business.

What happened next?

The large group of people outside the gym were angry and hostile, likely believing the officers showed up to shut down the gym, hand out tickets, or even make arrests. Amid the mostly unintelligible hollering, a few phrases rang out clearly:

• “You have the right to refuse unconstitutional orders!”
• “Freedom!”
• “You swore an oath to protect our rights!”

Soon enough the crowd quieted down enough so that one of the officers was able to address them.

“We are and we’re only here for everybody’s safety today,” the officer began. “We planned for the worst, hoped for the best, and it seems like that’s what we have out here today. Formally, you are all in violation of the executive order.”

Then came the officer’s surprising follow-up statement: “On that note, have a good day. Everybody be safe.”

As police turned and walked away, the crowd immediately erupted in the kind of cheering you’d expect after a Philadelphia Eagles’ game-winning touchdown — and then a hefty “USA! USA! USA!” chant soon followed: 

Glenn mentioned this story earlier, but here’s the video of the Bellmawr policeman’s speech and the crowd’s reaction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9BgG3GjzlQ

THIS IS MERCILESS CRUELTY TO ROBOTS: I Forced A Bot to Read 1,000 Jennifer Rubin Columns And Write A Jennifer Rubin Column of Its Own.

NEIL FERGUSON’S EMPLOYER: MPs raise new security fears as Chinese tech giant Huawei seals £5m deal with Imperial College to help build new tech campus in London.

BREAKING: Attorney General Barr Just Made Major News on ‘Obamagate.’ You’ll Want to Sit Down for This.

I HOPE EVERYBODY ENJOYED THEIR 60-DAY FREE TRIAL OF LIVING THE WAY THE LEFT WANTS TO MAKE YOU LIVE ALL THE TIME: Clear reduction in urban carbon emissions as a result of COVID-19 lockdown.

AT AMAZON, spring savings in Automotive.

Plus, deals in Camera and Photo.

GIVING GOVERNMENT THE FINGER: Americans Ending the Shutdown on Our Own Terms.

The American people are practically in open revolt against Democratic governors.

It’s telling that no less than Hillary Clinton, she of the tin-est of tin ears, “branded the armed anti-coronavirus protesters in Michigan ‘domestic terrorists,’ as tempers flared up again.”

Freedom-loving Americans, even the ones bearing arms in Michigan, are not engaging in any sort of terrorism. Terrorism is the use of violence against civilians in order to impose a political agenda. In Michigan and elsewhere, civilians are peaceably refusing to comply with an authoritarian political agenda imposed by imperious elected officials and unaccountable bureaucrats.

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WELL, WHEN MATT TAIBBI COMPARES YOUR RULING TO SOMETHING THAT A JUDGE IN BELARUS WOULD DO . . . White House Report Card: Judge’s odd move in Flynn case could help Trump.

THE GEEZER FALLACY: What do the Covid9-19 Antibody Studies Mean? They yield vastly different fatality rates ranging from 0.05 percent in Iceland to 1.3 percent in northern Italy. Jacob Sullum analyzes the differences and says that some of the lower estimates look plausible. He also offers encouragement for the elderly from Alan Reynolds of Cato Institute, who notes that at least 99 percent of the people who died in New York City had underlying medical conditions.

“The absolutely critical and widely misunderstood point here is that ‘underlying conditions’ are THE only risk that virtually all fatal cases of COVID-19 had in common—not age,” Reynolds writes. “That misunderstanding arose because old people are far more likely to have one or more of these conditions (and because more old people die of this and almost every other fatal risk). But it’s about time to stop echoing the fallacy that this virus kills old people, rather than sick people.”

Good, because there are plenty of healthy old people.

DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: American Colleges Are Headed for a Meltdown. “They’ve been through riots, protests, and natural disasters—but America’s colleges have never seen anything like the financial meltdown the coronavirus is about to bring to their campuses.”

NO, IT’S NOT: “The Moral Equivalent of War.” The war rhetoric surfaces once again in peacetime — and will lead to no good, as usual. “If we allow Covid-19 to kill our economy, then the virus will have won.”

JONATHAN TURLEY: In Michael Flynn case, Judge Sullivan’s deplorable overreach turns justice into mob rule.

Note to Judge Sullivan: When Matt Taibbi says your ruling could have come from a judge in Belarus, are you really upholding the rule of law?

THIS TIME IT REALLY IS DIFFERENT: Un-furloughing the Economy. Instead of forcing companies large or small to rehire workers they can’t use, we should focus on helping them survive. “The ‘Main Street-vs.-Wall Street-vs.-households’ narrative is a false characterization—everyone is in this together.”

THEY SHOULD MAKE MORE NOISE: Youth in Quarantine. Young people ride out the pandemic obediently, without the generational war that the boomers might have started. But they’ll pay the biggest price economically.

MY COLLEAGUE ALEX LONG TALKS ABOUT REOPENING AND RISK MANAGEMENT. I will note that while there is a duty to provide a safe working environment, the Supreme Court has made clear that “safe” doesn’t mean “free of risk.” I also think that predictions that things will “never be the same” in the workplace are unlikely to pan out.

LOCKDOWN LOOKS LIKE A BOON TO HOMESCHOOLING: Real Clear Opinion Research Poll finds 40 percent of respondents are more likely to continue homeschooling their kids after the lockdown is behind us, and another 64 percent say they support protecting the right of parents to choose either public or private schooling for their kids.

I STILL REALLY DON’T MISS TWITTER.