RULES ARE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: More COVID-19 Hypocrisy: San Francisco Mayor London Breed Partied Maskless at a Jazz Club. “Breed is in good company of course: Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser has repeatedly attended events while unmasked—including a birthday party and a wedding—despite her own orders forcing masks on citizens in a variety of unnecessary circumstances. When D.C. gyms asked if they could require vaccination instead of masks, the city said no. As Monday’s Met Gala made abundantly clear, mask mandates are for the commoners. The ruling class is doing whatever they want.”

Pics and video of this superspreader event at the link.

ROGER SIMON: The Democrats’ War on Blacks Keeps Growing in the Pandemic.

War on blacks?

Okay, consider the next—if anything more horrible because more deliberate—example.

In their alacrity to punish Southern red states, our federal government is restricting the monoclonal antibody treatments given those states. Who suffers the most from this? Who may well die from this?

Again, the black community—where these treatments are most needed. Joel Pollak puts it succinctly over on Breitbart.com:

“President Joe Biden’s decision to cut deliveries of monoclonal antibodies to southeastern states, in what critics have called a politically-motivated effort to punish Republican states, could end up sentencing black people to death from coronavirus.”

Is this sadism or stupidity on the part of our president? An argument can be made for both.

Yes, we’re told it’s a “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” but the unvaccinated are disproportionately black. They’re disproportionately in hospitals and ICUs, and they’re disproportionately dying, and they’re disproportionately affected by the Democrats’ playing politics with antibody treatments.

And, of course, they’re disproportionately affected by Democrat-backed vaccine-passport requirements.

INEVITABLY: Texas women in New York restaurant vaccine brawl say race a factor.

Carolyn Richmond, an attorney representing Carmine’s, denied the claim, telling the Times: “Nothing about this incident suggests race was an issue.”

Nonetheless, a Black Lives Matter activist told the Times a demonstration was planned outside the restaurant on Monday, to protest the treatment of Black patrons.

Surveillance footage – without sound – reviewed by the Times showed the three women being ushered into the restaurant after showing documentation outside.

It also showed three men showing up several minutes later but only one showing a vaccination card.

The fight broke out after a series of interactions between staff and the guests.

According to police, the three women punched the hostess repeatedly and broke her necklace, leaving the 24-year-old bruised and scratched. She was taken to a hospital.

The women face charges of misdemeanor assault and criminal mischief and are scheduled to appear in court on 5 October.

The New York City rule requiring proof of vaccination for indoor restaurant dining, gyms and entertainment venues has been in effect since 17 August but only began being enforced in the past week.

So I know some liberal New Yorkers who are shocked at this violence and blaming Texas. But come on. You’ve spent most of the last decade telling black people that violence is the proper response to anything they regard as racism.

Now in NYC you’ve got a vaccination-passport requirement that disproportionately affects black people, who are much less likely to get vaccinated than whites and asians, and you’re surprised that the response is violent? Once you teach people that it’s okay to be violent if they feel mistreated, you don’t get to choose when they feel mistreated.

Meanwhile, I understand there’s already a war among NYC progressives, as blacks and hispanics hate all the Covid security theater, while the white Karen wing of the party is loving it. I’m hoping for a war of mutual destruction. Hey, maybe Curtis Sliwa can make it to the mayoralty after all!

OPEN THREAD: “Can I play my guitar?”

SLOWER, PLEASE: Manchin wants to pause voting on $3.5T spending bill until 2022.

FASTER, PLEASE: Texas DPS Surge To Del Rio Border, Protect State From Biden Failure.

THAT’S NICE: SpaceX’s Elon Musk donates $50 million to Inspiration4 spaceflight fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

WHEN BIDEN HAS LOST CHUCK TODD…: Chuck Todd Blasts Biden: ‘He’s Got A Pretty Big Credibility Crisis,’ World Doesn’t Know If ‘Competent.’

Nahh, the world knows, starting with his former boss: “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f*** things up.”

JOE BIDEN’S PRESIDENCY IS HANGING BY A THREAD AS RADICALS AND MODERATES GO TO WAR: “There would still be a chance to salvage the situation if Joe Biden’s popularity was on the rise, not languishing in the 40s. But why should Democratic House members in competitive races in 2022 do any favors for a president who’s likely to drag them down to defeat if they appear to be too close to him?”

THE HOUSE OF STEPHANOPOULOS COVERS ALL THE BASES: ABC Fears GOP ‘Pouncing’ and ‘Seizing’ on Botched Boosters to Hurt Biden.

THIS SHOULD HELP US CLOSE THE MINE SHAFT GAP: The World’s Longest Cave System Just Got Even Bigger.

NOT-SO-LONG HAUL: In kids and teens, symptoms of long COVID-19 rarely last more than 12 weeks, a new international study reports.

HANNAH COX: Nicki Minaj Is Right: Individual Autonomy Matters. “It is worth noting that many of Minaj’s detractors are the same people who advocate for Black women, but it seems when a member of that group breaks with them ideologically, they are quick to condemn them. Minaj is right to want to do her own research and make the decisions she thinks best for her own body. No matter where one falls on the issues of the vaccine, one thing is certain: we the people have been misled by our government consistently over the past year.”

Yeah, it would be easier to trust them if they weren’t, you know, big fat liars.

SHANNON RAE IS A FRIEND OF FRIENDS, and her band The Ronstadt Revival is awesome.

Here’s a list of upcoming dates if you’re in the area.

CLOTHES ARE IMPORTANT: Humans used tools to make clothes more than 100,000 years ago. Clothes and fire are what let humans — an essentially tropical species — spread throughout the Earth.

GOVERNMENT OF, BY AND FOR THE ELITE: What Progressives Wrought. Today’s divisions in America are the result of a century-long campaign by progressives to discard the nation’s founding principles.

FAKE STATISTICS: Hyping the Covid Burden on Hospitals. In the U.K., as in the U.S., health officials and the media have been exaggerating the number of people hospitalized for Covid because the tallies include those who test positive but don’t need treatment. In Britain, about 25 percent of these so-called Covid patients are actually being treated for other ailments.

STEVEN MALANGA: Heaping on the SALT. Democrats press Biden to reinstate a tax break for the wealthy.

CLAPPING BACK: Where have the rebels of rock ‘n’ roll gone?

Of the two, Morrison is the more philosophic. Lines like “Is this a sovereign nation/Or just a police state?” and “Dick Turpin wore a mask too” in “Stand and Deliver,” as well as “Were they really all that tough?/Or was it just some PR stunt?…It’s not very rock ‘n’ roll/Where have all the rebels gone?” in “The Rebels” are more thoughtful than Clapton’s simple “Enough is enough.” Clapton, on the other hand, brings style. “Thinkin’ of my kids, what’s left for them / And then what’s comin’ down the road / The light in the tunnel could be the southbound train / Lord, please help them with their load,” he sings.

For the “Change the World” artist who is trying to do just that, one wonders if a song is enough. And what is at stake?

The trickle-down effect of canceled concerts at the beginning of the pandemic to the thousands of music industry jobs in my own hometown of Nashville alone was more like a dam breaking. While music streaming only accounts for a diminutive fraction of most artists’ revenue, and tickets pay the bills, no live music means everything else dries up. The people who made up the music industry—managers, lighting directors, promoters, ticket vendors, concessions vendors, merchandizers, and beyond—felt the effects almost immediately, even before ticket refunds sapped whatever was left in the spigot. The layoffs were immediate and widespread. Recounting last year, my father tells the story of one friend who had to lay off 46 employees from his light and sound production company within a week of March 15. Forty-six.

And if you missed it yesterday, my post on Clapton’s recent Fort Worth show: Eric Clapton Gets Loud at Tour Opening in Fort Worth, But Stays Quiet On Vaccine Stance.

HEATHER MAC DONALD: Ripping Off the Veil. By firing nearly half its musicians in order to “prioritise diversity,” a British classical music organization exposes the sordid business behind all racial-preference regimes.

WELL, YES: Opinion: Elon Musk’s Criticisms of the EV Incentive Bill Are Valid.

ROY COHN, JUAN PERON, TOSCANINI, DACRON, DIEN BIEN PHU FALLS, “ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK:” Why the US should offer to buy France’s submarines for Vietnam.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China’s Mars Helicopter to Support Future Rover Exploration: Powered flight on Mars is a new threshold in the 21st century space race.

ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL: Biden vacations at Delaware beach house after week of heavy losses.

FASTER, PLEASE: New nano particles suppress resistance to cancer immunotherapy.