HMMMM: The strange death of the Democrats.

Despite the police shootings, the riots and the media’s constant racial hype, the 2020 presidential election was less racially polarized than any since at least to 2004. Donald Trump, a man who Democrats and their allies perceive as the embodiment of white diabolism, actually won a greater percentage of Hispanics and blacks than liberal-sensitive Republicans such as John McCain and Mitt Romney. And Trump achieved that amid a record-high turnout.

For well over two decades Republicans listened as the top pundits and political consultants told them that the only way to win more minority votes was to sound exactly like the Democrats: maybe talk about religion and inner-city Empowerment Zones a little, but whatever you do, don’t mention immigration or crime. Donald Trump defied that conventional wisdom and he made gains by doing so. Now Republicans may for the first time try a right-wing message to minorities, even as Democrats are devoured by the left.

Republicans have a long way to go before making any progress in the cities, of course, even as the cities bleed. Political machines aren’t dismantled easily. But if the GOP can make little headway in Democratic cities, the Democrats face the more serious problem of losing ground in the states. Hence the sudden panic about political arrangements they were content with until the day before yesterday. Joe Biden is alive, but his party is dead. And the newborn radical Democrats can’t win — not without rewriting the rules to get around competition at the state level, where elections are closer to the people.

Flashback: Whatever Your Ideology, Your Opponents’ Worldview Is Officially Dead.

NEWS YOU CAN USE? An FAQ About Your New Birth Control: The Music of Rush.

What’s in it?

Every woman deserves to know exactly what’s in her birth control. Rush is a Canadian progressive rock power trio whose golden era is generally considered to be from 1975 to 1982. Thankfully, for your long-term family planning strategy, the band has an extensive discography that spans from 1974 to 2012.

The music of Rush is marked by erratic signature changes, unconventional chord structures, heavy use of synthesizers and electronic effects, and, most importantly, lead vocals that sound like an ancient witch is being exorcised out of your body with live wires. In less clinical terms, imagine taking the most annoying parts of science fiction and Libertarianism, isolating them, and then somehow blending them up into a cursed musical slurry. Then, infuse that slurry with a distinctive incel vibe, and presto! You’ve got one of the most powerful contraception options on the market.

How effective is it?

No one has ever gotten pregnant while listening to the music of Rush. Clinical studies show that when combined with watching a male sexual partner play air bass along to the extended solo in “Freewill,” the contraceptive efficacy of Rush approaches 100%.

Will I experience any discomfort?

Yes.

Heh. Fly by night, step into the limelight, roll up the power windows on your red Barchetta and read the whole thing.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Never a huge fan of Rush — I liked “Fly By Night” and “Spirit of the Radio” — but while most Rush fans were male, the female fans were absolute freaks, which was nice.

I’D HAVE PAID GOOD MONEY TO SEE THAT: Stiletto Combat? Now Pelosi Thinks She’s a ‘Street Fighter’ Who Could Have Fought Off Capitol Rioters.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): If an 80 year old woman could have defeated the threat, the Ashli Babbitt shooting was murder.

BIGLAW ATTORNEYS GET PAID A LOT FOR THE SAME REASON SEWER WORKERS DO: NO ONE WOULD DO IT FOR LESS. BigLaw Associates Are Burned Out. Special $60,000+ Bonuses May Not Be Enough To Keep Them.

TIME FOR UNMASKING: The mindless mask regime might be here to stay, unless YOU resist it.

In my own life, I notice more people skipping masks, even at places like Whole Foods, and the staff seems much less interested in enforcing the rules.

ANTI-SOCIAL MEDIA: Revealed: the Facebook loophole that lets world leaders deceive and harass their citizens.

The investigation shows how Facebook has allowed major abuses of its platform in poor, small and non-western countries in order to prioritize addressing abuses that attract media attention or affect the US and other wealthy countries. The company acted quickly to address political manipulation affecting countries such as the US, Taiwan, South Korea and Poland, while moving slowly or not at all on cases in Afghanistan, Iraq, Mongolia, Mexico and much of Latin America.

“There is a lot of harm being done on Facebook that is not being responded to because it is not considered enough of a PR risk to Facebook,” said Sophie Zhang, a former data scientist at Facebook who worked within the company’s “integrity” organization to combat inauthentic behavior. “The cost isn’t borne by Facebook. It’s borne by the broader world as a whole.”

Facebook pledged to combat state-backed political manipulation of its platform after the historic fiasco of the 2016 US election, when Russian agents used inauthentic Facebook accounts to deceive and divide American voters.

But the company has repeatedly failed to take timely action when presented with evidence of rampant manipulation and abuse of its tools by political leaders around the world.

Not to mention in the United States.

THIS IS SWEET: ‘SHE ALWAYS TOOK CARE OF US’: Frat house alumni pay off mortgage of cook who was like a mom.

WELL, HE IS: Nate Silver Accuses Dr. Fauci of Gaslighting on COVID Transmission.

IN BIDEN’S AMERICA, ONLY SOME LIVES MATTER: No Charges Against Officer Who Shot Ashli Babbitt: DOJ. Lawyer for Babbitt’s family calls decision ‘baffling.’ “I find it to be baffling given the circumstances that it’s a clear case of shooting an unarmed person without any legal justification, but I have no idea what went into their decision.”

The — still unnamed — officer’s lawyer:

“This is the only correct conclusion following the events of January 6. The lieutenant exercised professionalism and fantastic restraint in defending and protecting members of Congress.”

The officer remains unidentified in the public sphere.

“As unfortunate as it is that the lieutenant had to resort to deadly force, he fired only one shot at the only person who breached the locked doors and makeshift barricade that had been erected. He did so after clearly identifying himself and ordering the mob not to come through the barricade,” Schamel added. “He used tremendous restraint in only firing one shot, and his actions stopped the mob from breaking through and turning a horrific day in American history into something so much worse.”

Missing from this: Any claim that the unarmed Ashli Babbitt posed a threat of death or great bodily harm, the necessary predicate for deadly force, to anyone. There’s no “members of Congress were scared” exception to the law on deadly force.

But this is a police shooting that all the Best People heartily approve.

SHOCKER: Mindfulness can make you selfish: study.

TODAY IS ISRAEL’S INDEPENDENCE DAY: Jeff Dunetz at The Lid explains how God used Harry Truman to do a modern-day miracle. The greater miracle may well be that Israel has survived to this day and remained America’s best ally in the Middle East.

LONG-TERM TEST: Our 2020 Toyota Supra 3.0 Had a Rough Winter: Our six-cylinder Supra was a handful in the snow, and our experience with Toyota’s roadside assistance was a minor disaster.

The handful-in-the-snow part isn’t a huge shock for a powerful rear-wheel-drive car, though not as inevitable as it once was with modern tires and traction. But that wasn’t the issue: “We have no issues with driving sports cars in winter; we’ve always done so with our long-termer vehicles after fitting them with winter tires, most recently with a Corvette, a Porsche, a Miata, and a Mustang. But those cars never gave us the kind of trouble that we experienced with our Supra, which largely can be explained in two words: ground clearance, of which the Supra 3.0 has but 4.5 inches.”

A JOURNALIST WRITES ON THE MINNEAPOLIS RIOTS and James Lileks unleashes the Fisking of the year. “What may strike the author as a ringing series of J’accuses! might strike others as the obsessive mutterings of a meth-head with one leg jackhammering up and down, but I suppose that’s a matter of opinion.”

IS THERE ANYONE LEFT IN WASHINGTON WHO HASN’T TAKEN BEIJING BUCKS? Biden’s Deputy Energy Sec Spoke For Chinese Communist Party.

THOSE WOKE CEOS ARE HEADED IN WRONG DIRECTION: Issues & Insights argues the movement represented by the more than 100 CEOs who met Sunday to proclaim their virtuous opposition to restrictive election laws has bad ending written all over it.

SO LONG AS NO ONE IS BEING RAPED, WE’LL CALL IT A WIN: “The Lincoln Project is not known for making the best tweets. Today it may have made its worst one yet.”

SPACE: Blue Origin launches what may be final test flight before carrying people. “The rocket lifted off about 12:50 p.m. EDT from the company’s spaceport near Van Horn, about 120 miles southeast of El Paso. New Shepard soared into the hazy spring sky, reaching velocity of more than 2,200 mph. . . . Upon landing with the aid of parachutes, the capsule was to be tested by crew to practice exiting after a mission. The goal is to allow true space tourism for anyone, said Kevin Sproge, Blue Origin’s director of space architecture for New Shepard, during the broadcast.”

GOOD. AMERICA NEEDS MORE AMMO. Remington Ammunition Begins Production at Arkansas Facility.

CAVING TO THE MOB IS HOW YOU GET MORE MOBS: Hank Azaria Apologizes To Every Indian For Voicing Apu: The Character ‘Is Practically A Slur.’

BREAKING: CNN Director Reveals the Awful Truth Behind CNN’s COVID-19 Death Toll.

SHUT UP, THEY EXPLAINED: Jason Whitlock Gets Twitter Jail After Criticizing BLM for Buying Large Mansions.

USD PROF SUGGESTS CHINESE GOVERNMENT MIGHT BE LYING ABOUT COVID, INVESTIGATION RESULTS. Of the American professor, of course, not the Chinese government, even though the University of San Diego promises free expression. If you’d like, you can help FIRE hold USD accountable by emailing to remind it to live up to its own promises.

I LIKE THE CUT OF HIS JIB: NFL Legend Brett Favre Slams Woke Sports Leagues And Athletes Kneeling: ‘It’s A Shame.’ “I think both sides, for the most part, want to see it just remain about the sport, not about politics. At least that’s my interpretation. I know when I turn on a game, I want to watch the game. I want to watch the players play and teams win and lose and come from behind. I want to watch all the important parts of the game, not what’s going on outside the game. I think the general fan feels the same way.”

If TV ratings are anything to go by, Favre nailed it.

IT’S BECOME A TRASH PUBLICATION: Scientific American Colludes with Other Major Media to Normalize ‘Climate Emergency’ Terminology.

Evergreen:

INSPIRED BY HANK AZARIA’S APOLOGY ‘TO EVERY SINGLE INDIAN PERSON IN THIS COUNTRY’ FOR VOICING APU, JOHN CLEESE ISSUES AN APOLOGY OF HIS OWN:

Analysis: true.