OUT ON A LIMB: Fauci worked behind the scenes to cast doubt on Wuhan lab leak hypothesis, emails show.

QUESTION ASKED, BUT NOT YET ANSWERED: What Did Fauci Tell Trump About Wuhan?

SPACE: NASA’s Perseverance rover is the 1st spacecraft in years to carry fresh US plutonium. It won’t be the last. “If you want to explore the outer solar system, you need plutonium.”

AND JUST LIKE THAT, DR. FAUCI’S BOOK HAS BEEN PULLED FROM PRESALES: “The page that had been active for the presale is now stripped, and clicking on it today will deliver any number of cute dog pics.”

As Steve noted earlier today in his PJM column: It’s Official: The Paranoid Were Right All Along About Fauci (And More).

WASHINGTON POST: Trump has grown increasingly consumed with ballot audits as he pushes falsehood that election was stolen.

Of course, the WaPo told us the claim that the Wuhan virus came from a Chinese lab was a falsehood, too.

THE LOCKDOWNS ARE (FINALLY) OVER, but video-conferencing companies are still raising their game.

ARROGANT, INCOMPETENT, AND POLITICIZED EVEN WHEN NOT ACTUALLY CORRUPT: THAT’S THE KIND OF PEOPLE WHO RUN OUR INSTITUTIONS NOW. #FauciEmails Reveal A Career Bureaucrat Who Followed Political, Not Medical, Science. “While the propagandist media is busy fawning over Fauci as some sort of superhuman godlet who was single-handedly battling WuFlu in some kind of one-man cage match against President Trump and the Wuhan coronavirus, these emails reveal a startling truth. They tell the story not just of Fauci’s blatant, politically-motivated lies to the public but also the great lengths the legacy media and Big Tech went to shut down any discussion of the virus’s origins or mask use efficacy. It was not about stopping the spread of ‘misinformation’ but was a calculated political ploy to shut down the truth. But we knew that. And now we have proof.”

Plus: “Fauci was just the John Roberts of public health: a guy trying to protect an institution without regard to the purpose of the institution itself.”

FIRE FAUCI: Change: Majority of Americans, plurality of Dems now believe lab-leak theory is probably true.

MARK JUDGE: Mr. Speaker, It’s a War: Why I Spent 10 Minutes Yelling at Paul Ryan in a Parking Lot. “We don’t live in Reagan’s America.”

WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: A Self-Driving Truck Got a Shipment Cross-Country 10 Hours Faster Than a Human Driver. Well, sorta self-driving: “Last month TuSimple, a transportation company focused on self-driving technology for heavy-duty trucks, shipped a truckload of watermelons from Arizona to Oklahoma using the truck’s autonomous system for over 80 percent of the journey. The starting point was Nogales, at Arizona’s southern end right on the border with Mexico. A human driver took the wheel for the first 60 miles or so, from Nogales to Tucson—but from there the truck went on auto-pilot, and not just for a little while. It drove itself all the way to Dallas, 950 miles to the east (there was a human safety driver on board the whole time, but not controlling the truck). . . . From Dallas, the human driver took over again and drove the final 200 miles to a distribution center in Oklahoma City. From there, the watermelons were inspected—nothing to see here, they were in better shape than they would’ve been with a human driving the whole time—then distributed to stores all over the state. The reason the watermelons were in better shape was because they were a day fresher.”

80% isn’t 100%, but still impressive. But honestly, when I drive my car long distances it’s “self-driving” a lot too because the autopilot (Mercedes calls it “Distance Pilot”) controls speed, lane-following, distance from the car ahead, etc. It won’t let me take my hands off the wheel for more than 30 seconds, but I’m basically a “human safety driver” myself on long hauls. And my car is nearly 5 years old.

SHARED OFFICES: Co-Working is Poised for a Post-COVID Resurgence. One of my former law students, now a partner in a big law firm, says that his firm is planning to cut its office space by more than half over the next few years. It turns out, even bigshot partners are willing to share office space if they can only come in a couple of days a week and work from home the rest of the time. And office space is a huge overhead item.

TO BE FAIR, THE NUCLEAR EXPLOSIVES THAT PROPEL AN ORION SPACECRAFT AREN’T TECHNICALLY “WEAPONS.” “Russian space leader Dmitry Rogozin . . . has suggested (without evidence) that SpaceX aims to launch nuclear weapons into space.”

FILE UNDER “HALF A LOAF IS BETTER THAN NONE”: California’s state constitution requires that the California Supreme Court review clemency requests by the Governor that involve twice-convicted felons. (“The Governor may not grant a pardon or commutation to a person twice convicted of a felony except on recommendation of the Supreme Court, 4 judges concurring.). You’d think in a state where it takes a lot to be arrested, tried, and convicted of a crime that’s a good thing.

But if you were Jerry Brown or Gavin Newsom, you’d think otherwise. Protecting criminals seems as important to them as protecting citizens and victims, so when the First Amendment Coalition filed requests to see the clemency requests, the former and current governor pretended each time, in the words of one pro bono lawyer on the case, that “rather than abide by the Court’s rulings against complete secrecy, the Governor/Attorney General repeated the same arguments, every time, as if the Supreme Court had never addressed the issue.”

Not anymore. Last week, the California Supreme Court, en banc, announced a rule change – rejecting the Governor’s automatic confidentiality stance – stating that the contents of records filed by the Governor will be evaluated for their confidentiality on a case-by-case basis:

“Regardless of whether the Governor properly may refuse requests for access to clemency files when they are in his possession, an issue upon which we express no views, we conclude that the documents that are forwarded to the court pursuant to Penal Code section 4851 and supply the basis for a recommendation decision should be available for public inspection. Accordingly, henceforth upon the receipt of a motion to unseal a clemency record before the court pursuant to article V, section 8 and Penal Code section 4851, the Clerk and Executive Officer shall return the record for resubmission in conformity with this order and the Rules of Court pertaining to filings under seal. (Cal. Rules of Court, rules 2.550(d), 8.45, 8.46.)” (Emphasis added).

So what this means is that while citizens — and even potential twice-convicted applicants for clemency — still have to file a motion to unseal the records, and transparency is not guaranteed, the California Supreme Court has pretty much laid down the marker that clemency requests from the Governor, by dint of being transmitted to the Supreme Court, are presumed to be public records. Given the monkey business that has surrounded presidential pardons and commutations for decades (Trump commuted the sentence of corrruptocrat Rod Blagojevich (D-IL.) and Clinton pardoned financial crook Marc Rich (Major Clinton donor) it’s good to know that California will allow reporters, citizens, and yes, even twice-convicted felons to see how that sausage was made.

When the Founding Fathers instilled the concept of separation of powers, they knew what they were doing.
**Update: fixes reference to Blogojevich commutation. Thanks, IP readers!

#JOURNALISM: Danish radio journalist interviewed man while having sex with him at swingers club. “She said the act ‘loosened up the guests’ who had initially been reluctant to be interviewed.”

But some listeners saw a double standard: “Had a man had sex on the radio, he would probably have had the whole country against him.”

#JOURNALISM:

When you remember that they’re not just members of the Democrats’ messaging apparat, but that they proudly think of themselves as such, it’s all made clear.

ANOTHER RECOMMENDATION FOR CANE FIGHTING: The Art and Science of Staff Fighting: A Complete Instructional Guide. (Bumped)

NOW THEY’VE GONE TOO FAR: Where’s the Beef? U.S. Points the Finger at Russia as Giant Meat Supplier Suffers Cyber Attack.

THANKS, POWER LINE:  Power Line reviews my book.  (You can buy it here.)

WELL, THEN THE NAME IS A BIG FAT LIE: New Guinea has ‘chocolate’ frogs, but they’re not for eating.

CRISIS BY DESIGN: Texas Gov. Abbott Declares Border Emergency as Intel Community Warns of Rising Terrorist Threat.

HARD PASS: Fauci’s ‘Expect The Unexpected’ Book Is Exactly What You’d Expect From A Self-Serving Bureaucrat.

THAT DEPENDS: IS THE ROBOT A DEMOCRAT OR A REPUBLICAN? Can a Robot Be Arrested? Hold a Patent? Pay Income Taxes?

COLORADO: Denver School Board Director, a BLM Activist, Accused of Molesting 62 Children.

VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR DAILY INSANITY WRAP: The Paranoid Were Right All Along About Fauci (And More)

Plus:

• The return of the Bistromath economy
• Shoplifting in the age of men without chests
• Duped again by China — or worse

Bonus Sanity: Ron Desantis… again.