KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Why Are We Still Pretending That Andrew Cuomo Isn’t a Moron? “Frequent fodder here at the Briefing during this time has been the bumbling gubernatorial triumvirate of Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, and Andrew Cuomo. Make no mistake, I would love to be able to stop writing about them but they just won’t go away. Few people have benefited more from a toxic combination of liberal media bias and the participation trophy era than these three. The fact that they’re all still employed is kind of stunning when you think about it. Back when this country had more backbone shame would have made each of them tuck tail and resign.”

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Rep Ayana Pressley Postpones Financial Disclosure Amid Questions About Real Estate Dealings.

THE FCC STANDS UP FOR FREE SPEECH AND AGAINST DEMOCRATIC CENSORSHIP EFFORTS:

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr issued the following statement in response:

“The State’s Attorney’s Office, led by Democrat Marilyn Mosby, has launched a chilling and direct attack on free speech and journalistic freedom. The complaint her office filed with the FCC asks the Commission to censor a newsroom simply because journalists are doing their constitutionally protected jobs and shining a light on the work of the State’s Attorney. Invoking the power of the state to silence journalists for unfavorable coverage strikes at the very heart of the First Amendment.

“It is particularly troubling that a public official would work to silence reporters that are investigating her work at a time when federal prosecutors have already opened a criminal investigation into her activities.

“Indeed, the day after the State’s Attorney’s Office filed its complaint with the FCC, the targeted newsroom was awarded four prestigious Regional Edward R. Murrow awards for journalism excellence, including for one of its stories covering the work of the State’s Attorney’s Office.

“The State’s Attorney’s Office complaint alleges that there is ‘troubling, abhorrent, and outright dangerous’ conduct going on here. They are correct in this respect—it is the conduct of the State’s Attorney’s Office that is troubling, abhorrent, and outright dangerous.

“Yet this complaint is part of a recent and troubling surge in efforts by Democrat officials to pressure the FCC and its regulated entities into censoring news coverage and political speech that Democrats don’t like. The FCC should make clear that it will not operate as the DNC’s speech police. That is why the FCC must dismiss this complaint with prejudice by the end of today. No journalists should have a complaint like this from their city’s top prosecutor hanging over their newsroom.”

I think the proper response is a civil rights action. Punch back twice as hard, as a media-beloved former president said.

MEDIA BIAS? LET ME COUNT THE WAYS: Joseph Simonson, writing for the Washington Free Beacon this morning, describes how the Associated Press (AP), which is the standard-setter for many media organizations in terms of what to cover and how, bowed to pressure from open-border activists and stopped referring to the waves of illegals coming into the U.S. as a “surge.” Too harsh, suggests illegals are bad, etc. etc.

MARK JUDGE: #WeAreClosed. Does the Left Have a Point about Workers? “It also should come as no surprise that I met many Trump fans as a member of the proletariat. These people don’t want handouts. But they don’t deserve to get wiped out if one of their kids gets sick.”

JOEL KOTKIN: How Los Angeles Descended Into Neo-Feudalism and How to Fix It.

AMERICA THE NEUROTIC: Issues & Insights, like all sane people, cheers the news that the masks are coming off throughout the land, including in familiar places frequented by many like Walmart, Trader Joe’s and Costco.

But, I&I notes, there continue to be Karens demanding masks today, masks tomorrow, masks forever (in a manner of speaking), and that is worrisome:

“Certainly everyone is free to express their opinions about masks, and everyone is also free to decide to shop elsewhere if they don’t like the Trader Joe’s policy. Yet the response concerns us.

“Will enough Nervous Nancies and Timorous Toms boycott Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Costco and others that have liberalized their mask policies to force the companies to backtrack on their decisions (which will help restore the humanity dignity that was ripped away by mask rules)? Will they actively picket in front of stores in an effort to bully executives into yielding to their neuroses, fixations, and superstitions?”

I think not, but I can also see this becoming an enduring obsession among certain ranks of the multitudinous cranks, loonies and loudmouths on the Left. What do you think?

PJ MEDIA VIP ROUNDUP: Don’t forget that VODKAPUNDIT promo code if you’ve been thinking of joining us.

MATT MARGOLIS: Is Dr. Anthony Fauci a Vaccine Skeptic? “Why is he wearing a mask outdoors? If the CDC says it’s safe to be maskless when you’re vaccinated, and Fauci himself says the risk, even if you’re not vaccinated, is minuscule, why wear the mask? Is Fauci a vaccine skeptic? Does he not believe the vaccine works? What kind of message does it send when the nation’s top infectious diseases expert won’t go maskless when he’s been vaccinated?”

STACEY LENNOX: Time to Change How PCR Testing Is Deployed for COVID-19 and Reinstate the Doctor-Patient Relationship. “Throughout this entire time, testing was divorced from primary medical providers, severing the doctor-patient relationship. There were testing sites, and many times patients were receiving their results electronically. A doctor did not assess those who received PCR testing for symptoms, and the CDC has never issued treatment guidelines for symptom management outside of hospitalization.”

YOURS TRULY: Solving the Mystery of Blue Origin’s Failure to Launch. “Blue Origin isn’t stuck on the launch pad because they don’t get enough practice. They’re stuck because they’re trying to do the impossible: To compete with NewSpace firms using an OldSpace business model.”

NASHVILLE’S DRAW FOR BLUE-STATE REFUGEES.

Who are these transplants? Noted free-market economist Art Laffer began the conservative migration in 2006, when he moved from Southern California to the Nashville area, primarily for tax reasons. Tennessee has no state income tax and relatively low property taxes. With Laffer’s encouragement, Tennessee eliminated its estate tax as well. Laffer, who compiles an annual ranking of states for the American Legislative Exchange Council entitled Rich States, Poor States, has long championed Tennessee for its favorable economic policies. Tennessee is one of the nation’s most conservative states; President Trump carried Tennessee in November 2020 by a margin of 61 percent to 37 percent.

Tennessee also offers a mild, four-season climate, plentiful water, inexpensive electricity, natural beauty, and an abundance of undeveloped land. Fast-growing Nashville, the state capital, recently surpassed Memphis as the Volunteer State’s most populous city. Residents are drawn by Nashville’s music scene, cultural amenities, dynamic economy, and affordable housing. Nashville has a rich history and has long been known as the “Athens of the South,” explaining why a full-size replica of the Parthenon was built in in the city for the Centennial Exposition in 1897.
In recent years, as blue states have become increasingly inhospitable to conservatives, many center-right pundits have followed Laffer’s lead. Not surprisingly, a majority of the new arrivals have fled California, which last year declined in population for the first time in its history. The cadre of expats now located in the Nashville area include Sean Davis (co-founder of The Federalist); Roger Simon (novelist, screenwriter, founder and former CEO of PJ Media, and currently senior political analyst for The Epoch Times); Matt Walsh and much of the staff of The Daily Wire; author and commentator Candace Owens; and Fox News personality Tomi Lahren. The Volunteer State, long a bastion of rugged individualism, welcomes John Galt’s intellectual heirs with open arms. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee tapes his television show for the Trinity Broadcasting Network in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and Alan Keyes broadcasts his streaming show Let’s Talk America from Pigeon Forge.

Instead of going “on strike” and living in seclusion, as Rand’s heroes did, the outspoken denizens of this twenty-first-century version of Galt’s Gulch are turning the Volunteer State into a conservative platform. California expat Michael Patrick Leahy runs his digital media empire (The Tennessee Star and affiliated sites in the Star News Digital Media family) and three-hour daily radio show (The Tennessee Star Report) from his Nashville headquarters. Supreme Court litigator Cameron Norris of the boutique Beltway firm Consovoy McCarthy discovered—prior to the Covid lockdown—that telecommuting could be done long distance and moved back to his native east Tennessee. Now that Americans have been introduced en masse to the virtual workplace via Zoom, other blue state dwellers may figure out that they, too, can escape congestion and over-priced real estate by moving to Tennessee.

Roger Simon was a trendsetter.

FROM M. C. A. HOGHARTH:  Second.

Ensign Taylitha Basil wasn’t sure what to expect when her ship dropped her off at the officer training retreat at Quickwater Preserve. A hike up the mountain? She’s not much of a hiker. A trip down it in a canoe? Even worse, she’s not a great swimmer. An obnoxious peer who put himself in charge? An and Bast preserve her.

SO, WHAT YOU’RE SAYING IS: THEY AREN’T EXTINCT:  Rare orange-eyed owl spotted for the first time in more than 125 years.

THE PROBLEM IS THAT ALL LIGHTNING SEEMS TO BE KINKY:  How ‘straight’ lightning could prove the existence of dark matter: report.

EVERY TIME WE THROW ALLIES UNDER THE BUS WE SEND A MESSAGE TO POTENTIAL FUTURE ALLIES:  Afghans who helped the US now fear being left behind.

THE LAST TWO ARE NOT NATURAL RIGHTS AND WERE FDR’S CAMEL’S NOSE UNDER THE TENT:  The Four Freedoms Famously Portrayed by Norman Rockwell Are Under Assault.

But as Americans we have the right to fight for them using the first one. You know, the one that democrats and English Nobility think should be taken away.

IT IS HARD TO BELIEVE A WOKE FACADE COULD HIDE AN ABUSIVE NARCISSIST:  The sick ‘woke’ mom behind Devonte Hart’s tragic death.

BECAUSE WE USE WORDS:  Style Sheet, Peeps, Style Sheet.

I DON’T THINK ANYONE EVER CLAIMED OTHERWISE:  Bill Gates Proves Money Can’t Buy Morals.

And while money doesn’t confer evil, viewing success as proof of morality is insane.

SLEEP WITH TERRORISTS, WAKE UP WITHOUT A BED:  Yes, Associated Press Did Know Hamas Was In The Building.

So, which would AP prefer we believe? That they suck as investigators, or that they were actively collaborating with a terrorist organization? Because you know, it’s one or the other.

ARE WE ALLOWING A CABAL OF OUR ENEMIES TO DESTROY US WITH 1000 CUTS?  Train Carrying Fertilizer and Ammonium Nitrate Derails in Iowa, Town Evacuated, Railway Disabled.

I don’t know guys, it might be a coincidence.

But we’re still under attack, anyway.

CLEAN I TELL YOU, CLEAN:  Windham, New Hampshire, Ballot Audit Forensics Finds CCTV Cameras of Ballot Counting Machines in Audit Room Mysteriously Disabled for 90 Minutes.

Stop laughing.

What we should have done is a do-over.

Constitutional Crisis? Yeah, because having Xi’s hand-frauded team in charge of our politics isn’t a crisis for the document they’re making moot with executive orders? Look, you don’t have to be a meteorologist to see the gathering clouds. And we avoided a heavy rain by calling down a hurricane.

STILL SOME TIME TO SIGN UP:

ELECTIONS SO CLEAN THEY NEED A PROPAGANDA CORPS TO DEFEND THEM:  Arizona GOP Chairwoman Kelli War Explains the Current Political Propaganda War Taking Place in Maricopa County.

UNCONSCIOUS BIAS MEANS “WHEN DID YOU STOP BEATING YOUR WIFE”:   Blue Valley parents say Diversity Club video sent divisive message.

I think the left needs to stop pretending to be mind-readers and free-lance psychiatrists.

READER BOOK PLUG: From Stephen Hunter, Basil’s War: A WWII Spy Thriller.

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: South Carolina Governor Signs Open Carry Bill Into Law. “This is a big win, a hard fought victory. I’m celebrating tonight over this. But the fight isn’t over. They denied constitutional carry this time around. We’ll go in baby steps as incrementalists. I have no objections to incrementalism. Open carry this year, constitutional carry next year.”

Never give up. Never surrender.