A COOL AND LOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE BICYCLE MENACE: Cycling and the Power of White Privilege.

It’s time for cycling to think beyond white fragility, white privilege, implicit bias, and microaggressions, and begin to think about its root cause. Cycling must reject interventions that continue to individualize anti-Black racism, and work to break down the structures that allow whiteness to retain power in the sport.

Anti-racist efforts within cycling must move beyond the trite euphemisms of inclusion, diversity, sensitivity, and allyship, and begin to seriously consider the dimensions of power at play. Yes, control of cycling resources are [sic] important, as are safe spaces to ride one’s bike, but the power of whiteness within cycling remains unsullied. . . .

If cycling and its stakeholders are to take anti-Black racism seriously, it must frame its understanding of the world beyond the individual. To proclaim that Black lives matter would also mean being attuned to the ways in which whiteness, as a position of power, continues to be normalized on and off the bike.

Exit question: is bicycling more or less racist than mid-century modernist furniture?

(Via the Wall Street Journal; Classical reference in headline.)

EARTHQUAKE DETECTION: GPS satellites can provide faster alerts when big earthquakes strike, scientists say.

ME, IN CAPITAL MATTERS: Astroneurs: The Private Sector Goes to Space.

And check out my increasingly relevant recent book, America’s New Destiny in Space.

AS ALWAYS, LIFE IMITATES MONTY PYTHON: Cheese photo leads to Liverpool drug dealer’s downfall. “Carl Stewart, 39, was identified through his fingerprints after police analysed the image he posted in an online chat.”

Last minutes of the suspect’s freedom captured in exclusive video:

CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY ONE STEP CLOSER TO ABBOTT’S DESK:

The bill, HB 1927, initially passed the House, and later passed the Senate with amendments. Because the House refused to concur with the Senate’s amendments, the bill went to a conference committee comprised of five House and five Senate members to hash out differences.

The 10 legislators announced that they have reached a full agreement on the bill, which is now expected to pass both chambers this week. Gov. Greg Abbott says he will sign the bill.

Once he does, Texas would become the 21st state to adopt a constitutional carry law. Texas is one of the only Republican-led states that has not passed a constitutional carry bill.

In constitutional carry states, residents can legally carry a firearm without a license or any other government-applied restriction, ConcealedCarryStates.org explains.

Vermont has never restricted the right for adults to carry a firearm. Alaska was the first state to rescind its concealed carry permit requirement in 2003.

Abbott said that constitutional carry was a priority legislative item this year and declared that Texas would become a sanctuary state for the Second Amendment after 20 states have already passed constitutional carry laws.

Current Texas law requires individuals to obtain a license and pay a fee in order to carry a handgun, which Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, says, restricts Texans’ Second Amendment rights. Schwertner filed the House’s companion bill in the Senate.

Related: “‘The simple truth is that those who intend evil… don’t care what we do in this building,’ State Rep. Matt Schaefer, a Tyler Republican who authored the bill. ‘We are charged with defending the freedoms that are owed to Texans and guaranteed by the constitution.’”

Exit question: Is Texas ready for Governor Beto “Hell yes we’re gonna take your AR-15” O’Rourke?

WE ALL KNOW: New Report Points To COVID-19 Lab Origin? Wuhan Scientists Were Hospitalized In November 2019.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Other Regimes Will Hijack Planes Too: If Belarus gets away with it, authoritarian dictators around the world will have a new tool of oppression.

But don’t look to the Biden Administration for much. “All of these cases form part of what is becoming a new norm: Authoritarian states in pursuit of their enemies no longer feel the need to respect passports, borders, diplomatic customs, or—now—the rules of air-traffic control. In this new world, dictators are ever more prepared to arrest or murder political dissidents anywhere, no matter what citizenship they might have or which foreign laws or bureaucratic procedures might theoretically protect them.”

This is what happens when you have a weak America. And a weak America is Biden policy. But hey, no mean tweets.

UPDATE: E.U. Moves to Sever Belarus Airlinks Over Ryanair Plane Diversion. “The European Union on Monday called on all E.U.- based airlines to stop flying over Belarus and began the process of banning Belarusian airlines from flying over the bloc’s airspace or landing in its airports — effectively severing the country’s air connections to Western Europe.”

Go after Lukashenko’s offshore accounts and properties. Also, start broadcasting to his populace that he’s an illegitimate dictator. And produce funny web videos and memes mocking him. Dictators hate that.

REPORT FROM THE BLUE ZONES: A spate of shootings underscores Albany’s sad decline into mayhem.

WE’VE DESCENDED INTO SOME SORT OF BIZARRE HELL-WORLD IN WHICH THE SON OF JOHN AND YOKO IS A VOICE OF SANITY: Sean Ono Lennon’s scathing takedown of wokeness.

HEATHER MAC DONALD: The Revolution Comes to Juilliard: Racial hysteria is consuming the school; unchecked, it will consume the arts.

JOE BIDEN COVERS ALL THE BASES: Leaked State Department Memo Indicates Official Support for BLM Agenda.

A source within the Biden State Department wishing to remain anonymous has shared with Human Events News a document that indicates that all U.S. “Diplomatic and Consular posts” are being encouraged to display shows of support for Black Lives Matter on Tuesday, May 25, the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death.  The memo reads in part, “The Department supports the use of the term ‘Black Lives Matter’ in messaging content, speeches, and other diplomatic engagements with foreign audiences to advance racial equity and access to justice on May 25 and beyond (italics added) We encourage posts to focus on the need to eliminate systemic racism and its continued impact.”

The memo, which is in part a woke statement on social justice, part an apology for U.S. actions, and part an endorsement of all BLM materials, expressly encourages the display of the BLM flag or banner at U.S. facilities (except on the actual flagpole that holds the American flag).

Which is pretty rich, considering that the core of BLM’s protests are Joe Biden’s 1994 crime bill: What explains Biden’s chameleon-like transformation?

JIM TREACHER: Kevin Spacey Is Coming Back to Movies, Whether You Consent or Not.

Let Kevin Spacey work in boring Italian melodramas. There’s a long tradition of fading Hollywood actors hopping over to Italy to work, going back to Clint Eastwood in the ’60s. If those people want to hire Kevin Spacey, that’s their business. I don’t want to watch him onscreen ever again, but if they want to pay him to be on a film set, they can deal with whatever happens. Maybe he’s learned to control himself.

I just hope there are no child actors in that movie. Is pedophilia even illegal in Italy? Sorry, I promised no Italian jokes.

Ouch.

WHY DO DEMOCRATS HATE ISRAEL? Over 500 Democratic staffers urge Joe Biden to ‘hold Israel accountable.’

Just kidding. We know. Remember their names.

FIGHTING MANDATORY INDOCTRINATION: Legislation takes the ‘mandatory’ out of U. Oklahoma diversity course.

OLD AND BUSTED: Bomb Canada.

The New Hotness? Stoned Canada! A female army gunner in Canada reportedly fed her artillery unit weed-laced cupcakes during a live-fire exercise. “Like I said, this could have gone so much worse. Can you imagine a bunch of stoned-out-of-their-minds, paranoid soldiers firing Howitzer’s willy-nilly?”

FINALLY: NYC Mayor de Blasio Announces Schools Will Open in September.

De Blasio claimed the Big Apple has set a “gold standard” for opening schools safely with cleaning and masking protocols — and said he’s confident he can persuade hesitant parents to get on board with “a lot of communication” by the start of the school year on Sept. 13.

“We’re going to welcome parents to come into the schools, starting in June, [to] see how much has been done to keep them safe, get reacclimated,” he said.

“Anyone who has a question, concern, come into your child’s school — see what’s going on, [and] get the answers.”

The gold standard! I am dying because Oklahoma public schools have been open for months. How about Florida? Texas? Man, de Blasio is so full of it.

Well, that’s what happens when you can get away with murder — literally and figuratively — during a year when the pandemic shutdown flowed seamlessly into riots:

● Mayor de Blasio dances in Times Square with his wife after shutting down annual New Year’s Eve party.

● Bill de Blasio’s pandemic bungling.

● Suddenly Bill de Blasio Is Worried About ‘Violent Unrest’ — in Hasidic Jewish Communities.

● ‘We Do Not Have A Plan’: De Blasio Admits Having No Timeline For Reopening NYC Indoor Dining.

● Mayor de Blasio forced to defend his grasp on reality of New York City.

● NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio Invokes John Lennon’s “Imagine” To Dismiss The Idea Of Defunding Police.

● Bill de Blasio and wife stroll through Brooklyn’s Prospect Park amid coronavirus.

● De Blasio’s latest crazy, no-good nepotistic job for Chirlane McCray. McCray was appointed head of “coronavirus racial inequality task force.”

JOHN TRUDEL’S SPY THRILLER RAVEN’S REDEMPTION IS NOW AVAILABLE ON AUDIBLE and narrated by PJ’s own Victoria Taft.

MANDATORY INDOCTRINATION: Texas A&M class requires attendance at ‘Race Talks’ lectures.

OUT: DEFUND THE POLICE. IN: SEND REINFORCEMENTS!. “Grappling with a shortage of officers and increased crime, Minneapolis is seeking federal and state resources after the latest bout of violence in the city included a mass shooting that left a college student dead hours before his graduation Saturday.”

BLM’S fruit: “Nearly 200 Minneapolis police officers have left the force in the wake of the death of Floyd, with many filing post-traumatic stress claims due to the civil unrest that followed. Minneapolis has seen at least 31 homicides this year, not including this weekend’s violence.”

Related: Working-class people of color hate the riots the lefty elite keeps cheering.

BUT THAT’S NOT THE QUESTION. THE QUESTION IS WILL THERE BE CONSEQUENCES? Ryanair Plane Grounding in Belarus Was State-Sponsored Hijacking, CEO Says.

YES. NEXT QUESTION? Is the pandemic over in the U.S.? “Texas recently conducted a grand-scale experiment on whether it’s safe to hold mass indoor events. That experiment seems to have been successful. Full normalcy may be just weeks away for most of the country.”

UPDATE: Middle Tennessee State University ends mask and distancing requirements. This is the biggest campus in the state, bigger than UT Knoxville.

I WAS ROBBED IN SAN FRANCISCO WHILE THE CAMERAS ROLLED:

As I screamed “No!” and ran after him, the duo dashed off like Bonnie and Clyde and was long gone from the Presidio by the time the police responded to my call. But this being the Internet Age, two passersby somehow had the savvy to capture quick smartphone photos of the getaway and the license plate: CA 8HLL352.

The police officer said he was glad to have the license plate number but that robbery is so low-profile in the courts right now that even if they did catch him, without video proof, the thieves would be let go within a day or so. The camera and lenses would be sold, they would pocket the proceeds and go on to target someone else in the park. Sites like eBay and Craigslist would have new listings.

* * * * * * * *

I heard from so many of you Saturday, in response to my post about having my camera and gear stolen while in the middle of a video shoot. Thank you for that.

Among your comments:

“This is San Francisco’s fault.”

“The city is un-visitable now due to the crime.”

“Nobody can feel safe there anymore.”

I’m not buying that.

My story originally happened to run on the same day the New York Times did a piece on the growing problem of shoplifting in the city and the reluctance of local law enforcement to police minor thefts. Clearly, this is a trend that will not play well politically and will result in changes sooner rather than later.

And I believe it will because a natural wonder like San Francisco isn’t going away. Tourists will not turn their back on the city. And like I said, I will never give up on her.

Translation: Not all leftists who get mugged become conservatives.

Related: ‘Out of control:’ Organized crime drives San Francisco shoplifting, closing 17 Walgreens in five years.

CRISIS BY DESIGN: Secret Recordings Reveal Officials Discussing ‘Filthy’ Conditions of 4,632 Immigrant Kids Held in Texas Tent Camp.

Related: Jen Psaki explains that border czar Kamala Harris likely won’t go to the southern border anytime soon ‘given her purview’ as border czar (video).

TYLER O’NEIL: 60 Minutes Bucks Transgender Censorship to Reveal the Truth About Detransitioners.

LORDING IT OVER THE REST OF US IS THE ENTIRE POINT: Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer Gets Exposed for Lockdown Hypocrisy. (Again!)

As Stephen Kruiser suggested: Let’s Start Jailing Lawmakers Who Violate Their Own COVID Restrictions. “Imagine the pure, poetic justice of seeing Newsom, Cuomo, and some of the other Hitler youth (stole that from Animal House) cooling their heels in a holding cell after being caught with their masks off and their pants down.”