JIM TREACHER: Ted Cruz Stops Wearing a Mask After Getting the Vaccine, Which Is Somehow Newsworthy.

Why?

This isn’t a rhetorical question. If these vaccines work, why do vaccinated people need to wear masks?

Why?

People are getting kicked off passenger flights for allowing their children to eat without masks, as if it were somehow possible for them to eat with their mouths covered.

Why?

Jen Psaki regularly stands at a podium in front of the White House press corps, all of whom are wearing masks, and she never wears a mask.

Why?

There hasn’t been a single reported case of someone getting COVID-19 from touching a surface, yet there’s still all this cleaning theater going on. A public figure walks away from a microphone, and somebody rushes in and sprays down everything he might’ve touched or breathed on.

Why?

Now one of the vaccines has been pulled entirely because there’s literally one chance in a million that if you’re pregnant or on birth control, you could get blood clots. That’s a 0.0001% chance.

Why?

None of this crap makes sense. There’s nothing scientific about any of this. It’s just hysteria. Superstition.

From everything I’ve seen and read, these vaccines work wonderfully. Miraculously, even. I’m getting my second dose next week, and I can’t wait. I’m not spending one more minute living like this than I have to.

Ron DeSantis has the best response to the multi-mask-obsessed left:

I REMEMBER WHEN HIGHER EDUCATION WAS SUPPOSED TO MAKE PEOPLE BETTER, MORE CRITICAL THINKERS: ‘Anti-racist journey’ prompts UNR lecturer to apologize for teaching ‘Jingle Bells,’ ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep.’

TATER TAUNTED: Project Veritas Triggers a Meltdown From Our Friend, CNN’s Brian Stelter (Video). “The CNN media guy was so unable to deal with the reporter, he chickened out and called a maintenance guy to remove him. He was left completely speechless by folks who are doing actual reporting, something he wouldn’t know anything about. CNN hasn’t answered the question about whether Chester is still employed by them. What was extra hilarious about it all was how Stelter was dressed, in shorts and a sweatshirt. The sweatshirt said ‘Journalism matters. Now more than ever.'”

IT’S AN ADMISSION OF GUILT: Superintendent’s George Floyd message that school district is racist draws federal civil rights complaint.

In June 2020, district Superintendent John Simpson posted to the school’s blog site claiming that the school district contributed to inequitable systems which disadvantaged its black students. It was part of a blog post lamenting the death of George Floyd.

“I’m not saying that all police officers are bad or all educators are bad, but they (we) operate within systems that, by their outcomes, clearly privilege one race over another. It’s undeniable,” Simpson wrote.

“As your superintendent and as a white man, I must hold myself and our school system to a greater level of accountability in how we see and support our Black children, staff and parents and how our work is leading to the dismantling of the inequitable systems and structures within our district.”

Parents Defending Education argues in its March 30 complaint that his statement should count as an admission that Webster Groves violated Title VI of the Civil Rights act of 1964.

That section of the act mandates that “no person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber made a similar statement last year, about racism being embedded in his university. That statement led to Princeton being investigated by the Department of Education for possible Title VI violations.

Heh. Make the enemy live up to his own book of rules. More like this, please. And sure, nothing will come of it, but the process is the punishment.

DEVELOPING: ELDERLY PRESIDENT SLOWLY MORPHING INTO FOGHORN LEGHORN. Biden calls Masters champ Hideki Matsuyama, 29, ‘Japanese boy’ in odd compliment.

BRYAN PRESTON: At the Alamo, a Tejano Hero Gets His Due.

According to woke Texas State Historical Association chief historian Walter Buenger, the Alamo is a symbol of “white supremacy.” Some might like for it to be that, but they are a fringe on the left and right extremes, and the facts keep getting in their way. It’s today’s woke history that’s oversimplified and racist. History is as complex as life itself.

Buenger is not a Texas Revolution historian and may not have heard of the Tejanos who died at the Alamo fighting against dictator Santa Anna, his betrayal of the Federalists, his abrogation of the 1824 Constitution, his 1835 proclamation branding those Federalists “pirates” if they lifted a finger to oppose him as he sought to disarm them, or the several other Mexican states besides Texas that rebelled against the hated dictator during the same timeframe. Those facts’ existence violates the revisionist narrative that wokes seek to create regarding the battle that was the crescendo of the Texas Revolution. The life-and-death decisions made by some Tejanos also get in the wokes’ way.

One of those Tejanos was Jose Toribio Losoya. Losoya faced a choice that changed the course of his life and his place in history. He was not alone in that choice. As historian Dr. Jody Edward Ginn has pointed out, Tejanos — native-born Texans of Mexican heritage — in 1835-36 were statistically slightly more likely to fight for Texas’ independence than were the Anglos Buenger and other woke historians claim were fighting for white supremacy and slavery.

Those Tejanos and Texians fought side-by-side as brothers. They had intermarried families. Shared neighborhoods and towns. A shared fate.

Remember the Alamo, and read the whole thing.

FEAR OF THE MOB: Minneapolis Public Schools to go to distance learning ahead of Chauvin verdict.

WHY ARE DEMOCRAT-MONOPOLY INSTITUTIONS SUCH CESSPITS OF RACISM? Oregon newspaper deletes tweet identifying police shooting victim as a white person after online uproar. ‘We generally do not identify race in news stories but…’

WELL, YES:

America’s major cities, particularly the ones that have tense relationships between black communities and heavily white police forces, are almost entirely Democratic run. Their city councils are Democratic. Their mayors are Democratic. In many cases, the governors of the states are Democratic. In the majority of these circumstances, there are no Republicans to blame. And for a little while, some non-conservative media institutions started asking the uncomfortable question of why Democrats, who insisted they always opposed racism, ran cities where African Americans perceived the police forces as irredeemably racist. As Benjamin Wallace-Wells put it in The New Yorker, “A whole generation of Democratic mayors have seen their reputations defined by their inability to manage the aftermath of police killings: Rawlings-Blake in Baltimore, Rahm Emanuel in Chicago, Bill de Blasio in New York, Pete Buttigieg in South Bend.”

(Running a city well is hard, and I think some of the media-celebrated cases of urban renewal over the past few decades have put too much emphasis on big, glamorous downtown projects and not enough emphasis on the basics of governance and quality of life — good schools, reasonable cost of living, and safe streets.)

Nobody wants to fix potholes when they can get national attention for sounding woke. Result: Increases in the amount of potholes and wokeness.

SPACE: SpaceX wins $2.9B contract to fly astronauts to the moon.

The move comes a year after the agency named three companies to design and build human landing systems. In addition to SpaceX, NASA also selected Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin of Kent, Washington, which partnered with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper on its approach, and Dynetics (a Leidos company) out of Huntsville, Alabama. The total combined value for those contracts was $967 million for a 10-month base period.

Interestingly, the Post reported that SpaceX received the smallest award in the initial go-round: $135 million compared to $579 million for Blue Origin, which was reportedly “furthest along” in its development.

Blue Origin has so far underperformed expectations.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: COVID-19 Has Accelerated College Closings. “A recent study shows nearly five hundred colleges faced little financial risk before the pandemic; however, over 20% of those colleges now face a high level of financial pressure. Even more, COVID-19 has exacerbated the negative effects of mismanagement on these colleges, as well as the colleges that struggled for survival even before COVID-19. One may ask: If those private colleges struggled to survive during the best of times, how can their (malfeasant) directors possibly save them during a global pandemic with no foreseeable end? The answer is simple: They cannot.” Pleased to say that this piece was co-authored a some former student of mine.

Related: Federal Judge Allows Student Tuition Refund Class Action To Proceed Against Quinnipiac University Over COVID-19 Shift To Online Learning.

The pandemic has thrown a lot of lefty-dominated institutions into vulnerable states — Hollywood, media, higher education, state and local governments — but will the right take advantage of that?

POLLS: Most want Hunter Biden investigated.

President Joe Biden hasn’t had much luck or made much of an effort in making good on his call for unity.

But his son Hunter has.

In a new survey shared with Secrets, 68% agree that the Justice Department should appoint an independent special counsel to investigate allegations that the president’s son engaged in shady international business and tax dealings while his father was vice president. Included was the president’s brother James, whose healthcare ventures are also in the legal spotlight.

The survey from TIPP Insights is bad news for the Bidens. Not only do 85% of Republicans want a special prosecutor separate from the FBI and the Biden administration appointed, but so do 65% of Democrats and 65% of independents.

I lack confidence in the DOJ’s willingness or ability to investigate the Bidens, but this indicates that the media silencing campaign hasn’t fully succeeded despite great efforts.

DON’T GET COCKY: “The early line: Republicans are going to sweep both houses of Congress next year.”

Related: NY Dem Flips Out When Joe Scarborough Questions How Dem Focus On Racial Politics Plays Out In 2022.

SO RACIST! Biden Keeps Trump Refugee Cap.

BIDEN STANDS UP FOR CHINA: Watch Jen Psaki stand up for literal Chinese propaganda that America is an evil, bigoted nation.

Classical reference in headline:

GLENN GREENWALD: Journalists, Learning They Spread a CIA Fraud About Russia, Instantly Embrace a New One.

Let’s express this as clearly as it can be expressed. Any journalist who treats unverified stories from the CIA or other government agencies as true, without needing any evidence or applying any skepticism, is worthless. Actually, they are worse than worthless: they are toxic influences who deserve pure contempt. Every journalist knows that governments lie constantly and that it is a betrayal of their profession to serve as mindless mouthpieces for these security agencies: that is why they will vehemently deny they do this if you confront them with this accusation. They know it is a shameful thing to do.

But just look at what they are doing: exactly this. These are not journalists. They are obsequious spokespeople for the CIA and other official authorities. Even when they learn that they deceived millions of people by uncritically repeating a story that the CIA told them was true, they will — on the very same day that they learn they did this — do exactly the same thing, this time with a one-paragraph Treasury Department Press Release. These are agents of disinformation: state media. And when they speak, you should listen to them with the knowledge of what they really are, and treat them accordingly.

Well, yes: “It’s Important To Be Honest About What Today’s Media Actually Are. They are Democrat propagandists and should be treated as such.” Their unrelenting war on Trump has made that plain.

Related:

It’s pure power politics. As Harry Reid said after being called on lying about Mitt Romney’s taxes, “Romney didn’t win, did he?”

Earlier: The New York Times’ ‘Russian Bounties’ Story Just Unraveled.

WE’LL BE SORTING OUT THE NEGATIVE SIDE EFFECTS OF THE LOCKDOWN FOR YEARS: Drug Overdose Deaths Skyrocketed to Record Levels Amid Pandemic Lockdowns, New CDC Data Show.

WELL, GOOD: Paris’ fire-damaged Notre-Dame cathedral ‘on course to reopen in 2024.’

WHO WINS, ‘GENETICALLY MODIFIED SKEPTIC’ OR ERIK MANNING: Genetically Modified Skeptic’s real first name is Drew and he makes an articulate case for the idea that all spiritual visions are remarkably similar, regardless of the individual’s particular faith tradition. For that reason, he contends, there must be an underlying natural cause, not a supernatural one, for such experiences.

Erik Manning is a Christian apologist who devours “literature, podcasts, lectures, and online classrooms produced by both Christians and skeptics.” Manning responds to Drew in a detailed, factual and civil manner. The result is a fascinating analysis that challenges the thinking of both sides.

So, hey, it’s Saturday and watching this video will give you something to think about today as you cut the grass, pull those weeds, run weekend errands, make plans to party tonight, or whatever else you do to make today productive and enjoyable, regardless of which side you come down on.

OPEN THREAD: Indeed.

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO SENT PAYPAL DONATIONS OR CHECKS: The thank-you notes have all gone out. If I somehow missed you, thanks very much!

SPACE: NASA, SpaceX are ‘go’ to launch Crew-2 astronauts to space station on Earth Day.

MY NEW YORK POST COLUMN: How corporations conspire with Democrats to hoard power at the public’s expense.

SPACE: NASA review advances first launch of astronauts in reused capsule.

I’M SURE THIS IS TRUE: Study: Later school start times aid sleep duration, quality for adolescents, teens.