OF COURSE IT IS: Boston Police sergeant and founder of anti-vaccine mandate group placed on leave accuses Michelle Wu of retaliation.

GOTTA WATCH RAND PAUL FILET FAUCI, AGAIN: Dr. Faux Chi’s studied outrage just doesn’t stand up well at all to Sen. Rand Paul’s thoroughly documented cross-examination.

PEOPLE GOTTA HAVE SOMETHING TO DO: AI is quietly eating up the world’s workforce with job automation.

REPUBLICANS POUNCE! DeSantis Reelection Campaign T-Shirts Cash In on Florida Vacationing Dems.

TOP SELLER: On/Go at-Home COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Self-Test, 2 Tests Per Pack, Test Results in 10 Minutes, FDA Authorized. #CommissionEarned (Bumped)

GREAT MOMENTS IN CORPORATISM: Nancy Pelosi – A Socialist Capitalist who gamed the system to make millions of dollars.

I DUNNO, WHO’S BEEN TRYING SUPER-HARD TO MAINTAIN THAT DIVIDE? Who wins and who loses if the political divide on Covid breaks down — as it seems to be breaking down because of Omicron? “But those who loathed Trump agonized over every comparison to the flu because it seemed he wasn’t taking things seriously enough. I think he was trying to steel us for the fight and avert panic, but anti-Trump people were already in a panic over Trump and — in that election year — they wanted Trump to fail. So I see why people split politically over something that wasn’t inherently political. . . . You can see right there that the Atlantic writer — Derek Thompson — is going to say that the Democrats have changed their beliefs because the facts have changed. But the political landscape also has changed: The Democrats are in power, they’re in charge of the long hard fight, and they’re the ones who stand to lose in elections coming up later in the year. That’s reason to act like we’ll be fine, we can make it. Keep calm and tough it out. . . . Here’s why the breakdown of the political divide could help Democrats. If fighting Omicron is a losing game, the perception that it’s not a fight anymore keeps the Democrats, who are in charge, from looking like losers.”

The facts haven’t so much changed as they’ve suddenly been acknowledged.

Plus, from the comments: “Don’t worry, the sky will not stop falling. Look for another crisis, that only further empowering the federal government can save us from, to materialize.”

ACTUAL SCIENCE THWARTED AGAIN:  “The Campaign to Thwart Paleogenetic Research into North America’s Indigenous Peoples.”

BAIZUO ALERT: ‘Just call the police’: The Insufferable White Privilege of Gun Control Advocates.

I HAD BEEN ASSURED THAT SNOWFALLS WERE A THING OF THE PAST: NY and Boston face coldest temperatures since 2019 and up to two feet of snow Tuesday: More than 15MILLION are under wind chill alerts as East Coast temperatures dip 45 below zero.

MATT MARGOLIS: How Biden’s COVID Strategy Failed in One Chart.

QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED:

UPDATE:

(Updated and bumped.)

SCENES FROM AN ACTUAL INSURRECTION: State and Local Governments Spent $5.6 Million on Lawyers for Illegal Immigrants.

Following a review of local and city governments that partnered with a group that seeks to provide counsel to noncitizens, the Immigration Reform Law Institute found that at least $5.6 million in taxpayer funds from state and local communities was earmarked for these deportation defense programs, which it described as “a conservative estimate [that] does not include numerous other localities that fund their own independent anti-deportation programs.”

“These programs are an insult to every law-abiding American citizen and legal resident,” said Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of IRLI, in a statement. “Our laws clearly state that noncitizens charged with civil offenses do not have a right to legal representation. Yet we have radical anti-borders groups starting these programs and sticking unknowing citizens with the bill. It’s outrageous.”

The findings highlight the growing state-level efforts to combat federal immigration enforcement.

It might be fair to ask after this last year: What federal immigration enforcement?

RAND PAUL: A UNITER, NOT A DIVIDER! Unity: Sen. Rand Paul is pleased to announce that ‘Dr. Fauci and I finally agreed on something in our Senate hearing today.’

YES: E-Waste Is a Cybersecurity Problem, Too: Toxic chemicals can leach out of old devices—but so can sensitive data.

HOLLYWOOD’S NEW RULES:

There was a feeling, among those who didn’t hew to the new orthodoxy, that it was becoming harder not only for certain people to find work but for a certain kind of content—ballsier, more provocative—to get made.

They were scared of what was happening. The fear, one prominent director said in an email, is “the audience stops trusting us. They begin to see us as a community twisting ourselves into a pretzel to make every movie as woke as possible, every relationship mixed racially, every character sexually fluid, and they decide that we are telling stories set in a fantasyland instead of a world they know and live in. If that happens, and they decide to throw themselves instead into video games 24/7, we will lose them.”

Movies and shows that were once widely acclaimed but are now verboten, writers and directors said, included “Blazing Saddles,” even though it was co-written by Richard Pryor; “The Bad News Bears,” even though it featured a multiracial cast; “Tootsie,” because transgender activists; and “Rocky” (“bad guy CANNOT be black,” a director explained in an email). Nor would “The Wizard of Oz” get greenlit. (“The munchkins? Forget it,” the director said). Nor would “All in the Family,” probably the most influential show of the 1970s. (“Archie Bunker”—the main character—“is basically a Trump voter,” a producer explained.) “South Park,” which debuted in 1997, has been grandfathered in. “Otherwise, no way,” another producer said.

All of which may explain the very strange story of the brand new $484 million Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

Read the whole thing.

SOMETHING WOKE IN THE AIR: American Airlines: Black Lives Matter Yes, ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ No.

I LIKE OLIVE OIL: Higher olive oil intake associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality.

GOODER AND HARDER: California Considering Insane Plan to Double its (Already High) Taxes.

The proposed amendment would hike several key taxes to fund a state-level government healthcare scheme. According to the right-leaning Tax Foundation, it would increase the average household’s taxes by an astonishing $12,250.

It’s estimated that the amendment would increase state revenue by $163 billion a year, which is more revenue than California had ever seen in an entire year before 2020. (That means it’s effectively doubling the state’s taxes.)

Related: There Aren’t Enough U-Hauls for Fleeing Californians.

UPDATE: How High Will California’s Taxes Go Before There’s No One Left To Tax?

(Updated and bumped.)

FRAUD, BULLYING, INTIMIDATION: Disgraced FBI No. 2 Andrew McCabe Calls For Feds To Treat ‘Mainstream’ Conservatives Like Domestic Terrorists. “I can tell you from my perspective of spending a lot of time focused on the radicalization of international terrorists and Islamic extremist and extremists of all stripes… is that this group shares many of the same characteristics of those groups that we’ve seen radicalized along entirely different ideological lines.”

MEDIA MYTH ALERT: William Randolph Hearst’s ‘I’ll furnish the war:’ 25 reasons why it’s a towering media myth.

WHY DOLPHINS SEEM SO HAPPY: Study: Female dolphins have functional clitoris that provides pleasure.

TO BE FAIR, THAT’S BECAUSE THEY’RE IDIOTS AND WORSE: Dr. Fauci, other U.S. health officials draw criticism in Senate hearing over COVID-19 changes.

EXLUSIVE INTERVIEW: J6 Detainee Describes Mental Torture of Solitary Confinement: ‘I Miss My Mom.’

I’VE SEEN THE LOCKDOWNS AND THE DAMAGE DONE: Remote learning during pandemic leads to negative behavior in kids, study finds.