THE CANADIAN CONVOY HAS STOLEN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE AND THE MEDIA IS NOT TAKING IT WELL:

The media cannot stand the fact that the narrative about the Canadian trucker convoy protest has gotten away from them and you can see how they feel about it by taking a look at how MSNBC is reacting.

The trucker convoy protest has been making its way through Canada’s capital city of Ottawa and has become the largest in history spanning an astounding 45 miles. At the center of the protest is the message that Canadians are rejecting the government vaccine, mask, and lockdown mandates, and the desire to be treated as free westerners, not subjects of a single man and his leftist whims. Canadians of all stripes showed up to show their support for the convoy over the weekend en masse.

The media was content to never speak of the convoy — unless it was to demonize it — as it was proof-positive that the people are not with them, the politicians they serve, or the ideology they support, despite all their claims to the contrary. The issue was that this gathering over the weekend around the truckers was so large that they had to acknowledge it.

Acknowledge it they did, but you could tell they weren’t happy about it, and consistently attempted to make them out to be the villains.

* * * * * * * *

“This. Is. A. Cult,” Scarborough finished.

A cult you say?

● ‘Cuomosexuals’ lament fall of groping gov: Cuomo was my shamelessly sexy God.

● ‘JUST STOP!’ ABC News reminds everybody that Andrew Cuomo merch is ‘trending all over Etsy.’

● A company is turning Dr. Anthony Fauci and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi into action figures.

● Texas company salutes Dr. Anthony Fauci with kitschy prayer candle.

● Review: Hot Cup of Joe, The Sexy Biden Coloring Book.

● NPR: Dozens of public health and disease experts have signed an open letter in support of the nationwide anti-racism protests. “White supremacy is a lethal public health issue that predates and contributes to COVID-19,” they wrote.

Earlier: Finally a Real Working-Class Revolt Against the Man, and the Left Hates It.

Exit quote: “I think it’s hilarious that the socialists are furious about the workers of the world uniting.”

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Related:

(Bumped).

EUGENE VOLOKH REMINDS GEORGETOWN LAW SCHOOL THAT it might face penalties for “political discrimination” against Ilya Shapiro under DC Law. “If Georgetown were to interpret its policies on discrimination and harassment as forbidding tweets that are seen as offensive or derogatory to particular racial groups, then I think it would be bound to apply the same rules to future tweets that are seen as offensive or derogatory to people who belong to or endorse any political party as well. I don’t think the policies should be thus interpreted, and in particular I don’t think the Ilya Shapiro tweet should be seen as violating those policies. But if they are thus interpreted, then that would have to cover future public statements by other Georgetown faculty related to political party (and, of course, religion) as well as race or sex.”

UPDATE: Eugene emails: “My apologies for not being clear, but I don’t think Georgetown would face political discrimination claims if it fired Shapiro – rather, if it fired Shapiro on the theory that his post was “discrimination” or “harassment” based on race, then it would have to fire other faculty that say things that might be seen as offensive or derogatory to (say) Republicans, because that would be discrimination or harassment based on political affiliation. (In states with broader laws protecting political activity, such as California, they would indeed be liable for discriminating against sharp critics of affirmative action; but D.C.’s political activity ban is limited solely to discrimination based on party membership or support.)”

My apologies for getting that wrong.

KEEP ON GRIFTING IN THE FREE WORLD: Welcome to the PMRC, Neil Young.

If you’re Generation X or older, you might be getting flashbacks over this whole “Neil Young vs. Joe Rogan & Spotify” contretemps. On one side, we’ve got a popular public figure who’s expressing his thoughts and opinions, just as America’s Founding Fathers told us we get to do. On the other side, we’ve got a bunch of miserable old fuddy-duddies who want to shut down free speech because they believe it hurts people.

In other words, Neil Young just revived the PMRC.

If you don’t know what the PMRC was and you’re too lazy to google it, here’s the short version:

Back in the ‘80s, a senator’s wife named Tipper Gore got sick of her kids listening to music she didn’t like, so she started an organization called the Parents Music Resource Center. The PMRC compiled a list of songs they found unacceptable, including “Darling Nikki” by Prince, “We’re Not Gonna Take It” by Twisted Sister, and “She Bop” by Cyndi Lauper. Then Tipper used her political connections to convince the Senate to hold hearings about this supposedly dangerous music.

In other words, a lot of Americans decided they liked what popular entertainers were saying, and a handful of busybodies tried to put a stop to it. “If we don’t want to listen to it, nobody should get to listen to it. We need to protect the helpless unwashed masses from themselves!”

Sound familiar?

It’s Jim Treacher, so read the whole thing.

FASTER, PLEASE: An electrically charged thin film patch used to promote wound healing.

Prior research has shown that applying electricity to wounds induces faster healing. Unfortunately, this approach has been limited by bulky and complicated machinery. In this new effort, the researchers created a small, flexible patch that takes advantage of electricity’s healing powers without the need for such equipment.

The patch is four-layered: the top and bottom layers are made of a type of electrically charged plastic and they get their charge through contact with the skin. One of the middle layers is made of a silicone rubber gel that helps the patch conform to the contours of the skin. The other middle layer is made of a shape-memory alloy material; its purpose is to pull the sides of the wound closer. The resulting thin-film patch is just 0.2 millimeters thick.

The researchers applied the patch to two kinds of wounds on test rats—straight and circular. They compared healing rates against other types of dressings and against undressed wounds. They found that circular wounds treated with the patch were 96.8% healed after eight days, compared to 76.4 to 79.9% for other dressings. Those that went untreated were only 45.9% healed. They found similar results in straight-line wound healing, though all of them healed faster than the circular wounds—such wounds require far less new skin development to heal.

Circular wounds are the hardest to heal.

REMINDER: Just because they’re ridiculous doesn’t mean they aren’t dangerous.

But don’t stop ridiculing them, either.

SQUAD GOALS: Here’s How Much AOC and the ‘Squad’ Would Personally Benefit From Student Debt ‘Cancellation.’

MEGAN FOX: ‘And Just Like That’ Writers Glorify ‘Exciting’ Divorce over ‘Boring’ Stability.

WE’VE DESCENDED INTO SOME SORT OF BIZARRE HELL-WORLD IN WHICH PIERS MORGAN IS A VOICE OF SANITY: Give me Joe Rogan over cancel culture vultures like Harry and Meghan anytime.

REPORT FROM THE BLUE ZONES: ‘Aspiring Rapper’ Posts Bail With Record Deal Money After Allegedly Shooting NYPD Cop. “The shooting was one of four in recent days in the increasingly crime-ridden cesspool of New York. This despite the city’s onerous control regime, at least for the little people.”

Gun control was never intended to disarm criminals.

CHINA IS ASSHOLE: Mandatory Olympics iOS and Android apps are spying on athletes for China.

A researcher has found that the mandatory Beijing 2022 Olympics app for iOS and Android is collecting and sending audio to Chinese servers.

On Thursday, researcher Jonathan Scott had posted his findings after reverse-engineering the mandatory MY2022 Olympics app. As it turns out, the app is capable of spying on Olympians and attendees and sending the audio to Chinese servers to be analyzed.

MY2022 is a non-optional app that must be used by both athletes and attendees of the 2022 Winter Olympics. The app is designed to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 and act as a central hub for information on events, weather, travel, and points of interest.

What are we doing, sending our young athletes to a country like mainland Communist China?

MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE: Even Marianne Williamson Backs Joe Rogan, Compares Deplatforming Someone to ‘Book Burning.’

QUESTION ASKED: Can The GOP Take Advantage of Its Big Opportunity?

JOE ROGAN BREAKS SILENCE ON THE LEFT’S ATTEMPT TO GET HIM REMOVED FROM SPOTIFY:

Starting with musician Neil Young, liberals and progressives have intensified their calls for Rogan to be censored for what they say have been “misinformation” from Rogan’s podcast about COVID-19, specifically his interviews with Dr. Peter McCullough, a cardiologist, and Dr. Robert Malone, an infectious disease specialist and inventor of the mRNA vaccine.

“I think there’s a lot of people who have a distorted perception of what I do, maybe based on soundbites or based on headlines of articles that are disparaging. The podcast has been accused of spreading ‘dangerous misinformation…both [McCullough and Malone] are very highly credentialed, very intelligent, very accomplished people and they have an opinion that’s different from the mainstream narrative. I wanted to hear what their opinion is. I had them on,” Rogan said in his video statement…Rogan said he does not know if either McCullough or Malone are right in their opinions but that’s the point of the podcast, to have a real conversation.

Neil Young’s intentions now seem like transparently obvious grift:

● Amazon and Apple Music flaunt support for Neil Young with special deals and playlists after legendary artist breaks from Spotify in ultimatum over Joe Rogan podcast.

● Neil Young’s Radio Channel on SiriusXM Is Revived After Spotify Removal.

Incidentally, it’s a good thing social media wasn’t around in the 1970s, considering this passage from Kenneth Tynan’s 1978 profile of Johnny Carson in the New Yorker:

On the wall behind [longtime producer Freddie] de Cordova’s desk hangs a chart showing the lineup of guests for weeks, and even months, ahead. Perennial absentees, long sought, never snared, include Elton John and Robert Redford. When de Cordova is asked why the list is so sparsely dotted with people of much intellectual firepower, he reacts with bewilderment: “That just isn’t true. We’ve had some of the finest minds I know—Carl Sagan, Paul Ehrlich, Margaret Mead, Gore Vidal, Shana Alexander, Madalyn Murray O’Hair.” This odd aggregation of names sprang from the lips of many other “Tonight Show” employees to whom I put that question, almost as if they were contractually bound to commit it to memory.

If the left’s goal is to get talk show hosts sacked because of misinformation spewn by their guests, Paul Ehrlich and Margaret Mead’s appearances alone would have been firing offenses.

GEORGETOWN PREDICTABLY DISAPPOINTS ON ILYA SHAPIRO. Sigh.

UPDATE: To be clear, the fight continues. A number of college professors, led by Eugene Volokh, have signed on to a letter in support of Shapiro’s rights — including a lot of names Instapundit readers will recognize.

I TOLD YOU SO: Vitamin D supplements really do reduce risk of autoimmune disease.

THE GRIFTERS: Biden’s Pledge To Appoint Black Woman To SCOTUS Was Quid Pro Quo For James Clyburn’s Endorsement. A promise Biden now portrays as high-minded in fact was a trade for an endorsement.

GERRYMANDERING IS EVIDENCE OF A BROKEN SYSTEM ONLY WHEN REPUBLICANS DO IT: New York Dems Are Gerrymandering GOP Districts Out of Existence.

TOP SELLER: TurboTax Deluxe 2021 Tax Software, Federal and State Tax Return with Federal E-file [Amazon Exclusive] [PC Download]. #CommissionEarned

I CAN’T REGROW A FROG’S LEG, I NEVER HAD ONE: Scientists regrow frog’s lost leg, unsure if method could work in humans.

ORGANIC FARMING CAN BE NICE PROVIDED YOU DON’T HAVE TO FEED LARGE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE: Sri Lanka to pay $200m compensation for failed organic farm drive. “A million farmers whose crops failed under a botched scheme to establish the world’s first 100-percent organic farming nation will be compensated.”

WEAKENING THE CASE FOR MANDATORY VACCINES: Britain to distribute new Pfizer COVID-19 antiviral drug Paxlovid.

DISPATCHES FROM THE FRENCH LAUNDRY: Maskless Gov. Newsom spotted at 49ers-Rams game despite mandate.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Despite a statewide mandate for universal indoor masking, photos captured Governor Gavin Newsom and other officials not wearing masks while indoors at SoFi Stadium on Sunday.

The governor was attending the NFC Championship game where the San Francisco 49ers lost to the Los Angeles Rams.

At one point during the game, Magic Johnson posed for a photo with Governor Newsom. Neither men wore masks.

Magic Johnson posted a separate photo on social media posing with San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. Again, none of them wore masks.

It’s curious to see California’s celebrities and Magic Johnson flouting SoFi Stadium’s COVID-19 Safety Protocols with no repercussions:

Effective December 15th, 2021: prior to entering SoFi Stadium, guests 5 years and older must provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result. For guests providing proof of a negative test, it is required that negative results from a PCR test are within a 48 hour period prior to the event and negative results from an Antigen test are within 24 hours of the event, per L.A. County Health orders. Guests 18 years and older must also provide a photo ID with a matching name.

I hope everyone attending the Super Bowl in skyboxes in two weeks remembers they’re going to be seen by a worldwide audience flaunting the stadium’s mask rules, knowing full well that similar privileges do not apply to Outer Party members and their children: LA schools to require students to wear non-cloth face masks.

PAULA BOLYARD: It’s Time to Fight Back: Refuse to Let Them Destroy Your Children and Your Way of Life. “Over the last year, we’ve seen brave Americans standing up to the mandates—defying them—in an effort to claw back some of the freedom we’ve lost since the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. Last week we saw courageous young people, including our own Megan Fox’s daughter, walking into school without masks and daring administrators to kick them out. But tyrants like New York Gov. Kathy Hochul are not backing down. They give every indication that they expect the ‘new normal’ to be a permanent condition—they want us masked and vaxxed from here to eternity.”

HMM. SARS-CoV-2 spike protein activates human endogenous retroviruses in blood cells. I have some knowledgeable friends who are concerned about this, though others say it’s more of a curiosity than a threat. I’m just a law professor who’s proud to even know what a human endogenous retrovirus is.

JUST A FEW ADVISORS, WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Biden Will Send U.S. Troops To Eastern Europe Soon—But ‘Not A Lot.’