MEHDI HASAN CAN’T DO HIS JOB IF PEOPLE ARE GOING TO KEEP POINTING OUT THAT HE’S LYING:

Mehdi made a factual claim. The community note (correctly) pointed out that the factual claim was wrong.

The real reason Mehdi seems upset is he is used to lying to his audience without accountability. https://t.co/yo43sReWEP

— AG (@AGHamilton29) April 29, 2023

If you had any doubt that @CommunityNotes has become another weapon of the right on Musk’s Twitter, see the BS community note added to my Bill Maher clip, after MAGA folks demanded it. It makes a point that is irrelevant to the one I am making (re intraracial ‘rates* of killing.) pic.twitter.com/GXZrli4Lx9

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) April 29, 2023

NY TIMES TRIES AND FAILS TO GIN UP A SCANDAL ABOUT MY LAW SCHOOL: How Scalia Law School Became a Key Friend of the Court. Here’s the deal: Law schools like Harvard and Yale used to go to a lot of effort to grow ties with Supreme Court Justices. But given increased Progressive intolerance, this would cause more trouble than its worth. So it provided an opportunity for a few law schools not captured by the left, like Scalia Law, to swoop in. It’s great for the students who get to take classes for them, great for our reputation, and nice for the Justices to get a chance to interact with folks outside the Court (and the Justices, from what I hear, do take their teaching responsibilities quite seriously.)

As for the Times, the quality of the piece can be summed up with these excerpts.
Excerpt 1: “Scalia Law has offered the justices a safe space in a polarized Washington… and their personal needs are anticipated, from lunch orders to, in Justice Gorsuch’s case, house hunting.”
Excerpt 2: “[Scalia Law faculty member Jamil] Jaffer had clerked for [Gorsuch] on the appeals court and counted him as a friend and mentor. After the Supreme Court confirmation, Mr. Jaffer acted as the Gorsuches’ unofficial relocation consultant, meeting with a real estate agent and touring at least one equestrian estate in Virginia.”

I laughed when I got to that. Either the Times reporters are too dumb to distinguish between “Scalia Law helped Gorsuch with househunting” and “a friend of Gorsuch on the faculty of Scalia Law helped Gorsuch,” or they are outright dishonest. I’m guessing they aren’t the brightest bulbs in the chandelier, but in this case dishonesty is the more likely cause.

And by the way, have you noticed all the negative stories, the vast majority ranging from trivial to bogus, that have come out about the conservatives Justices over the past two weeks. It smacks of a coordinated media campaign, with “journalists” regurgitated stories they are spoonfed by left-wing dark money groups. I expect a lengthy investigative report from the Times on who is behind these stories, what they hope to accomplish, and who the funders are… never.

OPEN THREAD: Wave goodbye to the weekend.

WITH ALL DELIBERATE SPEED: Musk predicts next Starship launch in a “couple months.”

INDEED:

https://t.co/6Xx4ytDOzE pic.twitter.com/JOwBi54355

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 29, 2023

TAL BACHMAN: Memento Mori.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP IS UNDERAPPRECIATED: Lessons emerge as scientists unravel a new understanding of sleep.

Doctors are increasingly waking up to the idea that getting enough sleep is crucial. In 2022, the American Heart Association advised physicians that asking patients how many hours they sleep is as important as checking their blood pressure, smoking status, diet and exercise habits.

But many of us routinely force our bodies to fight sleep. We drink caffeinated beverages by day to stay alert, and alcohol to wind down at night. Some of us work all night and sleep in daylight. Others switch time zones and struggle with jet lag.

At the same time, neuroscientists are realizing that the timing of our sleep may be just as important as the amount. We are beginning to understand how we might work with, rather than against, the rhythms of our bodies. For example, new research suggests these rhythms may play a role in patients’ responses to cancer treatment. . . .

People whose lives are synchronized with their body clock signals are less fatigued, have better moods, maintain healthier weights, gain more benefit from their medications, think more clearly, and have improved long-term health outcomes, said neuroscientist Russell Foster, who heads the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute at Oxford University in the U.K.

Naturally early risers, or morning ‘larks,’ do best when they can wake up early and sleep early. ‘Night owls’ do best if they can sleep until later in the morning.

But when our routines don’t match our biological cycles, the body tries to compensate using responses that evolved to help early humans survive danger, neuroscientist Foster said. It churns out stress hormones, releases hunger hormones, pumps extra sugar into the blood and raises blood pressure.

For brief periods, this is not harmful. But when it lasts months or years, we become more vulnerable to cognitive and emotional effects and eventually to cardiovascular diseases, mental illness, diabetes, overweight and other metabolic disorders.

I believe it.

Plus: “Circadian rhythms shift with age. ‘Eveningness,’ or peak alertness at night, tends to be highest in adolescence. We drift toward ‘morningness’ as we age. One consequence of this is that teachers are generally more alert in the morning, but their students are more alert in the afternoon.”

UPDATE: Oops, link was wrong. Fixed now. Sorry!

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: BLM activist ruined white University of Virginia student’s rep over ‘misheard’ remark: report.

“RULE OF LAW:” Senator Schumer’s Letter to Chief Judge Godbey (NDTX): If you don’t do what I want, “Congress will consider more prescriptive requirements.” “It has come to this. The Senate Majority leader, who has no chance of actually passing court reform legislation, is issuing empty ultimatums to a federal judge. Anyone who can count to sixty knows such ‘prescriptive requirements’ are dead on arrival. And certainly Schumer knows that as well. But Schumer’s intent, like that of Durbin, is not to actually engage in good-faith discussions with the judiciary. Rather the goal, as always, is to undermine the authority of judges he disagrees with.”

Threatening the judiciary has become a habit with Sen. Schumer.

MORE AMNESIA: Revisionist history: Fauci and Weingarten distance themselves from the School Closure policy they enacted & encouraged: Media does not hold them accountable because they are political allies.

DEM-ENTIA: Outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot Develops Selective Amnesia About Chicago’s Violent Crime Problem Under Her Failed Administration.

READER FAVORITE: Carhartt Men’s Loose Fit Heavyweight Short-Sleeve Pocket T-Shirt. #CommissionEarned

NOW OUT FROM ANDREW WAREHAM: Perilous Shores (Five Young Men of the Fenlands Book 2).

NEWS I HOPE YOU CAN’T USE: 6 Ozempic facts that make sense of social media hype.

WELL, THEN WE KNOW WHAT THE REAL CRIME THERE IS: FBI agents search home of FTX exec who gave millions to Republicans.

Related:

At the Revere Hotel in Boston, FBI agents and Army Special Ops units were about to conduct a "training exercise".

In the "exercise", they would go into a room and interrogate a "role player".

Instead, they went to the wrong room, where an unsuspecting airline pilot answered the… pic.twitter.com/OmuBXouQQI

— Spike Cohen (@RealSpikeCohen) April 29, 2023

DAVID THOMPSON: Let Us Show Our Gratitude, They Cried Out In Unison.

MORE ON THE TEEN MENTAL ILLNESS EPIDEMIC: ‘The kids are not OK.’ Eating disorders among teens more severe than ever, new research shows.

THE DEEP STATE, MARK ONE: The Watergate Cover-up Never Ends. “That’s not in any way to excuse the many stupid things Richard Nixon and his cronies did. But Nixon was at best a peripheral figure. Then as now, D.C. is a rigged town, with very different rules for Republicans as against Democrats.”

WELL, GOOD: U.S. fish stocks improving against overfishing, NOAA says.

STOPPED CLOCK: CNN Panelist Drops the Hard Truth About Biden’s Speech at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

The pathetic nature of that scene wasn’t lost on everyone, though. Scott Jennings, who offered his critique on CNN of all places, pointed out how pathetic it was for the press to clap along to a president making fun of the fact that they are completely in the tank.

The line that will stick with me is “In a lot of ways this dinner sums up my first two years. I’ll talk for 10 minutes, take zero questions, and cheerfully walk away.” For the journalists in the room, he wasn’t laughing with you, he was laughing at you. The reality is, I think he’s mocking the press. The guy does not take questions, and he’s up there joking about it. And I’m just, and they’re clapping and they’re laughing about it.

Jennings’ commentary was made even more impactful by the fact that the rest of the panelists were drooling over Biden’s speech. They should feel as betrayed and belittled as those who watched the president mock them in person.

But I digress, Jennings hit the nail on the head. Biden was not laughing with all those journalists as they cackled at his badly read jokes (sometimes having to fight the teleprompter to get them out). He was laughing at them. The president sees the press as a subservient class of pawns that exist simply to prop him up amidst his failures.

What’s the point of being a Democrat in the White House if he can’t mock his operatives with bylines? Besides, it’s not like they’re ever going to fight back about it.

U.S. EVACUATES HUNDREDS OF AMERICAN CIVILIANS FROM SUDAN:

A convoy of 18 buses carrying several hundred U.S. citizens departed Khartoum on Friday as part of an organized effort to evacuate Americans from Sudan. The evacuees arrived at the coastal city of Port Sudan on Saturday, State Department officials said, and U.S. government officials are facilitating their onward journey by boat across the Red Sea to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

It’s the first organized effort by the U.S. to evacuate its civilians from the country amid clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces.

A source linked to the evacuation tells CBS News over 500 civilians are being processed.

Security around the convoy has been described as “tight” and passengers were instructed not to use their cellphones. The 12-hour drive to the coast was confirmed to be under “top cover” protection, likely from U.S. military drones.

Flashback: Joe Biden Comes Full Circle:

During a 2012 eulogy for George McGovern, Joe Biden recalled a confrontation he had with President Gerald Ford over pulling troops out of Vietnam. Ford had agreed to meet with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which included then-freshman Joe Biden, to discuss the administration’s military funding requests during the fall of South Vietnam on April 14, 1975.

According to Biden’s account: “I said, ‘Begging the president’s pardon, but I’m sure if the president were in my position, the president would ask the president the following question.’ I swear to God, it’s in the transcript. And Ford looked at me very graciously, and he said, ‘Yeah?’ I said, ‘With all due respect, Mr. President, you haven’t told us anything.’ They were talking about Sector 1, Sector 2, Sector 3, and with that the president turned and said, ‘Henry, tell them.’ And that was the first time it was decided that we were not going to try to sustain our presence [in Vietnam],” said Biden.

But Biden’s alleged statement, and the response from Ford, do not appear in the classified minutes of the meeting, which have been released by the Ford Library Museum. According to the transcript, Biden did speak up at the meeting to oppose military aid to help evacuate South Vietnamese allies alongside the U.S. troops. “I am not sure I can vote for an amount to put American troops in for one to six months to get the Vietnamese out. I will vote for any amount for getting the Americans out. I don’t want it mixed with getting the Vietnamese out,” said Biden, according to the transcript.

Found via Fred Bauer, who notes, “Biden has never made any secret of his tremendous admiration for McGovern, whom he views as a transformational and inspirational figure.” Which brings us neatly to both 2021 and today:

VITAMIN D UPDATE: The Vitamin D Deficiency Epidemic. “Symptoms of deficiencies or insufficiencies, aside from an anemic immune system, include musculoskeletal pains often diagnosed as fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome, osteoporosis, bones that break too easily, weak or small muscles, low sex drive, low testosterone levels, hypertension, increased blood pressure, endothelial dysfunction, sudden cardiac death syndrome in athletes, and a long list of other undesirable stuff. And it’s not just regular Doritos-eating couch potatoes that are being affected. Thirty-two percent of pro basketball players were found to be deficient, while 47% had vitamin D insufficiency.”

Plus: “Anyhow, to meet that 20 ng/mL level, the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is 600 IU of vitamin D for children and adults under 70, and 800 IU for those over 70. The Endocrine Society, however, didn’t much like those numbers. They prefer that people – at least those people that don’t get adequate sunlight – take between 1500 and 2200 IU a day, but even that’s based on guesswork and is still maybe a little too conservative.”

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Do We Even Know We Are All Socialists Now?

We talk about “George Soros” public prosecutors. But the nihilist Soros’ genius is always to be one step ahead of the game, applying what made him an outlaw in France to our popular culture.

No one anticipated that he would quietly flood rather obscure big-city prosecutorial races with hundreds of millions of dollars to elect hard socialists who were to use their ensuing power to engage in lawfare against conservatives and the prominent and make laws and target enemies that legislatures could not. Without a Soros-funded Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, and Fani Willis, the nation would now be reduced to speculating whether former president Donald Trump’s two-year unauthorized storage of some classified documents at a secure Mar-a-Lago was a worse infraction than former Vice President Joe Biden’s unauthorized storage of classified documents at three locations, including his garage, for six years.

Defunding the police is based on the implicit assumption that greater criminality and violence, mostly directed against the most vulnerable, is a small price to pay, given a) the stigmatized criminal is given exemption, and b) the architects of defunding have mechanisms to ensure they are exposed to inevitable spiraling crime rates.

Ditto gun control. The socialist point of neutering the Second Amendment is not just to disarm the populace, much less to prevent shootings. Rather, the aim is to ensure the government has a complete monopoly on arms, so that it can calibrate both the degree and nature of law enforcement, and thus render the citizen compliant and obsequious in order to ensure his protection from both criminals and the state.

Read the whole thing.

READER FAVORITE: JLHT 40X60 Monocular Telescope High Power Monocular for Adults. #CommissionEarned

YA THINK? Mascot makeover to avoid alleged ‘OK’ hate symbol may be ‘overreaction’: prof.