RIP: Diamond of ‘Diamond and Silk’ Has Passed Away.

STANDING UP TO RACISM AND BIGOTRY: Lawsuit Filed Challenging Affirmative Action in Texas Public Medical Schools. “Each of the defendant medical schools and universities, along with nearly every medical school and university in the United States, discriminates on account of race and sex when admitting students by giving discriminatory preferences to females and non-Asian minorities, and by discriminating against whites, Asians, and men.”

POWDERED THOUGHTS: Just Add Agendas and Stir! Kids’ll Love It! Heh.

I’VE SEEN THE LOCKDOWNS AND THE DAMAGE DONE: Study: Many young people struggled with substance abuse, mental health amid pandemic. Also the media hysteria.

INSURRECTION! Mark Green beats Dan Crenshaw in race to chair Homeland Security Committee. “Green, a combat veteran described by his colleagues as a rising star in the party, said that strengthening the border would be a top priority as he gears up to helm the panel.”

NEW STUDY DEBUNKS HILLARY CLINTON’S FAVORITE CONSPIRACY THEORY:

Never mind that a two-year probe conducted by Robert Mueller proved Democrats’ ‘Russian collusion’ conspiracy theory not to be true. Never mind that the recent release of Trump’s tax returns also showed it not to be true.

Now, even the Washington Post is saying it’s not true!

When Mueller came up empty-handed in 2019, disappointed Democrats still insisted that Russia had used trolls or bots on social media to steer the election toward Trump. Yet, the Washington Post’s Tim Starks reported on Monday (emphasis added), “Russian influence operations on Twitter in the 2016 presidential election reached relatively few users, most of whom were highly partisan Republicans, and the Russian accounts had no measurable impact in changing minds or influencing voter behavior, according to a study out this morning.”

As Ace asks, “Where do we go to get our last six years back?”

DEAL OF THE DAY: ThisWorx Car Vacuum Cleaner. #CommissionEarned

VITAMIN D UPDATE: Vitamin D improves immune response to tuberculosis, study finds.

BAN ALL THE THINGS! The Attack on Things That Work:

The loss of these techniques may not disturb those for whom fine dining is one restaurant reservation away—those with sufficient means who reside in locales with access to that level of finery. That leads us to perhaps the most important distinction between electric and gas overlooked by America’s busybodies: gas is cheaper. In most U.S. states, natural-gas appliances cost between 10 and 30 percent less to operate on a regular basis than electric alternatives.

The attack on natural gas appliances should be viewed as an extension of the war the nation’s regulatory apparatus is waging against gasoline-powered lawn equipment. The arguments that opponents of these machines deploy are myriad. They are bad for the environment. They throw “disease-spreading” particulate into the atmosphere. They shatter the bucolic placidity of the spring and summer months. These dubious assertions are necessary to convince you to devote more of your income and vastly more manhours to the work of lawn care.

There’s symmetry, too, with the undemocratic means by which America’s most neurotic states are depriving you of access to single-use plastics such as straws and shopping bags, incandescent lighting, and short-cycle dishwashers and laundry machines. Efficiency is the problem. If abstractions such as social justice and sustainability fail to convince you, then you must be cajoled or extorted out of your selfish attachment to proficiency. And if that doesn’t work, there’s always the force of law.

Of course, California super-sizes its bans: California looks to ban all gas and diesel truck fleets.

Which makes this statement by Gov. Newsom (D-French Laundry) an all-time classic in Orwellian doublespeak: “California is the true freedom state. Protecting liberty from a rising tide of oppression taking root in statehouses. Weakness, masquerading as strength. Small men in big offices. Freedom is who we are – anyone from anywhere can accomplish anything here.”

ATHENA THORNE: Time to Launch Rescue Operations at Children’s Gender Clinics.

BUT NOT MORE RECESSES OR PLAYGROUND TIME: New guidelines call for aggressive treatment of childhood obesity.

Related: In the age of “a pill for everything” now they want overweight kids on diet drugs.

HEADLINE OF THE DAY: FDA Fast-Tracks New Alzheimer’s Drug in Boost to Biden’s Reelection Bid.

OKAY, GROOMERS: Why Is NPR Promoting Teaching Children How To Give Oral Sex?

SOD OFF, SWAMPY: Biden Admin Considers Nationwide Ban on Racist Gas Stoves.

They’ll force us to put all our energy needs onto a grid with a single point of failure. When the power goes out, you can still cook on a gas stove — and in a real pinch, warm at least a small part of the house with it.

Besides, if the would-be world-savers were serious about clean electricity, they’d be building nuclear plants left and right.

What they’re really serious about is enforced dependency and scarcity.

Related (From Ed): No word if “Dr.” Jill has any comments on this issue:

KATIE PORTER WON’T WAIT FOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN, JUST ANNOUNCES SHE’S RUNNING FOR HER SENATE SEAT. “Feinstein, who is still in the seat, hasn’t said one way or another if she’s running or not, but that doesn’t matter to Porter, who just won re-election to the House. She wants to make the move over to the Senate because it’s a safer seat. She won’t be challenged every two years. Porter is skilled at raising money from small-dollar donors and is beloved by progressives. However, she isn’t without baggage. Just recently, it was discovered that she horribly mistreated a staffer who was a Wounded Warrior Fellow and apparently has a history of being abusive to staff, which includes accusations of racism. Is she the best California Democrats can do? Probably.”

Finally, the grownups are back: Holy impeachment! Democrat Katie Porter is slammed on social media for dressing up as Batgirl in Congress on same day as historic inquiry vote.

YES: With A DVD Player And Paperbacks, Anybody Can Beat Big Tech Censors.

Our lives have been entirely saturated by entities wishing to regulate our thoughts and lifestyles. They use complex algorithms on the devices they sell to us to harvest our data and control what information we see, hear, and access and then turn around to sell us more crap with the intention of further regulating and monitoring our behavior. The more dependent we grow on tech companies, and we grow more dependent with each passing day, the more power they have over us.

But there is one crucial way you can fight back. Buy and use physical media.

Something like a physical family Bible, instead of a digital version that your family can pass around on a tablet, can’t be further altered and has the added benefit of being imbued with generational sentimentality. Similarly, a physical photo album, albeit bulkier, isn’t stored in the cloud and can’t have its content scoured over by high-tech sensors as easily as an iPhone’s camera reel can.

When it comes to entertainment, a pre-existing DVD version of “Fight Club” wouldn’t include a fabricated ending created by the Chinese government, “The Simspons” season three box set wouldn’t have memory-holed Michael Jackon’s guest appearance, and pre-21st-century printings of Mark Twain’s books will maintain the integrity of the author’s satire while digital versions censor it to account for modern sensibilities.

I’ve been doing this for years.

VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR WEEKLY INSANITY WRAP: Brazil Is Trump’s Fault and So Is Literally Everything Else. “You know what’s Trump’s fault? The violent protests in Brazil, where they do political violence with the same enthusiasm and frequency as they play soccer.”

Plus:

• Biden mistakes Salvation Army for SEAL Team Six
• Climate change beats women
• The happiest dog in the world

So much more at the link, you’d have to be crazy to miss it.

USING AI TO DETECT AI: Was this written by a robot? These tools help detect AI-generated text.

Teachers, heads up.

FREE SPEECH VIOLATION: University of Wyoming punishes activist for calling transgender student ‘male.’

PAULA BOLYARD: Insider Emails PROVE Efforts to Censor Tucker Carlson Came From the White House.

STILL MORE VIOLENT THAN MOST JAN6 PROTESTORS CURRENTLY IN JAIL: Leftist Privilege? Jury Dismisses Charge Against Self-Described ‘Idiot’ Who Threw Cans at Ted Cruz.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: DeSantis admin requires public universities to report DEI, CRT-related expenditures. A small measure of accountability.

SARAH HOYT’S SHOCKED FACE IS RESTING COMFORTABLY: Plant-based plastics may not be as eco-friendly as they seem. “It would take an astounding amount of land and water to grow enough plants to replace traditional plastics — plus energy is needed to produce and ship it all.”

We’d all be a lot better off if we didn’t devote so much time, energy, and creativity to solving problems that aren’t problems.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Eggs Are $8 but White House Wants You to Know Inflation Is Gone. “The real problem here is that we, the people, pay our elected officials and bureaucrats in Washington far too much money. Even the ones who don’t arrive with a lot of personal assets or wealth get comfy pretty quickly.”

“AN ANOMALY:” Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket fails to reach orbit. “After a successful launch from Britain on Monday, Virgin Orbit confirmed its rocket carrying nine satellites failed to reach orbit, ending its ‘Start Me Up’ mission shortly after it began.” Space is hard.