READER FAVORITE: UABRLA Tire Inflator Portable Air Compressor. #CommissionEarned

COVID IS OVER: Weekly COVID deaths hit new record low, CDC data shows.

YEP:

Calvin Coolidge said that if you see ten troubles coming down the road toward you, nine of them will wind up in the ditch before they arrive. But that’s still a question of odds . . .

HOLLYWOOD IN TOTO: Flappr’s French Revolution Doc a Conservative Game Changer.

The film shows how our modern-day notions of left vs. right descend from the fact that during assembly French conservatives were seated on the right side of the aisle while the Communist Jacobins occupied the left.

The colorful language and historical anecdotes can’t hide the core message – the entire enterprise gave way to Napoleon and, as Professor Jimbo points out, achieved the opposite of what was intended.

The narrator’s arch voice, EQ-ed to sound like it’s coming out of an old reel-to-reel tape recorder, gets a bit grating after a while, but as guest blogger Greg Jones notes, “Professor Jimbo cares not for political correctness, but his historical knowledge is impeccable.” Click over to watch.

BUT GAVIN NEWSOM ASSURES ME THAT CALIFORNIA IS STILL AWESOME: It’s official: North Texas lands another headquarters move from California.

Irving City Council has given an economic incentives package for Kelly-Moore Paint Co. the green light, spurring forward the independent paint retailer and manufacturer’s headquarters move from California to Dallas-Fort Worth.

As part of the agreement, Kelly-Moore is expected to receive a $75,000 economic development grant.

Kelly-Moore, currently based in San Carlos, California, plans to move its base of operations to 15,000 square feet within 500 E. John Carpenter Freeway. It must do so by year-end 2024 per the agreement with the city.

The company is required to create 30 new, full-time jobs with an average salary of $100,000, as part of the arrangement.

Kelly-Moore previously relocated its manufacturing operations to Hurst [TX] in 2017.

Flashback: Yes, U-Haul Ran Out of Trucks for People Moving Out of California.

THE POWER LINE WEEK IN PICTURES: The Unbearable Bud Lightness of Being.

JOEL KOTKIN: The End of the Silicon Valley Dream.

ALL WE KNOW IS THAT HE’S CALLED THE STIG: NBC disinformation reporter is actually a partisan opinion writer.

[Ben Collins’] work doesn’t focus on breaking news stories nearly so much as it does on spreading naive disinformation. Collins’s intent appears to rest with scoring cheap Twitter hits and accruing the associated endorphin release gained when his sympathetic colleagues then praise his hot takes. Take what happened on Thursday when the SpaceX Starship rocket lifted off and shortly thereafter exploded over the Gulf of Mexico. This was a result predicted by SpaceX founder and Twitter owner Elon Musk and by engineers on the massive project. Still, Collins couldn’t help but weigh in on his Twitter feed, saying, “The kid gloves we in the press give this man is unbelievable.”

To be sure, Musk isn’t perfect. His commitment to free speech is flexible, for example. But again, Collins’s rhetoric isn’t exactly reporter-style rhetoric. It’s clearly a statement of loaded opinion. Of course, this isn’t the first time Collins has prioritized scoring cheap points against Elon Musk. Indeed, he was reportedly suspended by NBC News for a brief period for his rabid hyperventilating surrounding Musk’s purchase of Twitter.

Just a day prior to Collins’s foray into rocket science, he reacted after Twitter suspended a journalist from Wired for soliciting hacked information pertaining to conservative commentator Matt Walsh. That solicitation was a violation of Twitter’s terms of service. But Collins instead offered his familiar hyper-partisan glibness, tweeting, “Fun fact: This is the very same rule that was used to block distribution of the New York Post story about Hunter Biden, the greatest First Amendment violation in American history.”

Related: Are the Walter Cronkite journalism awards for real? “Ben Collins, the NBC News reporter who cried on television and demanded reporters do better in the wake of the Club Q nightclub shooting, received special recognition from the Cronkite Awards.”

Other 2023 awardees stand out, like ABC News’s Terry Moran. Moran earned his national program award for a Hulu special about voter fraud, and was at least partially recognized for his incredibly dogged reporting “from a Tudor Dixon rally in Michigan”. Remarkable stuff! Members of VICE News were awarded for “airing death threat voicemails to poll workers — and calling the perpetrators back.” One judge called the hard work of pressing play on another person’s iPhone “compelling and courageous.” Jordan Klepper, a comedian with The Daily Show who, naturally, only pillories the political right, received a “special recognition for using humor to inform and engage audiences.”

Walter Cronkite was not the perfectly objective journalist that some older generations like to romanticize. But he certainly was a lot better than the clowns who are receiving honors under the award named after him!

Or was he? Walter Cronkite: Liberalism in the Guise of Objectivity.

(Classical reference in headline.)

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Law student suspended for questioning Covid policies shares story: ‘These people put us through hell.’

TAMMY BRUCE: The Parasitic Nature of the Left’s Attack on American Children.

Attempts to legitimize the destruction of the nuclear family continue apace. This time the monstrosity of the argument is presented in virtual Technicolor glory by New York Magazine. In a featured opinion piece titled “Children Are Not Property” by Sarah Jones, a senior writer for the magazine’s politics coverage treats readers to an argument that is so predictably absurd some have wondered if it is actual satire or even written by artificial intelligence.

But sadly no, we must presume that Jones actually sat down and wrote the screed declaring parents threaten the well-being of children and somehow a bunch of strangers unrelated to children are a better alternative to raise and influence the most vulnerable among us. After the public school/teacher’s union debacle with our children and the continuing obsession with teaching them to be racist and transgender, you will be forgiven if you laughed out loud spurting that milk you were drinking through your nose. You’re not alone.

Jones writes: “Like any piece of property, a child has value to conservative activists. They are key to a future the conservative wants to win. Parental rights are merely one path to the total capture of state power and the imposition of an authoritarian hierarchy on us all. So it’s no surprise that children have long been a fixation to the right wing.” Moreover, as the New York Post reported, she bleats “’right-wing Christians’ have embraced the parental rights movement in a bid to mold their children how they choose, ‘much like any domesticated animal.’”

Great moments in projection. But it’s one that’s Comcast approved:

And it’s Nation magazine approved as well:

You may not be interested in the Gleichschaltung, but the Gleichschaltung is interested in you (and your kids).

THE TRUTH. THEY’RE AFRAID OF THE TRUTH. ‘What are they afraid of?’: Student govt. rejects hosting anti-woke survivor of Maoist China.

OPERATION GET-RID-OF-SLOW-JOE IS UNDERWAY: NY Times: IRS Whistleblower Claims Administration Is Mishandling Probe Of Hunter Biden. I mean, the other possibility is a sudden appearance of journalistic integrity, but the way to bet is that the establishment wants an excuse to ease Biden out and replace him.

And maybe not just Joe: “The letter said the client had information that would contradict sworn testimony to Congress from a senior political appointee, an apparent reference to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.”

DNC-MSM CONTINUES TO SHOW STRANGE NEW RESPECT FOR ORANGE HITLER: ‘To Trump’s Credit:’ CNN’s Don Lemon, Alyssa Farah Griffin Pounce on Chance to Bash DeSantis With Trump Praise.

HEH:

Dreadful news, which I feel duty bound to share. Activists in my mentions are trying to organise yet another boycott of my work, this time of the Harry Potter TV show. As forewarned is forearmed, I've taken the precaution of laying in a large stock of champagne.

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 21, 2023

IF THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT IT, IT’S BECAUSE THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO THINK AND FEEL THE THINGS YOU’D THINK AND FEEL IF YOU DID KNOW ABOUT IT: Nashville Police Deny Daily Wire’s Request For Trans Shooter’s Manifesto.

It has been 25 days since the shocking shooting spree, in which the killer — a woman who identified as a man and who this publication is not naming to avoid giving notoriety to shooters — carried out the massacre at the Covenant School before being gunned down by police. City Council members said shortly after the incident that there was a “manifesto” and that it would be released. But since then, state and local police have gotten “assistance” from the FBI in psychologically profiling the killer, which has been used as a reason to block release of the materials.

If it contained something bad for Republicans, it would have been leaked by now. Is that cynical of me? Yeah, and also correct.

I’M SO OLD, I CAN REMEMBER WHEN NEW YORK TIMES STAFFERS MELTED DOWN OVER SENDING THE TROOPS IN: Gov. Gavin Newsom calls in CHP, National Guard to help combat San Francisco’s ongoing fentanyl crisis.

JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: Reuters photos of young kids at Indiana NRA event slammed as ‘set-up’ by parents who say they never gave consent.

AND YOU THOUGHT DIVERSITY WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING: Stanford Law School’s Black Students’ Group Will No Longer Help Law School Recruit Minority Students in the Wake of Duncan Apology.

WAIT, DIDN’T EVERYBODY DIE AFTER NET NEUTRALITY? ‘People are Going to Die:’ The Great Twitter Meltdown Over the Loss of Legacy Checkmarks.

LIGHTNING DEAL: NORPERWIS 5 Pairs Reading Glasses. #CommissionEarned

IT’S EARTH DAY. AGAIN. CONTAIN YOUR EXCITEMENT:

Even the left finds the day more than a little glum just now though that’s because the world hasn’t ended yet. Remember—end-of-the-world doomsday scenarios make environmentalists happy, so when the end of the world fails to arrive on schedule, they get the sads.

Like The New Republic, which asks this week:

Remember When Earth Day Used to Be Cool?

A person could be forgiven for being cynical about Earth Day in 2022. Even ExxonMobil celebrates the holiday. . . ExxonMobil doing Earth Day is a lot like arms and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin co-opting International Women’s Day—a holiday which began as a protest of capitalism and war. . .

Many contemporary defenders of the planet despise Earth Day. In fact, at this point the hatred is an annual ritual, observed with headlines like “I’m an Environmental Scientist and I Hate Earth Day,” “I’m an Environmental Journalist and I Hate Earth Day,” and “I’m an Environmentalist and I Hate Earth Day.”

The author’s answer? More “mass protest.” Cue Greta Thunberg.

ExxonMobil “celebrating” “Earth Day” is a classic example of big business learning in the 1990s “that it’s pretty easy being green,” as Katherine Mangu-Ward of Reason wrote in 2006:

Ask Bob Langert about the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and he starts to chuckle. “When we meet the regulators, it’s kind of nice,” says the senior director for social responsibility at the McDonald’s Corporation. “We just got an award from the EPA. When we see the regulators, we always hope it’s because they’re giving us an award.”

* * * * * * * *

The idea of the rich corporate villain gleefully dirtying Mother Earth is powerful and appealing. Children of the 1980s encountered this supervillain in comics, movies, public awareness videos, and science textbooks. Times were good for mandatory recycling, for mandatory emissions reductions, for anything mandatory aimed at restraining corporate polluters.

But in the late ’90s, something peculiar started happening. The men in suits were still middle-aged, round, and white. They were still just as concerned with profit and golf. Very few of them sported tie-dyed attire, aside from the occasional whimsical Jerry Garcia tie. But the men in suits started caring. Or at least acting like they cared. Which, if you ask a spotted owl, is the same thing.

So environmental activists across the nation bought their own ties and started dealing with corporations as almost-equal partners in planet saving. Businesses in turn learned that it’s pretty easy being green.

All the way up to Obama’s crony corporatism and beyond.

Related: Earth Day predictions of 1970. The reason you shouldn’t believe Earth Day predictions of [2023].

53 years on, to paraphrase the late Kathy Shaidle on Trump as Hitler, I’m already on (at least) my fourth apocalypse:

Flashbacks:

• “Earth Day” Turns 50. Half a century later, a look back at the forecasters who got the future wrong—and one who got it right.
• “Earth Day” Founder And Notorious “Unicorn Killer” Ira Einhorn Has Died In Prison At Age 79.
• On the eve of 2011’s “Earth Day,” NBC stumbled into this headline and subhead to describe Einhorn: Earth Day co-founder killed, composted girlfriend. Ira Einhorn preached against Vietnam War and violence, but had dark side.

THEY ALL DESERVE TO DIE: BuzzFeed destroyed the media. The media returned the favor.

However, there is a larger narrative implicated in BuzzFeed News’ collapse, and it inevitably returns to that decision to publish the Steele dossier. BuzzFeed News was a beautiful idea that failed, not just because of the financial model, but because BuzzFeed News itself could never differentiate itself as being more trustworthy than either its parent company or the rest of the media. Why not? Because by publishing the Steele dossier — which we now know to have been partisan bunk concocted and spread with malevolent intent — BuzzFeed immediately rendered itself the least trustworthy news organization in America. I am not kidding about that, unless you consider “Occupy Democrats” to be a news organization. In February 2017, two months after publication of the dossier, they ranked as less trusted than either Breitbart, “social media,” or (this is the punchline) Trump himself.

And by setting the tone for mainstream-media coverage to follow, BuzzFeed News was — this gives me no pleasure to write — literally responsible for helping take down the entire rest of the media with its own reputation.

Eh, it gives me some pleasure to read. They didn’t have to be garbage people. They chose to be garbage people.

UNEXPECTEDLY! Bud Light’s marketing leadership undergoes shakeup after Dylan Mulvaney controversy. Alissa Heinerscheid, who has led the brand since June, takes leave of absence and is replaced by Budweiser global marketing VP Todd Allen.

Anheuser-Busch InBev has changed marketing leadership for Bud Light in the wake of controversy over the brand sending a can to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney with her face on it.

Alissa Heinerscheid, marketing VP for the brand since June 2022, has taken a leave of absence, the brewer confirmed, and will be replaced by Todd Allen, who was most recently global marketing VP for Budweiser.

Heinerscheid did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

As Charles Cooke wrote last Thursday: Bud Light’s Not-So-‘Inclusive’ Marketing.

In explaining her mandate as Bud Light’s VP of marketing last month, Alissa Heinerscheid made sure to hit all of the requisite buzzwords. “If we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand,” Heinerscheid warned, “there will be no future for Bud Light.” “What I brought to that” endeavor, she continued, “was a belief in, okay, what does ‘evolve and elevate’ mean? It means inclusivity. It means shifting the tone. It means having a campaign that’s truly inclusive and feels lighter and brighter and different and appeals to women and to men.” “Representation,” Heinerscheid concluded, “is sort of the heart of evolution.”

As a non-native speaker of this peculiar form of English, I feel obliged to ask what all of this actually means. Evidently, Alissa Heinerscheid believes that these unusual strings of words provided a comprehensible answer to the question she was being asked. To me, they merely invite more inquiries. Heinerscheid took over in July of 2022. Are we to conclude that, before that point, Bud Light was uninclusive, heavy, and dark? That there were large numbers of Americans who suspected that Bud Light was quietly bigoted? That the country’s bars were chock full of anguished “young drinkers” worrying audibly about the presumptive social trustworthiness of Corona versus Allagash White? And if they were, are we to believe that they’ve been assuaged by the company’s mystifying decision to place the face of a performing minstrel atop its brand?

Heinerscheid’s bid for “inclusivity” has certainly succeeded — check out the enormous ratio of comments to retweets on Bud Light’s last communication so far on Twitter:

Meanwhile, in attempt to put a Band-Aid on its self-inflicted bullet wound, Budweiser is reduced to running an ad built around all of its old cliches: John Nolte: Patronizing Budweiser Ad Laughed off Internet After Dylan Mulvaney Debacle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTMZKlkXP_k

The ad reeks of 1) desperation and 2) an ad campaign where someone wrote the following phrases on a whiteboard—heart of America, hope in tomorrow, American spirit—and then smugly walked off in the certainty we RedStateTards would forget all about the transvestite who prances around like an astonished reindeer.

These scenes look like they were generated by AI prompts.

“Two firefighter bros, one black and one white, doing a shake-hands-hug.”

“Two trucker-looking bros sharing a Bud on a porch in the country.”

“A Keith Olbermann look-alike wearing a shoulder patch that says “LAND OF THE FREE” raising an American flag (but don’t show the full flag).”

The ad’s Twitter “ratio” is hilarious…

“Hey @Budweiser. What’s next on your agenda after mocking women? Are you going to ridicule disabled veterans? Demand to defund police? Maybe dabble in a little bit of antisemitism?” asked one.

“My favorite advertisement by a mile was the Clydesdales after 9/11. It was absolute perfection. After your embrace of the trans agenda, glorifying a man looking for his 15 mins of fame by mocking women. I will never buy, drink or serve your beer again. #BoycottAnheuserBusch,” said another.

“Transgender rights and inclusion are issues that are proving deeply polarizing,” a Newsweek scribe who refers to Dylan Mulvaney as “her” notes. “A survey by the Pew Research Center last year found that 38 percent of Americans believed that society had gone too far in accepting transgender people, while 36 percent said it had not gone far enough.

So why go there with your beer marketing? Say what you will about Don Draper, at least he knew how to move product.

SUPREME COURT BLOCKS lower court restrictions on abortion pill.