STAR TREK: PICARD SEASON 3 REVIEW: Bad Fan Fiction With Noble Conviction.

I will say that season three of Picard is easily the best of the bunch, and certainly better than anything Star Trek-related that has come from [Alex] Kurtzman and company over the last fourteen-or-so years.

However, the man brought the bar down so low that even a fractional increase in quality feels like a galactic paradigm shift. At the end of the day, Picard is still a badly-written show. It’s just less badly-written than before.

Should you watch it? That’s a very hard question to answer. There were many moments in season three that I lauded and enjoyed, and just as many that caused me to double-facepalm like Picard in the classic TNG episode “Offspring.” It’s not a fantastic show, but it’s not a total train wreck, either. In comparison to season two, which I rightfully dubbed “unfathomable garbage,” season three can best be summed up as “bad fan fiction with noble conviction.” There’s a love for TNG here, to be sure, but it’s mired with incompetence and a remarkable lack of faith in its own fan base.

It’s always great to see Patrick Stewart on screen as Picard. If only he was served with much better writing than the three seasons of Star Trek: Picard.

DESANTIS NUKES REPORTER OVER ‘TOTALLY BS’ CLAIM: ‘Focus On The Facts And Stop Worrying About Narrative.’

DeSantis forcefully rejected the claims made by former detainee Mansoor Adayfi, who claims that he saw a picture of DeSantis on Twitter and remembered his face from nearly two decades ago.

“No. No. Not at all,” DeSantis said when asked if he witnessed any instances where Al Qaeda terrorists were allegedly force fed. “That’s BS. Totally BS.”

When the reporter mentioned that the former detainee claimed that DeSantis was present at force-feedings, DeSantis quickly fired back at the reporter.

“Who said that? How would they know me?” DeSantis responded. “Okay, think about that. Do you honestly believe that’s credible? So this is 2006, I’m a junior officer, do you honestly think that they would have remembered me from that? Of course not.”

“They’re just trying to get into the news because they know people like you will consume it because it fits your pre-ordained narrative that you’re trying to spin,” DeSantis continued. “Focus on the facts and stop worrying about narrative.”

This is the way.

KEEP ROCKIN’! Biden’s pre-written questions present a crisis of confidence.

So how does a question from a White House reporter make it to the president of the United States’ hands before she even asks it? One would think the White House itself, most likely the comms shop that works directly with them, has to be involved making preselection demands of reporters. Then reporters would have to be willing to go along with this, which violates all sorts of long-standing ethics about speaking “truth to power.” Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer tweeted, “No WH reporter would ever tell me what question they intended to ask POTUS. It would be unethical — not to mention soft — to do so.”

This should be a legitimate scandal for this White House, as they try to push an eighty-year-old president onto the country for a second term while it appears he cannot answer questions without a cue card. Subramanian should explain who at the White House she’s coordinating with, and her bosses at the LA Times should say something, too. Yet so far, no explanation has been offered. Subramanian herself is refusing to answer inquiries and the LA Times has simply gone silent on the matter. The White House isn’t accountable, either, because they are clearly in cahoots with the people who should be holding them accountable.

“Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines” has been an Insta-phrase for years. But it was nice of the L.A. Times and the White House comms shop to make it official yesterday.

(Classical reference in headline.)

WELL, THAT’S DISTURBING: Hackers Are Breaking Into ATT Email Accounts to Steal Cryptocurrency.

#JOURNALISM: Reuters Uses Lies to Defend Their Photographer Over Disputed NRA Show Child Photo.

Flashback: “So, basically, my butt refuted The New York Times.”

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Comedy Under Attack: Stand-Up in the Age of Woke Mobs.

How many security guards does it take to stage a comedy show?

That’s not a joke, and it’s certainly not funny. Comedians increasingly risk their lives for trying to make us laugh.

The Slap heard ’round the world was only the beginning.

Yes, Will Smith’s assault on Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars gala got plenty of attention. The media also pounced when a member of the audience jumped on stage at the Hollywood Bowl last year and attacked Dave Chappelle, a knife in his pocket.

Other, more ominous threats of violence routinely fly under the media radar.

Right-leaning comedian Kvon, whose stage show is both traditional and mostly bipartisan, shared an Instagram post this week sharing the security measures behind his recent show.

Read the whole thing.

ROBERT SPENCER: Arizona State Rep Caught Hiding Bibles. Guess Which Party She Belongs To.

READER FAVORITE: Surge Protector, Outlet Extender with Night Light. #CommissionEarned

WHAT TO DO WHEN THE MOB TARGETS YOU. My colleague Mike Allen discusses the Chronicle of Higher Ed’s feature piece on what happened to Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Junot Díaz after a woman accused him of sexual misconduct in front of a crowd at an academic conference. This was seized upon by the usual suspects: BuzzFeed led the auto-da-fe, with the Washington Post, NPR, Vox, and CNN not far behind, and so the mobbing began, with more and more accusations coming out of the woodwork, most of them simply wrong.

So what do you do when you’re the Diaz of the moment? 5 tips: 1) Expect moral disorientation. 2) Don’t apologize. 3) To the mob, your personal life is political. 4) Realize facts don’t matter to the mobbers. 5) You need to get help. This may seem obvious when you’re not at the center of it, but actually following these is tough when you are. Mike has more at the link. If you know someone who’s going through this, they could really use these tips.

“INCLUSIVITY” IS NEWSPEAK FOR “GROUPTHINK”: Bar loses customers after warning patrons it will ‘not tolerate intolerance’ among guests about Bud Light.

WATCH OUT, OZEMPIC: Appetite-Control Capsule: Ingestible Electroceutical Tames Hunger Hormones.

MILTON FRIEDMAN ISN’T RUNNING THE SHOW ANYMORE: Britons ‘need to accept’ they’re poorer, says Bank of England economist. Chief economist Huw Pill says workers and firms should stop trying to pass on rising costs by hiking prices or demanding better wages.

DUELING CAMPAIGN ADS: Trump Crushes ‘Failing, Weak’ Biden Admin in New Video.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: South Korea, U.S. agree to strengthen ‘space alliance’ during NASA facility visit.

FOR WHAT APPEARS TO BE PROPAGANDA RATHER THAN COMBAT: Russia Finally Sends T-14 Armata Tanks to Ukraine. “An auto loader famous for jamming that now cannot be accessed and cleared when it does jam, is somehow heavier and slower than the tank it has replaced, and comes combined together in a package so expensive the company that made it immediately went bankrupt. The country that bought it cannot afford it and it has about as much export potential as English whiskey.”

READER FAVORITE: JAY-PARK Flashlights High Lumens Rechargeable. #CommissionEarned

ON THE SAME DAY TUCKER CARLSON ACCUSES ELITES OF ‘COLLUDING,’ THEY GET CAUGHT COLLUDING:

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson made his first comments on Wednesday evening since parting ways with the giant cable news outlet, accusing the government and elites of “colluding” in support of a “one-party state.”

Calling most debates in mainstream media “unbelievably stupid” and meaningless, Carlson said in a short viral video, “And yet, at the same time… the undeniably big topics, the ones that will define our future, get virtually no discussion at all.” He listed some, “War, civil liberties, emerging science, demographic change, corporate power, natural resources — when was the last time you heard a legitimate debate about any of those issues? It’s been a long time.”

Carlson continued, “Debates like that are not permitted in American media. Both political parties and their donors have reached consensus on what benefits them, and they actively collude to shut down any conversation about it.”

“Suddenly, the United States looks very much like a one-party state,” he added. “That’s a depressing realization. But it’s not permanent.”

During a White House press conference on Wednesday, President Joe Biden was caught holding a cheat sheet that gave him advance knowledge of a question topic from a reporter.

Keep Rockin’!

SLEEP: Should you consider a “sleep divorce”? Here’s what experts say.

GOOD: The “right to repair” fight heats up.

RIP: Jerry Springer dies aged 79: Legendary talk show host passes away ‘peacefully’ at Chicago home months after being diagnosed with cancer — as family says ‘he’s irreplaceable and his loss hurts immensely.’

FROM EACH ACCORDING TO THEIR STUDY HABITS…: Now Comes ‘Equitable Grading’ to Dumb Down Our Children.

21ST CENTURY MEDICINE: First pill for fecal transplants wins FDA approval.

THEY FINALLY GOT THE PORTLAND THEY WANTED: Woke Portland grocery store to close after 50 years in business due to economic issues.

Many retailers are struggling to survive due to the rampant crime in the city. What is to be Portland’s first Shake Shack was hit by vandals before it even opened.

Others have chosen to shut down or abandon the city completely. Earlier this month, REI announced it was closing its only Portland location after almost two decades in the Rose City because the store “had its highest number of break-ins and thefts in two decades, despite actions to provide extra security.”

In March, woke pizza chain Hotlips announced the closure of three of its five Portland stores and Cracker Barrel also announced it was closing its only remaining locations in the city.

This followed an announcement from Walmart that it was closing its Portland area locations due to a lack of profits.

Gooder and harder, Portland.

OR MAYBE YOU WILL: You Won’t Believe the Fire Sale Price on This San Francisco High Rise.

21st CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: We’re conjoined twins and share a vagina — but only one of us has a boyfriend.