COVID FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY: This was the Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s front page:

As James Lileks wrote last year:

The story had no “Two weeks to stop the spread” messaging. The lockdown was open-ended, although I seem to recall we thought it was supposed to be two weeks, then reviewed. In two weeks the headline would be “New Target — May 4” which was almost a month away.

The rules were adjusted to let landscapers go back to work.

On May 3 a story noted that the target date was now May 17. A “business analyst was quoted as saying he would still stay home because he thought “There will be a couple of waves of death,” and that the skyways should be all closed because they were a “cesspool” of disease.

On the 14th the lockdowns were modified: “faith gatherings of 10 or fewer” were permitted, and the paper noted that people “can leave the house more.” Restaurants, bars, gyms, and the like would be closed until June 1st. Another order: “anyone who can work from home, must.”

To ensure those open-ended lockdowns, our future would-be vice president went full Orwell: Walz Implemented COVID Hotline To Snitch On Neighbors.

The hotline generated thousands of reports – against people playing basketball, walking their dogs, or attending church, local outlet Alpha News reported in 2022. Walz’s administration continued to monitor the hotline until November 2020, though it remained operational until June 2022.

In one example of a complaint, someone alerted authorities to a church service that wasn’t following Walz’s “legal requirements,” the outlet noted.

“I am aware that the apostolic Lutheran church at [address] is planning to hold church services oct 2-4^th [sic]. Hundreds are expected And [sic] they will be serving meals in the church dining hall. I don’t believe this fits with legal requirements and I am. Aware [sic] that multiple families that attend this church currently have coronavirus.”

People also called in lists of “non-essential” businesses that remained open or didn’t strictly follow government masking requirements.

A recording of the hotline circulating online reveals a prerecorded message telling callers they have reached the “Office of Public Safety Stay At Home Hotline.”

But not everybody had to stay at home: Getting back to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune in 2020, Lileks wrote that “There was nothing on the front page on June 1st about COVID restrictions lifting, because it was the sixth day of the Floyd Protests.”

That was the day that Walz referred to “the week of righteous anger being expressed by community leaders and all people of conscience,” in a press conference.

And that feeling of “righteous anger” was infectious! During those legendarily “peaceful but occasionally slightly fiery protests,” Walz’s wife was imbibing the sweet smell of small businesses in flames, his daughter was tweeting advice to the rioters on whether or not the National Guard or SWAT would be present, and Kamala was offering to bail out those few who were actually arrested.

Why, it’s almost as: The Riots Are Part of the Plan.

Also Covid five years ago today:

Three years later, Fauci was still dissembling about masks: Anthony Fauci continues to mislead about masking, as CNN confronts him (amazing video). It works for individuals but not populations, is his new line, but, this too, lacks data.

In 2021, (P)resident Joe Biden’s handlers were tweeting:

“Well, it’s not a request, it’s a demand, and the president of the United States does not get to tell me or any other American citizen what to wear,” Tucker Carlson said in response. “He’s not offering a choice. He’s laying down an ultimatum. He’s saying if you don’t get vaccinated, you must wear a mask. Again, that’s not within his powers to demand.”

Two years later, with some hardcore Biden supporters still wearing masks, America’s Newspaper of Record was goofing on Democrats’ long obsession with intermingling face coverings and violence:

And if you missed it from Steve earlier today: It’s the 5th Anniversary of the Most Cringe-Inducing Moment of the Lockdowns.

5 YEARS AGO: Celebrities join together and sing Imagine to help us with the lockdown pic.twitter.com/f86TmZom1B

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) March 25, 2025

It’s easy to picture the clueless futuristic historian in Woody Allen’s Sleeper responding to the above clip and saying, “At first, we didn’t know exactly what this was, but we’ve developed a theory.  We feel that when citizens in your society were guilty of a crime against the state, they were forced to watch this.”