THE WORST SCANDAL OF THE PANDEMIC: Death and Lockdowns. There’s still no proof that lockdowns save lives but plenty of evidence that they end them, as I found by looking at the toll of “excess deaths” during the pandemic. Last year in the United States  there were 130,000 more deaths than normal that were not attributed to the coronavirus.

These excess deaths occurred disproportionately among the young and middle-aged, minorities and low-income workers — groups hit especially hard by the lockdowns. The toll has been especially high in locked-down California but not in unlocked Florida. The mortality rate among younger people soared in America but not in Sweden, where it has been below normal.  All of which confirms that the lockdowns are “trickle-down epidemiology” — protecting the laptop class at the expense of the working class — and constitute one of the greatest public-health mistakes in history.

PLAUSIBLE, ALAS: Biden sleepwalks into a stagflation nightmare: US economy simply doesn’t have the productive capacity to meet the demand created by Biden’s stimulus package.

OPEN THREAD: Hope your week is as good as your weekend.

FROM SPACE TO SPAC: Satellite veterans warn of space SPAC downside. “Space ventures have been rushing in the last six months to take advantage of increasing investor appetite for SPACs, or special-purpose acquisition companies. Often referred to as ‘blank check’ companies, SPACs offer space ventures a significant — and relatively quick — cash injection as they are fast-tracked to the public markets. . . . Suborbital spaceflight venture Virgin Galactic sparked the current space SPAC wave with its 2019 merger with Social Capital Hedosophia. In late 2020, space logistics startup Momentus and satellite-to-device specialist AST & Science announced SPAC deals. Space-based data ventures Spire and BlackSky and launch providers Astra and Rocket Lab all announced SPAC mergers between Feb. 2 and March 1. . . . In a separate interview, Viasat CEO Mark Dankberg compared the rush of companies going public with sky-high valuations despite little or no revenue to the dot-com bubble at the turn of the century. ‘I think it’s very dangerous,’ Dankberg told SpaceNews.”

DEPENDS ON HOW MANY TIMES: Is it safe to reuse plastic bottles?

THE GIANTS OF THE GOLDEN QUARTER CENTURY ARE PASSING AWAY: NASA engineer Glynn Lunney dead at 84. “He led the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs before retiring from the agency in 1985, then led human spaceflight activities in private industry with Rockwell International and, later, United Space Alliance until his retirement in 1995. Lunney received the Presidential Medal Freedom as part of the Apollo 13 Mission Operations Team in recognition of actions that made it possible to save three Apollo 13 astronauts aboard a spacecraft that became disabled on the way to the moon on a 1970 mission. Under Lunney’s guidance, the team worked with the astronauts to shut down the command module systems so that the lunar module could be used as a lifeboat for the crew during the journey home to Earth keeping the crew alive and safe while NASA’s teams developed longer-term plans for successful re-entry and splashdown.”

GEORGIA OFFICER RELIEVED AS SPOKESMAN AFTER MEDIA FALSELY SUGGEST HE SYMPATHIZED WITH SUSPECTED ATLANTA SHOOTER:

Baker’s status within the sheriff’s department is currently unknown. Neldner’s statement didn’t go into detail.

Earlier, Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said in a separate statement that, though Baker’s comments were “taken or construed as insensitive or inappropriate,” they “were not intended to disrespect any of the victims, the gravity of this tragedy, or express empathy or sympathy for the suspect.”

“Captain Baker had a difficult task before him, and this was one of the hardest in his twenty-eight years in law enforcement,” Reynolds said.

“I have known and served with Captain Baker for many years. His personal ties to the Asian community and his unwavering support and commitment to the citizens of Cherokee County are well known to many,” the statement added. “On behalf of the dedicated women and men of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office we regret any heartache Captain Baker’s words may have caused.”

As of this writing, Rupar’s selectively edited video and his accompanying commentary, the things that sparked the firestorm aimed at Baker, have been shared by more than 38,500 social media users.

Rule of thumb: If you ever, ever, see Rupar share a brief snippet of remarks made by a public official, always look for the full context. There’s a 99.9% chance there’s more to the story.

Reset the Vox counter:

And likely, some at Vox are proud of another of Rupar’s accomplishments:

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): It’s interesting how the media/political/academic apparat is, in unison, echoing the propaganda line of the Chinese Communist Party on this subject.

TOO BUSY LECTURING HIM ON MASKS: FAUCI DIDN’T TELL SEN. PAUL HE FUNDED CHINA VIRUS CREATION AT WUHAN VIROLOGY LAB.

Flashback: Fauci’s NIH funded controversial gain-of-function viral research at Wuhan lab to get around US ban on dangerous research.

As such in October 2014, because of public health concerns, the US government banned all federal funding on efforts to weaponize three viruses – influenza, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

In the face of a moratorium in the US, Dr Anthony Fauci – the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and currently the leading doctor in the US Coronavirus Task Force – outsourced in 2015 the GOF research to China’s Wuhan lab and licensed the lab to continue receiving US government funding.

The Wuhan lab is now at the center of scrutiny for possibly releasing the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and causing the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Fauci’s role here, though a matter of public record, continues to receive surprisingly little comment.

Related (From Ed): The mask is slipping, Dr Fauci…He’s a cable-news star first and a scientist second.

THE TYRANNY OF ‘LIVED EXPERIENCE:’

Piers Morgan got the heave-ho from Good Morning Britain for saying he didn’t believe a word of what [Meghan Markle] said. That’s pure blasphemy. Disputing lived experience is to 2021 what disputing the Word of God was to 1521. Ian Murray of the Society of Editors was pushed out for challenging Harry and Meghan’s claim that the British press is racist. ‘Show me proof’, he essentially said. Big mistake. You do not ask for evidence to substantiate claims of lived experience. Data and analysis count for nothing in the face of what people feel. The truths of social experience — the measurable reality of racist attitudes in the press or among the population, for example — are subordinate to an individual’s perception of what his or her lived experience has been. To muddy a victim’s impression of life with cold talk of analysis is to compound the oppression they feel. Just genuflect to their lived experience. Ask no questions, venture no facts.

And yet appearances can be deceptive. For even amid this almost religious elevation of ‘lived experience’, things are not as they seem. Not all lived experiences are taken seriously. Some lived experiences are more equal than others. Consider the stark contrast between Meghan Markle’s professed experiences and Priti Patel’s. Meghan’s — her impression that there is racism in the royal family, in the British press and in the hearts of many ordinary British people — was made sacrosanct with extraordinary swiftness. It acquired the status of moral incontrovertibility almost overnight. Patel’s lived experience, on the other hand — her experience of racism as a child and sexism as an adult — was disparaged, mocked, and consciously denied any social importance whatsoever.

As Glenn wrote in one of this recent New York Post columns, “The woke think of themselves — and want everyone else to think of them — as deeply moral. If they have a flaw, it’s that they just care too much. They’re too idealistic, too empathetic, too eager to make the world a better place. That’s bulls–t (pardon my French, Pepé!). If you look at what they do, rather than what they say about themselves, it quickly becomes obvious that the woke are horrible, awful people, and they should be treated as such and reminded of this whenever they raise their head.”

THE LOCKDOWNS CAME WAY TOO LATE TO DO ANY GOOD: Novel Chinese coronavirus likely was circulating in October 2019, U.S. researchers say.

Plus: “Scientists also used epidemic simulations to understand the early phase of the pandemic. Experiments showed only 29.7% of simulated epidemics went on to become ‘self-sustaining epidemics.’ ‘The remaining 70.3% of epidemics went extinct,’ scientists said.”

Well, in the real world the Chinese were allowing/encouraging people from Wuhan to travel internationally well into 2020, so there’s that.

THIS SHOULD BE FUN: Trump Returning to Social Media With ‘His Own Platform’ in Several Months: Adviser.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: How to Get the Most From Your Range Training.

HE CAN’T EVEN DELIVER A PIZZA: Can Joe Biden Deliver a Sci-Tech Renaissance? You certainly won’t get one from “net neutrality, the Iran nuclear deal, and a government-wide climate focus.” And in fact, headline notwithstanding, nothing in this article suggests any particular reason to expect scientific progress to bloom under the Biden Administration.

THE BAD NEWS IS, THEY DO THIS BY BLOCKING ANDROGEN RECEPTORS: White button mushrooms could slow progression of prostate cancer.

MARY KATHERINE HAM: From Cat Lady to Dog Mom.

THERE’S NO COUNTRY SO ADVANCED THAT POLITICS CAN’T F*CK IT UP: The fall of Chile is a warning to America.

WHY ARE GEN X, GEN Y LESS HEALTHY THAN BOOMERS? It’s a deep-dive medical data study conducted at Ohio State University and here’s the summary:

“Researchers found that, compared to previous generations, members of Generation X and Generation Y showed poorer physical health, higher levels of unhealthy behaviors such as alcohol use and smoking, and more depression and anxiety.”

TYLER O’NEIL: Leftist Media Bias Is a Threat to Democracy, Judge Warns in Scathing Dissent.

“The increased power of the press is so dangerous today because we are very close to one-party control of these institutions,” Silberman warned. “Our court was once concerned about the institutional consolidation of the press leading to a ‘bland and homogenous’ marketplace of ideas. It turns out that ideological consolidation of the press (helped along by economic consolidation) is the far greater threat.”

“Although the bias against the Republican Party—not just controversial individuals—is rather shocking today, this is not new; it is a long-term, secular trend going back at least to the ’70s. (I do not mean to defend or criticize the behavior of any particular politician). Two of the three most influential papers (at least historically), The New York Times and The Washington Post, are virtually Democratic Party broadsheets. And the news section of The Wall Street Journal leans in the same direction,” Silberman noted. He added that these papers set the “orientation” of coverage for the Associated Press and most large papers across the country.

“Nearly all television—network and cable—is a Democratic Party trumpet,” the judge added. “Even the government-supported National Public Radio follows along.”

Silberman also noted the tremendous influence “Silicon Valley” enjoys over “the distribution of news. And it similarly filters news delivery in ways favorable to the Democratic Party.” He cited Facebook’s and Twitter’s actions to suppress The New York Post‘s bombshell story about Joe Biden’s involvement with Hunter Biden’s notorious foreign deals.

Read the whole thing.

JERRY, JUST REMEMBER — IT’S NOT A LIE IF YOU BELIEVE IT. Pelosi: Don’t Believe Your Lying Eyes — Biden Has Border ‘Under Control’ (Video).

DEMOCRATS BRAVELY DEFEND THE LEISURE CLASS: Schumer Insists on Keeping Beachfront Bailouts for Wealthy Americans’ Vacation Homes.

QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED: This lady asked people what their “woke breaking point” was. Here are 55 of the best and most eye-opening responses.

21st CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Walking, talking, feeling ‘Westworld’-style sex dolls coming within 10 years.

Nobody tell notorious robophobe Matthew Yglesias. “He seems to have a particular fear of fembots, the analysis of which I will leave to the professionals.”

WAR ON SCIENCE: My school still forces me to mask outside, alone.

HEY, WHO THE REAL-LIVE VERSION OF CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES ON THEIR 2021 BINGO CARDS? Reddit investors ‘adopt’ 3,500 gorillas in less than a week.

Here’s an exclusive live look at the apes gathering among humans:

HOW’S THAT SPACE PROGRAM COMING ALONG: The biggest asteroid to visit Earth in 2021 zooms by our planet unusually fast today. Luckily it’s just a drive-by visit, and it isn’t coming to stay. “The asteroid takes more than two years (810 days to be exact) to complete one orbit and won’t pose an impact risk to the Earth for centuries, despite 2001 FO32’s classification as a “potentially dangerous asteroid,” NASA said.”