OPEN THREAD: It’s not Monday yet.

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Sad: Invitations To Unabomber’s Funeral Mailed Out, But No One Wants To Open Them.

UNEXPECTEDLY: Trans-Identified Male Places First In Women’s Category At Belgian Waffle Ride North Carolina.

SPACE: Space Force assigns 12 national security missions to SpaceX and ULA.

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Film Preservation Groups Silent on French Connection Censorship.

Martin Scorsese is more than just a world-class filmmaker.

The Oscar winner has used his clout to promote films across the culture, understanding how his voice can move the medium forward. He also helped create The Film Foundation in 1990, a group dedicated to “protecting and preserving motion picture history,” according to its mission statement.

It’s one of several groups devoted to that cause, one that secures the legacy of not just specific films but maintains a valuable part of western culture.

Organizations like The Film Foundation would be the most obvious source of outrage for a recent case of film censorship. Multiple versions of 1971’s “The French Connection,” which won the Best Picture Oscar, have trimmed a sequence for airing racially insensitive slurs.

The scene doesn’t celebrate that ignorance. It’s the filmmaker’s way of describing why the film’s anti-hero, Gene Hackman’s Popeye Doyle, is such a complicated soul.

So far, few people have spoken out against the overt censorship. The mainstream Hollywood press has aggressively ignored the issue. Celebrities, so often vocal on social media, have stood down on the matter.

As John Nolte adds: If They’ll Censor The French Connection, They’ll Censor Anything.

You see, great art—truly great art—forces us to deal with complicated emotions. I know I’ve said this before, but it’s an important point. Great art confronts us with all the complications, contradictions, and gray areas we find in real life. Great art forces us to work through those complications, to ruminate, confront, consider, and face up to them. This is a wonderful exercise for the human spirit because, in the end, we come out a little wiser and with a thicker skin.

And that’s why Gene Hackman’s Popeye Doyle is one of the movie’s greatest characters. Like so many of us, he’s a walking contradiction—an immoral man doing a righteous, selfless, and brave thing. After being confronted with this, we walk out of the theater carrying this confusion. We ask ourselves why, even with his glaring flaws, we still admire him. Working through that is a healthy exercise. Disney and its fellow Woke Nazis want to stop Americans from conducting that exercise, so they dumbed down The French Connection.

“Ask yourself: What else have they tried to sneak past us…? What other movies and TV shows are being quietly vandalized, censored, and infantilized that we don’t know about?,” Nolte adds. “Buy hard copies. Buy them now. Because that’s the goal, you know… These acts of vandalism have nothing to do with sensitivity. Nope, these acts of vandalism are all about keeping us simple-minded.”

THE TEMPORARY RETURN OF LINDSEY 2.0: Lindsay Graham lets George Stephanopoulos know he will not be silenced.

PJM ALUM ANDREW KLAVAN: Why Modern Movies Suck (Video).

UPDATE: Here’s a link to the full one hour 11 minute video.

TANKER FIRE CAUSES PART OF INTERSTATE 95 IN PHILADELPHIA TO COLLAPSE, CLOSING MAIN EAST COAST ARTERY:

A tanker truck fire shut down I-95 in both directions after an elevated portion of the heavily traveled interstate collapsed in Philadelphia on Sunday morning, state officials said, raising concerns about possible travel headaches throughout the Northeast.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said the fire closed all lanes between Exit 25 and Exit 32, which includes Allegheny Avenue, Castor Avenue, Academy road and Linden Avenue.

Philadelphia Fire Department Captain Derek Bowmer said emergency crews responded shortly before 6:30 a.m. local time after receiving a report of a vehicle being on fire on the interstate. Authorities later identified the vehicle as a gasoline tanker truck.

The fire is under control and city and state officials are “responding to address impacts to residents in the area and travelers affected by the road closure,” the state fire department said in a statement to USA TODAY. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

No need to worry, though:

Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg said he was monitoring the fire and collapse and was in touch with the governor and Federal Highway Administration to offer “help with recovery and reconstruction.” And the National Transportation Safety Board said it was working with the Pennsylvania State Police to conduct a safety investigation.
President Joe Biden was also briefed on the collapse and officials offered assistance to local and state authorities, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

Well, that’s a relief.

Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth: Pennsylvania Gov. To Declare Disaster Declaration After I-95 Bridge Collapse, May Take ‘Months’ To Rebuild.

WELL, IT CERTAINLY REDUCES YOUR RISK OF SYPHILIS: Masturbation May Actually Protect Against Pathogens. Here’s Why.

I’M GONNA GO WITH MAY 1, 2020. When should you come out of Covid isolation? Experts weigh in.

STRESS: Bed bugs’ biggest impact may be on mental health after an infestation of these bloodsucking parasites. “Bed bugs are back with a vengeance. After an absence of around 70 years, thanks to effective pesticides such as DDT, they’ve been popping up in fancy hotels, spas, department stores, subway trains, movie theaters – and, of course, people’s homes. . . . Historically, these tiny bloodsuckers were common in human dwellings worldwide, giving the old saying “sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite” real meaning. They had nearly disappeared in developing countries until the mid-1990s, when they began making a comeback because of restriction or loss of certain pesticides, changes in pest control practices and increased international travel. In many areas around the world, they are now a major urban pest.”

Maybe we should bring back those “effective pesticides.” Just sayin’.

CARBON NEUTRAL: TED Talk on Space Based Solar Power.

CHANGE: 2024 Lexus TX Hybrid SUV First Look: Bigger in TX. “While the GX will give Lexus owners a muscular SUV, the TX offers a refined look inside and out with technology at its forefront thanks to two electrified variants with either V-6 power or a turbocharged I-4.”

READER FAVORITE: Flat Plug Power Strip, Ultra Thin Flat Extension Cord. #CommissionEarned

SUCH ANIMAL MOVEMENTS ARE GENERALLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE DECLINE OF CIVILIZATIONS: While humans were in strict lockdown, wild mammals roamed further—new research.

SKYNET UNFOLDS: Team creates modular continuous robot based on origami-folded tubes.

GOOD: Cause and cure discovered for common type of high blood pressure.

WELL, GOOD: New transplant method could expand supply of donor hearts.

SOMEWHERE, DAN QUAYLE IS LOVING THE CURRENT NEWS CYCLE: