MY NEWEST SUBSTACK COLUMN: The Coming “Symbolic Analyst” Meltdown. “As Eric Hoffer wrote, ‘Nothing is so unsettling to a social order as the presence of a mass of scribes without suitable employment and an acknowledged status.'”

RIP: Barrett Strong, Motown Artist and Temptations Songwriter, Dead at 81.

“Barrett was not only a great singer and piano player, but he, along with his writing partner Norman Whitfield, created an incredible body of work, primarily with the Temptations,” Motown founder Berry Gordy said in a statement. “Their hit songs were revolutionary in sound and captured the spirit of the times like ‘Cloud Nine’ and the still relevant, ‘Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World is Today).’”

Born in Mississippi on Feb. 5 1941 and raised in Detroit, Strong was one of Gordy’s earliest signees. He sang 1959’s “Money (That’s What I Want)” for Motown’s Tamla label, and it shot to Number Two on the U.S. R&B chart in 1960, going on to sell more than one million copies. The song has been covered by scores of artists, most famously the Beatles — who released it in 1963 as the final track on With the Beatles — but the list includes covers from the Flying Lizards, the Kingsmen, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Buddy Guy.

Putting Motown on the map and writing and recording a song that became a rock & roll standard; and then going on to co-write songs for the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight, and Edwin Starr. That’s quite an accomplished career.

SUPER BOWL LVII SET: Philadelphia Eagles Will Meet The Kansas City Chiefs At State Farm Stadium.

UPDATE: Last Second FG, Heroics From Gimpy Patrick Mahomes And Costly Penalties Put Chiefs In Super Bowl.

OPEN THREAD: It’s the springtime of my life.

OH, TO BE IN ENGLAND: Council will BAN most cars from driving through 75% of its roads in enormous crackdown on traffic and pollution.

A Labour-run council is set to ban most vehicles from 75 per cent of its roads as it expands its network of low-traffic neighbourhoods.

Hackney Council has approved plans to introduce six more of the controversial schemes over the next three years.

The east London borough already has the highest number of LTNs in the capital with 19 and half of its roads restricted by traffic filters.

The plans will increase this to three quarters of its streets.

Flashback: Here Come the ‘Climate Lockdowns.’

DR. KESSLER, CALL YOUR OFFICE: 2 big pieces of space junk nearly collide in orbital ‘bad neighborhood’: Had the two objects collided, thousands of more pieces of debris could have been created. “As more and more pieces of debris accumulate in Earth orbit, collisions between them can generate even more fragments in a frightening theoretical ripple effect known as the Kessler Syndrome. If left unmitigated, the theory proposes that cascading space debris impacts could someday hinder humanity’s space ambitions by rendering the space around Earth unpassable. To try and remedy the situation, a large number of concepts for how to decrease space debris are currently being proposed and tested worldwide.”

Meanwhile, here’s a piece that Rob Merges and I wrote about orbital debris removal a while back.

ROGER KIMBALL ON THE TRUMAN SHOW: Stepping out into freedom.

Given the fire-hose disgorgement of revelations about the behavior of the FBI, the CIA and their infiltration of the mainstream media, there is ample justification for believing that we are living in some dystopian, distinctly unfunny version of The Truman Show.

In the movie, the gormless Truman Burbank grows up thinking he is living a normal, happy life in a normal, happy town. Only gradually does he realize that something is amiss. Slowly, piece by piece, the awful truth dawns on him: his entire social world is a fabrication, a gigantic product-placement concession with him as the unwitting MacGuffin.

The deception is played for laughs, mostly. There are not many laughs in our Truman Show, the one in which the FBI hatches a fake plot to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, enlists some pathetic lowlifes to participate, then blows the cover and arrests the saps who joined them. One was just sentenced to sixteen years in the big house, another to nearly twenty.

As Glenn wrote in November, “Both the SDS and the KKK used to say in the 1960s that the guy in your group calling for illegal activity was the FBI mole.”

WHAT DID WALLACE EXPECT? Megyn Kelly Lights Up Former Fox Colleague Chris Wallace For Complaining.

Then the topic of CNN+ hiring former “Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace was mentioned and Kelly tore into him.

“He was in last place every week, every year, every month. He was always in last, and they still paid him,” she said. Then she said when she was at Fox News she received an offer from Zucker and CNN.

“I considered going to CNN. CNN made me a huge offer. Huge,” she said. She did eventually land at NBC.

“I said no, Buck, because I knew: who is my fanbase going to be over there? I knew who my fans were and I knew that my Fox viewers were not going to follow me to CNN and that the CNN viewers were going to hate my guts,” she said, and she said she believes that Wallace is “suffering from that very problem right now.”

I hope his fan is enjoying his programs: Nobody’s Watching: CNN Ratings Plunge Even Further — For Good Reason.

20 YEARS AGO, ON INSTAPUNDIT:

HESIOD DOESN’T GET IT, so I’ll try to speak very slowly:

Antiwar protesters aren’t Communists by definition.

But A.N.S.W.E.R. and the WWP basically are. (And of the extra-nasty Stalinist variety.)

Communists are, in my opinion, as bad as Nazis: mass murder, totalitarianism, etc. (And calling them “Marxists” instead doesn’t fool anyone.)

Going to a march organized by Communists doesn’t make you a Communist, any more than going to a march organized by Nazis makes you a Nazi.

But knowingly going to either one makes you icky. And calling it McCarthyism when people point that out, or point out that the Communists really are Communists, makes you either dishonest, or stupid.

Clear enough?

(I should also note that I’ve tried to call attention to non-icky voices opposing the war. I think they’re wrong about the war, but it’s okay to be wrong. It’s not okay to be in bed with Stalinists or Hitlerites.)

REPORT: Kellen Moore, Dallas Cowboys, agree to mutually part ways.

HMM: Study of 500,000 Medical Records Links Viruses to Alzheimer’s Again And Again.

THEY KNOW THE PRESS WILL COVER FOR THEM: Pfizer’s response to Project Veritas left much to be desired.

PARTY ON, DUDES: Partying for a Purpose: Celebrations Can Benefit Your Health and Well-Being.

GREAT MOMENTS IN PROJECTION:

Shot: Rashida Tlaib starts term in Congress accusing Israel advocates of ‘dual loyalty.

–The Jerusalem Post, January 7th, 2019.

Chaser: Tlaib erects Palestinian flag in Capitol Hill office, accuses Israel of ‘apartheid.’

JNS.org, Thursday.

THE PHILADELPHIA EAGLES WIN THE NFC CHAMPIONSHIP: After an injury to 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, the Eagles’ defense shut down the 49ers in a 31-7 victory to advance to the Super Bowl.

UPDATE: San Francisco 49ers Try To Start Fight, Clear Bench As Eagles Advance To Super Bowl.

ONE CHROMOSOME TOO MANY: Extra chromosome could raise risk for blood clots. “Researchers have uncovered a serious risk for folks who have an extra X or Y chromosome. Those with the genetic condition known as supernumerary sex chromosome aneuploidy have a risk for blood clots in a deep vein or lung that’s four or five times higher than usual, a new study shows.”

But you can still wear a hat, and have a job.

“GOD [IS] USING ME AS A VESSEL:” Damar Hamlin Breaks Silence With Video Message To Fans.

TO BE FAIR, WOULD YOU WANT TO BE BIDEN’S PRESS SECRETARY? Karine Jean-Pierre: Press Secretary And Rain Man.

PRESIDENT BIDEN GIVES HIS ‘WORD AS A BIDEN’ AND LOL:

President Biden has given his ‘word as a Biden’ that he’s feeling really optimistic about America’s future, despite his disastrous presidency.

High gas and grocery prices, 401k woes, border crisis, war in Ukraine, taking out a loan to buy eggs, civil unrest, but yeah, Joe, things are looking downright peachy!

Given the misadventures of Joe, James, and Hunter, I’m not sure why the Big Guy (and/or his ghostwriter) believes that’s a positive phrase for him to utter. As Stacey McCain wrote last march: ‘Simply Not True.’

Joe Biden believes he is honest, and that anyone who disagrees with him is lying, or is ignorant, or has been deceived by liars.

So deeply convinced is Joe Biden of his own honesty that he thinks his very name is synonymous with truth-telling:

“I give you my word as a Biden: I will never stoop to President Trump’s level.”
— Nov. 20, 2019

“I give you my word as a Biden: If I am elected president I will do everything in my power to protect our children from gun violence.”
— March 10, 2020

“I give you my word as a Biden: When I’m president, I will lead with science, listen to the experts and heed their advice, and always tell you the truth.”
— March 18, 2020

When I first noticed him using this “my word as a Biden” phrase during the 2020 campaign, I was puzzled. Has the Biden family been so prominently associated with honesty that when Joe says this, most Americans say, “Well, that settles it”? Of course not. In fact, Biden’s first presidential campaign, in 1988, collapsed in disgrace specifically because of Joe’s dishonesty, when he was caught plagiarizing others — most notably British Labour leader Ne0l Kinnock — in his speeches[.]

And Joe’s multitude of additional lies and gaffes over the decades:

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China wants to launch over 200 spacecraft in 2023.

That’s like what, two weeks work for SpaceX?

I HAVE A BROWNING CITORI SKEET GUN AND IT DIDN’T SEEM THAT “BUDGET” TO ME: NRA Gun Of The Week: Browning Citori Hunter Grade II.

READER FAVORITE: Wall Outlet Extender – Surge Protector 6 AC Outlets Multi Plug Outlet. #CommissionEarned

AIN’T TOO PROUD TO BLEG: As many of you know, almost a year ago I suffered a terrible house fire that destroyed pretty much everything I owned, but worst of all took the life of Cynthia, my girlfriend of 22 years. I’m rebuilding (please, don’t get me started on contractors and building inspectors) as best I can. Folks on the interwebz have been amazingly generous. All 27 of my vintage guitars were burnt to ashes, and people I had never met sent me guitars they didn’t play anymore as gifts. I’ve even been given a mixing board.

Thank you all.

I’m rebuilding the recording studio, and if any of you have the following stuff you can part with (not asking for free but whatever you can do to help, I’m at the very least able to pay shipping costs):

• Microphones and stands
• Bass and/or Guitar amplifiers
• Outboard Rack-Mount Channel Strips (pre-amps, EQ, Compressor, etc.)
• XLR cables
• Monitors
• Sound baffle panels

For the record, I’m actually a very good blues and jazz guitarist, and if it weren’t for my addiction to paying bills and eating, I’d have pursued that instead of law school.

Thanks.
(I forgot to add my email address: )

I’M HOLDING OUT FOR SUPER ASYMMETRY: Requiem for a string: Charting the rise and fall of a theory of everything.

HMM: A drug that increases dopamine can reverse the effects of inflammation on the brain in depression.