RENT-FREE: Chicago Mayor Lightfoot Has 71-Person Police Unit To Protect Her, Blames Trump For Being In Danger.

And speaking of living rent-free: CNN Analyst Blames Trump for Oscars Kerfuffle, Because… CNN.

CHANGE: The flight attendant mask mandate lawsuit has arrived.

There is one catch to this effort, of course. The current mask mandate for travelers is set to expire on April 18th unless the CDC extends it yet again. It’s unlikely (though not impossible) that the plaintiffs could even get an initial ruling in that amount of time. And even if they did and it went in their favor, the government would immediately appeal, seeking to have the ruling put on hold. In the meantime, the CDC could simply allow the mandate to expire and then file a motion to have the case dismissed because the original threat of harm to the plaintiffs had been removed. The only way for the case to move forward at that point would be a hypothetical one seeking a ban on future mandates, and I’m not sure that they could show standing to bring that type of suit.

Most of these decisions by the Biden administration and various blue-state governors and mayors have been exposed as being primarily political in nature rather than being driven by “the science.” Given the growing public discontent over COVID mandates and the shrinking number of days remaining until the midterms, I will predict that Biden will simply allow the mandate to expire on the 18th (if not sooner) and just try to put this lawsuit in his rearview mirror.

Faster, please.

THE BIG PROBLEM WITH BIDEN’S NEW ‘MINIMUM TAX’ ON BILLIONAIRES:

What does a president do when inflation surges under his watch, gas prices are out of control, and his signature legislation has failed miserably ?

Pivot back to scapegoating the rich, apparently.

At least, that’s President Joe Biden’s latest tactic. On Monday, Biden proposed a new “minimum tax” on billionaires. “For too long, our tax code has rewarded wealth, not work, and contributed to growing income and wealth inequality in America,” Biden said in a statement. “Under current law, when an American worker earns a dollar of wages, that dollar is taxed as they earn it. But when a billionaire earns income because their investments increase in value, that gain is too often never taxed at all.”

A White House fact sheet says this tax would apply to those worth over $100 million and force them to pay a minimum tax rate of 20%. It would do this by taxing unrealized capital gains, aka the nominal growth in value of stock investments that haven’t been sold off yet. There is already a tax on capital gains that the wealthy pay when they cash out their stock options. However, Biden’s tax proposal is seemingly aimed at the growth in “unrealized” investments held by many billionaires, who currently do not have to pay taxes until they cash it out.

At first glance, this might seem like a sensible way of cracking down on rich people (legally) evading taxes.

It is not.

Taxing unrealized gains is both fundamentally unfair and economically absurd. “The Biden tax plan is crackers,” Cato Institute economist Chris Edwards said. “Unrealized gain is not income. It represents the expectation of future income, which would be taxed in the future under a well-designed tax system. Often, expected future income doesn’t materialize and asset values drop.”

Moreover, a “capital gain” is just a fancy way of saying “value gain on a productive investment.” It’s simple Economics 101 that when you tax something, you get less of it. Do we really want the tax code to (further) discourage productive investments?

Philosophically, I certainly understand the desire not to increase taxes on high earners. But I also understand the reverse: “They installed this regime, so let them get it good and hard.”

THEIR APPEAL IS BECOMING MORE SELECTIVE: John Nolte: 2022 Oscars Go Down as the Second Least Watched Ever.

Will Smith committed an assault against a comedian over a nothing joke, and the entertainment industry is so morally broken he wasn’t removed from the building and charged with a felony. In fact, about 40 minutes later, Smith got a standing ovation and an Oscar.

***LANGUAGE WARNING*** 

The worst of it was watching the entire industry oppose Florida’s much-needed “Don’t-Groom-Little-Kids” bill.

Hollywood was always full of a disproportionate number of thugs and degenerates, but this was something entirely new. These depraved narcissists aren’t even trying to hide their depravity anymore. Instead, they are openly lobbying to normalize their kinks, openly opposing a law that protects prepubescent kids from being groomed in the classroom, and openly assaulting comedians who dare to make them a little uncomfortable.

The whole Hollywood spectacle is now something grotesque instead of classy, perverse instead of entertaining, and disturbing rather than magical.

People have and will continue to reject pumping this filth into their homes through the television set.

It’s not only sewage; it’s smug, unfunny, elitist, violent, and perverse sewage that wants to ridicule you (while assaulting anyone who ridicules them) and have sex with your children.

Everyone wishing to enter Hollywood knows they’re going to work in a profession long devoted to being a sex-grooming gang. But nobody wants to see that industry expanding its turf:

Related: DeSantis Has a Message for Hollywood ‘Degenerates.’ “If the same Hollywood elites who upheld degenerates like Harvey Weinstein now oppose our efforts to protect parental rights, I wear that like a badge of honor,” DeSantis says at signing ceremony.

WILL SMITH APOLOGIZES TO CHRIS ROCK FOR OSCARS’ SLAPPING INCIDENT: ‘I WAS WRONG.’

“Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive,” Smith wrote in part on Instagram before publicly apologizing to Rock. “I was out of line and I was wrong.”

“I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.”

His full statement reads: “My behavior at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable. Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally.”

“I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness. ”

“I would also like to apologize to the Academy, the producers of the show, all the attendees and everyone watching around the world. I would like to apologize to the Williams Family and my ‘King Richard’ family. I deeply regret that my behavior has stained what has been an otherwise gorgeous journey for all of us.”

“I am a work in progress. Sincerely, Will.”

Now that the standard boilerplate showbiz apology has been issued, I assume this clears the deck for Smith and Rock’s managers to put together what seems inevitable at this point: A Bad Boys/48 Hours/Lethal Weapon-style buddy film and/or co-hosting next year’s Oscars. Both guys are primed to print millions of dollars from yesterday’s incident.

MICHAEL WALSH: No Country for Old Men.

The President of the United States, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., who is 79 years old and suffering from senile dementia at the end of a long life of bullying, lying, boasting, conniving, grifting, grafting, and living off the public tit to an extent indecent even by Washington standards, declared war on Russia on Friday. In the course of a typically blustering, hectoring speech, the senescent Biden went off script and interpolated the following peroration: “My God, this man cannot remain in power.”

To which the only proper response is: “My God, this man cannot remain in the Oval Office.” Joe Biden needs to be removed from the White House as soon as possible, before his failing mind, his erratic behavior, and his proven lack of character get us all killed. The question is, is there enough political will in the capital to do what needs to be done?

Biden’s blunder was immediately walked back by the few adults left in the room, called a “gaffe,” or—worse—actually defended by the neocons and other leftists as truth-telling on a heroic scale, evocative of Ronald Reagan’s 1987 “tear down this wall” speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, which two years later actually did result in the Wall coming down. But his rash words continue to ring, now matter how swiftly his handlers and apologists and even Biden himself try to make us disbelieve our own lying ears[.]

Why, it’s as if: Joe Biden’s Big Mouth Is Becoming a Liability. “This is a delicate moment. It demands a disciplined, whole-of-government approach, and that’s not what we’re seeing from this president.”

QED: Biden used cheat sheet while doubling down on unscripted message to oust Putin.

It’s just the Irish in him, CNN assures us.

LOS ANGELES REVIVES ITS TOURISM PUSH, SAYING ‘YOUR COMEBACK STARTS HERE.’

Los Angeles is starting its comeback by safely reopening museums, indoor dining, theme parks, outdoor live events and more. Now, the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board hopes to inspire lovers of LA to start their comeback, whenever they are ready.

A double entendre, the comeback story is a nod to the challenges the destination has faced over the past year, while acknowledging the overflowing optimism for the future – with the campaign’s creative aiming to inspire visitors to come back to LA. “LA is the place for visitors to come back to those moments of spontaneity, joy, romance, relaxation and more that were missed,” stated Don Skeoch, chief marketing officer for the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board.

https://youtu.be/-Cf7orPmV1c

Yes the article is a year old, but I saw the above ad for the first time earlier today on YouTube. Shouldn’t L.A. get its own comeback started before threatening telling the rest of us that our “comeback starts here?”

QED:

● As Crime Explodes, Panic Rooms Become LA’s Hottest Trend.

● L.A.’s population dropped by 176,000 in 1st full year of pandemic, 2nd largest drop nationwide.

● LA Anti-Homelessness Program Spending This Absurd Amount Per Person, Audit Reveals.

● Los Angeles becomes 1st in US to reach $6 gas average.

● Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne quitting Los Angeles for UK to avoid soaring tax rates.

● The New ‘two Americas:’ If you live in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and other big cities where George Soros funded radical left-wing prosecutors, you live in a Third-World country known as “Sorosstan,” according to Capital Research Center’s Parker Thayer.

WALLS ARE CLOSING IN ON PUTIN: Heineken ceases business in Russia, joining droves of companies.

Beer company Heineken announced it would leave Russia on Monday, over a month since the nation’s invasion into Ukraine began.

The Dutch brewing company is “shocked and deeply saddened” by Moscow’s continued actions, according to a company statement.

Continuing to do business in Russia “is no longer sustainable nor viable in the current environment,” it said.

The decision to leave was a strategic one, and Heineken said operations will continue to be reduced as ownership is transitioned, according to a report.

“We aim for an orderly transfer of our business to a new owner in full compliance with international and local laws,” the statement read.

It’s back to Strelnokoff for the Russians:

JOE BIDEN: THE IRISHMAN.

Shades of Andrew Cuomo trying to excuse away his sexual allegations by claiming hey, whaddaya gonna do, I’m Italian!

Related: Biden Denies Making His Gaffes From Last Week.

[Fox News’ Peter] DOOCY: “Big things you say on the world stage keep getting walked back.”

BIDEN: “What’s getting walked backed?”

DOOCY: “You told troops they’re going to Ukraine, that the U.S. would use a chemical weapon, & called for regime change in Russia.”

BIDEN: “None of the 3 occurred.”

Narrator voice: all of them occurred.

OUT ON A LIMB: Will Smith Slapping Chris Rock Is Hilarious. Please Stop Treating It Like 9/11. “Not everything has to mean everything! Not everything has to prove your pet societal ill! Most things in fact are like this! They’re just things! It’s ok to laugh at Will Smith slapping Chris Rock over a stupid GI Jane joke at the Oscars. Indeed, that’s the healthiest response you can have.”

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Without Notifying Parents, New Jersey Middle School Forces Students To Learn About Transgender Hormone Therapy.

OKAY, GROOMERS: Disney Vows to Help Repeal Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill: ‘It Should Never Have Passed.’

As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill into law on Monday, The Walt Disney Company issued a statement vowing to help repeal the controversial legislation.

“Florida’s HB 1557, also known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed into law,” the statement reads. “Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that. We are dedicated to standing up for the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ members of the Disney family, as well as the LGBTQ+ community in Florida and across the country.”

Earlier: Nolte: Disney’s Support for Child Grooming Is a Game Changer. “In what will be remembered as one of the greatest betrayals in the world of entertainment, the Walt Disney Co. has not only come out against Florida’s ‘don’t-groom-little-kids’ bill, Disney is agreeing to use its brand and platforms to take up the slack with its own grooming.”

UPDATE: The Right Can Win on Parents’ Rights. Following Trump’s lead, a grassroots movement has forced the GOP to fight.

MORE: “If the same Hollywood elites who upheld degenerates like Harvey Weinstein now oppose our efforts to protect parental rights, I wear that like a badge of honor,” DeSantis says at signing ceremony.

MEN ARE BETTER AT EVERYTHING, I GUESS, EVEN BEING WOMEN: British Cycling warns athletes will be punished for speaking against org’s transgender policy.

Related: Emily Bridges, the trans cyclist who could ‘retire’ Olympic medalists. “Bridges, before coming out as transgender, was an up-and-coming cyclist named Zach Bridges who set the British junior 25-mile (40.2km) record in just over 47 minutes. By comparison, the women’s record is two minutes slower.”

IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROPHECY:

● Shot: “Will Smith won his first Academy Award on Sunday night and offered his apologies to the Academy and others for an earlier incident in which the actor appeared to strike presenter Chris Rock.”

—CNN, today (Emphasis mine).

● Chaser: With Babylon Bee Off Twitter, Users Forced To Get Fake News From CNN.

—Headline, the Babylon Bee, Friday.

BE LIKE CHRIS ROCK: “Physical violence in response to mere words is never an appropriate choice. But too often, the same people who engage in provocative and potentially offensive speech are only doing it so they can run to the authorities or the Twitter mob when their targets lash out. The restraint and good humor demonstrated by Rock should be a role model for those who want to defend free expression from bullies on the right and the left—and from whichever side of the culture war ends up claiming Smith.”

YES, THEIR EARLIEST STUFF HIT THE HARDEST, BUT DON’T GO SLEEPING ON PRESENCE AND IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR: The Great Zeppelin Raid – How a Devastating 1916 Airship Attack Forced Britain to Rethink its Defenses.

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Conan The Barbarian Acquires Biology Degree So He Can Know Whose Lamentations He’s Hearing.

DISPATCHES FROM WEIMAR AMERICA: Jon Gabriel: What Is a Women’s History Month? “Since 1987, America has recognized March as Women’s History Month. In this year’s proclamation, President Biden wrote that the event ‘provides an opportunity to honor the generations of trailblazing women and girls who have built our Nation, shaped our progress, and strengthened our character as a people.’ Truly a noble effort. But in 2022, nothing can be so simple. We can’t even agree what a ‘woman’ is, let alone ‘history’ or ‘month.’”

Exit quote: “In a book about life in the Soviet Union, Elena Gorokhova (a woman, by the way) explained the great fictions their society was built upon. ‘They lie to us, we know they’re lying, they know we know they’re lying, but they keep lying to us, and we keep pretending to believe them.’ As we honor Women’s History Month, a similar zeitgeist reigns in the United States.”

OSCARS MAKE SURPRISE IN-KIND CONTRIBUTION TO DESANTIS REELECTION CAMPAIGN: Oscars Hosts Taunt Florida: ‘Gay, Gay, Gay, Gay, Gay.’ DeSantis Press Secretary Drags Them: ‘Florida Will Never Recover From This.’

Earlier this month, DeSantis, responding to a reporter who used the leftist verbiage of calling the bill the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, fired back:

Does it say that in the bill? Does it say that in the bill? I’m asking you to tell me what’s in the bill because you are pushing false narratives. It doesn’t matter what critics say. For who? For grades pre-K through three. So, 5-year-olds, 6-year-olds, 7-year-olds, and the idea that you wouldn’t be honest about that and tell people what it actually says is why people don’t trust people like you because you peddle false narratives. And so we disabuse you of those narratives. And, we are going to make sure that parents are able to send their kids to kindergarten without having some of this stuff injected into their school curriculum.

Yet another reminder: Hollywood Is a Sex-Grooming Gang.

CANADIAN MEDIA IGNORES SCOLDING OF TRUDEAU WHILE REST OF WORLD REPORTS IT:

Despite Canadian legacy media outlets burying the story, the reprimand of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by European parliamentarians in Brussels has made headlines around the world.

Trudeau was treated to scathing condemnation by several Members of European Parliament (MEP) after giving a speech to the European Union on Wednesday.

Croatian MEP Mislav Kolakusic called out the Canadian prime minister for engaging in a “dictatorship of the worst kind” over his treatment of peaceful Freedom Convoy protestors in February.

At least three other MEPs echoed Kolakusic’s remarks, with Romanian MEP Cristian Terheș entirely boycotting Trudeau’s speech.

Just think of the Canadian media as Liberal Party operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense.

WHERE’S HUNTER, FAT? Hunter Biden’s Laptop Contained Defense Department ‘Encryption Keys.’

KIM JUNG-UN TAKES STARRING ROLE IN PROPAGANDA FILM TO PROMOTE NORTH KOREA’S MASSIVE MISSILE LAUNCH:

North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, wearing a leather jacket and shades, has played a leading role in a propaganda film promoting the country’s launch of its latest massive intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

The 11-minute Hollywood action movie-style video featured slow motion and speeded up sequences of Kim Jong-un walking side-by-side with military officials, apparently inspecting what North Korean TV called a “new-type ICBM” ahead of its launch at Pyongyang’s international airport.

He is also seen looking repeatedly at his watch during the countdown to launch and whipping off his sunglasses to look directly at the camera in what is North Korea’s most provocative weapons demonstration since US President Joe Biden took office.

In stills released to accompany the video, the leader and military men are seen cheering after launch as rousing music plays.

For North Koreans who aren’t digging the clip, which blends Soviet-style propaganda and MTV-era rapid cutting, they may be out of luck: “In North Korea, access to media from the outside world is strictly controlled, and TVs and radios are manufactured to only pick up domestic channels and must be registered with the authorities. But residents do find ways to access South Korean signals, either by using foreign televisions or modifying domestic ones. Getting caught during routine inspections with a TV that can pick up illegal signals is a punishable offense. Residents with more than one television hide their illegal TVs during inspections, only to bring them out again to watch Seoul’s latest hot drama or variety show, former residents told RFA. Authorities are aware of the deception and have issued a directive that every household in the city declare to their local neighborhood watch unit how many televisions they have.”

I’VE SEEN THE LOCKDOWNS AND THE DAMAGE DONE: COVID Lockdowns Led to Huge Spike in Human Trafficking, Survivor Warns.

QUESTION ASKED: Do Biden Foreign Policy Blunders Stem From Dementia? Or Was It As Obama Said, “Don’t Underestimate Joe’s Ability To F-ck Things Up.”

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS:

Shot:

Chaser:

“Well, there’s that passage about tearing down the Wall,” Reagan said. “That Wall has to come down. That’s what I’d like to say.”

The speech was circulated to the State Department and the NSC three weeks before it was to be delivered. For three weeks, State and the NSC fought the speech. They argued that it was crude. They claimed that it was unduly provocative. They asserted that the passage about the Wall amounted to a cruel gimmick, one that would unfairly raise Berliners’ hopes. There were telephone calls, memoranda, and meetings. State and the NSC submitted their own alternative drafts–as best I recall, there were seven–one of them composed by Kornblum. In each, the call for Gorbachev to tear down the Wall was missing.

This presented Tom Griscom with a problem. On the one hand, he had objections to the speech from virtually the entire foreign policy apparatus of the U.S. government. On the other, he had Ronald Reagan. The president liked the speech. Griscom had heard him say so. The president especially liked the passage about tearing down the Berlin Wall, the very part of the speech to which the foreign policy experts were most vehemently opposed. If that passage had to come out, it would be Griscom’s job to explain to Reagan why.

The week before the president’s departure, the battle reached a pitch. Every time State or the NSC registered a new objection to the speech, Griscom summoned me to his office, where he had me tell him, one more time, why I was convinced State and the NSC were wrong and the speech, as I had written it, was right. (On one of these occasions, Colin Powell, then national security adviser, was waiting in Griscom’s office for me. I held my ground as best I could.) Griscom was evidently waiting for an objection that he believed Ronald Reagan himself would find compelling. He never heard it. When the president departed for the Venice summit, he took with him the speech I had written.

On the very morning Air Force One left Venice for Berlin, the State Department and the National Security Council made a last effort to block the speech, forwarding yet another alternative draft. Griscom chose not to take it to the forward cabin. Air Force One landed. Hours later, President Reagan delivered his speech.

There is a school of thought that Ronald Reagan managed to look good only because he had clever writers putting words into his mouth. (Perhaps the leading exponent is my former colleague Peggy Noonan, who while a Reagan speechwriter appeared in a magazine article under a caption that said just that: “The woman who puts the words in the president’s mouth.”) There is a basic problem with this view. Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, George Bush, and Bob Dole all had clever writers. Why wasn’t one of them the Great Communicator?

Because we, his speechwriters, were not creating Reagan; we were stealing from him. Reagan’s policies were straightforward–he had been articulating them for two decades. When the State Department and the National Security Council began attempting to block my draft by submitting alternative drafts, they weakened their own case. Their drafts lacked boldness. They conveyed no sense of conviction. They had not stolen, as I had, from Frau Elz–and from Ronald Reagan.

—“Tearing Down That Wall,” Peter Robinson in The Weekly Standard, then-edited by Bill Kristol, June 23rd, 1997.

Related: Blinken continues cleanup of Biden’s Putin ‘cannot remain in power’ remark.

More: Zelensky Responds to Joe Biden’s ‘Historic’ NATO Speech in Less Than Flattering Terms.