CHICAGOLAND: The Chicago Police reportedly bought secret drones using drug money.

The Sun-Times was privy to an email sent by Karen Conway, Chicago PD’s director of police research and development, last summer (the emails leaked as part of a huge hack last month). Conway says explicitly in the email that the department’s counter-terrorism bureau “utilized 1505 funds for a pilot Drone program that operates within the parameters of current laws.”

Those 1505 funds are forfeiture proceeds: assets seized during criminal investigations. As such, that cash is not included in the police department’s official budget and is, for all intents and purposes, untraceable. Unless you’re willing to put that information in an email, apparently.

The Chicago Police says its secret drone program was limited in use to take crime scene photos and work on terrorism-related investigations. These cases are both allowed by Chicago law, despite the city’s drone restrictions being generally tight.

And yet the department still hid its drone program, going as far as to use that off-the-books cash — at least $26,000 of it, according to the leaked emails.

As a general rule, people don’t hide the things they should be doing.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: The GOP Isn’t In Turmoil, It’s Growing the Hell Up. “There was a lot to choose from when pondering what to lead off with this morning. I was tempted to write about Ol’ Gropes again but, as I said, I’m sober. I want to stay that way a while longer. I will give brief mention to a rather disturbing post that Tyler wrote, however. It details the fact that 124 retired generals and admirals have confirmed our worst nightmare: the current President of the United States of America is a drooling moron who is mentally unfit to deal with a military crisis.”

EVERYBODY BUT FACEBOOK LIVES HAPPILY EVER AFTER? Nobody’s Allowing Facebook To Track Them. So What Now? “Facebook was right to be afraid of iOS 14.5. Apple’s new privacy tracking opt-out is proving even more popular than expected: About 85% of users worldwide have opted out of ad-tracking when prompted, Flurry Analytics found, and that number leaps to around 94% for U.S. users.”

JUST DO THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT BIDEN WANTS AND YOU’LL BE OK: Tennessee Governor Takes Bold Step to Get His State Back to Work.

THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: ICE Nominee Worked With BLM to Push False Claim That White Man Murdered 7-Year-Old Black Girl.

STACEY LENNOX: What Voters Are Saying About Critical Theories Should Have Woke Educators Shaking in Their Shoes.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? In the Middle East, Biden is finishing what Obama started. And his top advisers are all on board.

The alarm in Jerusalem is justified, if the May 1 statement by Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s lead negotiator in Vienna, is anything to go by. The American negotiators, he claimed, had already agreed in principle to remove sanctions on Iran’s energy sector, automotive industry, financial services, banking industry, and ports—to eliminate, in other words, all of the most significant economic sanctions ever imposed on Iran. Recent statements from Biden administration officials give us no reason to disbelieve Araghchi, and the smart money is now on a full resurrection of the JCPOA in relatively short order.

But even the Israelis have yet to absorb the full scope and magnitude of Biden’s accommodation of Iran. The problem is not that Sullivan and Blinken are failing to restrain Malley, but that they are marching in lockstep with him. A consensus reigns inside the administration, not just on the JCPOA but on every big question of Middle East strategy: Everyone from the president on down agrees about the need to complete what Obama started—which means that the worst is yet to come.

At this point — and we’re less than four months in — my best hope for the Biden Administration is that they don’t get us into more than one major war.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Adam Kinzinger’s Low-T Never Trump Shtick Is Just Sad. “Republicans in the House picked up seats last year when NOBODY expected them to. Exactly what does Rep. Kinzinger think his caucus needs to heal from? All the unexpected winning?”

URBAN CAMPING: Denver Fire Removes Hundreds Of Pounds Of Propane From Homeless Encampments, Worries About Large-Scale Disaster. “Firefighters say many camps — in populated areas, along busy streets, and under bridges — have several tanks of propane. It’s a dangerous mix that led to a close call in northeast Denver last month. Explosions rocked the area after 500 pounds of propane erupted in a tractor trailer-turned-homeless encampment.”

BIDEN’S RETURN TO NORMALCY: Trump Blasts Biden For Middle East Violence. “Because Israel’s adversaries knew that the United States stood strongly with Israel and there would be swift retribution if Israel was attacked. Under Biden, the world is getting more violent and more unstable because Biden’s weakness and lack of support for Israel is leading to new attacks on our allies. America must always stand with Israel and make clear that the Palestinians must end the violence, terror, and rocket attacks, and make clear that the U.S. will always strongly support Israel’s right to defend itself.”

JOHN KERRY HAD ASSURED ME YEARS AGO THESE HAD BEEN DISPOSED OF AND ASSAD COULD BE TRUSTED: UN finds undeclared chemical weapons stockpile in Syria.

GOODER AND HARDER: Whitmer Can’t Hurt Michigan Enough, Threatens to Close Another Pipeline.

THAT ’70S SHOW: Post-COVID, no action from Biden, Dems was required for job market to soar. Now look at the mess they’ve made.

VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR DAILY INSANITY WRAP: Hamas Attacks Israeli Civilians, Left Aghast That Israel Responds.

Insanity Wrap needs to know: Were you aware that if you give more money to terrorists you get more terrorism?

Answer: Everyone knows that, so why doesn’t anyone in the Biden Administration?

Before we get to the sordid details, a quick preview of today’s Wrap.

• Biden extends Trump EO on cybersecurity, fails to mention Trump by name
• Governor Stacy Abrams still not actually governor of anything except for “Say what?” moments
• One of the cutest adoption stories ever

Bonus Sanity: Stephen Kruiser tells me that Biden is getting plenty of rest, so there’s that.

And so much more at the link, you’d have to be crazy to miss it.

FEDERAL BUNGLERS OF INVESTIGATION: The FBI Seized Heirlooms, Coins, and Cash From Hundreds of Safe Deposit Boxes in Beverly Hills, Despite Knowing ‘Some’ Belonged to ‘Honest Citizens.’

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Rashida Tlaib Relaxes After Long Day By Watching Heartwarming Concentration Camp Scenes From ‘Schindler’s List.’

That’s gonna leave a mark.

SARAH HOYT’S SHOCKED FACE IS ON SABBATICAL: Reporters Must Get ‘Approval’ Before Publishing Biden Admin Quotes—and They Don’t Seem Bothered By It.

STUDY: Have U.S. Gun Buyback Programs Misfired? “Gun buyback programs (GBPs), which use public funds to purchase civilians’ privately-owned firearms, aim to reduce gun violence. However, little is known about their effects on firearm-related crime or deaths. Using data from the National Incident Based Reporting System, we find no evidence that GBPs reduce gun crime. Given our estimated null findings, with 95 percent confidence, we can rule out decreases in firearm-related crime of greater than 1.3 percent during the year following a buyback.”

I WOULDN’T CALL IT NEW: Governor Gavin Newsom Has a New Plan to Beat His Recall: Flat-Out Bribery. “The guy whose party has done more to hoover up what’s left of Californians’ bank accounts now says he wants to cut ‘the people’ a $600 check – just in time for his recall election. Even Politico can’t unsee this.”

Related: The Dirty Little Secret Behind California’s Budget ‘Surplus.’

GOODER AND HARDER: Security cut at half the major parking garages in SF amid uptick in car break-ins. “According to data compiled by the San Francisco Police Department as of March, burglary crimes have increased 51-percent from last year. Auto thefts have increased 18-percent.”

51% is an “uptick.”

Also this:

Bay Area burglars really do get the royal treatment.

PJ MEDIA VIP ROUNDUP: Don’t forget that VODKAPUNDIT promo code if you’ve been thinking of joining us.

Tyler O’Neil: Lockdowns in Vain? Homes More Dangerous for COVID Spread Than Work and School, Study Claims. “Instead, the evidence suggests that ‘households show the highest transmission rates’ and that ‘households are high-risk settings for the transmission of [COVID-19].’”

Stephen Kruiser: Hate Is Exhausting, Bring on the Frivolity. “Anger is exhausting. Anger is a monumental waste of time. Anger makes people look like Hillary Clinton.”

Yours Truly: The Dirty Little Secret Behind California’s Budget ‘Surplus.’ “My sons, ages 15 and 10 and ineligible to vote because they aren’t Democrats, are among the millions getting stuck with the tab for bailing out a state that’s swimming in cash.”

KAROL MARKOWICZ: Kids will pay a steep price for this War on Merit in schools.

Look: Parents don’t have their kids apply for these programs because they are racist; they do it because they know the regular curriculum their kids get in regular city schools is weak. Math is usually a joke; reading and writing often even more so. A G&T program might mean their kid has to actually try to succeed, instead of just coasting through classes. Yet parents clamoring for more difficult work for their kids get called “racist.”

Not content with removing the G&T test, the DOE is now pushing to get rid of G&T programs themselves. Middle schools have already scrapped “screens,” such as test scores and grades, for admission this year in favor of lotteries. The city’s most competitive (and often best-performing) high schools constantly fear they’ll be forced to water down their standards.

Bad ideas may start in places like New York and California but don’t necessarily stay there. Seattle’s school board has begun the process of discontinuing its gifted programs. Denver’s largest high school has done away with tracking students into honors classes. In Stamford, Conn., they’ve dropped Advanced Placement exams. Discussions on whether to end accelerated programs are taking place in school districts in Virginia. This trend is spreading faster than COVID.

Leftism is bad for children and other living things.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Everything Is Fine—Biden Naps While World Falls Apart. “The world doesn’t do well with a weak leader in the United States. It does even worse with one who disappears. Forget having the stamina to be president, Biden doesn’t seen to have the stamina to watch television for a few minutes after dinner.”

COLORADO DEMOCRATS ON CANDID CAMERA: Bennet caught maskless, Hick eats from Styrofoam!

FOLLOW THE SCIENCE: New York Times: CDC’s Outdoor COVID Risk Estimate ‘Misleading,’ a ‘Huge Exaggeration.’

Safe to click — that’s a Matt Margolis writeup, not the Times.