Happy Tuesday, C&C, I hope you’re having a nice pandemic while I am away. I have a short vacation roundup for you today including democrats start pushing for an end to airplane mandates, and a minority report on The War, wherein president Zelensky cracks down on, well, anybody opposing him.

🗞*COVID NEWS AND COMMENTARY* 🗞

😷 Nobody was more shocked than I was when Joe Biden failed to officially cancel the pandemic at the beginning of the month, not in a creepy whisper OR an old-man shout. I was even more intrigued when the White House extended the widely-hated and crazy intrusive airplane mask mandate. Biden’s best political move would have been to completely end the pandemic, not slide out a tentative, half-baked pandemic de-escalation plan.

And airplane mask mandates are one of the most irritating features of the pandemic. As if truculent stewardesses needed more ways to exercise their irrational rage on unsuspecting travelers. It rankles.

Anyway, it looks like I’m not the only one irked by the Big Guy’s indecisiveness on pandemic policy. Left-wing political news site Axios ran a story yesterday headlined, “Vulnerable Democrats eye GOP transit mask repeal.” Hahahaha! See, I told you so!

The article quotes Representative Sean Maloney (D-N.Y.), who is the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In other words, he’s in charge of helping dems get re-elected. He told Axios, “I’m completely over mask mandates. I don’t think they make any sense anymore. I’m for whatever gets rid of mask mandates as quickly as possible.”

Completely over mask mandates. COMPLETELY. He wants to get rid of them as quickly as possible.

You may recall last week the Senate resolved 57-40 to end airplane mask mandates. The vote included EIGHT democrats, half of whom Axios identified as “some of the most vulnerable incumbents this midterm cycle.”

I guess most voters don’t like mask mandates, in spite of what loud liberals on Twitter say.

Now some House democrats are signaling they might join with Republicans to end the mandate. “I would vote for that,” Representative Susan Wild (D-Pa.) told Axios. She argued that localities and airlines “can make that decision for themselves.” And Representative Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said, “If, based on science, [airplanes are] just as safe as anywhere else, then we should be considering it.” Representative Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) said, “People are ready and are armed with the information they need to protect themselves; I think we ought to consider it, the question is: when?”

But the White House is hanging in there. Last week, Biden issued a formal “Statement of Administration Policy” memo confirming that, if Congress does pass the resolution to end airplane mask mandates, Biden will veto it, inkily emphasizing the words “veto it” with a thick underline.

Axios’ story reveals that many democrats are frustrated with the White House’s indecisive pace in slowly ending the pandemic, dragging painful mandates into the election season. It also confirms the New York Times’ survey I reported this weekend, where the paper found that democrats were split on Covid policy, with those considering themselves “very liberal” overwhelmingly in favor of continuing mask mandates forever, but other categories of liberals, not so much.

What do you want to bet that the White House is mostly jammed up with people who consider themselves “very liberal?” In other words, forever-maskers? The situation is teeing up nicely as a showdown between “very liberal” democrats who are 100% sure they will DIE GASPING if the mask mandate is lifted versus the rest of the democrat party who are fretting about getting shellacked in the midterms.

🚀 *THE MINORITY REPORT* 🚀

Back in the day, I had to preface certain comments about Covid with an obligatory phrase: “Now, I am NOT saying that Covid is like flu, but…” I did it because if I didn’t start out with that disclaimer, my Facebook comments would immediately start filling up with tart missives from triggered folks scolding me because I was minimizing the worst plague since the Black Death and literally killing grandma.

Well, it’s the exact same deal now, except before I report certain things about The War I have to declare this: I do not support comrade Putin. I think he’s a sneaky, low down, yellow-bellied, egg sucking, lizard-lipped communist and I wish a pox upon his genitals. He is an ex-KGB psychopath who’s obviously overcompensating for, let us say, a shortage in other areas. In other words, I am definitely not a Putin fan. Not even close.

Having checked that box, let’s get started!

The media and some well-intentioned folks in the comments have been earnestly assuring me that Ukrainian president Zelensky is a true hero of the people and definitely NOT a nazi, not at all, the guy is jewish, just LOOK at him. Does he look like a nazi to you?

But un-heroically, and actually kind of nazi-like, to be honest, on Sunday president Zelensky outlawed eleven (11) Ukrainian opposition parties, which is exactly what Hitler did once he got hold of his ‘temporary’ emergency powers. Don’t cancel me; I’m just saying.

National Review reported on the story in a Sunday article headlined “Zelensky Suspends Opposition Parties in Ukraine with Russia Ties.” The move included Ukraine’s main minority political party, which often opposes Zelensky’s policies, plus most of the main left-wing groups in the country. Commenters point out that Zelensky didn’t ban either Azov or Svoboda — the two parties regularly accused of literal neo-nazism. In a statement about the order on Sunday, president Zelensky said, “The activities of those politicians aimed at division or collusion will not succeed, but will receive a harsh response.”

A harsh response. Well, okay then. How very nazi-like of you.

Reuters reported that Zelensky also nationalized all the country’s privately-owned TV channels into a single platform under his control, citing the importance of a “unified information policy.”

Thanks, behavioral psychologists, for handing governments the “disinformation” weapon and authorizing them to use it.

Last week, using his emergency war powers, Zelensky shut down three television networks that he claimed were peddling Moscow-funded content. I.e., disinformation. In a tweet Wednesday, Zelensky explained the cancelled networks’ coverage was just “propaganda financed by the aggressor country that undermines Ukraine on its way” to incorporation into the European Union and the NATO alliance.

You can’t allow underminers if you want to do a good war.

But not everyone agrees with the way Zelensky is handling the media. For example, the European Union’s Foreign Policy head minister Josep Borrell said last Wednesday, “Given the scale of disinformation campaigns affecting Ukraine including from abroad, this should not come at the expense of freedom of media.” So.

Does anyone else think it’s odd that Ukrainian TV networks are still fully operational, or is it just me? Wouldn’t that have been one of the first targets for Russian airstrikes? What on Earth is going on? What kind of war are they running anyway?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10633237/President-Zelensky-suspends-11-political-parties-Ukraine-Kremlin-collusion-claims.html

🔥 Sadly, it looks like my simple four-part peace plan isn’t going to work. In an interview with scrappy Ukrainian public radio Suspilne — which is still on the air somehow — president Zelensky said he refused to “de-nazify” Ukraine to end the war, explaining defiantly but illogically that “There can’t be any ‘de-Nazification’ in the agreement (with Russia). When a country that is treading in the footsteps of the Nazi is accusing us of being Nazi – we can’t accept that.”

Again — I’m not pro-Russia. I spit on Putin’s picture. I hope his milk curdles. I wish that his mattress sags and a bat flies up his nightdress. But Russia already outlawed nazism. So it seems weird for Zelenski to accuse Russia of being nazi. The communists hate nazis anyway. It’s never been the same ever since Hitler stabbed Stalin in the back and ruined his awesome plan for splitting Europe.

In my official capacity as head blogger, I am calling on president Zelensky to access the better angels of his nature and outlaw nazism in Ukraine, for the benefit of the people, and end The War.

Somehow I don’t think he’s going to listen to me.

Have a terrific spring Tuesday! I’ll catch up with you tomorrow for another vacation update.

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