DISPATCHES FROM AIRSTRIP ONE: Clandestine Campaign To Defund ZeroHedge, The Federalist & Breitbart Traced To Kier Starmer Operation.

Very early into the COVID-19 pandemic, ZeroHedge suggested that a little-known Chinese lab in Wuhan might know something about the novel coronavirus sweeping the globe. As a result, and as you know, we were subject to an intense demonetization / deplatforming campaign that included getting kicked off of Twitter, PayPal, Facebook and other platforms, dropped by our advertisers, and targeted by MSM hit pieces which colluded with foreign ‘watchdogs’ to inflict maximum damage.

These same groups also targeted outlets including The Federalist and Breitbart over various reporting, which suffered similar fates.

Now, thanks to a new book by investigative journalist Paul Holden that builds on reporting by Matt Taibbi, Paul Thacker and others, we learn that the origin of these campaigns, launched years before the pandemic, was none other than UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer’s political machine, which began targeting left-wing outlets speaking critically of Starmer such as The Canary, and then went after conservative outlets in America – just in time for the 2020 US election.

Read the whole thing.

IT’S FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: He Brought Bear Spray to a Taser Fight. “It’s time for your much-needed break from the serious news, and this week, we’ll learn what happens when you try to bear spray eight deputies, why the skid steer is not part of the amusement park, and how they do wildlife in Virginia.”

THE PROGRESSIVE UNIVERSITY IN THE DOCK. Was requiring specialization and Ph.Ds really as good an idea as we seem to assume it was? (It wasn’t always like that.)

2026 PREVIEW: Who’s ahead in the Republican vs. Democrat congressional redistricting war?

“As of right now, I’d say there is a modest bias in the overall House map” in favor of the GOP retaining control of the House, said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a nonpartisan organization that analyzes House races.

At the independent Cook Political Report, Erin Covey, U.S. House editor, had the same edge for the GOP.

“The very slight gain for Republicans, one to two seats, is the median scenario,” she said.

All this could change as state after state tries to redraw congressional maps to favor the party in power.

Developing…

YES, PLEASE:

“This is brilliant,” Peter St. Onge added. “Allow US companies to sue foreign censorship for 3x the fine. If only Congress had a spine.”

But it isn’t just brilliant — it’s necessary.

JOURNALISM:

It seems like kind of a big deal that NBC News and then MS NOW seem happy to employ a “journalist” with such a bad reputation in-house.

ALWAYS: The DOJ’s New 2A Rights Section Sounds Like a Good Thing, but Gun Owners Need to Stay Vigilant. “Here’s the truth gun owners need to hear: you don’t stop a runaway bureaucracy with a press release. No one should trust a single bureaucrat inside the DOJ until their actions match their headlines. Because right now, the DOJ is speaking out of both sides of its mouth — promising gun-rights enforcement with one hand while defending gun-control tyranny with the other. And unless gun owners stay loud, organized, and relentless, this new office could turn out to be just another Washington smokescreen.”

The Trump administration’s record is solid, but what happens to the new section once a Democrat is in charge again…

NEW HOAX HAS BEEN RELEASED: