September 29, 2026

OPEN THREAD: Tuesday’s Groovy.

Posted at 9:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Digger Disaster: Climate Change Satire Scrapes Bottom of Barrel.

Be careful what you wish for.

Tom Cruise wants an Oscar very, very badly. He’s been terrific in serious dramas and blockbusters alike, and you can’t blame him for wanting that golden statuette.

Along comes “Digger,” which offers a one-two punch for Oscar consideration. The film casts Cruise in an over-the-top role that dramatically alters his appearance.

Check!

The narrative is all about Climate Change, a message that speaks to Hollywood’s progressive heart.

Double-check!

And it all backfires in spectacular fashion. Put this one in the Louvre, a portrait of ego and ambition in a death cage match against Storytelling 101.

Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, an obscenely rich oil tycoon who cares for his ancient cat the moment he wakes up. The poor cat is all but dead, but Digger refuses to believe it.

It’s outrageous and funny, suggesting he cares more about a cat than actual humans. Get it? He’s a monster.

Attacking “Big Oil” after starring in films such as Top Gun and its recent sequel, Days of Thunder, and a host of Mission: Impossible movies filled with endless car chases seems hypocritical, but Cruise attempted basically the same strategy in the 1980s to return to the industry’s good graces, ping-ponging from the pro-American Top Gun (which much of Hollywood hated in the Reagan era) to Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July in less than three years, complete with makeup and a receding hairline to age him to appearing closer to the real-life disabled leftist activist Ron Kovic’s appearance in the 1970s.

Sonny Bunch has an equally damning take on Cruise’s new movie: Digger Review. No one can be told what Digger is. You have to experience it for yourself.

Ultimately, I don’t think Digger really works, albeit for reasons I’m dancing around so as not to spoil your chance to experience the film as freshly as your humble narrator here. It is, structurally, an insanely ambitious film, and Iñárritu’s reach exceeds his grasp. I can’t even really say it’s never boring, as there’s a very slow opening act before we get to the reveal of what game, precisely, Iñárritu is playing with this film. Despite all that, you can’t help but marvel at the work being done by Cruise in this picture. He’ll probably get a Best Actor nomination—and he deserves it, even if Digger winds up being a legendary flop.

Which, honestly, the film might deserve too.

Speaking of which:

Earlier: Warner Bros. Is Having Its Worst Box Office Stretch in Nearly Three Decades.

Posted at 8:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND: ‘Come on:’ Democrat DC councilman makes bizarre comment after beating bribery charge in mistrial.

A Washington, D.C., councilman is celebrating a mistrial over allegations that he was involved in a $156,000 bribery scheme.

U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro said Tuesday that her office will retry Trayon White after a jury said they could not reach a verdict despite deliberating for four days.

White was charged with bribery after prosecutors said they had recordings of his conversations with an informant of the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his receiving cash on four separate occasions.

“We have video showing piles of cash being given to a D.C. councilmember as part of a $156,000 bribe. Rest assured that we will retry this case and every corruption case to verdict,” said Pirro in a statement after the mistrial.

White would not answer when a reporter asked him to explain why he received the money.

“If the $35,000 wasn’t a bribe, what was the money for?” asked the WRC-TV reporter.

“Let’s stick to the topic, man. Come on. You’re smarter than that. I can’t speak to that,” White responded.

“That is the topic,” the reporter pressed.

In case the doesn’t ring a bell: DC councilman who said Rothschilds control weather also said they control government, World Bank.

 

Posted at 8:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

FASTER, PLEASE: NASA Asked Several Former SR-71A Staffers To Help Secret Restart.

Aviation Week confirmed that the agency approached Relja, Tim Conners, another former NASA SR-71A test engineer and others over the summer with job offers to work on the return-to-flight project for Tail No. 844.

In meetings with the prospective rehires, Ash brushed aside all questions about why NASA wanted to go to the effort and expense of putting the Mach 3-capable SR-71A back in flight.

During his remarks at the All-in Summit, Isaacman provided some context for NASA’s overall campaign to reinvigorate the agency’s aeronautics research mission with a new stable of X-planes pursuing breakthroughs rather than incremental improvements over the state of the art.

“In the service of the first ‘A’ in NASA, we are rebuilding our X-plane fleet,” Isaacman said. “It will not be long before NASA is once again flying as high and as fast from decades past—and then even more.”

An agency spokesperson declined to elaborate on Isaacman’s comments or the reason for the removal of Tail No. 844 from the display position. NASA has not confirmed that the return-to-flight project exists.

“We recognize the interest in the SR-71 and its remarkable history at NASA but have no additional information to share regarding the aircraft at this time,” the spokesperson tells Aviation Week.

To achieve that goal, Ash’s project must somehow restore to airworthiness a 59-year-old airframe that has not flown in nearly 27 years, despite a lack of everything—trained crews, spare parts and a supply chain ready to build them.

It’s been done before, albeit with a very different type of plane: After a decade in the “Boneyard,” B-52 nicknamed “Wise Guy” back in action.

 

Posted at 8:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

I DID NOT EXPECT THIS:

Posted at 6:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds

SCENES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: University of Minnesota declares to new students Declaration of Independence has ’embodied sexist policies.’

Additionally, the university has “identity knowledge checks,” according to the report, where students have to match particular terms to definitions of terms common in identity politics such as “race,” “nationalist,” “sexuality,” and others.

Libs of TikTok said in a post with screenshots, “They also push radical gender ideology while conducting ‘identity knowledge checks.’ This university is a far-left indoctrination camp. They should be investigated and defunded.”

Also included in the screenshots was the definition of “gender identity,” which the material at the college claimed to be “different than sex assigned at birth.” The materials went further and said that gender identity “is your own, internal, personal sense of self expression” and that it can also include “male, female, or non-binary.”

There’s no reason for taxpayers to support these institutions.

Posted at 5:53 pm by Stephen Green

NO IRS ANTI-FRAUD STRATEGY: Hard to believe the federal tax agency would lack a coherent strategy to combat and prevent tax fraud, but the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says they couldn’t find such a strategy.

Posted at 5:18 pm by Mark Tapscott

SARAH HOYT’S SHOCKED FACE IS ENJOYING AN EXTENDED SABBATICAL: Minneapolis audit finds ‘violence interrupter’ program vulnerable to fraud, favoritism, and political influence. “According to a recent 60-page report from the Minneapolis City Auditor’s Office, government investigators concluded that the city’s Neighborhood Safety Department fails to properly oversee the millions of dollars it pays nonprofit groups to patrol certain high-crime areas in place of police.”

Posted at 4:51 pm by Stephen Green

MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE:

Barely four months left in office, and he’s still executing.

Posted at 4:35 pm by Stephen Green

MONITOR YOUR HEALTH: KardiaMobile. #CommissionEarned

Posted at 4:16 pm by Helen Smith

SOME SMALL MEASURE OF SANITY: Federal Judge Strikes Down New York’s $75 Billion Climate Superfund.

A federal judge has struck down New York’s Climate Change Superfund Act, blocking the state from collecting $75 billion from fossil fuel companies to pay for projects addressing concerns the state attributed to climate change.

The Justice Department on Sept. 28 hailed the ruling as a “significant step in … protecting American energy from state overreach.” U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel issued a judgment against the law on Sept. 25 after stating two days earlier that it intruded on federal authority in multiple ways, including by regulating greenhouse gas emissions that cross state lines.

The law would have required large companies involved in fossil fuel extraction or crude oil refining to pay into a state fund over 25 years. Each company’s share would have been based on greenhouse gas emissions attributed to its products from 2000 through 2024. New York intended to use the money for infrastructure and other projects to help communities address issues the state blames on climate change.

The way I read it, the superfund was more of slush fund based on junk science.

Posted at 3:49 pm by Stephen Green

I’M SURE THE VIEWS ARE PHENOMENAL, BUT DON’T BREATHE IN FROM A CLOUD CITY BALCONY:

Posted at 3:33 pm by Stephen Green

HEY, BIG SPENDER: Russia raises 2027 military spending by 27%, budget documents show. “The documents showed that in 2026 the government will increase its net borrowing plan by 26% to 5 trillion roubles and spend 459 billion roubles — about 11% of the liquid part of its National Wealth Fund — to reduce the deficit. It also cut the oil and gas revenue estimate for 2026 to 7.6 trillion roubles from 8.9 trillion roubles previously.”

Posted at 2:47 pm by Stephen Green

WHAT???

From the replies: “Wow. I never understood that bluff — Fox rolling over on that settlement when it appeared that Dominion had unclean hands.”

And here’s the direct link to Byrne’s piece, which is probably the finest thing you’ll read all day.

Posted at 2:32 pm by Stephen Green