March 21, 2026

OUT ON A LIMB: A-10s are striking Iranian boats. Some say it’s a ‘wake-up call’ to stop the Warthog’s retirement.

A-10 Thunderbolt IIs are strafing boats in the Straits of Hormuz as part of President Trump’s war on Iran, and at least some experts say it shows why the venerable aircraft should remain in service.

“The A-10 Warthog is now in the fight across the southern flank and is hunting and killing fast-attack watercraft in the Straits of Hormuz,” Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a Pentagon press briefing on Thursday.

The Defense Department posted images of the A-10 flying in U.S. Central Command airspace this week. CENTCOM praised the Warthog’s capabilities, noting in an X post on Sunday that the aircraft “can loiter for hours, standing by and ready to execute a mission whenever needed.”

The close-support aircraft, battle-proven in the Gulf War and Global War on Terror, has been threatened with retirement for decades. Congress has often pushed back; the most recent National Defense Authorization Act caps the number that can be scrapped until the Air Force details its retirement strategy. Experts told Defense One that the aircraft’s latest operations prove the war in Iran shouldn’t be the Warthog’s last rodeo.

The A-10s renewed use in the Middle East should serve as a “wake-up call” for lawmakers and the military calling for its retirement, said Dan Grazier, a Stimson Center senior fellow and the director of the nonprofit’s national-security reform program.

“The longer the A-10 exists, the more impressed I am with that aircraft,” Grazier said. “It’s just proof positive that when you design a weapon system that is stripped down and all the decisions that were made in the course of its design were all made for matters of military effectiveness, you get a really effective aircraft.”

Speaking of being impressed by an aircraft, the late Steve Irwin sounds like a kid in a hobby shop as he admires the A-10:

 

Posted at 5:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

分断ではなく、統合をもたらす男:

(見出しにおける古典の引用.)

Posted at 5:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

CYBERATTACK ON IOWA BREATHALYZER COMPANY IMPACTS DEVICES IN 45 STATES:

A Des Moines-based breathalyzer test company is recovering after a cyberattack impacted drivers in 45 states, KCCI reports.

Intoxalock makes ignition devices that people use to start their vehicles after an OWI. People with the devices have to provide a breath sample to prove they have not been drinking before the car starts.

The company said many customers are locked out of their devices or that the device is giving misread calculations.

One state in particular is truly suffering:

Related Lewis Black on the bionic resilience of Wisconsinite livers:

 

Posted at 5:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

EVERYONE’S A MILLIONAIRE:

Posted at 4:12 pm by Stephen Green

MILE MARKERS ON THE ROAD TO DETROIT ATLANTIS: San Francisco is sinking at a rapid pace, NASA data shows. 

NASA is out with a dire warning about San Francisco.

The city is sinking at a rate so fast, it could put human life at risk.

Scientists used satellite data to study vertical land motion from 2015 to 2023.

Findings revealed that regional studies substantially underestimate sea level rise.

NASA projects more than double the expected rise by 2050.

Experts say environmental changes and frequent extreme weather could increase that even more.

When it sinks as far as Florida did in the ’80s and ’90s, let me know:

Also, San Francisco sinking will provide a useful bookend to DC sinking on the opposite coast of America: ‘Promise?’ Illustrated warning of what Washington, DC might look like if climate change isn’t addressed backfires:

The article about San Francisco sinking is at ABC’s Bay Area affiliate; in 2008, their parent company’s news division predicted that Manhattan would be underwater — by 2015:

On June 12, 2008, correspondent Bob Woodruff revealed that the program “puts participants in the future and asks them to report back about what it is like to live in this future world. The first stop is the year 2015.”

As one expert warns that in 2015 the sea level will rise quickly, a visual shows New York City being engulfed by water. The video montage includes another unidentified person predicting that “flames cover hundreds of miles.”

Then-GMA co-anchor Chris Cuomo appeared frightened by this future world. He wondered, “I think we’re familiar with some of these issues, but, boy, 2015? That’s seven years from now. Could it really be that bad?”

Nahh — but why take chances? Gentlemen, start your SUVs!

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): I have a cunning plan.

Posted at 2:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

TRUST THE SCIENCE:

Posted at 2:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds

OH, NO, YOU DON’T: People Band Together, Rip to Shreds Garbage Media Take About Chuck Norris.

Norris, a martial arts and television/film legend, is being lauded by most people with great affection across social media.

I thought he might even escape any media criticism because, after all, he was Chuck Norris.

But Variety decided to step on the third rail, not even waiting an entire day, before offering up a steaming pile of garbage, rather than simply honoring a wonderful entertainer who brought all of us so much joy.

You knew it would be bad from just the headline.

It was bad, talking about how “in nearly every Norris movie, he’s muscling into a foreign land or othered community.” Othered community, really?  The article also talked about how the “right-and-wrong simplicity of ‘Walker’ is cop-aganda.

But it gets worse.

Was Norris a brilliant athlete and top-shelf star? Yes. But there’s no denying that his roles were part of a body of work used to show American strength, might and the pernicious attraction of taking the law into one’s own hands — something that seems less fun in a year in which our country is funneling money into bombing Iran and ICE agents are acting like one-man militias. Given our nation’s divisions in morality, information literacy and overall sense of reality, it’s easier to see Norris’ characters as justification for a fringe conspiracy movement rather than a moral standing. When patriotism and laws shift away from the Constitution, what side does a gunslinger land on? [….]

When a star is the poster boy for American exceptionalism and might, at what point does his legacy transition from escapism to dangerous propaganda?

Oh, hell no. Don’t you even. Talk about divisions in morality and reality. Iran has been committing terrorism against us for 47 years. ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is enforcing the law, whether the left likes it or not. That’s just a bizarre, twisted take from Variety.

In order to keep sweet with its company town subscribers, that’s all Variety can offer these days, unfortunately. In 2022, Variety’s editors signed off on one of their staffers changing the pronouns quoted by a woman allegedly attacked by troubled Flash star Ezra Miller from “he” and “him” to “them” and “they:”

So a hit piece on Chuck Norris on the day his death was announced isn’t at all surprising, unfortunately. Fortunately, X readers got the last laugh:

Posted at 1:44 pm by Ed Driscoll

LET’S FINISH THE JOB, THEN: U.K. says Iran unsuccessfully targeted British-American Diego Garcia base.

Iran fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles at ​Diego Garcia but did ‌not hit the U.S.-U.K. military base in the Indian ​Ocean, The Wall Street Journal first reported on Friday, ⁠citing multiple U.S. ​officials.

One of the missiles failed ​in flight, while a U.S. warship fired an SM-3 interceptor ​at the other, ​although it could not be determined ‌if ⁠the interception succeeded, the newspaper said.

“Iran’s reckless attacks, lashing out across the region and holding hostage the Strait of Hormuz, are a threat to British interests and British allies,” the U.K. said in its statement. ”[Royal Air Force] jets and other U.K. military assets are continuing to defend our people and personnel in the region.”

The reported attack marked Iran’s first operational use of intermediate-range ballistic missiles and a significant attempt to reach far beyond the Middle East and threaten U.S. interests, the Wall Street Journal said.

As Will Chamberlain tweets, “Basically every major development in the Iran War has vindicated Trump’s decision to strike.” 

Chamberlain’s tweet concludes, “Iran fires ballistics at Diego Garcia = they were not far from having ICBMs that could hit the Eastern Seaboard The case for hitting Iran is STRONGER than it was for ISIS!” Iran aiming for Diego Garcia means that Europe is in reach as well: 

Posted at 1:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR: CBS News Radio To Cease Operations.

CBS News Radio will be winding down its operations over the next several weeks. 

The news was shared via an internal memo from CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and president Tom Cibrowski and first confirmed to Streamline Publishing by Manager of Affiliate Services Amy Bolton, who is attending the Country Radio Seminar (CRS) in Nashville.

The memo confirms that May 22 will be the final day for the nearly century-old news service. Bolton, when contacted for confirmation of the news, noted that she is in the process of speaking with some of the approximately 700 affiliated stations about the upcoming closure of the audio service.

TV network late night chat shows winding down. An out of touch movie industry contracting. We’re witnessing numerous 20th century-era legacy media formats approaching the end of their shelf life. Which brings us to an exit question, and to ask it, is to understand exactly why CBS News Radio is being shuttered:

Posted at 12:50 pm by Ed Driscoll

21ST CENTURY JUSTICE:

Posted at 12:40 pm by Glenn Reynolds

THE LOWER THE RATINGS, THE BIGGER THE MICROPHONES? CNN’s Solution to Low Ratings Is Enormous Mics for Anderson Cooper and Office Broadcasts for Jake Tapper.

Is CNN’s on-air talent trying to get all out of their systems before Bari Weiss cleans house as part of Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Brothers? Is this CNN’s version of Obama’s “stray voltage” strategy, an attempt to get bad news headlines that distract from really bad news, such as their string of botched reporting earlier this month? How badly does the on-air talent at CNN want to further tank the brand? Stay tuned! (To social media, that is. Why watch CNN?)

Posted at 12:25 pm by Ed Driscoll

IF THIS CHECKS OUT, IT SEEMS LIKE A PRETTY BIG DEAL…:

Posted at 12:25 pm by Stephen Green

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