July 3, 2026

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: Reliability report flashes warning signal for Colorado energy.

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) 2026 State of Reliability report contains lessons for Colorado’s electricity sector. While the grid as a whole “continues to deliver reliable electric service,” challenges are mounting thanks in part to the “declining availability of aging combustion generation.”

NERC’s report finds that power plants failed more in 2025, with the fleet-wide forced outage rate climbing to 9.2 percent against “historical norms rarely exceeding” 8 percent. Coal-fired plants saw their forced outage rate rise from 11.2% in 2024 to 14.1% in 2025.

NERC surveyed owners of generators that saw substantial increases in outages from 2024 to 2025 and found that of the 26 responses from generators, 16 units “experienced equipment destruction extensive enough to significantly prolong their 2025 outage(s),” another eight experienced supply chain constraints, and six indicated turbine blade release or vibration that needed addressing. NERC also points out that regulatory reasons for outages were the “most consistently increasing” cause of outages between 2017 and 2025, though those “did not indicate any alignment with a particular policy objective.”

I hope to be elsewhere before the state-mandated brownouts.

Posted at 8:38 am by Stephen Green

DEMOCRATS INSISTED ON SHUTTERING THE INDIAN POINT NUCLEAR POWER PLANT PREMATURELY AND WITHOUT A REPLACEMENT, AND HERE THEY ARE NOW:

Posted at 8:22 am by Stephen Green

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER, FIREARMS SALESMAN OF THE YEAR: Virginia Jumps Up the National Sales Rankings Thanks to Looming Gun Ban.

How many times have we said it? No one — and we mean no one — sells more guns than anti-gun politicians. As the extent of the attack on gun rights being waged in Richmond after the election of a moderate (LOL) Democrat governor and full Dem control of the Virginia legislature become more apparent, Virginians drained their piggy banks and fired up their credit cards in anticipation of what they could see coming down the hoplophobic road.

Yesterday, Virginia’s “assault firearms” ban law took effect. And despite a couple of state court injunctions and a freshly minted lawsuit challenging the ban filed yesterday by the DOJ, Virginia’s embarrassingly violent attorney general claims that the ban is in place.

As a result of all of the above, Virginia’s been moving up the NSSF’s NICS check hit parade. They were almost totally absent in December. By March, they made an appearance in the handgun NICS check list and had jumped to number two in long guns (guess what kind of long guns they were mostly buying).

Finally, in June, as the 7/1 gun ban loomed, the state trailed only Texas (which has almost three times the population) in terms of long guns and had moved up to the third spot in both handguns and overall adjusted NICS checks.

Boating accidents to follow.

Posted at 7:36 am by Stephen Green

FAIL, BRITANNIA:

Posted at 7:20 am by Stephen Green

AIRMAN FLIES TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN: Airman arrested during Capitol Hill protest urging Trump and Vance’s impeachment.

An airman was arrested on Wednesday during a protest on Capitol Hill calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

The airman, identified as Maj. Jason Watson, was charged with violating 22-1307, Crowding, Obstructing, and Incommoding. The advocacy group Removal Coalition organized the press conference at which Watson appeared and Rep. Al Green (D-TX) also attended.

“For the past 18 months, we the people have allowed the highest levels of the executive branch of the federal government to violate our Constitution and their oath to it with impunity,” he said at the press conference.

Watson also referenced the deaths of the 13 servicemembers killed in combat during Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. war against Iran.

A Capitol Police spokesperson confirmed Watson’s arrest, noting that there are spots on Capitol Grounds where demonstrating is permitted, but “it is generally against the law for the public to demonstrate on the House Steps unless they are with a Member of Congress.”

“Yesterday afternoon, a man was escorted to the House Steps by a Member of Congress,” the spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “When the Member of Congress left the area, our officers gave the man lawful orders to stop the illegal demonstration or he would be arrested. The man refused our lawful orders. Jason Watson was then arrested for 22-1307 Crowding, Obstructing, and Incommoding.”

I’m pretty sure John Frankenheimer intended Seven Days in May to be a warning, not a how-to guide, yet that mindset strikes yet again on the far left:

Flashback: Glenn’s 2016 paper on military coups in the United States.

Posted at 7:14 am by Ed Driscoll

DIVERSITY PROBLEM:

Posted at 7:00 am by Glenn Reynolds

MY ASSISTANT BULLIES ME, AND THEREFORE I’M SHARING THIS:  Quick Request for the Huns and Hoydens.

If you decide to do it and wish to nominate my book in science fiction, just nominate No Man’s Land, book one of Chronicles of Lost Elly. (It’s a single book in three volumes, after all.)  There, Holly, don’t yell at me. I shared.

Posted at 6:56 am by Sarah Hoyt