June 1, 2026

METAPHOR ALERT:

Posted at 2:29 pm by Stephen Green

JIM GERAGHTY: Democrats Have Tied Themselves to Grähäm Plätner.

Based on what we know, Graham Platner is just a full-spectrum creep. That Democratic political firm that controls a bunch of social media influencers generated amazing results.

But we should not expect Maine Democrats to abandon Platner, nor pressure him to end his campaign. A whole lot of Democrats inside and outside of Maine are now deeply emotionally invested in the success of this campaign. From the moment they chose to believe that Platner had “accidentally” gotten the symbol of the Nazi SS tattooed on his chest, and the “military history buff” never recognized it as a Nazi symbol for 18 years, they were taking their consciences and integrity and putting them into a lockbox and entrusting them to Platner. Ending their support of Platner now would mean admitting that his critics were right about him all along. And surely, no modern Republican could relate to the phenomenon of sticking with a deeply flawed candidate out of a sense of partisan obligation, and not wanting to let the other side get a win.

Incidentally, this is who the man with the Totenkopf tat seeks to blitzkrieg:

Related: Flashing back to the infamous ad full of manly men eating carburetors for breakfast that Camp Kamala ran in 2024, did Platner’s recruiters think that the Totenkopf tat would be a plus…?

“So maybe they want to run to the RIGHT of Collins, and since these idiots ACTUALLY BELIEVE we are all actual Nazis, maybe they saw Platner as the ideal candidate. Because they are stupidly brainwashed. Just a theory…”

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll

WAR SECRETARY: Hegseth Calls on Western Pacific Allies to Maintain Military Strength, ‘We Need Partners, Not Protectorates.’

In his speech, United States’ Strategy for Peace in the Indo-Pacific, Hegseth made no mention of U.S. military engagements and activities in the region, instead focusing on Washington’s overall policy, outlook and expectations.

“Alliances only work when they are true partnerships. It is a two-way street. You don’t have a strong alliance unless everyone has skin in the game. No freeloading,” said Hegseth, who emphasized the importance of military strength in maintaining peace and stability, “We don’t need more conferences. We need more combat power. I’m sorry to say this here. Less Shangri-La, more ships, more subs.”

Hegseth said that for too long U.S. pleas for Europe to spend more on defence fell on deaf ears, but now Europe was catching up.

“You can have all the rules you want, and rules are great, but if you can’t back them up with hard power, the rules are not worth the paper they are written on. Europe and NATO have some big decisions to make,” Hegseth said.

No wonder the lefties hate him.

Posted at 1:44 pm by Stephen Green

MATT WELCH: The Federal Government Botched the Bicentennial Too.

President Lyndon Johnson’s original idea back in 1966 was to use the bicentennial as a showcase for the self-evident glories of…urban renewal. Philadelphia leaders countered with a possible 1976 World Fair, hoping to recapture the glory of the Centennial Exposition a century before. But “an expensive, celebratory international exposition,” noted historian M.J. Rymsza-Pawlowska in The Inclusive Historian’s Handbook, “was out-of-step with the troubled contemporary moment.”

Then came backlash against the heavy-handed ministrations of a vulgar Republican president. Richard Nixon replaced LBJ’s picks on the bipartisan American Revolution Bicentennial Commission with his own cronies and donors, prompting would-be participants to back out of what was shaping up to be a more explicitly partisan exercise. The commission would eventually come under investigation and be replaced by a congressionally authorized American Revolution Bicentennial Administration (ARBA). Then as now, Washington treasured its narcissism of small bureaucratic differences.

The early ’70s being the early ’70s, there was also a dog’s breakfast of sociopolitical movements eager to throw turds in the national punchbowl. “A group called the Bicentennial Without Colonies sought to use the commemoration to point to the disjunction between the ideals and realities of the Revolution, specifically the ongoing inequality, disenfranchisement, and imperialism evidenced by U.S. actions in Puerto Rico,” wrote Rymsza-Pawlowska. “Local and national organizers for the Black Panther Party and American Indian Movement were involved in this latter effort and in interviews, speeches, and publications, also drew attention to the federal Bicentennial’s erasure of both the histories of inequality and the contributions of people of color to the nation.” Sometimes the past isn’t a foreign country…

By 1973, the ARBA had largely punted on any grand national gestures, opting instead to dish out grants to whatever state and local celebrations looked promising. Turns out there were lots! Parades and historical re-enactments galore, an odd and oddly moving Bicentennial Wagon Train in reverse to Valley Forge, area dads embarrassing their kids with powdered wigs and theatrical speeches. Not the kind of stuff to send thrills up the legs of New York Times art critics, but that was—maybe still is!—precisely the point.

When 2026 Gen Xers and Gen Jonesers wax nostalgic about the Bicentennial of their youth, part of the lament is for the passing of common culture. As Robert Pondiscio observed recently in Commentary, “we were…living in the last days of the three-network, Time-and-Newsweek world that functioned, for all its flaws and limitations, as a civic commons. When the Bicentennial unfolded, it did so on a shared stage.”

That stage so very much included tacky commercial culture—the Coke ads, 7Up’s 50 Cans for 50 States campaign, the collectible bicentennial quarters. “Much of it was kitschy, crass, and transparently designed to separate Americans from their money,” Pondiscio notes. As if that’s a bad thing!

Pop culture and sports, too, were spitting out spar-spangled ephemera. Yes, there were 1776 and Schoolhouse Rock, though for the latter we tend to remember the winning strains of “No More Kings” and “I’m Just a Bill” more than the problematic Manifest Destiny of “Elbow Room.” But, as importantly, you couldn’t turn on an AM radio without hearing Elton John’s #1 pre-disco banger “Philadelphia Freedom” (fittingly, a song written by one then-closeted icon about the sports team owned by another). The then-peaking American Basketball Association featured a red, white, and blue ball to go with its gravity-defying afros; all major professional sports leagues in 1976 held their All-Star games in Philly.

Read the whole thing.

Posted at 1:35 pm by Ed Driscoll

WHEN ART CANNOT IMITATE LIFE:

Posted at 1:28 pm by Stephen Green

DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF UNCANNY VALLEYS? The AI Film Dreams of Violets Is How You Get Me to Hate Movies.

The facial expressions are trying to convey sadness, but they are wooden, hollow facsimiles. I look at them and feel nothing except disgust. Beyond these uncanny valleys, many of the shots don’t even make sense. How can a man be walking normally while tear gas moves in slow motion behind him? Have these people forgotten how to tie a blindfold? Why is the bokeh flickering in broad daylight? What is even happening in this film?

Tom Rogers, Executive Chairman of Fountain 0 (the makers of the film), says that when he showed “Dreams of Violets” to “one of the most prominent names in the independent film business,” he had no idea he was watching an AI-generated movie.

I am curious to know which clearly blind person they found to say that, because this film is obviously AI generated.

I have a feeling that much of the criticism that will be levied against this mess of disjointed visuals will be accused of hating the topic of the “film,” not the fact it is AI generated. The creators will likely claim that those who speak out against it are actually somehow supporting the tragedy in Iran, which is an easy way to shift the narrative away from having to discuss the real issues.

Right now, AI works better as commercials and campaign videos (such as those made by Spenser Pratt’s supporters), than trying to pass it off as an actual film. But this is still the early days of the technology. As Glenn wrote in 2024, “Of course, the thing about AI is that AI keeps getting better, while people stay about the same…At a sufficiently advanced level of technology, AI will be super-effective at manipulating people, and they won’t even know they’re being manipulated.”

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: Camo-Clad ChiComs Caught Crossing Into Texas. “This seems like the sort of thing we should be paying closer attention to. How many military-age Chinese national men are already here, and how much of the anti-border control networks funded by Shanghai-based Neville Roy Singham are designed to to keep ICE from deporting them?”

Posted at 12:42 pm by Stephen Green

NIEMAND WIRD GERNE VON EINEM GEBÄUDE GEWORFEN:

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES:

Every Republican needs to do things like this.

Posted at 12:26 pm by Stephen Green

LEFTIST LIES HAVE CONSEQUENCES:

Posted at 12:09 pm by Glenn Reynolds

QUALITY LEARING CENTERS, WEST COAST DIVISION: California’s War on Nick Shirley, Explained.

Our story begins at the epicenter of almost all affronts to Constitutional rights / basic decency / shit-free sidewalks: the state of California, where Gavin Newsom and his henchmen of union mouthpieces in Sacramento sensed trouble was afoot.

A young, ragged, hoodie-donning agitator by the name of Nick Shirley, armed with an iPhone camera and a healthy distrust of government officials, had just completed a trip to Minnesota, during which our humble protagonist stumbled upon some curious findings.

Several government-funded daycare centers — all run by individuals who happened to be of a certain common ancestry, an ancestry that happens to be one known for piracy — were not only poorly-spelled… they also had a mysterious lack of children (typically found at daycare centers) and generally appeared to be vectors for outright fraud more than fun playplaces hosting Ms. Rachel singalongs.

This was on the heels of the Feeding Our Future saga, a bombshell scandal in which several Minnesota residents (who also happened to be of the aforementioned ancestry, curious!) stole millions of tax dollars designated for COVID relief in the state, using the money to splurge on cars, vacations, and other various luxuries. In other words, the land of “Minnesota nice” had a bit of a blindspot for scammer exploitation, it turns out, and Shaggy Shirley — “Skater S. Thompson,” they call him (they don’t) — was doing his part to uncover it through gonzo-style, on-the-ground reporting.

After subsequently racking up over 100 million views on YouTube, Shirley’s Minnesota exposé ultimately led to a full-scale response from the Trump administration, including an FBI raid of the “daycare centers,” a freezing of funds by the Department of Health and Human Services, and even the establishment of a Vance-led taskforce dedicated entirely to cracking down on fraud.

But the real kicker came when Shirley announced his next act…

As with Minnesota, that Sacramento has chosen Shirley to be the enemy of the story, rather than those who have plundered their states of millions of dollars of fraud, explains much about the corruption of the left.

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll

HMM: Forget the Consumer Surveys, Businesses Say We’re in a Boom. “Gloom and doom is everywhere these days — except in the economic data or in business planning meetings.”

I remember Mark Penn bragging about how the ’92 Clinton campaign convinced people the Bush economy was awful when it was actually rebounding sharply. It helps to have the press in your pocket, of course.

Posted at 11:57 am by Glenn Reynolds

“MOST EVIL” IN TRANSLATION: “SOMEONE WHO STANDS IN THE WAY OF CURRENT DEMOCRAT GOALS.”

Posted at 11:55 am by Glenn Reynolds

MERCY TO THE GUILTY IS CRUELTY TO THE INNOCENT:

Posted at 11:52 am by Glenn Reynolds