October 24, 2026

GEORGE MF WASHINGTON: Adapt or Die: Netflix Edition.

The question around conference tables and in the air at every Hollywood meeting these days is “what does it mean that Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos schwacked all of his senior content chiefs and replaced them with Peter Rice?”

Well, no one who isn’t Ted Sarandos or Peter Rice can know for sure, but here’s what I think (hope?) it means. Peter Rice is an old school theatrical movie guy who built his reputation on working with brilliant young filmmakers like Danny Boyle to make great movies with budgets that were respectful of fundamental economics and which made everyone involved a lot of money… and because I know that, I believe Netflix is hoping Rice can shepherd them into a near future where the majority of their original films enjoy a real theatrical run.

I say I “hope” this is the case because if he doesn’t, and they don’t, then Rice’s proven eye for identifying good stories and great young talent will be wasted and Netflix risks becoming nothing more than a modern-day Blockbuster video without the brick-and-mortar stores and the after-hours drop boxes. And that would be very bad for business… Hollywood simply cannot afford to lose another buyer on the motion picture side.

Read the whole thing.

Posted at 7:20 am by Stephen Green

LIONEL SHRIVER: Can we be surprised that France has descended into nihilism?

The French themselves also bear responsibility for their growing impoverishment. Waves of protest have ensured the state remains bloated, burdening younger taxpayers with the extreme cost of pensions that still kick in at age 62 – youth’s reaction to which appears to be an eagerness to jump on the same gravy train at the earliest age possible.

Both groups out on the streets in force since mid-September – unassimilated immigrants and young, naively communist white French nationals – feel little vested interest in their country. According to an Ipsos survey this month, 79 percent of French young people have considered moving abroad.

Immigrants from North Africa and their descendants don’t feel French and aren’t really regarded by their white compatriots as French. They’re not only alienated from the world of the designer shops they’ve been demolishing, but fiercely hostile to it.Despite colonial ties, ghettoized, largely Muslim immigrants have little cultural affinity with perhaps the most supremely European of European nations. Excluded from the mainstream culture with few obvious routes to prosperity, immigrants must feel they’ve nothing to lose. If they feel they don’t belong in France, maybe they don’t.

Likewise, lefty, ethnically French young people must feel they’ve little investment in France. Tritely radicalized teachers have drilled into them that not only is their culture evil, but that they have no future. Climate change will scorch the earth to a cinder. Having last passed a balanced budget in 1973, their country is headed for fiscal oblivion (true). AI will eliminate all entry-level jobs, if not all jobs. They’ll never afford their own homes. Benefits being weighted towards the elderly, whose cohort only expands, the few younger folks who find work will have most of their earnings confiscated by the gerontocracy. Low fertility condemns Europe to decay, a conviction that further lowers fertility. Expecting nothing but collapse, conflagration and injustice fosters nihilism.

France already descended into nihilism in 1789 and 1968. And as John Daniel Davidson wrote earlier this month at the Federalist, “The riots in France last week stand as a warning to the United States and all western countries: mass immigration will split your country in two, and the two sides will eventually go to war.”

Posted at 7:12 am by Ed Driscoll

SHE’S JUST THE ANDREW TATE OF THE FEMOSPHERE:

Posted at 7:00 am by Glenn Reynolds

October 23, 2026

OPEN THREAD: Ring in the weekend.

Posted at 9:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Europe’s Space Rider vehicle comes crashing down during drop test. “The incident occurred during an Oct. 6 drop test of the full-scale Space Rider model, from the European Space Agency (ESA). The robotic vehicle’s initial drogue parachute deployed successfully, but its main parafoil detached during deployment, leaving the prototype unable to slow its descent before crashing into the ground, according to ESA officials. The cause of the failure remains under investigation.”

Still a few bugs in the system.

Posted at 9:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds

ICYMI:

Posted at 6:38 pm by Glenn Reynolds

HAHAHA:

Posted at 6:31 pm by Glenn Reynolds

IT’S NOT THAT THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT’S IN THE VIDEOS, IT’S THAT THEY HOPE YOU DON’T KNOW.

Posted at 6:27 pm by Glenn Reynolds

IF YOU STILL THINK TEXAS IS GOING BLUE: Matt Margolis over at PJ Media rounds up a bunch of common sense. Like the survey that on one hand put State Sen. James Talarico two points up on Attorney General Ken Paxton, while on the other showing a majority of surveyed Texans want the GOP to control the Senate. There’s more, go here.

Posted at 6:13 pm by Mark Tapscott

BUCKLE UP:

“A republic, if you can keep it,” the wise man once said.

Posted at 5:09 pm by Stephen Green

ROCKET REPORT: SpaceX says no thanks to Space Force launches.

The Space Force recently tried to book rides for three future satellite missions, but SpaceX declined to offer its services, Politico reports. No other rocket companies offered to take them either, the publication reported. A top Space Force official, Brig. Gen. Eric Zarybnisky, the acting portfolio acquisition executive, acknowledged growing pains for the government and space industry as demand for rockets increases. “Temporarily, there are some things we’ll need to work through, again, as we get new providers flying,” he said. SpaceX has been declining to sign new Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch contracts for all kinds of customers.

No one else has capacity … The three Space Force missions that didn’t find a ride were listed through the National Security Space Launch initiative. Two of the missions were for the Space Development Agency. The agency is a branch of the Space Force that’s building a network of hundreds of military satellites in low-Earth orbit to provide expanded data services, and missile warning and tracking capabilities. Other potential launch providers, United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin, are both working through setbacks with their launch vehicles. Zarybnisky remained optimistic that Blue Origin and ULA will work through their technical problems and that new competitors will get up and running in time.

Previously: How in the Actual Hell Can We Be Running Out of Space Rockets?

Posted at 4:54 pm by Stephen Green

FINALLY, PERHAPS SOME CLARITY:

Posted at 4:38 pm by Stephen Green

WHY WOULD THEY WHEN THEY BELIEVE THEY STAND TO BENEFIT?

Posted at 4:05 pm by Stephen Green

ANNALS OF CRAZY LEFTIST WOMEN: A Florida Attorney Walks Into a Mississippi Gun Store . . .

White identified herself to an employee as a protester and activist who wanted to buy a gun to kill Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, according to the criminal complaint. White told employees she wanted a firearm for protection at a protest because she believed “ICE agents are becoming crazy and wild,” according to the complaint. She also told employees she was an activist and protester.

During her interactions with employees, White gestured toward her torso and asked whether the firearms for sale would penetrate an agent’s body armor, the complaint says. If they could not, she told an employee she would need to “hit them in the head, shoulder, arm or leg.”

“It probably won’t surprise you to hear that, not only did the dealer not sell her a firearm, but the store contacted ATF.”

Posted at 4:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds