May 8, 2026

PEOPLE WHO CAN’T BE TRUSTED WON’T BE TRUSTED:

Posted at 8:22 am by Stephen Green

CHRISTOPHER RUFO: “Spencer Pratt grew up in a California that delivered all of the public services in the background without much fuss, and consequently, one could live out the California archetypes of the surfer, the burnout, or the party animal, and it was more or less as depicted in the movies…Pratt has a better understanding of the California Dream than a rigid, humorless apparatchik like Nithya Raman, who views the state as raw material for an ideological formula.”

As Jonah Goldberg wrote in 2024 regarding Chicago’s Mayor Daley:

Daley was a real New Deal-style liberal, but he would have no use for Shorism or Lakoff-ism. He barely spoke American. He once declared he was proud to welcome the “poet lariat” of Chicago. He complained of his enemies, “They have vilified me, they have crucified me, yes, they have even criticized me.” He famously defended the Chicago police (which, we should concede did some indefensible things) by saying “Gentlemen, get the thing straight once and for all—the policeman isn’t there to create disorder, the policeman is there to preserve disorder.”

But he knew how to get snow cleared.

Again, I’m not trying to romanticize Daley, but I guarantee you a great many current residents of Chicago (or New York, Portland, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.) would be far, far, happier to pay taxes for Daley-style government than to pay for what they have now—even if you convinced people that taxes are really just membership fees.

Democrats in Los Angeles would similarly accept a lot of corruption in their local government — if it still delivered basic services, such as putting out fires and repairing roads:

Posted at 8:22 am by Ed Driscoll

IT DOESN’T LOOK GOOD:

Posted at 7:51 am by Stephen Green

LIKE A HURRICANE:

Posted at 7:45 am by Ed Driscoll

THE NEW SPACE RACE: ‘Whatever Russia is testing, it’s sophisticated’: Satellites pass within 3 metres of each other.

Astronomers have observed two Russian military satellites passing within 3 metres (10 feet) of each other in an unexplained manoeuvre.

The COSMOS 2581 and COSMOS 2583 satellites, launched by Russia’s space agency Roscosmos in February 2025, performed the operation last week while orbiting at an altitude of around 585 kilometres.

The incident. which was tracked by US-based space situational awareness firm COMSPOC. has raised concerns about space-based surveillance and orbital collisions .

“This week we observed a complex proximity event involving Russian satellites,” COMSPOC wrote in a post to X, alongside a simulation of the event.

“This wasn’t a coincidental pass – COSMOS 2583 performed several fine manoeuvres to maintain this tight configuration… Whatever Russia is testing, it’s sophisticated.”

Russia has not disclosed the specific purpose of the satellites, though space analysts noted that one of them released a “sub-satellite” referred to as Object F.

They are believed to be part of a program involving “inspector satellites”, designed to test or perform surveillance operations of other spacecraft in orbit.

I’d guess they can do more than just observe.

Posted at 7:36 am by Stephen Green

LATE-STAGE STATISM ALWAYS COMES DOWN TO CONFISCATE EVERYTHING YOU CAN BEFORE THE WHOLE THING COLLAPSES:

Posted at 7:20 am by Stephen Green

SEVEN WAYS WE’RE ALL EQUAL: Thanks to our long-failing public education system, few young Americans know the full story behind the Declaration of Independence, and in particular the meaning of those “inalienable rights,” including the one about all men are equal.

In a high-quality, entertaining 7:22 video produced by the Discovery Institute, host Adam Nieri uses Dr. John West’s superb “Endowed by Our Creator” and other sources to describe the seven fundamental ways in which all men are equal before the law, according to the Founders. Check it out and then share it with the kids, grandkids, neighbor kids, etc. etc.

Posted at 6:48 am by Mark Tapscott