August 24, 2026

August 23, 2026

OPEN THREAD: Ring out the weekend.

Posted at 9:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds

IT’S NOT YOUR DAD’S COLLEGE FOOTBALL ANYMORE: Agents: Dae’Quan Wright to be waived by Browns, set to join LSU.

The Cleveland Browns are waiving tight end Dae’Quan Wright, who has an agreement in place for the 2026 season to play for LSU if he clears waivers, agents Drew Rosenhaus and Kyle Lincoln told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Sunday.

Wright is believed to be the first player to have an agreement to return to play in college after signing with an NFL team as an undrafted free agent. He signed with the Philadelphia Eagles after the draft and then was claimed on waivers by the Browns on Aug. 11.

He didn’t appear in either of Cleveland’s first two preseason games. Wright hasn’t practiced in more than a week, but he dressed for the Browns’ second preseason game against the Buffalo Bills on Saturday. Browns coach Todd Monken said Wright has been sidelined by an injury.

On Wednesday, Wright officially entered the transfer portal after he and a group of athletes who filed a lawsuit in Louisiana were granted a temporary restraining order to return to college for one more season.

Who knows where this could lead?

Posted at 6:47 pm by Ed Driscoll

JONATHAN TURLEY: Assassination Sing-a-Long: Hasan Piker Mocks the Murdered Charlie Kirk to Cheering Crowd.

We have seen protesters on the left around the country mocking the assassination of Charlie Kirk, even reenacting his murder. Hate traffickers like Jennifer Welch have even justified his assassination. It is all shocking and depressing, but none reached the level of Hasan Piker leading a huge crowd in mocking Kirk and his faith. Before he was murdered, Kirk debated Piker and called him a “socialist hypocrite.” What is shocking is not the utter depravity and cruelty of Piker, but the ecstasy of the crowd in relishing the death of someone with opposing views. It is part of the conditioning in what I have previously called an “age of rage.”

In the video, Piker leads the crowd in the meme song “We Are Charlie Kirk” at a stop of his “Fear& LIVE” tour, including such lines as “We are Charlie Kirk, we carry the flame. We’ll fight for the Gospel, we’ll honor his name.” His co-hosts and the crowd seem to be laughing with joy.

Joining him at this hatefest at the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco on August 21 were reportedly Will Neff, QTCinderella, and AustinShow.

Hasan is wearing his now-signature Mao jacket as the young crowd and his co-hosts laugh hysterically. It is the very essence of this movement to desensitize people, particularly young people, to violence and hate.

* * * * * * * * *

Civility, and even humanity, become signs of weakness in these times. They gravitate to figures like Abdul El-Sayed who has campaigned with Piker and promises to “choke out” Republicans and refers to moderates like Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman (D) as ogres to have their heads cut off and put on pikes.

The American left has found their berserkers, the old Norse warriors who were known to fight in a virtual violent trance. The new berserkers offer the chance to hate completely and without remorse or reflection. Over time, supporters are conditioned to disregard even the murder of those with opposing views. As shown in San Francisco, assassination becomes nothing more than a sing-a-long in an age of rage.

But no clipart is involved, so this is all merely harmless fun and games to the media.

Posted at 6:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

REAL RUSSIAGATE HAS NEVER BEEN TRIED:

Schmidt’s argument relies on his refusal to acknowledge a mountain of evidence refuting all his points while stringing together conspiracy theories, debunked allegations, and clinically paranoid speculation. Schmidt inadvertently captures the delusional mindset of collusion conspiracists in a quote he got from FBI official Andrew McCabe, the instigator of the Oxferd Comma counterintelligence investigation, who described what the probe was meant to discover: “Could the president actually be the point of coordination between the campaign and the Russian government?”

Granted, Comey didn’t sound much more sane when he blurted out, “I don’t know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013. It’s possible, but I don’t know.”

Despite the nearly year-long Crossfire Hurricane investigation, the nearly two-year-long Mueller probe, and every major media outlet in America spending almost three years chasing down every preposterous collusion allegation, there’s still no evidence of collusion. Yet according to Schmidt, there is nothing wrong with the Russia collusion narrative at all—it just hasn’t been proven yet.

At this point, Michael Schmidt is a Japanese soldier hiding in the Philippine jungle in 1970, refusing to acknowledge the war was lost. He is a guy standing next to Geraldo as he opens Al Capone’s empty vault, insisting it’s full of invisible treasure. He is an organizer of the Fyre Festival raving about the great concert as malnourished, dehydrated, disheveled concertgoers are being evacuated. He is Kevin Bacon in Animal House, screaming “all is well” as the town descends into chaos around him.

At least that’s what I was told by three officials familiar with the matter.

Heh, indeed. At this point, the DNC-MSM is coming full circle in its TDS:

Posted at 6:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

HOW IT STARTED: New England Journal of Medicine Opinion Editor Takes Credit for Ruining Its Reputation.

The New England Journal of Medicine still publishes objective scientific articles. But in the last decade-plus, it is just as notable for its hard left political opinion pieces about issues ranging from climate change, to race relations, to promoting “equity” (as distinguished from equality), to gun control, to supporting transitioning gender-dysphoric minors, and more.

Debra Malina, Ph.D., the first and so far, only “Perspectives” editor — an opinion section where most of the woke political screeds published by the NEJM are placed — is retiring. She has written a swan song piece taking credit for bringing blatant politics to the pages of the NEJM.

* * * * * * * *

With Malina heading into retirement, the editors of the NEJM can restore the publication’s reputation as a sober and focused source of important medical information rather than one with “soul.” First, the next Perspectives editor should not be an English major or a progressive ideologue. More to the point, I would hope the editors of the NEJM will keep it completely out of politics, or at least public policy controversies that do not have a clear medical or public health nexus. That may not be as much fun as attacking Trump policies, but it is certainly more in keeping with the important public role of a respected medical journal.

Let’s just say that NEJM isn’t rushing to change the current tone of the publication:

 

Tweet concludes:

If this is the standard that academia employs, no one should ever trust academia again on any matter of importance.

And thus, it’s time: Nuke Academia From Orbit. It Is the Only Way to Be Sure.

Posted at 4:44 pm by Ed Driscoll

MAN’S SEARCH FOR MEANING DURING THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE:

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Reader John Steakley writes:

Whether it was Rome in 46 B.C. or the USSR two millennia later, the test of a society all comes back to . . . bread.

I propose the socioeconomic metric “Law of Bread:”

“Bread waits for winners, and losers wait for bread.”

Posted at 4:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

EMBRACE THE HEALING QUALITY OF “AND ALL OF THE ABOVE:”

Posted at 4:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

WHEN REALITY BITES SEN. CHRIS MURPHY: The Connecticut Democrat tweets that 52 immigrants have died in ICE detention facilities and …. you can probably fill out the rest of his demagoguery. Why do I say demagoguery? Check it out here.

Posted at 3:23 pm by Mark Tapscott

COMPARISON:

Posted at 3:14 pm by Glenn Reynolds

LONGEVITY UPDATE: Common nasal spray ingredient emerges in Massachusetts lab work on aging pathways. “A common nasal spray ingredient has turned up in an unexpected corner of aging research. Early lab work suggests oxymetazoline — best known as the active ingredient in Afrin — may influence one biological process associated with aging. . . . One of the compounds that drew attention was oxymetazoline, which appeared to influence intercellular communication — the signaling system cells use to send and receive messages throughout the body. Aging can disrupt those signals, contributing to issues such as weaker immune responses and muscle and bone loss. Oxymetazoline is also found in some Sinex nasal sprays, as well as certain eye drops and creams used for redness, the outlet reported. Still, a promising lab result is a long way from a real anti-aging treatment.”

Posted at 2:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD:

Posted at 1:14 pm by Ed Driscoll