HE LIKELY UNDERSTANDS THE THREAT, HE JUST CAN’T ADMIT IT IN PUBLIC:

SpaceX is on track to usurp ISPs and mobile.

THE REAL FIRST RESPONDERS ARE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ALREADY THERE WHEN IT HAPPENS: Before the Police Get There: Armed People Save Lives More and More Often. “Everything takes time. Depending on the location and the number of civilians there, a killer can shoot about 15 people if we wait for the police to arrive and stop an attack. We’ve seen that data play out over the last decade. We have hundreds of examples. That’s the ugly calculus of time.”

When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

THANKS, FELLAS: Ukraine delivers first batch of drones to United States.

The F10 is a first-person-view, or FPV, strike drone, giving operators a live view from the aircraft as they guide it to its target. They carry explosives to strike armored vehicles, military equipment and personnel.

The F10 has proved itself in the war with Russia, recording “thousands of successful strikes and counting,” the company said.

It is participating in the Pentagon’s Drone Dominance Program, a $1 billion initiative to rapidly evaluate and arm U.S. combat units with low-cost, small one-way attack drones. The goal is to procure more than 200,000 drones for U.S. forces by 2027, according to the Pentagon.

Needs another zero.

INDEED:

Cars are deadly weapons, too.

FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: He Did Not Just Do That AGAIN, Did He? “It’s time for your much-needed break from the serious news, and this week, we’ll learn that, yes, Florida Man again chose the exact wrong getaway vehicle, what not to eat while driving, and how to inspire the headline writers at the New York Post.”

MAKE HASAN THE FACE OF THE NEW DEMOCRATS:

The old ones, too, while we’re at it.

21ST CENTURY WARFARE: Russia’s Newest Battlefield Weapon Is Aimed at Starlink.

A new ground-based electronic warfare (EW) system is Russia’s latest attempt to counter Starlink satellite communications, with each unit reportedly capable of jamming up to eight transmission bands simultaneously.

Named “Volna Kupol Grant,” the system directs high-frequency radio signals toward Starlink satellites, preventing them from receiving communications within its operating area.

According to its developer, this approach overloads the satellites’ onboard antennas, allowing military forces to disrupt communications without physically damaging the spacecraft.

Unlike conventional EW systems that focus on disrupting signals near the receiver, Volna Kupol Grant uses narrow-beam, high-frequency transmissions to target the satellites themselves.

It says something about the value of Starlink that Moscow has gone to all this trouble.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Can you say “home-on-jam?” Elon probably can.

DAVID STROM: I Hope This Is My Last Post on Jason Arday, but It Needs Saying. “But there is a lot to unpack here, and little of it has to do with the man himself. For Cambridge University and for academia as a whole, he was an empty vessel into whom they poured their ideology, self-delusion, pride, and sense of moral superiority.”

ALMOST!

OUT ON A LIMB: It’s not ‘body shaming’ to worry about Ariana Grande’s appearance.

Fame can be very tough. And Grande should be treated with civility and kindness. But there is something a little tiresome about celebrities and their PR teams claiming that the public is wrong to comment on their appearance. A pop star like Grande knows that not only is her music important, but so too are her looks. She has used said looks to secure lucrative advertising deals with Swarovski, Givenchy, Reebok, Mac, T-Mobile and her own fragrance line. It’s only fair that those of us expected to buy what her face is selling might have some views on the face itself.

This goes beyond the disingenuous hand-wringing of Hollywood stars who don’t like to be criticised. Much of the concern over Grande’s appearance stems from its potential impact on her young fans. They are watching a once healthy-looking girl fade into a shadow of a woman. Those of us who grew up in the era of ultra-skinny ‘heroin chic’ know that we’ve been here before. But at least during the 1990s we had the confidence to criticise what was clearly an unrealistic and warped view of femininity.

For those of a certain age, we’ve been here before: