EH, MOSTLY I JUST ASK SAYUNCLE FOR ADVICE: How Do You Research Your Most Important Gun-Related Purchases? Or sometimes Tamara Keel.
September 21, 2026
THE LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES ALWAYS HAS THE LAST LAUGH:
Like 800,000 people watch CNN, if you filter their coverage through an “independent” content review board, that number will be 250,000 by next summer
— George MF Washington (@GMFWashington) September 21, 2026
REAGAN WAS RIGHT ON STAR WARS: More than 1,500 Iranian ballistic missiles have been intercepted before striking U.S. military targets and other targets in Israel and elsewhere in the Middle East.
The President who first proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) nee “Star Wars” in 1983 was lambasted for proposing the impossible. Too bad those critics aren’t around today to see Reagan’s vision being fulfilled.
READER FAVORITE: HOSHANHO 6 Inch Kitchen Knife, Ultra Sharp Japanese Kitchen Utility Knife. #CommissionEarned
VOTE AS THOUGH YOUR LIFE, LIBERTY, AND PROPERTY DEPEND UPON IT*:
The GOP is a clown show but if the Dems gain power they will simply end all immigration enforcement and the country will be over
They have said this explicitly, repeatedly, and consistently https://t.co/6Juv106OZj
— Auron MacIntyre (@AuronMacintyre) September 21, 2026
*Because they do.
ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Do COVID And AI Rhyme?
Think about that for a moment.
Some of the people leading the race are now asking government to help slow the race.
Business titans generally don’t beg Washington to regulate their industries. When they do, it is reasonable to ask why.
Perhaps these executives genuinely fear what they are creating. Given the extraordinary capabilities of AI, that possibility should not be dismissed.
But there is another possibility.
Regulation is expensive. Giant corporations can afford armies of lawyers, compliance officers, lobbyists, engineers, and safety researchers. Smaller competitors and startups often cannot. What begins as a regulatory guardrail can eventually become a competitive moat.
Investor Steve Eisman, famous for anticipating the 2008 housing collapse, recently made precisely this argument, suggesting that AI companies warning of catastrophe may benefit from regulations that protect dominant firms from competitors.
That doesn’t prove motive, but it certainly makes the question worth asking.
And the political cavalry was arriving at roughly the same time.
Read the whole thing.
NOW, CAESAR’S ROAD ATLAS: Ancient Rome Built 190,000 Miles Of Roads And Researchers Just Traced Them All.
BUT GOOD LUCK NEUTERING THE TRIAL LAWYER LOBBY:
Bessent: No Liability Shield for AI
Good call. If AI really is as dangerous as their paid activists claim, the solution is more liability.
As for the claim liability will strangle the industry, the fix is neuter the trial lawyer lobby, not give out free passes to break stuff… https://t.co/q87Yb0mFdc
— Peter St Onge, Ph.D. (@profstonge) September 21, 2026
FASCINATING: Something Very Strange Is Happening With Trump and AI Users — and It Just Might Swing the Midterms. “Americans who use artificial intelligence (AI) tools every day are the only AI-usage group to give President Donald Trump a net positive approval rating, a new Rainey Center poll has found.”
IDEOLOGICAL DIVERSITY APPARENTLY HAS ITS LIMITS AT WHITMAN. The student senate voted 25–0 against recognizing the Republican Club after scrutinizing its politics, and FIRE is calling on the college to give the group a fair, viewpoint-neutral shot.
NO, THERE WILL BE ROBOTS: Smart beds and motion sensors – is this the future of dementia care?
FLASHBACK: The Banality of Leninism. “Historians often act like Lenin’s tyranny was a bolt from the blue: Who would have expected a bunch of socialists to be so bloodthirsty? Admirers of Lenin, in contrast, often paint him as a great innovator – at least as a strategist. A dictatorship of the proletariat run by a vanguard party of bourgeois intellectuals? Only Lenin could have conceived it. When you read 19th-century Russian literature, however, “Leninist” memes clearly predate the birth of Lenin. Contrary to many historians, Lenin’s atrocities were foreseeable. And contrary to Lenin’s admirers, his strategy of atrocity was pure cliche.”
This piece is from 2012 but is as timely as ever.
QUELLE SURPRISE: Now We Have Proof That the FBI Protected Biden in Classified Docs Case.
PANIC: Human extinction fears make me want to flee AI and live on an island.
Hope that works out for you.
ANALYSIS: TRUE. Effective Altruism is evil. “These people are impossible to parody. I wish I could convey to you how absurd this is, but any straightforward description of it makes one sound insane.”
BOW TO THE MASTER: This Might Be Trump’s Most Magnificent Troll of All Time.
21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS, FEMALE ENTITLEMENT EDITION: California tech exec mocked for cringeworthy list of dating ‘non-negotiables.’
Honestly, most of what she says would be fine if cast as suggestions instead of demands.
But she’s 29. See how she feels in a couple of years.
HMM: America Needs a New Urban Vision.
Cities historically grew and prospered because of their location by rivers, ports, or natural resources. They might also have been the capitals of great empires or religious centers, or boasted vital institutions like universities, museums, and industry clusters—legacies of great economic booms.
The age of modern media has seen the emergence of a new key element catalyzing growth in contemporary societies: a compelling urban vision. Urban visions formulate attractive paradigms of what a successful city looks like, focusing on four central ingredients: people, businesses, leaders, and capital.
American cities largely lack such a unifying idea today.
Interesting article, but I remain wary of people who have visions of how other people should live.
Why not try good governance and letting people figure it out for themselves?
POKER WARS: Philip Guitar Talks ‘Poker Wars,’ the Bloody Battles that led to the World Series of Poker.
My latest, over at Ed Driscoll.com.
THE NEW SPACE RACE:
BREAKING: The U.S. Space Force is backing Sedaro with up to $45 million to expand what could become a digital proving ground for orbital warfare.
Sedaro is a mission simulation software platform designed for National Security that can model satellites, sensors, communications… pic.twitter.com/s56UaE2oq7
— Outer Space Today (@outerspacetoday) September 19, 2026
More: “Sedaro is a mission simulation software platform designed for National Security that can model satellites, sensors, communications networks, and other military systems together. This will allow the Space Force to digitally rehearse entire missions, simulate hostile attacks, and expose weak points before putting hardware or personnel at risk.”
IN THE GRAND OLD TRADITION OF STALIN ORDERING TROTSKY MURDERED IN MEXICO: Russia Allegedly Went Shopping for a Hitman in America. The Price Was $40,000. “An indictment unsealed in Manhattan charges five people with working in a network tied to Russian intelligence services. Prosecutors say the network recruited people in America to surveil Russian dissidents and, in at least one case, tried to recruit someone to carry out a killing here. All five defendants remain at large.”
THIS IS A REAL PROBLEM FOR NOT JUST BRITAIN, BUT PRETTY MUCH ALL OF WESTERN EUROPE:
Serious question: why should Englishmen fight to defend the prerogatives of a ruling class that has utterly failed in its duty to the people it governs? And not only that, but seems to actively despise them? https://t.co/VYeEuuyukE
— Rod Dreher (@roddreher) September 21, 2026
CHANGE: NYC’s Carnegie Deli reopens after 10-year absence — with noticeable differences in service, soup and pastrami. Nooo! Not the pastrami! But they’re saying it’s better: “The reborn Carnegie Deli has better pastrami and chicken soup than its predecessor did. Service by friendly waitresses is a big improvement over the crusty ‘whaddya have’ of yore.”
Hmm. I’ll have to check it out and form my own opinon.
