September 25, 2026

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Virginia AG Spins Up a Dedicated Unit to Enforce the State’s New Vague Firearms Liability Law.

You’d have to have been living under a rock not to know about Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones and his infamous text messages that came to light during his campaign to be the commonwealth’s top law enforcement officer.

“Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, Hitler, and Pol Pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” then-Delegate Jones mistakenly texted to Republican Virginia Delegate Carrie Coyner in 2022, referencing then-Republican Virginia Speaker of the House Todd Gilbert. “Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time,” AG Jones added.

After Delegate Coyner addressed his disgusting sentiments, then-Delegate Jones doubled down, following up with a disgusting and vile text message stating how he “wished” that the Virginia Speaker’s children would be shot and “die in their mother’s arms.”

Fast forward and AG Jones announced he’s established a dedicated, taxpayer-funded unit to investigate potential violations of the commonwealth’s new firearm industry liability law and bring civil enforcement actions against lawful and highly regulated businesses.

Announced Sept. 15, the Firearms Accountability & Industry Responsibility Unit gives the attorney general’s office a team focused on enforcing a statute that took effect July 1 and imposes so-called “standards of conduct” on firearm manufacturers, distributors, importers, marketers and retailers.

Virginians shouldn’t hold their breath if they think the same guy who texted the reprehensible messages that he did — and doubled down on them — will be a fair arbiter of any regulations in place meant to hamper the firearm industry and law-abiding Virginians’ ability to exercise their constitutional rights.

Gooder and harder, Virginia.

Posted at 1:48 pm by Stephen Green

MY NEW BOOK IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON FOR PRE-ORDER:

Here’s one of the blurbs from the book:

“Why We Walk on Eggshells is an incisive look at the wrong turns judges, legislators, and other officials have taken in shaping American civil rights law and policy, and how those choices have led the country in disastrous directions. It is essential reading for anyone interested in restoring the nation’s commitment to equal opportunity for all and moving beyond failed policies of preferential treatment based on race, ethnicity, or sex.”

—Heather Mac Donald, Thomas W. Smith Fellow, Manhattan Institute

It will be released on November 3.

Posted at 1:42 pm by Gail Heriot

DEMS PLAY THE NARRATIVE GAME ALMOST TO PERFECTION…:

…But they still need you to sit this one out to win.

Posted at 1:32 pm by Stephen Green

RABBI MICHAEL BARCLAY: Netanyahu at the United Nations. “Before he even said a word, dozens of delegates left the room in protest of Israel’s very existence, but Netanyahu was not deterred and spent the next 40 minutes dispersing truths to these ‘moral cowards.’ Here are some of the highlights.”

Posted at 1:17 pm by Stephen Green

SOME SMALL MEASURE OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Full details here.

Posted at 1:01 pm by Stephen Green

FORGET GHOST CITIES; NOW CHINA HAS Ghost Towers In Real Cities.

Matthew Tye: “‘Look at the city at night. You see all this viral footage and stuff.’ And they go, ‘Let’s go inside some of these buildings, see what they look like.’ We took you inside one. I think it was in Chungdu where the guy went up all the floors and he’s like, ‘There’s literally nothing in here.’”

Winston Sterzel: “All of them were empty.”

MT: “But they have lights on, these very nice lights on. This guy took it a step further and he goes, ‘You know, I’m going to take you to Shanghai where everything should be full. Everything in the the Shanghai skyline should be being used for office space because this is a this is where you want to be in China.”

Fascinating video.

Posted at 11:44 am by Stephen Green

CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW…:

Posted at 11:28 am by Stephen Green

NARRATIVES DON’T ENFORCE THEMSELVES, YOU KNOW:

Posted at 10:57 am by Stephen Green

MOVING AT THE SPEED OF GOVERNMENT: Appeals court drowns red tape, turns on tap for Gross Reservoir.

A federal appeals court has thrown out a lower-court ruling that left Denver Water’s newly raised Gross Dam standing over a reservoir it wasn’t allowed to fill, dealing a major blow to environmental groups that spent years trying to drown the project in legal red tape.

In a unanimous Sept. 15 opinion, a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court, vacated its permanent injunction, and ordered judgment entered against the plaintiffs.

Judge Timothy Tymkovich wrote the opinion, joined by Chief Judge Jerome Holmes and Judge Nancy Moritz.

Denver Water said the ruling confirms the project “was lawfully permitted” and clears the way for the final stages of work.

Exit quote: “The ruling lets Denver Water move toward finally filling a reservoir it first proposed when many of its current customers were children.”

Posted at 10:42 am by Stephen Green

DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: Cambridge Cancels Probe into Jason Arday Hiring, Will Instead Focus on University Support.

Cambridge University has decided against investigating how and why the late professor Jason Arday was hired despite his lack of qualifications and will instead look into whether staff offered him sufficient support after he was accused of plagiarizing large sections of his published work and fabricating a series of personal achievements.

Touted as the youngest black Cambridge professor in history when he was hired in 2022, Arday came under significant public scrutiny earlier this year after fellow academics and journalists began surfacing evidence of extensive plagiarism throughout his publication record. That scrutiny extended to Arday’s professed personal biography, which featured staggering athletic achievements and acts of philanthropy.

Arday was found dead in his south London home on August 14, nine days after resigning as a professor of sociology of education at Cambridge. Police on scene described his death as “non-suspicious,” and his family later commented that the “campaign of misinformation was too much” for him.

Cambridge has learned nothing and forgotten nothing about the Arday debacle, and their role in making it happen.

Posted at 10:35 am by Ed Driscoll

NICE:

Posted at 10:26 am by Stephen Green

THE WAY THINGS WORK:

Posted at 10:15 am by Glenn Reynolds