March 15, 2026

IF TRUMP WERE AS BAD AS THEY SAY, WOULD THEY HAVE TO LIE TO SCORE POINTS ON HIM?

Posted at 10:19 pm by Glenn Reynolds

HE REALLY WAS A DREADFUL, DESTRUCTIVE PERSON:

Normally I’m a de mortuis nil nisi bonum kinda guy, but in this case I will make an exception.

Posted at 9:51 pm by Glenn Reynolds

OPEN THREAD: Ring out the weekend.

Posted at 9:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds

MAKES YOU WONDER WHY ALL THESE COUNTRIES’ GOVERNMENTS ARE PURSUING THIS STRATEGY AGAINST ALL OPPOSITION:

Posted at 9:16 pm by Glenn Reynolds

AS ALWAYS, LIFE IMITATES MEL BROOKS: Bernie Sanders*-backed Senate hopeful backtracks on apology for ‘Nazi skull’ tattoo insisting it’s an ’eminently reasonable skull-and-crossbones.’

A Democrat running for Senate in Maine who previously apologized for a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol is now defending the design as nothing more than a skull-and-crossbones.

Graham Platner, who hopes to run against incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins, was mired in scandal last year when it was revealed he has a tattoo on his chest resembling the Nazi ‘Totenkopf’ or ‘death’s head’ symbol adopted by Hitler’s SS.

He has since had it altered to resemble some kind of animal.

At first Platner apologized, saying he didn’t realize the symbol was associated with Nazism, and promised he’d get it removed.

But in an interview this week with news blog Zeteo, Platner pushed back, defending the tattoo as merely a ‘skull-and-crossbones’ and ‘an eminently reasonable thing’.

At the beginning of the month, I wrote that perhaps Platner should deploy the Mel Brooks crisis PR handbook. The 1963 comedy album, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks at the Canne Film Festival kicked off thusly (audio available at the Wayback Machine):

CARL REINER: Sir, sir, you’re wearing your bathing suit, I noticed.

BROOKS: Yes, yes.

REINER: And as you scratched your head, I noticed a little “SS” tattooed under your arm. What does that mean?

MEL BROOKS: Oh, oh, oh, well, wait! That’s the Simon Says!  Umm, umm, Simon Says, we played that on the beach. I’m the captain of the Simon Says team! And that’s where we get SS from! I’m serious about the game, I love it, and so I had myself tattooed, “Simon Says!”

I didn’t expect for Platner to do exactly that. 

* Bernie Sanders, you say? Kevin Williamson, call your office: Bernie’s Strange Brew of Nationalism and Socialism.

You too, Chris Matthews! Chris Matthews compares Bernie’s likely victory in Nevada to the Nazis conquering France in 1940.

Posted at 8:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

GREAT MOMENTS IN VICTIMHOOD: Rachel Zegler Claims She Grew Up Without Latina Beauty Icons in Media — Reality Tells a Very Different Story.

Zegler was born in 2001, meaning her teenage years would roughly span 2014 to 2020.

By that point, Latina representation in entertainment and beauty media had already been widespread for more than two decades.

Some of the most recognizable Latina actresses and pop culture icons during that era included:

  • Jennifer Lopez, a global superstar who appeared on countless magazine covers including Vogue, People, and Harper’s Bazaar while also leading major Hollywood films.
  • Salma Hayek, the Oscar-nominated star of Frida and longtime beauty and fashion icon.
  • Jessica Alba, one of Hollywood’s biggest actresses of the 2000s with films like Fantastic Four and Sin City.
  • Eva Longoria, the face of Desperate Housewives and twice named Maxim’s No. 1 “Hot 100” woman.
  • Penélope Cruz, an Oscar-winning actress and longtime ambassador for the global beauty brand L’Oréal.
  • Rosario Dawson, known for major roles in Men in Black II and Sin City.
  • Michelle Rodriguez, a longtime star of the Fast & Furious series and numerous action films.
  • America Ferrera, who became a breakout television star in Ugly Betty in 2006.

Meanwhile, Latina representation in the modeling and beauty industry was also highly visible.

Dolores Del Río, Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino), Rita Moreno (born Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano), Raquel Welch (born Jo Raquel Tejada), Lynda Carter, and Sofia Vergara would like a word here as well.

Posted at 6:55 pm by Ed Driscoll

CAN’T STOP THE SIGNAL:

Translation: “They just hit the telecom complex in Hamadan, internet’s gotten super fast now.”

Posted at 3:04 pm by Stephen Green

“BIRDS FLY FREE, THE [AIR MOBILITY COMMAND] DOESN’T:”

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll

SASHA STONE: How the Oscars Made Everyone Hate Them.

Nothing gets better clicks and views than hating on the Oscars. It’s an annual ritual by now, as the wealthy and privileged parade about in their finery, an entire ecosystem is dedicated to dunking on them. It seems to be almost a sadistic pleasure by now. The more embarrassing the Oscars are, the better to dig in with a knife and fork.

Most people who watch on Sunday night will be hate-watching. Either because they can’t stand the movies on offer, or they can’t stand the celebrities who have become too political of late to tolerate. It’s a thousand Vanessa Redgraves and no Paddy Chayefskys.

Read the whole thing.

Related:

 

Posted at 2:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

GRAUNIAD DECLARES WAR ON LOCAL BAKERY! A corner of north London where food has become a battleground in the Israel-Gaza war.

The cafe itself has existed since the 1980s, proudly blazons its Palestinian heritage, and has long attracted a small but loyal clientele. In recent years, however, a number of predators have appeared on its doorstep. Costa Coffee arrived a decade ago. Starbucks and Greggs followed soon after. Then, a few weeks ago, on the site of the former corner shop two doors down, came a new branch of the upmarket bakery, Gail’s.

Gail’s has long been feted as a purveyor of luxury baked goods and is an unmistakable barometer of local affluence. In recent years, however, as the brand has expanded to almost 200 shops across the UK, its presence has become increasingly contested. Critics accuse it of accelerating gentrification and squeezing out smaller outlets. Campaigners point out that its parent company, Bain Capital, invests heavily in military technology, including Israeli security companies. And so even though Gail’s describes itself as “a British business with no specific connections to any country or government outside the UK”, its very presence 20 metres away from a small independent Palestinian cafe feels quietly symbolic, an act of heavy-handed high-street aggression.

The night before it was due to open, Gail’s was daubed with red paint. Less than a week later, all its windows were smashed in. Slogans reading “reject corporate Zionism” and “fuck Bain Capital” were written on its walls. To date, no arrests have been made. A spokesperson for the Board of Deputies of British Jews has described it as “part of a wider trend to try to drive Jews out of wider civil society” (Gail’s was founded by an Israeli baker in the 1990s). The local branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign made it clear it had no involvement. It should scarcely require saying that Mahmoud, a mild-mannered man in his 60s, had nothing to do with it. “We compete with them legally,” he says. Mahmoud believes rivals seek to dominate the local trade, “but our cappuccino is £2.95 and theirs is £4.50. That’s how we compete.”

And so somehow these two north London cafes, from two entirely separate worlds, with what we have to assume are two almost entirely separate clienteles, have found themselves on the frontline of a war. A deeply asymmetric war, defined by gross imbalances in power and resources and platforms, but a war nonetheless, and one that simultaneously feels more distant and more local than ever.

Show us on the doll where the Jewish bakery touched you:

Posted at 1:14 pm by Ed Driscoll