April 20, 2026

VOTING WITH THEIR DOLLARS:

Posted at 12:57 pm by Stephen Green

VIA JK ROWLING: Inside the feverish delusions of the professional arts class.

A few weeks ago, I ventured out to an arts event here in Belfast — something I do rarely these days. It was entitled Working Against the Clampdown: Who’s Afraid of the Arts?, and it was part of the Belfast Festival of Ideas and Politics.

I was there with Sara Morrison and Rosie Kay. Both are outcasts from the publicly funded arts sector in the UK — Rosie having been kicked out of her own very successful dance company — the Rosie Kay Dance Company – by her own dancers, who complained to her board alleging ‘transphobia,’ which led to the board launching an investigation into her, and ultimately, the dissolution of the entire company. Sara, as I have written about here and here, was similarly treated by her employer, the Belfast Film Festival, after she spoke in favour of women only spaces at one of Kellie Jay Keen’s Let Women Speak events in 2023.

On a rainy night in late March, sitting in the audience with these two women, l listened to salaried grandees discussing the challenges they faced while existing off the largess of the British taxpayer. It was an experience of cognitive dissonance so sharp it felt like a slap in the face.

Read the whole thing.

Posted at 12:42 pm by Stephen Green

FROM JONATHAN LEAF, a review of Roger Simon’s excellent new Middle East novel, EMET. I read the book and blurbed it; you can see my blurb at the link.

Posted at 12:36 pm by Glenn Reynolds

“TRUST THE EXPERTS,” THEY SAID:

Posted at 12:31 pm by Glenn Reynolds

DECLINE IS A CHOICE.

How It Started: The real SAS Rogue Heroes: the true stories behind the WW2 drama.

How It’s Going:

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

SCENES FROM THE COUNTER-RECONQUISTA:

Posted at 12:26 pm by Stephen Green

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE:

Posted at 12:07 pm by Glenn Reynolds

GOODER AND HARDER, FUN CITY: New York City Isn’t Prepared for a Recession.

In mid-February, just seven weeks into office, New York City Mayor Zohran K. Mamdani delivered somber news to state legislators: the city faces a $5.4 billion deficit for the fiscal year beginning July 1, the result, he said, “of budgetary failures of the past.” Even after spending cuts, he argued, the state should raise income and business taxes and transfer the proceeds to the city immediately—“the most direct route out of this budget crisis.” Thankfully for New Yorkers, the mayor was mostly bluffing: this year’s budget gap is manageable, and the city faces no acute emergency.

But Mamdani’s push unwittingly raised a graver point: If things are this strained when the global, state, and local economies are nominally doing all right, and when city tax revenues are therefore rising, what would happen if the city entered a recession—historically, a matter not of if but when?

No modern New York mayor, save for Mamdani’s one-term predecessor, Eric L. Adams, has avoided a downturn, and the economy is overdue for one. Aside from the sharp unemployment spike caused by the Covid-19 lockdowns in the spring of 2020, the U.S. economy has not experienced a normal cyclical recession since 2008, nearly two decades ago. And no modern mayor is less equipped than Mamdani to grapple with an economic and fiscal crisis.

After attacking him during the mayoral race, Mamdani has wisely attempted to buddy-up to Trump. Will that be enough to prevent the “TRUMP TO CITY: DROP DEAD” headlines that are sure to follow from New York’s tabloids?

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll

YES, IT SHOULD:

Posted at 11:52 am by Stephen Green

DO YOU SEE THOSE, TOO? I For One Welcome Our New Giant Melting Purple Neon Spider Overlords. “At the very least, hopefully we should get some good data on whether psychedelics like ibogaine are actually effective in treating PTSD and other disorders. Maybe they’ll help, and maybe they won’t.”

Early studies showed promise with MDMA, but not in a later, bigger study. Same with THC.

So my hopes aren’t high, but maybe one of these days…

Posted at 11:40 am by Stephen Green

COME SEE THE ANTISEMITISM INHERENT IN THE LEFTISM:

Posted at 11:24 am by Stephen Green

ALSO, THE TRAILER MADE IT LOOK HEAVY HANDED AND POORLY DONE:

Posted at 10:53 am by Stephen Green

A HUNDRED MILLION HERE AND A HUNDRED MILLION THERE…: Putin losing $100M a day from Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia’s oil infrastructure.

Ukrainian drone strikes targeted Russian oil refineries overnight into Saturday, hitting four important sites.

Fire raged at the Novokuybyshevsk and Syzran oil refineries in the Samara region, as well as at an oil terminal in Leningrad and the Tikhoretsk oil pumping station in Krasnodar Krai, Ukraine’s Armed Forces said.

Ukrainian drones also hit oil storage sites in the occupied Mariupol region.

Russia, meanwhile, launched 219 drones across Ukraine, killing at least one and wounding 26 others.

The worst attack was in Zaporizhzhia, where drone and missile strikes that lasted for hours injured 10 civilians. A multi-story apartment building and nine houses were destroyed.

It comes as Russia’s top diplomatic envoy said Saturday peace talks with Ukraine are not at the top of Putin’s to do list.

Moscow’s spring offensive has yet to accomplish much, and casualties remain high.

Posted at 10:38 am by Stephen Green

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Posted at 10:35 am by Ed Driscoll

REMINDER:

Posted at 10:22 am by Stephen Green