May 5, 2026

PROGRESS:

Posted at 3:33 pm by Stephen Green

NUMBERS DON’T LIE: You may have noticed big-city public school students who were encouraged to protest capitalism on May Day. I did and it prompted me to look at the numbers that tell the story of how public education is a national disgrace. One might expect school districts with the highest per-pupil and teacher salary spending to be doing the best job of preparing our kids for productive, rewarding careers. One doing that would get it exactly wrong, as I report today on The Washington Stand.

Posted at 2:58 pm by Mark Tapscott

SPRINGTIME FOR PLATNER:

Exit quote: “If you ask left-wingers ‘come on, you never really believed that these people were Nazis and racists’, they will just lie to you and tell you ‘yes, I genuinely believe that throwing up the OK symbol was racist and, if you push me on it, I will double and triple down on it. I will insist that I am an idiot even though these people are obviously not Nazis. I’m locked in on this stupid position and I will use any accusation of this kind to ruin your life even though I know it’s not true.’ They expect you to be honest when they absolutely would not and then they will leverage your honesty to advance their own purposes without EVER granting you the same benefit of the doubt or honest assessment.”

Why is the RNC Chairman on Newsmax instead of a DNC-MSM channel with that same message?

Related:

“Then a few years ago, most right-wingers stopped dropping loot. In classic extinction behavior, leftists got angry and called us racists even more. They frantically pushed the racist button, hoping the bananas would resume, getting angrier and angrier when they didn’t. Some leftists are still pushing the button. I’m sure you can make the connection to the sexist button, as well as the homophobe, islamaphobe, and trans-phobe buttons.”

UPDATE (FROM GLENN):

Posted at 2:35 pm by Ed Driscoll

PRIORITIES:

Posted at 2:31 pm by Stephen Green

IRAN HILARIOUSLY CLAIMS IT’S A ‘SUPERPOWER,’ BUT THE US ISN’T LAUGHING — IT’S ACTING:

I think it’s safe to say that the Iranian regime made some bad choices on Monday in response to Project Freedom, the U.S. effort to help free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

In response, they fired at U.S. military ships, but they didn’t hit our ships, as they claimed. They fired on merchant ships, including a United Arab Emirates ship. They also fired on the UAE oil facility at Fujairah. Three Indian nationals were injured in that action.

You would think Iran would have learned that this is a bad idea, particularly attacking their neighbor. Every time the regime does that, it makes the UAE more determined against Iran, and it makes more countries speak out against Iran.

According to reports, President Masoud Pezeshkian is furious at the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for attacking the UAE, calling it “completely irresponsible” and done without the government’s knowledge or coordination. He called the tensions with regional countries “madness,” according to reports, warning of potentially irreversible consequences.

Yet the Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s statement was ridiculous.

Events in Hormuz make clear that there’s no military solution to a political crisis.

As talks are making progress with Pakistan’s gracious effort, the U.S. should be wary of being dragged back into quagmire by ill-wishers.

So should the UAE. Project Freedom is Project Deadlock.

There is no military solution — for them. There certainly is for the U.S., and that’s likely coming next because of Iran’s actions on Monday.

Then, they have the gall to warn the U.S. and the UAE about “being dragged into a quagmire by ill-wishers”? They’re the ones who wish us ill. They’re the ones firing on the UAE. They’ve managed to turn the whole region against them.

Perhaps because Iran is universally loathed we’re seeing these poll numbers:

“40 percent of Democrats side with Iran” seems a bit on the low side after October 7th, though.

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll

DR. EVIL FORESEES ALL: Shark lasers could help save vulnerable species. “Sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads!”

I would have thought an ill-tempered mutated sea bass would have been more useful in this application.

Posted at 2:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds

AND ANOTHER ONE: Dell Technologies latest to redomesticate to Texas.

In response, Gov. Greg Abbott said, “Welcome home, Dell. For over 40 years, Texas has been where Michael Dell built and innovated. Now, Dell Technologies is bringing its legal home to Texas. This is what happens when job creators and innovators are welcomed, not punished. More businesses are sure to follow.”

Dell is the latest company to announce its redomiciling its legal headquarters to Texas.

ExxonMobil Corporation announced its Board of Directors unanimously recommended its shareholders approve changing its legal domicile from New Jersey to Texas in March, The Center Square reported.

The main reason companies are citing is Texas’ new business court and regulatory framework.

Previously: Elon Musk Didn’t Just Leave Delaware — He Started a Stampede.

Posted at 1:45 pm by Stephen Green

VARAD MEHTA IN 2015: Homage and Imitation in Star Wars – Then and Now.

As I’ve detailed, the mythology [George Lucas] drew on was Westerns, chivalric romance, 1930s sci-fi serials, pulp science fiction, Kurosawa films, and so on. The mythology J. J. Abrams drew on was . . . Star Wars. And this, more than anything, explains the problems with the storytelling in The Force Awakens.

Star Wars’ antecedents harkened back to an entire cultural history. It distilled centuries (millennia, even) of the evolution of the Western psyche (with borrowings from other cultures for good measure). The Force Awakens’ antecedents are, essentially, itself. The mythology it borrows is the mythology of Star Wars. I won’t describe specific plot points to avoid spoilers, but anyone who has seen it and is familiar with its predecessors knows how heavily it recapitulates thematic and narrative elements from Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. The Force Awakens is synthetic, but whereas Star Wars synthesized an entire culture, The Force Awakens synthesizes three movies released in a six-year period which ended just more than thirty years ago.

Star Wars was a pastiche of old things. The Force Awakens is a pastiche of Star Wars. Consequently, The Force Awakens is something Star Wars never was – derivative. And it is derivative not of sources outside itself. It is derivative of itself, of the narrative universe in which it exists. It is not telling an old story in a new way; it tells an old story in an old way. Abrams wants to pay homage, but he lacks the gifts to do more than imitate. The result is a kind of mimicry, the shell of a Star Wars movie without the spirit.

It was obvious watching The Force Awakens in 2015 that it was a near beat-for-beat reboot of the original Star Wars….

…But much like the somewhat under-cooked Star Trek: The Motion Picture, I remember leaving the theater thinking, well, they got the franchise off the ground again; let’s see what the filmmakers do next with it. And in regards to Star Wars, we all know how that turned out: Iconic Star Wars Author Alan Dean Foster Hated The Last Jedi, Calls It a Terrible Film.

Posted at 1:35 pm by Ed Driscoll

ANALYSIS: MOSTLY TRUE.

City-owned grocery stores are also about graft.

Posted at 1:29 pm by Stephen Green

HEATHER MAC DONALD: The New York Times’s Latte Logic of Social Collapse.

Three days before a 31-year-old male stormed the White House Correspondents Dinner, hoping to assassinate President Donald Trump and members of his cabinet, the New York Times published a 35-minute video titled: “‘The Rich Don’t Play by the Rules. So Why Should I?’ Why petty theft might be the new political protest.” In it, a Times editor interviewed two other members of the media aristocracy about the moral code shared by a large swathe of young Americans.

That code justifies theft—and even violence—when harnessed to a fashionably left-wing cause. None of the participants—podcasting celebrity Hasan Piker, New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino, and Times opinion editor Nadja Spiegelman—expressed alarm at the glorification of crime. They smirked and giggled through the discussion, betraying a breezy indifference to lawbreaking.

It was striking enough that the Times published the video after reviewing the final cut. The paper was not embarrassed by the participants’ ignorance and entitlement. Nor was it troubled, apparently, by their debate over whether the December 2024 murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was “actually effective political action” or merely—and disappointingly—effective “political consciousness-raising.”

But after the assassination attempt on Trump on April 25 by yet another young megalomaniac, one might have thought that the Times would want to distance itself from its hipster commentators and their ends-justify-the-means morality.

It apparently feels no such discomfort, however, and thus has left the video online. That is fortunate. The exchange offers a more revealing window into left-wing political violence than the latest would-be assassin’s predictably disjointed manifesto. When future archeologists seek to date the moment that the demise of the West became inevitable, this artefact of peak decadence will be a strong contender.

Speaking of which:

 

We’re getting a taste of that new reality now, as a the guardrails become increasingly loosened.

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll

GAY MEN? What is the P-Shot? Learn the risks and rewards of the ED treatment popular with gay men. A doc friend of mine used to run a clinic that did these, and his clientele was decidedly straight. (They also did the “O Shot” for women.) He claimed great results, but I have no first, er, hand experience.

Plus: “Some people also get the injections in the hopes of enhancing the size of their penis, but Goel says that while it can help with girth, if you’re looking for dramatic results, you’re better off getting penis filler.” Penis filler.

There’s also a procedure called the “Jennifer Aniston,” where they inject filler into a woman’s nipples to give them that perky, Rachel-from-Friends look.

What a time to be alive, eh?

Posted at 1:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds

THIS IS THE WAY:

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE:

Posted at 12:29 pm by Glenn Reynolds

ONLY THE POLICE SHOULD HAVE GUNS, THEY TOLD ME:

Posted at 12:27 pm by Stephen Green

T. BECKET ADAMS: Just How Badly Does the Left Hate the Right Anyway?

Nearly as great a problem as left-wing violence is the left’s refusal to admit it has a problem.

You’ve likely encountered this brand of ideological intransigence over the past decade. You’ve probably heard some variation of it from a co-worker, a friend, or even a family member.

When a Republican or conservative is shot, stabbed, or beaten by a left-wing assailant, the activist left adopts one of three standard responses:

The first: The violence is deserved. He had it coming! The second: It didn’t happen. It’s a hoax! The third, and by far the most common, is: Right-wing violence is still worse.

Of the three, the third is the most annoying, not just because it’s raw whataboutism, but because the counterexamples offered are often mischaracterizations or outright falsehoods.

Related: Voters Blame Media for Inspiring Assassination Attempt, Dividing Nation.

Six in ten voters think it’s likely that negative news media coverage of President Donald Trump inspired the assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents Dinner on April 25, a new national Rasmussen survey finds.

Of U.S. likely voters polled April 27-29 following the attack, 60% think it’s at least “somewhat likely” that hostile media inspired the armed shooter’s attack – including 41% who call it “very likely.” In contrast, just 13% consider it “not at all likely.”

“How likely is it that negative news media coverage of Trump inspired this assassination attempt?”

  • Very Likely: 41%
  • Somewhat Likely: 19%
  • Not Very Likely: 16%
  • Not at All Likely: 13%
  • Not Sure: 11%

Fully 55% of Democrat voters say it’s likely that hostile media inspired the attack, with far more saying it’s “very likely” (28%) than calling it “somewhat” (17%) so.

More than three-fourths (79%) of Republican voters say media instigated the assassination attempt, including 58% who think it’s very likely media are to blame. Meanwhile, 59% of “other” voters attribute the attack to the influence of the media.

The penultimate scene in Paddy Chayefsky and Sidney Lumet’s 1976 film Network is (spoiler alert) television executives plotting the assassination of one of their on-air hosts in order to improve the channel’s ratings. When Chayefsky wrote the scene, I’m sure he envisioned some completely over-the-top Strangelove-esque satire. Today, a late night host can deliver a throwaway gag (that has very likely been approved by his network’s standards and practices division) envisioning the death of the president, and network execs pray that their cameras are in position when it happens.

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll