August 27, 2026

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Trump Might Just Have Enough Spine for the Entire GOP. “President Trump isn’t out there trying to help Republican candidates out of some tired sense of obligation. He’s on a mission, and has been since he first ran for office. He has been trying to remake the GOP and has had a lot of success doing so. He also knows that there is a lot of work to do, and that his time to do it is running out.”

Posted at 9:08 am by Stephen Green

LIKE THE MEASLES BREAKOUT, WHAT’S OFTEN PRESENTED AS A U.S. PHENOMENON IS ACTUALLY A GLOBAL ONE, AND WORSE ELSEWHERE: Think Treasurys Are Having a Rough Summer? It’s Even Uglier Abroad: Countries with large debt burdens—France, Italy, the U.K., Japan—have come under the heaviest pressure in recent months.

The selloff in U.S. Treasurys has captured global attention, but bond markets overseas have been getting hit even harder.

The jump in U.S. borrowing costs—and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s intervention to bring them back down—has shone a spotlight not just on America’s growing debt problem but the world’s.

Global debt has surpassed $350 trillion, according to the Institute of International Finance, or about 305% of global gross domestic product. Governments in advanced economies alone are expected to borrow $18 trillion this year, according to the OECD, and are increasingly competing for buyers with stocks and bonds issued by U.S. tech companies.

While global bond yields have eased this week, they remain near their highest level in more than a decade in several countries. Countries with large debt burdens—France, Italy, the U.K., Japan—have come under the heaviest pressure in recent months.

Something that can’t go on forever, won’t.

Posted at 8:39 am by Glenn Reynolds

BUSH GOT CRUCIFIED FOR TRYING TO FIX THIS TWO DECADES AGO: How to avoid a Social Security cut? Lawmakers are floating ideas for what to do.

The measure that Durbin, D-Ill., and Cassidy, R-La., are pushing would not dictate an outcome, but instead set up a process for Congress to take action. It calls for the bipartisan Social Security Advisory Board to collect public input and submit draft legislation to Congress that would keep the program’s retirement trust fund solvent for at least 50 years.

The resulting bill would then be introduced by the majority leaders of the Senate and House. If they do not want to go along, any member could sponsor the bill. It would then be referred to the two committees with jurisdiction over Social Security — the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee.

Both committees would have the chance to debate the bill and amend it if they wish. If not, the original bill drafted by the advisory board would be placed on the Senate and House calendars for consideration. Lawmakers could offer substitute proposals, with final votes after 100 hours of debate. Passage would require a three-fifths vote in the 100-member Senate and a simple majority in the 435-member House.

Even though the bill does not prescribe a solution for replenishing Social Security, sponsors have struggled to win support.

I get the feeling that a Congress with basically zero spending restraint has the guts needed for fixing Social Security.

Posted at 8:37 am by Stephen Green

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D):

Posted at 8:30 am by Glenn Reynolds

CHANGE: The Trump Admin Just Found a Pressure Point That Could Disrupt Antifa’s Entire Network.

A State Department memo reveals that an international technology collective, now under a U.S. global terrorism designation, provided services to overseas terrorist groups and violent far-left agitators causing chaos in American cities, according to a copy obtained by Fox News Digital.

“Far-left terrorism poses a profound threat to the United States and the broader West,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Today, the United States sanctioned Autistici/Inventati – a major far-left tech collective whose services are used by the most active and violent Antifa cells in the United States and across the world.”

Autistici/Inventati, called the A/I Collective by the State Department, is an Italy-based group that builds highly sophisticated digital infrastructure used by violent left-wing organizations in the United States and Europe, along with Islamic terrorists, according to the State Department. The collective’s services include encrypted chats and email, web hosting, secure video conferencing and streaming and anonymity shields, according to the memo.

As a Hollywood producer said at a Christmas party in Annie Hall, “Right now it’s only a notion, but I think I can get money to make it into a concept, and later turn it into an idea:”

Posted at 8:14 am by Ed Driscoll

IT’S MY THURSDAY ESSAY FOR VIP SUBSCRIBERS: A Tale of Two Cities. “America’s first and second cities — New York and Los Angeles — are doing their best imitations of That ’70s Show, but without the laugh-track or anyone with Kurtwood Smith’s natural authority to tell them to stop being dumbasses. If you had to bet a hundred bucks right now on which city could turn it around, which would it be? LA? NYC? Both? Neither?”

Posted at 8:06 am by Stephen Green

SARAH HOYT’S SHOCKED FACE IS TRANSITIONING TO SERENITY: ‘Shocking’ study shows link between transgender ideology and left-wing violence.

The new study from researchers at Rutgers University, the right-leaning Manhattan Institute and Network Contagion Research Institute found that those normalizing transgender beliefs were more likely to be supportive of political violence.

Respondents were quizzed about six potential targets of political violence for the study: “killing Charlie Kirk, killing Donald Trump, killing Brian Thompson, arson of ICE buildings, damaging wealthy people’s property, and violence against police.”

“These findings suggest that gender ideology is associated with LWA [left-wing authoritarianism] and willingness to justify political violence,” stated the study, which titled “Where the Clinic Meets the Movement: Does Gender Ideology Arm Left-Wing Authoritarian Psychology?”

“Experimental research is needed to determine causality,” according to the researchers.

The real-world evidence is pretty compelling.

Posted at 7:35 am by Stephen Green

PRIZE MONEY: IT’S NOT JUST FOR HISTORICAL NAVAL FICTION ANYMORE: US Aims to Revive Civil War-Era Court to Claim Iran Oil as Prize.

The Justice Department is preparing to activate a long-dormant maritime war court to streamline military capture of Iranian oil tankers as US prizes, according to three people familiar with the plans.

Reviving prize courts, which is expected to face legal challenges, is intended to strengthen the blockade of Iran and offset the cost of the conflict.

Aaron Reitz, the Houston-based US attorney whose office is partnering with department headquarters on the initiative, confirmed DOJ is “now reviving” prize courts, which he described as an “ancient body of maritime law.”

The unfinalized plans, if adopted, would offer a faster path for federal prosecutors to claim oil and other cargo taken from enemy or neutral vessels as US property. The seized goods would then be sold with proceeds transferred to the treasury.

The anticipated revival is the second time this year the administration has turned to an obscure court system to carry out its agenda, after bringing the first-ever case before the Alien Terrorist Removal Court in July. . . .

Once a regular feature of 18th and 19th century naval combat, prize courts have gone largely unused since the Spanish-American War of 1898 and lain entirely dormant since World War II. In recent decades, the US has shifted to relying on civil forfeiture law as the mechanism for seizing ships and obtaining their assets to enforce sanctions violations.

DOJ’s planning, which has been coordinated with the Pentagon, comes as US forces have intercepted and seized multiple Iranian-owned or linked ships since imposing a blockade in April.

Does the captain still get 3/8, with smaller shares for the officers and crew?

Posted at 7:32 am by Glenn Reynolds

I ALREADY LIKE THEM, YOU DON’T HAVE TO SELL ME.

Posted at 7:30 am by Glenn Reynolds