A LOT OF US HAVE NOTICED:

BIG CHANGES COMING — OR ELSE: AfD and the Most Dangerous Man in Germany.

UPDATE:

“MIGRANTS”:

Or is this guy a refugee? It’s so hard to tell.

IT ISN’T JUST US:

Meanwhile, Axios spins AfD’s win as upstarts for Germany’s elites to squash, not as a legitimate expression of popular will: Far-right win in state election tests Germany’s political firewall.

IT ISN’T ABOUT THE MONEY: Despite Record Education Funding Michigan Students Are Not Getting Smarter.

The numbers are particularly troubling when viewed over several years.

Third-grade ELA proficiency has now fallen for three consecutive years, dropping from 40.89% in 2023 to 39.64% in 2024, 38.87% in 2025 and just 38.17% in 2026.

Fourth grade has followed essentially the same path, falling from 44.35% in 2023 to 43.25% in 2024, 42.43% in 2025 and 41.28% in 2026.

At the same time, Michigan has repeatedly increased education spending under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, including record per-pupil funding and hundreds of millions of dollars directed toward literacy, tutoring, teacher training, early childhood education and other programs.

You can be sure the adminstrators are doing quite well.

HAPPY LABOR DAY, COURTESY OF CAPITALISTS:

RELIGION OF PEACE UPDATE: Broken feet, ripped-out hair and now a death sentence: the fate of twin sisters jailed over Iran protests.

After four months of desperately seeking news from hospitals and state institutions, their mother, Marzieh Nourmohammadi, finally learned their fate. Taraneh and Romina Rahimi had been seized over their decision to join millions on the streets of Iranian cities during the January protests against the regime. The twins were unrecognisable by the time of their mother’s prison visit in May.

The women’s scalps were patchy from being dragged around by their hair, and their faces were bruised, according to their US-based cousin. It is claimed that Taraneh, who dreams of running her own horse stable one day, had been told the prison guards would rape Romina in front of her unless a confession was signed.

The visit by their mother to Dowlatabad prison, in Isfahan, the main city in central Iran, was five months ago. It has now emerged from the Iranian courts that Taraneh has been sentenced to death for her participation in the January protests, and that Romina has been given a 25-year prison sentence. Neither of the women have been seen by their family since the sentencing.

Read the whole thing, provided you can stomach it.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Laboring to Defeat Communism Is What We’re Doing Here. “While labor and workers are most definitely noble, leftist lunatics have taken both words and perverted them for communist purposes. They’re rallying cries for anti-American and anti-capitalist agitators. The labor movement that began as a way to protect and empower American workers who were in legitimate need of both soon became the driving force behind all that is wrong in this country with political power and personal responsibility.”

WELL DONE: German startup makes European space history with first successful orbital launch.

A German startup successfully sent a rocket into orbit, marking a major milestone for Europe’s push to develop its own commercial space-launch industry.

The 28-meter rocket lifted off from Isar Aerospace’s launch complex in Norway on Saturday night, carrying a payload of five small satellites, in the first successful commercial orbital launch from continental European soil.

“We’re in orbit! And just made European history: This is the first time a privately developed rocket reached orbit from continental Europe,” the company said on X.

More lift is good.

OUT: BAGHDAD BOB. In: Baghdad NYT. “A More Confident Iran Emerges After Six Months of War With the U.S.” “The Persian Army has more power and it disappeared in a sandstorm west of Thebes 2,551 years ago.”

Plus: “Why would NYT run something awful like that? Because the NYT strives to be awful. Robert Stacy McCain wrote about the New York Times Journalism Institute, Class of 2018, that NYT travel writer Victoria Leandra called the future of journalism.”

ROB HENDERSON ON LINDSAY CLANCY: O.J. Simpson for middle-class white women. “What I’m about to explain is why some verdicts are more about settling emotional debts than attaining a fair outcome. Once you understand this, the support for Lindsay Clancy begins to look much less mysterious.”

Related:

NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU DESPISE THE MEDIA…:

Here’s a Community Note that could use a little push to reach Helpful status: “While Patrick Havas forced his way through the crowd while carrying weapons, police state he did not brandish them or lunge at Acton. He approached holding a cellphone to record.”