March 24, 2026

DISPATCHES FROM AL-BRIṬĀNIYĀ:

Posted at 1:59 pm by Stephen Green

FAIL, BRITANNIA: The Shocking State Of Britain’s Navy In 2026. “Successive governments have seen fit to think that only six destroyers are adequate, which is clearly deranged and incredibly irresponsible. So, out of six vessels, how many are operational in March 2026? A grand total of two. HMS Dragon, a vessel recently in the news that was supposed to be sent to Cyprus to protect British interests there, and HMS Duncan. The other four are all laid up for one reason or another. The class leader, HMS Daring, is preparing to return to service after an absence of eight years under refit. Given that it generally takes three to five years for a complete stem-to-stern overhaul and refueling for an American aircraft carrier, eight years for a destroyer seems beyond excessive.”

Much more at the link, all of it bad.

Posted at 1:45 pm by Stephen Green

ANOTHER REGRETTABLE EDUCATION FAD: It’s flashy! It’s fun! It’s a waste of students’ time and attention!

“I ain’t saying you treated me unkind,” sang Bob Dylan. “You just kinda wasted my precious time.”

From X:

Figen posts a video of a teacher who brought a PlayStation to class to use Assassin’s Creed to teach about the Industrial Revolution.

This is a distraction and a waste of time, responds Tom Bennett. It gets students to expect bells and whistles.

SoL in the Wild agrees it’s “100% terrible.” He blames constant messages to teachers to make lessons fun, fun, fun. Learning is supposed to “feel relevant to students’ lives, be fun, and revolve around engaging, activity-based experiences,” he writes. But, dressing something as a game “distracts from the content and decreases the likelihood that students actually learn the concept you’re trying to teach.”

I don’t recall any of my best teachers being particularly fun. Just demanding.

Posted at 1:45 pm by Stephen Green

THANKS, BARRY!

Exit quote:

Posted at 1:35 pm by Ed Driscoll

SERIOUSLY, DON’T MISS IT:

Translation: “Don’t miss this editorial that the Washington Post dedicates to Pablo Iglesias and his comrades on their tourism-committed trip to the miseries that torment Cuba.”

Posted at 1:31 pm by Stephen Green

JIM TREACHER: Die, Trek, Die.

If you make a show that people want to watch, they’ll watch. If you don’t, they won’t. They’ll even watch fat alien broads if the story is good. You’d think Paramount would’ve gotten that by now.

The producers and actors probably won’t learn a damn thing, though. These days, the trend is for the custodians of these failed franchises to blame the audience.

“You didn’t like the all-female Ghostbusters reboot, fill of pointless dancing and cringeworthy ad-libs? You just hate women!”

“You didn’t see the point of Rose Tico or Vice-Admiral Holdo or any of the other forgettable characters in The Last Jedi? You just hate Asians! And women!”

“You didn’t even bother with The Marvels or Madame Web or Ballerina? Well, guess what?”

The word “woke” has become so overused that I don’t know what it’s supposed to mean anymore, but I do know that diversity, inclusion, and equity are very poor substitutes for good storytelling. You can’t guilt-trip a mass audience into showing up for your shoddy product by calling them bigots.

The original Star Trek, which aired on NBC from 1966 to 1969, lived on throughout the 1970s and ‘80s in reruns, until the movies and the Next Generation showed up, because it was about big ideas. Its writing was so timeless, the show transcended its plywood sets and primary color uniforms. In contrast, as John Nolte writes, Starfleet Academy feels stillborn, “stale the day it was released, like something from 2020 when there were still enough people high on their woke supply to make garbage like this a temporary hit.”

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll

WE’VE BEEN INSOLVENT FOR YEARS, SO NO BIG SURPRISE: The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it. “The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a disclaimer of opinion on the U.S. government’s FY 2025 financial statements — the 29th consecutive year it has been unable to determine whether the statements are fairly presented.”

But this is an opportunity for Trump to slash programs because of a “financial crisis.” Since, you know, there actually is a financial crisis.

Posted at 1:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds

A DAY IS A LONG TIME:

How many thousands of Americans are learning that the ICE they see on the news is not the ICE they see with their own lyin’ eyes?

Posted at 12:58 pm by Stephen Green

BIDEN-ERA HANGOVER: Why is ATF Still Leaving Its Options Open for Prosecuting Owners of Braced Pistols? “A March 16 government filing in the ongoing case of Texas v. ATF has now renewed concerns that the agency reserves the right to continue bringing felony prosecutions under the NFA for possession of unregistered braced pistols. The passage in question is meant to rebut the plaintiffs’ claims that there are still live issues in the case that deserve a final judgment on the merits, rather than dismissal on mootness.”

Posted at 12:43 pm by Stephen Green

2026: AN ILLEGAL ALIEN ODYSSEY.

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

PANIC BY DESIGN:

Posted at 12:27 pm by Stephen Green

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D): Ohio teacher, 28, charged with carrying out twisted sexual relationship with student. “Jamelah Daboubi, a former teacher at Horizon Science Academy in Columbus, pleaded guilty to gross sexual imposition and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor in Franklin County Common Pleas Court last month, according to court documents obtained by WBNS. . . . Daboubi was fired from her teaching position shortly after her arrest and hit with two counts of sexual battery, which were later amended by authorities, prosecutors said.”

Posted at 12:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds

ELON NEVER THINKS SMALL:

TSMC made $122 billion in revenue last year. It controls 70% of the global foundry market. It took nearly four decades, over $100 billion in cumulative capex, and the concentrated talent of an entire island to build that position.

Elon just announced he’s spending $25 billion to build a competing fab from scratch, in Austin, targeting 2nm, with zero semiconductor manufacturing experience.

Here’s why dismissing it might be the wrong call.

Read the whole thing.

If Terafab is anything like Musk’s other projects, it will arrive late — but it will arrive.

Posted at 11:56 am by Stephen Green

NEWSOM’S LATEST FARCE: Alert to all Texans and Floridians reading this post: California’s Governor claims his state’s taxes are way below those in Texas and Florida. In fact, the Golden State hits its dwindling resident population twice as hard as the two Southern giants.

Posted at 11:54 am by Mark Tapscott

DISPATCHES FROM AL-BRIṬĀNIYĀ: Official decries ‘chilling’ targeting of ambulances at London synagogue: ‘Beyond time for authorities to wake up.’

A local official says that the arson attack on ambulances belonging to a Jewish organization and parked at a synagogue in Golders Green, is “utterly shocking, terrifying,” and says that authorities are not taking enough action against growing antisemitism.

“The targeting of life-saving vehicles stationed the the car park of a synagogue is particularly chilling and will send shockwaves through our community at a time of already heightened fears over antisemitism in the UK,” local Golders Green councillor Dean Cohen tells the Jewish News.

“It’s beyond time for the authorities to wake and and do more to tackle this hate running riot,” he says.

What, and upset the government’s most reliable constituents?

Posted at 11:41 am by Stephen Green

THE LATEST FROM DATA REPUBLICAN:

More:

Ex-USAID employees describe how, before January 20, they moved internal groups off government systems and into encrypted Signal chats, then quickly linked with foreign partners and NGOs after the inauguration. This attempt at creating a color revolution isn’t new news; this part was already reported in NOTUS earlier this year.

But what’s not reported is the international aspect. One participant explicitly frames it as “a global anti-authoritarian movement,” connecting U.S. officials with “colleagues from around the world who have dealt with this directly.”

They reference coordination with Johns Hopkins, “international democracy and conflict mitigation spaces,” and efforts to mobilize across borders against what they perceive as domestic authoritarianism.

At what point does this become treason?

Much more to come, so bookmark her post.

Posted at 11:25 am by Stephen Green

IRAN IS NO LONGER THE STRONG HORSE:

Posted at 10:54 am by Stephen Green