June 14, 2026

OPEN THREAD: Ring out the weekend.

Posted at 9:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds

THE TRAGEDY OF JOHN CLEESE:

I’d like to draw your attention to an anonymous post on the forum website 4chan, which forms the basis for what I have titled the Tragedy of John Cleese. It goes:

“He was a Progressive, Liberal degenerate in 1960s uber-white uber-polite Britain. He could take the p*** out of the people he saw as uptight and repressed while enjoying the clean, safe streets and quiet little hamlets full of those same uptight, repressed, polite-to-a-fault, helpful, white Christian Englishmen.

“The best part was that those same British conservative Anglos were generally pretty humorous about themselves. So, when you made fun of them, they laughed along with you and shook their heads saying ‘Ha! You know, Margie, he’s got a point!’ It was heaven on earth for him, to be a popular counter-culture icon loved by conservatives and liberals alike for being hilarious, but also enjoy the benefits of a strong, stable and homogeneous culture.

“Now, he’s an old man, staring at a desolate wasteland where in London, Britons are now in the minority. Everyone is suspicious, the hamlets and villages are economic dead-zones. Every week, there’s a new group you’re not allowed to make fun of, no one has a sense of humour anymore. Little girls are being sold as sex slaves, women are harassed in the street and the men are suspicious and surly over their lowered living standards. The sinking realisation that the world he made fun of, but loved more than anything, is gone forever and will never come back. The horrifying conclusion that his own counter-cultural irreverence may have helped to kill it. So, he impotently gripes on Twitter and wonders where the laughter went, when did the jokes stop? Where are those wonderful, repressed and uptight conservatives?”

Cleese is far from alone, of course:

Posted at 8:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

RICHARD FERNANDEZ ON WHAT’S GOING ON WITH IRAN:

As I’ve said before, time is on the United States’ side here. And, by the way, I bought gas today for 63 cents a gallon less than two weeks ago. Has CNN’s gas-price chyron reported that change?

Posted at 8:02 pm by Glenn Reynolds

TRENT TELENKO ON WHAT’S HAPPENING IN IRELAND (THREAD):

Unrolled thread is here.

Posted at 7:56 pm by Glenn Reynolds

THE PRESIDENTIAL “DIGNITY” THEY INVOKE AGAINST TRUMP:

Posted at 7:49 pm by Glenn Reynolds

WELL, WHEN YOU PUT IT THAT WAY…:

From the replies: “And he created immeasurable wealth for others. That’s just his share.”

Posted at 7:10 pm by Stephen Green

YOU WILL BE MADE TO CARE: On Pride Night, some Giants add reference to Bible verse to hat.

On Pride Night at Oracle Park, with the San Francisco Giants wearing special edition hats to represent the LGBTQ+ community, multiple players wrote Bible verses next to the team’s rainbow logo, while one chose to forgo wearing the cap entirely.

Starting pitcher Landen Roupp and reliever JT Brubaker wrote the Bible verse Genesis 9:12-16 on the caps they wore Friday night, the same passage that has been displayed by other players on their Pride Night hats during games.

“Kind of what the verse says, the rainbow is a symbol of God’s covenant to us and us as believers stand firm in that,” Roupp said.

Former Giants shortstop Nick Ahmed wrote the verse on his hat in 2024, while retired Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw inscribed the same verse on his hat last year.

On Friday, reliever Sam Hentges opted out of wearing the pride hat, instead donning San Francisco’s usual black and orange cap.

You don’t want to wear the ribbon? You must wear the ribbon!

Posted at 6:19 pm by Ed Driscoll

SAD AND INFURIATING, BUT PROBABLY CORRECT:

Posted at 5:52 pm by Stephen Green

OH, THAT ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY:

Flashback: War Factories: YouTube Documentary Series Explores How the Allies’ Assembly Lines Pulverized the Axis.

Posted at 5:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

THE ASIAN MIND CANNOT COMPREHEND THE GLORIES OF AMERICAN AIR CONDITIONING:

Even in the hottest summers, we always take light sweaters to our favorite restaurants in the DFW Metroplex, just in case.

UPDATE: Needless to say, the European mind cannot comprehend the glories of American air conditioning, either:

Posted at 5:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

IF THIS DOESN’T LOOK AT LEAST A LITTLE FUN, YOU MIGHT NOT BE AMERICAN:

Posted at 4:50 pm by Stephen Green

OH, THAT OIKOPHOBIA: CNN Is Surprised The South Is Welcoming Foreign World Cup Tourists.

[CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan] conceded, “That is so fun. That’s the flip side of the conversation we were just having, is that these tourists are still coming. The ones who can, certainly Europeans, people who love soccer way more than the United States. It’s been a part of their lives for, you know, ever where for us, as Coy was saying, it’s a newer game on the women’s and men’s side.”

It is not just Europeans. Another viral sensation has been Algerians experiencing Kansas hospitality.

However, things kept going downhill when Brennan continued, “And so, that—I’ve looked at those tweets from him just, he’s having a delight, and Americans are loving that too. And I saw some conversation, Wolf and Pamela, about how the rest of the world is looking at the United States and feeling that we are—it’s a foreboding image and that we are inhospitable.”

Returning to Freddy, Brennan concluded, “And here is a German tourist, and others as well, now on social media saying, ‘No, no, the Americans are great.’ So, what a shame that that’s the image that the world has. Many have of us. But how wonderful again, that sports can bring people here and show people that the United States and, you know, the South is welcoming a German tourist in a way we would never have anticipated.”

Well, it’s not like CNN’s founder grew up in Georgia, went to prep school in Tennessee, and the original headquarters for his channel was in Atlanta or anything.

Related: The Japanese have discovered Texas Roadhouse:

UPDATE: Big Ten’s decision to play football signals darkest day in conference’s sports history.

—Christine Brennan, USA Today, September 16th, 2020.

Which seems odd as by then, plenty of people had been taking part in mostly peaceful but “unexpectedly” fiery protests without an enormous death count. But then, in the summer and fall of 2020, some mass gatherings were worthy of praise, and as Brennan tut-tutted above, some weren’t:

Posted at 4:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

THE EUROPEAN MIND CANNOT COMPREHEND THE ENORMITY OF THE LONE STAR STATE:

Posted at 4:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

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