DO THE WORST GET ON TOP IN ACADEMIA? A Hayekian analysis. I don’t know if the “worst” get on top in academia any more than normal corporate jobs. But it’s worth considering the idea of more administration being done by faculty on rotation.
June 12, 2026
DAVID MANNEY: The Washington Post’s Credibility Crisis Hits the Checkout Page. “The complaint, filed in Superior Court of the District of Columbia, seeks class-action status for current and former subscribers, claiming the Post used reader behavior, engagement, and personal information to estimate how much subscribers would tolerate paying at renewal.”
NOW OUT: From Chris Cassone, ART OF THE STOMP BOX: Celebrating The Visual Artistry of Effects Pedals. #CommissionEarned
OVERDUE: Defense industry leaders preparing to meet with Trump as worries over missile supply grow, sources say. “The president has expressed anger to aides and allies over thinning American stockpiles, the people said. Trump is considering whether to restart major combat operations in Iran, which downed a U.S. Army helicopter Tuesday. The crew was rescued and the U.S. launched new attacks in Iran in response.”
FOLLOW THE SCIENCE! Only 50% of social science research can be replicated, study finds.
‘TIS THE SEASON: Eight Teams, One Omaha Dream: It’s the College World Series, Baby!
LIMITED TIME DEAL: Amazon Kindle Scribe Premium Pen. #CommissionEarned
ENEMIES OF SOCIETY: Georgetown hosts summer academy focused on social justice activism.
SCHLICHTER: Don’t Panic About Trump’s Iran Strategy Just Yet.
Let’s examine his strategy with an open mind, putting aside our prejudices and preconceptions. Trump is taking a different approach. A lot of people who agree with me that the best course of action is to simply kill them until they surrender are extremely upset with him. But here’s the thing: he may be wrong, but he’s not crazy. He comes at this strategic problem from a different perspective. He’s a guy who makes deals. He uses all his advantages. He is a guy who is not a hammer. I’m a hammer. I’m a soldier. Everything looks like a nail, and I want to pound it.
But Trump looks at things differently. He sees pressure points beyond the target list. You might argue that Donald Trump is using the elements of national power as levers to obtain the ultimate strategic objective more comprehensively than anyone has waged war against the Iranian regime in the past. What are the elements of national power? Well, that gets a little convoluted because people keep adding letters to the applicable acronym, but let’s keep it simple because I was in the infantry, and I like simple. And I will get grief from strategists about how I’m simplifying things, but that’s OK because anybody who calls himself a “strategist” is probably a dork anyway.
The applicable acronym for the elements of national power is DIME, and it stands for “Diplomacy, Information, Military, and Economic” power. These are the ways a nation-state exercises power.
Read the whole thing.
ROD MARTIN ON THE CHOICE WE ALL MUST MAKE: Rod Martin was among the original creators of X, nee Twitter, and he has been a hugely successful tech entrepreneur ever since. He’s also a tremendously articulate, logical and historically grounded political and spiritual analyst whose Substack column is regularly read by hundreds of thousands of Americans in all walks of life.
This particular essay is on what Rod considers the most important decision every one of us must, sooner or later, make about where we are on “the Jesus question.” Yes, it’s apologetical, but one doesn’t have to be a Christian to appreciate and benefit from what I consider to be one of the finest expressions ever of why Jesus is the central fact of history. Even if you aren’t a believer, allow yourself the pleasure of reading a precisely formulated, superbly expressed presentation.
MORE ON THAT GLOBE & MAIL HIT-PIECE ON MUSK:
When Canada's house organ has to issue instructions on how to hate you, you must be doing something right.
The richest man in history has devoted his life to making this world a better place. Useful things, making people freer. And getting us onto other worlds. (The Tesla thing,… https://t.co/pKJJQiuNc2
— Northern Barbarian (@xnoesbueno) June 12, 2026
“My browser let me bypass the paywall, maintaining my principle of not subsidizing Canadian bigotry. Once you get past the clickbait headline, it turns out the way to properly hate Elon Musk is with poorly argued warmed-over lefty billionaire bashing, Trump bashing, plus repeating the USAID blood libel, the theoretical deaths caused ‘according to one study,’ with no mention of the billions in taxpayer dollars siphoned off by political NGOs.”
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Feds Keep Racking Up Law Enforcement Wins, Dems Hardest Hit. “The picture is a very clear one: our side is trying to get rid of the evil criminals, their side is trying to get rid of the people who are getting rid of the evil criminals. Sure, that could be more pithy, but that’s the essential message for Republicans.”
YES, IT’S INCITEMENT:
It’s basically incitement at this point, right? I’m sure the journalists have been very careful with language to avoid crossing the legal line (I’m not paying to read this crap) but it’s clear what their intentions are. https://t.co/daKcntkl0c
— Peter Hague (@peterrhague) June 12, 2026
I LIKE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER:
"If I could time travel I’d kill Hitler”
“If I had time travel I’d stop my favorite politician getting assassinated”
You’re all thinking way too small.
If I had time travel I’d stop Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin from dying on the moon due to Soviet sabotage, kicking off…
— Klara (@klara_sjo) June 11, 2026
HE’S A BUM. OF COURSE HE’S GOING OUT LIKE A BUM. So Much for Hoping Cornyn Wouldn’t Be a Crybaby on His Way Out.
Related: Texas Loser John Cornyn Tries to Insult Scott Presler and, Yeah, THAT Didn’t Go Well for Him.
OH, KEN WHITE, HOW THOU ART FALLEN:
You know they’re the good guys by the way they keep calling for violence and bloodshed against those they view as their ideological enemies https://t.co/kXn0neaR48
— Enguerrand VII de Coucy (@ingelramdecoucy) June 12, 2026
“EQUITY” IS A TERM CHOSEN BECAUSE IT SOUNDS LIKE “EQUALITY,” WHICH AMERICANS LIKE, BUT WHICH IN FACT STANDS FOR RACISM AND DISCRIMINATION: James Talarico Worked As ‘Equitable Education’ Consultant at Left-Wing Firm Developing DEI Plans for Texas School Districts: MAYA Consulting described its work as ‘rooted in’ DEI and donated to a Defund Police group.
HMM:
Riddle me this LA:
If it’s illegal for non-citizens to vote, why the Hell does the West LA Library have a display for non citizens that includes a VOTER REGISTRATION specifically for non citizens that allows them to “preregister” to vote.
They even have a special section on the… pic.twitter.com/8TLr0Maut5
— Stella X (@Stellaaa) June 11, 2026
ANALYSIS: ABSOLUTELY TRUE.
modern leftism is just a permission structure to be as awful as humanly possible to other people all the time for no reason pic.twitter.com/s762fIQMlt
— Gene Parmesan (@dsonoiki) June 11, 2026
CONRAD BLACK: Trump will get what he wants in Iran by negotiation or by force.
The US president has clearly from time to time restrained the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu from returning to full-scale hostilities. There has been exaggerated emphasis on the partial Congressional elections in the United States in November. It is not at all clear that the administration will suffer a setback in those elections, but it does not much matter if it does. Except for Franklin D. Roosevelt, every two-term president in American history since Theodore Roosevelt, who retired in 1909, has had to deal with a Congress in the hands of his opponents in the last two years. None of them had a veto overridden in that time and the consequences of the Democrats regaining control of either or even both houses of Congress will not be significant, especially given their propensity for utterly absurd policy options, including a return to open borders, higher taxes, massive regulation of business, and the imposition of hysterical concerns about the impact on climate of the use of fossil fuels.
Trump has just successfully purged his party of malcontents in the Senate and House of Representatives and not more than four or five presidents in the country’s history have been as preeminent as he is in the politics of the country at this stage in his administration. He has a blank cheque to return to combat and pummel Iran into submission, or to receive Iran’s submission without a return to war. He will not make a bad peace and is in a position to extract a satisfactory one. The time has come.
But the road along the way sure is bumpy. I wrote two columns on this yesterday. The first one (here) was overtaken by events four minutes after it went live. And the second one (here) was a virtual laundry list of conflicting claims.
AT AMAZON, Shop Early Prime Day. #CommissionEarned
THE RACE-HUSTLERS ARE HAVING A BAD WEEK:
I never owned slaves, but Karmelo murdered someone.
Hope that helps.
— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) June 11, 2026
IF AN IMMIGRANT ISN’T A NET TAX CONTRIBUTOR, THEY HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING ALLOWED TO STAY:
Somalis rank among the most welfare-dependent groups in the United States, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, and Sweden.
Six countries. Same result. Every single time.
This is a pattern, and American taxpayers are paying for it.
81% of Somali immigrant households… pic.twitter.com/cBNgkLDoId
— Congressman Brandon Gill (@RepBrandonGill) June 11, 2026
