March 14, 2026

RIOT ACT, READ:

Posted at 1:25 pm by Stephen Green

THIS IS WHO THEY ARE AND WHAT THEY DO:

Posted at 12:54 pm by Stephen Green

20 YEARS LATER: The Long Shadow of a Lie: The Duke Lacrosse Rape Hoax.

Nifong had been in the job less than a year, appointed by Gov. Mike Easley to fill the job after the governor picked the previous DA to fill a vacant judicial seat on the state’s superior court. In March 2006, Nifong was a candidate for his first shot at being elected as district attorney, and the Democratic primary was just two months away. North Carolina was then, as now, a “swing” state. Although George W. Bush in his 2004 reelection had carried North Carolina by a comfortable 12-point margin statewide, Durham County went more than 2-to-1 for Bush’s Democratic opponent, John Kerry, who got 68 percent of the vote in the county. In other words, if Nifong won the Democratic primary, he was practically guaranteed to be elected district attorney in this liberal bastion, but Nifong was opposed by one of his own assistants, Freda Black, in the primary. Nifong’s job was very much at stake when the rape accusation against the Duke lacrosse players landed in his lap.

Meanwhile, word of the case had spread across town and was reported in the March 24 edition of the Raleigh News and Observer. The same day, it was announced that Duke’s lacrosse team would forfeit its next two games. University President Richard Broadhead issued a statement saying that the players were “presumed innocent until proven guilty,” but added that it was “already clear that many students acted in a manner inappropriate to a Duke team member.” The next day, despite the scheduled lacrosse game against Georgetown being canceled, some protesters showed up at the stadium waving signs that read “Real Men Don’t Protect Rapists,” and one of the protesters told a reporter for the student paper: “I am fully aware a crime was committed by someone. It is too bad the rest of the team won’t fess up.” That night, “more than 175 incensed community members gathered for a candlelight vigil” in front of the house on North Buchanan Boulevard where the incident had allegedly happened.

Already, a narrative had begun to develop — the lacrosse players were protecting their guilty teammates, and the university wasn’t doing enough.

Why should the press investigate the truth, when there’s a convenient and self-serving narrative to push?

Posted at 12:31 pm by Stephen Green

THE ESTABLISHMENT IS VICIOUS WHEN CORNERED:

Posted at 8:56 am by Glenn Reynolds

OH, CANADA:

Posted at 8:43 am by Glenn Reynolds

OOPS: Flu vaccines didn’t work that well in the US, officials find. “This season’s vaccines were around 25% to 30% effective in preventing adults from getting sick enough from the flu that they had to go to a doctor’s office, clinic or hospital, according to a CDC report this week. Children who were vaccinated were about 40% less likely to get treatment at a doctor’s office or hospital. Officials generally are pleased if a flu vaccine is 40% to 60% effective. Judging from past CDC research, this season saw one of the lowest effectiveness rates in the last two decades.”

Posted at 8:32 am by Glenn Reynolds

CHANGE: Havana is expected to allow Cubans in Miami, elsewhere to own businesses on the island.

The Cuban government is expected to announce as early as next week economic reforms to allow Cuban Americans living in South Florida and elsewhere in the U.S. and around the world to invest and own private businesses on the island, the Miami Herald has learned.

The economic opening comes amid unprecedented pressure by the Trump administration, which has cut off oil supplies to the Cuban government, and ongoing talks between the two countries acknowledged by Cuban leaders for the first time on Friday.

“The return of the Cuban diaspora is imminent,” said one source who is knowledgeable about the expected measures and who asked not to be identified to speak of the sensitive matter. According to the source, the Cuban government is likely to allow Cubans living abroad to own private enterprises the Cuban government has labeled mipymes — pronounced mee-PEE-mes —the Spanish acronym for micro, small and medium enterprises.

As Glenn asked last month on his Substack, “Will Cuba be Libre soon, and if so what happens next? And after that?”

Posted at 8:14 am by Ed Driscoll

CONSEQUENCES:

Posted at 8:00 am by Glenn Reynolds

TRUMP MAKES GAVIN NEWSOM AN OFFER HE CAN’T ACCEPT: President Trump orders oil drilling operations to resume off California.

The Trump administration has signed an executive order to ​resume oil drilling operations off the southern California coast.

The order will be prove controversial despite potentially to bring down gas prices, which are the highest in America.

The move aims to restart oil production at a cluster of offshore platforms run by Sable Offshore (SOC.N) .

Gas prices continue to rise in the wake ​of the war on Iran, which lead the Trump administraton to temporarily drop sanctions against Russian oil. Prices hit $103 a barrel, and

President Donald Trump on Friday ​signed an executive order to let the secretary of energy ⁠take actions under the Defense Production Act.

Given California’s Potemkin energy policy for decades, it will be fun to watch Newsom and Sacramento in general fight executive order this tooth and nail, thus ensuring that the state will continue to have the highest gas prices in the nation, which won’t do much to benefit his presidential campaign.

Posted at 7:44 am by Ed Driscoll

THE PENIS MIGHTIER: Why is it worse to use problematic language to describe something than to acknowledge that thing is actually problematic?

think most people have missed the point of Judge VanDyke’s “swinging dicks” dissental. Of course he used vulgar and coarse language. (I for one would not use this approach in my writing.) That was VanDyke’s point. He was trying to draw a double standard. Thirty members of his court expressed their outrage at VanDyke writing about “swinging dicks,” but not one of them was willing to review a case that involved actual “swinging dicks.” How can it be that describing “swinging dicks” in a women’s spa is a bigger problem than the state permitting actual “swinging dicks” in a women’s spa? Judge VanDyke proves the old saw is true: “The pen is mightier than the sword.” Or, as Sean Connery would say on SNL Celebrity Jeopardy!, “The penis mightier.”

This is a common feature of contemporary debate: it is worse to use problematic language to describe something that to acknowledge how that thing is actually problematic.

Actually the ban on language is supposed to prevent the acknowledgment too.

Posted at 7:31 am by Glenn Reynolds

IT’S COME TO THIS: Wanted fugitive killed by Dallas SWAT officers worked security for Rep. Jasmine Crockett, sources say.

A man shot and killed by Dallas police earlier this week was a familiar figure in North Texas law enforcement – and part of the security detail for U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, sources told CBS News Texas.

Multiple law enforcement sources tell CBS News Texas the man, known publicly as Mike King, had been using aliases while running a business that placed officers in off‑duty jobs.

King was killed Wednesday night after a standoff with Dallas police SWAT officers. Police say he fled into a hospital parking garage, barricaded himself inside a vehicle, and was forced out by tear gas before pulling a gun on officers.

Sources say he was wanted for impersonating a law enforcement officer and had claimed to be one while operating Off Duty Police Services, an online platform connecting North Texas officers with off‑duty work. Authorities have not released his real name.

Wait, Crockett has security protection? She doesn’t want you to have any:

Posted at 7:14 am by Ed Driscoll