October 8, 2026

MORE NUKES IS GOOD NUKES: Google signs nuclear power deal with Constellation Energy. “Constellation will add that capacity by upgrading more than 11 existing plants in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The work, known as uprating, improves turbines and digital control systems to extract more output from reactors that already run. Constellation expects to spend $4.3 billion and plans to bring its first upgraded reactor online in 2028. The remaining 2,700 megawatts come from sources the company has not named.”

Posted at 3:51 pm by Stephen Green

‘MURICA:

Also, that’s some solid flying advice.

Posted at 3:35 pm by Stephen Green

SPRINGTIME FOR TUCKER: Tucker Carlson Is Now a World War II Revisionist.

Tucker Carlson makes a great deal of Hitler’s insistence that he “did not want to go to war with the U.K.” But Carlson steadfastly ignores that not wanting to go to war was the pose that Hitler struck at every step of his journey across Europe. In September 1938, he promised in writing that acquiring the Sudetenland would satisfy Germany’s territorial ambitions in Europe and then made a speech in which he declared that once that issue was settled — an issue, you will note, that was only an issue because he had made it one — “there will be no more territorial problems for Germany in Europe.” Six months later, in flagrant violation of his vow, he invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia. Six months after that, Hitler invaded Poland — a country with which he had until recently had a peace deal. This was a pattern. Nine days before his invasion of Poland, Hitler had struck a ten-year non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union — a pact that, like all the others, was broken just two years later when, to the great surprise of Joseph Stalin, he invaded the Soviet Union with 3.8 million troops. Narrowly, it is accurate to suppose that, during this period, Hitler did “not want to go to war with the U.K.” But it was also true that, at various points in the past, Hitler had not wanted to go to war with Czechoslovakia, Poland, or Russia — or, for that matter, with Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Yugoslavia, and Greece. It is fair to say, I’d venture, that in the realm of not wanting to go to war, Hitler lacked aptitude.

And apparently, lacked skill in planning as well. Darryl Cooper, Tucker’s favorite “historian,” who kicked off Tucker’s then-newly pro-Axis worldview claimed in September of 2024. Or as Steve asked back then:  Seriously, What the Hell Is Wrong With Tucker Carlson?

“We can’t feed these people, we don’t have the food to feed these people,” Cooper imagined the Germans thinking after fighting on the Eastern Front accidentally created more prisoners and refugees than Germany could cope with. “And one of them actually says, ‘Rather than wait for them all to slowly starve this winter, wouldn’t it be more humane to just finish them off quickly now?’”

At the Daily Wire today, James Price explains: How Tucker Carlson Was Rees-Mogged By Conservatism.

Carlson conservatism seems to share the same outlook regardless of where it goes, a habit of the Left. Socialism is the same in every country, because it is an internationalist credo. But classical conservatives are trying to conserve different things in different places: an American his written Constitution, an Englishman his King.

In the end, Carlson conservatism doesn’t seem interested in conserving very much, which leaves American conservatives with a choice about who will speak for them. They could do worse than the Honorable Member for the 18th century. America has taken its conservatism from 18th-century Englishmen before, and it worked out rather well, gifting the world the likes of Jefferson and Madison.

It is not just a theoretical question. There is a time for choosing, to paraphrase another classical American conservative, and that will be asked more earnestly after the U.S. midterms. Will they embrace Carlson conservatism, or is there life in the time-honored traditions of old?

Defending Putin, attacking Churchill, defending radical Islam, and defending the fella with the tiny toothbrush mustache – that doesn’t sound like any recognizable form of conservatism to me.

Related: Conrad Black adds that Tucker’s poor choice of guests has hurt his debating skills, much like a boxer constantly sparring with inferior opponents. “As a free-speech and free-market advocate, I think Tucker is entitled to say what he wants, and I congratulate him on his commercial success, even while finding many of his views idiotic. What troubles me is not so much the outlandish claims, but the skill atrophy — the phenomenon whereby any skill sharpened by adversarial pressure dulls without resistance. In boxing, the term ‘ring rust’ is sometimes used to describe the way a boxer who stops facing strong opponents loses their timing, power, and urgency, until nothing’s left but a shell of their former selves. Looking back over his podcast guest list, with the exception of this Rees-Mogg segment, Ted Cruz last year, and perhaps a handful of others, it has been a long procession of hundreds of people brought on to confirm his own worldview back to him, in their own words. And the ring rust has set in.”

UPDATE:

Posted at 3:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

THE SOCIAL RECKONING REVIEW: Aaron Sorkin’s dreadful Facebook follow-up should be de-friended.

All of which makes writer-director Aaron Sorkin’s new movie, The Social Reckoning, an astounding piece of cinema. Over the course of just 112 minutes, Sorkin’s docudrama tracing Zuckerberg’s corporate malfeasance in the early 2020s will turn even the most hardcore Facebook hater into a true-blue Facebook believer – the film is just that magnificently, unbelievably, despicably bad.

To understand why – to fully comprehend how someone could make a movie so inept that it will have you rooting for Big Tech – you first need to know that The Social Reckoning is, despite all pretenses and marketing materials to the contrary, not a genuine sequel to The Social Network. That 2010 film was, in the hands of director David Fincher and his varsity-league cast, one of the great movies of the past quarter-century, a gorgeously shot, technically innovative, brilliantly performed, and ambitiously layered tour through our culture’s descent into social-media hell. The Social Reckoning might share a screenwriter in Sorkin, and an ostensible subject in Facebook, but comparing the two movies is akin to comparing apples to Apple. One is a giant world conqueror, the other is a bushel of slowly rotting fruit.

The new film’s problems start, and largely stop, with Sorkin, who decided to direct his own script this time rather than enlisting someone who knows what they’re doing. Shooting the film like a particularly lazy direct-to-streaming movie – all simple camera set-ups, overexposed lighting, and blocking that recalls a high school’s unauthorized staging of A Few Good Men – the guy can’t even nail down a simple walk-and-talk scene, the supposed signature of any Sorkin production, from The West Wing through Moneyball. As a result of this aesthetic incompetence, even the sharpest Sorkin lines, of which there are precious few here, feel dulled and flattened.

And, as Christian Toto writes, false: The Shocking Misinformation Shared by The Social Reckoning.

We can say President Trump pushed an election narrative that he has yet to prove in a court of law. He holds some responsibility for the violent protest, one that has been weaponized by the Left and the Media (but we repeat ourselves) in ways that warp what really happened that day.

It was still an ugly stain on the country.

We cannot say he told the rioters to keep going or refused to tell them to go home.

But Sorkin can. He just did so in a major motion picture. No film critic will call it out. No Legacy Media outlet will question his narrative, doing the simple Google search to learn what Trump actually posted that day versus what the film alleges.

Some might label that misinformation.

Disinformation? A Sorkin against itself cannot stand! Aaron Sorkin Accidentally Made Mark Zuckerberg the Hero of His Anti-Facebook Movie. “This certainly isn’t what Sorkin intended, but I found myself cheering Strong’s Zuckerberg in a recently released scene from the movie, in which the Facebook CEO marshals free speech arguments to rebut the histrionic apprehensions of Bill Burr’s character:”

UPDATE: John Nolte explores: A Tale of Two Trailers – Why Aaron Sorkin’s ‘Social Reckoning’ Is Projected to Bomb.

The movie only has this to say: Free speech is dangerous! Why aren’t the richest and most powerful elites in the world censoring everyday people? Why aren’t they deciding what opinions we can and cannot see? Why aren’t they controlling the political discussion?

This might be the first Hollywood movie since Gabriel Over the White House (1938) that openly advocates for fascism, that lobbies in favor of the will of the people being squashed for some elite asshole’s misguided ideal of the “greater good.”

That’s never good company for a movie to be in. Or as James Lileks wrote in his 2018 retrospective of the 1938 film, “The good news: he reduces unemployment, lifts the country out of the Depression, battles gangsters and Congress, and brings about world peace. The bad news: he’s Mussolini.”

Posted at 3:15 pm by Ed Driscoll

HIGHER EDUCATION: Protesters outside U. Oregon Hillel praise Oct. 7 terrorists, demand ban on Jewish student group.

A group of pro-Palestinian protesters descended on Hillel at the University of Oregon on Wednesday — the third anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attacks — to demand the Jewish student group be banished from campus.

Chants from the group of roughly 25 protesters included praise for those who conducted the “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” incursion that killed more than 1,200 Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023, according to videos of the protest obtained by The College Fix.

“Hillel off campus,” the group chanted. “Glory to the martyrs of the Al-Aqsa Flood.”

“No more IDF on campus,” was another chant led by the Anti-Imperialist Front group.

Anti-Imperialist? That’s rich. You can always tell what a lefty group is up to by what it claims to be against.

Posted at 2:49 pm by Stephen Green

MR PRESIDENT, I KNOW YOU LOVE A GOOD TROLL…:

…but no, I beg you, just no.

Posted at 2:34 pm by Stephen Green

GOOD NEWS, BUT…: The Biggest Expansion of School Choice Yet Is Coming in January.

The EFTC allows individuals to claim a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit for donations of up to $1,700—or $3,400 for married couples filing jointly—to scholarship-granting organizations (SGOs) to help families earning “no more than 300 percent of the area’s median gross income” cover K–12 expenses. This includes private school tuition, tutoring, special-needs services, and supplies. EdChoice estimates that across all private school choice programs in the U.S.—including vouchers, education savings accounts, and tax-credit scholarships—about $10.6 billion went to students in 2025, an increase of 29 percent from the previous year. The Treasury Department and IRS estimate that the EFTC could support up to 700 SGOs—there are an estimated 531 in the U.S. today—and raise $26 billion in annual contributions by 2030.

While making it easier for parents to exercise greater control over their kids’ education shouldn’t be a partisan issue, the tax credit has not been universally well received. So far, 30 states have opted into the program, and of the 20 that have yet to join, 19 have Democratic governors.

Because of course.

Posted at 1:47 pm by Stephen Green

WE KNOW THE ANSWER:

Posted at 1:32 pm by Stephen Green

HEATHER MAC DONALD: ‘Cornell 7’ drama proves the campus-rape panic is a farce — and college women know it.

“Believe survivors,” the campus activists and leftist politicians admonish us.

But which “survivor” statements are we supposed to believe?

In the weeks following her alleged gang rape at a Cornell University frat house in 2024, “Jane Doe” was unequivocal: She had not been raped.

A day after the incident, she texted one of her sex partners, saying “non (sic) of the sexual stuff was illegal and honestly I really liked being with u” — and she suggested another get-together.

The next day she texted him again, including an affectionate note: “I luv you king.”

She angled herself an invitation to the annual Halloween party at the frat where she was allegedly raped.

Up to that point, Doe’s statements and her behavior had been consistent: She considered herself a voluntary participant in group sex, after she’d deliberately downed 10 shots of alcohol.

Exit quote: “If females take full responsibility for their own behavior, the lucrative, bureaucracy-bloated grift will come crashing down. So the college assault complex has a surefire method for erasing such moments of clarity: Don’t believe those ‘survivor’ statements. Females are only credible as purported victims.”

Related:

And thus, the sexual revolution comes full circle.

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll

IT WOULD TAKE A HEART OF STONE NOT TO LAUGH: Mamdani booed, berated by anti-Israel protesters waving Hamas flags at NYC Oct. 7 memorial: ‘Shame on you.’

Mayor Zohran Mamdani was berated and booed at an Oct. 7 candlelight vigil in Union Square on Wednesday night by anti-Israel protesters who believe he turned his back on Palestinian causes.

Hizzoner, with a candle in hand, was heckled by the angry mob, including some waving Hamas and Hezbollah flags, who marched from City Hall to crash the event meant to honor Jewish victims killed by Hamas terrorists — and Palestinians in the subsequent war.

“You coward!” some of the keffiyeh-clad agitators shouted at Hizzoner. “How do you let this happen?”

The correct honorific now is Hizzallah — who still isn’t radical enough for his base.

Posted at 12:45 pm by Stephen Green