March 30, 2026

CDR SALAMANDER: Base Defense: How Many More Warnings? Ignoring the known knowns. “The Army, especially during GWOT, didn’t just underfund air defense in general and treat it as a secondary career field—it never even considered what was needed to defend bases. The USAF? No better…and they relied on the Army for air defense. It was only 18 months or so ago they started to experiment with base defense.”

Posted at 12:01 pm by Glenn Reynolds

ED MORRISSEY: WaPo: On Second Thought, Our Reporter in Iran Is a Regime Hack.

CNN: We never learned our lesson from the Eason Jordan era.

Washington Post: Hold our beer.

Alternate headline: American Public Finds New Reasons to Hate the Media.

On Friday, the Washington Post accused the US military of a potential war crime. Its reporters in Iran took photos of what were purported to be anti-tank land mines supposedly tossed into residential areas, including in Shiraz, supposedly to deter the movement of mobile missile launchers (via Twitchy):

Read the whole thing.

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll

DECLINE IS A CHOICE:

Posted at 11:55 am by Stephen Green

ROAD SAFETY: Foreign big rig drivers lose licenses by the thousands, but ride-shares still use illiterate drivers.

For CDLs, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) can audit, set minimum standards states must follow, and enforce safety rules nationwide for commercial trucks. Rideshare & taxis are treated as local services; therefore, the federal DOT (Department of Transportation) has almost no authority over driver licensing or day-to-day operations.

Even though states print and hand out the licenses, federal law, via the FMCSA, sets the minimum qualifications every state must follow. That includes the long-standing rule that commercial drivers must “speak and read English sufficiently” to understand road signs, talk to law enforcement, and handle emergencies.

The Trump/Duffy DOT used that federal leverage to identify and remove the 17,000 unqualified big-rig drivers (many of whom got CDLs through the previous administration’s lax “self-certifying” truck schools). States still have to cooperate on enforcement, which is why Duffy said he needs “partnership” (he even noted California Governor Gavin Newsom is starting to play ball).

Only because Newsom’s eye is on 2028.

Posted at 11:40 am by Stephen Green

FOR A BUNCH OF SELF-STYLED SOPHISTICATES, EUROPEANS ARE PROVINCIAL TO THE POINT OF SELF-HARM IN THEIR OUTLOOK:

Posted at 11:24 am by Stephen Green

SPOILER: THEY ARE.

Posted at 10:53 am by Stephen Green

IT’S GOOD TO BE THE NOMENKLATURA: Congressional Perks: Senate spending skyrockets by more than 40% in last few years.

In 2020, the U.S. Senate office account was spending less than half a billion dollars, but that has since increased by nearly $200 million, an analysis of data provided by the American Governance Institute and other online data shows.

Overall Senate spending that includes the office accounts but also expenses for leadership, committees, security and operations was about $1.5 billion, increasing as much as 50% since 2020.

The $1.5 billion overall spending included a litany of staff positions that government watchdogs questioned, such as a chaplain who has his own chief of staff and communications director, dozens of door keepers, picture framers, telephone operators, barbers, wellness resources staff and furniture artisans.

Included in the office account spending was at least $1 million a year for private jet flights and repeated reimbursements for individual senators.

David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, said senators spending on themselves is out of control after The Center Square detailed the expenses in the Senate office accounts and the history of spending.

We’d do better with Caligula’s horse.

Posted at 10:38 am by Stephen Green

HE’S BEEN REMARKABLY CONSISTENT:

And another, going all the way back to 1980.

Posted at 10:22 am by Stephen Green

THE ENEMY WITHIN:

Posted at 9:51 am by Stephen Green

WELL, GOOD: 4 more states will add restrictions on SNAP purchases in April. “22 states have additional restrictions in effect or in the works for grocery items deemed “non-nutritious,” like soda and candy. Kansas, Nevada, Ohio and Wyoming have all moved to add new restrictions in the past month.”

Posted at 9:36 am by Stephen Green

MUSK NEEDS TO GET ON TOP OF THIS BEFORE X IS COMPLETELY BROKEN:

X is supposed to be a free-speech platform, not a foreign psy-op.

Posted at 9:21 am by Stephen Green

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Too Bad Tiger Woods Can’t Drive a Car as Well as He Can a Golf Ball. “This is getting problematic, and many in Woods’s inner circle are expressing concern. We are all painfully aware that wealthy celebrities have no problem getting drugs prescribed to them, often with fatal consequences. The world doesn’t need to see that playing out again.”

Posted at 9:05 am by Stephen Green

THEY HATE YOU, THEY REALLY HATE YOU:

Posted at 8:49 am by Stephen Green

THE MODEL S IS A HANDSOME-LOOKING SEDAN, BUT HARDLY ANYBODY BUYS SEDANS NOW: Tesla officially begins sunset of Model S and Model X.

In the latest move to show Tesla is planning to eliminate the Model S and Model X from production, the company’s Korean arm has officially set a firm cutoff date of March 31, 2026, for new orders of both models.

This is the first time Tesla has announced a hard global deadline for the Model S and X, as after that date, only existing inventory will be available in South Korea.

The move to bring closure to the Model S and Model X aligns with CEO Elon Musk’s plans for Tesla moving forward. During the Q4 2025 Earnings Call in January, Musk said the two cars deserved an “honorable discharge” for what they have done for the company.

The long-running programs are primarily being removed so that manufacturing lines can be repurposed for high-volume manufacturing of the Optimus humanoid robot. Tesla is targeting a production rate of up to one million units each year.

Never had any desire to own an EV, but I can’t wait to put down a deposit on an Optimus or similar.

Posted at 8:34 am by Stephen Green

LESSONS OF HISTORY:

UPDATE:

Posted at 8:30 am by Glenn Reynolds