February 27, 2026

GREAT MOMENTS IN GASLIGHTING:

“We’ve been told to aim our reporting at a particular part of the political spectrum. Honestly, I don’t know how to do that.” Really? Because over the decades Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, Katie Couric, John Dickerson, and Scott Pelley have been masters at it.

Posted at 8:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

WE NEED NEW DRUGS: Ancient Killer Is Rapidly Gaining Resistance to Antibiotics, Scientists Warn.. “Despite having plagued humans for millennia, typhoid fever is rarely considered a threat in developed countries today. But this ancient killer is still very much a danger in our modern world. Research published in 2022 revealed the bacterium that causes typhoid fever is evolving extensive drug resistance, and is rapidly replacing strains that aren’t resistant.”

Posted at 8:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds

CHRIS SOUNDS COMMUNIST A LOT:

Posted at 7:56 pm by Glenn Reynolds

WAR NEWS:

Posted at 7:46 pm by Glenn Reynolds

ENVIRONMENTALISTS NEVER PROTEST CHINA BECAUSE CHINA ALREADY HAS A COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT.

Posted at 6:28 pm by Glenn Reynolds

GOOD:

Posted at 6:09 pm by Glenn Reynolds

A CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION MASQUERADING AS A POLITICAL PARTY:

(Classical reference in headline.)

Posted at 5:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

OUT ON A LIMB:

Perhaps it’s time to finally implement Andrew Klavan’s One State Solution to the Middle East:

Posted at 5:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

THE E.V. BUBBLE CONTINUES TO DEFLATE: Stellantis Lost $26 Billion, Now It’s Betting on Jeeps and V-8s. “Stellantis previously warned it would incur about $26 billion in charges as it backtracks on its timeline and investment in electric vehicles whose demand has slowed compared with growth projections at the time the decisions and investments were made. Many automakers have had write-downs as well, but Stellantis’ is notably higher. Ford took a $19.5 billion hit in December and GM reported it will take a $6 billion charge. EV sales continue to grow, but not at the pace automakers anticipated, which prompted investment in more capacity than needed at this time.”

Posted at 5:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds

IT’S FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: Drone Warfare Comes to the Sunshine State. “It’s time for your much-needed break from the serious news, and this week, we’ll learn about the last person who should ever dial 911, the first Anti-COVID Prophet, and what they’re doing in Kentucky for mating season.”

Posted at 4:23 pm by Stephen Green

MARK HEMINGWAY: Model City: Portland’s Journey From Symbol of Chic to Shabby.

If you’re familiar with the recent history of Portland – I am a third-generation Oregonian who has lived in the city – it was once the epicenter of urban cool. In 2009, there was so much tourism that The Oregonian newspaper ran a column headlined, “Sorry, NYT, We’re Just Not That Into You,” grousing that all the glowing national press about the city was making it harder for locals to get into their favorite restaurants. By the time the popular comedy show “Portlandia” premiered in 2011, the city was a genuine cultural phenomenon.

Last fall, after the city acquired a reputation for crime, homelessness, and dysfunction, Oregon politicians rushed to media outlets to assure the nation that the city was not literally on fire. They were responding to comments from President Trump, who said, “the place is burning down, just burning down,” following violent protests outside of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. CNN ran a “fact check” on Trump’s multiple statements about the city burning.

Oregon politicians were probably right that the president’s hyperbole was not helping defuse a tense situation. And unlike other cities famous for urban blight, Portland is still a beautiful place to live. Located at the base of 11,000-foot-tall Mt. Hood, and built around two major rivers, it has one of the most spectacular natural settings of any city in America. Last fall, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden traveled around the city and posted videos highlighting the picturesque neighborhoods to show that Portland can be a wonderful place to live, in contrast to Trump’s claim that the city is “war-ravaged.”

But in a figurative sense – and at least one literal sense – Trump is right. Portland is constantly on fire. In the year following July 2024, Portland had 6,268 fire-related incidents – and 40% of the fires in the city are a direct result of Portland’s out-of-control vagrancy.

Even city leaders feel the heat. In 2024, Portland City Councilor Rene Gonzalez’s car burned in a fire that authorities believe was intentionally set while it was parked in front of his family’s home. No one was arrested, but a website associated with Portland’s notorious Antifa network claimed responsibility. Then last October, a fire consumed a carport belonging to Portland City Councilor Candace Avalos, burning her car and damaging the side of her house. Authorities eventually determined the fire was started by a vagrant trying to stay warm.

The city also has much more sophisticated criminal problems. As Minneapolis uncovers evidence that it has lost billions of dollars in fraudulent schemes by the city’s Somali community, Jeff Eager, the former mayor of Bend, Oregon, has published a series of alarming reports revealing that Portland may have a similar large-scale problem with its welfare programs – some of it connected to more menacing kinds of organized crime.

Read the whole thing, which has rare bipartisan approval:

UPDATE:

Posted at 4:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

I LIKE A STORY WITH A HAPPY ENDING: Armed Self-Defense: Pennsylvania Home Invasion Stopped Thanks to the Application of Hot Lead. “The burglar then called Mr. Homeowner’s bluff. Maybe the intruder thought the homeowner didn’t have the stones to use actually his gun. Maybe the bad guy thought the gun wasn’t really loaded, just kept in the home as a magic talisman against evil. The would-be burglar found out, however, that the gun was very real and that Mr. Homeowner had the stones to use it. A shot rang out, striking the intruder in the leg and dropping him right there. Police rolled up promptly to find the perp making a mess on the carpet. An ambulance hauled him off to the hospital and cops launched their investigation. No charges were filed against the homeowner. Lt. Steven Brooks made it clear the shooting appears justified, a clear case of armed self-defense while protecting a family.”

Posted at 4:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds

CAN YOU HAVE A RULES-BASED ORDER WHEN THE RULES DON’T APPLY TO ONE TEAM?

Posted at 3:55 pm by Glenn Reynolds

GLEICHSCHALTUNG: Vanderbilt investigates math professor over anti-Israel calculus problem. “Assume Palestine as a state with a rectangular land shape. There is Mediterranean Sea on the west and Jordan River on the east. The height (from south to north) is 2.6 times width (from east to west). From river to the sea, Palestine (…) was approximately 100 km in 1946. The land decreases by 250 km2/year due to the occupation by Israel. How fast is the width of the land decreasing now?”

Posted at 2:50 pm by Stephen Green

HERE WE GO:

Exit quote: “When an ambassador tells his own people to leave the country he is assigned to, he is not managing risk. He is clearing the blast radius.”

Posted at 2:35 pm by Ed Driscoll