July 31, 2026

WHEN THE SEA PEOPLES ARRIVE:

Sanchez’s post reads, “What has happened is an attack on Spain’s territorial integrity and deserves our most resounding and energetic condemnation. All of Spain stands with the people of Ceuta. The Government of Spain stands with the Autonomous City. Thank you for the cooperation that we have always maintained with the city government. We will use all the resources of the State to guarantee security and coexistence. And our total and resounding commitment to the future of the Autonomous City of Ceuta.”

(Classical reference in headline.)

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll

THE DEMS AREN’T SENDING THEIR BEST… OR ARE THEY? Texas Democrat Sylvia Garcia, the Pride of East Houston. “She is the latest Democrat to pander to anyone willing to keep her in office, which includes all the people in her district who aren’t supposed to be there.”

Posted at 2:19 pm by Stephen Green

BREAKING NEWS FROM 1977! Star Wars and Dungeons & Dragons Are Collaborating:

Hold onto your hats, kids. Two of the biggest nerdy franchises around are coming together for an epic collaboration. Yes, we’re talking about Star Wars and Dungeons & Dragons. In 2027, we’re about to get THE collab of the century, but we don’t know too much about it yet. In fact, all we know is that a “Dungeons & Dragons | Star Wars™ collaboration will take place in the Season of Rebellion, coming 2027.” Listen, we just need those first four words to know we’re excited.

Two ancient sclerotic franchises are teaming up to squeeze a couple of extra dollars out of their few remaining male fans. Besides, Star Wars meets D&D was already done many decades ago. It was called Traveller, an interstellar role-playing game set in the far future and published by Game Designers’ Workshop from 1977 to 1996.

Posted at 1:35 pm by Ed Driscoll

VOTING TO SPEND OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY ISN’T CHARITY:

Posted at 1:33 pm by Stephen Green

JOSH HAMMER: Don’t Forget How Florida Defeated Faucism and Vindicated Federalism.

Florida recorded the largest annual net in-migration between July 2020 and July 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Florida, the once-iconic swing state that decided the 2000 presidential election by 537 votes, now boasts a Republican governor who won reelection by 19.4% and a Republican supermajority in both houses of its state legislature.

None of this would have happened had Florida not assembled its own medical team and ignored Fauci and the feds. And Florida didn’t just vindicate itself with the voters and the science (if not the “science”). It also vindicated the Founders’ vision of federalism.

One-size-fits-all bureaucratic governance from the nation’s capital is incompatible with American constitutionalism and the American way of life. As James Madison put it in The Federalist No. 45: “The powers … which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.” Justice Louis D. Brandeis put it memorably in a 1932 Supreme Court dissent: “It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.”

That’s exactly what Florida under DeSantis did.

As for Fauci? He’s been reduced to ham-fisted legal stunts and temper tantrums. Hopefully he soon takes those pathetic tantrums to prison.

I’d love to be proven wrong, but I doubt Fauci will be serving any time for his ruinous actions in 2020. But in any case, he’ll always have CNN: The Media Will Never Stop Protecting Fauci.

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll

BRENDAN O’NEILL: The invasion of Ceuta must be the final nail in the coffin of globalism. “For make no mistake – our rulers’ abandonment of our borders is a direct attack on us. They’re essentially saying there is nothing about the Spanish way of life or the British way of life that is worth defending. Your country, your communities, your history, your citizenship, your welfare state – it is all so spectacularly worthless that it isn’t even worth putting a fence around it to protect it from people from foreign lands. What the globalist elites depict as kindness to foreigners is in truth a savage assault on the rights and dignity of citizens. Enough is enough. Stop the boats. Fortify the borders. Save nationhood from these nihilists disguised as altruists.”

They are not spineless, they are complicit. They are not surrendering, they are cooperating.

Posted at 12:38 pm by Glenn Reynolds

DEAR DIARY:

Posted at 12:32 pm by Stephen Green

M FOR VENDETTA: BBC calls Guy Fawkes an ‘astonishing activist’ similar to Mandela.

The BBC has called Guy Fawkes an “astonishing activist” and likened him to Nelson Mandela.

In history resources for children, the plotter who tried to blow up Parliament and King James I is counted among civil rights activists “who wanted to change the world”.

The BBC Bitesize material for primary schools ranks Fawkes alongside Rosa Parks, the civil rights activist, Emmeline Pankhurst, the suffragette, and Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader.

The material takes the form of an educational game titled “Back in time with… Astonishing Activists”, which invites children into the world of the campaigners, including the would-be regicide.

Isn’t this more of a Reuters exercise? As Stephen Jukes, global news editor for Reuters infamously instructed his contributors after September 11th, “We all know that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter and that Reuters upholds the principle that we do not use the word terrorist. To be frank, it adds little to call the attack on the World Trade Center a terrorist attack.”

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Alex, I’ll Take ‘Peace Deals That Ain’t Gonna Happen’ for $400. “When I read that Hamas has agreed to lay down arms, I automatically presume it’s only because they’ve found better places to stash them. Still, let’s look at the deal and see if there’s anything in there that might work.”

Posted at 12:15 pm by Stephen Green

BACK WHEN THE “SMART PEOPLE” WERE IN CHARGE:

Posted at 12:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds

COOL… BUT THAT NAME: Amazon’s Zoox wins first US approval for paid robotaxis without human controls. “The exemption granted by the agency from federal rules requiring human controls, first reported by Reuters, marks a milestone for companies developing robotaxis from the ground up, ​rather than modifying conventional cars under safety regulations written long before self-driving technology emerged.”

Posted at 11:44 am by Stephen Green

FLASHBACK:

Posted at 11:28 am by Stephen Green

SPACE: Actually, Starliner might fly into space this year. “An official confirmed to Ars that this is indeed the case, that the primary factor now for when Starliner launches is port availability on the space station. It is therefore possible that Starliner launches this year. If this cargo test flight goes well, and modifications to Starliner address the vehicle’s propulsion concerns, a crewed mission is possible in late 2027.”

Posted at 10:42 am by Stephen Green