September 25, 2026

FORGET GHOST CITIES; NOW CHINA HAS Ghost Towers In Real Cities.

Matthew Tye: “‘Look at the city at night. You see all this viral footage and stuff.’ And they go, ‘Let’s go inside some of these buildings, see what they look like.’ We took you inside one. I think it was in Chungdu where the guy went up all the floors and he’s like, ‘There’s literally nothing in here.’”

Winston Sterzel: “All of them were empty.”

MT: “But they have lights on, these very nice lights on. This guy took it a step further and he goes, ‘You know, I’m going to take you to Shanghai where everything should be full. Everything in the the Shanghai skyline should be being used for office space because this is a this is where you want to be in China.”

Fascinating video.

Posted at 11:44 am by Stephen Green

CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW…:

Posted at 11:28 am by Stephen Green

NARRATIVES DON’T ENFORCE THEMSELVES, YOU KNOW:

Posted at 10:57 am by Stephen Green

MOVING AT THE SPEED OF GOVERNMENT: Appeals court drowns red tape, turns on tap for Gross Reservoir.

A federal appeals court has thrown out a lower-court ruling that left Denver Water’s newly raised Gross Dam standing over a reservoir it wasn’t allowed to fill, dealing a major blow to environmental groups that spent years trying to drown the project in legal red tape.

In a unanimous Sept. 15 opinion, a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court, vacated its permanent injunction, and ordered judgment entered against the plaintiffs.

Judge Timothy Tymkovich wrote the opinion, joined by Chief Judge Jerome Holmes and Judge Nancy Moritz.

Denver Water said the ruling confirms the project “was lawfully permitted” and clears the way for the final stages of work.

Exit quote: “The ruling lets Denver Water move toward finally filling a reservoir it first proposed when many of its current customers were children.”

Posted at 10:42 am by Stephen Green

DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: Cambridge Cancels Probe into Jason Arday Hiring, Will Instead Focus on University Support.

Cambridge University has decided against investigating how and why the late professor Jason Arday was hired despite his lack of qualifications and will instead look into whether staff offered him sufficient support after he was accused of plagiarizing large sections of his published work and fabricating a series of personal achievements.

Touted as the youngest black Cambridge professor in history when he was hired in 2022, Arday came under significant public scrutiny earlier this year after fellow academics and journalists began surfacing evidence of extensive plagiarism throughout his publication record. That scrutiny extended to Arday’s professed personal biography, which featured staggering athletic achievements and acts of philanthropy.

Arday was found dead in his south London home on August 14, nine days after resigning as a professor of sociology of education at Cambridge. Police on scene described his death as “non-suspicious,” and his family later commented that the “campaign of misinformation was too much” for him.

Cambridge has learned nothing and forgotten nothing about the Arday debacle, and their role in making it happen.

Posted at 10:35 am by Ed Driscoll

NICE:

Posted at 10:26 am by Stephen Green

THE WAY THINGS WORK:

Posted at 10:15 am by Glenn Reynolds

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Mass. Gun Control Vote Draws National Spotlight.

It also empowers school administrators and licensed healthcare providers to request court orders that require individuals to surrender firearms as well as licenses and permits.

All told, the 120-page measure would tighten control and registration of firearms.

“And all this talk about ‘court orders’ and getting individuals to surrender firearms are all the Democratic talking points about Question 9,” Toby Leary, chairman of the Massachusetts Civil Rights Coalition, told Newsmax. “It will have a strong and negative effect on hunters, sportsmen, and regular people who happen to own guns.”

The measure, in fact, became a “cause célèbre” of the left and the Democratic Party.

The state Democratic Party included it in its platform and it won the blessings of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Both Democrats and “Democratic” Socialists are against an armed citizenry. Do with that what you will.

Posted at 9:40 am by Stephen Green

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG:

Posted at 9:24 am by Stephen Green

PRIVATE TRUTHS, PUBLIC LIES:

Posted at 9:10 am by Glenn Reynolds

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Canada’s Mark Carney Didn’t Get Hugged Enough at Syrup Camp. “Mark Carney knows that we really don’t give much thought to Canada here. I’ve spent the last six weeks about 45 minutes away from Windsor, Ontario and I barely remember it’s there. At this point, Carney should be showing up to press conferences wearing a ‘Trump Is My Daddy’ sweatshirt. His flailing for relevance is unserious and sad.”

Posted at 9:09 am by Stephen Green

WALL ST. JOURNAL: The Robust U.S. Economy Powers Through Rate Hikes and Rising Bond Yields.

Related: Is Trump Getting The George H.W. Bush Treatment On The Economy?

“Until the statistics are actually published, people tend to assess the economy primarily through the eyes of the national media. In 1992, when Bill Clinton won the presidency based on worries about the economy, the statistics that came out after the election showed that the period leading up to November had actually been a period of record growth.”

While Trump’s handling of the economy is at just 35%, according to RealClearPolitics polling average, the data tell a story that the Democrats don’t want told. Instead, they want to screech about an economy they claim isn’t working for everyone, and yammer on about affordability hardships their policies have caused. Naturally, the media are happy to amplify the message. After all, electing Democrats is, as they see it, their job.

And they really do see it that way.

Posted at 8:57 am by Glenn Reynolds

MARK JUDGE: Elena Kagan Predicted Why We Would Hate the Media. “A main reason why we hate the media so much, and the reason they have earned that ire, is rooted in New York Times vs. Sullivan, the 1964 Supreme Court decision that held that media companies cannot be found guilty for anything they report unless there is evidence of ‘actual malice’ on their part. In 1993, a University of Chicago law professor named Elena Kagan wrote an academic article for the Chicago Law Review that perceptively examined the reality of the new post-Sullivan press freedom.”

I’ve written about this myself.

Posted at 8:54 am by Glenn Reynolds

HMM: CIA warned Europe of Russian drone attack from vessels in the Mediterranean.

Major Spanish daily El Mundo published the article, which was based on testimony from an anonymous Lithuanian intelligence source, late Wednesday local time.

According to the paper, the CIA had assessed that Spain, France or Italy may be the targets of these attacks, with drones launching from international waters in the Mediterranean and traveling to the coastal countries over the course of an hour or two.

The Gerbera drone was selected because of its small size – it has a wingspan of just 2.5 meters – which allows it to be concealed easily, El Mundo wrote. The drones have a maximum range of 600 kilometers, depending on load and environmental conditions, and carry a relatively small warhead that would be effective at starting a fire, destroying exposed infrastructure components or causing political and economic turmoil.

The drones were to be transported hidden in containers, which was described as being “not difficult at all,” before being catapult-launched for their attack missions on the Western Mediterranean NATO members, according to El Mundo’s sourcing.

Another report said Macron denied getting any heads up from the CIA. But whatever the case, Russia has been stepping up its hybrid campaign against Europe.

Posted at 8:38 am by Stephen Green