June 17, 2026

MILE MARKERS ON THE ROAD TO DETROIT:

 

To boldly go where George MF Washington has gone before: Seen The Lights Go Out On Sunset.

Obviously it’s not Netflix or Amazon’s fault that The Strip is no longer The Strip in any recognizable way. The decline of the restaurants, bars and clubs along Sunset’s iconic length are no one’s fault but the owners and managers of those businesses. But whenever the one industry which dominates a company town begins to collapse, the first to suffer are those luxury business which cater to that industry’s youngest and hippest who have the most disposable income to spend. The inexorable disappearance of popular bars, luxury restaurants and other exclusive cultural signifiers are the leading indicators of a keystone industry in decline.

The Night of the Living Dead feral homeless don’t help matters, either. If only there had been someone running for mayor of L.A. who vowed to do something about them:

This is how the L.A. Times covered him:

Speaking of which, if you missed it Monday: Now That Spencer Pratt Is Out of the Race, CNN Can Safely Tell You How FUBAR L.A. Is:

UPDATE:

Posted at 10:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

OPEN THREAD: Hump Day.

Posted at 9:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds

SNOWFALLS ARE NOW JUST A THING OF THE PAST: After 20 Yrs, Al Gore’s Like ‘I Was Right, I Was Right, I WAS RIGHT!’ — ABC News, ‘Why, Yes, He Was.

Yet, here’s the shameless snake oil salesman, now a silver-haired, senior citizen who must need a new revenue stream, out front and center, drawing attention to his hysteria-inducing piece of fictional fundraising.

Worse, a national ‘news’ organization is indulging this egotist’s rosy-eyed reminiscing as if the manipulative fabrications in that blatant propaganda piece weren’t basically all outright frozen walrus poo dressed up for gullible human consumption as certified free of destructive pathogens.

Let’s walk down memory lane for a second – circa 2007 or so – and wrap ourselves in the sonorous sound of Gore’s doleful intonations describing mostly submerged Florida because half of Greenland (or Antarctica, or both – your choice) has melted and ‘fallen away.’

Florida? That was gone by the mid-1990s:

Oh, and speaking of ABC News and its global warming predictions, in 2008, they predicted that Manhattan would also be underwater — by 2015:

On June 12, 2008, correspondent Bob Woodruff revealed that the program “puts participants in the future and asks them to report back about what it is like to live in this future world. The first stop is the year 2015.”

As one expert warns that in 2015 the sea level will rise quickly, a visual shows New York City being engulfed by water. The video montage includes another unidentified person predicting that “flames cover hundreds of miles.”

Then-GMA co-anchor Chris Cuomo appeared frightened by this future world. He wondered, “I think we’re familiar with some of these issues, but, boy, 2015? That’s seven years from now. Could it really be that bad?”

Nahh — but why take chances? Tax the blue zones. A climate change tax measure Democrats and Republicans alike should get behind.

Posted at 8:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

TO BE FAIR, SO ARE HIS SUPPORTERS:

UPDATE:

Posted at 6:58 pm by Glenn Reynolds

GREAT MOMENTS IN DUE DILIGENCE: Jeff Bezos told Trump the Washington Post was his worst investment before slashing staff: ‘People there are terrible.’

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos called the Washington Post his worst investment in a conversation with President Trump months before gutting the newsroom, according to a new book by New York Times journalists Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman.

“The people there are terrible,” Bezos told Trump over dinner in December 2024, according to an excerpt obtained by The Post ahead of the June 23 release of “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump.“

“They don’t listen. My other companies, they listen,” Bezos said, focusing his ire at the business side of the publication after losing more than $100 million that year.

About two months after the dinner, Bezos ordered the Washington Post’s opinion pages to promote “two pillars: personal liberties and free markets” — as subscribers peeled off in protest of the paper withholding its endorsement from Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

Bezos this February authorized the sweeping downsizing of the celebrated Watergate paper, eliminating roughly a third of its workforce, including all staff photographers and the sports section.

Bezos’ candor with Trump was described by Swan and Haberman as part of a larger effort by Big Tech titans to cozy up with the incoming president, who had spent his four years in political exile railing against what he viewed as bias by news outlets and major internet platforms.

Trump told Bezos “this Washington Post is really unfair. You’ve got to take better care,” the book says.

“Bezos commiserated with Trump over their December dinner, indicating that he, too, was deeply frustrated with the Post, though for a different reason.”

“In Trump’s telling, Bezos told him he had lost half his friends over the investment,” the authors write. “Bezos would tell others that wasn’t quite right: He hadn’t lost friends, but people close to him had urged him to sell the newspaper.”

The brand names will likely continue, but we’re witnessing numerous mass media-era stalwarts in their dotage: the Post, late night talk shows, and Hollywood, all being devoured or radically transformed by changes in how we consume opinion and entertainment. The New York Times survives via its various non-news offshoots: “News remains the institution’s center of gravity, but Games, Cooking, Wirecutter and The Athletic have given its advertising team a broader set of commercial entry points. Some are built around habit, others around purchase intent, fandom or utility. Crucially, many feel less intimidating to marketers that might otherwise hesitate at the idea of advertising with a news brand.”

In contrast, Bezos’ Amazon is what is keeping the lights on at the WaPo, and the staff at the paper believed they should essentially be considered tenured academics with Bezos having no say in how his investment is operated. As we’ve seen in recent years, the WaPo’s entitled leftist journalists have had numerous Scott Pelley-style flameouts before being shown the door.

Posted at 6:49 pm by Ed Driscoll

A CRIMINAL COVERUP BY A POLICE FORCE THAT APPEARS TO HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THE CRIMES:

“Cop night.”

Posted at 6:38 pm by Glenn Reynolds

ELECTION OFFICIAL STOPS DEMOCRAT DIRTY TRICK: Democrats Tried to Split the Republican Vote for Dan Sullivan in Alaska By Running Another Man Named Dan Sullivan.

Jonathan Turley:

There is an interesting controversy in Alaska where an election official just disqualified a candidate over his name. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) is in what is considered a close race with Democratic former Rep. Mary Peltola. The seat is viewed as critical to the Democrats’ retaking power.The race was thrown into disarray when a retired teacher named Dan Sullivan, who had no connection to the GOP but did have connections to Democratic operatives, got on the ballot. The alleged dirty trick by Democratic and Peltola supporters would have split Sullivan’s vote through sheer confusion. Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher disqualified Dan J. Sullivan, putting an end to it this week.

The suspected dirty trick comes at a time when Democratic candidates and pundits are calling for winning back power “by any means necessary.”

Democrats should really consider what happens when we take a similar “by any means necessary” posture.

Because it’s coming.

That’s just another day at the office for “Democratic candidates and pundits.” See also, their 2015 championing of Donald Trump under the assumption he’d be the easiest GOP candidate for Hillary to defeat. Whoops.

Posted at 5:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

SPOILER ALERT: Jeremy Clarkson Reveals Prostate Cancer Diagnosis in Clarkson’s Farm Season Finale.

“If I hadn’t got myself checked out and they hadn’t caught the problem early, this could well have been my last harvest. It’s only because they did catch it early, there’s every hope that I’ll be harvesting this farm for many, many years to come,” Clarkson said on the show.

Clarkson was initially hesitant to share with his staff — and his show’s audience — what type of cancer he has, replying to a query from Cooper, “Where it is, is of no concern to anybody.” But later in the episode, what exactly Clarkson is going through and where his health stood at the time of filming is made clear. “The prostate, 10 percent of it’s dead,” he said. “The 10 percent where the cancer is.”

The season ends with Clarkson in a hospital bed.

“So we started season five in a hospital bed and here we are at the end of season five, I’m back in a hospital bed,” he said. “Some of the treatment has gone awry, let’s say. I’ll probably be here for a little while…What I wanted to say was, if this is all successful, I’ll see you for season six. And if it isn’t, I won’t. Take care, everyone.”

It’s gripping viewing, and I’m astonished that the details weren’t leaked before the last two episodes dropped last night. Co-producer Andy Wilman appeared on a YouTube podcast earlier this month, and basically admitted that he was sworn to secrecy regarding the events of the final two segments:

Posted at 4:44 pm by Ed Driscoll

FROM LARRY CORREIA: “I got to read an advance copy of Kurt Schlicter’s new American Warlord novel to provide a blurb. I don’t think the publisher will be able to use my first suggestion of ‘Imagine the Postman, but not written by a liberal pussy like David Brin.’ 😃. The book is great guys. You’re gonna love it.”

Haha, I blurbed it too, but that one’s better. I’ll let you guys know when it’s available on Amazon.

Posted at 4:31 pm by Glenn Reynolds

POPCORN! Watch Hillary Clinton Absolutely SQUIRM When Pressed to Comment About Graham Platner.

It’s pretty ironic to see Hillary deflect when asked about America’s best-known Totenkopf stan, when Jonah Goldberg’s early 2008 book Liberal Fascism was written with the assumption that she would be the Democratic frontrunner that year; quotes from her on her worldview make up several of its later chapters.

Posted at 4:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

CHINA IS ASSHOE: You Can No Longer Fly or Purchase a Drone in Beijing.

The new law that passed last month makes it illegal to buy, rent, or fly a drone without prior approval from the authorities. Users must also complete an online training session and pass a test on drone regulations.

Under the new rules, drone users are also not allowed to repair or replace their drones in Beijing. Not only that, but a drone in a repair shop must be picked up in-person, rather than sent back by delivery.

The BBC reports that drones must now be registered before being brought into and out of the Chinese capital.

“I have to apply for permission for each flight, which is very inconvenient,” drone enthusiast Steven Wang tells CNN. “And starting this year, the wait time is getting longer, and the reasons for rejection are becoming more vague.”

Despite China being the birthplace of the consumer drone industry, it is increasingly difficult for hobbyists to fly there. Beijing authorities say that the rules are made to “strengthen the management of unmanned aerial vehicles” and “safeguard the security of the capital.”

To revise and extend the remarks by the late P.J. O’Rourke, you can’t get good Chinese takeout in China, Cuban cigars are rationed in Cuba, the TV and movie industry is failing in California, and you can’t fly drones in Beijing. That’s all you need to know about communism.

Posted at 4:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Nick Searcy Reveals Ugly Truth Behind Sean Penn’s Jan. 6 Project.

The Jan. 6 riots matter. And the topic is ripe for a theatrical retelling. That’s not the key takeaway, and veteran actor/director Nick Searcy spelled out the bigger picture on his X account.

You see, the left funds their propaganda, and is willing to lose millions of dollars to get their lies out in an attractive form. While conservative investors will not put their money up to make anything to counteract it. This is why we lose.

Searcy isn’t wrong. Conservative filmmakers routinely fail to get their projects funded. Searcy knows this all too well. He’s helped some small, feisty documentaries get made, like “The War on Truth,” but he’s struggled to get other fictional films off the ground.

Read the whole thing.

Posted at 3:50 pm by Stephen Green

CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUE: Among the large new rockets Amazon was counting on, only Europe has delivered.

France-based Arianespace has emerged as a critical partner for Amazon, which, to date, has had the majority of its 331 satellites launched on Atlas V rockets. However, Amazon has just one more mission booked on this rocket, which is operated by United Launch Alliance, as the vehicle is slated for retirement.

To launch the majority of its Leo constellation, Amazon booked rides on three large, new rockets four years ago: 18 launches on the Ariane 6 rocket, 12 launches on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, with options for 15 additional launches; and 38 launches of the United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket.

But of these new rockets, only Arianespace has delivered so far, with two launches completed this year, another on Wednesday, and more to come. Neither New Glenn (also owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos) nor Vulcan has launched Amazon satellites yet.

“As for Arianespace, they have definitely stepped up,” Metayer said. “They’re very reliable on their manifest dates, and they’re very reliable and safe on their insertions into orbit. So we definitely would continue to look forward to the next 16 launches with them on our existing contract, and we see them being a player long-term beyond that.”

New Glenn is an impressive rocket, but maybe Blue Origin should have held back from selling launches until they’d worked out the troubling (and explosive) reliability issues.

Posted at 2:48 pm by Stephen Green

DISPATCHES FROM AIRSTRIP ONE:

“She was warned that if any part of her account could not be supported by evidence, she could and would be arrested. For an extended period of time, both officers repeatedly told her how much trouble she would be in if any detail of her statement was disproved, and that she could withdraw the allegation before the interview started with no further consequences. They also suggested that her parents would be relieved if she said the incident had not happened.”

Posted at 2:43 pm by Stephen Green