March 26, 2026

DON LEMON BRIEFLY STEPS OUTSIDE THE BUBBLE:

Posted at 1:54 pm by Stephen Green

IT’S GOOD TO BE THE NOMENKLATURA: Chicago, Where The Mayor’s Safety Is Far More Important Than Any Average Citizen’s. “Reports now circulating in Chicago political media and on social media reveal Mayor Johnson’s personal armed security detail includes as many as 150 Chicago Police Department officers at a cost to taxpayers of roughly $30 million a year. That’s almost three times the number of cops that protected Johnson’s predecessor, Lori Lightfoot.”

It’s about reminding the proles where they stand in the hierarchy.

Posted at 12:45 pm by Stephen Green

TUCKER CARLSON HAS BECOME TEHRAN’S MOST EFFECTIVE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE PROPAGANDIST: Tucker Carlson’s sickening praise for Sharia tyranny.

Carlson really has lost it. Also on that pod, he sang the praises of Sharia law. He contrasted a place like New York City – where people are ‘shitting on the sidewalk’ and ‘having sex in ATM vestibules’ – with Sharia-ruled nations like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, where order rules and people are happy. They are? Even the gays, who in Saudi Arabia can be put to death for their acts of love behind closed doors? I’m as opposed to public shitting as the next person, but give me the occasional sight of a crackhead’s stool over the state murder of homosexuals, the forced veiling of women and the outlawing of religious conscience any day of the week.

Carlson comes off like one of those oddball ginger Brits who converts to Islam and then holds forth like a roadman imam on the glories of Sharia. He says the Sharia-governed Gulf states are ‘happy… welcoming of others… tolerant of diversity’. Okay, maybe he can explain why Qatar has not one synagogue(hint: it’s an anti-Semitic hellhole that strictly regulates non-Muslim religious belief). Or why a British grandad was once sentenced to 350 lashes in Saudi Arabia for having some homemade booze in his car. Or why a 19-year-old Saudi woman was flogged and jailed for six months after being gang-raped. I’ll tell you why: because she was rumoured to be having an affair with one of her attackers, and to the Islamo-psychos who rule that kingdom that’s as bad being raped. I bet she isn’t ‘happy’, Tucker.

Carlson’s truthless, childish gushing over Sharia nations puts him on a par with those 1930s Western leftists who bigged up Stalin’s regime and neglected to mention his violent purging of tens of thousands of ‘wrongthinkers’. Like them, it seems his need for a foreign entity he can point to as being morally preferable to the knackered West overrides any duty he might feel towards that old thing called truth. And the truth is this: Sharia law is inferior to the universal law of Western nations. Its emphasis on vengeance, where a criminal’s punishment is sometimes put at the discretion of the victim or the victim’s family, unleashes untold cruelty and clannish point-scoring. Carlson might not like poo in New York City but he should know that New York City is legally, morally and socially a more humane place than Riyadh.

Evergreen question: What Happened to Tucker?

(Classical reference in headline.)

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

THE EV BUBBLE CONTINUES TO DEFLATE: Honda And Sony Are Killing Their Two Afeela Electric Cars.

Sony surprised everyone when it dabbled in the car scene at CES 2020 with an electric sedan, followed a year later by an SUV. The tech giant teamed up with Honda in 2022, establishing the Sony Honda Mobility (SHM) joint venture to bring these concepts to production. However, that’s no longer happening, as neither the sedan nor the SUV will ever go on sale.

Development of both vehicles has come to an abrupt end, although the decision is not entirely surprising. Earlier this month, Honda canceled two of its own EVs and a third model that was supposed to resurrect the Acura RSX. In a joint statement released today, Honda and Sony said the automaker’s sweeping changes to its electric car strategy are also affecting the Afeela-branded models intended for sale by the joint venture.

Afeela? Really?

Posted at 11:43 am by Stephen Green

“FOOD FOR THOUGHT,” INDEED:

Posted at 11:27 am by Stephen Green

YES:

Posted at 10:56 am by Stephen Green

GET OFF MY LAWN: Newly purchased Vizio TVs now require Walmart accounts to use smart features.

Since 2024, Vizio TVs have required a Vizio account, which a Vizio OS website says is necessary for accessing “exclusive offers, subscription management, and tailored support.” Accounts are also central to Vizio’s business, which is largely driven by ads and tracking tied to its OS.

A Walmart spokesperson confirmed to Ars Technica that Walmart accounts will be mandatory on “select new Vizio OS TVs” for owners to complete onboarding and to use smart TV features…

The representative wouldn’t confirm which TV models are affected. We wouldn’t be surprised to see the requirement for a Walmart account eventually expanded to apply to all newly purchased Vizio OS TVs or already-purchased devices through an update.

Walmart’s representative said the Walmart account integration is “designed to respect consumer choice and privacy, with data used in aggregated, permissioned, and compliant ways” but didn’t specify how.

“Trust us,” they explained.

Posted at 10:41 am by Stephen Green

THE PRESS KNOWS THIS, AND FEATURES THEM REGARDLESS:

And by “regardless,” I mean, “because.”

Posted at 10:25 am by Stephen Green

THAT’S DIFFERENT BECAUSE SHUT UP:

Posted at 9:54 am by Stephen Green

BIG MONEY: Space stocks rally on reports of SpaceX’s imminent IPO filing.

Space stocks soared Wednesday following a report that Elon Musk’s SpaceX could file to go public as soon as this week.

Satellite designer AST SpaceMobile and Rocket Lab both jumped about 10%. Rocket maker Firefly Aerospace, which went public in August, climbed 16%. York Space, an aerospace company that held its IPO in January, rose 5% on the news.

According to the Information, the highly anticipated stock market debut for SpaceX could raise over $75 billion. CNBC previously reported that it could be the biggest IPO ever, seeking a $1.75 trillion valuation.

Orbital AI data centers and self-sustaining lunar cities don’t build themselves for free, you know.

Posted at 9:39 am by Stephen Green

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: President Trump Is One of Many People Skipping CPAC This Year. “There are no tea leaves to be read in President Trump being a no-show at CPAC. In fact, there never was any tea in the first place. MAGA is fine and CPAC just ain’t the party that it used to be.”

Posted at 9:08 am by Stephen Green