August 20, 2026

ATHENA THORNE: Data Centers and Flock Cameras and AI, Oh My! “Maybe you’re still recovering from the Great Societal Collapse of Y2K. Perhaps you’re still digging out from the rubble of the Cold War nuclear global apocalypse, or you’re busy smothering in the ozone-pollution-acid rain-cold-heat-weather-climate-greenhouse disaster. As for me, I’m just about done with all the panic and handwringing about the technological breakthroughs washing over us at an ever-increasing cadence.”

Posted at 10:10 am by Stephen Green

HMM: Moderna Shares Double on Success of mRNA Cancer Vaccine.

An experimental mRNA-based vaccine succeeded in preventing cancer from coming back or spreading in a study of high-risk melanoma patients, Moderna and its partner Merck said Wednesday, paving the way for a potentially new life-extending treatment for the thousands of people diagnosed with the deadly skin cancer each year.
…
The study looked at people who had surgery to remove a melanoma—the point of the treatment was to reduce the risk of it coming back.

The companies said the late-stage study, which tested the personalized cancer vaccine intismeran in combination with Merck’s blockbuster cancer immunotherapy Keytruda, met its main goal of extending the time before cancer returns in high-risk patients. The study also met a secondary goal of preventing the disease from spreading to different organs.

“I have a feeling that this is just the beginning of a new field,” said Jane Healy, a vice president of oncology at Merck, adding the goal for patients is “to give them longer without having to worry about treatments for cancer.”

Developing…

Posted at 9:39 am by Stephen Green

GOODER AND HARDER:

“If something cannot go on forever, it will stop,” the wise man liked to say.

Posted at 9:23 am by Stephen Green

MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE:

Posted at 9:11 am by Glenn Reynolds

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: The Price of ‘Wait Them Out’ Keeps Going Up for Iran. “I’ve written on more than one occasion that there are two wars going on in the region: the actual war, and whatever the hell it is that The New York Times is writing about. There have been days when it seemed as if the Times were getting editorial directives from Tehran.”

Posted at 9:08 am by Stephen Green

HIS VICTORIES TEND NOT TO GET SUNG A LOT: The Most Unsung Victory of Trump’s Administration. “The Trump administration’s decision to end the political persecution of a South Dakota farming and ranching family didn’t receive major attention. So far, it isn’t a top story for news sites and shows amid a busy week of conversation around President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in his second term. It should be.”

Posted at 8:54 am by Glenn Reynolds

SHUT UP, THEY EXPLAINED: Russian court jails Kremlin critic for 11 years for opposing the war in Ukraine.

A Russian court on Monday convicted a prominent opposition politician for speaking out against the war in Ukraine and sentenced him to 11 years and one month in prison in the latest crackdown leading up to next month’s parliamentary election.

The verdict against Lev Shlosberg, a senior member of the Yabloko party, was another step by the Kremlin to stifle dissent since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022. Yabloko is the only official political party overtly opposing the war.

In a separate ruling Monday, Russia’s Supreme Court upheld its earlier decision to bar Yabloko from the ballot in the Sept. 18-20 parliamentary vote, denying an appeal by the party.

The moves against Shlosberg and Yabloko highlight the Kremlin’s intolerance toward any criticism of the war, now in its fifth year.

Stalin required just 14 months to clear the Ukraine SSR of Nazi troops, and the Ukraine military in 2022 wasn’t exactly the Wehrmacht.

Posted at 8:37 am by Stephen Green

GREAT MOMENTS IN IDENTITY POLITICS:

Posted at 8:35 am by Ed Driscoll

THEY’RE JUST CAUGHT AND RELEASED TO DO THE JOGGER-STABBINGS AMERICANS WON’T DO:

Posted at 8:21 am by Stephen Green

IT’S MY THURSDAY ESSAY FOR VIP SUBSCRIBERS: What’s in a Name, Virginia?

My preferred headline was “Introducing Uncle Sam’s Big-Ass Missile Huts,” but it didn’t pass Standards & Practices.

Posted at 8:06 am by Stephen Green

IT’S ALMOST LIKE PUBLIC POLLS TEND TO BE DISINFORMATION.

Posted at 8:00 am by Glenn Reynolds

HOW TO GET MEMORY HOLED:

Posted at 7:45 am by Ed Driscoll

UNSUSTAINABLE: US national debt hits $40 trillion milestone for first time ever. “America’s national debt is growing rapidly due to surging interest costs, which are rising because of a larger debt burden and higher interest rates, as well as growth in federal spending on Social Security and Medicare amid the aging of the U.S. population.”

Posted at 7:35 am by Stephen Green

THE WNBA IS A DUMPSTER FIRE: They Didn’t Need a Memo: WNBA security already knew which shirts to censor. The league’s non-apology, the Dream’s distancing, and ESPN’s convenient extra fan don’t change what actually happened. “These institutions are so thoroughly captured that security and camera guys wouldn’t even need explicit orders. They already know which messages are forbidden. Which t-shirt to censor. Which people to skip in the broadcast. Because let’s be clear — they showed a woman in a ‘Trans kids belong in sports’ shirt repeatedly on the national broadcast. This didn’t go both ways, as some are now claiming (I’ll get to that).”

Posted at 7:30 am by Glenn Reynolds

SADLY, PEOPLE LIKE VINDMAN NEVER TAKE THE HINT AND GO AWAY:

Posted at 7:19 am by Stephen Green

KRAUTHAMMER’S LAW IN ACTION:

Or to put it in visual terms:

Classical reference in headline: “To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil,” Charles Krauthammer wrote in 2002. And viewing someone of a differing ideology as being evil is a very different stance than viewing him as simply uninformed or otherwise somehow misguided.

Posted at 7:12 am by Ed Driscoll