August 26, 2026

DON’T LEAVE OUT THEIR RINO ENABLERS:

If the GOP loses the Senate in November, it will be in no small part because just enough members cling to the 20% of the 80/20 SAVE America Act.

Posted at 12:59 pm by Stephen Green

JUST IN CASE YOU WANTED ANOTHER REMINDER OF WHY EVERYONE LOVED DOLLY:

Posted at 12:28 pm by Stephen Green

MORE DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: State spins shockingly bad Colorado education testing data.

Any of the following would be perfectly accurate and appropriate headlines for testing data released August 19 from the Colorado Measures of Academic Success:

“Most students grades 3–8 behind in all subjects according to state testing.”

“State testing shows overall low student scores increase in just over half of categories by grade and subject.”

“Nearly two-thirds of Colorado students struggle in math despite small testing gains.”

“Large majority of Black and Hispanic students continue to struggle in language and math.”

Here is an actual headline from the Denver Post that’s reasonable: “2026 CMAS results show Colorado students making gains in math, falling behind in reading.”

A comparable headline from Chalkbeat, posted May 29 based on preliminary data, reads: “Student math proficiency rises but literacy results are mixed, preliminary Colorado test scores show.”

Spin, spin, spin.

Posted at 10:40 am by Stephen Green

WHAT COMES AFTER GIGA?

More:

The production site is over 2km long, and the Starfactory alone has a floor space of over 7.6 million square feet (629,000 sq m). The Gigabay (if, it is still called that!) is over four times the area of the existing Gigabay design.

The whole site measures over 12 miles (20km) in length and takes up an area of roughly 14,000 acres.

Starbase, Lousiana is set to begin construction next year, with the first launch in 2029.

“Impressive” doesn’t begin to cover it.

Posted at 10:24 am by Stephen Green

VIRGINIA POSTREL: In the Land of AI and Bamboo Forks.

You know you are in a different world when you go to the (one person, non-gendered) bathroom at Anthropic. Next to the sink, there is a lavish display of items you might need, just in case. I am old enough to be impressed by bathrooms with free tampons instead of machines that may or may not work, may or may not be filled, and will definitely require exact change. Anthropic has tampons and pads, as is now the norm. It also has razors and shaving cream. It has little lint rollers and tiny deodorants so adorable I swiped one. It has toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash, dental floss, and dental picks. The toothpaste is Tom’s and the toothbrushes are, according to their brown paper packaging, made of bamboo.

For a place that prides itself on tolerating—and making billions from—the peculiarities of the “neurodiverse,” San Francisco is remarkably determined to make you stick bamboo in your mouth. Uncoated wood hitting my teeth makes my skin crawl. It is an involuntary response and horrible—a reaction that is not unique to me.1 I spent my days in San Francisco slurping yogurt off bamboo spoons and trying to get lettuce off bamboo forks without letting the bamboo hit my teeth. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

San Francisco’s rage for bamboo cutlery seems to be a result of a 2019 ordinance combined with local mores. It’s a signal that the city is culturally removed from normal life. This is a place that worships the “natural” (hence the Tom’s) while exploring new frontiers in artifice. It is a very specific cultural bubble. Cultural bubbles aren’t bad per se, but you need to be aware that you’re living in one.

Read the whole thing. As James Lileks once wrote, “You realize: no one in a dystopia probably thinks they’re living in a dystopia.”

Posted at 10:22 am by Ed Driscoll

FLORIDA, MAN: New College reports record enrollment after conservative takeover.

New College of Florida welcomed its largest student body in the school’s history last week, three years after a conservative overhaul of the institution’s governing board.

This week, the Tallahassee Democrat reported that the public college surpassed its 1,000 enrollment goal for the 2026-2027 academic year.

Classes began Aug. 17 with 1,015 students – although “final official headcount won’t be determined until after a drop and add period for class registrations” in about two weeks, according to the report.

“New College is operating with exceptional momentum,” the college said in a statement to the newspaper. “Ultimately, this growth creates a more vibrant campus and positions New College students as a robust pipeline meeting both higher education and immediate workforce needs of the Sarasota community.”

A public liberal arts institution, New College never was a large school. However, those now leading the board have made enrollment expansion a goal.

Well done — and good luck going forward.

Posted at 9:38 am by Stephen Green

THEY AREN’T INTO THAT KIND OF STUFF:

It would be nice to see the GOP get serious about impeachments. Alas.

Posted at 9:22 am by Stephen Green

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: America Isn’t Ready for a Post-Dolly Parton World. “Her brilliance as a singer and a songwriter were enough to launch her to superstardom. It was how she handled the superstardom that put her in a category of her own. She managed to be both supremely self-confident and self-effacing at the same time. I’ve never seen anything like it; one of those qualities usually pales in comparison to the other. That’s if they can coexist at all.”

Posted at 9:07 am by Stephen Green

ALEX, I’LL TAKE “THINGS EVERYBODY FIGURED OUT BACK IN MARCH” FOR $400:

Posted at 8:51 am by Stephen Green