April 24, 2026

BIG WOW FOR HUNG CAO: New Navy Secretary, Hung Cao, ‘Grabbed on to the American Dream.’

At his confirmation hearing, Cao said, “Take it from this warrior. War must be the last resort, but if war comes, let it be swift and decisive. … To our enemies and those who mean to do us harm, you can run but you’ll only die tired.”

Read the whole thing.

(Headline via Power Line.)

Posted at 6:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

THE WRAP-UP SMEAR IN ACTION:

 

Posted at 6:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

IT’S TIME FOR VICTORIA TAFT’S West Coast, Messed Coast™: Newsom’s Billion Dollar OP to Replace Californians With Illegals. “This week, your humble correspondent brings you the latest spasms and utterances from the leaders of Washington, Oregon, and California. The destruction of the West Coast, Messed Coast™ didn’t happen by accident. It was planned, vision-boarded, war-gamed, and paid for, as you’ll see. We take you now to the latest imaginary meeting of the Western States Coalition, where individual freedoms are ritually sacrificed for power.”

Posted at 6:26 pm by Stephen Green

WHEN MEMES HIT HARD:

Posted at 6:16 pm by Glenn Reynolds

RIDE THE SOUTHERN POVERTY MOBIUS LOOP!

Related:

 

Posted at 6:09 pm by Ed Driscoll

FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: Meet Mayor McDUI. “It’s time for your much-needed break from the serious news, and this week, we’ll learn that you’re always the mayor of Naples, how to dress for a night out at Jensen Beach, and how to have a cow in upstate New York.”

Posted at 4:23 pm by Stephen Green

OH, TO BE IN ENGLAND AIRSTRIP ONE:

As Wikipedia notes:

The head of BBC history, Robert Seatter, has said George Orwell in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), “reputedly based his notorious Room 101 from the novel “on a room he had worked in whilst at the BBC.”[52]

On 7 November 2017, a statue of Orwell, sculpted by the British sculptor Martin Jennings, was unveiled, outside Broadcasting House. The wall behind the statue is inscribed with the following phrase: “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear”. These are words from his proposed preface to Animal Farm and a rallying cry for the idea of free speech in an open society.

Serious question: Why doesn’t “the right to tell people what they do not want to hear” work both ways in 21st century England?

Posted at 4:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Final Rule Drives a Stake Through Anti-Gun Left’s De-Banking Strategy.

Ultimately, this final rule eliminates reputation risk as a means of injecting politics into banking regulation by prohibiting examiners from using this subjective assessment to pressure or penalize banks. It also prohibits regulators from pushing banks to close accounts or deny services based on their ill-conceived aversion to the lawful firearms and ammunition industries, which are vital to supporting our constitutional rights.

This rule helps to mitigate unjustified biases against these business sectors left over from the Obama-Biden Administration and importantly helps to prevent future efforts in the same vein. In 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice, in coordination with regulators such as the FDIC, began pressuring banks to cut ties and services to industries they considered to be “high risk,” which under the anti-gun Obama-Biden administration unsurprisingly included firearm and ammunition-related business.re

The program, billed Operation Choke Point, encouraged broad financial “de-risking” and led to banks freezing or terminating services to lawful businesses based on “reputation risk,” instead of any proven misconduct or illegality. Guidance documents provided to banks at the time specifically listed firearm and ammunition sales as high-risk activity, although they are some of the most highly regulated industries in the country.

More like this, please.

Posted at 3:52 pm by Stephen Green

FRAUD ALL THE WAY DOWN…:

…and she also married her brother.

Posted at 3:36 pm by Stephen Green

A LAWYER READER MESSAGES: “I have not seen any updates from Lucas or anyone else on your blog, but the for your benefit, the Supreme Court of Virginia is going to hear argument on the redistricting fight Monday, April 27th, this coming Monday at 9AM. There is a link on the Supreme court of Virginia’s web page. Thanks.”

The link for the oral argument is here.

Posted at 3:31 pm by Glenn Reynolds

OUCH: Meta to cut 8,000 jobs, Microsoft offers buyouts to to staff as AI spending costs hit Big Tech workers.

Meta (META) on Thursday became the latest Big Tech company to announce layoffs as the ballooning costs of the AI build-out and efficiencies continue to hit workers in the industry.

The company says it will cut 10% of its workforce, or about 8,000 employees.
…
Microsoft (MSFT) will also offer voluntary buyouts to some employees as the company joins many of its Big Tech peers in seeking ways to control costs amid their AI spending sprees.

According to a source familiar with the matter, roughly 7% of Microsoft’s US employees, senior directors or below, can take part in the buyouts if their years at the company plus their age add up to at least 70.

How big are those AI build-outs? This big: “Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft alone will spend some $650 billion on capital expenditures in 2026.”

Posted at 2:50 pm by Stephen Green

TWO-TIER KEIR:

Posted at 2:34 pm by Stephen Green

KEEP HAMMERING ON THIS, DATA R:

Posted at 2:03 pm by Stephen Green