Flotsam and Jetsam - Maybe I'll Meet You at the Jubilee

At Space.com, Trump signs new national space policy to enable 1,000 US rocket launches per year. From the White House, a Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Launches the Golden Age of Space Transportation.

From News Wax, Trump Administration Warns Canada Faces 'Devastating' Impact on Tariffs. Sundance at CTH is all over it, with Council on Foreign Relations President Says Trump Gave Mark Carney an Ultimatum, USA or China? Carney Chose China, Former Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland Says Canada Must Focus on Psychological Operations Against Americans Now and Trade Talks – President Trump and USTR Greer Respond to Canada’s Claims.

News Wax again reports Iran's President Says US Memorandum Is Best Path out of Stalled War. Maybe, but they'd actually have to abide by the terms. Sarah Hoyt at Insty, HEY’VE GULLED AMERICANS WITH THAT SCAM FOR 47 YEARS: Slain Ayatollah Khamenei wanted to end conflict with US through peace talks, Iranian president claims. CBD at Ace's The NeoCon Wet-Dream For Iran Is "Boots On The Ground." Hell No! There Is A Better Way!

Sundance reports Zelenskyy Rejects Election Demand Fearful of “Major Risks.” He might lose.

Jim Hanson @JimHansonDC, "Who owns Stars & Stripes? Hint: It's run by a guy named @PeteHegseth Key elements of the current charter (DoWI 5122.11) "prioritizing content not readily available via commercial media." i.e. don't be the MSM "It does not take its own editorial positions." i.e. just the news not the liberal viewpoint. You lot failed those miserably and were properly let go when you refused to change your ways. You will not be missed." Quote Lara Korte @lara_korte, "Today, I was informed that the Department of Defense is firing me for insubordination after I told a CBS reporter that I work for Stars and Stripes – not the Pentagon, not any administration, and not any policy maker." Buzz Patterson @BuzzPatterson, "The problem is, George, that nobody in uniform trusts them. We’ve learned the hard way. And, you’ve never read that rag either. You never served. Crawl back into your hole, creep." Quote George Conway @gtconway3d, "Outrageous and sad. Decades have been devoted to building up the credibility of this publication to earn the trust of everyone in uniform—credibility and trust now being summarily destroyed by narcissistic and. ignorant hacks like Hegseth."

At NYPo, Trump’s bill prompts steep SNAP enrollment decline — including over 50% in one state. At Althouse, "Ancient societies had another method to deal with debt. It was called an amargi — a blanket declaration of public debt cancellation." ""All public debts written off. Disappeared. It sounds laughable, I know. But, really, that’s just because the idea has been buried so deeply in history you’ve probably never heard of it. In the ancient world, it presented a pragmatic solution to an intractable problem. And now, faced with impossible-to-repay debts that are weighing down our economy, is the time to look at the amargi and the lessons it offers about how to think about finance...." From "$40 Trillion Debt? The Ancient Sumerians Wouldn’t Have Cared" (NYT gift link)." The ancient Israelites had the Jubilee, on the 50th year,  The fields were left unplanted and unharvested, allowing the land to rest completely.  Ancestral lands that families had to sell due to hard times were returned to their original owners, stopping permanent generational poverty. Israelites who had sold themselves into servitude to pay off debts were freed and allowed to return to their families. Forgiveness of Debts: Financial obligations were lifted to restore economic equality within the community." I understand it was mostly honored in the breach.  Shake it shake it Sugaree, I'll meet you at the Jubilee, and if that Jubilee don't come, maybe I'll meet you on the run. In a few years, that may become the only choice.

The Data Republican at Substack, The Trap Needs No Trapper "Charlie Kirk is gone. The work of keeping a coalition from devouring itself is now ours, myself included."

Jonathan Turley is shocked by Democrat's Assassination Sing-a-Long: Hasan Piker Mocks the Murdered Charlie Kirk to Cheering Crowd. From I&I, ‘Democratic Party’ and ‘DSA’ Are Now Officially Synonymous. John Lucas at Bravo Blue looks at The Establishment Mouthpiece Undermining American Culture, "And what you can do to fight it." Driscoll at Insty harks back to MAN’S SEARCH FOR MEANING DURING THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE: Krzysztof Szczawinski @Kristof_Poland, "The conventional explanation for Rome’s demographic collapse is wealth. People got comfortable. They stopped having children. It happens to every prosperous civilization. Nothing to be done. This is wrong. Or rather, it is incomplete in the way that matters most. Rome didn’t stop having children because it got wealthy. It stopped having children because it built a welfare state – and the welfare state did what welfare states always do: it replaced the incentives that make people build families with incentives that make people consume instead. The grain dole began modestly. Around 40,000 recipients in 73 BC. By Caesar’s time: 320,000. That eightfold expansion in under three decades was not a plan – it was a political mechanism. Each magistrate who wanted votes expanded eligibility. Each expansion normalized the next. The citizen who once considered the dole shameful eventually expected it, then demanded it, then organized politically to protect it...." Larry Elder at Hat Hair wonders Did Hakeem Jeffries Discover the Price of 'Free' Healthcare? I doubt it, the only math Democrats do is count votes. 

Roger Kimball at Am Great, Jamie Raskin’s Trump Obsession Trumps Antisemitism, "They want to acknowledge the sudden rise in antisemitism but they can’t bear to acknowledge that Donald Trump was doing something about it." ZitoSalena @ZitoSalena, "@AndyBeshearKY picked an odd fight to take up with Vance. First for a man of privilege to question the geographic credentials of a man who grew up in Middletown, Ohio, and Kentucky, with the former right on the edge of the government’s definition of Appalachia and the latter well within it, is curious at best. “Then there is the large populations of people who identify with Appalachia because their families live just a smidge outside the region due to migration for jobs. J.D. Vance is one of those,” @TomMaraffa. For Beshear to try to strip away Vance’s identity for political kudos makes little sense. To have someone mention Appalachia as a point of pride should be something to celebrate, not admonish. Especially if you grew up with your father having a seat at a state government’s table of power." Quote Beshear Operative @Beshearop, "Andy Beshear throws shade at JD Vance via the WSJ: “He’s not from Appalachia. He is from the suburbs of Cincinnati.”"

Joe Chalfant at TownHall explains Yes, You're Reading It Right: Dan Sullivan Endorses Dan Sullivan Over Dan Sullivan in AK Senate Race. Data Republican looks at The Seven Years of History behind Seditious Six. "What the legacy Pentagon press corps refused to cover."

At PJM, Matt Margolis hears Hillary Reportedly Planning Bill Clinton's Funeral, and Has Questions.

Driscoll at Insty says EMBRACE THE HEALING QUALITY OF “AND ALL OF THE ABOVE:” Margot Cleveland @ProfMJCleveland, "This morning a question popped into my head for the first time: WHY did Comey do the 86 47 seashell picture? What WAS his REAL motivation? Because he (and his wife) spent a lot of effort to do it, so there had to be a reason. 1/" Margot Cleveland @ProfMJCleveland, "2/ What are the possible motivations? To get accolades from the Left? To publicly display his hatred of Trump? To get Trump killed? Thing is, even if not the latter, the ONLY way the first to motives are achieved is if you give 86 natural meaning of "to off."" At the Lyceum, Real Russiagate Has Never Been Tried. "According to Schmidt, there is nothing wrong with the Russia collusion narrative at all—it just hasn’t been proven yet." Hans Mahncke @HansMahncke, "It was always highly conspicuous that the entire anti-Trump hoax industry began with something as unconventional as claiming he was a Russian agent. It was almost as if Democrats had concluded that the tried and tested sex scandal route was useless against Trump. To be fair, they did throw Stormy Daniels into the mix, but that had more to do with squeezing Michael Cohen than anything else. Then came Ukraine, which was essentially an extension of the Russia operation. Then came the classified documents saga, which grew directly out of the same Russia Russia universe. They eventually tried the bizarre New York civil case with the freakish woman, but even that failed to move the needle. So after more than a decade of Russia, Ukraine, impeachments, prosecutions, classified documents, civil cases, and just about every conceivable line of attack, watching them circle all the way back to an affair scandal feels almost comically desperate." Quote Aaron Rupar @atrupar, "photos of Natalie Harp in Trump's limo with Trump as they leave the golf course yesterday and then her entering the White House upon their return."

At PJM Mark Tapscott, When Reality Bites: Dem Sen. Chris Murphy's '52 ICE Deaths' Isn't Even a Half-Truth. "IN FACT, the age-comparable fatality rate of the general U.S. population is several times higher than people in ICE detention, and deaths related to lax immigration enforcement are at least 90 times greater than deaths in ICE custody," JFD reports. And here are some of the key specifics:..."

Political Neutrality Of PBS Questioned After New Footage Of Elmo Keying Cybertruck https://t.co/gESSNYaylX

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) August 23, 2026

At Althouse, "The fact that [Jason Arday] was promoted as some kind of prodigy given how crazy his self-representation was is a sign of just how cultic and confused the left and left-leaning institutions have become." ""I mean, it's just it's just a sign of the the cancer having spread everywhere.... I mean, it's just, this is all, anti-racism.... This is putting the black — the BLM black — square not only in your bio but in your brain. Um, it's a cult...Said Sam Harris." Crémieux @cremieuxrecueil, "Woke never ended. The New England Journal of Medicine just published an insane thinkpiece that starts with a neurotic hallucination and then alleges Jason Arday did no wrong and that he was killed. It's no surprise people don't trust our institutions anymore."  From NRO, New England Journal of Medicine Opinion Editor Takes Credit for Ruining Its Reputation. From RCE, The $140 Billion Public-College Myth.

From Campus Reform, Penn professor writes book arguing 'sex isn't real,' but previously taught course on ‘studying sex’ "A University of Pennsylvania professor recently published a book focused on claimed 'high stakes attempts' to curtail 'trans life.'" Well, as my daddy used to say, "foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds..." TownHall's Matt Vespa sees  The WNBA Continues to Be a Trainwreck. Did You See These Two New Mascots? "Dear Lord, if you all would just stop being stupid for two seconds, this could’ve been a record year for the league. Instead, we have a commissioner who’s lost control and is damn-near worthless, Caitlin Clark, the face of the league, getting curb-stomped every game, Sophie Cunningham being attacked for supporting girls’ sports, and people wondering why the sex toys are being thrown on the courts again. You ladies are not serious right now."

The Monday Morning Stimulus

Briefs Finance, Rain-Soaked Brazil Pushes Arabica Coffee Prices Upward

Your morning cup of coffee is about to get more complicated. The problem starts in Brazil, which grows about 45% of the world's arabica beans - the mild, kind that premium roasters love. And this year, the rain just will not stop.

Brazil's Cerrado Mineiro region, located some 600 kilometers north of São Paulo, experienced heavy downpours during June and July. Rainfall in coffee areas ran 250% to 500% above normal, and some spots saw eight times their usual amount.

That sounds like good news for thirsty plants. It is not. Coffee cherries that get knocked off the trees by heavy rain end up sitting on waterlogged soil. Some stayed wet for days. Beans that linger in that dampness start to ferment and develop defects, which ruins the delicate flavors that make fine arabica worth paying for.

"The vast majority of the fastest beans end up developing quality problems, resulting in coffee with a higher grade of fermentation, which significantly affects the beverage," said Simão de Lima, head of a coffee cooperative.

There must be some way to pin this on Trump!

Beach Report 8/23/26 - Meg!

Not a big Megalodon tooth, or a particularly well preserved one, but a Meg nonetheless. The bourlette is kinda sorta visible, and the serrations are well worn but apparent.

And while it's not complete, it is more than a mere fragment.

Otherwise it was not a very hot day for fossils; 11 teeth, a crab claw and 2 drum teeth.

We had a very high tide yesterday, and we didn't even attempt the beach. Then we had three thunderstorms overnight, which dumped 2.4 inches of rain, mostly in a few minutes.

However, the cold front dropped the temperature and humidity out of the stupid range into tolerable.

There were a few changes at the beach. Some of the logs moved a bit.

Random Celebrity News

For some values of random, celebrity and news. It's been a while so I should get these out before they get too moldy: From Driscoll at Insty,  OH NO, SOMETHING NEW TO “INFURIATE LIBERALS!” Gwen Stefani’s ‘Maga Barbie’ transformation has infuriated liberals.

Thirty years ago, an edgy new pop star looked set to take over the world. With her peroxide blonde hair, camo trousers and rebellious spirit, No Doubt frontwoman Gwen Stefani seemed like a breath of cigarette-smoke-tinged air: cooler and sexier than Britney Spears, but not quite as chaotic as Courtney Love; an artist who appealed to both rock and pop fans.

No Doubt’s third album, Tragic Kingdom (1995), sold more than 16 million copies, earned the band two Grammy nominations (for best new artist and best rock album) and spawned the colossal hit single Don’t Speak. Stefani’s decision to go solo in 2004 catapulted her to the A-list, with number one singles, sold-out tours and countless magazine front covers. She was the US’s favourite cool girl, whose empowering songs formed the soundtrack of millennial adolescence. Until she wasn’t. Two decades later, Stefani has found herself with a very different identifier: enemy of liberals everywhere.

From Althouse, "But a recent tragedy-exploiting television series about John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette features a character using my name and presents her as me." Writes Daryl Hannah, in the NYT.

The choice to portray her as irritating, self-absorbed, whiny and inappropriate was no accident. In discussing the show, “Love Story,” one of its producers explained: “Given how much we’re rooting for John and Carolyn, Daryl Hannah occupies a space where she’s an adversary to what you want narratively in the story.” Storytelling requires tension. It often requires an obstacle. But a real, living person is not a narrative device.

There is also a gendered dimension to this thinking. Popular culture has long elevated certain women by portraying others as rivals, obstacles or villains. Isn’t it textbook misogyny to tear down one woman in order to build up another?...

I could live quite handily without ever thinking of these people again.  Brad Slager at RedState looks at Hollywood’s Crazy Economics: Impending Crash of 'Supergirl' to Affect Dozens of Partnering Companies. 

As Brandon Morse has been following here for the past few weeks, the lead actress in this DC-Warners feature, Milly Alcock, has been serving up audience-repelling comments on the regular, and the film’s fortunes are foundering as a result. This is not only sure to tank the profitability of the movie itself, but the future of the DC superhero universe, as helmed by James Gunn, is threatened.

Initial tracking for this title had it pegged to perform better its opening weekend than the “Mandalorian” entry, at around $80 million. In early June, those numbers were revised down to a more modest $55 million debut weekend. Contrasted with “Superman’s" bow last year at $125 million, this is a woeful prospect, and the projections have only turned more dismal.

Right now, some of you are rolling your eyes and saying "There she goes again, showing off her magnificent rack" and I just want you to know that I am not seeing the problem https://t.co/Y1XmjpeXFT

— Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) July 17, 2026

New York Post @nypost, "Brian Austin Green admits his marriage to ex Megan Fox was led by ‘physical attraction’ https://trib.al/GP5uFqw," Really?

At Althouse again, Madonna shows love/"shows love."

Madonna shows love to Kylie Minogue in new Graham Norton interview:

“I was actually a little bit jealous of you…she’s so cute. I think my ex-husband at the time had a crush on her. I was like, ‘I’ll never be as beautiful as Kylie.’” pic.twitter.com/uCZixsykdH

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) June 27, 2026

When she's right, she's right. Chris Queen at PJM thinks CNN’s Ella Langley Blind Spot Exposes Its Coastal Bubble

CNN’s Zoe Sottle writes:

“Choosin’ Texas,” Ella Langley’s languid heartbreak anthem about losing her cowboy sweetheart to a girl from Texas, which Rolling Stone has declared the song of the summer, is everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

It depends on who you ask and, more importantly, what their algorithm serves them up.

The song – cowritten by Miranda Lambert in one mark of Langley’s country bona fides – is an undisputed hit, if charts are how you define such things. It’s spent 15 weeks at Billboard’s No. 1, making Langley just one of three women to earn that honor as solo artists and breaking the records previously held by Whitney Houston for “I Will Always Love You” and Mariah Carey for “We Belong Together.” She’s leading Taylor Swift and Drake in the charts.

So, why does it feel like people don’t know her face or name? Call it the baffling reality of music in 2026.

“What’s really happening is there’s hits in what we call subcultures,” NYU music professor Clayton Durant tells Sottle. I guess national fandom and massive radio and retail success across multiple genres is a subculture?

John Sexton at Hat Hair thinks  Ariana Grande Is Obviously Not Well, She needs to eat donuts, not spit on them.

Grande’s cheeks appear to be sunken. Her clavicles and upper rib cage protrude. Her arms seem to be entirely lacking fat or muscle and instead to be sinew on bone. Her legs, what we can see of them, are spindly. Online, a dietitian I follow posted a hesitant video explaining that while she generally refrains from publicly commenting on other people’s bodies, she was going to use Grande’s video to educate viewers on the signs she looks for when diagnosing malnutrition at an anorexia/bulimia treatment program. The dietitian then dispassionately pointed out that Grande’s body, at least the parts that were visible, fit nearly every criterion.

Older pic

Matt Margolis at PJM,  
Here's How Team Trump Got Ariana Grande to Have a Complete Meltdown

On Thursday, the Team Trump TikTok account, which has 14 million followers and has been running since before the 2024 election, posted a video of Trump walking to a rally podium set to Grande's 2024 song "We Can't Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)." Text overlaid on the video read, "Me and my truth we sit in silence...Men can't have babies and should never compete in women's sports." The caption made the point even plainer: "This shouldn't be controversial! #trump #arianagrande #maga."
...
Of course, Grande did not see any of that as up for debate. She commented on the Team Trump post, demanding that the account stop using her music and pushing back against the claims made in the video. "Never use my music again," Grande wrote. "Also, your truth is false."

I hope she finds the help she needs. We don't need any more Karen Carpenters.  

Flotsam and Jetsam - Just Another Sunday in the South

And the pickens are kinda slim. And I'm OK with that.

From Twitchy, Hypocrite 'Eat the Rich' DSA Leader Caught Lying and Living Off Mom & Dad’s Manhattan Money. The Manhattan Contrarian is outrages Democratic Socialists Commemorate Fidel Castro's 100th Birthday. The Free Bacon reports the El-Sayed Campaign Gets a $175,000 Boost From CAIR, Whose Leader Was 'Happy' About Oct. 7, After Alleging Primary Opponent's AIPAC Support Constituted 'Foreign' Intervention in Election. At the JPo, Mohammed El-Kurd laments not being allowed to hijack planes in protest "Last month, El-Kurd called on pro-Palestinian supporters to 'Normalize the massacres as the status quo' at a rally in London.." Mohammed El-Kurd @m7mdkurd, "You can’t protest peacefully. You can’t boycott. You can’t hunger strike. You can’t hijack planes. You can’t block traffic. You can’t throw Molotovs. You can’t self-immolate. You can’t heckle politicians. You can’t march. You can’t riot. You can’t dissent. You just can’t be." NYPo Opines on Why the DSA’s Medicare-for-All dream threatens us with a real-life nightmare. At Althouse, "The rollout could’ve been better. Absolutely, I said the rollout has to be cleaned up and fixed." "Said Governor Kathy Hochul, quoted in "How New York’s Second-Home Tax Turned Into a Headache for Mamdani/The bumpy rollout of the tax created an opportunity for Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s opponents to fight him in court and in the City Council" (NYT gift link)." "I did finally watch the whole minute. From the transcript: "This pied-a-terre tax is specifically designed for the richest of the rich, those who store their wealth in New York City real estate, but who don't actually live here.... This is a fundamentally unfair system that hurts working New Yorkers." What's "fundamentally unfair"? It's a child's reasoning: If someone has something that he's not using, it should be mine."

Hat Hair's Beege Welborn, sees Desperate Measures for Desperate Times: Dem Primaries Magically Become a Blue Wave. Democrats @TheDemocrats, "The blue wave is here—and these wins prove it." Queen Velvet @TMIWITW, "Democrats won Democrat primaries. Are democrats voters actually this stupid or do you just treat them as if they are?"

Joe Chalfant at TownHall rejoices that Elon Musk Just Gave Republicans Unbelievable News Heading Into the Midterms. "Elon Musk, who briefly became the world’s first trillionaire after SpaceX went public in June, is expected to spend up to $200 million on boosting the electoral prospects of Republicans across the country." He just looked between the cushions on the couches. 

Tweets that didn't age well: Dr. Richard Harambe @Richard_Harambe, "Happy two year anniversary of Joe Biden challenging Trump to a debate for those who celebrate." Quote Joe Biden @JoeBiden, "Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020. Since then, he hasn’t shown up for a debate. Now he’s acting like he wants to debate me again."

From Breitbart Bus Dig, The Sky Isn't Falling in the U.S. Treasury Market. News Wax notices Newsom Touts Trump Accounts for California Families. Matt Vespa at TownHall heard Trump Went Nuclear on Some Familiar Names Last Night. Here's What He Said. "President Trump seems to have had it with Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Thomas Massie."

ZitoSalena @ZitoSalena, "It's impossible to have a nuanced, conversation about data power centers on social media; the politics right now is to demonize them, call them predators rather than show there are also examples of good industry stewards. Few have the courage to raise the consequences of that. Except Fetterman." Quote U.S. Senator John Fetterman @SenFettermanPA, "AI supremacy and energy dominance underpins our national security. China continues to fuel and benefit from our overreaction. I reject the political pandering and hyperbole over data centers or AI." Steve Moore at Hat Hair, Net Zero Is Dead and Gone. "Much of this never made sense given that AI and data center energy needs will double or triple our electric power demands over the next two decades. That will require an all-of-the above approach to meet those needs and to keep power affordable for our businesses and families."

At Althouse, "[T]his relationship is pathological, and a source of great irritation among other courtiers. It is Trump distilled to his essence..." "... cult leader and his most rabid follower, narcissist and his most flattering mirror. The daughter of a devoutly Christian real estate broker who died by suicide during the pandemic, [Natalie] Harp idolizes Trump with a rare fervor.... ... Trump told his staff that Harp was the only one who loved him as much as his wife and kids did. 'She’ll never leave me,' he would tell other staffers.... It’s a perfect (taxpayer-funded) relationship. She thinks he’s amazing. And he agrees." Writes Maureen Dowd, in "Natalie’s Magnificent Obsession" (NYT gift link)." She's so jealous! Eric Florack at PJM sees the The '34 Felony Convictions' Mantra Just Disintegrated as President Trump makes peace with Michael Cohen. "President Trump was interviewed by his former attorney, Michael Cohen, the star witness in the hush money case, which verdict is under appeal. Trump said Cohen was weaponized against him by the Justice Department. Cohen agrees, adding that he felt coerced by the Feds. The case stems from the president's effort to pay adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 during the 2016 election."

1945 notes US Navy Nuclear Aircraft Carriers Were Not Needed to Bomb Iran. They Were Needed to Blockade It. "A B-2 flying from Missouri and a Tomahawk launched from a destroyer two hundred miles offshore can both hit a target that once required a carrier. An F-35C off a flight deck does roughly what an F-35A does from a Gulf air base. The blockade was different: no target list to exhaust, only a duration set by Tehran." Mike Lee @BasedMikeLee, "MSM spin narrative incoming." Quote New York Post@nypost, "Traffic in the Strait of Hormuz skyrockets nearly 400%, as analysts say Iran's grip on critical waterway weakens https://trib.al/ZwiB1KE." 

News Wax reports US Imposes Tariffs on $20 Billion of Canadian Products as Canada fails to come to terms with Trump. Sundance at CTH, Trade Talks Collapse – Prime Minister Carney Talking Alot, President Trump Remains Quiet "Canada wants unlimited and unrestricted access to the U.S. market as if they were a 51st state. However, Canada will not permit unlimited and unrestricted access to their market for U.S. companies. This, Carney says, compromises the sovereignty of Canada."

From Twitchy, Julie Kelly Spots Telling Info in New DOJ Filing in the Comey '8647' Case (Backfiring Stunt Alert!) Julie Kelly @julie_kelly2, "Some hilarious stuff in latest DOJ filing in Jim Comey seashell case. It appears Jim and his wife, Patrice (who had attended the Women's March in DC with their daughters after Trump was inaugurated in 2017) set up the entire stunt. She even Googled the slang definition for "86" to make sure his post would be accurate." At Da Fed The Magnificent Margot Cleveland reports Round River Docs Suggest FBI Misclassified Information To Hide Biden Family Crimes. RedState's Kyle Becker has The Backstory on Bill Gates' Secret 'Q' Clearance — And It Is Chilling.

News Wax notes Trump Asks Supreme Court to Revive CNN Lawsuit "Trump said in the lawsuit that CNN defamed him through reports that said he had no evidence to support his claims of improprieties in the 2020 presidential election and repeatedly characterized his claims as the "Big Lie," a phrase Trump said was intended to link him to Hitler and Nazi propaganda."

C3 @C_3C_3, "It’s been a year since DeCarlos Brown murdered Iryna Zarutska and he hasn’t even had a trial yet. Shiloh Hendrix has already been tried, found guilty and sentenced for saying a word. I never want to hear about white privilege ever again." To be fair, murder trials tend to take a long time. 

Wall Street Apes @WallStreetApes, "WOAH Oakland Democrats PASSED legislation banning citizenship checks for police jobs and city jobs City Employees and Oakland Police will be prohibited from asking about a person’s immigration and legal status when applying for jobs The Public Safety Committee passed the ordinance unanimously Democrats want to arm illegals in the police force against American citizens Everything that passed - Restricts collection of immigration status on applications - Ban on asking about legal status and sharing info with ICE agents - Officers prohibited from enforcing federal immigration rules - ICE agents blocked from entering non-public areas of city buildings without a warrant." At State of the Day, the State of Thursday: THE GREAT BETRAYAL. "News broke Tuesday night that a woman had been fatally stabbed near Great Falls national park. By Wednesday, our suspicions had been confirmed. “The killer was an illegal alien,” my wife said, even as I was still carrying my kids through the door."

At Hat Hair Dave Strom says Nuke Academia From Orbit. It Is the Only Way to Be Sure. "Critical Theory, I keep reminding you, does not seek to communicate anything we understand as "truth" or "reality." It is about asserting power. The goal here is to intimidate everybody with an accusation of racism. To call you a Nazi. To make you quail in terror at the thought that you will face social opprobrium." Melissa Chen @MsMelChen, "You guys realize that the leftist reaction to the Jason Arday case is going to incentivize more and more people to just "self-ID" as autistic or neurodivergent right? Why? Because it instantly unlocks two-tier judgment. There will be massive upside to identify as "neurodivergent" and no downside. It's a choose-your-own-adventure but this time you're just choosing your own alibi. No one challenges the claim, and you might even score an endorsement from figures like autism expert Simon Baron-Cohen. The same excesses that distorted the trans movement will now come for "neurodivergence." Increasingly, mental health status is treated as a moral free pass - permission to act like an asshole or commit crimes (see the Lindsay Clancy case)." Kamel Amin Thaabet @K_AminThaabet, "Israel is murdering children!!!! Now excuse me, I have to go to the rally for Lindsay Clancy." Hat Hair's John Stossel on Racist Tests. At NYPo, Hofstra professor facing possible termination over discrimination claim for saying ‘word salad’, because "racism" of course. From the College Fix, Judge dismisses pro-Hamas professor’s discrimination lawsuit against Columbia. “I’m with Hamas and Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad,” he said on social media." A Driscolly post at Insty starts with CHRISTIAN TOTO: Pop Culture Puts Antisemitism on Blast (Finally).

At the Chronic, Ian Smith offers A Novel Explanation for Woke Culture. "My colleagues would rather I not say this, but I will: As access to mental health care has expanded, so have rates of mental illness. And this isn’t simply a matter of greater awareness leading to more diagnoses. The more therapy people get, the more fragile, anxious, and dysfunctional they seem to become. This isn’t just an individual crisis—it’s a societal one. Which raises an uncomfortable but urgent question: Is modern therapy not only failing patients, but making them—and the culture at large—sicker?"

Insty, I THINK THE WNBA IS A PSYOP DESIGNED TO CONVINCE NORMALS THAT BLACK WOMEN AND LESBIANS HATE AMERICA:

Sophie Cunningham is once again the only player on the court to put her hand above her heart for the singing of the US national anthem pic.twitter.com/c6grxtZMzm

— Wesley Yang (@wesyang) August 22, 2026

Palm Sunday

 With Devon Windsor:

SFGate, San Jose races to remove 32 dangerous palms downtown

City officials said 15 palm trees in the Circle of Palms at 124 S. Market St., are dead or dying, while the rest are in declining health, raising the risk of falling trees, according to a media advisory from the city of San Jose. Crews began the removal Thursday and will keep the area barricaded for the next nine days as they finish the work, the city said.
...
Colin Heyne, a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Transportation, told SFGATE that the city was aware that some of the trees were browning and dropping fronds, but they began deteriorating more quickly than expected — a July arborist report confirmed nearly half of the trees were dead or dying, he said. Officials are examining tissue samples of the trees at a lab and haven’t determined the official cause of death, Heyne said.