June 12, 2025

BREAKING: Israel Bombs Iran in Preemptive Strike (UPDATED).

UPDATE:

UPDATE (10:45 PM):

Posted at 10:14 pm by Ed Driscoll 553

OPEN THREAD: Hang on, baby. Friday’s coming.

Posted at 9:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds 1597

IRAN DISCOVERS EARTH-SHATTERING KABOOMS:

Plus:

In the words of Keith Laumer, there’s nothing more peaceful than a dead troublemaker.

Posted at 8:34 pm by Glenn Reynolds 260

ISRAEL LAUNCHES MULTIPLE STRIKES IN IRAN.

Earlier: US Evacuates Middle East Embassy & Military Personnel as Tensions Mount Over Potential Israeli Strike on Iran.

UPDATE: Ben Rhodes hyperventilates:*

* Again.

MORE:

Posted at 8:27 pm by Ed Driscoll 146

DISPATCHES FROM THE MEMORY HOLE:

Yes, we can imagine quite a bit, based on the lockdown-themed headlines that came out of California:

● First Gavin Newsom Closed the Beaches. Then His Cops Ticketed Those Who Came to Look at Them.

● LA sheriff will fine you $300 if you’re not wearing a mask in public.

● Gym owner charged for opening during coronavirus shutdown, California prosecutor says.

● Los Angeles deputies arrest 158 people in raid on underground house party.

● Newsom Ordered to Pay $1.35 Million in Settlement With Church over Pandemic Restrictions.

Earlier: Democrats Melt Down Over Padilla’s Stunt — Here’s What Really Happened.

UPDATE:

Posted at 8:14 pm by Ed Driscoll 72

DEVELOPING:

UPDATE: Details are trickling in.

Posted at 8:02 pm by Stephen Green 128

NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW (EXCEPT DEMOCRATS): Democrats Melt Down Over Padilla’s Stunt — Here’s What Really Happened.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN):

These stunts don’t play like they used to.

Why they’re reduced to dumb stunts like this:

UPDATE (From Ed):

Posted at 5:58 pm by Charlie Martin 181

RALPH THE WONDER LLAMA GETS RESULTS! Llamas may hold the cure to COVID: study.

Llama just say — this probably wasn’t on your 2025 bingo card.

A new study suggests that the long-necked, fuzzy mammals could be our secret weapon against COVID-19.

Researchers in Belgium found that special particles in llama blood could help us develop powerful new treatments that keep working even as the virus mutates.

I’m glad it’s not a møøse. A Møøse once bit my sister. Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti.

Posted at 5:30 pm by Ed Driscoll 102

HOW MANY PEOPLE SEE THIS, AND ARE TOO DUMB OR BLINDED BY THEIR PRIORS TO NOTICE THAT HIS SKIN IS ACTUALLY LIGHTER IN THE SECOND PHOTO: It’s an awfully odd form of “Islamaphobic” racism to make your opponent look fairer-skinned.

Posted at 5:18 pm by David Bernstein 123

NEW CIVILITY WATCH:

UPDATE:

Posted at 5:14 pm by Ed Driscoll 290

JAKE TAPPER LIES:

Posted at 5:08 pm by Stephen Green 17

THAT’S NOT CREEPY AT ALL:

Astonishingly, the 2017 tweet by Pritzker (or whichever 20-something intern who was ghostwriting his social media accounts) is still up:

Posted at 4:44 pm by Ed Driscoll 75

KURT SCHLICHTER: On the Upside, Gavin Newsom Is Toast.

The problem is that he’s bad at his job. And he doesn’t even seem to like it. Whenever you see Gavin Newsom in his gov mode, you get the impression that he’d rather be anywhere else doing anything else. It’s not like he actually does anything as governor. With guys like Newsom, it’s not the doing. It’s the being. He wants to be governor; he doesn’t want to do the hard things a real governor does. And it would be the same thing if he were to become president. He wants to be the president; the doing stuff part is a huge hassle that gets in the way of him being the center of attention.

His personal life is just as disastrous as his tenure as governor. He famously had to make a speech confessing that he had tapped his best friend’s wife. Hilariously, Donald Trump, Jr., snagged his former wife, a move so alpha there’s not even a letter of the alphabet to describe Newsom’s status. In the last few days, a professional football player began insisting on Twitter that he had a history of intimate personal interactions with Newsom’s current wife. Yikes. Well, at least Gavin can be secure in the knowledge that if this whole politics thing doesn’t work out, he’ll fit right in as a staffer at “The Bulwark.”

Newsom has not announced that he’s going to run, but he’s obviously going to run. His plan is to occupy the totally empty moderate lane in the upcoming 2028 primaries. As part of that, lately, he has been pretending not to hate conservatives. He went on some conservative shows, and he had some conservatives on his podcast to demonstrate that, “Hey, we can all get along. See? See?” Some conservatives didn’t like the idea of platforming Newsom, but they are wrong. The more you platform him, the more he talks, and the more he talks, the more aware people become that he’s close to being a clinical moron.

Perhaps that explains this pathetic gesture by Newsom: YGBFKM: Gutless Gavin Hides ‘First Amendment’ Speech Behind Copyright Claims to Shut Down Critics.

Finally, this is an utterly corrupt move by both Newsom and iHeart Media, which publishes Newsom’s podcast. Newsom gave that speech as a function of being governor, not a commentator on a podcast. He advocated for his official policies in office, and furthermore, arguably did so in the context of a political campaign against Donald Trump. That speech should have no expectations of copyright protection at all.

This also raises serious questions about the ability of politicians to hide themselves from criticism by declaring themselves “podcasters.” If Newsom and iHeart Media get away with this, every politician across the spectrum will deliver speeches as podcasts and strangle criticism of the content through specious ownership claims. It will create a rhetorical Panem, placing elected and appointed officials beyond the reach of any political accountability, and gut the First Amendment that Gutless Gavin claims to champion.

Newsom might want to take a cue from another longtime resident of California and google the phrase, “Streisand Effect.”

Posted at 4:30 pm by Ed Driscoll 77