June 17, 2025

DAVID THOMPSON: Scenes From The Zombie Apocalypse.

“By the responses, I’d say that yes, pretty much everyone is.”

And the activists’ power lies in an assumption that their victims will not risk injuring their assailants.

But to insist that the victims should remain trapped, inert, and at the mercy of their aggressors, indefinitely, and while risking greater danger to themselves or their property, does not strike me as a morally persuasive position. And note that the activists typically rush from all sides, rapidly surrounding the car and its occupants, intensifying the alarm, the likelihood of panic, and drastically reducing the driver’s options. This is not accidental.

There’s an implied dare. The game being, “You won’t do what’s needed, despite our alarming and menacing behaviour, because you’re nicer than us, less vain, and not unhinged, and so we can dominate you and terrorise you, and break your stuff, for as long as we want, for shits and giggles.”

Well. I would suggest that the activists’ own actions render their wellbeing of very low importance.

Not to mention being the only Angelenos who’ve apparently never heard of Reginald Denny.

Posted at 1:35 pm by Ed Driscoll

I WAS GOING TO DO SOMETHING ELSE ON THEIR GRAVE, BUT SURE, DANCE TOO:

Posted at 1:28 pm by Glenn Reynolds 3

WHOA NELLIE! NYT Rips Zohran Mamdani a New One in Brutal Non-Endorsement and We are Here for It.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Mamdani is running on an agenda uniquely unsuited to the city’s challenges. He is a democratic socialist who too often ignores the unavoidable trade-offs of governance. He favors rent freezes that could restrict housing supply and make it harder for younger New Yorkers and new arrivals to afford housing. He wants the government to operate grocery stores, as if customer service and retail sales were strengths of the public sector. He minimizes the importance of policing.” “Most worrisome, he shows little concern about the disorder of the past decade, even though its costs have fallen hardest on the city’s working-class and poor residents. Mr. Mamdani, who has called Mr. de Blasio the best New York mayor of his lifetime, offers an agenda that remains alluring among elite progressives but has proved damaging to city life.”

Mr. Mamdani would also bring less relevant experience than perhaps any mayor in New York history. He has never run a government department or private organization of any size. As a state legislator, he has struggled to execute his own agenda.”

“…We do not believe that Mr. Mamdani deserves a spot on New Yorkers’ ballots.”

Exit question: “Who wrote this editorial and what have you done with the real NYT editors?”

Well, yes: NYT endorses de Blasio for mayor.

—The Politico, October 26th, 2013.

Related: Do New York’s mayoral candidates know that despite that whole “Gotham City” nickname, they’re not supposed to act like supervillains in a Batman movie?

 

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll 6

A MALE SPACE: I speak to body builder and nutritionist Bradley Grunner about men on strike and men’s health in his new podcast. You can see the video here or click on below.

Posted at 12:40 pm by Helen Smith 29

MATTHEW CONTINETTI: A Decade of Donald Trump.

The reaction to Trump’s announcement was just as noteworthy as its content. No one in Washington understood what was coming. Pundits dismissed his candidacy. On the Fox News Channel’s “All Star Panel” that evening, NPR’s Mara Liasson said Trump “will be ignored from henceforth.” George Will compared Trump to a Ford Edsel. Charles Krauthammer said sarcastically, “His one redeeming characteristic? He is very rich.”

Yet the conservative grassroots were intrigued. Radio talk show king Rush Limbaugh, based in Florida, thoroughly enjoyed his friend’s remarks. “This is going to resonate with a lot of people, I guarantee you,” Limbaugh told his audience. And his callers agreed. “I think the guy’s for real this time, only because he’s got such a damn big ego that he’s going to prove himself right and he’s going to be in your face,” said one. “Listen,” said another two days later, “I think that Trump has got a very good chance of getting elected president of the United States.”

How did Beltway wise men misjudge the Trump phenomenon? The answer must be that men and women who spent generations in politics and government had a harder time seeing how the country had changed since the end of the Cold War. The new economic, social, demographic, and cultural realities prepared the ground for a norm-breaking, performative, take-no-prisoners populist. When Trump said, “Sadly, the American dream is dead,” Washington scoffed—even as Americans told Gallup that they had lost confidence in practically every institution.

What once seemed like a foreign language is now the lingua franca. The world that dismissed Trump as an aberrant interloper is gone. He demolished it. His revolution enters its second decade not as a curiosity but as the new normal. And the rest of us are still trying to catch up.

Some in America taking much longer than others:

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll 70

BLOOMBERG: Russia Fears for Ally Iran With Few Tools to Influence Crisis.

Russia is watching Israel’s bombardment of Iran with mounting concern for the survival of a key ally, though the Kremlin recognizes it has few levers to influence the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

Iran hasn’t asked for Russian help and Moscow doesn’t plan to offer any defense assistance, according to a person close to the Kremlin. No one can stop Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from pursuing the bombing, and Russia won’t be able to act as a mediator to stop the conflict if the goal is regime change, the person said, asking not to be identified discussing sensitive issues.

“At the moment, mediation does not seem likely,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a think tank that advises the Kremlin. “If it comes to some form of behind-the-scenes diplomacy, Russia is more likely to play a role between Iran and the United States — Israel’s interest in negotiations is not apparent.”

Or to put it another way:

Heh, indeed.

Related: Trump Absolutely Levels ‘Kooky’ Tucker Carlson After Podcaster Predicts Early End to Presidency.

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll 187

ENDORSED:

X is much better than Twitter was, but it still needs some serious work.

Posted at 11:52 am by Stephen Green 76

NOT SO HARMLESS: Weed legalization more dangerous for road safety than previously believed.

Marijuana, the THC-containing part of the cannabis plant, impairs driving performance by diminishing motor coordination, multitasking abilities, reaction time and distance perception, according to a report from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Impairment also lasts up to five times longer than alcohol intoxication, which usually wears off within eight hours.

But few Americans know about these dangerous effects or how long they persist, posing serious road safety concerns as drugged driving becomes more common.

In a March study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, found roughly 85% of 2,000 cannabis users reported driving the same day they use the drug. Only 19% thought their driving became worse after cannabis use and 34% believed they drove better after use.

To be fair, smoking the stuff never made anybody any smarter.

Posted at 11:41 am by Stephen Green 160

HEH:

Full text:

Joking aside, the reason the online isolationists are having such a meltdown is actually not even that they are “anti-war”. Current events are shattering the illusion that their hot takes are representative or influential. This is why they’re so upset.

The reason they have been able to maintain this illusion in their minds despite the fact that President Trump has always been pro-Israel and a hawk on Iran is that the illusion was flattering to them.

Thousands and thousands of likes on their posts about how Churchill was the chief villain of WWII and Israel is the root of all evil went to their head. They thought they had power. The thought they had influence. And now that they’ve realised they don’t they’re calling for Trump to be impeached 🤡

My thoughts and prayers are with them at this difficult time.

Trump is proving to be the best friend Israel has ever had in the White House, and at the time they needed one most.

Posted at 10:51 am by Stephen Green 404

NICE SHOOTING, FELLAS:

Posted at 9:50 am by Stephen Green 34

EVERYTHING GETS HACKED: U.N. Report Warns Terrorists Could Weaponize Driverless Cars.

The report, Algorithms and Terrorism: The Malicious Use of Artificial Intelligence for Terrorist Purposes, details ways emerging AI technologies could be weaponised by extremists and was first covered by The Times.

Self-driving cars, drones and other automated systems to target crowded public spaces could all be seized and remotely controlled by terrorists to deliver deadly consequences in crowded public spaces.

“Vehicles, particularly cars, vans and trucks, have long been used in terrorist attacks,” the U.N. Office of Counter-Terrorism warned.

It added: “Reflecting on the extensive history of terrorism and vehicles, ­increased autonomy in cars could well be an amenable development for terrorist groups, ­allowing them to effectively carry out one of their most traditional types of attacks remotely, without the need for a follower to sacrifice his or her life or risk being apprehended.”

I gave a similar warning last week — no hacks required: How the Rioters Blew It. “Imagine a few dozen strategically-placed rioters hailing Waymos to the intersections and bridges necessary to completely cut off part of a city — and then setting them ablaze. An EV can burn for hours without major intervention, thanks to a process called thermal runaway.”

Posted at 9:37 am by Stephen Green 74

SHOCKER:

Posted at 9:29 am by Glenn Reynolds 76