June 16, 2025

OPEN THREAD: Because I love you and want you to be happy.

Posted at 9:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds 873

SHOULD HE HAVE SPOKEN?

This flight from reality is not a new feature of political life. It is always easier to bequeath a problem to your successors than to face it yourself, and when the problem is intractable, Doublethink will soon erase it, as Hitler was erased from the thoughts of the appeasers, and the Gulag from the political map of the peaceniks. Nor are American presidents any more realistic than the rest of us. When the embassy in Tehran was invaded and United States citizens taken hostage, President Carter chose not to notice what was, certainly de facto and probably de jure, a declaration of war. That may prove to have been the costliest mistake made by America in the Middle East. Likewise, the silencing of Enoch Powell has proved more costly than any other post-war domestic policy in Britain, since it has ensured that immigration can be discussed only now, when it is too late to do anything about it or to confine it to those who come in a spirit of obedience towards the indigenous law.

—The late Roger Scruton, the New Criterion, September 2006. Read the whole thing.

Posted at 8:35 pm by Ed Driscoll 65

SHE’S NOT WRONG:

Posted at 8:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds 144

THE IDF SEEMS TO HAVE A HANDLE ON THINGS BUT IT’S NICE TO BE PREPARED IN CASE THE MULLAHS GET FRISKY WITH OUR PEOPLE: Uncle Sam Assembles A Big Stick. “A major military airlift appears to now be underway, as an unprecedented number of U.S. Air Force KC-135 and KC-46 Aerial-Refueling Tankers have departed from airbases across the United States and appear to be preparing to cross the Atlantic towards Europe.”

Much more at the link.

Update: Then again…

And:

Posted at 7:30 pm by Stephen Green 236

ADVICE TO BRITONS:

Honestly, I think their worst fear is an uprising by native Britons, which is why they’ve used a mixture of misinformation and intimidation to keep the response suppressed. But at this point I can imagine politicians hanging from lampposts.

Posted at 7:27 pm by Glenn Reynolds 82

CONSEQUENCES TEACH LESSONS:

Posted at 6:29 pm by Glenn Reynolds 77

IT’S ALWAYS IN THE LAST PLACE YOU LOOK: Scientists find universe’s missing matter while watching fast radio bursts shine through ‘cosmic fog.’ “This previously missing stuff isn’t dark matter, the mysterious substance that accounts for around 85% of the material universe but remains invisible because it doesn’t interact with light. Instead, it is ordinary matter made out of atoms (composed of baryons) that does interact with light but has until now just been too dark to see.”

Dark matter always felt like a kludge to me.

Posted at 5:44 pm by Stephen Green 106

FLOPPENHEIMER: IAEA chief: Likely all machines at Iran’s main enrichment plant ‘severely damaged.’

It is very likely all the roughly 15,000 centrifuges operating at Iran’s biggest uranium enrichment plant at Natanz were badly damaged or destroyed because of a power cut caused by an Israeli strike, the UN nuclear watchdog chief told the BBC on Monday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency and its Director General Rafael Grossi had previously said the centrifuges at the underground enrichment plant at Natanz may have been damaged as a result of an airstrike on its power supply, even though the hall housing the plant itself did not seem to have been hit.

“Our assessment is that with this sudden loss of external power, in great probability the centrifuges have been severely damaged if not destroyed altogether,” Grossi said in an interview with the BBC.

And that’s why you always want a really strong UPS on your valuable computing equipment.

Posted at 5:30 pm by Ed Driscoll 182

XI’S GOTTA HAVE IT! Green group with ties to Chinese Communist Party part of network influencing U.S. policy. “‘This isn’t environmentalism—it’s economic warfare. The Chinese Communist Party is using American nonprofits to make us dependent on their supply chains, from solar panels to EV batteries, while our policymakers walk straight into the trap,’ said Michael Lucci, CEO of State Armor, which produced the report.”

Posted at 5:14 pm by Ed Driscoll 35

HEH:

Posted at 4:55 pm by Stephen Green 94

IT’S WEIRD HOW DEMOCRATS KEEP BLEEDING MALE VOTERS:

And that’s just in Texas.

Posted at 4:50 pm by Stephen Green 258

WATERMELONS: Green group with ties to Chinese Communist Party part of network influencing U.S. policy. “A national-security watchdog group is asking members of Congress to take a closer look at an energy transition advocacy nonprofit that has ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). According to State Armor, the watchdog group, nonprofits are coordinating with U.S. climate groups to influence climate policy, advance the interests of the CCP and undermine U.S. national security.”

Posted at 3:48 pm by Stephen Green 16