July 1, 2026

NIFTY: U.S. Pacific Air Forces Flex B-2 Stealth Bomber LRASM Capability. “LRASM, originally conceived under a broader program to active a variety of maritime strike missiles over a decade ago, has become the most capable air-launched ship-sinking capability known to be deployed by American forces. With a range of over 200 nautical miles and a warhead of 1000 pounds, the Lockheed Martin missile is derived from the stealthy Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile. Its low-observable capabilities and use of modern technologies represents a marked leap from the Cold War-era Harpoon missiles.”

Stealth antiship missiles carried by stealth bombers with global reach is exactly the 21st Century you knew America could do.

Posted at 4:52 pm by Stephen Green

JIM GERAGHTY: Nina Totenberg and the Gerontocracy Strike Again.

She heard the word “retirement” and just assumed that it was Alito?

The explanation is so shocking that social media has plenty of Alito retirement “Truthers” who contend the justice is planning to announce his retirement soon and Totenberg simply erred by reporting it too early; but that theory doesn’t make sense, because if that were the case, she would simply clarify her story. Some others wonder if this was Alito trying to sniff out the Supreme Court employee who leaked the Dobbs decision. (Back in April 2023, Alito sat down for an interview with the Wall Street Journal and said, “I personally have a pretty good idea who is responsible, but that’s different from the level of proof that is needed to name somebody.”)

Totenberg is 82. She has covered the Supreme Court since I was born, and I have a kid in college. Also, in the 1970s, Totenberg became close personal friends with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and one might think that a close personal friendship with someone you cover professionally is a major conflict of interest that ought to be disclosed to listeners, but “her friendship with Ginsburg was almost never mentioned in the hundreds of news stories, interviews and features Totenberg has done about the court over the years.”

Another one of Totenberg’s greatest hits, this one targeted at the late Senator Jesse Helms (R., N.C.): “In 1995, on the syndicated political television program Inside Washington, guests including Totenberg turned to a proposal by the North Carolina senator that Congress reduce spending on AIDS research. Totenberg said, ‘I think he ought to be worried about the — about what’s going on in the good Lord’s mind, because if there’s retributive justice, he’ll get AIDS from a transfusion or one of his grandchildren will get it.’” Wishing painful death upon the family of people you disagree with is the kind of comment we’ve come to expect from unhinged hatemongers, like the attorney general of Virginia.

Apparently, nothing matters when you’re on the left side of the aisle. Just do whatever you want, and there will never be any consequences.

As NewsBusters’ Tim Graham adds, “Totenberg is Exhibit A in how NPR is a thoroughly ideological outlet that should never have been funded by the taxpayers.”

UPDATE: Heh, indeed:

Posted at 4:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

SONY JUST KILLED DISCS: Physical Disc Production to End January 2028 for New Games Releasing on PlayStation Consoles.

Sony has announced physical disc production ends in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles.

It’s a shock announcement that follows Rockstar’s decision not to sell a physical disc version of GTA 6, which is expected to dominate console game sales from this November onwards. This new policy will cover all games released on PlayStation consoles from all publishers after this cut-off date, which some analysts believe hints at when the PS6 will be released.

“In response to shifting trends in consumer preference, new games will be released on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only,” Sid Shuman, Senior Director, Sony Interactive Entertainment Content Communications, said in a post on PlayStation Blog.

* * * * * * * *

Piers Harding-Rolls, games industry analyst at Ampere, tweeted to call Sony’s announcement “a watershed moment for the industry.”

“Console gaming is the last hold-out for physical media in the gaming sector, but physical product has been declining in importance,” he added. “Back in 2013 when the PS4 launched, Ampere data shows that only 13% of total full games unit sales for Sony consoles were digital (including digital-only games). Fast forward to 2025, and this digital share of full game purchases stood at almost 80% of the total.

“Inevitably there will be concerns from PlayStation gamers around various aspects of this announcement including choice, accessing older physical games on new consoles, the ability to collect physical games, and game preservation, however the purchasing trends of gamers are clear.”

Just this week, Sony notified PlayStation users that it would soon delete more than 550 digital movies from their PSN accounts due to a licensing agreement with Studio Canal, sparking a backlash. There was no sign of refunds or alternatives for those who purchased any of the movies on the list.

Exit quote:

Posted at 4:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

ICYMI: Is This Gavin Newsom’s Biggest Lie Ever? “California Gov. Gavin Newsom, perhaps best described as ‘seven lying serpents in a skinsuit,’ just told a lie so big that even my jaded self had to sit back, take a sip of coffee, and admire the handiwork of whoever steam-cleaned the soul out of his body.”

Posted at 4:21 pm by Stephen Green

YMCA SCRUBS ‘GENDER IDENTITY’ PLEDGE AFTER DAILY WIRE REPORT:

The YMCA deleted a pledge recognizing “gender identity” as one of its priorities for inclusion after a watchdog warned that girls may be forced to share cabins with gender-confused boys at camps across the country.

The website scrubbing took place after The Daily Wire reported on a campaign by the American Parents Coalition urging parents to research their local YMCA’s transgender policies before sending their child to camp. YMCA camps across the country from Colorado to Michigan have policies in place allowing boys who identify as girls to stay in female cabins and use female intimate spaces.

Before the campaign, the YMCA had a “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” section on its website that highlighted how it worked “to ensure that everyone” regardless of a variety of personal identifiers including “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” had the opportunity to “reach their full potential with dignity.”

Yet another dispatch from Weimar, America. As Glenn wrote back in 2018, “you don’t get Hitler because of Hitler — there are always potential Hitlers hanging around. You get Hitler because of Weimar, and you get Weimar because the people in charge of maintaining liberal democracy are too weak and corrupt to do the job.”

Posted at 4:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

GET THE FEELING THIS MIGHT BE THE START OF A PERMANENT TEMPORARY SUSPENSION?

Posted at 3:03 pm by Stephen Green

THE DUMBEST STORY OF THE WEEK… SO FAR: Dumbest Story of the Week Reveals Liberal Bullying 101. “It’s not meant for Johnson, though. It’s a warning to stars without the actor’s fame, wealth and celebrity cache. Think like us, or you’re next.”

Posted at 2:48 pm by Stephen Green

CONCLUSION: EUROPE WANTS BURDENSOME OLD PEOPLE TO DIE.

Posted at 2:33 pm by Stephen Green

FREDDY’S DEAD: America’s favorite World Cup tourist deactivates X account after woke snowflakes dig up his old tweets.

Well, Freddy is from Germany, where it is quite literally illegal to offend certain groups of people.

Even though he remained anonymous in all his posts, he still decided to deactivate his X account after wokescolds discovered he was mildly critical of the woke theory that only white people can be racist.

Since anyone can travel here as a tourist and pop out a baby that’s automatically an American (according to Amy Coney Barrett), the least we could do is give Freddy honorary citizenship!

Because in 2026 in America, when the gay woke mob digs up your old not-even-controversial tweets and tries to present them as white supremacist or something, what we do is we laugh them out of the room.

We don’t do cancel culture anymore, Freddy!

Here’s the tweet they dug up:

This was also problematic to the DSA/Totenkopf left:

Freddy is still apparently active on Instagram, though:

Classical reference in headline:

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll

DON’T MISTAKE SIMPLE LUST FOR POWER WITH RESENTMENT — RESENTMENT IS JUST THE SALES PITCH:

Posted at 2:02 pm by Stephen Green

A VERY PUBLIC EDUCATION: Neutrality is racist, say woke librarians.

Critical race theory scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw was the keynote speaker for the American Library Association’s annual Conference and Exhibition, she writes. Sessions reflected “a mishmash of critical theory argle-bargle,” including “Charting Queer Visibility,” “Read Trans Books,” “Queer Kidlit Joy,” “Decolonizing the Stacks,” and “Cultivating Radical Empathy.”

The ALA has enormous influence over K-12 libraries through its school library division, which sets standards, guidance, and so-called “best practices,” Sanzi writes. It “shapes what books are purchased, displayed, and promoted,” and fights “efforts to place age-appropriate limits on sexually explicit or heavily ideological materials.”

The ALA explicitly rejected viewpoint neutrality in 2021, she writes. A resolution claims libraries have contributed to white supremacy and fascism through a “misplaced emphasis on neutrality.”

Neutrality is supremacy, silence is violence… whatever.

Posted at 1:46 pm by Stephen Green

‘RO’ ME THE MONEY! How Progressive Class Warrior Ro Khanna Lives Like the Oligarchs He ‘Fights,’ With In-Home Elevator, $190K Range Rover, and Family-Owned Golf Courses:

Rep. Ro Khanna (D., Calif.) has emerged as a potential contender for the Democratic presidential nomination while denouncing the ultra-rich who “hoard wealth and engage in financial speculation.” But the progressive, Silicon Valley congressman and his family live a life of staggering luxury, fueled by dynastic wealth they did not earn and protected by the same thicket of trusts, anonymous corporations, and foundations that Khanna condemns.

Khanna lives in a $6 million, 8,000-square-foot luxury home with a four-story elevator and so much premium marble that even the two laundry rooms have marble counters. The Northwest Washington, D.C., home is now for sale, as the Khanna family prepares to move to an even larger, more expensive house a few miles away in the Northern Virginia suburbs. Khanna’s two children, who are minors, have large ownership shares in three private golf clubs, a significant stake in a $65 billion wealth management firm, and investments in hedge funds that focus on distressed debt, of which Khanna has been critical. Khanna’s wife drives a $190,000 Range Rover she was so displeased with that she sued the dealer.

A Washington Free Beacon investigation into Khanna’s finances finds that the progressive truthteller’s lifestyle is funded by his wife, Ritu Ahuja Khanna, an heiress to her father’s Cleveland auto parts fortune. An analysis of Khanna’s financial disclosures reveals his gilded life is enriched by the same sort of investment vehicles that Khanna has said he has a “moral” duty to oppose and that Khanna’s family is a beneficiary of the “New Gilded Age” he condemns.

In his Commentary newsletter yesterday, Abe Greenwald wrote:

I could fill up half a newsletter—at least—with nothing but the names of candidates and elected officials who overtly detest America and the Jews and unapologetically embrace the enemies of both.

But for my money, Ro Khanna, the U.S. representative from California’s 17th district, is worse. My reasoning is related to a famous line of Martin Luther King Jr.’s. “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people,” he said, “but the silence over that by the good people.” Don’t worry, I know the idea needs some tinkering in this case because Khanna is neither silent nor good. He facilitates the oppression and cruelty by translating the florid war cries of radicals into establishment shorthand. Here’s what he posted on X in response to the trans activists who ganged up on Scott Wiener on Friday for being a Jew:

There is no place for harrasment or physical violence in our democracy. I am a strong supporter of protest, dissent, & free expression. But not of intimidation. What happened to @Scott_Wiener was simply wrong. Let’s focus on passing @RepThomasMassie amendment to zero aid to Israel. Hold elected officials accountable. But do so in the spirit of building a politics of conviction and dignity, not insult and aggression.

In other words, if you want to go after the Jews, don’t waste your time with a bunch of ranting freaks. Invest in me. I may not know how to spell harassment, but I know how to take down the Jews using the power of the federal government. 

“Khanna is no socialist—he’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars. And there was a time, not long ago, when he claimed to support Zionism,” Greenwald concludes. “I don’t know whether he’s been asked about that lately, but he should be. Because once it became clear that anti-Semitism was gaining unprecedented traction in our politics, he decided to go all in—shamelessly. He now rushes to support Jew-haters left and right.”

Posted at 1:35 pm by Ed Driscoll

AXIS: BOLD AS GLADSTONE. Two people climb to top of Empire State Building in New York, fly banner calling for peace.

Two people climbed to the top of the Empire State Building on Wednesday and unfurled a giant banner calling for peace, prompting a large emergency response and an investigation into how they gained access to the landmark’s spire.

Aerial video showed the two individuals standing atop the building’s mast after they put up a black banner with white lettering that read, “When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace.”

The message on the banner echoed a quote often attributed to musician Jimi Hendrix, though it has also been credited to 19th-century British Prime Minister William Gladstone.

Exit quote:

UPDATE: “Following a response by the New York City Police Department (NYPD), the pair appeared to take down the banner and climb down to a lower platform. One of the people then appeared to pull an engagement ring out of a backpack, get down on one knee and propose…Roughly 40 police officers remain in front of the building. Others are directing traffic around the building. The entrance on Fifth Ave., between West 33rd and 34th streets, is blocked off. Pedestrians were seen gathering on every corner surrounding the building watching the situation unfold. Counting the spire and antenna, the skyscraper stands 1,454 feet tall.”

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll

RABBI MICHAEL BARCLAY: The War at Home “Judaism teaches that to save one life is to save an entire world (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5). Similarly, to kill a life is to destroy an entire world. Destruction must be met with retribution for there to be justice. But sadly, the exact opposite has just happened in our own neighborhood in Thousand Oaks, Calif.”

Posted at 1:15 pm by Stephen Green