THE NEW SPACE RACE: China’s Landspace conducts first VTVL test for reusable stainless steel rocket.

It looks . . . familiar.

BUILD MORE NUCLEAR PLANTS: If Red Sea Shipping Doesn’t Open Soon, They’ll Have to Rename It Great BRRRRritain.

Also, the Royal Navy has centuries of experience burning out nests of pirates. Perhaps this will provide sufficient motivation to exercise those skills.

THE AMAZON ISN’T SOME SPECIAL GREEN GARDEN OF GAIA. IT’S A POST-COLLAPSE FOREST THAT GREW OVER FORMERLY SETTLED LAND. Cluster of Ancient Lost Cities in The Amazon Is The Largest Ever Found. “This amazing discovery, the oldest and largest of its kind in the region, includes a vast system of farmland and roads, revealing that Ecuador’s Upano Valley was densely populated from about 500 BCE to between 300 and 600 CE. . . . Evidence of a vast, pre-Hispanic human influence in the Amazon continues to grow, with the current coverage of LIDAR data suggesting more than 90 percent of the human history in the Amazon is yet to be uncovered. . . . The organization of the cities reveals the sophistication and engineering capabilities of these ancient cultures, according to the researchers, who concluded that the ‘garden urbanism’ of the Upano Valley provides further proof that Amazonia is not the pristine forest once depicted.”

YET ANOTHER REASON THEY SHOULD BE TARRED AND FEATHERED AFTER BEING REMOVED FROM POWER: Survey: America’s Elites Say There’s Too Much Freedom. “Know your place, peasants!”

But there are too many for tarring and feathering. At the very least, though, they need to be put in their place, socially and politically.

POPCORN: Woman Scorned Strikes Back: My Husband Paid Fani’s Way — And I Have Bank Records to Prove It.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Solar panels on Japan’s SLIM lunar lander fail to create electricity as needed.

HMM: Revolutionizing Heart Health: Scientists Develop Game-Changing New Cholesterol Vaccine. Call me back in 5-10 years and tell me how it’s going.

PROBATION? REALLY? What Does a Gender Studies Degree From the University of IL Get You? Probation After Being Held At Gunpoint by CCW Holder During Hot Burglary.

I guess a gender studies degree identifies you as a friend of the regime.

PYREX isn’t what it used to be. But it’s better for the environment!

STAY SAFE: OUXX Work Boots for Men, Steel Toe. #CommissionEarned

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Pennsylvania Young Adult Gun-Carry Ban During Emergencies Found Unconstitutional. “The ruling adds to a growing body of federal court decisions casting doubt on age-based gun restrictions.”

WELL, THAT SEEMS REASONABLE: Alec Baldwin indicted by grand jury on involuntary manslaughter over ‘Rust’ shooting. ” A grand jury has indicted Alec Baldwin on an involuntary manslaughter charge in the deadly shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico set of ‘Rust,’ months after prosecutors dropped their case against the actor over her death. The indictment charges Baldwin, 65, with involuntary manslaughter (negligent use of a firearm) or, in the alternative, involuntary manslaughter (without due caution or circumspection), both fourth-degree felonies.”

DON-MENTUM: Tim Scott to Endorse Donald Trump.

Related: I Was Pence’s Top Aide. It’s Time to Unite Behind Trump.

GET WOKE, GO BROKE: LA Times staff to walk out over cuts.

UPDATE: Sports Illustrated’s entire staff told they’re getting laid off. The trans swimsuit cover didn’t do it?

READER FAVORITE: TurboTax Premier 2023 Tax Software, Federal & State Tax Return. #CommissionEarned

ADMINISTRATORS — NOT JUST DEI ADMINISTRATORS — ARE THE BIGGEST THREAT TO FREE SPEECH ON CAMPUS

But DEI admins are surely a BIG part of the problem, too:

• After tenured University of Central Florida professor Charles Negy tweeted about racial issues, the school issued a statement signed by the president, provost, and chief equity, inclusion and diversity officer condemning the tweets and opening an investigation into Negy.
• Yale Law’s associate dean of student affairs and director of diversity, equity, and inclusion repeatedly summoned a law student to meetings and pressured him to apologize for sending a lighthearted party invitation that used the term “trap house” because it was considered “pejorative and racist.”
• Loyola University New Orleans repeatedly subjected a professor to investigations and assigned him a DEI coach because of his protected in-class and extramural speech.
• After aUniversity of California, Los Angeles music professor showed his class the 1965 film version of Othello (in which Laurence Olivier wears skin-darkening makeup), a dean reportedly sent a department-wide email saying the professor’s that the incident had been reported to the Office of Equity, Civil Rights, and Title IX.
• Also at UCLA, after a student complained about a professor reading MLK, Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” which includes racial slurs, UCLA referred the matter to its Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for review.
• Syracuse University adopted new policies to hold bystanders responsible for “bias-related incidents” and “hate speech.” The chief of diversity and inclusion said that bystanders “can be held accountable,” and directed students to report incidents either to the school’s Office of Equal Opportunity, Inclusion and Resolution Services or anonymously through its bias reporting policy. Requiring bystanders to be speech police is truly worthy of the name Orwellian.
• A University of California System “guidance document” written by its council of chief diversity officers appeared to instruct students and faculty about how they may talk about the coronavirus (e.g., “Do not use terms such as “Chinese Virus.”).
• In 2023, Stanford Law School (my alma mater) students shouted down 5th Circuit Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan when he attempted to speak at a student-sponsored event. This was after long meetings with DEI administrators and after a precisely ten minute shout down then-Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Tirien Steinbach got up and gave a truly cringeworthy seven minute speech wondering if the “juice” of free speech and of having a 5th circuit judge speak to law students was “worth the squeeze.” The Stanford Law School incident earned its own chapter in “Canceling” as demonstrating the full power of the Perfect Rhetorical Fortress.

NOBODY CAN AFFORD TO BUY, NOBODY CAN AFFORD TO SELL: Home Sales Were the Lowest in Almost 30 Years in 2023. “Existing home sales, which make up most of the housing market, slid 19% in 2023 from the prior year to 4.09 million, the lowest full-year level since 1995, the National Association of Realtors said Friday.”

I DON’T KNOW WHY THEY’RE TRYING SO HARD TO SQUEEZE HER OUT BUT IT LOOKS VERY SLEAZY AND UNSUPPORTED: David Lat: 6 Video Clips Of Judge Pauline Newman: Judge Newman wants the legal world to see as well as hear her in action.

My latest guest, Judge Pauline Newman of the Federal Circuit, is 96 years old, and there’s an effort afoot to remove her from the bench based on alleged “cognitive decline” and “significant mental problems”—which she vociferously denies.

I believe that listening to our podcast conversation will convince many observers that Judge Newman is completely lucid, but the judge felt that video would make the case for her cognitive ability and continued vitality even more persuasively. So at her request, I’m posting a half-dozen video clips, highlights from our conversation, so you can see as well as hear Judge Newman for yourself. (You’ll occasionally notice what might seem like little jumps in the video; some of this is from editing, which was minimal, and some is from the Zoom connection.)

Thanks to my audio engineer, Tommy Harron, for producing these clips. And thanks to Judge Newman for both her time and transparency.

Something shady is going on behind the scenes at the Federal Circuit.

AUTOPHAGE ROCKETRY: Watch this rocket ‘eat’ its own body for fuel.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT [VIP]: The Battle for Control of Disney Is On. “No wonder Disney+ is losing billions. And how is a movie, even a blockbuster, supposed to generate the returns that investors expect when budgets are completely out of control? Shareholders ought to be banging down Peltz’s door and demanding that he take over.”

MICROBIOME NEWS: Semen microbiome health may impact male fertility.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: DEI Destroys Excellence, Military Cohesion at Service Academies. “Academic freedom doesn’t exist at Annapolis. And those who do not repeat the party line unquestioningly, such as (um, yes) your humble correspondent, will be relentlessly pursued and fired. Cauthen goes on with his quote: The Naval Academy ‘will develop a confidential process for reporting bias incidents’ — for what it calls ‘nonpunitive informational purposes’ to ‘identify areas for potential additional training.’ My experience suggests that ‘nonpunitive’ is bunkum. Indeed, Cauthen points out that all of this comes with the whip hand of the UCMJ and quotes Article 917 as saying that.”

ALSO FRESHMEN, SOPHOMORES, AND JUNIORS: Marijuana use linked to impaired driving among seniors.

FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY: He Was ‘Launched’ Into a Garbage Truck. “It’s your much-needed break from the serious news, and this week we have the guy who took himself out with the garbage, the craziest psychiatrist in St. Petersburg, and the Utah Man who brought a knife to a gunfight.”

WELL, GOOD: New hope for early pancreatic cancer intervention via AI-based risk prediction.