Archive for 2025
June 5, 2025
THE HORROR… THE HORROR…: OMG! Bruen Created an ‘Asymmetric Battlefield’ in Which Anti-Gun Groups Have to Defend Gun Control Laws Under ‘Adversarial Cross-Examination’ in Court. “Because the government bears the burden of justifying its restrictions—and good historical research is expensive—well-funded gun rights groups have a leg up. The Firearms Policy Coalition, the Second Amendment Foundation, Gun Owners of America, the National Rifle Association, the National Association for Gun Rights, and the gun industry’s trade group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, have participated in at least 61 cases challenging gun laws under Bruen, the Trace found. Of those cases, nearly half — 29 — resulted in a ruling finding a gun restriction unconstitutional. Legal wins for gun rights groups used to be far less frequent.”
Ideally, it should be quite difficult for government to infringe upon constitutionally guaranteed rights, and easy to undo. It looks like Bruen moved us closer to that ideal
CHARLES COOKE: Of Course We Should Deport Jihadis’ Immediate Families.
If I had answered yes to any of the questions above — or, for that matter, to the hundreds of similar questions I answered over the years — my applications would have been delayed while I accounted for myself, and rejected if I could not. And, remember, I was living legally in the U.S., with a job, a wife, kids, a mortgage, and I was seeking work visas, permanent residency, and citizenship. I was not a tourist, who, by the plain terms of his admission documents, was forbidden to build a life in America.
In the case of the Solimans, all this is rendered moot by the fact that they were illegal immigrants. But, as a prudential matter, I simply cannot imagine having a moral problem with a system that rescinds the temporary visitor visas of the immediate families of antisemitic jihadis. Such people have no right to be here, would not have been allowed in had we known about their connections, and offer nothing to the existing citizenry that could possibly overcome the risk of their staying. Good riddance.
Read the whole thing.
DOUBLE YOUR DAVID, DOUBLE YOUR BERNSTEIN: Two David Bernsteins on Free Speech and Antisemitism.
“IN A TIME OF RISING POLARIZATION, THE WAR ON WORDS IS A VITAL REMINDER THAT FREE SPEECH PROTECTS DEMOCRACY ITSELF. Lukianoff and Strossen make a compelling, principled, and timely case.” -Congressman Ro Khanna
CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Choke Point Choked Out?
Remember Operation Choke Point, the Obama-era policy (renewed by Biden) to “unbank” disfavored people and industries (like firearms) despite the lack of any law to do so? Citibank just announced that they’re ending their own anti-gun policy.
So Citi will no longer discriminate against businesses that operate to enable a protected constitutional right. Imagine that.
It’s a win — take it.
Comedian Dave Chappelle offered an inside look at the Saturday Night Live (SNL) writers’ room after it was revealed that Donald Trump had defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
A funeral would have been more lively.
Chappelle, speaking with fellow comic Mo Amer on Variety magazine’s “Actors on Actors” series, recalled hosting the show on the first Saturday after that historic election. However, he also drew on the reactions of the writers and cast as they prepared during the week.
“Man, when they called Donald Trump the winner – that s*** shut the writers’ room down,” he said, promoting hearty laughter from Amer.
“You should have seen them in there – the first one – boy, they was crying … They couldn’t believe that this was happening.”
The original iteration of Saturday Night Live had a similarly blinkered political worldview – the cast and writers thought that easy-going liberal Republican Gerald Ford was the antichrist, simply because he had (R) after his name. But if he had won in 1976 over Jimmy Carter, I can’t imagine sobbing breaking out on the 17th floor of Rockefeller Center; they were made of much sterner stuff. But then, they were underground comics from places like the National Lampoon and the Second City launching a new untested program, rather than Ivy League grads walking into an established franchise that has led to huge movie and TV deals for many in the cast and its writers.
FIND YOUR PHONE: Apple AirTag 4 Pack. #CommissionEarned
OOF: Dying CNN Crashes to 374K Viewers, Fox News Tops ABC, CBS, NBC.
CNNLOL averaged only 374,000 primetime viewers, which is six times — six times — lower than the Fox News Channel average of 2.3 million primetime viewers.
Fox News topped all three broadcast networks during the week of May 26-30. NBC and CBS averaged only 2.4 million average primetime viewers, while CBS earned just 2.3 million. Fox News grabbed 2.7 million.
Between May 26 and June 1, Fox News earned 1.5 million average viewers throughout the total day, compared to CNN’s pathetic 308,000.
In the 25-54 age demo that sets advertising rates, Fox News attracted an average of 175,000 during the total day and 240,000 during primetime. CNNLOL earned only 49,000 and 61,000, respectively.
The Fox News Channel’s most popular show, The Five, earned more demo viewers — 409,000 — than CNN earned average primetime viewers. The Five also attracted 3.7 million total viewers. That’s more viewers than most primetime network shows, and The Five probably costs about a 20th to produce.
CNN cannot survive much longer in its present form.
I have a full-on case of schadenfreude for CNN, but maybe the real news here is that Fox News — a cable outlet — can outdraw the broadcast networks in primetime.
NEWS NO ONE WILL USE: Here’s How Dems Can Win Back Men (But They Won’t).
PUTIN’S STUPID WAR: Russia-Ukraine war has caused 1.4 million military casualties.
Of the 1 million Russian casualties, roughly 250,000 troops have been killed, while Ukraine has seen around 60-100,000 of its soldiers killed out of 250,000 casualties.
It is difficult to calculate accurate casualty numbers since Russia often under-counts and Ukraine doesn’t report them. The study used figures from U.S. and UK government estimates and other sources.
Russia has seized less than 1% of Ukrainian territory since 2024, with its forces in some places progressing just around 165 feet a day, according to the study. The country has also lost a third of its long-range bomber and surveillance fleets, nearly a third of its Black Sea fleet, and some of its top generals.
Co-author of the CSIS study Seth Jones told The New York Times that Russia’s campaign is one of the slowest in modern history.
Some glaciers move faster.
DO WE HAVE THIS KIND OF COURAGE TODAY? This passage written by Thomas Jefferson and John Dickinson in the “Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms” was published a year before Declaration of Independence.
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: Isaacman: people with ‘axes to grind’ about Musk caused withdrawn NASA nomination.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Hear Me Out — Arrest All the Democrats. “It’s only mostly tongue-in-cheek. I’ve really had it with these people.”
IF NO ONE CAN DEFEND IT, THAT MEANS IT’S INDEFENSIBLE, RIGHT? Not Even Democrat Experts Can Defend Nationwide Injunctions
GROOMING, STRAIGHT UP: ‘Have You Considered Changing?’: Florida Teens Asked To Consider Becoming Gay In Class Assignment.
During a course for high school children in Miami-Dade County, students were assigned to complete a sexuality-focused questionnaire that asked a series of bizarre questions such as: “What do you think caused your heterosexuality?”; “Is it possible that being straight is just a phase you may grow out of?”; and, “Considering the menace of hunger and overpopulation, could the human race survive if everyone were straight like yourself?”
Parents were shocked to learn that a professor made their children answer questions like this as part of a Miami-Dade College course being offered to high schoolers. The course, called “Preparing for Student Success,” was designed for students to develop academic goals and come up with strategies to succeed in college and offered in Miami-Dade County, an area that has turned red in recent years.
The course is certainly trying to prepare high school kids for something, but it ain’t necessarily success.
BOMB CANADA, THE CASE FOR WAR: Let’s check in with Canada to see what their police officers are up to.
The York Regional Police Department hold drag-queen pride month celebration funded by the Canadian taxpayer. pic.twitter.com/evCzjp4W3C
— Canadian Patriot Media (@realpatriotM) June 4, 2025
We would be welcomed as liberators, to coin a phrase.
(Classical reference in headline.)
IT’S ONLY A FLESH WOUND: Chamberlain called German blitzkrieg a ‘minor setback.’
IRAN WAS NEVER GOING TO AGREE TO ANYTHING ACCEPTABLE: Iran Rejects Nuclear Deal With U.S. But Leaves Door Open to a ‘Regional Consortium’ to Enrich Uranium.