Archive for 2025

BEEGE WELBORN: Trump Makes the Move on ‘Sanctioned Oil Tankers’ From Venezuela Official.

When the headlines broke late last night, I thought, wowsahs – this is an escalation.

And that while a ‘blockade’ was a dramatic move, it seemed like it would be kind of difficult to enforce on a country whose other two-thirds of borders had nothing to do with the oceanfront. There are plenty of roads in and out of Venezuela, and people who are willing to still trade with them in South America.

Maduro’s gang hasn’t reached complete pariah status yet, but, man, are they getting there quickly.

When I had a chance to read what Trump had actually announced vice breathless media chirps, it made perfect sense as the next step to ratchet up pressure on Maduro’s finances.

Read the whole thing.

I’d just add that sanctions without teeth are meaningless, and Trump’s “blockade” is finally sanctions with real teeth.

THE MEDIA LIES:

The media lies stupidly, clumsily, and obviously. Maybe I’d despise them less if the lies came without all the moral preening about objectivity, editorial standards, and those layers of editors and fact-checkers.

Maybe, but I doubt it.

THE GHOST OF RONALD REAGAN SMILES: Space Force wants advanced tech for space-based interceptors. “Space-based interceptors are a key component of the Trump administration’s massive Golden Dome program for missile defense of the United States. Earlier this month, the Space Force released a Request for Proposal for space-based midcourse interceptors that would target missiles as they coast in space in between launch and reentering the atmosphere. Boost-phase interceptors seek to destroy missiles during their slower, more vulnerable ascent as the rockets gathers speed after launch.”

THE ENEMY WITHIN:

We need a complete and total shutdown of the Ivy League until we can figure out what the hell is going on.

Related (From Ed): Is Brown University Protecting a Suspect in the Campus Shooting?

I ASSUME THERE ARE STILL PLENTY OF AMERICANS WITH LIVING MEMORIES OF SMUGGLING GUNS INTO IRELAND:

AS IN MORE CHEAP PHOTOSHOPS IN ANOTHER DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO DISCREDIT TRUMP? DOJ Epstein files are required to be made public by Friday; Democrats say there are more. “Democrats held a press conference Tuesday saying they expect the administration to only partially comply with the law on Friday, but that there would be consequences for anything less than full compliance.”

Based on what we’ve seen in recent days, this is just more handwavium from the Dems.

M&A: Warner Bros. Discovery recommends investors reject Paramount’s hostile takeover bid.

The company’s board said in a statement that it determined the Paramount Skydance offer “is not in the best interests of WBD and its shareholders.”

The Warner Bros. board’s recommendation to shareholders effectively means Paramount’s offer is dead. Paramount could, however, return with a higher offer.

“This offer once again fails to address key concerns that we have consistently communicated to Paramount throughout our extensive engagement and review of their six previous proposals,” WBD’s chair, Samuel Di Piazza, said.

Warner Bros. Discovery said it was instead sticking with its initially announced deal to sell its studio, HBO, and HBO Max to Netflix. “The terms of the Netflix merger are superior,” WBD said in a letter to shareholders.

Sad end for a storied studio.

YES:

Exit reply: “They did this after January 6th, and the J6ers weren’t even armed.”

WHY “THE LOST GENERATION” IS A LOST OPPORTUNITY:

Jacob Savage’s just-released article in Compact, “The Lost Generation,” has generated huge buzz online, with some calling it the article of the year and well-known commentators such as Abigail Shrier calling it “the single best long-form piece I have read in a very long time.”

* * * * * * * * *

There are many good things in Savage’s article, and I always welcome it when anyone shines a fresh spotlight on the discrimination against White men that has been going on for years. And to the extent he opens up some eyes that are not already opened as to the reality of the discrimination that young White men are facing in 2025, I give a hearty two cheers for him. But neither Savage nor his piece are yet deserving of a third.

The establishment that denied opportunities to Savage and his millennial and Gen Z White male cohort are not, as Savage seemingly implies, basically good people who unfortunately had the single moral or intellectual flaw that they happened to discriminate against White men. They are horrible people, people who are totally unworthy of controlling the commanding heights of our society. They are moral monsters, racists, sexists, and intellectual cowards. And they, and the corrupt institutions that they have run for decades, must be either reformed completely with their incumbent leadership ousted—or else destroyed.

Related:

BREAKING: The Daily Caller News Foundation is reporting an exclusive that “Jasmine Crockett Once Rented Car With Convicted Robber — It Didn’t End Well

“Democratic Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett co-rented a car in 2006 with a previously convicted robber whose car crash caused her to be sued for damages at the start of her law career, records obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation show.”

I suppose I’m not surprised, perhaps only at the depths of crazy from which this woman springs…

 

HEY, BIG SPENDER:

Message sent and received.

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Greatly reduced expectations: Students read few ‘whole books’ or none at all.

“Twelfth-grade reading scores are at historic lows,” she writes. “College professors, even at elite schools, are increasingly reporting difficulties in getting students to engage with lengthy or complex texts.”

Andrew Polk, 26, who teaches 10th-grade English in suburban Ohio, tells the Times he was assigned many whole books and plays when he was in high school not that long ago. But he’s supposed to use McGraw-Hill’s StudySync, which centers on excerpts. He has time for a few longer works each year, such as Macbeth, Fahrenheit 451 and John Green’s Paper Towns, a young-adult mystery. Teenagers still feel “passion for a good story,” and “can and do rise to the occasion.”

Teaching excerpts can expose students to more diverse writers, writes Goldstein. Schools can avoid controversial passages, such as sex scenes. The passages students read resemble what they’ll see on standardized tests. And providing online excerpts can be cheaper than buying books.

But students don’t build reading stamina. They don’t have a chance to dive into a different time or place, see characters develop or get to the happy ending.

What shame. Some of my best and most enjoyable reading was books I didn’t want to read, but that teachers required.

ALSO FILED UNDER, “NO JEWS, NO NEWS.”:

Exit question: “Has anyone heard from Tucker on this war — estimates on those killed go as high as 400,000. Tucker’s been as quiet about this as he’s been on the genocide of Nigerian Christians by Islamists.”