Author Archive: Ed Driscoll

March 14, 2026

“PROGRESSIVES” AGAINST PROGRESS:

 

Posted at 6:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Mar 14th, 2026

LIEL LEIBOVITZ: ‘One Battle After Another’ Is Irredeemable.

Walking out of One Battle After Another, I realized that the cavalry wasn’t coming. [Paul Thomas] Anderson is just another mindless mediocrity now, thinking first about party lines and only then, if at all, about truth and beauty. It’s all over.

Which, hallelujah, is very good news.

Because if you know anything about the history of Hollywood, you know that great thrusts of creativity and daring come only when the industry drives itself to the brink of extinction. In the late 1950s, for example, terrified by the ascent of TV, studios made a bevy of utterly forgettable spectaculars they hoped would draw people to the theaters. None did. The golden age was over. But slowly, slowly, working in smaller outfits and taking greater risks, a new generation of outsiders started telling the kinds of stories the Old Hollywood would’ve never approved of. Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and their cohorts delivered films that were far more raw and daring and impactful than anything we’d ever seen before, giving American cinema another, brighter golden age.

Now that even the greats have fallen, now that even Paul Thomas Anderson seems interested more in purring for his fellow progressives than in making interesting movies, now that even DiCaprio is relegated to delivering lines about respecting another character’s “they/them” gender pronouns, it should be crystal clear that Hollywood has once again driven itself to total moral, artistic, and creative ruin. How lucky are we: Somewhere out there, I bet, some young punk feels liberated and called to make Hollywood great again.

Hollywood has been here before of course, issuing ridiculous slop when they believed the cultural revolution was nigh that suddenly looks very silly once the dust clears: Mystery Seventies Theater 3000.

Posted at 5:30 pm by Ed Driscoll on Mar 14th, 2026

DID THEY REALLY SAY THIS? CNN Issues Incredible Statement About Their Horrible Week of False Stories:

Earlier:

UPDATE:

Posted at 5:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Mar 14th, 2026

YES. NEXT QUESTION? Has the Media Been Responsible for America Losing Wars?

The White House statement goes into specifics to answer the charges, closing by saying that “No amount of CNN hackery will change that.”

In short? Unlike 1968 and Walter Cronkite’s attack on LBJ’s Vietnam policy, President Trump is not sitting back and allowing today’s media – CNN in this case – to paint its own anti-media picture of the Trump Iran/Middle East policy.

Time has moved on. As is said often enough in this corner: Stay tuned.

What unfolds between the media and the Trump administration when it comes to the coverage of American policy in Iran and the larger Middle East remains to be seen.

In his 1977 book, It Didn’t Start with Watergate, Victor Lasky wrote:

By the time Lyndon Johnson left office, his administration was under bitter attack by the media and its subsidiary organizations. Thus in 1968 the journalism society Sigma Delta Chi had this to say: “The Credibility Gap, which has reached awesome proportions under the Johnson Administration, continued to be a grave handicap. Secrecy, lies, half-truths, deception—this was the daily fare.”

In turn there were those who felt that the press had its own credibility problems. Douglas Cater, special assistant to President Johnson, suggested that too often newsmen presumed an expertise they quite obviously didn’t have.

“I’m concerned about the little demigods of TV who make an instant analysis of complicated events,” said Cater. “There should be bounds on what TV men do, so much of which is delivered with flippant abandon.”

Cater, of course, was and is of the liberal persuasion. His remarks concerning “instant analysis” were generally overlooked at the time. A year or so later Vice President Spiro Agnew used the same phrase in condemning television coverage of presidential speeches—and all hell broke loose. The reaction ran true to form. The liberals claimed the remarks augured—in the words of the International Press Institute in Zürich—“the most serious threat to the freedom of information in the Western world.” And commentators like Walter Cronkite agreed.

But down in Texas the former President wondered out loud whether “Ted” Agnew had been politic in saying what he did. It wasn’t that Citizen Johnson disagreed with what was said. Shortly after the 1968 election he had sought to warn the Vice President-elect about the antagonistic nature of the media.

“Young man,” he had told Agnew, “we have in this country two big television networks, NBC and CBS. We have two news magazines, Newsweek and Time. We have two wire services, AP and UPI. We have two pollsters, Gallup and Harris. We have two big newspapers—the Washington Post and The New York Times. They’re all so damned big they think they own the country. But, young man, don’t get any ideas about fighting. . . .”

Well, Agnew got precisely that idea and came out swinging. 

And how. Not surprisingly, so has the Trump administration. And why not? The DNC-MSM never punched back when (P)resident Biden routinely insulted them. Why should they expect anything less from the current administration?

Posted at 4:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Mar 14th, 2026

WHEN BILL MAHER IS THE VOICE OF SANITY:

That puts Maher one up on David Letterman:

In now a famous “You Tube” moment, Bill O’Reilly of the Fox News Channel, went on Letterman to be the recipient of the host’s rude and sophomoric antics. As the segment shifted into high gear, O’Reilly asked Letterman a pointed and direct question: “Do you want the United States to win in Iraq?”

To the surprise of no one but his sycophants, Letterman could not or would not answer the question. When pressed by O’Reilly to answer, the best he could do was to play to his mostly left-leaning audience for cheap debating points and say, “It’s not easy for me because I’m thoughtful.”

As I asked back then, how thoughtful do you need to be? it’s an A or B question: Do you want the US to win, or Al Qaeda, the Baathists, and Iran? Letterman, who, [40] years ago, was once the master of postmodern irony, became its unintentional victim as he unwittingly echoed Jack Benny’s classic gag when he retorted to a fictional mugger shouting ‘Your money or life, pal!’ on his old radio show: ‘I’m thinking it over!’”

Posted at 2:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Mar 14th, 2026

CHANGE: Havana is expected to allow Cubans in Miami, elsewhere to own businesses on the island.

The Cuban government is expected to announce as early as next week economic reforms to allow Cuban Americans living in South Florida and elsewhere in the U.S. and around the world to invest and own private businesses on the island, the Miami Herald has learned.

The economic opening comes amid unprecedented pressure by the Trump administration, which has cut off oil supplies to the Cuban government, and ongoing talks between the two countries acknowledged by Cuban leaders for the first time on Friday.

“The return of the Cuban diaspora is imminent,” said one source who is knowledgeable about the expected measures and who asked not to be identified to speak of the sensitive matter. According to the source, the Cuban government is likely to allow Cubans living abroad to own private enterprises the Cuban government has labeled mipymes — pronounced mee-PEE-mes —the Spanish acronym for micro, small and medium enterprises.

As Glenn asked last month on his Substack, “Will Cuba be Libre soon, and if so what happens next? And after that?”

Posted at 8:14 am by Ed Driscoll on Mar 14th, 2026

TRUMP MAKES GAVIN NEWSOM AN OFFER HE CAN’T ACCEPT: President Trump orders oil drilling operations to resume off California.

The Trump administration has signed an executive order to ​resume oil drilling operations off the southern California coast.

The order will be prove controversial despite potentially to bring down gas prices, which are the highest in America.

The move aims to restart oil production at a cluster of offshore platforms run by Sable Offshore (SOC.N) .

Gas prices continue to rise in the wake ​of the war on Iran, which lead the Trump administraton to temporarily drop sanctions against Russian oil. Prices hit $103 a barrel, and

President Donald Trump on Friday ​signed an executive order to let the secretary of energy ⁠take actions under the Defense Production Act.

Given California’s Potemkin energy policy for decades, it will be fun to watch Newsom and Sacramento in general fight executive order this tooth and nail, thus ensuring that the state will continue to have the highest gas prices in the nation, which won’t do much to benefit his presidential campaign.

Posted at 7:44 am by Ed Driscoll on Mar 14th, 2026

IT’S COME TO THIS: Wanted fugitive killed by Dallas SWAT officers worked security for Rep. Jasmine Crockett, sources say.

A man shot and killed by Dallas police earlier this week was a familiar figure in North Texas law enforcement – and part of the security detail for U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, sources told CBS News Texas.

Multiple law enforcement sources tell CBS News Texas the man, known publicly as Mike King, had been using aliases while running a business that placed officers in off‑duty jobs.

King was killed Wednesday night after a standoff with Dallas police SWAT officers. Police say he fled into a hospital parking garage, barricaded himself inside a vehicle, and was forced out by tear gas before pulling a gun on officers.

Sources say he was wanted for impersonating a law enforcement officer and had claimed to be one while operating Off Duty Police Services, an online platform connecting North Texas officers with off‑duty work. Authorities have not released his real name.

Wait, Crockett has security protection? She doesn’t want you to have any:

Posted at 7:14 am by Ed Driscoll on Mar 14th, 2026

March 13, 2026

ITS ORIGIN AND PURPOSE, STILL A TOTAL MYSTERY: “The Motive May Never Be Known” Is Now “The Motive Is White Supremacy, Somehow.”

Posted at 1:35 pm by Ed Driscoll on Mar 13th, 2026

CUBA LIBRE? Cuba confirms talks with Trump officials, raising hopes for US deal.

● Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel confirmed his government is holding talks with the Trump administration.

● The discussions are aimed at finding solutions to bilateral differences between the two nations.

● The talks could lead to a significant economic opening for Cuba and come amid escalating pressure from the U.S.

● Cuba also plans to release 51 prisoners as part of a deal brokered by the Vatican.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on March 13 confirmed his government is holding talks with the Trump administration, in the latest sign that the communist-run nation is open to signing a possible historic economic deal with the United States.

Díaz-Canel made the announcement in a video broadcast on national television and he also spoke in a subsequent press conference, where he addressed Cuba’s energy needs amid a U.S. oil blockade, saying no fuel has entered Cuba in three months. He said the talks with the U.S. have reached initial phases only.

“These conversations have been aimed at seeking solutions through dialogue to the bilateral differences that exist between our two nations,” Díaz-Canel said.

The White House has not commented.

Related:

As Glenn asked last month on his Substack, “Will Cuba be Libre soon, and if so what happens next? And after that?”

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll on Mar 13th, 2026

WHEN YOU’RE A LEFTIST WHO’S LOST VARIETY…:

Colbert’s removal from the air, when it was announced last July, was legitimately seismic news, for the industry and for an audience who saw him as a crucial voice for the anti-Trump Resistance since the 2016 election. The timing of the news, though, meant that Colbert had an entire final season to play out with all parties, from writers and producers to host to guests, knowing that the end was in sight. (This differentiates it from the brief period when “Tonight Show” host Conan O’Brien’s job was in limbo during the O’Brien-Jay Leno succession crisis — then, the precariousness and uncertainty of the situation gave the show incredible tension and voltage.)

What has ended up making it to air has been an increasingly puffy tribute to the show’s own host. The endless bouquets being tossed Colbert’s way have started to make the studio smell a bit cloying.

Granted, these are Colbert’s guests having an emotional response to a host they liked being removed from air, and in what seems to be an unfair way, to prove new Paramount CEO David Ellison’s Trumpist bona fides amidst the Skydance-Paramount merger. It reminds one of how many other institutions are caving right now — universities, law firms, to say nothing of corporations across the entertainment industry. But the show’s focus on its own host’s misfortune has become outsized and a bit dramatic, especially because so many other institutions are in crisis: With everything else going on in the world, we have to go through a monthslong celebration-of-life for a comedian whose job is coming to an end?

Related: Sykes Urges Colbert, Pope Leo To ‘Burn This B**** Down:’

CBS’s Stephen Colbert welcomed comedian Wanda Sykes to Thursday’s taping of The Late Show for a conversation that was as ridiculous as it was wide-ranging. In the span of just a few minutes, Sykes urged Colbert to team up with Pope Leo and “burn this bitch down” on the night of his final show, demanded that TSA agents be paid while omitting that the reason they go unpaid is because of a Democrat shutdown, and helped Colbert resurrect a wildly misleading talking point about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s food spending.

Sykes implored, “So, the last show what you going to do? You’ve got to go the hell off the last show, like, burn this bitch down. You got to—I mean—”

She also quipped, “I heard they turning it into a Walmart, so don’t worry about it. So, yeah—I mean, you always bring the fire every night. But that last show has to be like, like destruction. Like, yeah.”

Colbert destroys CBS on the way out? Wanda, your terms are definitely acceptable.

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll on Mar 13th, 2026

THE CORBYNIZATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS ACCELERATING RATHER EXPONENTIALLY: NYC first lady Rama Duwaji illustrated essay for anti-Israel activist who raged about ‘Jewish supremacist vampires.’

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, created artwork for an essay book compiled by an anti-Israel activist who has described Jewish people as “vampires,” “demons” and “ghouls” – and celebrated the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel.

Duwaji, a Syrian American artist and first lady of New York City, drew the lead graphic for “A Trail of Soap,” an essay published by Susan Abulhawa in the Slow Factory’s latest issue of “Everything Is Political” magazine, the Washington Free Beacon reported on Thursday.

Abulhawa is a staunch critic of Israel and has been criticized by the Anti-Defamation League for her “inflammatory rhetoric” towards the Jewish State.

In an op-ed published days after Hamas’ barbaric attack on Israel, Abulhawa called the massacre “a spectacular moment that shocked the world” and insinuated that Israel allowed the attack to happen.”

“Whether or not Israel indeed knew of the plans in advance, those few freedom fighters inspired not only the whole of Palestine, but the oppressed masses worldwide, to imagine what freedom looks like; what resistance is possible; and what life is attainable,” Abulhawa wrote in a piece for “The Electronic Intifada.”

Earlier: Mamdani’s wife Rama Duwaji liked post calling Oct. 7 Hamas rapes of Israelis a ‘mass hoax’: report.

Good and hard, Fun City:

Posted at 7:45 am by Ed Driscoll on Mar 13th, 2026

RUY TEIXEIRA: The Democrats’ White Liberal Problem. It’s their party now:

And no wonder one still searches in vain for the Democratic politician willing to venture a true “Sister Souljah moment.” Recall the original Sister Souljah moment that occurred in June 1992, when Bill Clinton, speaking at a gathering for Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition, commented on a statement rapper/activist Sister Souljah had made in an interview with The Washington Post. In the interview, she replied to a question about whether black-on-white violence in the 1992 LA riots was a “wise, reasoned action” as follows:

Yeah, it was wise. I mean, if black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?…White people, this government and that mayor were well aware of the fact that black people were dying every day in Los Angeles under gang violence. So if you’re a gang member and you would normally be killing somebody, why not kill a white person?

Clinton’s comment on this to the Rainbow Coalition was:

You had a rap singer here last night [on a panel] named Sister Souljah…Her comments before and after Los Angeles were filled with a kind of hatred that you do not honor today and tonight. Just listen to this, what she said: She told The Washington Post about a month ago, and I quote, ‘If black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?…So if you’re a gang member and you would normally be killing somebody, why not kill a white person?

If you took the words ‘white’ and ‘black’ and reversed them, you might think David Duke [founder of a Louisiana-based KKK organization] was giving that speech.

At the time, Democrats were suffering from a highly negative image of being soft on crime and public disorder and practicing a racial double standard (sound familiar?). Given what Clinton said and where he said it (to the Rainbow Coalition), his message was crystal clear: Democrats should not tolerate violence and inflammatory rhetoric, including any that comes from members of their own coalition. There should be no double standards.

Clinton was relentlessly attacked by Jackson and other figures on the party’s left for his apostasy. But normie voters got the message. Here was a different kind of Democrat who was willing to throw obvious Democratic lunacy over the side. Clinton withstood the blowback and he—and his party—reaped the reward.

At the conclusion of their chapter on Clinton’s Sister Souljah moment and his distancing of Jesse Jackson, in Mad As Hell, Revolt at the Ballot Box, 1992, Jack Germond and Jules Witcover wrote:

In political terms, however, the issue was less whether Clinton could enlist heavy black support without Jesse Jackson than whether he could win more support from Southern whites and Reagan Democrats in the North by taking on Jackson so directly and visibly. As the campaign wore on, it became apparent that, premeditated or not, the Clinton posture toward Jackson resonated throughout the electorate. As Stephanopoulos put it later, “It stood for something larger than what it was”—dramatic evidence this was a “different kind of Democrat.”

We heard about it repeatedly from Democrats in the South all through the general election campaign. As Al LaPierre, executive director of the party in Alabama, recalled: “People would come up to me and say, ‘Dammit, we’ve finally done something right. . . . It was really amazing that one instance worked so well.’” And we heard it from blue-collar workers in the industrial states outside the South. Kevin Mullaney, an electrician in North Philadelphia, later told one of us, “The day he told off that fucking Jackson is the day he got my vote.”

But then, that’s why it’s still called the “Sister Souljah moment” — has one occurred on the left since? As Teixeira writes, “It’s hard to imagine a contemporary Democratic politician being willing to risk such a confrontational attack on party orthodoxy. Today’s massive contingent of white liberals, herded along by their opinion leaders and institutions, are likely to rise up in unison to punish such apostasy. That key change makes the intra-party cost-benefit calculus of such a move far different—far more negative—than in Clinton’s day. So we don’t see them.”

Posted at 7:14 am by Ed Driscoll on Mar 13th, 2026

March 12, 2026

DISPATCHES FROM THE ICE FLOE:

Flashback: The Democratic Party’s Ice Floe Politics. “The next time a Democratic politician makes an anonymous observation about the age or vigor of a colleague with whom they disagree, be skeptical. The remarks are made to reporters as if in sorrow, but the message is about as subtle as a shiv in the prison yard.”

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll on Mar 12th, 2026

EVERGREEN QUESTION: What Happened to Tucker?

Tucker’s show became the top-rated primetime cable news show during Trump’s first term. He then lost his show in 2023, following the Dominion lawsuit against Fox. Zengerle admits he doesn’t know why Tucker was fired, but speculates that he might have been a sacrificial lamb thrown in along with the lawsuit settlement. Since then, Tucker has had his own podcast in which he has gone to increasingly dark and conspiratorial places. It’s not clear what exactly has sent Tucker in his current antisemitic direction, but there is no shortage of suspected reasons – Qatari money, jealousy, resentment, or a thousand other things that have made antisemites in the past. Regardless of the reason, there is little doubt that he has changed since his Weekly Standard days. As Zengerle writes in the book’s concluding sentence, “He had descended into madness, but he was speaking to millions.”

Without the Fox platform, Carlson may no longer be essential viewing in the White House, but he remains disturbingly influential, with over 1 million listeners to his podcast. Whereas he once was surprised and even a little worried that the president would watch his show, he now has to make a special effort to ensure that the president hears what he is saying. As Zengerle writes,

where Carlson once tried to reach Trump through his Fox show, he now recognized that Trump did not have the wherewithal to watch (or listen, after Trump began releasing his online show as a podcast) to a two-hour-plus program. He began to communicate with Trump more directly – by text message, on the phone, and in person.

Direct communication with the president is concerning but could also be helpful. After all, if Trump is telling him to tone down his antisemitism, he might be one of the few people in the world that Carlson still listens to.

Worst. Hitler. Ever.

Posted at 1:35 pm by Ed Driscoll on Mar 12th, 2026

March 11, 2026

MEDIA CAN’T HIDE THE TRUTH ABOUT GRACIE MANSION BOMB ATTEMPT*:

There is no doubt as to their motivations: Both men spoke freely and unrepentantly to police at the scene, proudly claiming inspiration from ISIS and stating they had intended their terrorist atrocity to be “bigger than Boston” — a reference to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that took the lives of three and injured scores more. Only the incompetence of the bombers prevented Saturday from turning into one of the darkest days in recent New York history.

Yet one would know none of this were one to go only by the headlines and framing devices the mainstream media have consistently used to explain this story to American readers, who — like it or not — primarily consume their news in headline rather than article form. NBC New York got an early start on what would quickly become an overwhelming trend, telling a curiously noncommittal story over the weekend: “Multiple arrests made after ‘suspicious devices’ found outside Gracie Mansion, home of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, during anti-Islam rally and counterprotest.” The Daily News’ headline whimpered, “Protestors throw smoking improvised device, clash over Jake Lang pig roast at ‘anti-Islamification’ rally at Gracie Mansion.” The tone-setting New York Times itself wrestled with curiously tortured locutions: “Smoking Jars of Metal and Fuses Thrown at Protest Near Mayor’s House.”

It is impossible not to notice that all of these headlines — or countless others from similarly situated media outlets — are carefully crafted to avoid stating a politically inconvenient truth: Islamic terrorists came horrifyingly close to detonating bombs in a crowd of protesters. Instead, our attention is directed toward the “hateful” nature of the rally, and readers are asked to fill in the missing narrative gaps with their own imaginations instead.

By Tuesday, the sugarcoating of the obvious — that homegrown, self-radicalized jihadis had targeted a protest and nearly murdered who-knows-how-many people outside Gracie Mansion — had moved well into parody. CNN led the morning with a widely mocked (and subsequently deleted) tweet framing the acts of Balat and Kayumi as a soft-focus human interest story: “Two Pennsylvania teenagers crossed into New York City Saturday morning for what could’ve been a normal day enjoying the city during abnormally warm weather . . .” the piece begins. (You’ll never believe what happened next!)

* But CNN is determined to do their damndest: After CNN’s Horrible Tweet About NYC Bombing Attempt, They Just Made It Worse With New Comment From Host.

During Abby Phillip’s show on Tuesday, she made things even worse, claiming in two places during her broadcast that the NYC attack was an attempt to target Mamdani. She said it at the start of the program at about one minute in, where she talks about “after that attempted terror attack against New York’s mayor.” Then later in the program, she repeats it here:

She called it ‘an attempted terror attack against New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani,’ while accusing House Speaker Mike Johnson of staying silent on what she characterized as anti-Islam comments from two Republican lawmakers.

As we reported, one of the suspects allegedly threw a bomb at the protest crowd, then he dropped another on the street as police started to chase them. The police have made multiple statements regarding the alleged ISIS comments made by the suspects.

The CNN tweet about the suspects was bad enough, but how does a CNN host actually say this live on air, twice, no less? Then, apparently, trying to paint it as a part of an anti-Islam sentiment? How do you justify this?

By going to X instead of apologizing on-air: Abby Phillip DRAGGED After Tweet-Correcting On-Air Distortion of NYC ISIS Attack.

The most generous interpretation of Phillip’s gross mischaracterization of what is now obvious is that it was an ill-fated teleprompter read. Nonetheless, it went viral to the point of drawing a correction via social media:

The correction appears to have drawn more virality than the underlying video. This is due in large part to its careful wording which, in part, appears to validate the Bad ‘Prompter Load Theory. However, the correction reads as needlessly vague about the potential targets of the bombing. There were protesters, counterprotesters and NYPD all assembled at Gracie Mansion and all within range of the improvised explosive devices.

Condemnation of the correction has been swift. A sampling:

There are several tweets condemning Phillip for tweeting out an apology rather than going on-air.

Earlier:

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll on Mar 11th, 2026
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