Author Archive: Ed Driscoll

June 1, 2026

JIM GERAGHTY: Democrats Have Tied Themselves to Grähäm Plätner.

Based on what we know, Graham Platner is just a full-spectrum creep. That Democratic political firm that controls a bunch of social media influencers generated amazing results.

But we should not expect Maine Democrats to abandon Platner, nor pressure him to end his campaign. A whole lot of Democrats inside and outside of Maine are now deeply emotionally invested in the success of this campaign. From the moment they chose to believe that Platner had “accidentally” gotten the symbol of the Nazi SS tattooed on his chest, and the “military history buff” never recognized it as a Nazi symbol for 18 years, they were taking their consciences and integrity and putting them into a lockbox and entrusting them to Platner. Ending their support of Platner now would mean admitting that his critics were right about him all along. And surely, no modern Republican could relate to the phenomenon of sticking with a deeply flawed candidate out of a sense of partisan obligation, and not wanting to let the other side get a win.

Incidentally, this is who the man with the Totenkopf tat seeks to blitzkrieg:

Related: Flashing back to the infamous ad full of manly men eating carburetors for breakfast that Camp Kamala ran in 2024, did Platner’s recruiters think that the Totenkopf tat would be a plus…?

“So maybe they want to run to the RIGHT of Collins, and since these idiots ACTUALLY BELIEVE we are all actual Nazis, maybe they saw Platner as the ideal candidate. Because they are stupidly brainwashed. Just a theory…”

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll on Jun 1st, 2026

MATT WELCH: The Federal Government Botched the Bicentennial Too.

President Lyndon Johnson’s original idea back in 1966 was to use the bicentennial as a showcase for the self-evident glories of…urban renewal. Philadelphia leaders countered with a possible 1976 World Fair, hoping to recapture the glory of the Centennial Exposition a century before. But “an expensive, celebratory international exposition,” noted historian M.J. Rymsza-Pawlowska in The Inclusive Historian’s Handbook, “was out-of-step with the troubled contemporary moment.”

Then came backlash against the heavy-handed ministrations of a vulgar Republican president. Richard Nixon replaced LBJ’s picks on the bipartisan American Revolution Bicentennial Commission with his own cronies and donors, prompting would-be participants to back out of what was shaping up to be a more explicitly partisan exercise. The commission would eventually come under investigation and be replaced by a congressionally authorized American Revolution Bicentennial Administration (ARBA). Then as now, Washington treasured its narcissism of small bureaucratic differences.

The early ’70s being the early ’70s, there was also a dog’s breakfast of sociopolitical movements eager to throw turds in the national punchbowl. “A group called the Bicentennial Without Colonies sought to use the commemoration to point to the disjunction between the ideals and realities of the Revolution, specifically the ongoing inequality, disenfranchisement, and imperialism evidenced by U.S. actions in Puerto Rico,” wrote Rymsza-Pawlowska. “Local and national organizers for the Black Panther Party and American Indian Movement were involved in this latter effort and in interviews, speeches, and publications, also drew attention to the federal Bicentennial’s erasure of both the histories of inequality and the contributions of people of color to the nation.” Sometimes the past isn’t a foreign country…

By 1973, the ARBA had largely punted on any grand national gestures, opting instead to dish out grants to whatever state and local celebrations looked promising. Turns out there were lots! Parades and historical re-enactments galore, an odd and oddly moving Bicentennial Wagon Train in reverse to Valley Forge, area dads embarrassing their kids with powdered wigs and theatrical speeches. Not the kind of stuff to send thrills up the legs of New York Times art critics, but that was—maybe still is!—precisely the point.

When 2026 Gen Xers and Gen Jonesers wax nostalgic about the Bicentennial of their youth, part of the lament is for the passing of common culture. As Robert Pondiscio observed recently in Commentary, “we were…living in the last days of the three-network, Time-and-Newsweek world that functioned, for all its flaws and limitations, as a civic commons. When the Bicentennial unfolded, it did so on a shared stage.”

That stage so very much included tacky commercial culture—the Coke ads, 7Up’s 50 Cans for 50 States campaign, the collectible bicentennial quarters. “Much of it was kitschy, crass, and transparently designed to separate Americans from their money,” Pondiscio notes. As if that’s a bad thing!

Pop culture and sports, too, were spitting out spar-spangled ephemera. Yes, there were 1776 and Schoolhouse Rock, though for the latter we tend to remember the winning strains of “No More Kings” and “I’m Just a Bill” more than the problematic Manifest Destiny of “Elbow Room.” But, as importantly, you couldn’t turn on an AM radio without hearing Elton John’s #1 pre-disco banger “Philadelphia Freedom” (fittingly, a song written by one then-closeted icon about the sports team owned by another). The then-peaking American Basketball Association featured a red, white, and blue ball to go with its gravity-defying afros; all major professional sports leagues in 1976 held their All-Star games in Philly.

Read the whole thing.

Posted at 1:35 pm by Ed Driscoll on Jun 1st, 2026

DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF UNCANNY VALLEYS? The AI Film Dreams of Violets Is How You Get Me to Hate Movies.

The facial expressions are trying to convey sadness, but they are wooden, hollow facsimiles. I look at them and feel nothing except disgust. Beyond these uncanny valleys, many of the shots don’t even make sense. How can a man be walking normally while tear gas moves in slow motion behind him? Have these people forgotten how to tie a blindfold? Why is the bokeh flickering in broad daylight? What is even happening in this film?

Tom Rogers, Executive Chairman of Fountain 0 (the makers of the film), says that when he showed “Dreams of Violets” to “one of the most prominent names in the independent film business,” he had no idea he was watching an AI-generated movie.

I am curious to know which clearly blind person they found to say that, because this film is obviously AI generated.

I have a feeling that much of the criticism that will be levied against this mess of disjointed visuals will be accused of hating the topic of the “film,” not the fact it is AI generated. The creators will likely claim that those who speak out against it are actually somehow supporting the tragedy in Iran, which is an easy way to shift the narrative away from having to discuss the real issues.

Right now, AI works better as commercials and campaign videos (such as those made by Spenser Pratt’s supporters), than trying to pass it off as an actual film. But this is still the early days of the technology. As Glenn wrote in 2024, “Of course, the thing about AI is that AI keeps getting better, while people stay about the same…At a sufficiently advanced level of technology, AI will be super-effective at manipulating people, and they won’t even know they’re being manipulated.”

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll on Jun 1st, 2026

NIEMAND WIRD GERNE VON EINEM GEBÄUDE GEWORFEN:

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll on Jun 1st, 2026

QUALITY LEARING CENTERS, WEST COAST DIVISION: California’s War on Nick Shirley, Explained.

Our story begins at the epicenter of almost all affronts to Constitutional rights / basic decency / shit-free sidewalks: the state of California, where Gavin Newsom and his henchmen of union mouthpieces in Sacramento sensed trouble was afoot.

A young, ragged, hoodie-donning agitator by the name of Nick Shirley, armed with an iPhone camera and a healthy distrust of government officials, had just completed a trip to Minnesota, during which our humble protagonist stumbled upon some curious findings.

Several government-funded daycare centers — all run by individuals who happened to be of a certain common ancestry, an ancestry that happens to be one known for piracy — were not only poorly-spelled… they also had a mysterious lack of children (typically found at daycare centers) and generally appeared to be vectors for outright fraud more than fun playplaces hosting Ms. Rachel singalongs.

This was on the heels of the Feeding Our Future saga, a bombshell scandal in which several Minnesota residents (who also happened to be of the aforementioned ancestry, curious!) stole millions of tax dollars designated for COVID relief in the state, using the money to splurge on cars, vacations, and other various luxuries. In other words, the land of “Minnesota nice” had a bit of a blindspot for scammer exploitation, it turns out, and Shaggy Shirley — “Skater S. Thompson,” they call him (they don’t) — was doing his part to uncover it through gonzo-style, on-the-ground reporting.

After subsequently racking up over 100 million views on YouTube, Shirley’s Minnesota exposé ultimately led to a full-scale response from the Trump administration, including an FBI raid of the “daycare centers,” a freezing of funds by the Department of Health and Human Services, and even the establishment of a Vance-led taskforce dedicated entirely to cracking down on fraud.

But the real kicker came when Shirley announced his next act…

As with Minnesota, that Sacramento has chosen Shirley to be the enemy of the story, rather than those who have plundered their states of millions of dollars of fraud, explains much about the corruption of the left.

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll on Jun 1st, 2026

May 31, 2026

PRATT SUMMER:

Being angry about having your home burned down and having to share city streets with drug-addicted mentally ill homeless people, that’s definitely “MAGA-encoded:”

UPDATE:

Tweet concludes, “The carpenters, electricians, and delivery drivers keeping the cities functional pay the highest gas and income taxes in the continental United States. They fund the programs but receive none of the benefits. They earn too much to qualify for state subsidies but lack the millions required to buy their way into secure zip codes. Time for Spencer Pratt.”

Posted at 5:45 pm by Ed Driscoll on May 31st, 2026

GREAT MOMENTS IN ASTROTURFING:

 

Posted at 4:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on May 31st, 2026

IT’S MEL BROOKS’ WORLD; WE’RE JUST LIVING IN IT: Scientists Discover Surprising Anti-Aging Power Hidden in Aged Garlic.

Well yes, the 2,000 Year Old Man admitted to this 60 years ago: “In the classic comedy routine, The 2,000-Year-Old Man, Brooks is the title character and his good friend Carl Reiner is interviewing him. When Reiner asks Brooks how he has been able to live so long, he says, “It’s simple. I eat garlic. I’ve eaten it with every meal for 2,000 years. Whenever the Angel of Death came for me, I looked him right in the eye and said, ‘Whoooo are youuuu? The garlic on my breath always sent him packing.’”

Posted at 2:45 pm by Ed Driscoll on May 31st, 2026

HAPPY SEMIQUINCENTENNIAL FROM AMERICA’S SOCIALISTS!

Tweet concludes, “Trump is president so life must suck. If concert held, people might think Trump not bad.”

Democrats in 1976 knew they had to muster some patriotic spirit to celebrate the Bicentennial. It helped that Gerald Ford was the last liberal go-along to get-along Republican president to date (unless you were worked on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, where he was viewed as the Antichrist).

More on that from a post I wrote last week:  The Past is a Foreign Country; They Sell Cola Differently There.

UPDATE:

Tweet continues, “There is this Gen Z misconception that the ’70s and early ’80s were some sort of economic golden age of readily available, well-paying jobs, low cost housing and an all around sense of prosperity. WRONG. Google ‘Stagflation.’ Google ‘gas lines.’ Google ‘mortgage interest rates in the 1980s.’ Our economy today is a golden age by comparison, without exaggeration. Yet somehow in 1976 we could gleefully celebrate our nation’s birthday without Democrats turning it into a Howard Zinn-inspired anti-history hatefest.”

Posted at 1:45 pm by Ed Driscoll on May 31st, 2026

AS ORWELL NEVER SAID, PEOPLE SLEEP PEACEABLY IN THEIR BEDS AT NIGHT ONLY BECAUSE ROUGH MEN STAND READY TO DO VIOLENCE ON THEIR BEHALF:

Posted at 1:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on May 31st, 2026

RIOTS FOR THEE, BUT NOT FOR ME:

UPDATE: Metaphor alert:

(Classical reference in headline.)

Posted at 12:55 pm by Ed Driscoll on May 31st, 2026

DIE WERTENTWICKLUNG IN DER VERGANGENHEIT IST KEINE GARANTIE FÜR ZUKÜNFTIGE ERGEBNISSE:

Related: What Other Skeletons Are Lurking in Graham Platner’s Closet? “These new stories are primarily coming from (and being confirmed by) Genevieve McDonald, Platner’s former political director, who resigned in October. McDonald was the person charged with doing ‘internal oppo’ on Platner — the normal vetting process whereby a campaign frankly assesses all of their candidate’s potential personal and political weaknesses. And as all of these stories about Platner’s personal rottenness drip forth, all with immaculate sourcing and ironclad claims, I begin to ask myself: What remaining skeletons could possibly be hiding in Graham Platner’s closet that would make McDonald not only quit his campaign, but also potentially dynamite her own career in order to tell the truth about him? What are we about to find out next about Graham Platner?”

More: Graham Platner’s Senate Campaign Is Finished. Platner is “the man Maine Democrats chose over Gov. Janet Mills, who was an experienced, vetted, credible candidate who might have actually given Collins a real race. Instead, they went with an unvetted newcomer whose past was a minefield and whose judgment, apparently, never improved. They wanted fresh and exciting. They got this.”

Posted at 12:45 pm by Ed Driscoll on May 31st, 2026

QUESTION ASKED: Is Music Industry’s Blacklist Worse than Hollywood’s Version?

The gala promised a grand day of music on the National Mall July 4.

Yet some of the artists teased to appear quickly backtracked once the list went public.

A few claimed the event was too political and divisive, citing vague statements to allegedly back up the claim. Others, like Bret Michaels, said violent threats made them quit the tour.

“Concerns have also been raised regarding the safety of my fans, band, crew, family and myself, including threats that are completely unfounded and unforgivable.”

With about a month to go, what are Trump’s options?

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll on May 31st, 2026

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Was Marcel Duchamp’s notorious ‘Fountain’ even his own work?

Collectors clamored for more paintings, but he was obsessed with his “readymades,” of which the most celebrated remains “Fountain.” It was a urinal he reputedly bought from a plumbing suppliers and signed “R. Mutt 1917.” He submitted it to the Society of Independent Artists, which was supposed to show any artist who paid $5 in annual dues and a $1 entry fee. So “Fountain” was duly entered – and rejected. Duchamp had it photographed by Alfred Stieglitz and that was the last anyone saw of it. The original no longer exists. Nevertheless, it has often been recreated for Duchamp exhibitions.

John Strausbaugh floats the interesting theory that “Fountain” was not actually the work of Duchamp at all but of Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven. She was a well known German eccentric, “unhampered by sanity,” who turned up in New York in 1913, aged 39. She worked as a life model at the Art Students League and looked extraordinary: “Her lips were painted black, her face powder was yellow. She wore the top of a coal scuttle for a hat.” She lusted after Duchamp and wrote him a poem – “Marcel, Marcel, I love you like hell, Marcel” – but he would have none of her because she stank like a skunk. But they were good friends, so it is significant that Duchamp wrote to his sister the day after the Independent Artists’ exhibition opened: “One of my female friends under a masculine pseudonym, Richard Mutt, sent in a porcelain urinal as a sculpture.” And also that he did not claim “Fountain” as his own until 1934, after the Baroness died.

* * * * * * * * *

[Duchamp died of a heart attack in 1969.] The Village Voice obituary pronounced him “the most influential artist of our time… A mainspring, a wellspring, a genius.” And his importance has, if anything, increased since. Last year Jeff Koons declared that “Duchamp is as relevant today as in his own time” and Ai Weiwei said: “Marcel Duchamp’s influence remains profound – not only today but well into the future.”

Though there are certainly limits to his influence: Money Down The Toilet In Afghanistan. That time when progressive US colonialists tried to enlighten Afghans by teaching them about the glories of Dadaist art. “Cockburn dredges up something so horrible and hilarious that it’s straight out of a Monty Python sketch. In it, the American occupiers attempt to enlighten a group of Afghan women by showing them Marcel Duchamp’s famous urinal-as-museum-piece, and telling them that it’s important art. Cockburn says watch to the 31-second point and see the moment when America failed in Afghanistan:”

Posted at 8:45 am by Ed Driscoll on May 31st, 2026

LEFTIST FANS OF BIG GOVERNMENT ARE CURIOUSLY EAGER TO PROVOKE IT:

Evergreen:

Posted at 8:14 am by Ed Driscoll on May 31st, 2026

IS PARIS BURNING? Hundreds Arrested as Riots and Looting Break Out After Paris Saint-Germain Victory in Champions League Final.

Riots immediately erupted in the French capital following Paris Saint-Germain’s victory over London’s Arsenal Football Club in the Champions League Final on Saturday.

UPDATE 5/31 0145: Hundreds of arrests across France

According to updated figures from Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, at least 416 people have been arrested throughout France on Sunday, including 283 in Paris. At least seven police officers were injured during the rioting, including one seriously, Le Figaro reported.

In addition to clashes with police and setting fires, Minister Nuñez said that 15 cities across the country experienced looting, including multiple instances in cities such as Grenoble, Strasbourg, and Rennes.

Despite the chaos, the government minister said that plans to hold a victory celebration at the Champ de Mars on Sunday are still set to go ahead.

Wow, and I thought Eagles and Raiders fans were a bit overenthusiastic:

Posted at 7:45 am by Ed Driscoll on May 31st, 2026

TO BOLDLY GO WHERE THE DAILY WIRE WENT THREE YEARS AGO:

Flashback: Canada’s Mass Graves Narrative That Sparked Church Burnings Crumbles Amid Dearth Of Evidence.

—The Daily Wire, September 2nd, 2023.

Posted at 7:14 am by Ed Driscoll on May 31st, 2026

May 30, 2026

IT’S JUST A BLITZKRIEG OF OPPOSITION DUMPS: Platner Maintained Sexually-Suggestive Profile on ‘Predator’s Paradise’ App Known For Child Exploitation.

Democrat candidate for Maine U.S. Senate Graham Platner has had a long history of sexual deviancy unearthed over the course of his political campaign. It’s previously been revealed that Platner has engaged in bouts of masturbation in public restrooms, had phone sex on a network compromised by the Taliban, and cried over the closure of a Thailand prostitution tax-loophole.

A recent report from the Wall Street Journal revealed that Platner has an account on an anonymous messaging platform known for playing host to countless sexual predators, Kik.

Platner’s account, which goes by the username phustle0331, remains active today. His chosen avatar is a mirror selfie where an individual appears to be dressed in nothing but a bath towel. The tattoos featured on the individual match tattoos that Platner had as recently as October when he conducted an interview with a local ABC affiliate, confirming that he is the individual pictured. Further, the username matches that of private Instagram account associated with Platner as well as his infamous Reddit account.

* * * * * * * *

Platner’s Kik account, which he later admitted was his to the Wall Street Journal, was created on June 26, 2016. By that time, Kik has already garnered a strong reputation as a platform rife with predators seeking to sexually exploit children. Several cases received widespread attention, including a 2016 sting operation that resulted in the arrests of more than 2,600 predators. The issue was considered so prevalent that the New York Times published an exposé on the dangers the app posed to children.

Meanwhile, when you’re a leftist who’s lost The Atlantic…: Atlantic Drops ‘Do Better Than Platner’ Bomb as Shipwreckedcrew Warns: DNC Prepping Another Primary Heist.

Obviously, The Atlantic would never publish anything without the express approval of the DNC, so it gives a peek at how the Democrat Party is feeling about adding Platner to their elected ranks. Clearly, they see it as very problematic.

Related:

 

Bob Torricelli, tanned, rested, and ready; as Michael Graham sagely cautioned in 2004 (the year Torricelli was swapped out and replaced by a fossilized Frank Lautenberg on the NJ ballot), “Don’t assume you know who’s on the Democratic ticket until Election Day.”

Posted at 8:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on May 30th, 2026

THE NIGHT PORTER: Graham Platner’s Wife Flagged Sexually Explicit Texts to His Senate Campaign.

The previously unreported deliberations last year over sexually explicit texts discovered on Platner’s phone come as the veteran has exploded onto the national political scene, kindling Democratic hopes that they can unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins and gain control of the Senate.

Platner has recently faced disclosures about controversial posts from his now deleted Reddit account. They have included comments from his account downplaying sexual assault and crude posts about sex workers and masturbation. Platner has already admitted to having covered up a Nazi-linked tattoo.

The revelations about Platner’s past have provided fodder for Republicans and stirred debate within the Democratic Party about his character and judgment. Platner is a political novice. Some in the party fear they have attached themselves to a candidate who didn’t undergo thorough vetting and could undermine their hopes for the midterm elections in November.

Platner also has an active account on Kik, a popular, private messaging app. Platner’s profile shows a mirror selfie of him shirtless with a towel wrapped around his waist. Many of his tattoos are clearly visible in the picture.

* * * * * * * *

Besides his posts on Reddit downplaying sexual assault, which became the subject of an attack ad by his then-primary opponent Janet Mills, Platner has also expressed lenient views related to infidelity in other posts. Mills, the Maine governor, suspended her campaign ahead of the June 9 Democratic primary.

Exit quote:

Posted at 4:45 pm by Ed Driscoll on May 30th, 2026

NITHYA RAMAN: BIKE LANE LEFTIST.

Back in 2003, Mark Steyn wrote:

Like Susan Lucci at the Emmys, Howard Dean is getting better at putting a brave face on things. When Saddam Hussein fell from power, the Vermonter said churlishly, “I suppose that’s a good thing.” When Uday and Qusay bit the dust, the governor announced that “the ends do not justify the means.” But on Sunday, Dr. Dean was doing his best to be fulsome, if you can be fulsome with clenched teeth. Nonetheless, he congratulated “our extraordinary military on an extraordinary victory and an extraordinary success.” They gave Miss Lucci the Emmy eventually, and maybe by Labor Day next year, when the good doctor is thanking Don Rumsfeld for the souvenir vial of Osama’s DNA he FedExed over, the voters will be feeling sorry enough to give Howard the prize, too. But this weekend that pileup of “extraordinaries” made the governor seem, well, ordinary.

It’s odd that when something big happens, as on Sunday, the Democratic candidates seem irrelevant to the story, like asking a lacrosse expert what he thinks of the Super Bowl. They get interviewed and they trot out their lame clichés, about the need to “internationalize” Iraq, by which they mean not Tony Blair, John Howard, the Poles and Italians, but Kofi Annan, The Hague, the French, the Guinean foreign minister, all the folks who proved unwilling and unable to deal with Iraq before the liberation and who have given no indication of being likely to do any better after. The Democrats’ indestructible retreat to this dreary line gives them the air of a gormless twit in a drawing-room comedy coming in through the French windows every 10 minutes and saying, “Anyone for tennis?” You can’t help feeling that, on the big questions roiling around America’s national security, the Dems don’t really have speaking parts: if this was Broadway, they’d have been written out in New Haven.

There was a revealing moment on MSNBC the other night. Chris Matthews asked Dr. Dean whether Osama bin Laden should be tried in an American court or at The Hague. “I don’t think it makes a lot of difference,” said the governor airily. Mr. Matthews pressed once more. “It doesn’t make a lot of difference to me,” he said again. Some of us think what’s left of Osama is already hard enough to scrape off the cave floor and put in a matchbox, never mind fly to the Netherlands. But, just for the sake of argument, his bloodiest crime was committed on American soil; American courts, unlike the international ones, would have the option of the death penalty. But Gov. Dean couldn’t have been less interested. So how about Saddam? The Hague “suits me fine,” he said, the very model of ennui. Saddam? Osama? Whatever, dude.

So what does get the Dean juices going? A few days later, the governor was on CNN and Judy Woodruff asked him about his admission that he’d left the Episcopal Church and become a Congregationalist because “I had a big fight with a local Episcopal church over the bike path.” I hasten to add that, in contrast to current Anglican controversies over gay marriage in British Columbia and gay bishops in New Hampshire, this does not appear to have been a gay bike path: its orientation was not an issue; it would seem to be a rare example of a non-gay controversy in the Anglican Communion. But nevertheless it provoked Howard into “a big fight.” “I was fighting to have public access to the waterfront, and we were fighting very hard in the citizens group,” he told Judy Woodruff. Fighting, fighting, fighting.

And that’s our pugnacious little Democrat. On Osama bin Laden, he’s Mister Insouciant. But he gets mad about bike paths. Destroy the World Trade Center and he’s languid and laconic and blasé. Obstruct plans to convert the ravaged site into a memorial bike path and he’ll hunt you down wherever you are.

It’s just a little bit of history repeating, as Shirley Bassey would say:

Posted at 4:30 pm by Ed Driscoll on May 30th, 2026

CYNICAL PUBLIUS: Élan, Social Justice, and Losing Wars.

Military historians talk a lot about “revolutions in military affairs.” Usually, this refers to a game-changing technology that obliterates existing doctrines and tactics almost overnight. Examples include the phalanx, the longbow, the rifled musket, targeted indirect fires, the machine gun, the airplane, the submarine, the tank, the nuclear bomb, and the drone—the list goes on and on. However, revolutions in military affairs often do not relate directly to technology. Instead, they are frequently rooted in changes in guiding philosophies born of the “moral” (as Clausewitz describes it) rather than the physical.

That’s what Social Justice Warfare is—an expression of the moral over the physical elements of warfare. It is the idea that “diversity is our strength” and that the progressive policies of so-called “social justice” have a place in winning wars. Social Justice Warfare holds that political orthodoxies can overcome the intrinsic violence of war. Then it dawned on me: Social Justice Warfare is the modern equivalent of the pre-World War I French military doctrine of “élan.”

Read the whole thing.

Posted at 4:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on May 30th, 2026

ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: CA Union Hilariously Mocks Gavin Newsom by Weaponizing Climate Excuse to Dodge Return-to-Work Order.

The California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment (CASE) earlier this week fired off “exhaustion” letters to over 100 state agencies, claiming that forcing 90,000+ state workers to commute four days a week would contribute to the global warming crisis.

I say ‘mocked’ above, but there is a very significant chance that the union here actually believes what it is peddling. And man, did they ever go full throttle here, producing an exhaustive (pun intended) scientific study indicating that their workers heading back to the office would pump an extra 15,000 tons of carbon into the air every month.

Baseline Environmental Consulting, which conducted the study, suggests that the looming return-to-office policy “runs counter to the state’s effort to reduce transportation-sector emissions,” outlined in California’s comprehensive roadmap to achieve carbon neutrality.

As far as circular firing squads go, this is just … *chef’s kiss* baby.

Exit quote: “What makes this interesting, though, is that Newsom has been cornered. He can’t attack the union without torching his own beloved climate law and carbon-reduction goals that he’s spent years ramming down Californians’ throats. Only in a one-party blue state clown world could government unions use the Democrats’ favorite environmental weapon to declare commuting to work an existential threat to the planet.”

Posted at 2:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on May 30th, 2026
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