Author Archive: Ed Driscoll

February 6, 2026

CHARLES COOKE: Why the Outrage Over the Cuts at the Washington Post Is So Annoying.

I have been trying to put my finger on exactly why I have found the outrage over the cuts at the Washington Post so annoying, and in searching for that answer, I have instead found a whole fist. So here goes: The outrage over the cuts at the Washington Post is annoying because the gap between the self-regard of those who were fired and the contributions of those who were fired is so enormous as to beggar belief. On days such as yesterday, Twitter is filled to the brim with “I was just laid off” posts, as though one had stumbled upon a battlefield strewn with the wounded — except, unlike on a battlefield, the wounded are all talking to one another in cloying, self-congratulatory tones. The result is a veritable web of grotesque and sycophantic encomia that does not stand up to even the slightest evaluation.

Don’t believe me? Click through on one of those posts, scroll past the pinned advertisement for the newspaper’s union, and look up the user’s name in the Post’s archive. If you do, you’ll typically learn that the person who is being praised as a “brilliant” and “talented” journalist who did “great work” has a job description like “sits at the intersection of civil rights and cooking,” that they wrote four things in the last two months, and that two of them were about how alligators are racist.

To get a sense of why the Post failed with its intended audience of leftists, that reference flew right past the head of the “New York-based journalist covering media for Semafor:” 

Miller’s tweet continues, “Now do you see you and the media’s problem?”

But then, as T. Becket Adams wrote last November: When crazy is too crazy even for the base.

It’s one thing for Democrats to live in a bubble where they don’t know or understand what Republicans believe. But how can they not know what’s happening in their own backyard? How have they insulated themselves so well that their first reaction to learning about what Democratic politicians are doing is to assume it’s some kind of Republican dirty trick?

This phenomenon goes far beyond too-online comedians and sloppy journalists. In fact, GOP pollsters say the disconnect between what Democratic legislators support and what Democratic voters know of their own party has made it much more difficult to collect accurate survey data.

“When you outline the Democratic agenda, you have to water it down, because in both polling and focus groups, people just don’t believe it,” a Republican source told Park MacDougald for Tablet magazine in 2024, before the election. “They are critical of things like boys in girls’ sports, but they tune out stuff about schools not informing parents about transitioning their children. They just don’t believe it’s true. It can’t be.”

But it is.

But reality catches up eventually. Or as Scott McKay writes at the American Spectator: You Can’t Go on Destroying Wealth Forever, You Know. Ultimately, There Are Consequences.

Here’s hoping the Post employees can find gainful employment. But along the way, let’s also hope they learn a lesson from the decline of their former employer — which is that serving an ideology, rather than the public good or the needs of the market, ultimately isn’t a sustainable pursuit.

As for Billie Eilish, one surmises she’ll be fine — whether the tribesmen of the Tongva repossess her house or not. Thought we do wish the best of luck to her in expanding her audience beyond mentally deranged Gen Z females. She’ll need it.

By the way, the excesses of the Clinton-obsessed American Spectator of the 1990s and its spectacular crash and burn after he left office were a warning the Washington Post should have headed when it went full-bore TDS a decade ago: The Life and Death ofThe American Spectator.

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 6th, 2026

BILL AYERS AND BERNARDINE DOHRN SMILE:

Posted at 7:14 am by Ed Driscoll on Feb 6th, 2026

February 5, 2026

BILL MAHER: “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but where does QAnon go for the apology?”

“You know, I mean, QAnon, which believed in lots of really ridiculous things like, you know, Democrats eat babies…but they were kind of harping a lot on the idea that the elites are running this pedophile ring.”

“Now with all that’s come out in the last couple of weeks, there’s a little more than smoke.”

MAHER: “So you know, I mean, QAnon, yes — a lot of crazy there, but you know what?”

“You weren’t totally wrong about that one, guys.”

Earlier, from Mark Steyn: Paedos All the Way Down.

Posted at 6:35 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 5th, 2026

LET HE WHO HAS NOT INJECTED HIS PENIS WITH HYALURONIC ACID CAST THE FIRST STONE: Are ski jumpers enhancing their penises to fly further? WADA is ready to investigate.

The Winter Olympics has long been a battleground for marginal gains. Just look at the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) banning the new helmets Great Britain had planned to wear next week due to their aerodynamic ridges.

Thursday, however, took things to a new level in Milan Cortina — ski jumpers allegedly injecting their penises with hyaluronic acid in order to fly that little bit further.

The claims were originally reported in German newspaper Bild, in January on the eve of the latest Winter Olympics beginning in Italy and subsequently addressed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) president Witold Banka during a press conference.

So far, so lurid, but there is science behind the allegations. Injecting the penis with acid would increase its size and give the ski jumpers bigger genitalia at the point their suits are measured by 3D scanners.

Temporarily enhanced measurements would theoretically mean athletes being given a bigger, looser suit and, like a sail catching wind, could allow them to make longer jumps. Research from the scientific journal, Frontiers, published last October said that a 2cm change in a suit represented an extra 5.8 metres in the length of a jump.

If injecting your old chap with acid can lengthen your ski jump, does checking the wind direction and dressing to the right or the left impact the distance as well?

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

BAD BUNNY IS SKIP BAYLESS APPROVED! Skip Bayless gets brutally honest about Bad Bunny and ‘boring, cliche’ football players ahead of Super Bowl LX.

A frequent critic of the NFL, Skip Bayless is applauding the league and partner Roc Nation for picking Bad Bunny to headline Sunday’s halftime show Santa Clara.

‘I thought it was an inspired, different sort of choice,’ Bayless told the Daily Mail at this week’s NFL Crucial Catch dinner in San Francisco, hosted by the American Cancer Society. ‘He’s the most downloaded artist in the world, so good for the NFL.’

Born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, Bad Bunny is the Grammy Award-winning musician, actor and Donald Trump critic detested by conservatives for his Spanish lyrics and anti-ICE stance. But while some are furious to see him get the biggest stage in music, Bad Bunny has intrigued Bayless, albeit in small doses.

‘You know, it’s funny,’ Bayless began. ‘I thought he was not good, [but] great, in Happy Gilmore 2 because he stole it. He’s a very gifted actor, and I like him on Saturday Night Live. I like him a lot.

‘And the music, I haven’t gotten into yet, I try,’ he continued. ‘And then I heard a song today that I liked, and maybe I’m too out of the demo, but all I know about Bad Bunny is: He is extremely talented in many, many ways, so I’m happy. I liked [the decision].’

I’m so old, I can remember when mass audiences actually knew the music that would be performed at the Super Bowl halftime show — and had heard of the performer before he was announced by the NFL.

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

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD EXPANDING; LOOKING TO HIRE THE BEST FABULISTS ON THE PLANET:

Posted at 4:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 5th, 2026

I SHOUTED OUT WHO KILLED THE WAPO, WHEN AFTER ALL IT WAS JEFF AND ME: The Washington Post Disaster is an Indictment of Both Publishers and Society.

The shocking diminishment of The Washington Post, which has just announced it is cutting a third of its staff, is not just another story of a great paper succumbing to algorithms, social media, and the march to idiocracy. In their zeal to be seen as fair and evenhanded, journalists tend to accept the common criticism that they failed to adapt — that, basically, they didn’t produce enough viral TikTok videos.

There’s some truth to that, but the main problem lies elsewhere. This disaster is an indictment of the business side of journalism: its inability to understand what remaining readers value, its mistaking novelty for strategy, its cowardice about insisting the product has economic value, its refusal to collaborate as an industry, and its refusal to get out of the way of the product it exists to serve.

Of course, there is also a failure of society. We faced a test over the past thirty years: Did we educate ourselves to value truth (and civility and justice and progress)? Do we care enough to pay enough to keep the machinery of reliable information going — the way we do for beer and sneakers? And guns in dumb places and guaranteed healthcare in smarter ones? Turns out that we did not.

What is this “machinery of reliable information” you refer to?

More from Nolte here: Washington Post-Mortem: A Suicide in Five Acts.

Well, six actually:

Posted at 2:35 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 5th, 2026

ROGER KIMBALL: We are rapidly approaching the denouement of the 2020 election drama.

Commenting on the tsunami of news crashing out from Georgia, the great Cleta Mitchell, who advised President Trump when he contested the Georgia election results,  noted that on the morning of election day,  November  4, 2020, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Trump led by 103K votes with only 94K ballots left. “Four days later,” Mitchell noted:

[T]here were 300K more ballots, including 148K absentee ballots from Fulton County. That’s 25,535 more ballots than voters, more than double Biden’s margin. Over 133K ballot images were deleted. Zero of 148 Fulton County tabulators had the required tapes. Nearly 7K fictitious ballots remain certified, and no one investigated.

Then there is the news about Georgia Governor Brian Kemp. Grand jury testimony that was just unsealed revealed that Kemp told the chief of Georgia Bureau of Investigation not to [investigate] allegations of fraud in the 2020 election, Saying he was a “team player,” the official dropped the case.

The mask is being ripped off as I write. A Gestalt shift in The Narrative is underway. Wikipedia says that Cleta Mitchell “aided Donald Trump in his efforts to overturn the election results and pressure election officials to ‘find’ sufficient votes for him to win.” How long will it be before the site is forced to note instead that she aided the president in his efforts to get to the truth in Fulton County?  What happened in Georgia is just one falling domino in the giant reversal that is taking place. A lot of reputedly “impossible” things are in the process of being revealed.

Stay tuned. As Chris Queen wrote last Friday: If Georgia’s 2020 Election Was ‘Fair,’ Fulton County Sure Is Defensive About It.

Posted at 1:35 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 5th, 2026

IT’S COME TO THIS: Stanford’s Fake Disability Crisis Is America’s Future.

The Stanford Scam: Gaming Disability for Better Dorms

The numbers are damning: 38% of Stanford undergraduates are registered as having a disability. Meanwhile, at community colleges? Three to four percent. The schools that boast the most academically successful students are the ones with the highest “disability” rates—disabilities that you’d think would deter academic success.

The accommodations are generous: single rooms (instead of cramped triples), extra test time (some students get double), excused absences, late assignments, and even exemptions from class participation for “social anxiety.” The process? A 30-minute Zoom call with minimal skepticism. According to one Stanford student who wrote about her experience, she “probably didn’t even need a doctor’s note.”

Even students with legitimate diagnoses feel the rot. One student with ADHD and Asperger’s admitted: “I probably didn’t deserve the accommodations, given the fact I got into Stanford and could compete at a high academic level.”

Fake Jains and Whole Foods: The Meal Plan Hustle

The gaming doesn’t stop at disability. Stanford requires undergrads to purchase an $7,944 annual meal plan—unless they claim a religious dietary restriction the cafeteria can’t accommodate.

* * * * * * * *

So some students claim to be devout members of the Jain faith, which rejects any food that may cause harm to living creatures—including insects and root vegetables. They spend their meal money at Whole Foods instead, enjoying freshly made salads while their honest classmates eat “burgers made partly from mushroom mix.”

Administrators are powerless. How do you challenge a religious dietary claim without risking a discrimination lawsuit? The university created a system with no verification and wonder why it gets gamed.

Much more here: Nearly 40% of Stanford undergraduates claim they’re disabled. I’m one of them. One of the most prestigious universities in the US offers perks to those who say they have ADHD, night terrors, even gluten intolerance. You’d be stupid not to game the system.

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 5th, 2026

OBAMA: Obama Tells SF Chronicle He Will Bankrupt Coal Industry.

Hillary: ‘We’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business’–Hillary Clinton.

Biden: How Biden’s New Environmental Rule Could Force Coal and Gas Plants To Shut Down Entirely.

China:

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 5th, 2026

BEN COLLINS (THE STIG) TEST DRIVES THE NEW FERRARI TESTAROSSA 849 (Video):

It seems slightly more subdued in looks than the bonkers Miami Vice-era Testarossa. No word yet when the Metro-Dade Organized Crime Bureau will be issuing the new Ferrari to their undercover detectives.

Posted at 12:22 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 5th, 2026

FINALLY: How Billie Eilish OBLITERATED the Palestinian Narrative!

Because the claim that “this land was stolen from people who themselves never stole it” is historically false.

It’s false everywhere. False on the North American Continent. False on Japan. False in Africa. False just about everywhere humans have ever existed.

But you know who knows that better than anyone else? The Palestinians.

And Billie Eilish just DESTROYED the narrative that the land was stolen FROM THEM.

Because if she is willing to go back half a millennia with her arbitrary line of distinction, why not more than 2,000 years. It’s Palestinian land? Really? Let’s check who stole the land from the Jews (or Israelis or Hebrews):

Meanwhile, for some more recent history out of Palestine:

 

Posted at 10:22 am by Ed Driscoll on Feb 5th, 2026

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS:

Posted at 7:45 am by Ed Driscoll on Feb 5th, 2026

IF ONLY SHE HAD DIRECTED WATERING DOWN THE FIRE AS WELL: Bass directed watering down of Palisades fire after-action report, sources say.

  • Sources told The Times that Mayor Karen Bass was concerned about legal liabilities for failures in combating the Palisades fire.
  • Bass wanted key findings about the Los Angeles Fire Department’s shortcomings removed or softened, the sources said.
  • The most significant changes to the report involved a failure not to fully staff up and pre-deploy all available engines ahead of dangerously high winds.

For nearly two months, Mayor Karen Bass has repeatedly denied that she was involved in altering an after-action report on the Palisades fire to downplay failures by the city and the Los Angeles Fire Department in combating the catastrophic blaze.

But two sources with knowledge of Bass’ office said that after receiving an early draft, the mayor told then-interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva that the report could expose the city to legal liabilities for those failures. Bass wanted key findings about the LAFD’s actions removed or softened before the report was made public, the sources said — and that is what happened.

The changes to the report, which was released on Oct. 8, came to light through a Times investigation published in December.

The sources told The Times that two people close to Bass informed them of the mayor’s behind-the-scenes role in watering down the report. One source spoke to both of the people; the other spoke to one of them. The sources requested anonymity to speak frankly about the mayor’s private conversations with Villanueva and others.

One Bass confidant told one of the sources that “the mayor didn’t tell the truth when she said she had nothing to do with changing the report.” The source said the confidant advised Bass that altering the report “was a bad idea” because it would hurt her politically.

Altering the fire department itself was a bad idea as well: LA Mayor Karen Bass cut fire department funding by $17.6M, focused on homeless spending — months before wildfires turned city into hellscape.

“Charlie Peters’ ‘Fireman First’ principle says you always threaten to cut firemen in order to create a public outcry against budget cuts. You’re not supposed to actually do it,” Mickey Kaus tweeted a year ago, as a reminder of just how incompetent Bass is.

In November Cal Matters reported: In L.A. mayor’s race, Karen Bass is vulnerable but she’ll be tough to topple.

Good and hard, L.A., good and hard. This 2015 City Journal piece by VDH titled “The Scorching of California” is a reminder that wealthy Californians seem to have little desire to fix their state’s myriad woes.

Posted at 7:14 am by Ed Driscoll on Feb 5th, 2026

February 4, 2026

JULIE BURCHILL: Celebrities for illegal immigration.

A cynic once said that the reason people become artists is so they can have wealth, attention and beautiful lovers, and it’s equally true of the other branches of the creative and performing arts. Though they can talk about their ‘craft’ until the cows come home, most people go into showbiz so they can be recognised as special – not as ‘civilians’, as Liz Hurley memorably called non-creatives. Showbiz celebs sleep with each other and holiday with each other. Their children become friends and form icky little nepo-baby gangs. Still, no matter what big Jessies they appear by doing so, that’s their own business.

When the behaviour of celebrities becomes a matter for the rest of us, however, is when they take it upon themselves to pontificate on politics, as politics is in the public, not the private, arena. Of course, it’s fine for them to speak out in favour of whatever candidate they fancy during elections. Although, after Kamala Harris’s loss to Donald Trump, you would have thought they might have learned the lesson that when the rich and famous lecture ordinary people, it tends to end very badly for them. Not only do celeb endorsements not work, but they can also have a repelling effect. Beyoncé and Bruce ‘The Boss’ Springsteen sure helped cook Kamala’s goose. She also won endorsements from – deep breath – Oprah Winfrey, Taylor Swift, Megan Thee Stallion, George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ariana Grande, Barbra Streisand, Olivia Rodrigo and Charli XCX. But she lost every swing state.

I find it splendidly sensible that ‘ordinary’ people are able to see through celebrity endorsements. It was F Scott Fitzgerald who famously said, ‘The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind, at the same time, and still retain the ability to function’. Regular people are able to admire, even idolise, a singer or an actor – and then totally do the opposite politically to what that performer calls for.

A few mummers appear to have got the memo, but the Grammy awards last weekend reminded us of the unreconstructed arrogance on the part of the famous. Many now appear to believe that far from democracy being about one person one vote, it’s about preventing policies that the ‘civilians’ have voted for from ever being carried out, if they offend the famous. It’s preposterous, but the likes of Billie Eilish really do seem to believe in this moderated, mutilated version of democracy.

But how else can they virtue signal that they’re in the club, and not one of those icky “civilians?” Acting the Fool: Adam Corolla Says Some in Hollywood Are Not the Radical Leftists They Appear to Be.

Posted at 5:45 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 4th, 2026

DOWNFALL: Washington Post Lays Off 300 Staffers, Shuttering Sports Section and Gutting Foreign Desk as Once-Mighty Publisher Bleeds Subscribers and Money.

The embattled Washington Post is laying off more than 300 employees—about a third of its already shrunken staff—as it guts sports, local news, and international coverage to cut costs and, its executives hope, boost readership.

Executive Editor Matt Murray told staff on a Wednesday morning call that the layoffs are part of a “broad strategic reset with a significant staff reduction,” as the paper attempts to reposition itself in what he described as an increasingly “crowded, competitive and complicated media landscape,” Semafor’s Max Tani reported. Murray admitted that the Post had lost too much money and had failed to make itself essential to readers.

The layoffs are the latest blow to the Post, which is enduring a bad hangover after going all in on an anti-Trump editorial strategy during President Donald Trump’s first term, using the marketing slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” Paid subscriptions surged, and the publisher almost doubled the size of its newsroom to a peak of about 1,000 people in early 2021. But when President Joe Biden took power, interest in the “resistance” flagged, subscription revenue plummeted, and the Post has been losing money and cutting staff. Reader interest has also plummeted from a high of 110 million unique monthly users in January 2021 to 62 million in January 2026. Meanwhile, the New York Times, which the Post has long aspired to be considered an equal to, has pulled far ahead. Back in Washington, Politico has dethroned the Post as the leader in political news coverage.

* * * * * * * *

In the last few weeks, as layoffs loomed, Post staffers expressed concern about the paper’s direction. “I’ve never experienced such a feeling of dread,” one employee told Status’s Oliver Darcy. A former manager called Bezos’s leadership “a business failure on a colossal level.” Staffers even considered enlisting celebrities like Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks to get Bezos to reverse course.

Exit questions:

UPDATE:

MORE:

Posted at 5:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 4th, 2026

GOODER AND HARDER: California gas prices expected to jump even higher as Valero closes refinery.

California’s already sky-high gas prices are expected to surge after Valero abruptly shuttered its Benicia oil refinery amid a spiraling “oil crisis,” a new report claims.

The Benicia refinery began shutting down on Saturday, four months earlier than planned, a former Valero manager told the California Globe Tuesday.

Thermal imaging showed the facility went cold as the Crimson Pipeline – which transports crude oil from Southern to Northern California – was also taken offline,

“We are in an unprecedented oil crisis,” oil expert Mike Ariza told the publication..

Valero Energy Corp. announced its plans last spring to pull the plug on its 145,000-barrel-per-day refinery by April, a move that is expected to send fuel prices skyrocketing and hobble the state’s refining capacity.

Californians already pay the second-highest gas price in the nation behind only Hawaii. In January, the average price was $4.23 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association.

Isn’t this all good news from Gavin Newsom’s perspective? Gavin Newsom: Californians Don’t Pay Enough For Gasoline.

Governor Gavin Newsom claims oil companies are price gouging, which is the reason that gasoline prices are almost $2 more than the national average price in his state. Californians are paying almost $5 a gallon for regulated unleaded gasoline, while the nation is averaging $3.25 a gallon. Newsom does not believe that California’s high taxes and endless regulations should make that much of a difference in the gas price, so it must be price gouging. He is also not admitting to the fact that California’s gasoline is a “boutique” fuel that only refineries in California produce and that he and President Biden are paying those refiners incredible subsidies to switch to biofuels, limiting supply. Clearly, economics is not a forte’ of the governor for economics 101 tells you that if you limit supply without reducing demand, prices will go up. It is no wonder that Californians are migrating to Texas and Florida. Gas prices in Florida, for example, average about $3.00 a gallon. And, even though California is all-in on green energy, the air quality is better in Florida and Texas than in California.

That’s from the American Energy Alliance in 2023. In the annus horribilis of 2020, Newsom’s office issued the statement: Governor Newsom Announces California Will Phase Out Gasoline-Powered Cars & Drastically Reduce Demand for Fossil Fuel in California’s Fight Against Climate Change.

And as the Pacific Research Institute noted at the end of 2024: Drivers Beware: California’s Road Diet to Grow Stricter in New Year.

Happy motoring, Golden State!

Posted at 4:38 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 4th, 2026

MARK JUDGE: The Greatest Two-Sentence Rock Review Ever Written.

It’s the greatest rock music review ever written. It was put on paper in 1985 by J.D. Considine, a well-known music critic in America. It’s not Considine’s pan of GTR, the self-titled 1986 album from the supergroup led by members of Yes and Genesis. That review, which appeared in the August 1986 issue of Musician, was only three letters. GTR, announced Considine, was “SHT.” The GTR review is, as Ryan Reed put it, “still funnier and more fully realized than most essay-length critiques.”

Still, SHT is not Considine’s masterpiece. That came in 1985 and his two-sentence assessment of Motley Crue’s cover of “Smokin’ in the Boys Room.” Ready?

“They weren’t smokin’ in that boys room. They just went in to take a quick dump.”

More than 40 years later, it still leaves me on the floor. I continue to marvel at its precision. I remember where I was when I first read it in 1985—the bookstore at Catholic University in D.C., where I was perusing a copy of Musician, where it first appeared. The bookstore, the campus, my life receded into the background.

Considine’s masterpiece became a shorthand between my brother and me. We used it as a reference point for years. Whenever we came across a particular cheesy or awful piece of art, lousy TV show, or terrible band, one of us would turn to the other and say it: “They weren’t smokin’ in that boys room.”

Presumably, now that there are AI musical “acts” that are charting, there will be LLM AI-powered critics to debate their wares. Considine would be an excellent choice to program their databanks. Both will be TTL SHT, but the latter might be fun to read.

Posted at 2:35 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 4th, 2026

ED MORRISSEY: The Penny Drops: WaPo on Life Support As Big Layoffs Start?

Bezos did not accumulate his fortune by dumping his wealth into sinkholes for an extended period of time. He and Lewis have tried to bring the Post back to profitability, or at least something close to a break-even status, while its staff balked over its DEI demands and progressive agendas. Downsizing is the inevitable result, and anyone surprised at the outcome simply refused to pay attention. The only question now is whether downsizing will be enough, and thus far, the signs are not encouraging.

My friend John Ondrasik sums up the problem:

Not to mention, this is a paper that’s been running on a half century worth of fumes:

Rufo’s tweet continues, “Then they foolishly went all-in on hysterical Resistance Lib content, which was no better than free content from Brooklyn Dad Defiant.”

Ace of Spades adds, “It’s not that #Resistance leftist politics don’t have a market. They do. One third of the country are, alas, woke communist psychopathic nihilists. You should be able to sell a paper appealing to this lunatic cohort:”

The trouble is, every media outlet, pretty much, panders to this same lunatic cohort. They’re all reading from the same depraved Marxist prayer book.

Plus, what #Resistance leftists are selling is not at all a difficult product to produce. They’ve shifted from reporting on news, which does take some time and effort, and which is something people will pay for, to just ranting endlessly that Bad Orange Man Is Getting More Orange and More Bad and shrieking the same six propaganda slogans forever.

You don’t need an organization that spends $300 million on salaries and rent to do this. Any deranged leftwing imbecile with a $500 camera can do this from their basement. And they’re almost all doing it — so what does any lefty need the lefty press for?

The religion has just as many preachers as adherents. That’s too many. Some will need to leave the poisonous church of Marxism and find work that’s actually productive.

I can’t imagine what that might end up being, but I’m sure they must be good at something.

Right? Right?

What will they end up being? At NewsBusters, Curtis Houck writes, “by closing the sports section and making widespread eliminations to international and local reporting, The Washington Post will look and feel no different than, say, Politico with an editorial page and op-eds. As such, watch for the paper’s paid readership to continue plummeting. And, for anyone who’s been paying attention to media coverage of the Trump era, The Post’s record of virulent anti-Trump hate will do little to assuage new audiences.”

As Ira Stoll asked two years ago: Who Will Be the Washington Post’s Next Owner?

(And how much of a discount will he be able to buy the paper for when Bezos decides his net worth has bled out enough?)

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 4th, 2026

YOU’RE GONNA NEED A MUCH BIGGER BLOG: Let’s Talk About Left-Wing Quackery.

Right-wing bubbles are a reality, yes, but let’s also take a hard look at the seldom-discussed left-wing echo chambers, where outright lies and fabricated narratives similarly grow and metastasize into larger, more dangerous “truths.”

For all the talk about the right-wing information ecosystem, there’s remarkably little daylight between the communities that inspired the 2016 Comet Ping Pong incident and the communities that encourage lethal resistance to the “trans genocide.” The chief distinction is that left-wing crankery is often justified and defended by the mainstream institutions that are supposed to serve as a sanity check on such things — institutions that would swiftly condemn similar nonsense if it came from the right.

But if you believe the one is dangerous, consistency requires you hold the same for the other.

Let’s speak honestly, then, about the dangers of partisan insularity, starting first with those communities where it became widely accepted as a “fact” that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin inspired the 2011 Tucson, Ariz., mass shooting, in which a mentally disturbed man killed six people and wounded 13 others, including then-Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.).

There is no truth to this claim. There never was. It’s mostly an invention of former New York Times columnist Paul Krugman’s award-winning brain.

Yet this myth became so normalized within certain ideological circles that the Times casually repeated it in a 2017 editorial. Palin sued the paper for defamation. She lost — it is nearly impossible for a public figure to win such a case in the U.S. — but what the Times published was still clearly false.

Scratch a normie Democrat or radical left-winger, and you’ll likely find a collection of “facts” that are actually urban legends, outright lies, carefully crafted agitprop, or some weird combination of all three.

Read the whole thing.

Incidentally, Krugman doesn’t actually believe what he wrote about Palin back then. Otherwise he would never had said recently: Krugman Tells Businesses to Cut Ties with Trump or ‘You’ll Hang.’

Posted at 1:35 pm by Ed Driscoll on Feb 4th, 2026
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