Author Archive: Ed Driscoll

January 31, 2026

D.C. MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER SEEN DRINKING, POSING FOR PHOTOS AT MAYORAL CONVENTION WITH CITY ON ICE:

Retiring D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser was seen drinking with fellow mayors at a hotel bar and snapping photos with fans inside the Marriott Marquis downtown on Thursday for this year’s U.S. Conference of Mayors as the streets and sidewalks of her city remain covered in snow and ice, according to a conference attendee.

“She had no care in the world,” the attendee said.

Approaching a week after the snowstorm ended, tons of streets and sidewalks in the nation’s capital remain unsalted, unplowed, and extremely icy, including on Pennsylvania Avenue. Where plows have made their rounds and K-12 schools have finally reopened, many sidewalks and cross walks remain blockaded by treacherous ice-packed snow banks.

Politicians, particularly mayors, tend to come under close scrutiny when bad weather hits and residents hold them responsible for the city’s response. Bowser, however, is not running for reelection.

Bowser’s decision to spend an evening this week drinking with fellow politicians as her city remains a sheet of ice is reminiscent the same political instincts she demonstrated over the summer, when she fled town to pick up her daughter in Martha’s Vineyard the same week President Donald Trump announced his federal takeover of the nation’s capital.

Still though, this is pretty minor league political decadence compared to DC legend Marion Barry:

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

HOW MEDIOCRITY TOOK OVER THE GRAMMYS:

Is music getting worse? Rick Beato is a musician, producer and critic with more than five million YouTube subscribers. His answer would be: yes, pretty much. In a recent video, he compares the 2026 Grammy Song of the Year nominees to those of 1984. There are a few bright sparks among the slate of new songs, but Beato regards most of them as derivative, unoriginal and unlikely to be remembered past the end of the awards show. In contrast, 42 years on, all the 1984 nominees – Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” and Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long” among them – are firmly embedded in the popular music canon.

One could ask the same question about science: has it gotten worse? My answer, I have to say, reflects Beato’s for music. As in popular music, bright sparks do still show up in the stream of science. But, as with popular music, nearly all of what passes for “science” these days is dull, derivative, repetitive and forgettable, unlikely to make an impression past the deadline for the next grant application.

Beato has a compelling explanation as to why popular music seems to be getting worse. His thesis is simple: the culture and economics of the music industry have cheapened creativity and incentivized mediocrity. New technologies are accelerating this decline.

Could something similar be behind the cheapening of science? “No” would be the reflexive answer of most in the industry – and probably laymen, too. But both music and science are, at root, creative arts: Einstein liked to imagine what it would be like to ride a photon; August Kekulé dreamt that the structure of benzene was like an ouroboros, a snake swallowing its own tail; Francis Crick and James Watson imaginatively turned the DNA double helix outside in to arrive at a structure no one else thought possible. Science advances more through these flights of creative fancy than through all the millions of scientific papers academics publish each year. As in the field of music, creativity in science has been debased like a tin nickel. Mediocrity is incentivized.

Science and music have begun to converge in the form of AI. In a recent YouTube clip, producer/engineer Warren Huart noted:

Songwriters are using AI to write tracks. They’re using the AI to write tracks. Maybe they’re manipulating it. Maybe they’re taking an individual vocal, etc. But I have heard and seen and experienced it, and people are playing instruments to those tracks.

Now, I think [AI music generating platform] Suno stopped the ability for people to download stems, but you could still put in your track idea—make it a death metal song with Hawaiian bloody blah blah—output it, and then Izotope [RX] it and remove all the stems that way. And then real musicians—yes, real musicians—are then replaying the parts.

That is happening each and every day in our industry, and with people you know: with producers you know, with engineers you know, with mixers you know, with songwriters you know, and with artists that you know. That is how songs are happening.

There will be more material being made than ever before. Artists who are successful will be pumping out more music than they’ve ever done before because now, some of the heavy lifting—the initial ideas—will be done by AI. And it’s happening now, for real.

So not just the sort of country song that went to number one in a digital playback of a country music chart or wherever it was—that’s just the beginning. There are already songs that you are hearing that started off as AI, and maybe they’ve been replayed, maybe they’ve been manipulated, but that is where our industry is at for real.

According to Billboard in late November, “In just the past few months, at least six AI or AI-assisted artists have debuted on various Billboard rankings. That figure could be higher, as it’s become increasingly difficult to tell who or what is powered by AI — and to what extent.” How prolific will AI-generated music become going forward?

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Coincidentally, this came up on my Facebook “memories” today:

Ahead of the curve!

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

ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: Mamdani Voter Ezra Klein Tries, Fails To Achieve Solidarity With Student Activists Who Called Him a ‘Zionist Pig.’

The student agitator accused Klein of enabling Israel’s so-called genocide in Gaza. The columnist, whose speaking fees typically run from $40,000 to $70,000, sought to assure the shrieking activist that he also despised Israel, which he said was tormenting Palestinians through “apartheid and subjugation.” The activist kept ranting about fascism, so Klein pleaded for his attention. “Buddy, buddy, talk to me,” he said. “I am right here.” They didn’t care.

The anti-Israel agitators made their way to exit, chanting as they went. “Ezra Klein, you’re a liar, you set Palestine on fire,” they shouted. “Every time Ezra lies, a neighborhood in Gaza dies.” They soon joined other protesters outside the venue, clapping along to more chants about how Sarah Lawrence was inviting fascists and protecting Zionism.

“Welcome to Sarah Lawrence,” Judd quipped. Klein thanked her for the courtesy.

Klein appeared somewhat surprised when the activists refused to engage with him. “Why do you think I deny what’s going on in Gaza?” he asked the terrorist sympathizer. “I don’t think you know what I think.”

It’s safe to assume the student activists didn’t know much about anything. Klein has not shied away from criticizing Israel, which he has argued is on the verge of becoming a “pariah state.” He voted for New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani (D.) and said he didn’t think there was “anything anti-Semitic about him at all.” He has described “anti-Zionists” of the left as promoting universal human rights, even if they occasionally hold “dumb signs at protest rallies.” In Klein’s view, it’s the right-wing anti-Semites who are motivated by racial animus.

Charles Murray rings the bell curve in response:

Posted at 12:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Jan 31st, 2026

January 30, 2026

THE BEATLES’ FINAL LIVE PERFORMANCE WAS CUT SHORT BY POLICE 57 YEARS AGO TODAY:

Even after their instruments were set up on the roof of Apple Corps, Lennon, McCartney, Starr, and Harrison almost didn’t go through with it.

The director [Michael Lindsay-Hogg] explained, “We planned to do it about 12:30 to get the lunchtime crowds. They didn’t agree to do it as a group until about 20 to 1:00. Paul wanted to do it, and George didn’t. Ringo would go either way. Then John said, ‘Oh [f***], let’s do it,’ and they went up and did it.”

Police were called after noise complaints came in from neighboring buildings surrounding the rooftop and clogged streets from the thousands who stopped to listen. Police officer Ray Dagg and other officers were forced to end what would turn out to be the last live performance by the world’s most famous band.

“We’ve had 30 complaints at West End Central in minutes,” former London Metropolitan Police officer Dagg said in a video clip. “Turn the PA off, and we’ll see what happens.”

Fifty years after the incident, in 2019, Dagg told The Times of London the event was “just work, and it’s blown up into all this. It’s ridiculous, I just don’t understand it.”

He continued, “At that time, I didn’t know that they would never play together again. At least there’s something on a film somewhere that will forever show that PC Ray Dagg shut down the Beatles.”

Additionally, Dagg told CTV that reflecting on the moment, he didn’t know if he actually would have arrested The Beatles. “The problem with it is that for the offenses they were committing, there was no power of arrest on private property. It has to be on public property.”

“So it would have meant arresting them on private property,” Dagg said. “Taking them outside, and then I’d have gotten into a lot of trouble if I turned up at the station with The Beatles in tow, wrongfully arrested.”

Would have been a great ending to the movie, though!

Earlier, from your humble narrator:

● The Beatles get Back in Peter Jackson’s New Three-Part Documentary.

● The Beatles’ get Back: The Long and Grinding Road.

● I Question the Premise: The Beatles: Get Back shows that deepfake tech isn’t always evil.

● 54 Years After its Release, Let It Be, the Beatles’ Last Movie, is Finally Available for Home Viewing.

Posted at 2:35 pm by Ed Driscoll on Jan 30th, 2026

THE WORST OF DON LEMON (Post-Arrest Edition):

On Friday, it was reported that Don Lemon was arrested for his part in the invasion of a St. Paul, MN church. The notoriously leftist Lemon (he’s a multiple winner of MRC’s Worst Quote of the Year) was so biased that he actually got fired from CNN.

For a look at the worst of Lemon’s time at CNN see here.

Since Lemon was canned from his CNN show, he has continued his horrible ways as podcaster.

The following are just some of the worst outbursts from his post-CNN career:

And from Jim Treacher: Don Lemon Arrested for Breaking the Law.

The only people whose First Amendment rights have been infringed here are the congregants at the church Don Lemon invaded. He was part of the planning, he trespassed and refused to leave, and he called those churchgoers “white supremacists.” To make matters worse, he’s even profiting from his crimes. And we know everything he did because he was stupid enough to record it the whole time.

Don Lemon’s desperation for relevance is not a pass to break the law. A microphone is not a shield against the consequences of his actions.

If you disagree, why don’t you give us your home address so we can do the same to you?

No? Well, why do you hate journalism?

If only Mohamed Atta had brought his smart phone:

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll on Jan 30th, 2026

ED MORRISSEY: Don Lemon Arrested On Federal Charges.

Lemon has hired Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell to represent him…Lowell is a very accomplished attorney, and if I were in this kind of trouble, I’d be lucky to have him (and very, very broke in the end). However, this defense is a loser for several reasons, the first of which is that Lemon wasn’t the only party to this incident that had First Amendment rights at stake. The First Amendment protects the right to freedom of religious expression, the core of which is the right to worship in one’s own church in peace. Even people claiming to be journalists can’t interrupt worship services and demand impromptu “interviews” with the minister or celebrant, especially inside the church on private property. Lemon filmed himself preparing with the instigators outside before invading the church, and his “interview” consisted of demanding answers to the instigators’ claims and demands.

Next up, the criminal statutes involved do not have “journalist” exceptions. Neither the FACE Act nor the Ku Klux Klan act allow for disruption of church services for the purpose of “journalism.” Nate the Lawyer covered both of these statutes in the video below shortly after the crime occurred, mainly focusing on the Klan Act. Nate’s conclusion is that Lowell has his work cut out for him.

But he was just speaking truth to power…:

Related: I had no idea the iPhone contained a virtual “Get Out of Jail Free” card within it:

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll on Jan 30th, 2026

January 29, 2026

STAY TUNED: Iran’s Doomsday Clock Is So Close To Midnight, the Ball Is Dropping.

On the movement of assets front, the Lincoln is pretty much ready to go, and has gone dark.

And another carrier group is now on the way. Say hello to the U.S.S. George H.W. Bush.

That’s an awful lot of firepower. Included in those carrier groups are destroyers, submarines, as well as the jets on board the Lincoln and Bush. One destroyer, the Delbert D. Black, should be on station about now to help Israel with missile defense/intercepts.

As for land assets, Secretary of State/National Security Advisor Marco Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday that there were around 40,000 American troops stationed across eight or nine bases across the greater Middle East. That’s a lot of well-trained bodies to throw at a problem if necessary.

With regard to air capabilities, besides the planes on the carriers, we had all sorts of other not normal flights taking place over the last couple days.

Including, but far from limited to: US ‘nuke sniffer’ arrives in UK after Trump threatens Iran. “A US air force plane dubbed the ‘nuke sniffer’ has landed in Britain amid growing tensions with the Iranian regime. The USAF WC-135R Constant Phoenix jet, which is used to detect radioactive particles in the atmosphere, has touched down at RAF Mildenhall, an American airbase in Suffolk. It comes amid growing speculation that the US is considering striking Iran, following last June’s attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities.”

Posted at 6:45 pm by Ed Driscoll on Jan 29th, 2026

IT’S COME TO THIS:

Posted at 4:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Jan 29th, 2026

AND NOW, A WORD FROM GUS FRING: Sociopath Giancarlo Esposito Willing to See 50 Million (Other) People Die for His Revolution.

Actor Giancarlo Esposito crystallized today’s Democrat Party by admitting he is willing to see people die to fulfill his revolution.

This is a direct quote, per the far-left Variety, and these are the words of a narcissistic sociopath. Block quotes are Variety’s…

This is time for a revolution — and they don’t even know that’s what they’re starting. We have to stand up to it. They can’t take us all down. If the whole world showed up on Putin’s doorstep or the Iranians’ doorstep or in Washington, they’d kill 500 or 50 million or however [many], but the rest of us would survive with a new [world].

Don’t you get it, you over-privileged, leftist dummies?

Do you not see it?

You bored, spoiled brats attempting fill the God-shaped hole in your soul by attacking law enforcement, destroying private property, and provoking violence are nothing more or less than cannon fodder to Democrat Party elites like Giancarlo Esposito.

Christian Toto adds, “and remember, Disney fired Gina Carano for pleading for tolerance but this actor will face zero repercussions.”

Neither will ’80s it-girl Molly Ringwald:

 

Posted at 2:35 pm by Ed Driscoll on Jan 29th, 2026

HE REALLY LOST HIS HEAD: Durbin Used Fake AI Picture of Alex Pretti Shooting on Senate Floor.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) used a fake AI photo of the Alex Pretti shooting on the Senate floor to condemn the Trump administration’s actions in Minnesota.

I’m not kidding.

Notice anything?

Um, the agent on his knees does not have a head.

How did anyone on his staff not notice anything? The first thing I noticed was the agent with no head! How do you miss it when you blow up the photo!?

Then again, the staff probably knows that nothing matters and anything that comes after won’t gain traction.

Related: M-SNOW’s Nicolle Wallace Displays AI-Enhanced Alex Pretti Photo.

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll on Jan 29th, 2026

I’M SO OLD, I CAN REMEMBER WHEN BATMAN ACTUALLY FOUGHT CRIME:

 

Posted at 1:35 pm by Ed Driscoll on Jan 29th, 2026

AMELIA: the purple-haired goth girl who became a nationalist icon.

Does it mean anything important, or is it all just amusing internet froth? I believe it does have significance, even if Amelia disappears tomorrow. Amelia is final proof, in the age of the viral AI meme, that the government no longer has any chance of controlling the narrative, let alone establishing one in the first place.

This goes against every instinct and reflex of the British Establishment. Because, if the Establishment exists to do anything, it is to control us. This is why Starmer is so desperate to ban X for putting fake bikinis on women, while taking a year to announce a possible inquiry into nationwide grooming gangs.

Happily, this is one battle the Establishment simply cannot win. It has been said that the internet is the subconscious of humanity. And, as Freud observed, in the end the subconscious will always decide what we do. Dreams denote desires, and desires determine reality. In other words: go, Amelia.

As Glenn has written, “I’m so old, I remember when ‘culture jamming’ was a leftist thing,” and Amelia is engaging in multiple levels of it. Leftist American graphic designer Shepard Fairey, who created the iconic Obama “Hope” poster in 2007 can’t be happy about this:

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll on Jan 29th, 2026

YES. NEXT QUESTION? Did Stephen Colbert Really Just Downplay the Holocaust to Attack ICE?

The world observed International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, marking the day the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp was liberated and honoring the six million Jews and others who were killed at the hands of the Nazi regime. It appears late-night host Stephen Colbert missed that solemn occasion, and instead chose to use his monologue to make light of the Holocaust.

Such a comparison is not only meant to fan the flames of unrest and to encourage attacks against ICE and Border Patrol agents, but it’s also an insult to every person, Jewish and otherwise, who died at places like Auschwitz-Birkenau. Those were innocent men, women, and children targeted because of their religion. They broke no laws and were systematically murdered by the Third Reich.

Meanwhile, as Idiocracy becomes the law of the land, while Colbert is toying with Holocaust denial, Tim Walz forgets who was who in the Civil War. Or as VDH asks: Slouching Towards Fort Sumter?

For now, Walz, Frey, and Ellison are upping the rhetoric, fanning the violence, and talking openly about how best to nullify federal law and impede federal enforcement. They are convinced that they have galvanized national opposition to the hated Trump, smothered the Somali fraud scandal, and stopped ICE deportations of their constituents.

In all of those assumptions, they have little idea they are following the Confederate script to the letter. And like their spiritual forefathers of 1861, they grow ever more cocky, boastful, and defiant as they create martyrs, spread narratives of victimhood, and daily slouch toward another Fort Sumter.

“They have little idea they are following the Confederate script to the letter.” They really don’t:

UPDATE: Jim Treacher squares the circle:

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll on Jan 29th, 2026

GRIFT AND GROW RICH:

Posted at 8:35 am by Ed Driscoll on Jan 29th, 2026

70/30 NATION:

Posted at 8:22 am by Ed Driscoll on Jan 29th, 2026

AND AGAIN:

Posted at 7:45 am by Ed Driscoll on Jan 29th, 2026

WHEN POLITICS BECOMES RELIGION:

As Tom Wolfe wrote in his epochal 1976 article, “The ‘Me’ Decade and the Third Great Awakening:” “It is entirely possible that in the long run historians will regard the entire New Left experience as not so much a political as a religious episode wrapped in semi military gear and guerrilla talk.” (That line was written with early ‘70s radical chic in mind, but reverberates quite nicely today, given Antifa’s current love of paramilitary cosplay.)

Posted at 7:14 am by Ed Driscoll on Jan 29th, 2026

January 28, 2026

DUCKWORTH V RUBIO AND IT WASN’T EVEN CLOSE:

There have been few times when I could ever say I’d learned something from a Senate hearing – most instances turn into a partisan grandstanding shriek-a-thon, like Duckworth’s did.

But today has been informative and has had some humor, too.

We are very lucky Marco Rubio told Trump he’d take the jobs…and the next one…and then that one…and that.

Oh.

And the other one.

JD Vance shouldn’t believe he has the 2028 nomination in the bag just yet.

Posted at 9:15 pm by Ed Driscoll on Jan 28th, 2026
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