Author Archive: Glenn Reynolds

January 5, 2026

SYMBOLIC OF THE LENGTHS LEFTISTS WILL GO FOR A GUILT-INDUCING SCAM, MAYBE:

Posted at 12:04 pm by Glenn Reynolds on Jan 5th, 2026

CHANGE:

Posted at 11:57 am by Glenn Reynolds on Jan 5th, 2026

WELL, BYE:

Posted at 9:13 am by Glenn Reynolds on Jan 5th, 2026

WELL, AS I NOTED LAST NIGHT, HE CAN’T FLEE TO VENEZUELA NOW:

Posted at 9:01 am by Glenn Reynolds on Jan 5th, 2026

THE MADURO RAID IS AN EMBARRASSMENT FOR THE SUPREME COURT, notes Josh Blackman:

From a legal perspective, I do not have much to add to what Jack Goldsmith wrote about the operation. We can safely ignore any arguments about the U.N. Charter.

Instead, it is useful to revisit A.A.R.P. v. Trump in light of United States v. Maduro. When Trump first began the efforts to remove alleged members of Tren De Aragua under the Alien Enemies Act, all the usual suspects laughed at him. They alleged there was no real national security concern. They charged Trump (once again) with racism and bigotry. Judge Boasberg ordered the planes to turn around from his vacation home, no doubt, because he thought the entire operation was a sham. If Boasberg thought this was a serious national security procedure, he likely would have not been so eager to intervene. Lawyers told federal judges in Texas that there was not really an armed conflict. (The upcoming Fifth Circuit en banc argument should be lit.) The United States Supreme Court, including all three Trump appointees, rejected the President’s powers on the emergency docket without even waiting for the lower court to rule.

In reality, the Trump Administration has been planning a months-long framework concerning Venezuela and Maduro. No one, not even the enlightened Judge Boasberg, is privy to all of those details. Indeed, I suspect the lawyers who are asked to argue in D.D.C. are not always told the full story. In this case, we witnessed Lawfare at its worst because it directly affected national security. Thankfully, Judge Boabserg did not order the 150 aircraft to turn around.

Justices have traditionally feared to tread in national security fields because they know they’re ignorant of important facts and policies. They should go back to that tradition.

Posted at 8:00 am by Glenn Reynolds on Jan 5th, 2026

ANDY KESSLER: Painting Animal Farm Red.

You can’t hate Hollywood enough. Last month a trailer dropped for “Animal Farm: A Cautionary Tail,” an animated retelling of George Orwell’s 1945 book. It stars Seth Rogen and his infectious chuckle as the pig Napoleon. What could go wrong? Everything, it turns out.

Orwell’s original book was an allegory of the Bolshevik Revolution, communism and its inevitable descent into totalitarianism. I read it in high school. You probably did too. The allegory was pretty transparent: Napoleon was Stalin, Snowball was Trotsky, Farmer Jones was Czar Nicholas II, and Old Major was a combination of Lenin and Marx.

Forget all that. While only a trailer is available, the film was reviewed after appearing at a festival last June. Remarkably, instead of Stalin, the antagonist is a tech billionairess who drives a Cybertruck knockoff. Really! She bribes Napoleon with fast cars and credit cards and, as one reviewer put it, her “methods mimic the hostile-takeover techniques of big banks and monopolistic companies.” Hilarity ensues. Yes, capitalism is the villain. Hollywood strikes again.

Variety declares, “George Orwell’s required-reading novella is ripe for reimagining.” C’mon now. Is it? “Humans are inherently piggish,” Variety notes from the film. “Seizing the first opportunity to take more than their share.” Like New York and Seattle mayors, socialism and communism are cool again!

This is a classic Hollywood twisting of stories. Most animations are now antimarriage. I can’t remember a cop movie without dirty cops. This year’s Oscar bait is the beautifully made but irksome anti-border-enforcement film, “One Battle After Another.” Leonardo DiCaprio plays a lovable revolutionary who blows things up. Sean Penn, best remembered as Jeff Spicoli (“All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I’m fine”) in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” is the deranged and perverted Col. Steven J. Lockjaw. Get it? Soldiers bad. Activists good.

Hollywood took note of actress Frances McDormand’s 2018 Oscar acceptance speech calling for an “inclusion rider” to demand diversity in casting and crew. But as OutKick writer Bobby Burack put it about the new “Animal Farm,” “It’s one thing to race-bend, cast genders in illogical roles, send messages about immigration, or make all the white people evil. It’s an entirely different offense when you take a historical piece of art and completely alter its message.” Offensive indeed. Whitewashing. . . . By the way, the release date for the new and depraved “Animal Farm” is May 1, 2026—International Workers’ Day. That day was also celebrated as May Day in the now defunct Soviet Union with parades in Red Square. How Orwellian. How Hollywood.

Well, Hollywood is full of communists, so it’s no surprise they’re making communist propaganda. They’re going broke, but not fast enough.

Posted at 7:30 am by Glenn Reynolds on Jan 5th, 2026

BUT OBAMA WAS ONE OF THE ANOINTED:

Posted at 7:10 am by Glenn Reynolds on Jan 5th, 2026

SO TRUE:

Posted at 7:00 am by Glenn Reynolds on Jan 5th, 2026

January 4, 2026

OPEN THREAD: Ring out the weekend.

Posted at 9:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds on Jan 4th, 2026

SAFETY FIRST: SpaceX lowering orbits of 4,400 Starlink satellites for safety’s sake. “The downward migration in 2026 involves roughly half of SpaceX’s Starlink megaconstellation, which currently consists of nearly 9,400 operational spacecraft (though that number is always growing). The fleet is highly reliable; there are just two dead Starlinks currently in orbit, according to Nicolls.”

Think about that. And think about all the coordination, and command-and-control, that this sort of evolution involves. But for SpaceX it’s pretty much a day at the office. The understated excellence of this operation is what’s most impressive.

Posted at 9:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds on Jan 4th, 2026
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