NOW OUT FROM ANDREW WAREHAM: Praying That We Meet Again (The Cruellest War Book 3).
Author Archive: Glenn Reynolds
July 5, 2025
THEY LEFT OUT THE DODGE ARIES: Top 10 Greatest American Cars of All Time.
ANSWERING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: What happens to your stomach in a hot dog eating contest? Shocking news from science: “In the immediate aftermath of eating contests, participants report feeling extremely bloated and tired. They also report gastrointestinal distress in the day or two after a competition.”
HISTORY’S GREATEST MONSTER: Postscript: Jimmy Carter’s Iran.
DOES WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY THINK IT’S HARVARD? University shakes down Jewish student for handing out pro-Israel book.
LEFTISTS ARE GARBAGE PEOPLE:
This POS needs to be arrested – @FBI @FBIDDBongino @FBIDirectorKash https://t.co/9WPOb7FqPA
— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) July 5, 2025
THE ENEMY WITHIN:
This didn’t get enough attention. pic.twitter.com/7iIDHhWUSQ
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) July 5, 2025
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Columbia Profs Struggle With Reading Comprehension, Suggest Jewish Board Member ‘Leaked’ Subpoenaed Texts.
HARSH, BUT FAIR:
Can’t believe President “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor” is accusing anybody of lying about health care. https://t.co/aOCHHtEWZn https://t.co/RlL3pKzARu
— Rep. Darrell Issa (@repdarrellissa) July 4, 2025
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: “The first six months of the Trump administration have not been kind to the experts and the degree-holding classes. . . . Why were our ‘scientific’ pollsters so wrong in the last three presidential elections, and so at odds with the clearly discernible electoral shifts in the general electorate? Where were crackpot ideas like defund the police, transgender males competing in women’s sports, and open borders first born and nurtured? Answer: the university, and higher education in general.”
Flashback: The Suicide of Expertise.
July 4, 2025
NOT REALLY A NEW INSIGHT, BUT INDISPUTABLY TRUE:
A great explanation for white wokeness I heard: upper-middle-class whites desperately want to express sneering, classist contempt, and lower-class whites are the only socially acceptable target.
— Hunter Ash (@ArtemisConsort) July 4, 2025
OPEN THREAD: Celebrate your freedom.
AFTER MARK KELLY, SPARE ME ANY MORE DEMOCRAT ASTRONAUTS: Former astronaut Terry Virts is running for Senate and this is why.
IS THERE ANYTHING THEY CAN’T DO? Ozempic-Like Drugs Could Treat Chronic Migraines, Trial Finds.
INDEPENDENCE DAY: Red, White and Blue on the Red Planet.
2004 FLASHBACK:
QUEST FOR FIREWORKS: When I was a kid, I read a book (already old by then) called Henry Reed’s Journey. Reed is a boy who, on a cross-country drive, is trying to buy fireworks, but they turn out to be illegal almost everywhere he goes. As I noted back when InstaPundit was new, it’s a sort of metaphor for creeping nanny-statism in America, and Reed’s wry commentary now seems prophetic.
That seems to be changing, though. Fireworks have always been a booming business around here, but there are more and bigger stores, catering largely to tourists passing through from less-enlightened regions. And my sense is that there’s a bit less hostility to the idea of fireworks in general. I hope so. Yeah, fireworks can be dangerous. But so can lots of things. A bit of danger is part of life, as is learning how to handle dangerous things without being hurt. If you celebrate the Fourth with fireworks, I hope you do so safely. But also loudly.
Celebrating with one of these, however, would be amusing:
Some Americans this Fourth of July plan to get a bang out of blowing Osama bin Laden’s head off. The bin Laden Noggin, a cone-shaped pyrotechnic device with a cartoon of bin Laden’s face, has been a hot seller at some fireworks stores around the country. When lit, the bin Laden cone erupts in blood-red flames and screeches for 60 seconds. Two shots blow his head off.
It is part of an Exploding Terrorists Heads four-pack that also includes Saddam Hussein, Yasser Arafat and Moammar Gadhafi.
Of course, not everyone is happy:
Lisa Myer of Papillion was appalled when she heard about the fireworks while shopping for smoke bombs and sparklers for her son.
“What are we trying to teach our children?” she asked.
I’ll bet Henry Reed could answer that question.
UPDATE: Yep, I did this, too. But we wore shop goggles for safety. Meanwhile, Michael Ubaldi is unconcerned about creeping nannyism:
If Nanny is wrapping her arms around the 4th on paper, she’s accomplished nothing in practical terms. Fireworks are strictly regulated in Ohio but every Independence Day evening, as long as I’ve lived, I’ve heard and seen the incendiary stuff going off in every direction.
People have been testing their kits out around here for weeks. Given the day in question, I kind of like the irony.
Yes.
ANOTHER UPDATE: SKBubba, proud owner of a Nikon D70, offers fireworks photos taken at the Alcoa, TN duck pond last night. Very nice!
MORE: Dean Peters is collecting fireworks related blog posts. And reader Bradley Ems emails with these thoughts in response to the photograph above:
How much have I dropped in your state at the Tennessee-Alabama fireworks stands on I-24 outside of Chattanooga on our pilgrimages to Atlanta and Florida? I shudder to think. Best damn fireworks stores in the US.
Tennessee — exporting liberty!
CHANGE:
The BBB has been signed and it’s the law of the land. pic.twitter.com/vtKKwUKaB4
— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) July 4, 2025
HMM: Tattoos don’t convey accurate impressions of people, study says. “For example, women with visible tattoos are less likely to be hired for supervisory positions and are offered a lower salary than peers without visible tattoos.”