Author Archive: Glenn Reynolds
January 11, 2025
THE E.V. BUBBLE CONTINUES TO DEFLATE: Only 5 percent of US car buyers want an EV, according to survey.
NO ONE’S JOB IS SAFE FROM THE MACHINES: Robotic puppy, shown at electronics trade show, seen as boon for mental health.
HONESTLY, THAT HE CALLS HIMSELF A “MISINFORMATION EXPERT” PROVES THAT HE IS A CHARLATAN ALREADY: Misinformation Expert’s “Citation to Fake, AI-Generated Sources in His Declaration … Shatters His Credibility with This Court.”
BRITAIN IS DUE FOR A REVOLUTION, OR MAYBE IT’S A COUNTERREVOLUTION, ON THE PART OF THE BRITISH PEOPLE:
Can you believe that anyone thinks this is a good idea? https://t.co/uyefrSykjV
— Lord Talbot (@Lord_Talbot64) January 11, 2025
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: St. Lawrence University ‘Great (S)expectations’ course to consider ‘alternatives to marriage’ like ‘polyamory.’
WHAT’S WRONG WITH CALIFORNIA? It’s blind trust placed in the obviously untrustworthy.
Related:
“I don’t know how the water gets to the hydrants” is an incredible statement https://t.co/cYTW4NzCqA
— Caitlin Flanagan (@CaitlinPacific) January 10, 2025
BECAUSE MUSLIM RAPE GANGS ARE “NEW BRITONS” NOT EXTREMISM, DUH: Why the UK Government’s ‘Counter-Extremism’ Unit Is Investigating Elon Musk. “The UK government has tasked its “Counter-Extremism” unit with investigating billionaire Elon Musk following his sharp criticism of Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Musk’s recent comments, which included harsh rebukes of Starmer’s leadership and policies, have raised alarms among some government officials concerned that his high-profile remarks could stoke division or undermine public trust in political institutions throughout the country. While critics argue the investigation is an overreach, the move signals growing tensions between the government and influential public figures whose rhetoric challenges the political status quo.”
They’re doing it for the same reason a dog licks himself, or a Pakistani gang rapes ten-year-old white girls — because they can.
THE MAFIA WAS BETTER AT PROVIDING SERVICES: Obvious Blue Model Failure: “It’s unclear when the reservoir first went offline.”
The Los Angeles Times reports this morning — confirming a conspiracy theory that people have been spreading online as social media disinformation, of course — that the major local reservoir at the heart of Pacific Palisades was dry when the fire started, due to a torn liner. The newspaper quotes a city DWP official as saying that the reservoir has been out of service for repairs for “a while.” They’re not sure about an actual date. The story is illustrated with a photograph of the empty reservoir that was taken in 2022, so.
As the fire burned, the water supply in the Palisades came from three storage tanks that hold “1 million gallons each,” while the 117 million gallon reservoir was completely empty. You can read the whole story to dig into the several arguments that the reservoir wouldn’t have been entirely full even if it was working, and that the supply from the reservoir wouldn’t have been immediately and entirely available for firefighting, but nonetheless: the most important water storage facility in the heart of the burning neighborhood was empty because of maintenance problems, with city officials shrugging and mumbling about the details.
When government becomes a shakedown, all they care about is the money. Not what the money is supposed to go for.
Plus: “We replaced our fleet of police cars with Teslas, by the way, consistent with our climate action plan. The image of new patrol Teslas racing across potholed streets past cracked bridges to save the climate is very blue zone.”
UPDATE:
For those wondering how long the Santa Ynez Reservoir has been empty the answer is June 2009. Go to Google Earth and locate Santa Ynez. There's a slider top left allowing you to scroll through historic satellite imagery which I marked with a yellow rectangle. pic.twitter.com/TjD29jqpNf
— wretchardthecat (@wretchardthecat) January 10, 2025
Also:
The difference in leadership between how Florida and California have responded to natural disasters couldn't be clearer over the last year.
DeSantis was constantly finding ways to solve problems. Newsom and company are focused on how they can deflect the blame. https://t.co/eVWEAfDnB3
— AG (@AGHamilton29) January 10, 2025
JONATHAN TURLEY: Judge Merchan tries to defend himself after Trump sentencing — but he and Bragg are responsible for this monster.
Acting Justice Juan Merchan admitted that the case was “unique and remarkable” but insisted that “once the courtroom doors were closed, the trial itself was no more special, unique, and extraordinary than the other 32 cases in this courthouse.”
If so, that is a damning indictment of the entire New York court system. Merchan allowed a dead misdemeanor to be resuscitated by allowing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to effectively prosecute declined federal offenses.
He allowed a jury to convict Trump without any agreement, let alone unanimity, on what actually occurred in the case.
Merchan ruled that the jury did not have to agree on why Trump committed an alleged offense in describing settlement costs as legal costs.
Neither the defendant nor the public will ever know what the jury ultimately found in its verdict.
See Also
Donald Trump appearing remotely for his sentencing hearing in New York Criminal Court via computer screen
Donald Trump sounds off, says Dems lost ‘pathetic’ witch hunt as he gets no-penalty sentence in ‘hush money’ caseI once described this case as a legal Frankenstein: “It is the ultimate gravedigger charge, where Bragg unearthed a case from 2016 and, through a series of novel steps, is seeking to bring it back to life … Bragg is combining parts from both state and federal codes.”
Even liberal legal experts have denounced the case and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) recently called it total “bulls–t.”
Now, Merchan seemed quick to assure this Frankenstein case was just like any other creature of the court. It did not matter that it was stitched together from dead cases and zapped into life through lawfare.
Merchan knows that there is a fair chance this monstrosity will finally die on appeal, and he was making the case for his own conduct.
The verdict, however, is likely to last far longer than the Trump verdict. It is a judgment against not just Merchan but the New York legal system, which allowed itself to be weaponized against political opponents.
More significantly, many people will be reluctant to do business in New York in the future, given this, despite Governor Kathy Hochul’s (damning) assurance that no one but Trump would ever be subjected to charges like this.
Related:
It was nothing but election interference. pic.twitter.com/A9ejgg91XG
— Molly Pitcher (@AmericanMama86) January 10, 2025
TRUMP SHOULD TRANSFER THEM ALL TO THE EMBASSY IN OUAGADOUGOU: State Department Defies Congress, Revives Infamous Censorship Office in Absurd Prank: In a hearty double middle-finger to Congress, the “first scalp” of Donald Trump’s efficiency campaign is alive and well, back to work with the same mission.
EXACTLY:
the government to them isn't about police and fire fighting. Those are just the figleafs for the real point of government, redistributing wealth from Enemy Groups to Ally Groups. All government is perverted away from its real mission to just pay off their frenz. https://t.co/HgBKhec0UA
— Ace of Spades (@AceofSpadesHQ) January 10, 2025
YEAH, PRETTY MUCH:
"We must stop people from saying negative things about how we are handling the response to these mismanaged fires" sums up the last 4 years of Democratic Party policy perfectly. https://t.co/F0cjXlnvh1
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) January 10, 2025
January 10, 2025
IT’S A NEW WORLD: A (female) friend who’s partying with the girls in Key West writes: “Drag queens making Kamala jokes. Fantastic. It’s a new world.”
OPEN THREAD: Ring in the weekend.
UNDER THE BUS WITH YOU: LA Fire Chief is dismissed by Mayor Karen Bass after lashing out over department cuts as deadly blazes devastate city.
Of course, now she has no incentive to keep quiet.
UPDATE: Hmm.
#UPDATE Statement from @MayorOfLA office: “The Mayor and Chief met. The priority remains fighting these fires and protecting Angelenos.”
— Josh Haskell (@abc7JoshHaskell) January 11, 2025
THE NEW SPACE RACE: SpaceX rolls Starship out to pad ahead of Flight 7 test launch (photos).
Sked to fly Monday afternoon.
THE TECH BROS ARE NOW UNITING IN FAVOR OF CHANGE. You had Zuckerberg on Rogan. Meanwhile you also have Peter Thiel in the London Financial Times, calling for deep investigations of government misconduct and a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The link works for me, and I’m not a subscriber, so I hope it’ll work for you. But exactly what he says is not as significant as the fact that so many tech lords are coming out together against the abuses of the outgoing regime. Keep an eye on Bill Gates, though personally I think he’s too compromised to join the movement.
HMM: High THC, High Risk: The Cannabis-Psychosis Link.
Related:
A far higher percentage of cannabis than alcohol users wind up using daily and/or meet guidelines for addictive or problematic use.
But cannabis culture celebrates "wake and bake" use; people who need a drink to get out of bed know what they are, and what they are is alcoholics. https://t.co/xYXZjdxmHU
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) January 9, 2025
LOL, LIZ WARREN:
My neighbors are not paying $11 billion in taxes this year. https://t.co/VyxR2re5Dv pic.twitter.com/JQTZUD9XLZ
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) January 10, 2025
CHANGE:
BREAKING: Columbia University law professor, Katherine Franke, has left Columbia after an investigation found that she had discriminated against Jewish and Israeli students.
In the complaint, it was found that Franke repeatedly violated Columbia’s anti-discrimination policy. pic.twitter.com/dqICF8mqGI
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) January 10, 2025
EH, TELLING ANY WOMAN TO “CALM DOWN” RAISES BLOOD PRESSURE, APPARENTLY. Telling new mothers of color to calm down can raise postpartum hypertension, study finds.
I’VE BEEN SAYING THAT ESG IS A BREACH OF FIDUCIARY DUTY FROM THE BEGINNING: Texas court rules against American Airlines in ESG 401(k) plan case: The presiding judge found the airline breached its fiduciary duty under federal law by prioritizing non-financial considerations in its employee retirement plan.
This was obvious, but the obviousness was overridden by the sense that anything that’s a fad among the ruling class must be okay.