OPEN THREAD: Saturday night’s all right for blogging. Get a little action in.
Author Archive: Glenn Reynolds
February 22, 2025
MICROBIOME NEWS: The Cause of Alzheimer’s Might Be Coming From Inside Your Mouth.
SHOW ME YOU’RE A JEALOUS MIDWIT WITHOUT — WELL, NO, YOU’RE PRETTY MUCH TELLING ME YOU’RE A JEALOUS MIDWIT, TOO: Musk Biographer Claims There Is Zero Evidence Elon Musk Is Smart. “Boeing can’t make a space capsule anymore; the Space Launch System is a boondoggle, and Starlink and SpaceX are indispensable to the world. Musk did that. Tesla and SpaceX did not appear out of thin air, everybody said that their success was impossible and they have never been duplicated, and Blue Origin began with the same advantages as SpaceX–more, really–and has accomplished next to nothing. Everybody goes gaga over Nikola Tesla, rightly so, but he doesn’t hold a candle to Elon Musk. The world’s space industry would be 1/20th the size it is without Musk.”
I’M LOVING THIS.
"What would you say, you do here?" pic.twitter.com/aYrStVSHMk
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) February 22, 2025
Related:
It works https://t.co/TFkpHlJa7a
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 22, 2025
Also:
Kash talked about doing this before being nominated, and it's great to see it happening. Hunstville has a major FBI field training center at Redstone Arsenal. This seems to indicate he is getting them out of office cubicles and out there to doing forensics and tactical…
— Free To Speak (@FreeToSpeak71) February 22, 2025
Let them fight actual crime outside of DC, rather than commit crimes in DC. And Huntsville is hardly a place of exile; it’s a very nice university town and nowadays the largest city in Alabama, though that perhaps says as much about Birmingham’s urban decay as about Huntsville’s growth.
Also:
I FEEL LIKE THE LUXURY SEDAN MARKET ISN’T AS IMPORTANT AS IT USED TO BE: Mercedes Is Readying a Significant S-Class Update for 2026.
As I said when I looked at the Maybach sedan, it would be nice if I had a driver, but most of the luxury is in the back seat. I do like that you can still get a V8, though a friend of mine is hoarding his V12.
Plus: “Mercedes’ plan to retain gas engines is likely a smart move, as buyers have proven to be fickle when it comes to high-priced EVs, especially with performance models like those made and tuned by AMG.”
At present, EVs are a niche product.
WELL, YES:
This is precisely it: 99% of the criticisms of Trump consists of shock that he is presuming to be president. https://t.co/xtayPSbR8x
— Jeffrey A Tucker (@jeffreyatucker) February 22, 2025
IT’S NOT EASY TO BE A VIKING: Viking skulls inspected with CT scans reveal severe morbidity.
TRUE.
This stuff is at least as damaging to the rule of law as any action surrounding TROs or whatnot. The first and most central commitment of any civilized legal system is the suppression of depraved violence. https://t.co/N4UOYShUnz
— Adrian Vermeule (@Vermeullarmine) February 22, 2025
JUSTICE: Judge Ho’s Decision To Appoint Paul Clement In United States v. Adams.
From time-to-time, the federal government declines to defend a judgment in a pending Supreme Court case. In such cases, the Court will appoint an amicus to defend the judgment below. In other words, the amicus is not arguing his own personal views on the law, but is instead defending what the lower court did.
This approach makes some sense when there is an actual lower-court opinion. But this approach does not make sense in a trial court. The Court appointed Paul Clement to “present arguments on the Government’s Motion to Dismiss.” What kind of arguments? The order does not say. Maybe Clement will agree with the government. Maybe he won’t. Who knows? In effect, the Court has appointed Paul Clement to give Paul Clement’s opinion on the issue. Clement is a friend of the Court, to be sure. But unlike most amicus, he is being elevated to the status of a party. I think Article III jurisdiction demands adversity, and appointing an amicus to argue his own views does not suffice for adversity. For all we know, Clement will agree with the government, and there still will be no adversity.
In candor, I am a bit befuddled by this decision. I know Judge Sullivan appointed an amicus in the Michael Flynn case. That is certainly a precedent, but not a particularly good one.
There is another element to discuss here. It is pretty obvious the Court appointed Clement to have a well-known conservative (potentially) argue against the Trump Administration. Judge Ho took a page from the Seila Law playbook, in which Circuit Justice Kagan selected Clement. . . .
Will Clement’s appointment here work out for Judge Ho? Well, unlike with Seila Law, Clement is not forced to defend any particular judgment. He will give his own opinion. And I have to think that Judge Ho did not inquire about those views in advance. If he did, that would be extremely problematic.
Judges are acting unjudicial.
ROGER KIMBALL: Were Trump’s comments about Ukraine a gambit to bring about peace?
The fate of Ukraine is one of those subjects that seems automatically to induce moralistic posturing all around. A couple of points. One can acknowledge that Russia is an aggressor while still admitting that it has real and legitimate interests. Should we support the idea of Ukrainian membership in NATO? I think that Loyola is correct: “the idea of NATO membership for Ukraine, while it still claims sovereignty over Russia’s most important naval base in the world, is both preposterous and needlessly provocative.” Russia may, as Loyola notes, be a “malign force in the world.” But that does not mean that it is without genuine political interests and real grievances. It’s fun to denounce Vladimir Putin as a “war criminal” and all-round bad hat. It allows one to bask in the glow of one’s superior moral fiber. But as Henry Kissinger observed, “The demonization of Vladimir Putin is not a policy, it is an alibi for the absence of one.”
The larger point, however, brings me back to the pot-stirrer in chief. Donald Trump’s comments about Ukraine and Zelensky sent the commentariat (and Zelensky himself) around the bend. But what if it was a gambit designed to bring about the peace he promised to bring to the region? And what if, despite the grumbling and grandstanding of the talking heads, it succeeds?
That happens a lot with stuff he says or does that is initially called crazy or dumb.
ACCOUNTABILITY: Trump DOJ Accuses Judge Handling Trans Military Case Of ‘Hostile And Egregious Misconduct.’ “DOJ Chief of Staff Chad Mizelle informed Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan on Friday that United States District Court Judge Ana C. Reyes engaged in such conduct toward DOJ’s attorneys, suggesting bias and disrespect toward the DOJ’s position and imperiling a fair weighing of the case.”
Dont’t let them perform for their lefty friends with impunity.
I’VE BEEN CALLING FOR THESE SINCE 2002:
BIG: Trump calls for national paper ballot elections – cost just 8% of the cost of electronic systems, can produce accurate auditable results on election night, and have invisible security features that prevent counterfeiting.
Fact Check: True -> More https://t.co/foMYd4A9AH https://t.co/WZZXSq4B48
— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) February 21, 2025
Related:
Election Integrity: 77% Favor Voter ID https://t.co/RWqKlyYBsX
— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) February 21, 2025
Once again, the Democrats are on the 20% side of 80/20 issues.
UPDATE:
Then the Democrats can’t cheat. Which is exactly why they fight against it so hard.
— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) February 21, 2025
THIS SEEMS RIGHT, AS VDH GENERALLY DOES: 4 Mins of VDH Wisdom Gems on the ‘Trump Restoration.’ “I was sold at ‘…and the more radical third term of the Obama revolution, using or employing the waxen effigy of Joe Biden…’ The man’s a national treasure.”
EUROPE’S PIGEONS ARE COMING HOME TO ROOST:
Europeans abandoned the defense necessary for their own sovereignty so they could finance welfare states, which they then destroyed with mass immigration
So now they have infinite migrants, bankrupt social programs, and a complete lack of security https://t.co/n0yRAUqgRS
— Auron MacIntyre (@AuronMacintyre) February 20, 2025
THERE SURE IS A LOT OF MEDIA LYING GOING ON:
NBC Universal has agreed to settle a $30m defamation lawsuit after its MSNBC talent lied and said a Georgia doctor was performing Mengele-style “mass hysterectomies” at an ICE facility during the first Trump administration.@chrislhayes, Rachel @maddow, Nicole Wallace, and… pic.twitter.com/zLLNcfmUHU
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) February 22, 2025
February 21, 2025
IT SEEMS A FAIR QUESTION TO ASK:
What if the fish like it?
— Mad Bull America (@america_mad) February 20, 2025