TO BE FAIR, THEY’RE USUALLY SHRIEKING OVER SOMETHING: Gun Control Industry Shrieks As CDC Restores Defensive Gun Use Stats, Hilariously Claims Gun Violence Archive is the Gold Standard.

I tried to find a good section to pull, but this is a “read the whole thing” research piece.

JUST IN CASE YOU WANTED ANOTHER REMINDER OF WHY EVERYONE LOVED DOLLY:

What a bitch, that Baba Wawa. Sooo condescending. But Dolly was pure grace. https://t.co/QqxZ0Nmtiv

— Rod Dreher (@roddreher) August 26, 2026

IF BERNIE’S AGIN’ IT, I’M FOR IT: China’s Data Center Psyop and the 100,000% Rounding Error.

OF COURSE IT IS: DSA: ‘Our Goal Is Communism.’

CHECKS OUT:

Dolly Parton approval ratings by state pic.twitter.com/lsalw34EuJ

— Terrible Maps (@TerribleMaps) August 26, 2026

MORE DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: State spins shockingly bad Colorado education testing data.

Any of the following would be perfectly accurate and appropriate headlines for testing data released August 19 from the Colorado Measures of Academic Success:

“Most students grades 3–8 behind in all subjects according to state testing.”

“State testing shows overall low student scores increase in just over half of categories by grade and subject.”

“Nearly two-thirds of Colorado students struggle in math despite small testing gains.”

“Large majority of Black and Hispanic students continue to struggle in language and math.”

Here is an actual headline from the Denver Post that’s reasonable: “2026 CMAS results show Colorado students making gains in math, falling behind in reading.”

A comparable headline from Chalkbeat, posted May 29 based on preliminary data, reads: “Student math proficiency rises but literacy results are mixed, preliminary Colorado test scores show.”

Spin, spin, spin.

WHAT COMES AFTER GIGA?

We projected the recently released renderings of Starbase, Lousiana, to provide a sense of the sheer scale of the project.
SpaceX's plan depicted consists of ten launch sites, in five pairs. Each pair is about 1.5mi (2.5km) apart.

The production site is over 2km long, and the… pic.twitter.com/falD6wRB0h

— IGW (@interstellargw) August 26, 2026

More:

The production site is over 2km long, and the Starfactory alone has a floor space of over 7.6 million square feet (629,000 sq m). The Gigabay (if, it is still called that!) is over four times the area of the existing Gigabay design.

The whole site measures over 12 miles (20km) in length and takes up an area of roughly 14,000 acres.

Starbase, Lousiana is set to begin construction next year, with the first launch in 2029.

“Impressive” doesn’t begin to cover it.

EVERGREEN: Get Ready for the Democrats’ Season of Bloodthirst.

FLORIDA, MAN: New College reports record enrollment after conservative takeover.

New College of Florida welcomed its largest student body in the school’s history last week, three years after a conservative overhaul of the institution’s governing board.

This week, the Tallahassee Democrat reported that the public college surpassed its 1,000 enrollment goal for the 2026-2027 academic year.

Classes began Aug. 17 with 1,015 students – although “final official headcount won’t be determined until after a drop and add period for class registrations” in about two weeks, according to the report.

“New College is operating with exceptional momentum,” the college said in a statement to the newspaper. “Ultimately, this growth creates a more vibrant campus and positions New College students as a robust pipeline meeting both higher education and immediate workforce needs of the Sarasota community.”

A public liberal arts institution, New College never was a large school. However, those now leading the board have made enrollment expansion a goal.

Well done — and good luck going forward.

THE ALGORITHM CANDIDATE:

Tells you everything you need to know about the energy on the left. The loons of the DSA sound edgy and fresh and full of Jęw hatred.

AOC goes where TikTok and Instagram want her to go. https://t.co/ewzcKEBm23

— Political Sock (@politicalsock) August 27, 2026

THEY AREN’T INTO THAT KIND OF STUFF:

Why haven't the House GOP even tried to impeach her? https://t.co/evkuIQnwoP

— Fusilli Spock (@awstar11) August 25, 2026

It would be nice to see the GOP get serious about impeachments. Alas.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: America Isn’t Ready for a Post-Dolly Parton World. “Her brilliance as a singer and a songwriter were enough to launch her to superstardom. It was how she handled the superstardom that put her in a category of her own. She managed to be both supremely self-confident and self-effacing at the same time. I’ve never seen anything like it; one of those qualities usually pales in comparison to the other. That’s if they can coexist at all.”

ALEX, I’LL TAKE “THINGS EVERYBODY FIGURED OUT BACK IN MARCH” FOR $400:

Mojtaba Khamenei Clinically Dead

Internal Iranian sources tell The Atlantic that Mojtaba Khamenei, designated successor to his father, is either dead or in a vegetative state – raising questions about who's actually running Iran.https://t.co/zYInFqZWfl

— C14 News | EN (@c14english) August 26, 2026

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: Maryland felony cases against Zizian trans death cult members abruptly suspended.

The cases against cult leader Jack “Ziz” LaSota and subordinates Michelle “Jamie” “Alex” Zajko and Daniel “Hastur” Blank were made inactive on Aug. 14; All scheduled future trial dates were canceled.

LaSota, Zajko and Blank were arrested together following a national manhunt on Feb. 16, 2025 in rural western Maryland. They were found with a cache of weapons in their two box trucks. They had spent years moving around the country as members of the Zizians, a radical transgender cult who has been linked to at least eight violent deaths.

The three initially faced only misdemeanor trespassing, firearms and obstruction charges after an elderly Frostburg-area property owner reported that they had arrived in box trucks and asked to camp on his property.

Authorities later added charges involving the alleged illegal possession and carrying of concealed and loaded firearms.

And: “The reason prosecutors chose to suspend the Maryland cases has not been publicly explained.”

LaSota and Zajko still face other more serious charges.

HEH. IT’LL BE DECADES — IF EVER — BEFORE THIS IS A PROBLEM:

California city goes rogue, plots 1,200 new homes at high-speed rail site https://t.co/SQMTroOV4W pic.twitter.com/LRSl2W8msg

— New York Post (@nypost) August 25, 2026

ICYMI: Yeah, About That ‘Famine’ in Gaza…

UM:

Philly DA Larry Krasner says he wants the WH Ballroom blown up:

"I'm going to have a paperweight sitting on my desk. You know what that paperweight is going to be? It's going to be a piece of the ballroom after we all blow it up."

"In an official ceremony we're going to blow it… pic.twitter.com/VuTZJKW2Oz

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) August 26, 2026

OPERATION ECONOMIC OUTCAST: Iran oil cargoes dry up even before US acts on Tehran threats; China’s ‘teapots’ face crunch.

Iran’s oil shipments to Asian buyers have nearly dried up, pushing the price of Iranian crude to its highest levels in years as US prepares to announce fresh measures aimed at isolating Tehran and those trading with it.

China’s private refiners, which have traditionally been the biggest buyers of Iranian oil, are now facing tighter supplies. Iranian crude that was previously sold at a discount to global benchmarks is being offered at a premium of about $4 a barrel, Bloomberg reported.

The traders, cited by the Bloomberg, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private, said the supply squeeze has intensified in recent weeks.

A major factor behind the shortage is the impact of US efforts to block Iranian oil shipments. Loaded Iranian tankers have been unable to leave the Persian Gulf, while empty vessels remain stranded outside the region.

Sanctions haven’t brought down the regime in 47 years, but they’ve also never been this tight, or more importantly, backed up with a naval blockade. So we’ll see.

INCENTIVES WORK:

Dear Big Tech,

Build the community a new school and a new football stadium. You’ll get your data center.

You’re welcome.

— Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) August 25, 2026

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): This is what my NY Post column, out tonight, is about.

I UNDERSTOOD THIS REFERENCE: Mojtaba Khamenei Is (Still) Dead.

WINNING IS GOOD:

The Current General Business Activity is at a level not seen since the end of the first Gulf War in 1991, and before that, the post-recession period in 1983.

Considering the headwinds the economy has been under this year … LFG!

All credit to @JoshuaSteinman … if he deserves… pic.twitter.com/voqzInCrZW

— cdrsalamander (@cdrsalamander) August 25, 2026

SPACE: NASA Sets Coverage for Roman Space Telescope Launch from Florida.

Named for NASA’s first chief astronomer, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will pair sharp infrared vision with a field of view at least 100 times larger than the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope. Its crisp, sweeping surveys will help scientists investigate dark energy and dark matter, discover and characterize exoplanets, map billions of galaxies, study black holes, and explore objects from our own solar system to the edge of the observable universe.

After launch and separation from the rocket, Roman will travel to the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point, or L2, about one million miles from Earth. The mission has a five-year primary lifetime with a goal of operating for 10 years, and Roman’s science data will be publicly available after processing.

Plus: “NASA and SpaceX are targeting Roman’s liftoff for no earlier than 7:26 a.m. EDT Sunday, Aug. 30, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Launch coverage begins at 6:20 a.m.”

Those Falcon Heavy launches are something to see, and there aren’t many of them.

The core on this launch will be expended, but SpaceX plans to recover both side boosters and the fairings.

THEY WERE WARNED:

Forced expulsion is not "abandonment". Come on.

We just wrapped up a dozen years of explicitly discriminatory hiring practices in favor of women and minorities within virtually every prestigious institution and career pathway, and now mainstream media outlets are apparently… https://t.co/kn3AXKDTL6

— Christian Heiens 🏛 (@ChristianHeiens) August 24, 2026

Glenn noted years ago that lefties suck at understanding second-order effects, and I’ve seen nothing to contradict that.

ICYMI: Why Is SpaceX Buying All That Marshland in Louisiana?

NIFTY: Data centers become ‘killer application’ for new power transformer tech.

Several US companies, including Amperesand, Heron Power, and DG Matrix, have collectively raised more than $280 million in funding over the past year to commercialize solid-state transformer technology.

Solid-state transformers could also greatly reduce the amount of copper and other materials needed by data center projects, while their smaller physical footprints allow data center developers to do other things with the available space, Lukic explained.

In the long run, successful commercialization of solid-state transformers could even help ease the broader supply chain shortage affecting power transformers. That would make transformers more readily available for power grid upgrades and expansions beyond data center projects.

“There are relatively few specialized companies that manufacture [conventional] transformers, while solid-state transformers are like an electronics device,” Lukic said. “It completely opens up the space for who can play in the transformer space, and also opens up where transformers can be manufactured.”

Faster, please.