SAD BUT NOT UNEXPECTED: Holdout Clancy Juror Goes Into Hiding After Mob Targets Him.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELON CAN’T DO? Satellites Have Made This Costly Broadband Subsidy Obsolete.

In a recent FCC filing, SpaceX calls for the Commission to “wind down outdated and redundant High Cost programs that now clearly provide diminished – or even negative – returns and redirect these resources to an enhanced affordability program that will deliver clear and impactful benefits to consumers.”

The comments to the FCC pointed out the Commission’s own data show that 97 percent of Americans have access to two or more broadband providers. The small number of U.S. residents on the wrong side of the divide can be serviced better by low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite providers, the letter argues.

“The architecture of next-generation satellite systems is optimally suited to provide high-capacity, low-latency broadband services that are durable, cost-efficient, and economically self-sustaining – even in areas that are the most challenging and expensive to serve for terrestrial networks.”

The High-Cost Fund is the most expensive of the four components of the Universal Service Fund (USF), costing taxpayers about $4.5 billion annually, which represents more than half of the USF’s $8 billion to $8.5 billion annual budget.

The one thing Elon probably can’t do is get Congress to end this subsidy.

ANALYSIS: TRUE.

High-trust societies are not created by government legislation.

They are created over time by shared values and identity.

In fact, societies saturated by laws are a symptom of low-trust.

— Alice Smith (@TheAliceSmith) September 18, 2026

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Trump Pulls Rank on DOJ in Major Guns Rights Fight. “Even as multiple Justice Department lawyers wanted to challenge the ruling, reports surfaced Thursday that President Trump had assured several Republican members of Congress he would not allow the DOJ to appeal Judge Hendrix’s ruling.”

BOMB CANADA, THE CASE FOR WAR:

Those protesting the Canada War will inform us Trump’s unprovoked aggression was the cause.

The war the United States will be compelled against militant Islam and the People’s Republic, that is. In Canada.

The counter argument of course will be, “Well, we always said, better… https://t.co/YlLBbmMUnN

— Northern Barbarian (@xnoesbueno) September 18, 2026

As Latin America turns more conservative (and friendly), whoever imagined that Canada would become China’s Third World anti-American vassal?

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China conducts four launches inside 48 hours as launch options diversify. “China carried out four launches in less than 48 hours beginning Tuesday, with missions originating from the Jiuquan and Hainan spaceports as well as the East China Sea. SpaceNews reports the rapid series highlights the ‘diversification of China’s launch activities,’ with four different rocket families flying from separate facilities as the country’s megaconstellation projects drive increased launch activity.”

THE TIMING MIGHT HAVE TO DO WITH OTHER EVENTS IN EUROPE THIS WEEK…:

The weakness of Europe and the thrusting advance of Russia probably gave Denmark no choice but to put Greenland under the protection of the US in the hopes of providing deterrence it could not itself provide.

This is worrisome because it suggests Denmark no longer sees…

— wretchardthecat (@wretchardthecat) September 18, 2026

…but more on those later.

MAYBE I SHOULDN’T LAUGH BUT I DID: Boston Cancels Reparations Report After Researcher Is Found to Have Fabricated Claims in Her Book.

ANTI-AI IS AN OP:

Wheels have come off AI Greta in record time https://t.co/EVZMzKYHeU

— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) September 18, 2026

FINGERS CROSSED: Trump Fires Opening Salvo in Renewed Battle to Exclude Illegal Aliens from the Census. “If implemented, millions of illegal aliens would no longer distort the political map. House seats and Electoral College votes would be divvied up based on population numbers reflecting the ‘We the People’ our system exists to represent. The rule would neutralize foreign influence; eliminate the undue political power sanctuary jurisdictions have accrued through decades of mass illegal immigration; and restore the “one man, one vote” principle by ending the dilution of Americans’ voting power that has occurred through counting non-citizens in the population figures used to draw up districts.”

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES:

Protesters marched in San Francisco to demand a halt to AI development, warning companies could endanger humanity. https://t.co/RfwotfWa3f

— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) September 17, 2026

Meanwhile, in China: Huawei chair urges China’s AI labs to speed up development, warns they haven’t hit real safety risks yet.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Just In Time for Halloween — Somewhat Lifelike Mitch McConnell. “It is difficult and painful to watch those we love experience rapid, age-related decline. When it comes to our loved ones, we do whatever we can for their quality of life. That rarely involves making them go to work. It never involves parading them in front of television cameras and subjecting them to intense media scrutiny.”

I THOUGHT AT FIRST THAT THIS MUST BE A PARODY OR AN AI GENERATION:

Lindsay Clancy has been punished enough because "She's lost her children"

Seriously, is there anything worse on planet Earth than a liberal white woman? pic.twitter.com/eTBT41gRNp

— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) September 17, 2026

Alas, it is real.

ABSOLUTELY NOBODY IS SURPRISED BY THIS: We ran the data on trans teen suicide panic — and found the claims are misleading.

“You can choose between a live son or a dead daughter.”

Countless parents have heard some variation of these words — from physicians, medical associations, media outlets or online activists.

If children believe they’re born in the wrong body and can’t get sex-change treatments, the argument goes, they’re at high risk of committing suicide.

No claim has swayed more parents to let their kids get puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and even surgeries.

The same claim has struck fear into the hearts of lawmakers considering restrictions on such treatments.

But as we show in a new report, the suicide threat isn’t true.

Read the whole thing. But understand that the parents of children too young to get a tattoo without permission were emotionally blackmailed into surgically and chemically altering those same kids.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG:

EXCLUSIVE: Judge Boasberg was a 9-time host for a CCP-founded program run by a Chinese spy front flagged for its efforts to compromise Americans.

SIX were during his FISA term—with access to top secret intelligence. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/phgdrwCto1

— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) September 17, 2026

DAVID MANNEY: Washington Finally Connected the Dots on Fraud Cases Across the Country. “Twenty-seven FBI field offices were working fraud cases that looked local. Then Washington finally put the data in the same room.”

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: Murder Charges Dropped Because Travis County Missed Deadlines.

“A murder charge that Perius previously faced was dismissed due to the Travis County District Attorney’s Office failing to meet the indictment deadline.” Somehow this case of massive incompetence got relegated to half a sentence at the end of paragraph five.

Under Soros-backed DA Jose Garza, Travis County’s DA office has put a revolving door on the jailhouse to allow repeat offenders back out on the streets to continue victimizing law-abiding citizens.

Usually murder cases are treated with a fair degree of seriousness in a competent DA’s office (at least outside of no-witness drug gang shootings). They’re high profile cases that receive special attention, but evidently not in Travis County.

This is not on accident.

HE’S HARDLY POTUS, BUT THAT’S HARDLY THE POINT:

WATCH: Republicans step in around Sen. Mitch McConnell as confusion breaks out over his vote during a farm bill markup in the Senate Agriculture Committee.

McConnell quietly says “aye” as GOP Sen. John Hoeven leans over and tells him “no" multiple times.

A staffer then… pic.twitter.com/uP0bEG5s6R

— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 17, 2026

LEAVE THEM KIDS ALONE: Education Department Probes District Accused of Transing Teen Taken From Catholic Parents.

MAGA: Americans are richer than ever — and poverty hits an all-time low. “The good news came despite a wild series of economic headlines in the US and beyond, touching on everything from tariffs to international conflicts.”

VENERABLE: Lockheed hopes to sell a new F-16 to U.S. Air Force.

Lockheed Martin is pitching the U.S. Air Force on a new version of the F-16 fighter, designated the F-16G, as a way to replace aging Fighting Falcons faster than the F-35 production line can keep up.

Multiple people familiar with the aircraft told Aviation Week that the F-16G builds on the current Block 70 F-16, Lockheed’s newest production version, and would add conformal fuel tanks, 600-gallon wing tanks, an infrared search and track pod, a Sniper targeting pod and a drag chute. Those additions would extend the jet’s range and give it added sensor capability compared with earlier F-16 models still flying in Air Force squadrons.

The idea of buying new F-16s to fill out the fighter fleet is not new. Then-Air Force Assistant Secretary for Acquisition Will Roper raised the option back in 2021, pointing to the active F-16 production line in Greenville, South Carolina, as a way to add capacity while the F-35 program worked through its own delivery pace. Lockheed builds F-16s and F-35s at separate facilities, but the F-35’s more complex production process has left the Air Force short of new airframes to replace F-16s reaching the end of their service lives.

Why not? The heavily upgraded F-15EX Eagle II has proven to be a real winner, filling in the gaps of our unpardonably small F-22 fleet.

INFLATION, GAS PRICES, AND THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA:

Stocks at record highs.
GDP at 5.1%.
Real incomes at record highs.
Poverty at record lows.
Food inflation below 20 year average.
Factories at 82% capacity.
Standard of living best ever.
Crime at record lows.

Trump approval on the economy – record lows.

What am I missing?

— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) September 17, 2026

CHRISTIAN TOTO: ‘Run Hide Fight: Infidels’ – ‘Red Dawn’ for Academia’s Insane Woke Culture.

If filmmakers won’t tackle the woke Left, Ben Shapiro’s team will step up via films like “Run Hide Fight: Infidels.”

The action thriller takes meaty swipes at:

Woke college administrators
Campus radicals
Wishy-washy deans
Triggered snowflakes
And, of course, the dangers of radical Islam

The latter is center stage with “Run Hide Fight: Infidels,” a spiritual sequel to the superior 2020 film “Run Hide Fight.” Director Kyle Rankin returns to poke progressive Hollywood in the eye.

That’s the good news.

The film’s satirical formula falters after a spell, becoming a generic shoot ‘em up that doesn’t take full advantage of what came before it.

Sounds like a bit of a mixed bag. But it has all the right people’s panties wadded, so I look forward to seeing it.

ICYMI: Say Goodbye to Hollywood… If It Even Exists Anymore.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: The battlefield now extends all the way to the moon, U.S. military’s highest-ranking officer says.

“Today’s modern battlefield operates from the seabed to cislunar space,” Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday (Sept. 16) during a keynote address at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.

Cislunar space extends from Earth all the way out to the orbit of the moon and includes the lunar surface. For several years now, military officials have been stressing the strategic importance of this huge region, which could get quite a bit busier in the next decade or so.

For example, both the United States and China plan to build bases near the moon’s south pole, which is thought to harbor large amounts of water ice. Winning this new moon race is critical, U.S. officials have stressed, because whoever does so will be able to establish norms of behavior on and around Earth’s nearest neighbor.

And as Robert Heinlein taught us, the Moon is the ultimate high ground.