KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Cute Couple — Tucker Carlson and Hunter Biden Find Each Other. “If Carlson really does want to run for president, his pathological hatred for Israel pretty much obligates him to run as a Democrat. He’s going to need to start working on his commie bona fides if he wants to get any cred with them. Don’t be surprised to see him brunching with Hasan Piker soon.”

CHANGE (IT BACK): Pentagon’s top policy official outlines new ‘realism’ approach to China.

Elbridge Colby, undersecretary of defense for policy, said during a speech in the Philippines that U.S. defense leaders will not call out states engaged in efforts to bully regional allies or seeking to control large areas of the region.

Instead, the new Pentagon policy calls for quiet and respectful relations — while also bolstering American military defenses along a chain of islands off the coast of China known as the first island chain.

Mr. Colby’s 4,000-word speech to a think tank in Manila made no specific reference to China, but it was clear from the context of the speech and earlier comments that he was referring to Beijing.

The new policy will seek to be strong and clear but quiet, Mr. Colby said, noting it reflects President Theodore Roosevelt’s maxim of speaking softly and carrying a big stick.

That was obvious by the second graf, but these days, even an undersecretary of defense for policy has to whack people over the head with the point.

TAPPER, LOL II:

The right move, obviously, was to alert everyone, compromising sources and methods, and then have them wait however long for alternate transportation to be secured while keeping them safe in an area already determined to be a possible target https://t.co/jK60ULZtUk

— Aelfred The Great (@aelfred_D) August 11, 2026

UNDERCOVER VIDEO: DSA on Illegals: ‘You Don’t Have to Have Papers to Have Power.’

PEACEFUL, EASY CONFLICT: Trump floats ‘easy, relaxed’ Iran war phase focused on hurting regime’s economy: ‘I’m their banker.’

UNITED IN THEIR HATE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION:

Again, if you don’t see the Red-Green-Green alliance—you’re blind. https://t.co/IfSYMtXUWq

— cdrsalamander (@cdrsalamander) August 11, 2026

SCOTT PINSKER: The Cunning Genius of AOC’s ‘Woke’ Reboot. “Tread carefully, Republicans: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is still America’s most dangerous Democrat — and still the odds-on favorite to win her party’s 2028 presidential nomination.”

WELL, WHEN YOU PUT IT LIKE THAT…:

The terror-loving nepo baby who VERBATIM demanded the NYPD be defunded NOW demands that the same officers risk their lives by traveling with his selfie-obsessed wife so she can make a personal visit to a country for which the US maintains a Level 4: do not travel advisory. https://t.co/Ii9wtUtP54

— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) August 11, 2026

I’m not exactly certain how the Zionists are to blame for Mamdani’s staff’s screwup, but they must be.

TRUMP ISN’T WRONG, BUT I WOULDN’T MIND SOME MORE “GOODER AND HARDER” FIRST: Trump Looks to Block New York City Pied-A-Terre Tax Before Certain Disaster.

HEH:

Ok, even I would start watching the WNBA!!!
Hahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/fNz9OBysjz

— Dan Franck 🇻🇦🇺🇲🪖🎲 (@GrampsToolshed) August 11, 2026

AMERICA 250: King George Learns Americans Have Declared Independence

“NORTH CAROLINA PASTOR” IS THE NEW “ITALIAN TEENAGER” WAS THE NEW “MARYLAND DAD”:

Per DHS, this “North Carolina pastor” is an illegal alien from Liberia who has had a deportation order since 1991 and has prior convictions for drug possession, fraud, mail theft, false citizenship, multiple traffic offenses, and charges for harassing communication and simple… https://t.co/eLvXjLol0s

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) August 11, 2026

HMM: New York’s ELA scores soared in 2025 and crashed in 2026. The numbers tell us it may be a mistake.

The results across NYC schools look very similar – schools consistently increased a lot in 2025, then decreased about the same amount in 2026.

Let me state the obvious: data does not usually look like this. If you’re a reader of this Substack, you see the releases from states as we put them out. Outside of the pandemic, proficiency rates typically move by a couple of percentage points (or less) in a given year. Increases of 4 or 5 percentage points are notable. The huge gains in 2025 here are implausible, and they seem even more so with the decline in 2026.

The fact is, this data looks like someone made- and then fixed- a mistake. So I got curious – could we understand that mistake better? The detailed 2026 data isn’t out yet. But the mistake seems like it was made in 2025. And we do have the technical manuals from 2025 and the detailed data on scores by school, group and district. (Shout out here to the API from our Education Data Center – you, too, can make these graphs in a few minutes).

I dug into the data. Here’s what I learned.

The full report gets pretty technical, but this conclusion stands out: “We should try to train ourselves to be more skeptical of results even if we wish they were true. I, as much as anyone, would love it if introducing phonics would increase proficiency rates by 12 percentage points in a single year. But that number isn’t realistic based on what we know about testing. And this should have been figured out, and fixed, last year.”

But as even the New York Times had to admit, in creating the Mississippi Miracle, teaching phonics certainly did help.

IT COULD PROBABLY BE HAD PRETTY CHEAP, CONSIDERING:

How much is it?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 11, 2026

I’m not sure “If you have to ask, you can’t afford it” applies here.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: How to spot the Perseid meteor shower, a summer light show that promises to dazzle. “The meteor shower’s peak Wednesday night into Thursday morning coincides with a total solar eclipse across Spain, Iceland and Greenland and a six-planet parade — though the best time to view the fireballs will come after totality.”

THIS FEELS CORRECT:

By the way, AOC is being very public about getting her eggs frozen for future use because she thinks it’ll allow her to take on the mantle of “motherhood”, having a stake in the game of being concerned for the future for the sake of her children, without having to actually deal…

— Enguerrand VII de Coucy (@ingelramdecoucy) August 11, 2026

ICYMI: Trans Rep Sarah McBride Has a Sad but I Can’t Stop Laughing. “‘This strategy of cutting off conversation and even cutting off relationships, it was done from a good place,’ McBride claimed in the video, equating family-destroying temper tantrums with moral suasion.”

I THOUGHT THIS WAS AMERICA: Cornell bans processing wild game on campus after bear butchering incident. “Chin said he and his friend checked on campus rules before they brought the bear to their dorm kitchen, and found that they would not be breaking any. He also said they needed to find a place quickly because they didn’t want the meat to spoil.”

TAPPER, LOL:

The story: Iran had a serious plot to kill the president.

The headlines: OMG Secret Service protected the president and not every asshole in the media. https://t.co/2xshtu9LSz

— Doug Powers (@ThePowersThatBe) August 11, 2026

HIDDEN VIDEO: DSA on Illegals: ‘You Don’t Have to Have Papers to Have Power.’

MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE: American warship downs drones with laser weapon. “According to Lockheed Martin, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Preble employed its High-Energy Laser with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance system, known as HELIOS, to engage and neutralise four drones during a Navy-run counter-UAS event. The activity took place last year and was disclosed publicly as part of the company’s latest financial update.”

Cool. Now do at least 40.

DON’T WORRY, THEY’LL BE HANDED A NEW GRIFT SOON ENOUGH: Republicans for Talarico Disbands After We Learned It Was a Really Just a Bunch of Democrats.

IS THERE NO DEPTH TO WHICH HE WILL NOT SINK? Trump Is to Blame for Record Low Crime Rate in Big Cities.

SHOPPING: There Are Police Trade-In Guns and Then There Are Police Guns You Just Can’t Pass Up.

THE ENEMY WITHIN:

Conquest's Third Law Of Politics: "The simplest way to explain the behavior of any bureaucratic organization is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies."

You really don't need more than that to explain why Cambridge University does the things it does. https://t.co/nBH5nnE8zX

— Rod Dreher (@roddreher) August 11, 2026

Say what who will about the Trojans, but at least they had to be fooled into letting their enemies inside the gate.