NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: Anthropic says it blocked possible attempts to use AI to develop bioweapons.

GOOD NEWS: Hepatitis C used to be a frightening lifelong diagnosis—now most cases can be cured.

OOPS: The Most Promising New Cholesterol Drug Didn’t Work. Now What?

ROGER KIMBALL: Lonnie Bunch’s long march through the Smithsonian.

Lonnie G. Bunch III, the first black head of the Smithsonian Institution, is stepping down after a tenure of some seven years. NPR had the news: “In 2019, Bunch was named secretary of the Smithsonian, becoming the first historian and the first African American to hold the position.” The Wall Street Journal also got the memo: “The first Black historian to lead the world’s largest museum and research complex says he’s retiring and will leave by year’s end.” NBC looked behind the headline. “Bunch, the first Black person and first historian to lead the institution, has said he would have retired a year ago but felt he had to stay to defend the institution from the White House attacks, the person said.”

I had something to say about those “attacks” – I prefer the word “criticisms” – in the Speccie as this little thrust and parry was unfolding. A key document is a letter to Bunch whose subject line reads: “Internal Review of Smithsonian Exhibitions and Materials.” Signed by Lindsey Halligan, Special Assistant to the President; Vince Haley, Director of the Domestic Policy Council; and Russell Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the letter announces a “comprehensive internal review” of the Smithsonian, its exhibitions and curatorial procedures.” “This initiative aims to ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”

Bunch has denied that he decided to retire because of pressure from the Trump administration. But he did allow that the administration’s spotlight on the Smithsonian’s ideological coloration was “stressful.” After all, he told the New York Times: “When you’re Black in America, you’ve got to figure out how to get through, right?” Would that be different from being white or some other color “in America?”

In any event, few people would deny that Bunch figured out how to “get through” while being black “in America.” For the last several year, he has been pulling down nearly a million dollars per annum, pretty good innings for someone – no matter his quota of melanin – at a tax-exempt, largely publicly funded enterprise.

Hey, it’s tough out there for a black man in America, but at least he wasn’t locked in a room with 11 liberal white shrews.

UPDATE:

White Women Argue Black Men Should Only Have Three-Fifths Of A Jury Vote https://t.co/noCPIWd9ia

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) September 11, 2026

IT CAN: Dehydration can sneak up faster than you think—and the warning signs are easy to dismiss.

RACISM AND DISCRIMINATION: UC Berkeley Law discriminates against white, Asian students, Justice Department says.

CULTURE OF HATE: UVU activists plan protest of Charlie Kirk memorial one year after assassination.

OMG, THIS STORY JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER:

NEW: Lindsay Clancy juror Paula Devlin reveals on 'CBS Mornings' that the lone, male holdout juror who voted to find Clancy guilty of murdering her children was the *only* person of color — a black man.

The 11 not-guilty jurors — who hectored him for a week to cave — were all… pic.twitter.com/5qirHNGCyx

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 11, 2026

Listen to this video of juror Nick Dargie now knowing that the holdout is a black man. https://t.co/uUshZqY7Ik

— John Curtis (@Johnmcurtis) September 11, 2026

I’VE POSTED A LOT OF STUFF ON SEPTEMBER 11TH OVER THE LAST 25 YEARS. But this year, it’s just this: Brad Todd’s 109 Minutes essay. “Just 109 minutes after a new form of terrorism — the most deadly yet invented — came into use, it was rendered, if not obsolete, at least decidedly less effective. Deconstructed, unengineered, thwarted, and put into the dust bin of history. By Americans. In 109 minutes.”

Ordinary Americans have tremendous skill and ability. That’s why people who want to rule over them hate and fear them.

CDR SALAMANDER: No European NATO Navies are Ready to Fight Today’s War at Sea.

We are coming up on three years from the final wakeup call after October 7th, 2023, that conventionally armed ballistic missiles are the premier threat to critical capabilities ashore and at sea.

In the U.S. at least, though production was minimal and inventories allowed to be too small, we at least had the technology to meet the threat from Medium, Intermediate, and Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles.

At sea, which will be our focus today, we just made it across the finish line in time with the RIM-161 SM-3, which built off the success of the iterative development of the SM-2 for decades.

This work has paid off via the exceptional performance of our Arleigh Burke Class destroyers off Israel, and in defending our fleet from the Red Sea to the Arabian Sea against Iran and her proxies.

With each engagement, our software gets better…the next update to our missiles gets better, and, more importantly, it has yanked the Lotus off the dinner plate of our defense establishment to expand production and inventories.

Bravo Zulu to those people who fought, mostly nameless and unseen, for decades to ensure we did not take our eye off the need to be able to meet the threat from ballistic missiles.

Here’s the issue. We’re alone here, and our European allies just don’t seem to get it.

That’s the issue with our European allies pretty much across the board.

PLAUSIBLE: “The idea seems to be that women — not all women, but most — are natural scolds, and if they don’t have children to scold, they’re going to range freely, looking for adults to scold.”

I AM A MAN OF PEACE, AND, TO PARAPHRASE KEITH LAUMER, THERE IS NOTHING MORE PEACEFUL THAN A DEAD TERRORIST. Kurt Schlichter: We Are Still At War. Accept it and win it.

We’ve been at war since Iran took our embassy in 1979.

JUST BECAUSE THEY’RE KOOKS DOESN’T MEAN THEY AREN’T DANGEROUS: Covid Masks, a “Gay Communism” Hat, and Hasan Piker: Inside the Socialism 2026 Conference.

Related: ‘Transfeminist Abolition’ and ‘Communist Sex Forests’: Inside the Socialism 2026 Summit.

IN BOB DYLAN’S WORDS, THEY’D RATHER SEE US PARALYZED: The Europeans’ Post-9/11 Advice: The urge to blame America and stop it from responding began immediately.

Just as people started blaming Israel for 10/7 . . . on 10/7.

THEY’RE A SORRY LOT: NeverTrumpers: Jilted Lovers, Daddy Issues, Cocktail Party Rejects.

ANALYSIS: TRUE.

Charlie was murdered by the Dark for showing people the Light

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 21, 2025

OFT EVIL WILL SHALL EVIL MAR: Here in Knoxville at UT there was a lot of snarkiness about Charlie Kirk on social media, which drew attention from politicians and some University officials, but the actual “Kirkiversary” gathering on the HSS Lawn at UT was 400 people chanting “Kirk! Kirk! Kirk!” and singing “We Are Charlie Kirk.”

As usual, the nasty left is a minority pretending to be a majority. They aren’t. They’re a nasty, mean, violent fringe, but they’re outnumbered and it’s good to remind them of that.

OPEN THREAD: Have fun.

WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: US military practices orbital dogfighting in 1st-ever ‘live fly’ exercise in space.

LYCOPENE UPDATE: Scientists Had People Eat Tomato Paste For 3 Months. Their Brain Scans Looked Different.

WELL, GOOD: Vitamin B2 and Tumor Bacteria May Unlock a New Way To Fight Lung Cancer.

I DON’T HAVE ANY TROUBLE SLEEPING IN LIGHT, BUT THE INSTA-WIFE KEEPS OUR BEDROOM PITCH-DARK, WHICH I GUESS IS GOOD. The hidden risk to your heart from sleeping in low light.

GOOD: The Tesla Cybercab—Which ‘Doesn’t Need Manual Controls’— Has Secret Manual Controls.

THEY KILLED HIM BECAUSE HE WAS EFFECTIVE:

You know someone was an effective anti-communist when the leftist cockroaches celebrate that person’s death.

But when the bastards celebrate the ANNIVERSARY of someone’s death….that person was an anti-communist JUGGERNAUT.

Strive to be as effective as Charlie. Every day.

— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) September 10, 2026

DEMOCRATS LOVE REGULATING SPEECH UNTIL THEY DON’T.

In fact, he is allowed to interview James Talarico. Maybe he didn’t tell you that because he knows you’re kind of dumb and don’t understand that there is an equal time obligation under the law. He would have to give Paxton equal time and he doesn’t want to do that.

Did your hero… https://t.co/1U2VxSHVZu

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) September 10, 2026