KING CANUTE AND CALIGULA SMILE: More than 100 people gather in San Francisco to scream at the ocean.
Author Archive: Glenn Reynolds
September 15, 2026
ONCE THE JEWEL OF PUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATION:
Rampant grade inflation means that grades don't tell us anything about a person's competency. The UC system doesn't accept standardized tests, which do tell us about a person's competency.
The UC system is now flooded with people that require remedial education. https://t.co/Llo1I2okMV
— Wesley Yang (@wesyang) September 15, 2026
HOW A GENERATION LOST ITS COMMON CULTURE: What happens when education prepares students for everything except understanding the civilization they inherited.
None of this is by accident, nor is it well-intentioned but simply misguided.
THIS IS WHAT 21ST CENTURY “CONSPIRACIES” LOOK LIKE:
I followed the money behind the “slow down AI” movement.
What I found is not a secret conspiracy.
It is more interesting than that.
It is a documented influence network connecting billionaire funders, nonprofits, creators, media, activists, frontier labs, and lawmakers.
— Rooke Poole (@rookepoole) September 15, 2026
WELL, THAT WAS EASY. Don Surber: We Beat Climate Change! Hurricanes are a thing of the past, right?
Climate change is dead according to the rules laid out by its proponents. They said there would not be snow. There was. They said there would be lots of hurricanes. There aren’t.
Richard Feynman wrote, “First we guess it. Then we compute the consequences of the guess. Then we compare the result of the computation to nature, with experiment or experience. If it disagrees with experiment it is wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science. It does not make any difference how beautiful your guess is. It does not make any difference how smart you are, who made the guess, or what his name is—if it disagrees with experiment it is wrong. That is all there is to it.”
A decade later, he warned, “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that. After you’ve not fooled yourself, it’s easy not to fool other scientists.”
It’s not science if it can’t make correct, testable, predictions.
IT WASN’T AN ACCIDENT: Neuroticism, Narcissism, and Nihilism Strangled Natalism. “Birth rates keep falling in almost every country. Fertility rates have remained below replacement rate for a generation in most of the developed world. Yet a birth gap has emerged. People who start families are having children at rates consistent with history. The overall decline is driven by the growing share of those who have none. We must do everything we can to counter the demoralization. The dating, labor, and housing markets critical to family formation are are broken.”
None of this is an accident.
CAN CONFIRM:
“The more I study the history of intellectuals, the more they seem like a wrecking crew, dismantling civilization bit by bit — replacing what works with what sounds good.”
— Thomas Sowell
— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) September 14, 2026
I BELIEVE THIS IS NOW CONSIDERED A “FAR RIGHT” OPINION. Legalizing Child Murder Would Be Bad.
YOU LAUGH, BUT WE’LL SOON HEAR HOW HURRICANES ARE VITAL TO THE ECOLOGY OF THE MIDWEST AND SOUTHWEST:
Climate Activists Blame Global Warming For Zero Hurricanes Forming In Atlantic This Year https://t.co/It7RVYCTl3
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) September 14, 2026
Without even an admission that just a few months ago there were dire predictions of more hurricanes due to “climate change.”
BRYAN CAPLAN: Neurotic Politics. “Quick version: When neurotics turn to politics, they find an infinite series of reasons to feel bad, which helps them stay one step ahead of the realization that their fundamental problem is inside their own heads and can be fixed by no one but themselves.”
September 14, 2026
ACTUALLY, AS PAUL STARES WROTE YEARS AGO, THE UNITED STATES HAD FUNCTIONAL ANTISATELLITE WEAPONS AND SATELLITE INTERCEPTORS BASED ON THE AGENA CHASSIS BACK IN THE SIXTIES:
The U.S. has officially announced that it’s keeping both offensive and defensive weapons in space.
The type of weapons and how many are up there hasn’t been revealed.
It’s the first time the U.S. admits to having combat capabilities in space. pic.twitter.com/9babKcWxzg
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) September 15, 2026
The fact that this is being publicly debuted suggests that kinetic and nonkinetic space control systems have been in development and deployment for a considerable time. Things are probably at the point where the systems can no longer be concealed or their capabilities selectively…
— wretchardthecat (@wretchardthecat) September 14, 2026
But the technology has advanced rather a lot since then.
OPEN THREAD: Monday, Monday.
JOHN ONDRASIK IS A GREAT AMERICAN:
25 Years ago I was honored to play Superman at the Concert for NYC.
Sharing the stage again with our incredible first responders under two light beams soaring to the heavens was sublime.
Our Promise to "Never Forget" is Eternal. God Bless America.🇺🇸❤️👊pic.twitter.com/A5jbXqoLmh— John Ondrasik (@johnondrasik) September 14, 2026
THE JUDICIARY HAS NOT BEEN COVERING ITSELF WITH GLORY LATELY: Judge Who Sentenced Martinez Long Couldn’t Figure Out Why He’d Carry a Gun for Protection in a Mall. Before sentencing him to probation for defending people from a mall shooter with a gun.
#JOURNALISM:
Everyone knows you can’t drown in 30 feet of water if you are a Republican. https://t.co/sbLkfQ20Fb
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) September 13, 2026
NUCLEAR RENAISSANCE: US Army backs nuclear microreactors small enough to ship by truck, boat, or plane.
IT’S GONNA TAKE A LOT TO GET ME INTO AN ICE BATH: Do Ice Baths and Red-Light Therapy Really Work? The Science Is Complicated.
WELL, CHINA WILL DO WHAT IT WANTS REGARDLESS: AI staff ‘genuinely frightened’ for humanity’s future, ex-Anthropic researcher tells BBC.
ANSWERING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Can You Refreeze Ground Beef? It’s a matter of method and timing.