May 27, 2025

CHANGE: Shoe, Dropped: Trump ‘Pauses’ Student Visas Across the Board. “Universities and colleges across the country can thank Harvard for this latest development. If federal courts won’t allow the Department of Homeland Security to deal directly with Harvard on compliance for the Student Education Visa Program (SEVP), the administration can simply make it more difficult for everyone instead.”

Posted at 7:52 pm by Glenn Reynolds 61

STACY MCCAIN: May 27: A Date That Will Live in Hilarity. “I was trying to figure out if there could be some kind of innocent explanation, for example, the possibility that one of Weiner’s staffers, with access to his account, had accidentally sent the photo. And I remember calling up Andrew Breitbart to discuss this with him. Andrew’s response was blunt: ‘No, Stacy. Trust me — there’s more.'”

Plus: “June 6 was the big breakthrough, when the Texas woman, an Army veteran and single mom named Meagan Broussard, told her story on Breitbart’s site. The same day, Anthony Weiner announced a press conference in New York. Weiner was late to the press conference, but Andrew Breitbart was there on time, so the assembled media demanded that Breitbart answer questions — upstaging the congressman.” It was brilliant.

Posted at 6:51 pm by Glenn Reynolds 29

ANALYSIS: TRUE.

Posted at 6:49 pm by Glenn Reynolds 37

CHANGE: The UK is rolling out a world-first vaccine for gonorrhoea. What about the rest of Europe? Doesn’t sound especially impressive: “In studies, the vaccine was between 32.7 per cent and 42 per cent effective against gonorrhoea, the advisory group found.”

Plus: “Gonorrhoea is one of the most common STIs, with nearly 97,000 confirmed cases in 28 European countries in 2023 – up 31 per cent from the year before. . . . Cases have been rising among all age groups and among both women and men, with men who have sex with men accounting for 58 per cent of cases in 2023.”

Posted at 6:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds 122

DON’T TRUST CHINA. CHINA IS ASSHOE: Korea assessing China-made solar inverters after U.S. probe over undefined devices.

Korea is taking concrete steps to assess the potential security risks posed by China-made inverters, key in solar panels and batteries, following the launch of a probe into the devices in the United States after some unexplained communication components were found inside.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday it held a meeting last week with major domestic solar firms, including Hanwha Qcells, Hyundai Energy Solutions and Hyosung Heavy Industries, to review the current status of solar inverter deployment in the country and possible expected threats.

“The meeting aimed to gather industry input on potential cybersecurity risks associated with solar inverters,” the Industry Ministry said, adding that it currently has “no plans to conduct a comprehensive investigation into all inverters” distributed domestically.

That last bit might have to change, depending on what they find.

Posted at 4:50 pm by Stephen Green 34

#JOURNALISM:

Posted at 4:45 pm by Glenn Reynolds 123

CARGOLUX CARGO CULT:

What would have have done without them? Because otherwise, if there was one thing that 2020 lacked, it was sufficient “Covid-19 awareness.”

Posted at 4:14 pm by Ed Driscoll 27

PAY ATTENTION TO THIS GUY:

Posted at 3:50 pm by Glenn Reynolds 34

CHANGE: Bezos’ WaPo Gives Staff Ultimatum as It Pushes Them Out.

Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post wants to push dozens of staffers out the door, offering opinion staffers, staffers with 10 years’ experience, and some desks buyout packages to leave the paper. “Like the rest of our industry, we are adapting to changing habits and new technologies that are transforming news experiences,” executive editor Matt Murray told staffers in a memo obtained by the Daily Beast. “Even as we have begun creating new departments and welcoming new colleagues, to reach new audiences we must increase our staffing flexibility and expand in areas such as audience data and social video.” The entire video desk, the copy desk, and the sports copy desks were also offered buyout packages, which Murray stressed were voluntary. Staffers will have until July to make a decision.

And then do buyouts become non-voluntary?

Posted at 3:48 pm by Stephen Green 90

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: So This Latest Move Will Save the Democrats for Sure. “It isn’t easy being a Democrat these days, but don’t think for a moment they haven’t come up with a brand-new agenda — one that somehow isn’t any different from the old one going back to FDR. But it has a shiny new name, so they’ve got that going for them. Which is nice.”

Posted at 3:17 pm by Stephen Green 61

OUCH: At least 5 are dead and 19 injured after a chemical plant explodes in China, authorities say.

A huge explosion rocked a chemical plant in China ’s eastern Shandong province around noon Tuesday, killing at least five people and injuring 19, according to local emergency management authorities. Another six people were missing.

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion.

The blast was powerful enough to knock out windows at a warehouse more than two miles (three kilometers) away, according to a video shared by a resident, who declined to give his name out of concern about retaliation.

The resident said his home shook. As he went to the window, he saw a column of smoke from the site more than seven kilometers (4.3 miles) away.

Video:

Developing…

Posted at 2:46 pm by Stephen Green 146

HEY, IT’S GOT A GREAT BEAT AND YOU CAN REALLY DANCE TO IT: ‘Kill the Boer’ song just a ‘liberation chant’ — not a call for violence, according to South African president. 

The South African president rejected President Donald Trump’s assertion that the South African communist leader who leads chants about killing white farmers should be arrested.

President Cyril Ramaphosa met with President Trump last week in the White House, where he firmly denied the existence of a genocide or even targeted killings of white South African farmers known as the Boers.

During their meeting, Trump suggested to Ramaphosa that the South African government should arrest Julius Malema, a political leader who has led chants of “shoot the Boer” and “shoot to kill” to a stadium full of supporters.

Upon returning to South Africa, Ramaphosa spoke to reporters about the idea of arrests and asserted that his country is a sovereign nation with its own laws and processes. He also excused the racist chants as freedom of expression.

“We take into account what the constitutional court also decided when it said that, you know, that slogan, ‘kill the Boer, kill the farmer,’ is a liberation chant and slogan.”

“It’s not meant to be a message that elicits or calls upon anyone to go and be killed,” the president claimed. “And that is what our court decided. … We follow the dictates of our constitution because we are a constitutional state, and we are a country where freedom of expression is in the bedrock of our constitutional arrangement.”

Or as America’s Newspaper of Record reports:

Posted at 2:35 pm by Ed Driscoll 145

MATT MARGOLIS: The Most Hilarious Scheme yet for Democrats to Win Back Power.

Just when you think the Democratic Party couldn’t get more desperate or delusional, it manages to outdo itself. The latest scheme? Creating a “shadow cabinet” to challenge President Donald Trump’s agenda. And if that wasn’t absurd enough, wait until you hear who Democrats want to put in charge.

In fact, Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin pitched this laughable concept to Politico, suggesting that ranking committee members could lead this pretend government.

I’m not even kidding. Politico loved the idea, but not the part about using ranking committee members.

“Ranking members have their uses,” Politico observes. “They’re good at reclaiming their time and making motions to recommit. But they are not the fresh faces who can give the Democratic Party a sleek new look.”

“So how best to assemble a shadow Cabinet?” Politico asks. “Tap accomplished people with the ability to speak plainly and the credibility to puncture the Trump administration’s often Orwellian narratives. Don’t limit members to professional politicians. Pitch a big tent. Don’t draw rigid ideological lines.”

And this shadow Cabinet reads like a parody list written by The Babylon Bee. For Homeland Security Secretary, Politico wants — no joke — Gisele Fetterman. Why her, of all people? Because she was an illegal immigrant.

Why is the left pitting Fetterman against Fetterman? A Fetterman family divided against itself cannot stand!

Note that Politico is already calibrating their enthusiasm* slightly. The headline atop the article now reads:

It was worded a bit more positively in its first draft.

At RedState, Bonchie writes, “I know David Hogg didn’t write this piece for Politico, but if he had, what would be different? Every single person listed is the exact opposite of the direction Democrats should go if they want to regain the trust of the American people. If the 2024 election was anything, it was a repudiation of far-left ideologues being suggested for this ‘shadow cabinet.’ But as has been said many times, zero lessons have actually been learned. Democrats know nothing but doubling down.”

Exit quote:

* Classical reference.

 

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll 150