June 4, 2025

NEW DOCS SHED LIGHT ON FBI’S ANTI-CATHOLIC MEMO: ‘Apparently, We Are at the Behest of the SPLC,’ FBI Staffer Wrote in Response to Anti-Catholic Memo.

The FBI Richmond office’s notorious anti-Catholic memo reached more staff at the bureau than previously suggested, and some FBI staff were aghast to see it, according to new documents released by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Tuesday.

The memo urged FBI agents to develop sources and surveil Catholic churches, citing the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of “radical traditional Catholic hate groups.” The SPLC’s “hate map” plots conservative and Christian groups alongside Ku Klux Klan chapters. While the SPLC claims to be exposing “the infrastructure upholding white supremacy,” critics say it uses the map to silence political opponents.

The FBI rushed to rescind the document after a whistleblower leaked it in February 2023. Then-FBI Director Christopher Wray testified in July 2023 that the memo came from “a single product by a single field office, which, as soon as I found out about it, I was aghast and ordered it withdrawn and removed from FBI systems.” Yet Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, has claimed Wray may have lied under oath because multiple FBI offices were involved in creating the memo.

Grassley announced Tuesday that he found evidence that the memo had been disseminated to at least 1,000 FBI staff.

“Is anyone really asking for a product like this?” an FBI employee in Phoenix, Arizona, wrote in a February 2023 email responding to the memo. “Apparently we are at the behest of the SPLC…”

An FBI employee in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, responded, “And yeah, our overreliance on the SPLC for hate designations is … problematic.”

In addition to these emails, Grassley found the FBI produced at least 13 additional documents and five attachments that used the term “radical traditionalist Catholic” and relied on the SPLC.

How odd that this was happening during the Biden administration; the media assured me that “It’s not a detail he highlights, but people who know him well say his Catholic faith is central to how he sees the world. Biden, who carries a rosary in his pocket and attends Mass every Sunday, is known as a deeply devout person of faith, and his campaign sees electoral implications in that — in part because Biden has tried to frame this election as a clear moral contrast between Trump and himself.”

But then, the media assured me last year that “This version of Biden, intellectually, analytically, is the best Biden ever. Not a close second, and I’ve known him for years. The Brzezinskis have known him for 50 years. If it weren’t the truth, I wouldn’t say it.”

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll 10

BRUCE GILLEY ON A YEAR AT NEW COLLEGE OF FLORIDA. “The fact is, we just don’t know how this will play out. The safest bet is that there will never be any public university in the United States whose faculty is even remotely politically balanced, much less intellectually diverse.”

Posted at 2:21 pm by Robert Shibley 0

FASTER? PLEASE! After More Than 60 Years Of Development, Here Is The Nuclear Engine That Is Set To Go To Mars With NASA.

For decades, NASA has been working on an engine that is faster and more efficient than traditional chemical propulsion. One of the most serious avenues is nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP). How does this work? Heat a gas, usually hydrogen, in a nuclear reactor, then expel it at high speed to generate a much more powerful thrust. With this system, Mars could be reached in just 45 days. General Atomics, a key player in nuclear research, has just announced a major breakthrough in this technology. Scott Forney, President of GA-EMS, is delighted with the latest tests: We are very encouraged by these positive results proving that the fuel can survive these operating conditions, bringing us closer to the realisation of safe and reliable nuclear thermal propulsion for cislunar and deep space missions.

The DRACO programme, piloted by NASA and DARPA, plans to demonstrate an NTP engine as early as 2027. But the challenges remain: ultra-resistant materials, heat management in space and, above all, astronaut safety in the face of an on-board nuclear reactor. Meanwhile, SpaceX continues to make progress on the chemical propulsion front with its Starship rocket, designed for interplanetary missions. Elon Musk still has a head start on reusable launchers, but if nuclear propulsion becomes viable, he could well find himself facing unexpected competition. What’s more, with the rise of China, which is aiming for a manned mission to Mars by 2033, the duel with the United States looks set to be fierce. And this time, it’s hard to predict who will get there first.

It’s less about who gets there first and more about who can get there most often, and with enough gear to establish a permanent presence.

But first is good, too.

UPDATE (AND BUMPED): Not so fast…: Some parts of Trump’s proposed budget for NASA are literally draconian.

New details of the Trump administration’s plans for NASA, released Friday, revealed the White House’s desire to end the development of an experimental nuclear thermal rocket engine that could have shown a new way of exploring the Solar System.

Trump’s NASA budget request is rife with spending cuts. Overall, the White House proposes reducing NASA’s budget by about 24 percent, from $24.8 billion this year to $18.8 billion in fiscal year 2026. In previous stories, Ars has covered many of the programs impacted by the proposed cuts, which would cancel the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft and terminate numerous robotic science missions, including the Mars Sample Return, probes to Venus, and future space telescopes.

Instead, the leftover funding for NASA’s human exploration program would go toward supporting commercial projects to land on the Moon and Mars.

NASA’s initiatives to pioneer next-generation space technologies are also hit hard in the White House’s budget proposal. If the Trump administration gets its way, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, or STMD, will see its budget cut nearly in half, from $1.1 billion to $568 million.

What a shame. There is plenty of fat to trim, including at NASA and particularly SLS. But exotic tech like DRACO is the kind of thing NASA could and should do.

When Blue Origin CEO said last week that NASA should focus on “really exotic missions,” I believe this is the kind of thing he was talking about.

Glenn added, “I agree” the other day, and so do I.

Posted at 1:59 pm by Stephen Green 71

LEADERSHIP MATTERS: Army hits recruiting goal four months early.

The U.S. Army hit its recruiting goal four months early, reaching the 61,000 target before the Sept. 30 deadline.

The Army’s goal this year is more than 10% higher than the 55,000 recruitment target for the prior fiscal year, the military branch said in its announcement Tuesday.

“This achievement represents a significant turning point for the Army and indicates a renewed sense of patriotism and purpose among America’s youth,” according to the Army.

Daily average contracts have exceeded “last year’s levels by as much as 56% during the same period,” the military branch said.

Warriors want to join a warfighting organization, not a drag show.

Posted at 1:46 pm by Stephen Green 26

THE ENEMY WITHIN:

This isn’t journalism, it’s literally enemy propaganda. Lord Haw-Haw would be proud.

Fortunately there are lots of medical schools in Egypt.

UPDATE:

Posted at 12:56 pm by Glenn Reynolds 119

CHANGE:

Most of SpaceX’s revenue comes from Starlink, a SpaceX subsidiary. Starlink subscriptions provide the cash flow that keep SpaceX growing, and the launch cadence needed to keep their costs down and their rocket technology at least one step ahead of the competition.

It’s maybe the cleverest business model you’ll ever see.

Posted at 12:53 pm by Stephen Green 49

KURT SCHLICHTER: Bono’s Deep Thoughts Are Even Worse Than His Last 35 Years of Music.

Joe Rogan just had Bono on his podcast, and Bono, who famously poses as the great White Irish savior of the Third World, stated that America’s USAID cuts have already killed 300,000 people. Well, that’s a lot of people. Rogan pointed out that USAID is a giant money laundering scam, and a lot of other people have been either asking where all these 300,000 dead people are or wondering why Bono – who’s rich beyond measure thanks to the bad taste of so many people – doesn’t get his checkbook out and start scribbling. No evidence supports his ridiculous claim, but the substance of his accusation isn’t really the point.

The point is foundational. It reflects something that leftists do all the time, whether about the climate hoax, Gaza, or even domestic pathologies. They announce there’s a problem, and it’s our fault for not stopping it. It might be slightly hotter in a century? You (not China) must shut down all your coal plants! Terrorist sympathizers feeling the consequences of their murder sprees? You’ve got to feed them! Drug addict criminal bums infesting our streets? It’s your job to give them the same kind of shelter you suckers work to pay for!

Unfortunately, far too many conservatives accept the premise du jour and go along with it. Bono’s premise, shared by fellow leftists who are outraged that the Trump administration has shut off the cash flow to Third World potentates that their allies took a piece of, is that America has some obligation to the rest of the Earth to keep bad things from happening. Leftists are always announcing that we have some sort of obligation to do something and berating us because we have failed to meet this expectation. But here’s the real question: when did we become responsible for the supplying day-to-day needs of the rest of the world?

That is, what is the source of this duty and obligation to prevent 300,000 Third Worlders from somehow dying because we haven’t just handed over money? Again, I don’t believe that 300,000 Third Worlders have died because we haven’t just handed over money, but let’s assume Bono is telling the truth. Why is filling Botswanan bellies our problem?

Exit quote: “Like leftists do all the time when they decide we have to do something, Bono didn’t say, and I still haven’t found what I’m looking for – an answer to the foundational question of why foreigners’ problems are our fault. I think he’s just pulling it out of the same place he’s been pulling songs out of since about 1987. “

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll 139

CLOWN NOSE ON/CLOWN NOSE OFF: Never Forget What Jon Stewart Did To America.

For years, when TV actually mattered, The Daily Show was the moral compass for millions of liberals — and eventually, far too many treated it as their only compass. Stewart wasn’t just mocking Republicans; he was reshaping how Democrats thought, spoke, and saw the world. He introduced a generation to the idea that being smug was synonymous with being right. That sarcasm was substance. That having a punchline was the same as having a point.

Even his comedy, once hailed as clever, incisive, “for the thinking man,” was always marinated in elite arrogance. Stewart didn’t just poke fun at politicians. He mocked belief. Mocked faith. Mocked patriotism. Mocked the very idea that tradition might be worth taking seriously. To him, these weren’t pillars of a shared culture — they were punchlines. Red meat for Manhattan elites.

And it worked. For a time. Stewart’s smirk became the face of smart liberalism. He gave a generation permission to roll their eyes at anything that smelled vaguely of God, country, or duty. His jabs didn’t just reflect progressive sensibilities — they sharpened them into weapons. Into blinders. Into a worldview where irony replaced inquiry, and anyone with a flag pin was automatically a joke. He helped solidify a distrust in middle America, fostering a culture of ridicule and sanctimony disguised as satire. That’s his legacy. He didn’t just host The Daily Show. He helped write the script for the very political dysfunction he now claims to diagnose.

That mutation gave birth to a pretentious class of Democratic operatives, consultants, and digital influencers who think politics is mostly about getting claps from the right people — fellow blue-checks, podcast hosts, and Beltway cocktail circuits. It also gave us a generation of liberal “wonks” who treat policy like a graduate seminar — over-intellectualized, emotionally sterile, and completely detached from the lived reality of working Americans.

For them, it’s all about optics, metrics, and reprimanding those who dare to differ. They speak in charts, not language, and moralize through models. Meanwhile, flyover voters are cast as NPCs — passive, stupid, or bigoted — obstacles to be managed or avoided, rather than citizens to be heard. Their pain is reduced to polling data. Their values, pathologized. Their anger, dismissed as ignorance.

Aaron Sorkin’s role in shaping the 21st century left should also be discussed; though it did create this classic moment last year when two fictitious presidents finally met:

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll 117

THE MEDIA CHOSE A SIDE; THEY CHOSE POORLY:

More:

And:

The media still doesn’t understand why their reputation is in tatters.

UPDATE (From Ed): “Choices have consequences:”

Posted at 11:08 am by Stephen Green 318

New Model Trojan Horse – Ukraine’s Drones:

Bravo to Ukraine for its “New Model Trojan Horse.”

Homer’s Greek warriors slipped from a wooden horse to open Troy’s gates and start the bloodbath that ended a 10-year war.

Ukraine cleverly and stealthily shipped wooden crates deep inside Russian territory, 1,500 kilometers into Siberia. The truck-borne crates were finally positioned a short suicide drone flight from scores of Russian bombers parked on airbases –airbases no doubt protected from long-range aircraft and missile attacks, but unprepared for a “close in” drone attack.

MORE:

The tech was vital, but it wasn’t the decisive factor — like Israel’s Grim Beeper operation, stealth made Ukraine’s drone victory possible.

Could U.S. strategic bomber bases suffer a similar attack? Of course.
From a column I wrote in late December 2024 (and quoted in this June 3 column:

Here’s the gist of the December 2024 column’s scenario:

“I’m by Dyess Air Force Base, Abilene, Texas. You’re outside Ellsworth AFB, Rapid City, South Dakota. The drones pass right over us. They’re both the size of a two-seat Cessna and they carry bombs with small, smart, cheap and individually targetable munitions. In the next 45 seconds, the drones fly over the airbases. Their munitions disable a half-dozen B1B Lancer strategic bombers — six at each airbase.”

As a footnote, a link to the December 2024 column: The Next Pearl Harbor: Close-In Drone Swarm Attacks Launched From US Soil?

UPDATE: The run-on words (Greekwarriors, etc) are being corrected by the StrategyPage webmaster.

Posted at 11:05 am by Austin Bay 118

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Genghis Khan was a nice guy. Israel is evil. SF parents push back on ‘ethnic studies’ mandate.

San Francisco parents aren’t happy about the district’s year-long “ethnic studies” class, which is now a graduation requirement, report Ezra Wallach and Anya Kaiser on The Standard. All ninth graders — and 10th-graders who opted out last year — will have to take the course, which focuses on the evils of structural racism, colonialism, capitalism and heteronormative thinking.

Looking at the curriculum on the district website, parent Viviane Safrin found only “four lessons out of 55 highlight contributions by ethnic groups, she wrote in a memo last year. The word “hegemony” appeared 81 times.

“They are taught how to organize — what it means to resist,” Safrin told The Standard. “They’re taught about dominant and counter narratives. It’s an upper-level college course for one way to examine history, but it is not teaching any actual history.”

Some lessons were removed in response to her comments, write Wallach and Kaiser, but “one exercise still in use places the Red Guards, a student-led paramilitary organization from Mao’s Chinese Cultural Revolution, alongside the U.S. civil rights and feminist movements as emphasizing ‘the resistance that oppressed groups have shown in history’.”

Another calls for students to read a 2012 article called “Straight white male: The lowest difficulty setting there is” and asks, “What would white males need to give up (or relinquish) in order to make a more equitable society?”

Communism, straight up.

Posted at 10:40 am by Stephen Green 48