Althouse: The first sunrise of summer.

June 21, 2026

The first sunrise of summer.

Write about whatever you want in the comments.

64 comments:

Eva Marie said...: Happy Father’s Day.
I watched Harlan Coben’s I Will Find You (based on his book of the same name) on Netflix. If you’ve read any of Coben’s books, you know how complex his plots are - this is definitely one of those. This is a suspenseful crime drama about a dad looking for his son. I hate going into these things knowing more than the minimum, so if you want a more detailed description, check the listing.
It’s an 8-part series, which I usually think is too long, so I tend to watch these at 1.25x or 1.5x speed, but there’s less filler here than usual in these many-parters. Anyway, this was very good. Highly recommended.
(People do get shot and killed, but there’s no lingering on the violence.); 6/21/26, 6:35 PM
tcrosse said...: I was delighted to see Boston experiencing the Scottish Enlightenment. The two big teams in Glasgow are Celtic and Rangers. Celtic are the team of the Catholics and Irish migrants, and the Rangers are the team of the Prods. Their rivalry is quite fierce, and their supporters can be vehement.; 6/21/26, 6:58 PM
DINKY DAU 45 said...: My next wager on a Political issue will be SCOTUS SHOOTS DOWN TRUMPS Birthright Citizenship EO and it remains the law of the land. In racing I would call this a lock and send it in . I rarely wager on Political issues because of the graft and corruption involved with all the players but this stands out as a sure overreach.Send it in,wont get much ROI but it will be a win on trump losing BIGLY on this.; 6/21/26, 7:07 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Did Boston bars ran out of beer?

ai: "Boston did not officially run out of beer, but several local bars and the Sam Adams Boston Taproom experienced temporary shortages. The city faced an unprecedented surge in alcohol consumption when thousands of Scottish fans (the Tartan Army) descended on the city for the 2026 World Cup.

The visiting fans reportedly drank four times as much beer as bars usually sell during a major holiday weekend. Some popular pubs and bars experienced temporary dry taps after going through tens of thousands of pints—even outlasting imported favorites like Tennent’s.

While it caused a scramble for emergency deliveries at the time, most businesses have since caught up, restocking their kegs and coolers to handle the ongoing festivities. You can check out NBC Boston or NPR for more details on the Tartan Army's historic drinking marathon."; 6/21/26, 7:10 PM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...: Italy's Meloni unloads on Trump as fracture grows over G7 incident ~ Axios

This whole incident seemed orchestrated by Meloni and her people as a way of salvaging her popularity inside Italy. Meloni is still young and politically astute. Trump is 80 years old and unpopular inside Italy. Orban is gone. Meloni's amicable connection to Netanyahu has become a liability as well, and Netanyahu himself may be gone in the next set of elections. I'm not sure if the maneuvering will work, but the motivation for picking the fight was obvious, and Trump is very predictable when it comes to issues involving his personal vanity.; 6/21/26, 7:14 PM
narciso said...: The last picture; 6/21/26, 7:37 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Via Instapundit: "@nytimes opinion has had four recent pieces about fatherhood and masculinity, with six authors:

Three women
A trans "man"
Two childless men

Not one father. The cultural elite contempt for dads runs so deep we don't even get to speak for ourselves."; 6/21/26, 7:46 PM
narciso said...: They dont even try, if youre look for the truth dont even bother with the Times; 6/21/26, 7:48 PM
Mason G said...: "dont even bother with the Times"

The MSM? *spit*

Check with Nick Shirley if you want to know what's really happening.; 6/21/26, 7:51 PM
narciso said...: ☕️ RIGHT REVIVAL ☙ Sunday, June 21, 2026 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠 https://share.google/Lq1aXlR0zTekpRNwB; 6/21/26, 7:52 PM
narciso said...: https://x.com/sbwTweet/status/2068808028854366620; 6/21/26, 8:00 PM
narciso said...: Iran, Fauci Broke the IC; and Philadelphia’s Crooked D.A. - American Thinker https://share.google/2yRg2zt1bJGFD41ZN; 6/21/26, 8:01 PM
rehajm said...: …as someone who until recently ate out in Boston at least 3x week, are connected to the city’s foodie chef investors, they all lament that drinking is way down from pre covid. The youngsters just don’t drink as much, hence the mocktail menus and such. When the tourists show up to celebrate it caught a few places off guard..; 6/21/26, 8:14 PM
narciso said...: https://x.com/spencerpratt/status/2068835805360275931; 6/21/26, 8:15 PM
Eva Marie said...: For all you dads out there, Vladimir Putin singning On Blueberry Hill
https://youtube.com/shorts/xbKrD7iFElE?is=6bBr4b1KTb_iz6QT; 6/21/26, 8:22 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: “Did Boston bars ran out of beer?”

Sounds like they came close. Makes me proud of my Celtic ancestry.; 6/21/26, 8:31 PM
narciso said...: Has any nato leader really shown themselves to be serious in the last four months (rhetorical) no they failed; 6/21/26, 8:37 PM
narciso said...: Emanuel Quiñones on X: "The World Cup has turned America into a discovery channel for the rest of the world. And they are not handling it well. In the best possible way. Here is what they are discovering: Free public restrooms. Europeans pay every time. Free water at every restaurant. Just appears. https://t.co/GywmAnhzXN" / X https://share.google/QMaIlHEfbrMolyRCI; 6/21/26, 8:46 PM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...: 'A lot of people are saying I have the best algae. We love the algae, don’t we?. We’re working very closely with algae. Very strong, very powerful algae, the likes of which this country has never seen before. Without my algae-you wouldn’t have a country anymore.' ~ DJT; 6/21/26, 9:00 PM
Eva Marie said...: Whoever mentioned it - thank you for the Opera browser. Ad blocking is A+; 6/21/26, 9:12 PM
Iman said...: End Wokeness
@EndWokeness

7 Latin American elections since USAID was defunded:

🇨🇱 Chile: "far-right" Kast won
🇧🇴 Bolivia: "far-right" Paz won
🇵🇪 Peru: "far-right" Fujimori won
🇪🇨 Ecuador: "far-right" Noboa won
🇭🇳 Honduras: "far-right" Asfura won
🇨🇴 Colombia: "far-right" Espriella won
🇨🇷 Costa Rica: "far-right" Fernandez won; 6/21/26, 9:29 PM
Jim at said...: Whoever mentioned it - thank you for the Opera browser. Ad blocking is A+

Thumbs up.; 6/21/26, 9:50 PM
Peachy said...: IMAN - Good news.

bonus whining and blaming; 6/21/26, 10:05 PM
Peachy said...: "Gavin Newsom’s wife was laundering herself so much money from her NGO she was actually in the top 5% for pay from all charities in the entire nation"

“When I had a look at Jennifer Newsom's charity, I found that she was paying herself since 2012, $3.7 million. And this is a lot of money when you look at the amount that the charity brings in. It's sort of $1-$1.7 million a year. And she's paying up to a third of that to herself and her own company—$300,000 a year.

Now, I did a bit of data analysis looking at what charities that size usually pay their executives, and she was in the top 5% of all charities in the nation for pay”

In the video I included more instances where Gavin Newsom laundered money to his wife

- $1 million to block a casino project
- $5 million to an office for his wife that he created
- He sent $300,000 from his donor PG&E to his wife’s NGO

Wall street Apes.; 6/21/26, 10:15 PM
William said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/21/26, 10:58 PM
Eva Marie said...: Peachy@10:05 Is there anything Israel can’t do? lol; 6/21/26, 10:59 PM
Iman said...: Uncanny…

https://x.com/i/status/2067910865458770025; 6/21/26, 11:21 PM
Michael Fitzgerald said...: Democrat Party members are domestic terrorists and anti-American assholes. Deport them all.
http://youtube.com/post/UgkxM1lmCM6qNovMPcR_88UoMF4__EdB0Fdl?surface=shorts&data=AXmpSAFdtNrycTCfqOZrAZFGhIU1svqnADiI_p5DH2X_5pXgFsITTHN_y2cG2nfKbZQGsFVwGHI0wW0g&si=3mlzsbjT73PnOe-o; 6/22/26, 1:27 AM
gadfly said...: USAID funding helped save 91 million lives over the past 20 years—new analysis warns that recent U.S. aid cuts could now put that progress at risk.

Since the defunding of USAID, it is estimated that over 762,000 people have died as a result of the cuts, including more than 500,000 children. This situation has been described as a significant public health crisis due to the loss of vital health services and support.; 6/22/26, 2:19 AM
gadfly said...: The attack on a girls’ elementary school in the Iranian town of Minab was one of the US military’s deadliest civilian bombings in decades. But nearly four months on, the Pentagon has produced no answers about why the military fired a Tomahawk cruise missile into a school on the first day of the war, killing at least 175 people, mostly children.

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Delbert D. Black (DDG-119) was the only vessel in the Red Sea on February 28 in position to fire on the school. What action has the Navy taken against Cmdr. Ezra T. Hatch, it's commanding officer?; 6/22/26, 3:07 AM
john mosby said...: gadfly: "What action has the Navy taken against Cmdr. Ezra T. Hatch, it's commanding officer?"

Really? This isn't the 18th century, with line of sight smoothbore cannon fire. The ship fires the missile over the horizon with targeting info that her crew cannot possibly confirm or deny. They are depending on everyone else in the targeting chain to do the work. On the slight, remote, chance that someone did a thing worthy of discipline or prosecution, it wasn't anyone on the ship.

I would almost think that by naming the ship and captain, you are inviting terrorist reprisals such as the Iranians took against the USS Vincennes' captain's wife. CC, JSM; 6/22/26, 3:28 AM
john mosby said...: Gadfly: “ Since the defunding of USAID, it is estimated that over 762,000 people have died as a result of the cuts,”

And before the cuts, how many people died from not getting the money that was diverted to Democrat NGO employees?

If your lot really cared about getting food and medicine to the people who need it, you’d go around in sackcloth and live in the hovels with them. CC, JSM; 6/22/26, 3:37 AM
wendybar said...: Whilst the American left is trying to force it on us....

End Wokeness
@EndWokeness
·
8h
Colombians are now flooding the streets to celebrate the fall of socialism

https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/2068843718690365900?s=20; 6/22/26, 3:37 AM
wendybar said...: Gunther Eagleman™
@GuntherEagleman
·
11h
If you think a dead duck at the reflecting pool is bad, you should see what Anthony Fauci and Shri Thanedar did to Beagles.

https://x.com/GuntherEagleman/status/2068806475691024652?s=20; 6/22/26, 3:38 AM
wendybar said...: toddstarnes
@toddstarnes
·
19h
The Obama Presidential Death Star is disenfranchising blacks and newly married women. Visitors are not allowed to enter without showing government-issued ID. And we all know how difficult it is for blacks and new brides to get ID. I hope you are just as disgusted as I am!
https://x.com/toddstarnes/status/2068686853176168673?s=20; 6/22/26, 3:40 AM
wendybar said...: Eric Daugherty
@EricLDaugh
·
7h
🚨 WOW! Colombians are wearing red "MAKE COLOMBIA GREAT AGAIN" hats and celebrating in the streets to celebrate Trump-endorsed Abelardo De La Espriella winning the presidential election

https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/2068866442385059942?s=20; 6/22/26, 3:44 AM
wendybar said...: Insurrection Barbie
@DefiyantlyFree
·
6h
Colombia has 53 million people living in it. They counted the votes within hours.

LA County has 9.8 million people and after weeks 🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗

That’s not a glitch in the system. That’s system working as designed.
https://x.com/DefiyantlyFree/status/2068887219100667933?s=20; 6/22/26, 3:48 AM
john mosby said...: Smilin Jack: "Makes me proud of my Celtic ancestry."

Scots are mostly not Celtic. Lowland Scots are ethnically the same as the Northern English. The HIghlanders are Celts, yes. Go farther north and the Islanders are Scandinavian.

That is of course an oversimplification. Everyone has Celtic maternal lines. And the Scandis settled all over the country, by force or trade. Culturally, though, it's pretty accurate.

But they all have appropriated Celtic culture as emblems. Kind of like all American Indians used to use the Lakota war bonnet on their merch.

My paternal line is from Fife, near St Andrews. CC, JSM; 6/22/26, 5:22 AM
Leland said...: Since the defunding of USAID, it is estimated that over 762,000 people have died as a result of the cuts

That’s nothing compared to how many people died from gain of function research that was promulgated under USAID.; 6/22/26, 5:59 AM
tim maguire said...: gadfly said...Since the defunding of USAID, it is estimated that over 762,000 people have died as a result of the cuts

There are a lot of baseless assumptions in this criticism of aid cuts, but, really, why dance around the biggest issue of all—USAID wouldn’t have needed to be cut if it weren’t so corrupt. None of you clowns address that issue. Ever.

Why? (Rhetorical question; everybody knows why.); 6/22/26, 6:02 AM
narciso said...: Estimated by whom. The same grifter class; 6/22/26, 7:05 AM
boatbuilder said...: Gadfly: “ Since the defunding of USAID, it is estimated that over 762,000 people have died as a result of the cuts,”

Estimated by who? Show your math.; 6/22/26, 7:12 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/22/26, 7:21 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Since the defunding of USAID two things have happened that are well documented in many media outlets. First, a lot of people paying themselves six-figure salaries to “advise” and “advocate” have found their real-world value defined by their new career at Penzies Spices and DoorDash. Poverty level wages.

Second and perhaps more importantly not one far left candidate has won in South or Central America since we defunded the CIA slush fund for socialists and our neighbors to the south are experiencing huge economic growth and precipitous drop in violent crime.

Which tells me that despite what the progressive liars claim about USAID (with zero evidence mind you) the real effects it had were propping up NGOs that work to end this great Republic and financed the same kind of corrupt bullshit everywhere. Obama used it to train “revolutionary forces” in Cuba and created a CIA made “Cuban Twitter” to spread propaganda.; 6/22/26, 7:22 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: First draft had weird typos.; 6/22/26, 7:23 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Like with COVID, to the constantly lying left ANY DEATH is counted as “from defunding USAID.” It’s ridiculous. We all know it’s bullshit but every lefty will repeat it as gospel. Did they furnish proof? HELL NO. Just like COVID. Yet that virus wasn’t the killer they told us it was. The vaccine has officially killed more. I suggest that the pattern holds true: more people were probably killed by what USAID funded than were “saved” by all that foreign aid that reached the needy, somewhere between 0.2 and 5% of funds allocated by USAID.; 6/22/26, 7:30 AM
RJW said...: Tim @ 6:02 said;

“ There are a lot of baseless assumptions in this criticism of aid cuts, but, really, why dance around the biggest issue of all—USAID wouldn’t have needed to be cut if it weren’t so corrupt. None of you clowns address that issue. Ever.

Why? (Rhetorical question; everybody knows why.)”

You criticize baseless assumptions, assert corruption as an established fact, accuse critics of ignoring it, and conclude with "everybody knows why."

That's a lot of weight resting on an argument that never actually presents evidence for the corruption it assumes..

That along with Mosby and Leland’s comments makes Boatbuilder’s demands for receipts exceptionally rich.

But then, this isn’t exactly a same standard applied group.; 6/22/26, 7:30 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Didn’t our network of 130 virus research facilities in 30 countries create deadly diseases that were funded through USAID. Yes. Yes they did. Putin actually cited the US biolabs as his motive for invading Ukraine. Now we have Congress finally investigating them.; 6/22/26, 7:34 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: I can prove USAID dollars went where I said above. Can you lovers of corruption track the funding for those “victims” who “would have been saved”? I mean 3/4 of a million people is a big statement. Where is the proof?; 6/22/26, 7:37 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: See what happened in Colombia?; 6/22/26, 7:38 AM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...: As a conservative Republican, I’m all in favor of JD Vance taking the Israeli government to task. Here’s why any college student who makes similar remarks should be expelled.; 6/22/26, 8:18 AM
Rustygrommet said...: "assert corruption as an established fact,"

The fact that the corruption ended when the money was turned off is a tell.; 6/22/26, 8:24 AM
Narr said...: @JSM, "Everyone has Celtic maternal lines."

A cabby in Dublin in late 2024, with a cab full of Yanks, was very proud to claim the boxer Cassius Clay as an Irishman.; 6/22/26, 11:08 AM
Iman said...: Ward the Cleaver with his lefty bullschiff…; 6/22/26, 12:17 PM
RJW said...: Rusty @ 8:24, this corruption that Musk told you existed and that no one can produce the receipts for? Is that the corruption you speak of?; 6/22/26, 1:10 PM
boatbuilder said...: RJW--So, no "receipts", then? Is that how it works? That is more "Chuck" than "Rich," but it's the same stupid game.

USAID has been eliminated by Trump. Surely there is some evidence that elimination of the $35 billion annual spending cuts caused serious hardship to someone other than political grifters and third world dirty tricks operations? Surely there must be some evidence to support Gadfly's claim? Certainly the absence of evidence to support Gadfly's claim strongly suggests if not absolutely confirms that, yes indeed, USAID was rife with corruption.; 6/22/26, 1:15 PM
RJW said...: Boatbuilder, you're asking for receipts from Gadfly, which is perfectly fair. If he's citing a death estimate, he should be able to identify the source and methodology behind it.

Where you lose me is the next step.

Even if Gadfly cannot support his claim, that does not "absolutely confirm" that USAID was rife with corruption.

Those are two different propositions.

If someone claims aid cuts caused 762,000 deaths, they bear the burden of supporting that claim.

If someone claims USAID was so corrupt that it deserved elimination, they bear the burden of supporting that claim.

The failure of one argument does not automatically validate the other.

What I'm seeing throughout this thread is a consistent pattern: demands for receipts from claims people dislike, while claims they already agree with are treated as self-evident.

That's not skepticism. Skepticism applies the same evidentiary standard to all claims, including our own.; 6/22/26, 1:32 PM
Leland said...: Receipt:
Background on USAID funding to the WIV Funding:

Between October 2009 and May 2019, USAID provided a total of $1.1 million to the EcoHealth Alliance for a sub-agreement with the WIV.
The funding went toward advancing research on viruses that could pose harm to human and animal health.

If you don't believe the House, get the LA times version, which says it was $200m, but "Our efforts were to predict this before it happens. That’s the part of the program that was exciting — and that’s the part I’m worried about,” Daszak said.

““Look at the name: Our efforts were to predict this before it happens. That’s the part of the program that was exciting — and that’s the part I’m worried about,” Daszak said.

“It’s absolutely critical that we don’t drop the idea of a large-scale, proactive, predictive program that tries to catch pandemics before they happen. Cutting a program that could in any way reduce the risk of things like COVID-19 happening again is, by any measure, shortsighted,” he added.

It's a fact now that rather than predicting anything; it created the pandemic and killed millions.; 6/22/26, 3:52 PM
Jim at said...: Since the defunding of USAID, it is estimated that over 762,000 people have died as a result of the cuts, including more than 500,000 children.

Bullshit. You have no way of knowing that, let alone proving it ... Mr. Conservative.; 6/22/26, 4:38 PM
RJW said...: Leland, you've provided evidence that USAID funded EcoHealth Alliance and that EcoHealth worked with WIV. Fair enough.

What you haven't provided is evidence for the much larger claim that this funding "created the pandemic and killed millions."

That's the same distinction Boatbuilder was making with Gadfly's mortality estimate. A receipt supporting one part of an argument is not automatically a receipt supporting every conclusion that follows from it.

In other words, you've shown the funding. You haven't shown the causation.; 6/22/26, 4:57 PM
Leland said...: Sure chuck, stick with your lies, because it explains why people were willing to tar and feather people like you in the past.; 6/22/26, 6:26 PM
RJW said...: Leland, considering the thread is rolling off the page anyway, there may be value in letting your last comment stand on its own.

Readers not caught up in tribal loyalty are usually capable of recognizing when someone has stopped arguing and started venting.; 6/22/26, 7:16 PM
Leland said...: Yes, we noticed that’s what you do here, Chuck.; 6/23/26, 5:38 AM
Leland said...: More receipts; 6/23/26, 7:54 AM