Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 3/30

[SVPete]

Harvard To Borrow Another $675 Million as Applications Plunge

https://freebeacon.com/campus/harvard-to-borrow-another-675-million-as-applications-plunge/

Harvard is going to try to borrow more money, issuing $675 million in tax-exempt bonds with the help of the state of Massachusetts, according to a preliminary official statement dated March 27, 2026.

The 102-page document, a draft offering document used to help line up buyers for the bonds, offers some hints at how Harvard is coping under intense pressure from the federal government, which says the university has "failed to live up to both the intellectual and civil rights conditions that justify federal investment." The Massachusetts Development Finance Agency is controlled by Governor Maura Healey, a Democrat and former captain of the Harvard women’s basketball team; Harvard has already tapped the agency for $1,169,075,000 in bond offerings in 2024 and 2025, and if this offering is completed at the $675 million level, Healey’s helping hand to Harvard via Massachusetts' municipal bond authority will reach a total of more than $1.8 billion.

Among the key disclosures:

— "First-year student applications received" by Harvard plunged more than 21 percent to 47,893 for the 2025-2026 academic year from a recent high of 61,221 in 2022-23. Peer institutions such as Yale reported 54,919 applicants this year, Brown 47,937 applicants, and Columbia 61,031 applications. Harvard isn’t releasing its application numbers for students entering in the fall of 2026 until it is required to by the federal government, the Harvard Crimson reported.

— Harvard, which has been complaining it is so financially strapped that potentially life-saving cancer research is endangered, employs 12 vice presidents. The United States of America somehow manages with just one vice president, and MIT somehow survives with a mere seven.

[SVPete]

WaPo: On Second Thought, Our Reporter in Iran Is a Regime Hack

https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2026/03/30/wapo-on-second-thought-our-reporters-in-iran-are-regime-hacks-n3813384

On Friday, the Washington Post accused the US military of a potential war crime. Its reporters in Iran took photos of what were purported to be anti-tank land mines supposedly tossed into residential areas, including in Shiraz, supposedly to deter the movement of mobile missile launchers (via Twitchy):
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The Post claimed that the report came from an "independent" Canadian journalist, after quoting Iran's propagandists about the effect of the mines:

In a Telegram post Thursday, the Iranian State News Agency said at least one person had been killed and others injured as a result of the “explosive packages that resemble cans,” and it warned people to stay away from “any misshapen, deformed, or unusual metal cans.”

Central Command, which oversees U.S. operations in the region, declined to comment.

Images of the land mines were posted on social media platforms by Dimitri Lascaris, a Canadian independent journalist currently reporting from Iran and host of the “Reason2Resist” podcast, and state media outlet Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

Ahem. For most rational people, all of that would raise a number of red flags on reliability. Just the fact that the IRGC had promoted this narrative is reason enough for skepticism, given its propensity for making absurd AI-based imagery and video to substantiate outlandish claims of Iranian victories or American setbacks. Also, a single glance at Lascaris' Substack should have disabused anyone of the notion that Lascaris is "independent" at all in the editorial sense, with headlines such as:

Another Israeli War Crime In Iran
To 'Protect' Iranians From Iran's Police, U.S. and Israel Massacre Civilians
They're 'Liberating' Iranians By Murdering Them
Who Engages In More Censorship: Israel or Iran?
I'm Off To Iran To Cover The Crimes Of The Epstein Regime
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Sometime over the weekend, the Post's editors must have gotten enough feedback to rethink this report ... a little. Rather than retract it, or rewrite it to discuss Lascaris' obvious hostility toward the US and Israel, the editors appended a "correction" at the end. In very small and greyish type, too:

A previous version of this article incorrectly described Dimitri Lascaris, a Canadian independent journalist, as being in Iran with permission from the Iranian government and said that the people accompanying him were government representatives. He said he was invited by the state media outlet Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting and that their employees acted as guides and interpreters.

I guess an invited and docented shill is present in Iran with permission, but the WashPost obviously under-stated what Lascaris is, knowingly. The WashPost let the lie they published circulate long enough to be "official" narrative and then published their very belated "Ooooopsie".

[SVPete]

NHS rations hospital appointments to cut waiting list

https://archive.is/xl6Y2#selection-2973.4-2973.57

The NHS is to ration hospital referrals as Labour scrambles to meet its pledge to cut waiting lists.

GPs have been ordered to consult on at least one in four referrals rather than sending them to hospital in order to reduce “unnecessary” appointments.

The quotas, the latest method the NHS is using to keep waiting lists down, will come into force on Wednesday.

But MPs and medics have raised concerns that setting an arbitrary target will delay patients from getting access to the healthcare they need.

Dr Luke Evans, shadow health minister and a former GP, told The Telegraph: “My biggest concern is about this single point of access, with a target to bounce back one in four referrals – that is bad for clinicians and it is really bad for patients.
...
Over the past year, family doctors have been paid £20 extra for every case where they seek “advice and guidance” (A&G) from a consultant rather than sending a patient to hospital.

But from Apr 1, the A&G scheme, which aims to “support elective recovery by reducing unnecessary referrals”, will become mandatory in the NHS.

Experts say the new rules are dangerous and will make getting on to a waiting list even harder.

My emphasis. Ah, the wonders of gooberment-controlled healthdon'tcare!

[SVPete]

Trump-Deranged FL Election Volunteer Arrested for Stealing Encrypted Access Key Ahead of Special Election

https://redstate.com/jenvanlaar/2026/03/29/trump-deranged-florida-man-arrested-after-stealing-election-equipment-in-palm-beach-county-n2200765

A Palm Beach County election volunteer was arrested Saturday night after allegedly stealing an encrypted access key from a voter registration terminal during a training session on March 19, in the lead-up to the March 24 special election.

Photos from the session captured John Panicci, 59, in the act, according to a news release from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, but the theft wasn't reported until March 27, three days after the election. According to the Palm Beach Post:
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Panicci describes himself as a "huge tech nerd, car guy and photographer" on his Facebook profile, which says that he studied computer programming at the University of Maryland, and that he's currently self-employed in "computer consulting and repair," but also references a t-shirt store on Etsy he's "struggling to get off the ground."

His Facebook page also contains ample evidence of Panicci's Trump Derangement Syndrome - with an increase in the days just prior to the election volunteer training.

The access key he stole was only set up for the training, but a tech-savvy person might have been able to reconfigure it to access the actual voter registration system.

[SVPete]

Mike Rowe Hits It on the Head: Kimmel Didn't Insult Plumbers; He Insulted America's Aspirational Spirit

https://redstate.com/jenniferoo/2026/03/29/mike-rowe-hits-it-on-the-head-kimmel-didnt-insult-plumbers-he-insulted-americas-aspirational-spirit-n2200767

Of course, Rowe's incredibly insightful commentary, which he posted to X on Sunday, was born from unfunny comedian Jimmy Kimmel's joke that maligned the fact that a plumber — that would be former plumber, former U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, and current Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin — is now heading the agency in charge of combating terrorism.
...

If you haven’t heard, and even if you have, Jimmy Kimmel said this about Markwayne Mullin, former Senator from Oklahoma, and our newest Secretary of Homeland Security:

“We have a plumber now protecting us from terrorism.”

Apparently, there has been some backlash. Plumbers were offended, obviously, as were parents of plumbers, spouses of plumbers, children of plumbers, and millions of people who have had a plumber show up when they needed one. Comedians were also offended, (the funny ones, anyway,) along with a surprising number of terrorists - especially those with access to hot and cold running water. However, in spite of the ensuing kerfuffle, @jimmykimmel doubled down.

...
Here's how Kimmel doubled down on his stupidity.
...

But I am a tad butt hurt by the suggestion that skilled workers should never evolve into something new, and that competence is somehow limited to one vocation. Obviously, expertise and skill are important. If I need a new kidney, I’d prefer a doctor do the surgery, not a late-night talk show host. But if the doctor in question used to host a talk show, why would I hold that against him?

I'm still stuck on the fact that plumbers provide a very necessary service, while Kimmel has decided to fail at the one very non-essential thing he is able to do, entertain.