Flotsam and Jetsam - Trump Returns

Trump is home from China, and if there was a big outcome, I have yet to see it, as I expected. At RCP, Trump Has Historic AI Opportunity in Beijing–He Must Take It. The Babylon Bee @TheBabylonBee, "Faux Pas: Trump Gifts President Xi With Pot Of Honey From White House Beehive.

Sauron's Eye whines U.S. moving to indict Cuba's Raúl Castro, sources say. OK, but don't expect to ever hold a trial. At Am Spec Martin Arostegui sees The ‘Donroe’ Doctrine Comes Into Its Own. "Spain and the UK are emerging as the big losers." Speaking of the UK, Hat Hair's Beege Welborn predicts Tomorrow's 'Unite the Kingdom' Rally Looking Like Starmer's Planning Something Today MORE. Will he get his very own Charlottesville or J6? Sasha Stone says Surprise, Trump Isn’t Hitler After All.

At ToI, Saudi warplanes struck Iran-backed militias in Iraq during war, sources say "Riyadh said to have targeted sites near the kingdom’s northern border from which drone and missiles were launched at Gulf states; Kuwait also said to have fired on Iraq." and UAE secretly launched strikes on Iran during war, attacked oil refinery — report. Maybe it wasn't such a smart move to missle everybody in range. Hat Hair's Capt. Ed has 'Ceasefire' Updates: Israel Hits Top Hamas Commander; Iran Escalating Executions and Trump Offers Iran 20 Years – Or Annhilation. Door #2. Bob Spencer at PJM fears Trump is Waging War on the Time Clock.

To no one's surprise, SCOTUS has just unanimously declined Virginia's plea for them to step in and overrule SCOTVA's ruling again the Spandander redistricting. Capt. Ed, BREAKING: Unanimous SCOTUS Rejects VA Dems Attempt to Reinstate Referendum Matt Vespa at TownHall notes The Supreme Court Just Ruled on VA's Motion Over Their Redrawn Map. Meltdowns Are Coming. Nick Sortor @nicksortor, "IT'S OFFICIAL — Virginia Democrats have just been dealt the FINAL BLOW in their attempt to illegally force through their gerrymandered map for the 2026 US House elections SCOTUS just UNANIMOUSLY denied their request to hear the case on the map. MASSIVE blow to the Dems!" PJM's Stephen Kruiser, We Never Want to Hear 'House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries'. At NYPo, Jonathan Turley frets Virginia’s gerrymander flop leaves Democrats frustrated — and dangerous. AMAC thinks Democrats Reveal “Rule or Ruin” Core on Virginia Redistricting. In response, Ro Khanna proposes packing the court. FischerKing @FischerKing64, "Court-packing is a completely mainstream view on the political left now. They see it as entirely justified because they are unhappy with recent decisions. They're not interested in the "judicial philosophies" behind the opinions - they just want their way. They're refreshingly honest about this." Quote Rep. Ro Khanna @RepRoKhanna, "The Supreme Court has engaged in an ugly recidivism that has marked the fastest rollback of Black political rights since Reconstruction. 18 year terms limits on Justices now. Expand the court from 9 to 13 Justices now." Hat Hair's Dave Strom says Your Offer Is Accepted, let's do it now while Trump is in office, and the Republicans (nominally) control the Congress. Bad Hombre @Badhombre, "The same Congressional Black Caucus that refuses to admit Byron Donalds, Wesley Hunt, John James, and Burgess Owens because they don’t consider them Black since they’re Republicans. Good. It’s a total joke. It can’t go away soon enough."Quote ABC News @ABC, "Almost a third of the membership of the Congressional Black Caucus are at risk of losing their seats through the 2028 election cycle as Republicans in southern states where they control the legislature move swiftly to redraw congressional maps." Breaking911 @Breaking911, "BREAKING: Longtime Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) announces he will not seek re-election." Now that he's been Gerrymandered out. At Data Republican's substack, The "Fourth Founding": How our Unelecteds Plan to Rewrite the Constitution (Part 1) "Inside the Foundation-Funded Blueprint to Restructure American Governance by the Nation's 250th Birthday."

Driscoll at Insty envisions 21st CENTURY HEADLINES: AI Might Make Campaign Ads Halfway Tolerable. Ace, Foreign Communist Candidate for LA Mayor Nithya Raman Wants to Ban Backyard BBQs Because the Transnational Invaders Instinctively Make Endless War on American Normies, "Their absolute hatred of anything normal and wholesome, and their absolute determination to steal away any simple pleasure from the working and middle classes, is demonic. I'm sure you remember this same instinct in full effect during the lockdown." Liz Wheeler @Liz_Wheeler, "Spencer Pratt: I will clean up homeless encampments, address drug addicts, & prevent fires from burning down people's homes. Karen Bass: I will spend your money on teeth for meth addicts. Nithya Raman: I will ban grilling burgers in the backyard. Your choice, Los Angeles." Capt. Ed, LA Mayoral Race Focuses On the Big Problem Facing Angelenos: Grilling! UPDATE: 'Everything Is Awful'

This
is
AMAZING pic.twitter.com/f5Gj1TAgP8

— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) May 15, 2026

At Da Signal, the Great Victor Davis Hanson explains The Newsom Nightmare: Why California’s Elites Refuse to Face Reality. Matt Vespa hears What If Dems Are Shut Out of the CA Gov Race? Newsom Says There's a 'Break-the-Glass' Contingency Plan. Why should they live with the rules they created to govern others?

Dave Strom at Hat Hair says Say What? 1 in 5 Fairfax County Residents Is Deportable? Cam at BA notices the Virginia Governor Admits She Just Banned Guns 'Frequently Used for Hunting' Tyler Englander @TylerEnglander, "Here is @GovernorVA's statement on her decision to sign the assault weapons ban. “I am signing this bill into law because firearms designed to inflict maximum casualties do not belong on our streets. We are taking this step to protect families and support the law enforcement officers who work every day to keep our communities safe,” said Governor Spanberger. “While the General Assembly chose not to adopt my amendment that specifically carves out certain firearms frequently used for hunting, I will work with the patrons to clarify this language.” She could have vetoed it. From Shooting News Week, One Loser Got Far Too Close…So What Happens When Four Pros Show Up?

The Peacock whines Vance announces suspension of $1.3 billion in Medicaid payments to California. "As part of his role as the fraud czar, Vance said that the administration is targeting California because the state isn’t taking fraud seriously." Charles C. W. Cooke @charlescwcooke, "He literally says “fraudsters” in the video that this tweet sits above." Quote Headquarters @HQNewsNow, "JD Vance appears to call for jailing Democrats who oppose MAGA: “We gotta get them out of this country and we gotta get them in prison.”" Democrats = fraudsters seems a fair conclusion. From Ace,Congress Rejected Biden's Demand for $50 Billion in Extra Spending for Medicaid Programs. On His Own Tyrannical Authority, Biden "Authorized" $46.5 Billion of That Spending Anyway. "This Saved Democracy, you know. It just so happens the money he spent on his own authority is exactly the money currently being looted from the American taxpayer by Democrat parasite groups." PJM's Cathy Salgado notes 425 Groups With CCP Ties Are Getting $1B Annually to Organize Against Israel and the U.S. Beege Welborn at Hat Hair has The Fix for Homelessness? Get Rid of All the Big Money to 'Fix' Homelessness.

Erick Florack at PJM sees COVID-19 Lies Exposed, Democrats Go Into Hiding.

Althouse finds "President Donald Trump is expected to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service in exchange for the creation of a $1.7 billion fund to compensate..." ""... allies who claim they were wrongfully targeted by the Biden administration, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. The commission overseeing the compensation fund would have the total authority to hand out approximately $1.7 billion in taxpayer funds to settle claims brought by anyone who alleges they were harmed by the Biden administration's 'weaponization' of the legal system, including the nearly 1,600 individuals charged in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol attack as well as potentially entities associated with President Trump himself." ABC News reports." Nick Sortor @nicksortor, "BREAKING: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has now CONFIRMED he has commuted Tina Peters’ sentence, saying he believes the election whistleblower’s free speech rights were violated Polis says the judge “held her speech against her.” Peters will OFFICIALLY be free in just a couple weeks, with a release date of June 1."

Driscoll says HOORAY FOR PALLYWOOD! Why would the NY Times make such horrific claims about Israel? The reasons are several-fold. "Nicholas Kristof raped my dog. At least that is what I have heard, from an anonymous source. A source who is intensely hostile to the New York Times columnist. And that’s good enough for me. Now I come to think of it, my pet pug has had a strange look on his face lately. As it happens, the rumor that I have just attempted to spread is far less lurid and fanciful than the one that the New York Times chose to spread around the world this week..." Dave Strom calls it The Big Tell: NYT Not Reporting Kristof Accusations on its News Pages. At NRO, Israel Knows a Defamation Case Won’t Fly. That’s Not the Play. It's the joy of discovery.

Matt Margolis at PJM was impressed when Jessica Tarlov Had a Complete On-Air Meltdown, and Then Greg Gutfeld Torched Her. A day ending in "Y". And then, Greg Gutfeld Destroys Whoopi Goldberg After Her Unhinged Rant About Donald Trump.

InfantryDort @infantrydort, "18 months ago we were doing diversity and inclusion vignette training. Today we’re obliterating terrorists, sinking entire navies, and snatching rogue leaders during their sleep. Fort Benning is using bayonets again. Understand how far we’ve come. Not a step back." Steve McGuire @sfmcguire79, "A committee of the American Bar Association has voted to eliminate its already suspended DEI accreditation requirement. A final decision depends on a future vote by the ABA House of Delegates. One member of the committee said, “Even though I personally agree with [the diversity and inclusion standard] and what it tries to achieve, I think it’s appropriate as an accrediting body that we eliminate that standard so we don’t inhibit the diversity of ideas out there in various types of legal education environments.”" Ed Carson @IBD_ECarson, "@jonhaidt says college students are coddled. Boy did they prove him wrong." Quote Benjamin Ryan @benryanwriter "NYU professor @JonHaidt, who has stood at the forefront of the movement to challenge academia’s culture of suppressing the free exchange of ideas, is facing a campaign to cancel his graduation address."

Stacy McCain, This Should Not Need to Be Said. Cotton-Pickin' is not racist. 

Althouse finds "Texas Children’s Hospital will create the nation’s first 'detransition clinic,' fire five physicians and pay the state $10 million..." ""... under an unusual settlement announced Friday by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R). The clinic would focus on providing [free] medical care to patients who had undergone gender-affirming healthcare and work toward reversing its effects, Paxton said.... The move follows an investigation that began in 2023 after Texas passed a law banning health providers from facilitating gender-affirming medical care for minors.... In a statement, representatives from the hospital system insisted they had been compliant with all laws but were settling to 'protect our resources from endless and costly litigation.'" The Hill reports. I'm also reading the Axios report of this story." 

And, "A judge in Manhattan declared a mistrial on Friday after the jury in Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial was unable to reach a verdict..." "... on the charge that the disgraced Hollywood producer raped an aspiring actress in a hotel room in 2013. It’s the second time a jury has not been able to reach a verdict on this charge." The NYT reports." He may have been a boor, but everyone in Hollywood was well aware of what going to his room entailed.

And oh, so much more at the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 05.15.26 (Afternoon Edition) and In The Mailbox: 05.15.26 (Evening Edition).

Rule 5 Saturday - Leaping into the Weekend with Taylor Carpenter

Something a little different for Rule 5 Saturday - Taylor Carpenter, a parkour teacher. TED, 

Taylor Lynn Carpenter is a professional parkour athlete, coach, and content creator from Hawai'i. As a hybrid athlete, she blends parkour with lifting, climbing and acrobatics to push the boundaries of human movement. Living nomadically, she competes internationally and plays a key role in the Apex School of Movement, developing programs, coaching athletes and growing local and global parkour communities. Passionate about making movement more accessible, she strives to inspire others to embrace fear, adaptability and creativity — spreading a love for movement wherever she goes.

Parkour isn’t just for extreme athletes — it’s a life skill that can help anyone navigate the world more easily, says professional parkour athlete Taylor Lynn Carpenter. She pulls off some slick vaults, jumps, dives and rolls onstage, showing how the basic movements of parkour can help you maintain mobility, mitigate injuries and rediscover your sense of adventure.

Flotsam and Jetsam - Trump Still in China

As far as I know. Don Surber say Trump conquers Red China, "He has the oil, the military and the corporate wizards on his side." Don maybe be exaggerating for effect, but it's true, Trump is holding lots of cards. Sasha Gong at Am Great, aks Who Really Needs Whom? Trump, Xi Jinping, and the Illusion of Chinese Strength. "China projects strength abroad, but internal purge politics, economic strain, and structural dependence suggest a far more fragile system than it appears." At PJM, VodkaPundit says Wait, China Is Gonna Buy Oil From WHERE? Alaska. News Wax hears Trump, Bessent Say China May Help Reopen Strait of Hormuz. My breath remains unbated. Jerry Dunleavy IV @JerryDunleavy, "Differences between U.S. & Chinese readouts on Trump-Xi meeting. U.S. mentions fentanyl, no to toll on Strait of Hormuz, buying U.S. oil, & opposition to Iranian nuke. China does not. China warns U.S. about Taiwan & says it is most important issue. U.S. doesn’t mention it at all." At Althouse, "Speaking just ahead of Trump, Xi... said a major question for the two countries was whether they could avoid the 'Thucydides Trap'....", "I'm reading "Xi asks Trump if U.S. and China can avoid 'Thucydides Trap' at high-stakes summit" (CNBC). (That's the original headline. The headline was rewritten, perhaps to avoid mystification, as "Xi warns Trump: Mishandling Taiwan will put U.S.-China relationship in 'great jeopardy.'")"... "Based on an observation by Thucydides in his "History of the Peloponnesian War" that "it was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable," [political scientist Graham] Allison used the term to describe a tendency towards war when a rising power (such as Athens) challenges the status of a ruling power (such as Sparta). Allison... argued that "China and the US are currently on a collision course for war."..."

Matt Vespa at TownHall reports the Senate Parliamentarian Just Delivered Some Brutal News About the Reconciliation Package. Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh, "JUST IN: The unelected SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN has STRUCK DOWN major provisions of the GOP's ICE-CBP reconciliation funding bill This is RIDICULOUS! The parliamentarian has been a HUGE roadblock, even playing games with the Big Beautiful Bill last year Thune should've removed her a LONG time ago. Now, Republicans have to go back and fix: - CBP sections - Border security, tech and screening funds - Some $2.5B relating to Homeland Security Appropriations And then wait for her "green light" so it can pass with 50+1 votes." "The parliamentarian of the United States Senate is the official advisor to the United States Senate on the interpretation of Standing Rules of the United States Senate and parliamentary procedure. Incumbent parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has held the office since 2012, appointed by then-Senate majority leader Harry Reid." Term length - "Serves at the pleasure of the majority leader" Time for her to go. Also at TownHall, Kurt Schlichter says Good Riddance to the Awful Thomas Massie in his own inimitable way.

Da Wire is pleased to see Republicans Move To Wipe Out Democrat Seats In Louisiana, South Carolina. "Republican-led Southern states have raced to redraw their congressional maps after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision two weeks ago." But, maybe not as many as they could, still pretending to be the better party. Brianna Lyman at Da Fed hears Democrats Tell Pollsters They’d Happily Ditch Black Districts To Get More Power. At PJM, Rick Moran thinks This One Thing Is the Democrats' Achilles Heel and the Republicans' Super Power.

Andrew Kolvet @AndrewKolvet, "UNBELIEVABLE. Vice President Vance just did a double take after hearing this wild stat dropped by Dr. Oz: "You're saying that we kicked off 800 fraudulent healthcare providers off of the Medicare system and not a single one of them called the government and said, 'hey, you made a mistake?'" "It's just completely insane."" Financial Express, Empty offices, Indian HR calling the shots: ICE uncovers rampant OPT abuse by foreign students. At the Victory Girls, Minnesota: Different Day, More Fraud, A Minnesota “grocery store owner” was charged yesterday with $1 million dollars in EBT food stamp fraud. "Abdid Wahid Mohamed, the owner of Minnesota Food Grocery LLC, allegedly used EBT cards registered to others to purchase items at Sam’s Club and Costco in 2021 before turning around and reselling them in his store, Fox 9 Minneapolis reported.""

PJM's Stephen Kruiser sings I'm California Dreaming About Karen Bass Losing Her Job. Jen O'Connell at RedState, LA Mayoral Candidate Proposes Backyard BBQ Ban to Fight Wildfires, Gets Raked Over the Coals. Bonchie @bonchieredstate, "Spencer Pratt: “We need to clean up homeless camps, get rid of the drug addicted everywhere, prepare for fires better, and lower taxes.” Nithya Raman: “We need to ban the normals from cooking hamburgers.” The right vs. left paradigm perfectly illustrated." Quote California Post @californiapost, "LA mayoral hopeful Nithya Raman proposes backyard BBQ ban https://trib.al/qaHiUo7." VodkaPundit at Insty finds THE CHICAGO WAY: Spencer Pratt Can Win Because Angry People Vote. Just Ask Former Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandic. But so do the homeless, either by ballot harvesting or direct payments. Also, THIS IS MY STATE ON DEMOCRATS: Colorado Unfiltered @COUnfiltered, "So let me get this straight… Citizens get pissed that Colorado roads are held together with crack sealant, expired hopes, and orange cones from 2007, so they launch a ballot initiative to constitutionally force transportation money toward… you know… transportation. And the State Senate’s response is HB26-1430. A bill specifically designed to basically go: “Ok sure, you can vote for road funding… but we’re gonna offset it, redirect it, cut fees somewhere else, reshuffle transfers, and accountant-ninja kick the actual impact into another dimension.” That is objectively insane behavior..."At Twitchy, Schadenfreude-a-PALOOZA! Abigail Spanberger VETOS Collective Bargaining and HOOBOY, Their RAGE Fuels Them.

Melinda Hennenberger at RCP calls it How ‘Trumpian’ of the Left To Go After Susan Collins’ Tremor. I just thought she drank a lot of coffee... 

John Solomon at JTN reports the House Judiciary Chairman urges DOJ to permanently dismiss all Trump cases after bombshell report ""It's probably time that this all just ended," Jim Jordan told Jsu the News." Some in FBI still hanging onto the remains of Jack Smith's case for whenever a Democrat can get into office. 

Brian Cates - Political Columnist & Pundit @drawandstrike, "Trump's already irretrievably crippled their 'human wave' migration machine by defunding it. All those "Catholic charities" aren't getting the US Treasury/USAID money any longer. Trump's been shutting off their REVENUE STREAMS to the human wave machinery for over 15 months at this point. And all this criminal networking is intertwined. Human trafficking, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, arms trafficking, gambling, contraband, moving stuff around public sanctions, when you cut off one network, you affect all the others also. The **last and easiest step** is the domestic stuff. Trump is actually a massive humanitarian. He knows who set up most of those 'rogue narcoterror regimes' to our South. WE DID. WE DID THAT. Well, to be fair, the people FORMERLY IN CONTROL OF OUR US FEDERAL GOVERNMENT and most especially, our CIA did that..."

Northern Barbarian @xnoesbueno, "Lost in the reaction to @NickKristof doing journeyman's work pushing Hamas propaganda is the tremendous service he's done by promoting the most apt possible metaphor for modern American journalism: Dog Rape. Credit where credit is due." Quote John Podhoretz @jpodhoretz "New Wirecutter feature: We tested the rape skills of these 15 breeds of dog. Here are our rankings. x.com/dansenor/statu…"

Western Lensman @WesternLensman, "Here's Joe Biden calling a reporter he didn’t like “a stupid son of a bitch." Normalized like that?" Quote Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan, "When did we normalize this? When did it become okay for a president to tell a female reporter she’s a ‘dumb person’ for asking a totally legitimate question about his contradictory answers? Was there a specific date and time it become okay? Normal? Normalized? x.com/atrupar/status…"

From Campus Reform, UCLA med school illegally discriminated based on race, DOJ concludes. I prefer my doctors chosen for ability, but maybe that's just me. Aaron Sibarium @aaronsibarium, "NEW: In a mandatory anti-racism class, Penn State told 1L law students they must "acknowledge the reality of systemic racism" and "dismantle systems that racialize, subordinate, and oppress." One student withdrew from the law school over the class. We obtained shocking audio." Teach them how to lie early; it's an important lawyerly skill.

At NYPo, Former BLM activist goes scorched earth on ‘scam’ group, insists systemic racism in US isn’t real.

Leslie Eastman at LI notices CDC Official Dusts Off Familiar ‘Six Feet’ Playbook Regarding Hantavirus. "So far, 11 passengers have tested positive for Andes strain, with 3 in critical condition. An expert asserts that assurances of low risk to general public is “calm-mongering”." Eventually, like a broken clock, they'll get one right.

Fish Pic Friday - Yukai.sk

 With some lovely fish from Puerto Rico:

Capt. Shesla Krystal@ (Yukai)yukai.sk @eastfishingpr_ fishing charter / owner. Puerto Rico