Contrary to my expectations, The Wall Street Journal @WSJ, "Sen. Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) voted at the Capitol on Monday for the first time in three months, after a fall that raised concerns about his health and whether he would return to work. He arrived in a wheelchair flanked by his chief of staff and a longtime aide, addressing the press in brief remarks outside the Senate chamber that Senate officials didn’t allow to be videotaped. “I must admit, after two years of—decades actually—of dodging your questions, I wasn’t sure how many of you would be here today,” McConnell joked to reporters. His speech wasn’t clearly enunciated and at times hard to make out. McConnell gave a thumbs-up during the first vote, a procedural measure on confirming a federal judge." From Althouse, Mitch is back — he's alive and he's sitting up straight and smiling. I would say propped up straight. Despite his steadfast never-Trumpism, I still have a residuum of respect for Mitch based on his denying Merrick Garland a Supreme Court seat.
Duane Patterson at Hat Hair thinks The Houthis Are Now in The Kill Box, and has other bad news for the Iranian regime. Hat Hair's John Sexton says Ukraine's Attacks on Russian Oil Refineries May Have Bought It Some Leverage. From Sundance at CTH, Trump Says Zelenskyy No Longer Will Target Diesel Refineries – Zelenskyy Qualifies, Only if Russia Doesn’t Hit Food Routes. We'll see how long that lasts.
Visegrád 24 @visegrad24, "
The U.S. has officially announced that it’s keeping both offensive and defensive weapons in space. The type of weapons and how many are up there hasn’t been revealed. It’s the first time the U.S. admits to having combat capabilities in space." This follows yesterday's news of a Chinese satellite 'mysteriously disintegrating' after Chinese satellite imagery was used to target the US troops in an attack that killed three.
At Da Caller,
Data Shows The DSA Takeover Of The Democrat Party Is Nearly Complete. "The latest
survey shows that among
Democrats, 59% consider themselves
DSA supporters, compared to just 30% who do not. Out of total voters polled just 26% consider themselves supportive of the DSA, compared to 66% who do not consider themselves backers of the socialist group." From the Free Bacon,
Abdul El-Sayed Promoted Infamous Hijab Hate Crime Hoax, Despite Warnings from Police, "The Democrat has a long history of making unverified and false claims alleging anti-Muslim discrimination."
cdrsalamander @cdrsalamander, "
National Socialists in common cause with Democratic Socialists…of course." Quote Hen Mazzig @HenMazzig, "Men wearing swastikas shouted "Heil Hitler" and "Free Palestine" in New York City. "Free Palestine" has never been about wanting Palestinians to have a better future." Mike Letts at PJM hears
Ilhan Omar Has Been Cleared of Misconduct Accusations, but Something Doesn’t Add Up. Tho, from Ace,
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullins: We Know Ilhan Omar Married Her Brother to Defraud the Immigration System. We're Investigating Her Now. "Happy Monday!
Some good news to start the week off." Dave Strom sees
Rules for Thee, Not for Me...or the 'Oppressed.' Seattle cutting trees for a "homeless" (bums) site, despite their own regulations.
Kurt Schlichter at TownHall warns
Don’t Believe the Hype About James Talarico, his 'Betofication.' "I am not seeing the Talaricomania." RedState's Teri Christoph says
They Call Him 'Talafreako' for a Reason — Wait Until You Hear What He Said About Parents ""I think there are some folks that would think that if you deny your child's gender identity, that's incredibly harmful. And whether or not we label it with the term abuse, it's abusive for sure,"
Talarico said while debating legislation designed to protect parents who refuse to affirm a child’s gender identity from having that used against them in custody proceedings."
Zach Kraft @ZachKraft_, "James Talafreako's obsession with forcing sex changes on other people's kids is creepy and downright scary.
He voted to allow parents to be found guilty of ABUSE and have their children TAKEN AWAY if they refused to allow child sex changes, no age limit." At Hat Hair, Capt. Ed sees
Talarico Pulls the Race Card for Some Reason – Hilarity Ensues and
Talarico: I'm Broke Because I Don't Take One Percenter Money, except that he does.
Attorney General Ken Paxton @KenPaxtonTX, "
I condemn racism in all its forms, including James Talarico saying white men are America's top terror threat and that he prays to overcome his own 'whiteness,' whatever that means. Only one person in this race has a history of dividing Texans by race, and it’s James Talarico. I will continue to focus on uniting our State and bringing together the broadest possible coalition to fight for Texas, our values, and our families." Quote James Talarico @jamestalarico, "Thank you @JohnCornyn for your leadership. Racism has no place in Texas. @KenPaxtonTX: will you condemn this blatant racism or will you cower to..."
Stephen Kruiser at PJM notes
SCOTUS Has a Sylvia Plath Episode Regarding Mail-In Ballots "On Monday evening, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Trump administration's emergency request to allow the U.S. Postal Service's (USPS) new ballot-mail rule to take effect for the 2026 elections. The ruling leaves
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani's preliminary injunction in place and effectively means the rule will not govern the November midterms." Too late, they said, after months of judicial dawdling and obstruction. Althouse chimes in
"If the question of the Postal Service’s power were before us in something other than the context of an ultra vires claim..." "".... the Government’s argument would present a difficult question. But here the question is different. In order to assert an ultra vires claim, the plaintiffs must show that the challenged regulation of envelopes here is 'entirely "in excess"' of the power to govern collecting, handling, transporting, delivering, forwarding, and returning of mail. The same is true of the requirement to pass along information about each recipient of ballot mail. At the very least, the Postal Service did not act '"contrary to a specific prohibition"' in enacting the rule... [T]he plaintiff States’ statutory claim is based on a contestable reading of a broadly drawn statute empowering the Postal Service to regulate the mail." Writes Justice Alito, dissenting, joined by Justice Thomas, in
United States Postal Service v. California. Here's the NYT:
"Two Conservative Justices Would Have Allowed Trump’s Mail-In Ballot Rules/Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, called the challenge to the restrictions a 'Hail Mary pass' that was unlikely to prevail because of the Postal Service’s broad authority to regulate the mail" (gift link)." Sundance,
Judicial Delay Tactics Worked – Supreme Court Blocks USPS Mail-In Ballot Plans.
Dave Strom asserts it's
Time to Break Up Academia. How does that even work? John Sexton hears
Mahmoud Khalil Sues Columbia for Failing to Protect Him (or Something). Is there a way they can both lose? Mazelit Airaksinen documents a
Florida Teacher who says Jews “Own Everything”, Israel is “Fake Country”: FOOTAGE "“I don’t care what I post because I’m making so much money off of TikTok” says Miss. Jaden Salameh." VodkaPundit at Insty reminds us
PROGRESSIVISM HAS ALWAYS BEEN RACIST, STARTING WITH EUGENICS OVER A CENTURY AGO:
Hon. Vickie Paladino @VickieforNYC, "
This is an outrage. I don’t think people outside of blue city politics really understand how almost comically evil progressivism becomes when it’s allowed total power. It has nothing to do with ‘affordability’ or ‘heath care’." Quote Yiatin Chu @ycinnewyork, "If we thought DeBlasio 7% plan was racist in proposing to cut Asian students at Specialized High Schools by half, @CMRestler @CMNantashaW now want to explicitly EXCLUDE districts with Asian students out of the Discovery program."
Ryan @teslaxryan, "
Anthropic’s Head of Personality Alignment, Amanda Askell, argued that discrimination against white students “may be desirable” as a way of correcting historical injustice. This is coming from one of the most prominent people working on AI alignment. Let that sink in." Tyler O'Neil at Da Signal is alarmed that
Parents are ‘Intentionally Left Out’ of AI Strategy Discussions Between Microsoft, Left-Leaning Teachers Union, Critics Say.

From WaEx,
Washington state government demands women let men see them nude. But the usual crowd objects when Sydney Sweeney
BOLDLY GOES WHERE ESPN HAS GONE BEFORE:
Sydney Sweeney’s naked betting advert ‘sexualizes’ women’s sport. "Sydney Sweeney has been accused of sexualising women in sport after appearing naked in a betting advert. The Hollywood actress posed for Novig, a sports-prediction market company, in a video that has had almost one million views in four days. The advert shows Sweeney sitting topless on a basketball hoop, saying: “So they wanted to show just sports.” After saying “sports” nine times while playing tennis, golf, and baseball in various states of undress, she adds: “You can’t trade this, I just look good here. No betting on wars or deaths, and no politics. Just you and your take on sports.” It closes with her walking away naked. The 29-year-old
Euphoria star has been criticised by female athletes, who have accused her of setting back women in sport.