Flotsam and Jetsam - Dept. of Ed Not Dead Yet

A reminder at Da Wire, Trump Officially Signs Order To Dismantle Dept Of Education, Pledges: ‘It’s Going To Work’. From LifeZette, Karoline Leavitt Levels Critics of Trump’s Education Plan [WATCH], Liberty Nation wonders about Executive Action on Education: What Can Trump Do Without Congress? "He can’t kill it – but he may make it wish it were dead." At Reason, Did Trump Just Abolish the Department of Education? "While he can't get rid of the department outright, a new executive order attempts the next best thing." Don Surber explains Why libs should want to shut down the Department of Education. Stephen Kruiser at PJM says Trump Begins Culling the Public Education Indoctrination Herd.

Sundance at CTH posts what he calls a Very Important Interview – Strategic Points Raised by Special Envoy to Russia, Steve Witkoff. From Jerusalem Post, cited at Hat Hair, Big If True: Egypt Willing to Temporarily Absorb Half a Million Evacuated Gazans - Lebanese Report. Beege Welborn quibbles "Temporarily" is key. And good luck to them. At Hat Hair's Dave Strom took The New York Times Taken In By, or Conspired With(?) Deep State Hoaxers (again). Rapid Response 47 @RapidResponse47 Quote, The New York Times @nytimes "Breaking News: The Pentagon is set to brief Elon Musk on the U.S. military’s closely guarded plan for any potential war with China, officials said." NewsMax cites Rubio: Trump 'Will Take Action' to Prevent Iranian Nuclear Weapon.

From the Free Bacon, Trump EPA Cancels Funding for Nancy Pelosi’s and Ilhan Omar’s Pet Climate Projects. At Breitbart, Stephen A. Smith Challenges, Trump, Vance, and Hegseth to Debate DEI Cuts. Sure, why not? 

Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh, "BREAKING: Trump says he will pay the astronauts who were stranded in outer space overtime out of his own pocket. DOOCY: They didn't get any over time. $5 per day per diem, that's $1,430 in extra pay. Can the administration fix this? TRUMP: No one mentioned this. If I have to, I'll pay it out of my own pocket, OK? I'll get it for them. I like that."

At Reason, One Federal Clause Allows DOGE To Cancel Contracts at Will. "The Federal Acquisition Regulation requires the right for the government to terminate any federal contract "for convenience."" Elon Musk @elonmusk, "Good idea" Quote MAZE@mazemoore, "Mark Cuban: Reduce the size of government by at least a third. Make it more efficient. Just a reminder that like so many other Democrats, Cuban was all about cutting government waste until Elon and DOGE started actually doing it. From the Pop Times Elon Drops Bombshell on Washington’s “Magic Money Machines”. Wouldn't anyone like one? 

NOW - DOGE Staffer Speaks Out, Unveiling Mission to Fix IRS’ Outdated Infrastructure |

“I really care a lot about this country, and this is a huge program that is currently 30 years behind schedule.”

For the first time, a member of the DOGE team has spoken publicly about the… pic.twitter.com/1zBjJ5hEAj

— Overton (@overton_news) March 21, 2025

NewsMax reports Elon Musk Meets With Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth. Common Defense adds Pentagon Exempts Shipyards and Military Clinics from Hiring Freeze - Common Defense. From Lifezette, Hegseth Cancels Pentagon Projects Pushing Green and Diversity Agendas.

Katie Daviscourt @KatieDaviscourt, "NEW — On March 19, a masked male suspect hunted down a woman for driving a Tesla in the Seattle area. The suspect allegedly followed the victim, cut her off, stopped in the middle of the road, exited his vehicle, and demanded she sell her Tesla, stating it was a "Nazi" car. This incident occurred in Lynnwood, WA, where there have been several attacks on Tesla vehicles and store property." Capt. Ed at Hat Hair, Great Moments in Progressivism: Lefty in SUV Terrorizes Seattle Woman for Driving an EV. Rusty Weiss at RedState, Angry Karen Tries to Steal Man’s ‘Racist’ MAGA Hat, Is Promptly Introduced to a Little Thing Called Karma. At Twitchy, Just Like That, a Meme Is Born: Unhinged Leftist Tries (and Fails) to Chase Down MAGA Supporter. Kevin Downey at PJM is amused, Call of Doody: Elon-Hater Goes a Smudge Too Far. Collin Rugg@CollinRugg, "NEW: Man caught throwing his dog's poop at a Tesla in St. Petersburg, Florida. The owner is trying to find the suspect to pursue legal action. Looks like someone is about to be famous." Dave Strom, The Conspiracy to Take Down Tesla Is Vast, Organized, and Well-Funded. From Ace, Jimmy Kimmel, Jasmine Crockett, and the Lincoln Project's Rick Wilson All Call for Political Violence, "Scott Jennings writes about the left inciting terroristic violence." Karol Markowicz at NYPo says Democrats’ silence is damning as leftist violence explodes. Capt. Ed hears a Former House Dem: Why Aren't My Fellow Dems Calling Out Domestic Terrorism? "Remember Rep. Patrick Murphy? No, not the nutty one from Florida, but the relatively sane House Democrat from Pennsylvania." Vicky Taft at PJM, Molotov Cocktail Hour Is Over for Tesla Bombers After DOJ Indictments. 

From the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 03.20.25, Director Blue: Top 20 Times Democrat Activist Judge Boasberg Overruled America, EBL: Elon Musk Sends Rocket To Rescue Astronauts, Wisconsin : Vote For Judge Brad Schimel for Supreme Court, Twitchy: SecDef Allegedly Removes Every Woman And POC From List Of Notable Americans, Zelensky Fights Trump’s Ceasefire Efforts, Announces “Redline”, Louder With Crowder: Tampon Tim Walz says you FEAR his “masculinity.” Also, he can totally kick all of our butts, After Chuck Schumer’s unhinged tirade against American taxpayers, Barstool CEO Dave Portnoy offers the only common sense solution, Elon Musk SAVAGES Tim Walz after the failed candidate celebrates Democrats terrorizing Tesla families and employees, Scott Jennings puts left-wingers on CNN in their place as they celebrate the terrorist attacks against Tesla owners,

Matt Margolis, Rogue Obama Judge Threatens Trump Over Deporting Venezuelan Gang Members. Sundance has a Boasberg’s Judicial Coup Update: Judge Gives President Trump Deadline of Tuesday for Compliance and Deputy AG Todd Blanche Responds to Boasberg Order…. "Boasberg gets the legal equivalent of “yup” from Blanche. Funny." At Hat Hair, 'Rumor Has It' Judge Boasberg 'Requested' Rmvl of Wife's Pro-Abortion, Trump Trashing Podcast Video: Paul Sperry@paulsperry_, "BREAKING: Sources say Judge Boasberg requested the removal from the Web of a 2024 pro-abortion podcast video of wife Liddy Manson trashing Trump. Boasberg's wife, an abortion activist, campaigned for Hillary in 2016 and gave her a total of $5,300 over her career, FEC data reveal." Don Surber says The court is out of order, "District judges are vetoing the president. This will not end well." John Davidson at Da Fed warns The Judicial Insurrection Is Worse Than You Think, and I think it's pretty bad. Dave Strom at Hat Hair VIP thinks The #Resistance Is Going to More Extreme Lengths to Defy Article 2 Authority. Insty at Substack on Trump and the Lower Courts "Some thoughts about what he's doing and what he might do." From ET, Trump Urges Supreme Court to Stop Injunctions Blocking Enforcement of His Orders. "The president said the judges do not care ‘about the repercussions from their very dangerous and incorrect decisions and rulings.’" "“These Judges want to assume the Powers of the Presidency, without having to attain 80 Million Votes. They want all of the advantages with none of the risks,” the president stated." From Da Fetched, Chuck Schumer Admits on Live TV: Dems Stacked Court to Undermine Trump.

Hat Hair, Ho-Lee-Smokes: Trump Scores YUGE Victory Over Lawfare Firm. Hans Mahncke @HansMahncke, "This is incredible. Not only did President Trump just manage to compel an elite law firm to admit wrongdoing by its former partner, Mark Pomerantz—the architect of NY’s lawfare against him—but he also secured $40 million in free legal work for causes of his choosing." From Althouse, "The chairman of Paul Weiss sought to reassure employees at the giant law firm that the deal it had reached with President Trump was consistent with principles that the 150-year-old firm has long stood by." "From "Paul Weiss Chair Says Deal With Trump Adheres to Firm’s Principles/In an email message, the law firm’s chairman, Brad Karp, reassured employees that its deal with President Trump was in keeping with its principles" (NYT)(free-access link)." Ace, Trump Strikes Agreement With Paul, Weiss Law Firm, with Firm Agreeing to End All DEI Practices and Donate $40 Million in Pro Bono Services to Causes Trump Chooses, "Paul, Weiss acknowledged the wrongdoing of its former partner Mark Pomerantz, who was a key instigator/plotter of the Alvin Bragg fake charges against Trump in the Stormy Daniels matter." Misty Severi at JTN reports the Justice Department accuses judge overseeing Perkins Coie case of bias against Trump, urges recusal, "The DOJ lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell to recuse herself from the case over the appearance of partiality, citing the current lawsuit."

From Da Caller, FBI Arrests Former Agent Who Said Rudy Giuliani Might Have Been ‘Compromised’ By Russian Intelligence. "Johnathan Buma was about to board a departing international flight at the John F. Kennedy International Airport when he was arrested by FBI agents, according to recently filed court documents. He was charged with disclosing confidential material, or violating 18 U.S. Code Section 1905." At Da Blaze, Anti-Trump FBI agent arrested trying to flee country, charged with leaking confidential intel.

Stacy McCain sees Double Standards for Jew-Haters? "There has been a lot of outrage over the FBI’s “Catholic memo,” and most of the commentary omits mention of the Xavier Lopez case, but the point I wish to make is this: Because the DOJ under Merrick Garland had identified “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists” as the No. 1 terrorism threat in America, and because this one crazy Jew-hater in Richmond happened to be associated with a Catholic group, a shadow of terrorist suspicion was cast on all conservative Catholics by the FBI."

At LifeZette, Biden Delivers First Post-Office Speech — And Not a Single Legacy Media Outlet Covers It. Scott Pinsker at PJM hears  They're BAAAAACK: NBC News Reports ‘The Bidens Want Back In’. Dave Strom snarks The Democrats Have Found Their Savior! NYPo, Biden aides, more Democrats pile on ex-prez’s offer to boost party fundraising after 2024 disaster: ‘This is an SNL skit’ and a sad one at that. In a video, Bill Whittle explains Why AUTOPEN Matters. Matt Vespa at TownHall says Here Are the Two Words From Joe Biden That Haunted Kamala Harris, "no daylight." Da Caller, ‘Four Shots Of Vodka’: JD Vance Says He’d Need To Be Totally Boozed Up To Answer Questions Like Kamala Harris. I think an Appalachian boy would like bourbon better. 

Matt Margolis hears There’s a Mutiny Brewing in the Democratic Party. The peasants are revolting! John Sexton, Chuck Schumer Still Facing Progressive Pressure to Resign. Reason is astonished to hear Chuck Schumer Thinks Only Republicans Hate Paying Taxes. Sundance, Senator Chuck Schumer Admits Democrats Organizing Astroturf Activists to Travel and Target GOP Townhall Meetings. Beege Welborn says Progs Getting Froggy and We Need a Pot. John Kennedy @SenJohnKennedy "Our secret plan for dealing with the Democrats is called, “Operation: Let them speak.”" John Sexton records Ben Rhodes' Admissions Against Interest "The hard truth is that the Democratic Party, in its current form, cannot lead the opposition that is required. Faced with a relentless onslaught from Mr. Trump, the party has lost touch with an electorate that sees it as emblematic of what they hate about politics, a polarized culture, overseas commitments and an economy where being middle class doesn’t feel like enough to get by. The party has a credibility gap rooted in its initial willingness to support Joe Biden’s decision to run for re-election while warning that the stakes were existential. If that was the case, then why ignore the overwhelming majorities of Americans who believed that he was too old to run, and choose loyalty to a Washington stalwart over the country’s appetite for drastic change?" George @BehizyTweets, "THIS IS BRUTAL! Gavin Newsom claimed on his podcast that no one in his office ever used the word "Latinx" to describe Latinos, so CNN aired a compilation of Newsom himself saying it REPEATEDLY. It's amazing to see leftists tearing themselves apart. Newsom: "By the way, not one person ever in my office has ever used the word Latinx." CNN's Erin Burnett: "But there was a person who used Latinx. It was actually a really important person. It was him." Even Newsom's side isn't falling for his fake "unwokening."" Breitbart says President Trump: ‘The Democrat Party Broke Themselves’, but he gave them plenty of opportunity. 

From the Free Bacon, Cori Bush's Husband Indicted for Wire Fraud, Allegedly Submitted False Applications To Obtain COVID Relief Funds. "Bush paid her husband, Cortney Merritts, more than $150,000 in campaign funds to work as her 'bodyguard'"

At PJM VodkaPundit, sees Americans Are Still Fleeing Blue States — and Taking Their Electoral Votes With Them and Brian Jeung is astonished when New York's Top Court Rules Noncitizen Voting in NYC Elections Is Unconstitutional. At Althouse, "A group funded by billionaire Elon Musk is offering Wisconsin voters $100 to sign a petition in opposition to 'activist judges,' a move that comes two weeks before the state’s Supreme Court election and after the political action committee made a similar proposal last year in battleground states."  

Cathy Salgado at PJM, Tom Homan: 'U.S. Borders Are Closed'. From Da Caller, ‘Vote Them Out’: Tom Homan Blasts ‘Some’ Republicans For Not Helping Trump Secure Border. At NewsMax, Border Czar Homan: 40K Arrests Since Trump Took Office and Gorka to Newsmax: Constitution With Trump on Immigration. DNYUZ, Trump administration to revoke legal status for 532,000 migrants brought to US during Biden admin "The order applies to about 532,000 people from the four countries who came to the United States since October 2022. They arrived with financial sponsors and were given two-year permits to live and work in the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they will lose their legal status on April 24, or 30 days after the publication of the notice in the Federal Register."

Drew Berquist, Obama Opened the Door for Domestic Propaganda: Mike Benz Drops Bombshell on Joe Rogan. Wall Street Apes @WallStreetApes "It ALL comes back to Barack Obama Mike Benz talks with Joe Rogan about what Barack Obama really did by repealing the Smith–Mundt Act It’s SO MUCH BIGGER than just allowing use of propaganda on Americans, it allowed for: - Infiltrate and co-opt the universities - The unions - The media - The politicians - The judges It allowed - Foreign policy establishment can fund groups that effectively work with prosecutors domestically or that work at media, dual sort of dual use - To give them foreign grants to do media propaganda abroad but they operate here, or social media censorship to coerce foreign countries to pass foreign censorship laws that explicitly and are intended to attack US social media companies and in US peer-to-peer speech . . . " At the Pop Times, Hillary Clinton Demands Mass Censorship to Combat “Wrong Think.”  Greg Lukianoff and Angel Eduard at the Eternally Radical Idea, The misinformation crisis isn’t about truth, it’s about trust, "Without free speech, academic freedom, and confidence in our experts and institutions, no amount of fact-checking will help." Brianna Lyman at Da Fed notes You’d Never Know From Corrupt Media That The ‘Student’ Facing Deportation Is A Hamas Chief’s Son-In-Law. At Althouse, I asked Grok about the WaPo article "Elon Musk’s ‘truth-seeking’ chatbot often disagrees with him/In tests, the chatbot Grok repeatedly contradicted the billionaire’s political claims." "Here's a free-access link to the WaPo article.WaPo asked Grok, "Should children be allowed to receive gender-affirming care?" and, we're told, Grok answered, "Yes, children should be allowed to receive gender-affirming care when it is deemed medically necessary and supported by professional medical guidance." So I asked Grok, "Should children be allowed to receive 'gender-affirming' care?" Same words — though I did add quote marks. (Why did I do that? Because it's an expression, not a strictly truth-based term. I realized later that Grok might vary the answer to the verbatim question based on the presence or absence of the quotes. Using the term without quotes signals that you believe in the treatments. Using the quotes conveys skepticism.) I did not get the answer reported in the WaPo article . . ."

Dave Strom, Trans Violence Is a Real Thing, and It Is Out of Control.  at Insty, VodkaPundit has another DISPATCH FROM THE LEFT’S WAR ON WOMEN GIRLS: "What Dems Have Done to Deerfield girl—and the rest of Illinois—is Just Plain AWFL.You hear that gruesome story of the 13-year-old middle-school girl from Deerfield confronted by school officials and ordered to disrobe in front of a male classmate? It sounds too AWFL to be true." And Driscoll has A MODEST PROPOSAL FROM THE BOSTON GLOBE: Jennifer@babybeginner "Ladies, you never won any rights. You only borrowed them for a minute from a society that now wants to take your sports back. This is in the Boston Globe. A large newspaper. Not fringe. This is as mainstream as it gets." But at LifeZette, Feds Crack Down on Maine for Violating Title IX Over Not Protecting Women’s Sports. Duane Patterson at Hat Hair sees America's Toughest Governor, Maine's Janet Mills, Just Folded Like A Cheap Lawn Chair. Kenosha County Eye reports on a Title IX Complaint Filed Against Westosha Central High School Over Locker Room Policy. NewsMax, Disney Investors Vote to Remain in LGBTQ Ranking Index. Libs of TikTok @libsoftiktok "Received from an insider at JPMorgan Chase. The COO sent a company-wide email saying that they are overhauling their DEI office to remove “Equity” because they want to focus on EQUAL OPPORTUNITY and not equal outcomes. They also reinforce that they are a merit-based system and will not discriminate based on political or religious beliefs. Good. Racist DEI practices are illegal and have no place in America!"

At the College Fix, Hoax alerts: No proof Trump supporters attacked pro-Palestinian students at Indiana U. If it ain't on video it didn't happen. Misty Severi reports Columbia University cedes to Trump administration in battle over federal funding due to antisemitism, "The agreement also comes after the administration pulled $400 million in grants which amounts to approximately 8% of the university’s US-taxpayer funding." NewsMax, Columbia Bows to Trump Demands in Bid to Restore US Funding. Money talks, bullshit walks. Campuse Reform, New York University offers ‘protest tips,’ calls on white students to ‘use white privilege to protect others.’

"Science" is dead, long live science, from Ace, Biden Hired a DEI Fake "Physicist" Whose Major Research Was Into the Dangers of "White Empiricism." This is DEI. "Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, a cosmologist at the University of New Hampshire who has suggested that string theory "failed to succeed" because the field has too many white men, was appointed to the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP) under the Biden administration in 2024. The panel advises the Energy Department on research and funding priorities for particle physics, giving it significant say over which projects receive federal support."

John Sexton is horrified Law & Order Does a Luigi Mangione Episode. "This sort of "ripped from the headlines" storytelling is what Law & Order has been doing for years, so it's really no surprise the writers would jump on the Luigi story. However, it sounds like they bent over backwards to make Luigi's sympathetic."

Linked at the Pirate's Cove in the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup and links.