Flotsam and Jetsam - Reporting Safe from the Storm

Well, we survived snowmageddocopalypse 26.5 (the 5th "winter storm" of the 25-26 winter season). Not too bad. We only have about 2 inches of snow, and although there are still a few small flakes coming down, I don't expect any more accumulation. The temperature has climbed to a little above freezing, expecting nearly 40 by the end of the day. I suppose I should shovel some before it gets too sticky. We had high winds overnight, and there's some small branches down in the front yard, but nothing damaging. Although there were some power outages in the area, we were spared (so far). 

Although thin, it is the perfect  consistency for rolling into big balls to make snowmen with.

From Ace, USA Hockey Beats Canada For The Gold Medal...Canadian Transsexuals And Thought Police Hardest Hit. At Twitchy, Grass Isn't Greener: Trump-Hating Expats Beg Canadians for Free Lodging as Savings Vanish. Why not, they give their other immigrants all kinds of free stuff. Don't encourage them to come back. Twitchy, After Team USA Wins Gold, HuffPost Gets Ratioed Into the Sun for Claiming the US Flag Is a 'Turn-Off'. Wilfred Reilly @wil_da_beast630, "You....kinda are. Statistically, you are an outlier person on either the left or the hyper-hard right, so committed to insane ideas ("Borders should not exist!!!") that you dislike your own nation's flag at a time of global dominance. You are a weird loser." Quote HuffPost @HuffPost "If waving the American flag or chanting “USA!” turns you off right now, you're not alone."

Commonplace wants you to Ignore the Outrage. Trump’s Trade Revolution Is Working. "America’s allies complain while quietly backing new U.S. policy." At CJ, Judge Glock (I hope that's a pseudonym) thinks The Supreme Court’s Tariff Ruling Shows Conservativism at Work. "Chief Justice John Roberts’s long campaign against unilateral executive control of the economy continues—regardless of who’s in the White House." Sarah Isgur @whignewtons, "Perhaps a fair point—after all they voted to strike down Biden’s student loan debt forgiveness. But then what do you think of Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson? They, of course, voted to uphold Biden’s debt forgiveness." Quote Matt Lewis @mattklewis "Does anyone believe Thomas, Alito, or Kavanaugh would have voted to uphold unilateral Clinton, Obama, or Biden tariffs — of this magnitude?" Dan McLaughlin @baseballcrank, "We all just take for granted that the three liberals will vote on party lines." Irony meter busted; Mike LaChance at LI, Chuck Schumer Suddenly Against ‘Berating Supreme Court Justices’. “He was like a 10-year-old, name calling, foot stomping, berating Supreme Court justices. He’s like a baby”

Fox, Tourists in Mexican seaside city told to stay on resort as government warns of ‘clashes’. "Jalisco Gov Pablo Lemus Navarro warns of violent incidents spreading across multiple areas after federal forces conduct operation." After the head of the Jalisco cartel killed. "The travel warning was issued for parts of Jalisco state, including Puerto Vallarta, Chapala and Guadalajara; Tamaulipas state, including Reynosa and other municipalities; and areas of Michoacan state, Guerrero state and Nuevo Leon state." NYPo, Mexican resort town, airport under siege after army kills major Jalisco New Generation cartel leader. Hat Hair's Dave Strom, Mexico Erupts in Violence as Cartels Rampage; Americans Told to Shelter in Place. cdrsalamander @cdrsalamander, "Mexico should have one of the highest per-capita GDPs in the world. Blessed with a superb climate, hard working people, laden with natural resources...but since independence from the Spanish crown, it has been saddled with poor governance, lack of rule of law, and capped off in our modern day with corruption made worse by US drug money empowering a parallel power structure in the drug cartels. To give Mexico a chance to reach her potential, the good people and leaders of Mexico will have to go to war and pay the blood price to drive the cartels into the shadows...then those same people will need to find some way to push the Mexican government to act in a way deserving of her people. I don't see the below as a bad thing--this is part of the process of making a better, modern Mexico. I hope the government forces give no quarter and continue. Any assistance the USA can give them should be offered up as fast as the good forces in Mexico can take it." YaHoo! Cartels launch revenge attacks after Mexican military kills drug kingpin. Stephen Miller @StephenM, "There are thousands of cartel operatives in the United States. DHS is the department tasked with finding, arresting and removing them. Democrats have defunded DHS."

Reuters reports Cuban security forces exit Venezuela as US pressure mounts. I guess one taste of the "discombobulator" was enough. NYPo, UK blocks Trump from using RAF bases for strikes on Iran — and he is already retaliating. 1945 explains The Diego Garcia Mistake Donald Trump Must Fix.

Streif at RedState sees Pete Hegseth Comes Under Fire for Meeting the Standards He Demands of Others. Yes, You Read That Right. InfantryDort @infantrydort, "There are two main things people need to be aware of: 1. These videos were taken days apart, it's 315 lbs. 2. No group of Infantry is going to celebrate ANY fake feat of strength. Especially the Rakkasans. The outrage and accusations are ridiculous." Cynical Publius @CynicalPublius, "The sad thing is, pretty much all of the people ripping on this have NO IDEA just how much respect the troops have for this. No idea." Althouse finds "Don’t allow this broken culture to send you a message that you’re a bad person because you’re a man, because you like to tell a joke, because you like to have a beer with your friends or because you’re competitive." "Said JD Vance, last year, quoted today in "Bench Presses, Pull Ups … Kid Rock? The White House Had a Very Manly Week/President Trump’s top cabinet officials are pumping iron in public" (NYT)."

At Althouse, "This is the CEO of Victoria's Secret, claiming that Epstein, who he hired to manage all of his money, had alerted him to the danger if you didn't inventory forks and spoons...." ""A guy like Les Wexner has to protect himself from fork theft. Understand? So that's where Jeffrey Epstein came in. Even his lawyer is looking at him like, well, this is an odd example. Even his lawyer's like, this is why we gotta keep it to five less, five words or less. Because now we're like, you're talking about forks and knives and spoons. Les Wexner on what Jeffrey Epstein did for him.... People could be stealing your silverware and Les Wexner's like, well that's what a good thought. I'd never thought that, here's all of my money. Let me give you power of attorney over literally all of my assets. Because you came up with this...." As commenter Earnest Prole said... "Counting knives and forks is a metaphor for employee theft prevention, which in a low-margin retail business like apparel is the difference between success and failure. By all early accounts Epstein specialized in tax avoidance; it didn’t matter whether the tax was theft by employees or the government. This podcaster is displaying the dopey knack of taking someone literally but not seriously."

John Hinderacker at Power Line asks How Crazy Are the Democrats? This crazy: Moms for Liberty @Moms4Liberty, "Outrage: Minnesota Democrat Leigh (Chris) Finke opposes a proposed age verification law for pornographic websites, stating that it is crucial for “queer” children to have access to pornography for "educational purposes."" NYPo, Nutty professor who held machete to Post reporter’s neck tapped by NYC for $407K art installation: ‘Piece of junk’.

At Althouse, "I'm not trying to impress you. I'm just trying to impress upon you: I'm like you." End Wokeness @EndWokeness "Gov. Newsom to a black crowd in GA: "I am like you. I'm a 960 SAT guy. I can't read."" DataRepublican (small r) @DataRepublican "The rare double self-own" " Let's look at the 2 obvious problems: 1. He's calling attention to his struggle with a serious disability, dyslexia. We talked about that here, a few weeks ago. He seems to be confessing something that is true, making himself vulnerable and relatable. Of course, he's also exposing his limitations. But his antagonists may screw up trying to take advantage of this. 2. In saying "I'm like you" to what seems to be an audience of black people, he's taking a risk. You can hear warm laughter, as, perhaps, many people relate to him, because they've struggled with exams, for whatever reason. But he seems to be unwittingly expressing the old stereotype about black people — the one right-wing people love to bring up. So, again, his antagonists will screw up trying to exploit what is, from him, only a slight innuendo. I'll bet some of you do it right here in the comments. ADDED: Nicki Minaj responds to that Newsom clip: His way of bonding with black ppl is to tell them how stupid he is & that he can’t read. This means my first read on him was correct. He’s been handed so many things & put in high positions he never earned or deserved." Scott McLallen at TownHall, Gavin Newsom, Bernie Sanders Say They Don't Know How to Get Birth Certificates. Laura Powell @LauraPowellEsq, "Fun fact! California taxpayers invested heavily in developing Squaw Valley as the host site for the 1960 Winter Olympics. After the Games ended, Governor Pat Brown (Governor Jerry Brown’s father) awarded operating rights on the resort facilities to William Newsom Sr. (Gavin Newsom’s grandfather) and his business partner, John Pelosi (Nancy Pelosi’s father-in-law). The business was very profitable for the Newsom family over the years, and Gavin Newsom himself operated a business at the former Olympic facility. As George Carlin said—it’s a big club, and you ain’t in it!"

From NYPo, Mamdani wants to socialize housing by driving building owners like me to bankruptcy, "That may well be his goal," and NY’s monster, $124B taxpayer-funded Medicaid program riddled with fraud, waste: US regulator Dr. Oz. Am Con thinks On Foreign Policy, AOC Is Just More of the Same. She substitutes emotion for thinking. Matt Forney @mattforney, "Europoors and Canadians: "lol dumb Americans you don't even have free healthcare" The free healthcare:" Quote Daily Mail @DailyMail, "Woman, 97, was found dead on the floor of her home after being told she would have to wait ten days for an ambulance for a suspected hip break, coroner hears https://trib.al/cUyNmTu."

Capt. Ed recaps Secret Service Shoots Armed Intruder at Mar-a-Lago; UPDATE: Identified. NYPo, Mar-a-Lago shotgun-wielding madman ID’d as Austin Tucker Martin, a North Carolina golf course artist "Investigators haven’t said whether Martin was previously known to law enforcement. . . . Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent blasted Democrats and accused them of fueling attempted political violence against Trump in the wake of the most recent Mar-a-Lago security scare. “This venom coming from the other side,” Bessent told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “We don’t know whether this person was a mastermind, unhinged, or what, but they are normalizing this violence. It’s got to stop.”" Matt Margolis at PJM, Dan Bongino Breaks Down What Just Happened at Mar-a-Lago. 

Dave Strom at Hat Hair, OpenAI Suspected that Trans Shooter Was Planning an Attack.

At Althouse, "For years, President Trump has complained that his personal and business bank accounts were deliberately closed after the Jan 6., 2021, attack on the Capitol...." "From "JPMorgan Admits It Shut Trump’s Accounts After Jan. 6 Capitol Attack/Nation’s largest bank, in response to a lawsuit filed by the president, confirmed his longstanding complaint about 'debanking'" (NYT)."

Da Fed's Unsinkable Mollie Hemingway (and Jordan Boyd) reports CIA Yanks 19 Docs ‘Compromised’ By Leftist Activism, Including Threat Assessment Targeting ‘Traditional Motherhood.

Hat Hair's Josh Hammer wonders Will We See a Supreme Court Vacancy (or Two) This Summer? "Justice Samuel Alito is 75 years old -- and will be 76 by the end of this term. Justice Clarence Thomas is 77 years old -- and will be 78 by term's end. Alito just celebrated 20 years of service on the high court, and Thomas would mark 35 years of service this October -- nice round numbers. . . . Far be it from me to encourage Thomas or Alito, each a hero of the American republic, to retire. But the timing does seem right. And as a political issue, a September confirmation showdown (or two) in the Senate Judiciary Committee could serve to boost Republican enthusiasm at the ballot box in November. In fact, it could be just what the doctor ordered."

CIS, has a A True Comparison of ICE Arrests Under Trump II and Biden "What CBS News didn’t tell you: 90.7% of all ‘at-large’ alien arrests in FY 2022 involved aliens without criminal histories. Where was the outrage then?" From Fox, DHS says 8% of Nicaragua's entire population illegally entered US under Biden "DHS reveals Cuba, Haiti and Honduras also saw massive percentages of their populations cross border." Bob Spencer at PJM, Dem Congressional Candidate Refuses to Say He’d Deport a Single Illegal Alien. Shipwreckedcrew sees An Earthquake Ruling From The Fifth Circuit Court Of Appeals On An Important Immigration Issue -- Detention of Aliens Without Bond Is Lawful. "Thousands of illegal aliens have been ordered released on bond by federal judges based on.established practice of almost 30 years -- but the Fifth Circuit holds that is not required by the statute." Hat Hair's Larry Elder sees NBC Poll Finds Declining Support For Trump's Immigration Agenda -- Blame NBC. At RCP, Trump Administration Led With the Wrong Agency in Minnesota. Should have sent DOJ for the fraud? From Hat Hair's Walt Hudson, Minnesota Democrats’ Anti-ICE Theater Collides With the Constitution. At Hollywood in Toto, Here’s Why U2, Springsteen Joined Anti-ICE ‘Resistance’, "Aging rockers ignore facts for very good reason, and it's not about justice."

From RCI, Deporting Censorship: US Targets UK Government Ally Over Free Speech.