Flotsam and Jetsam - Noem Out Mullin In at DHS

Or at least that's the plan. Her official end date is 31 March. At Hat Hair, Capt. Ed started the morning with A Modest Proposal: Paxton for Homeland Security? UPDATE: Noem Out, Trump Appoints Mullin. John Sexton, Kristi Noem is Out, Trump Picks Mullin to Replace Her. PJM's Matt Margolis, Trump to Replace Noem at DHS With Mullin. Bob Hoge at RedState, Noem Out As Trump Names New Secretary of Homeland Security. Sundance at CTH, President Trump Announces Senator Markwayne Mullin Will Replace DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. Ace, Trump Eases Kristi Noem Out of DHS Spot, Promoting Her Downwards to Head an Agency No One Ever Heard Of And I don't mean a cool sexy agency no one ever heard of like UNCLE. I just mean, I have never heard of "Shield of the Americas" before. Sounds kind of cool. Also sounds made-up." At Althouse, Noem ousted. "Just now. The NYT reports. President Trump fired his embattled homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, on Thursday and announced plans to replace her with Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, after she was grilled by Republican lawmakers this week at congressional hearings.... On Thursday, the president contradicted remarks that Ms. Noem made under penalty of perjury in her hearing before a Senate panel on Wednesday: that Mr. Trump had signed off ​on a border security advertising campaign featuring Ms. Noem. “I ​never knew anything about it,” ​Mr. Trump told Reuters.... Ms. Noem has faced scrutiny ​from lawmakers about the campaign, on which the government spent $220 million. The firm handling it was connected to the husband of Ms. Noem’s former spokeswoman. The ads prominently featured Ms. Noem, including in a scene filmed on horseback at Mount Rushmore in ​the former ​South ⁠Dakota governor’s home state...." Robby Soave at Reason, Trump Fires Kristi Noem From DHS "Even Republicans were sick of her reckless spending and habitual lies." At TownHall Matt Vespa explains, Here's What Caused Trump to Fire DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. News Wax cites the Breitbart Chief: Noem Ad Campaign 'Biggest Scandal' of Trump Administration. I, for one, was tired of that ad. However, I hate giving into Democrats and getting nothing back in return. Democrats have already expressed their glee, and are saying it's not enough to open DHS.

From Fox, Operation Epic Fury destroys Iran's navy and cuts missile attacks by 90% in ongoing campaign. AP whines Sri Lanka recovers 87 bodies from Iranian warship sunk off its coast by a US submarine. ABC whines US sinking of Iranian ship raises questions of legality. Their "Experts say the incident highlights the need for a declaration of war." NYT, Trump Says He Wants to Destroy Iran’s Navy. Here’s What to Know. "The United States has long considered Iranian naval ships a serious threat, even as the country’s nuclear and missile programs dominate discussions of its military capabilities." I believe I heard that the US had sunk 40 Iranian ships as of yesterday. CDR Salamander, The Sinking of the Dena Was Textbook "...the chart don't lie..." From Quotalaciousness, “[I]nternational law is not law; it is a set of rules and claims that pretends to be law.” Aaron Hanscom at PJM, U.S. and Spain in Standoff Over Iran War: What’s the Truth?

Meanwhile in Iran, Hat Hair's John Sexton wonders Is the Iranian Regime Cracking? Police, Soldiers, and Even IRGC Members Not Showing Up to Work, Capt. Ed cites WaPo: Here Come the Kurds?, Dave Strom notices the UK is Becoming a Pariah in Gulf and Have You Noticed That Gulf States Are Implicitly Allied With Israel?, and Beege Welborn on Making Friends, Influencing People: Now the Iranians Done Pissed the Azerbaijanis Off UPDATE. Jeff Charles at TownHall thinks the Iranian Regime Is About to Find Out Why Attacking Arab Nations Was a Stupid Idea.

At Beyond the Ideological, Zineb Ribqua thinks China is Scrambling. From Sundance at CTH, China Halts Refiners from Exporting Diesel and Gasoline and hosts Newsmax Carl Higbie Outlines the Stakes for China from Operation Epic Fury. Jake Broe @RealJakeBroe, "China is the nation facing the biggest economic catastrophe from the Straits of Hormuz being closed. If the US and Israel cannot get the situation under control as fast as possible, then the Chinese economy will be the first to go into crisis." Capt. Ed, Broken Axis: Russia, China Suddenly Have No Time for Mullahs. From the Brussel's Signal, The Great Game of Oil: Why Iran is about leverage not liberation. I hope Iranians liberate themselves, but it's not exactly necessary. 

Cynical Publius @CynicalPublius, "I'm getting tired of explaining this, but I'll do it again because there is so much stupidity out there. Here is the Seven Step Plan: 1. Decapitate Iran's leadership and destroy its military. 2. A new regime comes to power that will no longer fund Hamas/Hezbollah. 3. Without Iranian arms and cash, Palestinians have no choice but to make a lasting peace with Israel. 4. With the Palestinian conflict ended, the Gulf Arab countries will have the political breathing room to fully engage with Israel as a regional partner. 5. Peace in the Middle East, at long last. 6. Trump once again gets rebuffed for the Nobel Peace Prize in favor of a transgender Coptic nun in Madagascar who rescued a species of hermit crabs. 7. Profit." At I&I, Trump’s Axing Of Evil Ends Both Neocon And Mad MAGA Ideology. Bricktop_NAFO @Bricktop_NAFO, "IN A BOMBSHELL INTERVIEW PROFESSOR JIANG PREDICTS THE UNITED STATES WILL LOSE THE WAR AGAINST IRAN AND EXPLAINS EXACTLY HOW After everything thats going on and watching Iran's methods of retaliation. This all makes sense. THIS IS A SHOCKING MUST WATCH!" Hans Mahncke @HansMahncke, "I had never heard of this “Professor” Jiang until a few days ago, and now he’s suddenly everywhere, which is an obvious sign that he’s astroturfed agitprop. Meanwhile, the people giving him a platform are just retards." David French @DavidAFrench, "We absolutely need to know if this was an American strike. It's looking increasingly like it was, and if so it will be one of the worst individual incidents of civilian deaths in a generation or more." Quote Malachy Browne @malachybrowne, "Official statements placing U.S. forces in the area – along w/ analysis of social posts, videos, sat. images – suggest U.S. forces bombed a school in Minab, Iran during strikes targeting an IRGC base. Over 150 were killed, Iranian officials say." Scott Kid @under2point5g, "A tragedy regardless. But please @DavidAFrench @jaycaspiankang stop siding with radical Muslims who put military infrastructure next to schools again and again over this country that’s given you everything. Act like sober adults for once under this admin!" At Althouse, "It seems that the Democratic Party, broadly, has concluded that the roughly 120-hour-old campaign is a disaster that the public is destined to despise...." "Writes Noah Rothman, in "The Democrats’ Iran Gamble" (National Review)." Don Surber, Democrats go to war Against Trump. Go? They have been since he came down the elevator. Amy Curtis at TownHall hears Secretary Hegseth Blasts the Democrats for Rooting for America to Fail in Iran. Mark Judge at Hat Hair writes of Iran and the Vindication of Christopher Hitchens. Althouse, sees "That this country sits back and allows a country such as Iran to hold our hostages to my way of thinking is a horror." from Trump talking to Rona Barrett in 1980. From Sundance, Division, Derision and the Economics of the Thing. DataRepublican (small r) @DataRepublican, "Honored to have my first byline published by @theammind. For 40 years, the democracy-promotion establishment protected Khamenei while claiming to oppose him. When the strikes came, they dispatched the protest machine to protect the regime. Why?"

VodkaPundit at PJM sees The Weirdest Thing Just Happened in Ukraine... Again Ryan Mauro @ryanmauro, "Global Seditionist Movement Alert: Russia is deploying a line that you should expect to appear in the Seditionist-Right media soon. The claim: Ukraine is committing “genocide” & “ethnic cleansing” against the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia (southwest Ukraine) by disproportionately sending them to die on the battlefield. Putin is hoping to popularize pan-Hungarian irredentism so that Russia can offer Transcarpathia to Hungary if it joins the Axis. Be on the lookout for Russian efforts to build armed proxies in the Hungarian-populated areas of Ukraine and on both sides of the border." I expect the Trolls at Althouse to pick up on it.

Sundance, Hemispheric Boss Level: Epic – Venezuela Edition. TheLastRefuge @TheLastRefuge2, "... Interior Secretary Doug Bergum standing next to Venezuela interim President Delcy Rodriquez, as the govt thanks President Donald Trump.... who just forcibly snatched Nicholas Maduro. Um, that's a level of ultimate boss beyond what I ever thought possible. Wow. Just Wow." Quote Emmanuel Rincón @EmmaRincon, " Translated from Spanish Delcy Rodríguez thanks Donald Trump, the man who two months ago bombed Caracas and forcibly took Maduro."

Ace crows Schmolls: Trump's Second Term Approval Is Higher Than That of the "Popular" Barack Obama and George Bush Too "From Real Clear Politics:" I am loathe to point out that both were succeeded by someone from the other party. Althouse likes her NYT, "Every president, of course, creates a decision-making structure tailor-made for his own style."

Sundance claims Ken Paxton Offers to Drop Out of Race if Thune and Cornyn Will Eliminate Filibuster and Pass SAVE Act. Sounds like a good deal to me, so it won't happen. Matt Van Swol @mattvanswol, "#BREAKING: Lakeshia Alston, the woman running for election as a REPUBLICAN in North Carolina's Senate District 22 in a full hijab... ...and was revealed to actually be a LIFE-LONG DEMOCRAT RAN COMPLETELY UNOPPOSED AND IS NOW THE GOP CANDIDATE!!!! WHAT?!!!!"

Beege Welborn notices CA Gov Race a Cluster to the End and State Dem Leaders Are Spazzing. At Althouse, Trump and "good looking men." "And speaking of good looking men, Katie Couric asks Gavin Newsom if he's "just ridiculously good looking" and whether he has "a Zoolander problem.""

Corey Walker @CoreyWriting "I think it's ok to be "uptight" over Nazi tattoos, but whatever I guess." Quote Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias "I think the effort to cancel Platner over tattoos or podcasts or whatever has basically backfired and people are actually ready for a less uptight Democratic Party. I'd just like to see him extend that to some more flexible thinking about policy."

Katya Sedgewick at the Everyman Commentary, New York, Islam and Why Every Dog will Still Have its Day. "The recent row on X between Nerdier Kiswani and Congressman Randy Fine over dogs in New York City shows how the notion of a shared American culture has gone to the dogs."

WJ, Masked Man Arrested Outside GOP Campaign Event - Cops Bagging Multiple Rifle and Pistol Magazines - No Injuries.

Shipwreckedcrew, In 9-0 Decision The Supreme Court Remove A Barrier Used By Some Appellate Judges To Slow The Pace Of Removing Illegal Aliens "Appeals Courts must accept facts as found in immigration courts if supported by "substantial evidence" -- and may reject such findings only if a "reasonable adjudicator would be compelled" to do so." PJM's Cathy Salgado, reports DHS Is Revetting Nearly 200K Afghans Let in by Biden. Dan McCarthy at RCP explains how Immigration Enforcement Saves Lives.

From Da Mail, CBS boss 'OUTRAGED' by clip showing Texas TV reporter being told not to cover jubilant Iranian protests after Trump had Ayatollah killed. X Freeze @XFreeze, "The “Wikilaundering” scandal is finally blowing wide open and it’s worse than we thought. A massive investigation by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism just exposed the ugly truth: Wikipedia is corrupt to its core You do not get information. You get propaganda.... articles manipulated by the highest bidder, billionaires, PR firms, and woke activists Here’s exactly how the rot works..."

Nancy Pearcey @NancyRPearcey, "Just last week, I told one of my students that virtually all societies have practiced slavery, from the Chinese to the Arabs to the Native Americans. My student responded: "I thought it was just Americans." Quote "The Rabbit Hole @TheRabbitHole "Most Hispanic, Black, and Asian women think “white people invented slavery.” Most Liberal Millennials think the same." At TCW, My journey from professor to pariah. At the College Fix, Video: UCSF staffer allegedly threatens to ‘hunt’ down and ‘kill’ conservative activist. Mike LaChance at LI, NY Judge Overturns Disciplinary Actions Against Columbia Students Who Took Over Building in 2024, “the panel’s determinations that petitioners committed most of the charged disciplinary violations… are arbitrary and capricious.” Amy Curtis, Leftist Gets Schooled About Why There's a Charlie Kirk Banner at the Department of Education.

At Hollywood in Toto, Punk Fail? Rockers Cancel Festival Over Trump. "Jello Biafra leads wave of rockers pulling out of tour over tepid Trump ties." Bummer; I guess.

Stacy McCain has a Violence Against Women Update. "Newly obtained police records and body-worn camera footage shed additional light on a physical altercation involving Black Lives Matter organizer Clyde McLemore and a woman who worked with him at the Black Lives Matter Resource Center in Waukegan."

And yet, still more at the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 03.05.26 (Afternoon Edition).