Flotsam and Jetsam on a Rainy Sunday Morning

As the remains of Hurricane Isaias blankets us with tropical moisture. 

Power Line's The Week in Pictures:
Electile Dysfunction Edition

Joe Chalfant at TownHall reports a Houthi Missile Strikes Saudi Arabian Airport, Resulting in 'Mass Casualty Incident'. 3 dead, and an Airbus A310-200 destroyed. It's time to get the players together and eliminate the Houthis. At Da Signal, the Great Victor Davis Hanson says the Iranian Regime Has Only One Way Out "they only have one chance, and that is now to call off the United States military and the United States financial architects of this embargo and somehow squeeze or slither out of the noose that they put their head in. Let’s hope that does not happen."

Loay Alshareef لؤي الشريف @lalshareef, "The Flydubai co-pilot was radicalized in Qandahar, Afghanistan. The Flydubai co-pilot was radicalized in Melbourne, Australia by a mosque linked to the Muslim Brotherhood organization. Let that sink in. People of Australia, wake up."

Rob Lee @RALee85, "In Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East, we are seeing early drone warfare. I would equate this to where Ukraine and Russia were in 2023. The diffusion of drone technology and tactics will increase, particularly whenever the Russo-Ukraine war ends. I doubt that we are prepared." Quote Ryan O'Leary @RyanO_ChosenCoy, "One thing that is becoming more common is “PMC” type and drone companies hiring foreigners who did drones in Ukraine for work. The main problem with that, is that anyone can learn to fly a drone in 14-21 days. Give them 6 weeks and they’ll be hitting targets. What they don’t learn in-depth typically is the tactics behind drones (especially for the 6 monthers) or get a good grasp on signals/frequency and all the overly nerdy shit involved in that realm...."

Jeremiah Fowler Security Researcher @yoda69, "According to Cloudflare Data Explorer the amount of russian bot traffic has dropped to 49% after Ukraine struck a yandex data center. Could this disrupt the midterm elections in the US?" Disrupt US election by cutting down Russian bots? Please explain that? At Da Caller, ‘It’s Time For Ukraine To Get A New President’: Trump Signals End Of Patience With Zelenskyy As War Stretches On. Sundance at CTH also hears President Trump Says It’s Time for Zelenskyy to Be Replaced. They could hold an election.... Also, Zelenskyy Urgently Attacks Russian Oil/Fuel Export Terminal "The intention of Zelenskyy’s targeting is obvious to anyone who has followed the conflict between Russia-Ukraine and the involvement of EU-NATO countries in keeping maximum conflict at the forefront. They do not want a strategic agreement between Putin and Trump." John Ʌ Konrad V @johnkonrad, "Why are we importing ANY petroleum products? BUILD MORE DIESEL REFINERIES AND SHIPS TO MOVE IT This is a military priority. If Cali and Mass refuse then build DoW refineries on federal land. If Delta Airlines can own and run a refinery then the USAF can too."

Michael Ron Bowling @mrbcyber, "Disturbing news that the former German spy chief arrested for treason had close relationship to a Chinese general. Western intelligence appears to be deeply compromised. This comes shortly after a report that a senior CIA official had stolen millions from the agency. He also shared information with a foreign intelligence agency. Western democracies believed they had won the cold war and let their defenses down. The CCP never believed the war ended and has been compromising officials the whole time." And this is why you spy on allies (among other good reasons).

Althouse goes to the NYT for their coverage of Hassan's upcoming execution, "Legal experts say that Mr. Hasan could challenge the government’s decision to livestream his execution, perhaps by asserting..." "... that a public broadcast would violate prohibitions on cruel and unusual punishment in the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution." Well, you can find a legal expert to say anything you want. Also, "If Hegseth were not a musclebound intellectual void, he would know this." "He would know that the Fort Hood killer told the mental health panel that he wanted to die. Writes London Times columnist Matthew Syed." We should should help him along.

From Commonplace, The Gen Z Blue-Collar Jobs Boom "A new generational opportunity is taking shape in the skilled trades." At Hat Hair Steven Moore asks Why Are Americans So Pessimistic? "But it's weird that the richer and wealthier we get, the more people complain," and Larry Elder answers The Anti-Trump Media and 'Economic Pessimism'. Nick Arama at RedState, Bessent Goes Beast Mode on Elizabeth Warren in Letter That's Pure Gold — Especially the Note at End "Finally, my Offer of a Foreign Exchange for Dummies tutorial still stands, and if you receive a passing grade on the Yale metric, not the Harvard curve, I would be happy to also include a Fixed Income for Dummies. ... "Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day in advance to you and your family."" Da Caller, Secretary Bessent Wishes Heritage-Adopting Senator A ‘Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day’ Amid Flurry Of Snarky Affordability Letters.

Also from Da Caller, Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle Reportedly Boasts Of Elites Bankrolling Her Luxury Travel At Globalist Retreat. "A recording from the January World Economic Forum captured the comments, according to The Wall Street Journal. On it, Kimberly Guilfoyle flaunted her closeness to two Greek tycoons. She was lobbying to get into a dinner for Eric Trump." Isn't that what ambassadors do, fly around and put meetings together? And she's getting someone else to pay for it! But she has shown questionable judgement in the past; she did marry Gavin Newsom. Best occupant of "The Five's" leg chair ever.

At Twitchy, Manlet MI Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed Mocks Dave Portnoy’s Body After Being Called a Terrorist. Campus Reform reports a Conservative student says he was threatened after pressing El-Sayed on Iran "“Since that day, people have threatened me, doxxed my friends, even harassed my family,” Dashti said." Spencer Pratt @spencerpratt, "What’s terrifying about this clip isn’t their ideals…these sweet gals’ hearts are certainly in the right place. What’s terrifying is they have the civic, political, and economic literacy of a 9 year old. When a charlatan like Abdul comes along with the Jr High class president schtick of “no more homework and the vending machines are all free!”, they fall for it...." From RCP, Chicago Chases Away the Rich. Miami Says 'Thank You'.

Sarah Anderson at PJM, says Talarico Has Been Spotted. His Appearance Creates More Questions Than Answers. "Either Talarico is hiding something or whoever is running his campaign is a complete and total idiot. Possibly, both things are true." 

Dan McCarthy at Chronic says Liberal Doves Are No Answer to Liberal Hawks. "Liberal doves have failed almost as badly as liberal hawks over the past three decades, and their failures are inextricably related. The fundamental problem isn’t hawkishness or dovishness, but liberalism. It is incompatible with realism."

Bob Spencer at PJM, likes how Trump Mocks Hochul, and It's a Riot: ‘Hi, Gestating.’

Ben Weingarten at Da Fed asserts If Jack Smith’s Goons Don’t Pay For Their Crimes, Innocent Americans Will. Sundance hosts Former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard Delivers Speech Warning About the Modern Surveillance State and the Threat of Islamic Extremism.

Betsy McCaughey at Hat Hair, says it's Time to End Democrats' Lynch-Law Justice for College Boys. At Althouse, "You don't have to look at the facts and the law. All you have to do is study what they do." "Letitia James offers a gift to Saritha Komatireddy:" Amy Curtis @RantyAmyCurtis, "Because young men have learned that if they date a girl and it goes bad, she can come back and accuse them of rape two years after the fact. She can strangle his children and the media will circle the wagons to protect her. She can divorce him and take half of everything. That’s why." Quote Chris Hatch @Dirtdog, "Attention Young Men: I am surrounded by 20 year old girls in my life that are smart, capable, hard working and cute. Nobody is dating them. Not sure what the deal is, but I don’t get it."

Kyle Becker at RedState sees a Tech Titan Go Scorched Earth Over Hit Job on Trump's Sons, Even CNN Suspects Dirty Pool. Richard Grenell @RichardGrenell, "Editors need to stop assigning political reporters to do finance and economic stories. The WSJ now employs a bunch of former Politico and Huffington Post bloggers who don’t understand basic finance issues." Quote Cynical Publius @CynicalPublius, "Wow. Read the article. (Link below.) What a stunning set of mistakes by ABC News."

Dave Strom at Hat Hair looks at French Street Protests and sees It's Not Many Students, and Lots of Leftists and Islamists and She Got the Nobel Prize for Hating Israel; UPDATE: Elisha Wiesel Condemns. From Althouse, "Language and Linguistics for Decolonization and Liberation and for Peace and Community Building — From the River to the Sea in Palestine and Israel to the Mountaintops of Haiti and Beyond." "That's the name of the class discussed in "The Controversial Class That M.I.T. Is Paying a Professor Not to Teach/Michel DeGraff, a vocal pro-Palestinian activist, can’t be easily fired because he has tenure. But he has been kicked out of his department" (NYT)."

Driscoll at Insty thinks ELON MUSK’S ENEMIES MAKE HIS BEST CASE: "In 2023, Alex Gibney, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker, announced that he was working on a documentary about Elon Musk. He asked Musk for an interview. The answer was delivered on X: “Gibney,” Musk informed his 241.5 million followers, “is a douche.” You could take the world’s richest man at his word. Or you could spend three hours and 55 minutes watching Gibney do his best to prove Musk right. ... The real America, the one we know from discernible and observable facts, is nowhere on display. In Gibneystan, no record exists of Musk the champion environmentalist, hailed by the left until he refused to continue and parrot its platitudes. Nor is there any mention of Big Tech’s frequent and egregious collusion with Democrat-controlled administrations; the sin of seeking proximity to political power is unique to the devilish Musk himself."

From the College Fix, University of Kansas removes menstrual products from men’s bathrooms.

Riley Gaines @Riley_Gaines_, "Sophie responds to the article from @TheAthletic demanding Fever to drop her "If you're going to live by the praise, you'll die by the hate.....I'm going to continue to do me.....suck it" This is the appropriate response. We should all be more like this."