Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts

Sunday, August 30, 2026

Flotsam and Jetsam - You Can't Rename Lake Ontario Says the LatinX Birthing Person


Chris Martz @ChrisMartzWX "I think that Trump renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America is pointless and stupid. Wanna know what else I think is dumb? The fact left-wingers are triggered about this after they spent the last decade plus renaming sports teams, public schools and universities, streets and highways, food and condiment brands, and redefining half the dictionary altogether. Here’s a list of some in case you forgot: • Washington Redskins -> Commanders • Cleveland Indians -> Guardians • Stanford Indians -> Cardinals • Loudoun County Raiders -> Captains • Edmonton Eskimos -> Elks • Columbus Day -> Indigenous Peoples’ Day • Lee–Jackson Day -> eliminated • Robert E. Lee High School -> John Lewis High • Jefferson Davis Highway -> Richmond Highway • Mount McKinley -> Denali • Fort Bragg -> Fort Liberty • Fort Hood -> Fort Cavazos • Boy Scouts of America -> Scouting America • Aunt Jemima -> Pearl Milling Company • Uncle Ben’s Rice -> Ben’s Original • Eskimo Pie ice cream bars -> Edy’s Pie • Land O’Lakes -> removed the Indian, but kept the land • Illegal alien -> undocumented worker • Hispanic -> Latinx (a term Hispanics did not want and do not use) • Mother -> birthing person • Anchor baby -> child of noncitizens • black -> Black • Breastfeeding -> chest feeding • Inmate / prisoner / convict / felon -> justice-involved person • Ex-con / ex-felon -> returning citizen • “Gender” as a biological fact interchangeable with “sex” to being a social construct • Fat -> plus-sized • Master bedroom -> primary bedroom • Manhole -> utility hole And so on and so on. . ." Nick Arama at RedState, Bill Maher Hilariously Levels Criticism of 'Lake America,' Hoists Liberals With Their Own Petard. Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh, "LMAO! BILL MAHER JUST DROPPED: "Trump [renamed] Lake Ontario to Lake America — liberals are VERY pissed at this. They say, 'you can't just go around renaming things to suit your agenda!'" "Just ask my LatinX birthing person!""

Matt Vespa at TownHall sees This MSNBC Contributor Tried to Slip This Anti-Trump Talking Point Past Bill Maher. It Didn't Work. Twitchy, Molly Jong-Fast's Clash With Byron Donalds Over Measles Gets Personal on Bill Maher’s Show. Hat Hair's Dave Strom sees Shapiro's Shame: The COVID Playbook, Lancaster EditionEric S. Raymond @esrtweet, "I live in Pennsylvania; Josh Shapiro is the governor of my state. Until this incident I thought he was one of the least bad Democrats - I believed he was above the kind of sleazy demogogic move that he just tried to pull. I didn't think his chances of being the Democratic nominee in '28 were very good even before this, because the ascendant Islamist/Palestinian faction in the party won't tolerate a Jewish nominee. But if he had any shot at all, it's gone now. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes." Quote Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh, "BREAKING: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is running MAJOR DAMAGE CONTROL after he just got fully exposed fabricating "measles deaths" for two newborns RESIGN, NOW!"

Twitchy debunks WaPo: Historic Cherry Trees Are Coming Down by the Dozen Thanks to Trump. Just arborists removing sick trees.

LT Jonathan Kendrick @PlisskenPatriot, "President Trump is firing on all cylinders. Incredible work from this administration." Quote Unfiltered Artist @EmpireEnjoyer3, "It’s the end of Congress’ annual August Recess and Trump finally kicks it into overdrive for the midterms. - Iran War is over and oil is flowing through the Straight again, with fuel shortage lines across Iran and hyper inflation under Treasury Secretary Bessent’s crushing sanctions..." At 1945, 5 Reasons Trump’s Iran War Victory Will Make America Stronger. "After a week in which the story flipped from Tehran trouncing Trump to the Iranians being in serious trouble, it is time to look past the war to what it means for American power. There are five reasons the United States will emerge from the Iran War as a more formidable force than it was going in." John Lucas at Bravo Blue, on HOW NOT TO GUARANTEE STRATEGIC DEFEAT, “Don’t give up the ship!” Victory Girls are not sympathetic to Crybabies: Stars and Stripes Reporters Want Their Jobs Back. Insty sees AMERICA’S ENEMIES SYNCHRONIZE THEIR MESSAGING: Ezra Levant @ezralevant, "U.S. Democrats and Mark Carney are synchronizing their messages. Carney hired Maia Johnson, a staffer for Hillary Clinton, to run the trade negotiations. Pretty clear the reason Carney ripped up a done deal was to embarrass Trump and help Democrats in the mid-terms." Quote Scott Robertson @sarobertson_, "Fmr U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice: "If you're sitting in Canada, whether you're a farmer or a citizen or in the PM's office, the only rational conclusion is that Canada has to reduce its reliance on the US. It's got to diversify its economic partnerships, its security relationships." Brilyn Hollyhand @BrilynHollyhand, "When America had a disagreement with Canada, Democrats sided with Canada. When America had a disagreement with Iran, Democrats sided with Iran. When America had a disagreement with Venezuela, Democrats sided with Venezuela. Do Democrats ever side with America?"

Sundance at CTH throws cold water at those buoyed up by recent Ukrainian drone attacks in Russia, Moscow and Kiev Exchange Warehouse and Distribution Attacks, But Only One Side Feels Impact.

Breitbart Bus Dig asserts Warsh and Bessent Are Not at Odds Over the Bond Market. Steve Moore at Hat Hair explores the question Is the USA Going Bankrupt? "Thank God, no, we aren't going bust as a nation, despite our gargantuan $40 trillion national debt. The rapid pileup of debt under Republicans and Democrats alike is certainly a disgrace and worrisome. When I came to Washington in the mid-1980s, our debt hit $1 trillion for the first time. It seemed like a tidal wave of red ink. Forty years later, we're at $40 trillion. That's a big and scary number. But our national wealth is roughly $180 trillion. So our debt-to-asset ratio, which has been rising, is still less than 25%, and much lower than at the end of World War II, when the debt hit 40% of wealth." From the Right Scoop, Democrats are attacking Republicans over sky high prices THEIR Big Pharma allies are CAUSING.

Stacy McCain thinks about How You Got Hasan Piker: It Started With Cowardice in the Public School System. At Twitchy, 'So, Like, a Normie D**che': Hasan Piker Gets Demolished ... by His HAIRDRESSER. Rolling Stone @RollingStone, "Rolling Stone names Hasan Piker as one of the most influential creators of 2026. The self-declared Marxist has found himself at the center of endless controversies, thanks to his criticism of Israel on his daily streams but also because he's become the face of a movement to push Dems to the left." Most influential doesn't mean good. PJM's Tim O'Brien says Yay, Sports! Abdul El-Sayed’s Unforgivable College Football Gaffe. Hat Hair's John Sexton thinks Mamdani's Universal Child Care Extension Turns Into 'an Absolute Disaster'. At Twitchy, Mamdani's 'Signature Childcare Program' Launch Provides a Preview of City-Owned Grocery Stores. Gooder and harder. Cory Franklin at John Kass says Et tu, David Axelrod? Krzysztof Szczawinski @Kristof_Poland, "You probably think the British Establishment is populated with conservative men – while in fact it is quite the opposite – it is full of guys like this ... Ignatieff asked the question every serious reader wanted asked. He asked it in the plainest possible form. Ignatieff's First Question. Ignatieff: "In 1934, millions of people are dying in the Soviet experiment. If you had known that, would it have made a difference to you at that time?" Hobsbawm: "Probably not." Ignatieff Pressed Him. Why? Hobsbawm: "Because in a period in which, as you might imagine, mass murder and mass suffering are absolutely universal, the chance of a new world being born in great suffering would still have been worth backing." Then Ignatieff Put a Number on It. Ignatieff: "That the loss of fifteen, twenty million people might have been justified?" Hobsbawm: "Yes." He Bet Twenty Million Dead on a World Revolution..." Josh Howerton @howertonjosh, "Muslims have a plan to make America a Muslim nation. Marxists have a plan to make America a Marxist nation. Secular Progressives have a plan to make America a Secular Progressive nation. Christians seem to always have a plan to keep Christianity from further influencing our nation by discipling people into political apathy (“we don’t get political”) or political ambiguity (“Jesus isn’t a Republican or Democrat, neither Right nor Left” = primary application of gospel to culture) ^^^this has had very predictable results for the last few decades."

Driscoll at Insty also says GOODER AND HARDER, LA: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass orders cops to stop cracking down on illegal street vendors. Why bother with a business license? MAZE @mazemoore, "This clip perfectly embodies the uselessness of so many of our politicians. Senator Blumenthal (from my home state of Connecticut), holds a press conference on train safety. Blumenthal breaks the rules, walks too close to the edge, and almost gets hit by a train." Not close enough. Atop Da Hill, Jonathan Turley looks at Judge Talwani and why liberal complaints about the ‘shadow docket’ are so hollow. "Like her colleague in Boston, U.S. District Court Judge Brian Murphy, Talwani is viewed by many as a one-stop-shop judge for forum-shopping. Both have issued hair-trigger injunctions, and both have been repeatedly reversed."

The Magnificent Margot Cleveland at Da Fed says Fauci’s Egomania Destroyed Lives Both On A Large Scale And On A Personal Level. PJM's Matt Margolis is shocked by Dr. Fauci's Newly Revealed and Disturbing CIA Connection. "Fauci's ties to American intelligence run far deeper than anyone outside a handful of investigators realized."

Kyle Becker at RedState is happy to report President Trump's New Order on H-1B Visas Sends Shockwaves Through Immigrant Communities. Sundance enjoys his schadenfreude as Hamptons Yacht Club Cancels Restaurant Service After Staff Deported – Caviar and Economics. Tongue firmly in cheek, Jim Geraghty says Finally, ICE Catches and Detains the Worst of the Worst, Milo Yiannopoulos. Magills @magills_, "All laughs aside, I am genuinely worried what will happen to Milo, a homosexual, after he’s deported back to a Muslim country." (England), Quote Homeland Security @DHSgov, "On August 27, ICE arrested Milo Yiannopoulos, an illegal alien from the United Kingdom, at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) in Kenner, Louisiana. Yiannopoulos legally entered the country on May 14, 2019, through New York City, New York. He chose to x.com/tmz/status/209…" Joe Chalfant asks a stupid question, The Washington Post Can't Be That Dumb, Right? "The Washington Post, in a baffling attempt to disparage the mass deportation agenda put forth by President Donald Trump, published data revealing that more than 60 percent of illegal aliens detained by ICE had criminal records other than being illegally present in the United States." Insty, RACIST? TERRORISM? THESE ARE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE RESISTING SETTLER COLONIALISM: "Translated: “A mob of racists is blowing up and burning the migrants’ cabins in Ceuta. Far-right terrorism live.”" Visegrád 24 @visegrad24, "Everybody loves decolonisation until Europeans start doing it."

Melissa Chen @MsMelChen, "There exists no person who could have exposed Jason Arday and not have their life turned upside down." Quote Jesse Singal @jessesingal, "The avowed antiracists defending Jason Arday (a con artist) are now weeks into a campaign against a black reporter at the Guardian who published one of the most important articles exposing him. The origin of that article was Arday reaching out to the journalist to lie to him." Timur Kuran @timurkuran, "The present carving up of the academy is a 19th-century invention, not a sacred settlement. If sociology disappeared, economics and political science would absorb most of its intellectual work. Sociology’s sister disciplines already produce much valuable scholarship on mass mobilization, the family, fertility, discrimination, and the social bases of religion, among its other traditional concerns. Setting aside the special case of hyper-politicized sociology, it is healthy for universities to wind down academic communities that have become corrupted." Quote Carlos Iván Moreno @carlosivanmoren, "Translated from Spanish
Universities Without Sociology? The idea is starting to sweep across U.S. campuses. if a discipline doesn't guarantee employability or good salaries, perhaps it should lose space."

Brigitte Gabriel @ACTBrigitte, "Three girls butchered at a dance class in Southport, England by a 2nd generation Rwandan immigrant and the streets exploded because people are done watching governments protect the system that keeps delivering this nightmare." Quote Mavica @mavica81, "Translated from Spanish. The mob in the United Kingdom after another little girl was stabbed by an asylum seeker..." Lauren Chen @TheLaurenChen, "The feud between Africans and black Americans has produced some of the funniest intra-race racist material I have ever seen. And I say that as an Asian." Quote Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives @dom_lucre, "LATEST: Africans with ancestors who sold Black Americans into slavery have started uploading videos mocking Black Americans for their culture."

Jack Posobiec @JackPosobiec, "So, hormones are so dangerous they can make you crazy enough to kill your kids, but totally fine to give to anyone who wants to transition, including kids?" From NYPo, Sophie Cunningham sparked a revolt — and the WNBA bullies are floundering

Sunday, August 23, 2026

Flotsam and Jetsam - Just Another Sunday in the South

And the pickens are kinda slim. And I'm OK with that.

From Twitchy, Hypocrite 'Eat the Rich' DSA Leader Caught Lying and Living Off Mom & Dad’s Manhattan Money. The Manhattan Contrarian is outrages Democratic Socialists Commemorate Fidel Castro's 100th Birthday. The Free Bacon reports the El-Sayed Campaign Gets a $175,000 Boost From CAIR, Whose Leader Was 'Happy' About Oct. 7, After Alleging Primary Opponent's AIPAC Support Constituted 'Foreign' Intervention in Election. At the JPo, Mohammed El-Kurd laments not being allowed to hijack planes in protest "Last month, El-Kurd called on pro-Palestinian supporters to 'Normalize the massacres as the status quo' at a rally in London.." Mohammed El-Kurd @m7mdkurd, "You can’t protest peacefully. You can’t boycott. You can’t hunger strike. You can’t hijack planes. You can’t block traffic. You can’t throw Molotovs. You can’t self-immolate. You can’t heckle politicians. You can’t march. You can’t riot. You can’t dissent. You just can’t be." NYPo Opines on Why the DSA’s Medicare-for-All dream threatens us with a real-life nightmare. At Althouse, "The rollout could’ve been better. Absolutely, I said the rollout has to be cleaned up and fixed." "Said Governor Kathy Hochul, quoted in "How New York’s Second-Home Tax Turned Into a Headache for Mamdani/The bumpy rollout of the tax created an opportunity for Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s opponents to fight him in court and in the City Council" (NYT gift link)." "I did finally watch the whole minute. From the transcript: "This pied-a-terre tax is specifically designed for the richest of the rich, those who store their wealth in New York City real estate, but who don't actually live here.... This is a fundamentally unfair system that hurts working New Yorkers." What's "fundamentally unfair"? It's a child's reasoning: If someone has something that he's not using, it should be mine."

Hat Hair's Beege Welborn, sees Desperate Measures for Desperate Times: Dem Primaries Magically Become a Blue Wave. Democrats @TheDemocrats, "The blue wave is here—and these wins prove it." Queen Velvet @TMIWITW, "Democrats won Democrat primaries. Are democrats voters actually this stupid or do you just treat them as if they are?"

Joe Chalfant at TownHall rejoices that Elon Musk Just Gave Republicans Unbelievable News Heading Into the Midterms. "Elon Musk, who briefly became the world’s first trillionaire after SpaceX went public in June, is expected to spend up to $200 million on boosting the electoral prospects of Republicans across the country." He just looked between the cushions on the couches. 

Tweets that didn't age well: Dr. Richard Harambe @Richard_Harambe, "Happy two year anniversary of Joe Biden challenging Trump to a debate for those who celebrate." Quote Joe Biden @JoeBiden, "Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020. Since then, he hasn’t shown up for a debate. Now he’s acting like he wants to debate me again."

From Breitbart Bus Dig, The Sky Isn't Falling in the U.S. Treasury Market. News Wax notices Newsom Touts Trump Accounts for California Families. Matt Vespa at TownHall heard Trump Went Nuclear on Some Familiar Names Last Night. Here's What He Said. "President Trump seems to have had it with Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Thomas Massie."

ZitoSalena @ZitoSalena, "It's impossible to have a nuanced, conversation about data power centers on social media; the politics right now is to demonize them, call them predators rather than show there are also examples of good industry stewards. Few have the courage to raise the consequences of that. Except Fetterman." Quote U.S. Senator John Fetterman @SenFettermanPA, "AI supremacy and energy dominance underpins our national security. China continues to fuel and benefit from our overreaction. I reject the political pandering and hyperbole over data centers or AI." Steve Moore at Hat Hair, Net Zero Is Dead and Gone. "Much of this never made sense given that AI and data center energy needs will double or triple our electric power demands over the next two decades. That will require an all-of-the above approach to meet those needs and to keep power affordable for our businesses and families."

At Althouse, "[T]his relationship is pathological, and a source of great irritation among other courtiers. It is Trump distilled to his essence..." "... cult leader and his most rabid follower, narcissist and his most flattering mirror. The daughter of a devoutly Christian real estate broker who died by suicide during the pandemic, [Natalie] Harp idolizes Trump with a rare fervor.... ... Trump told his staff that Harp was the only one who loved him as much as his wife and kids did. 'She’ll never leave me,' he would tell other staffers.... It’s a perfect (taxpayer-funded) relationship. She thinks he’s amazing. And he agrees." Writes Maureen Dowd, in "Natalie’s Magnificent Obsession" (NYT gift link)." She's so jealous! Eric Florack at PJM sees the The '34 Felony Convictions' Mantra Just Disintegrated as President Trump makes peace with Michael Cohen. "President Trump was interviewed by his former attorney, Michael Cohen, the star witness in the hush money case, which verdict is under appeal. Trump said Cohen was weaponized against him by the Justice Department. Cohen agrees, adding that he felt coerced by the Feds. The case stems from the president's effort to pay adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 during the 2016 election."

1945 notes US Navy Nuclear Aircraft Carriers Were Not Needed to Bomb Iran. They Were Needed to Blockade It. "A B-2 flying from Missouri and a Tomahawk launched from a destroyer two hundred miles offshore can both hit a target that once required a carrier. An F-35C off a flight deck does roughly what an F-35A does from a Gulf air base. The blockade was different: no target list to exhaust, only a duration set by Tehran." Mike Lee @BasedMikeLee, "MSM spin narrative incoming." Quote New York Post@nypost, "Traffic in the Strait of Hormuz skyrockets nearly 400%, as analysts say Iran's grip on critical waterway weakens https://trib.al/ZwiB1KE." 

News Wax reports US Imposes Tariffs on $20 Billion of Canadian Products as Canada fails to come to terms with Trump. Sundance at CTH, Trade Talks Collapse – Prime Minister Carney Talking Alot, President Trump Remains Quiet "Canada wants unlimited and unrestricted access to the U.S. market as if they were a 51st state. However, Canada will not permit unlimited and unrestricted access to their market for U.S. companies. This, Carney says, compromises the sovereignty of Canada."


News Wax notes Trump Asks Supreme Court to Revive CNN Lawsuit "Trump said in the lawsuit that CNN defamed him through reports that said he had no evidence to support his claims of improprieties in the 2020 presidential election and repeatedly characterized his claims as the "Big Lie," a phrase Trump said was intended to link him to Hitler and Nazi propaganda."

C3 @C_3C_3, "It’s been a year since DeCarlos Brown murdered Iryna Zarutska and he hasn’t even had a trial yet. Shiloh Hendrix has already been tried, found guilty and sentenced for saying a word. I never want to hear about white privilege ever again." To be fair, murder trials tend to take a long time. 

Wall Street Apes @WallStreetApes, "WOAH Oakland Democrats PASSED legislation banning citizenship checks for police jobs and city jobs City Employees and Oakland Police will be prohibited from asking about a person’s immigration and legal status when applying for jobs The Public Safety Committee passed the ordinance unanimously Democrats want to arm illegals in the police force against American citizens Everything that passed - Restricts collection of immigration status on applications - Ban on asking about legal status and sharing info with ICE agents - Officers prohibited from enforcing federal immigration rules - ICE agents blocked from entering non-public areas of city buildings without a warrant." At State of the Day, the State of Thursday: THE GREAT BETRAYAL. "News broke Tuesday night that a woman had been fatally stabbed near Great Falls national park. By Wednesday, our suspicions had been confirmed. “The killer was an illegal alien,” my wife said, even as I was still carrying my kids through the door."

At Hat Hair Dave Strom says Nuke Academia From Orbit. It Is the Only Way to Be Sure. "Critical Theory, I keep reminding you, does not seek to communicate anything we understand as "truth" or "reality." It is about asserting power. The goal here is to intimidate everybody with an accusation of racism. To call you a Nazi. To make you quail in terror at the thought that you will face social opprobrium." Melissa Chen @MsMelChen, "You guys realize that the leftist reaction to the Jason Arday case is going to incentivize more and more people to just "self-ID" as autistic or neurodivergent right? Why? Because it instantly unlocks two-tier judgment. There will be massive upside to identify as "neurodivergent" and no downside. It's a choose-your-own-adventure but this time you're just choosing your own alibi. No one challenges the claim, and you might even score an endorsement from figures like autism expert Simon Baron-Cohen. The same excesses that distorted the trans movement will now come for "neurodivergence." Increasingly, mental health status is treated as a moral free pass - permission to act like an asshole or commit crimes (see the Lindsay Clancy case)." Kamel Amin Thaabet @K_AminThaabet, "Israel is murdering children!!!! Now excuse me, I have to go to the rally for Lindsay Clancy." Hat Hair's John Stossel on Racist Tests. At NYPo, Hofstra professor facing possible termination over discrimination claim for saying ‘word salad’, because "racism" of course. From the College Fix, Judge dismisses pro-Hamas professor’s discrimination lawsuit against Columbia. “I’m with Hamas and Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad,” he said on social media." A Driscolly post at Insty starts with CHRISTIAN TOTO: Pop Culture Puts Antisemitism on Blast (Finally).

At the Chronic, Ian Smith offers A Novel Explanation for Woke Culture. "My colleagues would rather I not say this, but I will: As access to mental health care has expanded, so have rates of mental illness. And this isn’t simply a matter of greater awareness leading to more diagnoses. The more therapy people get, the more fragile, anxious, and dysfunctional they seem to become. This isn’t just an individual crisis—it’s a societal one. Which raises an uncomfortable but urgent question: Is modern therapy not only failing patients, but making them—and the culture at large—sicker?"


The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: More Coffee, Please and FMJRA 2.0: Embracing The Suck up on time and under budget at The Other McCain (if you count Megan).

Thursday, August 13, 2026

Flotsam and Jetsam - The Wisconsin Autopsy Continues

We're still digesting the results of Tuesday's primaries. Teri Christoph at RedState hears Voter Data Was Missing From 5 Milwaukee USB Sticks — Then WI's Election Night Got Even Weirder. So, were the polls wrong, and Hong wasn't as popular as believed, or did the DNC-E step in and rig the results? Kurt Schlichter at TownHall VIP says Ignore the Poll Dancers. Ben Shapiro @benshapiro, "We're watching an enormous misread of the results from Wisconsin. The dumb take is that the DSA has reached its ceiling, and the establishment is fighting back. That's totally wrong. The normie Dems are simply negotiating the terms of their surrender. Those terms are obvious: the Democratic Party will ingest and mirror the key precepts of the DSA, and they won't go whole hog against DSA candidates who don't totally say the quiet part out loud. This is why Slotkin didn't endorse Stevens against El-Sayed in Michigan. It's why Schumer and Jeffries didn't endorse Cuomo against Mamdani in NYC. In return, the DSA's most important figures will refrain from endorsing the very worst candidates. This is why Bernie and AOC didn't endorse Hong. If they had, she would have won. The goal of the pact is obvious: candidates who are DSA in all but name, who receive unified Democratic support after the primaries, and who still have a shot at winning a general election. So don't be fooled: the DSA is driving the car, choosing the direction. The normie Dems are just negotiating over the speed." PJM's Rick Moran on Why the Wisconsin Governors' Race Will Define the Midterms for Republicans. Buck Sexton @BuckSexton, "You can get away with saying lots of crazy things in America today, but "let's cancel Thanksgiving" isn't one of them." Quote The Wall Street Journal @WSJ, "David Crowley narrowly won the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin governor, delivering a significant blow to the insurgent far-left in a nail-biter race." Oilfield Rando @Oilfield_Rando, "This keeps happening in places with fiercely contested Democrat primaries because you have two lavishly funded ballot harvesting machines battling each other. We can all see this. We know what’s happening here. And we’re doing nothing about it." Quote Rich Baris THE PEOPLE'S PUNDIT @Peoples_Pundit, "Wisconsin Democrats are CRUSHING Republicans in turnout." MD Kittle at Da Fed reports the Notorious Wisconsin Election Official At Center Of Zuckbucks Scandal Resigns. Hmmm. 

At PJM, VodkaPundit looks at Mamdani and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week (and It’s Only Wednesday). From NYPo, Manhattan rents reach all-time high of $6,655/month amid Mamdani’s rent freeze and pied-a-terre tax threat. Batya Ungar-Sargon @bungarsargon, "Who could have predicted that stupid ideas cooked up by rich squatting nepo babies would backfire and hurt struggling working class New Yorkers."

The Patriarch Tree @PatriarchTree, "The Party of College Educated White Folks Craving Swarthy Foreign Guys — it’s not really about health care policy or “affordability” or whatever. @TheDemocrats are now a BDSM cult organized around some kind of weird masochistic Mandingo fetish." Quote Kyle Smith @rkylesmith, "Don't underestimate the value of looks. El-Sayed won in part because he's good-looking. Mamdani won in large part because he's cute. if Francesca Hong looked as good as AOC she would have won. Easily." Eyal Yakoby @EYakoby, "Hasan Piker: “I don't give a f*** what Black people care about.” “Let's go back to a better time, when lynchings were happening.”" Spencer Pratt @spencerpratt, "This is how all DSA people speak in private. Every single one. Communists want to destroy your entire way of life, and they will lie to you and pretend like they're not violent psychopaths. Don't let socialists anywhere near power." At TownHall Matt Vespa notes Not Even Joe Scarborough Could Believe What the DSA Co-Chair Said About Hamas and October 7. At Insty, VodkaPundit adds MAYBE A FEW YEARS HARD LABOR: "No Repentance = No Grace For Woke Bullshit. “There was no ‘Woke 1.0,’ just a continuous racialist, anti-Western Civilization, anti-rational, anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-capitalist, anti-Republican movement whose roots stretch back into the Comintern, Gramsci and the Frankfurt School, carried forward into the Port Huron Statement, the Weather Underground, the campus radicals of the 1960s and their long march through academia and other western institutions... PJM's Vicky Taft hears The Left Is Coming for Your County Sheriff.

From Ace, The FBI and "Intelligence" Agencies Had Intel From 14 Different Sources About the Biden Family's Corruption. Wray Covered It Up and Claimed It Was All "Disinformation" "Christopher Wray was recommended to Trump by Super-Republican Chris Christie. So you know he's a straight shooter." Capt. Ed at Hat Hair has a fainting spell at Pelosi: Biden Declining? Someone Shoulda Said Something! From Tierney's Real News, Laundering Our Tax Dollars. Matt Vespa again, The Initiative That This Top House Republican Said 'There's No Excuse for Delay', fraud. Democrats don't see it as fraud, they see it as constituent services.


Sarah Anderson at PJM has the sads as Karoline Leavitt Resigns as White House Press Secretary, to be with her family. No, really! From Da Signal, Trump Confirms Karoline Leavitt’s White House Departure. It's too bad, I really enjoyed her "no quarters" attitude with the White House press corpse. 

Nick Arama at RedState enjoys how Marco Rubio's Hilarious Interaction With His Wife Prompts RFK Jr. to Cap It Off With Perfect Reply. Hat Hair's Beege Welborn is Totally Into the Way the Trump Cabinet Dogs Each Other, Even Over Cats MORE. Buzz Patterson @BuzzPatterson, "This is hysterical. Marco disses RFK for his diet. He’s a Pop- Tart guy. I love this Cabinet! @katiemillerpod RUBIO: “No! This is a CRAZY diet. This is a diet that consists of eating sauerkraut and meat. Now you understand like this is not a sustainable thing. He has to travel with coolers of sauerkraut!” “I'm not going to travel the world with a cooler full of sauerkraut. It's ridiculous. I can't do it!” Q: Are you MAHA? RUBIO: “I'm in favor of MAHA. Like I think people should be healthy.” JEANETTE: No, he's not. Q: What's he eat? JEANETTE: Pop-Tarts! RUBIO: The Pop-Tart is one of the great American innovations in the history of the world.”



Eyal Yakoby @EYakoby, "Cenk Uygur: “Everybody knows it’s just Israel falsifying documents to make it look like Iran is trying to kill Trump.” Amir Hajizadeh, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Aerospace Forces: “We aim to kill Trump.”"

Tyler O'Neil at Da Signal,  Former SPLC CFO Arrested, AG Blanche Confirms "The SPLC faces federal charges of wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering related to its alleged payments to members of the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and other groups. While the center claims it was paying informants in order to combat extremism, the Justice Department claims it was propping up the extremism that it claims it exists to oppose. The Justice Department also claims the SPLC opened bank accounts for fictitious entities to funnel cash to the extremists."

At NYPo, the Divine Ms. Devine sees The walls — and evidence — are slowly building around Dr. Anthony Fauci. From the Right Time's Kathy Gyngell, Anthony Fauci: What He Knew, When He Knew It - His AIDS Fearmongering All Over Again, "Fauci's diaries confirm the warnings his critics were demonised and cancelled for raising. But Covid was not the first time this dangerously arrogant doctor had used scaremongering tactics to raise huge amounts of money to fund questionable vaccines."

Shipwreckedcrew lawsplains The Lawfare Over New Postal Rules For Mail-In Ballots Is More Complicated That Most Understand -- You Need A Scorecard To Keep Up. "There are three other cases with District Judges trying to block the Administration but one has gone to the D.C. Circuit where the Administration received a favorable decision." CIS  reports Trump Issues Two New ‘Birthright Citizenship’ Orders, "... inviting challenges the White House will likely relish. Cry ‘Havoc’ and let slip the dogs of law."

At Althouse, "ICE is planning to buy up to $20 million worth of electric gloves designed to allow agents to deliver painful shocks to detainees." "I'm reading "ICE’s new weapon: painful electric shock gloves/The glove is manufactured by a firm called Compliant Technologies" (London Times). The Glove — Generated Low-Output Voltage Emitter — "is not effective through clothing or hair and can be degraded on individuals and animals that are extremely hairy." So what body parts do you grab with your electrified hands? I was able to find what I think is Compliant's manual. My search for "face" only turned up a couple instance of "surface": "Periodic cleaning of the outside surface area of the G.L.O.V.E. SHALL only be done with 'My-Shield' wipes or surface cleaner in order to maintain the warranty on the G.L.O.V.E.""

Eric Kaufmann @epkaufm, "The Jason Arday case 'is an aberration' says Cambridge. Actually it is just the most visible manifestation of a diversity-industrial complex. My @HeterodoxCentre report into UKRI grant funding shows that DEI keywords are up 24 times since 2000 and have doubled since 2020." Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63, "Does anyone believe they don't think they are getting something for their money? Direct interference and propaganda investment are one thing, but this is the longer influence game." Quote Visegrád 24 @visegrad24, "Qatar has become the largest overall donor of U.S. colleges and universities since 1986, with $6.3 billion as of late 2025. Over $2 billion of it flowed from Qatar to the U.S. between 2021 and 2024 alone." Hat Hair's John Sexton hears a Northern Virginia High School Has a Major Antisemitism Problem, Yorktown High. "One male Jewish student reported being repeatedly targeted because he wore a kippah, which a female classmate tried to pull off his head. After a male student called him an antisemitic slur, he began covering his kippah with a baseball cap. A female Jewish student said that she was chased because she was Jewish, and other Jewish students described seeing Nazi salutes, hearing Holocaust jokes, and being told that they belonged in a gas chamber or that “Hitler should have finished the job.” 


And more at the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 08.12.26 (Afternoon Edition) and In The Mailbox: 08.12.26 (Evening Edition). The Wombat has FMJRA 2.0: Another Rough Start up on time and under budget at The Other McCain.

Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Flotsam and Jetsam - Fauci Takes the Stand and the 5th

It's on C-Span now. Rand Paul is setting the stage. Leslie Eastman at LI, Sen. Rand Paul Releases Document Trove Detailing Pre-Pandemic Biosecurity Breaches. "New document release shows Customs and Border Patrol intercepted undeclared biological materials tied to this network of American and Chinese coronavirus researchers in 2018, and the FBI stopped the agency from intercepting a key covid researcher in 2021." Rand Paul @RandPaul, "If Anthony Fauci comes before my committee tomorrow and perjures himself, his preemptive pardon from Joe Biden will not protect him." Quote Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh, " JUST IN: Sec. RFK Jr. just said Dr. Fauci can be prosecuted on PERJURY — DESPITE the pardon — if he lies in front of Rand Paul's committee this week "He has immunity against all of the things that he did prior to President Biden signing or the electronic pen signing his pardon, but he could perjure himself now. There are many things that he said that we know are lies, and @RandPaul presumably is going to ask him about those things." "And if he lies again, then he could be subject to perjury prosecution." Fauci has not faced a SINGLE ounce of credibility. We need it, badly!" At PJM, Stephen Kruiser notes it Turns Out Fauci Is an Even Bigger Donkey's Derrière Than We Thought and Sarah Anderson thinks Anthony Fauci Just Handed Marco Rubio One Heck of a Campaign Ad. NYPo's Divine Miranda Devine: Anthony Fauci was the ‘big head’ of COVID response. Matt Vespa at TownHall, This Fauci Diary Entry Will Cause Your Blood to Boil. Bill Melugin @BillMelugin_, "NEW: Dr. Fauci writes in his diary that in June 2021, he received a (classified?) briefing from the CIA on the origins of COVID-19 while in a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) at NIH, and reveals that the CIA told him they had intercepted Chinese communications in Wuhan, including indications that the Chinese had transferred pangolin viruses from Beijing to Wuhan. Additionally, Fauci writes that the CIA had information from sources that the Chinese military had conducted unknown experiments in Wuhan, and that the CIA had information about a "super spreader" event in China in July 2020 in relation to "passage of a virus in a laboratory." Fauci writes that the CIA briefer, who he names, was "almost pathetic in her naivety and obvious lack of appreciation of any of the science of what she was talking about."" Liz Wheeler @Liz_Wheeler, "We were… right. - Social distancing was a hoax - Masks were a joke - Lockdowns were worthless - mRNA jabs were dangerous - Case fatality rate was low - Ivermectin worked - Hydroxychloroquine also worked - Remdesivir was a killer - COVID came from the Wuhan lab - Fauci funded it Fauci lied about it all. Fauci lied to profit himself. Fauci abused YOU to bolster his ego, money, and power. Put the despicable villain in prison." Elaine @elbh, "Fauci broke our societal trust in ways we will never regain. As confidence was lagging anyway, he caused the collapse. Science. Journalism. Government. Hollywood. Culture. Economics. Law Enforcement. Judicial System. Our fellow Americans. All of it. It will not return in our lifetime."

Dave Strom at Hat Hair, Pravda Totally Buries Fauci Diary Revelations. Mike Lee @BasedMikeLee, "Hats off to @bariweiss and CBS This is news And yet it doesn’t read like it was sanitized by the DNC." Quote CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil @CBSEveningNews, "Diary entries by Dr. Anthony Fauci are shedding light on his soaring notoriety during the COVID epidemic. The documents, released by Republican Sen. Rand Paul, include Fauci's reflections about being invited to a-list parties, but also some uncertainty about the origin of COVID." Hans Mahncke @HansMahncke, "Perhaps surprisingly, both the New York Times and the Washington Post have now published articles on the Fauci diaries. Unsurprisingly, both are complete whitewashes. They sanitize his record and reduce the criticism to the suggestion that he may have been a little too narcissistic. Neither outlet confronts the diaries’ central revelation, which is that Fauci repeatedly said one thing in private and another in public..." Matt Vespa, Why a Former FDA Official Got Very Uncomfortable During This Interview on CNBC. Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald, "It was well-demonstrated that US and EU elites who imposed strict lockdowns during COVID deemed themselves fully exempt. Countless examples, including Gavin Newsom having a nice maskless dinner with lobbyists, and Pelosi in the hair salon. But @JakeTapper should explain this:" Quote a newsman @a_newsman, "Jul 27Has Jake Tapper addressed why he was having Anthony Fauci over for dinner while husbands and wives of seventy five years were saying goodbye to each other over zoom?" At Althouse, "[His diary] paints a portrait of Dr. Fauci as obsessed with himself, reveling in his own importance and the celebrities he knows..."

From Ace, Revealed: Five Months After Fauci Got Vaccinated, He Suffered a Pulmonary Infarction, an Adverse Effect Associated With the "Vaccine." He Kept This a Secret. "Anthony Fauci is Science, you know. He suffered the exact kind of adverse effect millions of other people were experiencing. Rather than reporting this, he kept it secret from the public." Mike Davis @mrddmia, "Of course, Trump was right. And undermined constantly by government bureaucrats who worked for him." Quote CNN Politics @CNNPolitics, "President Trump contradicts the US intel community by claiming he's seen evidence that the coronavirus originated in a Chinese lab https://cnn.it/3d7KSuC."

Cynical Publius @CynicalPublius, "I had a dream last night that Michael Crichton was still alive and he wrote a book called “Two Weeks to Stop the Spread.” The book’s main character was a megalomaniacal, narcissistic senior US health official who was using NIH funds to work with China to engineer a virus designed to wipe out the world’s elderly and infirm populations, thereby decreasing the public health and expense burden foisted on younger generations...."

Fauci just took the 5th, after an opening statement blasting Rand Paul. Now, Rand Paul reminded him he was unconditionally pardoned by Biden, and therefore the 5th amendment doesn't apply, but Fauci is sticking to it.


Ben Whedon at JTN sees Thune pours cold water on canceling recess to pass SAVE America Act. "Trump on Monday called for Thune to cancel recess to pass the bill, but Thune said nothing had changed." From the Victory Girls, John Thune: Pass The SAVE America Act Already. Sadly, even if they busted the filibuster, I don't think they have the votes, thanks to Sen. Murkowski, Collins and Paul. From Ace, Mitch McConnell Released from Hospital, But Still Not "Medically Cleared" to Do His Job; Democrat Governor Andy Beshear Demands He Return to Senate or Resign. "It was so important to McConnell to remain in office forever. Even after he'd been kicked out of the leadership position due to his opposition to most mainstream Republicans."

Amanda Head at JTN, From proving ground to payday, Trump’s Michigan trip shows auto industry shifting into high gear. "Under Trump’s trade policies, companies such as General Motors (GM) are shifting production of certain vehicles stateside." Carlo Carrasco is happy Japan Determining Lifting Import Prohibition On Fresh US Potatoes. From Da Caller, Trump Admin Putting Major Medical Association’s Billing Code ‘Monopoly’ Under The Microscope


Dave Strom at Hat Hair wonders Is Socialism Really Gaining Steam, or Are Socialists Just Gaming the System Better? Da Wire, Mamdani Just Handed The Internet Thousands Of Names And Addresses. "The Department of Finance uploaded a searchable database including the addresses and names of property owners." Jack Posobiec @JackPosobiec, "Anyone who has read the history of communism knows what step comes after naming the enemy land owners." Quote Bernadette Hogan @bern_hogan, "The city published a list of all properties -- and the names of the owners -- that *could be* subject to the new pied a terre tax in a very easy to search Excel sheet:" VodkaPundit at PJM, NYC: Begun, the Class War Has. Alex Berenson @AlexBerenson, "Last week, my mom got a "pied-a-terre" tax notice. She has lived full-time in her townhouse FOR 30 YEARS (she and my dad bought it for under $1 million). She has no other residence. Is NYC not bothering with basic checking of its own tax lists? She's 81 and has three weeks to get her name off the list or she owes $56,000. (Yes, I said I'd help.) Thanks, Zohran Kwame." Ace notes Mamdani Publishes Names of Property Owners Whose Estates Will be Confiscated, "The list of properties to be hit with a huge tax penalty, large enough so that the owners will mostly be forced to sell, turns out to be a bigger list than the laughing boy socialist demon had promised."



Ruby Rippey
From Althouse, "One afternoon he brings matzo ball soup from Max’s deli, my favorite. Another time, a mixtape." "Writes Ruby Rippey, in "How I Blew Up—Then Rebuilt—My Life/When news of her affair with Gavin Newsom exploded into the public eye, it was only the outward mark of a long-rippling private implosion. In the wreckage of the scandal, Ruby Rippey faced her demons but lost her voice. Twenty years later, she is ready to share her story" (Vanity Fair). Spencer Pratt @spencerpratt, "Residents in the Palisades put up Mad Max barricades because construction site theft is so rampant since Karen Bass directed LAPD to remove police patrols from the neighborhood. As if the fire victims haven't dealt with enough...the vile communist is punishing us further." From Reason, California's War on Goats Could Worsen the Wildfire Crisis "Standard minimum wage and overtime laws now apply to the state's goat herders, whose animals clear brush and reduce fire danger. The costs are unsustainable." 

Jeffrey Rosen takes on Birthright Citizenship and Presidential Removal: A Historical Deep Dive. Kyla Becker at RedState sees a Rogue Judge Finally Gets an Act Named After Him - What It Does Is Hilarious. "Schmitt is calling it the BOASBERG Act. It stands for the Blocking Overt Attempts at Shopping By Enforcing Randomization Guidelines Act. ... Fox News Politics @foxnewspolitics, "BOASBERG ACT: Sen. Eric Schmitt introduces legislation named after the federal judge who has repeatedly clashed with the Trump administration — designed to end judge shopping in federal courts by requiring random case assignment. The bill would prohibit chief judges from influencing which cases they oversee, require public disclosure of assignment practices, and create penalties for anyone who meddles with the process. Courts would have 120 days to comply. Schmitt called Judge James Boasberg "the poster child for a rogue judge" who "exposed serious loopholes in our judicial system." Boasberg, an Obama appointee, has blocked Trump's deportation efforts, halted visa restrictions, and landed the Signalgate case — drawing impeachment calls from Trump and a misconduct complaint from the Justice Department."


Stacy McCain sees ‘Suburban Teens’ Make Headlines. "In addition to Vanessa Morales, whose father doesn’t speak English, the other “suburban teens” killed in the crash were identified as Cristofer Lopez Montan, 19, and Yuarem Garcia-Pena, 18, both of Woodstock, and Yaritza Martinez Villeda, 17, of Crystal Lake. So these kids weren’t exactly the cast of Sixteen Candles or Pretty in Pink. On the one hand you can understand that, on those rare occasions when the perpetrators of crime in Chicago aren’t “urban youth,” the local media are eager to convey the message that it wasn’t the usual suspects this time."


Dave Strom realizes DEI Requires 'Good' People to Lie. Wall Street Apes @WallStreetApes, "This should horrify every American A man tries to walk through Minneapolis with an American Flag He immediately gets harassed, threatened with physical violence. Shortly after a car pulls up quickly and a man gets out to rush him to cause harm. He has to run and yell he’s calling the cops The American can’t even sit in his car without worried about being assaulted “This sh*t hurts my heart, man. ..." Lisa Britton @LisaBritton, "One minute we’re being told air conditioning is sexist towards women. The next we’re being told women are the true victims of heat waves. It just never ends!" From Da Mail, Plagiarism or jealousy? Youngest black professor in Cambridge history set to publish extraordinary life story - including how he couldn't speak, read or write during childhood - as he's now accused of copying others' work.

At WaEx, Teachers union uses felons to attack school choice in Arizona. Matt Van Swol @mattvanswol, "My story about pulling our son out of NC public schools to homeschool him reached far more people than I expected. So I owe you the full explanation. Fair warning: it's worse than you think. ..." Really long but worth it.