U.S. Navy to Block Hormuz. POTUS Has LDS (Leo Derangement Syndrome). Orban Disappoints Left by Immediately Conceding. Remember Fang Fang! More
A U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is scheduled to begin this morning. President Trump announced the blockade shortly after talks in Islamabad failed. The Washington Post frets that the blockade could “derail” the “tenuous ceasefire.” Well, it’s tenuous all right.
In a post headlined “We’re Blocking Iran, Not the Strait,” Powerline’s John Hinderaker makes a good point in support of the blockade:
So, we aren’t closing the Strait, we are blockading Iranian ports. This means that Iran won’t be able to sell any oil. Two countries will be hurt: Iran and China, which buys 80% of Iranian oil. The Gulf States will be able to ship their oil through the Strait as soon as they choose to do so.
Meanwhile, we are sending vessels to the Strait to try to dispose of the mines that Iran may or may not have laid there. …
Maybe I am missing something, but this seems like an excellent solution. In the short term, China will have an incentive to lean on whoever is left in the regime to open the Strait. In the meantime, we aren’t destroying Iran’s petroleum infrastructure, merely preventing it from selling any oil. That means that Iran’s supply will be added to the global total before long, one way or another, and if the Iranian people are able to throw off the yoke of Islamic tyranny, they will take over an intact oil infrastructure.
The Free Press’s Eli Lake did not have the knee-jerk MSM take that Iran has run circles around the Trump administration. “How Iran Wasted the Ceasefire” is the headline on Lake’s piece. The subtitle reads: “The mullahs believed they held all the cards when the ceasefire was called. But no permanent stoppage was possible without meeting U.S. demands.” Lake gives props to Vice President Vance:
The cliché about the Islamic Republic of Iran is that it has never won a war, but never lost a negotiation. Over the weekend in Pakistan, that diplomatic winning streak ran into a brick wall named J.D. Vance. Despite coming into the talks demanding everything from war reparations to military control of the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian delegation left Islamabad with nothing.
“Iran Needs the Strait of Hormuz More Than Anyone” is another headline at the iconoclastic Free Press. “Trump’s announcement that the U.S. would blockade the strait could take the last card out of Tehran’s hand,” is the subtitle. The naval blockade, according to the story, is Washington’s “move to strip Tehran of the one coercive instrument it believed it held in reserve.” Another Card Analogy: Trump has “called Iran’s bluff brilliantly,” says a New York Post editorial.
As soon as I can pick myself up off the floor, I will endeavor to comment on this Truth Social post by the President of the United States of America:
Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy. He talks about “fear” of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart. I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t! I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. … And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History. Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise. He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican. …
Whew! It looks like DJT has LDS—Leo Derangement Syndrome. Not smart to attack the Pope in this way.
Having been unable to restrain herself from quoting from the most memorable verbal attack on a Pope by a world leader in modern times, Ms. Must is required to be brief. The Left has been yammering on for weeks about how, if defeated, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a Trump ally, would cling to power. Orban has already conceded defeat. Henry Olsen analyses the defeat. Senator Mitch McConnell writes that Orban’s defeat offers a lesson for those on the right drawn to Orban. Senator McConnell highlights Orban’s crony capitalism and ties to Russia and China.
Meanwhile, Politico suggests that Orban’s defeat, while a blow for President Trump, is a warning for U.S. Democrats:
Orbán’s ouster represents a new triumph for a particular brand of disruptive politics: one defined by reformist candidates who launch new parties and blow up old ones, winning elections by rendering traditional political structures obsolete. Hungary’s Peter Magyar, the leader of the anti-Orbán Tisza party, is the latest victor in this mold. There is no equivalent figure among Trump’s American opponents.
“Fang Fang, Phone Home” is the headline on a Powerline post. This is an allusion to Rep. Eric Swalwell’s alleged affair with a Chinese spy. And, yes, Republicans are having fun with the believable allegations of sexual misconduct (here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) that forced Rep. Swalwell to end his campaign for Governor of California. Democrats are taking the transparently opportunist position that, while Swalwell must drop out of the gubernatorial race (which potentially benefits Dems), there is absolutely no reason why he can’t remain in Congress. Remember Fang Fang!
“Rich Men North of Richmond Try to Steal Votes of Rural Virginians” is the headline on David Marcus’ Fox Digital story on the redistricting plan being pushed by Governor Abigail Spanberger. The plan would make the GOP vote comparable to the unicorn vote.
Former Governor Glenn Youngkin has also come out swinging against the plan, which he says “violates” the trust of Virginians. Spanberger indicated she had no plan for redistricting back when she was a “moderate” candidate. Voting day is April 21.
“Unplanned childlessness” is the catchphrase to remember from this Spiked Online interview with Stephen J Shaw, demographer and director of a documentary titled “Birth Gap.” It’s a long interview conducted by Brendan O’Neill. Shaw believes being informed and planning accordingly is key:
You can only be master of your own destiny if you’re fully informed of the realities behind the choices you’re making. That’s the heart of the problem. People don’t know the brevity of the fertility window. We are very good at teaching young people – rightly so – about how to avoid pregnancy at the wrong time. But we stop there. We don’t explain that there isn’t infinite time to make that call, and that this affects both men and women. Men seem to think they’ve got so much longer – which, technically, they do. But if they wait, they’ll still need to find a younger woman who they’re able to have children with.
“The Phantom Base” is the headline on a City Journal story by Joel Siegel. Siegel debunks the notion that there is a right-wing civil war. Most of the people cited in stories about the alleged civil war have little to do with MAGA. Ms. Must would call some of them cranks, not conservatives. Siegel writes:
Claiming to speak for “the base,” it stokes social-media swarms—digital stand-ins for “the public”—to dominate attention and pressure politicians into ceding control of the party apparatus. By invoking a phantom base, whose outrage they purport to channel, they practice a kind of stagecraft that defies straightforward accounts of politics.
Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson is launching a book imprint with Skyhorse Publishing (the company that bought Regnery, the old guard conservative publisher). WSJ reports:
Its inaugural slate of titles is set to include Brand’s “How To Become a Christian In Seven Days,” Yiannopoulos’ “Ex Gay,” and “Killing Cancer” by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the biotech billionaire who owns the Los Angeles Times. Brand, Yiannopoulos and Soon-Shiong have all appeared on Carlson’s online show.
