Travel Ban. Colorado Dad’s Family Faces Deportation. KJP’s New Grift. Olympic Sport: Violence Against Women. And More
Under the Never a Dull Moment Rubric, President Trump has proclaimed a travel ban that affects 12 countries and is going to—uh—excite the usual suspects. The administration will partially restrict the entry of nationals from seven other countries.
The New York Times notes that the ban targets citizens of countries in Africa and the Middle East. “It was not immediately clear why those countries were selected,” the report adds. C’mon, New York Times. You’re not that dumb. Here are the countries:
Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen will not be allowed to enter the United States.
Another New York Times story reports that the ban “brings a new hardship” to “war-torn countries.” Rep. Ilhan Omar tweets that the ban is “racist” and “flies in the face of basic morality and goes directly against our values.” Oh, brother. Powerline’s Bill Glahn says he could add a few countries to the list. As for the outrage over the ban, Glahn writes, “it’s becoming ever clearer that a sizable number of Democrats (most? all?) genuinely believe that every single person on earth has a U.S. Constitutional right to come to America and to live here at U.S. taxpayer expense, permanently.”
The American Dream of a Colorado Dad’s family is being destroyed by prejudice. A USA TODAY report on the family’s plight leads off …
She moved to the United States with a dream of studying medicine. She had stepped off her high school graduation stage in May.
Then her father….
Yeah, then her father, an Egyptian national in the U.S. illegally, set some Jews on fire. Why would anyone want to impede the dream of this exemplary young woman? National Review’s astute Charles C. W. Cooke puts his finger on what is wrong with this would be sob story:
Let me put this as delicately as I can: Who the heck cares?
Looks to Ms. Must’s lying eyes that Dad’s family was here illegally, just like their patriarch, though USA TODAY says the family’s immigration status is “unclear.” Writing at The Federalist, Sebastian Gorka says that President Trump “will not tolerate Middle Eastern Religious Wars in America.” Refer to Bill Glahn’s observation above.
Under the Ain’t We Got Fun Rubric: Karine Jean-Pierre, the worst White House Secretary in American history, has written a memoir. She has left the Democratic Party but not preposterously worn cliches behind (KJP wants us to think outside the box). The book is titled “Independent” and promises a look “inside a broken White House.” From the petulant Jean-Pierre who never answered a question! From the Fox report already linked:
“She left the Democratic Party? I honestly didn’t see that story and probably wouldn’t have even noticed. I turned off my KJP Google Alert on Inauguration Day,” the reporter reacted, before joking, “Has anyone circled back with Jen Psaki?” …
A third White House reporter was “shocked” that Jean-Pierre had left the Democratic Party.
“I have to pick my jaw up from the floor. It is unbelievable that she, of all people, would choose this path,” the reporter told Fox News Digital. …
Jean-Pierre also shared the news in a video posted to Instagram, where she explained that the new book was her answer to a way forward for Americans who feel distraught about the current Trump administration.
Jeffrey Blehar of National Review calls KJP’s memoir “the least eagerly anticipated political memoir of 2025.” He is wrong. Mr. Blehar must learn to think outside the box. Ms. Must can’t wait. Maybe we’ll learn that ol’ Joe really was running circles around her.
The New York Post cover this morning features one of the two young Chinese scientists caught trying to sneak into the United States a dangerous fungus that could potentially have a disastrous effect on American agriculture. The quip: This means spore.
I am guessing that Covid was so successful China would love to have another go. The New York Post reports the chilling details about the scientists in a chilling exclusive:
Yunqing Jian, 33, a Communist Party loyalist and lab researcher at the University of Michigan who received Chinese government funding for her work, plotted the illicit transport of the pathogen with her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, 34, the FBI alleged.
Liu was was caught at Detroit Metropolitan Airport last July after allegedly attempting to sneak packages of Fusarium graminearum into the country, the feds said….
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said it appears the FBI may have intercepted a “potential bioweapon.”
President Trump spoke by phone to Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday. Fox’s Brit Hume said of the call that it’s clear from the readout that President Trump seems to still “imagine” that Putin is a “man of peace.” Putin said that before any peace deal can be reached, he must first retaliate for Ukraine’s recent devastating drone attack. Well, sure.
Don’t Tell Me There’s Not a Deep State: Just as the economic data starts to look great for the Trump administration, including declining inflation, the U.S. Department of Labor, which calculates most of this data, is raising questions about the accuracy of its own inflation data. They say staff shortages call into question the work. Ms. Taxpayer, please hire more staff for DOL so we can have more inflation.
The first New York mayoral debate with all the candidates took place on a crowded stage last night. Former Governor Andrew Cuomo was most pummeled as the frontrunner. Cuomo told a porkie pie about his role in the Covid nursing home scandal that led to deaths and old people dying alone. Zohran Mamdani promised $10 million in freebies and refused to say Israel has a right to exist.
Philip Wegman of RCP reports that Elon Musk’s blasts against the BBB are giving GOP opponents of the bill breathing room. An editorial in the Wall Street Journal says that a $4.5 trillion tax increase, not the deficit, is the most important issue. Meanwhile, on the financial front, it is good to be generous to Stacy Abram’s friend. Paul Sperry reports for RCP:
A nonprofit founded by Georgia Democratic politician Stacey Abrams to protect voting rights paid more than $20 million to a lawyer who is a close friend and helped set up two of her private businesses, according to tax and state incorporation filings and other records obtained by RealClearInvestigations.
Headline of the Day: “How Violence Against Women Became an Olympic Sport.” It’s from Spiked Online, and it follows on the news that a DNA test has proven that Imane Khelif, “a big hulking bloke,” whose pummeling of female boxer Angela Carini in the 2024 Olympics was sickening. Jo Bartosh of Spiked writes:
The sight of a man battering his way to a women’s Olympic title was stomach-turning enough. Yet the conduct of those who enabled it was, in many ways, worse. Human-rights organisations and sports NGOs didn’t just look the other way – they also actively smeared anyone who asked questions. Amnesty International’s Stephen Cockburn claimed Khelif and Yu-ting were being ‘hounded by hatred’, framing public concern as ‘toxic, sexist and racist’. Minky Worden of Human Rights Watch dismissed sex testing as ‘abusive’ and ‘unscientific’. Meanwhile, with a characteristic lack of irony, GLAAD issued a ‘fact check’ decrying all criticism of Khelif as ‘transphobia and misinformation’. None offered a word of concern for the women in the ring.
Perhaps the most glaring hypocrisy came from boxing pundit Steve Bunce. Last year, he said of Khelif on the BBC, ‘Despite what you’ve read in the newspapers, she has always been a she’, while condemning the IBA’s sex testing. Yet this week, he attempted a feint. He claimed he supports reliable sex tests while dismissing criticism of Khelif as a ‘witch hunt’ based on his appearance. It’s fair to say, he was bested on social media.
The brutality Angela Carini experienced at the fists of hulking Imane Khelif is similar to the danger for every woman pitted against a man in a contact sport. What kind of society regards violence against women as a sport? This is Roman Colosseum level of decadence.
