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Tag: Democrats

Control of Tiny Island Could Determine War. Khamenei Jr. Lacking in Charisma–but not Real Estate. Thune, Texas, ‘Talking Filibuster ‘& More

Posted on by Charlotte Hays

All eyes are on the Strait of Hormuz, conduit to one fifth of the world’s energy supply. The New York Post suggests that the results of entire war may come down to control of one small island—Kharg Island—in the Persian Gulf:

An island one-third the size of Manhattan controls virtually all Iranian crude oil exports — and experts say its fate could be essential to President Trump’s endgame with Tehran.

Kharg Island is located about 16 miles off the Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf, making it difficult to defend and easier to isolate — reportedly drawing the attention of administration planners.

“Kharg Island handles roughly 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports. Take it out, and this means cutting off the military budget in addition to pulling the plug on the basic services that keep Iranian society functioning,” said Mohammed Soliman, a senior fellow at the DC-based Middle East Institute.

“Losing Kharg for even a few weeks will create a security and societal crisis in Iran at the same time. Tehran doesn’t get to choose which one to deal with first,” said Soliman, author of “West Asia: A New American Grand Strategy in the Middle East.”

Oil prices had dropped to around $80 a barrel early this morning, as the U.S walked back claims that an oil tanker had been escorted through the Strait. The Wall Street Journal highlights alleged differences between the U.S. and Israel as to when the war ends. Outraged Bernard-Henri Levy insists that the “notion that Benjamin Netanyahu is pulling the president’s strings is particularly absurd. … Anti-Semites will believe anything.”

Fog of War. National Review’s Andrew McCathy writes that President Trump is “preparing an off-ramp” and chides the President for what McCarthy sees as not making a stronger case for the war before launching it. Jason Riley of the Wall Street Journal says that the President’s “intentional ambiguity” on Iran will not serve the GOP well in the midterms. To get really fogged in read the MSM: Mark Penn posts a string of headlines from recent coverage of the Iran War and reflects:

The press is a drumbeat of negativity favoring the Iran regime. It’s puzzling at this point how any success is buried. The reality is likely the regime is being pummeled on all sides and has no ability to provide for its people.

Politico reports that the White House is hoping that the war will end before real economic pain but is skeptical. NEPO-NOPO. Iran’s Supreme Leader Junior is being protected by a special killer squad known as NOPO. Junior, incidentally, has a superb portfolio of international real estate, including digs in London’s exclusive Kensington Square. Junior, till keeping a low profile, is said to have the “charisma of a boiled potato.” Not that the old guy was a charmer either. I’ve noticed a shift in pro-Iran war rhetoric—Laura Ingram last night was imploring the Iranian people, whose pleas for help did not fall on deaf ears, to rise up.

We need to say a few more words about the Iranian women’s soccer team. After years of watching pampered American athletes kneel for our national anthem, we saw the Iranian women’s soccer team show real courage. There are consequences for not singing the national anthem in a bloody totalitarian regime. This brings us to a question: Why isn’t motormouth Megan Rapinoe using her megaphone for Iran’s female soccer team?

CNN’s original story on the attack at Gracie Mansion by ISIS-loving alleged terrorists is one for the books. We must never forget it. It must be quoted:

“Two Pennsylvania teenagers crossed into New York City Saturday morning for what could’ve been a normal day enjoying the city during abnormally warm weather,” read the post. “But in less than an hour, their lives would drastically change as the pair would be arrested for throwing homemade bombs during an anti-Muslim protest outside of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home. Here’s what we know so far.”

CNN removed the report and is “spinning like mad” to cover its “terrorist apologia.” CNN lamely tried to say that the original quote didn’t meet its high editorial standards. But it passed muster of editors, right, and was published. National Review says that the left can’t hide the truth about the Gracie Mansion attempted bombing. NR Editor Rich Lowry wittily demolished the attempted coverup yesterday. But New Yorkers can’t get enough of the brave policeman who foiled the bomb attack.

Meanwhile, a group of House Republicans this morning publishes an op-ed at Fox Digital accusing Senate Republicans of “twiddling their thumbs” instead of working to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require an ID to vote. Senate Majority Leader John Thune is coming under attack because he resists forcing the Democrats to engage in a “talking filibuster” on the SAVE America Act, arguing that “the votes still would not be there.” The Save America Act could factor into a Trump endorsement in the Texas Senate race (also here). An editorial in the Wall Street Journal calls the “talking filibuster” a “mirage:”

The reality is that Democratic Senators could take turns giving interminable speeches. 

Texas’ Democratic Senate hopeful James Talarico is being compared to Barack Obama. He’s running as a moderate (natch), but National Review says Talarico is “not, in fact, a moderate, unless “moderate” is now a synonym for “white man.”  In Georgia, Trump-backed Clayton Fuller will face Democrat Shawn Harris the replace Marjorie Taylor Greene in the House.

Republic of Fraud. Minnesota’s multi-billion-dollar Somali fraud was just the beginning. Since learning about Minnesota’s welfare largesse, we’ve been assaulted by reports of mind-boggling fraud in other states, all seemingly involving government (i.e., taxpayer) money. Even when there is no fraud, expenditures are alarming. A front-page Wall Street Journal report on “the boom in autism therapy” doesn’t allege fraud, but shows how unevaluated Medicaid expenses can skyrocket:

Some companies have found lucrative opportunities to capitalize on a growing need, billing long hours and extracting payments as high as $800 an hour.

A CBS Investigation, meanwhile, is billed as “We visited “ground zero” for hospice fraud: Los Angeles, California:”

Medicare is federally administered, and hospices must be certified for reimbursements. But the state issues the licenses for hospices to operate.

Three years ago, California’s state auditor sounded the alarm that Los Angeles County had seen a 1,500% increase in hospice companies since 2010 – more than six times the national average relative to its elderly population.

Auditors estimated LA County hospices overbilled Medicare by $105 million in a single year. The report called out notable red flags – key warning signs of fraud.

Follow the Science. Joe Nocera has a piece headlined “Science Has a Major Fraud Problem” in The Free Press. Nocera follows “the murky world of fraudulent research, and the sleuths exposing dishonest science.” I’m betting that government money plays a big part in the story.

How smart is AI really? Kobe Yank-Jacobs argues that AI can do the work but asks if it can do the job. How smart is the Pentagon-Anthropic spat? A Wall Street Journal op-ed argues that the dust up is beneficial to China.

Brit transplant and Fox Contributor Steve Hilton, a Republican, appears to actually have a chance at being elected Governor of California. Hilton’s Rise Could Spare Dems from Disaster in California Gov’s Race” is the Politico headline:

Hilton, a Fox News commentator, leads the pack with 19 percent of likely voters in the latest UC Berkeley Citrin Center for Public Opinion Research-POLITICO poll. Behind him is a pile-up of virtually tied candidates — Democrat Tom Steyer at 13 percent and, with 11 percent each, Democrats Katie Porter and Eric Swalwell and Republican Chad Bianco.

Conservatives might be forgiven for thinking the catastrophe to be averted would be a continuation of current policies in California.

Who’s Winning Iran War? Nepo Supreme Leader Keeping Low Profile. Guess Who Came to Dinner at Gracie Mansion? Can Homilies Liberate Iran? More

Posted on by Charlotte Hays

A New York Times headline writer observes that President Trump is sending “mixed” messages on when the Iran war will end. Hardly surprising in a ten-day old intervention. Meanwhile, President Trump’s advisers are said to be urging him to find an “exit ramp.”

But how is the war going? An editorial in the Wall Street Journal, which has strongly supported the war in its opinion pages, argues that right now Iran is “not winning” but that could change:

Is it time for President Trump to call off the bombing and declare victory in Iran? You’d think so judging by the panic in Washington as the price of oil spikes. That certainly is the fondest wish of the ayatollahs, who know they’re losing.

The reality inside Iran and the region is that the U.S. and Israel continue to make progress. The regime loses more of its military each day, along with the ability to hurt its neighbors. The Israelis estimate 70% to 75% of Iran’s missile launchers have been destroyed, and the U.S. has destroyed at least 43 Iranian ships.

On Monday the United Arab Emirates received only 18 drones, down from 126 a day over the past week. We’ll soon see if that was a blip or a meaningful decline….

President Trump said that the war will be over “soon,” but Iran’s rump regime pushed back against this assertion, and the President then vowed to hit ‘em harder. U.K.

There’s something new and different in the choice of Khamenei Jr. as Supreme Leader. “Mojtaba Khamenei Brings Monarchy Back to Iran” is the headline on a piece by Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh. They write:

Khamenei’s son and successor, the Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, has neither his father’s experience nor Khomeini’s pedigree. His ascent marks the collapse of the last egalitarian pillar of the revolution, namely that the mullahs, unlike decadent Persian shahs, don’t do dynastic succession. With Mojtaba, the revolution has come full circle. Even without regime change, monarchy has returned to Iran….

In the turbulent politics of the Islamic Republic, violence and terror have always been a means of political control. But Mojtaba’s generation of militants has faced more popular insurrections as the revolution has lost much of its luster. Even in the context of Iran’s ruthless politics, this generation shows a particular attachment to terrorism. Violence is the mandatory response to those seeking to undermine the regime. The recent uprising demonstrated the lengths to which this generation will go to preserve God’s will manifested.

Mojtaba will continue his father’s search for foreign devils.

Mojtaba has been keeping a low profile. So much so that the Middle East Forum Observer speculated (flirting with a Babylon Bee parody!”) that “Elevating a Dead Man Would Be Far-Fetched, so Mojtaba Khamenei May Be Injured and in Hiding.”

The Wall Street Journal’s Global View columnist Walter Russell Mead explores three ways the war might end. The likeliest, he concludes, is that the U.S. largely clears the Gulf but that the current regime survives, solving nothing fundamental but preserving a fragile balance of power in a vital part of the world. This obviously is not the optimal scenario. Intriguing: Douglas Feith, a George W. Bush Defense Department official, says “Hold on tight. Trump is trying something new in Iran. Critics demanding a “day after” plan are confusing this presidency with that of George W. Bush.” Still, Mollie Hemingway indicates GOP voters will grow restive if this drags on too long. 

One More Thing. The Iranian Women’s Soccer team. Australia has granted asylum to the “lionesses who roared with silence,” (by not singing the regime national anthem), and could face death if returned to Iran. This Just In: Khamenei Sr. said Jr. was not fit to lead. Oh, and he’s impotent.

“The N.Y. Terrorist Attack and DHS Funding” is the headline of a Wall Street Journal editorial. Because of the Iran war, this is a time of heightened concern over national security and public safety. Yet, according to the editorial, Democrats refuse to restore funding to the Department of Homeland Security:

Inflicting pain on the public is a bad negotiating tactic, and the DHS shutdown is being felt acutely at the nation’s airports, as the Transportation Security Administration deals with employees calling out of work. … The bigger worry, though, is that there might be a security lapse that makes this failure to fund DHS look in retrospect like the height of partisan recklessness. In addition to airport security screeners, DHS includes the Coast Guard (which has personnel who support the U.S. Navy in Bahrain), the Secret Service, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Democrats insist they won’t restore DHS funding without an overhaul of ICE, but they are running a big risk if there is a successful terror attack. After the attempt in Manhattan, the wisest move for Mr. Schumer would be to quit posturing and pass the bill.

Meet the Gracie Mansion ISIS-loving wannabe bombing suspects (via the New York Post):

Emir Balat, 18, and 19-year-old Ibrahim Kayumi, drove to Manhattan from their upscale Pennsylvania homes with the intent to cause mayhem and kill – all in the name of the Islamic State, according to the federal complaint against them….

When he arrived at an NYPD precinct, Balat allegedly asked cops for pen and paper – and scribbled a disturbing manifesto proclaiming his extremist beliefs.

“All praise is due to Allah lord of all worlds,” he allegedly wrote. “I pledge my allegiance [sic] to the Islamic State. Die in your rage yu [sic] kuffar.”

New York Mayor Mamdani has taken heat, as you know, for his response to the dueling protests (one anti-Muslim and the other pro-Isis) at Gracie Mansion. FYI: It was the Isis guys (who made today’s New York Post cover) who had the bomb.

Speaking of Gracie Mansion, guess who scored a coveted invitation to break the Ramadan fast there with New York’s first family? The Mayor hosted anti-Israel activist and accused Hamas sympathizer Mahmoud Khalil, and his familyfor dinner at Gracie Mansion for the holy month of Ramadan. The chitchat had to be interesting.

Highly Recommended. “The Moment Mass Immigration Started,” by Alicia Nieves, for Compact Magazine. Mass illegal immigration started before most of us were aware of the implications and with canny activists who knew how to exploit loopholes:

Violence, poverty, and political instability can explain why individuals want to leave their countries. But they do not explain why migration toward the United States accelerates suddenly at specific moments in time. …

What emerged beginning in 2014 was a massive surge of a new class of migrants—unaccompanied minors and families with children—who were taking advantage of an emergent process created by the gradual accumulative effect of various discretionary policies and legal precedents interacting with one another.

Illegal immigration is a safety issue of our time. The D.C. Examiner has a recommended piece about how Virginia’s Fairfax County’s sanctuary policies led to an illegal immigrant murdering an innocent woman. Mackerel Snapper News. Ms. Must was disheartened—but hardly surprised when Pope Leo XIV addressed the crowd in St. Peter’s Square Sunday after the Angelus and implicitly came out against U.S. policy in Iran. Bill McGurn gently takes the Holy Father to task in “Homilies Won’t Liberate Iran.” McGurn writes:

At the moment the Vatican is almost guaranteeing its wisdom will be ignored by those who need it most. “The net result of the churches’ concessions to the political left has been to take religious leaders out of serious conversation with policymakers on matters of war and peace, leaving them to lob minatory rhetorical grenades from the bleachers,” Catholic theologian George Weigel wrote in 2024. Nearly 40 years ago Mr. Weigel wrote his book “Tranquillitas Ordinis,” arguing that the real goal of war is an order rooted in justice and freedom.

This may sound harsh, but it’s necessary to say. The Catholic Church and its last few popes have understood only the destructive force of war. They appear to have given little thought to the terrible consequences for innocent people when soft words are offered as a substitute for tough but necessary action. …

New Supreme Leader. Mamdani Criticized for Response to Dueling Protests. Inevitable Happens: David French Falls for Talarico. More

Posted on by Charlotte Hays

From Tehran to New York’s iconic Gracie Mansion, where there were dueling protests this weekend—one anti-Muslim and one pro-ISIS (!), it’s been an unquiet world.

Whether Iran’s despotic regime will fall soon is the question on everybody’s mind. The Free Press early this morning was leading with a possible energy crisis triggered by Iran.

Not surprisingly, Iran “projected defiance” by picking Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, son of the late Ayatollah, as Supreme Leader. President Trump finds the new Khamanei just bad as the other one.

Meanwhile, a U.K. Telegraph opinion column headline proclaims that Iran’s malevolent new Ayatollah shows the regime has learnt nothing. Tehran is fighting with jets dating back to the Vietnam era. War Secretary Pete Hegseth tells CBS that the U.S. will do whatever it takes to topple Iran’s regime:

“We’re willing to go as far as we need in order to be successful,” Hegseth told CBS News’s Major Garrett during a “60 Minutes” sit-down interview that aired Sunday night.

“We reserve the right. We would be completely unwise if we did not reserve the right to take any particular option, whether it included boots on the ground or not boots on the ground.”

There is a media divide over whether to support President Trump’s Iran intervention. The American Conservative [TAC] opposes the intervention and warns against arming the Kurds to fight in Iran (it is “madness” and will achieve nothing but instability and carnage”). The Wall Street Journal, whose opinion pages have supported the intervention, states the “risks” of arming the Kurds in an editorial:.

The greatest risk is that a Kurdish military front inside Iran could let the regime play to latent Iranian nationalism. So far the Iranian public hasn’t rallied to defend the regime even under relentless U.S. and Israeli bombing.

Allyssia Finley, also of the Wall Street Journal, writes that the United States’ oil and gas dominance has weakened Iran. The piece most supportive of the Trump administration’s Iran intervention this morning comes from Joshua  Muravchik, also writing for the WSJ:

For years since the U.S. stumbled in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have been on our back foot, and the forces of anti-Americanism have been gaining strength and confidence. Iran and Cuba present Mr. Trump a chance to reverse that trend. It would be a valuable prize for the country and for him, an honor far nobler than the Nobel

Also an optimistic view, Israeli historian Benny Morris proposes that “the war with Iran is reshaping the entire Middle East from the Gulf States to Lebanon with surprising speed.”  The Wall Street Journal’s Elliott Kaufman had a weekend interview with historian Ali M. Ansari who says that the Iranian regime is facing a crisis like never before in the current situation. What if the reactionary Iranian regime was being consumed by its own pathologies even before the Trump intervention? An intriguing notion, explored by Tim Black at Spiked On-line. Jonathan Rosen explores the fatwa—the Iranian weapon stronger than bombs—that might remain with us even if the regime falls.

Iran isn’t the only place having an issue with bombing this weekend. “Devil’s Work” scream the New York Post front-page headline.

Seem that demonstrators hurled an explosive known as the “Mother of Satan” in front of Gracie Mansion, the official residence of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

It was a confusing double protest in front of Gracie Mansion: a protest against Muslim influence in New York followed by a pro-Muslim protest. Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal attributed the explosive hurling to the wrong protest group:

Hoylman-Sigal issued a statement on X Saturday claiming, in part, “White Christian Nationalists led a roaming trail of Islamophobia and antisemitism today on Manhattan’s Upper East Side at Gracie Mansion where they targeted our mayor with an incendiary device.”

The borough president took down the statement before it was publicly revealed Sunday that two pro-Muslim demonstrators, identified as Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, were arrested in the incident. Federal authorities are working with the NYPD on the case.

The “Mother of Satan” hurlers are described as self-radicalized ISIS protesters. The original, anti-Muslim protest was lead by a right-wing agitator Jake Lang, reportedly a pardoned January 6 protestor.  Miranda Devine argues in an impassioned column arguing that the New York Mayor’s response was telling:

Mayor Zohran Mamdani showed his true colors over the weekend when he responded to the attempted ISIS-inspired bombing of an anti-Muslim protest by first condemning “white supremacy” before getting around to saying “violence at a protest is never acceptable.”

That’s one way of putting it.

It took NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch to issue her own statement for the full gravity of the attack to be officially acknowledged.

Indeed, the Mayor seems to have plumb forgotten the ISIS guys in his response. Adding to the heady mix—or maybe not adding to the mix because of social media shielding, the Mayor’s wife, Rama Duwaji’s apparent enthusiasm for the October 7 massacre of Israelis has come to light.

The mind-boggling, multi-billion-dollar welfare fraud in Minnesota appears to be just the beginning. A Wall Street Journal editorial on the “Medicaid Autism Racket” lays out just how easy it is to defraud government programs with vague behavioral therapy diagnoses:

Behavioral therapy is an especially ripe target for people looking to game Medicaid. Diagnostic standards can be elastic, and states provide little oversight of providers and pay claims without requiring verification of treatment or benefits. While insurers that administer Medicaid benefits have an incentive to police fraud, autism treatment has become a fee-for-service free-for-all.

Minnesota is a case study. According to a federal complaint, 27-year-old Abdinajib Hassan Yussuf set up a fly-by-night autism center claiming to provide one-on-one therapy for autistic children. He allegedly worked with medical professionals to have children diagnosed with autism and paid kickbacks to parents to enroll them in his center. … Prosecutors last fall brought charges against a 28-year-old Minnesotan woman in a similar scheme that included bilking the government for meals and transportation….

The welfare-state fraud story is turning out to be enormous. As the evidence emerges, keep in mind that the root problem isn’t fraudsters, who are always with us. It’s the programs that make it so easy for criminals to scam.

More on the American taxpayer spigot. Fox Digital has a report that non-U.S. citizens will no longer be able to access SBA loans. Ms. Must’s first reaction—you mean to tell me that non-citizens were receiving SBA loans?

New York Times “conservative” columnist David French has lost his heart to Texas senatorial aspirant James Talarico, the Democratic nominee and the Presbyterian seminarian who says that God is “non-binary” and there are six genders. More like Mr. French has lost his mind, writes The Federalist’s Chris Bray:

In a moment we should have seen coming, New York Times columnist David French has just gushed out a shameless celebration of Talarico’s insane nonsense, every word of which should qualify the worst op-ed prostitute in America for urgent psychiatric intervention. Here’s a whole paragraph: “Or, to put it another way, Talarico is one of the few openly Christian politicians in the United States who acts like a Christian, and by acting like a Christian he reveals a profound contrast with so many members of the MAGA Christian movement that’s dominated American political life for 10 years.”

Speaking of Mr. Talarico… you remember his clever high jinks with Stephen Colbert, when the two claimed that incorrectly Talarico was being censored. Talarico was originally being denied airtime because of the intricacies of the “Equal Time” rule. An op-ed in the Wall Street Journal addresses the Talarico ruse and goes on to explain that the “Equal Time” rule is obsolete and should be ditched.

War Powers Resolution Fails. Another Loser: Pottery Barn Doctrine. Condoleezza Rice Speaks on Iran. The New Normal: Talarico. Jack Schlossberg’s Resume. And More

Posted on by Charlotte Hays

“Next Step in the War: Iran Wants ‘Blood’; Trump Says US Can Fight ‘Forever’” is a USA TODAY headline. Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Minister called the torpedoing of an Iranian ship in the Indian Ocean by a U.S. Navy submarine “an atrocity.”

Submarine? Aren’t they relics of World War II? Apparently, the U.S. has been developing a secret new line of subs. The Iran war is also proving that President Trump was right on space force (via National Review):

The U.S. military’s dominance in space, primarily through the U.S. Space Force, the National Reconnaissance Office, and associated assets under U.S. Space Command played a pivotal role in the success of the early strikes against Iran, encompassing a network of satellites for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR), Global Positioning System (GPS), communications, electronic warfare, and missile-warning systems.

The Democrat-led effort to curtail the President’s ability to conduct strikes by passing a War Powers Resolution failed in the Senate, by a 53-47 vote along party lines against taking up the measure. Berkeley law professor John Yoo writes that, despite what his congressional critics say, Trump’s actions in Iran are in line with the Framers’ views of presidential power. “A savvier party would have waited before lashing out against the attack on Iran,” the Wall Street Journal’s Barton Swaim argues. “Now they’ll benefit only if America fails,” he writes.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke about Iran on Fox’s Special Report with Bret Baier yesterday:

Joining “Special Report” Wednesday, Rice praised U.S.-Israeli joint strikes against Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while emphasizing the operation does not mark the beginning of a new war.

“Iran has been at war with us for at least 47 years,” she explained. “If you ask people about Iraq, what was the source of many of our casualties in Iraq, you’ll get estimates as high as 75 or 80% of them were due to Iranian-made roadside bombs.” …

“If you can render Iran essentially incapable of military action against us and against our allies, that’s worthy,” Rice told Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier. “And I think what they’re trying to do is to neuter Iran as a military power in the region.”

Just No Nation Building, Please. That’s according to J. Peder Zane, who writes at Real Clear Politics that it’s time to retire the “Pottery Barn Doctrine:”

Articulated by Secretary of State Colin Powell in the run-up to the Iraq War, it holds that when you break something – in this case, a nation, rather than a vase – you own it.

As Trump plans for next steps in Iran, cold-eyed pragmatists – whether they favored or opposed this latest U.S. military action – should hope he ignores Powell’s high-minded yet wrong-headed formulation that inspired decades of failed and costly attempts at nation-building in the Middle East.

It might sound callous, but the United States has no obligation to the Iranian people. When the bombs stop falling, America will share none of the blame if repressive forces continue to rule in Tehran. The country was broken before our military action. It was that brokenness that necessitated the attack.

The Free Beacon’s Andrew Stiles writes that the results of the Democratic Senate primary in Texas were just what the party’s elites (who poured lots of money into the contest) wanted:

Journalists and other Democratic elites fawned over [James] Talarico, a state lawmaker with the looks and demeanor of a fifth-grade boy giving an oral report for extra credit. They adored his “aw shucks, why can’t we all just get along?” routine. In glowing profile after glowing profile, they marveled at his Christianity-themed rhetoric. (He once declared that “God is non-binary” while arguing that men should be allowed to compete in women’s sports.)

 Former president Barack Obama called him a “terrific, talented young man.” He was Beto O’Rourke 2.0—a new and improved version of the liberal darling who could “finally turn Texas blue” by appealing to normal Americans.

Charles C.W. Cooke, meanwhile, has unearthed creepy old Talarico tweets on having “white skin.” You decide how normal they are.  

The three-candidate GOP primary did not yield a clear winner, and incumbent Senator John Cornyn and Texas AG Ken Paxton will face each other in a runoff. Hugh Hewitt urges the President to endorse Cornyn over longtime ally Paxton:

On May 26, 2026, the second half of President Donald Trump’s second term may be on the ballot.

Texas Senator John Cornyn held off Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to lead in the first round of the 2026 race for the Texas Senate seat, but since Congressman Wesley Hunt drew more than 13% of the primary vote, a run-off between Cornyn and Paxton will be held on May 26.

Senator Cornyn is a stalwart conservative, a former Texas State Supreme Court justice and a strong supporter of President Donald Trump. Attorney General Paxton is a fixture of the often black-and-blue brawling of the Lone Star State’s internal combinations.

Paxton was impeached by the overwhelmingly GOP-dominated state legislature on 16 counts of alleged wrongdoing in 2023. Paxton survived his trial in the Texas State Senate and was acquitted, but should he somehow catch and pass Cornyn in the run-off, the safe GOP seat in deep-red Texas suddenly becomes very winnable for the Democrats who have nominated boy-band-look alike James Talarico. Cornyn will roll over the young man. Paxton is likely to get rolled by him.

“The Supreme Court Restores Parents to Their Proper Place” is the headline on Ilya Shapiro’s City Journal piece about the Court’s decision in Mirabelli v. Bonta, which blocks California’s gender-transition secrecy rules. Shapiro writes:

The Supreme Court’s decision in Mirabelli v. Bonta marks a turning point in the fight over whether public schools may socially transition gender-dysphoric children without informing their parents. In lifting the Ninth Circuit’s stay of a district court injunction against California’s parental-exclusion policies, the Court has signaled that parents are more than just bystanders in the upbringing of their own children…

Though it’s an abbreviated ruling at the interim-relief stage, the broader significance of Mirabelli is profound: we may in retrospect call this moment Mirabelli dictu. Across the country, school districts have adopted policies that treat parents as obstacles rather than partners in education. Some educators insist that concealing a child’s gender transition is necessary for the child’s safety. But the Constitution doesn’t permit the state to displace parents’ moral and medical authority based on ideological disagreement.

The tide is turning, the constitutional questions are converging, and the Court appears increasingly prepared to provide clarity.

The tide is not turning for New York AG Letitia James, however:

Letitia James seems to think we’re still living in 2021.

Last week, the New York Attorney General sent a strongly worded warning to NYU Langone Hospital, which recently axed its “transgender youth health program” after President Trump threatened to pull funding late last year.

In the letter, she demanded that hospital reinstate services within 10 days or face “further action.”

The rap against Ivory Tower politicians is that they have “never made a payroll.” Meet a politician who’s never even been on a payroll: “Kennedy Scion Jack Schlossberg Had No ‘Earned Income’ in 2025 But Has Four Trust Funds, Disclosures Show” is a Washington Free Beacon headline. Schlossberg is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for New York’s 12th congressional seat.

In case you missed it Fox supplies the “five wildest moments” in Governor Tim Walz’s Hill testimony yesterday. The subject was massive fraud in Minnesota. … Powerline’s Bill Glahn has an intriguing take on Minnesota AG Keith Ellison’s appearance at the same hearing. … “ ‘Centrist’ Spanberger Doubles Down on Sanctuary Extremism” is Guy Benson on the Virginia Governor who ran as a moderate. … We hear a lot about the loneliness of young Americans. “Loneliness Is For Cowards” says Emma Camp. Nobody’s stopping you from throwing a party.   

Ms. Must is off tomorrow. See you Monday.

New Supreme Leader’s Cabinet May Give New Meaning to “Skeleton Crew.” Jasmine Crockett’s Alamo. Cornyn & Paxton in Runoff. Jason Riley: Pronouns Only Taught Here.

Posted on by Charlotte Hays

What’s left of Iran’s high command is set to announce a successor to the late Supreme Leader -it appears that Khamenei Jr. is the front runner. He is Mojtaba Khamenei. 56, a chip off the old block: a hard liner, who’s reportedly been running the show for a while.

Is this really such an attractive job qualification? Anyway, Israeli Defense Israel Katz vows this will be a short-term hire, as he Israel will make any successor to the Supreme Leader an “unequivocal target for elimination.”

Mojtaba Khamenei might find his cabinet gives new meaning to the term skeleton crew. Israel is “blowing up Iran’s police state” with the objective of allowing a revolt:

Israeli officials have made it clear they are looking to do enough damage to Iran’s police state from the air that the people can take over on the ground. While Israel has long been content to weaken Tehran with military action or covert operations, Israeli officials have concluded they now must push for regime change.

A front-page Wall Street Journal investigative piece takes us inside the operation that killed the Ayatollah Khamenei. Two Wall Street Journal editorials set the record straight. “The Bibi-Made-Trump-Do-It Canard” that the U.S. is at war with Iran because for 47 years Iran was at war with us. “Is the U.S. Running Out of Ammo?” is the other straight-talking editorial, which says that, while the military needs more ammunition, the U. S. has enough for Iran.

The different tones of the legacy media and more conservative outlets can be seen in the New York Time’s choice for the front page of a story about how Iran is choking off the world’s oil and gas supply. “Defang the Snake” is the New York Post’s lively  cover headline. Danielle Pletka of AEI has been terrific on the Iran conflict—and she’s definitely up to snuff today. Ms. Pletka writes today about why the endgame matters:

Donald Trump has clearly rejected the Powell Pottery Barn rule — you break it, you own it. It was a dumb “rule” to begin with, and Trump is not much of a fan of such silly tropes.He rightly looked at Libya and noted that Obama broke that and didn’t do squat. His view is that the nukes, the missiles, the terrorism, the hating on Israel, and the whole kill-30,000-of-your-own-people attitude was intolerable, and with the State of Israel, let loose.

Thoughtful Washingtonians of a certain ilk wonder what it is that Trump is hoping to achieve. Well, see above. They ask further whether he has a plan, as if the absence of such a plan undercuts the entire raison d’etre of this conflict. It does not. Most such post-conflict plans don’t work brilliantly, much to my regret. And channeling the President, I suspect he doesn’t care much as long as a new regime doesn’t do the same bad stuff the old regime did.

There is a problem, though, and Pletka addresses it.

Maverick Democrats Mark Penn and Andrew Stein write in the Wall Street Journal that “On Iran, Democrats Offer Only Partisanship.” Most want the effort to fail. Senator John Fetterman is a patriotic exception. Examiner Chief Political Correspondent Byron York explores the Iran conflict and Iraq Syndrome. Unlike previous Presidents, Trump refused to kick the can down the road. “Through the fog of war, it’s possible to see where all this is heading,” Michael Doran asserts in a The Free Press article headlined “Trump’s Endgame.”

And in New York Iranian Americans celebrated, in contrast to their Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who called the strikes against Iran “a catastrophe.” Yael Bar Tur captures the moment for City Journal:

As the marchers stepped off toward Times Square, secured by repeatedly thanked NYPD members, Second Avenue saw a stream of American, Israeli, and pre-revolutionary “Lion and Sun” Iranian flags.

Most demonstrators’ signs were homemade—a stark contrast with the generic, NGO-funded ones often held by far-left protesters. Some carried signs urging the international community to help secure the liberation of homeland, knowing full well those calls would go unheeded. Others hoisted images of the exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi, stuffed toy rats (symbolizing Khamenei) hanging from poles, and “Make Iran Great Again” signs.

One fashionable woman held a photo of herself as a young hijab-clad girl in Iran. A man raised a gory photo of the Ayatollah with the words “RIP—Rest in Piss.”

You know who’s been egregiously absent in the struggle for Iran’s freedom? American feminists. “Progressive opinion has become obsessed with boardroom quotas and microaggressions – rather than the real oppression visited upon women,” writes Anabel Denham at the London Telegraph.

The Pentagon has begun releasing names of the valiant Americans who have died in this conflict.

The Texas Primary. James Talirico defeated brash and unfiltered Rep. Jasmine Crockett to become the Democratic nominee for a seat in the Senate:

The race between Talarico and Crockettpresented more of a contrast in style than ideology.

Crockett, 44, said the party, the country and especially Black women like herself needed to fight back against MAGA with equally combative terms and tactics. The 36-year-oldTalarico, meanwhile, emphasized the need to win people over by engaging them on religion and cultural topics that other Democrats have largely ceded to conservatives.

Senator John Cornyn, in a race with MAGA stalwart and Texas AG Ken Paxton, did better than expected and there will be a runoff between the two. Rep. Wes Hunt came in a distant third. Politico reports:

Sen. John Cornyn defied expectations in the Texas GOP primary on Tuesday. National Republicans believe his unexpectedly strong showing may be enough for President Donald Trump to endorse the embattled incumbent.

Not so sanguine about Cornyn’s chances. National Review’s Jeffrey Blehar, who writes “Carnival of Fools” laments the loss of Crockett for his carnival and adds:

My opinion of him notwithstanding, Paxton remains very well positioned to win the nomination, unless Texas Republican voters rally to their senses next month.

Former Republican National Committee head Michael Whatley walked away with the GOP nomination with 64 percent of the vote in a multi-candidate field in North Carolina.

Former Navy SEAL Rep. Dan Crenshaw lost his bid for renomination to his seat in the House to state Rep. Steve Toth, who had strong backing from Senator Ted Cruz.

Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Riley hits in out of the ballpark with “Why Johnny Can’t Read Anything Other Than Pronouns.” “Schools have become laboratories for esoteric ideological projects, not centers of learning,” Riley argues.

He begins with the recent Supreme Court ruling that reinstated a lower-court ruling that California parents must be notified when they children adopt news pronouns or a new “gender identity.” Riley writes:

Far too many children are still assigned to substandard schools, and too many remain unable to read or do math at grade level. Meanwhile, educators and policymakers seem preoccupied with nonsense like helping students “transition” behind their parents’ backs or indoctrinating impressionable youngsters with social-justice poppycock to promote trendy political causes. American kids are outperformed by their foreign peers on international exams while we have to concern ourselves with whether school libraries make sexually explicit texts available to third-graders.

For a growing number of people in charge of the public education establishment, making sure that boys can play on girls’ sports teams has become more important than making sure students are acquiring basic academic skills that will enable them to learn a trade, complete college, become productive adults.

“Do You Believe in California Miracles?” is the headline on James Freeman’s Best of the Web” column. Seems a prominent Democrat is warning that a Republican could be elected Governor of the Golden State.

What would a Gavin Newsom presidency look like? The Federalist says “California’s Dying Bullet Train Is A Preview” of Newsom in the top job.  

The late Ayatollah Khamenei may have missed out on the virgins, but he certainly got nice obits from legacy media outlets.  

Bernard-Heni Levy reflects on how a noble name disappeared from the map and Persia became Iran.

Iran Is Not Winning Friends in Region. What If Trump Were a Democrat? Eyes on Texas Primary. Nurse Ratched Now a Committed Lefty. More

Posted on by Charlotte Hays

As the Middle Eastern conflict enters its fourth day, Iran is lashing out with “indiscriminate” strikes across the Gulf of Oman—so indiscriminate that Iran took out one of its own oil-transporting “ghost” ships.

Iran is operating with—shall we say—a slimmed down roster of top leaders. The New York Post cover features a scowling President Trump with the headline “Wait for the Big One.”  The U.S. appears to have sunk the entire Iranian navy. Satellite images analyzed by the New York Times show an Iranian naval base and four ships on fire:

 No notable salvaging efforts are visible.

“No, Marco Rubio Didn’t Claim That Israel Dragged Trump into War with Iran” National Review responds to the latest canard from the President’s critics:

Trump isn’t exactly shy about pressuring people into doing what he wants….People are free to agree or disagree with Trump’s decision, but it’s patently clear that Rubio was not trying to argue that Israel dragged the U.S. into this war. 

“An Emboldened Israel Is Seizing Opportunities to Remake Region” is the headline on a New York Times analysis. Is there some other country in the Middle East you’d prefer to remake the region?

“Iran Is Collapsing, but Islamism Is Spreading,” Ayan Hirsi Ali writes in The Free Press. “The fall of the Islamic Republic would be a defeat for political Islam. But an election in Britain and an attack in Texas suggest that Islamism poses an increasing threat to the West,” she argues.

Meanwhile, Wall Street Journal columnist Gerard Baker makes the case for “cautious optimism” about President Trump’s strikes on Iran:

So if regime change doesn’t come now, what kind of regime survives? Leaderless, impoverished, isolated, besieged, mostly disarmed, is Iran likely to be stronger after being on the receiving end of a campaign from the most technologically sophisticated and best-equipped militaries in the world? There are risks, and news of the first U.S. casualties reminds us that the costs are dear. But for an opportunistic president, there may never be a better opportunity.

“Trump Tries to Avoid the Iraq Trap” is the headline on international affairs guru Walter Russell Mead’s column. Mead writes that Trump “practices 21st-century gunboat diplomacy” in Venezuela and Iran:

The attack is the biggest gamble of Mr. Trump’s political career. A success that ends nearly half a century of brutal, bigoted and utterly unscrupulous rule by a clique of fanatical clerics would serve both the American national interest and the welfare of humanity. Failure could irreparably dent Mr. Trump’s prestige abroad, shatter his political coalition, and destroy his authority at home.

The early stages of battle should leave Mr. Trump hopeful. 

There are several other good articles on Iran on the Wall Street Journal’s Opinion pages this morning. An editorial contends that Iran has expanded the “Trump coalition” by attacking its Arab neighbors. “Iran was counting on the West’s cravenness,” writes Scalia Law School Professor Eugene Kontorovich but instead was met by the “confluence of brave and aligned leaders in Washington and Jerusalem.” Bill McGurn asks what would happen if Trump were a Democrat. He’d talk a good game but not act.

Along these lines, you might enjoy “Why Trump and Hegseth’s Swagger Leaves Washington’s ‘Elite’ Seething,” by Glenn Reynolds in the New York Post.

The midterms begin today with the primaries for a Senate seat in Texas. “I hope Crockett wins Texas primary so she can lose in November” is USA TODAY’s conservative columnist Nicole Russell’s headline. The latest Emerson poll has Texas AG Ken Paxton, MAGA darling, ahead of Senator John Cornyn but Cornyn is by no means out of the game.  The shooting in Austin, by a man wearing a “Property of Allah” T-shirt, and a spewer of hatred, has become a campaign issue. The shooting also should put a spotlight on security for all of us during this tense time. “Memo to Dems: There’s a War On — Stop Blocking Funds for Homeland Security” is the headline over a New York Post editorial.

The Supreme Court has blocked California’s restrictions on telling parents that their children identify as transgender. You likely know who voted how:

The Supreme Court on Mondaybarred California from enforcing state rules that restrict when schools can notify parents about students who come out as transgender and requires teachers to use children’s preferred pronouns.

The court, on a 6-3 vote on ideological lines, allowed a federal judge’s ruling in favor of parents who oppose the policy on religious grounds to go into effect. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had put the judge’s decision on hold pending further litigation.

The Associated Press headline says that the Court blocked “outing transgender students to their parents in California.” Outing to their parents? “Who says Democrats have learned their lesson about ‘gender-affirming’ treatments for kids?” begins a City Journal article in an Oregon law that would hide data about gender procedures for children?”

The Supreme Court also sided with New York Republican Rep. Nicole Meliotakis, who challenged a Democratic redistricting plan:

Over the dissent of the court’s three liberal justices, the conservative majority halted a state court ruling that had ordered New York’s redistricting commission to redraw the district held by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., that covers Staten Island and a small piece of Brooklyn. A judge had ruled that the district was drawn in a way that dilutes the power of its Black and Hispanic voters and had instructed the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission to complete a new map. 

We’re just now getting the full story (with video) of Hillary Clinton’s dramatic threatened walk out during her Epstein House Oversight Committee hearing after Rep. Lauren Boebert leaned a picture of the proceedings (against the rules). Also, here.

On the other hand, we might never have gotten the true figures from the Mamdani administration about the number of New Yorkers who froze to death in the snow without the relentless digging of the New York Post:

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration admitted that an additional seven New Yorkers froze to death indoors — bringing the tally of fatalities from the recent stretch of frigid weather to 29.

The updated death toll was only released after The Post pressed the admin Monday on a list showing 31 possible fatalities that was circulated in City Hall and some agencies during the historic cold snap in mid-January to early February.

A City Hall representative said seven more indoor deaths that occurred between Jan. 23 and Feb. 10 were ruled as being caused by hypothermia, bringing the total number of New Yorkers who died from the cold at home to 14.

“Why Are So Many Nurses Left-Wing?” is the alarming headline on a City Journal article. It begins:

National Nurses United has a message for the White House: “ICE messed with the wrong profession.” After intensive-care nurse Alex Pretti was killed in Minneapolis last month, the union’s members called U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement a “fascist, terrorizing, and lawless paramilitary force violently enforcing a white supremacist agenda.” In another statement, the union called federal immigration enforcement agencies one of America’s “top public health threats,” adding to a string of similar declarations it made about racism, climate change, and Israeli “apartheid.”

The helping professions—occupations like therapy, social work, and nursing—have increasingly drifted from their traditional roles as carers and embraced social-justice advocacy. These fields have long leaned left and female, but the skew has recently intensified, following broader trends in academia. Progressives now vastly outnumber conservatives, creating an echo chamber that has radicalized a segment of the workforce.

In “J.D. Vance’s Iran Dilemma” The Free Press’s Eli Lake suggests, “The vice president is caught between Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson.” Vance went on Jesse Waters show last night to talk about Iran. Did he put to rest the notion that the strikes go against his long held beliefs?