Epstein Archives

Combative Hillary: Who’s This Ghislaine Person? Bill Is Deposed Today. Minnesota Fraud Spigot Turned Off. Historic VMI Under Attack. Bad Samaritans. And More

Posted on February 27, 2026March 3, 2026 by Charlotte Hays

It seemed like old times: a touchy and unforthcoming Hillary Clinton being deposed.

“In Tense Deposition, Hillary Clinton Denies Knowing Epstein or His Crimes” is the New York Times headline:

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday denied ever meeting Jeffrey Epstein or knowing anything about his crimes during a more than six-hour, closed-door deposition in front of the House Oversight Committee, which briefly devolved into chaos after a Republican lawmaker leaked a photograph of the proceedings to a right-wing blogger.

Mrs. Clinton arrived to testify under oath at the Center for Performing Arts in Chappaqua, N.Y., defiant about being compelled to participate in the panel’s investigation into Mr. Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in prison in 2019.

The photo was furtively snapped and leaked by Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert. Podcaster Benny Johnson was the recipient. It is against the Oversight Committee rules to do this. Angry Dems (and Ms. Must) came away wondering if maybe Rep. Boebert could use more oversight herself:

“I really admire her blue suit, so I wanted to capture that for everyone,” Boebert, a member of the House Oversight Committee, told reporters in Chappaqua, New York. When a reporter asked why she sent the picture to Johnson, Boebert responded, “Why not?”

She also told reporters that she had “just returned to my hotel room and installed the BleachBit software,” referring to a disk cleaning program for Windows, adding, “So I guess in regards to taking photos, I do not recall.”

You will be happy to learn that years of exile from political power have not turned Hillary into a sweet little old lady. She was her combative old self, demanding that President Trump be brought before the Committee to testify under oath about his relationship with late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

I don’t think the Committee laid a glove on her, but she did skedaddle when a reporter asked her why Epstein procurer Ghislaine Maxwell—with whom Hillary said she had “no relationship”—was a guest at Chelsea Clinton’s wedding. Maxwell, however, appears to have been deeply involved with the kickoff of the Clinton Global Initiative. PJ Media’s Stephen Kruiser was not favorably impressed with the Oversight Committee’s decision to call Mrs. Clinton. “A Pox on Everyone Who Keeps Hillary Clinton in the News,” says Kruiser.

Former President Bill Clinton will testify about his relationship with Epstein before the same Committee today. He did not come willingly.

“Vance Tightens the Fraud Spigot” is Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberley Strassel’s headline this morning. Washington will withhold Medicaid reimbursements from the state of Minnesota. Strassel observes:

This is unprecedented—and different from the administration’s moves to pause grant disbursements to high-fraud states. Minnesota is already on the hook for these Medicaid services. The federal check now in deferment limbo was supposed to reimburse the state for the federal government’s share of that spending. Mr. Oz made clear that “we will give them the money” after “they propose and act on a comprehensive corrective action plan to solve the problem.” Future payments are also at risk. If Minnesota dawdles, it “will rack up $1 billion of deferred payments this year,” the CMS head said.

Substantively, this is a powerful approach, since it attacks the key structural flaw in the current system. Medicaid is a joint federal-state program, but states make all the decisions and send the feds a bill. States have little interest in policing fraud—in making sure that a “nonprofit” they send money to is real, qualified or successful—since the federal government “matches” at multiples. For some Medicaid populations, every dollar a state pays brings $9 from federal taxpayers. Spend more, get more. This is how you get an estimated $9 billion in fraudulent Minnesota claims.

If Vance is trying to end fraud in Minnesota, Democrats in Virginia are trying to end VMI (Virginia Military Institute) as we know it. Two bills now under consideration by the state’s legislature could damage the country’s oldest military college. An editorial calls it what it is:

Don’t think this is about saving money. It’s about progressive hostility to VMI’s martial values. As part of its review, the new panel (made up of 11 delegates, two of whom served in the military) would “thoroughly audit” whether the school has made “substantial changes” to reduce “racist, sexist or misogynistic” actions in the student body and whether the school “possesses the capacity . . . to end celebration of the Confederacy.” Possesses the capacity? The outcome seems preordained.

Does California possess the capacity to elect a Republican Governor? “Republicans Have a Rare Shot at Winning the California Governorship” announces a Washington Examiner headline. It’s because so many Democratic candidates have emerged. All candidates run against each other, regardless of party, in the primary. It would be astonishing if Steve Hilton or Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco replaced Gavin Newsom.

Maybe “public servants” in the Golden State would then rake in more realistic salaries. Meanwhile, four-termer Senator John Cornyn of Texas is struggling for re-election, and Politico wonders if there is still a place in the GOP for traditional Republican such as Cornyn. Call Him Daddy: Also in Politico, Rep. Nancy Mace, who is running for Governor of Sooth Carolina, talks about her personal traumas and why President Trump is a “father figure” for her.

Did President Trump’s economic message in his State of the Union address improve GOP chances for the midterms? Longtime political consultant David Winston answers:

It was the first step in a long-term case he needs to prove. The economic data of the past few months has generated more questions than answers as we wait for more reporting. People are just as confused as the economists, wondering if the glass is half empty or half full.

What about the tariffs? AEI Research Fellow David Hebert writes that the tariffs have made the U. S. so unpredictable that other countries are trading without us. Meanwhile, Salon’s Jason Kyle Howard writes the SOTU exposed his party’s biggest problem: they don’t know how to fight Trump. This is so unfair—the anti-Trump dancing frogs brigade was magnificent.

And Now—Bad Samaritans. The Marylander Condominiums are in a precarious situation after a nearby homeless encampment allegedly vandalized the boiler, leaving residents without heat. While residents have fled or soon will be evicted, the Washington Free Beacon reports:

The encampment, though, is still going strong. And unlike the moribund condominium, it is getting plenty of help from private charities.

The Washington Free Beacon identified nearly a dozen church groups, activists, and local businesses that deliver food to the camp on a regular basis. The meals are distributed at the entrance of the encampment, in the parking lot of a nearby McDonald’s, without any pushback from the county, which runs its own on-site delivery program through the Department of Social Services.

The victims of that humanitarian free-for-all have been the condo’s law-abiding residents, many of them low-income minorities.

If you are in the market for a fun book on progressive doing good deeds, may I recommend Lionel Shriver’s A Better Life? A progressive mom takes in an illegal under the fictional “Big Apple, Big Hearts.” All the right people are angry with Shriver.

“What Would the World Look Like Without Trump?” Martin Gurri asks this question at City Journal. It’s a rather dazzling essay but too complicated to summarize. It deals particularly with global mass migration and concludes:

Trump is the decider in this war of worlds. Should he self-detonate into nihilistic chaos, the old regime will triumph by default, and the window on an era riven by revolts from below may close. But should he achieve his objectives and pass the baton to a successor, the transformation of the system will accelerate to warp speed.

The times would be defined by an immense horizon of possibilities, including, for example, a reconfiguration of government along lines shaped by the capabilities of artificial intelligence. Whether, at the end of this process, anything resembling our current dreams and ideals will remain may be the most consequential question we can ask—and one for which there is, at present, no answer.

Happy Friday!

Delusional Mullahs & the Stakes in Iran. Dancing Frogs and F-word Part of Dem Arsenal. The Dream That Will Not Die: NYT Pushes Unverified Trump Smear in Epstein Files. More

Posted on February 26, 2026March 3, 2026 by Charlotte Hays

President Trump faces a legacy defining decision: whether to strike Iran. The U.S. and the Islamic regime are engaging in indirect talks in Geneva. “We just need action,” say desperate Iranians back home.

A Wall Street Journal editorial is headlined “Trump and the Stakes in Iran.” The editorial argues that, while there are reasons to strike Iran, the President has not made the case yet:

This failure is creating uncertainty even inside his Administration. Media reports Monday said that Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is worried about the risks of striking Iran. Our sources say those stories are accurate, and the leaks suggest an effort by doubters inside the Administration to deter Mr. Trump more than Iran.

We’re also told that as of Tuesday the head of Central Command, Adm. Brad Cooper, hadn’t briefed Mr. Trump on the war plan he’s put together for Iran. The plan calls for an extensive attack on a host of Iranian regime and military targets, which is consistent with the armada Mr. Trump has assembled in the region.

Some inside the administration are proposing a delay. The Editors, however, caution against that idea:

Waiting would squander a rare opportunity to topple a regime that has terrorized the world, spread war across the Middle East, supplied Russia and China, and killed or maimed thousands of Americans.

Waiting would also damage Mr. Trump’s credibility. He told the Iranian public in January that “help is on its way,” and he didn’t say help would only arrive after the U.S. election. If he now settles for nuclear promises or symbolic strikes after having amassed so much force, Moscow and Beijing will notice. An honorable peace in Ukraine becomes harder.

There is heightened anxiety in Israel, where hospitals are conducting emergency drills and citizens are obtaining list of locations of bomb shelters. Quotable pro-attack Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says that Iran is facing its “Berlin Wall moment.” Daniel Pletka has a really magnificent piece on the Iran decision in National Review this morning.

Pletka writes that President Trump is baffled as to why Iran, facing regime annihilation by the U.S., doesn’t want to give up its nuclear ambitions:

Foreign leaders like Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the current supreme leader, don’t just dress differently and speak different languages. They live in a different reality. In their reality, Iran is a formidable power that killed scores of Americans with a strike on Iraq in 2020, downed Israeli F-35s, and killed hundreds of Israel Defense Forces troops in its 2025 strikes on Israel. Of course, these things didn’t happen, but Iran’s senior-most leaders nevertheless believe they did.

Liberation Delayed. Cuban nationals living in the United States were prevented from “infiltrating” the communist island in their Florida-registered speedboat. The Cuban government says that the people in the speedboat fired first. Cuban border agents killed four. The brother of one of the men killed described his brother, a truck driver, as pursuing an “obsessive and diabolical quest” for Cuba’s freedom. Call me crazy, but I don’t see how wanting to free Cuba could be termed “diabolical.”

“The State of the Union Is Belligerent” is Wall Street Journal politics columnist Karl Rove’s headline this morning. Rove writes:

Throughout his record number of guest introductions, the president was empathetic and personable. His remarks, delivered as written, were often moving, patriotic and unifying.

This was also the most partisan State of the Union in memory. In what may have been a first, Mr. Trump attacked his predecessor by name several times. He repeatedly condemned congressional Democrats, tried to force them to stand and applaud him, and lacerated them when they didn’t. He was spoiling for a fight.

Polling dials indicate that one of the most popular moments in the SOTU, even for Democrats, was when the President called for a ban on insider stock trading for members of Congress, calling renowned stock picker Nancy Pelosi by name.

Who Doesn’t Love a Green Frog? But let’s admit—the Dems were memorable too. “Dems Ditched American Heroes for Adults in Frog Suits and Tiresome De Niro — All we can do is Pity Them” is the headline on Kirsten Fleming’s enjoyable piece.

[S]ome of our nation’s lawmakers chose to hang with wack jobs in inflatable frog costumes at a “State of the Swamp” event in DC, organized by the Anti-Trump organization Defiance.org.

“Tonight I defy Trump and his authoritarian project by standing in joyful, radical, peaceful resistance with the Portland Frog Brigade,” Rep. Maxine Dexter of Oregon said to the audience proudly sporting Kermit’s cousins on their heads.

“We answered with frog costumes, dancing, singing and joy when Trump wanted us to cower in fear,” she said crediting her amphibian army with keeping the National Guard out of their city.

I beg you: Do not under any circumstances miss the dancing frog pictures.

Miranda Devine writes that the Dems revealed their stance on illegal immigration and their true colors by refusing to stand during the SOTU. Lowered standards of civility are bipartisan, but the Democrats’ shocking embrace of the f-word takes it to a new level of vulgarity. Jonathan Turley has a worthy piece on Democrats’ obscenity-larded race to the bottom.

Another great Barton Swaim article. “Vance, Newsom and Tales of Want” argues that politicians who romanticize economic hardships of growing up (some more plausibly than others) don’t others to experience the hard knocks that shaped them:

The vice president fervently supports expanding almost any redistributionist program said to benefit the working class. Maybe if Mr. Vance’s ideas had obtained 30 years ago, the American economy would have shown more generosity to the working class, Mamaw would have enjoyed an income in keeping with her moral worth, and she would have had no trouble buying that calculator. But in that case, Mamaw would have had to make no sacrifice and there would have been no “Hillbilly Elegy” and thus no Vice President Vance.

Did Richard Nixon get done in by the deep state? It is an intriguing idea explored by Christopher Caldwell at the London Spectator. Unfortunately, behind the pay wall, so only lucky subscribers can get it.

There are some other pieces I want to recommend: City Journal’s article saying that New Yorkers don’t know how much they spend on public education (more than any other state with abysmal results). … A Wall Street Journal editorial to the effect that vaccine skeptic Dr. Casey Means, who has been nominated for Surgeon General, is not the best person to restore credibility to the Department of Health and Human Services. … An editorial at the same esteemed publication predicting that the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security is about to bite.

It is an article of faith among TDS sufferers that someday, if they just keep pushing hard, something. Somewhere in the Epstein documents will destroy Donald Trump. The New York Times, in that spirit of hope, has a story claiming that the released DOJ files included a brief mention of a woman’s unverified accusation that Trump assaulted her in the 1980s, when she was a minor. But several memos related to her account are not in the files.

Breitbart focuses on the unverified nature of the accusation (not that others have not been ruined by unverified material in the Epstein material). The white whale for Republicans is the Clintons. Wily Mrs. Clinton is scheduled to be deposed on the Epstein matter in behind closed doors at her Chappaqua residence. Raise your hand if you think this will be a fruitful endeavor.

The State of the Union. Dems Mull: Silent Resistance or Outright Protest. War in Paradise. Gavin Newsom’s SAT. Mamdani’s Personality Transplant. Epstein Mania and Trial by Jury. More

Posted on February 24, 2026March 3, 2026 by Charlotte Hays

President Trump tonight delivers the first State of the Union address of his second term. The President is expected to use the SOTU to assess that the United States is ‘strong, prosperous and respected’ as it enters its 250th year:

President Trump will use his State of the Union address to sell the public on the economy and unveil new measures meant to lower costs, as Republicans try to address voters’ concerns ahead of the midterm elections later this year.

The official theme of the speech, according to White House officials familiar with the draft: “America at 250: Strong, Prosperous and Respected,” a reference to the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding. The address will emphasize the idea of American exceptionalism, and the president is planning to weave in stories of Americans who say they have benefited from his policies, the officials said.

Fox Digital also looks to tonight.

Coming shortly after the Supreme Court’s ruling against the Trump tariffs, the stakes for the President could be even higher than usual.

The question for the out of power party tonight is: “‘Silent defiance’ or outright opposition? Democrats split over how to confront Trump” MS Now informs us. They tried the first and made fools of themselves last year (it was a presidential speech but not a SOTU) and thus Rep. Hakeem Jeffries is leaning towards the silent treatment this year.

Bummer. But some will boycott the SOTU and there will be an array of options outside the House chamber (where the speech is delivered):

One of those events, dubbed the “People’s State of the Union,” will take place on the National Mall beginning shortly before Trump’s speech is scheduled to begin. Sponsored by liberal activist groups, including MoveOn Civic Action, it’s set to feature a number of prominent Democrats from both chambers, including Sens. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Ed Markey (Mass.) and Chris Murphy (Conn.), and Reps. Veronica Escobar (Texas), Pramila Jayapal (Wash.) and Greg Casar (Texas), who heads the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Another countermessaging event, “The State of the Swamp,” will be staged at the National Press Club near the White House. That gathering is also expected to attract some high-profile Democrats, including Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Reps. Seth Moulton (Mass.), Eric Swalwell (Calif.) and Dan Goldman (N.Y.). At least two other Democrats, Reps. Jason Crow (Colo.) and Eugene Vindman (Va.), have said they will participate in the event but also attend Trump’s speech later in the evening.

And if Eugene Vindman and Dim Dan are not enough star-power, Joy Reid was touted last week as a “sober, centrist” voice at the People’s SOTU. Half dozen or so Democrats have invited Jeffrey Epstein victims to be their guests, presumably because hope springs eternal that next 3 million documents dump will bring down the President. Meanwhile, Team USA hockey star Jack Hughes says the guys are super excited to meet President Trump tonight.

Ruy Texeira of The Free Press writes that the State of the Union has been “overstated:” he argues that the speeches used to make history but are now mired in tribal warfare. Nothing Trump could say will change that. Former George W. Bush speech writer Bill McGurn makes the case for the SOTU. A White House invitation for also triumphant women’s hockey team either was not sent or was declined.

“War in Paradise” blares the New York Post cover headline. “Mexico just decapitated its most dangerous cartel. That means war,” award-winning Mexican journalist Leon Krauze writes in the Washington Post. He urges President Claudia Sheinbaum to stay the course. A piece at Unherd argues that El Mencho death shows President Trump’s growing influence in Mexico. Bloomberg says Sheinbaum has crossed her Rubicon.

More Snow. A record snowfall blankets the Northeast. In response, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has softened his policy forbidding homeless sweeps that was responsible for 19 deaths. And there is much rejoicing because this will save lives of the poor and downtrodden? Nope, “compassionate” left wing activists are furious.

“Tax the Rich—Or Mamdani Will Tax You All” is the headline on Nicole Gelinas’ latest City Journal piece. Galinas observes:

[T]he guy who couldn’t stop smiling last year insists the city is in crisis now. Why? He needs a crisis to push through his proposed $9 billion in annual new taxes on high earners and corporations. He wants to raise taxes for the sake of raising taxes—and the governor, who must sign off on any such increases, won’t cooperate. Last year, Mamdani wanted these tax hikes partly to pay for his universal childcare plan. Instead, the governor swiftly agreed earlier this year to fund the plan’s gradual rollout with existing state revenues.

Meanwhile, a City Counsel member warns Mamdani that his plan not to add 5,000 police will make the city less safe. Meanwhile, a mob tormented police officers during the snow emergency:

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has been blasted for fueling anti-cop hate after an unruly mob launched a “disgusting” snowball attack on NYPD officers during Monday’s blizzard.

Former Police Commissioner Bill Bratton calls upon Mamdani not to eliminate NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, which keeps protesters safe and does much more.

Police aren’t the only New Yorkers feeling undervalued by the Mayor. “’Jim Snow 2.0′: Critics blast Mamdani’s $19 snow jobs after $30 wage pledge” explains that Mamdani wants you to pay a high minimum wage from which he exempts himself. Give the kid a break—this is the first time he’s ever had to make payroll.

Dumb Like You. Ms. Must thought Andrew Stiles’ Free Beacon piece on California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s racial pandering might be satire. Nobody could be that dumb. But no. Somebodu is that dumb. CBS has a story on the pandering and Newsom’s (dumb) attempt to blame the fallout on “MAGA bigotry:”

Newsom spoke Sunday with [Atlanta Mayor Andre] Dickens in front of a packed auditorium, reflecting on his academic challenges. “I’m not trying to impress you, I’m just trying to impress upon you I’m like you, I’m not better than you,” Newsom said. “I’m a 960 SAT guy and you know, I’m not trying to offend anyone — you know — trying to act all there if you got 940 — but literally, a 960 SAT guy. You’ve never seen me read a speech because I cannot read a speech. Maybe the wrong business to be.”

Another prominent Golden State politician has yet to make public her SAT scores but I for one would be interested.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is a fool and a knave. But Wall Street Journal columnist Gerard Baker writes that “Even Contemptible Men Don’t Deserve Mob Justice.” The “militant wing of Epstein mania” is beginning to worry me.

Wall Street Journal columnist Walter Russell Mead writes that the tariff battles are far from over. Limits will only inspire President Trump to for alternatives to search to increase his leverage at home and abroad. An editorial in the Wall Street Journal complains that (in the opinion of the Editorial Board) the President’s new basis for tariffs is “a relic of a bygone era.” FedEx is suing the administration for return of tariff revenues taken so far. President Trump “smacked” the tariffs in the lead-up to tonight’s speech. National Review’s Jeffrey Blehar deduces:

Yes, tonight’s State of the Union address is probably going to be a dumpster fire, or, for that matter, a zeppelin fire. Donald Trump has already warned: “It’s going to be a long speech. Because we have a lot to talk about.” (Imagine the futility of speechwriting for Trump, knowing that a full 65 percent of your material will never be spoken, given his improvisational tendencies.)

Don’t Miss. There was a wonderful tribute to the kind of masculinity personified in the US hockey team in the Examiner. It’s headlined “The US hockey team knelt — and that is what matters.” I don’t know as much as I should about sports, but I was blown away by this piece.

Oswald Spengler, Call Your Office: New Political Ad Signals Decline of Western Civ. Iran Still Up in Air. Dem “Secret Sauce.” Supreme Court Vacancy Rumors. More

Posted on February 20, 2026March 3, 2026 by Charlotte Hays

“Has Contrived Coarseness Jumped the Shark?”

Well, something’s jumped the shark. Under the above headline, National Review’s Noah Rothman writes:

In her bid for the U.S. Senate, Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton may have done the country a great service. Her debut campaign ad is so gratuitously obscene that it may push past its breaking point a trend in which politicians attempt to convey authenticity via the liberal use of four-letter words.

If you’re inclined to watch the spot, I’d recommend doing so with headphones.

Stratton’s campaign ad consists of a string of people saying “f… Trump.” The ad is embedded in the NR piece. Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth is one of the people facing the camera and saying, “F— Trump.” Illinois Governor and 2028 hopeful JB Pritzker appears in the ad, which he reposted on X, but doesn’t say the f-word. Stratton, who is running for retiring Senator Dick Durbin’s seat, did have a political message, overshadowed as it was by the repeated obscenity:

She added that she’s “not scared of a wannabe dictator. I’m running for Senate to stand up to Donald Trump.” Stratton said she will abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and “hold Trump accountable for the crimes he’s committed.”

I am scared of the civilizational rot that would lead to anybody’s thinking this is okay, much less a Governor and sitting Senator. Pritzker has given the Stratton campaign $5 million. Words fail me.

In other news, we are still on tenterhooks about Iran, and President Trump’s advisers are urging him to focus on the economy—but it’s difficult with the fate of Iran and other international concerns. Oh, and in response to former President Obama’s offhand remark about space aliens, President Trump is directing the Pentagon to release files related to UFOs and space aliens. Sorry, I meant to say undocumented critters from other galaxies.

President Trump may be distracted from talking about the economy, but the Wall Street Journal isn’t. An editorial headlined “The Embarrassing Truth About Tariffs” continues the Journal’s criticism of the President’s beloved tariffs:

The flap concerns the analysis we told you about last week by four economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. They found that American households and businesses are bearing nearly 90% of the cost of the Trump tariffs, contrary to Mr. Trump’s claim that foreigners will pay.

Clearly the White House is worried that voters might conclude this research aligns with their own experience. Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, took to CNBC Wednesday to pan the New York Fed research as “the worst paper I’ve ever seen in the history of the Federal Reserve System” and suggested the people who wrote and published it should be “disciplined.” Disciplined how? Put in stocks? For a tariff paper?

The Fed analysis aligns with other research into the distribution of tariff costs from Harvard economists and Germany’s Kiel Institute—and with common sense. There isn’t widespread evidence that foreign producers are cutting their prices to offset the tariffs, the main mechanism by which foreigners would “pay” for the border taxes.

The Times of London compares the impact of arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to the abdication crisis that shook the monarchy in 1936. Andrew’s arrest is the “end of reverence for the royal family,” writes a saddened Tim Stanley in the Washington Post:

The arrest on Thursday of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the fool formerly known as a prince, marks the definite end of public reverence toward the British monarchy. I write that as an Englishman who is rather fond of it. …

When the Epstein scandal spread to Britain, it looked to many of us like the moral indictment of an establishment we have long suspected of being rotten.

Rather ironically, “Randy Andy” is in trouble not for his fabled sexual adventures but on suspicion having shared secret British trade information with foreign powers (also addressed in a WSJ editorial). Thank God the late Queen Elizabeth II isn’t here to witness this is the response of many. Mountbatten-Windsor’s facial expression as he was driven away from the police station was one of extreme shock and terrible fear.

Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberley Strassel writes that the Democrats plan to deploy a “secret sauce” to win in the midterms:

When Democratic operatives look at Texas state Rep. James Talarico, they don’t see just another young progressive vying for a U.S. Senate seat. They see the political equivalent of In-N-Out Burger Spread—a new secret sauce to win over voters. The party is rolling out the recipe nationwide, and the midterms will provide initial sales figures.

Mr. Talarico is an early test. In 11 days he faces progressive steamroller U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Senate primary. If he’s got a shot, it’s because a growing number of Democratic money men and influencers see in the 36-year-old Presbyterian seminarian one answer to their cultural alienation from voters.

Whatever the outcome, there’s a warning here for Republicans. Democrats aren’t letting working-class voters go without a fight. This shift will tempt some GOP leaders to try to match the left’s economic pandering, in a race to see who can better stoke class warfare, or promise more subsets of voters. That’s a recipe for loss (the left always wins bidding matches), not to mention an insult to working-class Americans who are voting for the GOP because they want good policy—not for handouts, or because they like tattoos.

Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger doesn’t have tattoos (as far as I know), but she did run as a moderate. Now, she will give the Democratic affordability-themed response to next week’s State of the Union address. Larry Kudlow writes that the SOTU should be optimistic:

And that boom has already started. And it’s generating 4 percent-plus growth. I know you can’t eat GDP, but you can eat groceries, or buy essentials at the local Walmart.

Meanwhile, Liberal Patriot Ruy Teixeira says that his party has a “fraud problem:”

The specter of welfare fraud haunts the Democrats once again. Concerns about abuse of generous government programs helped power the rise of Reagan-era conservatism in the 1970s and ’80s. Could the criminal abuse of hundreds of millions of dollars in welfare costs in Minnesota, which has brought down the state’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz, be leveraged to similar broad political effect today?

Another potential liability for the Dems, according to Leor Sapir, writing at City Journal, is the transgender issue. Sapir argues that “gender medicine” is shaking the general public’s faith in doctors, even ones who don’t perform gender surgeries.

News Flash. The MAGA base is not isolationist. That’s the conclusion of Mark Penn and Andrew Stein who write at the Wall Street Journal that the MAGA base backs Trumps foreign interventions. Real Clear Politics discusses whether Trump’s Board of Peace might replace the United Nations.

Rumor Mill. Will there be a Supreme Court vacancy this summer? Real Clear Politics cogitates on this matter:

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samel Alito are, by some order of magnitude, the two most principled conservative justices currently sitting on the high court. It stands to reason that they would like to be replaced by ideological fellow travelers — something that likely requires a likeminded president and a likeminded U.S. Senate majority.

Nancy Guthie’s family goes into the weekend with the case of their missing 84-year-old mother seemingly not much closer to resolution. It is being alleged that the Pima County Sheriff in charge has turned the case into an ego trip. The FBI can only take over if the family requests it.

For a heart-stopping moment, I thought the item was going to be bad news. But it was a milestone, not the obituary I feared: Larry the cat marked 15 years as the official mouser of 10 Downing Street earlier this week. Here are pictures of Larry’s remarkable career and the Prime Ministers who have served under him.

More good news from the animal kingdom: An orphaned monkey has found a cuddly pal. Awww.

Will Trump Maduro Khamenei? “Seismic” Arrest of Former Prince Andrew. By the Waters of the Potomac: Poop Smell. Exclusive: Christianity Not Dead Yet! More

Posted on February 19, 2026March 3, 2026 by Charlotte Hays

Let’s talk while I get my mighty armada in place—just in case.

“U.S. Gathers the Most Air Power in the Mideast Since the 2003 Iraq Invasion” trumpets the Wall Street Journal.

The New York Times emphasizes that President Trump has not yet made up his mind what to do in Iran, despite the impressive buildup of military might in the region. Has it crossed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s mind that he could be Maduro-ed? Betting odds that the Ayatollah will be removed from power are rising. The price of oil jumped 4 percent after Vice President J.D. Vance said that Iran is ignoring chief U.S. military demands in the current negotiations. Here’s more on the U.S. military assets in the region. President is full of surprises, and we don’t know what is going to happen.

Speaking of surprises, the Thames Valley cops raided the Sandringham and Windsor homes of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and arrested the man formerly known as Prince. The London Spectator’s Alexander Larman calls the arrest “seismic:”

Ever since the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, no member of the Royal Family has been arrested. Which makes this morning’s news that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been taken into police custody under suspicion of misconduct in public office all the more seismic. And with a certain grim irony, his arrest comes on his 66th birthday, of all days.

This development had seemed inevitable for a considerable amount of time now. … Which means that the visit of six unmarked police cars and plain-clothes officers to Wood Farm in Sandringham today is something that only fool – or an optimistic former royal – would have bet against.

King Charles III gives his “full and wholehearted support” into the investigation of his brother.

“Mamdani Takes New York Hostage” is the headline over a Wall Street Journal editorial. The argument of the editorial is that Mayor Mamdani, who is threatening a nearly 10 percent increase on property taxes, will soak the middle class if Albany won’t raise taxes. The editors write:

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is the fresh face of America’s progressive vanguard, so his policy moves are worth watching. His first big move is threatening to raise property taxes unless Democrats in Albany raise taxes on top earners and business. What an ultimatum: Fleece the rich for him, or he’ll fleece them and the middle class.

Mr. Mamdani on Tuesday unveiled his inaugural $127 billion budget, which he amusingly called austere. Only in New York, kids. His budget is $10 billion bigger than Florida’s, though New York City’s population is only 40% of the Sunshine State’s. It’s a $10 billion increase over this year….

Mr. Mamdani’s attempt to extort Ms. Hochul over taxes is part of a broader battle in the Democratic Party. If he prevails, expect more Democrats to imitate his class warfare and hostage-taking.

Meanwhile, there is chaos on a trendy block that does not cater to the hungry masses as New York gets its first free grocery store, located in the West Village, and funded by a betting market and possibly “riffing’ on administration plans. And the Mayor has made a new hire:

News that Mayor Zohran Mamdani has hired Bitta Mostofi, a Biden and de Blasio alumna, to “audit” the NYPD and other city agencies for violations of local sanctuary laws comes amid a larger lefty push to prevent any cooperation with ICE because progressives want “Minneapolis everywhere.”