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Monday, March 2, 2026

The America the Left Loves — and Hates

The America the Left Loves — and Hates

A recent post on “X” from Steve Byrne illustrates the mentality of the Left in America perfectly. Mr. Byrne posted two pictures: one of the cover of Time Magazine extolling Eileen Gu, the Chinese-American who chose to serve on China’s Olympic team, and the other picture from U.S. Today of the U.S. hockey team, captioning an article dissing the American team who won the gold medal. Byrne commented (correctly), “We live in a country where you can win Gold for China and end up on the cover of Time magazine, but win the Gold for US and have your own press turn against you.” That is the despicable, anti-American nature of the Left today, led by its minions in the corporate media and the Democratic Party.

So, here’s the Left in all its glory, and it is perfectly in harmony with their ideology: win gold medals for the most murderous, barbaric, revolting regime in human history, and the United States press praises you. Win gold for the freest, most opportunistic nation in human history and the press of that country despises and slanders you. In America, that can happen; it certainly couldn’t happen in the China that the American media and Left love and worship so devotedly. What hypocrites these people are!

Mr. Byrne’s post on “X” received many comments, as expected. One of them runs as follows (I won’t reveal the author’s identity): “I’m so tired of people missing the issue. It’s not rooted in being American, it’s the fact that the president is a felon and a pedophile.” This is, of course, a bald-faced lie. They hate Donald Trump; there is absolutely no doubt about that, and they slander him every chance they get, as this writer did. But the “roots” of this person’s opposition are not in their lying belief that we have a felonious, pedophilic president; that’s only an excuse. If JD Vance were President, and said and did the same things Trump says and does, the Left would hate him every bit as much as they do Mr. Trump, and would no doubt find reasons to abuse Mr. Vance as well. They hate President Trump, JD Vance, and every other such American because they hate the America Trump, et al, stand for.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” That is the America the Left hates.

I think it is important to make this distinction. We often claim “the Left hates America.” They don’t like it when we say that, and it’s sort of implicit in the quote on “X” from the Leftist above. They are Americans, too, and think they love their country. But what they “love” is not the America created by our Founders, based on God-given rights of freedom and equality. The America they love is a future America, one that does not and has never existed, a vision of what they want America to be! Trump preaches historical America—“Make America Great Again.” The Left and the Democrats don’t want a “great” America. Their vision of America is Marxist, globalist, elitist, licentious and promiscuous, with total government power in their hands. That is not the Judeo-Christian, limited, virtuous government our Founders established (the Left openly hates America’s Founding Fathers as well), and it’s not the America we conservatives (and Mr. Trump) are striving for. Their vision is what they love. America, as founded and as it currently exists, is what they hate.

The Left’s dream for America is exactly opposite to what was created in 1776-1789. They hate the America of the principles of 1776-89; they love the vision they have of America. And they convince themselves that their vision is the true America, and thus they are offended when we say they ”hate America.” They hate Trump and Vance and you and me because we oppose their godless, totalitarian vision of the America they want to create.

So, they praise Eileen Gu for serving on the Chinese Olympic team, and belittle the U.S. gold-winning hockey team, which supported America and accepted Mr. Trump’s invitation to the White House. Folks, just keep in mind, it is not Donald Trump they truly hate; it is the America he represents. Mr. Trump is simply the current focal point of their hatred of traditional America. If JD Vance wins the Presidency in 2028, the venom and vituperation the Left pours out on him will be just as severe. Anybody who represents that America is anathema in their eyes—including, as noted, you and me.

So, Eileen Gu is praised by the Left for serving on the Chinese Olympic team. You know, Xi Jinping hates the America of the Founding Fathers, too, and loves the China he controls. The Left, if they ever gain control of America, will love that America, too.

https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2026/02/27/the-america-the-left-loves-and-hates-n2671966?utm_source=thdailyvip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&utm_content=ncl-QP9TRAkPVH&_nlid=QP9TRAkPVH&_nhids=ncKyxhbzIy7els

Trump Isn't Starting a War, He's Ending One (DP: Important reading for anyone wanting to inform their opinions on the Iran military actions)

Trump Isn't Starting a War, He's Ending One

A.J. Christopher

Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP

As of this writing, the United States and Israel have begun what I can only assume to be the first round of military strikes on Iran. I also assume that the eventual goal is regime change, effected by the United States, but driven by the Iranian people. And I'm not alone. Over the past few days, the so-called “think” tanks are falling all over themselves to be the first to prophesy a quagmire, a “trap,” a “forever war,” and Iraq 3.0.

The dregs at Foreign Policy took a break from clamoring for a post-American world order to demand we not bomb Iran precisely to more quickly usher in said order. At Powerline blog, John Hinderaker gleefully straddles the fence as only he can by declaring his hope that Trump bombs the mullahs with the goal of regime change… and in the same sentence, expresses doubt that this will be accomplished. And if you’re willing to waste the brain cells, you can guess what ol’ Tucker’s position on it is.

But the absolute worst take must be from John Daniel Davison over at The Federalist. John’s main point is that if we allegedly “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear abilities with Operation Midnight Hammer, than why do we need to now bomb Iran again to prevent them from acquiring nuclear capabilities?

Um, well, because Iran is trying to rebuild them. As we knew they would. And if we keep bombing only their nuclear facilities, they will simply keep rebuilding them until the next Democrat gets elected president and we stop sending bombs and start sending pallets of cash again. So there's that.

John writes, “At a certain point, it begins to look like the Trump administration is fishing for a reason to strike Iran. Sorry, but that’s not good enough.”

Fishing for a reason?

I’ll give you a few reasons, John. You tell me if they’re “good enough.”

On November 4, 1979, the Iranian government took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.
The Iranian government helped create, fund, and arm Hezbollah and Hamas.
On April 18, 1983, Hezbollah bombed the American embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people.
On October 23, 1983, Iranian-backed terrorists bombed the American and French barracks in Beirut, killing 307 people.
Over the next decade, Iranian-backed terrorists hijacked several planes, including TWA flight 847, which resulted in the killing of an American sailor.
On July 22, 1985, Hezbollah bombed a synagogue, a Jewish nursing home, and a kindergarten in Copenhagen.
On March 17, 1992, Hezbollah bombed the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 people.
On July 18, 1994, Hezbollah bombed a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, killing 85 people.
On June 25, 1996, Iranian-backed terrorists bombed Khobar Towers, killing 19 American servicemen.
Iran provided training and expertise to al-Qaeda to commit the 1998 embassy bombings
Iran provided training and expertise to al-Qaeda to commit the 2000 USS Cole bombing.
During the Iraq War, Iran supported the Shia insurgency against coalition forces.
During the Afghan War, Iran supported the Taliban insurgency against coalition forces.
Iran supported Syria’s Assad government in crushing its own revolution.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a genocidal war against Israel.
Iran trains and supports the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Iran maintains close ties with the world’s most totalitarian governments, to include Russia, China, North Korea and, until recently, Venezuela.
Iran’s government is protected by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which is basically an Islamic version of Hitler’s SS.
Last month, the IRGC murdered over 30,000 unarmed Iranians in the streets.
For the last 47 years, Iran has been the foremost sponsor of terror in the world.

If these reasons aren’t “good enough” for John Daniel Davison, and we need to go “fishing” for more reasons, here’s another one:

The Iranian government is founded on an offshoot of Islam called Twelver Shiism. It is an apocalyptic sect which holds that the twelfth imam Muhammad al-Mahdi (born 870 AD) never actually died, and has been in hiding this entire time. The Twelvers believe it is their divine duty to usher in the Apocalypse in order to trigger his return. Hence the unrelenting half-century war of terror against the West. We have "thou shalt not kill." They have "thou shalt kill every infidel you find."

That’s the mindset we’re up against. Not reason. Not logic. Not deals or agreements or easing of sanctions. Not a return to the “stable” order of the Cold War that so many “conservatives” seem to long for. The Ayatollahs, their IRGC henchmen, and their Hamas and Hezbollah proxies want all of us dead. All of us. They would behead John’s kids in front of him and laugh as they did it.

Still “not good enough,” John? Here’s one more reason:

In the last 47 years, the geopolitical chessboard has never been so favorable to us and so unfavorable to Iran. In the last few years, Iran has lost both Hamas and Hezbollah as serious forces. Iran has lost its base in Syria. Iran has lost its base in Venezuela. Russia and China have quietly dumped Iran. The Houthis have been taught a few lessons. Iran has recently been militarily weakened in its humiliating defeat in the Twelve-Day War with Israel, as well as with Operation Midnight Hammer. And millions of the Iranian government's own citizens openly despise the regime, and will be more than happy to see it relegated to the dustbin of history.

On the other hand, we have an impregnable armada consisting of two carrier groups with the combined ability to launch over 100 sorties daily for weeks on end. It will likely take us less than 24 hours to achieve total air superiority over Iranian skies, and soon thereafter their ballistic missile capabilities will be in shambles. And it’s anybody’s guess just how much intel we have on their leaders’ movements, how much cyberwarfare we are unleashing, and how quickly both the CIA and Mossad will neutralize their command and control. By the end of this weekend, we'll have a clearer picture.

We literally have them right where we want them. Why on earth would anyone with the most rudimentary sense of reality advocate for us to stand down and give these sociopaths breathing room to recover?

I realize there are arguments against this. These arguments are legitimate and fair, and though I disagree with them, I don’t discount them. I could very well be disastrously wrong in my assessment which, admittedly, is no more informed than the assessments of those with whom I disagree.

I respect the conservatives who disagree with me, and I respect their opinions. So don’t insult us by alleging that we are “fishing for a reason” to go to war. The reasons are numerous.

To be sure, there is risk involved. To our soldiers. To the anti-regime Iranian civilians. To a postwar possibility that the regime survives intact. But there is greater risk in blowing this one golden opportunity to end this war once and for all, so that the next four generations of our soldiers don’t have to deal with it.

With our perfect hindsight, we can continue to fill our diapers with our unvanquishable anxieties about George Bush and Colin Powell and missing WMDs and losing the post-9/11 goodwill of the French and losing the hearts and minds of Afghan goatherds… and in the process, we would have given the ayatollahs another 47 years, with all the Democrat surrenders, pallets of cash, and worthless pieces of paper about nuclear disarmament that they will entail.

Trump chose not to do that. His decision is risky, but it carries the moral fortitude of being indisputably on the right side of history. The dice have been rolled. We can get behind our leader, our troops, and the fight for a world free from Islamic terrorism. Or we can go see what Michael Moore is up to.

In Trump's decision to strike Iran, he hasn't started a “forever war.” He’s attempting to end one. Nothing good would have came had we retreated. The Iranian-led war of terror against the West would have resume, more confident and more brazen. The world would be a worse place, and a lot more innocent people are going to die. That’s not an opinion. That’s an indisputable fact.

The only question is why some conservatives were willing to accept that.

https://pjmedia.com/aj-christopher/2026/02/28/trump-isnt-starting-a-war-hes-ending-one-n4950061?utm_source=pjmediavip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm

Jeffries Brags 'It's Over' for MAGA – Then a Black Voter Study Drops a Major Reality Check

Jeffries Brags 'It's Over' for MAGA – Then a Black Voter Study Drops a Major Reality Check

By Teri Christoph

The day after President Trump delivered the State of the Union to Congress and celebrated the successes of the country – to the thunderous applause of Republicans and the thunderously angry faces of Democrats – lawmakers from the Democrat Party convened in Leesburg, Virginia, for their annual three-day policy conference.

And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08) was ready to take a victory lap, claiming the president had given a "disgraceful performance" the night before and Democrats would be cakewalking their way to victory in the November midterms.

“House Democrats are on the verge of a takeover. The break’s over for these MAGA extremists,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said at the leadership press conference kicking off the retreat. “It’s over because people know that Donald Trump and House Republicans have failed the American people.”

Jeffries continued, "We believe that the best is yet to come in this country, but it won't be delivered by Donald Trump and Republican sycophants in the House and in the Senate. It will come when Democrats take back control of the House, laying a foundation to end this national nightmare in the United States of America and continue our country's march toward a more perfect union."

Minority Leader Jeffries might want to slow his roll just a bit when he learns that a voting bloc that has traditionally been a key constituency for Democrats is giving a long second look at President Trump and his policies. A new study released Thursday shows that black voters who had mobilized against Trump in 2020 have softened their stances, which could mean big trouble for Democrats as the midterm races heat up.

WATCH: The Trump SOTU Moment That Could Win Republicans the Midterms

The year-long study of black voters was conducted by a consortium of leftist organizations called the Black Opposition Project, which includes groups like Way to Win and the SEIU. The study's conclusion, according to lead researcher Terrance Woodbury, was this: "Black people are pissed off."

That may not mean good news for Democrats, Woodbury warned, saying, "But them being pissed off won’t result in mobilizing action now and potentially on Election Day, unless we connect the dots to what the federal government is doing and how it is hurting them personally."

Woodbury said the share of Black people who took concrete action to resist Trump — including voting, protesting or signing a petition — had dropped from 2020, from 34% to 28%. That drop was concentrated among younger Black men, he said, an alarming trend for a group that showed a small but significant shift toward Trump in 2024.
According to the research, 41% of this group (defined as Black men under 50) thought Trump’s policies had hurt them. That’s a much lower share than other groups of Black voters, including men over 50, 68% of whom said the president had negatively affected them.
Nearly one-in-five young Black voters, or 17%, said Trump’s policies had helped them, more than double any other group surveyed.

The key thing to look at here – and the good news for Republicans – is the margins. While overall support from black voters is still relatively small for the president and the GOP, they only need to chip away just enough of the voting bloc to make a significant difference at the ballot box. The fact that the pendulum of support may be swinging back to the right is very bad news, indeed, for Democrats.

Ultimately, the winner will be the party that best convinces voters that they have the right policies to address affordability. The fact that Democrats chose Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger – who's overseeing her party's attempts to tax Virginians into oblivion – to deliver their State of the Union rebuttal shows there's a serious and persistent tone-deafness on the left. Whether Republicans will be savvy enough to capitalize on that weakness is the lingering question.

https://redstate.com/terichristoph/2026/02/26/new-study-of-black-voters-has-some-very-bad-news-for-democrats-n2199594?utm_source=rsmorningbriefingvip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl

Sunday, March 1, 2026

Now It's Noem: DHS Secretary Says Elon Musk Helped Discover Deep State Spying Software on Her Devices

Now It's Noem: DHS Secretary Says Elon Musk Helped Discover Deep State Spying Software on Her Devices

By Bob Hoge

The bombshell news that the Federal Bureau of Investigation spied on FBI Director Kash Patel and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in 2022-23 while they were private citizens is still fresh in our minds, but now Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is alleging that she’s discovered a more current Deep State plot to monitor her communications.

She said Tesla/SpaceX CEO/X owner/zillionaire Elon Musk helped her discover that there are moles in the building:

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday that members of her own department secretly installed spyware on government-issued devices used by Trump administration officials, including her phone and laptop, allowing staffers to record meetings and monitor internal communications.
Noem said on “PBD Podcast” that tech experts, including Elon Musk and members of his team, helped her uncover what she described as unauthorized surveillance software embedded on devices assigned to political appointees. Noem said the discovery came after outside technology specialists examined DHS hardware and flagged suspicious software activity.

Who says there’s no Deep State?

Her tweet continues:

We found secret, secure rooms with hidden files that we turned over to attorneys.
Under the leadership of @POTUS Trump, @DHSgov is returning to the standard of excellence and behavior we expect our government agencies to function at. We will root out actors who do not have the interests of America in mind.

IT'S DEEP: FBI's Wiles/Patel Spying Scandal Reportedly Gets Even Worse With New Revelation About Who Was Recorded

What a Disgrace: 10 FBI Agents Get the Axe After Revelation That Bureau Spied on Patel, Wiles

Noem is still trying to assess the scope of the issue, and is finding out some troubling things along the way:

“I can’t believe what I found since I’ve been in this department. I just found the other day a whole room on this campus that was a secret SCIF —secure facility [known as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility] — that had files nobody knew existed.

"So we just happened to have an employee walk by a door and wonder what it was and started asking questions,” Noem said. “We went in there. There were individuals working there that had secret files that nobody knew about on some of these most controversial topics like that, and now I’ve got that turned over to attorneys, and we’re getting to the bottom of what exactly happened there.”

It’s not the first time Noem has alleged that there are traitors within the ranks, and earlier this February, she announced DHS would employ lie detectors to find employees who were leaking info about ICE raids:

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, a true MAGA warrior, dropped a bombshell today, warning weak-kneed employees that lie detector tests are coming to smoke out the traitors leaking ICE raid plans.

Trump found out the hard way in his first term that there are many people deep in the vast bureaucracy of the federal government who were not on board with his vision for the country and who work feverishly to undermine it. If Noem’s allegations are true, it looks like some of them are still playing their old games.

Not all in Trumpworld are fans of Noem, and her detractors deride her as "ICE Barbie" and constantly spread rumors that she is soon to face unemployment. Regardless of some people’s opinions of her, however, it seems clear that it’s time to root out those illicitly undermining the administration and make them face the cold, hard light of federal indictments.

https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2026/02/27/now-its-noem-dhs-secretary-says-elon-musk-helped-her-discover-deep-state-spying-software-on-her-devices-n2199632?utm_source=rsmorningbriefingvip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl

I Blame Obama for the Churlish Behavior of Today's Dems

I Blame Obama for the Churlish Behavior of Today's Dems

Stephen Kruiser

*Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP*

Top O' the Briefing

Happy Thursday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. The Sine Qua Non Sequitur is putting the finishing touches on a life-sized sand drawing of Annette Funicello.

Those of us who have been hanging around Republican politics since Ancient Times — the 1980s and '90s — often reminisce about the "old" Democratic Party. Reminisce... lament.. it all gets jumbled. We're thinking of a time when Democrats weren't all so bitter and nasty. Everyone's heard tales of Republicans and Democrats battling it out over politics but then being able to put things aside and socialize with each other.

I was there, and it's true. Even the entertainment industry wasn't rife with toxic leftism. All of my comedian and actor friends knew my politics, and we got along just fine.

These stories are difficult to believe for anyone who's been politically active for most of the 21st century. That aforementioned bitterness and nastiness are such a part of them now that they are virtually incapable of behaving like decent human beings in any political interaction. They're rude, childish, and increasingly violent. I mentioned political interactions, but they're acting out in what should be sedate social situations, too.

They have been embracing their despicable antics for so long now that perhaps we should be used to it. I'm grateful that we aren't, because that wouldn't reflect very well on us. We can't hope that they won't sink to new lows because they seem to have a sick gift for finding those lows. The behavior of the Democrats at the State of the Union address — as well as those throwing a tantrum outside — plumbed some previously unseen depths. It was a national embarrassment, and it's a shame that there is no Constitutional mechanism in place to swiftly deal with members of Congress who behave like low-functioning, spoiled brats.

President Trump had a few choice words about some of the SOTU tantrums, which Catherine wrote about:

Trump posted, “When you watch Low IQ Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, as they screamed uncontrollably last night at the very elegant State of the Union, such an important and beautiful event, they had the bulging, bloodshot eyes of crazy people, LUNATICS, mentally deranged and sick who, frankly, look like they should be institutionalized.”

Some might say that the response was inappropriate. I say that he's earned the right to speak like that about the Democrats after what they've put him through.

We can certainly trace some of this behavior back to the 2000 election. Their collective mood began to sour when they didn't get their way and a chance to extend Bill Clinton's legacy with an Al Gore presidency. The spoiler is in the headline today, so you all know I think it didn't really begin to get ugly until the arrival of His High Holiness the Lightbringer Barack Obama to the White House.

Because Obama was our HISTORIC FIRST black president, the press made him untouchable. Because the Democrats elevated him to godlike status, they quickly became comfortable with despising and demonizing anyone who criticized him. That, ladies and gentlemen, put us on the relatively fast track to where we are today.

Obama himself put poison in the well whenever he could, referring to us as "enemies" and throwing law enforcement under the bus every chance he got. It's a simple game of connect-the-dots to get from there to Dem behavior in Minneapolis. Let's not forget that people who didn't vote for him were bitter and clinging to our guns and religion.

He's still out there spreading division whenever he can. When Barack isn't busy, wife Michelle finds a microphone where she can remind everyone that America is a racist country that constantly disappoints her.

People who have been reading my stuff for a long time know that I frequently write and say, "I blame Obama." It can seem very flippant, and once in a great while, it is. Most of the time, it's based on experience, and it's the hard truth.

https://pjmedia.com/stephen-kruiser/2026/02/26/the-morning-briefing-i-blame-obama-for-the-churlish-behavior-of-todays-dems-n4949965/?utm_campaign=nl_pm&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pjmediambvip

LA Careens From Cruelty to 'Environy' Against Palisades Fire Victims With This Latest Move

LA Careens From Cruelty to 'Environy' Against Palisades Fire Victims With This Latest Move

Victoria Taft

There is a dogpile going on right now in the City of Los Angeles, as lawsuits and counter lawsuits — between Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom, no less — over the Palisades Fire have drawn attention away from what may be the most insulting and sickening environy — humans-last diktats made in the name of protecting the environment which actually do the opposite — perpetrated by the powers-that-be on L.A. fire victims.

In the nearly 14 months since their homes, schools, and community were largely destroyed in the Palisades Fire, victims have been ordered by the city to clear their empty lots of brush where their rebuilt homes should be. Most of the lots are empty dirt patches.

Of course, it's a good idea to clear land of tinder-dry brush in a wildfire-prone area. Makes sense. If you knew the backstory of why the Lachman Fire, which later turned into the conflagration in the Pacific Palisades and Malibu, grew out of control in this fire zone, however, you'd be outraged, too.

The Lachman Fire was allowed to continue to burn underground because, as firefighter texts revealed, they couldn't bring in heavy equipment due to the environmental sensitivity of the area. I wrote about it in Bombshell Texts Reveal L.A. Fire Brass Knew Fire That Burned Down Palisades Wasn't Out.

The man accused of setting the initial fire has been locked up while awaiting federal trial, which I wrote about in Suspect's Bible Used to Spark Palisades Fire — But Newsom and Bass Will Have Hell to Pay. It turns out the accused arsonist only dreamed of starting a fire with his Bible, but maybe the story will change again by the start of his trial.

As if the magic, however, the environmentally sensitive milk vetch plant, for which the Palisades was sacrificed, isn't quite as important anymore. Suddenly, homeowners — aka fire victims — will be fined if they don't clear the brush away from their lots.

In another story, Stunner: California Saved a Shrub Instead of Protecting Humans From the L.A. Firestorm, which I wrote as burned bodies were being found, and homes and Teslas were still smoldering, we learned that some botany-loving hiker reported the L.A. Department of Water and Power for trying to create fire breaks and brush clearing in Topanga Canyon. The State of California and Gov. Gavin Newsom's office of environy ordered the brush clearing stopped. They replaced the plants and brush.

I looked back at a 2019 L.A. Times story that confirmed the Palisades homes, schools, community, and the dozen people who died in the fire were sacrificed for Braunton’s milk vetch plants. I wrote:

The L.A. Times reported —and I'm sure it killed them to do it—that enviros stopped the brush mitigation around Topanga Canyon by the L.A. Department of Water and Power in the Pacific Palisades in 2019 because of "community concerns about protected plants in the construction area."
Please stop the head banging. You'll lose consciousness and miss the rest of the story.
The Times reported in 2019 that DWP wanted to replace old wooden electricity poles with steel ones to lessen the fire fuel in Topanga Canyon. They also hoped to widen fire breaks on the slope leading from the Palisades to Pacific Coast Highway.

The Times reported that the DWP work only "potentially" destroyed the plant. There was no evidence that the plant had been hurt.

I continued:

This "potential" destruction was reported to the California Coastal Commission by amateur botanist and hiker David Pluenneke, who told the Times, “It’s hard not to think that if there had been blue whales and panda bears up there, they would have bulldozed them, too."

Palisades homeowner, Jeremy Padawer, who's become more outspoken on the city and state's negligence as the weeks roll by, posted a letter from the City of L.A. that threatened homeowners with a $31 fine for failing to clear their brush.

It ain't about the money. Padawer, an entrepreneur who sold My Kitty to Berkshire Hathaway, is outraged by the move. It's not the $31. It's the $31 on top of no permits, no brush clearing to begin with, no water in the fire hydrants, and now the height of insult are these "brush clearance initial inspection noncompliance notices." Hell, you can't even get an inspector out to do anything for fire victims.

Bass, Newsom didn’t clear dangerous brush… Pacific Palisades, Altadena, Malibu burned.Now, Los Angeles is FINING Palisades burned lot holders for “brush clearance initial inspection noncompliance notices.” … while their lots sit vacant, burned, not yet permitted to build often because of red tape. You can’t make this up. Limited water, prevention, plan, people, firetrucks. No brush clearance by leadership or their teams. Fire on state ground. Limited response due to a protected plant. Roll the dice and lose cities. And now fine your victims in yet another attempt to SHIFT THE BLAME from ineptitude, gross negligence to the victims.

He wrote in another message on X, "$31 for brush clearance. $35,000 for fire hydrants. $$$ for permit fees. $$$ for property taxes on burned down lots and toxic homes. $$$ for state and local taxes on the rebuild. $5 billion. The $31 is the tip of the iceberg."

And on it goes.

https://pjmedia.com/victoria-taft/2026/02/25/la-careens-from-environy-to-cruelty-to-palisades-fire-victims-with-this-latest-move-n4949941

Saturday, February 28, 2026

The Usual Idiots Are on the Job As America Crushes the Iranian Tyrants

The Usual Idiots Are on the Job As America Crushes the Iranian Tyrants

Kurt Schlichter

The Usual Idiots Are on the Job As America Crushes the Iranian Tyrants — *AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite*

The only thing unpredictable about the devastating air and naval campaign against the Iranian mullahs who have murdered so many people – including Americans – was the timing. We hit those bastards in broad daylight. Even though those sociopathic clowns knew it was coming, they didn't expect to be blasted into oblivion over breakfast. Now, there are some people I respect who have doubts over the mission – but they have no doubts about our country or our troops. What was sadly predictable were the puny wails of the weak, stupid, and treacherous who have zero clue about what's going on, yet immediately howled in indignation over Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu's decisive decision to settle all family business. In case you missed it, Maduro was Tartaglia, Cuba will be Barzini, and the mullahs will be Moe Green relaxing on the massage table and reaching for his glasses. That Moe was Jewish will just make the jihadi goat molesters madder during the short time they have left.

Of course, the Jewish thing is front and center with the haters. "No war for Israel!" they impotently shout as if this was some profound sentiment instead of a giant sign announcing to the world they ignored Robert Downey, Jr.'s famous admonition from "Tropic Thunder."

That particular stupidity has its tangents, both of which I saw demonstrated when I pointed out that Rep. Thomas Massie was a useless piece of garbage who can always be counted on to stab us in the back (more about that dingus later). There was the classic "Shutup, Zionist," which is kind of like calling me smart, rich, and sexually powerful. I'd explain to them how insults are supposed to work, but they might end up crying, and then their mommies will have to spend all morning comforting them. Another variation is the perennial "Totally disagree with you, are you taking Israel money, too?" Yeah, I need to be paid by a foreign country to want to defeat our enemies – nothing gets by you geniuses!

Oh, and, of course, Thomas Massie was in the House – but not for long, if his patriotic war hero primary opponent has his way – sharing his tiresome and wrong opinions that this is some sort of illegal war. Now, to share these insights required him to take a break from enforcing the newly minted libertarian principles of trashing the reputations of people based on hearsay and innuendo and demanding the arrests of unnamed people for victimizing unnamed people with unspecified evidence. Massie informed his coterie of slack-jawed supporters: "Acts of war unauthorized by Congress. The U.S. is attacking Iran according to AP."

Here's the problem – he's wrong. First, the Constitution does not require Congress to authorize every single military action by the guy the Constitution named commander-in-chief. It has the power to declare war; every war need not be "declared." The CINC has wide latitude to engage in armed conflict. Now, Massie may not like that or even agree with that, which is fine. But he's still wrong. And even if he wasn't wrong – and he is – there's still the matter of both the War Powers Act and various use of military force authorizations that Congress has passed that would allow this to happen even if Massie's bespoke interpretation wasn't ridiculous. So, he's got his authorization – but no, he's decided he needs another because reasons. In terms of talking about war powers, Massie is the equivalent of the weirdo who spent too much time on the interwebs telling the judge he has no authority over him because he wrote "SOVEREIGN CITIZEN" on his driver's license and because the flag in the court has a gold fringe and that makes it a flag of admiralty and the court therefore has no jurisdiction over him because he is not a sailor, just before the bailiff hauls him back to his cell. But Massie's fan club of constitutional dyslexics has their dumb opinions, and boy, are they eager to share them.

This flows into the "I'm against the war because I love the troops" play. Someone named Natalie tweeted, "How does 'War needs to be authorized by Congress' = Thomas massie (sic) is undermining our troops? Patriotism is protecting our troops and wishing to keep them out of harm's way." Of course, the Iranians have killed and maimed thousands of Americans and will do it again, given the chance – when they chant "Death to America," they mean it. Let me tell you, as a guy in theater when the ground war went off in Desert Storm 35 years ago last week, our guys are more than happy to unleash on these seventh-century savages.

Natalie pivoted into another phase of the stupidity sweepstakes with, "The U.S. government will seriously go to war with Iran rather than release all the Epstein files." There are a lot of people pretending that this mission is really a cunning distraction to take people's attention away from the vaunted files, which have revealed exactly zero substantive, admissible, believable evidence that there was some giant pervo conspiracy or that Donald Trump did anything wrong. The only thing a distraction would protect is the Democrat-adjacent figures who still partied with Epstein after his conviction. The Epstein thing was always an IQ test; adding the Iran attack to it really separates the merely stupid from the transcendentally moronic.

And then there's Tanner, who identifies himself as an Army chaplain candidate (!) and whose timeline includes weird Charlie Kirk truthing, who makes the bold choice to make the chickenhawk play to a retired Army colonel who had his right shoulder patch long before his mom and dad lit some candles and spun that Al Green CD: "If you love our troops so much come put on a uniform and put YOUR life on the line. No one who actually understands war wants this war. You are a bloodthirsty hawk." Thanks for the insight, Punky Brewster. You're dismissed.

I regret to inform you that the pod bros of Alleged America First are at it again. Let me tell you about America First – if that means allowing a bunch of dark age degenerate sociopaths to murder and maim Americans with impunity, then count me the hell out. I never signed up to let a pack of foreign savages kill and mutilate my people, which these mullahs have been doing for nearly half a century. MAGA is not pacifism; pacifism is not MAGA, and it is certainly not manly.

And if you doubt it, it was Mr. MAGA himself, Donald J. Trump, who had the courage to finish this war – this war did not start yesterday at approximately the same time these dummies first became aware of politics. One of the most tiresome of these is Comic Dave Smith, who, to my knowledge, has never actually told a joke and has somehow installed himself as some sort of relevant commentator supplying the full benefit of his foreign policy insights gained while opening for an Eskimo prop comic at the Quebec Le Giggle Works. He weighed in with this doozy:

"By launching this illegal war of aggression against Iran, Donald Trump has betrayed the American people and his own base, none of whom wanted this. He has sided with Lindsay Graham, Mark Levin and Benjamin Netanyahu, the most despised laughingstocks on the planet. By announcing that this is indeed a regime change war (as anyone paying attention and being honest has known all along) he has tied his entire legacy to this action. If he isn't able to achieve a regime change, he will have killed a bunch of people for no reason. If the regime does fall, we have already admitted that we have no one to install and without boots on the ground, it is difficult to install a regime even if you had someone. Trump will be responsible for what comes next- the thing war hawks never consider."

OK, not "illegal" and not a "betrayal" – Donald Trump never promised anyone to let our enemies win. If you think "Lindsay Graham, Mark Levin and Benjamin Netanyahu" are "the most despised laughingstocks on the planet," you need to get out around the planet more. For example, Comic Dave's Hamas buddies in Gaza, to the extent they are still breathing, are most definitely not laughing. And oh no – Trump will be responsible for his actions! You think? Gosh, if only CDS could have warned the president before he made the decision to attack that he would be responsible for his decision! And the whole post-war thing – I'm sure he never thought of that, especially when Trump was elected after criticizing his predecessor for never thinking of that. Oh, and by "War hawks," I think Comic Dave means "men."

There are also various Democrats who are mad and frightened – not for our troops but because they know Trump's track record of success and are terrified that he pulls off this incredible strategic coup. Senator Fetterman was the exception; the rest were craven enough to whine about Trump even though they know this mission is both necessary and just. Then there are our foreign enemies who are mad – the Russians are ticked because their Persian pals are going away and they will probably have to put the survivors up in Moscow in perpetuity. And then there are our alleged allies, like the U.K., who are begging for further pointless negotiations. They hate the idea of defeating their enemies rather than submitting to them.

Yeah, the usual suspects are in full effect, but at the end of the day, who cares? Not the men and women of the American and Israeli armed forces, who are finally going to rid us of these barbarian druids after we let them exist for far too long. And certainly not for President Donald Trump, who – unlike his ankle-nibbling critics – knows what needs to be done and has the testosterone to do it.

https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2026/02/28/the-usual-idiots-are-on-the-job-as-america-crushes-the-iranian-tyrants-n2672066?utm_source=thdailypmvip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl