“Lent comes to us as a providential time to change course, to recover the ability to react to the reality of evil which always challenges us. Lent is to be lived as a time of conversion, as a time of renewal for individuals and communities, by drawing close to God and by trustfully adhering to the Gospel.”

— Pope Francis.

Texas State Representative James Talarico (D.) is the Democrat nominee for the United States Senate. He defeated Representative Jasime Crockett (D.), purportedly because he is more “moderate”. Perish the thought, he is not.

Mr. Talarico is always referred to as a “moderate” Christian minister, whose background can finally (!) turn Texas “blue”. But is he really a “moderate” Christian? Witness the following quotes:

“Defending trans Texans is something we have to do every day at the state capitol.  So when I use the word woman, it should not be understood as an exhaustive term.  But, rather, as a lens through which to understand, examine, and interrogate patriarchy.”

“God is non-binary.”

“Modern science obviously recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes, in fact there are six.”

Mr. Talarico uttered these comments and more. Are these quotes the comments from a “moderate” Christian?

Mr. Talarico is a homosexual, who sees no sin in his lifestyle. He has claimed that atheists are more “Christian” than most Christians. Are these hallmarks of moderation?

Mr. Talarico urged the China Joe Administration to put abortion clinics in every federal courthouse, and every national park. He also wanted to make abortion doctors and their staffs federal employees, so as to protect them. Are these ideas “moderate”?

Mr. Talarico also wants to eliminate billionaires and millionaires, confiscating their monies through taxation, and then redistribute these monies to guarantee the needs of the “needy”. Moderate? Maybe if you are a disciple of Marx and Engels, Lenin, and Bernie Sanders. But in America, no.

James Talarico is a big, fat, phony fraud. He is no more “moderate” than that lying shrew, Abigail Spanberger (D. Va.). But do not expect the media to portray him as he truly is. Texas voters need to beware. Vote this man down. Let me spend his exile from politics with Robert Francis O’Rourke.

____________________________________________________________________

Book of James (Talarico)

It’s official James Talarico will represent the Democrats in November; perhaps it’s a good time to reflect on how nuts he really is.

BY:          Silvio Canto, The American Thinker (March 7, 2026).

It’s official and the Bible reader of Texas, a.k.a. James Talarico, will represent the Democrats in November.  A Bible reader you say?  Yes, he quotes the Bible more often than your Sunday pastor.  Of course, the media does not say that he is a religious fanatic.  They only do that with Republicans.

Anyway, get ready for the Book of James, Talarico style I mean.  Let’s check this, from Charles C. W. Cooke, exposing Talarico’s interesting views:

‘White skin gives me and every white American immunity from the virus. But we spread it wherever we go—through our words, our actions, and our systems. We don’t have to be showing symptoms—like a white hood or a Confederate flag—to be contagious.’

Cooke then has his own commentary:

Since he won the primary on Tuesday, these words have been highlighted as prima facie evidence of Talarico’s unsuitability for public office. In response, his already insufferable fans have cried foul. In their view, homing in on old utterances such as these is uncharitable, unbecoming, and unjust, and it ought not to be done by anyone who considers himself to be a respectable chronicler of contemporary political affairs.

Why ‘disqualifying’? Because they are indicative, that’s why. Because they point to a considered, premeditated, fully conscious extremism that ought to be unacceptable in any American public figure. Only a handful of people in these United States would ever think a thing such as this — let alone say it aloud. The words in question were not rash, or hasty, or uttered under duress. They were volunteered. They represent a window into the soul. They ought to be fatal.

The two most popular rejoinders to this view are that they were issued ‘six years ago’ and that they were offered up during a ‘crazy period.’ But neither of these briefs do anything other than underscore the initial problem. Six years is not a long time. I am judged on my words from six years ago. So are you. So is everyone else.

Yes, it was a few years ago—however, he has not stopped doing stuff like this since.  Remember his “God is non-binary” comment?  Or, relating the story of the angel appearing to Mary?  As I understand Mr. Talarico’s story, the angel asked Mary for her consent or something like that.  The angel understood that Mary had reproductive rights and did not force the young woman to have the baby.

Sorry that’s crazy, and I can’t wait for Mr. Talarico to explain that to all of those devout Catholic Hispanic women in South Texas.

You are going to love the Book of James because it is weird.

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Texas Democrat James Talarico’s ‘moderate’ act exposes his party’s new scam

BY:          Karol Markowicz, The New York Post (March 5, 2026).

Sixteen months after Kamala Harris cackled her way into a loss to President Trump, the Democratic Party seems to have realized its candidates need an image makeover to get voters to forget what their team actually believes.

The name of the game is acting normal and talking like a moderate.

For Democrats, that’s a stretch.

James Talarico of Texas is their bright new “moderate” hope.  He won a US Senate primary election this week largely by touting his Christianity, being respectful to his opponents, and generally presenting himself as the boy-next-door counterweight to his excitable opponent, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas).

Look at this sane man, declared the media.

Time magazine touted his “authenticity” and gushed, “It’s populism and piety, the proletariat and the Pharisees all rolled into a Texas-sized operation.”

The Washington Post highlighted how Talarico was “leaning into his Christian faith in political debate, an atypical approach for a Democrat.”

The New Yorker’s soft-focus photo accompanied a fawning piece that described Talarico as looking “like he’d just finished his paper route and was eager to shovel the church’s walk.”

It did the trick for the Lone Star State’s Democrats.

But the moderate façade may already be crumbling. 

In 2020, Talarico was tweeting about the “virus” of “racism.”

Who had it? White people, he said — all of them.

“White skin gives me and every white American immunity from the virus,” he posted. “But we spread it wherever we go — through our words, our actions, and our systems.

“We don’t have to be showing symptoms — like a white hood or a Confederate flag — to be contagious.”

This is what passes for “normal” among Democrats?

Ironically, Talarico defeated Crockett, a black woman, for the nomination.

Maybe he’s the one with that infection.

In 2021, Talarico, a member of the state legislature, argued in favor of a bill that would allow biological boys to play in girls’ sports.

“God is nonbinary,” he declared on the state House floor. 

“The thing I want us all to be aware of is … modern science obviously recognizes there are many more than two biological sexes,” he went on. “In fact, there are six.”

Believing in six (or more!) genders is insane enough to most of us — but six biological sexes?

The mind reels.

That same year, Talarico very proudly announced that his office was the first to put pronouns on staffers’ business cards.

Democrats are acting like this is no big deal. Who can remember who said what?

Those comments were made six whole years ago, they say, when the Harvard-educated Talarico was but a boy of, ahem, 30.

Part of the equation, of course, is that the leftists want us to forget what they put us all through in the depths of the woke era, when they insisted “Silence is violence” and enforced their unhinged ideas by bullying any opposing voices into submission.

Yet Talarico wasn’t just caught up in the woke moment, he was in the vanguard: He posted about his “contagious” whiteness weeks before the death of George Floyd.

So voters need to look deeper at these “normal” Democrats, because the staid moderate act only lasts so long.

Just look at New Jersey and Virginia, whose new governors both veered sharply left after running “moderate” campaigns.

Garden State Gov. Mikie Sherrill positioned herself as a reasonable, middle-of-the-road candidate. She ran on affordability issues and rarely mentioned immigration.

Upon taking office, she immediately signed an executive order limiting United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity on state property — and started pushing a 7% sales tax hike.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger portrayed herself as a moderate mom on the campaign trail, but she too ended state cooperation with ICE right after her inauguration.

Meanwhile her Democratic legislature is busily prepping a slew of far-left bills for her to sign — everything from raising taxes on services like Uber Eats to banning gas leaf blowers.

She’s also signed legislation pushing an extreme gerrymander of Virginia’s congressional districts, after pledging last year that she had no plans to do so.

Just last month, a CNN poll found that 58% of Americans, an all-time high, believe the Democratic Party has become too liberal.

Democrats badly want to appeal to those voters, who feel like the party has gotten on the leftist crazy train and has zero interest in jumping off.

But they’re skipping the part about running actual normal, sane candidates — in favor of people who can plausibly put on the act.

GFK

“During Lent, we prepare to relive the Paschal Mystery, which sheds the light of hope upon the whole of our existence, even its most complex and painful aspects . . . let us set out with trust on our Lenten journey, sustained by fervent prayer, penance and concern for those in need.”
— Pope John Paul II.

Some dear readers commented on The Observations’ views on Daylight Savings Time. One dear reader commented that he did not care what time we kept, so long as we kept the same time, and did not keep changing the clocks. Understandable. Another dear reader wants permanent Daylight Savings Time because he wants to play golf later in the Summer, to which I reply, get up earlier.

Personally, getting up in the dark yesterday morning, and driving to Church in the dark, was rather depressing. And somewhat difficult. Neither English nor Dudley wanted to get up.

Here is the deal. Daylight Savings Time is bad for your health.

Morning sun is key to maintaining our circadian rhythms, sleep-wake cycles and overall health.  Which makes sense, since we are supposed to be up and active during the day, and resting and asleep at night.  But if we are waking up in the dark, and trying to sleep in the light, our bodies are damaged.  So Congress, please eliminate Daylight Savings Time.  MAHA!

President Trump announced that he will not enter into negotiations with Iran to end hostilities. The United States is seeking “unconditional surrender”. Good!

May I please say that I am sick and tired of Leftists (Democrats and the media) claiming that the United States committed a war crime by bombing an Iranian school, killing 200 students? FAKE NEWS! The school was hit, and did explode, killing 200 students. But it was hit by an Iranian missile which misfired. The school was located adjacent to an Iranian military facility.

One or, maybe two, days of mistaken reporting and claims might be understood. But it has been a week, and the lies are still out there. That can only be understood to be the Left cheering against the United States. Something it does on a regular basis.

Dozens of House of Representatives Democrats refused to vote “aye” on a non-binding resolution affirming Iran as a State sponsor of terrorism. Included in the feckless bunch were Puddin’head, Rashida Tlaib (D. Mi.), Ayanna Pressley (D. Ma.), and Ilhan Omar (D. Mn.).

“I would say our country should be more fearful of white men across our country, because they are actually causing most of the deaths within this country.  And so if fear was the driving force of policies to keep America safe, Americans safe inside of this country, we should be profiling, monitoring, and creating policies to fight the radicalization of white men.”

–Representative Ilhan Omar (D. Mn.), speaking to Al Jeezera, dismissing jihadism as a threat to the United States.

Senator Mike Lee (R. Ut.) introduced legislation in Congress that would permit Americans to carry guns–openly or concealed, nationwide–without the need for a licensing permit. In other words, the Constitution’s Second Amendment would know no internal boundaries. WOO HOO!

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit overturned a district court order, restricting ICE operations in Chicago, Illinois. WINNING!

“On the day I left office, I handed Trump the strongest economy in the world.”

–China Joe.

HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!

“I’m a hell of a lot smarter than most of you.”

–China Joe, speaking at “Reverend” Jesse Jackson’s funeral.

Oh, my! How many black people can you insult at one time?

China Joe also claimed–falsely–that he appointed the 1st black Supreme Court Justice. He should apologize to the late Lyndon B. Johnson, who appointed Thurgood Marshall to the bench. In 1967. Before China Joe even got near the Congress, much less The White House.

“I predicted a lot about what’s happening right now . . . I’m not here to say I TOLD YOU SO, but we did see it coming.”

–Commiela, speaking at “Reverend” Jesse Jackson’s funeral.

No self-awareness whatsoever. The most useless Vice-President who was picked only for her sex and race, and who served in the most failed Administration in history, is lecturing others. Unbelievable.

Three (3) former Democrat Presidents attended the “Reverend” Jackson’s funeral. Two (2) brought their wives–China Joe and Slick Willie–while Barack Hussein Obama brought his ego.

“Everywhere we see greed and bigotry being celebrated, and bullying and mockery masquerading as strength.  We see science and expertise denigrated while ignorance and dishonesty and cruelty and corruption are reaping untold rewards.  Every single day we see that, and it’s hard to hope.”

–Barack Hussein Obama, delivering a partisan, divisive speech at “Reverend” Jesse Jackson’s funeral.

They [Democrats] turned the funeral into a political rally. It was not about Jesse Jackson. It was about . . . Orange Man Bad. It was the Paul Wellstone funeral on steroids. Mr. Wellstone’s funeral did not turn out very well for Democrats. Neither will Mr. Jackson’s funeral.

“If you want to know why Donald Trump was elected, watch Barack Obama’s attack speech yesterday at Jesse Jackson’s funeral. As he did throughout his presidency, he created a straw man to describe Republicans as bigots who force the American people to ‘turn on each other’.

He said similar crap when he was President and the GOP was the party of Bush, McCain and Romney. It’s the language of bitterness and resentment that makes good people recoil to be described that way.

Obama is one of the most divisive figures in US history, except he is celebrated by the MSM because they are partisans. They take sides and loved and protected Obama.

It’s no wonder a tough, no BS, bull in the China shop emerged. That person was a fed up Trump, who broke the MSM by not caring what they thought. He showed Rs they could punch back against the Ds and win. His rise coincided with the welcome birth, at long last, of conservative media which gave voice to the voiceless who had been forced to consume the prejudices of the MSM.

I can’t stand Obama. He was weak, patronizing, condescending and he put America last. But having listened to him yesterday, I am reminded the only good thing he did was help elect President Trump.”

–Ari Fleischer.

Ari Fleischer, former press secretary for President George W. Bush, is one of the more restrained, moderate Republicans you will ever encounter. If he is this riled up, that should tell you something about Mr. Obama’s speech.

“Come on, Canada, come on, UK, come on, China, you know you wanna do it.”

–Florida resident Joyce Schulz-Killian, begging other countries to attack the United States and remove President Trump from power. 

In Chicago, Illinois, “hate” crimes against Jews rose 58%. Mayor Brandon Johnson (D.) does not care.

A New Jersey Girls Scout Troop set up a table outside of a cannabis shop, in order to sell cookies. Sales were brisk. Apparently the munchies set in for the cannabis shop’s patrons.

In San Francisco, California, street thugs violently attacked the Mayor’s security detail. Oh, wow!

Mississippi public schools outperform California public schools. California’s poverty rate is the highest in the nation, tied with Louisiana. California has the highest unemployment rate in the nation. California is the most expensive State in which to live. And California has the highest taxes in the nation. Hmmm. Here’s an idea; let’s elect Governor Gavin Newsom (D. Ca.) President, so that he can to the whole nation what he has done to California.

“Yesterday, there was a presentation from a group seeking to change how we address organized retail theft . . . It would have been good to make sure that they would study the benefit of shoplifting and of retail theft because perhaps people are relying on that and sort of using that, and maybe it’s assisting them in some way.  These folks were describing people violating the law, but I suppose it could be useful to look into that.”

–Minnesota State Representative Dave Pinto (D.), speaking at a hearing on crime.

Unbelievably, Mr. Pinto is a State prosecutor. But he wants to understand the “benefit” to people who steal? Is he serious? No wonder Minnesota’s government is so rife with fraud.

“For too long, politicians have had too much control over drawing the districts that decide our elections.  That process has allowed political interests to shape districts in ways that don’t always reflect the communities they represent.  The goal [of the proposed redistricting amendment] is to make the process more transparent and more balanced, ensuring that voters have confidence that district lines are drawn fairly.  This amendment represents an opportunity to move away from a system where politicians choose their voters and toward one where voters choose their representatives.  That’s why I’m voting yes on Virginia’s redistricting amendment.”

–Governor Abigail Spanberger (D. Va.).

Sigh. This woman is such a lying shrew.

Virginia ALREADY has a bipartisan redistricting commission which draws the legislative districts “fairly”. It was approved by a constitutional amendment a few years ago. The Democrats supported that amendment. BUT NOW, the Democrats want the politicians to redraw the districts themselves–something Mrs. Spanberger claims to oppose. Parts of Fairfax and Arlington Counties in Northern Virginia will be joined with 4 new Congressional districts extending into the Shenandoah Valley, Southside Virginia, and Tidewater. These Northern Virginia have nothing in common with these other areas of the Commonwealth. The goal is to engage in partisan gerrymandering to give Democrats control of 10 of Virginia’s 11 Congressional districts.

Abigail Spanberger’s statement is truly Orwellian in nature. She thinks Virginia’s voters are too stupid to know that they already have a bipartisan commission to draw legislative districts. She thinks Virginia voters will embrace this Democrat power grab in the name of fairness. War is peace, hate is love, up is down . . . . Abigail Spanberger is a disgusting, lying b***h (rhymes with witch).

Mrs. Spanberger also announced that Virginia is officially rejoining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Look for electricity bills to skyrocket. Affordability.

Virginia General Assembly Democrats are mandating that the events of January 6, 2021 be taught as an insurrection against “our democracy”. No opposing views. No nuance. Teachers cannot deviate from this message, and students may not question it. More Orwell in California East.

Virginia General Assembly Democrats are also mandating that movie theaters shown a quota of movies with subtitles. Ahh, a solution for a non-existent problem.

Democrats love to tell people what to do. You will watch movies with sub-titles!

At the Episcopal Parish Networks conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, speakers, including Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, urged conferees to oppose both “Christian nationalism” and the Trump Administration. Did the Democrat National Committee fund this conference?

After 60 years, Bruce Johnston is leaving The Beach Boys. Surf’s up!

Steven Hibbert, who played “The Gimp” in the movie Pulp Fiction, has died at age 68. Wow. First, Zed, and now The Gimp. There is a message in there somewhere. Maybe do not mess with Ving Rhames? R. I. P.

Southern Living magazine rated Kirkland’s Gourmet Chocolate Chunk Cookies as the best store bought chocolate chip cookies in the United States. John Bays used to buy these. They are good.

Longtime Green Bay Packers President Bob Harlan has died at age 89. R. I. P.

GFK

“As long as he who fasts, fasts for God, and he who fasts not, also fasts not for God, devotion is as well satisfied with one as with the other.”

— St. Francis de Sales.

As we go through our daily life, we can lose sight of the fact that we are children of God. When we were baptized into the Body of Christ, we were adopted into God’s family. This is neither an abstract nor an allegorical construct. Through the new covenant established by Christ, we are adopted children of God. As S. Paul writes in this Sunday’s epistle: Be ye followers of God, as dear children…

What a tall order! And yet, our calling as God’s children is to imitate Him. As Our Lord Himself teaches in the Sermon on the Mount: Be ye perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Our Lenten experience to date should make clear how difficult, if not impossible, it is to follow this precept. Even with the best of intentions, we fail to live up to our calling as children of God.

But in this Sunday’s Epistle, S. Paul counsels us in a way to avoid sin, especially sins of the flesh. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints. In other words, don’t just avoid these sins, but keep far away from them. In traditional moral theology we refer to this as “avoiding the near occasion of sin.”

While Satan cannot read our minds – only God can – he is a keen observer of our behavior. He notes the sorts of temptations that get our attention and sends them our way with increasing frequency, especially during Lent. This is why we are to refrain from even so much as letting them enter our imaginations.

The Church Fathers used precise language to delineate how we so easily fall into sin. First, they noted, Satan plants the “suggestion” into our minds. Then we take that temptation and entertain it within our imagination. This they called “delectation.” Finally, we act upon the temptation that we have entertained in our imagination, that is, our “consent.” Suggestion comes directly from Satan, delectation from the result of our concupiscence (or fallen nature) and consent through the will. When the will becomes weakened through repeatedly sinning, the greater the chance of forming a sinful habit.

It is all too easy, in our present culture, to be lulled into an amoral stupor. The popular media today is saturated with the antithesis of Biblical morality. I read recently of an up-scale bar in New York City where the large-screen TVs steam explicit pornographic acts. Over time and with increasing exposure, we can find ourselves acquiescing to this debased culture. When we keep God only in our minds and not in our hearts we are the more susceptible to the culture of prime time television and mass media. 

During Lent, we are bidden to spend more time in prayer and in fasting. We do so to allow God to make His presence more real within us. By fasting and abstaining from material things, such as food and television, we learn to focus our attention and imagination on that which is of eternal value.As the days lengthen during this season of the year, and more light fills the waking hours, may this inspire us to allow the light of Christ to more greatly illumine us. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.

____________________________________________________________________

Below is an article by Don Feder on the insanity of the “trans” movement. There is no such thing as a transsexual. But the movement is very real, and very dangerous. It is a departure from God’s Creation and Word. It is a departure from biology (i.e. science). It is a departure from reality.

Transgenderism: An attack on reality

For the left, facts are meaningless

BY:          Don Feder, The Washington Times (March 1, 2026).

Liberalism is based on a denial of reality. John Adams said, “Facts are stubborn things.” For the political left, facts are meaningless and evidence is irrelevant.

Liberals believe that raising taxes will spur productivity, that guns cause crime, that election integrity is racist and that illegal immigration is a human right.

Yet nothing is more quintessentially liberal than support for transgenderism — the dogma that gender can be separated from biology.

When it’s convenient, liberals insist that we follow the science — on climate change, for instance. On “gender identity,” they demand that we ignore the science that says you can’t change your DNA.

In Pawtucket, Rhode Island, last month, Robert Dorgan, who called himself Roberta Esposito and looked like a cross between a lumberjack and a drag queen, went to a hockey game and killed his son, his ex-wife and his ex-wife’s father before taking his own life.

It was the second transgender mass shooting in a week, including the worst school shooting in Canada’s history.

The past three years have also had transgender mass shootings in Nashville, Minneapolis and Colorado Springs. A report by the Crime Prevention Research Center shows that from 2018 to 2024, transgender people committed active shootings at least 12 times their share of the population.

Advocates insist that a man who thinks he is a woman really is a woman, and vice versa, and that all he or she needs is amputation and medication to lead a perfectly abnormal life.

Because the procedure doesn’t deal with underlying psychological problems, but frequently exacerbates them, the victims of “gender-reassignment” surgery often become bitter, depressed and sometimes violent.

They blame others — including family members, co-workers and classmates — for rejecting their new identities.

Slain conservative leader Charlie Kirk observed: “If you are crazy enough to want to hormonally and surgically ‘change your sex,’ you have a mental disorder, and you are too crazy to own a firearm.” How non-affirming can you get?

Ironically, the man — excuse me, the non-lactating person — charged with Kirk’s murder was in a relationship with a guy who thought he was a gal.

Mass shootings aren’t the only consequences of this sanctioned psychosis. Law and social pressure are used to compel people to fall in line.

There’s power in this mind control. Jennifer Roback Morse, president of the Ruth Institute, an organization fighting the sexual revolution, said, “If you can get someone to say (ex-Olympian) Bruce Jenner is a woman, you can get them to say anything.”

Teachers have been punished for using the wrong pronouns. Women have had their health club memberships canceled for objecting to being forced to undress in front of a man.

Males are allowed to compete in women’s sports, despite their obvious physical advantages. Boys can use girls’ bathrooms.

Men are incarcerated in women’s prisons and allowed to stay at women’s shelters, raising the risk of sexual assault. Taxpayers are forced to pay for “gender-affirming” surgery.

We have created a new vocabulary to avoid offending the reality-adverse, including referring to a man as someone with “male-appearing genitalia” and a woman as a “lactating person.” Liberals blithely speak of “the sex assigned at birth.” (“Your sex assignment, should you choose to accept it.”)

Democrats and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson claim they don’t know what a woman is.

Congressional Democrats have a Trans Bill of Rights, which they are prepared to inflict on us if they get a majority in the next elections. It requires “equal access to services and accommodations” for the gender confused.

Liberals love victims. The transgendered are the newest victim group. If you refuse to affirm their fantasies, then you are a bigot who is fomenting hate against them.

The ultimate victims of this madness are the transgender people themselves, many of whom will never get to experience the gifts God gave them.

On Jan. 30, a New York jury awarded $2 million in damages to a 22-year-old woman against a psychologist and a plastic surgeon who pushed her into getting a double mastectomy when she was 16 so her body would match her “identity.”

A date has been set for a similar lawsuit against the Kaiser Foundation Hospitals by detransitioner Chloe Cole. Other litigation is pending. Perhaps this will put an end to the mutilation of minors.

The transgender ideology undermines the family as it attacks the culture. We should be celebrating men and women who marry and have children, not the gender confused who wander in an alternate reality.

GFK

“The bread you store up belongs to the hungry; the cloak that lies in your chest belongs to the naked; the gold you have hidden in the ground belongs to the poor.”

— St. Basil the Great.

One of the Democrats’ big themes is to complain about the high cost of healthcare, and to blame Republicans for it. That is all horse hockey. The biggest problem with the cost of healthcare is government interference in the market.

Below is an article by Veronique de Rugy, who is a scholar at George Mason University. This is her view of how to begin fixing the problem.

Why Health Care Is So Expensive in America, and What to Do About It

The core structural problem is simple.

BY:          Veronique de Rugy, The American Spectator (March 4, 2026).

America’s health care system consistently ranks as the most expensive in the developed world. It’s not, as some politicians claim, expensive because markets have failed. It’s expensive because the market has been repeatedly blocked from succeeding. Until we’re honest about that, any potential reforms will only address symptoms while ignoring the disease.

The health care market is hindered in many ways, but the core structural problem is simple: The person receiving care is almost never the person actually paying for it. Roughly 90 cents of every dollar is covered by a third party — an insurer or the government.

The arrangement severs the give-and-take relationship between provider and customer that disciplines every other sector of the economy. When someone else pays, no one shops around, no one compares prices, and no one asks whether a service is worth it.

When someone else is paying, there is no reason to restrict one’s consumption. The result is predictable: opaque pricing, resistance to competition and no discipline to keep costs aligned with benefits.

Thus, this is not a debate about who should have coverage. It’s about whether the architecture of American health care creates any living, breathing incentive for affordability.

This fiasco didn’t happen naturally. It was built by the tax code — specifically, the exclusion of employer-sponsored health insurance from taxable income. As Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute has documented, the exclusion is roughly as old as the income tax itself, rooted in early Treasury rulings that predated modern health insurance.

In the early 1940s, wartime wage controls gave the concept practical force. Employers who couldn’t compete to hire workers with wages started using health benefits, which were exempt from the controls, as a workaround. But employer-purchased health insurance did not see robust growth until after wage ceilings were lifted in 1953. Congress then codified the exclusion in 1954, cementing employer-based insurance as the dominant model, a consequence few anticipated at the time.

The tax break is projected to reduce income- and payroll-tax revenue by $487 billion this year. The consequences have been a calamity. Cannon has convinced me that this single provision is the most damaging in the entire tax code. And it’s not just because of the fiscal cost — it is three times larger than the next tax break in the code — but because of the behavior it has shaped over eight decades.

The provision has chained workers to their employers. It has practically eliminated consumer price sensitivity. It’s suppressed wages that could have been paid in cash instead of in the form of health insurance. Altogether, it’s systematically crowded out the direct, consumer-driven health care spending that creates genuine market pressure to limit costs.

Under the ideal tax system — one that taxes income once and only once, with no loopholes, no double taxation and no provisions favoring one activity over another — the employer insurance exclusion would not exist.

However, eliminating the exemption is politically difficult. So for now, the practical baby step is more health savings accounts, which allow individuals to save pre-tax dollars and spend them directly on medical expenses. They put patients in the role of paying customers who compare prices, question the need for certain procedures and seek value.

The evidence suggests that people with HSA-linked plans spend less on care and engage more with wellness programs, though it’s hard to say how much of this reflects the plans themselves versus the characteristics of the people who choose them. What’s clearer is the structural logic. When people are in charge of their own money, they ask the right questions.

Unfortunately, HSA eligibility is restricted to people enrolled in high-deductible health plans and excludes millions of Americans with other coverage who would benefit most from these exact same incentives. The 2025 “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” made genuine improvements by expanding HSA contribution limits and broadening the range of qualified expenses. But the bill left the eligibility restriction intact. Another central structural flaw in our system remains.

The consumer-directed model should follow the consumer, not the regulatory category of their plan. Millions of Americans have opted out of the Affordable Care Act market entirely, choosing short-term plans, health-sharing arrangements, or other alternatives precisely because they want more control over their spending. An HSA regime should reach them too.

Expanding HSA eligibility is not just another bandage-style health care reform. It’s a step toward a more coherent tax code. It will lower prices by allowing individuals to accumulate health care savings over their working lives. It will help restore a direct financial relationship between patients and providers.

That’s good tax policy as much as good health policy.

GFK

“They alone can truly feast, who have first fasted.”

— St. John Henry Cardinal Newman.

The War Powers Resolution floating around Congress failed. Take that Tim Kaine!

Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran
Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran

Bomb Iran (bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran)
Let’s take a stand (bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran)
Bomb Iran (bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran)
Our country’s got a feelin’
Really hit the ceilin’, bomb Iran (bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran)

Went to a mosque, gonna throw some rocks
Tell the Ayatollah, “Gonna put you in a box”

Bomb Iran (bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran)
Bomb Iran (bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran)
Our country’s got a feelin’
Really hit the ceilin’, bomb Iran (bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran)

Ol’ Uncle Sam’s gettin’ pretty hot
Time to turn Iran into a parking lot

Bomb Iran (bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran)
Bomb Iran (bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran)
Our country’s got a feelin’
Really hit the ceilin’, bomb Iran (bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran)

Call the volunteers, call the bombardiers
Call the financiers, better get their ass in gear

Bomb Iran (bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran)
Bomb Iran (bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran)
Our country’s got a feelin’
Really hit the ceilin’, bomb Iran (bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran)
(Let’s nuke ’em, woo-hoo!)

Call on our allies to cut off their supplies
Get our hands untied, and bring ’em back alive

Bomb Iran (bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran)
Bomb Iran (bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran)
Our country’s got a feelin’
Really hit the ceilin’, bomb Iran (bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran)

Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran
Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran

Bomb Iran (bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran)
Let’s take a stand (bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran)
Bomb Iran (bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran)
Our people you been stealin’
Now it’s time for dealing, bomb Iran (bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran)

Song by Vince Vance & The Valiants (1980), sung to the tune of Barbara Ann by The Beach Boys.

President Trump fired Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Mr. Trump named Senator Markwayne Mullin (R. Ok.) as her replacement.

Governor Gavin Newsom (D. Ca.) referred to Israel as an apartheid State, and called for the United States to withdraw all or some of its support for the Jewish nation. As to the former, Governor Newsom apparently does not know what an apartheid State is. Is the man completely ignorant of South Africa’s history? Does he not realize that Israel is the only nation in the Middle East where an Arab–AN ARAB–can vote and hold political office? As to the latter, Governor Newsom is just a terrorist loving anti-Semite. Why, I cannot imagine. Maybe because that is the direction the Democrat Party is moving.

The Baltimore, Maryland mayor’s office spent more than $890,000 on lavish meals and parties — including crab feasts, catered “farewell” bashes and massive tabs at Ravens football games.  Mayor Brandon Scott (D.) blew taxpayer cash on over-the-top perks for staffers — including $52,589 on grub in the Mayoral Suite at Ravens and Orioles games — in a gross violation of the city’s “public funds” rules.  Oh, well.  It was not HIS money.

“White skin gives me and every white American immunity from the virus [of racism].  But we spread it wherever we go—through our words, our actions, and our systems.  We don’t have to be showing symptoms—like a white hood or a Confederate flag—to be contagious.”

–State Representative and U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico (D. Tx.)

Virginia Democrats want to make it optional for people to attend mandated traffic and criminal hearings. You see, life gets in the way, such as lack of transportation, family matters, and other circumstances. So the solution is not to punish people who blow off their court appearances. Gee, we wonder what the effect that new law will be on court attendance?

Virginia Democrats want to make Daylight Savings Time permanent in the Commonwealth. Why? Democrats imposed this on the nation in the 70s, and no one liked it then. They are not going to like it now. Sigh. I hate Democrats. They live to make people miserable.

Last week, Fairfax County, Virginia mom Stephanie Minter was murdered at a bus stop by Abdul Jalloh, a violent illegal alien with at least 40 prior arrests. All those arrests resulted in dismissed charges by the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney, Steve Descano (D.). Mr. Descano also refused to honor ICE detainers on Abdul Jalloh.

In November, Fairfax County police warned Mr. Descano that it was only a matter of time before Jalloh murdered someone. And now, Stephanie Minter is dead, at the hands of Abdul Jalloh.

Governor Spanberger (D.) is trying to protect Jalloh from deportation, by demanding that ICE get a signed judicial warrant before the Commonwealth will release Jalloh into federal custody.

That is not how federal immigration law works, and Democrats like Abigail Spanberger know it. ICE needs only an administrative warrant to seize and hold an illegal alien. And while it sounds so nice and reasonable for Abigail Spanberger to demand a judicial warrant, that is impossible to obtain in this instance. Because ICE cannot get a federal judicial warrant for an illegal alien accused of committing State crimes.

Governor Spanberger and her Democrat fellow travelers allowed a vicious, violent criminal illegal alien to roam the streets of Northern Virginia. Stephanie Minter paid for their fecklessness with her life. Was it worth it Governor? Was protecting an illegal alien from deportation really worth the life of a Virginian?

A reporter at the State Capitol asked Lt. Governor Hashmi (D. Va.) about Stephanie Minter’s death. Mrs. Hashmi refused to answer the question. She uttered not a word, not even a condolence remark. One of her aides shoved the reporter as Mrs. Hashmi smirked and smiled.

Democrats are not on your side. They do not care if you die.

The house seen on television in the series The Brady Bunch is now a historic landmark in the City of Los Angeles, California. Though the interior shots of the house on television were done on a sound stage, the actual house’s interior has been redone to resemble the television house. Oh, my!

Brittany Spears was arrested for drunk driving. This cannot be her 1st time.

A United States Navy submarine sunk an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean. Iran is very upset.

“Force cannot truly solve problems; instead, it often creates new ones and leaves serious long-term consequences.  The real value of military power lies not on the battlefield ⁠but in preventing war.”

–Official statement by Red China on the U.S./Israeli conflict with Iran.

China is sending a special envoy to the Middle East, demanding that the conflict with Iran be suspended, and that the dispute be mediated. Uh, huh. China is in deep trouble, as it gets its oil from Venezuela and Iran. Check that; China used to get its oil from Venezuela and Iran.

In response to news of Lou Holtz’s death, former ESPN personality Keith Olbermann called the legendary coach a “legendary scumbag”. This was in reaction to the fact that Lou Holtz was pro-life, and that President Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Huh. Lou Holtz was a devout Catholic. Of course he was pro-life! You, Keith Olbermann, are the worst person in the world.

Many elected Republicans offered their condolences on the passing of Lou Holtz. Sadly, only 1 elected Democrat official offered a kind word on the passing of Lou Holtz. That Democrat was Illinois State Representative Kam Buckner. How sad that he was the only one.

GFK

“Prayer is the raising of the mind to God.  We must always remember this.”

— Pope John XXIII.

My friend and golfing buddy Blaine Lowery brought up a blast from the past, former Winchester, Virginia City Manager Eden Freeman. Or as we prefer to refer to her, “Boss Freeman”.

Boss Freeman did not like me very much, even though I was always friendly to her. She thought of me as loud, frat boyish, irreverent, and chauvinist. Which are just a few of my endearing qualities.

Actually, Boss Freeman did not like many people. People got in the way of her grandiose vision and plans.

Boss Freeman really hated me because The Observations exposed her hare brain schemes. She had very thin skin. Probably why she was single.

In any event, in her short tenure in Winchester, Boss Freeman inflicted all sorts of bad things on Winchester, because, of course, she knew best. One of those things was her vision of a downtown conference center/hotel/retail complex. Which then became an apartment/retail complex. Which then became a $2 million vacant lot. In 2015. Now, 11 years later, the vacant lot is still there.

So here’s to Boss Freeman! You weren’t with us long, but you definitely made an impression. Right now that impression is covered with mud, surrounded by a chain link fence, across the street from The George Washington Hotel.

Addressing the increasing fallout over the Democrats’ hypocrisy, whereby Democrats raised no opposition to President Obama’s 7 month bombing campaign in Libya, without Congressional authorization, but are crazed over President Trump’s 5 day bombing campaign in Iran, Representative Hakeem Jeffries told reporters that “Iran is very different”, and accused reporters of acting in “bad faith”. He did not say how Iran was “very different”, nor how the reporters were acting in “bad faith”, which caused reporters to ask even more questions. Rather than answer those questions, Mr. Jeffries told reporters that he was not in Congress then, and walked away.

Representative Dan Crenshaw (R. Tx.) lost a contested primary for the Republican nomination. Mr. Crenshaw is the Thomas Massie of Texas. Enjoy your unemployment, sir.

Senator Ruben Gallego (D. Az.) said that the United States “was no longer a world power” after attacking Iran. I confess that I have no idea what he is talking about. Then, I doubt he does either.

The United States Supreme Court ruled that federal appeals courts must defer to immigration judges’ findings of fact, particularly with respect to what would qualify for asylum in the United States. This plugs a big hole where appellate judges sought to substitute their judgment for the immigration judges’ judgement. WINNING!

Why are California taxpayers paying for Commiela’s security team on her never ending book tour? Hmmm.

Three (3) Austin, Texas police officers bravely confronted and stopped the Senegalese immigrant who murdered 3, and wounded 14, in a terrorist attack. The police responded and subdued the attacker within 57 seconds of the incident’s beginning. Their reward? The Austin prosecutor–a George Soros backed Leftist–is hauling them before a grand jury on charges of murder. Seriously. This is not a joke.

Representative Jasmine Crockett (D. Tx.) lost her bid to win the Texas Democrat Senate nomination. She lost to a homosexual, fake Christian who is almost as gaffe prone as she. Representative Crockett did not concede. She claimed that the election was “stolen” from her. She blamed Republicans, particularly Donald Trump. She indicated that she might leave the Democrat Party. She was, consistent with her fake public persona, ghetto to the end.

Jasmine Crockett’s victory was “stolen”? Isn’t claiming that an election was “stolen” insurrection? I seem to remember something about that a few years ago.

Maine Democrat Senate candidate and Neo-Nazi Graham Platner stated that his campaign would not be run by consultants. Interesting. Then why do Mr. Platner’s campaign’s official financial reports show payments of $2.5 million to Washington, D.C. political consultants?

Kentucky Fried Chicken is bringing back a customer favorite from the 1990s, the Twister. The Twister is just a glorified McDonald’s chicken snack wrap, except that you can get it with bacon. And everything goes better with bacon.

The CIA has trained and armed Kurdish militias in Iran. The Kurdish militias will soon be unleashed against the Ayatollahs’ regime.

The Red Chinese government issued a statement denying that it was providing any military support to Iran. But the Red Chinese government did state that it was providing Iran with “moral support”. Ha, ha, ha, ha!

The United States shot down an Iranian missile destined for Turkey. Hmmm. Maybe it is time for Turkey to reconsider its favoring Iran in this conflict.

Former Atlanta Brave Mark Teixeira won the Republican nomination for Congress in Southern Texas. Congratulations!

Mexico lost 40% of its World Cup reservations after the drug cartels’ uprising last month. Ouch!

Lou Holtz became a head coach for the 1st time at William & Mary, where he led the Indians to the Tangerine Bowl. W&M in a bowl game? Unbelievable! From there Coach Holtz moved on to N.C. State, Arkansas, Minnesota, and Notre Dame. He also experienced a very forgettable single season with the NFL’s New York Jets. But it was at Notre Dame that Lou Holtz found his greatest success with 100 victories and a national championship. Lou Holtz was a motivator and leader of men. He cherished traditions and the United States. He loved God, his family, and his country. He was a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He lived a good life. And now Lou Holtz has died at age 89. R. I. P.

GFK

“There are plenty of ways to practice mortification!  Just patiently endure cold, heat, sickness, troubles, people, happenings, and so forth.”

— Saint John Bosco.

The Left cries “War is not the answer!” To which The Observations replies, “It depends upon the question”. Because sometimes, peace is gained through sheer force.

“In that first meeting, both the Iranian negotiators said to us directly, with no shame, that they controlled 460 kilograms of 60% and they’re aware that that could make 11 nuclear bombs, and that was the beginning of their negotiating stance. So that’s – they were proud of it.  They were proud that they had evaded all sorts of oversight protocols to get to a place where they could deliver 11 nuclear bombs.”

–Trump Administration Iran negotiator Steve Witkoff. 

There goes the Leftist/Democrat narrative that Iran did not pose an imminent threat, and that negotiations were the proper path to peace.

“The reason that we had to act now is because they were.  After we hit their nuclear sites and their ballistic missile program, you’d think they learned a lesson, but they didn’t because they’re unreformable.  They’re totally fanatical about this—about the goal of destroying America.  So they started building new sites, new places, underground bunkers that would make their ballistic missile program and their atomic bomb program immune within months.  If no action was taken now, no action could be taken in the future. And then they could target America.  They could blackmail America.  They could threaten us and threaten everyone in between.  So action had to be taken.  And you needed a resolute president like Donald J. Trump to take that action.”

–Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Every Iranian naval ship in the Gulf of Oman has been sunk by American and Israeli forces. WINNING!

“If Iran had begun to fire all of their missile arsenal – short and mid-range missiles – at our personnel and our assets and our installations, we would have suffered staggering losses, and if we had waited to respond before acting first, then those losses would have been far greater than if we had done what we did.  That was their decision.”

–Speaker Mike Johnson (R. La.), supporting President Trump’s decision to attack Iran.

What would the Trump Administration’s opponents have said had he not acted, and allowed Iran to launch preemptive attacks against U.S. military assets? You know the answer to that question.

 “The American people, again, are not interested in their taxpayer dollars being spent for another failed regime change war.  And that’s why the power was given explicitly to the House and to the Senate.  And Donald Trump chose intentionally not to come before Congress, which is why we’re going to force this vote on a War Powers Resolution and make sure that we do everything we can to constrain him at this point in time.”

–Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D. N.Y.), consigning American military operations to “fail[ure], even as American soldiers are engaged in combat.

What patriotism! And statesmanship, trying to “constrain” the Commander in Chief even as the military is engaged in hostilities with the largest state sponsor of terrorism on Earth.

“As Trump now refuses to rule out sending ground troops to Iran, I believe we must do everything in our power to stop this horrific war of choice before more Americans are killed.  That is why this week, I am forcing a vote in the House of Representatives on a bipartisan resolution with my Republican colleague, Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky, to end this illegal and unconstitutional conflict.  These families are in my thoughts and prayers.  But we also owe our fallen soldiers’ families and every military family with sons and daughters still in harm’s way a debate and vote in Congress.

–Representative Ro Khanna (D. Ca.).”

Oh, where to start?  First, the President is not acting unconstitutionally.  He does not need Congress’s permission to use the military, of which he is the Commander in Chief.  President Trump acted appropriately to defend the nation.  If Congress wishes to stop the President, it can cut off all military funding.  But it will not.  Because Congress as a whole is too cowardly to interfere while troops are in harm’s way.

Second, the President is not acting illegally.  Representative Khanna is referencing the War Powers Act.  While it has never been challenged in court, the Act is unconstitutional.  But let us assume otherwise.  The War Powers Act is predicated on the fact that the President will initiate hostilities with a foreign power with Congressional authorization.  If that happens, then Congress can act or not.  But it acknowledges the President’s Constitutional ability to act unilaterally.  Perhaps Representative Khanna should read the actual law.

Today Representative Nancy Pelosi (D. Ca.) condemns President Trump’s actions against Iran. But it was a very different story in 2011, when President Obama unilaterally took military action against Libya. Then, Representative Pelosi vigorously defended President Obama’s authority to launch military strikes. Hypocrite!

“Both the U.S. and genocidal Israel doesn’t care about the laws.  This is who they are.”

–Representative Rashida Tlaib (D. Mi.), condemning the attacks upon Iran.

“[T]hey”?  “This is who they are”?  Rashida Tlaib is a member of the United States Congress.  She was born in Michigan.  But just like Representative Ihan Omar (D. Mn.), her loyalties lie with foreign terrorists.  She is an enemy of the United States.

“The U.S. action for regime change in Iran is not sufficient to produce regional tranquility. It is, however, a necessity for beginning to reestablish a precondition for a more peaceable world: the credibility of U.S. deterrence.”

—Washington Post columnist George Will.

Wow!  For George Will to write something nice about President Trump . . . unbelievable!

The United States Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling, and blocked California’s law requiring public school teachers to keep a student’s gender transitioning or identity secret from their parents. Common sense.

The United States Supreme Court also overturned a New York Supreme Court ruling that New York City’s only Republican congressional district must be immediately redrawn, because it was unfair to black and brown people. It was not unfair to black and brown people. It just elected a Republican, which is an anathema to New York Democrats.

Governor Tampon Tim (D. Mn.) weighed on the side of Iran’s ayatollahs. Go figure.

Cincinnati, Ohio is considering the implementation of a reparations program. Because it would be racist not to be racist.

Governor Kathy Hochul (D. N.Y.) is in a panic, warning that energy prices in her State could soar if State law mandating “green” energy policies go into effect. Huh. These are laws that the Governor supported, and signed into law. Interesting.

A mosque in Manassas, Virginia posted on social media mourning the “martyred” Ayatollah Khamenei, and pledging their eternal loyalty to him as their leader. Good grief!

Governor Abigail Spanberger (D. Va.) ordered flags flown at half staff in honor of “Reverend” Jesse Jackson. Why?

Former Governor and Senate hopeful Roy Cooper (D. N.C.) is running from his soft on crime policies. Literally. When the subject came up at a news conference the other day, Mr. Cooper abruptly left the stage. When confronted by reporters in the building’s hallways, he took up a slow trot to escape the questions. Coward!

The New York Times reports that Cuba is almost at the point of Net Zero Carbon Emissions. You would think that the Times would be thrilled at this achievement, but it is not. It is terribly upset that the United States is choking off Cuba’s oil and gas supplies.

Why are the “climate change” scolds not lining up to make Cuba the shining example of modern life under Net Zero?  Why are they not raising funds to slap up solar panels everywhere in Cuba?  If solar power worked anywhere, one would think it would work on an island in the sunny Caribbean.  Why are they not raising funds to run up a bunch of offshore wind turbines, to catch those lovely warm trade winds off the Caribbean?  If wind power worked anywhere, one would think it would work on an island in the breezy Caribbean.  Why are the scolds not calling for this?  Because it won’t work, and they know it won’t work.  It’s not about the planet.  It’s not about the climate.  It’s about control.  It’s always about control.

Our NATO allies are being less than helpful in operations against Iran. Spain denied the U.S. permission to use its airbases to launch attacks against Iran. Turkey lamented Ayatollah Khamenei’s death, and insisted that no NATO bases in that country would be used against Iran. The surrender monkeys in France called for the cessation of hostilities. Great Britain initially denied the U.S. use of airbases on British territory, but finally relented, reluctantly, and only after an Iranian drone strike on a Royal Air Force base in Cyprus. Oh, how wonderful are our NATO allies whom we have defended for 81 years.

The irony of our NATO allies’ response is that they are all in the crosshairs of Iran’s missiles. Do they really think that their groveling would save them?

An Iranian drone strike struck the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia, causing the structure to catch on fire. Other targets were hit in Riyadh’s diplomatic quarter.

Iran decided to indiscriminately target all commercial traffic in the Gulf of Oman. The very 1st tanker its missiles struck was an Iranian flagged oil tanker.

GFK

“Lent is a privileged time of interior pilgrimage towards Him who is the fount of mercy.” — Pope Benedict XIV.

S**W! I have had all the S**W I can handle!

Yesterday morning I was sitting in my dining room working, oblivious to any goings on outside. When I got up to go to the post office, I looked out and it was snowing to beat the band. And had been for some time.

I realize that some people like s**w. Fine. I do not. It impedes virtually everything I want or need to do. And I do not get s**w days off. Because I am an adult.

March is National Peanut Month! WOO HOO! Eat some Hubs today! And every day!

A BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY Jim Farrell! I hope you had a great celebration!

“This was our last, best chance to strike.  What we are doing right now [to] eliminate the intolerable threats posed by this sick and sinister regime.  Following our obliteration of Iran’s nuclear program and Operation Midnight Hammer [last Summer], we warned Iran not to make any attempt to rebuild at a different location, because they were unable to use the ones we so powerfully blew up, but they ignored those warnings and refused to cease their pursuit of nuclear weapons.  The regime already had missiles capable of hitting Europe and our bases, both local and overseas, and would soon have had missiles capable of reaching our beautiful America.”

–President Trump, speaking to The White House Press Corp (March 2, 2026).

Aren’t you glad that Commiela is not President?

The Left smeared Secretary of War Pete Hegseth as being incompetent and ill-equipped to be leading America’s military. Since then, time and again, those accusations have been proven wrong. When will Congressional Democrats issue the lavish apology that Secretary Hegseth so richly deserves?

In January, the American Left marched for the despots of Venezuela.

In February, the American Left marched for Canadian hockey players.

In March, the American Left is marching for the despots of Iran.

Do you get the impression that the American Left is opposed to the United States? Hmmm.

“We lament once again the reckless use of military force rather than investment in negotiations and multilateralism.  Now, U.S. actions are dangerously escalating violence in the region, putting the lives and well-being of millions at risk as well as causing profound impacts globally.”

–Statement by The Episcopal Church USA, urging Congress and the Church’s parishioners to condemn the United States’ military actions in Iran.

“. . . investment in negotiations and multilateralism”?  Seriously?

The Church of England was founded in 597.  The Episcopal Church USA was founded in 1789, as the American successor to The Church of England, following the American Revolution.  But to read the Church’s statement above, one might think that the Church was only founded . . . last week.  Because we have been at war with Iran since 1979.  We did not acknowledge it, but it is true.  American citizens seized and held from November 4, 1979 through January 20, 1981.  Bombings killing American Marines in Beirut, Lebanon.  Bombs bringing down planes over Europe and Africa.  Bombings in Africa, Israel, Syria, and elsewhere.  The USS Cole’s bombing.  The threats of “Death to America”.

President Reagan attempted to negotiate with Iran.  Presidents Carter, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden, and Trump tried to negotiate with Iran.  Iran makes empty promises which it does not keep.  It is the largest state sponsor of terrorism.

For 47 years, Iran has been at war with the United States.  When will The Episcopal Church USA recognize that the time for “investment in negotiations” is over?

“Democrat ‘values’ are clear.  They defend insurrectionists attacking federal law enforcement officers trying to arrest illegal aliens, and even believe it is morally wrong for police to interfere with their violent riots in attempts to restore law and order.  Yet, elected Democrats however, offered only fluffy statements against Iranian security forces murdering Iranians by the thousands who protested against Iran’s brutal Islamic police state.  The hypocrisy is insane.

For Democrats, violence against Trump’s actions is good, no matter how evil Trump’s targets are.

Drug cartels supplying deadly drugs to Americans should not be attacked.

Brutal Islamic regimes must not be hindered in their terrorist actions outside their borders, particularly when they attack Israel, nor should such regimes suffer more than superficial condemnation for butchering their own people.  Police brutality is okay when Islamic tyrannies do it.

So, to hell with Democrat’s fake moral superiority.  To hell with their sucking up to Islam, while condemning conservative Christians. Democrats reap the benefits of living in an America created by political, economic, and social values they hate.   Democrats are worthless, un-American traitors who openly attack the values that made America the economic and military envy of the world.”

–Texas Hughes, The American Thinker (March 2, 2026).

“They went to war with Iran (which nobody in America was asking for) so they could conjure an excuse to allow ICE to keep murdering Americans and teargassing schools here at home with impunity (which nobody in America was asking for).”

–Senator Chris Murphy (D. Ct.).

Senator Murphy is one deranged, delusional man.  He actually believes the sewage that spills forth from his mouth.

“You’re right about the ayatollah. He was a brutal dictator.  This is a murderous regime.  But at the same time, it posed no imminent threat of attack to the United States.  They had not reconstituted their nuclear program, which the president just months ago said had been obliterated.  They do not have ballistic missiles capable of hitting the United States.”

–Senator Adam Schiff (D. Ca.).

Yes, Iran is evil.  But . . . . 

The Washington Post published a glowing obituary of Ayatollah Khamenei, noting his easy smile, and kindly looks. The Ayatollah was a popular figure, who loved Persian poetry and classic Western novels. Goodness! One would never have guessed that he was a bloodthirsty tyrant who led the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, and dreamed of destroying Israel and the United States. Sigh. Our media is terrible.

Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the coalition of 80-plus student groups behind the 2024 pro-Gaza encampment, posted “Death To America” in Farsi on social media. Their parents must be so proud.

Virginia General Assembly Democrats are raising their legislative salaries. A lot. The Democrats are going to raise their salaries for their part time jobs from $18,000.00 per annum, to $50,000.00 per annum. Affordability.

Keliang “Clay” Zhu is a partner in a Beijing, China law firm, with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party. He is an active advocate for Chinese interests in the United States. AND, he is bankrolling Representative Eric Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign in California. Hmmmm. First, Fang Fang, and now, Zhu.

A Senegalese immigrant, who is Muslim, entered an Austin, Texas bar, wearing a “Property of Allah” shirt. He shot the place up, murdering 3, and injuring 14. A copy of the Koran was found in his car. It is believed–most likely, quite correctly–that his act was terrorism, motivated by anger over the attacks against Iran.

Gott’s Roadside, a Napa Valley, California regional hamburger chain, is expanding to Los Angeles. It is hard to beat a burger and a beer.

The average wait time in a burger restaurant drive-thru is 4 minutes. At In-N-Out, the wait times can typically last up to 20 minutes. But customers do not care. Because the burgers are that good. And a value. A Double Double meal–double cheeseburger, fries, and a drink–is not only delicious, but is cheaper by several dollars than a McDonald’s Big Mac meal.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy had the gall to claim that Five Guys hamburgers are better than In-N-Out. He’s wrong. So, so, so wrong!

There is nothing wrong with Five Guys (other than the prices). But Five Guys cannot hold a candle to In-N-Out. Nope!

GFK

Below is an article by Scott McKay addressing many of the issues that are being thrown about with respect to the current conflict with Iran. I hope you find it informative.

Ten Thoughts on Operation Epic Fury and Its Aftermath

Why the strike on Iran was legal, overdue, and a strategic earthquake.

BY: SCOTT MCKAY, The American Spectator (March 1, 2026).

As I write this on Saturday night, there is still a lot going on, and as such I’ll throw myself on the mercy of our readers for whatever has gone out of date between its writing and your reading.

It’s a very fluid situation.

But in what looks like a very, very successful joint operation between the Israeli Defense Forces and the U.S. Navy and Air Force, a significant decapitation strike has greatly degraded the Iranian regime — including harvesting some 40 top leaders of the Iranian regime, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, whose death has sparked worldwide celebrations from Iranians and Iranian expatriates.

There are lots of questions which will be asked about those strikes, and we don’t know what the future will hold for Iran and its relationship not just with the USA but Israel, its neighbors and its allies. But there are a number of things which do come to mind either as conclusions or at least observations of a fluid situation.

1. Read The War Powers Resolution Before You Say This Was An Illegal Order

The first reaction to the strikes on Saturday from Democrats and those others who trashed them was that what the President did was illegal.

And that’s a lie.

You might believe that airstrikes against Iran should require a declaration of war by Congress, and I might be persuaded by your arguments if you have any which are well thought out. But as a matter of legality let’s remember that Congress hasn’t declared war since the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, 85 years ago.

There have been a whole lot of military actions since then.

The President has more or less plenary power to conduct military action against foreign enemies under current law. He doesn’t have the power to sustain that activity for more than a couple of months, but he can call in airstrikes anywhere he wants.

Now the Iranians have fired missiles at practically every other country in the region. So it isn’t just the Israelis and the Saudis who have had it with them.

That’s what you get when you keep a highly competent, far-reaching military in a technological age.

In the days formal declarations of war were established, the purpose of having Congress hold that power was that a free country wouldn’t have the money to maintain a large standing army, so you’d get Congress to declare war as a rationale for spending the money to raise an army to prosecute that war. But we did away with that after World War II, because we were functionally at war with the Soviet Union almost immediately. And in this modern age, when you can launch airstrikes and missiles and change the course of history in ways that entire armies were previously required for, the old calculus doesn’t really hold.

This is a stupid argument, and the people making it aren’t going to profit by making it.

2. No Imminent Threat? There Is One Now

Watching Jonathan Turley on cable news Saturday night yielded an interesting notion. Turley said that by the time Congress would debate an authorization for the airstrikes the facts on the ground would make the conversation utterly ridiculous.

It’s gone almost without saying for most of our lives, or at least most of our adult lives for those of us who are more seasoned citizens, that Iran was an imminent threat to American national interests. But if you’re unimpressed by that fairly obvious fact, then there’s this — now that we’ve hit Iran and taken out Khamenei, the defense minister, the head of the country’s judiciary (he signed off on the slaughter of some 30,000 or more political dissidents over the past few weeks), the head of the Revolutionary Guard Corps and a host of others, it’s pretty damned obvious that what’s left of that regime is an imminent threat now.

Including who-knows how many Iranian assets are sitting inside our country right now, waiting to cause mayhem. Or somewhere else where they can attack American interests.

What sticks in my head is a speech Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave after Pearl Harbor. The verbiage FDR used was that…

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.

We don’t need to do this and I don’t suggest we do. But if you want to go down this road so badly and you want to adhere to that standard, which regardless of what I’d like to see is fairly obviously obsolete based on the differences in reality between now and 1941, where do you think we are vis-a-vis FDR’s message to Congress in December of 1941?

Does a state of war exist between the U.S.A. and the Iranian regime? It doesn’t matter whose fault you think this is; this isn’t a moral judgment so much as a recognition of reality.

And the reality is you’d better not pull in the claws now.

3. Libya Was Unprovoked; This Wasn’t

The other stupid argument being thrown around — my favorite advocate of this is Ben Rhodes, he of the asinine Obama Iran deal — is that the attacks on the Iranian regime were “unprovoked.”

The administration Rhodes somehow managed to become relevant in bombed the Qaddafi government in Libya out of existence during the so-called Arab Spring in 2011.

Now THAT was unprovoked.

Whatever you think of Qaddafi — and you shouldn’t remember him too fondly — the Bush administration sent Condoleeza Rice to strike detente with him, he’d surrendered his weapons of mass destruction programs, and he was working with us to identify and eliminate Al Qaeda terrorists. We hadn’t just normalized relations with him, we’d gotten due considerations for having done so.

You can say it was stupid or craven that we did so, and I’m agnostic about that. But once we had, we didn’t have a casus belli with him. And yet, the administration Ben Rhodes worked in unilaterally, and without provocation, bombed his regime out of existence and set him up to be torn apart by a mob of animals in the middle of the desert.

These same people want to talk about the injustice of bombing Khamenei and his friends into oblivion?

At some point, maybe you should ask yourself whether you’re really just anti-American rather than anti-war.

4. Regime Change In Iran Is 47 Years Overdue No Matter How Isolationist You Are

Whatever you think of Trump, and whatever you think of Israel, you have to admit that what happened on Saturday was the fault of the Iranian regime.

They’ve absolutely had it coming.

This is a government which, as we’ve discussed in this column, has allowed one of the most basic functions of governance — getting enough fresh water to supply their own capital — to go completely unaddressed while wasting their money on a missile program, a nuclear program, staffing up terrorist armies in Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, becoming a world leader in the production of military drones, and a host of other bad-guy activities.

Not to mention building a multi-layer secret police apparatus to oppress their own people.

And from an American perspective, we have a half-century of damned good grievances against the Iranians, starting with the hostage crisis back in 1979, the Beirut Marine barracks bombing in 1983, a whole host of terrorist attacks, the roadside IED bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hamas’ various attacks which affected Americans culminating on October 7, 2023, Hezbollah’s terrorist and criminal activities for half a century which affected Americans, the Houthis attacking our shipping in the Red Sea and elsewhere … this has gone on forever, and it has almost never let up.

Saturday was long overdue and everybody knows it. For that reason, despite everything  you heard the initial polls gave a comfortable margin of favorability for those attacks.

5. Let’s Not Forget That Both Israel And The Saudis Asked Us To Do This

That’s from The Washington Post, which had a story on Saturday which said both the Saudis and Israelis lobbied Trump for a green light on the attacks. That Israel and the Saudis would agree on anything is notable, but it’s even more so that they’d agree on, essentially, a mini-war on a Muslim country.

It should challenge your notions about Saudi Arabia.

Suspicion of their motives is certainly warranted — it’s not a secret that Saudis were the funders and facilitators of the 9/11 attacks. On the other hand, that was 25 years ago, and Saudi Arabia is not really the same country a generation later. It’s more Western, definitely more pro-American, and, without question, more suspicious of Iran.

It isn’t our responsibility to rebuild Iran when its regime falls. Nor is it in our interests.

The whole Sunni-Shiite issue is undersold, certainly in Western media, and the fact that Iran is the leading Shiite Muslim power while Saudi Arabia is the seat of Sunni Islam and the keeper of the Islamic holy places — something that Sunnis and Iranians have twice turned into bloody conflicts in the holy city, are part of the problem. The fact that the Saudis were just recently in a proxy war with Iran’s Houthi cat’s-paws in Yemen is another. Don’t forget that when the Houthis started firing rockets at ships in the Red Sea during the Biden administration, attacks that all but shut down shipping in the Red Sea, it affected Saudi Arabia more than anything else; the Saudis’ main port at Jeddah is on the Red Sea, and it was all but shut down.

Now the Iranians have fired missiles at practically every other country in the region. So it isn’t just the Israelis and the Saudis who have had it with them. This is an irritant the whole region is ready to see go away — especially now that they’ve seen it’s actually possible to do it.

6. Stop Demanding A Plan For Iranian Succession. That’s For The Iranians To Do.

I keep seeing these people — the most prominent of them is the atrocious Anne Applebaum, who posted a ridiculous piece at The Atlantic titled “Trump Has No Plan For The Iranian People” — trashing Saturday’s strikes over the contention that because we don’t have all the answers for what comes after the Khamenei regime gets taken out, we shouldn’t take them out.

This is utterly idiotic, globalist bullshit.

It isn’t particularly our business what comes next in Iran. Sure, we might have an option or two to offer — if the Iranians would accept Reza Pahlavi’s offer to return as a transitional leader on the way to something reflecting more of a consensus of the Iranian people, that’s great, but it’s hardly the only way to go.

Maybe there’s some opportunistic commander within the regime who knows what time it is and is capable of going with the flow. A couple of people who were supposed to be at that meeting at the Supreme Leader’s palace but magically didn’t show up might have shown themselves worthy of a deal.

But at the end of the day, this is something the Iranian people have the right to decide for themselves. After all, haven’t some 30,000 or more of them bought that right with their lives?

Stop pretending that Colin Powell knew what the hell he was talking about when he sold George W. Bush his stupid Crate and Barrel “If you break it, you buy it” doctrine. That was never a legitimate standard for American foreign policy.

It isn’t our responsibility to rebuild Iran when its regime falls. Nor is it in our interests. This is much simpler than that — take out the regime, you’ve taught a lesson to anybody who’d like to run that country, which is that to do so in contravention of American interests can be deadly, and then get out of the way.

Let’s remember that the Iranians are the most pro-American population in the region. More than 80 percent of them wanted to be rid of the most anti-American regime that side of Minnesota or New York City. How about giving them a shot at this? Haven’t they earned it with all that suffering?

7. Exorcising The Demons Of Iraq And Afghanistan, Finally

I stole some of my own thunder here in denouncing the Crate and Barrel strategy, which was one of the dumbest ideas ever to be turned into American policy. But beyond that, what this event has done is to totally change the formulation of how military operations or other strategic moves are analyzed.

On the right, it has turned into a catechism, particularly as part of perceived Trump doctrine, that we’re rejecting globalism and embracing a more America First philosophy which is more isolationist — and the sales pitch for it is that it involves a rejection of stupid adventurism like we saw in Iraq.

Nobody wants stupid adventurism like we saw in Iraq.

Incidentally, one reason we spent so much time, treasure, and blood in Iraq was Iran’s meddling in Iraq’s internal affairs, which was expressly intended to bog us down there. And until Trump took out Suleimani in his first term there were never any negative consequences for that meddling.

Ditto for Afghanistan. Why we stayed in that place for 20 years when it was never worth more than six months of our time was only explainable as a function of corruption and greed on the part of NGOs and contractors, but the pullout from that adventure and the American disgrace it entailed scarred our national prestige.

Between our attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities last summer, the raid on Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela earlier this year, and Saturday’s strikes — and so far, there are no American military casualties to report out of any of the three — this is a different situation altogether.

Yes, Iraq is a cautionary tale. No, it isn’t a determinative experience. We don’t have to parachute troops into Tehran to govern the place, and there is no reason to think we would do that.

Scott Jennings said on CNN Saturday that it’s more likely Trump prevented a war than that he started one.

8. NATO Is Worthless and Our Participation in It Isn’t Very Urgent Anymore

Both Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron took pains to assert that neither Great Britain or France had anything to do with Saturday’s strikes. That was a sop by both to the radical Muslim minorities who not only have the power to paralyze their countries with civil unrest but utterly control them given the European Left’s recruitment of Muslim immigrants for the sole purpose of creating client voting majorities to include unassimilable immigrant populations.

But it was more significant even than that.

Had the Brits told us they wanted in on the strikes, it would have been more a matter of us making room to give them something productive they could do than actually needing them.

As for the French, please.

The Europeans like to talk about the help they gave us in Iraq and Afghanistan. Was that significant? Not particularly. Nothing we got from Britain, France, Germany, or any of the other NATO allies made much of a difference in the outcome of either campaign.

And now, we find out we don’t need them at all to take out the bulk of the Iranian regime from the air. The Israelis are enough.

Except for the B-2 bombers sitting at Diego Garcia that Starmer has so far objected to us using from what’s nominally a British base in the Indian Ocean. Now that U.S. bases have been hit by Iranian missiles, will he maintain that position? Can he even stop us from sending those planes? What happens if he tries?

Where does all this leave us with respect to the Euros?

We’ll leave that question open — but what’s clear is it isn’t really that important in the grand scheme of things. Europe is a backwater now.

9. What About Russia? They’ve Been Badly Outplayed.

Oh, but Ukraine, you say.

There’s a report  that suddenly the Russians are willing to come to the table following Saturday’s takedown in Iran. I haven’t seen too much confirmation of that and I don’t know that it’s true. What I do know is that Russia responded to our knocking out their last remaining Middle East ally with weak protestations referencing “international law.”

International law? No. You don’t get to invade Ukraine and then play Clarence Darrow over us bombing Ali Khamenei into next week.

It is worth noting that Trump got into office and immediately attempted to stop the war in Ukraine. And he buffaloed the Ukrainians into acceding to what many thought was a dictated peace with Russia. And then the Russians wouldn’t agree to it.

Rather than lard the Ukrainians up with a surfeit of weaponry we can’t even spare, Trump set about taking down Russia’s friends around the world.

Maduro in Venezuela. The toppling Diaz-Canel government regime in Cuba. The Indians who’ve agreed not to buy their oil. Now Iran.

Trump has done more to isolate the Russians than anybody else has, all the while making noises inviting Russia to make peace in Ukraine, and attractive terms to do so.

Will anybody give him credit for that? Probably not.

10. China’s Response? Send The Baizuo.

Baizuo is a Chinese word for white leftists. It basically translates to “useful idiots.” And no sooner did Trump announce that the strikes on China’s pals and major source of crude oil was under attack but there were baizuo in the streets of New York and Washington screeching about Trump’s “illegal war” with Iran.

By leftist organizations funded by the Chinese who had pre-printed signs for all the baizuo.

It was pretty bad stuff for China that we would take out the Iranian regime. Let’s remember that we’d already shut down the “ghost fleet” of oil tankers trafficking in Venezuelan  and Iranian sanctioned oil, almost exclusively to China. Now, China’s going to have to make do without below-market Iranian crude to fuel their ships and jets drilling for a potential attack on Taiwan.

Yes, we’re expending a lot of Tomahawk missiles and there’s a real problem that we don’t have enough, and we stupidly relied on Chinese parts for them that we need to effectively replace. That’s a problem, but it isn’t half as bad as not having any fuel.

I’ve said before that for a number of reasons the Chinese aren’t going into Taiwan. Instead, they’ll adopt the KGB’s old tactics and simply buy the American Left.

Which they’re doing. Don’t mistake for a second that the pro-Iran bent of politicians and activists is actually deployed by China. Because that’s exactly what it is.

GFK

“Fasting is directed to two things, the deletion of sin, and the raising of the mind to heavenly things.”

— Saint Thomas Aquinas.

More anti-American fallout from the attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran. Actress Jane Fonda led a rally condemning the United States in Los Angeles. Of course, she did. Jane Fonda cheered for the North Vietnamese.

“The corrupt and repressive Iranian regime must never have nuclear weapons . The leadership of Iran must go.  But that does not justify the President of the United States engaging in an illegal, dangerous war that will risk the lives of our American service members and our friends without justification to the American people.  President Trump is putting Americans at risk abroad because he is unpopular at home.”

–Governor Gavin Newsom (D. Ca.).

A predictable lame response from Governor Hair Gel.  And notice, he does not want Iran to have nuclear weapons, he wants the Iranian regime toppled, BUT . . . Gavin Newsom does not want to do anything to bring about those results.  Because that is the Democrat mantra against solving problems, particularly by President Trump; just say NO!

“Let me be clear: I am opposed to a regime-change war in Iran, and our troops are being put in harm’s way for the sake of Trump’s war of choice.”

–Commiela.

Presidents Obama and China Joe propped up the Ayatollahs.  And now you know beyond all doubt that if she had been elected President, so would have Commiela.

Ben Rhodes, President Obama’s architect of the failed Iranian nuclear deal, criticized President Trump’s actions against Iran. Of all people, he should just shut up.

MS NOW hosts and Senator Mark Warner (D. Va.) all asked, “Why now?” Because U.S. intelligence concluded that Iran was preparing preemptive military strikes against Israel, our Arab allies, and U.S. military assets. That is “why now”.

The United Nations Secretary General condemned Israel and the United States for attacking Iran. Who cares?

In response, United States United Nations Ambassador Mike Waltz made the following statement:

“The most fundamental duty of any sovereign government is the protection of its people. Operation Epic Fury is directed toward specific and strategic objectives: to dismantle missile capabilities that threaten allies, to degrade naval assets used to destabilize international waters, to disrupt the machinery that arms proxy militias, and to ensure the Iranian regime never, ever can threaten the world with a nuclear weapon. 

As President Trump said last night, for decades the Iranian regime has woefully destabilized the world, it has killed American forces and citizens, threatened regional allies, and jeopardized the security of international shipping upon which the world depends.

It’s massive support for violent proxies, declared terrorist organizations – the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas, and others – has brought bloodshed and disorder across the Middle East for far too long. This is not speculation; we know this to be true, and our men and women have paid for the actions of this regime and the IRGC with their lives.

No responsible nation can ignore persistent aggression and violence. The regime in Tehran has led attacks that have cost American lives. Hundreds of U.S. Marines in Lebanon, thousands of troops in Iraq, American hostage after hostage has suffered. Our ships fired upon dozens of times in the Red Sea.

Iran has armed and financed militant organizations that undermine lawful governments and destabilizes an already-fragile region. Iran’s continued pursuit of advanced missile capabilities, coupled with its refusal to abandon nuclear ambitions – despite diplomatic opportunities – presents a grave and mounting danger.

The international community has long-affirmed a simple and necessary principle: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. That principle is not a matter of politics, it’s a matter of global security. And, to that end, the United States is taking lawful actions.”

The federal government remains partially shut down. Coast Guard, TSA, and FEMA employees are all working without pay. Because . . . Democrats. Because Democrats love illegal aliens more than they love American citizens.

Mortgage rates are the lowest since 2022. WINNING!

China Joe’s FBI subpoenaed the telephone records of Kash Patel and Susie Wiles in 2022 and 2023. Worse, they recorded these telephone conversations, including telephone conversations covered by attorney-client privilege. This was all done at the direction of Special Counsel Jack Smith. Why? Because Orange Man bad. Jack Smith and the Democrats were willing to stretch the law to the point of breaking it, doing anything in order to “get” Donald Trump.

The abuses by the China Joe Department of Justice should frighten us all. Because those abuses will return if there is ever another Democrat president.

“There’s thinly veiled racist language, anti-immigrant language in what he was asking, and that was uncomfortable.”

–Representative Janelle Bynum (D. Or.), condemning President Trump’s call for favoring American citizens over illegal aliens.

Yes, yes, yes. Let’s just turn over the United States to the entire Third World.

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t ask your opinion on that, and if I cared about your opinion I would ask you.  But I don’t care about your opinion.  You’re part of the system.  You’re part of the problem.  You’ve been sitting here longer than I’ve even been alive.  This is your problem.  You should have fixed this a long time ago.  You’ve been railing on it for so long.  What have you been doing?” 

–Senator Markwayne Mullins (R. Ok.), addressing a rude Senator Bernie Sanders (I. Vt.), who interrupted him during the questioning of a committee hearing witness.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. rejected The National Trust’s bid to stop the construction of The White House ballroom. WINNING!

Federal district court judge Brian Murphy enjoined the Trump Administration from deporting illegal aliens to 3rd party countries. In a 6-3 decision, the United States Supreme Court overturned Judge Murphy’s decision. Judge Murphy then ignored the Supreme Court’s decision, which brought a 7-2 Supreme Court decision directing Judge Murphy to comply with its orders. And now Judge Murphy has again enjoined the Trump Administration’s deportation policy, in further defiance of the Supreme Court. It shall surprise no one that Judge Murphy was appointed by China Joe.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overruled a lower court, and cleared the way for President Trump to strip thousands of government employees of their collective bargaining rights. Union membership should never be an option for public employees. WINNING!

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit cleared the way for Texas to enforce a State law prohibiting drag shows in public or where children are or may be present. MORE WINNING!

“I watched President Donald Trump’s entire 2026 State of the Union speech.  And I loved it! Watching it made me more likely to vote in the midterm elections.

This was the first time I wasn’t bored and actually agreed with everything he had to say.  I appreciate his businessman’s approach to the economy and tariffs.  I loved that he celebrated the people directly affected by his policy changes and celebrated the economy wins by putting America first. 

* * * *

Government needs to actually represent the people, not politicians’ self interests and agenda.  I am actually a registered Democrat, and I was ashamed of how congressional Democrats were acting at the State of the Union ‒ not giving Trump the common courtesy and respect the office of the president deserves.”

–Joni Werner, a Texas resident, writing in USA TODAY (February 27, 2026).

In San Francisco, California, a rally for higher taxes on the “rich” quickly devolved into an anti-Semitic demonstration, with participants yelling “tax the Jews”. My goodness!

Rene Campos is running for Fresno City Council as a Democrat. Mr. Campos is a registered sex offender.

For the very 1st time in 110 years, Carmel, California will have street addresses. Every single building–homes, restaurants, shops, and government buildings–will have numbers assigned to them. Town officials stress that public safety mandates the change. Maybe. Still, a quaint old custom will now bite the dust. And that is a shame.

In Newark, New Jersey, an illegal alien fleeing ICE agents, crashed into a car, injuring 3 children, and causing them to require hospitalization. Naturally, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D.) blamed ICE for the children’s injuries.

In Tampon Tim’s Minnesota, autism related government spending increased 34,000%, over a roughly 9 year period, from $1 million to $343 million. You’ll never convince me that this is legitimate spending. And you’ll never convince me that Tampon Tim is not involved in this seeming fraud.

Minnesota lawmakers are also not convinced. Articles of impeachment against Tampon Tim (D.) and Attorney General Keith Ellison (D.) have been filed. THROW THE BUMS OUT!

Retired Air Force Major Gerald Brown, Jr. traveled to Red China over a period of years for the purpose of training Chinese fighter pilots. He was arrested at his Indiana home. He should be cashiered, stripped of all rank and retirement, dishonorably discharged, and given accommodations at Fort Leavenworth for the rest of his life. At a minimum.

In Boise, Idaho, Sarah George stole an ambulance from a local hospital, filled it with cans of gasoline, and rammed the ambulance into an office building leased by ICE. Her intent was to set the building on fire, but that failed. She is now in custody, and in big trouble.

Burger King is upgrading its Whopper sandwich. The upgrade includes a better bun, premium mayonnaise, and box, instead of paper, packaging.

Congratulations to Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Brownie Mix. Southern Living magazine named it the best box brownie mix in the nation. Pillsbury Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix finished a distant second.

Barbetta, Manhattan’s oldest Italian restaurant at 120 years old, served its last meals last Friday. Very sad.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un threatened the nuclear annihilation of South Korea. Another day that ends in “y”.

Pakistan has declared war on Afghanistan and the Taliban. Missile strikes launched, and there does not appear to be any hope of either side standing down.

Great Britain’s government is now doing what Napoleon and Hitler never managed: carrying out a successful invasion of the British Isles.  The number of people granted asylum by the Home Office jumped by more than a third last year.

This is precisely the kind of self-destructive policies that Democrats want to implement here.  This is precisely what the China Joe administration, whoever was actually pulling befuddled old Joe’s strings, was doing.  If Kamala Harris had somehow won the 2024 election, she would be pouring aviation-grade gasoline on that fire, right now.

This is what Democrats want.  This is what the Left wants.  This is why they are fighting deportation efforts at every turn.  This is why they argue bitterly against deporting even hardened criminals.  This is why their useful idiots interfere with DHS, Border Patrol, and ICE agents who are trying to do their jobs.  This is why Democrat politicians refuse to countenance even the mildest immigration enforcement or election security measures.  Look at Britain, because that’s what the Left wants here.

This isn’t about compassion.  It’s about fomenting an invasion.

Sacramento State University is moving up to NCAA Division I (FBS) in football. It is joining the Mid-American Conference. Which means that this California school is joining an athletic conference whose member schools are located in the Midwest, New York, and Massachusetts. The closest school is just under 2,000 miles away.

The affiliation of a California school with a Midwest athletic conference is strange enough (are you paying attention USC and UCLA?), but this move gets stranger. Sacramento State is paying at least $23 million just for the privilege of joining the conference. Sacramento State also will not share in any conference revenues. Sacramento State will pay visiting teams their travel expenses. Games are always played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. And in 5 years, the Mid-American Conference can drop Sacramento State’s membership without penalty.

Sacramento State is a public school with funding issues. Its president insists that moving up to Division I (FBS) is a necessary growth move. Wow. They really want to this badly. The question is, will it turn out badly? Most likely, so.

Major League Baseball pitcher Merrill Kelly chose to sign with the Arizona Diamondbacks, despite the San Diego Padres making him a far more lucrative offer. Why? Mr. Kelly admitted that California’s insanely high tax laws caused him to decide to sign with Arizona.

NFL’s Atlanta Falcons fired coach LaTroy Lewis as an assistant defensive line coach. It seems that Coach Lewis has been credibly accused of sexual and physical violence while an assistant coach at the University of Michigan. What goes on at Michigan?

Former Washington Post columnist and all ’round Lefty, Colman McCarthy, has died at age 87. R. I. P.

Musician and songwriter Neil Sedaka has died at age 86. R. I. P.

GFK