On Talarico: "Say what you want, we'll just deny it all."

 Paxton's Democratic rival James Talarico strikes different tone on trans rights at secret LGBTQ fundraiser    

. . . "Talarico was asked on Fox if he would vote as a senator in favor of a national ban on gender surgery for minors, and he replied, 'Absolutely.' He also stated, 'I will oppose trans athletes playing in girls' sports if it risks safety or fairness.'  '. . . 

[UPDATE] Audio Appears to Confirm Talarico’s Stay at Mental Health Facility; Campaign Denies It   . . . "An Ohio mental health facility discharged Texas State Rep. James Talarico (D-50th District), the Democrat Party's nominee for U.S. Senate, earlier this week, according to bombshell audio that independent journalist Nick Sortor released on Sunday.

"The recording answers a question that has hung over the Texas Senate race for days. Talarico went two weeks without an in-person campaign event in the state, with the general election less than a month away. His campaign claimed he was recovering from the flu, an explanation that never held up. Talarico has diabetes, which can complicate the flu, but the campaign never disclosed that as an explanation.

"Sortor and Rhein Amacher ran out of patience on Sunday morning. They gave Talarico until 1 p.m. ET to explain his absence and promised to release the details themselves if he stayed quiet.

"The deadline passed, and Sortor and Amacher dropped the audio.

"On the call, Amacher asks a woman who answers the phone at the Lindner Center of Hope whether the facility has anything for James Talarico.

"'It looks like he was just discharged this evening," the employee says after a long pause. "That's why I don't have it."

"Amacher then asked to confirm he had the correct place, and the employee did in fact confirm he was speaking to the Lindner Center of Hope in Mason, Ohio." . . .

Talarico FINALLY Speaks, and I Think He Just Made Things Worse

Mamdani snubs Brooklyn Columbus Day Parade, ghosts Queens organizers

NY Post 

 A Mamdani social media post from 2020 surfaced during last year’s mayoral race showing the Ugandan-born pol flipping the bird to the Christopher Columbus statue in Astoria. Mamdani, who that same year successfully ran to represent the neighborhood in the state Assembly, included the caption, “Take it down.”

"The Columbus Citizens Foundation, which runs the famed parade along Fifth Avenue, got plenty of heat from other Italian American groups for trying to extend an olive branch to Mamdani by inviting him to the event despite the socialist mayor’s past rocky relationship with Italian Americans.

"Christopher Loiacono, president of the Columbus Citizens Foundation, and other leaders of the group did not return messages."But Angie Markham, executive director of FAIO of Queens, which organizes the Astoria event, said Mamdani not attending the Astoria parade “isn’t gonna make or break the event for me.”"'People wanna change history,” she said. “It is what it is. This is the day we chose to [honor] Italian heritage. The Spanish have a whole month. The blacks have a whole month. We have one day. Leave us alone!”

"Jerry Iannece, a criminal court judge and parade chairman, said Mamdani and other far-left pols’ disdain for Columbus is “misguided,” adding that “there’s a lot of people who want to rewrite history.”

"Carlo Scissura, vice chairman of the FAIO of Brooklyn, declined to address Mamdani’s snub at the Bensonhurst parade but said, “We are proud and excited to host our annual parade, a powerful celebration of Italian American heritage, pride and culture.”

A June 2020 social media post by Mamdani
 gave the finger to a statue of Christopher
 Columbus in  Queens and said “Take it down.”

"Many Brooklyn patrons said they were upset — but not shocked — Mamdani snubbed Big Apple Italian Americans yet again." . . . More.

Victor Davis Hanson: The Double Standard of Islamist Immigrants Who Attack America

The Obama Death Star is out of hope

"Is there enough public interest in visiting the monument to the greatness of Barack to keep it afloat?"

 American Thinker   

"What’s most likely happening is that after funding a $550 million cost overrun on the building, donors aren’t interested in ponying up another dime."

"I've always thought Barack Obama was a race-hustling, egomaniacal, anti-American Communist and Islamist, and his actions and history have vindicated that belief. The media lauded him as the greatest orator in history, yet by the standards I taught my speech and debate students, he was mediocre at best. No Obama speech is remotely in the same league as those of Martin Luther King or Abraham Lincoln. He just didn’t have it in him, largely because he was entirely self-centered.

"Obama was expert at self-promotion and self-aggrandizement, so much so that he was given a Nobel Peace Prize almost immediately after being elected for being Barack Obama. At least one member of the Nobel Committee that awarded that prize later admitted it was a stupid thing to do. As President of the Harvard Law Review, he did almost nothing, and only a single, 1990, unsigned article on abortion has been attributed to him. He obviously liked the title and prestige, but not the work. He could never explain to even his friends what he did as a “community organizer” in  Chicago. 

"With that non-management background, it’s hardly surprising things have already taken a nosedive at his presidential library that isn’t." . . ."Here’s irony:

In the organizing committee's open letter, the group quoted directly from a letter Obama circulated during the 2016 presidential election, which called on workers to join unions across the nation.

'If I were looking for a good job that lets me build some security for my family, I’d join a union. If I saw a problem in my workplace, I’d organize my coworkers to do something about it,' the quote read." . . .More.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, lifelong athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer, and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger.

In the same vein as his 2008 speech stage resembles ancient Greek temple Tributes to his magnificence from a nation Joy Reid, Michelle Obama, and any MSNOW  race hustler hold in contempt.

Victor Davis Hanson Challenges Tucker Carlson: Show Me Where I Called Hiroshima ‘Glorious’

 Daily Signal   

. . . "If Tucker says that I was glorifying or I used the word that the use of these horrible weapons was glorious rather than necessary to save lives, I challenge him to produce that quote. And if he can’t produce that quote, I suggest he apologize."

"About a month ago, I talked about the anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and I made the argument for why the United States did that, used those devastating weapons. Not that I was happy about it, of course, but we all were commemorating the date. 

"In reaction to that and to a column I wrote to the same effect, Tucker Carlson recently said that I had called the dropping of the atomic bombs “glorious.” I will just take a little parenthetical here and say if he can produce the quote where I said glorious, I will pay him a thousand dollars, or better yet, maybe he can have a wager. I will say I never used the word glorious. He says I did. If he wants to back that up with a thousand-dollar bet, I’ll be happy to do it, and I’m not a wealthy person by any means. 

"What I said was that we dropped the bomb for three reasons, and the reasons were not those that the paleo right is alleging or the Left. We did not do it because we wanted to impress the Soviets. They got the bomb four years later, almost to the week. And they were in the process of assembling the information from espionage when we used the bomb. We knew they were going to get the bomb. 

"Nor did we do it to justify the expense of the Manhattan Project, nor did we do it because we don’t like so-called Asian people. We did it because we had just suffered 50,000 casualties on Okinawa, and we did not want to repeat that on the Japanese mainland, where there were up to 20 million militia, impressed civilians, and army personnel and 7,000 or 8,000 kamikazes. 

"And if you do the math of the defenders on Okinawa versus the losses of 50,000 dead, wounded, and missing and apply that to Japan, we may have lost, as planners had feared, 1 million. One million. 

"That was why we tried to use the bomb. 

In addition, other people pointed out that the Japanese were killing somewhere between 15,000 and above Chinese, Asians in general, and Pacific Islanders per day. 

"Of all the armies and militaries in World War II, as far as those who killed the most of their enemies and suffered the least doing it, the fewest, it was Japan." . . . More.

How to Prepare for Regime Change in Iran

 The American Spectator   

" . . .until there is regime change causing Iran’s abandonment of nuclear aspirations and an end to attacks on and harassment of tankers in the Gulf, the U.S will still need the means to strike Iranian targets." 

"At this point in the Iran conflict, it seems nothing dramatic will transpire before the November midterm elections. While President Trump is well known for unpredictability, a major bombardment would shock the world’s energy system and further raise the price of gasoline and diesel, hurting consumers, farmers, and various sectors. It would also further deplete U.S. stocks of munitions such as offensive cruise missiles and the Patriot and THAAD systems needed to defend U.S. assets and Gulf allies against Iran’s retaliation. Iran’s hopeful calculation is a Democratic sweep of Congress eventually resulting in a better deal for itself, recognition by the U.S. that it must withdraw its vulnerable bases from the Gulf, and a ruined Trump presidency.

"While battlefield metrics and decapitation of its government’s leadership have been impressive, Iran is driven by vindictiveness and is cognizant that the U.S. has not achieved strategic objectives: complete destruction of nuclear infrastructure, seizure of fissile material, total degradation of Iran’s armed forces and military-industrial complex, and regime change. Escalation by Iran is certainly their option, and with the recent withdrawal of the U.S. military from Shiite Iraq, Iran may be tempted to widen the conflict through its militias there, creating yet another front.

"Regardless of a Democratic sweep of at least the House of Representatives in November, and even a future Democratic administration in 2029, it is difficult to imagine a Biden-style full-scale, abrupt retreat from the Gulf, where nearly one-third of the world’s oil is produced. While Europe imported only 6 percent of its oil from the Middle East in 2025, it is nonetheless vulnerable to oil prices, as is India, which imported 3 million barrels per day from the Middle East in September. However, neither Europe nor India have the will or the military resources to secure the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea, and only the U.S. can assure the world’s energy security." . . .More.

Frank Schell is a former senior vice president of the First National Bank of Chicago and later was a management consultant. He was a lecturer at the Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago on South Asia public policy and is a contributor of opinion pieces to various journals. He has travelled extensively throughout Iran.