The Tattoo Graham Platner Can’t Explain Away; The media has his back.

 "Platner’s statements, not to mention his covered-over tattoo, disqualify him from serving in the senate. Mainers should let him go back to his unsuccessful oyster farm and leave governing to more rational people." Jed Babbin

The Tattoo Graham Platner Can’t Explain Away | The American Spectator  

"Platner has been condemned by various Jewish groups because of that statement and because of his praise for a Hamas raid in 2014 in which five Israeli soldiers were killed. At the time, Platner wrote that it, “Looks like an all-around well executed and successful small unit raid to me.”

"He hasn’t commented on the war Hamas started with its genocidal attack on Israel in 2023. But he has said that Israel committed “genocide” in Gaza." . . .

"The Totenkopf — a symbol closely associated with the Nazi SS — was tattooed on the chest of Maine senate candidate Graham Platner in 2007. He alleges that he did not know of the Nazi association with the symbol — Platner wore it proudly — until he began his candidacy at which point he had it allegedly covered up by another tattoo.

"The plausibility of Platner’s story is questionable at best.

"The Totenkopf — German for “death’s head” or skull — image is not one of the “Jolly Roger,” the skull and cross bones one sees on a pirate flag. It is a skull that has broken bones on either side of it.  It was adopted by the Nazi Schutstaffel (SS) as its symbol and was later adopted as the symbol of the Totenkopfverbande, the German soldiers who guarded the concentration camps where millions of Jews and many others died." . . .

The Nazi Death’s Head: History and Where It’s Banned - LegalClarity

"The Totenkopf, German for “death’s head,” is a skull-and-crossbones insignia most widely recognized as the emblem of the Nazi SS. Germany bans its public display under Section 86a of its criminal code, with violators facing up to three years in prison. More than a dozen other European nations enforce similar prohibitions. In the United States, the symbol receives First Amendment protection, though displaying it carries serious professional and social consequences" . . .

Platner: Tattoo lie revelations just won't stop  

"This is something of a problem for Democrats because they’ve spent the last decade or so accusing Donald Trump and at least half of America of being Nazis and Hitler."

. . . "Can’t they just shut up already?  They made their decision. Platner is Democrats’ Nazi. Like them, he hates the Jews! He’s their great white hope!" . . .

You Don’t Hate the Media Enough, ‘Pouncing’ On Der Oysterführer Edition  "Imagine, if you will, that Republicans had run a candidate with a Nazi SS Totenkopf on his chest, who posted in public forums that women should take some responsibility for being sexually assaulted, called them "hatchet wounds" in reference to their genitalia, and had a credible record of actual domestic violence on a partner. Would the media consider a focus on those scandals by his Democrat opponents to be "pouncing," especially in the first days of the general-election campaign?

"Absolutely not. The Protection Racket Media would go into full Kavanaugh Lynching Mode at the merest hint of any of the above. When a liberal Republican draws attention to a Democrat with this record, however, it's suddenly a Republicans Pounce™ story, and the Totenkopf gets transformed into a "resembl[ance] of a Nazi symbol" at ABC News:". . .

"The Journ-O-List bat signal has gone out. The story will no longer be Graham Platner's Nazi tattoo, domestic violence allegations, weird Kik account trolling up until last week, or Der Oysterführer's sexting with a half-dozen women not his wife over the last couple of years. The story will now be meanie Republicans and conservatives pointing out all of these peccadilloes, not to mention Platner's victims." . . .

WATCH: New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor – who wrote many of the #MeToo stories – DEFENDS Graham Platner and DISMISSES the allegations against him by @LyndseyFifield and other ex-girlfriends because they were not “abuse” and women saying they just “did not like what” they saw… pic.twitter.com/qMSSXa3XNU      — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 10, 2026

Reflections and Ruminations; A Visit with Col/Dr. Moti Kedar

 Phyllis Chesler

"Oh, I could go on, but Dr. Mordechai taped our conversation, and he may have much more to quote from. As to what he told me: I dare not repeat most of it. Suffice it to say: The Jews are also at war with each other in the Holy Land."

"When I first heard that people were bringing the Hamas footage of 10/7 to Davos to be seen--I said: "I don't think that's a good idea. The sight of Jewish blood and of Jewish weakness will incite even more blood lust among the Jew haters."

"I think I had a point--and yet, I lacked the requisite power to enforce any opinion, however prescient or plausible it might have been. Indeed, the footage did just that.

"I also said that the best place for this toxic footage is in a Jerusalem courtroom in a trial similar to that of Eichmann's. I stressed that expecting such footage and all subsequent forensic and witness accounts to be impartially heard in an international venue was a fool's errand and a huge mistake.

"My guest, last night, my dear friend and colleague, Dr. Mordechai Kedar, suggested that if Israel dared try Palestinian terrorists in a Jerusalem courtroom that the world would probably cheer for the barbarians as "freedom fighters." A better decision would be assassinating them, one by one, so that each and every Hamas leader or collaborator would know that, one by one, their day of death was imminent, sooner rather than later. I believe this is precisely what Israel has been doing; it is as "proportional" as Hell, ain't it?

"Lt. Colonel/Dr. Mordechai was here to interview me about the state of American Jewry. And so I talked about all our self-loving Jews who loved themselves and their privileged positions so very much that they would do anything to keep their places even if it meant having to demonize other Jews--just so long as they were spared. At least for now. Or for a very long time. Take them--the "oustjuden." The "greenhorns." The haredim. The right-wing Israelis. Especially PM Netanyahu. The IDF. The "settlers." All those Jewish thinkers and writers who support any of the above, etc.

"Yes, we have our own American judenrat--those infamous and pitiful councils which chose which Jews the Nazis could take first--and did so in order to spare hundreds or thousands for a while longer." . . .

"Some Reform and some Reconstructionist American "temples" are pro forma anti-Zionists--and passionately and loudly so. One such temple invited and then dis-invited me as a lecturer. Only afterwards did I discover that they did not allow an Israeli flag on the bima and said no prayers for the state of Israel." . . .

More...

Jennings: The DNC “autopsy” has finally emerged revealing “Joe Biden sucked as President and Kamala Harris would have sucked even more.”

  Whatfinger News' General Dispatch

The DNC "autopsy" has finally emerged revealing the cause of death of the 2024 Kamala Harris campaign.
You can sum up the nearly 200 pages in one sentence:
"Joe Biden sucked as President and Kamala Harris would have sucked even more." pic.twitter.com/LrvpBc0iIW

— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) May 24, 2026

 Damning Democratic Autopsy Exposing How They Let Trump Win Leaks

“There’s no mention of the Biden/Harris administration’s Israel policy that abetted the Gaza massacre. That cost votes, and helped Trump win. There’s no criticism of Biden for his insistence on seeking reelection, or the lack of any kind of open process to choose Biden’s replacement. No analysis of Harris for her lack of principles—leading to her avoiding media platforms reaching millions of potential voters.” 

"The Democratic Party’s long-suppressed 2024 election autopsy was leaked on Thursday, detonating a fresh civil war inside the party over how Donald Trump was allowed to claw his way back into the White House.

"The nearly 200-page report, commissioned by the Democratic National Committee after Kamala Harris’s defeat, paints Democrats as increasingly “denialist,” culturally disconnected, and filled with candidates incapable of projecting “strength, unity, and leadership.”

"It argues the party has steadily hemorrhaged support since the era of Barack Obama, while Republicans became vastly better at “flooding the zone” with aggressive messaging and culture-war attacks.

"The haphazard, typo-ridden report was released by DNC chair Ken Martin unedited—but only after CNN obtained a copy first, despite calls from party members for its release months ago." . . .  More...

President Trump: Please Do Not Leave the Iranian Regime in Place. . .

. . . "We Waited More Than Four Decades for You, We Will Not Get Another Break"

Gatestone Institute  

"President Trump: For the world, for humanity, for Western civilization, please do not leave this regime in place -- or a secular military one that is just as fierce. We cannot wait another 50 years for someone like you again."

Toon added by TD

"The Iranian regime is playing its game again: drag everything out to stay in power until the American public grows tired of high gasoline prices; or until the November midterm elections, when the Democrats might win; or until 2029 when President Donald J. Trump's term finally ends and he is replaced, with luck, by an invertebrate.

"Iran's regime has been using two tactics. It says: "We need time. We are, because of the strikes, fractured and our leadership divided." Or, as Vice President J.D. Vance naively noted on its behalf: it says it does not know what it wants. "The Iranians aren't themselves quite clear in what direction they want to go," Vance, with a straight face, told reporters at the White House; "they are also just a fractured country."

"That is exactly what the regime wants: that you are dumb enough to believe that. The Iranian regime knows precisely what it wants. It wants to stay in power to continue its anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism, anti-Westernism and anti-its-own-people-ism. The regime wants to revive its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programs; restore its terrorist proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis; try to create another noose of death around Israel; threaten Europe and eventually the United States; suppress, kill and execute its own people, and continue to export its fanatic ideology and Islamist revolution.

"The supposed "moderates" will say, " Oh please wait for us. We are so fractured! We just want to win over the hardliners -- and we are ALMOST there!" This dish has been served up for years. It works.

"The second ploy is "Drag, Drag, Drag." Drag the deals. Drag the talks. Drag the feedback. Drag the confusion. Or else: Put a deal out on the table and then take it back. Then put out another deal. Then another one. Before you know it, the West will be worn down." . . .

Full article here.

Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a political scientist, Harvard-educated analyst, and board member of Harvard International Review. He has authored several books on the US foreign policy. He can be reached at dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu

Babylon Bee headline or 'real news' headline?

  American Thinker   

"I’m not a fan of violent criminals, but, at that point, let him have his last smoke. But, no, the tragically woke, who normally champion hardened criminals, have to weigh in, noting that smoking is bad for one’s health. (Unless you are smoking pot.)"

"So, reading the world wide web for a gander at the news, here's what I spotted: 

”Democrats Deny Inciting Violence And Say Anyone Who Thinks They Do Must Be Eliminated By Any Means Necessary”

”Donald Trump whisked off stage in Pennsylvania after loud noises rang through the crowd”

”EU Sanctions Israel, Welcomes Taliban”

”British Police Reportedly Arrest Stabbing Victim After Alleged Attacker Plays race Card”

”Left-Wing Prosecutor Says Voters ‘Obtuse’ If They Expect Him To Keep Campaign Promises”

”Megachurch pastor claims Trump knows the Bible better than Pope Leo”

”Texas dairy farm explosion kills 18,000 cows”

”A Drunk Raccoon Passed Out in the Bathroom of a Virginia Liquor Store”

”Insurance claim: family take dead relative to bank as proof of death”

”Military to remove ‘Enola Gay’ photos for violating DEI rules”

”Death row inmate’s ‘last cigarette request denied over health concerns’” (The inmate was executed hours later)

”Democrats: Saving Democracy Requires One Party To Seize Total Power And Rule Forever”

"Of the 12 headlines above, only the first and last were from the Babylon Bee; all the others were “real.” Which is odd, in that the two from the Bee arguably ring truer than any of the others.

"Here are some brief comments on each of the actual headlines, in order:" . . .

The Perils of a Grand Bargain with Iran

 American Greatness 

Talk of a “grand bargain” with Iran revives a failed playbook of concessions and deception that history shows only strengthens Tehran’s regime. 

"Both the president and vice president have thrown out the term “grand bargain” in recent days to describe their aspirations for a deal with the Iranian rump regime.

"It’s a term fraught with past failures that screams Iranian deception, not the interests of America First.

"Bill Clinton was the first to use the phrase toward the end of his second term to describe his aspiration to end a low-intensity conflict that had been simmering for 20 years.

"He appointed David R. Andrews as “Special Negotiator” for the mostly secret talks. Just as today, among the top Iranian demands was for the US to lift economic sanctions, which at the time included a total US trade embargo, secondary sanctions on foreign oil and gas companies investing in Iran, and the release of Iranian funds held by the US Treasury.

"Those Treasury funds were a carefully kept secret. At the time, I was engaged as a consultant to attorneys representing Stephen Flatow, whose daughter Elyssa had been murdered by Iranian-backed terrorists in Israel in 1996.

"We queried the Treasury Department about the existence of Iranian funds frozen since the 1979 revolution to pay for the Shah’s weapons purchases from the US, and were told such a fund did not exist.

"And then, lo and behold, in late 2000, the Justice Department found that the Treasury had simply destroyed all the documents. Clinton eventually released the funds—not to the Iranians, for the talks had by then collapsed—but to the Iranian regime’s US victims.

"Obama later claimed he was releasing the same frozen funds when he sent pallets of cash totaling $1.7 billion to Iran in 2016. And yes, those payments were another attempt at reaching a “grand bargain” with Iran." . . .

 . . . "Such a deal must include ironclad guarantees for the Iranian people that the regime will not use violence against peaceful protestors and, if it does, that it will face US military reprisals. After all, Donald Trump is leaving office in January 2029, and we will never have another president like him. We don’t want to have to repeat this war in another 10 years." . . .

Because if Democrats win, relations with terrorist states will be run by the same airheads dealing with them the past few decades, giving preference to those who call for death to allies that have stood by our nation for generations. Israel has been forced to dominate her enemies since we keep replacing competent leaders with feckless Democrats like Biden, Kamala, Obama, and anybody you may see refusing to stand at any Republican SOTU.  TD

Timmerman’s 14th book of non-fiction, The Iran House: Tales of Revolution, Persecution, War, and Intrigue, can be ordered here. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 by the former deputy premier of Sweden for his work exposing Iran’s nuclear weapons programs.

President Trump Lays Out His Iran War Endgame

"Trump’s Iran strategy aims for swift, decisive victory—crushing nuclear ambitions and ending the war in weeks, not years, without risking American boots on the ground."

 Fred Fleitz › American Greatness  

So instead of kicking the Iran problem down the road to the next president, Trump is dealing with it now. That’s the kind of decisive leadership America voted for. 

The American Spectator

"Somehow, I received an invitation to the White House to watch President Trump’s prime-time address to the nation on Wednesday evening, where he laid out his endgame strategy for the Iran War. In addition to observing the strong camaraderie between Trump’s cabinet members, I saw the president in great form, confidently articulating the war’s goals and achievements and how he is keeping his promise to the American people to end this conflict in a few weeks so it does not become a quagmire or an endless war.

"The president spoke about the overwhelming strength of the American military and how the war is a decisive and historic U.S. victory. Just one month after launching Operation Epic Fury, Trump explained how the U.S. and Israel shattered Iran’s nuclear weapons program, crippled its war machine, and stripped the mullahs of their ability to bully the Middle East and the world.

"President Trump spoke about how Operation Epic Fury devastated Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, ballistic missile programs, air defenses, navy, and command structure. Key nuclear facilities have been reduced to rubble. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ terror networks and proxy armies have been decimated. So has Iran’s ability to project power across the Middle East or threaten our allies with drones and missiles.

"As Trump explained, Iran is no longer a global bully capable of developing nuclear weapons. The regime that spent decades chanting “Death to America” while funding Hamas, Hezbollah, and attacks on U.S. troops has been neutered.

"Trump said America’s war objectives—destroying the missile arsenal, annihilating the navy, severing proxy support, and guaranteeing Iran never goes nuclear—are nearly complete. Only two to three weeks of focused, high-intensity air strikes are needed to finish the job. President Trump emphasized how much our military accomplished in only 32 days and compared the Iran War with numerous other wars that lasted years.

"President Trump also discussed the fate of Iran’s stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium, enough reportedly to fuel 9 to 11 nuclear weapons if further processed. Some experts have called for the president to send U.S. Special Forces into Iran to recover this nuclear material, which is believed to be buried under Iran’s Isfahan nuclear facility. I expressed my strong opposition to this idea in a March 13, 2026, American Greatness article because this nuclear material is probably destroyed, scattered, and entombed beneath massive debris—and would not be readily usable for weapons without extensive additional processing that Iran no longer has the capacity to perform." . . . More...

'I Was There': Survivor of Oct. 7 Massacre Takes On Mamdani's Wife Directly for Supporting Claim That Oct. 7 Rapes Weren't Real (UPDATED)

The Gateway Pundit; The Western Journal   

“'I would expect any woman — and especially Mrs. Mamdani — to at least try to imagine. To close her eyes and picture evil people breaking into her home, her safe space, assaulting her and her husband, daring to sexually violate her in front of her family, murdering her children before her eyes. This is exactly what our women and men experienced on Oct. 7th.'”

"New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji received a stern reality check about the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023, after liking a social media post claiming the mass rapes committed that day were a hoax.

"According to an article in the New York Post, Duwaji liked a post on social media platform Instagram in February 2024 where a user questioned the legitimacy of reporting by The New York Times regarding the attack.

"“If I told you that The New York Times hired a recently graduated college student with only a couple prior articles written on the subject of food and cooking to be their lead on the ground ‘reporter’ on the ‘mass rape’ hoax they fabricated, would you believe it? That’s Adam Sella,” the post read.

"It was later screenshotted and uploaded to social media platform X by The Free Press reporter Olivia Reginald, showing Duwaji liking it.

"This is the screenshot showing Rama Duwaji, the wife of Zohran Mamdani, liking a post calling sexual violence on October 7 a “‘mass rape’ hoax” pic.twitter.com/e8EW3je8EE

"— Olivia Reingold (@Olivia_Reingold) March 7, 2026

"Tali Biner attended the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7, 2023, where she spent hours hiding from Hamas in a camper as she heard screams of pain and agony from their victims.

" 'I knew beyond any doubt what was happening was not just torture, it was sexual violence,” she said in an interview with the New York Post.

"Gunshots rang out over pleas of “No!” and “Stop!” . . .

"The Washington Free Beacon found old posts on social media platform Tumblr, now archived, where she glorified terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and said U.S. service members attack civilians to prop up American hegemony. Those posts were from her teens and early 20s, but it’s clear she hasn’t changed. She supported terrorism then. She still supports it now."     Full article here

Israeli responder's Oct. 7 photos show challenge of documenting sexual violence : Goats and Soda : NPR

In harrowing detail, NYT reports on weaponization of rape, sexual violence on Oct. 7 | The Times of Israel...Photographs viewed by The Times included ones of a woman in a besieged kibbutz who was found with dozens of nails driven into her thighs and groin. Footage viewed by the newspaper showed two dead Israeli soldiers at an overrun military base apparently shot directly in their vaginas

Zohran Mamdani’s wife mourns death of Hamas influencer who celebrated October 7 attack

UPDATE: NYC school pushes artwork by Zohran Mamdani’s wife while blocking Holocaust survivor from speaking to students   “ 'Women were raped, mutilated, and murdered during the Hamas massacre.”

"The new report comes after The Jewish Insider reported Friday that Duwaji liked a celebratory Instagram post on the day of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, which killed more than 1,200 innocents.

"The inflammatory social media posts included images allegedly taken from livestreamed footage of the attack, showing a gleeful group riding on what appeared to be a commandeered Israel Defense Forces vehicle with the words “resisting apartheid since 1948,” the Jewish Insider reported." . . .   Israel Moves to Ban Zohran Mamdani's Wife - This Is Why

Joe Kent vs. Iran’s Imminent Threat; Iran’s 47-year record of active war against America.

 The American Spectator | USA News and Politics

The realization that human beings are always out there who are decidedly capable of the sheerest evil. And ignoring them, pretending that they don’t exist or are not planning anything “imminent” when it comes to using today’s weapons of mass destruction will never work.

American Thinker *

"Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie has succinctly captured the problem.

"Over there at Fox News is this from Rep. Massie on the much-ballyhooed resignation of Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center: “Said Massie of the Kent resignation: ‘Another insider sees what we see: no imminent threat, just lobby pressure. This is why we need to defund and debate.’”

"No “imminent threat” from the Iranian war machine? Seriously?

"One wonders whether Massie has done any studying of history.

"Over there at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs is this from Center President Dr. Dan Diker and Tirza Shorr, a senior researcher and program coordinator at the Center. The title: “Understanding Iran’s Imminent Threat to America,” with the subtitle, “A 47-year record of attacks, nuclear brinkmanship, and explicit threats reveals why ‘imminence’ can no longer be measured by outdated standards.”

"In this very perceptive piece, Diker and Shorr say, among other things, this, with bold print for emphasis supplied:

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its global proxy network have killed more than 1,000 Americans since 1979. Iranian-backed forces conducted over 180 attacks on U.S. military bases in 2023–2024 alone. Iran’s stockpile of 440 kilograms of 60% highly enriched uranium reached a one-week breakout threshold for nuclear weapons before the June 2025 strikes. And just eleven days before Operation Epic Fury commenced, Iran’s Supreme Leader publicly threatened to send U.S. warships to the bottom of the sea. The question is not whether Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States. The question is why it took 47 years to respond to its longstanding threats. 

Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who headed the CIA in the 1990s, determined that the Iranian nuclear program has constituted an imminent threat: “If their policy is to go to the threshold but not assemble a nuclear weapon, how do you tell that they have not assembled? I don’t actually know how you would verify that.” By the time the United States knows with certainty that Iran has crossed the nuclear threshold, it may be too late to act. . . . More

* Joe Kent’s story gets worse when Candace’s name comes up   

. . . "Very quickly, though, we learned about the problems with Kent’s narrative and then with Kent himself.

First, there was a strong countervailing voice to Kent’s claim that Iran posed no threat to us. That voice, of course, was...Joe Kent:

. . . "With that information, Nathan Livingstone has put 2 plus 2 together and come up with a very interesting and believable 4. He contends that Kent was leaking to Candace Owens.

Yes, Candace, the woman who contends that the moon landing was fake,  that Brigitte Macron is her own brother, that Israel assassinated Charlie Kirk, that Erika Kirk and Turning Point USA were happy to get rich off of Charlie’s death, that Israel and the Mossad control everything in the world Candace doesn’t like, that Jews aren’t really Jewish at all, that the Holocaust never happened, and on and on...that Candace: . . .Much more to this here...

More Headaches for Zohran Mamdani After Posts Resurface of Wife's Praise for Terrorist Hijacker

 RedState   

"It doesn’t stop at praise. She also attacked the existence of Israel itself. “F*** Tel Aviv. Shouldn’t exist in the first place. They’re occupiers.'”

"As New York approaches the 25th anniversary of 9/11, resurfaced posts reveal that Rama Duwaji, the wife of socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, praised a terrorist plane hijacker.

“If it does good for my cause, I’ll be happy to accept death.”

"Duwaji paired that line with an image of Leila Khaled, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated terrorist group. Khaled took part in airline hijackings and, in one case, brought a grenade onto a commercial flight and threatened to blow it up to force her way into the cockpit. This is not abstract politics but a hijacker with a grenade on a plane.

"Khaled was involved in multiple hijackings tied to the PFLP’s broader campaign of international airline attacks. Those operations were designed to pressure governments by putting civilian passengers directly in harm’s way. They were not symbolic acts or distant conflicts but calculated attempts to use commercial flights as leverage, with civilians as the immediate point of risk.

"The post dates to 2017 but is only now resurfacing. The timing doesn’t change what was said. It also doesn’t change that the post was deliberate, written out, and shared publicly rather than said in passing or taken out of context. 

"The same pattern runs through her social media: terrorists and violent extremists framed as people to admire, not condemn. She amplified praise for Shadia Abu Ghazaleh, a PFLP operative tied to a bombing plot targeting civilians in Tel Aviv, shared content celebrating the First Intifada, and reposted an image praising “valiant freedom fighters of Palestine." The figures change, but the framing does not. Across multiple posts, the through line remains the same: elevating figures tied to violence while stripping away the reality of what they carried out." . . .  More...

The Jihad-Adjacent Journalists: UPDATEDT Tue, Mar. 17

Iranian mullah resistance is deteriorating down to the murderous religious fanatics, CNN, MSNOW, Democrats, and the shrews on "The View".

Clarice Feldman  

"These DoW expenditures were normal and not extravagant, as anyone who was pushing the anti-Hegseth story could have determined with a simple check: Don Surber took time to check:" . . . 

"The surf-and-turf nonsense was just the starting shot and continued all week. Professor William Jacobson nails it:” We are watching an info op in real time from the mainstream media, not just influencers. A complete demoralization campaign fighting strawman arguments based on anonymous sources. CNN, the Guardian, and the New York Times, they are all singing one tune. It’s the Russia collusion hoax all over again.” 

"The most extreme example was the media treatment of what the Iranian regime claims was an attack on a girls’ school in Minab. The regime has made it difficult for Iranians to transmit information outside by threats, jamming, and harsh censorship. (With difficulty and delays, using roundabouts and skylink terminals, for example, they get through the barriers to post real-time information and videos on X, but the regime still has an advantage of easier access to U.S. media and is using it.)

"From a video of the strike, it appears that the school was struck by an Iranian misfire. The DoW is investigating the matter, but much of the press has precipitously blamed the U.S. for it, relying on regime accounts and ignoring salient facts. Jeff Childers once again does an outstanding job this week, analyzing in depth the New York Times coverage of the incident, an account I can only briefly summarize and hope you will be tempted to read it all." . . .

"While the press lies and manipulates and congressional Democrats play unconscionable political games with our security, more serious people in the administration just brought Cuba’s communists to cry uncle, or more accurately, “Tio.” Cuban dictator Miguel Diaz-Canel announced that they are officially in negotiations with the administration. They’ve begun releasing political prisoners. Within days, Cubans should be free after decades of tyranny and economic disaster."

 At first glance, it’s just one more ­Iranian who has lost their life amid the state’s promiscuous violence. A tragedy – as death always is – but in the Islamic Republic, sadly a part of daily life.   . . . "At the same time, bodies of regime officials showing signs of torture have been turning up dumped in streets and other public places. The victims come from across Iran’s security apparatus – including intelligence officers, naval personnel and members of the regular army. Opposition groups are believed to be responsible for some of the killings.

"The message is clear: the regime is under attack from all sides." . . .

"At the same time, bodies of regime officials showing signs of torture have been turning up dumped in streets and other public places. The victims come from across Iran’s security apparatus – including intelligence officers, naval personnel and members of the regular army. Opposition groups are believed to be responsible for some of the killings.  The message is clear: the regime is under attack from all sides."

UPDATE, TUE, March 17th:  Al Jazeera Is Now More Positive on US-Israeli Strategy Than US Media  

. . . "Again, the fact that we are winning the war tactically and that our strategy is proceeding as planned hardly guarantees success. But assertions that this is a fiasco are absurd. 

It tells you something that Al Jazeera, a news outlet famously hostile to the United States, is publishing articles that are more favorable to the US and Israel than the American media.

And that something is simple: the US media is, indeed, the enemy of the people. 

Broc Smith

Putting an end to Iran’s 47 year war on the U.S.

"It is crystal clear that the good people of Iran — and surely there are some — must take control of their government ASAP. And put an end to what is effectively a death cult that rules Iran now and has done so since the Iranian revolution in 1979."

Rich Terrell

Trump Stands Tall on Iran  "The place: The American Embassy in Tehran, Iran.

"On that day, in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution that had overthrown the Shah, followers from the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam’s Line descended on the U.S. Embassy. Supported by the leader of the Revolution, one Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the students took 66 hostages from the Embassy staff, both diplomatic personnel and civilians. (RELATED: Reagan’s Shadow, Trump’s Moment)

"The flashpoint was the Jimmy Carter administration granting asylum to the cancer-ridden Shah of Iran for treatment in New York. The student revolutionaries held the American hostages for 444 days. At one point, Carter authorized a U.S. military rescue attempt. The mission failed dramatically.

"This was a presidential election year in the United States, and the hostage crisis became a daily issue in the campaign between President Carter and the GOP nominee, former California Governor Ronald Reagan. Without doubt, the ongoing crisis contributed to the hard-liner Reagan’s landslide 44-state victory over Carter.

"As if to humiliate Carter, negotiations for the release of the hostages finally succeeded on Jan. 19, 1981, the day before Carter was to leave office. Dramatically, with Reagan literally sworn in and giving his inaugural address on Jan. 20, the hostages were released to American authorities, then flown out of Iran first to Algeria and then to a U.S. airbase in Germany where now former President Carter had been sent by the new President Reagan to greet them and escort them first to Ireland (for refueling) and then on to the U.S. and the National Guard base in Newburgh, New York. Days later, after health check-ups and rest, the hostages were given a huge ticker tape parade in New York City." .. . .  . .

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

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.

No, There’s No ‘Forever War’ in Iran  

Trump’s stance on Iran long predates his presidency (and by extension, any relationship he had with Israel) and stretches as far back as the 1980s, following the Iranian hostage crisis.  Since becoming president, he has continued to oppose Iran’s nuclear ambitions, reimposed sanctions after withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal, and maintained pressure on the Iranians to agree to a denuclearization deal.  Throughout the early to mid-2010s, well before he even announced his candidacy, Trump’s Twitter feed was filled with posts articulating his consistent stance: that Iran must end its targeting of U.S. citizens, stop funding terrorism, and never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon.  All of these tweets (now on X) still exist today.

Iran's new cleric leader puts Iran on a doomed path; President Trump rightly called it “a big mistake.” It is much more.

 Matthew G. Andersson - American Thinker   

"Over decades, they have employed systematic, often brutal oppression to radicalize, isolate and indoctrinate new generations of Iranians into believing that they are holy symbols of sacred authority.  They aren’t. "

Gary Varvel

"By installing the son of deceased Ali Hosseini Khamenei as Iran’s new “Supreme Leader,” Iran's theocracy is presenting to the world, and to Iran itself, a new and dangerous risk.  Iranians may not fully perceive what fated path they are being led down.

 "Mojtaba Khamenei’s unavoidable motivation will be to avenge his father’s death.

"By seeking personal vengeance, he loses his capacity to rationally lead others, and to reliably represent Iran among other world leaders.  The motive for martyrdom has been elevated into an unprecedented dimension. He could be willing to effectively sacrifice Iran’s population. 

"He will continue directing the IRGC against Israel, the Arab territories and U.S. assets, but the IRGC’s latitude to reason militarily over the costs, benefits, and risks of fighting, is foreclosed.  

"The door to negotiation, or even surrender, is shut and locked. Iran is being taken on a one-way flight.  

"That makes the IRGC into more than a fighting group — it is the personal army of a robed and vengeful Shia cleric who continues to symbolize in appearance and demeanor, a conceit of elevated separation from his own people, and their interests.

"It is interesting to consider in contrast, how even China’s and Russia’s leaders present themselves to the world, and to their own people.  

"Xi Jinping is not adorned in a Buddhist kesa and ohi (or even a CCP party Mao tunic).  

"Vladimir Putin is not dressed in Orthodox cassock robes and ryassa, with a skufia adorning his head.  

"They both wear a suit and tie, and symbolize Western secular practices based on their rational perception of interacting with the rest of the world, especially with the U.S., in business-like terms (Xi even recently went further, ordering button-down open shirts and blazers).  They keep religion and business separated. " . . . More..

Matthew G. Andersson is a former CEO and author. He has testified before the US Senate, and is a graduate of the University of Chicago, and the University of Texas at Austin where he worked with economic historian W.W.Rostow at the LBJ School of Public Affairs.

Mamdani Spins Attempted Terror Bomb Attack Outside His Residence › American Greatness  . .

. "NBC 4 New York initially reported the incident in ambiguous terms, claiming that “‘suspicious devices’ [were] found outside Gracie Mansion” but later clarified that the devices were “ignited” as can be clearly seen in video footage.

"Mamdani looked at this and opted to attack the young man that these terrorists tried to murder rather than even slightly reject this.

"It tells you everything you need to know about him.pic.twitter.com/YyE52Tuani—"

Our corrupt Muslim-apologist press - M. Walter  "A textbook Islamic terrorist somehow gets written up as a right-winger, as well as a Pennsylvania teenager just trying to enjoy a day in the city."