Up next: the deregulation of America

 Don Surber

   "So I flew in here to Phoenix from Flagstaff because my manager doesn’t own a globe. He chartered one of those small private jets. I flew here on a plane this big, it was like a pack of gum with eight people in it. We were putzing along. We were going half the speed of *smell!* We got passed by a kite! There was a goose behind us and the pilot was yelling “Go around!” So about halfway through the trip, we start losing oil pressure in one of the engines, and the pilot says we have to turn around." —Ron White, alias Tater.

. . ."And so it goes with government at half the speed of smell.

Until now.

"President Trump has been a whirlwind as he is shutting down the border, slapping down DEI, laying off 200,000-plus federal employees (7% of the work force) and shutting down useless agencies. His first 100 days—FDR’s gimmick to get good press—were the most productive of any president. You can look it up.

"Only Lincoln had to do more because he faced a Democrat Party so corrupt that it started a civil war rather than work with him. You think Crazy Judge Jimmah Boasberg is bad, try engaging in a real battle against General Lee.

"Rasmussen has Trump’s job approval at 50%. All the rest of the polls don’t. That’s because they are psyops meant to cheer up those who oppose Making America Great Again and to discourage those who say it loud, they’re American and proud.

"Consider the election polls........

"The word salad tosser was never ahead in the race, which Trump won by TWO points, just as Rasmussen said it would.

" 'President Trump is doing the impossible quickly. Everyone thought that you cannot fire Civil Service-protected employees. Well, you cannot fire them simply because they are Democrat. But all of Washington just discovered Trump can furlough employees and eliminate jobs.

"Democrats are angry over his tariffs and say he has too much power. Well, who gave him the power to unilaterally impose tariffs? Congress.

"Trump’s border battle has resulted in the president of Mexico standing against foreigners coming into her country. Trump had offered to send troops to help Mexico root out drug cartels.

"Whatshername told reporters, “And you know what I told him? No, President Trump, the territory is sacrosanct, sovereignty is sacrosanct, sovereignty is not for sale, sovereignty is loved and defended.”

"Which is exactly what he is doing.

"His speed has spoiled some supporters, who are whining that Pam Bondi is not indicting, convicting and imprisoning the crooks in DC. But justice works at the speed of smell.

"As does reform." . . .

Battle of Berlin Scars Can Still Be Seen Today (Part 2)

VE Day: The fall of Nazi Berlin in pictures

Experience Berlin Tours "In this video, you will be taken to several popular Berlin locations and attractions where you can still see the scars from WW2 and the Battle of Berlin today, 80 years after the end of the war. "
02:00 - Flaktower in Humboldthain Park 03:32 - AEG Industrial Park Humboldthain 04:31 - Berlin Stadtbahn Line Leibnitzstrasse 05:37 - Kaiser Willhelm Memorial Church 06:52 - Potsdamer Platz 07:52 - Old Anhalter Bahnhof 08:31 - Martin Gropius Bau 09:19 - Villa Parey "Wunden der Erinnerungen" 10:05 - Victory Column in Tiergarten 11:00 - Brandenburg Gate 11:42 - Reichstag Building

Israel to call up thousands of reservists, considers expanding mission to decimate Hamas

Let the useful idiots around campus scream.

 Jewish World Review   

"The more Hamas refuses to release the hostages, the more territory it will lose - territory that will be annexed to Israel."

"This time the Jewish State is finally playing to win!"

"TEL AVIV — Israel will call up tens of thousands of reservists, military officials said Sunday, as the country's political leadership considers expanding the Israel Defense Forces' area of operations and overhauling the distribution of food within the Gaza Strip. Israel's security cabinet was expected to approve the new Gaza war plans at a meeting Sunday evening, according to an Israeli official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions.

"Since March 18, the Israeli military has dramatically altered the map of the enclave, declaring about 70 percent of it either a military "red zone" or under evacuation orders, by a U.N. assessment, and pushing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into ever-shrinking pockets.

"The expanded operations now being discussed involve seizing and occupying more territory in Gaza, which will require more ground troops, according to a former Israeli military official with knowledge of the plans, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning.

"The plans stop short of the complete military occupation of Gaza that the IDF has weighed, the official said. Implementing such an occupation is considered difficult, but not impossible, given the staffing levels required, the official said.

" 'We are issuing tens of thousands of reserve call-up orders to intensify and expand the operation in Gaza - increasing the pressure with the goal of bringing our people home and defeating Hamas," Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the IDF chief of staff, said in a speech Sunday at a naval commando base. "We will operate in additional areas and destroy all infrastructure - above and below ground."

"Hamas-led fighters streamed out of Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, to attack communities in southern Israel. They killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took another 250 back to the enclave as hostages." . . .

Remember this? Chris Cuomo After Watching Footage Of October 7 Hamas Massacre: “They enjoyed mutilating”

Video: Author and journalist Douglas Murray highlights the disturbing truth that, instead of standing with the innocent victims of Hamas’s massacre at the Nova Festival in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, some have shamefully chosen to attack them.

Newsom Hits The Gas

 Issues & Insights 

"Seems California voters who have given nearly unchecked power to Democrats for about two decades are getting it good and hard. Newsom is trying to unwind some of the damage, primarily because he’s lusting after the White House, but the briar patch of regulations will make it a difficult task."

"It wasn’t long ago that a California governor made it clear that oil refineries were not welcome in his state. Then another California governor asked regulators to loosen the chains on refineries to ensure that they will be profitable and remain in the state that every day burns an enormous volume of gasoline.

"Actually, it is the same governor, one who has turned his attention from playing to his hard-left, blue-state constituency to shifting toward the middle for a 2028 White House run.

"It was just last summer when Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a “plan to prevent Big Oil ‘profit spikes’” that would also “save Californians money at the pump.” He groused about refiners “playing games to earn even more profits” and vowed to force them to “act responsibly.”

"Two months later, he signed a bill that is intended to limit “higher profits for the industry.” Within hours, Phillips 66 said that it was closing its Los Angeles refinery complex.“Without actually using the words, the company is saying there’s no reason to stick around and be abused,” the Pacific Research Institute said last fall.

"Then, earlier this year, PRI pointed out that “California is literally running out of oil refineries.”

“ 'Phillips 66 announced it was closing its Los Angeles refinery complex in 2025. It will be the fourth refinery shut down in the state since 2020. At that point, there will be only a dozen refineries left to produce the 38 million gallons of California’s boutique blend – which is not made anywhere else, costs more than conventional gasoline, and requires oil companies to invest billions to upgrade their systems to make – that’s consumed daily.”

"Or it could be only 14. Valero is likely to close its California refinery next year.

"Mission accomplished. Then the mission changed. Now, Newsom is asking regulators to do what they can to keep oil refineries open." . . .

Common Sense Is Highly Contagious — Except Among Dems

 Issues & Insights  

Democrats are even touting incomparably dense and unqualified Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is currently abusing taxpayer money to join the mysteriously rich socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders on a “fight the oligarchy” tour, as their next presidential candidate.

"At a town hall meeting last week, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez — one of the few moderate Democrats left in the world — made a perfectly common-sensical statement: “Americans believe that only U.S. citizens should be determining the outcome of American elections.”

"She was greeted with a torrent shouts, boos, and profanity, signs that said “shame” from her constituents, and was ushered out of room for “security reasons.”

"After President Donald Trump called for a “revolution of common sense,” it spread like a virus – except among Democrats, who appear to have a natural immunity.

"Trump has been implementing his common-sense agenda at a breakneck speed, whether it’s restoring order at the border, protecting taxpayers from waste and fraud, insisting that foreign policy focus on what’s best for the U.S., dispensing with DEI, transgenderism, and other leftist projects that defy common sense, protecting parental rights. 

"The most important thing Trump has done, however, has been to make it safe again for everyday Americans to express common-sense views.

"That illegal immigrants should be sent back to their home countries. That borders should be secure and streets safe. That it’s OK to buy reliable, affordable gas cars. That vast amounts of government spending is wasteful. That there are only two genders. That discrimination is never acceptable, no matter how you dress it up. That companies should focus on serving consumers, not anti-capitalist zealots. That violence for political ends is never justified.

"Major corporations are rejecting DEI, now that it’s safe to admit what they knew all along – that it increased strife among workers, alienated customers, and didn’t help their bottom lines. Likewise, corporations are abandoning the uber-woke “environment, social, governance” investment ideology for the same reason.

"Female athletes increasingly feel empowered to reject the dangerously misguided idea that they should have to compete against men suffering gender dysphoria.

"Even Hollywood seems to be catching the common-sense bug." . .  .

Rep. Elise Stefanik tells Post she’s in ‘strongest position’ to defeat NY Gov. Kathy Hochul as she mulls 2026 run

NY Post  

Stefanik also singled out former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — the clear leader in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary — and said she would immediately roll back the law allowing non-citizens to obtain drivers’ licenses, as well as lefty bail reforms, adding that Hochul “doubled down” on the worst decisions made by her predecessor. 

"Rep. Elise Stefanik believes she’s “in the strongest position to defeat” Gov. Hochul and become the first Republican leader of New York state in nearly 20 years, as she inches closer to a 2026 challenge.

:In an exclusive interview with The Post, Stefanik (R-NY) confidently rattled off several “Day 1” priorities for a potential term — tax, education, crime, immigration and energy — before taking a shot at the unpopular liberal governor.

" 'Unlike Kathy Hochul, who was defeated after one term in Congress, we have a record of winning — not just Republicans but winning independents and a fair percentage of Democrats,” she sniped" . . .

. . ."Asked what her platform would look like, the “born and bred” upstate New Yorker ripped several of Hochul’s policies — including her recent refusal to fully ban masks worn by anti-Israel demonstrators who have harassed Jewish New Yorkers.

" 'This is an area where Hochul has absolutely failed. Albany and New York Democrats have failed to protect Jewish citizens, not just Jewish students, but Jewish families across this state,” she said, noting how Harvard University President Claudine Gay was forced to resign after telling Congress that calls for the genocide of Jews were permissible on her campus — depending on the “context.”

“Kathy Hochul and Democrats, they have refused to condemn, they have refused to institute policies and actually ensure that we have rule of law and protection for Jewish individuals, and they’ve refused to condemn antisemitism,” she added." . . .

Democrats were Roosevelt, Truman and JFK; now they are AOC, Maxine Waters, Crockett and Tim Walz

The party vested in the failure of America and Israel 

 “Californians are realizing that the @CA_Dem left them and sanity behind. You’re not alone. Choosing law and order, freedom, and common sense is the right move!”  Sheriff Alex Villanueva 

Murder, they wrote? Democrats try to incite violence in another 'summer of love'   

..."Meanwhile, Minnesota Democrats killed an amendment to a crime and public safety bill that would have required law enforcement agencies to report illegal aliens to ICE when they are arrested for a violent crime. In doing so, they ignored the desperate and pitiful pleas of a man whose mother was brutally murdered and beheaded by an illegal alien on the streets of a Minneapolis suburb in the middle of the afternoon."...

Former L.A. County Sheriff Ditches Democrat Party: ‘Joining the Party of Faith, Family, and Freedom’   "Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva revealed that he was leaving the Democrat Party, after being a registered Democrat for more than 40 years, and joining the Republican Party.

“As of today, I’m leaving the party of paid protests, purple hair, and pronouns, and joining the party of faith, family, and freedom,” Villanueva said in a video posted to X.

 During the COVID-19 pandemic, Villanueva refused to enforce a directive to close beaches over the Fourth of July weekend. In July 2021, Villanueva also stated that he would not use the department’s “limited resources” to enforce a mask mandate, noting that it was “not backed by science.”

“Forcing the vaccinated and those who already contracted COVID-19 to wear masks indoors is not backed by science and contradicts the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines,” Villanueva wrote at the time.

Why these Democrats are defecting to the Republican Party | Vox 

"Each of the state lawmakers have their individual reasons. West Virginia Republican Party chair Elgine McArdle said in a statement that Pritt had realized that the “Democratic Party of today is not the Democratic Party that our parents grew up with.” Cotham said that she was bullied by her Democratic colleagues and that the Republican Party is a better fit for her values, even though she’s previously sided with Democrats on many of the most divisive issues, including abortion rights and LGBTQ rights. Thompson said that he’s felt pushed out of the Democratic Party because its stance on certain issues is incompatible with his religious views. LaCombe did not offer up his own reasoning."

 The Democratic Party has a man problem - Washington Examiner   

"Explanations are aplenty for the Democratic Party’s precipitous decline in popularity. Many on the Left have blamed “messaging,” conveniently enough, as if their deeply unpopular ideas would suddenly turn popular if they were “messaged” correctly. Others have criticized the party’s lack of commitment to its core ideas — or to any ideas at all. Still more have accused the party of being overly committed to too many preposterous ideas of the cultural variety." 2/25 

D-DAY NORMANDY WW2 - Then and now

Ignacio Veutro Productions  "On the morning of D-Day, in the first waves there were photographers who disembarked alongside the the infantry and specialist engineers, putting their lives at risk to show the whole world this historic moment

"The photographic record they left, made it possible to show the harshness of the events and the heroism with which the protagonists faced the situation

"At Omaha Beach, Easy Red Section, several brave photographers landed, including Robert Capa, Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Robert L. Sargent and Captain Herman V. Wall "In memory of all the people who fought and they left their lives for a better world". . .

Comments:

Thank you for this video. I have seen quite a few then and nows from many different channels all with good and not so good ways of transitioning. This is a good example of how important it is to transition BACK to original clip as it adds to the impact. Some don't and It loses a lot of the effect.

"There is a reason they are referred to as the greatest generation of our time. They faced unbelievable odds and witnessed horrors like they had never seen before. Yet they continued to charge forward. Many of them were just boys as young as 16,17, and 18 yrs old. A lot of them lied to the military recruiters at the time of their enlistment. Many signing up to go to war right after the attack on Pearl Harbor. These boys became men on that day. Many with vengeance on their minds and patriotism in their hearts. May God bless everyone of them. Because without their sacrifice the world would be a very different place today. God bless them all and God bless America. May we never forget."

And they fostered the generation that slowly began the end of Jim Crow and black/ white separation. TD

Democrats embrace the f-bomb

Democrats embrace the f-bomb 

"Profanity, once seen as taboo in politics, has been increasingly common to hear from lawmakers and candidates on both sides of the aisle over the last few years, in line with a broader societal uptick in the acceptance of profanity across the last few decades." 

. . ."Democrat Nathan Sage last week launched his campaign by decrying that farmers have been “f‑‑‑ed over” and vowing to “kick corporate Republican [Sen.] Joni Ernsts’s a‑‑” in the midterms. 

"A spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) hit back, arguing that Democrats “seem obsessed with saying ‘f‑‑‑ing’ and ‘a‑‑’ as the strategy to win back the voters that rejected them in 2024.” They pointed The Hill to examples of sitting congressional Democrats leaning on the language lately." . . . 

Ilhan Omar Repeatedly Curses at Reporter Who Asked Her a Simple Question

Trump has said a lot of things to reporters but I don't recall "F*ck Off" being one. Hats off to Ilhan Omar for a new low. https://t.co/b29B1ZbqKl

— Jillian Michaels (@JillianMichaels) May 1, 2025

. . . " 'This woman has no class, no gratitude to America, and no honor. Truly a disgrace to the US Congress," Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk posted on X."

Four House Democrats remove themselves from Trump impeachment resolution

Nodrog Snave.(One suspects Gordon Evans)

Rachel Schilke, Washington Examiner  "Schakowsky and Nadler did not respond to requests for comment.

"But Nadler’s legislative director sent out an email to fellow Democratic aides on Thursday, asking for staffers to let each other know when their boss signs onto a bill or resolution in the future." . . .

House Democrat's rogue Trump impeachment push sets off internal furor  "Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) has set off an internal furor among House Democrats with his unsanctioned efforts to impeach President Trump, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: In addition to many House Democrats seeing the push as both premature and counterproductive, some are also chafing at Thanedar's tactics in drumming up support for his impeachment articles.

• Four House Democrats who were briefly listed as co-sponsors have all since withdrawn, with some saying they wrongly believed leadership was supporting the measure.
• Sources told Axios that Thanedar also signed at least one colleague on as a co-sponsor based on a vague one-on-one conversation without notifying their staff.

State of play: Thanedar announced Monday that he is introducing seven articles of impeachment against Trump.

• The charges against Trump include obstruction of justice, abuse of power, bribery and corruption and "tyranny," mostly based on the president's iron-fisted consolidation of power in his second term.
• His announcement came just hours after Thanedar drew a primary challenge from state Rep. Donavan McKinney as part of persistent efforts by Democrats in his district to oust him.

What they're saying: House Intelligence Committee ranking member Jim Himes (D-Conn.), asked whether Thanedar's efforts are being taken seriously by leadership, told Axios, "I don't think so."

• "There is a long, long, long way to go before the concept of impeachment is on the table," he added.
• Said House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.): "The fact that people have withdrawn ... suggests people wanted to think through, collectively, the timing of it."

Trump goes trolling with an AI-generated image of himself as pope and the left has a cow

 

Rich Terrell

Monica Showalter   "Sometimes, Trump is just playin' around.

"And when he does, the left has a cow -- and then he kicks back and enjoys it.

"You'd think they'd know enough not to take the bait by now ... but they don't.

"So now we have this:" (Right)

. . .  MAKE THE VATICAN GREAT AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/IKCQbDic24

— Joey Mannarino 🇺🇸 (@JoeyMannarinoUS) May 3, 2025

Democrats are their own parody:  Katy Perry declares herself pope after reading the Bible for 11 minutes

"In a stunning turn of events that has left the Catholic Church reeling and Twitter ablaze, pop superstar Katy Perry has declared herself the new Pope, citing an intense 11-minute session of reading a Bible verse as her divine qualification. The announcement, made via a glittery Instagram Live stream, has sparked global confusion, theological debates, and a surge in sales of her 2013 hit, Roar.

“ 'I was just vibing with my morning smoothie, flipping through the Bible app, you know, as one does,” Perry explained to her 200 million followers, dressed in a bedazzled mitre she claimed was “thrifted from Etsy.” “I read John 3:16 for, like, 11 minutes straight, and I felt this cosmic energy. The Holy Spirit DM’d me and was like, ‘Girl, you’re Pope now.’ So, here I am. Pope Katy I, reporting for duty!' ” . . .   Genesius Times 

The Politicized Mind: How the University Lost Its Way

 Roger Kimball; American Greatness  

If real change is going to come to academic culture, criticism must be ceaseless, pointed, and deep. It is not enough to expose the students and professors shouting “Death to Israel” at places like Columbia University. The academic culture that breeds and rewards such figures—and their name is legion—must be exposed for what it is: a thoroughly politicized rejection of the principles that inform liberal learning.

Tunnel Wall

"Academia is once again in the news. Donald Trump’s recent commencement address at the University of Alabama, where he said that America’s “next chapter will not be written by The Harvard Crimson, it will be written by you—the Crimson Tide,” sounded one leitmotif of the new, Trump-inspired populism that is washing over the academic establishment. Trump’s announcement that he was seeking to remove Harvard’s tax-exempt status sounded another.

"These days, whenever the public’s attention is roused by academia, the oculus of media scrutiny turns up references to my book Tenured Radicals, first published more than 30 years ago but subsequently expanded and updated several times.

"Given the renewed interest in academic culture, I thought I would adapt a few thoughts from the introduction to the most recent edition of the book.

"Academic life, like the rest of social life, unfolds within a frame of rules and permissions. At one end, there are things that one must (or must not) do; at the other end, there is the rule of whim. The middle range, in which behavior is neither explicitly governed by rules nor entirely free, is that realm governed by what the British jurist John Fletcher Moulton, writing in the early 1920s, called “Obedience to the Unenforceable.”

"This middle realm is a place governed not by law or mere caprice but by virtues such as duty, fairness, judgment, and taste. In a word, it is the “domain of Manners,” which “covers all cases of right doing where there is no one to make you do it but yourself.”

"A good index of the health of any social institution is its allegiance to the strictures that define this middle realm. “In the changes that are taking place in the world around us,” Moulton wrote, “one of those which is fraught with grave peril is the discredit into which this idea of the middle land is falling.” One example was the abuse of free speech in political debate: “We have unrestricted freedom of debate,” say the radicals, “We will use it so as to destroy debate.”

"The repudiation of obedience to the unenforceable is at the center of what makes academic life (and not only academic life) today so noxious. The contraction of the “domain of Manners” creates a vacuum that is filled on one side by increasing regulation—speech codes, rules for all aspects of social life, efforts to determine by legislation (from the right as well as from the left) what should follow freely from responsible behavior—and on the other side by increased license.

"More and more, it seems, academia (like other aspects of elite cultural life) has reneged on its compact with society. One of the great ironies that attends the triumph of political correctness is that in department after department of academic life, what began as a demand for emancipation recoiled, turned rancid, and developed into new forms of tyranny and control. As Alan Charles Kors noted in an essay from 2008,

…"under the heirs of the academic Sixties, we moved on campus after campus from their Free Speech Movement to their politically correct speech codes; from their abolition of mandatory chapel to their imposition of Orwellian mandatory sensitivity and multicultural training; from their freedom to smoke pot unmolested to their war today against the kegs and spirits—literal and metaphorical—of today’s students; from their acquisition of young adult status to their infantilization of “kids” who lack their insight; from their self-proclaimed dreams of racial and sexual integration to their ever more balkanized campuses organized on principles of group characteristics and group responsibility; from their right to define themselves as individuals—a foundational right—to their official, imposed, and politically orthodox notions of identity. American college students became the victims of a generational swindle of truly epic proportions." . . .  More here...