"I’m an alleged national treasure. I won’t be bullied by actors over my views on Israel"

 Maureen Lipman  

"Why did he have to release a lengthy, moralising statement attacking views I have “publicly and repeatedly” expressed?" 

"I am in Corfu, on a yacht that is not sailing to Ithaca and Zakinthos. The skipper went AWOL and the chef is in hospital. So much for our delayed honeymoon.

"Meanwhile, back home, a young actor by the name of Gerard McCarthy (apt, you might say), has withdrawn from his role in a West End play because ... I am in it, and my “views” on Israel and Palestine are beyond the pale.

"It is a rather curious decision, given that six weeks ago Mr McCarthy came to see me perform in the first night of Allegra, a play which has just finished its London run. He was pictured at the after-party and even posted (now deleted) glowing praise for the play and my performance on Instagram.

"I am joining a cast that Mr McCarthy was already part of. We are reading out letters and poems about suicide, to generate awareness of the issue and raise money for the cause.

"So what prompted this man to now refuse to share a stage with me for one day in Right Before I Go? If he was scared away (I’ve no idea that he was) over fears of what friends and colleagues may think of him, I want to know about it.

"He was not going to have to brush up against me in the wings for six weeks. He would not have had to inhale my partisan support for the state of Israel.

"I might add that my appearance as Evelyn Plummer in Corrie a few times a week does not give me a back channel to Bibi Netanyahu, despite the fact that yes, I am Jewish.

So Mr McCarthy, I challenge you to meet me in an Ottolenghi branch of your choice for a hummus and mint tea. We can swap certainties about the world.

"But I also want you to explain your rejection of the things which make our business viable and comradely. Why are you refusing to work with an 80-year-old, experienced actress (allegedly I’m a national treasure) for the benefit of young people who are struggling to find the strength and courage to go on living?

"We are in a business which is all about diversity. If we spit on art, we are being fascistic.

"There are a lot of Jewish actors who won’t speak up for Israel. They keep quiet. That is up to them. But I will not countenance juvenile, immature posturing.

"Why didn’t Mr McCarthy just say he had a hernia if he really could not face working with me?"  More.

Dame Maureen Lipman is appearing in Right Before I Go at the Soho Theatre on September 10, World Suicide Prevention Day

Mamdani Goes Quiet as 9,800 NYC Restaurant Jobs Vanish . . .

 . . . "His Wage Hike Worsens Everything

William Reports News   "When Zohran Mamdani campaigned for mayor of New York City, he made a specific promise: a $30 minimum wage by 2030, calling the current wage floor a form of poverty. By March, twelve City Council members led by Sandy Nurse had converted that exact promise into legislation—the "30 for Our City" bill—and delivered it to his desk. In this breakdown, we examine what happened next: a carefully worded statement from the mayor's office that affirmed his belief in a living wage while stopping short of endorsing the bill itself, and why that hedging matters against the backdrop of nearly 9,800 restaurant jobs already lost in the city over the previous twelve months under the existing $17 wage law.

"The video places New York's debate within a broader pattern documented across other jurisdictions. We analyze Bureau of Labor Statistics data on the city's restaurant workforce, the aftermath of the 2015 push toward a $15 minimum wage, and Seattle's experience, where accommodation and fast-food layoffs in King County rose from 158 in 2024 to 2,090 in 2025 as the wage climbed past $20. We also examine the business-side arithmetic laid out by Queens Chamber of Commerce president Tom Grech, Harvard Business School research linking wage increases to restaurant closure risk, and California's fast-food wage rollout. With more than a million New Yorkers earning at or near the minimum wage, the gap between campaign certainty and governing caution carries consequences measured in payrolls, storefronts, and the credibility of political promises themselves."

800 Restaurants VANISHING From NYC — The Bill Mamdani Just Made Worse

‘Communist Red Guard BS’: Mom of Girl Crippled by Illegal Alien Just Levels Anti-ICE School Walkouts

RedState 

 "Colorado schools can walk out against ICE on Friday. Democrats can walk out of these hearings and tell Americans why they have to accept illegal aliens. But Fox’s daughter won't ever be able to walk or talk again."

"A Colorado mother whose daughter was left nonverbal, wheelchair-bound, and feeding-tube dependent after an illegal immigrant slammed into her vehicle did not mince words on Capitol Hill Tuesday.

"Patricia Fox was particularly irate over a planned statewide anti-ICE student protest.

“70-plus Colorado schools are poised to stage an anti-ICE walkout on September 4th,” Fox told a House Judiciary subcommittee. "If that is not some Communist Party, red-guard bulls**t, I don't know what is."

"Organizers say students at more than 70 campuses across the Centennial State will walk out Friday under the banner “Students Say ICE Out.”

"Those same students would be better served to stay in school and maybe learn that the people who need to get out are the criminal illegal alien animals who never should have been allowed in the country in the first place.

"You wouldn't stroll into a bank in the middle of your accounts being emptied by bank robbers and demand the security guards get out, you absolute raving lunatics.

"Fox, in her comments to Congress, argued schools were mobilizing students against ICE while families like hers live with the wreckage of open-borders policy." . . . More...

'You'll Never Hear Carissa's Story From Colorado Democrats...': Witness Patricia Fox Shares Story

MI Attorney General to Jews: Sacrifice Your Very Existence to Elect Democrats

 HotAir   

"Admittedly, he can't commit genocide all by his lonesome, but he does represent a movement that will directly threaten the lives and safety of Jews both in Israel and the United States." 

"Have Democrats settled on their argument to Jews for why they should vote for Abdul El-Sayed, despite the fact that he seems content to have them killed in large numbers by Islamists?

"Apparently so, and that argument is that Abdul El-Sayed will save the world from global warming. 

"I first noticed this line of argumentation when Peter Beinart, a Jew himself, argued that voting for El-Sayed was a vote to save the world from burning to a cinder due to global warming. 

"He, at least, argued that saving the world meant saving Jews too, so that in a larger sense it was a vote for self-defense in a larger sense than just defending Jews from Islamists. By saving the world, they are also saving themselves. 

"Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, also a Jew, goes even further. She is arguing to her fellow religionists that they should be willing to suffer a genocide in order to save the world from global warming. 

"No, I am not kidding. " . . . 

"Nessel's call for martyrdom in the name of global warming — a problem, if you are worried about it — that El-Sayed can do nothing about anyway, is just plain bizarre. Nessel is telling Jews to drop any tribalism they have as Jews and adopt a different tribalism — loyalty to the Democrat Party."   More...

 Abdul El-Sayed Had Thoughts on 9/11 (and the Left Is Outraged About It)

Supreme Court Rule 5-4 to Eliminate Lawsuit Against White House Ballroom and National Defense Complex - Chief Justice Roberts Joined the Minority

 The Last Refuge  

"WHERE THE HELL WAS SHE WHEN THE BIDEN REGIME WAS TEARING DOWN STATUES AND RENAMING EVERYTHING?"  Dave Hans comment

"Somehow Chief Justice John Roberts found that a single person who walks past the White House every month and doesn’t like the proposed appearance of the ballroom has some standing to sue and block construction. Go figure. Roberts also decided that the Obamacare mandate wasn’t a tax.

"Roberts joined with the minority DEI judges in his position [RULING HERE]. However, the majority decision was against the woman having standing to sue. Therefore, the lawsuit was dispatched and the building can continue." . . .

"In his six-page dissent, which Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson joined, Roberts countered that “[a] historic preservationist such as Hoagland can be aesthetically injured in a concrete, particularized way by the transformation of a historic building that she frequently enjoys, just as,” based on prior court precedent, “an environmentalist can sustain a concrete, particularized aesthetic injury from the extinction of a particular animal or the transformation of a particular forest or river that he regularly enjoys.” Roberts ended the opinion by quoting Winston Churchill, who said that “[w]e shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.” “All the more reason,” according to Roberts, “to ensure that those responsible follow the rules in deciding what to tear down and what to build up at the People’s House.” (source)" . . .  More.

Why Higher Education Is Likely Doomed

"Academia, as it is currently constituted, is incompatible with the societal need for civics and humanities “education.'”

 American Greatness

  " . . .he believed he was helping to foster a better, more productive interpretation of his field of expertise but in so doing undermined any pretensions his adherents might have to objectivity or adherence to neutral evidence."

"The public exposure, resignation, and subsequent death of the British fabulist Jason Arday have reignited the longstanding (if not eternal) debate about the purpose of higher education in our society and whether it is fulfilling that purpose. On the one side, conservatives are frustrated because, to them, the Arday case is emblematic: universities today are overwhelmingly leftist; leftists dominate the humanities and liberal arts faculties, and leftists are rewarded for poor or even fraudulent scholarship simply because it reinforces the preexisting beliefs of their contemporaries and superiors. On the other side, progressives and other leftists insist that the pursuit of knowledge and enlightenment is definitionally a left-leaning enterprise, at least in contemporary society. Of course, leftists are overrepresented in academia; leftists seek awareness and understanding, while conservatives are simply less inquisitive and less interested in attaining knowledge, both temperamentally and practically, the latter for fear of learning that what they perceive as fairness and equality is, in reality, prejudice and discrimination.

"Ironically, the progressives’ explanation is itself bigoted, in addition to being trite and largely self-serving. At the same time, however, the conservative account is inadequate. It describes the problem within academia today reasonably well but fails to explain why that problem exists. Indeed, it fails even to acknowledge that the problem has an underlying cause and isn’t merely the result of choice or happenstance.

"As I have argued previously in these pages, as well as in my book, The Dictatorship of Woke Capital, higher education today, especially in the humanities and liberal arts, really is a project that appeals to men and women of the left far more than their right-leaning contemporaries. This isn’t because progressives are more inquisitive and temperamentally thirsty for knowledge, however. It’s because the higher education system, as we have built it, is less about the acquisition and transmission of knowledge and more about the “discovery” of “new” things. That credo works well in the hard sciences and mathematics, where true discovery is not merely possible but indispensable, but in the humanities and social sciences, it’s worse than useless. It encourages both frivolous and fraudulent “research,” which neither produces substantive gains in understanding nor transmits knowledge to students. This isn’t universally the case, of course, but it is frequently so, as the enduring debates over the Jason Ardays of the world demonstrate." . . .

It's do-or-die time for America's pricey left-wing colleges   . . . "Parents are revolting for other reasons: Why pay through the nose to seek your kid turned into an idiot lefty?

Some 34% of students say violence is OK to silence speakers they disagree with, while 28% self-censor to avoid backlash, reports the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

"And it’s worst at “top-tier” colleges like Harvard and Columbia."

Resentment is what appears to come through in Michelle Obama’s remarks. . .

. . . "and it is especially painful to hear amid the national conversation surrounding the Lindsay Clancy trial.”

 PJ Media

But her attitude about it is probably the worst I’ve heard from a parent. She sounds more like a childless person boasting about why not having kids is so liberating than an actual parent.

"Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle Obama, has spent years cultivating an image as America's most relatable first lady, the warm, down-to-earth mom everybody loves.

Yet, it seems like every time she opens her mouth, she proves what a horrible person she is. We’re talking Hillary Clinton-level bad.

Last month, we learned that Barack Obama’s wife reportedly made sure Cheryl Hines never got a role in Larry David's new HBO series, Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness: An Almost History of America, because Hines is married to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's secretary of health and human services. Hines played Larry David's wife on Curb Your Enthusiasm for years. Talk about going low.

I’ve written about some of the lowlights of her post-White House life, from blatantly racist comments to complaining about the luxurious life she lived in the White House like it was a burden. Has anyone so privileged ever complained so much about her own life? Barack Obama’s wife might be the closest thing America has to an answer. But, perhaps even worse, she’s been joyful about not having to parent her own kids. That last one reared its ugly head again last week, on the latest episode of IMO, the podcast Barack Obama’s wife co-hosts with her brother, which aired Wednesday. She told guest Jon Stewart she's thrilled that raising her children is finally behind her.

Stewart tried to give her a graceful opening, telling her, "You obviously miss the energy and excitement of the kids being around." Barack Obama’s wife shot that down fast. "I don't! I love them. I'm going to see them tonight for dinner. I love them. But Barack cried when they went to college. I was like, 'Bye, goodbye!'" she said.

Stewart tried again, describing what he misses about his own daily grind. "The thing I miss, though, is the job. It gave meaning and a pattern to my life," he said. Barack Obama’s wife simply replied, "I'm good…"

US Launches Surprise Attack on Iran – Senior IRGC Official DROPS DEAD on Live TV at Regime’s Nightly Rally! (VIDEO)

The Gateway Pundit

"The United States launched a surprise attack on the Iranian regime on Sunday.

"According to Iranian expert Tousi, this was a pre-eminent attack on the regime after the US received information that the Iranians were about to launch a strike in Jordan.

"One Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps official ended his speech early after a heart attack took him off to his 70 virgins

"​Senior IRGC member and candidate Naemat al-Hami suffered a fatal heart attack right in the middle of his campaign speech.

"Al-Hami was very excited before a heart attack took him out. It was quite a memorable speech."

More.

Trump Says Iran’s Oil Hub Kharg Island Is Being Blown “TO SMITHEREENS” (VIDEO)  "US Central Command said Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets carrying sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz.

"CENTCOM described the operation as a “limited, precise action” against Iranian forces posing an “imminent threat” to civilian mariners, commercial vessels, and international commerce.

"In essence, Iran created the threat and the U.S. military eliminated it to protect civilian mariners, commercial shipping, and the free flow of global commerce,” CENTCOM said, according to the Associated Press.

"The official CENTCOM account identified the immediate threat as IRGC preparations to deploy rockets carrying sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz.

"The Iranian regime later retaliated by firing ballistic missiles at two US bases in Jordan.

"Jordan’s armed forces reportedly intercepted eight missiles that entered the country’s airspace. Nearly all the incoming missiles were shot down, and no significant damage was immediately reported." . . .  Video

De Niro vs. Mamdani

J.R. Dunn  

"It’s unknown whether De Niro appears on the list. But that doesn’t mean that he can rest easy."

"While catching up with Robert De Niro the other day, it occurred to me that poor Bobby is on a collision course with New York City’s Mamdani junta.

"Though it’s not well known to the public. De Niro is something of a real estate magnate in Manhattan. He has poured much of his acting fees into property purchases in the downtown area, including a restaurant, a hotel, and a number of commercial buildings in the TriBeCa neighborhood. (One writer years ago went so far as to claim that he owned almost every commercial building in TriBeCa, but even though it’s a small neighborhood, that’s unlikely.)

"It appears that the bulk of De Niro’s net worth of $500 million or thereabouts consists of real property.

"That makes him a target of Mamdani’s campaign against bourgeois property owners exploiting Manhattan’s housing-starved proletariat.

"In particular, he appears to be in serious violation of the new pied-à-terre law, aimed at property owners who own city apartments while having a primary residence elsewhere. Since De Niro owns a house at Montauk, an estate north of the city, and another apartment in LA, that description appears to fit him like a glove.

"The pied-à-terre tax has been the subject of considerable controversy in recent weeks. Mamdani held what amounted to a rally in front of billionaire Ken Griffin’s apartment, implicitly scapegoating Griffin and putting him in the sights of unbalanced members of his movement only two years after the assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

"The Mamdani administration’s Department of Finance also released a database containing the names of 960,000 city property owners that the junta views as enemies of the people. These are all individuals subject to action under the pied-à-terre law. Strangely, all this is occurring at the same time that Mamdani is begging corporate CEOs, many of whom must have been named on the list, to help bail out the city." . . .

Iran’s mullahs: Time to take the gloves off

As in the Vietnam War, we expect soon to see Americans: celebrities, college activists and other keffiyeh-klad tools visiting Iran, shaking hands with the murderous regime. Maybe even Greta will be there posing by a bearded, robed and smiling cleric and ladies in pink, heads covered, with her raised fist. TD

 James Zumwalt  

But, in light of Iran’s second video to target a Trump family member, the president has now officially taken off the gloves. He has publicly declared Iran’s leadership is fair game.

"In its early days of the sport, boxers fought with their bare fists. It was not until 1867 that the Queensbury rules required the wearing of gloves and abiding by certain rules to ensure a sportsman-like contest. Also in the 19th century, civilized nations recognized a need for providing guidelines on how combat should be fought on the world’s battlefields, issuing the laws of warfare. Interestingly, during our war with Iran, President Donald Trump took the unusual step of ensuring, initially at least, that the U.S. and Israel followed the Queensbury rules of warfare—but not anymore.

"A quick recap: Coordinating combat efforts with the U.S. against Iran as the conflict started on February 28 was Israel. As the war progressed, Trump became aware of a course of action upon which Israel was embarking that caused him some concerns. They involved Israel’s intention to eliminate Iran’s top negotiators, Abbas Araghchi—Tehran’s foreign minister—and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf—its speaker of the Parliament.

"Going after Iran’s top leaders was part of Israel’s gameplan from the outset, evidenced by its first air strike eliminating Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. By April, with ceasefire talks being conducted through third parties, Trump reportedly asked countries in West Asia to notify Iranian officials about Israel’s intentions.

"Of course, that was then and now is now. Subsequent outrageous acts by Iran’s leadership have caused a reset of Trump’s mindset.

"Recently, Iranian television aired a propaganda video titled, “Where to kill Barron Trump?” The mullahs, obviously lacking any interest in observing the laws of warfare, sought to terrorize Trump by declaring his son Barron a target. And, with their airforce, navy, and economy decimated, they offered a $10 million reward to anyone who killed him." . .  .

"The U.S. has finally come to accept a principle of warfare Israel recognized long ago: a fair fight against the mullahs involves tossing all rules out the window."

James Zumwalt is a retired Marine infantry officer who served in the Vietnam War, Panama, and Operation Desert Storm. He is the author of three books and hundreds of opinion pieces in online and print publications. He speaks frequently on foreign policy and defense issues as well as on the leadership of his famous father, after whom the world’s first stealth destroyer is named.

Former Iraqi Official Honored by Biden Admin Placed on Terror Watch List

“'While the Biden State Department shamefully celebrated and awarded foreigners who threaten our nation, the Trump State Department revokes their visas and ensures these individuals are removed from our country,” Johnson explained to the outlet."

Renaming Frenzy: The Lake America Memes Are Coming in Fast and Furious, and They Are Laugh Out Loud Funny

RedState  

They also show that Trump can play mind games with anyone, and he’s certainly winning this battle as Democrats are tearing their hair out.

Rename 9-11 while we're at it.

"Donald Trump has become an expert at setting Democrats up like bowling pins with his hilarious trolls, then watching them screech and hyperventilate and make fools out of themselves.

His executive order on Thursday renaming one of the Great Lakes, Lake Ontario, to Lake America has predictably sent the Left into paroxysms of rage. Bonus points: it’s also riled up the Canadians, because we’re currently in a trade war with them and roughly half the vast body of water is in their territory. (They are under no obligation to honor the change, however, and states can ignore it too, because the EO only applies at the federal level.) " . . .

. . . "While I said depressed liberals can’t make fun of themselves (watch the shrill late-night network “comedy” shows if you don’t believe me), there is one exception: Real Time host Bill Maher. I don’t even know if we can classify him as a serious leftist anymore, however, because a decent percentage of what he’s been saying in recent times has actually made sense:

HILARIOUS: Bill Maher: “Trump is so mad at Canada, he renamed Lake Ontario Lake America… Liberals are very pissed at this. They say you can’t just go around renaming to suit your political agenda. Just ask any Latinx birthing person.”

NUKED! pic.twitter.com/ETZkHdqNgJ

— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) August 29, 2026 

• Here’s the list in case you forgot from pdxdeadhead
  • Mount McKinley Denali • Fort Bragg. Fort Liberty • Fort Hood Fort Cavazos • Boy Scouts of America Scouting America • Aunt Jemima Pearl Milling Company . Uncle Ben’s Rice Ben’s Original • Eskimo Pie ice cream bars Edy’s Pie • Land O’Lakes removed the Indian, but kept the land • Illegal alien undocumented worker• Mount McKinley Denali • Fort Bragg Fort Liberty • Fort Hood Fort Cavazos • Boy Scouts of America Scouting America • Aunt Jemima Pearl Milling Company • Uncle Ben’s Rice Ben’s Original • Eskimo Pie ice cream bars Edy’s Pie • Land O’Lakes removed the Indian, but kept the land • Illegal alien undocumented worker Hispanic Latinx (a term Hispanics did not want and do not use) • Mother birthing person • Anchor baby child of noncitizens • Breastfeeding chest feeding • Inmate / prisoner / convict / felon justice-involved person • Ex-con / ex-felon returning citizen • “Gender” as a biological fact interchangeable with “sex” to being a social construct • Fat plus-sized • Master bedroom primary bedroom • Manhole utility hole

The sinking of Cesar Chavez   "The U.S. Navy’s program to name ships after civil rights leaders is not aging well. For the second time, the Navy will be forced to change the name of a ship named for a sexual predator. Both of them, interestingly enough, have been widely honored as “civil rights pioneers.”

"The program to name ships for civil rights crusaders began during the Obama administration when [Obama's] Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced that upcoming U.S. navy oilers would be named for John L. Lewis, Lucy Stone, Sojourner Truth, Earl Warren, Robert F. Kennedy, and Harvey Milk. "  

"So now we have Cesar Chavez, a man revered for his work in aid of migrant workers during the 60s and 70s, a period when, as it turns out, he was also raping twelve-year-old girls.

 San Antonio makes major change to controversial Cesar Chavez street signs    . . . "The city council voted unanimously to rename Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard back to Durango Boulevard on Thursday, August 20." . . .

Cesar Chavez Street’s ‘days are numbered' in San Francisco   . .  . "Even after that, it may be difficult to truly erase Chavez’s name, as city rules typically require a street’s former name to also be featured on street signs for a period of five years. Army Street, incidentally, is still featured on Cesar Chavez Street signs."   List of places named after Cesar Chavez - Wikipedia

NFL Teams Are Showing Off Male Cheerleaders — Fans' Hot Takes Are Priceless

RedState 

"The Woke Left simply cannot let Americans enjoy their football.

Vikings Male Cheerleader: His 'Makeup Routine'

"As if bringing back the insufferable race-shaming for the seventh straight year wasn't bad enough, male cheerleaders are back.

And boy, are they ever. But it's not that the existence of male cheerleaders is a problem. It's not. 

It's the way these male cheerleaders act like they have more estrogen than the ladies that is eyebrow-raising.

Here's the extremely flamboyant routine of a Philadelphia Eagles male cheerleader that drew social media attention."

https://redstate.com/kyle-becker/2026/08/31/nfl-teams-are-showing-off-male-cheerleaders-and-fans-hot-takes-are-priceless-n2206320?utm_source=rsmorningbriefing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&bcid=5cb1dbef0348ca99aabc17731cb235c30660f2faf5a139fcf7a492bcbc434691&lctg=27056277

"The way we can end racism in America is to stop dividing us by race. And the way we can stop male cheerleaders in the NFL is by changing the channel. Sports leagues should do us all a favor and go back to being about sports. 

"Stop with the activism because it's not persuading anyone. It's just turning people off."

More...