Monday Overnight Open Thread (3/2/26)

[Unnamed 24"x 30"-Mis. Hum., with a classic Mystery Click]

*****

The Quotes of The Day

Quote I

"This is about national security; this is about what's possible in the Middle East; this is about being a good partner to the Gulf States...I am a Democrat. I've been a huge Democrat, and I am incredibly disappointed with my party; I do not see myself in them in this moment,” Moj Madhara, co-founder of the Iranian Diaspora Collective and a Democrat

Quote II

"When a family is boating to a restaurant or simply enjoying the waters in our area, they should not have to worry about being stopped, boarded, and delayed for no real reason beyond a random inspection," State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine, AL)

Quote III

"When you tax something at a high rate, customers are less likely to purchase that product and are more likely to identify alternatives," Tiffany Ingram, the executive director of the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois

Quote IV

The party's only agenda is 'we hate Trump,' and anything he says, we're going to do the opposite of it. And it makes me very sad for the party." Robert F. Kennedy,Jr.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 10:03 PM | Comments (152) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Israel Tricked Me Into Posting a Cat Cafe

The Shambles in York
by David/@disc_light

This cat is giving me feelings I shouldn't feel.

Speaking of cats and feelings: This cat is jelly.

Kitten is rescued, but is then slapped around by his mom for giving him a heart attack.

Made you look.

Did you ever see the dog version of Trainspotting? It's better than the human version.

Not a cat.

Bear cubs are afraid of the water.

Cute dog.

Dog enjoys diving for rocks.

Senior dachshund does her best on the agility track. I rate this dog 14/10.

Dog likes being told "I love you" and is teaching itself to say it back.

Meowndays amirite

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 07:20 PM | Comments (287) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Quick Hits

Eyal Yakoby
@EYakoby

30m

BREAKING: It's been revealed that nearly all of the Tehran's traffic cameras had been hacked by Israel for years, with algorithms tracking senior officials -- including the supreme leader.

One Israeli official said: "We knew Tehran like we know Jerusalem."

Open Source Intel
@Osint613

U.S. President Donald Trump told ABC News that they identified possible candidates to take over Iran, but was killed in the initial airstrikes.

"The attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates. It's not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they are all dead. Second or third place is dead."

Robert Spencer collects some of the left's prayers for terrorist attacks against America:

Meanwhile, a Jan. 2026 hot take from far-left "journalist" Stephen Beschloss on X was getting wide circulation on Threads after the death of Khamenei: "No matter how long I live after we get through this dark chapter," Beschloss wrote sagely, "I will never get over the immorality, the amorality, the corruption, the criminality and the cruelty in service to one of the worst humans to ever walk the earth."

He didn't mean Khamenei, the mass murderer of tens of thousands of his own people. He meant Trump. Nevertheless, in the race for the most over-the-top expression of Trump-hatred, Beschloss finishes a close second to John Pavlovitz, who bills himself on Threads as an "author, pastor, activist, and storyteller," and on X, where he has nearly 392,000 followers, as "author of 'If God is Love, Don't Be a Jerk.'" Pavlovitz, who is so far to the left that he makes Chairman Mao look reactionary, had this to say after the killing of Khamenei: "Dear World, Please do whatever you need to. Sincerely, Decent Americans."

Paul Sperry
@paulsperry_

Funny how whenever reporting on a Muslim carrying out a terrorist attack, the MSM reflexively writes it off to "mental illness," but whenever reporting on transgender terrorism, they never mention anything about the trans shooter having mental health problems. In those cases of violence, the suspects are portrayed as relatively normal, while jihadists are clearly just plain nuts, confused individuals completely divorced from Islamic doctrine.

Gavin Newsom is a gaytard:

Gavin's gaslighting.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has been put in his place by the US gas industry after he tried to "flex" on President Donald Trump over gas prices -- as he presides over the country's highest per-gallon prices.

The California governor took to social media on Saturday following the dramatic US-Israel airstrikes on Iran, which took out both Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"Average gas prices in California have stayed below $5 for nearly two years. Trump's new war is already rattling markets. We're watching this space. Closely," Newsom's press office wrote on X, sparking derision from many.

"Time to school the Pajama Boy who runs this account for the Gov -- because this isn't the flex on Trump he thinks it is," the US Oil & Gas Association, a nonprofit trade association for the domestic oil and natural gas industry, wrote in response before taking the Democrat to task over what it branded Newsom's mismanagement of California's natural resources.

"California imports 63% of its crude from foreign countries -- despite sitting on at least 1.7 billion barrels of proven reserves," the post continued, before breaking down where the Golden State's refineries get their crude oil.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 06:20 PM | Comments (318) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Media Is Exactly Who We Thought They Were

With a few honorable exceptions.

An as-of-yet unnamed producer texted a reporter in the field to "not focus" on the Iranians celebrating the death of Khamenei. He (or, likely, she) wanted to play this as tragedy and portray the strike as a war crime.

The reporter refused and said he'd focus on the celebrations.

A CBS Austin reporter was seen on a live Facebook stream appearing to get a directive from a superior to steer away from a pro-Israel, pro-US and pro-Trump protest behind him -- and then refusing to go along with the instruction on camera.

Vinny Martorano was outside the Texas Capitol on Saturday covering dueling demonstrations in the wake of US and Israeli strikes on Iran when a crew member handed him a phone with a message from an unnamed boss.

After reading the screen, the reporter asked out loud, "What does that mean?"

An off-screen staffer answered, "It means they don't want us to focus on this."

"Well, I am," Martorano shot back, continuing his coverage.

Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns CBS Austin, insisted Martorano had not been instructed to avoid certain perspectives.

"[S]tation management directed the crew to follow our standard protest and rally safety and coverage guidelines, remain on the perimeter, gather necessary content, complete the live shot, and move to a safe location," a Sinclair spokesperson told The Post in an email.

"There was no directive to avoid or de-emphasize any particular perspective," the spokersperson added. "The guidance was focused on safety, logistics, and ensuring comprehensive coverage in a rapidly evolving situation. The safety of our teams is top priority."

The moment was clipped down to roughly 35 seconds and quickly went viral as it got reshared by conservative social media accounts.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:20 PM | Comments (315) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Another Muslim Terrorist Attack, This Time in Austin

We may never know the motive, authorities vowed.

The man wearing a "Property of Allah" sweatshirt, with an Iranian flag shirt underneath, and a Koran in his car, Culturally Enriched two Americans to death and wounded 14 others with diversity.

He was, of course, an immigrant and a criminal, allowed into the country by Bill Clinton and then granted citizenship by Obama.

The fiend behind Sunday's bloodbath at a packed Austin bar was an ex-New York City resident wearing a "Property of Allah" hoodie -- and possibly out for vengeance over the US attack on Iran, law-enforcement sources told The Post.

Crazed Texas shooter Ndiaga Diagne, 53, of Senegal arrived in the US on March 13, 2000 on a B-2 tourist visa during the Democratic Clinton administration and became a lawful permanent resident (IR-6) when he married a US citizen in June 2006, a source familiar with his immigration history told The Post.

He then became a naturalized US citizen on April 5, 2013 around the start of former President Barack Obama's second term -- despite his growing rap sheet spanning New York and Texas.

On Sunday, the killer had a Quran in his car and was possibly also wearing an undershirt featuring the Iranian flag or other Iranian symbols when he opened fire on Buford's Backyard Beer Garden near the University of Texas-Austin campus, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

Law enforcement knew him as an emotionally disturbed person in both New York and Texas before Sunday's bloody rampage, sources said.

He also had a string of previous arrests under his belt in the Big Apple and Texas, sources said, including a 2022 arrest in the Lone Star State for collision with vehicle damage.

In New York City, he notched busts between 2001 and 2016, the year he applied for asylum under the waning Obama administration.

Diagne was arrested in 2001 for illegal vending. His other three city arrests are sealed, sources said. Details on his Texas busts were not immediately known.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 04:13 PM | Comments (117) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Iran Interfered in US Elections in Favor of the Democrats in 2020, 2024; Hillary Clinton's Russiagate Shyster Denies

Jerry Dunleavy for JustTheNews.

Revolutionary Guards intelligence operatives created fake emails which purported to show Trump telling the Proud Boys to commit violent, terroristic actions.

The leftwing media of course reported these emails as real.

Iran tried to interfere in 2020, 2024 elections to stop Trump, and now faces renewed war with U.S.

While Democrats and their stenographers in mainstream media screamed about a fever-dream involving collusion between Russia and Trump, the Iranian regime deployed unnoticed election influence operations aimed at stopping Trump's election in back-to-back contests in 2020 and 2024. Even worse, the IRGC even pushed assassination plots aimed at Trump.

The Iranian regime sought to undermine President Donald Trump's reelection bid in 2020, with Joe Biden emerging victorious, then doubled down in 2024 through a host of election meddling efforts and even assassination attempts in 2024.

...

Trump campaigned in 2016 against the controversial Iranian nuclear deal which had been inked and agreed to by President Barack Obama in 2015.

When Trump won, his first term was marked by a "maximum pressure" campaign against the Iranian regime, with Trump exiting the Iran deal, increasing sanctions against Iran after they had been lifted by Obama, designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization, targeting Iran's terrorist proxies, killing IRGC leader General Qassem Soleimani, and more.

The Iranian regime responded with a sophisticated election influence effort in the 2020 campaign between Trump and President Joe Biden, with the Iranians fighting to keep Trump away from a second term and favoring the more Iran-friendly Biden.
Biden's soft pro-Iranian policies come back to haunt peace in the Middle East

The Biden administration then spent four years loosening some of the pressure on Iran and seeking a doomed rapprochement with the regime as Biden tried and failed to secure the revival of a deal with Iran. Hamas, considered a proxy of Iran, launched its deadly cross-border terrorist attack and murdered hundreds of civilians at a music festival and elsewhere in Israel on October 7, 2023.

Israel responded with a significant military campaign in Gaza as well as the targeting of Iran's Hezbollah proxies in Lebanon. Iran fired hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel in 2024, and Israel's aerial campaign in response resulted in the evisceration of much of Iran's air defenses.

The Biden administration, however, urged Israel not to target the Iranian regime's nuclear facilities -- something the Israelis largely acquiesced to, until last June after Trump had taken office and his 60-day negotiation deadline with the Iranians had expired.

The Iranians had redoubled their efforts during the 2024 election, trying to keep Trump out of office with IRGC-backed assassination plots and with hack-and-leak operations targeting Trump's campaign and other cyber efforts aimed at stopping him from beating Biden and, subsequently, accidental nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. It didn't work.

...

Iranian intelligence sought to undermine Trump's reelection bid in 2020 through a variety of election influence efforts.

Microsoft assessed in September 2020 that a cyber actor dubbed "Phosphorus, operating from Iran, has continued to attack the personal accounts of people associated with the Donald J. Trump for President campaign."

Then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and then-FBI Director Christopher Wray held an October 2020 press conference where they warned that Iran had gained access to U.S. voter registration information, with Ratcliffe warning Iran was trying to harm Trump's candidacy.

Ratcliffe explained: "We have already seen Iran sending spoofed emails designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest, and damage President Trump."

A senior U.S. intelligence officer told The Washington Examiner in October 2020 that "the Iranians follow U.S. politics closely and saw the last debate where the Proud Boys were an issue and saw an opportunity here to manufacture blowback on Trump by creating a narrative that violent Trump supporters are sending out threatening emails."

A senior government official also told Reuters at the time, "Either they made a dumb mistake or wanted to get caught. We are not concerned about this activity being some kind of false flag due to other supporting evidence. This was Iran."
Iran, not Russia, the key source of disinformation, but Democrats stick to their script

The Miami Herald reported in October 2020 that intimidating emails claiming to be from the right-wing Proud Boys group, but actually sent by the Iranians instead, had been sent to hundreds of voters in numerous counties in Florida, seemingly targeting Democrats with a bit of reverse psychology. The emails said, in part, that "you will vote for Trump on Election Day, or we will come after you." The ODNI's office said at the time that it would brief the Republican and Democratic lawmakers representing the Florida counties most targeted.

ODNI's National Intelligence Council later assessed in 2024 that, during the 2020 election, "Iranian cyber actors used data on more than 100,000 voters for its operation impersonating the Proud Boys."

Multiple Democrats sought to falsely cast doubt on the idea that Iran was trying to undermine Trump's presidential campaign in 2020, and stuck to the baseless narrative that Russia was the true disinformation culprit.

"Russia is the villain here, from what we have seen in the public domain," then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in October 2020. "Iran is a bad actor but in no way equivalent. And they always try to find some equivalence to protect their friend, Russia."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also sought to cast doubt on the Iranians seeking to harm Trump.

"I did receive a classified briefing this afternoon on this, and so I can't discuss the details, but I can tell you one thing: It was clear to me, that the intent of Iran in this case, and Russia in many more cases, is to [...] basically undermine confidence in our elections," Schumer said on MSNBC in October 2020. "This action I do not believe was aimed ... at discrediting President Trump [...] It was much rather to undermine confidence in elections and not aimed at any particular figure."

Hillary Clinton's fixer, Mark Elias, says that this isn't the Election Interference you're looking for.

The real election interference, it seems, was the fake dossier Mark Elias paid for.

The Clinton campaign lawyer who helped fund British ex-spy Christopher Steele's discredited dossier pushing baseless claims of Trump-Russia collusion in 2016 joined other Democrats in denying confirmed Iranian election influence efforts in 2020 and 2024 aimed at denigrating President Donald Trump, calling it a "Big Lie."

...

A cadre of Democrats -- led by former Hillary Clinton campaign general counsel Marc Elias -- and other Trump opponents soon sought to deny that Iran had meddled in the U.S. presidential elections of 2020 and 2024 in an effort to undermine Trump's candidacies, despite even the Biden Administration intelligence community and Justice Department saying that is what the Iranian regime had done.

Elias on Saturday shared a screenshot of Trump's Truth Social post about Iranian election influence efforts in 2020 and 2024 and dismissed these facts as "the next Big Lie."

"The next Big Lie is to taking [sic] shape right in front of us," Elias said. "Donald Trump will try to use this to assert illegal and unconstitutional powers over the 2026 elections."

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 03:15 PM | Comments (282) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Trump: "The Big Wave" of Attacks on the Islamic Regime Occupying Iran Hasn't Even Started Yet
Speculation: The "Ground Forces" Phase of This War May Be Fought Entirely With Drone Hunter-Killers

Via Instapundit, from CNN:

"We're knocking the crap out of them," Trump told CNN's Jake Tapper. "I think it's going very well. It's very powerful. We've got the greatest military in the world and we're using it."

Trump addressed a wide range of topics in the interview, including the expected length of the conflict, his surprise at Iran's widespread retaliation and the country's expected succession plan.

On how long the war might last, the president said, "I don't want to see it go on too long. I always thought it would be four weeks. And we're a little ahead of schedule."

Asked if the US is doing more beyond the military assault to help the Iranian people regain control of their country from the regime, Trump said, "Yes."

"We are indeed. But right now we want everyone staying inside. It's not safe out there."

And it's about to get even less safe, the president said.

"We haven't even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn't even happened. The big one is coming soon."

Why is Trump even talking to this shitlipped gayboy?

It's literally true that the "big wave" hasn't started yet, or has only barely started.

The first waves of the attack were Tomahawk missiles and then stealth fighters. Those attacks degraded Iran's radars, air bases, and fighter fleet, so that the later waves could include B-2 bombers dropping tons of explosives.

I saw a report that B-2s already flew from Missouri to start blowing up Iran's underground stores of ballistic missiles. I imagine Trump is suggesting that we're going to get more and more B-2 strategic bombing.

Iran's ballistic missiles are its most dangerous weapon at the moment. Both the US and Israel are working hard to take them out:

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 01:46 PM | Comments (579) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Virginia's New AWFUL Governor, a "Moderate" Democrat and CIA Stooge, Releases Illegal Alien Arrested Over 30 Times to the Streets; He Immediately Stabs a US Citizen to Death at Bus Stop

"Moderate" Democrat = Islamofascist communist and terrorist.

Fairfax County refused to turn this dangerous and now murderous illegal alien over to DHS.

Virginia Gov. Spanberger faces blowback after releasing illegal immigrant who stabbed woman to death

Spanberger ordered the end of localities cooperating with ICE upon taking office, and ICE targets prevented from being detained as potential killers.

Former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares slammed Gov. Abigail Spanberger after a released illegal immigrant with a long rap sheet stabbed a woman to death at a bus stop. Abdul Jalloh allegedly stabbed victim Stephanie Minter at a Fairfax County bus stop after prosecutors had dropped charges in most of his previous cases. He was reportedly arrested more than 30 times.

Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano most recently dropped violent charges against the alleged perpetrator, according to local news reports.

"Not even a month since I called out Gov. Abigail Spanberger for signing her EO banning law enforcement from cooperating with ICE we see the bitter fruits: Abdul Jalloh entered the U.S. illegally, stabbed an innocent woman to death at a bus stop this week despite having a [...] criminal history of more than 30 arrests, according to DHS, including for rape, malicious wounding, assault, identity theft, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, assault and pick-pocketing.' This is exactly the criminal first, victim last policies that get innocent Americans killed," Miyares wrote on X.

Descano has previously been under fire before for dropping criminal charges against illegal immigrant offenders who go on to commit more crimes.

In 2024, 31-year-old Denis Humberto Navarette Romero, an illegal immigrant, was arrested for many crimes, but he was released into the community repeatedly. He went on to allegedly rape a woman on a trail in Fairfax County.

Upon taking office, Spanberger ordered localities not to cooperate with ICE despite probable cause for arrest.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 12:50 PM | Comments (302) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Iranian Liberation Dance Party Goes Worldwide

Just a quick happy one to start the day. I'll put up a real post soon.

Reportedly, Trump moved up the start of the operation when the CIA managed to actually do something useful. They determined that Khamenei and his top advisors would be, inadvisedly, getting together Saturday morning for a national security meeting. Trump forwarded that information to Israel which actually hit the site.

Khameni and up to ten of his top officials were killed in that single strike. Since then most of Khamenei's family and his male successors have been killed, as well as 40 Revolutionary Guard commanders.

Update: I just heard that there were three national security meetings that morning. All three were hit.

Here are Iranians celebrating and thanking the USA (and Trump_ for their deliverance.

And doing the Trump Dance:

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 12:06 PM | Comments (359) | Trackbacks (Suck)

THE MORNING RANT: Any Refund of Tariffs Already Collected Should Go to Taxpayers, not Businesses

Last November,President Trump announced that he would share the financial bounty of his tariffs by sending $2,000 “tariff dividend” payments to most Americans. Truth be told, even though I am a strong supporter of the tariffs, I did not care for this idea since it comes across as exchanging a government check for political support.

The outsource-all-the-manufacturing-jobs “free traders” were apoplectic, of course. National Review had a hair-on-fire piece titled “Trump’s $2,000 Check is a Disastrous Idea.” Perhaps. But with the Supreme Court having just invalidated many of the tariffs, and with businesses suing to claw back tariffs that they paid, who should get the money if the tariffs are going to be refunded?

Don’t forget, the opponents of tariffs reflexively bleat “Tariffs are a tax on consumers” at any mention of there being economic benefits from tariffing imports. Doesn’t it follow then that if tariff revenues were taxes paid by consumers, and if those tariff revenues were illegal and must be returned, the tariff refunds should go to taxpayers rather than to corporations?

Maybe it’s time to re-think the “tariff dividend.”

Those of us who support President Trump’s tariffs want to restore America’s industrial might, repatriate manufacturing jobs, reduce trade imbalances, and protect our national sovereignty. We argue that tariffs keep economic prosperity at home, and reduce US dependence on supply chains involving hostile foreign regimes.

The opponents of Trump’s tariffs envision a utopian, one-world economic market in which the US is a weak country dependent on overseas manufacturing. Although they call themselves “free traders,” they do not actually argue for reciprocal free trade. They argue passionately that the US should unilaterally surrender to foreign mercantilism, keeping our markets open to those same countries that block American exports. When tariffs are proposed to break down those unfair trade barriers, the “free traders” immediately start reciting their overused buzz phrase, “Tariffs are a tax on consumers.”

My motivation for supporting tariffs has nothing to do with collecting tariff revenue. I’d be happy if tariff revenues were nominal, indicating that we have a broadly diverse domestic economy that is not significantly reliant on imports. That said, Trump’s tariffs have been successful in generating revenue during this time of transition. Whoever is ultimately paying the tariffs – be it consumers, importers, or foreign suppliers - $133 billion has already been collected so far.

But as I mentioned above, businesses that actually remitted the tariff payments on their imported goods are now demanding those tariffs be refunded to them:

“Businesses Push for Tariff Refunds as Trump Aides Hint at Fight to Come” [NY Times – 02/25/2026]

Now that the president has suffered such a stinging defeat, major businesses including Dyson, FedEx and L’Oreal have filed an early barrage of lawsuits in search of hefty tariff payouts.

At stake is more than $100 billion in revenue collected over the past year under a roster of tariffs that the Supreme Court invalidated last week. While a defiant Mr. Trump has since taken steps to try to revive the duties, he still faces the prospect that the money collected from his past tariffs might have to be paid back.

So far, roughly 900 claims seeking those refunds have been filed in federal court, according to the Liberty Justice Center, a legal group that represented some of the small businesses in the lawsuit that reached the nation’s justices.

Since the free traders have so persistently argued that “Tariffs are a tax on consumers,” why should the businesses involved in importing goods be entitled to any tariff refunds? I thought we the consumers were the ones who paid those tariffs, not the businesses or their overseas suppliers.

Here’s an idea on how we could resolve the refund of these contested tariffs to consumers - a tariff dividend from the government to taxpayers, just like President Trump proposed.

Irrespective of how this specific political battle plays out, the Trump administration has plenty of other avenues to fix the nation’s trade imbalance, including the imposition of tariffs under other statutes. The “free traders” so desperate to see other countries prosper at the expense of the United States, and who despair at the thought of an American industrial revival, will not prevail. New tariffs will be imposed, because tariffs are working.

As documented by F. Andrew Wolf Jr. at The American Spectator, the US trade deficit plunged a whopping 45% in Q4 of 2025 compared to Q4 of 2024! This was due to the Trump tariffs.

There has also been a torrent of announcements from corporations in the past year regarding major investments in the United States for new manufacturing plants. Just a small sample of these announcements include:

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM | Comments (296) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Mid-Morning Art Thread

Queen Esther
Edwin Longsden Long

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (344) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report — 3/2/26

Good morning kids. Well March certainly does come in like a Lion, in this case it's the Lion of Judah! I am referring of course to President Trump's massive decapitation strike against the Iranian Muallahocracy. Supreme leader Khomeini is confirmed dead and crucially there are reports that at least 48 key Iranian officials have also been vaporized in the joint American and Israeli operations.

Thirty-six hours after the United States military launched strikes against the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran, President Donald Trump issued a video update Sunday on Operation Epic Fury from his Mar-a-Lago residence. . . The president characterized Operation Epic Fury as “one of the largest, most complex, most overwhelming military offensives the world has ever seen.” The allied militaries struck “hundreds of targets in Iran, including Revolutionary Guard facilities, Iranian air defense systems,” and “nine ships plus their naval base, all in a matter of literally minutes.”

. . . The president also defended the joint strikes, declaring the U.S. was “undertaking a massive operation, not merely to ensure security for our own time and place, but for our children and their children.” “This is the duty and burden of a free people,” he reflected. “These actions are right, and they are necessary to ensure Americans will never have to face a radical, bloodthirsty terrorist regime, armed with nuclear weapons.”

“For almost 50 years, these wicked extremists have been attacking the United States while chanting the slogan ‘Death to America’ or ‘Death to Israel’ or both. They are the world’s number one state sponsor of terror,” Trump added. “These intolerable threats will not continue any longer.” (RELATED: ‘I Have Agreed’: Trump Says Iran’s New Leaders Want To Talk') . . “Combat operations continue in full force and will continue until all of our objectives are achieved,” he stated.

Turning to the remaining authorities in Iran, Trump urged “the Revolutionary Guards, the Iranian military police, to lay down your arms and receive full immunity or face certain death. It will be certain death, it won’t be pretty.”

The president then made another appeal to the Iranian people, urging regime change.

Well, there's the rub my friends. Who will be the new leaders and what kind of government and society will emerge once the dust settles and the rubble of the old regime is cleared away? Over the last few weeks, I have had many links that show the Persian people are absolutely against any kind of return to an Islamic theocracy. Of course, it's the IRGC and security services that will call the shots, literally and figuratively unless they either surrender or are eradicated. I fear the President is correct in that "it won't be pretty."

So far we have at least three American servicemen dead and a number of others reported wounded along with a number of Israeli citizens killed in missile strikes. God bless all of them, and protect those on the front lines and the innocents who are behind the lines.

The political fallout here at home is predictable. The Fifth columnist Democrat Left and their media puppets are with the terrorists in Tehran. Lest we forget it was they who inflicted the Iranian regime on us 47 years ago when Jimmy Carter abandoned the Shah and the Iranian people to their fate and unleashed a half-century of global Islamic terrorism on the world with many Americans murdered and maimed as a result, as Iran sought to acquire nuclear weapons to bring about Armageddon as the precursor to the Shiite Islamic conquest of the world.

We also have the isolationist crowd bleating out that Trump betrayed MAGA by starting a new war. Well, that remains to be seen depending upon how long this goes on and if, God-forbid American boots arrive on the ground in Iran. Special forces/operations notwithstanding, I cannot imagine the 3rd ID, the Marines or the 82nd and/or 101st Airborne coming ashore as it did in the Gulf Wars. That would be madness. So can Air power alone achieve Trump's aims of regime change and Iranian liberation? Well, in his words, we'll just have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, with our attention overseas, this happened here at home:

The gunman behind Austin’s possible terror-related mass shooting entered the US  and cemented his legal immigration status under Democrat administrations — despite a growing criminal record.
Senegalese national Ndiaga Diagne, 53, arrived in America on March 13, 2000, on a B-2 tourist visa during the Clinton administration, a source familiar with his immigration history told The Post on Sunday.
Diagne — who killed two people and wounded 14 more during his rampage outside a Texas bar early Sunday — then became a lawful permanent resident on an IR-6 visa in June 2006 when he married a US citizen, the source said. He had already racked up at least one arrest before that, for illegal vending in June 2001 in New York City, law-enforcement sources said. He then went on to lodge a string of other arrests in the Big Apple between 2008 and 2016 — but that didn’t stop him becoming a naturalized US citizen on April 5, 2013 — around the start of former President Barack Obama’s second term, sources said. Those three arrests are sealed, sources said.
Diagne also was arrested in Texas at some point on undisclosed charges, sources said.
He was a known emotional disturbed person in both states, too, sources said. Diagne then applied for asylum in 2016, though the outcome or stated purpose of that application was not immediately clear.
The serial offender opened fire outside Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden near the University of Texas-Austin Campus early Sunday, killing two bar patrons and wounding 14 others before he was shot and killed by police.
He was wearing a “Property of Allah” hoodie at the time of the rampage and had a Quran in his car, sources familiar with the investigation told The Post. The FBI is investigating whether he was motivated by the US-Israel-led campaign against Iran — sources said he was wearing an undershirt emblazoned with the Iranian flag or other Iran-related imagery.

With all of that I say, GIVE 'EM HELL John Fetterman!!!

And a Happy Purim to my Jewish friends and all of you who cherish freedom!!!!

Have a great day!

And lastly, a quick shout-out and a huge thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY LINKS
• As reported by Breitbart Texas, at least three people have been killed and 14 injured after shots rang out at a popular Sixth Street bar in the Texas capital city of Austin early Sunday morning. According to authorities, the shooter was killed by police officers who responded to the location of the shooting within a minute of the first emergency call.
  FBI on Austin Mass Shooting: Evidence Indicates ‘Potential Nexus to Terrorism’ — Koran Found in Shooters Car
  
• The was wearing a sweatshirt that reads “Property of Allah.” …federal law enforcement sources described him a a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Senegal.
  Austin Shooter Naturalized Under Obama in 2013, Wore “Property of Allah” Sweatshirt
  
• The gunman behind Austin’s possible terror-related mass shooting entered the US and cemented his legal immigration status under Democrat administrations — despite a growing criminal record.
  Austin mass shooter Ndiaga Diagne entered US during Clinton admin., became citizen under Obama — despite string of busts

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:37 AM | Comments (491) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 2 March 2026

Top Story

• The entry-level PC market - systems priced between $500 and $1000 - is predicted to be wiped out by 2028. (WCCFTech)
  
  The leading cause of this mass extinction is everyone's favourite villain, Sam Altman of OpenAI. CPU and motherboard prices haven't moved, but RAM prices have increased 300 to 500%, with video cards as collateral damage, and storage prices are heading into the stratosphere as well.
  
  I suspect the video game market will be forced to adjust to lower average specs for the next few years. Either that or they're going to lose all their remaining customers to indie titles that run fine on ten-year-old hardware.
  
  Hytale recommends a Radeon 400 series, a range that came out in 2016. Silksong recommends a Radeon 380 from 2015, but will run on a Radeon 7750 from 2012. And that means it will run on pretty much any laptop's integrated graphics.
  
  Custom PC builders are going to be hurting for years, though.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (246) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Sunday Overnight Open Thread - March 1, 2026 [Doof]

Photo credit: Nurse Ratched

Howdy Hordelings! March has arrived, and Spring is around the corner. One more week until Daylight Savings Time. Time keeps on ticking!

For now, it's ONT time. Open thread as always. Lurkers encouraged to de-lurk. What's on YOUR mind tonight?

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:01 PM | Comments (404) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gun Thread: First March Edition!

Howdy, Y'all! Welcome to the wondrously fabulous Gun Thread! As always, I want to thank all of our regulars for being here week in and week out, and also offer a bigly Gun Thread welcome to any newcomers who may be joining us tonight. Howdy and thank you for stopping by! I hope you find our wacky conversation on the subject of guns 'n shooting both enjoyable and informative. You are always welcome to lurk in the shadows of shame, but I'd like to invite you to jump into the conversation, say howdy, and tell us what kind of shooting you like to do!

Holy Shitballs! How in the ever-loving hell did it get to be the First March Edition? I told 'you people' March was coming, didn't I? Hmmm? Well here it is, and we have not one, not two, not three, not four, but five Sundays this month!! I am exhausted just thinking about it!

Current Events: I generally like to take a break from current events in the comments but I think the situation in Iran, and to a greater degree the implications here at home, warrant an exception. If you would like to discuss what is going on I'm OK with it, particularly with respect to the potential for acts of domestic terrorism and the various threat scenarios, and general self-defense preparedness and best practices. Having said that, please think before you post. Thanks.

With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?

Posted by: Weasel at 07:00 PM | Comments (327) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Food Thread: Carbon Steel For The Loss!

Seasoning steel pans is an exercise in frustration and failure, unlike the same process with cast-iron. I am not a metallurgist, So I can only guess at the difference in the surface's ability to absorb oil and then hold onto it in its polymer state. But I do know one thing...that expensive carbon-steel pan is a huge pain in the ass to season, and the seasoning is as fickle and transitory as a puff of smoke in a windstorm.

Big Pan is as evil a cabal as any on earth; their teasing bromides about the superiority of their products should be outlawed, and their executives banished to a world of stuck-on eggs and burned steaks.

Posted by: CBD at 04:00 PM | Comments (385) | Trackbacks (Suck)

First World Problems...

That's one of my favorite lowball glasses, and because I am a big fan of Old Fashioneds, it gets heavy use.

Alas, it suffered a chip, and while it wasn't particularly expensive, it is a nice solid, heavy glass that adds to the enjoyment of my cocktails! So I wasn't about to toss the thing. Remember, I am a cheap bastard!

So...what to do?

Some 600 grit sandpaper, a thin punch, and a very long time carefully sanding smooth the jagged edge, and all's right in the world!

A First World Problem AND a First World Solution!

Posted by: CBD at 02:00 PM | Comments (218) | Trackbacks (Suck)

After 47 Years Of Asymmetric War, We Finally Have A President Who Understands

The Islamic Republic Of Iran was founded after a revolution overthrew its monarch. That revolution was aided and abetted by a cabal of western countries, including France and America (thank you Jimmy Carter!), and various leftist political groups that found Iran's embrace of the West and Israel to be unacceptable.

Soon after the Shah left Iran and his replacement failed to consolidate power, the Mullahs rushed in. They had been fomenting revolution for years, and the most fanatical of them, Ayatollah Khomeini, seized power and promptly imprisoned or murdered his political opponents, in particular the starry-eyed leftists who saw Iran becoming some sort of progressive Nirvana.

They were wrong, and instead Iran became the epicenter of Islamic terror, with its tentacles spread across the world. They also created proxies within other countries to facilitate their expansionist goals in the region. Much of the Islamic terror that spread through the West could be traced to active or tacit support from Iran and its theocratic dictators. They also created a comprehensive surveillance state within Iran, and ferociously enforced their version of Shia Islam. Other religions withered, women were cast back into the 7th century, murder, torture, and rape became a tool of the government, and it was all supported by the insatiable thirst for Iranian oil, coupled with the typical leftist support of anything that degrades traditional Western culture.

Iran's targets were Israel first and foremost, and America. Little Satan and Big Satan, and they didn't pretend anything different. For 46 years the goal of the dictators of Iran was the destruction of Israel, the destruction of America, and a global conflagration that would usher in the end times that would return their 12th Imam, a tenet of Shia Islam.

It was war against Israel, America, and the West, but the flaccid thinkers and accommodationists who passed for western political elites wouldn't, or couldn't understand that there was no accommodation to be made with a theocratic dictatorship whose goals were clear. So they mostly ignored the war, accepted the casualties, and hoped that kicking the can down the road would eventually moderate the savagery of the Iranian government.

They too were wrong, and Israel's behind-the-scenes work to degrade the Iranian nuclear program was the only thing that kept the West from a third World War, this time with nuclear weapons.

That is, until the election of Donald Trump!

Trump's courageous decision to face Tehran head-on

The strongest argument that President Donald Trump’s political opponents can muster to decry his decision to order American forces to join with Israel to act against Iran is that he is launching a “war of choice,” rather than seeking to avert an imminent threat to American interests or security. Even his sternest critics, such as the editorial page of The New York Times, acknowledged that the government of Iran is not merely a brutal oppressor and a constant threat to the rest of the Middle East as well as to the West, but also combines a “murderous ideology with nuclear ambitions.”

Every U.S. president for the last quarter-century has asserted that America will never let Iran get a nuclear weapon and was prepared to use force to prevent that from happening. But only Trump seems to have fully grasped the stark nature of the threat that Tehran poses to the United States—and the world.

The goal...perhaps the only goal...of the Iranian theocracy was the production of nuclear weapons to be used against Israel, America, and probably Europe. Any other interpretation of their actions is arrant nonsense or willful ignorance. The Iranian dictators were excellent practitioners of the Muslim penchant for lying and misdirection, or "taqiyya." And the world was content to be fooled!

But not President Donald Trump. In fact, his own brand of American taqiyya seemed to work rather well on Iran, whose leadership was surprised by the attacks of February 28th. The Iranians assumed that their own obfuscation would buy them time, and that their own attacks on American installations, Israel, and a few other Arab nations in the region would be on their timetable.

Whoops!

Israel's decapitation of the leadership, combined with a massive degradation of Iran's military infrastructure that only America could achieve, has created the opportunity for another revolution in Iran...one that will hopefully usher in a government that will consider the welfare of the Iranian people to be paramount.

If the American and Israeli attacks continue, and if the dictatorship's power base is damaged enough be attacked from within Iran by whatever coalition is being cobbled together, and if that coalition can create a functioning government, and if its neighbors do not begin to meddle, then the Iranian people have a chance to become what they once were, a vibrant, energetic, successful culture!

There are a lot of "ifs" in that paragraph, and there are no guarantees, even with the staunch support of America and its clear-eyed president! But it is difficult to imagine an outcome that is any worse than the current state of affairs.

But the established world order has come to an end. Iran will not be the dominant player in the Middle East, and will find it increasingly difficult to continue its evil ways around the world, even if by some malign turn of events the theocracy survives.

And...hopefully...President Trump is parsimonious with American treasure, and does not commit to a rebuilding of Iran at the expense of the American taxpayer. It is the Iranian people who should do the work!

Posted by: CBD at 12:00 PM | Comments (359) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Book Thread: March 1st, 2026 [MP4]

[click to embiggen]

Good morning, ‘rons and ‘ronettes. It’s time once again for the monthly MP4-hosted Sunday Book Thread. Dress is country club casual, but ladies are encouraged to indulge in shoes, such as this:

So ask the barman for an Old Fashioned, covfefe or tea and let’s get started!

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM | Comments (350) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 1 March 2026

Top Story

• OpenAI has announced a deal with the Department of War with - apparently - the same limitations that Anthropic was demanding. (Tech Crunch)
  
  Guess Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, really pissed someone off.
  
  Sam Altman of OpenAI knows when to lie, and sometimes also who to lie to.
  
  
  

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:02 AM | Comments (155) | Trackbacks (Suck)