We've been clicking away from some tabs we both know ...
Chelsea Handler warns that if Todd Blanche is confirmed as U.S. Attorney General, "he's gonna overturn Roe v. Wade."
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) August 14, 2026
(Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022) pic.twitter.com/5Kt1RfYvsk
Ed: Er ... who wants to break it to her? Not only did Roe v Wade get overturned four years ago, but the Attorney General also had nothing to do with it. I have never been a Shut Up And Sing guy when it comes to celebrities opining on politics – they have every right to do so – but it would be nice if they kept up to date on events and demonstrated even a rudimentary understanding of American civics first.
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The Advocate: Rep. Eugene Vindman came to a predominantly Republican Virginia county Tuesday night expecting to tell local Democrats why they needed to help him win reelection and put their party back in control of Congress. Instead, the first-term Democrat spent much of his visit defending himself to transgender members of his own party before leaving after a profane confrontation with a constituent.
At least two transgender women and one transgender man challenged Vindman over his May vote for GOP-backed legislation affecting transgender students. Some described being outed to unsupportive parents. Others questioned why transgender people should trust Democrats to protect them when members of the party sometimes support Republican measures targeting them.
“Congressman, you need to shut up and listen,” one cisgender Democratic committee member told him during a hallway confrontation.
Vindman said he was listening and had stayed despite “you all attacking me.”
“Shut the f*ck up,” the committee member responded.
“No,” Vindman said, moving toward the man. “You can’t f***ing talk to me that way.”
Vindman then walked out, shouting “no” when one constituent asked if they could ask one more question.
Ed: Just remember – no matter how much you pander to extremists, it will never be enough to appease them. That's especially true for extremists who completely invest themselves in denial of reality and objective facts. It couldn't happen to a better incumbent in this case, too.
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May this murderer never taste freedom again. He forfeited it when he chose to stalk and kill a father of two. Shame on his chorus of sick, slobbering fans. https://t.co/PjsWc1YkKG
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 14, 2026
Ed: I certainly hope so, but the defense will make its best effort to get a manageable sentence. The NYT reported that the sentencing report (preliminary, anyway) set a floor of 25 years. That's missing a zero, as far as justice would be concerned. It's not just about justice for the Thompson family, who have been the target of Mangionistas, but also a deterrent to other wannabe social-justice vigilantes.
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NY Post: Luigi Mangione’s legions of twisted fans were unapologetic in supporting the now-admitted assassin after he pleaded guilty Friday in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
The fanatics gathered outside the Manhattan federal courthouse where Mangione, 28, copped a guilty plea to two stalking charges and continued to frame his cold-blooded December 2024 slaying of Thompson as a protest against an unjust health insurance system.
“I see it more of a revolutionary act of protest, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the civil rights era,” said Abril Rios, 27, a self-identifying “Mangionista” and political advocate. ...
Another Mangione superfan – Christina Marani – brushed off Thompson’s death as small potatoes compared to the spotlight it shined on health insurance.
“In a way, it’s really unfortunate that someone had to die to spark the conversations that we’re now having, but unfortunately that’s the way it is,” she said. “His death resulted in us having these tough conversations about health care inequality and people suffering in America.
Ed: This is precisely why the judge needs to impose the maximum penalty on this gutless, back-shooting coward. The deterrents need to be clear and onerous. If not, it encourages more of these "conversation starters," and a lack of justice will eventually touch off a deadly backlash that won't be easily contained.
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"Luigi Mangione’s legions of twisted fans were unapologetic in supporting the now-admitted assassin after he pleaded guilty."
— Joel Engel (@joelengel) August 14, 2026
Of course they're unapologetic. They didn't support him b/c they thought he was innocent. They supported him because he wasn't. https://t.co/up6uhN4H1G
Ed: Precisely.
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46% of Americans between ages 18-34 have a favorable view of democratic socialism, while 23% hold an unfavorable opinion.
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) August 14, 2026
👉🏻 https://t.co/niqhsBIpZA pic.twitter.com/gQDUqfftQE
Ed: It's also a metric for the failure of our educational system. The Left completed its Long March through Academia a generation ago; this is one of the results. Mangionistas are another.
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Just the News: Two federal agencies gave taxpayer dollars to charities with ties to terrorism, new reports show.
The State Department worked with World Vision to distribute $2 billion in global health foreign assistance even though an Israeli court convicted the nonprofit’s Gaza affiliate operations manager of sending up to $50 million to Hamas in 2022. Separately, the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) provided nearly $80 million to 14 organizations linked to terrorism and extremism.
The Middle East Forum (MEF) recently reported that 14 terror-linked and extremist organizations, led by CAIR, collected nearly $80 million from HHS through the Refugee Resettlement, Health, and Mosque Renovation grants. Through this fund, the Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR) California chapter received the most of any Islamist group, collecting $42.2 million in funding from the HHS to provide legal and social services to Afghan refugees. ...
Five of the organizations that received the funds from HHS were overseas groups, which received $14 million between them. These included a pollster with links to Palestinian Islamic Jihad and a West African college with a history of homophobic mobs attacking suspected gay students receiving funds to study homosexual Muslim men with HIV.
The MEF’s report found that 87% of the funding was approved under the Biden administration.
Ed: That is, of course, the least surprising part of the entire report. The Trump administration's efforts to shut down USAID have slowed down the pipeline to foreign extremist groups, but the pipeline needs to get shut down permanently. Read the rest of the report for a refresher on CAIR's links to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, and don't miss the Free Beacon report connecting all three to Abdul El-Sayed. Speaking of which ...
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Free Beacon: Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed will spend Labor Day weekend alongside a Jew-hating Pakistani cleric who has promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories and admitted to forcing his 13-year-old niece into marriage.
El-Sayed is scheduled to speak at the Islamic Society of North America's (ISNA) 63rd annual convention, held in Detroit from Sept. 4-7. El-Sayed, whose father-in-law is a founding member of the ISNA—which is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood—will speak Sept. 5 on the oddly titled panel, "Cultivating God Awareness in a Turmoiled America," according to an itinerary.
The convention features a rogues' gallery of notorious Muslim figures who've engaged in Holocaust denial and the persecution of Christians and have also been unindicted co-conspirators in terror plots, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. But one speaker stands out for his particularly noxious record: Tariq Masood, an influential Pakistani cleric who is also on the ISNA roster. ...
According to multiple Pakistani media reports, Masood in 2021 admitted in a sermon that he forced his 13-year-old niece into marriage, and advised his followers to do the same with their young female relatives. Masood also said it was a husband's decision whether or not his wife can go to college or must remain a housewife, citing Sharia, or Islamic religious law. In 2024, Canadian activists urged the government to block Masood's visa to the country over his "pedophilic rhetoric."
Ed: As one of my favorite poems goes: "You can tell the man who boozes by the company he chooses." El-Sayed chooses the company of radical Islamist preachers who arrange pedophilic forced marriages. Mike Rogers must be wondering how he lucked into having a candidate who's this clueless.
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Oh God no! One screenwriter is going to stop pitching scripts to Paramount??? Where will the scripts come from? Hollywood is notorious for having a shortage of people pitching scripts. Producers have to go to coffee shops and BEG baristas for script ideas. https://t.co/31w6dCQVNe pic.twitter.com/zs9p88dsin
— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) August 14, 2026
Ed: I think Pratt pretty much covers the absurd threat this represents to Paramount's fortunes. It's worth noting, though, that all of this consolidation in Hollywood means that the only real alternatives would be Disney and Sony. That's one reason that I'm not crazy about these mergers and acquisitions, even when they bring in fresh ownership and perspectives. Other than that, though ... BWA-hahahahahaha.
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Politico: In Colorado’s 8th District, where beef production is a major industry, Democratic nominee Manny Rutinel is being attacked for “a decade of pushing veganism” and “hurling disgusting insults at the agricultural community,” as Alexandria Cullen, spokesperson for GOP Rep. Gabe Evans, put it.
As an undergrad, Rutinel posed shirtless draped in a PETA banner, and at Yale Law, he said animal agriculture is a “horrific, exploitive industry,” the Colorado Sun reported. In since-deleted 2017 Reddit posts, he suggested veganism as a solution to high food prices and voiced support for a movement that opposes the slaughter of animals for food.
Rutinel says he was vegan earlier in his life, but no longer is. “The views that Manny posted nearly a decade ago are not his views today,” said Clay Volino, his campaign manager, who noted Rutinel is “laser-focused on lowering costs for families.”
Republicans are making similar attacks elsewhere, trying to wage a new meat-fueled culture war. The push to point out Democrats’ veganism is often about the local economy — but it’s also cultural red meat, and comes at a time as some Republicans and MAHA activists are pushing for more Americans to embrace a more meat-centric diet.
Ed: I get the concept – the GOP wants to make the "weirdo" argument. The problem is that being vegan isn't really all THAT weird, and people choose it for different reasons, some of them religious. There are far better grounds for the "weirdo" argument this cycle, especially in Texas, Michigan, Maine, and Wisconsin.
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Candace: 'If You Don't Count The Video, DNA, Murder Weapon, Ballistics, Motive, Text Messages, And Multiple Confessions, There Is ZERO Evidence Against Tyler Robinson' https://t.co/LOIZPT03GV
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) August 14, 2026
Ed: Maybe this is the modern version of "What have the Romans ever done for us?"
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Streamer Hasan Piker curses a Vietnamese refugee for criticizing communism, saying America is worse, and implying she is privileged to be able to criticize communism and should go back to living in poverty in Vietnam where she can't. Make it make sense.
— Kevin Bass (@kevinnbass) August 14, 2026
pic.twitter.com/wBkoS3rg5S
Ed: I may write more about this tomorrow. In the meantime ... res ipsa loquitur.
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Daily Mail: Iran plans to ramp up aggression in the Strait of Hormuz to ratchet pressure on Donald Trump ahead of the midterm elections, according to Tehran insiders and foreign policy experts.
Trump conceded last week that the US was now 'low-keying' peace talks with Iran after a ceasefire deal collapsed.
Now with less than three months until the midterm elections Trump's poll numbers are under threat from gas at a national average of over $4 per gallon with no end in sight.
Former US diplomat Jonathan Wachtel told the Daily Mail that 'Iranian leaders carefully study both American military capabilities and political calendars.'
Two Iranian sources familiar with Tehran's planning confirmed that the midterms are a key pressure point that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will hope to exploit.
Ed: This is a measure of Iran's desperation, not Trump's. The regime in Tehran can't sustain itself through a lengthy blockade. They want to return to large-scale kinetic operations to provide a distraction from the economic collapse taking place inside Iran. Low-keying it is still the right call, with occasional kinetic responses to degrade the IRGC's capacity for disruption in the Strait.
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Bloody, hair-pulling brawl erupts at swanky Beverly Hills steakhouse serving $80 filets https://t.co/VhNZTJL1fB pic.twitter.com/DGq9ujltLL
— California Post (@californiapost) August 14, 2026
Ed: QUESTION – Are these incidents normal at steakhouses? ANSWER – No, they're rare.
I'm here all week, folks. Or I was. Have a great weekend!
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Last night's lyric:"Midnight Special" by Creedence Clearwater Revival.
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