I browse by and watch the tabbies flow, I click and watch the traffic grow ...
Waiting for Tucker’s allies in the admin to say anything about his repeated attacks on Americans in favor of sharia candidates. Would criticizing him help or hurt the post-liberal establishment who thinks they’re being clever by ignoring it? 🤔
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) September 3, 2026
Ed: This has become bizarre. How does a campaign bankrolled by people with connections to the Muslim Brotherhood qualify as "America First"? Kudos to Dana for highlighting this sad descent.
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NY Times: Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, recently spent two days trying to mend fences with Jewish Democrats after an acrimonious primary against a pro-Israel opponent.
For some of them, it wasn’t enough.
Specifically, Dr. El-Sayed sought to address remarks he had made shortly after an attack on a synagogue in the Detroit area in March that some interpreted as too sympathetic to the assailant. But his apologies last weekend fell short with some Jewish Democrats in part because he seemed to be seeking forgiveness for the timing of his remark rather than its substance.
Dr. El-Sayed’s criticism of Israel has concerned many Jewish Democrats. And some are angered by his association with Hasan Piker, a provocative streamer whose comments about Israel have drawn blowback from Democrats and Republicans.
Ed: It's not just the poor quality of the apology, which is almost non-existent anyway. It's El-Sayed's connections to ISNA, which he will highlight this weekend by speaking at its convention, and ISNA's connection to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. Jewish Democrats aren't just miffed over a comment, but are deeply concerned about El-Sayed's sympathies for terror networks that pledge to annihilate Jews.
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The Washington Times asks Vance about his relationship with Tucker Carlson.
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) September 3, 2026
Vance says he and Carlson are "friends" but Carlson says some things he disagrees with.
Ed: Vance has to do better than this if he wants to lead the next ticket. His "friend" just suggested that El-Sayed would be a better "America First" Senator than Mike Rogers, largely because of the Joooooooos. Maybe Vance should be more specific about his disagreements with Carlson, eh?
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NBC News: The Athletic found its former NFL reporter Dianna Russini had a close, “awkward” and “uncomfortable” relationship with coach Mike Vrabel that she should’ve disclosed, the New York Times-owned digital sports publication said Thursday.
However, Mike Semel, The Athletic’s editorial director for standards and quality, who led the probe into Russini’s work, said he did not uncover “clear” evidence that the publication’s one-time NFL insider wrongly propped up Vrabel’s professional interests. ...
“I’ve not found a clear link to conclude that Russini used her platform to help promote Vrabel or help his teams during her time at The Athletic,” Semel wrote in a piece published Thursday.
“That said, there are examples of Russini writing glowingly of Vrabel that in hindsight are awkward or even uncomfortable.”
Ed: Ahem. Why would a sportswriter write "glowingly" of a coach at all? Doesn't that count as "promotion," especially in light of their "awkward" and "uncomfortable" relationship? It sounds like Semel is going way out of his way to avoid the obvious here, especially given how Russini failed to disclose any relationship at all until photographers began to notice it.
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Let's be realistic. Kamala Harris is focused on polishing off the next box of Sauv Blanc. https://t.co/bfFqViibvA
— Duane Patterson (@Radioblogger) September 3, 2026
Ed: She's running ... at least until the first debates take place and she gets reamed out for her incompetence in 2024. I know she's leading polls at the moment, but Harris had a lead in 2019 too and still didn't make it to Thanksgiving, let alone Iowa and New Hampshire.
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Protect the Public's Trust on X/Twitter: FOIA’d communications show Biden administration weaponizing domestic terrorism tools against parents
... Parents felt that they had lost control of their children’s education, resulting in contentious school board meetings across the country. In one heartbreaking case, a father demanding answers after the rape of his daughter in a girls’ bathroom by a transgender student was arrested.
While there were undoubtedly a few incidents of threats and actions that crossed the line, many of those cited to justify the treatment of parents as domestic terrorists constituted legitimate First Amendment activity and multiple members of federal law enforcement were highly skeptical about the need for a federal response.
Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) and other watchdogs, such as Defending Education and America First Legal, followed the story carefully, obtaining through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests internal communications from the Departments of Justice (DOJ), Education, and Homeland Security.
We have the receipts of what really went down.
Ed: Click through to read it all. The thread has plenty of receipts on the weaponization of the DoJ against the Biden Regency's critics. Much of this has been covered here, but it's useful to have it in a coherently laid-out narrative.
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Fox Corp is parting ways with Maria Bartiromo.
— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) September 3, 2026
As her former booking producer, I can say she is the hardest-working journalist at the company.
Bartiromo has given everything to her 12 years of work at Fox Corp.
She worked six days a week and has a presence on their platforms… pic.twitter.com/oIvH8DvZfF
Ed: This seems like a surprise. Bartiromo has a good track record at Fox. Maybe she's got another job lined up?
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NY Post: The announcement fueled speculation that Bartiromo’s next career move would be replacing Karoline Leavitt as President Trump’s press secretary.
Vice President JD Vance said he did not believe Bartiromo, who wasn’t seen on Fox airwaves for more than a month before Thursday’s announcement, was headed to the White House after her departure.
“I love Maria. I think she’s an amazing person, amazing talent,” Vance told reporters.
“Whatever she does, look, she’s gonna do great, and I wish her all the best. She’s a very, very dear friend.”
Ed: Agreed, but if she was leaving for the White House, it seems strange that Morello would characterize it as Fox News parting ways with Bartiromo. Stay tuned, I guess. (I'm writing this in mid-afternoon; perhaps it will be more clear when this publishes.)
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BREAKING | Trump Rejects Mediation Effort Aimed at Calming the Middle East
— דרור בלאזאדה | Dror Balazada (@DBalazada) September 3, 2026
According to our sources, Pakistan and Qatar approached Trump twice over the past two weeks and asked him to release frozen Iranian assets in order to bring about significant calm in the Middle East — and…
... Trump refused. At the same time, criticism of Pakistan is growing among Republican officials, who argue that Islamabad is turning its back on the United States and siding with Iran, with some even calling for punitive measures.
Ed: That is good news indeed from Israel's C14 news, if accurate. As I predicted in my WIR episode with Duane, Pakistan wants to salvage its position as an IRGC 'whisperer,' so the regime's survival is in Pakistan's short-term interests. Trump needs to make clear to Pakistan, Turkey, and Qatar that regime change is in everyone's long-term interests.
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WashEx: Democrats are taking a mixed approach to countering the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention next week, conversations with the Washington Examiner revealed.
Unlike presidential election-year conventions when Democrats typically counterprogram the GOP event, or even after the State of the Union address when more than one Democrat will normally rebut the president’s speech, Democrats are not planning a big partywide response to the midterm confab.
Some Democrats are taking a hands-off approach and even pretending it is not happening, while others are planning protests in hopes of mobilizing voters to show up at the polls in November.
At the local level, the Tarrant County Democratic Party in Texas, for example, is not marking the event in neighboring Dallas with any recognition. Allison Campolo, the Tarrant County Democratic Party chairwoman, said there were no plans to hold a press conference critiquing the event or pay for billboards mocking President Donald Trump and Republicans.
Ed: This is a mistake. If Democrats had their own event next week, this might make some sense. However, the GOP will get two nights of prime-time messaging, and answering that with nothing will give all the momentum to a party that's been going on the offensive for the last several weeks on the DSA and radicals.
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When I say "inflammatory" things like women are crueler and less kind to other women than men are, this is what I mean
— Peachy Keenan (@KeenanPeachy) September 3, 2026
Where is this mother's support from other mothers after getting stabbed to death on her first day back from maternity leave? https://t.co/VsU6xlR2hz
Ed: What title – VP of a bank? How is that an assumption of existential risk? I know, I know, this is an irrational and likely psychotic woman with a cell phone and a bad sense of lighting. However, this cruelty and callousness has become a contagion on the Left and social media. Horrendous.
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Politico: Smith, who has repeatedly doled out criticism of both parties, offered blunt advice for Democrats seeking a path back to power: Purge the Democratic Socialists of America and restrain the party’s progressive flank.
The Democrats, he said, should only welcome people who “march lockstep” with the party. “We should never want to hear anything about the Democratic Party being a ‘big tent,’” he said.
Asked how Democrats should handle the progressives, Smith said: “Tell them to sit their ass down and get with the program.”
He also warned that Democrats’ association with left-wing streamer Hasan Piker would “come back to haunt” the party. Smith said he would have Piker on his show “if necessary,” and then “grill him about the things that he said and why.”
Ed: Maybe Democrats are beginning to listen to advice like this ...
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NY Post: Former Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner is no longer set to speak at a Labor Day rally when he makes his first major public appearance since ending his campaign against Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.
Platner, who won the nomination in June but dropped out in July after Politico reported that a former girlfriend said he sexually assaulted her, had been scheduled to speak Monday at the rally in Ellsworth, near his hometown of Sullivan. ...
Platner was expected to speak about labor history and the importance of unions in the US Event organizers were urged not to let him speak by the former girlfriend and another woman who has accused him of domestic abuse.
Ed: Kudos to catching up to June for Maine Dems, I guess, but the invitation made no sense anyway. What does Platner know about "labor history and the importance of unions"? He's been mooching off his parents since he exited the military on disability. Even apart from all of the allegations he faces about sexual assault and domestic violence, didn't Democrats have someone available for a Labor Day speech who has actually labored?
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Deep reflection would also induce the @Nature editors to reflect on a relevant recent @TheAtlantic cover essay by a politically liberal, former tenured black professor named @Tyler_A_HarperTyle. Harper recounts in devastating detail how he experienced the bigotry of low…
— Wesley J. Smith (@theWesleyJSmith) September 3, 2026
... bigotry of low expectations after he was made a tenured professor and the consequences that flow from such pandering. It's an important piece.
Ed: It's amazing how many people and institutions have taken the position that exposing fraud is somehow more liable than the fraud itself. Academia has lost any sense of the detailed, intellectually rich ethical structures originally designed to defend its credibility.
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Free Beacon: Florida Democratic Senate nominee Angie Nixon, an avowed socialist who has made affordability the centerpiece of her campaign, is reaping the financial benefits of a homestead tax exemption she voted against in the State House of Representatives in 2024, according to a Washington Free Beacon review of property tax records.
Florida offers two property tax exemptions for primary residences, both of which reduce the property's taxable value by $25,000 for a combined total of $50,000 in exemptions. In an 86-29 party-line vote in February 2024, the Florida House voted to approve an amendment to the state constitution to adjust one of those homestead exemptions to the rate of inflation every year, with Nixon joining her fellow Democrats in a failed effort to reject the proposal. Voters overwhelmingly approved the measure in a 66-34 percent vote during the November 2024 elections.
Duval County property tax records show Nixon, who has served in the Florida House since 2020, is now taking full advantage of the measure she voted against to reduce her home's assessed value by an additional $722 in 2025 and $1,411 in 2026. Those savings, which are applied automatically for homeowners who applied for homestead exemptions, are expected to grow substantially over time as inflation continues to chip away at the value of the dollar.
Ed: On one hand, I can't blame her for taking advantage of a legal tax option. Even if she opposed it, it passed, and it's now available to her. On the other hand, Nixon should still have to explain why she wants to take away a benefit she now clearly enjoys. But there are so many other issues with Nixon that this is way down the priority list.
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So, I actually want the pro-jihadi, America-hating Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed to lose. Unlike Tucker Carlson. Here’s our interview with Mike Rogers, the man who stands between El-Sayed and the United States Senate. pic.twitter.com/P0D5THorAM
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) September 3, 2026
Ed: Why is this a difficult choice?
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Last night's lyric: "Orinoco Flow" by Enya. I'll admit this was a bit obscure, as the lyrics are barely recognizable. Still a gorgeous song.
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