DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES:
So if somebody keys his car, can they appeal to precedent?
— AmishDude (@TheAmishDude) March 6, 2026
Hey, conservatives aren’t the ones making the new rules — we’re just asking questions.
Archive for 2026
March 6, 2026
NOT ANTI-WAR, JUST ON THE OTHER SIDE: 53 Dems Vote Against Calling Iran the Biggest State Sponsor of Terror.
THE RISE OF SUPER-MARCO: Trump to Rubio: Here’s Your Next Project.
THE FEMALE-CENTERED SOCIETY: Camel Toed Karens are pissed at Professor Gad Saad. Love the way he stands up for His Side: “A man dared comment on our dresscode!” He says: “F*ck off, and grow a spine.”
Camel Toe Karens Are Angry with Me! pic.twitter.com/Ugn4X3Ad7b
— Gad Saad (@GadSaad) March 5, 2026
GUNBOAT DIPLOMACY, TRUMP-STYLE: ‘Decapitate and Delegate’: Trump Tests New Model of U.S.-Led Regime Change.
This century, America sank into two of its longest wars—in Afghanistan and Iraq—following lightning strikes that removed governments deemed threats to U.S. national security. Those quagmires helped fuel the MAGA movement, which rallied around Trump’s promises of avoiding overseas military entanglements.
Now, Trump is putting his pledges and American firepower to the test.With an ethos that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth summed up as “We’re not dumb about it,” Trump has committed the country to a war that he has said will last only weeks, following the success of a military raid that was done in one night.
In both Iran and Venezuela, Trump has said the target country’s fate is ultimately up to its citizens—even as he floats preferred successors and the U.S. exerts military pressure from above. The goal is to extract tangible wins for the U.S.—access to oil, reduced migration and decreased drug flows, a weakened adversary—without the risks of deploying large ground forces.
Trump’s approach reflects both his desire to avoid repeating this century’s wars and his disdain for what he has called the “failed policy of nation building.” His preference is to work with friendlier governments that can provide tangible benefits to be sold as “America First” triumphs.
Trump’s new strategy, a State Department official quipped, can be summed up as “decapitate and delegate.”
It’s working well enough so far in Venezuela.
ONLY ONE IS NOT A GOOD BET: The Real Reason Trump Fired Kristi Noem Is Not What You’ve Been Told.
DATA REPUBLICAN GETS RESULTS:
Had an amazing two days meeting with representatives from all over the world.
I discussed foreign NGO situations with representatives from:
🔹Estonia
🔹Romania
🔹France
🔹Germany
🔹Moldova
🔹Croatia
🔹Georgia
… and many more countries.The takeaway: the NGO situation is…
— DataRepublican (small r) (@DataRepublican) March 6, 2026
“DataInterpretr and I are following up with every single representative to make sure we get names of specific NGOs so we can make sure that zero federal dollars are going to them.”
THE “SPREADING” IS BEING DONE BY IRAN, WHICH HARDLY HAS A NEIGHBOR LEFT IT HASN’T ATTACKED: More Tankers Come Under Attack as US-Iran Conflict Spreads.
A Bahamas-flagged crude oil tanker was targeted by an Iranian remote-controlled boat laden with explosives while anchored near Iraq’s Khor al Zubair port, according to initial assessments.
A second tanker at anchor off Kuwait was taking on water and spilling oil after a large explosion on its port side.
Nine vessels have come under attack since the conflict broke out between the U.S., Israel and Iran on Saturday. Iran launched a wave of missiles at Israel early on Thursday and also sent drones into Azerbaijan, injuring four people.
Hang on, bumpy ride ahead.
WELL:
Chinese air force activity around Taiwan has fallen sharply in recent weeks, with no flights at all in the past week, a sudden drop in what had been daily military manoeuvres that could signal Beijing is recalibrating its pressure on Taipei. https://t.co/vCA7nvXC1g
— Reuters China (@ReutersChina) March 5, 2026
HOW THE ALAMO SAVED AMERICA: It was 190 years ago today that the 182 men of the Alamo finally succumbed after 13 days battling and delaying dictator Santa Ana’s Mexican Army of 5,000. Those 13 days gave Texas Gen. Sam Houston time to rally the troops who would inflict a humiliating defeat of Santa Ana at the Battle of San Jacinto.
But, as Rod Martin explains in a column that every American ought to read, it was not just the Texas Republic that the Alamo made possible. Had Santa Ana crushed the Texas rebellion, he could well have conquered New Orleans and thus strangled the American economy.
Even without taking New Orleans, it’s reasonable to envision him being in a position to make trade on the Mississippi exorbitantly expensive, which would also have inflicted tremendous damage to the emerging American economy.
There are even more serious consequences that would have accrued to the U.S. had the Texas rebellion been defeated. Martin memorably lays it all out.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Trump’s Not Taking His Eyes Off of the Narcoterrorist Cartels. “It would almost be understandable of President Trump and his team got preoccupied with what’s happening in one part of the world and lost temporary focus in another. Not this crew. Despite everything going on in the Middle East, Team Trump is still focused on the major problems on this side of the world.”
THE EAST GERMAN JUDGE AWARDS NEWSOM A PERFECT 10 FOR THAT FURIOUS BACKPEDAL:
🚨 @GavinNewsom walks back calling Israel an apartheid state:
"I was specifically referring to a Tom Friedman column where HE used that word."
"I can't just sit back in terms of my values and beliefs," he says.
Does Newsom believe anything? https://t.co/7pDLyohbZW pic.twitter.com/cvn7UgXAMc
— POLARIS National Security (@PolarisNatSec) March 6, 2026
JOSH HAMMER: Donald Trump Is a Great Man of History.
Trump has met the moment and risen to the occasion in numerous foreign theaters besides China and the broader Indo-Pacific as well. He saw decades of American malaise, managed decline, and overextended empire, and he has promptly reversed course.
Trump and his administration have repeatedly proven willing and unafraid to criticize America’s European allies, nudging our core NATO partners to be better versions of themselves in such areas as military spending and defense self-sufficiency. He has responded to decades of buildup of murderous transnational nonstate cartels and Chinese and Russian entrenchment in our own hemisphere by reasserting the Latin America-centric Monroe Doctrine, as most spectacularly evidenced by January’s Operation Absolute Resolve extraction of fugitive Nicolas Maduro in Caracas.
And now there is the unfolding Operation Epic Fury in Iran.
He’s the first president since Reagan with that necessary “We win, they lose” attitude.
THE NEWS WE KEPT TO OURSELVES:
I asked the State Dept why it considers the CNN report propaganda. Here’s the response:
The following is on background attributable to a State Department spokesperson:
We encourage media outlets to verify information with official U.S. government sources before publication. https://t.co/Vxqysvhl0G
— Michele Kelemen (@michelekelemen) March 5, 2026
Even CNN admits that when it comes to what they broadcast out of Iran, they’re propaganda:
Fondacaro’s tweet wouldn’t embed, but the CNN tweet he quotes concludes, “CNN is operating in Iran only with government permission.”
“CNN is operating in Iran only with government permission.” https://t.co/oMChqD97G4
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) March 5, 2026
“Operating only with government permission” — what could possibly go wrong?
Classical reference in headline: CNN Admits Honest Reporting Was Impossible, So Why Go To Baghdad?
Americans debated President Bush’s Iraq policies for months, and one of the key questions was the nature of Saddam’s regime – was the dictator pragmatic enough to genuinely cooperate with U.N. inspectors, or was his regime so thoroughly evil that it could not be reformed, disarmed or contained? It turns out news organizations reporting from Baghdad had lots of information about the true nature of Saddam’s regime, but concealed it from viewers.
Thursday night on CNN’s NewsNight, and in an op-ed, “The News We Kept to Ourselves,” in Friday’s New York Times, the executive in charge of CNN’s worldwide news-gathering operations, Eason Jordan, revealed Saddam’s thugs harassed his staff, imprisoned Iraqi citizens who worked for CNN, and hatched a plot to murder his reporters working in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq.
“The secret police terrorized Iraqis working for international press services,” he disclosed. “Some vanished, never to be heard from again. Others disappeared and then surfaced later with whispered tales of being hauled off and tortured in unimaginable ways.”
“I came to know several Iraqi officials well enough that they confided in me that Saddam Hussein was a maniac who had to be removed,” Jordan wrote. He felt CNN could not reveal any of their information without putting lives at risk: “An aide to Uday [Hussein, Saddam’s son] once told me why he had no front teeth: henchmen had ripped them out with pliars and told him never to wear dentures, so he would always remember the price to be paid for upsetting the boss. Again, we could not broadcast anything these men said to us.”
“I felt awful having these stories bottled up inside me. Now that Saddam Hussein’s regime is gone, I suspect we will hear many, many more gut-wrenching tales from Iraqis about the decades of torment,” Jordan concluded. “At last, these stories can be told freely.”
—The Media Research Center, April 11, 2003.
WORSE, AFTER 60-PLUS YEARS OF COMMUNISM, THE STUPIDITY IS WILLFUL:
If you've ever felt stupid, just remember there are people out there who actually believe this about Cuba.@MailynSpeaks pic.twitter.com/AKCu5rCYxC
— 🥷🦅Austin Petersen 🇺🇲🥋 (@AP4Liberty) March 6, 2026
HOW IT STARTED: For the 2nd year in a row, Iran is sailing its biggest warship around the world to show off its growing navy.
Iran’s biggest warship and one of its frigates are sailing across the Pacific in a first-of-its-kind journey likely meant to show off Tehran’s growing naval force to friends and foes alike.
The two ships appear to be the frigate IRIS Dena and the forward base ship IRINS Makran. They were spotted by the French and Australian navies in early January as they sailed through the South Pacific. The ships have been granted permission to dock in Rio de Janeiro, reportedly arriving on January 23.
—Business Insider, January 27th, 2023.
How It’s Going: U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegeseth stated that a US Navy submarine sank the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena (75) off the coast of Sri Lanka.
Submarine periscope footage released by the Department of War showed a Mk 48 torpedo striking beneath the stern of IRIS Dena, raising the vessel off the water. Sri Lanka’s Deputy Foreign Minister Arun Hemachandra said 80 Iranian sailors have died.
The Iranian vessel was returning from an international fleet review and MILAN exercise organized by the Indian Navy in the Bay of Bengal till February 25. The vessel sank 20 nautical miles south of Galle in Sri Lanka according to the Sri Lanka Navy.
As for the Makran:
February: 'Down with USA!' parade on the deck
March: 'Down with the Makran!' courtesy of Uncle Sam
Talk about a glow-up… from propaganda ship to artificial reef in 30 days flat😂🇺🇸💥— Pixel Nomad (@PixelNomad374) March 6, 2026
EPIC FURY: Trump’s Play to Starve the Dragon?
THANK YOU GENERAL VAN RIPER: America Lost An Infamous Wargame To Iran. That’s Why We’re Winning Now.
STILL UP FOR THAT CHAT, JON?
How it started vs How it's going for the Pod Save America bros 👇 https://t.co/exaLNOAA7Q pic.twitter.com/8wtoVGkyUq
— Izengabe (@Izengabe_) March 5, 2026
WORST REMAKE OF SOME LIKE IT HOT, EVER:
The IRGC leaders in Iran now are wearing hijab to hide from the American/Israeli surveillance. pic.twitter.com/KmDWFnAFkK
— Asaad Sam Hanna (@asaadhanna) March 6, 2026
In accordance with the prophecy:
DEAL OF THE DAY: DEWALT Thickness Planer, 13-inch Wood Planer, Three Knife Two Speed. #CommissionEarned
TRUMP’S ENDORSEMENT MIGHT BE THE ONLY SECURITY AGAINST GETTING BLOWN UP: Trump says he must be involved in picking Iran’s next leader.
President Trump told Axios in an interview Thursday that he needs to be personally involved in selecting Iran’s next leader — just as he was in Venezuela.
Trump revealed this exclusively in an eight-minute phone call — his second conversation with us to explain his war planning.
Why it matters: Trump acknowledged that Mojtaba Khamenei, son of assassinated supreme leader Ali Khamenei, is the most likely successor — while making clear he finds that outcome unacceptable.
For several days, the Iranian regime has postponed the announcement of the new supreme leader. But statements by Iranian politicians on Thursday suggested an announcement could be imminent.
What he’s saying: “They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodriguez] in Venezuela,” Trump said.
He added that he refuses to accept a new Iranian leader who would continue Khamenei’s policies, which he said would force the U.S. back to war “in five years.”
“Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Trump said.
The big picture: Trump’s comments represent an extraordinary claim of American power over Iran’s political future, further muddying the objectives of the massive U.S. military campaign he launched on Saturday.
Muddying? I do not think that word means what you think it means, Axios.
Previously: Regime Change or Regime Compliance?