EVE BARLOW: “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”

That was one of the most quoted jokes from The IT Crowd. A British series written by Graham Linehan, who is a comedian from the Republic of Ireland and was once considered a national treasure. He is still a national treasure, I imagine, to many people too afraid to say so. The IT Crowd is a show based around an IT department as the internet implemented itself in everyday working environments, and it first aired almost 20 years ago. In the show, the more committed geeks of the IT department were ignored in favor of Roy, played by Chris O’Dowd, who hated the job and would regularly offer: “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” Or “Is it definitely plugged in?” These running jokes summarize Linehan’s humor. He dryly mocks societal roles and stereotypes, in a way that challenges their core identity. Which in this day and age is dangerous, I guess. Because self-imposed identity has demanded serious treatment by non-serious people, to such an extent that there is no more poetic license to make jibes about people’s behavior without it being a crime.

Prior to The IT Crowd, Linehan was one half of the team that created Father Ted. The latter series, which aired in the mid-90s, was a beloved satire about the Catholic priesthood, and is often cited next to Fawlty Towers in the canon of British TV. Father Ted was full of impolite jokes. Father Jack repeatedly shouts “Feck! Arse! Drink! Girls!” at inappropriate moments. There were Nazi jokes, racist jokes, sexual innuendos surrounding the milk man, and not to mention The Lovely Girls Contest, which was a spoof on a beauty pageant, and intended to expose misogyny, not condone it. However, in doing so necessarily aired sexism. Breaking taboos in humor is necessary to make light of the hypocrisy of authority – of humans. Irreverent jokes bring the absurdity of our lives to the surface. That’s why making an example out of someone who is celebrated for writing comedy cuts to the soul of free speech issues.

In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury famously says:

“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”

The story of Graham Linehan is appalling. And it has had me asking earnestly for days: what are we doing to each other? Can we reset the system? Should we try turning it off and on again?

Read the whole thing.

THE POWER LINE WEEK IN PICTURES: Greta’s Bad Hair Day Edition.

FLORIDA BOY WALKED TO CHICK-FIL-A ALONE. Police Returned Him Home and Didn’t Arrest His Parents:

In July, Florida became the 11th state to pass a Reasonable Childhood Independence law with the help of my non-profit, Let Grow. It clarifies that “neglect” is when a parent or guardian “fails to supply the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter, or health care, although financially able to do so; however, the term does not include a caregiver allowing a child to engage in independent and unsupervised activities” unless they constitute “reckless conduct.”

I asked Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office spokesman Christian Hancock if our law was the reason the cops did not arrest the parents. He said it was simpler than that. “These parents didn’t do anything wrong.” Hear, hear!

It’s only fair to celebrate the good, not just the bad. God knows I sound the alarm when law enforcement goes overboard on parents. When they act with common sense and kindness, it makes sense to share those stories, too.

Not to mention making for an absolutely adorable video that’s great PR for the cops and the restaurant:

Five year old Jacksonville, Florida boy wakes up before everyone else, walks to Chick fil A for breakfast without parents knowing. Cops are called. This is great: pic.twitter.com/I0WAsJUum3

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) September 2, 2025

OLD BLIGHTY’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD:

British Refugees Travel To North Korea In Search Of Freedom https://t.co/AJZavNMwDe pic.twitter.com/9MmumgkBQQ

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) September 5, 2025

AN ARMY OF LUIGIS: Colbert Shocked at Late-Night Monster He Created.

Colbert noted how the Left-wing fever swamp, although he didn’t use those words, went craz(ier) in recent days over a rumor that President Trump had died. 

“When I came back into the office, I was shocked to learn that, this weekend, the biggest story was frenzied social media rumors speculating whether Donald Trump had died. For the record, Donald Trump is very much alive.”

The “Late Show” audience erupted in boos.

“No. We like our presidents alive. Donald Trump is very much alive.”

Colbert had to instruct his sycophants that wishing for a U.S. president’s death isn’t morally sound. It’s unclear if said audience took the message to heart, but its implications couldn’t be clearer.

They want him dead, and they’re happy to share that sentiment in public.

Related: The Rise of Luigism.

A political movement is testing its power. Call it Luigism.

Invoking Luigi Mangione—the Ivy League–educated radical who allegedly assassinated UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last December—Luigism is the idea that violence is a legitimate response to the perceived injustices of capitalism. If the victim represents wealth, whiteness, pro-Israel Judaism, or institutional power, the killing can be framed as justified, or even glamorous.

Mangione has yet to stand trial, but he’s already been canonized. Social media is awash in fan art. Influencers praise his good looks. Merch with the slogan “Mama, I’m in Love with a Criminal” is available for purchase. A “Free Luigi” community has tens of thousands of members. More than $1 million has been crowdsourced for his legal defense, and according to polling, more than 40 percent of voters under 30 say Thompson’s killing was “acceptable.”

What makes Luigism dangerous is its memeified brutality. Innocence doesn’t matter. Context doesn’t matter. What matters is what the victim represents, and whether their death can be hash-tagged as justice. It is a worldview built on scapegoats and sacrifices.

Colbert routinely compares Trump to Hitler; how can he feign surprise and disappointment when his audience boos his continued existence?

MOVE ALONG, NOTHING TO SEE HERE: Feds: Eight metro Detroit men charged in sophisticated vehicle theft, smuggling operation.

Eight metro Detroit men are accused in a sophisticated theft and international smuggling operation that targeted higher-end vehicles and spanned two years, according to federal prosecutors in Detroit.

An indictment against the Wayne County men was unsealed Sept. 4 in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

The types of stolen vehicles mentioned in the indictment included BMW X5, Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Bronco, Range Rover, Dodge Ram, Ford Mustang, Ford F-150 and Dodge Durango. Stolen vehicles were transported from Michigan to New Jersey*, according to the indictment.

The Detroit Free Press takes its time getting to the important details — the number of cars stolen, and the names of the suspects:

Matthew Stentz, acting special agent in charge of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations in Detroit, said more than 350 stolen vehicles were recovered.**

“This case hits even closer to home in a state like Michigan, where auto theft doesn’t just hurt our wallets, but our culture,” Stentz said in the release. “Our HSI special agents and law enforcement partners will continue to do the work necessary to take down these operations that harm everyday Americans.”

Federal prosecutors said Dearborn police initiated the investigation, which also involved U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations with help from Customs and Border Protection, the FBI and other local, regional and federal law enforcement agencies.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit identified those charged as Haydar Al Haydari, 41, of Garden City; David Roshinsky Williams, 32, of Harper Woods; Abbas Al Othman, 42, and Moustapha Al Fetlawi, 46, both of Dearborn Heights, and Karar Alnakash, 43; Mohammed Al Hilo, 36; Terrill Davis, 33, and Mohammed Al Abboodi, 35, all of Detroit.

* They didn’t stay in New Jersey, as this sentence buried 12 paragraphs in notes: “The smugglers’ goal, it indicated, was to ship and sell the stolen vehicles overseas, often to customers in the Middle East.”

** Quite a bit more than 350, according to Fox’s Detroit affiliate: “‘We are looking at right now at least 400 vehicles that have been seized involved in this incident alone, with a value of over $400 million,’ said Dearborn Police Corporal Dan Bartok. Many were sent overseas to countries like Iraq and Dubai were some of the destinations. Even Jordan and Ghana were involved, with forged paperwork used to get the vehicles out of town. In one case, shipping containers full of high-end SUVs were disguised as antifreeze.”

As one wag joked on Twitter/X, “What’s news is that there are car theft rings not run by Albanians:”

TRUMP TO RENAME PENTAGON, RESTORING HISTORIC ‘DEPARTMENT OF WAR’ IN LATEST MILITARY MOVE:

President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Friday to alter the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War, reverting to the agency’s former namesake, Fox News Digital has learned.

Both Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have recently indicated they want to change the name of the agency. It is one of several initiatives the Trump administration has spearheaded as part of its “warrior ethos” campaign within the Pentagon.

A White House official confirmed to Fox News Digital Thursday that Trump would roll out the name change Friday. The executive order calls for using the Department of War as a secondary title for the Department of Defense, along with phrases like “secretary of war” for Hegseth, according to a White House fact sheet.

The order also instructs Hegseth to propose both legislative and executive actions to make the name permanently U.S. Department of War.

Naturally, the usual suspects on the left are in stampy-feet mode over this decision. This headline at the Condé Nast zombie version of Wired tut-tuts: “Defense Department Scrambles to Pretend It’s Called the War Department.”

But there is some logic to the back-to-the-future rebranding effort:

DISPATCHES FROM THE ICE FLOE: “She’s missing stuff:” Eleanor Holmes Norton’s colleagues see signs of decline.

What we’re hearing: “She’s missing stuff,” a senior House Democrat said of Norton’s apparent decline, telling Axios that Democratic leadership’s deliberations about her potential reelection bid are “delicate.”

• A third House Democrat said their own observation of Norton from working with her on a committee is that she essentially goes through the motions and little else: “She shows up to committee, she reads the speech.”
• “All of that is true,” said a fourth House Democrat. “She reads what her staff puts in front of her. She can’t say anything she’s not reading. That’s a staff-driven office now, just like you saw in the Senate with Feinstein,” referencing the late California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

* * * * * * * *

Between the lines: Many House Democrats declined to weigh in on whether Norton should run — largely because they haven’t spoken with her.

• “I don’t know that I’m ready to bury [her] yet,” said D.C.-area Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.). “We just haven’t had conversations about it one way or the other — I haven’t anyway.”
• Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told Axios: “I haven’t seen her in a little bit, so I haven’t had a chance to hear what she has to say.”

Zoom out: The firestorm over Norton’s future comes as Democrats are grappling with aging leadership.

Flashback: The Democratic Party’s Ice Floe Politics. “The next time a Democratic politician makes an anonymous observation about the age or vigor of a colleague with whom they disagree, be skeptical. The remarks are made to reporters as if in sorrow, but the message is about as subtle as a shiv in the prison yard.”

HUGH HEWITT AND JIM GERAGHTY: Should the U.S. have blown up the drug-running boat? (Video.)

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD:

More Winning: Trump Bombs Ship Smuggling 30,000 Kilos Of Pumpkin Spice https://t.co/BDSTZVVNhB pic.twitter.com/nW7mBMRHMQ

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) September 4, 2025

PARTY OF YOUTH UPDATE: Oldest member of House, Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, is seeking re-election at age 88: ‘Not going to step aside.’

80/20: Senator: The Founders Were Same as Ayatollahs?

Senator Tim Kaine may seem like a nobody–he is so relatively anonymous that Saturday Night Live spoofed him right before the election as forgettable. But if you can remember all the way back to 2016, you might remember that he came close to becoming the Vice President of the United States.

Yes, that was a long time ago–back when Hillary Clinton was somebody, sort of. But it’s true. The Democrats put this man on the ticket because he was seen as a moderate who could appeal to middle America.

Moderates no longer exist in the ranks of the Democratic Party elites. Being at or near the top of the pile means rejecting basic American values.

This is one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever seen from a Senator.

Tim Kaine apparently just discovered the idea of inalienable rights and thinks the defining principle of the Declaration of Independence is “extremely troubling”. https://t.co/k1im7y8cF6

— AG (@AGHamilton29) September 4, 2025

Kaine made his remarkable performance in which he rejected the founding principle of the United States, as enunciated in the Declaration of Independence, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was chastising Riley Barnes, a Trump administration appointee to the State Department.

* * * * * * * * *

Scott Rasmussen just sent me the results of a poll he recently did on this issue:

🚨78% of voters say people have “natural rights” that cannot legitimately be taken away by any government.
✅Just 15% disagree and say Individual rights and freedoms come from the government@NapolitanNews survey of 1,000 RV conducted by @ScottWRasmussen June 17-18, 2024 https://t.co/Z8x4Tk4KGj

— Scott Rasmussen (@ScottWRasmussen) September 4, 2025

We need a complete and total shutdown of Virginia until we can find just what the hell is going on there:

Between Tim Kaine mocking a basic principle of the Declaration of Independence (authored by another former Virginia governor) and Mark Warner delivering mail for a criminal illegal alien (https://t.co/DGrkjmLkQm) it’s clear that sane people in Virginia don’t have a senator. https://t.co/UWigwrNj6s

— Tim Murtaugh (@TimMurtaugh) September 3, 2025

This afternoon, I visited Kilmar Abrego Garcia and other detainees at the Farmville Detention Center to deliver letters from his family.

He wants to keep fighting for justice. pic.twitter.com/Vtur9jHHPI

— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) August 28, 2025

UPDATE:

I’d like to respond to a disturbing contention from Senator Tim Kaine, during a recent confirmation hearing. pic.twitter.com/hvaYlQQybi

— Bishop Robert Barron (@BishopBarron) September 4, 2025

CHRISTOPHER RUFO: Transgenderism Ends in Nihilism.

For the past decade, the Left’s intellectual apparatus has concocted a narrative about “gender-affirming care,” “trans joy,” and “authentic gender identity,” which has captured institutions and promised to punish dissenters. The trans movement lures troubled young people, such as Westman, with promises of love, affirmation, self-esteem, and authenticity. But it is predicated on a lie: that a man can become a woman and achieve fulfilment through name changes, cross-sex hormones, and genital surgeries.

After the killing in Minneapolis, reporters found fragments of Westman’s diaries and his online videos, in which he said that he was “tired of being trans” and wished that he had not been brainwashed by the movement. Even as he was plunging into madness, he saw reality better than the editors of the Times. “I know I am not a woman, but I definitely don’t feel like a man,” Westman said.

We should grieve those beautiful children who lost their lives at Annunciation Catholic Church. We should also grieve the innocent young people scattered across America who have lost their health, dignity, and sanity to transgenderism, an ideology predicated on dishonesty and nihilism.

Those of us on the right can also put to rest the delusion that transgenderism is rooted in “personal choice.” Transgenderism is not a pluralistic belief system, but a coercive ideology that forces others to deny reality. It has succeeded only through an enormous propaganda campaign, which promises rewards for those who affirm transgender identities and punishments for those who don’t.

The ideology has resulted in the mutilation of countless Americans and in some cases inspired acts of deadly violence. That outcome was predictable: pumping kids full of hormones, while telling them they can change from boy to girl, is likely to end in tragedy, for self or others.

As Rufo writes, the New York Times, “affirmed the shooter’s gender identity, referring to him as ‘she’ and ‘her,’ feigned ignorance of the connection between transgenderism and his violence, and insisted that his motive was ‘a mystery.’” And yet:

Minneapolis trans gunman Robin Westman seen on security footage at a gun shop just mere days before he committed his violent atrocities then took his own life.

Legacy media insists you call him a her.

(nypost on TT) pic.twitter.com/Y9t3Fz9rGl

— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) September 4, 2025

JIM GERAGHTY: Malcolm Gladwell Reaches His Tipping Point on Trans Athletes.

‘Near Unanimity in the Room that Trans Athletes Have No Place in in the Female Category’

It’s rather amazing what can be said out loud, into a microphone, once the political winds change.

Malcolm Gladwell is a staff writer for the New Yorker and one of those rare authors who shaped his own oft-imitated genre. Starting with The Tipping Point, Gladwell used recent academic research to coin phrases and introduce concepts in psychology and sociology into popular culture. (How many people knew he started at the American Spectator?)

Earlier this week, Gladwell appeared on The Real Science of Sport podcast, a program hosted by sports scientist professor Ross Tucker and sports journalist Mike Finch. Gladwell made the remarkable confession that when it comes to advocates of athletes born male participating in women’s sports, he found their arguments unconvincing for a long time — but only felt comfortable publicly saying so recently:

Ross Tucker: Well, Malcolm chaired a session at the Sloan conference. That’s a big event held every year at MIT in Boston. I think it was in 2022. I lose track of time, but he was the chairperson, and I was on a panel of three or four. I forget exactly how many, but—

Malcolm Gladwell: They stacked the panel. They stacked against you, Ross. They put a trans athlete and a trans advocate and you on the panel and I was the moderator. And it was one of those strange situations where I my suspicion is that 90 percent of the people in the audience were on your side, but 5 percent of the audience was willing to admit it.

Tucker: My recollection of it is that everything I said was met with deathly silence, and everything the other two said got cheered.

Gladwell: Well, but the cheers were very — I mean I think there was a hardcore of people who were ideologically committed to the position, but the idea that that — I mean there’s many interesting things to say about that conversation. One was that it was a particular moment which has passed. If we did a replay of that exact panel at the Sloan conference this coming March, it runs in exactly the opposite direction.

And it would be, I suspect, near unanimity in the room that trans athletes have no place in in the female category. I don’t think there’s any question. I just think it was a strange — I mean I felt I mean I was — the reason I’m ashamed of my performance of that panel [is] because I share your position 100 percent, and I was cowed. The idea of saying anything on this issue — I was in I believe in retrospect — in a dishonest way. I was . . . I was objective in a dishonest way.

I let a lot of real howlers pass without comment because I didn’t — and I said to you in an email, there was that moment when — and I forgotten her name she’s wonderful, sorry, I’ve forgotten their name, a very thoughtful person.

They were the trans athlete on the panel and at one point they turned to you, Ross, and they said, “Ross, you have to let us win.” And it was at that moment that I realized this position has gone, this argument has gone to the furthest extreme. What the trans movement is not asking for — they’re not asking for, you know, a place at the table. They’re not asking to be treated with respect and dignity. What they’re asking is for no one to question the considerable physical, physiological advantage they bring to the sport, and no one to question — if they’re gonna win these races by five seconds, suck it up! That’s what they were asking, right?

As J.K. Rowling tweets, “Changing sides years late, and only after you’ve realised the non-elite opposition is winning, isn’t a mark of integrity but of arse-covering:”

JUDITH MILLER: The Day That Terrorism Became a Global Spectator Sport.

Dec. 7, as most members of the so-called “greatest generation” know, is the day that Franklin Roosevelt declared would “live in infamy” when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, belatedly drawing America into World War II. Similarly, most Americans, even those too young to have seen the Twin Towers collapse or smelled the stench of burning metal and flesh, know that Islamic terrorists changed history on Sept. 11 by killing over 3,000 people in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Within Israel and for Jews everywhere, Oct. 7 will long be remembered as the day that Hamas and other Palestinian enthusiasts slaughtered 1,200 Israelis and took 251 people hostage in coordinated incursions from Gaza.

What about Sept. 5? That date rings few memory bells, even for Americans who were able to watch television or follow the news in the fall of 1972. Some may dimly recall that on that day eight Palestinian terrorists from the militant Black September group infiltrated the Summer Olympics in Munich, killing two members of Israel’s national athletic team and taking nine others hostage. On Sept. 5, terrorism itself became a spectator sport.

That terrible event has now been rescued from obscurity by Tim Fehlbaum, the Swiss director and cowriter (with Moritz Binder and Alex David) whose film about ABC’s coverage of the attack more than deserves its sole Oscar nomination for best original screenplay. Fehlbaum’s September 5 is a claustrophobic newsroom thriller. The film compresses the 22-hour-long ordeal into a taut, gripping 94 minutes. It not only chronicles an early terrorist milestone, but also explores with skill and subtlety the strengths and failures of broadcast journalism, the still evolving ethics of TV news, and the beginning of a new, harsher era of mass media.

As the film tells us, Sept. 5 was the first time that an act of terrorism was broadcast live around the world. Some 900 million people watched it unfold on TV, a quarter billion more people than those who saw Neil Armstrong walk on the moon three years earlier.

And from me, in March: September 5: Chilling Recreation of the First Live TV Broadcast of Terrorism.

Related:

The documentary One Day in September reveals just how much worse this incident was than even I had realized. Particularly interesting are the sketchy circumstances that got these terrorists released by Germany in a "hostage exchange." https://t.co/YWZ7aF2kfp

— Noam Blum (@neontaster) September 5, 2025

IT’S A GOOD START, KEEP GOING: PBS Slashes 15% of Staff After $500 Million Federal Funding Cuts.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Starmer makes Lammy deputy PM and Cooper foreign secretary after Rayner resignation.

Sir Keir Starmer is set to make David Lammy deputy prime minister as the PM embarks on a major cabinet reshuffle following Angela Rayner stepping down from her government roles after an investigation into her tax affairs.

Yvette Cooper will be moved from home secretary and take up a new role as foreign secretary, with justice secretary Shabana Mahmood replacing her at the Home Office.

Mr Lammy will also become justice secretary as well as deputy PM. Lucy Powell, the leader of the House of Commons, and Scottish secretary Ian Murray have been sacked from their roles this afternoon.

The YooKay (classical reference) is in the best of hands:

OMG, Lammy is the Deputy PM

Britain now has the man who thinks
🤡 men can grow a cervix
🤡 said Brexit voters are Nazis
🤡demands reparations for the Caribbean

How embarrassing 😳

pic.twitter.com/JH6WIe6QA3

— Bernie (@Artemisfornow) September 5, 2025

Flashbacks:

● Trump inflamed George Floyd row to ‘distract from Covid,’ Lammy claimed.

● ‘Key moment’ David Lammy ridiculed for not knowing when Churchill became Prime Minister.

● Climate a more fundamental threat than terror – Lammy.

OOPS: Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Outburst at RFK Said the Quiet Part Out Loud.

RFK Jr. was being questioned by Senator Bernie Sanders and it took a wild turn that nobody saw coming.

Sanders was pressed about taking money from Big Pharma and he exposed the truth!

"Everybody in this room took Big Pharma money."

Revealing admission. pic.twitter.com/vORO8oaJZV

— Media Lies (@MediasLies) September 4, 2025

Has Bernie seen Al Pacino’s And Just for All one too many times?

Exit question:

Kennedy: I want more science, and it will all be available for anyone to check.

Democrats: Why are you so anti-science?

— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) September 5, 2025

ONLY STATE-RUN MEDIA CAN SAVE DEMOCRACY FROM ITSELF: NPR CEO Maher Tells Colbert Public Radio Needed To Protect Democracy Itself.

CBS’s Stephen Colbert welcomed NPR CEO Katherine Maher to Thursday’s taping of The Late Show for a grieving session on the latter being defunded. According to Maher, the fate of democracy depends on NPR, and only people who seek to divide and pit Americans against each other could possibly support defunding it.

Colbert put the ball on the tee for Maher by repeating the idea that public broadcasting is of vital importance for local news, “And while it’s possible now to, like, use streaming wherever you are and basically get another radio station, one of the things, as I understand it, is that with the decline of local newspapers and local news, these NPR stations are critical sources for people to know about their own community.”

Flashback: NPR’s CEO Katherine Maher on CNN: “As far as the accusations that we’re biased, I’d stand up and say, ‘Please show me a story that concerns you.’”

In addition to all of the examples at the link, these responses from Maher are quite concerning:

An absolute clinic from @realBrandonGill here. pic.twitter.com/tEA0CAwhT0

— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) March 26, 2025

Incidentally, it’s great to see Colbert, on his victory lap before his show’s retirement, continue to deliver the megawatt superstars of the entertainment world that the American public are absolutely clamoring for…

MICHAEL WALSH: And See Who Salutes. 

But what is wrong with hate? It’s a perfectly useful emotion, especially in times of war. Hatred of an existential enemy is not irrational but instinctive and self-protective; after all, they hate you and don’t pretend otherwise. Only governments bent on facilitating national suicide — which, let’s face it, is the very raison d’etre  of the EUSSR — would put its citizens in jail for trying to defend themselves, their families, and their culture from hostile aliens. But such has been the triumph of the Frankfurt School during the past 60 years or so, and its message is: lie down and die before we kill you.

So the flag revolutions now going on in the British Isles operate on two levels: 1) they are an expression of nationalist patriotism, 2) they send a clear message to illegals to get the hell out before they are thrown out. To pretend otherwise is nonsense.

The flags also utterly enrage British lefties, in the same way that our leftists despise the American flag, so it’s triple play.

HMMM: Trump Waited in the Tall Grass for This Moment on Gun Rights. It’s Going to Be Brilliant.

A DOJ source told the Daily Wire that “individuals within the DOJ are reviewing ways to ensure that mentally ill individuals suffering from gender dysphoria are unable to obtain firearms while they are unstable and unwell.

A Justice Department spokesman told the Daily Wire that a “range of options” is being considered “to prevent mentally unstable individuals from committing acts of violence, especially at schools.”

Another officials said, “Democrats have called for common sense gun laws for a long time” and that “this seems pretty common sense to me.”

Given how Democrats react to anything Trump does, you know what’s coming: the anti-gun Left is going to sound like National Rifle Association members. They will likely devote endless hours to full-throated defenses of gun ownership and Second Amendment rights. The president is setting the stage for the Democrats to cannibalize their anti-gun positions, sacrificing generations of activism for transgender gun rights. The Left was ALWAYS wrong about gun rights; we just had to wait a long time to find an issue where the opposition could self-implode on this one, and they will.

Read the whole thing.

TRUNALIMUNUMAPRZURE! Biden White House lawyers, DOJ were befuddled by autopen clemencies, emails show: ‘He doesn’t review the warrants.’

President Biden’s sweeping clemency grants during his final days in office caused concern inside the West Wing and Justice Department about how to ensure his wishes were accurately implemented — and it’s unclear whether Biden himself was consulted before thousands of pardons were announced, internal emails obtained exclusively by The Post show.

The messages indicate the 46th president orally approved commutations for inmates jailed for crack cocaine offenses on Jan. 11 — but his auto-penned signature wasn’t affixed to three documents listing about 2,500 recipients until the morning of Jan. 17.
The debate over who exactly to include in the mass pardons and how to modify their sentences came to a head late on the night of Jan. 16.

As Steve asked last month: How Do We Avoid the Next President Autopen?

EVERGREEN QUESTION: ‘What Happened to Joe’s Head?’ Images Of Biden With a Giant Head Wound Surface.

What happened to Joe Biden’s head? pic.twitter.com/XGzXttyZ32

— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) September 3, 2025

Social media users had thoughts about what we were seeing.

“What happened to Joe Biden’s head?” one person asked.

Another added, “Now there’s concern?! What about the previous 4 years while he ran our country into the ground?!

While a third wrote, “It’s probably a skin cancer removal. Lots of old people have lesions removed. Head and face are common areas.

Speaking to Inside Edition, the man who filmed the video of Biden, Fred Karger, said, “I was a little surprised cause it’s a noticeable scar.”

“It looks fresh, a little hair combed over the scar. It looks to me like someone who had several basal cell skin cancers removed from his head,” he added.

The Hill has since reported that Biden had undergone a procedure for skin cancer.

At the PJ Mothership, Matt Margolis highlights the poor timing of this development: Joe Biden’s Head Just Destroyed the Left’s Latest Trump Smear.

The left launched its latest smear campaign hoping to rewrite the political narrative, but the effort blew up in its face. By pushing the laughable claim that Biden looks healthier than Trump, they didn’t just insult the public’s intelligence—they showcased the desperation driving their strategy. Americans don’t need media talking points to tell them what’s obvious: Trump remains energetic and engaged, while Biden spent his presidency visibly diminished, both physically and mentally.

As Matt concludes, “Then came the worst possible timing for their narrative. The episode reminded voters that the establishment press doesn’t deal in truth—it manufactures illusions to shield Democrats. In the end, the smear didn’t weaken Trump at all. Instead, it shoved Biden’s frailty back into the spotlight and proved once again just how little trust the media deserves.”

KAMIKAZE COUNTRY: Can anyone save Britain from self-destruction?

BEING IN YOUR TWILIGHT YEARS TENDS TO DO THAT: CBS Is Rethinking Its Life Choices.

Of course, rumors and even accurate reports on ongoing negotiations don’t always pan out, and there’s a lot of ground to cover between telling [Bari] Weiss that she will have a big role at CBS and Weiss actually being able to implement durable changes at the network. Still, we can all enjoy the spectacle while it lasts. CBS News is probably second only to the Times as the oldest media enemy of conservatives, from the McCarthy era and the Tet Offensive to George H. W. Bush’s confronting Dan Rather on air and the 2004 “Rathergate” scandal, when Rather tried to get payback at Bush’s son, all the way up to Donald Trump’s lawsuit against 60 Minutes. And that’s just the abridged version. As Peggy Noonan quipped in 1990 of the long shadow of Edward R. Murrow at CBS News, during her time working for Rather before joining the Reagan White House, “It was Murrow who said, ‘Some stories don’t have two sides.’ At Auschwitz he was right. But the news isn’t always Auschwitz.”

Auschwitz, you say? ‘Free Speech Atty.’ Tries Running After Getting Rekt for Antisemitic Swipe at Bari Weiss Buuut We Got It.