JOHN LUCAS: “These people are crazy.” TDS explained: The Democrats hate Trump because he exposes them for who and what they are.

IT HURTS BECAUSE IT’S TRUE: Salena Zito: ‘These people are crazy’ is the campaign Democrats should fear.

ICYMI: ROGER SIMON: EXCLUSIVE: Sigmund Freud Analyzes the SOTU. I guess it makes sense that Sigmund would watch on an old-style CRT TV.

OPEN THREAD: Hump Day.

BOTOX AND JUVEDERM, BABY! The sun hasn’t looked like this since 2022, what’s going on?

HE’S DRINKING A LOT, HE ISN’T SHOWERING, DOESN’T ANSWER THE PHONE, EVEN FOR HIS AGENT: Changes to One of The Largest Known Stars May Signal Destruction.

ROGER SIMON: EXCLUSIVE: Sigmund Freud Analyzes the SOTU. I guess it makes sense that Sigmund would watch on an old-style CRT TV.

HMM. Most US Women Could Have Cardiovascular Disease by 2050, AHA Warns. “Even children are affected by the shift.”

SEE ALSO “WHITE SUPREMACY.”

If you repeatedly tell people they can't have the basic requirements of the good life, such as "not being murdered by drug gangs", because that's fascism…

Then pretty soon they will conclude that fascism is the way to get those things, and it sounds like an excellent idea. https://t.co/sQom7nY0fB

— Devon Eriksen (@Devon_Eriksen_) February 25, 2026

CULTURE:

Justina Ireland was known in the 2010s for starting Twitter mobs to get people's books cancelled. Justina and her friends ultimately destroyed YA publishing. The genre, which used to publish hits like "Twilight," "The Maze Runner" and "Divergent" is now a sea of joyless,… https://t.co/Bfe21yoDhs pic.twitter.com/rY1sDuhGb4

— Daniel Friedman (@DanFriedman81) February 24, 2026

EVERYTHING IS FAKE NOW: Many NYC Gas Stations Reportedly Selling Regular Gas as Premium: Ninety-six percent of gas stations inspected in NYC from 2023 to 2025 failed tests by city inspectors, with the wrong octane numbers by far the leading problem.

THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN GUT-SHOT: It Should’ve Been A Defensive Gun Use: Illegals Beat, Sodomized, Ripped Fingernails Off Victim in NC Home Invasion.

HISTORY BEFORE IT VANISHES: The archivist preserving decaying floppy disks: It’s a race against time (and magnetic decay) to preserve decades of cultural history stored on obsolete hardware.

I remember interviewing Neal Stephenson about 20 years ago. For the Baroque Cycle he had read papers written by Isaac Newton — the actual papers, in Newton’s own handwriting, on paper — and remarked that meanwhile he had floppy disks at home that no machine you could buy could read anymore.

Even in the 1980s, my old law firm had a room full of obsolete word processors (I remember a huge device from the short-lived Exxon Office Systems, among many others) for use in discovery or FOIA requests.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Pentagon buyer: We’re happy with our launch industry, but payloads are lagging. “The point is to get missions out the door as fast as possible. Two to three years is too slow.”

I BLAME ALL THE DRIVERS WHO’VE MOVED DOWN FROM NEW JERSEY: Tennessee ranks among worst states for drivers.

BECAUSE KEY PARTS OF OUR SOCIETY DON’T KNOW WHAT A WOMAN IS? Motherhood literally rewires the brain. Why don’t we know the word for it?

ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC:

The immortal visual of the entire Democrat party—upon explicit repeated invitation—refusing to stand for the core moral principle that US government owes its allegiance to US citizens and not foreign criminal invaders, is the most shocking image in the history of the US Congress.

— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) February 25, 2026

Imagine how awful a human being you have to be to vote against having an inquiry in to the mass rape of little girls

That's the Labour party pic.twitter.com/xAfjNTa2Gz

— Basil the Great (@BasilTheGreat) February 24, 2026

WHEN A GOVERNMENT MAKES WAR ON ITS OWN PEOPLE: Stomach-Turning: UK Officers Used Police Cars to Help Traffic Girls for Pakistani Rape Gang, According to Latest Report.

In a civilized country they would face mobs with torches and pitchforks.

BURIED LEDE — MONTEVALLO HAS A LIBERAL MOB? TPUSA to host 1819 News CEO Bryan Dawson following death threats and student walkout.

The TPUSA chapter at the University of Montevallo rescheduled the mid-February “Change My Mind”-style event after administrators postponed the original date, citing safety concerns.

Now scheduled for March 5, it will still feature conservative commentator and 1819 News founder Bryan Dawson and be a “pick up the mic” format encouraging open debate, according to TPUSA Montevallo’s Instagram page.

“Montevallo caved to the liberal mob on campus who staged a walkout as a protest for the university allowing me to speak,” Dawson posted on his Facebook page. “Montevallo cancelled the TPUSA event citing this and security concerns due to death threats towards me.”

Dawson’s planned appearance had prompted a walkout by several dozen students earlier in the month who said they felt unsafe with the speaker selection, citing his criminal past, the Vallo Vision News reported.

Reading the Vallo Vision News suggests that there is, at least at the Vallo Vision News. On the other hand, “several dozen students?” Puhleez.

IS THIS REALLY A SURPRISE?

This is a really astonishing claim:

Students in Mississippi & Louisiana score higher on reading tests than students in California & New York despite spending way less money per pupil and having higher child poverty rates.

Decided to double check the data because, if true, this… https://t.co/TPfcozCBbW pic.twitter.com/DLgvSEKrRh

— Alec Stapp (@AlecStapp) February 24, 2026

I READ ROGER SIMON’S NEW NOVEL, EMET, AND I OFFERED A BLURB, which you can read at the link. Truly enjoyable and kept me turning pages until the end.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: UMD quietly republishes list of 25 demands from black students behind login page.

ROGER KIMBALL: What Trump got right in his State of the Union address.

The second thing I thought about was a fact I recently learned about Ulysses S. Grant. He was a great general, yes, and he was also a great, if generally under-appreciated, president. One sign of his greatness came posthumously. At his funeral, two of Grant’s pallbearers were Confederate generals. Grant had won the civil war, defeating the Confederacy, saving the Union. But in death he underscored his ultimate purpose: to unite the country. . . .

Article II, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution stipulates that the president “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” That duty was eventually codified into the televised drama we have today. It’s pure theater. In Trump’s case, it is an hour or two of Muhammad Ali-like oratory on stage. Trump does not speak like Daniel Webster or even JFK. He infuriates the left and leaves even some of his supporters a little queasy. But he connects with the people. His opponents may dislike his policies. They may bridle at his rhetoric. But no honest observer can deny that he is utterly sincere in his love of America and his desire to improve the lives of its citizens.

To reunite the country, Grant had to utterly defeat the Democrats. Trump hasn’t done that yet.

MANY ORTHODOXIES ARE FALLING IN THE MODERN ERA: Eileen Gu Indicts Birthright Citizenship And Our Entire Immigration Orthodoxy. “Gu embodies what our immigration orthodoxy promotes: an America where citizens of the world can enrich themselves with no loyalties attached.”

STANDING UP AGAINST HATE: Trump Admin Sues UCLA For Creating ‘Antisemitic Hostile Work Environment.’