FER CRYIN’ OUT LOUD: Incompetent Olympics Chief Threatens to Fire Staffers in Mid News Conference.

SHE’S THE WORST: BREAKING: Tlaib Wears ‘F*** ICE’ Pin, Omar Screams, Dems Won’t Applaud Illegal Alien Crime Victims.

THE LIVEBLOG IS ON: President Trump Set to Tout America First Successes in SOTU Address.

I’m drinking my go-to — the 10-year-old Jura — tonight, how about you?

REPUBLICANS POUNCE! As conservatives accuse Newsom of bigotry, California governor’s office slams ‘MAGA-manufactured outrage.’

Newsom’s nasty little comms guy also told a female reporter from RCP to “f*** off,” which somehow failed to make the CBS News report.

ICYMI: We Need to Talk About Artemis. “Things can’t continue like this.”

FASTER, PLEASE: FDA proposes new system for approving customized drugs and therapies for rare diseases. “It’s a shift long sought by patients, advocates and researchers focused on rare diseases, which often do not fit within the pharmaceutical industry’s business model or the FDA’s traditional drug-approval system.”

WELL: Netflix’s Stock Plunges After Refusing to Fire Susan Rice Over Threats to Trump Officials.

CHANGE: US military begins withdrawing from main base in northeast Syria, Syrian sources say. “Qasrak has been a main hub for the US-led global coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria, where US troops deployed over a decade ago, partnering with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against the jihadist group. Kurdish forces agreed last month to integrate their institutions with Damascus.”

IF THERE’S A STRANGER TIMELINE THAN THIS ONE, I DON’T WANT TO LIVE ON IT:

DUDE ACCIDENTALLY FOUND THE CCP BACKDOOR. https://t.co/9sn1hhI2cs

— INVESTMENT HULK (@INVESTMENTSHULK) February 24, 2026

SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL. NEXT QUESTION? Are Democrats Working Against Their Own Voters?

WHICHEVER WAY THE (LUCRATIVE) WINDS BLOW:

It is uncanny how 2014 Tom Nichols, Bill Kristol, Rick Wilson, et al sounded exactly like the people they call dangerous fascists today. https://t.co/pi9Gue4FZn

— Noam Blum (@neontaster) February 24, 2026

Also from Miller: “Trump was a permission structure for them. ‘Someone that bad can’t be the same as me, so I am not like him.’ So now they believe they can grift any way they want, because to them, he is always worse. See Tim Miller, Bulwark etc..”

Earlier (From Ed): The Atlantic’s Got a Fevah, and It Needs More Nazism!

NEOFEUDALISM: Illinois ranks near bottom in social mobility.

Ugaste told The Center Square. “Those who are in dire economic straits, giving them a handout, more SNAP benefits or putting them on Medicaid isn’t a help. That’s a safety net to help them get over a hump. We have to have good paying jobs with good benefits.”

With Archbridge Institute researchers defining social mobility as “the ability to better oneself and those around them,” based on such factors as institutions and rule of law, entrepreneurship and growth, education and skills development and social capital, Illinois now ranks 38th across the country, including behind at least five other midwestern states that were all ranked in the top quarter.

Data also points to the state’s ongoing struggles with economic growth, high regulations and persistent corruption by elected officials as some of the biggest drivers for its poor overall standing.

Illinois’ lowest rankings came on institutions and predatory state action at 49th, followed by entrepreneurship at 45th and judicial system quality at 40th.

Big Government is how the well-connected use state power to protect their status and freeze out any rabble who might otherwise become competitors.

“FLUSHING CHAGOS”: ‘Right Now, That Deal Is Worth Toilet Paper, Basically.’

As do the sad tales of the continued unraveling of all the excuses the Starmer government has offered for why the deal must go through.

For one thing, it’s dragged out long enough that Starmer’s Number One Guy in Washington to sell the deal to Trump, former British ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, was arrested early this morning (our time) over his ties to?

None other than Jeffrey Epstein.

So much more at the link.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: AI Blog Post Tanks IBM $30 Billion… And That’s the Least Weird Part.

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: Killer of Caltech Astrophysicist Had Previous Gun Charges Dropped ‘In the Interest of Justice.’ “It is unclear why Snyder’s charges were dropped by the judge under the code. The electronic court records did not provide the name of who was overseeing the case.”

THEY ENABLED MUTILATING CHILDREN AND MUST BE HELD TO ACCOUNT:

Honestly, who didn't see this train wreck coming? Legacy organizations from the AMA to the ACLU should not be let off the hook for what they promoted and defended. Their ideologically motivated gross irresponsibility must not be forgotten. https://t.co/oC7JcFPvpf

— Robert P. George (@McCormickProf) February 24, 2026

TO BE FAIR, AT LEAST HALF OF ALL POLITICIANS LOSE, IF NOT NECESSARILY IN A LANDSLIDE: If AI Were a Politician, It Would Lose in a Landslide.

GLOBAL WARMING IS A BUST, AND NOW THE WARMTH OF COLLECTIVISM IS, TOO:

They had been assured that snowfalls were a thing of the past.

— Stephen Green (@VodkaPundit) February 24, 2026

CONVENIENT: Eli Lilly launches new form of obesity drug Zepbound with a month’s worth of doses in one pen.

The body-positively people must be aghast, but I don’t hear much from them anymore.

ALEX, I’LL TAKE “THINGS THAT WON’T HAPPEN” FOR $400:

“Apologize for laughing”: the perfect distillation of the modern left. https://t.co/FpaVAFLiDH

— Jon Gabriel (@exjon) February 24, 2026

What miserable scolds.

Related (From Ed): The Ayatollah Khomeini was famously quoted as saying, “An Islamic regime must be serious in every field. There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious.” And even he’d probably be wondering today why doctrinaire leftists are such humorless scolds.

[UPDATE BELOW] IT TOOK THEM UNTIL NOW TO FINALLY NOTICE ALL THE TORPEDOES CIRCLING BACK?

The New York Times just published an opinion by Daniel Richman titled ‘The Epstein Files Should Never Have Been Released’ pic.twitter.com/TPF4cLLu3n

— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) February 23, 2026

More from Ed Morrissey: NYT Disclosure Fail.

I thought the name on this column sounded familiar. Richman is a friend of Comey’s who had possession of memos by Comey that the former FBI Director had leaked through him as a way to force the appointment of a special counsel in 2017. Judicial Watch discovered the deception in 2019 after going to court over a FOIA demand:

On June 8, 2017, Comey testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee that he leaked memos of his conversations with President Trump “because (he) thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel.” Columbia University Law professor Daniel Richman, a friend of Comey’s, reportedly“turned over copies of the former FBI director’s explosive memos … to the FBI, sidestepping a request by congressional committees to deliver the materials to Capitol Hill.”

The Justice Department previously argued to the court in a separate case that Comey’s leak of the memo regarding former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was unauthorized and compared it to WikiLeaks. Comey admitted to Congress regarding the “Flynn” memo, “I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter [for The New York Times] … I asked him to because I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel.” The New York Times published a report about the memo on May 16, 2017. Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed the following day.

Interestingly, neither Richman nor Comey disclose this connection in this column, even though Richman specifically cites the Comey prosecution in his argument. Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Hmmmm, indeed.

MOSCOW ISN’T EXACTLY FLUSH THESE LAST FOUR YEARS, EITHER: Cuba’s Russian Rescue Fantasy Falls Apart.

GOOD: CDL tests will become English only.

In a press conference, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Administrator Derek Barrs said the move will “strengthen safety and integrity on America’s roads.”

In addition to testing in English, the registration system will be updated with identification verification. Noncompliant CDL training centers and carriers will also be addressed.

“What we’re doing is implementing a rule that will say there’s one language in which you can take your test – it’s English only,” Duffy said. “You take the test in English. You can’t speak English; you can’t read English – you’re not going to do well on the test.”

Most signage in America, including electronic emergency messaging, is in English.

States will be asked to disqualify drivers not meeting English proficiency standards.

“We’ve got to hold every link in the chain accountable as we move through this entire process,” Barrs said.

If you can’t read the language of our roadsigns, you shouldn’t have a CDL.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: We Need to Talk About Artemis. “Things can’t continue like this.”

HMM: Supreme Court petitioned to decide if chilling faculty speech violates First Amendment.

A conservative UT Austin finance professor has petitioned the Supreme Court to review his lawsuit, arguing that administrative threats that suppressed his free speech activity constitute unconstitutional retaliation — even though he has not been demoted or officially censured.

The petition for review describes Professor Richard Lowery as “an outspoken professor” who “has a history of speaking, posting, and publishing on controversial topics such as DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), affirmative action, academic freedom, viewpoint diversity, and capitalism.”

The request to the high court comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in October upheld the dismissal of the case, affirming a lower court’s decision that Lowery did not suffer from any real administrative retaliation for his outspokenness aside from “grumblings” and “informal pressure.”

“University of Texas officials threatened Professor Richard Lowery with reduced pay, loss of a research post, and other consequences, if he did not stop publicly criticizing the UT administration. Wishing to avoid those outcomes, Lowery self-censored,” Lowery’s Supreme Court petition states.

The petition claims court precedent has established that employer threats suffice to establish a First Amendment retaliation claim “if they would dissuade a reasonable employee from speaking,” calling the Fifth Circuit “one of two outlier courts that require a completed adverse action, such as a discharge, demotion, or reprimand.”

Stay tuned…