Thursday's Final Word | by Ed Morrissey – HotAir
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Saluting the tabs …





Ed: Yawn. To quote SNL back when it was actually funny, “surveys show that no one was listening and no one cared.” It’s empty gestures all the way down with Democrats these days. 

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The Democratic leader did face a bit of frustration from his caucus for leaving even his inner circle in the dark about his plans.

  • “No one is upset Hakeem wanted to do this, but to not tell members, ‘be prepared, book multiple flights, be flexible,'” one House Democrat vented, grumbling that it is particularly hard to rebook flights around the July 4 holiday.
  • Another House Democrat fumed that a “heads up would have been nice.”

Ed: Quelle surprise. Jeffries didn’t even bother to check with his own caucus before launching this grandstanding effort on the day before a national holiday. Hope Democrats really enjoy the Swamp on Independence Day. 

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Ed: Hey, you can stop, I was already supporting this bill! But seriously — why should that be a problem? Planned Parenthood is a private business with no entitlement to government funds. 

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Ed: I don’t know about stupidity, but it was a waste of time and attention. Jeffries just wanted a record. Well, congrats. That and $5 will get you a latté at Starbucks … well, maybe $6. 





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Jeffries, visibly energized as he invoked his “magic minute” privilege, railed against Trump’s 800-page bill, which packages a broad array of policies into one sweeping legislative push. But as the New York Democrat read letters from constituents he said would be harmed by the bill’s provisions, edging toward breaking the House record, pro-Trump personalities were busy resurfacing some of his own words from the past.

“The filibuster is a Jim Crow era relic that has been used to stop progress for decades. Enough,” Jeffries wrote on X in 2021, a tweet that MAGA allies are now weaponizing against his extended floor protest.

Ed: “Weaponizing”? Is it a semi-automatic tweet, or is it a full machine-tweet? An assault tweet? What a bunch of pusillanimous poseurs we have in the commentariat. Critics are calling Jeffries out for his hypocrisy, that’s all. Instead, Mediaite gives us Republicans “seiz[ing],” “weaponizing,” etc. 

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Ed: When they tell you who they are, believe them. Kudos to Piers on this, too. Well done. 

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Under law, marijuana is a Schedule I substance, meaning it has no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Mr. Biden initiated a process to move pot to Schedule III, thereby labeling it a medicine with only moderate abuse potential. Mr. Trump must decide whether to move ahead with the change.





He shouldn’t. Rescheduling would bolster a socially disastrous legal weed industry that has spread crime and disorder in the streets. Containing that chaos instead of spreading it would be in line with the president’s mandate.

Ed: I’m not crazy with leaving it at Schedule I, but the decade-plus experiments with legalization at state levels has not gone very well. It hasn’t yet wrung out the criminal elements of the trade, and the intensified dosage levels really have created chaos in the streets, and perhaps a rise in mental illness as well. The law-and-order goals of the administration are likely going to be incompatible with legalized marijuana. Be sure to read the whole essay. 

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Ed: Oh, they have no problem with destroying Western civilization. They endorse that kind of nihilism. 

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“The new Syrian president has demonstrated unprecedented openness and opened direct lines of communication with Israel for security and military coordination in southern Syria,” the Syria source stated.

He added that the return of parts of the Golan Heights, beyond those seized by Israel in Syrian territory by the IDF after the fall of the Assad regime, is critical for domestic public opinion to support such a step.





“Al-Sharaa would likely face significant internal resistance should he fail to do so,” the source stated.

Ed: The Israelis will want some guarantees from al-Sharaa for either of these options to work. I doubt that the current government would hand back anything other than the portions Israel seized after Assad’s fall, which had been buffer zones during his reign; maybe al-Sharaa would be satisfied with that. But he’s got a point when he says that “There is no such thing as peace for free,” and Netanyahu will understand that approach, which is still a helpful sign. 

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Ed: Why should she wait? She should relocate to Gaza now. Or Iran, or Afghanistan. She can experience life without Western values right away!

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Ed: This was from eight years ago, when Reason TV’s Remy pretty much previewed Hakeem Jeffries’ 8-hour speech. Remy fit it into less than two minutes, too. REMY FOR CONGRESS!

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Why did I choose this year to finally hang the flag? There’s no one answer, no single reason. An accumulation of ordinary life experiences has led me to the realization that I absolutely, deeply love the best that this country has to offer—as well as some of the worst. Not only blue jeans and jazz music and snowboarding and Walt Whitman and Zora Neale Hurston, but also McDonald’s and televangelists and monster trucks and, sure, even the chaotic political mayhem that is an indispensable part of living in a wildly heterogeneous democracy.





More than anything it’s the thought of losing all that we have that has made me want to stand up for it. With the fog of youthful indignation finally cleared, I can see how much I admire the core values of this country. I am awed by the brilliant design of the founders. I am filled with gratitude and appreciation for the dazzling feats we have accomplished in just 250 years. Yes, America is imperfect. But so is everything: family and work and life. This is my country—the only one I’ve got—and I believe in it. That’s why I finally got my flag out of the closet.

Ed: Happy Independence Day to all our readers, and to Larissa Phillips, the author of this excellent essay. 





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