Tuesday's Final Word – HotAir
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Don’t you think the time is right for us to find all the tabs we thought weren’t proper could be right in time? …





Ed: Yep, that’s her, all right. Let’s not forget that Smith got to the Senate only because Senate Dems ran Al Franken out of town on a virtual rail for much less than the allegations against Graham Platner. Franken had mimicked groping a sleeping woman in a photo (without touching her) and had been accused of unwanted kissing of women on his radio show. Those weren’t nothing, but they pale in comparison to Platner’s allegations of actual violence against a former girlfriend and having worn a Nazi tattoo for almost two decades before being recruited to run for the Senate. Smith’s hypocrisy runs deep here. 

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Tara Palmeri: In the past 48 hours, I’ve been accused of taking money from AIPAC, running a Swift Boat campaign, serving up propaganda, accepting money from foreign governments, and—my personal favorite—being compared to “a walking mortadella.” (Ironically, my dog’s name is Pancetta.)

I was also warned that I was about to lose my audience. …

And it’s all because I dared to ask a fairly simple question: At what point does a political party decide winning matters more than the principles it claims to stand for?

That question has become unavoidable in Maine, where Democrats have rallied behind Senate candidate Graham Platner despite a growing list of controversies that, under different circumstances, they would argue are disqualifying.

Ed: What in the world is a “walking mortadella”? I’m part Italiano too, and … non lo so, paisan. The sharp reaction to a reporter just asking the question is pretty telling in and of itself. Palmeri goes beyond the questions and gets to the answers, too. Be sure to read it all. As I quipped to Tara, I may be more of a walking gabagool. 

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Ed: Even if he went into the military for other motives, it doesn’t excuse Platner from being a Nazi-tatted violent creep. This is a bizarre rationalization for ignoring Platner’s utter lack of accomplishment over his adult life after leaving the military, his violence toward women, and his Nazi SS tattoo and the lies he told about it.

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Ed: In the words of Vinny Gambini from “My Cousin Vinny”: “Come on, you can say it, they know.”

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Axios: Paramount has held preliminary conversations with several candidates for a business-side counterpart to CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, according to two sources familiar with the network’s inner workings.

Why it matters: The search implies that if Paramount Skydance’s deal with Warner Bros. Discovery goes through, Weiss would oversee all news editorial across both CBS News and CNN. Her potential counterpart would manage business operations across both companies. …

While a report suggested Paramount bosses were possibly eyeing ways to limit Weiss’ purview over linear coverage, a source familiar with the scouting process for this role told Axios that Weiss’ position is secure.

“The Paramount brass loves Bari Weiss. She has the full confidence of David Ellison, who believes Bari has done a fantastic job as editor-in-chief,” the source told us. “Bari has been involved with identifying people she would partner with on the business side.”

Ed: I’m a little surprised that Ellison will fuse the two news orgs this closely together, but only a little. There are cost savings that will accrue almost immediately, and that will be the biggest priority once this acquisition goes through. But that does leave a lot of rumor-mongers in the Protection Racket Media looking pretty foolish over their “Bari is on her way out” stories the past few weeks. 





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Ed: The Daily Beast has been obsessed with its “Bari is on the outs” reporting. Maybe they need better sources than the cranks at 60 Minutes. Especially after this week. 

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Daily Mail: Now, in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, the subject of an alleged 60 Minutes hit piece claims Pelley demonstrated all the qualities that he decries in CBS’s leaders – and in spades – when he interviewed her.

‘He was callous. He lacked empathy,’ claimed Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, a conservative group with more than 100,000 members across 48 states that advocates for parental rights in education.

Justice and fellow founder Tina Descovich, both former school board members, spoke to the flagship CBS News program in October 2023, as their organization faced fierce criticism over their objections to overtly sexualized content in public school libraries.

To support Justice’s allegations, Moms for Liberty has, for the first time, released the full unedited transcript of her 60 Minutes appearance, exclusively to the Daily Mail. 

Justice claims the transcript reveals the bias, arrogance and amateurism that pervaded Pelly’s work.

Ed: The fact that the 60 Minutes team didn’t disclose this when it happened reflects on the lack of integrity of previous management. It’s also a reminder that anyone who agrees to interviews with MSM outlets should record everything that transpires. 60 Minutes has been cooking interviews and stories for a long time now, and the ‘bias, arrogance and amateurism” problem was not limited to Pelley. 

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Ed: We can only hope!





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The mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression.

Ed: Proportional responses are akin to discussing “restraint” when dealing with Iran. Those have no deterrent value. In a war, the point is not to offer proportional responses, but to overwhelm and defeat your enemies. 

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Andrew C. McCarthy at NRO: To recap, the strait was open when Trump chose to start combat operations without public support or congressional authorization, without clarity about the objectives, and with reckless assumptions that Iran would rapidly surrender rather than close the strait and attack regional U.S. bases and allies — notwithstanding that the armed forces and intelligence agencies warned the president that these were very real possibilities. Now, the strait is closed with the prospect that Iran will toll it going forward — a prospect that would inspire other rogue governments to toll other trade routes and erode freedom of the seas, heretofore a vital American interest, key to American prosperity.

Trump got us to this point, and the choice is now stark: combat operations to defeat the regime at least to the point of forfeiting its rogue claim to control the strait, or withdrawal of our forces with the strait under Iranian control. The latter would mark a humiliating American defeat. Despite the significant damage done to Iran’s regime and its capacity to project power by American and Israeli forces during the last year, a withdrawal with Iran asserting dominion and control over a vital international waterway would reverse the deterrence of Iran that Trump had reestablished through Operations Midnight Hammer and Epic Fury.

To echo Noah’s excellent column, the enemy here is Iran, not Israel – and the “Death to America” regime is our enemy first and foremost, despite its virulent Jew hatred. 





Ed: This is a grim assessment, but it’s accurate. Trump somehow got so obsessed with cutting a deal that he inverted enemies and allies in the region. The “proportionate” response won’t impress anyone, least of all the Iranians. 

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Ed: It’s sending a message. It’s not the one that Trump and his team think it is. 

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NY Times: The House on Tuesday narrowly passed Republicans’ $70 billion immigration enforcement bill, as the G.O.P. banded together to steer around unified Democratic opposition and send President Trump legislation to fund his deportation crackdown through the end of his term.

The vote was 214 to 212 along party lines, with every Democrat opposed. The action capped a tempestuous and dysfunctional journey to push through the multiyear bill to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

Republicans did so using a maneuver that was never supposed to be employed for routine spending, after Democrats refused to fund the agencies unless changes were made following the fatal shooting of two Americans by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis.

Its passage was a major victory for Republican leaders in Congress, who had toiled for weeks to unite their conference around legislation that Mr. Trump had demanded they pass, and that G.OP. lawmakers were eager to advance ahead of midterm elections in which they are fighting to keep control of the House and Senate.

Ed: Cry harder, Gray Lady. The GOP used reconciliation exactly how Democrats have used it in the past to create sweeping programs that have nothing to do with deficit reduction. Hate the game, not the playa, six words I hope never to write again in that sequence. Anyway, congratulations to Mike Johnson for pulling another rabbit out of a hat, and good luck on the next budget cycle. 

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After negotiations fell apart in the Senate, Republicans simply went around Dems and funded Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda on their own, & Dems were powerless to stop it. 

And this is *on top* of the money ICE & CBP already got in the One Big Beautiful Bill last year. 

ICE & CBP now have more money coming to their coffers than they ever would have if there had been no DHS shutdown.

Ed: It’s yet another Schumer Shutdown win! They played themselves out of leverage for even modest and bipartisan reforms. On the other hand – and this may be part of the strategy – Dems forced Republicans to use their one reconciliation envelope on what should have been normal agency funding, rather than the SAVE America Act or other projects. (I doubt that the SAVE American Act would have survived a parliamentary review, AKA the Byrd Bath.)

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Glenn Reynolds: Now the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument frame a lovely body of clear, clean water that doesn’t stink like a swamp.

And that’s just one part of Trump’s ongoing “Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful” program, which has been methodically cleaning and repairing ornamental fountains throughout DC, some of which had been inoperative for decades.

The formerly graffiti-covered and trash-filled Columbus Plaza fountain outside Union Station is now gleaming and functioning, as are fountains in Lafayette Park, Meridian Hill Park and more.  

Well, Trump is a developer, and he likes things pretty — but there’s more to it than that. 

By beautifying America’s capital city, Trump wants to encourage us to be proud of America itself. 

Ed: Indeed. Read it all, and then recall why Washington DC existed in its earlier form – to impress upon citizens, foreign dignitaries, and visitors alike the strength and character of the American people. Unfortunately, our national character has declined, and that’s been reflected in the Reflecting Pool, among many other places in the capital and in our major cities. It’s time to rebuild that strength and character. 





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… are doing what Tim Walz refused to do.

Ed: The best way to get accountability would be for Minnesotans to elect Republicans to these offices. I hope Tafoya will win her Senate race in November, but it will take new leadership in state offices to restore Minnesota’s reputation for clean and effective government. 

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Ed: If you don’t know enough to tell your five boys that murder is wrong and using deadly force to settle a verbal argument will put you in prison for life, perhaps you didn’t have any business raising those five boys in the first place. This is stupid on stilts. 

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Lyric for last night: “Ghost Riders In the Sky” by many artists, but this one’s my favorite.


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