He’s clicking his tabs, he’s ready to win, on the hunt tonight for love at first sting …
Not only does the NYT response fall woefully short — it actually strengthens Israel’s legal case against it.
1. Kristof minimizes Euro-Med’s chairman as someone whose views “can’t be taken lightly” — while failing to note a documented record that includes an Israeli… https://t.co/KxfmA67HpS
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) May 22, 2026
1. Kristof minimizes Euro-Med’s chairman as someone whose views “can’t be taken lightly” — while failing to note a documented record that includes an Israeli anti-terrorism order against Abdu personally, and a brother-in-law who was a senior Hamas military commander.
2. Kristof cited peer-reviewed medical literature as scientific validation for the dog rape allegation. But that literature documents human-initiated bestiality and one accidental pet incident. Not one paper describes a dog trained to assault a human on command.
3. One of his only two named sources filed a petition with the Israeli Supreme Court after his detention, with lawyers, complaining about the food. He never mentioned rape. The Times calls this “additional details over time.” That’s not how things work.
4. Former PM Olmert accused Kristof of misrepresenting his words in the original column. The Times response doesn’t mention him once.
5. The Times confirmed its legal team reviewed the column before publication. Those internal communications now potentially exist for discovery.
The Times thought this response would put the story to bed. But what it actually does is hand Israel’s lawyers new material on a silver platter.
Ed: Did we expect the NYT to call out its star columnist? This was a CYA review, not a serious investigation into the absurd claims from Hamas that Kristof laundered into his “opinion” piece at the NYT.
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Axios: President Trump convened a meeting with his senior national security team on the war with Iran on Friday morning, two U.S. officials told Axios.
Why it matters: Trump is seriously considering launching new strikes against Iran barring a last-minute breakthrough in negotiations, sources who have spoken directly with the president say. …
A source close to Trump and a second source with knowledge of the situation told Axios that Trump had grown increasingly frustrated about the negotiations with Iran over the past several days.
On Tuesday, he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he wanted to give diplomacy another chance, but by Thursday night he was leaning toward ordering a strike, the two sources said.
Ed: John wrote about the signal sent from Trump’s sudden travel change this afternoon. I’m skeptical that Trump will launch attacks again, although he should. There is a middle path: putting an end to all talks, sticking with the blockade, and telling the Iranian people that the time has come to rise up. As I wrote this morning, Trump’s allies in Congress are starting to run low on patience, so maybe Trump is ready to act. We’ll see.
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Wicker says Trump is getting bad advice on a deal with Iran and should finish off their military pic.twitter.com/keEBY8UyCX
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) May 22, 2026
“We must finish what we started. It is past time for action.”
Ed: That’s exactly correct. The IRGC has no intention of engaging in good-faith negotiations over nuclear weapons, let alone terrorism and missile threats. Time to make them pay the price for that.
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Free Beacon: Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) is pressing the Trump administration to immediately sanction any country or entity helping Iran establish a “toll booth” in the Strait of Hormuz that could net the hardline regime as much as $2 million per vessel. The senator says that he is crafting new legislation that will aid the Trump administration’s efforts to stop Iran from bullying vessels in the pivotal shipping corridor, according to a copy of Cotton’s request obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The letter sent Thursday to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is a direct response to Iran’s efforts to create a “permanent Hormuz toll system” in the strait along with Oman, a major U.S. ally. The rumored efforts have already drawn a sharp rebuke from the Trump administration, which says that any type of Iranian-controlled toll system will detonate ongoing talks around a permanent ceasefire plan.
“Any individual, entity, or nation that lends legitimacy to Iran’s illegal toll booth is enabling the IRGC and undermining the global trading system,” Cotton wrote. “Beyond the immediate revenue it generates for the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps], formal recognition of their scheme by any government, shipowner, or financial institution would violate the principle of freedom of navigation and set a dangerous precedent for other coastal states near the world’s critical maritime routes.”
Ed: The legislative approach is the best in this case, and it will likely get some bipartisan support. However, that’s not a full substitute for action. We need to respond with military force to any piracy and extortion in international waters, regardless of where they are.
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The Iranian regime would love nothing more than for Congress to tie the President’s hands in the middle of a crisis. That’s exactly what the Iran War Powers Resolution would do.
Iran has spent decades funding terrorist proxies, murdering Americans, attacking our allies,…
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) May 22, 2026
Iran has spent decades funding terrorist proxies, murdering Americans, attacking our allies, targeting commercial shipping, and openly chanting “Death to America.” Now some in Congress want to advertise to that regime that they must pre-approve every possible military response.
That’s not restraint. That’s strategic stupidity.
No one is calling for another Iraq War. But removing credible deterrence from the Commander in Chief in the middle of an escalating conflict only emboldens the regime in Tehran and the terrorists they bankroll.
Peace through strength still matters. Weakness gets people killed.
Ed: Exactly. Crenshaw and Trump don’t always align, and that makes this argument from Crenshaw even more important.
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WSJ: A five-week-old U.S. naval blockade has trapped much of Iran’s oil inside the Persian Gulf, forcing Tehran to pump stranded barrels into rapidly filling storage tanks and aboard a flotilla of ships nearby.
U.S. officials are betting that when Iran exhausts places to stash the oil, it will face a costly, high-risk shutdown of its oil fields, forcing Tehran to blink in negotiations over its nuclear program and the wider conflict.
The U.S. government, oil traders and private analysts, however, are divided over exactly how much time Tehran has until it reaches “tank tops,” industry parlance for running out of storage.
Estimates of Iran’s onshore capacity range widely from 57% to 90% full, meaning Tehran could hit the wall in days—or hold out for weeks. Slowly throttling wells and using idle ships as floating storage are further helping Iran stretch the clock.
Ed: I had hoped that this would checkmate the regime too. Unfortunately, the IRGC doesn’t care as much about its energy infrastructure as it cares about developing nuclear weapons. The only way to ensure that the IRGC doesn’t develop nuclear weapons or more missiles and drones now is to demolish the rest of their military-industrial infrastructure, including energy and transportation. Time to stop screwing around and get it done.
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Is this $200+ billion dollar “high-speed” rail a policy failure? Of course.
But if the goal was simply to commandeer tax dollars for distribution to politically-connected constituencies then I’d imagine those with that goal are probably quite pleased. https://t.co/g6LhUdbck4
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) May 22, 2026
Ed: The grift has been the point all along. Newsom actually bragged last year about employing 10,000 people as an achievement that justified the outlay, while not a single mile of high-speed track had yet been laid in 17 years. And still hasn’t to this very day, either.
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California Post: The wife of the elderly San Diego man brutally beaten outside his MAGA-inspired “Trump House” said there’s “no hope” for her husband after the vicious attack left him fighting for his life.
Kerry Sheron, 69, was in critical condition following the violent assault outside his Escondido property on Wednesday afternoon.
His wife, Maria, revealed to The California Post through tears that her husband isn’t expected to survive.
The alleged assailant, 32-year-old Escondido resident Thomas Caleb Butler, was arrested on attempted murder charges and faces life in prison if convicted.
Ed: Absolutely horrifying. The video of her interview (in Spanish) is utterly heartbreaking.
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Platner is a pathetic keyboard warrior who spends his time attacking American heroes. We all got PTSD, but we didn’t get Nazi tattoos and wish death upon our fellow warriors. pic.twitter.com/MYIptGrsH4
— Tim Sheehy (@TimSheehyMT) May 22, 2026
Ed: The fact that Democrats think they can contextualize Platner’s Nazi symbology and online s***posting by claiming that it’s part of the veteran culture is yet another demonstration of their disconnect from middle America. Expect a lot more veterans to speak up about this in the next few months. Every Republican running in House and Senate races should make Platner an issue.
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Fox News: Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is walking back earlier comments urging consumers to boycott Starbucks, as tensions grow over Seattle’s relationship with major employers and the coffee giant expands its footprint outside Washington state.
Wilson, a democratic socialist elected last year on a progressive, labor-backed platform, told The New York Times this week that comments she made during a Starbucks worker strike last fall were not productive.
“Those comments were not productive in the sense that they caused more harm than good,” Wilson told the outlet.
The remarks marked a notable shift in tone from comments Wilson made shortly after winning Seattle’s mayoral race in November, when she joined Starbucks workers on a picket line outside the company’s former Reserve Roastery on Capitol Hill and urged residents to boycott the hometown coffee chain.
“I am not buying Starbucks and you should not either,” Wilson said at the rally, according to KUOW. She later led protesters in chants supporting striking workers.
Ed: Maybe someone explained the concept of “tax base” to Wilson. She made national news with her flippant “like, bye” a few weeks ago to wealthy residents who leave to escape the onerous tax and regulatory environment and take their capital with them. Texas and Florida are happy to receive them, as long as they don’t bring the politics that create those environments with them.
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He was a senile old man, and such men are prone to rages, and that aide could have told the world about it and triggered the 25th Amendment but he didn’t, so he trashes Biden behind his back even now. Cowardice is so unattractive. https://t.co/qpSDUrlhDi
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) May 22, 2026
Ed: Everyone with eyes could see that Biden’s cognitive health had failed. The outbursts were part of that, but hardly the only evidence in clear public view. This gutless, anonymous “White House aide” was part of the cover-up that gaslit American voters by pretending that Biden was “Sharp As a Tack™,” that video evidence of Biden’s decline were “deep fakes,” and who insisted that Biden was more than capable of fulfilling a second term.
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Evan Barker at The Free Press: The report urges Democrats to retain their focus on cities and the suburbs while fighting for as many rural votes as possible. But inside the party, strategists continue to believe that turning out the base will get them to victory. Progressives specifically believe that if the party moves in their direction, turnout will spike and victory will be assured. And so far, it is the progressives who are winning the argument, which is why progressive Senate candidates like Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed and Maine’s Graham Platner are enjoying success in historically purple states.
In many ways, the report prompts debates that Democrats are not yet ready to have. This is why, at the beginning of the report, Martin placed a literal disclaimer stating that the views expressed in the report do not reflect the views of the DNC. The party is so in thrall to its base that it had to distance itself from its own report. And the base has become so self-radicalized that it can’t see how unpopular progressive ideology, especially when it comes to cultural issues, is to the median American voter.
Ed: The report is another form of cowardice by the Democrat establishment. It won’t address the cover-up, the switcheroo, the identity politics that forced them to anoint an entirely incompetent replacement, and the vacuousness of their obsession with Trump as their only platform. Martin’s disclaimer is the perfect dollop of cowardice and incompetence on the entire exercise. Maybe he’s hoping to write a book in the Now It Can Be Told genre, like so many media outlets.
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🚨🚨A 17-year-old Virginia girl is MISSING, last seen traveling with a 39-year-old felon who Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano let walk free with time served because his office botched the child sexual abuse case against him involving an 11-year-old boy.… pic.twitter.com/qmiGJJNST2
— Nick Minock (@NickMinock) May 22, 2026
Police say they might be traveling out of state.
Please SHARE. Let’s find Autumn Van Zandt so she can return safely to her family.
Call the Fredericksburg Police Department if you see them or have any information. 540-373-3122 … New: the Fredericksburg Police Department issued warrants for Ronnie Reel’s arrest. Police believe Reel and Autumn may be in the Woodbridge area. Police say it’s unclear how they’re traveling.
Ed: Yet another example of a Soros-backed prosecutor letting predators run free to find more victims. The update is from a more recent tweet. Let’s bring Autumn home as soon as possible, and hopefully the voters in Fairfax County will send Descano packing just as quickly.
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Chevron is now my only gas station. I will be purchasing there daily.
And I drive a @Tesla. https://t.co/TK04mX5llb
— John Ondrasik (@johnondrasik) May 22, 2026
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The Civil Aviation Authority of the Islamic Republic of Iran (CAA.IRI) has issued a Notice-to-Airmen (NOTAM) for Iranian Airspace, closing all but a handful of airports in the western part of the Tehran Flight Information Region (OIIX), which will only be open for commercial… pic.twitter.com/Bwl4OLHY2u
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) May 22, 2026
Ed: Hmmm.
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