Wednesday's Final Word

AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana

Closing the tabs ...

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Ed: Well, we can hope, but I'm not quite there yet. These are good developments, but Hamas is dug in there, literally as well as politically. This isn't a situation where a technocratic dictator gets toppled, like Assad, in part because the population isn't armed. Popular unrest alone isn't going to eject Hamas from Gaza -- but it does open up some other opportunities. 

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Hundreds of Palestinians protested in northern Gaza on Tuesday to demand an end to war, chanting “Hamas out,” social media posts showed, in a second day of rare public show of opposition to the terror group.

The fact that protests against Hamas continued today and even expanded is “an indication that there is a shift in the public’s attitude toward Hamas,” an Israeli source said. Additionally, officials say the fact that protests have been ongoing for 48 hours shows they are indeed authentic.

The protests themselves, according to Israeli officials, began spontaneously. It is believed that the families from Beit Lahiya, whose relatives were hit by Israeli airstrikes, were the ones who started them.

Ed: Again, I'd advise taking this with a grain of salt. "Hundreds" of dissenters is a good first step, but that's a very small percentage of the population -- and Hamas has been tremendously popular in Gaza until now. That's in large part because Israel has played the Hamas Hokey Pokey for the last nineteen years. 

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Ed: Well, if they're protesting now because they know they're about to get destroyed, at least that is some kind of progress, in the sense that reality is dawning on them. But if they want to really end this war, then get the hostages out of Gaza and let the IDF know where Hamas leadership is located. They've had months to do that and still haven't chosen that path. 

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The vice president was hunkered down with her family. “We saw her maybe one time that whole night,” said one of her close insiders, when the VP “came back” to their section of the house. As the evening wore on, “it was just like, ‘What’s going on?’ The SG [second gentleman] would come in. Doug would say, ‘What’s happening?’ ” The realization grew that it was going to be a difficult night. One key indicator: Voles had summoned a photographer and a videographer. They were supposed to head to the Howard University campus with Harris for her victory speech. Instead, they cooled their heels.

The moment of truth came just after midnight. O’Malley Dillon huddled with her two best analytics experts. They were her barometer, her North Star, and when they told her they did not see a path, O’Malley Dillon knew there wasn’t one. She called the vice president. “We’re down in the blue wall states, and we’re not going to be able to make it up,” she said. “Oh, my God,” said Harris. “What is going to happen to this country?”

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Ed: I read this entire Vanity Fair piece about Harris' takeover, and one word comes to mind: Sanitized. This sounds very much like The Official Account, rather than the real skinny. Especially that last quote.

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... should be classified as top secret. Hegseth has said the contents of the messages, which included launch times and attack sequencing, was not classified. 

POTUS now planning to ask Hegseth for a classification review.

President Trump:  "Sure. I'll ask him... I'd certainly ask him to take a look at it."

Ed: Do I think coverage of this has been overblown? Yes. Do I think it has been hypocritical, given the media's lack of interest in roughly analogous Democrat administration security lapses? Yes. But this is still a screw-up, and it still requires some accountability. And I think it's reasonable to believe that the timing of a series of attacks on an enemy should probably have been considered a classified discussion. 

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Luigi Mangione violated the "special treatment" he was afforded for his last court appearance when handwritten notes were concealed inside a pair of argyle socks he was allowed to wear, New York City prosecutors said Wednesday in a new court filing.

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Mangione, who is accused of gunning down United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December, was given special accommodations for his "fashion needs" when he was allowed to change out of his jail-issued clothing before his Feb. 21 court appearance, according to the filing.

Ed: Why in God's name did anyone care about the "fashion needs" of a back-shooting coward? He's not in jail waiting for an arraignment for a DUI. He murdered a stranger in cold blood and hasn't even been coy about it. Last week, we found out that a quadruple murderer strangled his wife during a conjugal visit in a California prison, too. Since when do murderers get those kinds of privileges?

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Former Donald Trump prosecutors Fani Willis and Nathan Wade have been spotted together at LAX, despite previously claiming their relationship ended in 2023.

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The scandal-hit couple were seen lugging their suitcases through the airport, and exiting the Slapfish seafood restaurant inside the terminal. ...

The excursion casts doubt on their previous claims that their relationship ended two years ago, with Willis and Wade looking like any other couple

Ed: Perhaps they were ... lying? Heaven forfend! Or maybe they just got back together, the same way Richard Burton and Liz Taylor kept doing over the years. 

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Ed: IYKYK. 

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While the United States spends far more money than any other country on education, its younger grade school students lag far behind their global peers in ability to read, write and perform math. But, while the evidence of insufficient retention of knowledge is powerful, will states and parents do a better job?

This is the wrong question. The more urgent crisis is being ignored. About 44% to 50% of all kindergarten through grade 12 teachers resign or leave the profession within five years -- and about 30% after three.

This is the most critical reason for educational shortfalls. Until this shortage is redressed, and soon, simply complaining that students do not learn is a false representation. Can states and parents fix this crisis without U.S. government help?

Ed: The better question is whether the Dept of Ed is creating those issues. Federal mandates on curricula and interference with classroom discipline based on woke sensitivities likely has a lot to do with disillusionment of teachers in the compulsory education levels. And after 45 years of failure, the next best question is whether parents and local school boards could do better without federal interference. 

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Ed: And finally, via Power Line, this "I weep for the country" video from Liberty Hangout first published over the weekend. So much for the Department of Education, eh?


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