Closing the tabs -- for a while ...

🚨JASMINE CROCKETT CONFRONTED: REFUSES TO APOLOGIZE FOR HOT-WHEELS COMMENT!

"Why won't you apologize?!"

CROCKETT: "I put out a statement."

"That didn't have an apology in it."

CROCKETT: "So read my statement!"

"I did read it! It did not have an apology."

CROCKETT: "Okay.… pic.twitter.com/GqaGea2fNO

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 27, 2025

Ed: No one should expect an apology from Crockett. They should expect fundraising letters that whine about how Republicans are picking on a black woman in Congress. 

===

The protests began with an initial demonstration Tuesday in Beit Lahia, where protesters chanted anti-Hamas slogans as Palestinians also railed against the resumption of Israel's military offensive in Gaza, which has so far killed hundreds of people. Renewed fighting shattered a ceasefire deal after two months of relative calm.

It was not immediately clear who organized the protests or how many joined them with the intention of rallying against Hamas.

But some demonstrators told NBC News' crew that they had reached the limit of their suffering and blamed Hamas for failing to bring an end to the war.

Ed: Again, I remain skeptical that this means anything significant except that Hamas may be losing some control of the topside neighborhoods in parts of Gaza. Until these people pick up weapons and start fragging their leaders, though, don't expect too much to come of this. 

===

NEW: The View's Joy Behar tries slamming Trump, says she has never in her life remembered a sitting president trash the president who served before him.

I don't know what planet this woman has been living on.

Roll the tapes... 👇 pic.twitter.com/8iDTOJYBex

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 27, 2025

Ed: I sometimes think that politicians, pundits, and QBs in the NFL both need a certain level of amnesia to function successfully. Even with that, though, this is MiB-neuralizer levels. 

===

Two weeks after the Senate minority leader joined with Republicans to prevent a government shutdown, Democrats are still fuming over how he handled the standoff. But many in the party are conceding that they’re stuck with him for the time being.

With no obvious alternative to Schumer emerging nor any appetite among the vast majority of Senate Democrats for a messy leadership contest, lawmakers are indicating they are falling in behind the New Yorker and hoping for the best as they prepare for upcoming fights. Some frustrated Democratic donors have made the same calculation.

Ed: Like I just said ... 

===

Fox News has attracted 125 new blue-chip advertisers since the US election, as Rupert Murdoch’s cable television channel commands soaring audiences during Donald Trump’s second presidency.

Companies including Amazon, GE Vernova, JPMorgan Chase, Netflix and UBS have recently aired advertisements on Fox News for the first time in at least two years.

“Historically, after an election, networks will see ratings dips. When we saw an acceleration in ratings, we saw new advertisers coming in,” Jeff Collins, Fox Corp’s president of ad sales, said in an interview.  

Ed: Nothing succeeds like success. Get ready to see them return to X/Twitter, too. Eventually, advertisers go where the eyeballs are. 

===

Kamal Kharrazi, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, said on Thursday Tehran has not closed all doors to resolve its disputes with the United States and is ready for indirect negotiations with Washington.

Tehran has so far rebuffed U.S. President Donald Trump’s warning it to make a deal or face military consequences. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the message deceptive and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said talks are impossible unless Washington changes its “maximum pressure” policy.

“The Islamic Republic has not closed all doors. It is ready for indirect negotiations with the United States in order to evaluate the other party, state its own conditions and make the appropriate decision,” Kharrazi said, according to the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency.

Ed: Maybe the Iranians are paying more attention to Diego Garcia than the American media industry. 

===

🚨 NEW: Elon says @DOGE can cut 15% from the budget without affecting any critical government services:

"At a high level, we want to reduce the spending by eliminating waste—reduce the spending by 15%. Which seems really quite achievable. The government is not efficient and… pic.twitter.com/shy1lR6ixQ

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) March 27, 2025

Ed: Only 15%? I'd bet that number is actually higher.

===

Seattle didn’t need to do this. This wasn’t a last gasp at solvency. It was a plan to try and fund progressive programs like affordable housing on the back of the companies that were going to help people afford housing on their own.

But Seattle thought Amazon should do more. They figured they had so much going for them that the company wouldn’t downsize their operations there and beef them up in other cities with saner local governments.

They were wrong.

===

NEW: Las Vegas Metro Police say a search of Tesla firebombing suspect Paul Kim’s social media shows him with potential communist & pro-Palestine affiliations. They say they have a DNA match and showed video of him using a rifle to shoot out surveillance cameras before attack. pic.twitter.com/RykYhLzXEQ

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) March 27, 2025

Ed: Great work!

===

The headlines framed it as another Trump tariff story: Ontario Premier Doug Ford threatening a 25 percent retaliation on American energy exports. But the real story of the Northeastern energy crisis is more than cross-border drama and goes back well before the tariffs and trumpeting.

Ford's threat is the latest lash in a decades-long ritual of energy self-flagellation. U.S. regulators and lawmakers have been kneecapping American electricity production with regulation after regulation, smothering new projects in the name of preservation, wetlands, or the northeastern bulrush sedge—often before they even break ground. Instead of building up capacity, we import Canadian power to keep the emissions off our ledgers like mafia accountants, cleverly skirting the law while they convince the world they're making us cleaner, greener, and smarter, even as the lights flicker and the bills climb.

Ed: Worth a full read. It's not just the Northeast that exhibits this hypocrisy either. California is even more guilty of it, refusing to use fossil fuels to generate electricity while buying it from producers in Arizona and other states that use those same fuels. Gavin Newsom is governing by brownouts while his state's middle class flees for jurisdictions that allow for reliable energy access. 

===

Ed: See you in a week or so!