B-Man

The Gaza Ceasefire Ends Saturday. Will the War Resume? John Sexton In order to appreciate where we are right now with the Gaza ceasefire, you have to compare it to what was supposed to happen. The idea was to create a 6-week ceasefire, known as phase one, during which Hamas would hand over Israeli hostages, often 3-4 at a time, and Israel would respond to by freeing Palestinian prisoners, often hundreds at a time. And while this temporary truce was in place Israel and Hamas would discuss plans for phase two in which a) all the remaining hostages would be released and b) the war would finally end with some plan for the future of Gaza having been reached. So here we are just days away from the deadline that will mark the end of phase one and things are not going as planned. In Israel, people have rejoiced every time hostages are released. The whole thing is televised in real time, but Hamas has turned the releases into a sad spectacle where the hostages are paraded through a small army of Hamas fighters and forced to sign documents and wave to the cameras as if they are cheerfully saying goodbye to their captors. All of these people were kidnapped, many have lost family members to Hamas violence and they've been held captive for more than a year, often starved and forced to work like servants in the households where they stayed. None of them feel like waving fond goodbyes to their captors but Hamas is determined to put on a show. And then you had the handover of Shiri Bibas and her two children last Thursday. This family in particular has really impacted a lot of Israelis because the children were so young (4 years and 9 months) and because video of them being abducted showed the tremendous fear on the face of their mother. {snip} So what will happen next? Most likely the US will intervene and try to extend the ceasefire to allow for a few more exchanges of hostages/prisoners. There is probably a limit on this process however as there are only about 60 hostages left. Hamas won't be willing to release them all because then they would have no leverage left to prevent Israel from resuming the war. At this point it's hard to see how the ceasefire can last long term unless Islamic states demand an end to Hamas. https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2025/02/25/the-gaza-ceasefire-ends-saturday-will-the-war-resume-n3800179

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3 in 4 college-age voters support Trump’s DOGE cuts: poll. https://www.thecollegefix.com/3-in-4-college-age-voters-support-trumps-doge-cuts-poll/ .

Trump is good at explaining the "5 bullet points" email. I've been critical of what looked too harsh and unnecessarily scary, but Trump made it sound better to me in that clip (which is part of a press conference yesterday with Macron). As Trump put it: "A lot of people are not answering because they don't even exist." The email is at test that at least separates everyone into 2 groups, those who answered and those who did not answer. Among those who did not answer is some number of employees who are simply not there at all. "That's how badly" the government is run, Trump asserts. Some who don't answer could still exist, but at least the nonexistent workers would be concentrated among the nonanswerers. (An answer could come "from" a nonexistent worker could answer by fraud.) Posted by Ann Althouse

The Media Headlines on Dan Bongino's FBI Deputy Director Appointment Were Something Else NYT: Right-Wing Commentator Named F.B.I. Deputy Director BBC: Trump names podcaster Dan Bongino as deputy FBI director WaPo: Trump announces conservative podcaster Dan Bongino as FBI deputy director NPR: What to know about Dan Bongino, the media personality tapped as FBI deputy director Politico: Trump names podcaster Dan Bongino to be second-in-command at FBI While Bongino is indeed all of those things and there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of them, the purpose behind the headlines was to - as they did with Kash Patel - diminish Bongino's qualifications to be the second in charge at the FBI. Though most people reading this know he has extensive Secret Service and law enforcement experience, not everyone out there is familiar with Bongino's background. Because oftentimes people only read social media headlines instead of the full piece (which the press counts on), the idea was to get them to question the wisdom of Bongino being appointed to such an important position with his "only" qualifications (as they tried to portray them) being that he was a popular conservative commentator and was fiercely loyal to Trump. https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2025/02/25/media-headlines-on-dan-bonginos-fbi-appointment-n2185988

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TOO SOON ? .

* For Joe, Data didn't really say that. .

Good work lefties. Nearly five years after the 2020 BLM-Antifa riots and the woke insanity from local Democrats, Portland, Ore. is now in an "urban doom loop." High-paying taxpayers are leaving the city, businesses continue to shut down and tax revenue is drying up. Portland also ranks second to last in 81 cities for outside investment in a survey by the Urban Land Institute. Meanwhile, Oregon's governor Gov Tina Kotek says her priority during the second Trump presidency is stockpiling abortion pills and protecting the transitioning of minors and allowing males to play in female sports.

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LOL .

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Trans athlete misses California girls’ basketball playoff game amid Trump admin probe, protesters – and team loses by 26 By Jackson Thompson A transgender basketball player was absent from a girls’ playoff game in California on Saturday night after a week of national media attention and controversy. The trans athlete had led San Francisco Waldorf’s girls’ basketball team to a 9-8 record and a playoff meeting against Cornerstone Christian School. But in the trans athlete’s absence, San Francisco lost to Cornerstone 56-30. https://nypost.com/2025/02/23/sports/trans-athlete-misses-california-girls-basketball-game-amid-trump-admin-probe-protests/