"Senate Democrats say privately that they will not allow the government to shut down on Saturday, despite growing pressure from activists and liberal lawmakers who want them to kill a GOP-crafted six-month stopgap spending bill.

"Senate Democratic sources say Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) is giving plenty of room to centrists in his caucus to vote for the House-passed continuing resolution (CR) if doing so is the only way to avoid a government shutdown at week's end.

"And one Democratic senator familiar with the internal deliberations said Senate Democrats will ultimately vote to keep the government open, despite the rumblings of liberals within their caucus who are heaping scorn on the House-passed funding bill.

"Still, the private assurances don't rule out the possibility that something unexpected could happen to change the political calculus."

Read the entire article here.

"The Department of Education announced Tuesday it was firing nearly half of its workforce, the latest Trump administration move to shrink the federal government that could face swift legal challenge.

"A senior department official said 1,315 staffers will be let go and received the notification Tuesday.

"The Education Department started President Trump's second term with more than 4,000 employees, but even before Tuesday, hundreds had already been put on leave or had taken a buyout offer.

"After this reduction, there will be 2,183 employees left with the department, which Trump has repeatedly called to shutter completely."

Read the enitre article here.

"'Making Iran Broke Again' has a nice ring to it.

"After four years of shady appeasement by the Biden administration, Iran's bloodthirsty regime is under pressure again -- and just in the nick of time, before it finesses its nuclear weapons capability.

"Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hammered Iran in his speech to the Economic Club of New York last week, foreshadowing harsh new sanctions and a long-overdue crackdown on the Islamist regime's black-market oil economy.

"Iran's sanctions fraud was a dirty little not-so-secret of the Biden administration, known to intelligence agencies and hedge fund traders alike."

Read the entire article here.

"I am a middle-aged dad, and to quote Abe Simpson, a minor character from a show that was popular 30 years ago, 'I used to be with "it," then they changed what "it" was. Now what I'm with isn't "it," and what's "it" seems weird and scary to me. It'll happen to you!'

"Obviously, I am no longer an arbiter of what's cool, if I ever was one. If anything, my superpower is that I am old enough to be emotionally, socially, and financially secure, such that I get to care about things on the merits and am otherwise immune to feeling like I should approve of something because of its cultural cache.

"Which brings me to the Democrat party. I have a decades-long written record of disagreeing with their policies on the merits, and they've become so uncool I actually feel bad for them. I can't watch them right now without experiencing second-hand embarrassment. Now I'm sure there are many fine folks on the former bird app who are willing to angrily disabuse me of the notion I should feel bad for Democrats, and fair enough. But great Odin's raven, what are Democrats doing to themselves? (If you're keeping score, that reference is 21 years old.)"

Read the entire articel here.

"In normal times, the run-up to a presidential address to Congress would be filled with reports and guesses about what the president would say.

"There was plenty of that this week, but an inordinate amount of the focus in Washington was on how Democrats would react to Donald Trump.

"How many would boycott? How would the members dress? Would they hoot and holler, or maybe march out in an organized pro-test?

"In the end, it didn't matter.

"They were a sad, shrunken presence, especially after one of their main stooges, Rep. Al Green of Texas, got himself ejected early on by repeatedly interrupting.

"He was the lucky one. Those Dems who stayed were like fish out of water, waving their silly little paddles and representing nothing except resistance to whatever Trump said or did."

Read the entire article here.

"Europeans are boasting about plans for a greater role in aiding Ukraine in its war with Russia and taking on their own security, but they continue to drink down Russian oil as they may be allowing their own militaries to become weak and severely depleted.

"In the fallout from the Oval Office fracas between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, European countries led by France and the United Kingdom have proposed unilaterally shouldering a greater defense burden and supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia.

"However, despite supposedly hard-hitting sanctions and tough talk towards Russia, Europe's lack of adherence when it comes to Russia's energy industry is mismatched with its rhetoric. A recent study found that Europe's purchases of Russian oil and gas in 2024 eclipsed its total financial aid to Ukraine that same year."

Read the entire article here.

"We have previously discussed polling showing the media at record lows in public trust. Well, the latest survey from Gallup shows that the media hit another all-time low. What is most impressive is that plummeting readers, revenues, and layoffs have done little to convince the mainstream media that the problem is not the public but themselves. The only institution with a lower lower level of public trust is Congress, and that says a lot. It is like beating Ebola as the preferred communicable disease.Some 69 percent of Americans now say that they have no or little trust in the media. Only 31 percent say that they have a great deal or fair amount of trust. The trending line looks like the sales of buggy whips after the introduction of the Model T Ford. Gallop put it into sharp terms:

"'About two-thirds of Americans in the 1970s trusted the "mass media -- such as newspapers, TV and radio" either 'a great deal' or 'a fair amount' to "[report] the news fully, accurately and fairly.' By the next measurement in 1997, confidence had fallen to 53%, and it has gradually trended downward since 2003. Americans are now divided into rough thirds, with 31% trusting the media a great deal or a fair amount, 33% saying they do 'not [trust it] very much," and 36%, up from 6% in 1972, saying they have no trust at all in it.'"

Read the entire article here.

"I'm writing to let you know about a change coming to our opinion pages.

"We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. We'll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.

"There was a time when a newspaper, especially one that was a local monopoly, might have seen it as a service to bring to the reader's doorstep every morning a broad-based opinion section that sought to cover all views. Today, the internet does that job.

"I am of America and for America, and proud to be so. Our country did not get here by being typical. And a big part of America's success has been freedom in the economic realm and everywhere else. Freedom is ethical -- it minimizes coercion -- and practical -- it drives creativity, invention, and prosperity. ...

"I'm confident that free markets and personal liberties are right for America. I also believe these viewpoints are underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion. I'm excited for us together to fill that void."

Read Mr. Bezos' entire post on X here.

"America's least popular politician is the mayor of a large, economically critical city in a blue state -- but not the one who was, until recently, under federal indictment.

Nearly 800 miles west of New York City, where Mayor Eric Adams is fighting to keep his job after the Justice Department moved to drop his corruption case, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has seen his reputation collapse.

A recent poll from M3 Strategies, conducted between February 20 and 21, showed the Democrat -- who just two years into his tenure -- with a 6.6 percent approval, one of the worst showings for any major political figure in the country's history."

Read the entire article here.

"Despite broadly circulating left-wing narratives that the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was causing a cataclysmic drop in support for President Donald Trump's administration, a recent Harvard CAPS/Harris poll has substantially undercut that assertion.

"The survey, released Monday, showed Trump with a 50% approval rating, compared to a 43% disapproval figure. That number largely aligns with the RealClearPolitics polling average, which gives Trump a 49.3% approval rating and a 47.5% disapproval.

"Eighty-three percent of voters expressed a preference for cutting government spending to raising taxes, while 77% supported a broad review of government spending. Sixty percent of voters, moreover, believe that DOGE is currently helping the government to make major cuts."

Read the entire article here.