The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Chuck Schumer’s Sombrero Shutdown

Posted on | October 1, 2025 | Comments Off on Chuck Schumer’s Sombrero Shutdown

Perhaps you didn’t notice, but the federal government is “shut down” because they ran out of money. It’s all Kabuki theater, of course. Two weeks ago, the House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government going, but it got filibustered by Senate Democrats. Why? Well, six months ago, in a similar situation, Schumer threatened a shutdown before backing down — and then got roasted by his party’s left-wing grassroots nutjobs, who want to FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! against TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! Scorched by this blowback, Schumer decided this time he’d actually go over the cliff to appease the lunatic fringe Democrats, and so after the House passed its CR, Schumer and the Senate Democrats issued a laundry list of “demands.”

Well, guess what? Elections have consequences, and Republicans are in no mood to kowtow to Schumer’s lunatic fringe party. So the response to Chuck and his demands was, “OK, you really want to shut down the government? Do it. Double-dog dare ya, you little sissypants.”

Maybe they didn’t say that in so many words, but considering the nature of the Democrat demands — including funding free healhcare for illegal aliens — Republicans calculated that Schumer’s temper tantrum would hurt Democrats far worse than it might hurt Republicans. Despite polls showing the shutdown was a loser, Chuck did it anyways, so . . .

An AI video with a sombrero and cheesy Mexican music is not exactly my idea of statesmanship, but in its memetic function — making the point about taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegals as the basic Democratic demand, while also inviting mockery — this is excellent online messaging. It also projects the confidence at the White House, knowing that most voters are against the shutdown. In fact, 43% of Democrats don’t want it, so Schumer is losing, and Trump is winning.

Despite any apocalyptic rhetoric you might hear about the shutdown, it’s not like Democrats actually believe it:

We don’t know how long the Schumer Shutdown will last, but we do know that every day — heck, every hour — that it does, the Democrats will be screeching in front of every microphone they can find that it is the apocalypse for the American people.
But, as we all know by now, it is far more important to watch what Democrats do rather than listen to what they say.
And last night, we found out what Democrat leadership is planning for early October. (Hint: it does not involve negotiating with Republicans or fighting to serve the American people.)

(Hat-tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.) Democrats are completely cynical, using scare-mongering rhetoric to gin up hysteria among their dimwit voters, who aren’t smart enough to understand that they’ve being hoodwinked and bamboozled. It’s truly pathetic.



 

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Category: Chuck Schumer, Donald Trump

In The Mailbox: 09.30.25

Posted on | October 1, 2025 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 09.30.25

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Annie Agar reports on the NFL’s Week 4
Silicon Valley et Hamas delenda sunt.

He’s not wrong.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Good Guys 2, Bad Guys 0
EBL: The World’s Strongest Snapper, President Trump Delivers an Announcement, Saint Jerome, and The Village
Twitchy: Trump Launches Another Meme At Hakeem Jeffries Ahead of the Shutdown, Bulwark’s Bill Kristol Gets Dragged By Retired Colonel After Hegseth/Trump Tantrum, and John Kennedy Explains – The Schumer Shutdown Is All About Love
Louder With Crowder: Sunny Hostin thinks it’s so weird how Pete Hegseth believes there should be physical requirements for our military, Democrat governor, who calls Trump fascist, says it’s dangerous that Trump labels Democrats “fascist”, Muslim Democrat Senate candidate makes alarming anti-Second Amendment comments (and Michigan may elect this guy), JK Rowling SAVAGELY responds to Emma Watson now that the woke actress wants to be friends again, and Joy Reid freaks out on the DANGEROUS MAGA agenda of… making a lot of money and giving it to your children
Vox Popoli: A Real Russian Attack, Fake Democracy in Europe, Dear Vidiots, The Eighth Front, and The Weirdness Escalates
Cedar Sanderson: September in Writing
Incensepunk Magazine: Our Lady of the Asteroid Belt
Weird Catholic: Jerome The Lion

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: The Normalization of Assassination, also, Trump, Hegseth Address U.S. Generals
American Greatness: Rep. Darrell Issa Drafts Legislation for FBI ‘Most Wanted’ List of Antifa Leaders, Former FBI Director Comey Facing Possible Indictment for Lying to Congress, The Obamacare Sweeteners Poisoning Budget Negotiations, Federal Air Marshal Describes How His Wife Was Put on TSA Domestic Terror Watch List After Attending Trump J6 Rally, and Is There Any Role for the United Nations in Trump 2.0?
American Thinker: Why Trump Wants to Ban the Muslim Brotherhood – And Why America Should Care, Wise Up, New Yorkers! An Unabashed Paean to Curtis Sliwa, Revenge Or Justice, That Is The Question, Why Trump Hates His Enemies, and Trump Created An ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ Moment At The UN
Animal Magnetism: Goodbye, Blue Monday, also, Animal’s Daily Schedule Update News
BattleSwarm: Six Staffers Jailed At NHS “Hospital of Horrors”, “Here’s Some Money To Build A Library.” “Right. We’ll Use It To Hate Jews.”, Moldova Votes Against Moscow, and Scenes From The Transsexual Madness Rollback
Behind The Black: Inspector General says the state of NASA’s spacesuits on ISS is becoming critical, Next Starship/Superheavy test set for October 13, 2025, Firefly loses first stage for next launch when it explodes during static fire test, China launches two “test satellites”, and Study suggests low dose radiation reduces severe knee pain
Cafe Hayek: Thought Experiment – Trump Attends the Wedding at Cana, There’s Nothing Fishy About Free Markets, More on Alleged Middle-Class Economic Stagnation, and Progressives Played A Huge Role In Putting Trump In the White House
CDR Salamander: Russia’s Baltic Gambit
Chicago Boyz: The Milley Plan
Da Tech Guy: Ignoring the Kingdom of Noise
Don Surber: Trump Tower vs. Obama Library
First Street Journal: Who can seriously believe that this will happen?
Gates Of Vienna: Another Culture-Enriching Success Story in France, Culture-Enricher Molests Six Infidel Women in Three Days, An Object Lesson, Culture-Enriching Brawl in Gelsentürken, and We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Infidel Music
The Geller Report: PAID STOOGE – Greta Thunberg Funded By Hamas, Documents Show, Trump Vows to Reopen Mental Institutions, “One Of The Greatest Days Ever in Civilization”, FINALLY! Eric Adams Drips Out of NYC Mayoral Race, and ‘Make Assassinations Great Again’ Bumper Stickers and Music
Hollywood In Toto: Shane Gillis Drops Truth Bomb on Kimmel’s Defenders, What If One Battle After Another Glorified Right-Wing Terrorists? Why Wolf Man Deserves a Second Look, Strangers: Chapter 2 Is Best Film in Slasher Franchise, and Gabby’s Dollhouse – Please, Make It Stop!
Legal Insurrection: Feds Launch FACE Act Lawsuit Against Anti-Israel Protesters at NJ Synagogue, Backlash Forces UK’s NHS to Withdraw Report Praising First Cousin Marriage “Benefits”, Dems Plan Luxury Retreat in CA Wine Country While Complaining About Shutdown, Federal Judge Dismisses Lawsuit From Florida Professors Challenging DEI Funding Ban, and Hegseth Lays Out New Culture at Pentagon: No DEI, No Identity Months
Matt Taibbi: My Senate Testimony on Surveillance, Not Only Tulsi – Three Members Of Congress Also Spied On By Quiet Skies Program, Activism Uncensored – A Return To ICE Protests In Illinois, 
Outkick: University of Colorado Condemns Hateful Chants Toward BYU Fans, Football Team. Big 12 Fines CU, Tyreek Hill Might Have Played His Last Game For The Dolphins But He Goes Out With A Smile, Deion Sanders Apologizes, Blames A Group Of Drunk And High Kids For Anti-Mormon BYU Chants, Napheesa Collier Torches WNBA Commissioner: ‘Worst Leadership In The World’, Shohei Ohtani Belts Two Homers as Dodgers Roll Past Reds, and It’s That Time Of Year Again: Paige Spiranac Announces Her 31 Days Of Sexy Halloween Is Returning
Power Line: The Misbegotten Comey Indictment, Operation Twin Shield, Ms. Dhillon reports, Arrested for a Tweet, and Twice is coincidence
Shark Tank: Biggest Winners & Losers In Miami’s Fiery Mayoral Debate
Shot In The Dark: Conspiracy Theory
The Political Hat: Digital Big Brother Proposed In Michigan, also, The Totalization Of People And State
This Ain’t Hell: Troops Sue Military Housing LCC, Government Shutdown Again, Captain Dylan Blaha criticized President Trump’s use of the military in cities, WWII nurse, age 106, donates bullet from husband’s heart to Pearl Harbor museum, and Last? Tuskegee Airman dies
Victory Girls: Hillary Is Still Part Of The She-Woman-Man-Hater Club, Gavin Newsom Proves the Left Learned Nothing From Political Violence, and Temple to His Own Ego: Obama’s Chicago Library Pushes People Out
Watts Up With That: Trump’s UN Speech – The Climate Emperor Now Stands Exposed, Dr. Michael Mann finally gets his comeuppance, California needs Biomass Energy to Meet its Wildfire goals but its Policies Keep Burning them Down, Trump Admin Moves To Demolish Biden-Era Coal Crackdown, and Net Zero Hobbits Encounter Realities Outside Middle-earth
The Federalist: Georgetown U. Won’t Say How It’s Protecting Free Speech After Leftist Threats On Campus, Spanberger Refuses To Condemn Male Sex Offender Using Girls’ Locker Rooms, Democrats’ Relentless Demonizing Paves Way For The Next Political Assassination, The Left’s Love Affair With Terrorists Isn’t New — It’s The Playbook, and Justice Thomas Is Right. SCOTUS Has An Obligation To The Constitution, Not Bad Precedent
Mark Steyn: The Big Questions, A Trip to Space – The Right Stuff, The Seventh Age, Autumn Leaves, and The Terror Has Come

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Category: Linkagery

‘The Best People’: MSNBC’s Podcast for Trump Derangement Syndrome Sufferers

Posted on | September 30, 2025 | Comments Off on ‘The Best People’: MSNBC’s Podcast for Trump Derangement Syndrome Sufferers

Has anyone else ever wondered what happened to Nicolle Wallace? She entered politics as a Republican Party operative, becoming press secretary for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at age 27, in which role she helped fight the month-long battle over the 2000 Florida election recount.

Wallace joined the White House staff during George W. Bush’s first term, serving as special assistant to the President and director of media affairs at the White House, where she oversaw regional press strategy and outreach. In 2003, Wallace joined Bush’s 2004 presidential campaign as its communications director . . .
On January 5, 2005, Bush named Wallace White House Communications Director. . . . She left the White House in July 2006 to relocate to New York City, where her husband Mark was representing the Bush administration at the United Nations.

Perhaps it was her role in the 2008 John McCain campaign, during which she developed an incurable hatred of Sarah Palin, that explains how Wallace (née Nicolle Devenish, who has since divorced her first husband, Mark Wallace, and married New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt) became a televangelist for the religion of Trump-hatred. Palin was the first iteration of the populist sentiment among grassroots conservatives that subsequently sparked the Tea Party movement (2009-2010). The same populist energy drove the Herman Cain presidential campaign in 2011 (before Cain was taken out by a dubious “scandal”), and eventually coalesced around the Trump campaign beginning in 2015. One might see Nicolle Wallace as a typical example of the snooty elitist attitudes of the Bush-era GOP establishment, which explains why she’s now on MSNBC pumping up the paranoid fear of Trumpist “fascism.” In May, MSNBC announced she would be hosting a new weekly podcast:

On her new podcast, “The Best People,” Nicolle Wallace sits down with the smartest, funniest, wisest people she knows. These are the people who are the best at what they do and use their success to help others.

You will probably not be surprised to learn that all “the smartest, funniest, wisest people” Nicolle Wallace knows are afflicted with terminal-stage Trump Derangement Syndrome. Among her guests have been Stacey Abrams, Jason Bateman and Tim Miller. This week, however, she plunged deep into the abyss of Trump-hating craziness:

Former talk show host Rosie O’Donnell on “The Best People with Nicolle Wallace” Monday said even her therapist questioned why she was so devastated by President Donald Trump’s administration.
O’Donnell fled to Ireland to escape Trump’s second term, but continues to emotionally opine on the president. She said on the podcast that she could not comprehend why others did not share her emotions, including her therapist, who she said questioned her about them.
“When people say ‘I changed my mind,’ we have to say ‘Welcome back to reality. Let’s all be Americans together.’ Right? Because what’s happening is not only happening to Democrats,” O’Donnell told host Nicolle Wallace. “It’s happening to everyone. And when the Medicaid cuts go in, old people are going to start to die, to die.”
“What he’s done hasn’t even hit us yet. And if he’s not stopped now, we have lost our country,” she continued. “And I don’t know, Nicolle, how it is that some people cannot see it. My therapist said, ‘Why are you so upset?’ And I said to her, ‘Why are you not?’”

(Hat-tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.) Have you ever dealt with someone in the grip of paranoia? Whatever phantasm they’re obsessed with — their idée fixe — they will try to convince you it’s very real, and they will accuse you of being ignorant if you don’t share their hair-on-fire hysteria about it: “Don’t you understand how the Freemasons and the international banking conspiracy are threatening our very existence?”

The real “tell” in Rosie’s rant — what reveals the source of her madness — is her repeating the lie that Republicans intend to cut Medicaid so “old people are going to start to die.” This is just a Democratic Party propaganda line, one they’ve been using for 30 years to frighten senior citizens, and has no basis in fact. The people responsible for this propaganda know full well that it’s a lie, but are utterly cynical about the needless fear that they’re inciting — whatever helps them win elections, they’ll say, and who cares about the stupid chumps who actually believe it? Remember the video they made with Paul Ryan pushing granny off a cliff? Just total cynicism. Yet here you have Rosie O’Donnell, one of “the smartest, funniest, wisest people” Nicolle Wallace knows, repeating this dishonest fear-mongering bullshit as if she believes it.

It’s like the QAnon cult or something — seclude yourself inside a echo-chamber bubble where all you see or hear is feeding confirmation bias for conspiracy theorists, and you’ll drive yourself crazy.

In Rosie O’Donnell’s case, of course, that was a very short drive.



 

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Category: Celebrities, MSNBC

In The Mailbox: 09.29.25

Posted on | September 30, 2025 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 09.29.25

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley et Hamas delenda sunt.

Ugh, again?

OVER THE TRANSOM
Director Blue: The Illustrated Spygate Scandal Part XVIII, and Part XIX
357 Magnum: I Miss Living in a Civilized Society
EBL: Warsaw Grouper Medallions, Save Up Your Money, John D. Rockefeller, Dark City: The Cleaner, The Rest of the Fish: Chinook Salmon, and MAGA Portlandia 
Twitchy: More than 100,000 Federal Employees Set To Resign Tomorrow, Trump Shares Video Zinging Democrats’ Budget Priorities, and NYT Shares Sob Story Of Woman Who Lost Job Over Facebook Post
Louder With Crowder: High school can’t find any other school willing to play their volleyball team because one of the players is a dude, Eric Adams mocks Mamdani’s support for girls in the boys’ locker room, leaves Charlamagne tha God laughing, Those Two Monsters Who Fired On A Texas Baseball Field? Guess Their Legal Status, Donald Trump arrives at the Ryder Cup, the crowd’s patriotic response is electric, and Kamala Harris Claims Without Evidence Rally Crowds Would ‘Pass’ Babies Around in Bizarre Ramble
Vox Popoli: The Selling of Burrito Mussolini, The Schools Aren’t Magic, ESR Speaks With Authority, Succession Failure, and More False Flag Warnings
Upstream Reviews: 1-800-Starship, October New Releases, and The Revenant & The Tomb
Cedar Sanderson: Quitting Time
The Bugscuffle Gazette: Good Morning Blue Chekists! Meditations on Objectivity, and Get Training
The Abbey of Misrule: The Hare and the Lamb
Draw & Talk Comics: At What Point Do You Just Give Up?

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
CDR Salamander: China, Rested & Ready…with Dean Cheng on Midrats, also, How To Respond To China’s Growing Nuclear Capability?
Dana Loesch: LDS Church Attacked, also, The Millionth Plan For Peace In Gaza
Don Surber: The 47th Amendment
Elizabeth Nickson: Do You Know What Starts During A Great Awakening?
Glenn Reynolds: Anchors Aweigh
Shark Tank: Power Slams Fried Over Inability To Define “Woman”
STUMP: The Week(s)/Year In Meep – St. Michael, Movember, & An Inclusive Art Exhibit,

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Rule 5 Sunday: Boots & Bikinis

Posted on | September 29, 2025 | Comments Off on Rule 5 Sunday: Boots & Bikinis

— compiled by Wombat-socho

The way it ought to be.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.

ANIMAL MAGNETISM: Rule Five “WTF Pete Hegseth” Friday, also, the Saturday Gingermageddon.

EBL: Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song”, Charlie Kirk Memorial, Sinners Holiday, “Maverick” Theme, Taxi (1932), Morgan Ortagus, Bella Heathcote, Barefoot In The Park, “Gilligan’s Island” Song, Oktoberfest 2025, and Saturday Night Girls With Guns

A VIEW FROM THE BEACH: Bri Teresi, Big Jim Comey Indicted, Fish Pic Friday – Capt. Natalie, Thursday Tanlines, RIP: Claudia Cardinale, The Wednesday Wetness, The Devil Wears Converse, Fall Is Fell, Gone Fishin’, The Monday Morning Stimulus and Palm Sunday.

BACON TIME: Rule Five Butt It’s Friday

Thanks to everyone for all the luscious links!

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Category: Rule 5

FMJRA 2.0: Meanwhile At The Catgirl Barrel

Posted on | September 28, 2025 | Comments Off on FMJRA 2.0: Meanwhile At The Catgirl Barrel

— compiled by Wombat-socho

The draft is this Saturday, and I have yet to peruse the free agent lists. Well, I’m not going anywhere this week, so I should have plenty of time in between bouts of continuing education to prepare for tax season. Illo courtesy of @ShamashAran (Sensurround) on X.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.

Draft Joe Coleman or nah?

Collective Grievance, Collective Guilt, Collective Rage: A Case Study
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

FMJRA 2.0: Draft Delays
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

Rule 5 Sunday: Emma Loui
Animal Magnetism
A View From The Beach
EBL




In The Mailbox: 09.22.25
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 09.23.25 (Afternoon Edition)
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 09.23.25 (Evening Edition)
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 09.24.25
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

J.D. Vance on Shooting at Dallas ICE Facility: ‘It Is Time to Stop the Rhetorical Assault on Law Enforcement’
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

Dallas ICE Shooter’s Motive: ‘Terror’
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 09.25.25
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

‘Revenge for What, Brian?’
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 09.26.25
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

Top linkers for the week ending September 26:

  1.  EBL (12)
  2.  357 Magnum (11)
  3.  A View From The Beach (9)

Thanks to everyone for all the links!

 

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Category: FMJRA Award

Des Moines School Superintendent Was Illegal Immigrant From Guyana

Posted on | September 27, 2025 | Comments Off on Des Moines School Superintendent Was Illegal Immigrant From Guyana

People in Iowa and around the country are mystified by this situation. How did this guy get hired? And how much of his biographical information is actually true? The story from the Des Moines Register:

Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts was arrested by U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement for allegedly being in the United States illegally, according to federal officials.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed Roberts’ Friday, Sept. 26, arrest and detention and said a court had issued a “final order of removal” in May 2024 for the deportation of the Guyana native and longtime U.S. resident.
She said Roberts abandoned his car and fled from police on Friday, and was allegedly in possession of a loaded handgun, a large amount of cash and a hunting knife. He was arrested in what DHS described as a “targeted enforcement operation.”
At a 3 p.m. news conference, School Board Chair Jackie Norris said the district was still working to learn more about what happened.
“We do not have all the facts. There is much we do not know,” she said. “However, what we do know is Dr. Roberts has been an integral part of our school community since he joined two years ago.” . . .
In a statement Friday evening, the district said it “has not been formally notified by ICE about this matter, nor have we been able to talk with Dr. Roberts since his detention.”
Roberts, 54, has served as Des Moines Public Schools superintendent since July 2023.
In an emailed statement, DHS called Roberts a “criminal illegal alien.”
Roberts allegedly sped away when officers approached his vehicle and identified themselves, and officers found his vehicle abandoned in a nearby wooded area. Inside was the handgun, $3,000 in cash and the hunting knife, the department said.
Roberts official DMPS bio says “he enjoys hunting.”
In response to the reports of the loaded gun reportedly found in Roberts’ vehicle, the district said Friday evening that its policy dictates that weapons are “prohibited on school grounds or at a school-sponsored or school-related activity.”
DHS states that Roberts has “existing weapon possession charges” from Feb. 5, 2020. It’s not clear where those charges were filed or whether they were resolved. Records of those existing charges were not immediately available or provided Friday.
“Dr. Roberts has a previous firearm charge related to a hunting rifle, which he disclosed to the DMPS Board during the hiring process. He provided sufficient context and explanation of the situation to move forward in the hiring process. He has also spoken publicly about this experience,” DMPS said in a release.
However, that charge was from 2021 in Pennsylvania.

(Raising the question, was his previous explanation true? Or did he come up with this story about a hunting rifle — as if there had been some kind of misunderstanding — to cover up something else?)

In its statement Friday evening, the district said a third-party comprehensive background check had been conducted on Roberts and he would have been required to verify employment eligibility for all employees.
“In this case, Dr. Roberts completed the I-9 employment eligibility verification form and submitted the required documentation,” reads the statement from Phil Roeder, the districts’ director of communications and public affairs.
The statement also said the district had no knowledge of Roberts’ order of removal.
Roberts grew up in Brooklyn, New York City. Federal records and previous reporting said he was born in Guyana. Before a career in education, Roberts competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games in track and field for Guyana as a mid-distance runner.

(Really? Do we believe any of that now?)

Roberts became the superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools in July 2023. He succeeded longtime Superintendent Tom Ahart, who resigned at the end of the 2021-2022 school year.
The DHS statement says Roberts entered the United States on a student visa in 1999. It also states that Roberts was working for the school district despite having no work authorization.
“This suspect was arrested in possession of a loaded weapon in a vehicle provided by Des Moines Public Schools after fleeing federal law enforcement,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations St. Paul Field Office Director Sam Olson said. “This should be a wake-up call for our communities to the great work that our officers are doing every day to remove public safety threats. How this illegal alien was hired without work authorization, a final order of removal, and a prior weapons charge is beyond comprehension and should alarm the parents of that school district.”
DHS also accused Roberts of violating federal law by possessing a handgun while in the U.S. without legal authorization, and said it was referring him to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for further investigation.
Norris, the chair of the Des Moines Public Schools board, said Roberts received a valid license from the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners in 2023 before beginning his tenure with Des Moines. She said there is “new information that has been made public” but said the board has not yet been able to verify additional details.

Let’s do some math here: Ian Roberts is now reported to be 54 years old. That means he would have been about 28 when he obtained a student visa in 1999, and nearly 30 at the time he claims to have completed in the Sydney Olympics. Do we really believe that Roberts was such an Olympic-caliber runner that he was still on the Guyana national team at age 29? Also, what about the claim that he “grew up in Brooklyn”? Is there any evidence of that? Or is it just something Roberts wove into his personal narrative — like his alleged love of hunting — to conceal the more likely reality that he overstayed his student visa, fraudulently obtained a Social Security number and has been working illegally in the U.S. for more than 20 years? Does he actually have a doctorate degree, even?

The report that Roberts “received a valid license from the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners” doesn’t do anything to clarify matters. If Roberts is an imposter — essentially engaging in fraud for two decades — it might be difficult for any licensing board to detect such a fraud, once he obtains his first teaching license. We don’t have enough documented facts at this point to know what actually happened in the years since Roberts arrived on a student visa. Where did he begin his teaching career? How was he able to get hired to that first job? Did he have a legal work permit?

Something is clearly off in this story, but I doubt anyone at the Des Moines school board is interested in doing the kind of investigation that would discover the truth about who “Doctor Roberts” really is.



 

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Category: Crime, Education, Immigration, Iowa

How to Become a Good Communist

Posted on | September 27, 2025 | Comments Off on How to Become a Good Communist

JoAnne Deborah Byron, a/k/a JoAnne Chesimard, a/k/a Assata Shakur was a Communist, a murderer and a terrorist. She was still a fugitive from justice when she died Thursday in Havana, Cuba:

Cuban officials on Friday said that Joanne Chesimard, who was convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper, has died in Havana decades after breaking out of prison and escaping to the communist island.
Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Chesimard, who was born JoAnne Deborah Byron and was also known as Assata Olugbala Shakur, passed away after living there for years under asylum granted by the Cuban government.
“On September 25, 2025, American citizen Joanne Deborah Byron, ‘Assata Shakur,’ passed away in Havana, Cuba, due to health conditions and advanced age,” the ministry’s statement said.
In 1977, Chesimard was convicted of the murder of State Trooper Werner Foerster, who left behind a wife and 3-year-old son, during a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973.
In 1977, she was found guilty of first-degree murder, armed robbery, and other crimes and was sentenced to life in prison. She escaped from prison in 1979 and lived underground before surfacing in Cuba in 1984.
The FBI and the New Jersey attorney general each offered a $1 million reward for her capture.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and New Jersey State Police Superintendent Colonel Patrick Callahan said they spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio about Chesimard’s reported passing.
“For years, we have worked with the State Department to bring Chesimard back to New Jersey, so she could face justice for the cold-blooded murder of an American hero,” both said in a joint statement. “Sadly, it appears she has passed without being held fully accountable for her heinous crimes.”
“We mourn Trooper Foerster’s loss every day, and we extend our deepest sympathies to his widow, Rosie, their son, Eric, and the entire New Jersey State Police family,” they added. “Unlike his killer, Trooper Foerster never had a chance to live out his days in peace. But we remain fully committed to honoring his memory and sacrifice. We will vigorously oppose any attempt to repatriate Chesimard’s remains to the United States.”
Chesimard, who regarded herself as a godmother and step-aunt to late rapper Tupac Shakur, was added to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List in 2013.
She was a member of the Black Liberation Army, which the FBI describes as “one of the most violent militant organizations of the 1970s.”

Given the extraordinary craziness of our own era, with political violence rampant and apparently increasing, many people have forgotten how crazy things were in the 1970s. Back when I was in middle school and high school, you had all kinds of wacky radicals running around. The nation had gone through a series of crises — the drama of the Civil Rights Era, the assassination of JFK, the Vietnam War, etc. — and a lot of people couldn’t handle the stress and just lost their minds.

You had the Manson Gang murders in 1969, then the Weather Undeground bombers, the Patty Hearst kidnapping and the Symbionese Liberation Army, and let’s not forget the Peoples Temple and Jonestown. It was during that decade-long national nervous breakdown that JoAnn Chesimard assumed the moniker “Assata Shakur” and decided that the Black Panthers weren’t radical enough for her tastes.

The Black Liberation Army (BLA) emerged as an ultra-violent splinter of the Panthers, in association with other black radicals, spewing Marxist-Leninist jargon as a pretext for killing cops and committing robberies. “According to a Justice Department report on BLA activity, the Black Liberation Army was suspected of involvement in over 70 incidents of violence between 1970 and 1976. The Fraternal Order of Police blamed the BLA for the murders of 13 police officers.” Arguably the most infamous of their crimes was the 1981 Brinks robbery in Nyack, New York, where BLA members joined forces with Weather Underground radicals calling themselves the May 19th Communist Organization. In the Nyack robbery, this radical gang killed Brinks guard Peter Paige and police officers Edward O’Grady and Waverly Brown.

Police on scene after the Brinks robbery, 1981

By the time of the 1981 Brinks robbery, “Assata Shakur” had already been convicted of murder, escaped from prison and fled the country, apparently going first to Mexico before eventually ending up in Cuba. She was among dozens of American fugitives harbored by the Communist regime in Cuba. In June 2017, during President Trump’s first term, he called for Cuba to extradite her. Jordan Schactel wrote at that time:

Chesimard has become a folk hero among the fringe Left. Because of her background in far-left activism, some in movements like Black Lives Matter see her as a hero, and not the terrorist cop-killer that she really is.
The Black Liberation Army, which rose to prominence in the 1970s, was known for its ruthless methods. In one incident showcasing their carnage, three BLA militants killed two NYPD officers in the East Village. But that wasn’t the worst part. The assailants stood over the officers and continued to shoot into their bodies repeatedly.
By 1973, Shakur was the subject of a multi-state manhunt. The FBI labeled her the “revolutionary mother hen” of the cell that had carried out the murders of NYPD officers. Later that year, Shakur bolted New York City with fellow BLA members.
On her escape down the New Jersey turnpike, she was pulled over by state troopers. At that time, her accomplice, Zayd Shakur, was killed in a gunfire battle. A police officer was also killed in the incident, with help from Chesimard, who again sped away in her vehicle
But ultimately, she was captured sitting on the side of the highway after being wounded in the gun battle.
In 1977, Chesimard was charged with murder and convicted of firing the shots that killed New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster. She was also convicted of seven other felonies. She was sentenced to life in prison plus thirty years for her crimes.

Ruthless cop-killer, “folk hero.” We could extend this with a detailed examination of the cause-and-effect puzzle of left-wing craziness — do these radical movements just act as a magnet for psychopaths, or does radicalism turn otherwise ordinary people into dangerous lunatics? But let’s not belabor the point. At any rate, there’s only one kind of good Communist and it’s the kind that “Assata Shakur” has now become.

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!



 

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