Conservative Blogger
Thursday, March 5, 2026
NATO Chief Rutte to Newsmax: Trump's Iran Mission Has Broad Allied Support
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told Newsmax on Wednesday there is "widespread support" among alliance members for President Donald Trump's campaign targeting Iran's nuclear and missile capabilities, even as some European leaders have voiced public criticism of the operation. "NATO is not involved," Rutte told "The Record With Greta Van Susteren."
"But obviously allies are basically, on a massive scale, supportive of
what the president is doing and are also enabling what the U.S. is doing
now in the region, taking out this nuclear capability of Iran and, of
course, the missile capability."
Rutte said European allies have strong security concerns about Tehran, pointing to threats and assassination plots tied to the Iranian regime. "Here in Europe, we know the impact of Iran and the negative impact they can have," he said. "Look at the assassination attempts in many NATO countries here in Europe, the Iranian diaspora. My own country [the Netherlands] being under constant threat from the regime in Tehran." Despite criticism from some leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Rutte said NATO countries are providing "key enabling assistance" to the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran. He also emphasized that NATO forces remain prepared to defend alliance territory as tensions escalate in the region. "What we are doing at the moment as NATO is making sure that we, in a 360-degree way, defend every inch of NATO territory," Rutte said. He pointed to a recent incident involving a missile threat toward Turkey, a NATO member and part of the alliance's collective defense system. "You saw that this morning when news came in of a missile which was heading for Turkey and potentially impacting on U.S. interests in Turkey, taken out by NATO anti-missile systems," he said. "So, this is working. We are vigilant." Rutte also addressed questions about NATO's mutual defense clause, known as Article 5, which states that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all. "For good reasons, we always will stay very ambiguous about when Article 5 is triggered," Rutte said. "We keep it very ambiguous because we don't want to make our enemies, our adversaries, any wiser." He added that if Article 5 were invoked, the alliance would make that clear immediately. Until then, he said the ambiguity is intentional, designed to force adversaries to think carefully about the risks of attacking NATO interests. "Our supreme allied commander, our senior military, but also, of course, all our men and women in uniform, we make sure that we can defend and will defend every inch of territory of NATO," Rutte said. "And in the meantime, we are very much with our friends and partners in the Middle East because we see these indiscriminate attacks against the UAE, against Bahrain, against Oman, against Saudi Arabia, against Kuwait, against other countries in the region. And we are very much with them. "I'm in constant contact with them because we want to make sure that whatever we can do for them to stay safe, we will help them with." |
A 4:52 Filing; a 5:00 Withdrawal - Hours Later Steve Daines Confirms He’s Done
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At 4:52 p.m. Wednesday, with only minutes left before Montana’s candidate filing deadline, Montana U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme filed paperwork to run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Sen. Steve Daines. Eight minutes later, the filing window closed. Montana law requires candidates to submit their paperwork before the 5 p.m. filing deadline in order to appear on the ballot, making the final minutes of the filing period one of the last opportunities for campaigns to enter or exit a race. By then, Daines was no longer in the race. State
candidate records show the senator, who had previously filed to seek
another term, withdrew his name from the ballot shortly before the 5
p.m. deadline, reshaping the Republican field in the final minutes
before filings closed. Reporters tracking the state filing system quickly spotted the change. Shortly afterward, Daines’s chief of staff confirmed the senator had withdrawn from the race. But the senator himself had not yet addressed the move publicly. Read More: Elon Lifts Steve Daines' Suspension - Announces New Policy Liberals Hate Energy Dept. Now Betting $134M on Recycling Rare Earth Minerals to Shore Up Domestic Reserves At 8:02 p.m. Eastern, more than three hours after the filing deadline had passed, Daines posted a video message confirming that he will not seek reelection, bringing an end to a congressional career that has lasted more than a decade. In the video statement, Daines said the decision followed months of consideration about his future after 13 years in Congress.
Daines first entered Congress after winning Montana’s at-large House seat in 2012 before successfully running for the Senate in 2014. Over time, he became a prominent figure within the Senate GOP conference and later served as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee from 2023 through 2025, helping oversee the party’s Senate campaign strategy during a pivotal election cycle. In Wednesday night’s statement, the retiring senator also made clear who he believes should succeed him.
Alme later confirmed he will run for the Senate seat, seeking the Republican nomination to represent Montana in Washington.
By the time Daines spoke publicly on Wednesday night, the race had already been reshaped. The filing deadline had passed. His name was off the ballot. And Montana’s Senate race had a fresh new face. |
The Pratt Effect? Woman Responsible for Empty Palisades Reservoir Gets Booted
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A few weeks after a Los Angeles County judge ruled that a major lawsuit filed against the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and the State of California by Palisades Fire victims could go forward, LADWP's CEO, Janisse Quiñones, has been booted from her job.
That's not how the move is being spun, though. A joint statement from the City of Los Angeles and LADWP announced that Quiñones was leaving effective March 27, 2026, "as part of a planned leadership transition. " Quiñones is returning to Puerto
Rico, where she was born and raised, "to take a leadership role
supporting the modernization and transformation of the Island’s electric
grid," which is the last thing that island needs. Mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt has been calling for Quiñones' resignation, firing, or prosecution since the fire, and is also gunning for Karen Bass and Gavin Newsom. Wednesday's announcement means there's one down, and two to go. LADWP's Santa Ynez Reservoir, which holds 117 million gallons of water and supplies three tanks in the Palisades area, was empty for nearly a year before the inferno spread through the Palisades, killing 12 people and destroying more than 10,000 properties. There was a tear in the reservoir's floating cover, and though the repair would cost less than $200,000, somehow Quiñones wasn't able to get it done, leaving the reservoir empty and residents below unaware that their main mode of wildfire protection wasn't online. That wasn't Quiñones' only failure related to the Palisades Fire. LADWP failed to de-energize its power lines after the fire started, which caused spot fires to ignite throughout the Palisades, making it more difficult for firefighters to contain the blaze and destroying additional homes. The utility claimed that power had been shut off, but multiple videos showed the arcing power lines, which nearly harmed at least one local news reporter, and the spot fires. Attorneys for the fire victims were able to determine through Public Records Act requests what happened. From the Complaint:
LADWP spokespeople claimed at the time that, "The system was never designed for a wildfire scenario that we are experiencing," but that's precisely why the Santa Ynez Reservoir was built, in the aftermath of the deadly Bel Air Fire. In addition to the loss of life and property, Quiñones' failures also expose the utility and the city to multi-million dollar judgments in the lawsuit, but, of course, Mayor Karen Bass thinks she did a great job:
Quiñones came to LADWP in May, 2024 from another beleaguered utility, Northern California's Pacific Gas & Electric, replacing Adams. While Adams was paid $435,000 a year, Quiñones was hired in at a salary of $750,000. At the time, LA City Council President Paul Krekorian said:
Responding to criticism of the huge salary, Councilmember Kevin de León said LADWP needed to offer a competitive salary to attract top talent:
Unfortunately for Los Angeles residents, she really wasn't worth any amount. Editor’s Note: Help us continue to report the truth about corrupt politicians like Karen Bass. |
Why Karoline Leavitt Ripped Into CNN's Kaitlin Collins Yesterday
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You anticipated this inevitability. It occurs with metronomic regularity, largely because the mainstream press often invites it. CNN is a frequent target for this administration's criticism. Rather than improving their coverage of the White House, they continue to spread false information and criticize the president. Consequently, they shouldn’t expect much respect, especially
from a bulldog like Karoline Leavitt.
CNN’s Kaitlin Collins
once again got raked over the coals—big league—over this question about protocols regarding the dignified transfer from those service members killed during Operation Epic Fury. It led to some serious fireworks (via Fox News):
Collins tried to downplay Leavitt’s remarks, saying they’re highlighting our fallen soldiers’ service. Ms. Leavitt said she expected at least that much from the network, but added, rightly, that CNN does and will bend over backwards to stretch stories to the limits of reason to make Trump look bad. Hence, why ‘CNN sucks’ remains a salient chant among the Trump base. Talk about being gutted in front of everyone—again. |
Did the Lizard People Write This? WaPo's Editorial on the DHS Shutdown Is Not Insane
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Initially, I thought this was a different publication. How did The Washington Post publish this, especially from the editorial board? It was a solid op-ed emphasizing the importance of keeping the agency fully operational during a period of increased terrorist reprisals, due to our air campaign against Iran. It also pointed out that the Democrats’ strategy—trying to limit ICE raids via more legal procedures like judicial warrants—is essentially ineffective. They acknowledged it’s not practical. Additionally, the recent shutdown doesn’t affect the deportation raids, as they’ve been funded by the Big, Beautiful Bill (via WaPo): …it’s embarrassing that it is taking this long to reach a
deal that boosts training and accountability without impeding ICE
agents from pursuing legitimate public safety threats.
Of course, it won’t read like anything from our good friend Kurt Schlichter, but the core of the piece is that DHS needs to be reopened now. We had a terror attack in Austin, where three people were killed. The homeland is under threat, and Democrats think this is a winning issue. Behind the scenes, I think they know it’s a loser, but their insane base is making things difficult. Last, yes, if you work with ICE and honor those detainers, it makes surge operations less of a priority. These immigration officers come to the local jails to pick up these illegal aliens. No fuss. No whacko leftists trying to run over agents with cars—it’s a quick stop. That’s how it was done before, with some local jails having an ICE officer on-site. But that’s common sense, something missing from today’s Democrats. Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all. |
U.S. Navy submarine sinks Iranian warship with torpedo in 'Quiet Death' strike – historic first since WWII
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A U.S. Navy submarine reportedly sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean using a single torpedo, in what U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth described as a “quiet death.” The strike is part of the joint U.S.-Israeli campaign to degrade Iran’s military and nuclear capabilities — and marks the first time since World War II that a U.S. submarine has sunk an enemy vessel with a torpedo. Hegseth announced the overnight “quiet death” of the IRIS Shahid
Soleimani during a Pentagon press conference with Joint Chiefs Chair Dan
“Raizin” Caine on Wednesday, emphasizing that the U.S. had wiped out
Iran’s navy, as well as its “prize ship.”
Hegseth explained that the Iranian fleet now “rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf,” adding that over 20 Iranian naval vessels have also been destroyed or sunk. This maritime collapse was punctuated by the overnight destruction of the IRIS Shahid Soleimani, which Hegseth further described as the “jewel of Iran’s navy.”
The United States Department of War, originally established in 1789 to oversee George Washington’s Continental Army, was unified into the Department of Defense (DOD) in the late 1940s to bring the Army, Navy, and Air Force under one banner. However, following a September 2025 Executive Order (EO) signed by President Donald Trump, the DOD was formally renamed the Department of War (DoW) to signal a return to a mission of “lethal victory.” This shift was punctuated on Wednesday, when Hegseth and Caine announced the “quiet death” of the IRIS Dena during a Pentagon press conference. The Iranian frigate was intercepted and sunk by a U.S. Navy attack submarine in the Indian Ocean using a Mk-48 heavyweight torpedo. The Department of War corroborated the announcement by releasing infrared periscope footage and still images of the impact on X, showing the torpedo breaking the ship’s keel before it submerged. According to reports, the engagement took place approximately 40 nautical miles off the coast of Galle, Sri Lanka. Following the strike, Sri Lankan authorities reported recovering 87 bodies from the water, with only 32 survivors rescued from the estimated 180 personnel on board. General Caine stated that the operation has effectively rendered the Iranian Navy “combat ineffective,” as the U.S. and Israel continue to dismantle Iran’s broader military and nuclear infrastructure. U.S. Central Command also confirmed in an X post that American forces have now successfully sunk more than 20 vessels belonging to the Iranian regime.
Additionally, during the press conference, Hegseth announced that the U.S. successfully eliminated the unnamed leader of an Iranian covert unit. This individual was identified as the mastermind behind a specific plot to assassinate President Trump during the 2024 campaign — an effort that Hegseth noted had shifted from a “murky intelligence concern” to a confirmed military target. This strike followed a provocation from Iranian state television, which had aired footage of the 2024 Butler, Pennsylvania, shooting with a message in Persian warning that the next assassination attempt would “not miss.” Referencing this history of threats, Hegseth declared that while the U.S. is focused on dismantling Iran’s broader military and nuclear infrastructure, it also remains committed to neutralizing those who target American leaders. |
Buttigieg's Makeover: Media's Attempt to Rebrand a D.C. Insider
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The Atlantic quietly ran what can only be called a PR profile, painting Pete Buttigieg as a rugged retreat into Midwestern manhood Sick Bastards 👇👇
— beard, splitting maul, and a house in Michigan — as if a haircut and a photo spread erase the record of a Washington apparatchik. This glossy makeover is less journalism than image management, an elite outlet trying to rehabilitate a figure whose résumé reads like a country-club Rolodex. On Megyn Kelly’s show this
week, Glenn Greenwald joined the conversation and rightly flagged the
Atlantic’s tone as fawning, noting how the piece focuses more on optics
than on policy or accountability. Conservative audiences shouldn’t be
surprised when establishment outlets bend over backwards to humanize
their preferred insiders — it’s what they do when their tribe needs a
fresh face. Plastering a beard over a technocrat doesn’t change the facts: Buttigieg is the product of the Ivy-to-McKinsey pipeline and remains closer to the D.C. donor class than to the working Americans who pay the bills. Conservative outlets smelled the manipulation immediately, lampooning the Atlantic’s attempt to sell a carefully curated persona as authenticity. This is part of a larger pattern where legacy media outfits try to manufacture commonality for elites — the same people who cheer on open-borders policies and partisan transportation boondoggles suddenly want you to believe their favorite bureaucrat is “one of us.” That condescension is what drives voters away from the coastal elites and into the arms of those who actually speak for Main Street. Don’t be fooled by the photo ops and the soft-focus narratives: real leadership is proven in results, not in lifestyle branding. While the Atlantic stages its makeover, hardworking Americans remember who raised taxes, approved costly regulations, and outsourced decision-making to career bureaucrats claiming expertise. Now is not the time to let the narrative be set by those who want to sell us a story instead of reporting the truth. Conservatives must keep pressing on policy failures, call out the media’s spin, and remind our neighbors that character is measured by deeds, not by editorial vanity projects. |
Minnesota's Fraud Scandal: Walz Faces Impeachment as Taxpayers Suffer
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For months Minnesota has been the epicenter of a scandal that should outrage every taxpayer: state-run social service programs have been hit by what federal officials and watchdogs describe as sprawling fraud, and Governor Tim Walz now finds himself squeezed by investigations, federal actions, and blistering political attacks. Conservatives have warned for years that unchecked government programs invite abuse, and the Minnesota mess is a textbook example of what happens when accountability is replaced by bureaucracy and partisan cover-ups. Walz’s
political fortunes took a public hit when he abruptly abandoned his bid
for a third term on January 5, 2026, citing the floodlight of scrutiny
over fraud as part of his reasoning. To millions of Americans who prize
leadership and responsibility, stepping aside in the middle of a crisis
looks less like humility and more like an admission that the governor
cannot defend his record. The federal government has not taken Minnesota’s response lightly: the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services moved to withhold roughly a quarter-billion dollars in federal Medicaid payments while audits and legal reviews continue, a punitive — some would say necessary — move to protect the federal fisc. Conservatives should applaud the pushback against misuse of taxpayer dollars and demand that any money taken improperly be returned and those responsible be prosecuted to the fullest extent. Washington isn’t just posturing; congressional hearings have been convened and Minnesota officials, including the governor, have been called to explain themselves before federal committees — a proper check when state stewardship fails. The public deserves straight answers about what state leaders knew, when they knew it, and why safeguards were ignored while billions allegedly slipped through the system. At the state level Republicans have begun to move aggressively, introducing articles of impeachment against Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison over alleged dereliction and interference with oversight, a reminder that elected officials can and should face removal when they fail in their duties. If the evidence supports it, impeachment and subsequent prosecution are not partisan revenge but constitutional remedies for public corruption. Meanwhile taxpayers have also been asked to foot the bill for Walz’s legal and PR defense, with reports of large expenditures on outside counsel to prep for congressional scrutiny — an expense that sits poorly with hard-working Minnesotans who see their own wallets being raided to clean up bureaucratic failure. Conservatives should press for transparency on every dime spent and demand that those costs be recovered from any officials found culpable rather than the families who pay state taxes. This is more than political theater; it’s about protecting the rule of law and defending hardworking Americans against waste and fraud. Patriots should insist on swift, impartial investigations, full prosecutions where warranted, and reforms that shrink the opportunity for fraud — because liberty and fiscal responsibility mean nothing if government can’t be trusted to guard the public purse. |
Wednesday, March 4, 2026
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