53percenter's Blog

Has America Reached Peak Idiocracy?

Tyler Durden
Wed, 02/18/2026 – 08:50

via ZeroHedge News

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Watch: Macron Calls Free Speech Online ‘Pure Bullshit’

Tyler Durden
Wed, 02/18/2026 – 09:55

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is fighting to get the gay Pride flag recognized at the same level as the U.S. flag in the eyes of the federal government — which would give it similar protections as the American flag, military flags, and POW/MIA flags.

“The Trump administration’s removal of the Pride rainbow flag from the Stonewall National Monument is a deeply outrageous action that must be reversed. It’s an effing disgrace,” Schumer began.

“When the Trump administration ripped the Pride flag down, it was a direct attack on this community. An attempt to chip away at hard-won civil rights. So today we’re fighting back and taking action,” he continued.

“I am introducing legislation to designate the Pride flag as a congressionally authorized flag in America. And that means it can be flown here and everywhere else. And no one, no one, no one can take it down,” he added.

“Wow, tackling the big issues of the day,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales comments on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered,” annoyed. “Thank you, Chuck Schumer, for doing the heavy lifting to help out average Americans.”

“You’re not doing anything to get rid of all of the illegal criminals that are in our country. In fact, you’re fighting it at every turn. You’re not doing anything to address inflation. It was the Republicans that did that. You’re not doing anything to protect children from harm,” she continues.

“You are not doing anything to make Americans’ lives better. But thank God you’re fighting over a flag. … It’s actually despicable how disgusting these people are,” she adds, pointing out that Democrats weren’t this defensive and loving of gay people all that long ago.

“Schumer himself was against gay marriage back in the day. He even voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, which of course defined marriage as one man and one woman. They were all in agreement on that,” she adds.

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

To enjoy more of Sara’s no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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A man who injured a Customs and Border Protection officer by hurling rocks through a car window during last summer’s violent anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles County pleaded guilty on Tuesday to assaulting a federal officer. 

Elpidio Reyna, 41, admitted to one count of assault with a deadly or dangerous weapon resulting in bodily injury. He was one of the dozens arrested after riots erupted after Immigration and Customs Enforcement began enforcement operations in the Los Angeles area. 

“This defendant could have easily killed a federal officer or innocent bystander,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “As he found out the hard way, violence against law enforcement is not constitutionally protected and will be met with swift justice. Those who engage in similar violence will be arrested, charged, and eventually convicted in a court of law.”

On June 7, 2025, Reyna joined a crowd throwing rocks and improvised explosives at federal officers operating near a Home Depot in Paramount, located about 11 miles north of Long Beach. 

“Protestors, including the defendant, began to throw rocks at the officers’ official vehicles, lit objects on fire, and impeded law enforcement activity. During this, defendant knowingly and intentionally lit objects on fire in the middle of the street and threw rocks at a convoy of law enforcement vehicles occupied by Customs and Border Protection Officers,” according to the plea agreement. 

One of the projectiles shattered a car window, cutting a Customs and Border Protection officer on the forehead. In video released by the Justice Department, Reyna can be seen pelting law enforcement vehicles with rocks and chunks of concrete while wearing a motorcycle helmet. 

The FBI offered a $50,000 reward for Reyna after a special agent identified him through a review of TikTok videos. He was on the FBI’s most wanted list before surrendering at the U.S.-Mexico border on July 23. 

Reyna faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on August 7 by U.S. District Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha. He has remained in federal custody since July 2025. 

Dozens of arrests were made during the protests in June and July across the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas over federal immigration operations. The unrest prompted President Donald Trump to deploy the National Guard to protect federal personnel and property, setting off a prolonged legal battle with California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom over the troop deployment.

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) is laying out two stark options to close the city’s fiscal year 2027 budget gap: raise taxes on high earners and corporations or increase property taxes.

During his preliminary budget presentation, Mamdani framed the first option as “the most sustainable and the fairest path,” calling for “ending the drain on our city and raising taxes on the richest New Yorkers and the most profitable corporations.”

‘There is no third option of failing to balance the budget’

But he warned that this path depends on cooperation from Albany and Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul.

“If we do not go down the first path,” Mamdani said, “the city will be forced down a second, more harmful path. … We would have to raise property taxes.”

The mayor acknowledged that New York City’s property tax system is “broken,” but emphasized that it is currently the only tax that the city has the authority to raise on its own.

RELATED: ‘F**king mess’: Zohran Mamdani fails first major test as filth piles up on city streets

Photo by Stephani Spindel/VIEWpress via Getty Images

“What I am showcasing to New Yorkers is that there is one tax the city can raise,” he said. “It is a broken property tax system. We do not want to do so. … We want to work with Albany to ensure that we resolve this fiscal crisis by addressing the structural roots of it.”

Mamdani described a property tax increase as a “last resort,” stressing that the city is legally required to balance its budget — a mandate that dates back to the fiscal crisis of the 1970s, when New York City was pushed to the brink of bankruptcy.

RELATED: Zohran Mamdani’s Soviet dream for New York City

Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

“There is no third option of failing to balance the budget,” he said.

“This is something that we do not want to do,” Mamdani said, “and this is something that we are going to utilize every single option to ensure does not come to pass.”

If Albany does not approve higher taxes on wealthy residents and corporations, Mamdani said the city could be forced to raise property taxes by a staggering 9.5%.

Hochul is opposed to raising property taxes.

"I’m not supportive of a property tax increase," she said at a press conference in Manhattan this week. "I don’t know that that’s necessary, but let’s find out what is really necessary to close that gap."

The message is clear: If the state doesn’t act, homeowners and commercial property owners could pay the price.

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via Conservative Review

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America’s 250th anniversary is defined by one undeniable fact: Both sides of the aisle are in open revolt against elites. Nothing would make the founders more proud. They created this country through their own act of rebellion against an out-of-touch ruling class. But it’s far from clear whether today’s elites will be fully defeated — or if the country is doomed to suffer under another self-serving class.

Only one of these revolts will ultimately be good for the American people — and the wrong one has the momentum.

On the right, at least, the revolt has been under way for a decade. Before 2016, Republican voters had repeatedly backed go-along-to-get-along politicians — the Romneys, McCains, and Bushes of the world. In return, they got mountains of debt and deficit spending, multiple unwinnable wars, and massive expansions in the size and power of government. Rather than clean up the country’s messes, the GOP elite made them worse.

Out of sheer frustration, Republicans turned against their ruling class, throwing their support behind Donald Trump. He has since demolished the GOP establishment. While the Trump revolution is still under way in policy, on the political front, it’s over. The old Republican elite is never coming back.

Then there’s the open revolt on the left. Like the frustrated Republicans of a decade ago, today’s Democrats are furious at their elected officials for the lack of change. But whereas the right is fighting to return quintessential American values to the fore, these leftists want to ditch those values altogether. Their vision can be summed up in one word: socialism.

Hence the stunning victory of Zohran Mamdani in New York City, the rising star of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Congress, and socialist candidates in congressional primaries. And hence the deluge of socialist activists coming out of college campuses. They’re sick and tired of Democrat elites who don’t do anything with their power. They’re determined to seize that power for themselves.

Say this for the current anti-elite moment: It’s beautifully American. Both the right and left are breathing new life into our national ideal of sovereignty, which holds that the people are ultimately in control. It’s good to remind ourselves — and our would-be rulers — that we the people are still in charge.

But not all revolts are created equal. Despite their superficial similarity, the Republican and Democrat visions are diametrically opposed and fundamentally incompatible. At the end of the day, the right is trying to permanently give power back to the people. The left, on the other hand, is setting the stage to create a permanent — and much worse — ruling class.

The difference between these two revolts is clear in the kinds of policies they back. On the right, Republicans from Donald Trump down are fighting to gut unelected bureaucracies, give families the funding to choose their children’s education, and slash red tape to unleash small businesses and job creation. Their immigration crackdown is also rooted in sovereignty, rolling back the blatant attempts to prop up ruling class power by bringing in foreign voters. On issue after issue, Republicans are taking power from elites and giving it to the people.

RELATED: We escaped King George. Why do we bow to King Judge?

Photo by Pierce Archive LLC/Buyenlarge via Getty Images

The socialist wave is rushing in the opposite direction. Today’s leftists want government control over every facet of the economy, vast expansions of the welfare state, and unprecedented power in the hands of unelected bureaucrats. As history attests, socialism creates a ruling class that runs roughshod over everyone else, since absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Only one of these revolts will ultimately be good for the American people — and the wrong one has the momentum. Democratic socialists are surging in local, state, and national elections, while Republicans are doubting themselves instead of doubling down on their agenda.

Republicans are also wondering if their revolt can survive once Trump leaves office. But they should be working to ensure that it does, rallying around leaders who will keep taking the fight to our would-be overlords. In this time of revolt, there’s no guarantee of who will win. But the same was true 250 years ago, at America’s birth. The battle then was very much between the revolutionaries who stood for the people and those who stood for the elites. The founders led their fellow Americans to cast off the shackles of that ruling class. Now Republicans must rally the people once again to ensure another 250 years of sovereignty and national success.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.

via Conservative Review

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Here we go again.

Another expensive lesson in what happens when political ambition outruns engineering reality — this time playing out in the dead of winter in Burlington, Vermont.

Electric buses may perform adequately in mild environments, but expecting them to replace diesel buses in northern states with long, cold winters ignores basic physics.

Electric buses unveiled with great fanfare as symbols of progress and climate virtue are now sitting idle in the snow, while the supposedly outdated diesel fleet does the actual work of moving people. Taxpayers paid millions for these vehicles, and right now, they can’t do the job they were purchased to do.

Green Mountain Transit added five new electric buses to its fleet last year, announcing the move in the warmth of summer. Officials praised the decision as a major step toward Burlington’s net-zero energy goals and reduced carbon emissions. The buses were billed as modern, clean, and capable, each equipped with a 520-kilowatt-hour battery and a theoretical range of up to 258 miles on a single charge.

So much for theory. This year’s harsh winter has delivered a lesson in reality.

Out cold

Less than a year after entering service, all five electric buses were pulled from operation following a battery recall by manufacturer New Flyer Industries. The recall cited a potential fire hazard and prompted a software update that significantly restricted how the buses could be charged. Under the revised settings, the buses are no longer allowed to charge when battery temperatures fall below 41 degrees Fahrenheit, and charging capacity is capped at 75%.

Those restrictions created an immediate operational problem. Green Mountain Transit’s garage does not have the fire-mitigation equipment required to store or charge electric buses indoors under the recall conditions. As a result, the buses have been forced to remain outdoors, exposed to Vermont’s winter temperatures. With ambient temperatures frequently below the charging threshold, the buses cannot be charged safely and therefore cannot be used.

Perverse incentives

While Green Mountain Transit general manager Clayton Clark noted that the charging restriction is software-based and could theoretically be resolved sooner, no such remedy has yet been implemented; replacement batteries will not be installed for 18 to 24 months. Clark said GMT is seeking a financial remedy from the manufacturer and has not ruled out litigation.

The problem is compounded by how the buses were acquired in the first place, explained Clark. Federal transit grants from 2020 through 2024 prioritized low- or zero-emission vehicles, with requests for diesel buses often denied. To remain competitive for funding, Green Mountain Transit pursued electric buses, which are approximately 90% funded through federal grants and Volkswagen settlement money. Canceling the electric-bus grant would mean forfeiting those funds entirely, without the option to redirect them toward diesel replacements.

The price tag for this experiment? A cool $8 million.

Stretched thin

The five recalled buses represent about 10% of Green Mountain Transit’s fleet. With all of them sidelined, Clark said the system is now “literally down to our last bus,” forcing occasional service cancellations. Replacement buses cannot be ordered quickly; new transit vehicles require multi-year lead times and federal approvals. In the meantime, the diesel buses that were slated for retirement are being run harder than ever to keep service operating.

This is not a story about careless drivers or mismanagement by local transit employees. It is about a policy framework that rewards electrification on paper while leaving transit agencies exposed when technology, climate, and infrastructure fail to align.

Electric buses may perform adequately in mild environments, but expecting them to replace diesel buses in northern states with long, cold winters ignores basic physics. Batteries lose efficiency in cold weather. Charging becomes slower and more fragile. Range drops. Reliability suffers.

RELATED: This city bought 300 Chinese electric buses — then found out China can turn them off at will

Photo by Guo Haipeng/VCG via Getty Images

Win diesel

By comparison, a conventional diesel bus typically has nearly three times the range and can be refueled in minutes rather than hours. Once fueled, it can return immediately to service and run hundreds of additional miles without interruption. That is not ideology. It is an operational fact. Public transit systems exist to provide reliable service — especially in harsh conditions — not to serve as test beds for political signaling.

Supporters of these programs frame them as necessary sacrifices in the fight against climate change, but the cost-benefit analysis rarely receives serious scrutiny. The emissions reductions claimed at the local level are negligible in a global context, while the financial burden on taxpayers is real and long-lasting. Millions of dollars have been spent on buses that are currently unusable, and residents are left paying for both the electric fleet and the diesel backup required to keep the system functioning.

What makes this situation particularly troubling is how familiar it has become. Cold-weather failures of electric buses have been reported repeatedly across northern regions, yet each new purchase is announced as if the technology has suddenly overcome its limitations. The lessons of previous winters are ignored, only to be relearned at significant public expense.

In the middle of winter, Burlington’s transit system depends on the very diesel buses officials were eager to replace, while millions of dollars’ worth of electric buses sit frozen and unused. When temperatures drop, physics doesn’t negotiate. And this winter in Burlington, the only buses that work are the ones officials tried to phase out.

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