Week of Remembrance for 9/11 25th Anniversary

Donald Trump and J.D. Vance will attend a series of 9/11 commemorative events this week, beginning with a ceremony on September 8^th on the White House Ellipse, featuring a steel beam salvaged from the World Trade Center wreckage. Trump will speak at the Pentagon on 9/11, while Vice President Vance represents the administration at the site of the attacks. Trump wanted to give a commemorative speech, and no speeches are allowed at the site. Fox News: President Donald Trump will host 9/11 first responders and officials at the White House on Sept. 8, where a 21-foot steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center’s South Tower will be displayed, Fox News Digital learned. “President Trump will pay tribute to the American heroes we lost in the tragic Sept. 11 attacks, their beautiful family members and to the acts of heroism that defined that fateful day when the unbreakable spirit of the American people prevailed,” White House spokesperson Olivia Wales told Fox News Digital. The Tunnel to Towers Foundation will bring its “Steel Across America” tour to the White House on Sept. 8, where the 21-foot, 16,900-pound steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center’s South Tower will be displayed on the White House Ellipse. (Fox News) New York Times: Mr. Trump’s team had conducted advance visits at the site and had initially signaled to officials in New York and in Washington that the president intended to visit the memorial space known as ground zero, two of the people with knowledge of the events said. The president’s interest in speaking on Sept. 11 was conveyed to memorial planners in recent weeks, three of the people with knowledge of the events said. But since 2012, politicians have been barred from speaking at the site. The National September 11 Memorial and Museum, which oversees the site, has worked rigorously to keep the venue nonpartisan and focused on the solemnity of the day. (New York Times)

AfD Scores Enormous Victory in Saxony-Anhalt Elections

Germany’s Alternative for Germany took 43.8% in the eastern state election, more than doubling its prior share and crushing the CDU to 17.2%. It fell three seats short of an absolute majority amid a “firewall” by other parties. High turnout reflected deep voter frustration with migration, energy costs, and economic stagnation. Mainstream parties now face coalition chaos or isolation of the clear winner. This is a rebuke to open-border policies and Berlin’s economic mismanagement. USNews: Chancellor Friedrich Merz ruled out working with the Alternative for Germany ⁠on ⁠Monday after the far-right party surged into first place in state elections ⁠in Saxony-Anhalt, but he conceded the result had shaken his party “to its very foundations”. The AfD is appealing to lawmakers from Merz’s conservatives to support its ​bid to rule the eastern state, in what would be the first time a far-right party takes power at state level in postwar Germany. (USNews.) Establishment parties are doubling down on accusing the AfD of being “far right” and outside the Overton Window of German politics, despite this massive victory over the ruling coalition, and refuse to work with the party.

Economic Strangling of Iran Proceeding Apace

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicted that Iran has only 30 million barrels of oil left to sell to China, and that economic sanctions are “asphyxiating” the economy. Washington Times: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent estimated Sunday that Iran has only a smattering of crude oil left to sell to China, its main customer, pointing to Tehran’s lack of reserves as evidence that the U.S. pressure campaign is working. Addressing concerns that China’s purchase of Iranian oil will continue to prop up the government in Tehran, Mr. Bessent insisted that it is a moot issue because of the few barrels Iran has left to sell. “There’s probably only about 30 million barrels of Iranian crude oil left that China hasn’t bought,” Mr. Bessent said in an interview with Fox News’ “My View with Lara Trump.” “So that will run out soon, and there will be no problem with China buying because they have no product.” He added that the U.S. blockade of Iran’s ports has made it increasingly difficult for Tehran to export anything, let alone millions of barrels of crude oil. Washington’s sanctions regime targeting Iran has also helped crush the Islamic Republic’s economy, Mr. Bessent said. (Washington Times.)

Study: ‘Diversity’ Does Not Improve Scientific Output, Despite Claims

The phrase ‘Diversity Is Our Strength’ may be a left-wing mantra, but the evidence to show it is thin on the ground. A new study demonstrates that in academia, where ‘diversity’ is supposed to magically improve research, the results don’t match the rhetoric. Springer: Overall, the results indicate that there is little empirical evidence that diversity, as defined narrowly by demographic or identity diversity, improves scientific output and impact. Despite claims that evidence for the Diversity Hypothesis is unambiguous, the results of this scoping review suggest that, presently, this broad conclusion is unsubstantiated and that more nuanced propositions pertaining to the types and effects of diversity be advanced and enacted in the context of scientific claims, funding, and policy-making. (Springer.)

Mass Mobilization Against Migrants in UK

Hundreds of protesters (some masked) clashed with police overnight Sept 6–7 in Portsmouth after a single dinghy carrying ~140 migrants made an unusually long crossing from Normandy and was brought ashore near Eastney. Demonstrators blocked roads to stop coaches heading to the Manston processing center, then pursued the convoy toward Dover; it was the second major protest of the weekend. ABC News: The Portsmouth protest came a day after hundreds of masked anti-immigration protesters blocked roads leading to Britain’s busiest ferry port of Dover on Saturday, clogging traffic and disrupting travelers as well as cargo vehicles heading for France. Both groups appeared to be led by Daniel Thomas, an ally of veteran far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson. Successive U.K. governments have struggled to stop people — more than 40,000 last year — making the dangerous journey across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. The issue has been depicted as a crisis by politicians including Nigel Farage of the hard-right party Reform UK, and has been used as a rallying point by anti-immigration activists. (ABC News.) All the “mainstream” news reporting is about condemnations of the protests, but the fact is that the UK government has failed to stem the tide of illegal immigration, and ordinary Britons are fed up waiting.

Nepal Makes Outrageous Demand for Climate Reparations

The horrific disaster in Nepal has sparked a new and disturbing demand: that Western countries pay reparations to Nepal for climate change impacts. Japan Times: Nepal is seeking compensation for climate change-related damages from a United Nations fund set up to help developing nations deal with the worst impacts of global warming. On Sept. 1, the country sent a letter to the fund’s co-chairs asking for immediate support and arguing that the international community’s promises “must move from commitments on paper to concrete action on the ground,” Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal told reporters last week. The letter did not quantify the losses or specify how much money the nation was requesting. The United Nations Fund for responding to Loss and Damage emerged from annual global climate talks in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in 2022. It was intended to help address a central injustice of climate change: Developed countries, which became rich by taking advantage of fossil fuels, contributed the most to the problem, while poor countries that have emitted far less are the most likely to suffer the impacts of warming and are often the least prepared. (Japan Times.) Nobody should be surprised that the claim for damages stems from a United Nations climate change program.

HHS: Gender Ideology Fuels Left-Wing Authoritarianism and Violence

In a finding that should surprise nobody given the rise in left-wing violence in recent years, a Rutgers University study conducted alongside the Hudson Institute and the Network Contagion Research Institute found that authoritarianism and violence are associated with gender ideology. HHS: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today released a commissioned study that found individuals who believed in radical gender ideology were more likely to hold left-wing authoritarian beliefs and believe political violence is justified. The same study found individuals who held left-wing authoritarian views were more likely to justify political violence. The preregistered survey of 1,208 U.S. adults found that stronger endorsement of so-called “gender-affirming” clinical positions was substantially associated with higher levels of left-wing authoritarianism, including after accounting for political identity and age. Both measures were also associated with greater justification of political violence across six scenarios. “This study raises important questions about what happens when ideology is given the authority of medicine,” said Admiral Brian Christine. “The association between sex-rejecting clinical beliefs, authoritarian attitudes, and the justification of political violence warrant serious scientific scrutiny. HHS will continue to pursue rigorous research that examines these relationships and gives the American people the evidence they deserve.” (HHS.) The Department of Health and Human Services commissioned the study.

Iran Keeps Claiming It Controls Strait of Hormuz

Iran may be getting economically asphyxiated, but it appears to have no intention of crying ‘uncle.” New York Post: Iran announced Monday it will establish a new “restricted zone” near the Strait of Hormuz within the coming days — as the flailing nation desperately tries to expand its control over the critical chokepoint. The exclusion zone will span from where the US blockade of Iran begins to other areas of the Gulf, Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on Sunday in an interview with state TV. Rezaei said that any ship that sails into the restricted zone will be placed on a sanctions list. “Any ship that enters this area with the intention of passing through the Strait of Hormuz and is identified will be placed on our sanctions list,” Rezaei said. (New York Post.)

Tucker Carlson Praises El-Sayed as ‘Trumpian,’ Attacks Mike Rogers

Tucker Carlson came within a whisker’s breadth of endorsing Abdul El-Sayed, praising his policies, his opposition to AIPAC, and his “America First” policies. He oddly claimed that El-Sayed was “literally Trumpian.” The Hill: Right-wing media personality Tucker Carlson described Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign as “literally Trumpian” in his podcast episode released Wednesday. During an interview with conservative commentator Saagar Enjeti, the pair discussed the Michigan Senate race between El-Sayed and his GOP opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.). “I watch his campaign now, America First,” Enjeti said of El-Sayed. “When he talks about Israel, he says, ‘Israel is committing a genocide, but ultimately, I want to make sure that you don’t pay more for healthcare. I don’t want your tax dollars going abroad to fund this barbaric military.’” “He stands in front of a giant American flag. It’s almost Trumpian in terms of a lot —” Enjeti added, before Carlson cut in. “Well, it’s literally Trumpian,” Carlson said. (The Hill.) Carlson must be thinking of the Donald Trump who would have appeared in the Star Trek episode “Mirror Mirror,” where evil versions of the iconic characters existed in a mirror universe. Carlson also said “I wouldn’t vote for Mike Rogers at gunpoint.” (X.)

DOJ Charges Illegal Voters in Swing States

That thing that never, ever happens apparently has been happening—illegal voters casting ballots. PJ Media: Federal authorities are not only investigating election fraud in multiple battleground states, they are also beginning to arrest fraudsters. This work is particularly vital ahead of a major midterm election. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are both involved in the voter fraud crackdown as so many illicit voters are illegal aliens. It is ironic how, despite the fact that Democrats have been cheating egregiously in elections for well over a century, so many politicians and media outlets were terrified of discussing voter fraud until just recently. Now we see how rampant the fraud is. Another “conspiracy theory” turned out to be true. (PJ Media.) Fox News: The Justice Department announced Friday that five people—including two illegal immigrants and two non-citizens with legal status—had been federally charged with unlawfully casting ballots, falsifying citizenship status, fraudulently registering to vote and aiding and abetting during the 2022 and 2024 elections.  Some of the arrestees… could face up to more than a decade in prison if found guilty of providing a false statement of citizenship in order to vote and other election fraud charges they are facing. Fox News Digital obtained footage of the arrest of one of those individuals, Katya Rodriguez, 30. (Fox News.)