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"These are a huge waste of money and food. ... I wouldn't recommend spending your hard-earned cash on them."

The Johnnies have so far landed five new players, and all of them are big for their position.

The Moral Malaise: The New York Times Makes The Case For "Microlooting" To Murder

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

“It is so hard to live ethically in an unethical society.” That lament heard this week from New York Times opinion culture editor Nadja Spiegelman could well be the Democratic Party’s epitaph.

Spiegelman was interviewing two left-wing influencers about how everything from shoplifting to murder may be excusable today in light of the unfairness they see in society.

The podcast, a product of the nation’s newspaper of record, reveled in the moral relativism that has taken over the American left. It featured the ravings of the antisemitic Marxist streamer Hasan Piker, who calmly explained how the murder of United Healthcare executive Brian Thompson was perfectly understandable. His rationalization came from Marxist revolutionary Friedrich Engels, who had called capitalism “social murder.” If capitalists are “social murderers,” then why not kill them? The logic is liberating and lethal for some on the left looking for a license for violence.

Mind you, this same newspaper had once condemned and effectively banned a U.S. senator for writing an op-ed advocating the use of the military to quell violent protests during the summer of George Floyd’s death. The Times even forced out its own opinion editor for having the temerity to publish such an opinion.

But glorifying murder? The suggestion of open hunting season on corporate executives did not appear to shock or repel Spiegelman. After all, we are living in “an unethical society.” She explained that many felt that the murder of Thompson, the father of two, meant that “finally, someone can actually do something about health care.”

Even liberal comedians are practicing a literal version of slapstick. Margaret Cho this week declared that “we need a feral, bloodthirsty, violent Democrat.”

To be fair, Spiegelman did concede that it might seem a bit “scary” for some to start murdering our way to social justice.

She also explained that shoplifting can be justifiable because people are “stealing from Whole Foods — not just for the thrill of it, but out of a feeling of anger and moral justification.”

New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino also contributed to the podcast, titled “The Rich Don’t Play by the Rules. So Why Should I?” She immediately threw in her own experience with “microlooting” and explained why it is arguably moral: “I have, under very specific circumstances. I will say, I think that stealing from a big-box store [isn’t] significant as a moral wrong, nor is it significant in any way as protest.”

She detailed her own past thefts and added, “I didn’t feel bad about it at all, in part because the store was a corporation. And it certainly felt, in a utilitarian sense, I was like, this is not a big deal. Right, guys?”

Not in the confines of the New York Times, where apparently you are entitled to all goods that are fit to pilfer.

The bizarre exchange highlighted the moral chasm that is opening its maw on today’s political left. In my book “Rage and the Republic,” I write about how rage helps people excuse any offense or attack. It dismisses the humanity of others and provides a license to hate completely and without reservation.

It is not really murder or theft if there are no real humans on the other side, is it?

Other columnists have defended such property crimes. Washington Post writer Maura Judkis ran a column mocking shoplifting stories as the “moral panic” of a nation built on “stolen land.” It is reminiscent of those who excused rioting in past summers “as an expression of power” and demanded that the media refer to looters as “protesters.”

Former New York Times writer (and now Howard University Journalism Professor) Nikole Hannah-Jones went so far as to call on journalists not to cover shoplifting crimes.

At its core, it is a denial of transcendent values and rights. It is a decoupling of our society from a grounding in moral or universal truths. It is a trend that extends not only to attacks on individuals but also to attacks on our constitutional system. There is a growing denial of our founding based on Enlightenment principles of natural rights, which come not from government but from God.

Some people seem to have forgotten this. In 2024, a celebrated political journalist memorably asserted that belief in God-given rights is a form of “Christian nationalism” — an odd claim about a concept the nation’s founders literally wrote into our Declaration of Independence.

Last year, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) — a man who represents Thomas Jefferson’s own state — attacked a witness in committee for espousing Jefferson’s immortal assertion that human beings’ natural rights are endowed by their Creator. Kaine disparaged this idea as something worthy of Iran’s mullahs.

The result is the type of moral free-fall and rejection of personal responsibility expressed on the New York Times podcast. Simply because they condemn our entire age as unethical, they feel justified in asserting a moral right to commit any offense, from microlooting to murder. This underpins the increasingly frequent justifications made for attacks against conservatives or law enforcement as a form of “defending democracy.”

Yet the feeling of “anger and moral justification” does not make an act moral. It is the morality of mayhem; a spreading decay within our society. History has shown us how democracies can become mobocracies.

During the French Revolution, journalist Jacques Mallet du Pan observed that “like Saturn, the Revolution devours its children.” The sad fact is, it is not just the danger of fellow revolutionaries deciding that you are the next reactionary to be guillotined. It is the self-consumption of radicals who untether themselves from any higher order or purpose. It is the knowledge that all mortals carry the Saturn gene; all mortals share the capacity to become monsters.

Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the New York Times best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”

Tyler Durden Mon, 04/27/2026 - 20:55

Carlos Mendoza shouldn’t be the sacrificial lamb here, but baseball is almost as unfair as life sometimes.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani is pleading with the City Council to sign off on a budget extension — as the freshman city leader scrambles to try to milk Albany for more money.

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The sentencing follows his 2023 arrest, with additional sexual assault charges still pending in Canada.

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Upcoming Weather Shift "Far From Drought-Breaker" For America's Parched Breadbasket

Some of the worst drought conditions in a generation are plaguing America’s breadbasket just as spring planting season gets underway. Institutional desks, including UBS, have ramped up warnings about drought, fertilizer shortages, and what these current-day issues could morph into for the food supply chain later this year.

The good news: parts of the central U.S. may finally see some weather relief, with several days of rain in the forecast. Whether that will be enough to materially improve soil moisture conditions remains the key question for agricultural desks this week.

"The upcoming weather pattern in the United States, fueled by a strong subtropical jet stream, will bring some beneficial rain to the drought-stricken South," meteorologist Ben Noll wrote on X, adding, "But it will be far from a drought-breaker."

The upcoming weather pattern in the United States — fueled by a strong subtropical jet stream — will bring some beneficial rain to the drought-stricken South.

But it will be far from a drought-breaker. pic.twitter.com/3Zfhm1KpfT

— Ben Noll (@BenNollWeather) April 27, 2026

Noll is correct: it will take many more rounds of storms to fully erase the drought, especially given what UBS analyst Jonathan Pingle told clients last week.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Palmer Drought Severity Index hit its highest level for March since records started in 1895, and March was the third-driest month recorded, regardless of time of year, behind only the famed 1930s Dust Bowl: July and August 1934. Water levels on the Mississippi look fine, and seasonal lows are typically in the fall, but river levels in Memphis sit 24 feet below this time last year.

Here's The Weather Channel's forecast for rain this week across the Midwest and Southeast:

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Better than nothing. 

Tyler Durden Mon, 04/27/2026 - 20:30

A resurfaced video of a man throwing a savage haymaker at a drunken barfly who groped his wife has gone viral, sparking a fierce debate about whether his use of force was appropriate in defending his spouse's honor.

Herman clarified Zendaya and Sweeney's current standing after a scathing report alleged the co-stars didn't get along.

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Her husband was seeking custody of the children and their $1.5 million house.

LIV Golf is singing the blues. 

Nearly 10,000 Pounds Of Methamphetamine And Marijuana Seized By US Authorities

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Around 10,000 pounds of marijuana and methamphetamine were seized by U.S. authorities in two separate incidents in recent weeks.

A joint operation on April 20 intercepted a Go-Fast vessel with 3.2 tons of marijuana, the largest load of marijuana ever stopped in Colombian waters. Courtesy of the Joint Interagency Task Force/X

“A joint operation on April 20th led by @ArmadaColombia intercepted a Go-Fast vessel with 3.2 tons of marijuana, the largest load of marijuana ever stopped in Colombian waters, preventing drug-trafficking organizations from reaping the profits,” the Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) South said in an April 23 post on X. Armada Colombia is part of the country’s naval defense arm.

The 3.2 tons of marijuana, which comes to 6,400 pounds, has an estimated spot value of roughly $7 million.

JIATF leverages its member nations’ capabilities to identify and monitor drug trafficking in the air and maritime domains. The task force seeks to interdict and take the drugs into custody to disrupt the shipment of illicit narcotics and degrade or dismantle transnational criminal organizations.

In another significant seizure, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Otay Mesa Commercial Facility, California, took custody of more than 3,000 pounds of methamphetamine, with an estimated value of $4.92 million, according to an April 23 statement from the agency.

The narcotics were “concealed within a cargo trailer,” which the CBP had referred for a secondary inspection on April 14, the agency said.

“The shipment manifest had listed the commodity as corrugated cardboard boxes,” it said.

An initial nonintrusive inspection identified anomalies in the front wall of the trailer. A physical inspection found 300 packages of meth.

According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the overdose death rate involving psychostimulants with abuse potential, primarily methamphetamine, was 10.4 people per 100,000 individuals in 2023.

“Our CBP officers at ports of entry are unwavering guardians,” Otay Mesa Port Director Rosa E. Hernandez said.

“Their diligence prevented illegal narcotics from entering our country, so our communities are kept safe from dangerous drugs.”

Tackling the inflow of drugs is a key focus area of the Trump administration. In an April 2025 Statement of Drug Policy Priorities, the White House said the administration has identified an “urgent need for decisive action” to tackle the illicit drug crisis plaguing the United States.

According to the statement, the Trump administration aims to reduce the number of overdose fatalities, decrease the global movement of illicit drugs, stop the flow of drugs from across the border into U.S. communities, reduce the initiation of drug use, and offer treatments that lead to long-term recovery from addiction and substance use disorders.

“To achieve our vision of a safer, healthier future for Americans, we will disrupt the supply chain from tooth to tail. We will partner with or otherwise hold accountable countries that are sources of precursor chemicals and finished drugs that enter the United States,” the statement said.

Crackdown on Drug Operations

In a March 17 statement to a House committee, Joseph M. Humire, performing the duties of the assistant secretary of war for homeland defense and Americas security affairs, said the Department of War (DOW) has been focusing on the maritime flow of illicit narcotics into the United States from South America.

Since September 2025, the DOW has been conducting kinetic strikes on suspected drug trafficking vessels that have had a positive impact in curtailing drug flow, according to the official.

“Since the first September strike, there has been a 20 percent reduction of movements of drug vessels in the Caribbean and an additional 25 percent reduction in the Eastern Pacific. These two maritime corridors are the origin source for follow-on flow into the U.S. Homeland,” Humire said.

“We have successfully deterred cartels from exploiting key maritime routes, leading to a more than 20 percent reduction in cocaine flow.”

Last week, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy hosted the Interdiction Committee Principals Meeting, with officials from the State Department, Homeland Security, Justice Department, DOW, the Treasury, and the Intelligence Community meeting to advance President Donald Trump’s drug policy priorities, the White House said in an April 20 statement.

Participants discussed matters related to current operations aimed at reducing the supply of illicit drugs, and reviewed methods to integrate information from drug interdictions to investigations in order to better target criminal networks.

“The Interdiction Committee is where policy and operations collide. We know that every interdiction, every arrest, and every successful prosecution is an opportunity for law enforcement and the intelligence community to combat cartel operations, their supply chains, and the illicit financing that fuels it all,” U.S. Interdiction Coordinator and Committee Chairperson Daniel Boatright said.

Tyler Durden Mon, 04/27/2026 - 20:05