Uh-huh

U.S. Sun: "DROPPED AGAIN? ABC chiefs are ‘ready to pull’ Jimmy Kimmel Live! & have already spiked promo ads over his Melania ‘widow’ comments."

The man with the Nazi tattoo

The Corner: "Maine Shows Antisemitism Is a Shortcut to Success in the Modern Democratic Party."

Platner was largely unknown at this point last year and yet managed to drive a sitting governor out of the primary before a single vote was cast. But he had one thing going for him, which is that he gained attention for his antisemitism. That is a ticket to success in the modern Democratic Party.

Sadly true.  Still, you have to be careful about those secret Israeli agents. 

Extra - Of course: "Maine Kampf: Bernie Sanders Gives Dem Senate Hopeful Graham Platner His Socialist Seal of Approval." 

While we were watching Iran

1945: "Russia’s Economy Is on the Brink of Collapse." 

West Coast Mamdani

Twitchy: "She Seems Nice: Seattle’s Socialist Nepo Mayor Cackles 'BYE' as Wealth Flees Her Dumpster Fire City." 

Is *everything* in California a money-laundering scheme?

Hot Air: "California Is an Unfunny Joke."

If you stacked dollar bills in the $231 billion needed to finish California's high speed rail, it would be over 15,000 miles high. 

This is not the government's role

Disagree: "The FCC’s Bad News for Disney/ABC: The Time for Playing Nice Is Over."

Agree: "Here's an Idea — Just Let Jimmy Kimmel Continue to Cancel Himself." 

Kimmel has lower ratings than Stephen Colbert who is losing $40 million/year on his way to cancellation.  The federal government shouldn't be involved in pushing Kimmel out.  That's the job of the market and Disney's calculation.

Already ran out of other people's money

That was quick!  Twitchy: "Socialism's Math Lesson: NYC Mayor Mamdani Promises Free Everything, Then Begs New York State for Bailout."

Who could have predicted this outcome?  Oh, yeah, everybody outside the Upper East Side.

Eliminate it

Reason: "The Federal Minimum Wage Is Irrelevant. Good. - The national wage floor is so low that it might as well not exist." 

They cannot be reasoned with

Sasha Stone: "There is No Saving the Left - There is only saving the country from them." 

After ten years of dehumanizing language, they can’t see the reality of who Trump is anymore, much less see his supporters as their fellow Americans. They can only see the delusion - the mirage - the supervillain they invented. If he isn’t even a human anymore, then killing him is as easy as taking out the garbage.

They speak in mantras. They mirror each other. Their hysteria spreads from person to person and ultimately unites them. They are as aligned and of one mind as a cult. They must believe they are still the “resistance” going to war on an insurmountable evil force that can’t be defeated in any ordinary way. It requires something extraordinary, someone, to “just do it.”

Some of my favorite videos on YouTube are the conservatives who wander into "No Kings" rallies and starts asking very basic questions.  These so-called adults just completely melt down at the slightest pushback.

Good question

Hot Air: "Trump to ABC: When Are You Going to Fire Assassination Clown Kimmel, Anyway?"

Kimmel is gonna paint himself as a free speech warrior but at heart he's a coward who would never allow anybody to confront him to his face.  Go ahead, Jimmy: have somebody like Ted Cruz on your show.  Let's see how that goes.

Kimmel must go and NOW

Fox News: "Kimmel calls Melania Trump an ‘expectant widow’ before White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting - The segment aired shortly before a gunman opened fire at a Secret Service checkpoint at the Washington Hilton."

I've said this before but I'm one of those Disney people.  I've been to the parks with my kids a half-dozen times and, after they left the nest, my wife and I have been on a bunch of Disney cruises.  I was so desperate to get out of the house during Covid that I got the vaccine just so I could cruise on the Disney Magic.  Needless to say, I've paid the Disney premium for the Disney brand of entertainment.

But I can't do it anymore if ABC is going to continue to give Jimmy Kimmel a platform for his bottomless and humorless brand of Trump Derangement Syndrome.  Look, Disney, we already know his low-rated show is losing millions a year.  Just cut the cord already.

And, yeah, I get that I'm a molecule in the ocean of Disney's revenue.  But maybe there are millions of guys like me who make the decision to switch to Universal for my theme park needs and Norwegian Cruise Line (leaving out of Boston) for my cruise desires.  Maybe we cancel our Disney Plus accounts and get our Disney merchandise from knock-off sites on Ebay.

But I won't support ABC and Disney while Kimmel still has a show because you're obliquely telling us what you think of half the country.

Pretty much what you would expect

NY Post: "Read White House Correspondents’ Dinner gunman Cole Allen’s full anti-Trump manifesto."

Just another loser covering himself with moral vanity.

China buys 80% of Iran's oil

TIPP Insights: "The Squeeze - The Strait of Hormuz is squeezing Iran. It's also squeezing China."

So I just got back from vacation

To this news: "BREAKING: Shots Fired at Correspondents Dinner, Shooter Neutralized, Trump Evacuated."

This is breaking news but what I'm hearing so far is that somebody tried to get through the metal detector and was shot dead by Secret Service after producing a gun.  Fox Business is allegedly reporting there is a separate person in custody.

So this is by my count the fourth assassination attempt on Trump by nutcases fomented into violence by the political Left.

Update - Now they're saying the gunman is not dead.  Hannity is saying that a Secret Service agent took a bullet to the chest but his vest stopped it.  Trump is supposed to speak in 30 minutes.

Update 2 - In custody: Cole Tomas Allen from California.

Update 3 - Red State: "WHCD Shooter Identified, a 31-Year-Old Teacher From California."  Usually when you reach your thirties, you develop some perspective and reason in your life but I guess not if you're from California. 

Hiatus

Gotta take a break for a couple of weeks.  Catch you later.

When journalism happens

PJ Media: "Maryland’s Wes Moore Gets the ‘Spotlight’ Treatment — and He’s None Too Happy About It."

There is nothing here that a good newspaper wouldn't pursue for a potential Presidential candidate, but all Wes Moore can do is complain that the Baltimore Sun has been taken over by a right-winger.  Sure thing, buddy.  Tell your story to Jen Psaki. 

As I predicted

Hot Air: "Vance: No Deal – And That’s Bad News For Iran."

The sum total of this "negotiation" was that Iran give up its efforts towards nuclear capability.  But they would never do that because they've spent nearly a half-century convincing themselves that opposition to America and Israel is the sum total of its existence. 

Every movement by the Iranians is geared towards delay.  The U.S. response should be geared towards this reality...and a prompt response. 

Overnight implosion

Townhall: "The Eric Swalwell Sexual Assault Story Is Now a Total Fiasco."

Damn, this whole thing went from zero to a 100 in record time.  Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.  I suspect that divorce and resignation from Congress is in his future given the severity of these allegations.

By the way: do you remember what Senator Al Franken did to be forced out of office?  He did an adolescent joke where he mimed grabbing a woman's breasts.  As of now, Swalwell is being accused of r*pe.  He can't remain in office.

We have a name

I've been keeping my powder dry on the Eric Swalwell sexual assault allegations but now it appears like the dam has broken open: "CNN: Three More Women Describe Sexual Misconduct by Rep. Swalwell."

Ally Sammarco is the named woman and there's enough panic that Swalwell's co-campaign managers have both resigned.  As is his wont, there is a 100% chance Swalwell will blame Trump for forcing him to Snapchat his junk.

Flashback: "Eric Swalwell's Fake 'Oh, You SURPRISED Me With That Question' Videos."

Extra - NY Post: "Eric Swalwell’s campaign falls apart as ex-staffer levels horrifying sexual assault claim."

More - Powerline: "Swalwell goes down."  This dirtbag was front-and-center with his baseless allegations against Brett Kavanaugh.  Time for Swalwell to live by the rules he created.

Then resign from Congress.

Nose rings and useless graduate degrees

Reason: "Why Is It so Damn Hard To Find Sympathetic Student Loan 'Victims'? - Less than half of the Class of 2024 took out college loans averaging $30,000—a manageable amount that buys over $1 million in extra lifetime earnings."

Is any subgenre of journalism more debased and alienating than the student-loan sob story? If paying for college with heavily subsidized, federally backed loans was in fact the cause of the new, universal serfdom we hear so much about, you'd think that places like The New York Times would be able to scare up highly sympathetic young adults who tug at readers' heartstrings like orphans in a Dickens novel.

Instead, in stories like last week's "Student Debt Burdened Them, So They Moved Abroad and Stopped Paying," you get characters like 37-year-old Amanda Lynn Tully, who "graduated in 2017 with a master's degree in historic preservation from the University of Oregon, $65,000 in federal student loans and no job offers in the conservation field." Tully, reports the Times, "felt misled" and so "made a drastic decision: She moved to Prague, where she had completed an internship, and defaulted on her loans. She hasn't made a payment in over seven years."

This grown-ass woman defaulted on her student loan and fled the country because she "psychologically" couldn't pay $60/month. 

No free buses in NYC

PJ Media: "Comrade Mamdani Is Getting Smacked Around by Reality."

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani rode into office on a socialist unicorn after promising everything but free ice cream for life to the children of every voter. There are only two blocs in any electorate who vote for the kind of socialist utopian garbage that Mamdani spouted: young people who are too dumb to know any better, and older people who know better, but are so wealthy they don't care. The latter group is simply looking for a politician they might be able to control. Unfortunately, New York has a preponderance of both young, dumb voters, and rich, bored voters.

Imagine believing all these rainbow promises.  Politicians like Mamdani and AOC and Sanders keep insisting the "rich" are sitting on a Scrooge McDuck pile of gold coins and we can have every amenity under the sun if we just take it from them.

All the journalists' egos

Twitchy: "All the President’s Men Turns 50: The Movie That Gave Journalists an Unbearable God Complex."

I've read the book and seen the movie.  The most insufferable part of the Woodward & Berstein saga is how they were spoon-fed every part of the story by Mark Felt and yet they're held up as this paragon of journalism.  It wasn't like they made any big breakthroughs on their own.  They took this unbelievable piece of professional luck and turn it into a half-century grift where every couple of years they appear on some news show to say the latest scandal is "worse than Watergate."

I think I spotted the flaw in the system

Christopher Rufo: "Gavin Newsom’s $30 Billion Fraud Magnet - California’s In-Home Supportive Services Program is ripe for scams, experts say."

The system operates largely on trust. Providers self-report their timecards and check-in records. In roughly 60 percent of cases, providers and beneficiaries live together, delivering care in private homes—typically without the threat of random, unannounced visits.

Suicidal empathy rears its head again.

We'll see

PJ Media: "BREAKING: Trump Announces a Ceasefire."

Delay is a perpetual tactic of the Iranians so I'm not as sanguine as the market futures.

Always with the class warfare

Fauxcahontas is on the warpath again: "Eating Jeff Bezos - Senator Elizabeth Warren proposes a wealth tax on "ultra-millionaires." Note that in 1913, the federal income tax was sold as a tax on the richest of the rich in America."

Warren and Bernie Sanders have exactly one schtick: that guy has more money than you - let's take it.

That's a whole lot of babysitting

Two Eric Swalwell stories today: "Report: Group of Women Preparing to Accuse Rep. Swalwell of Harassment" and "Thread OWNING Eric Swalwell for Nannygate Payments Takes CRAZY Turn to 'OMG, Is He a CREEPER' Town."

The latter grabbed my attention because the rules for paying for child care during a campaign are strictly defined and, by all appearances, Swalwell just paid his nanny a regular salary out of campaign funds.  A whopping $240,000 went for "childcare" reimbursements.

I'm not saying that Swalwell was paying off his nanny to keep her mouth shut about an affair.  I'm just saying that's a lot of cash for somebody who - allegedly - is going to be accused of a lot of DM sliding.

There's always a catch

Just the News: "Iran rejects 45-day ceasefire plan."

There was one minor quibble:

🚨Breaking: My sources confirm that Iran and the US are VERY close to signing a deal. The only issue holding it up is Iran's insistence on destroying America

— David Keyes (@DavidMKeyes) April 6, 2026

Misdirection and logistics

It sounds like those factors are what saved that downed airman in Iran: "Second F-15 Pilot Rescued as Iranian Civilians Aid American Operation to Rescue Him."

The U.S. lured Basij militants to a location 100 miles away from where the guy was hiding while we built our own airport as a forward base.  Amazing.

Excellent news (if true)

Hot Air: "Unconfirmed Reports That F-15 WSO Recovered After Special Forces Battle IRGC."

The unconfirmed stories coming out sound like something from a Hollywood movie: the IRGC swarmed the area looking for their prize and the USAF mowed them down.

Confirmed - "US celebrates successful rescue of F-15E crew member as Trump's Iran ultimatum ticks down." 

Money laundering scheme

Federalist: "Report: ActBlue Likely Lied To Congress About Illegal Foreign Donations, Its Lawyers Feared Privately." 

Layers of fact-checkers

Fox News: "New York Times goes viral for erroneous print headline on Trump's NATO exit threat - Times spokesperson says the paper will issue a correction after wrongly calling it North American Treaty Organization."

Couldn't happen to a nicer newspaper.

Hollywood is dying

Long thread on Instapundit discussing this Wall Street Journal article: "See How Hollywood’s Job Market Is Collapsing - Studios are making fewer movies and shows than they did just a few years ago. The ones they do make are increasingly being shot outside the U.S."

It's easy to say Hollywood went woke and got broke but look at the evidence: the two biggest hits of the last couple years are "Top Gun: Maverick" and "Project Hail Mary" - movies that tell a compelling story with a strong male lead and zero lectures.  Meanwhile, Hollywood recently bestowed Best Picture to resistance porn "One Battle after Another," which arguably flopped.

But then there's California which destroys all it touches.  Shooting films or TV is way too expensive there so producers are looking to other states and countries.  I remember the craziest story I read is that it's cheaper for producers of the game show "The Floor" to fly all the contestants to Dublin than it is to shoot in the United States.

ICYMI - Buh-bye Bad Robot!  "Hollywood heavyweight behind sci-fi classics leaves LA as Tinseltown bleeds talent." 

I love this headline

MSN: "Hospice with 97% survival rate accused of defrauding Medicare for $7.45M."

Why is the government arresting people with such a high level of success?  It's a mystery!

When you hate Trump more than you love Americans

Townhall: "Will Gov. Spanberger Ignore Detainers for These Violent Criminal Illegals? ICE Is Warning Her Not To." 

Massive, systematic, brazen fraud

City Journal: "Gavin Newsom’s Empire of Fraud - California has lost at least $180 billion to fraud, according to officials and experts."

This story is B A N A N A S:

Total budgeted Medi-Cal spending—which includes federal, state, and local contributions—has more than doubled on the governor’s watch, rising from $93.5 billion the year before he took office to $196.7 billion in the current annual budget. During the same period, California’s resident population declined by 0.2 percent.

-------

The state lost $32.6 billion dollars of taxpayer money to fraudulent applications,” he said. “In California, at one point, you had more people applying for unemployment insurance benefits than you had people over the age of 18.”

-------

Talcove estimates that the Medicaid fraud rate in California is 20 percent, which he calls a “very conservative” figure. Federal officials, however, believe that the current Medi-Cal fraud rate is even higher—and, given the state’s oversight failures and massive Medi-Cal expansion under Newsom, they are almost certainly right. Multiple high-ranking sources at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which is currently probing fraud in California, told City Journal on the condition of anonymity that their initial estimate for Medi-Cal’s fraud rate since 2019 is 25 percent.

That state needs a thousand Nick Shirleys.

Thank heaven

Fox News: "Artemis II launches astronauts around the moon in first deep space mission since Apollo."

I'm on record being nervous about this launch, so I'm glad it went off without a hitch.