Another masterful interrogation from Gill

Legal Insurrection: "White Supremacy, Mickey Mouse, Politeness: Rep. Gill Takes on Smithsonian Director - “Ma’am, are you a white supremacist?”

GILL: Yes, under your leadership, it has been used as a reference. Is Mickey Mouse racist?

HARTIG: Mickey Mouse is not racist.

That's a relief.

You will pay for Medicare-for-All

Washington Post editorial: "Medicare-for-all means taxes-for-all - Billionaires don't have enough money to foot the bill."

Lots of eye-popping statistics in this editorial. 

Choosing Texas

Hot Air: "California Loses Another Vital Defense Contract to Texas."

Ideological diversity at the Boston Globe

I went into this article in the Boston Globe with high hopes: "On this 250th anniversary of America, how should a liberal feel about her country?"  It started out well:

My first visit was with Beverly Gage, a Yale University historian whose new book, “This Land Is Your Land,” recounts a year she spent road-tripping around the country, visiting historic sites in preparation for the country’s 250th anniversary.

“Whether or not people on the left like patriotism, it exists, and it’s a powerful, powerful force,” she told me when I visited her home in Connecticut for an interview. “To step aside, roll your eyes, to disengage, is not only, I think, a disservice to the people of the past but is also to concede a lot of things that I don’t think people on the left or liberals should concede to — that America is this one thing.”

I can get behind that!  Yes, patriotism is a powerful force and (most) Americans love their country.

Let's get another perspective:

I asked Massachusetts Representative Ayanna Pressley...

Oh Lord.

...about how she connects to the idea of patriotism, and she told me that one of the most patriotic things she’s ever seen was the Black custodians cleaning up the mess left behind by the January 6th insurrectionist mob who trashed the United States Capitol.

Of course.  We might as well make January 6th a national holiday at this point, the day where the government nearly collapsed to a bunch of middle-age men armed with MAGA hats and heart medication.

Moving to our last stop in this journey of patriotism:

To close out my series, I visited the Chelsea High School history fair, where freshmen presented projects on different chapters of American history. Chelsea is ground zero for ICE raids in Massachusetts, and I was curious how these kids — Chelsea High is 90 percent Latino — are processing various truths about American history while the American present bears down on them.

Unsurprisingly, the students were focused on eras that echo the chaos and xenophobia of America today. I saw at least three projects on the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, a law that incentivized the capture of Black people in free states whether or not they were runaways.

Yeah, unsurprisingly indeed.  Victimology is the new coin of the land and the study of our oppression must never cease.  I wonder how many displays at that history fair showed the other side of the American Civil War: men who left their homes to march and die fighting to free men.  Probably zero.

After Donald Trump won the first time in 2016, shocked journalists pledged to spend more time in "flyover country" to better understand the people outside their intellectual echo chamber.  But they've learned exactly nothing.  Instead they stay firmly within the Bluesky tribe with a Yale historian, a Democrat representative, and some kids in Chelsea.

No viewpoints outside this sample size are required.

Game for the ages

Um, I decided not to watch the World Cup bronze game today.

Highlights on YouTube:

It was never "alive" to begin with

Townhall: "Iran Just Killed the Memorandum of Understanding."

The problem with negotiating with Iran is that nobody knows who is in charge.  The civil government is regularly undermined by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard who is being directed by a gay ayatollah in a coma.

I'm leaving today

Jonathan Turley: "“Start Spreadin’ the News”: New York Losing Billions as Millionaires Flee the Big Apple." 

If you "make it here, you can make it anywhere" is true.  You can make it in Florida or Texas.

Extra - Get ready for the Texas Stock Exchange:

The Wall Street Journal reported in recent days that the Texas Stock Exchange is now officially open for business, and trading is expected to start soon. Everything is big in Texas, as the saying goes, so New Yorkers should take this rival stock exchange seriously.

In some ways, the idea that Dallas could become the new financial center makes sense. Texas has no income tax. New York City has the highest income tax, capital gains tax and dividend tax. Mayor Zohran Mamdani is threatening even higher "soak the rich" tax increases as part of his goal of making NYC a socialist mecca. Housing will be free, groceries will be free, health care will be free, buses will be free.

This isn't Democratic socialism. This is unmitigated socialism.

New York was already losing to Texas before any of this happened. Over the past decade, nearly 2 million residents of New York state have fled. Many of them are now in Texas. New York has lost almost $1 trillion of income cumulatively over the past 12 years.

Sadly, these socialists will never learn.  These cities will go bankrupt gradually, then suddenly.

The source of much eye-rolling

Washington Post: "The rise and fall of a corporate fad - DEI mentions took off in 2020 and started collapsing in 2024." 

The important thing is that feelings weren't hurt

Hot Air: "Progressives in Cambridge, Mass Eliminated Shot Spotter. There Were Consequences."

Grinding gears

Washington Post: "The death of the stick shift is almost here - Driving a manual vehicle is a lost art. Hopes of a revival have fallen flat. With the rise of EVs and autonomous vehicles, only a few die-hards are holding on."

Less than 1 percent of new vehicles made for the U.S. market in 2025 were stick shifts, according to preliminary government data. At just 0.6 percent, it was an all-time low.

My first car was my father's hand-me-down Volkswagen Rabbit which (nobody recalls) had a helpful "shift up" light in the center of the dashboard console.  Soon the knowledge of operating a manual transmission will fade from memory like an ancient language.

NDAs? For an internal meeting?

PJ Media: "Democrats Are Panicking and Scrambling to Hide Something Big."

The DNC had their own officials sign non-disclosure agreements before a finance meeting.  The scuttlebutt is that the DNC is deeply in the red with debt exceeding money on hand. 

The intolerance factory

Hot Air: "Bluesky Gave Up on Competing with X."

Bluesky's actual problem is the one that no one there wants to talk about. It is a political silo for left-wing extremists that has a reputation for death threats and cancel culture. In fact, the last time I noticed something happening on Bluesky was when Popehat was banned for suggesting it would be good if someone murdered Elon Musk.

The stories I've heard about Bluesky is that the slightest deviation from the most left-wing positions will trigger a swarm attack like something from "The Birds."

Swalwell's pal

NY Post: "Swalwell pal Sen. Ruben Gallego had sexual relationships with two House staffers, sources reveal to The Post." 

The autopen must be exhausted

Ace: "Biden Slurs and Stumbles His Way Through Ad for His Ghostwritten "Memoir"."

Biden go vroom vroom! 

Brandon Gill: Superstar

Red State: "Like a Boss: Brandon Gill Ends an Ayanna Pressley Rant on Women's Rights With One Perfect Question."

Brandon Gill is like the Scott Jennings of Congress.  He does his homework and then confronts witnesses and opponents with simple questions that lead to unsatisfying responses.

After making NY too expensive

These guys need a raise: "NYC Council members want to give themselves 18.2% pay hike — and set automatic increases every year after." 

"Have you seen how much it costs to rent an apartment?" they cried.

The Left hates free speech

Hot Air: "A Case of Campus Cancel Culture Finally Goes to Trial."  Pushing back against the heckler's veto.

Cheating at Brown

Free Press: "I’m a Brown University Professor. Half My Students Are Cheating."

I saw this story elsewhere and the proof of cheating is the wide chasm in scores between the take-home midterm exam and the in-class final exam.  The funniest part is that there are two students - one got around a 95 on both exams and the other got around a 57 - who were clearly playing it straight.  I feel like the 57-score guy should be allowed to pass the class just on honesty.

The textbook definition of suicidal empathy

NY Post: "NY mom Jamey Carney’s migrant beau asked her for hefty dough a week before her murder in Ireland."

The migrant boyfriend suspected of murdering a New York mom at her home in Ireland allegedly asked her for a bunch of money just a week before her death.

Jamey Carney, 43, had told a pal that her beau, Ahmad Al-Saqar, sought the equivalent of around $5,700 about a week before her murder at her house in Killarney, the Irish Independent reported.

Al-Saqar is now wanted for questioning by authorities in connection with the murder of Carney, who is believed to have been beaten and then suffocated in her bed early Tuesday.

This woman absolutely bathed in the moral vanity of her bottomless tolerance and her pro-Palestinian causes.  She leaves behind a 13-year-old daughter.

Another business eyes the California exit

Semafor: "Paramount weighs leaving California over Warner Bros. rift."

As California tries to derail Paramount’s $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount CEO David Ellison’s friends and advisers have been pushing the media executive to consider shifting his business out of the state.

There's no saving that state.  Wait until the wealth tax hits.

Shocking news

Fox News: "Longtime GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham dies at 71 after 'brief and sudden illness'."

Ukraine is winning

Hot Air: "Russia Closes the Kerch Strait After 76 Ships Hit With Drones."

The Russians recently had their yearly military parade and there were no vehicles, only marching soldiers and a brief flyover.  And then, last week, Russia suspended exports of diesel because the entire country is running out of gas.

Entitled graduate students

Manhattan Contrarian: "What makes a person become a Communist?"

One requirement seems to be never holding a real job.

A man needs to have principles

Still rollin'

LA Times: "Every Rolling Stones album, ranked worst to best."

It's always crowded at the bottom but this list correctly names "Exile on Main St." as #1.

I saw the Rolling Stones at Shea Stadium in 1990 (I think) and - although the show was good - I swore off stadium concerts forever.  With my binoculars I could see the giant TV screens broadcasting the concert.

Free stuff for everyone

Paid for by the billionaires!  That's the shallow and childish ideology of the Socialist left: "Washington Post: Yes, the DSA Really Does Want to Destroy Capitalism." 

You can vote yourself into socialism but you have to shoot your way out.

Dozen red flags

WSJ: "The Red Flag That Led to Graham Platner’s Implosion Was Hiding in Plain Sight."

Hot Air: "Guess Who Was a Red-Flag Parade For Months (That We Never Spotted)?"

This opens the door for me to cite a great little country song: "Dozen Red Flags" by Mackenzie Carpenter.  It opens with these lyrics:

He deletes all his texts

Still talks to his ex

Flirts with my friends

His dad pays his rent

Hey!  Sounds like somebody we know!

"Mistakes were made"

Townhall: "The New York Times Is Trying to Do Damage Control After the Graham Platner Implosion."

He's out

Breaking news: "Oyster Shucked: Graham Platner Suspends Campaign Operations in Maine Senate Race."

These people, man...

Former NY Times editor Jill Abramson in today's Boston Globe: "The New York Times is taking heat over Graham Platner. It doesn’t deserve it."

During my 17-year career at the Times, I never saw partisan considerations color news stories. The Times’s policy, then and now, is to tell readers everything newsworthy that their reporters have confirmed as accurate and is important for readers to know.

I give up.  These people are in a bubble that cannot be pierced. 

Extra - This must be all in my imagination: "Trust in Media at New Low of 28% in U.S."

Unclear on the concept

Twitchy: "Move Over for Do-Over?: Dem on CSPAN Says Platner Is ‘Obstructing’ a Fair Election by Staying in Race." 

Maine Democrats voted for him.  He's your nominee, buddy. Democracy much?

I've been reliably told nobody is above the law

Hot Air: "Judge Dugan's Sentence is a Joke."

Ace: "Leftwing Judge Refuses to Sentence Former Judge Dugan to Jail for Helping Illegal Alien Elude Police, Won't Even Put Her on Probation."

Just a $5000 fine for a felony conviction.  Let's be honest: Dugan was never going to do a day in jail but at the very minimum there should have been some kind of probation or community service, just to bring her down a little bit and feel the bite of the law.

Instead she was let free and forced to pay her accumulated vacation from her severance. 

The NY Times does the NY Times

Catch and kill: "The New York Times Knew All About Graham Platner's Rape Allegation But Deliberately Buried It."

None of this should be surprising to anybody paying attention since the Brett Kavanaugh persecution.  Know what's the difference here?  There's evidence that Platner and his victim actually met. 

Shortages, stagnation and corruption

LA Times: "Democrats' newest ideas have been failing for centuries." "As Jason Furman, who chaired President Obama’s economic advisory council, put it, “Rent control has been about as disgraced as any economic policy in the tool kit.” The Swedish economist Assar Lindbeck — a socialist, mind you — was pithier: “In many cases rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city — except for bombing."

He's toast

NY Post: "Graham Platner’s ex Jenny Racicot accuses him of rape, says Maine Senate hopeful was ‘very drunk and wouldn’t take no for an answer’."

Stephen Green: "Is Platner out?"  The Maine Democrat Party is calling for his withdrawal.

Politico: "Exclusive: Woman who dated Graham Platner says he sexually assaulted her"

Here's one damning part about the New York Times:

Racicot said she later felt compelled to go public about her experience because the reaction to the Times story was dominated by controversy about another woman, Lyndsey Fifield, who alleged Platner mistreated her and faced attacks because of her ties to the Republican Party. (Contacted by POLITICO, Fifield stood by the allegations she made to the Times and declined to comment further.)

“My part of the story was just a read-over,” Racicot said in an interview. “And the story was Lyndsey, and the accusations of her being politically motivated.”

So Racicot, who appears to be a Democrat ("agrees with Platner politically") came forward because she felt the New York Times sought to discredit another accuser as politically-biased.  For the Times, it was a "catch and kill" story.

By the way, I guarantee this story was released by a Democrat to get Platner out before the July 13th deadline to replace him.  Republicans had been rumored to have a data dump ready to go the day after Platner couldn't withdraw from the race.

The wealth tax in California

NY Times: "It Failed in France. It Would Be a Disaster in California."

Other countries have made the same mistake Californians are being tempted to commit. In 1990, 12 industrialized countries levied a wealth tax. By 2025, nine countries had repealed theirs — including Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and France. These nations discovered that wealth taxes are hard to implement, cause wealthy people to move and take their money elsewhere and raise far less tax revenue than promised. The co-authors of the tax plan must know this history well: France, their home country, abolished its wealth tax in 2018 after an estimated 200 billion euros (about $228 billion) left the country over two decades and, according to estimates, the tax generated an annual budget shortfall of 7 billion euros.

All of the things that happened in France would happen in California, and the consequences would probably be worse.

California will probably vote for the wealth tax because if there's one thing California has produced besides fruits and nuts it's the sense of entitlement for other people's money.

Extra - Jonathan Turley: "No, the Framers would have hated the Billionaire Tax."

Get happy!

Washington Post: "25 reasons to be optimistic about America's future."

America 250!

Greatest country in the history of the universe, baby.

Oh, really, you're surprised? Interesting

Twitchy: "Patti LuPone ‘Furious’ After Gay Cruise She’s On Gets Banned From Turkey for Violating 'Moral Values'."

These people, man - and I mean the left-leaning types who delude themselves into believing the "religion of peace" will accept them.  It's not like we've been saying it for decades now.  Let's get Mamdani on the record for this issue.  Do it.

Great choice, New York

PJ Media: "Mamdani Gives 250th Anniversary Speech, and Boy, Does This Guy Hate America."

The politics of grievance: everybody is a victim all the time, even in the greatest country on Earth.  This is all they ever have.  This dude is a miserable jerk.

Undefeated after 250 years

National Review: "America’s 250-Year Winning Streak."

The old saw holds that “God has a special providence for fools, drunkards, and the United States of America.” And boy does God have a stellar HR team. Here, cometh the hour, cometh the man is close to a guarantee. At our birth, we needed a Washington, a Jefferson, a Franklin, an Adams, a Madison, and a Hamilton — and, remarkably, we got all of them in one crowd.

We've been amazingly blessed to have had these men to set America's firm foundation.  Read the whole thing.

The nepo kids in charge

Victor Davis Hanson: "The New Socialists—Elite, Ungrateful, and Toxic As Ever."

Dog bites man story

New government program starts with good intentions, ends with grabbing for more money: "As Cambridge eyes expansion of universal preschool, it weighs asking wealthier families to chip in."

First, the feel-good initiative:

When Cambridge rolled out universal preschool in 2024, it offered a benefit to families that was easy to understand: Every 4-year-old could go to school for free, regardless of their family’s income.

Then the money problem:

Now, Cambridge is weighing whether to expand the program to include free school for even younger kids. But officials say that tighter finances may force them to reconsider just how generous they can be this time around.

Oh no, we ran out of money for our new entitlement!  What can we do?

“I believe in universal preschool, don’t get me wrong. I do,” Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui said in an interview. “The question here is how do we help our most vulnerable. If that means doing some means testing, we at least have to discuss it.”

And there it is: we're not going ask all Bostonians to pay for this universal benefit.  We're going to "ask" the rich and then condemn them as selfish elitists if they refuse.

Tale as old as time.

Why can't we have more of this?

Hot Air: "Ezra Klein and Christopher Rufo on Identity Politics."

A rational and reasonable discussion of opposing viewpoints is possible.