Western Massachusetts update

This is the top story in the Boston Globe today: "A Western Mass. lesbian bar required KN-95 masks. When it changed the rules, all hell broke loose. - Last Ditch Bar in Greenfield wanted to build community. They got a firestorm instead."

Five years after Covid, a lesbian bar in Greenfield decided to make masking optional.  Here are some of the very measured and reasonable comments made by some patrons:

“Just say you’re being complicit in a mass disabling event and get it over with,” wrote one commenter.

“people like you kill disabled people in the name of your own leisure and convenience,” posted another.

“I hope your venue gets firebombed for robbing my fellow immunocompromised people of their Saturday plans just to scrape extra revenue from ablists [sic],” wrote a third.

Fun times!

Extra - Ace copycatted me and posted the same story 20 minutes after me.  LOOK AT THE TIMESTAMPS.  His post is much longer and makes a great point I should have included.  The owner of this bar tried to apologize and just made it worse:

Now, you're not going to believe this, but it turns out that apologizing to an SJW does not appease them, but encourages them to become even more shrill and hateful in demanding further concessions.

She started to cry and the response was "save your tears, racist!" 

Trump Derangement Syndrome

Federalist: "Poll: Death Wish Dems Want Trump Dead Or Taken Out By Military Coup."

The papers here the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts are crammed with letters from insane people who are in a constant state of rage over every tiny thing Trump does.  They're incapacitated by the ballroom.  They seethe over "Lake America."

It's a mental illness, as this poll indicates.

Extra - PJ Media: "This Poll of Liberals Is Absolutely Terrifying." 

Gotta respect the commitment to the grift

Ace: "Nikole Hannah-Jones, Who Is Unaccountably Wealthy Due to Being a DEI Race Grifter and History Hoaxer, Sent Her Kids to Poor-Performing Schools As a Political Race Stunt."

As somebody noted, this is unintentionally the greatest advertisement for school choice.

Another reason to stay home

Red State: "Sigh: Ed Sheeran Caves to the Pressure From Left in New Statement About War in Gaza."

Let's just stay home

Washington Post: "How the surging cost of going out is changing American life - With the cost of concerts, sports games and restaurants far outpacing inflation, more people are staying home."

This story caught my eye because - just tonight - my wife and I were trying to figure out what to do for dinner after visiting Home Depot.  In the past, we would have gone to Chili's or some other fast-casual restaurant.  We ended up getting hot buffet meals at Whole Foods which, despite the Whole Foods cost, was (probably) cheaper than eating out and paying for drinks and tips.

Along the same line, it seems like we very rarely go to the movies unless there's a movie that needs to be seen on the "big screen."  We saw "The Odyssey" recently and before that was probably "Marty Supreme."  The movie industry is in a death fight against streaming and home-based theaters. 

Part of this is the detritus of Covid.  But part of this is that the value of eating out or going to events is no longer worth the cost.  I grew up on the outskirts of MetLife Stadium in New Jersey and it was really easy back then to get cheap tickets to a football game and then stop at McDonalds for a cheap meal.  Now?  I can't see spending a hard grand to travel to Foxboro just to watch Drake Maye throw interceptions.

Democrats for fraud

This Congressional vote was to establish a National Fraud Investigation Division in the Justice department: "What 72 Officials Would Oppose This?"

Unsurprisingly: all Democrats.  AOC was one of them which indicates the mindset.

But but global warming

Ars Technica: "This Atlantic hurricane season is about to do something that hasn’t happened in 175 years."

Last week, the Atlantic hurricane season blew through its traditional peak—which comes around September 10—with nary a tropical wave in sight, let alone a storm or hurricane.

I've been confidently told that a warmer ocean inevitably leads to more severe hurricanes and human disaster.

He's a 960 SAT kinda guy

Twitchy: "Gavin Newsom Helpfully Just Made It More Clear Than Ever That He's Insane (and a Liar)."

Dude is just plain weird and not very bright. 

Choosing Nashville

Ace: "Paramount/Skydance to California: Drop Dead." 

They're different for reasons

"Shut up," they explained.

Scott Jennings asked the CNN panel that if tariffs are taxes that get passed on to consumers then what are corporate taxes?  The screaming response from everybody else reveals all. 

What media bias?

Washington Free Beacon: "Dems Get Crazier, NYT Coverage Stays the Same - Every scandal left uncovered at the paper of record."

Most normal Americans would agree: This year's Democratic candidates are noticeably stranger and more radical than they've been in past elections. The New York Times, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have noticed.

For whatever reason—blind partisanship, most likely—the Times's coverage of these uniquely nutty and terrorist-adjacent cranks has been as flattering and credulous as ever. Scandals are downplayed or ignored, sketchy associations shrugged off. The past comments most Americans would consider genuinely insane are dismissed as old news. Business as usual.

It's exactly blind partisanship.  Sad to say but even if the New York Times wanted to cover these Democrats with the same scrutiny they apply to the other side, their readership would flee from their shattered echo chamber.

We're in a lot of debt

This YouTube channel is great, one of my favorites.  It explains somewhat complex economic topics with crude animation and funny commentary:

It's like playing chess with a pigeon

Twitchy: "Kash Patel Tries in Vain to Make Mazie Hirono Understand That He’d Replied to Their Letter."

No lies were told when Mazie was described as the dumbest member of the Senate.  You now have to wonder if her staff is purposely feeding her bad info.

Oops

Boston Globe: "Boston scraps overdue reparations report led by former Tufts professor accused of poor research." 

The kids at the Thanksgiving card table

Manhattan Contrarian: "The BRICS Coalition Meets In India."

My comments:  China is the one country that seemed to have figured out how to make big gains on U.S. economic dominance; but in the most recent years, under the increasingly tight control of Xi, it has begun to move in reverse.  India has begun to move up some, and has a big opportunity for future gains if it can resist the temptation to tighten its regulations and impede business growth.  The rest of these countries are huge lost opportunities.  Russia under Putin has stagnated and continues to be dragged down by the failed Ukraine adventure.  South Africa is moving rapidly backwards as its racial spoils regime takes increasing control.  

So, Mr. Modi, you can complain all you want, but you will have a bigger role to play on the world stage when you decide to behave like a grown up country. 

As the author notes, these countries want to pretend they can band together and counterbalance the economic power of the United States but they're so beset by infighting and outfighting that the end result is a lot of grandstanding.  You guys are cute, look at you with your fiat currency nobody wants to use.  Adorable.

Out of time

Washington Post: "Supreme Court blocks sweeping mail ballot restrictions for midterm elections - The Trump administration had said its new restrictions were necessary to prevent fraud."

It sounds like most of the Justices didn't want to take up the question because it's too close to the midterm elections and any remediation couldn't be implemented in time.

He's alive!

Fox News: "McConnell returns after months-long absence for crucial vote."

Some people stay in politics way past their expiration date.

It's not just the United States

Kids are getting dumber in Germany too: "As test scores hit record lows, US and Germany chart opposite paths in education."

BERLIN — German education officials faced a conundrum this year all too familiar in the United States: Student test scores had been sliding for more than a decade, fueling calls for sweeping reforms.

One prominent education leader from Hamburg, arguing for reforms, recently described the country’s learning trajectory as an “inverted smiley face” with gains in the early 2000s followed by a decade of decline that began before the pandemic. The test scores of American students have followed much the same path, as have those of their peers across much of the world.

You can't blame Covid.  Much of these declines coincide with the widespread availability of smartphones and the rise of social media.  Schools tried to leverage technology and it just made things worse.  Now Massachusetts is following the lead of Mississippi and Louisiana.

Damn....

I finally got around to seeing the Bill Maher video everybody is talking about: "Bill Maher Zeroed in on the Biggest Moral Cowards Post-9/11. It's Exactly Who You Think."

Loser

That Park Place: "Jimmy Kimmel Reportedly Faces Massive Budget Cut to Keep ABC Show Alive."

He's lost his audience and now ABC wants Kimmel to lose 20% of his current budget.

Speaking of stupid and futile efforts

Washington Post: "These are the Trump investigations Democrats plan if they win in November - Democrats hope to retake control of the House, and to use that power to probe Trump’s business ventures, legal maneuvers and policies." 

They're still going on about that ballroom.

This won't happen

Red State: "DHS Drops a Wild Ilhan Omar Marriage Update — ‘We’ll Deport You’."

I feel like I've been listening to these allegations and deportation threats for a decade.  Ilhan is a deeply offensive person but - let's face it - she's not going to be deported.

Let's roll

The Corner: "The Extraordinary Courage of Ordinary People on 9/11." 

NPR deserved to be defunded

Here we go:

I know you are thinking "I really hate NPR so much" but I promise you that you don't even hate it close to enough. https://t.co/fITZpgf70l

— Jeremy Carl (@realJeremyCarl) September 9, 2026

I was listening to NPR this morning at 7am to see what they said about the anniversary of 9/11 and - as God is my witness - the top news story was about...illegal immigrants who had worked at Ground Zero.  Apparently they're the real heroes of 9/11 and, gosh darn it, we just won't grant them citizenship.

That outfit is beyond redemption.

Then everyone clapped

Townhall: "No One Believes Mark Kelly's Story About Getting a Letter From a Fellow Airline Passenger."

AWFLs destroy everything

Time to repeal the 19th Amendment:

And yet he's ahead in the polls

PJ Media: "Here’s Proof That James Talarico’s Campaign Is in BIG Trouble."

I don't pretend to know what's going on in Texas but Talarico appears to have more estrogen in his system than Beto O'Rourke.  These interviews he's granting are a way to get ahead of previous controversy by claiming "oh that's old news."

See if you can find the keyword in this story

City Journal: "How Did This Nigerian Chief Make Millions From Medicaid? - His company, California Home Health Agency, has billed the program for more than $30 million."

I also would have accepted "Minnesota." 

Won't somebody please think of the jihadi?

Gateway Pundit: "Resurfaced Abdul El-Sayed Comments: ‘9/11 Scarred Our Country in Profound Ways, But…’." 

Just like Covid, Sweden shows the way

PJ Media: "How to Virtually Eliminate Gang Violence With This One Weird Trick" - "So Sweden elected a conservative prime minister four years ago who promised to send criminal migrants back to their home countries, and you'll never believe what happened next." 

Never answer the question

Red State: "Michigan Sec. of State Is Asked If Illegal Aliens Are on Its Voter Rolls — Her Response Is Damning"

There is something very weird going on in the Democrat Party. Whenever a Democrat is asked a simple question about a basic thing, the boilerplate response is to dodge the issue or say nothing at all.

Yes, I've noticed, and it's the main reason why I've stopped watching the Sunday morning news shows.  I miss the days when Tim Russert would do research and then corner guests with their own words.  Now it's just verbal garbage and talking points.

Go woke, get broke

PJ Media: "S&P 100 Drops Nike: Formerly Disruptive Shoe Company Is Now Out of Fashion."

As somebody noted, Colin Kaepernick was Patient Zero of this brand decline.

He's mocking us

NY Post: "Mamdani hands symbolic 9/11 pen to lawyer who once represented al-Qaeda terrorist."

The easy excuse here is to say that nepo baby Mamdani doesn't know any better but what if he does?  What if it's a calculated FU to America?

Oh it would be wrong - oh so wrong - to assume bad intentions.  But.

Extra - "Mamdani and his radical-left crew are trying to downgrade the unspeakable tragedy of 9/11."

Accurate

 

State Of Massachusetts Declared Incompetent By Reason Of Insanity https://t.co/UadGKYACav

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) September 4, 2026

The ravings of an absolute loon

MSN: "Jane Fonda, 90, eviscerates MAGA Bros in furious speech."

Some samplings:

“They want to live forever, while they’re killing the rest of us,” she said. “Most of these guys—these tech bros and these oligarchs and billionaires—they feel that the laws that the rest of us live by don’t matter to them, including the laws of physics. Natural laws. They’re going to live forever.”

“Because these guys can’t have babies, they’ll create robots,” Fonda said. “That’ll be their babies, and they’ll just turn the rest of us into tradwives, who have a lot of babies too. Then they’ll take away the vote. Can you believe it? And we’re not going to stand for it.”

Elon Musk, famously, has 14 children.

These are the same nutjobs cosplaying "The Handmaid's Tale" about subjugated women wearing a male-imposed uniform who then turn around an put on a hijab without the slightest bit of self-awareness.

The wheel turns

David Mamet: "Futility - I don’t know if the United States will survive in a form recognizable to my generation."

The no-good brother-in-law, once lent money, will always come back for more; a Western world in upheaval will reliably savage the Jews; and communism, promulgated by the intellectually arrogant, will always appeal to the bored wealthy. They will use their money to inform their pets, the working class, of its grievances, and ride the wave to their moment of hegemony, when observant thugs will liquidate them.

Like Mamet, I feel we're refusing to learn the lessons of the past.

Bizarro World

Legal Insurrection: "Judge Declares Mistrial After Jury Deadlocks in Lindsay Clancy Murder Trial - “The judge in the Lindsay Clancy trial has declared a MISTRIAL after a LONE MALE juror BLOCKED a NOT GUILTY VERDICT for Clancy. This man is an absolute HERO!”

When I first heard about a single holdout in the Clancy case, I assumed it was Henry Fonda from "12 Angry Men" holding out against the rest of the jury for acquittal.  Instead it was (reportedly) one guy who refused to let an admitted murderer walk.

I must be getting old.  I just don't understand how these women (and they're all women) could actively and conspicuously support somebody who planned and murdered her own children.  It's like a whole different universe.  Something is broken in our society.

Nick Shirley smiles

Hot Air: "Another Illegal Busted in a Billion Dollar Medicare Fraud, Another Day Ending in 'Y'...or 'Why'." 

Is there any legitimate Medicare spending?

Never heard of the guy!

Sasha Stone: "Suddenly Hasan Piker is “Just a Twitch Streamer" - "All you need to know about Abdul El-Sayed is how quickly he threw his BFF Hasan Piker under the bus the minute he became a liability. He puffs up like a peacock, throws around the word “beta,” and attempts to project machismo like every tough guy with a Napoleon complex." 

GMTA

The Washington Free Beacon writes almost exactly the same postmortem that I did for Seth Moulton: "Abandoning Core Beliefs Fails To Save Seth Moulton From Humiliating Loss."

The cumulative effect of it all was to leave Massachusetts voters confused about what Moulton stood for other than his own ambition for higher office. The evolutions seemed awfully convenient for appealing to the left-leaning Massachusetts Democratic primary electorate, but they wound up turning off voters by appearing calculated rather than conviction-based. Maybe Moulton will be considered for the role of Secretary of Veterans Affairs in the next Democratic administration, or some transportation-related job—he's a high-speed rail enthusiast. Until then perhaps he will seek employment in the private sector, equipped with the painfully earned newfound knowledge that the public—even a segment of it as skewed as the Massachusetts Democratic primary electorate—can easily detect a phony.

Democrat voters in Massachusetts sniffed it out.

Moulton's pandering campaign

Hot Air: "Seth Moulton Goes Down in Flames to Ancient Ed Markey."

As a citizen of the People's Republic of Massachusetts, let me tell you exactly why Seth Moulton spectacularly lost this primary.  The sum total of his elevator pitch to voters was: I'm younger than Markey.  That was the only differentiation and his campaign commercials featured him running in a Marines T-shirt and chasing his kids around the house.

When Moulton managed to take a policy position, he could not have pandered any harder if he tried, and I suspect it turned off a lot of voters.  Wow: we're going to abolish ICE and tax billionaires?  As the kids say: "Why would you say something so controversial yet so brave?" 

At least we know there's one position he's honest about: "Shameful Seth Moulton Brags About Not Honoring Charlie Kirk."

So long, loser.

Deadlocked in Boston

Boston Globe: "If Lindsay Clancy jurors are hung, this is what happens."

Nine angry women and three angry men.

I don’t think these women understand how the Lindsay Clancy case is impacting the way men see women… pic.twitter.com/fXQIVjVbFj

— Nick Freitas (@NickJFreitas) September 1, 2026

Avoid that lawsuit, Wolf

Fox News: "CNN admits error after suggesting US troops abroad would be impacted by Trump's mail-in ballot crackdown - Wolf Blitzer issued a 'quick note of clarification' following an exchange he had with Dem Virginia Gov Abigail Spanberger." 

Packing the Supreme Court

The Corner: "The Democratic Center Is Now as Radical as Its Left"

As Charlie Cooke has written persuasively again and again, a partisan effort to pack the court would be functionally indistinguishable from rendering Article III of the Constitution moot. “Post-packing, nothing that the Court said going forward would matter in the slightest, and, by extension, any attempts to enforce its prior rulings would be rendered impotent, too,” Cooke most recently observed. “In an instant, the entire history of American jurisprudence would be wiped out, and, with it, the Constitution as a going concern.”

Clyburn hasn’t gone as far as the DSA activists in that regard. They’re admirably frank about their contempt for the Constitution, what with its separation of powers and all those odious obstacles to government by capricious diktat. Clyburn isn’t there yet, but he probably will be eventually. After all, radical revolutionary fervor is all the rage these days.

Is there a single Democrat who will have a "Sister Souljah moment" and stand up to the mob?

That pesky Constitution and the Mob

Jonathan Turley: "The Counter-Constitutional Movement: “Institutionalist” Becomes the New “Oligarch” Label for the Far Left." - "The problem with leading the mob is that you have to stay in front of it or be devoured by it. Packing the court is unlikely to be enough. After they come for the institutionalists, they will come for the incrementalists." 

"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile — hoping it will eat him last." - Winston Churchill.

I blame the voters of New York

Hot Air: "Mamdani's Universal Child Care Extension Turns Into 'an Absolute Disaster'."

At the heart of this matter is the fact that the people of New York City basically voted for the kid in middle school promising "no homework!" and free soda from the lunchroom vending machine.  Mamdani has made impossible promises (what happened to free buses?) and Big Apple voters deluded themselves into believing they could vote themselves into a socialist paradise.

I'm exhausted repeating that there's no such thing as a free lunch.  But there's always people who delude themselves into believing there is.

What media bias?

WSJ: "The Media’s Lawfare Enabling - Legal journalists who know better cheer on meritless lawsuits against Trump." - "The state of legal reporting has reached peak national embarrassment, a master class in fiction that rivals the reporting about Russia “collusion” and Joe Biden’s undiminished capacity. The media’s contribution to lawfare began in the earliest days of the first Trump term and has become only more brazen. The swings and misses are there for all to see, every day. Yet the formula is now so routine that nobody pushes back." 

The ratchet effect

Washington Stand: "Financial Experts Worry National Debt Will Hit $50 Trillion in Less than 3 Years."

The explanation for the rapid acceleration is the national debt comes down to two factors: First, presidents and congressional majorities of both major political parties have increased federal spending exponentially since day one of the 21st century, but especially so since the COVID-19 pandemic that killed more than one million Americans beginning in January 2020. Second, revenues have increased following major tax cuts in 2017 and again in 2025, but spending has still outpaced the added income to the government. The current fiscal year deficit is $1.7 trillion.

The problem is that spending only ever goes in one direction and every time there's an effort to return to baseline spending levels everybody screams bloody murder.  Elon Musk's DOGE effort barely cut $150 billion from a $7 trillion budget and he was accused of starving kids.

When budget sequestration cut a merciless 2.6% from the federal budget back in 2013, Obama closed the White House to visitors in one of his typical performative displays of pique.  There was still plenty of money for his vacations, though.

Covid is just the latest example of "never let a crisis go to waste."  The government expanded like a balloon over both the first Trump and Biden administrations.  That balloon never deflates.

Gorillas in the mist

Twitchy: "'Hillary for Prison': Jon Stewart Discovers the World Outside NYC and Is Bewildered by What He Sees."

This story doesn't surprise me at all, even for somebody as "sophisticated" as Jon Stewart.  These people live in an ironclad echo chamber which is why "The View" invites on one Republican a year.  After Trump won in 2016, the media swore they would touch grass in flyover country - but they lied.

Other people's money

LA Times: "The wealth tax debate exposes the economic ignorance of politicians" - "There’s an old saying: Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach. A similar idea underscores the debate over wealth taxes in California and elsewhere: Those who can, build companies. Those who can’t, devise ways for the government to take shares in what others have built." 

Dolly Parton

Was there ever an American more universally beloved than Dolly Parton?  She'll be missed for so many reasons beyond her musical career.

This was always kind of a favorite of mine:

Oh that's not free speech

Ace: "Democrat Presidential Hopeful Gavin Newsom Signs "Stop Nick Shirley Act" Into Law to Strip Conservatives of Free Speech and Cover Up Democrat Fraud." 

This is by a wide margin the most unconstitutional piece of legislation I've ever seen.

Trump's mugshot

Twitchy: "Byron York Reminds Us It's the Third Anniversary of the Biggest Backfire in Political History."

I would argue this is a close second after Trump's guilty verdict which unleashed a tsunami of donations to Trump and the RNC by Americans repulsed by the partisan lawfare.

They ran out of money

LA Times: "California nearly achieved universal healthcare. Now, millions are losing coverage."

That's the story: California ran out of money for Medi-Cal. 

It's the spending

Wall Street Journal: "How the U.S. Went $40 Trillion in Debt - The problem isn’t tax cuts. Spending is way above historical norms."

Gross national debt has increased $17 trillion since 2019. That’s about as much debt as the U.S. added during the entire first 225 years of its history. While the liberal press blames the GOP’s 2017 tax cuts, and their extension in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill, revenue has increased 68% since 2018. That’s twice the rate of inflation.

Since 2018, revenue has averaged about 17% of GDP, roughly the historical norm. Yet spending has averaged slightly over 24% of GDP, versus a pre-pandemic historical average of 20%.

The revenue-to-GDP statistic is a hard ceiling that does not change that much whether tax rates are high or low.  You simply can't get much above that historical level.  Spending, on the other hand, can fluctuate wildly based on war or pandemics or other crises.  The trick is pulling back spending when the crisis passes.

Denied

Townhall: "Karmelo Anthony Denied New Trial for the Murder of Austin Metcalf."

From what I've heard, if there had been an appeal, Karmelo's text messages would be introduced into evidence.  His defense team must be breathing a sigh of relief.

No lack of self-regard

Boston Globe: "The hubris of the democratic socialists - The Democrats’ left wing might be more persuasive if they didn’t dismiss their critics as corporate tools." 

Same vibe

Twitchy: "Desperate Measures for Desperate Times: Dem Primaries Magically Become a Blue Wave."

Damn, those Democrats really dominated [checks notes] the Democrat primaries.

The children of rich parents

Emphasis on the "children" part: "The DSA’s Leaders Are Tireless in Their Avoidance of Honest Work."

Exhibit A: estrogen-drenched Gustavo Gordillo

Gordillo is thus, in his own way, an ideal ambassador for Democratic Socialism, insofar as he perfectly embodies the sorts of people who seek power from it. Some other biographical details about Young Gordillo that didn’t make it into the interview:

• Gustavo went to Yale to learn his Democratic Socialism — more specifically, he majored in literature and returned there after graduation to get an MFA in sculpture.
• 
  
• He has never held an actual job; he claims membership in the IBEW Electricians Union Local 3 — for that essential touch of working-class cred — but as it turns out, has never worked a day in his life. (He was fired from his apprenticeship after failing to show up for work and classes.)
• 
  
• That’s okay though, because he managed to squeak by: He made a passionate speech to his local DSA about how The Man had oppressed them, and they voted him a $95,000 sinecure.
• 
  
• Even if had that fallen through, Gustavo wouldn’t have to worry about making rent — he lives in a $1.5 million two-story Brooklyn condo purchased for him . . . by his father

Ladies and gentlemen: This is your modern DSA, embodied.

I guarantee this guy never opened the hood of a car in his entire life but he has the gall to pontificate about the working man.  He's a theater kid, a pretender.

You love to see it

Fox News: "New York Times loses defamation suit, ordered to pay $9.25M to former Alabama basketball player - Jury finds Times defamed Kai Spears in a 2023 report that wrongly linked him to a fatal shooting."

I've said it before but, unfortunately, this is the only way the mainstream media learns.

"Greetings fellow Africans"

Townhall: "Abdul El-Sayed Latest Attempt to Pander to Voters Is Ridiculous, Even for Him." 

This message will not be received

NY Post: "Morgan Stanley picks Dallas for expansion outside NYC — stepping up Wall Street exodus following Mamdani election: ‘Wake-up call’." 

The President runs the executive branch

This "crazy" concept was just recently affirmed by the Supreme Court.  But the courts are full of "YOLO!" Hawaiian judges who just make stuff up out of thin air: "Judge Blocks Trump Administration's Plan to Move FBI Out of Hoover Building." 

Profile in courage

NY Post: "Hakeem Jeffries’s bid to win over Supreme Court-packing lefties is just pathetic."

Those are his principles and, if you don't like them, he has others for pandering purposes.

In other news: murder is bad

Not the Bee: "UK Home Office prints guide to teach migrants not to rape women and kids."

Reddit is a sh-thole

Outkick Sports: "WNBA fan subreddit bans posters from using Sophie Cunningham's name after defense of women's sports."

Reddit is a hivemind of left-wing wokeness and censorship wielded by tinpot dictator mods.  Now they're banning the second most popular girl in the WNBA.

Let's not always see the same hands

Townhall: "Guess Why This 'Outstanding Refugee' Was Arrested in Minnesota." 

They just want the money

Washington Post editorial: "Mark Cuban bests Ro Khanna on wealth taxes - The congressman has a peculiar solution for taxing start-up founders."

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California) supports his state’s billionaire tax proposal on the ballot in November. Texas businessman Mark Cuban had a question: What about founders of promising start-ups who are billionaires only on paper?

Khanna’s solution was revealing. Hint: It would create another tool for government control.

You would think that when faced with such a glaring flaw to your cash-grab scheme, you would at least pause to consider whether it's a good or workable idea in the first place.  But the Democrats want - they need - that sweet billionaire money so they need to dream up a new angle.  So the big brain idea is to allow paper billionaires to borrow against the government putting their future stock windfall up as collateral.  Sheer insanity.

Today’s advocates of wealth taxation have offered a series of bad explanations for how the foreseeable problems would be addressed. Khanna’s is only the latest. If your tax requires the government to start giving out special loans to pay itself, maybe it’s not a good tax in the first place.

Right now early polling is showing the billionaire tax would pass which doesn't surprise me because people love it when taxes are paid by "other people."  Especially those Richie Riches.

Big shift

PJ Media: "The Registration Bloodletting the DNC Doesn't Want You Reading About."

Stories like these make me wonder if it's really true that the Democrat Party was propped up on USAID money and illegal foreign donations through ActBlue.

Some people did some things

NY Post: "Ex-Mamdani campaign staffer makes outrageous claim about hateful NYC synagogue attack where attacker yelled ‘f–k the Jews’." 

WNBA in a box canyon

Bravo Blue: "Rules for Radicals? Whither the WNBA? - Sophie's choice -- Honesty and candor over cowardice"

The WNBA has graced us with the latest manifestation of far-left lunacy and penchant for self-destruction. For any who may not yet be in the know, in one fell swoop two former NBA players have shined a 1,000,000+ lumens spotlight on the conundrum that exposes the hypocrisy of the deranged leftists who pollute the WNBA. They accomplished this by following the left’s bible, Saul Alinski’s Rules for Radicals. Rule 4 provides: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.”

The WNBA bigwigs recently had a meeting to answer the question "what is a woman?" and came out with an equivocal press statement saying they were still searching for an answer.  This was a dilatory tactic and they are currently hoping the whole issues just goes away.

Spoiler alert: it's not going away.  The reason why is that too many people are invested in the drama of the pretzel logic.  There's no way out: either you allow biological men into the WNBA or you don't.  Watching them squirm over that simple proposition is just too much fun.

I beg to differ

Washington Post: "The Jason Arday scandal isn’t as simple as DEI gone wrong - This isn’t the first time a university has dug in to protect an obviously flawed professor."

The author of this article starts with the premise that, since other universities protect their faculty, it's not really DEI at work in the Arday scandal.  Yeah, you go with that.  When universities put out glowing press releases about how they've hired the first Native American professor, you know DEI is at work.

Right, Liz Warren?

Haha Newsom

PJ Media: "The Dems' Great White Hope Just Got Humiliated in Michigan."

This dude is so unctuous and people are starting to notice.

Oh, I believe it

Townhall: "You Won't Believe What This Former SPLC Exec Was Just Arrested For." 

What a dumb stunt

Ace: ""Republicans for Talarico" Turns Out To Be, Get This, A Bunch of Lifelong Democrat Donors ("And Other Losers," Says the RNC)."

Surely they could have guessed that these women would be identified as Democrat stooges.  The whole video reeked of fake.

Same energy:

Deception is the plan

Hot Air: "Hasan Piker Says It Out Loud: DSA Practicing Taqiyya." 

This is the communist equivalent of Taqiyya, the Shia Muslim practice of lying to non-Muslims in order to gain dominance. 

Taqiyya is not an invention of "Islamophobes." It is a literal doctrine practiced by many Islamists. It is how the 9/11 hijackers hid in plain sight and how terrorist cells try to blend in. You can shave your beards, drink alcohol, go to strip clubs, and become a dissolute Westerner as long as you are willing to kill for Allah.

I confess I'd never heard of Taqiyya until now.

I hereby disavow my strongly-held beliefs

Red State: "New Dem Talking Point on the DSA Emerges, and Francesca Hong Just Demonstrated Why It Won't Work."

DSA candidates are going to spend the next three months making sure nobody knows their positions.

Highly related - Reason: "Don't Let AOC Retcon Her Starring Role in 'Woke 1'."  Green New Deal?  Never heard of it!

Oh boy, a task force

The ultimate corporate buck-passing strategy: "WNBA commissioner says league task force will discuss response to transgender debate."

Generation Snowflake

Pens & Poison: "How Columbia University Made Me a Conservative - The lesson I never expected to learn from an Ivy League education.  (Hat tip: Maggie's Farm)

Yet on Wednesday, November 9th, 2016, walking into an exam for my Abnormal Psychology lecture at Barnard, Columbia’s all-girls sister school, I was surprised to find that the morning’s most abnormal behavior patterns were not nestled in the exam questions but plastered on the faces of my classmates, many of whom burst into the classroom bawling, insisting that they were unable to sit for the exam because of the election results.

The professor acquiesced and moved the exam to the following week.

I was rightfully taken aback. What were these girls even crying over? No one had died. Barack Obama would still be president for the next several months. We would have a dullard for a president for the next four years, sure, but did these girls really think that they—members of the privileged elite whose parents were paying $80,000 per year for them to attend one of the best universities in the world—would be personally affected by the reign of Donald Trump?

What was more astonishing was that my classmates—girls who supposedly represented the apex of female empowerment—did not at all embody the feminist strength that my grandmother once taught me.

When victimhood is the coin of the realm, everybody wants to be oppressed.  This country is jam-packed with AWFLs who are traumatized by a ballroom.

Molon labe my turkey

Washington Post editorial on the Thanksgiving-hating candidate: "Wisconsin taxpayers will flee if Francesca Hong becomes governor - Her bad economic ideas matter more than bizarre social media posts."

JD = 48

Breitbart: "Trump tells donors he wants VP Vance to win in 2028: 'We need to elect JD.'"

I agree with Trump that a Vance-Rubio ticket would be "very unbeatable."  Both of these guys are excellent politicians and debaters. 

These people are so dumb

Twitchy: "Democracy Dimwit: DSA Co-Chair Cannot Explain What ‘Taxing the Hell Out of Millionaires’ Means."

I would say it's because - like Mayor Mamdani - they've never been challenged in their lives.  For example, look at Mamdani's ridiculous back-and-forth when asked if his new supermarkets will require an I.D.

Extra - NY Post: "Mamdani is ‘thin-skinned and hyper-sensitive’ in private despite unflappable social media image: political sources." 

Plot twist: it's a woman

PJ Media: "Talarico Confirms Inappropriate Relationship With Staffer."

It's his current girlfriend but the relationship started when she was a staffer in Talarico's office.  I've been reliably told that this kind of power dynamic is the definition of the #MeToo movement.

These courts are wack

Hot Air: "Awkward: DC Circuit Tells Trump Not to Knock Down East Wing of the White House."

The DC circuit gave standing to a private group that claimed the Trump ballroom would hurt their eyes and feelings.

Enemy of the people

PJ Media: "El-Sayed Drops the Mask."

When it comes to these Islamist candidates, I'm reminded of Turkey's President Erdogan who said democracy is like a streetcar: "You ride it until you arrive at your destination," he said. "Then you step off."

Exodus

Hot Air: "Jews Are Moving From Blue States to Red Ones."

If you want to understand why, here's Bernie Sanders on "Meet the Press" this past Sunday:

KRISTEN WELKER:

Okay, and I want to follow up on what you — you just said. Dr. El-Sayed has made Israel a central issue in his primary. He said he, quote, “often struggles with the question of whether Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state.” In the past, Senator, you have been quite clear that you do support Israel as a Jewish state. Should Dr. El-Sayed speak with the same clarity?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:

Look, I think right now the immediate issue of the moment is whether or not we continue to put tens of billions of dollars into the extremist Netanyahu government, which has killed 75,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, wounded 150,000, destroyed their infrastructure. And what the American people are saying overwhelmingly, Democrats, many independents — the majority of independents, and many Republicans, especially younger Republicans, “We’ve got better things to do with our money than to continue to fund the military of Israel.”

So the answer to the question as to whether DSA candidates should "speak with the same clarity" is "no."  Never answer the question directly and without equivocation or the antisemitism at the heart of the modern Democrat party might be revealed.

Flashback - "Shapiro says Harris aides asked if he was Israeli agent."  Remember that one?

Here we go again

I think this is attempt #5: "CA Man Arrested at Trump National Golf Club Was Armed to the Teeth." - "A man in California was arrested for watching the security setup at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes. The president plans to visit the site later. The suspect was identified as Jeanine John Taele, 38, who was later found to have body armor, an illegally modified AR-15 rifle, ammunition, and a notebook with suspicious statements at his home." 

Dude is weird

Twitchy: "A Very Masculine James Talarico Wields a 'Blowtorch'." 

Remember when Dubya won the Presidency by 527 votes?

Ace: "Politico: NJ Democrat Officials Anonymously Admit Far More Illegals Are Registered to Vote Than the Governor "Mikie" Is Admitting; Some Think the Real Number Exceeds Trump's Estimate of 35,000."

Officials admit they have no idea how many illegals are enrolled to vote -- but they're totally sure it's not a problem and never effects any elections, not a single bingle one.

"Affects," Ace, "affects."

Governor Mikie told us that this mistake was discovered two years ago but, gosh!, we have no idea why the previous administration didn't do anything.  Yeah, it's a mystery.

Mamdani to starve married women

Irony can be pretty ironic: "Mamdani: You Need Voter, er, Eater ID to Buy Groceries at Commie Basket!"

The mayor's new supermarkets will require ID to keep our non-Big Apple residents.  What if you're a married woman who can't get an ID with your new name?  Drop dead.

Islam is the religion of peace

Also "Muslim Oxford Union President Tells Islam Critics That Without Security, They’d Be ‘Cooked’ by Mob."

Watch the video of the guy about to release a picture of Muhammad and the slow-boil panic that fills the room.

By the way, whatever happened to the Oxford Union, once held up as the premier debating society in the entire world?  It has devolved into woke shouting match of juveniles who are easily debunked. 

I really don't think "You're lucky we've got paid security to prevent you being murdered by Islamists for speaking at the world's oldest and most prestigious bastion of free expression" is quite the pro-immigration flex you think it is, love. https://t.co/Kg1wuq1Hgj

— RAW EGG NATIONALIST (@Babygravy9) August 1, 2026

Cancel culture

Hollywood in Toto: "Yet Another Jewish Artist Cancelled (While Legacy Media Sleeps)." 

TFG

Peggy Noonan: "Anthony Fauci Unmasks Himself - His diaries make clear that he saw the pandemic less as a historic emergency than a media opportunity."

As has been reported, it isn’t about witnessing or capturing the size and scale of a crisis, or feeling shock or anxiety. It is about other things.

On Jan. 6, 2020, he goes to a “Super A list” party. At a meeting later that month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hugs and kisses him and tells everyone “how great I am.” At another, President Trump tells Dr. Fauci, “Lou Dobbs . . . told me that you were one of the smartest, knowledgeable and outstanding persons he knows.” Dr. Fauci was “very pleased,” others “stunned and impressed.”

Jan. 30: “All my friends kept saying I was a national hero” and that they “ ‘felt safe in my arms.’ ”

March 8: “Nice profiles of me in Politico and NY Times today.”

March 15: “I did all 5 Sunday Shows today (my 3rd ‘Fauci 5’).” Apparently this is his version of “the full Ginsburg,” named for Monica Lewinsky’s attorney, William Ginsburg, when he did five Sunday shows in one morning.

March 26: “Donuts are being named after me; T shirts have my picture on them.”

It goes on.  The media created this monster.

It's all a self-esteem hustle

Townhall: "The Virtue-Signaling Virus That Won't Die." 

Look at all the women and children

NY Post: "Thousands of illegal African migrants overrun Spanish enclave, turn streets into open toilets and bathe in fountains: ‘An apocalypse’." 

Once you decide how much somebody "needs"

All bets are off.  Twitchy: "Bernie Sanders Asks How ‘Poor’ Mark Zuckerberg Will Survive If CA Passes Wealth Tax."

Does Bernie really need three homes?  Can't he sell two to feed the poor?

Endgame in Iran

Victor Davis Hanson: "The Iran War at the Crossroads."

We know the tired Iranian strategy by now. We might call it “theocratic rope-a-dope.” For the theocrats and their terrorist proxies, survival means outlasting Trump, waiting for the next cash-laden Democratic administration, and using “moderates” to play good cop while haggling away months.

The mullahs and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps feign indifference even as their half-century, half-trillion-dollar investments in what is now essentially a vaporized military-industrial-nuclear complex continue to be destroyed.

The war has finally revealed the full extent of Iran’s vast conventional arsenal, nuclear program, and missile and drone industry.

The thing about the rope-a-dope strategy is that you're still being pummeled.  The Iranians don't seem to realize it but day by day their influence in the region wanes.  Countries and oil companies are adjusting with new pipelines and tanker routes.  Soon enough, it won't matter that the Strait of Hormuz is controlled (or not) by the Iranians.  The world will have moved on.

Hope you're happy now

PJ Media: "Anthony Fauci: The Man Who Destroyed America’s Trust in Science."

Fauci did this: "Confidence in U.S. Institutions Remains Near All-Time Low." 

Federalist: "Unless Fauci Is Held Accountable, America Will Never Recover From His Lies - Because of Fauci, the U.S. government’s disastrous pandemic response was based on a tangled web of lies and subterfuge." 

Get out

Hot Air: "NYTimes Shocked, Shocked to Find Immigration Enforcement in Airports!"

Ace: "Media Can't Stop Boo-Hoo Whinin' and Cryin' That Trump Is Deporting The Democrats' Best Voters." 

It's times like this I wonder if newspapers actually believe their own bullshit or if they're just pandering to their liberal readers.

This is quite the development

NY Post: "Immigrant-led business group votes to sue NYC over Mamdani’s taxpayer-funded grocery stores, alleging unfair competition."

An immigrant-led business group is gearing up to sue New York City over Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s controversial plan to open five taxpayer-funded supermarkets — claiming the $70 million project will create unfair competition for nearby stores, The Post has learned.

As the far-left mayor announced new details of his plan this week — including a 30% discount on basic items like produce, meat, milk, cheese and bread – the Multicultural Business Coalition’s board voted to file a lawsuit in the coming weeks to block the pricey initiative, the group’s chairman Frank Garcia told The Post. 

This whole government-run grocery store is so incredibly stupid on so many levels.

New Yorkers vacationing in Florida next year https://t.co/xoj2usF76C pic.twitter.com/ooKy2e3f09

— The Drunk Republican (@DrunkRepub) July 27, 2026

Never enough

Jonathan Turley: "The Fair Share Myth and Other Socialist Fables"

The fair share myth is a virtual mantra among socialist and Democratic leaders, from Mamdani to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). In my book, “Rage and the Republic,” I address the false claim that the wealthy are not “paying their fair share.” In fact, the top 10 percent already pay more taxes than the bottom 90 percent combined.

In 2023, the top 1 percent paid an estimated 38.4 percent of all federal individual income taxes. One can certainly raise the need for additional taxes to support public works, but it is simple demagoguery to claim that the wealthy do not pay their fair share when the top 10 percent pay an estimated 75 percent of federal income taxes. The U.S. income tax system is already the most progressive in the developed world, even before additional New York state and city taxes are added in.

Turley also exposes the myth of the Nordic countries, always held up as "socialism" while their own leaders declare "we're not socialists." 

Massive ego trip

Federalist: "6 Years Later, Fauci’s Diary Confirms The Federalist Was Right About Everything." 

Looks like they ran out of other people's money

Townhall: "Democrats Mortgage Headquarters for $15 Million to Bail Out of Their Financial Fiasco."

That's the real crime

The Enterprise: "The Outsider the WNBA Cannot Forgive: The Caitlin Clark Problem."

The WNBA was handed the thing it had awaited for three decades, a player who could make the country care, and the country did. The arenas filled, the networks bid against one another, and the money came in torrents. At the precise moment the league should have been raising walls around the source of all of it, it kept reaching, instead, for the knife. Revealed preference is a stern teacher. Watch what the league does, not what it says, and you will know what it has decided Caitlin Clark is worth. So you may be asking what the real issue is and the answer to me is clear - the league is struggling with the fact that it took a straight white woman to make it relevant.

Sophie "The Pointer" Cunningham is coming up strong, too. 

At least she answered the questions

Red State: "DSA Co-Chair Confirms Its Extreme Agenda in Stunning Admission on Live TV."

The Sunday morning shows have become unwatchable because guests are asked simple questions and they inevitably respond with stump speeches and non-answers.  At least this woman laid it on the line.

Oh, sure, it's the cancer

Washington Post: "The shrinking world of former president Joe Biden - Cancer treatment has sharply limited Biden’s post-White House life even as his upcoming memoir threatens to reopen debates over his health and presidency."

You know I have no interest in talking about Joe Biden anymore (although I'll be interested to see how he rationalizes his Presidency in his memoir) but this gaslighting by the mainstream media is beyond the pale.  Biden isn't hiding because of his cancer.  He's hiding because he has been brain-addled for a very long time which is why he avoided the press for his entire Administration.

Flashback: "Staffer dressed as Easter Bunny stops Biden from answering reporter’s question."

Quarterback on Netflix

I'm currently about halfway through "Quarterback" on Netflix and I just need to say this: Joe Flacco is just about the coolest guy in the NFL.  This guy has played on half the teams in the entire NFL but he steps up every time.  A true professional.

The paper of record

Babylon Bee: "Trump Asks Democrats At Correspondents' Dinner To Hold All Assassination Attempts Until He Finishes Speech." 

Code word: Madagascar

Legal Insurrection: "College Professor’s Clever AI Trap Uncovers Rampant Cheating" - “The average grade was 96, with 40 students obtaining a perfect score. That compared to a midterm average ranging between 65 and 80 in previous years.”

Genius: he posted in white text a nonsense instruction to include the word "Madagascar" in an essay about the Industrial Revolution.  Thirty-two students just cut and pasted it into AI and spit out an essay they didn't even bother to proofread.

Not so long ago

Twitchy: "Elon Musk Told a Journo That Open Borders Dems Weren't Always Crazy (and Video Backs That Up)."

Specifically on immigration. 

Extra - Atlantic magazine 2024: "How Democrats Lost Their Way on Immigration"

Cui Bono?

NY Post: "Democrats pick South Carolina for first primary of 2028 in possible boost to Kamala Harris, dethroning Iowa and New Hampshire."

Good for Kamala!  I can think of another person who benefits if Kamala is the nominee.

These two clowns

Reason: "Zohran Mamdani Tells Jon Stewart Socialism Is Just Having a Library - Please stop letting these people lie about what their preferred economic system entails." 

Can we all appreciate the courage of Mamdani to appear on Jon Stewart's hard-hitting interview show?  So brave.  So stunning.

Makes sense to me, what's your problem?

Legal Insurrection: "Columnist Invokes Emmitt Till Murder to Attack Caitlin Clark - You know, just when I thought leftists couldn’t sink any lower, they do."

I don't even blame the columnist.  I blame the so-called editors at USA Today who allowed this tripe to be published in a national newspaper.

Elon to media: you suck

Red State: "Boom: Elon Delivers Mic Drop Moment Against the Media During Fiery Interview."

$17 for a Subway sub

That's it: the headline is the story.

I was in a hurry tonight so I got a footlong BMT and with tip it was $17 and change.  Maybe that's why the store was completely empty at 6:30pm.  I know the days of the "$5 footlong" are long past but, c'mon man.

Frankenstein's monster

Sasha Stone: "The Democrats Have a Communist Problem"

I’ve said it many times, and it only gets truer by the day: there is no saving the Left. There is only saving America from them. Godspeed, Republicans, Conservatives, and MAGA.

They made this bed. All of them called Trump a fascist for ten years too. They have dropped the seeds into this fertile ground. They should not be that surprised that weeds are cropping up that are too strong and too fast-moving to stop, even if they will kill the garden.

We're entering an election season where Democrats are going to have to show up at debates and answer simple questions like "is Benjamin Netanyahu a war criminal?" or "should we enforce immigration laws?" or "should biological men be allowed in women's sports?"

And they won't answer.  Their only goal is to get through 90 minutes without ever having to explain where they stand on any position.

Like this:

Theater kids

Fox News: "Mamdani sets internet ablaze with video explaining cave on plan to arrest Netanyahu: 'What a joke'."

Just playing to the anti-Jewish base, that one.

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.