Oh, So This Is Why Luigi Mangione Pleaded Guilty

PJ Media 

  "If Turley is right, a man who executed a father of two on a Manhattan sidewalk in broad daylight could walk away from the murder charge entirely on a technicality, having already secured the lighter of his two possible sentencing outcomes.

The generation that blames Israel for Oct 7 considers Mangione
innocent?

Luigi Mangione, the man whose assassination of a health insurance executive turned him into a folk hero to many on the left, shocked the country on Friday when he finally admitted to the killing and changed his plea to guilty.

"I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan. I understood that my actions would place him in fear of death of bodily injury. I knew what I was doing was illegal," Mangione told the judge. He admitted to stalking his victim, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, in the weeks before he gunned him down. The guilty plea locks in a consequence few outside the courtroom seemed to notice at first: a state court can no longer try Mangione for murder.

Mangione had spent more than a year cultivating an image as a martyr willing to fight the system to the end. So why did he suddenly fold and admit everything?

According to Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley, the answer has nothing to do with a guilty conscience. Turley discussed the plea with host Charlie Hurt on Fox & Friends Weekend on Saturday, and argued the move was a calculated legal gamble aimed at avoiding a life sentence rather than any sign of remorse.

Mangione pleaded guilty to federal stalking charges connected to Thompson's murder. He still faces a separate state trial in New York scheduled for September. That's where things get interesting, because the two cases carry sharply different stakes. The federal charge carries a possible sentence of life without parole. New York's state system has no such option available.

"The New York case is the case that involves the murder charges, but it is also the case and is the case that has a lower potential ceiling for the sentencing," Turley said." . . .

‘Sharia Is Already Here,’ Speaker Tells Plano Mosque Open House

 The Dallas Express  

The public debate turns on whether Americans can protect private religious exercise while identifying and resisting efforts to impose religious authority through law or political power. At the Plano mosque, that distinction was not theoretical. It was the argument in the room and outside its doors. 

Sharia bildbanks

"A Muslim outreach leader told visitors at a Plano mosque Saturday that Sharia is “already here,” describing it as a religious framework Muslims follow through charity, family obligations and personal conduct.

"Outside the Islamic Association of Collin County, an Iran-born Christian who said he lived under Sharia offered a starkly different warning. He argued that Islamic law becomes dangerous when it gains political power and is enforced by the state.

"The competing messages unfolded during an open house billed as “Understanding Islam & Shariah: Myths vs Facts.” About 100 people attended the event at the mosque.

The DX Brief

• The event: WhyIslam Dallas organized a July 18 open house at the Islamic Association of Collin County in Plano with mosque tours, food, a presentation and questions from visitors.
• What was said: GainPeace Director Dr. Sabeel Ahmed said Sharia is already practiced in the United States through Muslims’ personal religious conduct. His remarks presented it as personal religious guidance, not a replacement for American civil law.
• The dispute: A Christian attendee questioned the treatment of women in some Muslim-majority countries. Outside, Edwin Isagholi, who said he was born in Iran and lived under Sharia, warned about blasphemy and apostasy laws.
• Why it matters: The exchange placed two different meanings of Sharia in direct conflict: a personal code of faith and an enforceable political or legal system.   More...

Knowing Four Arabic Words May Save Our Civilization from Islamic Takeover

Like the “handwriting on the wall” that Prophet Daniel had interpreted, there are four Arabic words, which could lead to submission of the entire world to Islam, if non-Muslims do not fully understand their meaning and implications. Those words are takiyya, tawriya, kitman, and muruna.

UPDATE:   Can't pay interest under Sharia law? Minneapolis says no problem, offers alternative financing | Alpha News MN   . . . "Minneapolis operates a loan program for business owners who don’t want to pay interest for religious reasons — and $1.44 million has already been issued through that program.

"The city’s Alternative Financing program was created specifically to comply with Islamic law, or Sharia, which prohibits charging or paying interest — known as riba — and instead relies on financing structures that generate a return without conventional interest." . . .

Why All Leftism Is Now Far Left

 Itxu Díaz  

"That is why the first thing the postmodern left did was to start renaming everything: from sex or gender to the way we refer to certain races. It is fair to admit that they won the battle of the dictionary."

Conservative America

"A 20th-century leftist might have debated how much the state should intervene in citizens’ lives. A postmodern leftist only debates how far the transformation of society and the minds of each individual citizen should go. It’s as if they have gone from being bad economists to being bad psychoanalysts.

"Gender politics, rewriting history, multiculturalism and open borders, or abolishing the police were issues that used to be addressed by a small group of leftists we called the “far left.” In both the United States and Europe, these issues are now the central agenda of left-wing parties, starting with the Democratic Party, perfectly caricatured today in what AOC represents. (RELATED: The Marxist-Islamist Alliance Feeds On DSA Naïveté)

"The 20th-century left, the left of class politics, was profoundly wrong about everything, but the contemporary left, the left of identity politics, is simply insane. The revolution that socialists entrusted to the proletariat of the last century, they now intend to carry out with an army made up of trans people, immigrants, people of fluid and intermittent sexuality, and ordinary Americans who are suddenly fascinated with Islam. Sometimes, when I watch the woke army struggling to form a uniform line, I don’t know if I’m looking at real soldiers or just at a circus. (RELATED: You Simply Cannot Give Power to Lunatics)

"A curious observation: leftists never try to convince informed and free people; they always go after those they consider dependent and malleable. Just as yesterday they went after the workers, and especially the blue-collar workers and those who, a priori, are less intellectually qualified, now they’re going after the freaks, those who don’t know their own identity, and those who urgently need to see a psychologist.

"In comparison, the blue-collar workers at least had the dignity of labor and an ethical foundation vastly superior to that of this brainwashed mass of followers of postmodern progressivism. Perhaps it’s time to pass a law (Good Lord! Am I asking the government to solve something? What have I become?) that prevents political parties from seducing those with obvious mental problems with Gnostic rhetoric. If you think about it, by gathering the mentally ill, the left has become one of those infamous cults from the 90s where one idiot managed to get a thousand fools to give him money, offer him sexual favors, and later commit suicide without killing him. (RELATED: From Daniel Patrick Moynihan to Samuel Moyn: What Happened to the American Left?)" . . .  More...

Itxu Díaz is a Spanish journalist, political satirist, and author. He has written 10 books on topics as diverse as politics, music, and smart appliances. He is a contributor to The Daily Beast, The Daily Caller, National Review, American Conservative, and Diario Las Américas in the United States, as well as a columnist at several Spanish magazines and newspapers.

Marco Rubio Just Made the Anti-Trump Ballroom Crowd Look Like Absolute Lunatics

 RedState   

"When your TDS is so bad that you fight the security measures intended to keep the current and future presidents alive, it's time to rethink every bad life choice you ever made."

"The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday asking it to overturn a lower court ruling that halted construction on the new White House ballroom. 

"In the filing, U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer argued that it was imperative that the project – which includes an underground military complex and a drone port – be allowed to move forward because of increased national security threats and "a growing number of recent assassination attempts" against President Trump.

“President Trump has been the target of a growing number of recent assassination attempts,” the solicitor general wrote in his appeal, citing the July 8 “threat of a missile attack against Air Force One” and other previously reported incidents. 

"As RedState reported Tuesday, President Trump was forced to switch planes at the last minute as he departed the July NATO summit in Turkey after a credible assassination threat from Iran was received.

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READ MORE: Trump's Air Force One 'Decoy' Fooled the Press. Good. That Was the Point.

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"Due to the situation in Iran, not to mention the frequent domestic threats against the president, there is clearly an increased urgency to get the East Wing constructed as quickly as possible. 

"Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed that sentiment, noting that he's regularly hosted overseas in beautiful facilities with impressive security measures, while, here in America, "we must currently host such visits in plastic or canvas tents on the South Lawn with unsafe and unsanitary portable bathrooms and accommodations unbecoming of our national stature.'" . . .

More...

Trump Admin Asks Supreme Court to Let It Keep Building White House Ballroom | The Epoch Times

. . . "The emergency application by the National Park Service was filed with Chief Justice John Roberts. Roberts directed the respondent, the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States, to file a reply brief by 12 p.m. on Aug. 18." . . .

Zohran at 9-11?

 The Mamdani campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mamdani — who has distanced himself from his past “defund the police” views — also drew ire this week, ahead of the 24th anniversary of the attacks, for his association to Hasan Piker, a popular far-left influencer who once said that “America deserved 9/11.”  NY Post

Curtis Sliwa Attacks 9/11 Families Who Don't Want Zohran at the Memorial  

It’s a small world in NYC politics as reporters run into Curtis Sliwa in Midtown after mayor’s presser. He’s asked many including what he thinks about the campaign to stop Mamdani from attending the 9/11 ceremony. “Ridiculous,” he said. “He’s the mayor. Stop being sore losers.”

. . . "Mamdani skipped the 1993 World Trade Center bombing memorial months ago, but vows he will be at the 9/11 ceremony to represent New Yorkers.

Reporters came across Curtis Sliwa in the City and asked him what he thought. He called the push to ban Mamdani “ridiculous,” while talking with reporters Thursday, adding:

“He’s the mayor. Stop being sore losers! You knew this is Zohran Mamdani. He was never a fake, phony, fraudulent, fugazi like a lot of politicians. He told you who he was. Once he got elected, you should have known he was going to be there at 9/11. Now, if you choose to turn your back on him, I don’t want to ever tell family members what they should be doing on this holiday — not holiday, but this solemn occasion — that’s your choice. But I believe you respect the office. He’s the mayor. He’s representing the city.”

Sliwa should stay in the basement with his cats. Mamdani doesn’t represent these people, and no one thinks Sliwa is relevant." . . .

Some 9/11 families defend Mayor Mamdani's inclusion at upcoming remembrance ceremony - CBS New York 

 . . . "Mamdani has reaffirmed his commitment to attend. 

"'I will proudly honor the families, the survivors, the first responders forever impacted by that horrific terror attack by standing alongside them," Mamdani said last week. 

"Miller said she hopes this debate does not overshadow the true reason they're all there.

"'The focus really shouldn't be on who's there, who's not there," Miller said. "It should be on our loved ones." 

"A spokesperson for the 9/11 Memorial and Museum said, in part, "we have intentionally worked to keep the commemoration free of politics because remembering those we lost on 9/11 should never be a partisan issue."

The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same

 GrrrGraphics – Official Ben Garrison Cartoons

"There’s a long and stubborn pattern in history that refuses to die. Charlie Manson had his “Family” — a group of young women who not only followed him but committed murder for him, then remained loyal even after the horrors were exposed. They saw a messianic figure. The rest of us saw a manipulative psychopath with a guitar and a lot of empty slogans.

"A decade later, Ted Bundy sat on death row and received stacks of love letters and marriage proposals from women who had never met him. They wrote about his eyes, his intelligence, his “misunderstood” nature. The fact that he had raped and murdered dozens of young women somehow became a detail they were willing to overlook.

"Now, in 2026, we have Luigi Mangione—a man who just admitted to a judge that he committed the cold-blooded murder of a healthcare CEO. He has somehow acquired a fan club of women who romanticize him, call for his freedom, and treat him like a folk hero....... 

Five Quick Things: Yes, Enes Kanter and Royce White, That Is the Way

 Welcome to the WNBA, gentlemen   

"But if it’s a league which buys into the woke “inclusion” language and purports to inflict the effects of that language on its players, then there is no reason why a G-League men’s player can’t declare himself a woman and claim a WNBA salary."

"I’m not a fan of the WNBA. I think it’s a joke of a league. I’m not a huge fan of women’s basketball, period, though I’ve got nothing against women playing basketball. I just notice that women’s basketball has emerged as a particular kind of entity which is hard to like.

"And the people it attracts as participants and huge fans are really, really hard to like.

"That said, the Caitlin Clark-Sophie Cunningham show in Indiana is pretty cool. Those two are relatively likable — Clark because she’s an outstanding player and Cunningham because she brings a lot of personality to the court. If you had a league full of players like those two, you probably could sell women’s basketball. (RELATED: The Spectacle Ep. 451: Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham vs. The WNBA: We’re Fatigued)

"The WNBA doesn’t cultivate Sophie Cunninghams, though. The opposite is true. It’s actively discouraging people like her from getting involved, in favor of… other people.

"And I know it wants nothing to do with me, so, as the meme says…

"I’m not alone. The WNBA gets pretty lousy viewership for a major sports league, and it’s dependent on subsidies from the NBA. It’s also dependent on as many controversies as it can stir up in order to spice up its games.

"Which is why the league’s referees are basically pro wrestling refs who call games in utterly absurd ways. And it’s why the league’s players say off-the-wall stupid things all the time, nonstop. All the worst instincts of the social media world are present in how the WNBA conducts its business.

"And the most absurd thing about the WNBA is the refusal to simply allow reality in the door. This is a basketball league for biological women, and there is no legitimate moral or intellectual case for allowing anyone but biological women to play." . . .

The women who helped give girls sports now have to be quiet about it   "Leigh Ross-Dakich explains that the women who helped build up girls sports are now having to be quiet about the trans athlete issue."  (Video)

Forbes Editor Randall Lane Fired After Secret $6M Payment Scandal Revealed

 Newsbusters 

"But wait, there was more! It turns out a pursuing of Lane’s time at Forbes showed he played a key role in helping MS NOW’s Morning Joe co-host Mike Brzezinski launch a partnership between her Know Your Value initiative and Forbes with a Over 50 list for businesswomen making a difference across four categories " . . .

The Week

"It’s no secret that Forbes magazine has largely betrayed its capitalist foundation by becoming a megaphone for some of the most vile left-wing, cultural Marxist tripe in the media ecosphere. But a new scandal did show that its top leadership didn’t completely abandon free markets when it suited their own interests.

"The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Forbes chief content officer Randall Lane was fired after “the company discovered that he had received a payment of about $6 million from the founder of a firm that does business with the magazine.”

"The payment was made after RJ Shook, the founder of the firm that worked with Forbes to publish wealth adviser rankings, “sold a majority stake in Shook Research to PPC Enterprises, a private equity firm, last August.” Lane made himself a spectacle of anti-Trump furor in 2021 when he threatened companies that dared to hire people who formerly worked with President Donald Trump, such as former White House press secretaries Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, and Kayleigh McEnany.

"Reading his virtue-signaling now about “truth reckoning” in light of his own duplicitous violation of journalistic ethics is poetic justice. At the time, Lane promised his outlet will “scrutinize, double-check, investigate with the same skepticism we’d approach a Trump tweet” any company that hires one of the forbidden Trumpsters in his arbitrary blacklist: “Let it be known to the business world: Hire any of Trump’s fellow fabulists above, and Forbes will assume that everything your company or firm talks about is a lie.“

"Lane doubled down on his threats: “Want to ensure the world’s biggest business media brand approaches you as a potential funnel of disinformation? Then hire away,” Lane quipped." . . .

Rubio Lets AOC Attack Him for 15 Minutes — Then DESTROYS Her With ONE Photo of His Parents

Gavel to Gavel

"This political commentary examines the dramatic confrontation presented between Marco Rubio and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, focusing on her "girl from the Bronx" identity, her Westchester upbringing, the Green New Deal, Amazon's Queens headquarters, Met Gala attendance, and campaign finance questions. Rubio answers with his parents' immigrant story and a worn photograph from their citizenship day, arguing the difference between a real record and a manufactured brand. This video contains commentary and dramatized or fictionalized elements. Claims, figures, and events discussed should not be treated as verified facts without consulting reliable primary sources. What do you think — was the photograph the decisive moment?"

Hollywood Won’t Show Radical Islam. Run Hide Fight: Infidels Will

 Hollywood Won’t Show Radical Islam. Run Hide Fight: Infidels Will  . . . "The streamer Sneako, who also chanted in New York about Muhammad’s army coming back to kill Jews, tweeted, “The kuffar are getting so desperate they’re trying to do Bush-era propaganda in 2026. No one cares anymore. We all know the Israelis are the real terrorists.” The word “kuffar” goes back to the root “kafir” meaning “ infidels.” 

"Why should the accurate depiction of ISIS on TV be thought of as bigoted when the radical Islamists this film portrays see America as the Great Satan and Israel as the Little Satan, believe that the West needs to fall, and also terrorize their own people? Currently, ISIS is responsible for 20 percent of all terrorist attacks on the planet. This radical mentality is fueled by Jihad, which asserts that non-believers should either be converted or killed. " . . .

The American Spectator

"The Daily Wire is preparing to release its latest film, Run Hide Fight: Infidels, in September, with the plot centering around an ISIS takeover of a pro-Hamas college campus. The trailer has already sparked intense reactions, with political figures like Mehdi Hasan arguing the film is Islamophobic. However, the trailer's contents depict terrorism in its most recognizable forms.  After October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel and killed 1,200 of its citizens, taking many Jews hostage for the next two years, students around the world on college campuses erupted in support for Hamas and demonized Israel. This film has the viewers imagine a world in which these students actually get what they cheered for; the trailer shows a liberal campus hijacked by ISIS terrorists and depicts bombings, knife attacks, and assaults against women. The pro-Hamas students on campus experience the true ideology of the terrorists they promoted at their university.  It is our duty as citizens of this land — Muslims, Christians, Jews, and all others — to guard against the dangers of this threat to our way of life. By releasing this film, the Daily Wire intends to raise awareness of the threat of radical Islam in the United States, which has gained favor in the eyes of younger populations through terrorist groups like Hamas. The premature criticism of this film undermines the critical message and warning it gives to American society of the dangers of radical Islam.  However, the true quality of a given product can often be tested by the quality of its critics; Hasan wrote on X, “Difficult to come up with a more bigoted, Islamophobic, & clichéd trailer than this one. Also, Hollywood has ‘refused’ to tell the story of ‘radical Islam’? Is [Ben] Shapiro insane or just gaslighting? Muslims have been the main villains in Hollywood for decades, even predating 9/11!”" . . .  More...  Behind a pay wall.

The Freakout Over Our Movie Proves Exactly Why We Made It

For balance, TD searched for famous examples of Islamists and found what looked like a fair site. But it could be sized up well by examples nine and ten, to name just two. TD:  Top 10 Most Famous Muslims

Then that singer of gentle songs, Cat Stevens converted to Islam and adopted the name Yusuf Islam. Afterward, as a new Muslim, Stevens made statements endorsing the killing of Rushdie.

He later retracted the statements, but even so, that was his first impulse as a new Muslim. Islam did not bring out the best in Cat Stevens. The Tunnel Dweller.

Cat Stevens/ Yusuf Islam

Rudy Giuliani to Newsmax: No Mamdani at Ground Zero

  "They want to impose a barbaric foreign code on us, given the advances that we've made as an Anglo-American country," Giuliani said. "It's a disgrace. They're trying to accomplish by infiltration what they couldn't accomplish by murderous attack."

WWII Memorial vandalism suspect turns herself in after livestreaming act

 RedState  

This is not the first time the World War II Memorial has been defaced. During the 2020 George Floyd protests, anarchists spray-painted "Do Black Vets Count?" on the fountain. Nothing happened in that case. An example needs to be made in this one. Let's hope this woman is not allowed to skirt the law.

"On Thursday, someone decided to desecrate the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. The actor defaced the monument with graffiti that read, "Clean hands dirty $," and filled the fountain with soap, creating bubbles.

"The person was caught on camera, and by Friday, the alleged perpetrator of this disgusting act was arrested.

Authorities have taken into custody the suspect accused of vandalizing the World War II Memorial on the National Mall, where bubbles filled a fountain and "Clean hands dirty $" was written in red paint.

"Melissa L. Farris is now in federal custody. According to U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, Farris will be charged with depredation against property of the United States and destruction of veterans' memorials. This not-very-bright woman faces up to 10 years in prison. 

"Farris wasn't expressing free speech; she was just being a terrible person. This disgrace to humanity deserves all the books thrown at her." . . .More...

Crazed WWII Memorial Vandal Filmed Her Own Crime — Told Facebook Users to “Make Me Look Fancy” and Spread It Everywhere ...

Hung Cao Torpedoes Media Narrative About 'Miserable' USS Abraham Lincoln Crew

 RedState  

The Lincoln is coming home. Her crew did the job they were sent to do. And after 266 days at sea, perhaps the story isn't that they were "victims" of Donald Trump. Perhaps the story is exactly what Cao said – they crushed the mission. 

"Having failed to gain enough traction on the Air Force One rope-a-dope story from earlier in the week, the legacy media –  in its never ending quest for a "gotcha story" on President Trump – has made a hard pivot and is now focused on the conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. (A topic they didn't care one iota about until it occurred to them that possibly unhappy sailors could reflect poorly on the Commander in Chief.)

"Here is RedState's Bob Hoge reporting on the media's reaction to the supposed widespread misery on the Lincoln, which has been on a long-term deployment in the Middle East:

The reports are everywhere — miserable conditions supposedly aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, including food shortages, broken plumbing, widespread exhaustion, and plummeting morale. It’s so bad, these reports say, that some sailors have attempted to jump overboard and presumably drown. Breathless headlines like “Conditions on US aircraft carrier at sea for more than 250 days raise alarms” are rampant.

"As Bob noted, the increasing histrionics from the media led CENTCOM to release an "everybody just calm down" statement to set the record straight, particularly about a false report that seven sailors had died in a brawl aboard the Lincoln. Here's CENTCOM:

Over the past 48 hours, multiple media outlets have reported several false claims related to USS Abraham Lincoln's (CVN 72) deployment to the Middle East. One report alleged seven Sailors died in a brawl aboard the aircraft carrier and others have recently suggested a spike in suicidal ideations. These reports are FALSE.

"This did little to placate the press, which is hungry to head into the weekend with something to pin on Trump for the Sunday morning news shows.

"Not willing to play that game, Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao released a statement Friday afternoon shooting down the idea that the Lincoln and its crew were experiencing anything other than a long and challenging deployment. Something sailors and their families have dealt with for decades." .  . .

 More...