The Law Has Finally Caught Up to Gavin Newsom

Victor Davis Hanson

Apparently, Gavin Newsom will be running for president in 2028. I don’t know whether his slogan will be, “I will remake the United States in the way that I remade California.” Let’s hope not. 

 

"Gavin Newsom and his wife are currently under investigation by the Department of Justice in a serious state fund scandal.

"Allegedly, Newsom transferred millions to charities operated by his wife, creating an obvious conflict of interest and funding Left-wing organizations that keep the Newsoms in power. "While Newsom claims the investigation by Trump’s DOJ is law-fare, the real law-fare may have occurred during Joe Biden’s presidency. “Now there’s no cover, no exemption and now you’re going to face scrutiny.” . . .

. . . "We have the highest gasoline taxes and the highest gasoline prices. You’re bragging that you’re stopping oil and gas exploration and production in one of the wealthiest oil and gas states naturally in the country.  

"You’ve shut down the timber industry. You’ve done all of this, and yet you’re not even addressing any of the problems. 

"You have no solutions, and you’re campaigning when you’re under a cloud of allegations of rampant fraud. What’s your future? Will you still be a candidate for president?" . . . 

Where Are the Bill Kristols and Michael Steeles on the Democrat Side Today?

"Democrats and Republicans are not flip sides of the same coin."

The American Spectator  

"And the Democrats aren’t political adversaries anymore. They’re now enemy agents. And they’re not quiet about it. Act accordingly, and vote these bastards down as best you can, because your country is at stake."

Uncle Paul's Parodies

. . . "The outgoing leadership cadre in the Democrat Party has certainly run itself into the ground. There is little question in that. You can’t look at a single leader among the modern Democrat Party who offers new ideas or approaches or even differs with the orthodoxy in any real respect." . . .

…and this is the new breed of Democrat. It’s now a party made up of people who don’t even bother to hold down a job (James Talarico, for example, makes $80,000 a year as a DEI consultant on top of the $14,000 per year the Texas Senate pays him), who absolutely hate people who do, who choose Palestinian terrorists over Israeli farmers and music fans, who think Somali welfare pirates must be protected at all costs and can’t be sent home, and openly take the side of Iranian mullahs over American servicemen.

"Never in American history has a more loathsome and revolutionary political faction existed. The pro-slavery Democrats of the mid-19th century were fundamentally wrong in many respects, with slavery obviously first and foremost among those, but at least they hewed to some of the spirit of the founding of the country, and the structure and mission of the Confederate government were somewhat recognizable as an American idea.

"But this? Mamdani, Chevalier, Nithya Raman, the odious Janeese George, who’ll soon be the mayor of Washington, D.C.?

"It’s very much a foreign occupation of our big blue cities by a class of people with values that are largely irreconcilable with those of the rest of the country." . . .

Scott McKay is a contributing editor at The American Spectator  and publisher of the Hayride, which offers news and commentary on Louisiana and national politics, and RVIVR.com, a national political news aggregation and opinion site. 

Democrats board the crazy train in New York

 American Thinker published a consensus on this fearful tide sweeping American politics. TD

Monica Showalter  

. . . "Two is that President Obama, with his masked far-left, third-world background, swung the party leftward with his divisive executive orders and fashion-friendly exterior."  

 

"Democrats found themselves surprised by the election result in New York's primaries, where Democrat  voters chose extremists of the most repulsive sort over establishment-endorsed candidates, to win three New York primaries, driving their party to the farthest left it's ever been.

"According to the New York Post:

Democrats were shocked when a trio of anti-Israel, socialist candidates backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani swept Tuesday’s New York House primary races, warning that their ascendance represents a changing of the guard for the party as voters embrace the far left.

“The roof is collapsing on the Democratic Party establishment tonight,” progressive political activist and CNN commentator Van Jones told Kaitlan Collins as election results rolled in.

“And you can’t write off New York City because this … is a power center for the establishment and the insurgency. And they’re going head to head tonight,” he said

"And right now, this is no longer a movement. This is a movement and a machine at the same time. And there’s just no way to sugarcoat this: If Mamdani pulls off a hat trick, this is a new era in Democratic Party politics.”

"It's so bad the winners are from the kind of left that makes Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez look like a moderate.

"They're calling for the death of Western Civilization:" . . .  More...

Democrat party dead? Marxists and RINOs ascendant? America doomed?

"Though I am a conservative, I must say that this is not good news for the United States of America."

. . . " Wokeness, suicidal empathy, and rapid demographic change have combined with the collapse of objective educational institutions and media outlets to sentence us to a sort of nation-wide version of MAID, Marxist Assistance In Dying." . . .

The other problem with socialism  

. . . "It would be tragic if the United States, which fought on the side of freedom throughout the Cold War, succumbed to socialism in the end. I worry the rising tide of suicidal empathy, coupled with a lack of knowledge about socialism’s history and sheer immorality, could bring a socialist revolution to the United States. I hope I am wrong." . . . 

 

Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org) is editorial director at The Heartland Institute.

The Democratic debate is over. The left won

 If you're ignorant enough to believe Israel attacked Hamas, you can easily believe in Democrat socialism; Bernie Sanders, AOC, and Mayor Mamdani. And be taught to shake your fist in anger on command:

Byron York  THE DEMOCRATIC DEBATE IS OVER. THE LEFT WON. When a political party loses a big election, it usually goes into a period of introspection. What went wrong? How can it be fixed?

"When Democrats lost the 2024 election, some argued the party had gone too far left, that it needed to move toward the center. Others said no, the party had not gone far enough to the left, and that it needed to move past progressivism toward outright socialism.

"A debate ensued. Now, with Tuesday's elections in New York City, the argument is settled. The socialists won, and the Democratic Party is headed further left.

"Lots of press accounts are calling New York's socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani a "kingmaker." They're right. Mamdani, who did not exactly win his own office in a landslide — he won last year with 50.8% of the vote — risked his political capital to support three far-left challengers to established Democrats. The challengers won.

"There was Darializa Avila Chevalier, a graduate student who believes in open borders, no prisons, and free everything (including her favorite, Free Palestine). Avila Chevalier took down five-term Democratic incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat, who wields quite a bit of power as chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

"There was Brad Lander, first an opponent and then a key ally of Mamdani, who took down two-term incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman. And then there was Claire Valdez, a state assemblywoman who won the nomination for a seat opened by the retirement of 17-term incumbent Rep. Nydia Velazquez. That race was remarkable because Velazquez was adamantly opposed to Mamdani's candidate and felt that Mamdani had betrayed her in the election — and she still lost." . . .  More...

‘By Zohran, he’s got it!’ - Silvio Canto, Jr.    

"Yes, they are coming, whether the party wants them or not.  They are on a mission from God, or whatever they believe in. The first target will be Governor Shapiro of Pennsylvania if he decides to run for president.  He is Jewish, and we know what just happened to Representative Goldman on Tuesday night." . . .

They saw what Hamas did to innocent Israelis that Oct 7th yet still champion their murderous cause! 

"I almost feel sorry for leftists. Almost. But I don’t. The reason is simple: so much of what they say and do runs counter to the core principles on which this country was founded.   

"Søren Kierkegaard observed that there are two ways to err: to believe what is not true, and to refuse to believe what is true. Leftists frequently demonstrate both." 

. . . "The kettle is simmering. The frog is growing restless. In much of Western Europe and the United Kingdom, citizens have watched their cultural foundations erode with little effective resistance. America still has time to choose a different path."

CHANGING HISTORY Islam’s accelerating takeover of Europe

 

Europe Diplomatic Magazine  

Their numbers are growing, too. Indeed, they’re inclined to conflate anti-Muslim hatred with any sort of criticism of Islam or its followers. It licenses them to hate virtually everybody who doesn’t share their extreme views.

"If you wanted to launch a slimming campaign, aimed at encouraging people to lose weight, you might think you need an emblem of some sort, a figure that represents your weight-loss aims. Would you choose Father Christmas (Santa Claus, if you prefer), that jolly fat man in red who allegedly squeezes down chimneys to leave presents for children? Probably not: he’s not quite the image you’re likely to favour or to ask others to copy, surely. He’s the wrong shape. By that token, would you seek to encourage gender equality with a woman who chooses to wear a Muslim veil? Probably not, but it’s what has happened in Belgium. It may sound somewhat odd, but we’ll come back to that a little later in this article. The lady in question has not suggested that other Muslim women should cast off their veils, either, and nor has she suggested that Muslim men should start wearing them. Why ever not? Surely, she should have done one or the other? Parity, after all, must surely be the aim. There’s no doubt that Islam is the fastest-growing religion in Europe. In fact, it has so many adherents that some people are predicting that in Belgium (and not only Belgium) it could, within a human lifespan, become Europe’s dominant faith. Those who don’t share it, and who remain resolutely Christian or Jewish (or determined Atheists), fear that they and their descendants could soon be a minority, mere outsiders in a Muslim entity." . . .  More...

"Europe Diplomatic Magazine is an entirely independent publication . . .It is dedicated to providing the most progressive and objective analyses of the political, social, economic and security issues affecting Europe and the world at large." . . .

What the SS Said After Facing the 101st Airborne

America’s Glory

"We were not fighting men. We were fighting something that had decided not to die." — SS Panzergrenadier officer Werner Kortenhaus, field journal, Ardennes, December 1944. "Kortenhaus had survived Kursk. He had held lines against Soviet and British forces for three years. He was not a man who ran out of frame of reference easily. But somewhere in the frozen forests outside Bastogne, he encountered the 101st Airborne Division — and wrote those words. "This is the account of what happened when five SS divisions, armed with tanks, artillery, and numerical superiority in every category that is supposed to decide battles, attempted to break a surrounded American parachute force in the worst winter in decades. The 101st had no winter gear. Inadequate ammunition. Almost no artillery shells. A perimeter fifty kilometers around. Encirclement completed December 21, 1944. "On December 22, Generalleutnant Heinrich von Lüttwitz sent a formal surrender ultimatum. Acting commander Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe's written reply was one word: "Nuts." The SS assaults that followed were full-scale armored attacks. They broke against the American lines again and again. "What the German after-action reports describe is not American firepower or material advantage. SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Dinse of the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich — veterans of France, Kursk, three years on the Eastern Front — filed a captured tactical assessment calling it "psychologische Immovabilität." Psychological immovability. Major Herbert Büchs wrote that the paratroopers "defended every position as though retreat had been struck from their vocabulary." SS Unterscharführer Klaus Rademacher wrote home from a field hospital: "There is something wrong with them." "Men like Sergeant Layton Black, a combat medic from Harlan County, Kentucky, who held the entrance to a field aid station against a direct SS assault with a pistol and a borrowed carbine. Or PFC Vernon Haught from Columbus, Ohio, who stayed at his machine gun when a Panzer IV came for his position, broke the assault's cohesion, and got back up after the second round threw him several meters. "This is not a story about slow-motion flags. It is a story about what it takes to make an entire division decide, each man individually, that leaving was not an option."

MSNOW people, California leaders, Democrats, and the bitterness of Joy Reid: how much can this nation suffer and survive?

                       

And this from Heritage Review:  . . . "That is a position Democratic leaders can accept or reject. But they cannot ignore it. Reid may no longer have a cable show, but she has a podcast, a speaking circuit, and an audience that treats her pronouncements as marching orders.

"The increasingly extreme positions staking out the Democratic Party's left flank create a familiar problem: every concession to the base makes the general election harder. Every refusal to concede risks a primary challenge or a stay-home protest vote.

"Reid has chosen her side. The rest of the Democratic Party now gets to decide whether her litmus test is a fringe demand or a preview of where the whole coalition is headed.

"When a party's loudest voices start issuing ultimatums that most of its own elected officials cannot meet, that is not a sign of strength. It is a sign that the people who claim to speak for the base have lost interest in actually winning." . . .

Former MSNBC Host Joy Reid Faces Outrage After Claiming America Is Only “Marginally Better” Than Iran on Women’s Rights

 Entertainment   

Reid hopped online to declare that this year’s festivities will not feature her or her black friends, making sure to throw in that she believes it’s a “slaveholder” celebration anyway.

. . . "The clip went viral almost overnight. One account shared the video and racked up thousands of views and replies within hours. Conservative commentator Clay Travis jumped in with a blunt response: "Joy Reid says women in Iran are better off than women in America. She should move to Iran then. I'm sure she would thrive there." His post pulled in over 26,000 likes and hundreds of quotes.

"Viewers piled on across platforms. One person asked if Reid really believed it or just wanted to follow a trend. Another wrote that her words were dangerously irresponsible because women in Iran face arrests for showing hair or protesting. Comments kept coming, with people pointing out that American women can vote, run companies, and fight for rights in court. No one suggested Reid should actually pack her bags, but the idea popped up in plenty of replies.

"Even accounts that usually back progressive voices stayed quiet or pushed back. The outrage crossed lines, with folks from different sides agreeing the comparison missed huge differences in daily life for women.

The Bigger Debate It Ignited

"This is not Reid's first time stirring debate. As an ousted MSNBC star who once hosted The ReidOut, she built a name for strong opinions on race, gender, and power. Now the timing hits harder because of fresh US Iran tensions, including military moves that made headlines.

"Supporters say she was just highlighting real rollbacks in the US, like abortion limits and policy shifts. They argue it is fair to question both countries without pretending America is perfect. Detractors call it tone deaf at best. They list basics like mandatory hijabs, morality police, and deadly crackdowns in Iran that simply do not exist here." . . . More...

Joy Reid Says The Fourth Of July Isn't For Black People    . . . "This time, Joy decided to explain what Black Americans supposedly think about the Fourth of July.

According to her, Black people don’t really celebrate Independence Day. She claims that Black Americans view the holiday as nothing more than a celebration of slaveholders and oppression.

The problem is simple.

She doesn’t speak for me.

And she certainly doesn’t speak for millions of other Black Americans.

A Patriot’s Take On The American Revolution

 Richard Kirk - American Thinker

 ". . .  those complaints are miniscule compared to the insight achieved by looking at the American Revolution, as Metaxas does, through the eyes of patriots like Washington and John Adams and not through the eyes of a Marxist like Howard Zinn " . . .

Eric Metaxas, Amazon

"History isn’t written by “the winners.”  It’s written by historians and persons of letters.  Thus, what we know about the past depends on the interests and biases of those who compose treatises about the subject.  Eric Metaxas’s number one best seller, Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World, provides in its subtitle an unambiguous declaration of the author’s conclusion about events in colonial America that are covered in this scrupulously researched book.  Upon finishing its nearly 600 densely packed pages, most readers will likely wonder why so many things delineated therein were neglected or distorted by prior historians.

"Foremost among those distortions is the assertion that most of America’s founders were deists who rejected the idea of God’s post-creation activity in human affairs.  As Metaxas clearly shows via the words of various patriots, especially John Adams and George Washington, the notion of God’s “providential” acts on behalf of the emergent nation was ubiquitous, a faith indissolubly linked to its adherence to biblical principles as articulated by ministers like George Whitefield.  These “no King but Jesus” convictions spread by the ministerial “Black Robe Regiment” were often derided by British elites who denigrated colonials as, in today’s parlance, bible-bangers.  A practical consequence of this gulf between British and colonial morals is illustrated by the humane treatment Americans typically provided captured troops versus the wretched fate most  patriot soldiers faced who fell into British hands, an estimated 10,000 of whom died in captivity, outpacing the “less than 7,000” killed in combat.

"Metaxas further illustrates the decadence of Britain’s leadership under George III by providing detailed descriptions of gatherings in England by prominent members of the Hellfire Club who not only embraced hedonism but even mocked Christian beliefs.  Later the author devotes several pages to General William Howe’s lavish farewell party in Philadelphia.  By contrast, Washington is shown stressing the importance of discipline and moral conduct for himself and his troops in view of their “sacred” cause, a cause for which colonials officially beseeched God’s help by declaring days of fasting, prayer, and thanksgiving." . . .

 More...

Richard Kirk is a freelance writer and retired teacher living in Southern California.  His book Moral Illiteracy: “Who’s to Say?” is also available on Kindle , as is his book Poetry with a Moral Edge.

Ghost of Alexis de Tocqueville Returns — What America Can Learn From Him

"From Tocqueville to the World Cup, outsiders keep discovering the same American superpower: turning strangers into neighbors."

 The American Spectator 

"What we do know is that it has opened their world to our world, teaching both Europeans and ourselves what makes America truly exceptional: our people."

AfterMath - Home

"LUZERNE COUNTY, Pennsylvania — Over the Flag Day weekend in Pennsylvania, crowds gathered, and communities were formed in the most unlikely of places, under viaducts, along gravel-filled tracks, and at the base of some impressive Appalachian mountains, all just to watch as Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 rolled through northeastern Pennsylvania.

"The sheer presence of the locomotive drew crowds. Celebrations were formed among strangers for a couple of reasons: The locomotive is a reminder of what American workers, engineers, and laborers are capable of building. And continuing to honor that is part of the American ethos of exceptionalism.

"Also, Americans just love to be part of something bigger than themselves. Yes, we will fiercely defend our individualism. But we are also uniquely aspirational about what we can do together for the greater good. This is pretty much something that we do daily when no one is looking, but social media has placed our intuitive community gathering in the spotlight.

"The moment was just part of a phenomenon that European soccer fans have been delightfully experiencing as they travel across our country to support their country’s team in pursuit of the World Cup.

"Social media has been filled with fans such as “Freddy from Germany,” who unabashedly enjoys his discoveries of everyday American experiences, such as Waffle House, Walmart, and Buc-ee’s. He found out quite quickly that we love to form associations around everything, including people enjoying our country’s simple delights. (RELATED: The Spectacle Ep. 432: Foreign FIFA Fans Are Teaching Americans To Be Patriotic)

"Freddy’s colorful and joyful accounts are a dramatic reversal of the conventional wisdom that Europeans do not view America as an ally. A recent poll conducted by the European Council on Foreign Relations shows only 11 percent of Europeans across 15 countries view the United States as a reliable partner.

"The same has happened with Scottish football fan Shaun Hamilton. His X account has been actively posting about American hospitality, kindness, and the embraces that he and countrymen have received. His posts showing the fans of the Scottish national football team taking over Boston, with thousands of kilt-clad Scots partying in Boston Harbor, attracted attention. So did his posts of the breathtaking scenes at Gillette Stadium or the George Washington statue at Fenway Park getting the classic Scottish treatment by getting crowned with a traffic cone.

"Perhaps my favorite moment has been watching the Scottish and Haitian fans having a dance-off in kilts ahead of the first match. . .  More...

'Pride Night' backlash: LA Dodgers pitcher says MLB came down on him for Charlie Kirk tribute

 Western Journal 

 "MLB Players Who Wrote Bible Verses On Pride Night Hats Won't Be Disciplined, Commissioner Says: The response was characterized by Hawley as MLB admitting the league was "wrong to threaten the Giants players over Bible verses" Daily Caller

"Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Blake Treinen said Major League Baseball officials reprimanded him after he honored slain conservative leader Charlie Kirk on his hat last year.

"Treinen made the comments to the Los Angeles Times this week during an interview about the MLB's overall treatment of Christian players and its recent warning to several San Francisco Giants pitchers.

"The players were attacked last week after writing Bible verses on their LGBT “pride night” caps in a silent protest of the event, and now the Justice Department is involved.

The Giants wore “pride” hats with a rainbow-themed "SF" logo.

"Starting pitcher Landen Roupp and relievers J.T. Brubaker and Ryan Walker wrote a Bible verse on their hats to give the rainbow its proper context.

""Two Christian San Francisco Giants pitchers protested Pride Night on Friday night vs Chicago Starting pitcher Landen Roupp wrote Genesis 9:12-16 on his Pride hat

- Relief pitcher Sam Hentges refused to wear the hat at all (just like Blake Treinen) Well done, gentlemen" Jon Root

More...

Reflecting Pool Partisanship

 The American Spectator

“Reflecting Pool Partisanship,” editorial cartoon by Tom Stiglich for The American Spectator on Jun 22, 2026.