July 19, 2026 — John Hinderaker

Fraud: More Than We Can Imagine?

Featured image The U.S. government spends more than $900 billion annually on Medicaid. How much of that money is stolen by criminals? HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. pegs the theft total at $100 billion. I am going to embed the entire quote in the tweet below: RFK Jr. says HHS loses $100,000,000,000 a year to theft. He found some thieves would bribe poor people with flat screen TVs to get their patient »
July 19, 2026 — Scott Johnson

Strait escalation

Featured imageI have been following developments in our conflict with Iran via the dry daily Iran updates posted by General Keane’s Institute for the Study of War. This is the second paragraph of ISW’s July 18 update (emphasis in original, footnote omitted): An Iranian missile attack on a base in Jordan killed two US service members on July 17. A third service member is missing in action. Unspecified US officials told »
July 18, 2026 — Bill Glahn

The downward spiral

Featured imageConvicted Feeding Our Future fraudster picked up for drugged driving. From Lou Raguse of KARE-11 TV (NBC affiliate) on Facebook, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s former policy aide Abdi Nur Salah, who is awaiting sentencing for his role in the $300 million Feeding our Future meal fraud scheme, was charged this week with suspected DWI. The Facebook post by Raguse covers the basics of the story. Salah worked for Mayor Frey »
July 19, 2026 — Scott Johnson

Sunday morning coming down

Featured imageDion — Dion DiMucci — turned 87 yesterday. Six years ago Dion released a new set of recordings titled Blues With Friends. The friends ranged from Jeff Beck and Joe Bonamassa to Paul Simon and Bruce Springsteen. I thought Dion sounded like an artist in his prime. When I saw that the disc was going to be released in 2020 it served as the occasion for a life-in-lockdown edition of »
July 18, 2026 — John Hinderaker

Maternity Leave

Featured imageThis really speaks for itself, but I will add a few comments below: Karoline Leavitt will be back behind the podium at the White House today, which means she took a shorter maternity leave than Mayor Pete. 😂 pic.twitter.com/3itzDOmk7J — Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) July 16, 2026 The Democratic Party has become a cult. To be a member, you have to be willing to profess things that everyone knows are crazy. »
July 18, 2026 — John Hinderaker

Mamdani to Arrest Netanyahu?

Featured imageThe New York Post headlines: “Mamdani desperately seeking legal loophole to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu when Israel PM visits NYC.” The Pro-Palestine, Israel-hating, socialist pol said in an interview published Saturday that it’s unclear whether he has the authority to order the NYPD to arrest Netanyahu during the prime minister’s expected trip to the Big Apple for the U.N. General Assembly – but is in an “active conversation” with the city’s »
July 18, 2026 — Steven Hayward

The Week in Pictures: Don’t Get Buffalo’d Edition

Featured imageLet’s see: Gulf War III is back in full swing, Mitch McConnell has become Schrodinger’s senator, but the biggest stories in America right now are a buffalo trying out to be an NFL placekicker, and Taco Bell deciding that a life-imitating-art menu is the best life after all. Too bad about the Whirled Cup soccer thing, but losing to . . . Belgium? Maybe we can appeal to the Whirled »
July 17, 2026 — John Hinderaker

Did China Pay Liberal Journalists?

Featured imageI would like to know the answer to that question! In his speech last night, President Trump said that the Communist Chinese had tried to pay American journalists to write negative articles about him. As I told Rowan Dean, I always assumed they did it for free. But seriously: is there evidence that American journalists are paid by the Chinese Communist Party? Not really. I believe the just-declassified document that »
July 17, 2026 — John Hinderaker

Election Security: What Did Trump Say?

Featured imageI generally agree with Scott’s take on President Trump’s speech last night. I was on television last night, immediately following the speech, and I gave my impressions to Rowan Dean: I have started looking at the newly-declassified documents, which don’t appear to be voluminous. They are interesting, to say the least, but I haven’t yet seen any evidence of more voter fraud than we already knew about. The main point, »
July 17, 2026 — Scott Johnson

On left-wing terrorism

Featured imageSecretary Rubio convened a conference on the resurgence of transnational left-wing terorism and gave something like the keynote speech yesterday. He was introduced by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, who wrote us in 2020 when he was serving as our Amabassador to Mexico on the related phenmenon of lefist mob violence. Secretary Rubio’s speech is deserving of our attention. Coincidentally, the adjacent post on Rep. Adam Smith provides a »
July 17, 2026 — Scott Johnson

After last night

Featured imageRealClearPolitics has posted the text and video of President Trump’s prime time speech last night. The White House has posted the Election Integrity documents cited in the speech. They can be downloaded at the linked page. Looking for an accessible summary with some analysis of the speech, I found Politico’s story to be of use. John previewed Trump’s speech and anticipated that Trump would focus on election security with a »
July 18, 2026 — Scott Johnson

At SPA, an update

Featured imageSt. Paul Academy parent Matt Bauer and his son have sued the school for breach of contract and other claims related to the son’s dismissal for the upcoming academic year. The son did nothing wrong. That is undisputed in the lawsuit. Mr. Bauer did nothing wrong either, but he has offended head of school Luis Ottley with his opposition to the Ottley regime. Ottley has invoked what I call “The »
July 17, 2026 — Bill Glahn

Eidleh in court

Featured imageAbdikerm Eidleh, defendant No. 2 in the massive Feeding Our Future food fraud scandal, made his first court appearance since his extradition from Somalia to face numerous felony charges. Your correspondent was there this afternoon at the federal courthouse in downtown St. Paul. Even as an international fugitive, Eidleh’s name appeared more than 100 times in the official exhibit list for the courtroom trial of Feeding Our Future CEO Aimee »
July 17, 2026 — John Hinderaker

Our Violent Left [Updated]

Featured imageLeft-wing violence has become almost a daily fact of our political life. And I am not talking about the extreme left, I am talking about the left that represents the center of gravity in the Democratic Party. Congressman Adam Smith illustrates the point in the tweet embedded below. Smith, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, is a former supporter of Israel who voted with 102 Democratic colleagues »
July 17, 2026 — Scott Johnson

Our worst years

Featured imageI dubbed Minnesota Governor Tim Walz “Governor Isuzu” a while back. The blather and lying come so naturally to him. It’s a gift of some kind. He perfected it during his reign as our one-man ruler by emergency decree during the Covid nightmare. You know Walz is lying when his lips are moving. Walz knows he’s lying. We know he’s lying. He knows that we know he’s lying. He remains »
July 17, 2026 — Scott Johnson

The uses of violence [updated]

Featured imageThe combination of anti-Semitism and violence on the left deamands attention. It is a toxic brew. Democrat Washington Rep. Adam Smith provides a recent example in connection with his vote against aid to Israel this week. Matthew Shea reports at Jewish Insider (links in original): Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, indicated he voted to cut off military aid to Israel in part »
July 16, 2026 — Bill Glahn

Eidleh returns!

Featured imageFrom the U.S. Dept. of Justice, Successful Transfer of Abdikerm Eidleh from Somalia to Minnesota to Face Charges for Role in Feeding Our Future Fraud Scheme. A headline that I would not have thought possible as recently as last month. Eidleh is defendant No. 2 (out of 80) in the half-billion-dollar free-food scandal, and was a former employee of the nonprofit company Feeding Our Future. Since the scandal broke in »