California
July 16, 2026 — Scott Johnson
The absurdist playwright Eugène Ionesco wrote Exit the King. It stands out in Ionesco’s canon as a play whose plot is straightforward and focuses on depletion rather than accumulation. In that sense it resembles the proposed billionaire tax that has made its way onto the California ballot this November. We have been following the proposed tax and its federal counterpart in several posts on Power Line (with more to come).
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June 28, 2026 — Scott Johnson
What starts in Califoria doesn’t stay in California. A proposed “billionaire tax” has made its way onto the ballot in this year’s election. In “Exit the billionaire,” I looked to Hoover Senior Fellow Joshua Rauh to explain why it would make the state poorer in the long run. Well, as a famous economist once said, in the long run we are all dead. Proponents of the tax will live it
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June 12, 2026 — John Hinderaker
Spencer Pratt released a fiery new video today. He says he will continue his campaign to expose the corruption that has driven Los Angeles into the ground. And he says he has evidence against one of the two socialists who will participate in the runoff election, that may force that person to resign. Buckle your seat belts: Saving LA – Phase III pic.twitter.com/9n9wv1tonZ — Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) June 12, 2026
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June 8, 2026 — John Hinderaker
Last night I was on the Rita Panahi Show, with Caroline Marcus filling in for Rita. It was a good interview, covering the latest from Iran, NBC’s claim that Israel is spying on the Trump administration, Trump’s walkout on the Welker interview, drama queen Scott Pelley and his alleged foxhole experiences, Graham Platner’s complaint that his enemies are using his past against him, and California’s lax election processes. You shouldn’t
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June 8, 2026 — John Hinderaker
Election Day returns indicated that Spencer Pratt had easily secured the second position in the Los Angeles Mayor race, and would face incumbent Karen Bass in the general election. But ballots have continued to come in and be counted, and a remarkable number of those ballots have been for the initial third-place candidate, Nithya Raman. So it looks like the runoff election will be between two far-left candidates, and Los
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June 3, 2026 — Scott Johnson
RealClearPolitics has posted the current results of yesterday’s many primary elections here. The results are too numerous to take in or assess in one gulp, but the Democrat/MSM axis appears largely to be happy with them. Politico Playbook puts it more bluntly, and you can’t get any more Dem/MSM than PP: “Establishment Dems surge, MAGA quakes.” Incumbent Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass survived the mayoral primary to proceed to the
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June 2, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Today is the last day to vote in the Los Angeles mayoral primary. It is what we quaintly used to think of as an election day. Now it is more like a period of adjustment. As I understand it, ballot drop-off locations opened on May 5. The Los Angeles mayoral primary features former reality TV star Spencer Pratt. He is the voice of sanity, reality, and decency rolled up in
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June 1, 2026 — Scott Johnson
“Make them listen to me before it’s too late!” It could be the theme of Spencer Pratt’s campaign for mayor of Los Angeles, but it was the cry of Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) in the low-budget 1956 sci-fi thriller Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The extraterrestrial takeover from outer space begins — where else? — in California. A psychiatrist is called to a Los Angeles hospital where Dr. Bennell
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May 24, 2026 — John Hinderaker
So goes, we hope to God, no other state. Currently there are two big election campaigns going on in the formerly prosperous state of California. The first is for Governor, where Democrats are aghast at the reality that Republican Steve Hilton may very well win. The Democrats’ problem is that, as so often is the case, notwithstanding their claims to overwhelming intellectual superiority, their candidates suck. One of those bad
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May 15, 2026 — John Hinderaker
Will political campaigning ever be the same after the brilliant, outsider run being waged by Spencer Pratt? Call me an optimist, but I doubt it. This is amazing; via InstaPundit: This may be the song of the summer. pic.twitter.com/bxdB1eVCsy — Adam Scheidler (@Scheidsa) May 14, 2026
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May 15, 2026 — Scott Johnson
We posted the Chris Rufo/Haley Strack City Journal column “Watching Porn on California’s Death Row” in our Picks on Wednesday. This morning Harris Sockel comments on it in Take 1 of Pirates Wires’ 3 Morning Takes. Can a state so fouled up long endure? Sockel writes: * * * * * In City Journal, Chris Rufo and Haley Strack report that California state prisoners (“justice-impacted individuals,” per state policy) are
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May 14, 2026 — John Hinderaker
Spencer Pratt and his allies have released one dynamite video ad after another, most AI-generated. I don’t know who Charlie Curran is, but his ads for Pratt are nuclear and may usher in a new era of campaign advertising. This one is a couple of days old: Who said Karen Bass has no accomplishments to run on 😂😂😂 Vote Spencer Pratt. pic.twitter.com/vEEkpoOeR0 — Charles Curran (@charliebcurran) May 12, 2026 Pratt’s
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May 6, 2026 — John Hinderaker
Rita Panahi and I covered those topics, plus a couple more, on her show last night. The clip below begins with Lefties Losing It, and boy, do they ever. I come on after the video clip that starts at 4:22, and am followed by a guy I haven’t watched yet. As usual, I think it is worth your time:
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May 6, 2026 — John Hinderaker
Spencer Pratt, until now best known as a reality show actor, is making a maverick run for Mayor of Los Angeles. His creative and effective video ads have gotten a lot of attention. It looks like a three-way race, with incumbent Karen Bass, Communist Nithya Raman and Pratt the contenders, with a great many undecided voters. Scott posted one of Pratt’s videos here. Another highly-produced–stunning, really–video is also getting a
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April 13, 2026 — Bill Glahn
From The Hill newspaper, Swalwell to resign from Congress amid sexual assault allegations. In my decades of observing the political scene I don’t think I’ve witnessed a swifter and more complete fall from grace. From memory, I think that even Rep. Anthony Weiner hung on longer than this guy. “Grace” isn’t quite the word. I don’t recall ever hearing about the guy before his dalliance with that Chinese spy (Fang
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April 13, 2026 — Scott Johnson
The Dems depantsed the repulsive Eric Swalwell over the weekend in an attack with something like the Pearl Harbor effect. It swiftly sunk Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign. We followed the depantsing, but without quite the humorous detachment of Wall Street Journal Free Expression editor Matthew Hennessey. There are several interesting angles to the story and he inflicts glancing blows on most of them. He doesn’t expressly mention the apparent knowledge of
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April 11, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Eric Swalwell is a repulsive character with a poor reputation for dishonesty. Even his denial of the sexual harassment/rape allegations lodged against him by several women — see John’s post here — has drawn a community notes correction on X. Running in California’s jungle primary for governor, the implicit message he emits in the video he has posted on social media seems to be I’m so close I can taste
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