June 1, 2026 — John Hinderaker

From AOC to Platner

Featured image Last night on the Rita Panahi show, we had a wide-ranging conversation that started with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wearing a hijab, covered Zohran Mamdani scorning Israel Day in New York, the status of a deal (or not) in Iran, and Graham Platner, including this post on Platner’s anti-Semitism. We finished up with the City of Boston’s “Trans Period Pride” event. All in all, an entertaining segment. The video starts with Lefties »
June 1, 2026 — Bill Glahn

Henry Nowak

Featured imageSay his name. This young university student was murdered in England back in December. He spent his last few minutes on earth bleeding out from five stab wounds, including one to the face, while handcuffed and under arrest for “racism.” The police wouldn’t believe his repeated cries for help, “I can’t breathe,” “I’ve been stabbed,” because his killer had accused Nowak, age 18, of “racism.” Instead, police mocked Nowak in »
June 1, 2026 — Scott Johnson

After hours

Featured imageAt the Wall Street Journal Free Expression site, Kyle Smith observes that “Martin Scorsese is here to amuse you.” An accessible version of the column is also posted here at the Free Expression Substack site. Smith is the drama critic for the New Criterion and the film critic for the Journal in addition to his work for Free Expression. He is an observant and perceptive critic. In this column about »
June 1, 2026 — Scott Johnson

In plain sight

Featured imageThe Eleventh Circuit Judicial Council has privately reprimanded an unnamed federal district judge. The reprimand is focused on boinking in the judge’s chambers within the hearing of her law clerks, but it also implictes the judge’s attendance at an event celebrating Atlanta District Attorney Fani Willis. The judge in issue appears to be Eleanor Ross. A pop music nut like me might want to say she has taken a load »
June 1, 2026 — Scott Johnson

The Pratt must be crushed

Featured image“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 »
June 1, 2026 — Scott Johnson

Paul Robeson: Tribute to a Stalinist

Featured imageA few weeks ago I decried TCM’s glaring blind spot for Communism in connection with its broadcast of Saul Turrell’s Oscar-winning 1979 documentary Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist. Introducing the film, host Dave Karger referred to difficulties in Robeson’s career as a result of his devotion to “civil rights.” The documentary is posted here. I haven’t double checked to confirm that it covers Robeson’s trips to the Soviet Union. »
May 31, 2026 — John Hinderaker

Why Platner?

Featured imageScott notes below the latest fiasco in the candidacy of Graham Platner for the U.S. Senate. On paper, one would think that Platner is the worst candidate for any office ever to surface in either major party. A self-described Communist with a Nazi tattoo, a man with zero political experience and little success in business, a crude bully and misogynist with a twisted sexual history–how could Platner possibly have crushed »
May 31, 2026 — Scott Johnson

A Platner to make you plotz

Featured imageMaine Democrat Graham Platner is about to become the Democrats’ nominee to take on incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins in the 2026 elections. The Nazi tattoo Platner sported for years — until he decided to enter politics — would be enough to kill the dreams of most candidates, but it appears to be no problem for Democrats. CNN’s Michael Smerconish calls out Graham Platner over n*zi tattoo, “He didn’t cover »
May 30, 2026 — Bill Glahn

Paris is burning [Updated With Video]

Featured imageFrom the UK Sun, Chaos erupts in Paris as cars ablaze & flares set off with riot cops arresting over 235 after Champions League final. As the UK Daily Mail reported earlier in the day, the rioters didn’t wait for the final result, Riots break out in Paris within minutes of Champions League final kicking off. If you don’t know, and you shouldn’t, the “Champions League” refers to a European-wide »
May 30, 2026 — John Hinderaker

Economic Security Is National Security

Featured imageTreasury Secretary Scott Bessent is one of the heroes of President Trump’s remarkable cabinet. Yesterday he delivered a speech at the Reagan National Economic Forum that everyone should watch or read. Here is the speech, which consists of the first 16:32 of the video. The rest is conversation with Larry Kudlow: The complete text is here. Bessent diagnoses the problems that have been caused by the delinking of economic policy »
May 30, 2026 — Scott Johnson

A word from Edmund Burke

Featured imageReading Edmund Burke as a college freshman was a transformative experience for me. I am thinking specifically of his Reflections on the Revolution in France, but other of his works also had a deep impact on me. In this passage of his Letter to a Member of the National Assembly (1791), he restates the wisdom of the ancients for modern man: Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion »
May 31, 2026 — John Hinderaker

The Tragedy of Rising Oil Prices

Featured imageDemocrats have shed oceans of crocodile tears over the plight of the average American, struggling to afford gasoline in the wake of “Trump’s war” against Iran. Never mentioned, of course, is the fact that for more than 20 years, Democrats have been doing all they can to raise, not lower, the price of oil. As with so many issues, Democrats rely on the rest of us suffering from memory loss. »
May 31, 2026 — Bill Glahn

Henry Nowak

Featured imageSay his name. Nowak was a young university student murdered late one night in an inexplicable incident in the United Kingdom back in December. Compounding the tragedy 100-fold is the fact that he might have survived his wounds if not for the reverse racism demonstrated by the responding police. Nowak was murdered by one Vickrum Digwa, 23, who was convicted in court last week of the crime. Digwa is an »
May 31, 2026 — Scott Johnson

Sunday morning coming down

Featured imageAfter celebrating Bob Dylan’s 85th birthday this past Sunday, I heard from the historian Ronald Radosh. Ron is the author (with Joyce Milton) of The Rosenberg File as well as the memoir Commies: A Journey Through the Old Left, the New Left and the Leftover Left, and other valuable books including Red Star Over Hollywood: The Film Colony’s Long Romance with the Left. All are highly recommended (by me). Ron »
May 30, 2026 — John Hinderaker

Star of the North

Featured imageThis year we are celebrating the 250th anniversary of our country’s founding. While most attention is understandably on the Declaration and the Revolution, it is a golden opportunity to remember the history of our nation as a whole. And America’s history is, in great part, the history of its regions, states and towns. Too often, those histories are ignored in favor of the national narrative. This is why American Experiment »
May 30, 2026 — Scott Johnson

She’s caught the Pratt!

Featured imageI would have missed this if it weren’t for my brilliant friend Brian Sullivan. Brian texted me the Spencer Pratt video below with the comment: “This is great.” Fact-check: True. Indeed, the ad conveys something like a timeless truth. Whether Pratt wins or loses his race for mayor of Los Angeles, we’ll always have Paris…I mean the Pratt — the rejection of leftist bromides and the aversion to the media »
May 30, 2026 — John Hinderaker

The Week In Pictures: Remember the Alamo Edition

Featured imageThere was plenty of news this week, but meme creators were mostly focused on lesser stories, like Jill Biden’s recollection of her husband’s disastrous debate performance, which came as a surprise to everyone who hadn’t been paying attention for the previous four years. Good times! But what inspired memesters more than anything else was the candidacy of James Talarico, Democratic candidate for the Senate in Texas. Can a non-binary vegan »