Posted on July 21, 2026 by Scott Johnson in Donald Trump, Media, Taxes

Sentence affirmed & unreported

Surely you don’t remember Charles Littlejohn. He is the guy who was nabbed for leaking the tax returns of President Trump to the New York Times. He also leaked tax information of thousands of the most successful and wealthy Americans including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Warren Buffett to ProPublica. He pleaded guilty to only one crime, but he committed many.

Ira Stoll reports this underreported sequel for the Washington Free Beacon in “Appeals Court Affirms 5-Year Prison Term for Source who Leaked Tax Info to NY Times and ProPublica” (“IRS leak was ‘attack on our constitutional democracy,’ with aim ‘to influence an election through illegal activity”). This is the good news of the day — let it be known. Stoll writes:

* * * * *

A federal appeals court is affirming a five-year prison sentence for Charles Littlejohn, a consultant to the IRS who leaked President Trump’s tax return information to the New York Times and tax information about thousands of the richest Americans including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Warren Buffett to ProPublica.

The 16-page opinion by a three-judge panel—Justin Walker, Neomi Rao, and Judith Rogers—found that the sentence was reasonable. It offers a scathing narrative of Littlejohn’s behavior. At this writing, the decision hasn’t been reported in either the New York Times or ProPublica, which describes itself as “a nonprofit, investigative newsroom that exposes corruption.”

“In 2017, Charles Littlejohn obtained a job as a consultant to the Internal Revenue Service so that he could steal and leak the tax returns of President Donald Trump,” the opinion says. “Two years into his elaborate scheme, in 2019, Littlejohn gave President Trump’s tax return and return information to a reporter for the New York Times. He then helped the reporter analyze the data and leaked more tax returns and return information to supplement his original leak. Finally, just weeks before the 2020 presidential election, the New York Times began publishing articles based on what Littlejohn had stolen,” the opinion says.

It continues, “he used his ‘skills to systematically violate the privacy of thousands of innocent people’ by stealing the tax returns and return information of about 600 entities and about 7,600 of the wealthiest Americans. He then leaked what he stole to ProPublica, which used data regarding at least 152 of his victims in about 50 articles,” the opinion says. A company I owned was among those affected.

“As a result of Littlejohn’s crime, his victims lost business. They were disparaged countless times. And their families were physically threatened,” the opinion says. “To this day, ProPublica is sitting on the private, as-yet unpublished data of other taxpayers stolen by Littlejohn. But those taxpayers continue to fear that ProPublica will publish their data in the future.”

Read the whole thing here.

Posted on by Scott Johnson in Culture, Movies, Music

One-Trick Pony

TCM is playing Paul Simon’s film One-Trick Pony (1980) at the moment. I was one of the few who found Simon’s film to be terrific. I should probably shorten that to say I was one of the few who found his film, period. I loved it, complete with the guest appearances of the Lovin’ Spoonful and Sam & Dave (below). Sam & Dave were barely talking to each other by this time, but they had a brief revival thanks to John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. Here is a wake-up call for you and me.

Robert Hilburn’s biography of Simon reports that Simon felt insanely guilty about the money lost by the label on the movie-related album. Hilburn writes that Simon told Warner Bros. CEO Mo Ostin that he’d pay it back one day: “No other artist had ever even brought up the subject of paying back the company. The guilt over the album’s poor sales was one in a series of issues that caused Simon to go into the deepest depression since his struggles with fame and insecurity in the early 1970s.”

He wrote the screenplay, he starred in the film, and — one-upping Woody Allen — he wrote the songs featured in the film. I love the title track (video below) and several other numbers, including “Late In the Evening” and “How the Heart Approaches What It Yearns.” In the video Eric Gale is on lead, Richard Tee on keyboards, Tony Levin on bass, and Steve Gadd on drums.

Posted on July 20, 2026 by Bill Glahn in Great Britain

7th Prime Minister in 10 years

From NBC News,

‘King of the North’ Andy Burnham to become 7th UK prime minister in a decade.

The 7th in ten years, dating back to David Cameron in 2016. By my count, only Burnham’s immediate predecessor, Keir Starmer, took office immediately following a general election.

Burnham and four others first assumed office following something like a palace coup. Until recently, Burnham was the Mayor of Manchester. A month ago, Burnham was elected to Parliament and sat as one of the 650 members of the House of Commons. Burnham received just under 25,000 votes in a special election to replace a backbench member of the Labour Party, who stepped aside to enable Burnham’s elevation.

Those 25,000 voters, somehow, got to select the Prime Minister of a nation of 70 million. The next general election is not scheduled until August 2029, more than three years from now.

Keep this in mind as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States of America.

Posted on by John Hinderaker in Antitrust, Judiciary, Liberals

Biden Judge Blocks Paramount Acquisition

In February, Paramount Skydance agreed with Warner Bros. Discovery to acquire that company for $111 billion. The agreement followed a convoluted battle between Paramount and Netflix to be the buyer, which Paramount ultimately won.

The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice cleared the acquisition last month, finding no anticompetitive impact. The Antitrust Division is highly respected; its analyses are largely mathematical and look at the pricing implications of alleged market concentration. Here, it found no adverse impact on consumers.

The properties being acquired by Paramount include Warner Bros. Studios, HBO, Discovery’s streaming services, and cable channels including the Discovery Channel, HGTV, TBS, and CNN.

America’s media market is highly fragmented, and free marketeers like those at the Committee to Unleash Prosperity have endorsed the deal:

[T]here may be no industry in American history that has more cutthroat competition than moviemaking and entertainment. Cable TV is in rapid decline as yesterday’s technology, with most young people getting TV and video on their cellphones or streaming services. As we’ve also reported, the 20th century big Hollywood studios are slashing their workforces as swarms of independent movie producers are making films in their basements or garages or in abandoned warehouses. Protecting Hollywood studios is like protecting rotary phones.

Here’s one sneak preview chart from our forthcoming study on the merger, which estimates $20 billion of economic gain from the merger.

Notwithstanding the Antitrust Division’s seal of approval, liberals bitterly oppose the merger. I take it that the main reason is that CNN is one of the many acquired properties, and Paramount Skydance is regarded by the Left as a conservative-leaning company that has already bought CBS. Thus, 12 Democrat-led states, including California, sued to block the transaction.

It is possible that a similar lawsuit may have succeeded at some point in the past, but if so, I am not aware of it. It is hard to believe that these Attorneys General have come up with a statistical analysis superior to that of the economists at the Department of Justice. Their case is, I think, entirely political.

Nevertheless, earlier today a federal judge named Araceli Martínez-Olguín, appointed in 2022 by Joe Biden, issued an order blocking the transaction for 14 days, pending a hearing on the plaintiffs’ preliminary injunction motion. For the time being, the $111 billion transaction will not be able to proceed.

Who is Araceli Martínez-Olguín? When she was nominated to the federal bench by Joe Biden, her background was that of a left-wing activist. After working in the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Education, she was the Managing attorney of the Immigrants’ Rights Project at Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto, and then served as a Supervising attorney at the National Immigration Law Center. I think it is fair to say that her brief career has largely been spent as an advocate for illegal immigration.

Martínez-Olguín’s nomination to the bench by Joe Biden was controversial. The Senate narrowly confirmed it in February 2023 on a 49-48 vote, with no Republicans voting in favor. I don’t know whether facts came to light in the confirmation process, above and beyond the obvious, to cause Republicans to vote against her.

It is hard to imagine that Martínez-Olguín’s temporary restraining order will lead to a long-term blockage of the Warner Bros. transaction. If it did, it would set a terrible precedent of politically-motivated punishment of corporations for partisan reasons. But in today’s brave new leftist world, you never know.

Posted on by John Hinderaker in ICE, Leftism, Liberals, New York City, Terrorism

Liberal Terrorist Attacks Federal Building in New York [Updated]

Earlier this morning, an anti-ICE activist set off an explosion at the entrance to 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. The building houses ICE and the FBI, and illegal immigrants are processed there:

Police say a man armed with a collection of weapons started a fire outside 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan on Monday morning.

Officials said two people had minor injuries and the incident is being investigated as a possible act of terrorism.

Video showed him pouring some kind of flammable liquid outside the building and then setting it on fire.

The terrorist is a liberal:

Police say the person is believed to be a protester with a history of anti-ICE activity.
***
The NYPD said it was “looking at the cart the suspect wheeled with him” which they say contained fireworks and airsoft rifles. The suspect’s cart had a sign reading “ICE Off Our Streets.”

The perpetrator also carried a knife and a hammer.

Mayor Mamdani, whose actions have only encouraged such terrorist acts, called the incident “deeply disturbing.”

This video is from the scene, following the explosion:

UPDATE: The terrorist has been identified:

Posted on by Scott Johnson in Democrats, Immigration, Media, Minnesota

“This depraved rag”

Star Tribune columnist Rochelle Olson has cheered on the pardon conferred on child rapist Tou Vue Vang by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson. Olson’s congratulatory comments are unsurprising. She is a core supporter of the Democrats. At right in the photo below Olson was on her way to cover the 2024 Democratic convention that would nominate Walz its vice presidential nominee. Woo hoo!

At Alpha News Jenna Gloeb covers Olson’s cheering and provides background on Vang’s case. The Star Tribune is a tireless antagonist of House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer. Emmer represents Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District. Jenna gives Emmer the last word with as he speaks truth to twaddle in his comnent below via X.

Posted on by Scott Johnson in Democrats, Hamas, Israel

“Genocide” for dummies

The proposition that Israelis seek to commit or have committed “genocide” in Gaza is patently absurd. It works an inversion of reality that has proved useful to Hamas and its supporters. It has become a shibboleth required of ambitious pols seeking to nail down the “Hamas wing of the Democratic Party, which is in control.”

Bret Stephens is the New York Times columnist and former editor of the Jerusalem Post. In between he was the Wall Street Journal’s foreign-affairs columnist. He addesses the “genocide” shibboleth in the video clip below.