City Journal.

Just days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a major U.S. policy to “dismantle” the International Criminal Court because it threatened American sovereignty, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani mused about the possibility of arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the basis of an ICC warrant.

This has become an ongoing theme for Mamdani—making vague claims about international law as an excuse to ignore domestic laws. When protesters gathered outside Park East Synagogue in New York in May, he condemned the Jews inside, not the violent mob outside. The synagogue was hosting a real-estate fair for properties in Israel.

“Mayor Mamdani is deeply opposed to the real estate expo this evening that includes the promotion of the sale of land in settlements in the Occupied West Bank,” his office said. “These settlements are illegal under international law.”

That made the second time in a week that the mayor had opined on a public international law issue. On social media, he had denounced as “a brazen violation of international law” Israel’s boarding of a flotilla of vessels seeking to run a blockade to resupply Hamas-controlled Gaza.

…

Foreign policy is an exclusively federal domain, but Mamdani regularly invoked international law even when he was only an assemblyman. As a mayoral candidate, he expressed support for boycotts and sanctions against Israel as a way of “creating compliance in international law.” As mayor-elect, he made his first threats to arrest Netanyahu because of ICC warrants against him. This was needed, he said, to make New York a “city of international law.” Of course, the United States is not a member of the ICC, having refused to join under both Republican and Democratic administrations because of the institution’s clear bias. ICC warrants are thus meaningless in America, and arresting Netanyahu would be a naked violation of a foreign head of state’s immunity. In short, Mamdani’s threats would be breaking international law, not enforcing it.

Oh, the cleats Trump will be wearing when he jumps in Mamdani’s shit if the socialist tries to pull something.

I kinda hope he does….

The Foundry.

Despite multiple losses at the U.S. Supreme Court, Colorado continues to try to force an LGBTQ agenda on residents, and it costs taxpayers a great deal.

“There’s just double down after double down after double down,” Jonathan Scruggs, senior counsel and vice president of litigation strategy at Alliance Defending Freedom, told the Daily Signal in an interview Wednesday. “Even if that means losing in court, even if that means paying large amounts of attorney’s fees, that seems to be a lesser priority than targeting certain people, targeting certain beliefs.”

“You can teach a First Amendment class just on Colorado cases,” he added. “They’re doing a service to law students across the country.”

New York Post.

Good luck with that.

The Other McCain.

You know, I’m old enough to remember when normal people were Democrats. Like, maybe you wouldn’t vote for Walter Mondale, but he wasn’t some kind of sick freak into transgenderism and BDSM. Nowadays, though, the LGBTQIA2S++ agenda means we’re not only required to play along with this guy’s “Brianna” fantasy, but he also expects police to let him off the hook for terrorizing his ex because it’s just a “misunderstanding.” And if you don’t agree, you’re a bigot.

Speaking of dangerous psycho-trannies, Andy Ngo has announced his next book The Zizians: Inside a Trans Death Cult is available for pre-order on Amazon. It is scheduled for release Oct. 13.

Read it.

Betcha none of ’em are Republican….

Babylon Bee.

But the extra money is certainly welcome.

Not the Bee. 

My, what a surprise.

“Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren lie awake at night in fear that somebody somewhere is doing something that is unregulated by the government and, worst of all, making some money doing it.”

— Name withheld upon request, for obvious reasons.

Babylon Bee.

Sources within the Democratic Party admitted that they have completely lost count of Jim Crow, with fierce disagreement over which iteration is which.

“No way. This is at least Jim Crow 8.0,” said Senator Chuck Schumer. “First, the original Jim Crow was black Americans being violently segregated from whites-only places and denied voting rights. Then, there was that Georgia law that allowed more early voting. That was Jim Crow 2.0, which was so much worse than the original. Jim Crow 3.0 was when the court said Harvard had to let Asians in, and 4.0 was…. oh shoot, what was Jim Crow 4.0? Was that what Hakeem called my 4th of July cookout? I can’t remember.”

Democrats were hoping to work out the answer as they sharpen their attacks on the despicable racism of the SAVE Act, which would require citizens to show photo identification to vote. “Asking for photo ID is far worse than the lynchings of the original Jim Crow,” explained Senator Amy Klobuchar. “It’s at least seven or eight times worse. We’re not exactly sure, but we must stop this law or every black American will die.”

It’s a head-scratcher and no mistake.

New York Post.

Gee, who could have predicted that?

Read it.

Democrat Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar is seeking to amend the National Defense Authorization Act to potentially block the Trump administration from using military force against congressionally designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations, such as foreign drug cartels.

A press release from Omar’s office claims her amendment, Amendment #1273, “expresses the sense of Congress that designation of a foreign terrorist organization does not constitute an authorization for the use of military force.”

While Omar’s office did not respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment and offered no public explanation of why she introduced the amendment, Matt O’Brien, Federation of American Immigration Reform deputy executive director and former immigration judge, told the Daily Signal that he believes the representative “is clearly seeking to curtail any legal authorities that permit the president to control the borders and prohibit foreign national security and public safety threats from entering the United States.”

There are over 70 congressionally designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations. This differs from terrorist organizations designated by the executive branch through an executive order because Congress has to introduce and pass a resolution to reaffirm the executive branch’s designation.

Read it.

The marriage of Islam and Our Democracy™ was on display in the recent demise of the Platner Senate campaign. Abuse of infidel (non-socialist) women was OK because they have no standing to complain. Similarly, anti-semitism and even a Nazi tattoo were OK with the bulk of Islamo-Communist voters in the party. But rape of one of their own women without proper ownership papers turned out to be haram. The party’s religious/ideological authorities will now appoint a new candidate.

The delightful comedy Tropic Thunder (2998) was accused of non-PC insensitivity for a funny exchange in which one actor tells another that it is OK to play a mentally challenged character so long as the character has some residual or special abilities but “you never go full retard.” Attempting to mix the world’s two least successful economic systems (Islam and Marxism) into a governing strategy is going full retard.

Islam is not an economic success story. Even without a review of history, the tens of millions of Muslims currently seeking refuge in successful, superior countries versus the complete absence of American, Canadian, Latin American, European, Australian or Japanese people clamoring to cross the borders into Islamic countries is irrefutable evidence of that economic reality.

Robert Spencer has observed that the Islamic model of economics has always been heavily dependent on the exploitation of non-Muslims and when the expansion by conquests ceased, stagnation was inevitable. The once near-invincible and opulent Ottoman Empire became a comparatively poor, empty shell (and not because of European aggression as Islamic apologists claim). Qatar has been called a modern slave state funded by infidel petrodollars, a virtual substitute for jiziya. Saudi Arabia is owned and run by maybe 5,000 families. Investment in the growth of an innovative, egalitarian Muslim middle class is not a cultural priority.

Babylon Bee.

In the wake of the Democratic nominee suspending his Senate campaign, local Nazi Wade Marks expressed regret over getting his Graham Platner tattoo.

Hey, we all make choices that we regret.

Not the Bee.

It’s amazing that Texas Democrats somehow found a new Beto O’Rourke who is somehow worse than Beto in every single way.

James Tala-Freako somehow manages to top himself with a new damning clip every week:

Democrats are talented that way.

New York Post.

Californians will have to pay for two new taxes next year after Gov. Gavin Newsom approved the state budget in June in what the California Taxpayers Association described as “the largest tax increase in state history.”

Newsom and Democratic lawmakers agreed on proposals that would raise health insurance premiums and slap a new charge on software downloads in an effort to make up federal revenue loss from an antagonistic Trump administration, Democrats said.

Because, as we all know, California has an inalienable right to get money from the Federal government—and the Federal taxpayers.

One measure would extend a tax on health care providers to potentially generate roughly $2 billion a year to help fund Medi-Cal.

How can we pay for better health care? I know—we’ll raise taxes on health care providers! What could possibly go wrong? Well, health care providers will (a) raise their prices and (b) join the billionaires fleeing the state. That estimated $2 billion a year, as will all government estimates of future tax revenue, assumes that people will just stand there waiting to be fleeced and take no action to avoid and mitigate the tax. As with all government estimates of future tax revenue, it will turn out to have been grossly inflated.

Not the Bee.

No jail time, slap on the wrist, $5,000 fine.

Minnesota is a foreign country; they do things differently there.

Babylon Bee.

Hey, at least he’s not a communist (that we know of).

Not the Bee.

Is every single Democrat politician a violent sociopath??

This lady who represents Nevada in Congress is not a fan of Pete Hegseth.

Pay Per View, here we come.

Not the Bee.

There is a real American man named Jackson Hinkle who visited Iran this week to tell American patriots to “pay their respects” to the deceased Islamic theocrat who ruled Iran with an iron fist.

Born in 1999 in San Clemente, California, Hinkle got involved with the “Bernie Bros” out of high school and went full-bore into politics. He was endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America during his 2019 bid for city council in San Clemente (which failed).

He launched a YouTube show in 2020 that reached 300,000 subscribers. A self-described “American conservative Marxist-Leninist,” he pivoted from climate activism to pro-Russia, anti-Israel propaganda, with more or less success than peers like Greta Thunberg.

In 2024, Hinkle co-founded the American Communist Party, breaking with the century-old Communist Party USA, which he saw as too weak.

In 2025, he went and lived in Russia (he’s a commie, so duh).

““Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.”  Open and shut.

Read it.

A new Federal Reserve working paper adds hard data to a dire economic realities that tens of millions of hardworking Americans already face: being priced out of homeownership or trapped paying ungodly high rents.

For years, the housing affordability crisis was blamed almost entirely on low interest rates, pandemic-era demand, institutional buyers, and a shortage of new construction. However, one major point was largely and conveniently ignored by mainstream media: the Biden-Harris regime’s open border policies, which facilitated a massive illegal alien invasion.

Read it.

There has never been any doubt in my mind that if Graham Platner starts looking like a loser, the Democrats will dump their “working class” nominee. His standing in polls has been steadily sinking – and who knows what’s going on in the internal polls, but it’s probably not good. They have until July 13th to replace him if he drops out, and if things are looking grim they’ll make sure he drops out by that time.

Now there is a new allegation about sexual assault in 2021, from a woman he used to date. In a way, I wish they’d held it back until after the 13th, but I think it came out now due to pressure from Democrats rather than Republicans. For the moment, Platner seems to be mulling it over. Maybe it’s a case of finding out what the Democrat powers-that-be will be offering him to leave the race.

I’m betting not. Democrats have taken the mask almost completely off in recent years, and no longer depend on the Clever Plastic Disguise much any more.

Read it.

Early in my career, I managed money for a federal judge. She couldn’t hold a single stock. No individual securities, no sector bets, no company-specific exposure of any kind. Any ruling touching a publicly traded company had to be beyond reproach. The appearance of a conflict was enough. She accepted that as a condition of public service.

Members of Congress don’t.

They write laws governing entire industries, receive classified briefings about policy decisions before they’re public, and sit on committees with direct oversight authority over the sectors they’re trading. Most of them keep trading. This is a structural feature of an ethics framework designed by the people it was supposed to constrain.

You will no doubt have noticed, as I have, the campaign in the Narrative Media pointing out that Donald Trump has (clutch pearls) made money while in the White House—but nobody is looking into how Bernie and Fauxcohontas became millionaires.

Not the Bee.

No joke, this is real California news. Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration has officially transferred 136 acres of beloved Mendocino County beachfront — including the scenic Blues Beach and its dramatic bluffs — to three Indigenous tribes.

The lucky recipients? A nonprofit called Kai Poma, representing the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians, Round Valley Indian Tribes, and Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians.

Yes, it’s another nonprofit!

Nothing to see here, folks!

I hope they build a casinol

Read it.

California’s richest residents are opening their checkbooks to kill a wealth tax before voters can weigh in, with Google co-founder Sergey Brin alone pouring $82 million into the opposition and a small circle of tech billionaires driving the total anti-tax haul past $118 million ahead of the Nov. 3 ballot.

The measure, a one-time tax of up to 5% on the net worth of California residents worth more than $1 billion, became eligible for the November ballot on June 17 after Secretary of State Shirley Weber announced its signature count had cleared the state’s random-sample threshold.

A last-minute offer from sponsor SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West to drop the initiative in exchange for a legislative 2% version was rejected by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, and negotiations collapsed before the June 25 withdrawal deadline.

Under the initiative, 90% of revenue would flow to Medi-Cal and other healthcare programs, with 10% split between food assistance and public education. The tax would apply to anyone who was a California resident as of Jan. 1.

Not the Bee.

The World Cup is a terrific opportunity for the country to come together and put aside politics and squabbles to cheer on our home country.

Unless you’re a Democratic Socialist, that is.

While we were all cheering on the USA, the Attorney General of Arizona wanted to make sure that everyone knew she was cheering not for America, but for Mexico.

Not the Bee.

It looks like Wisconsin liberals are totally turning down the temperature when it comes to their violent rhetoric about killing Republicans.

Not the Bee.

You’d think, even in California, there would be some common ground between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to the repercussions of sexually abusing children.

Apparently not.

We could save a lot of time and trouble and the country a lot of grief and expense by just banning Democrats from public office.

Not the Bee.

Alexandria, Virginia, is one of the wokest, far-left cities in the state.

It should be no surprise that these lefty losers would hate absolutely everything that makes America great.

Not the Bee.

The State of Minnesota, ladies and gents.

Read it.

No one who’s kept up with U.S. politics even minimally over the last four decades should be surprised that the Democratic Party has been the launching pad for a wave of socialism. The party has long been rooted in socialist principles. It was inevitable that what the Democrats have long covered up is now out in the open and its zealots adherents are threatening our republic.

Granted, the wave is not overwhelming and our country has survived previous flirtations with socialism. But the boldness from the outright socialists, who are hiding behind the label of “democratic socialists,” cannot be waved away, and the Democratic Party will be responsible for the damage that the Democratic Socialists of America will wreak if voters don’t turn away the slate of the most radical candidates we’ve seen in some time.

There is a reason that Vermont socialist Bernie Sanders first caucused with, then ran for president as a member of, the Democratic Party. Contempt for limited government and economic freedom (which naturally begets capitalism) has long been a main chapter in the Democrats’ handbook.

Read it.

Jessica Gorman, bereaved mother of Sheridan Gorman, shot back at Democrat members of Congress who complained about having to hear her testimony about illegal immigrants during a Tuesday congressional hearing on sanctuary cities.

“No family should ever have to bury a child because public officials fail to put American lives first,” Gorman said in her opening statement before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement. Venezuelan national Jose Medina has pleaded not guilty to murder charges involving the death of Gorman’s 18-year-old daughter.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who serves as the subcommittee’s ranking member, began her opening statement with condolences to Gorman and Joe Abraham, whose daughter died when an illegal alien drunk driver collided with her car.

“Let me start by offering my deepest condolences to you, Mrs. Gorman, and to you, Mr. Abraham, for the loss of your children,” Jayapal said.

But then her tune changed.

“Unfortunately, this hearing is the fourth time in this committee that we’ve had a hearing on sanctuary cities. The fourth time,” Jayapal told Gorman and Abraham. “And there’s many other things we could be doing other than this.”

The Foundry.

The Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America are becoming indistinguishable from one another.

That’s clearly the case in New York City, as a wave of socialist House candidates backed by openly socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani won primary elections on Tuesday against incumbent Democrats.

In some cases, both leading candidates were quite far to the Left, but Democrat primary voters simply voted for the one who was more fervently anti-Israel—which is absolutely becoming the biggest litmus test in Democratic Party primary fights.

One of Tuesday night’s victors in a House primary election, Darializa Avila Chevalier, is truly off the deep end in every way. Chevalier backs full prison abolition, which she is unable to defend coherently, though still fervently supports it. She’s opposed to deporting any illegal aliens, even rapists and murderers.

Oh, and she founded a college campus organization that’s mostly committed to rabidly hating Israel, but also in favor of “fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization.”

There ought to be a bounty on such people. $5 ought to do it.

New York Post.

California’s proposed billionaire tax may be qualified to appear on the ballot this November, but should it get placed, it will have competition with another initiative that if passed would render the tax moot.

A measure to “require audits of programs funded by new state special taxes” qualified for the ballot, the California Secretary of State announced late Tuesday, with more than 962,000 signatures and will be certified June 25th unless withdrawn.

It’s the first to qualify of the multiple ballot proposals backed by Building A Better California, a group where Google co-founder Sergey Brin and other Bay Area tycoons have poured tens of millions of dollars into to fight the billionaire tax.

You want a tax to fund programs for e.g homess people or children? Fine, then make regular audited public reports on how the money is spent. (Politicians recoil like vampires from a cross….)

The controversial billionaire tax is championed by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) and would levy a one-time 5% tax on the state’s ultra-rich whose assets exceed $1 billion. The goal, supporters say, is to make up for federal healthcare cuts.

Because, as we all know,  healthcare is TOTALLY the responsibility of the Federal government—and the Federal taxpayer—or maybe billionaires stupid enough to live in California, we aren’t picky about whose pocket we pick.

Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

As they do. I guess Jesse Jackson’s remarks about “Hymietown” have been forgotten.

Not the be.

I’d say Massachusetts’ Seth Moulton is a little touchy about Graham Platner, huh?

Read it.

California’s Assembly Bill 1127 is sold as gun safety. In reality, it is the Sacramento Democrats engaging yet again in their favorite sport: punishing the law-abiding for the failures of the government.

The bill bars licensed dealers, beginning July 1, 2026, from selling so-called machinegun-convertible pistols—Glock-style handguns that criminals can illegally alter with switches. But the switch is already illegal. Converting a firearm into a machine gun is already illegal. Possessing an illegal machine gun is already illegal. So why do Sacramento Democrats answer a criminal felony by restricting a lawful purchase?

Why do they fear the pistol in the display case more than the felon in the alley?

This is not new. For decades, California Democrats have treated every criminal adaptation as an excuse to tighten the rules on citizens who were never the problem. Sacramento does not get tougher on criminals; it gets tougher on citizens. And it never works.

In 1989 came Roberti-Roos, with the promise that banning “assault weapons” would tame violence. Did gang members retire? Did criminals submit to statutory language? Of course not.

Every Democrat ought to have tattooed on his or her forhead CROOKS DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR GUN CONTROL LAWS.

Read it.

Surprise, surprise: There really is no such thing as a free bus.

One of New York City’s socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s key campaign promises was that he would provide free bus services to everyone in the city.

Not only is that goal seemingly not even in the medium-term plans for the mayor, but one of the programs he pointed to as a successful model has gone belly up.

Bloomberg News reported Tuesday that Kansas City, Missouri, ended its experiment to provide free bus services to people in the city. It will now begin charging riders for the service.

“Kansas City reinstated bus fares this month after six years, unwinding a closely watched experiment that inspired zero-fare transit campaigns across the U.S., including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s,” Bloomberg reported.

Kansas City’s free bus was sold as a cost-saving measure that would make ridership more “equitable.”

The city created the program with a major federal cash influx during the COVID-19 lockdowns. But it became financially untenable as the initial funds ran out in 2023 and the cost of operations reportedly climbed to $15 million a year, nearly double the initial projections.

Part of the problem is endemic to other “free” transportation services in big cities. Without the small amount of buy-in from customers and given the tendency of blue cities to tolerate mass homelessness and recidivism, these services naturally become more dangerous and more expensive.

Read it.

A federal judge in Minnesota, who has donated to an immigrant legal aid group, quashed several federal grand jury subpoenas of documents from Gov. Tim Walz and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul over compliance with immigration enforcement.

In a 29-page opinion issued Monday, Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz of the District of Minnesota accused the Trump administration’s Justice Department of seeking to “harass political opponents” by initiating a criminal investigation and using grand jury subpoenas to pressure state and local officials into changing their immigration policies.

The judge has acknowledged being a donor for “many years” to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, an organization that provides free legal representation to low-income immigrants and refugees. Schiltz has also clashed with Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the agency’s alleged violation of court orders.

The grand jury subpoenas sought records related to federal immigration enforcement, including communications regarding cooperation or noncooperation with ICE and other federal immigration authorities; requests for assistance from immigration officials; communications among state and local officials concerning immigration enforcement; and training or guidance provided to employees regarding interactions with ICE.

The subpoenas were issued to the offices of Walz, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, as well as the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners and the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners.

“Initiating a criminal investigation in order to harass political opponents or to coerce them into taking official action—particularly official action that the federal government cannot directly require those political opponents to take—is a blatantly unlawful and unethical use of the grand jury process,” Schiltz wrote.

Not the Bee.

Biden-appointed, of course.

We need to talk about name standards for federal judges.

Yes, you read that right. The judge’s name is “Sparkle Sooknanan.”

What Judge Lando Calrissian meant to say is that the Trump administration is not allowed to use updated citizenship data to check the validity of voter rolls.

Babylon Bee.

And he’s just the guy to do it.

Read it.

While some problems caused by California’s one-party government get significant press, there’s one major issue that’s virtually ignored: The state’s 911 system is dangerously outdated, and the attempt to update it has already cost taxpayers $502 million with little to show for it.

California has an analog emergency warning system from the 1970s. There is broad agreement that the current system puts Californians at risk. Gov. Gavin Newsom proudly announced in 2019 that California would update its system.

In a 2019 press release, Newsom’s office explained some of the failures of the current system. At the time, there were 13 system outages a month on average. Newsom’s office said federal regulators estimated that speeding up average emergency response times by a single minute could save 10,000 lives each year.

The project is clearly necessary, but its cost has been astronomical, and progress has been sluggish. In 2019, Newsom asserted that the project would be completed by 2022 and cost approximately $132 million. He also explained that the project would be managed by a little-known governmental entity called the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES). With a name like that, Newsom cannot duck responsibility for the failure that has followed.

Read it.

One of Baltimore City’s premier bar and restaurant districts was transformed into a warzone over the weekend, with roaming gangs of underage kids, large unruly crowds, fights, and even a shootout that seemed like a scene from the crime drama The Wire. Urban decay in Baltimore is rampant and is a symptom of failed left-wing leadership, which seems more focused on city-killing progressive politics, DEI, illegal aliens, and climate change than actually providing basic law and order to taxpayers.

Fox Baltimore reports that Fells Point was flooded with hundreds of young people, mostly underage teens, overwhelming parts of the nightlife district known for its local shops, bars, and restaurants.

Read it.

The Obama Presidential Center is set to open Friday in Chicago, but several subcontractors who helped build the project say they are still struggling to recover millions of dollars in alleged unpaid costs.

Among them is Adamson Plumbing owner Mike Owen, who said his company is nearly $4 million in the red after years of work on the project.

“That is a hole that no subcontractor, small business can survive,” Owen said. He said the losses have drained company reserves, created uncertainty for employees, and could lead to layoffs.

“Flounder, you fucked up! You trusted us!” — Eric Stratton, Rush Chairman, damned glad to meet you.

Read it.

It seems impossible — or just too revolting — to keep up with the financial hanky-panky of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and First Partner (gag) Jennifer Siebel Newsom. But thanks to a couple of investigative reporters with stronger stomachs than I have, let’s see if I can’t put everything you need to know into one easily digestible column.

I love it when other people do my dirty work for me, so let’s get started.