July 27, 2026

AND WE WONDER WHY SO MUCH FRAUD: New GAO report examines 20 of the biggest federal benefit programs that rely on state administration and finds only five have solid anti-theft procedures in place.

Posted at 12:57 pm by Mark Tapscott

RECOIL THERAPY: The New York Times Crosses the Hudson and Discovers Guntry Clubs. “It’s a meditative thing for me,” said Kenneally, who at an earlier point in his movie industry career also worked part-time as a Los Angeles County reserve sheriff’s deputy. “It’s just always been a way to sort of blow the cobwebs out after a day of work.”

Posted at 12:42 pm by Stephen Green

STATE SECESSION:

See my paper from a decade ago on the growth of state secession movements, including Illinois’.

Posted at 12:34 pm by Glenn Reynolds

FAUCI’S NEWLY RELEASED COVID DIARIES REVEAL BIZARRE FIXATION ON FAME AS PANDEMIC DEATHS MOUNTED:

Newly released diary entries reveal that as COVID-19 deaths mounted around the world, former White House COVID advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci became increasingly fixated on his newfound celebrity.

Released by Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., the journals chronicle Fauci’s day-to-day role during the COVID-19 crisis through conversations with President Donald Trump, governors and world leaders, media appearances, and his personal observations as the pandemic unfolded.

Paul, a longtime Fauci critic who frequently clashed with Fauci over the federal response and the origins of the virus, made the diaries public as part of the committee’s ongoing oversight investigation. The release comes days before Fauci is scheduled to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee after being subpoenaed by Paul.

A surprising recurring theme throughout the diaries is Fauci’s growing awareness of his own public profile during the most intense months of the pandemic, which ultimately claimed more than 7 million officially reported lives worldwide, including roughly 1.2 million in the United States.

On April 7, 2020, after recording the latest pandemic developments, Fauci wrote: “Press still hot and heavy about me. Multiple stories per day directly or indirectly involving me.”

On April 23rd, Fauci wrote:

That was only three days after Trump berated Georgia’s Governor Brian Kemp for reopening his state:

In April 2020, businesses in Georgia were shuttered by government decree as in most of the rest of the country. Mr. Kemp was hearing from desperate entrepreneurs: “ ‘Look man, we’re losing everything we’ve got. We can’t keep doing this.’ And I really felt like there was a lot of people fixin’ to revolt against the government.”

The Trump administration “had that damn graph or matrix or whatever that you had to fit into to be able to do certain things,” Mr. Kemp recalls. “Your cases had to be going down and whatever. Well, we felt like we met the matrix, and so I decided to move forward and open up.” He alerted Vice President Mike Pence, who headed the White House’s coronavirus task force, before publicly announcing his intentions on April 20.

That afternoon Mr. Trump called Mr. Kemp, “and he was furious.” Mr. Kemp recounts the conversation as follows:

“Look, the national media’s all over me about letting you do this,” Mr. Trump said. “And they’re saying you don’t meet whatever.”

Mr. Kemp replied: “Well, Mr. President, we sent your team everything, and they knew what we were doing. You’ve been saying the whole pandemic you trust the governors because we’re closest to the people. Just tell them you may not like what I’m doing, but you’re trusting me because I’m the governor of Georgia and leave it at that. I’ll take the heat.”

“Well, see what you can do,” the president said. “Hair salons aren’t essential and bowling alleys, tattoo parlors aren’t essential.”

“With all due respect, those are our people,” Mr. Kemp said. “They’re the people that elected us. They’re the people that are wondering who’s fighting for them. We’re fixin’ to lose them over this, because they’re about to lose everything. They are not going to sit in their basement and lose everything they got over a virus.”

Mr. Trump publicly attacked Mr. Kemp: “He went on the news at 5 o’clock and just absolutely trashed me. . . . Then the local media’s all over me—it was brutal.” The president was still holding daily press briefings on Covid. “After running over me with the bus on Monday, he backed over me on Tuesday,” Mr. Kemp says. “I could either back down and look weak and lose all respect with the legislators and get hammered in the media, or I could just say, ‘You know what? Screw it, we’re holding the line. We’re going to do what’s right.’ ” He chose the latter course. “Then on Wednesday, him and [Anthony] Fauci did it again, but at that point it didn’t really matter. The damage had already been done there, for me anyway.”

The damage healed quickly once businesses began reopening on Friday, April 24. Mr. Kemp quotes a state lawmaker who said in a phone call: “I went and got my hair cut, and the lady that cuts my hair wanted me to tell you—and she started crying when she told me this story—she said, ‘You tell the governor I appreciate him reopening, to allow me to make a choice, because . . . if I’d have stayed closed, I had a 95% chance of losing everything I’ve ever worked for. But if I open, I only had a 5% chance of getting Covid. And so I decided to open, and the governor gave me that choice.’”

At that point, Florida was still shut down. Mr. DeSantis issued his first reopening order on April 29, nine days after Mr. Kemp’s. On April 28, the Florida governor had visited the White House, where, as CNN reported, “he made sure to compliment the President and his handling of the crisis, praise Trump returned in spades.”

Also on April 29th, this response to Kemp opening up Georgia from Amanda Mull of the Atlantic:

That’s an “unexpected” headline from a magazine that was concurrently depicting Fauci as a totally cool and dreamy “heartthrob:”

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

SALLY QUINN and the Establishment Blues. “Ms. Quinn’s column epitomizes that sense of Washington’s permanent power brokers that they are somehow, in their world of power elites, deserving of their place and have a right to be running the rest of the country and telling everybody else what to do. Whether the rest of the country likes it or not. . . . Make no mistake. The real source of Ms. Quinn’s resentment and Establishment blues is nothing more or less than one example of the resentment of Washington insiders at the arrival in the capital of America’s outlanders.”

Posted at 12:01 pm by Glenn Reynolds

CHANGE: Cyclospora outbreak has many changing eating habits, CBS News poll finds.

Most Americans are following news about the outbreak of cyclospora at least somewhat closely and four in 10 say they are now buying or eating less produce because of it.

Women are a bit more likely than men to be doing that, and older people more so than younger.

This outbreak is grabbing Americans’ attention. Nearly as many are following news about the cyclospora parasite as they are the conflict with Iran.

People paying very close attention to news about cyclospora are especially likely to be buying or eating less produce now.

Another good reason to eat less produce is meat.

Posted at 11:40 am by Stephen Green

SOME SMALL MEASURE OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

“He can deny it. He can dodge. He can hide behind definitions and bureaucratic language. But someone must finally say it to his face, in public, and put the truth on the record.”

Posted at 11:26 am by Stephen Green

DISPATCHES FROM THE OCCUPIED ZONES: Families of 9/11 victims want to ban Mamdani from sacred 25th anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero: ‘unwelcome guest.’

“Our objection is based on his public record — his failure to meaningfully acknowledge the horror of that day, and his employment of, support for, or association with individuals who have minimized 9/11, defended terrorists, or even suggested America ‘deserved’ the attacks,” said Giovanni Galante – whose 29-year-old wife Grace Catherine Galante was among 2,977 innocents killed by al-Qaeda terrorists.

Galante, 55, is one of the organizers of a petition drive that has collected over 1,100 signatures in a little over a week, including from at least 300 victims’ families.

“This day is sacred to us,” said the Brooklyn-born real estate agent who now lives in Florida.

“It is not political, and it is not a platform for those connected to such views. His presence would be deeply hurtful and inappropriate — like an unwelcome guest at a deeply personal ceremony.”

Previously: Zohran Mamdani: Muslims are the real victims of 9/11.

Posted at 10:38 am by Stephen Green

IN THE US, POVERTY IS A LEADING INDICATOR OF OBESITY:

Posted at 10:22 am by Stephen Green

FAUCI LIED, KIDS PAID THE PRICE:

Posted at 9:51 am by Stephen Green

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: John Thune Is the Most Effective Democrat in Congress Right Now. “Unfortunately, whenever the Democrats aren’t providing much in the way of competition, the Republicans are always willing to step up and get in their own way. In fact, the GOP has long been the GOP’s most difficult foe.”

Posted at 9:05 am by Stephen Green

“A VAN DROVE INTO A CROWD.” The BBC’s Passive Voice. Technically, that’s actually active voice, but I take the point. But a more accurate passive voice would be “A van was driven into a crowd by a Muslim immigrant with a long history of crime, who probably should have been executed, or at least imprisoned for a long time, before this point.”

Posted at 8:58 am by Glenn Reynolds

TYLER DURDEN: Activists Target WNBA Player After She Takes Stand Against Trans Agenda.

Rule #1 when dealing with the political left: Never apologize to the political left. It won’t shut them up. They will smell blood in the water and attack even more aggressively. Cunningham seems to understand this rule well.

In response, the media has gone on the attack, admonishing Cunningham for her comments. Leftists on social media are calling for her to booted from the league. Some are burning her jersey in an effort to inspire a boycott of her merchandise.

However, as usual, whenever leftist try to boycott someone it ends up backfiring. If a bunch of mentally ill gender fluid weirdos want to buy her jerseys just to burn them, Cunningham will be happy to take their money. Beyond that, her willingness to go against the progressive agenda of the WNBA has also earned her a lot of respect.

Almost overnight, Sophie Cunningham merchandise has sold out online, including her exclusive basketball shoes in women and men’s sizes.

“Put Money in Your Rival’s Pocket” might be the sweetest variation on the Streisand Effect.

Posted at 8:34 am by Stephen Green