February 4, 2026

HUGE FRAUD, MISMANAGEMENT EXPOSED IN RED AND BLUE STATES: State and local governments are required by federal law to permit outside auditors to conduct comprehensive “Single Audits” of how officials are administering federally funded social welfare benefit programs. Media coverage of these audits is typically meager at best.

So Truth-In-Accounting (TIA) is digging deep into the most recent such audits (2024) and uncovering all kinds of costly, long-running waste, fraud and corruption. And the garbage is showing up in both Blue and Red states. Check it out here. 

Posted at 7:00 pm by Mark Tapscott

JULIE BURCHILL: Celebrities for illegal immigration.

A cynic once said that the reason people become artists is so they can have wealth, attention and beautiful lovers, and it’s equally true of the other branches of the creative and performing arts. Though they can talk about their ‘craft’ until the cows come home, most people go into showbiz so they can be recognised as special – not as ‘civilians’, as Liz Hurley memorably called non-creatives. Showbiz celebs sleep with each other and holiday with each other. Their children become friends and form icky little nepo-baby gangs. Still, no matter what big Jessies they appear by doing so, that’s their own business.

When the behaviour of celebrities becomes a matter for the rest of us, however, is when they take it upon themselves to pontificate on politics, as politics is in the public, not the private, arena. Of course, it’s fine for them to speak out in favour of whatever candidate they fancy during elections. Although, after Kamala Harris’s loss to Donald Trump, you would have thought they might have learned the lesson that when the rich and famous lecture ordinary people, it tends to end very badly for them. Not only do celeb endorsements not work, but they can also have a repelling effect. Beyoncé and Bruce ‘The Boss’ Springsteen sure helped cook Kamala’s goose. She also won endorsements from – deep breath – Oprah Winfrey, Taylor Swift, Megan Thee Stallion, George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ariana Grande, Barbra Streisand, Olivia Rodrigo and Charli XCX. But she lost every swing state.

I find it splendidly sensible that ‘ordinary’ people are able to see through celebrity endorsements. It was F Scott Fitzgerald who famously said, ‘The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind, at the same time, and still retain the ability to function’. Regular people are able to admire, even idolise, a singer or an actor – and then totally do the opposite politically to what that performer calls for.

A few mummers appear to have got the memo, but the Grammy awards last weekend reminded us of the unreconstructed arrogance on the part of the famous. Many now appear to believe that far from democracy being about one person one vote, it’s about preventing policies that the ‘civilians’ have voted for from ever being carried out, if they offend the famous. It’s preposterous, but the likes of Billie Eilish really do seem to believe in this moderated, mutilated version of democracy.

But how else can they virtue signal that they’re in the club, and not one of those icky “civilians?” Acting the Fool: Adam Corolla Says Some in Hollywood Are Not the Radical Leftists They Appear to Be.

Posted at 5:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

EXCLUSIVE — AMERICA’S FIVE WORST CITIES: The green eyeshade rockers at Truth-In-Accounting took a look at reams and reams of dry, boring audit reports and came away with a list with some surprises. I got my hands on an advance copy and report it on Substack.

Posted at 5:33 pm by Mark Tapscott

MY BOOK IS NOW OUT: His Side: Men Speak Out on Dating, Marriage, and Life in America. #CommissionEarned I would appreciate any readers purchasing the book, even just to use as a doorstop. If you are on a budget, ask your library to order it or get the Audiobook if you have Amazon Audible.

UPDATE: Thanks so much to everyone who has ordered the book or mentioned it. I am extremely grateful for your generosity! Instapundit readers are the best.

Posted at 5:19 pm by Helen Smith

DOWNFALL: Washington Post Lays Off 300 Staffers, Shuttering Sports Section and Gutting Foreign Desk as Once-Mighty Publisher Bleeds Subscribers and Money.

The embattled Washington Post is laying off more than 300 employees—about a third of its already shrunken staff—as it guts sports, local news, and international coverage to cut costs and, its executives hope, boost readership.

Executive Editor Matt Murray told staff on a Wednesday morning call that the layoffs are part of a “broad strategic reset with a significant staff reduction,” as the paper attempts to reposition itself in what he described as an increasingly “crowded, competitive and complicated media landscape,” Semafor’s Max Tani reported. Murray admitted that the Post had lost too much money and had failed to make itself essential to readers.

The layoffs are the latest blow to the Post, which is enduring a bad hangover after going all in on an anti-Trump editorial strategy during President Donald Trump’s first term, using the marketing slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” Paid subscriptions surged, and the publisher almost doubled the size of its newsroom to a peak of about 1,000 people in early 2021. But when President Joe Biden took power, interest in the “resistance” flagged, subscription revenue plummeted, and the Post has been losing money and cutting staff. Reader interest has also plummeted from a high of 110 million unique monthly users in January 2021 to 62 million in January 2026. Meanwhile, the New York Times, which the Post has long aspired to be considered an equal to, has pulled far ahead. Back in Washington, Politico has dethroned the Post as the leader in political news coverage.

* * * * * * * *

In the last few weeks, as layoffs loomed, Post staffers expressed concern about the paper’s direction. “I’ve never experienced such a feeling of dread,” one employee told Status’s Oliver Darcy. A former manager called Bezos’s leadership “a business failure on a colossal level.” Staffers even considered enlisting celebrities like Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks to get Bezos to reverse course.

Exit questions:

UPDATE:

MORE:

Posted at 5:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

GOODER AND HARDER: California gas prices expected to jump even higher as Valero closes refinery.

California’s already sky-high gas prices are expected to surge after Valero abruptly shuttered its Benicia oil refinery amid a spiraling “oil crisis,” a new report claims.

The Benicia refinery began shutting down on Saturday, four months earlier than planned, a former Valero manager told the California Globe Tuesday.

Thermal imaging showed the facility went cold as the Crimson Pipeline – which transports crude oil from Southern to Northern California – was also taken offline,

“We are in an unprecedented oil crisis,” oil expert Mike Ariza told the publication..

Valero Energy Corp. announced its plans last spring to pull the plug on its 145,000-barrel-per-day refinery by April, a move that is expected to send fuel prices skyrocketing and hobble the state’s refining capacity.

Californians already pay the second-highest gas price in the nation behind only Hawaii. In January, the average price was $4.23 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association.

Isn’t this all good news from Gavin Newsom’s perspective? Gavin Newsom: Californians Don’t Pay Enough For Gasoline.

Governor Gavin Newsom claims oil companies are price gouging, which is the reason that gasoline prices are almost $2 more than the national average price in his state. Californians are paying almost $5 a gallon for regulated unleaded gasoline, while the nation is averaging $3.25 a gallon. Newsom does not believe that California’s high taxes and endless regulations should make that much of a difference in the gas price, so it must be price gouging. He is also not admitting to the fact that California’s gasoline is a “boutique” fuel that only refineries in California produce and that he and President Biden are paying those refiners incredible subsidies to switch to biofuels, limiting supply. Clearly, economics is not a forte’ of the governor for economics 101 tells you that if you limit supply without reducing demand, prices will go up. It is no wonder that Californians are migrating to Texas and Florida. Gas prices in Florida, for example, average about $3.00 a gallon. And, even though California is all-in on green energy, the air quality is better in Florida and Texas than in California.

That’s from the American Energy Alliance in 2023. In the annus horribilis of 2020, Newsom’s office issued the statement: Governor Newsom Announces California Will Phase Out Gasoline-Powered Cars & Drastically Reduce Demand for Fossil Fuel in California’s Fight Against Climate Change.

And as the Pacific Research Institute noted at the end of 2024: Drivers Beware: California’s Road Diet to Grow Stricter in New Year.

Happy motoring, Golden State!

Posted at 4:38 pm by Ed Driscoll

MARK JUDGE: The Greatest Two-Sentence Rock Review Ever Written.

It’s the greatest rock music review ever written. It was put on paper in 1985 by J.D. Considine, a well-known music critic in America. It’s not Considine’s pan of GTR, the self-titled 1986 album from the supergroup led by members of Yes and Genesis. That review, which appeared in the August 1986 issue of Musician, was only three letters. GTR, announced Considine, was “SHT.” The GTR review is, as Ryan Reed put it, “still funnier and more fully realized than most essay-length critiques.”

Still, SHT is not Considine’s masterpiece. That came in 1985 and his two-sentence assessment of Motley Crue’s cover of “Smokin’ in the Boys Room.” Ready?

“They weren’t smokin’ in that boys room. They just went in to take a quick dump.”

More than 40 years later, it still leaves me on the floor. I continue to marvel at its precision. I remember where I was when I first read it in 1985—the bookstore at Catholic University in D.C., where I was perusing a copy of Musician, where it first appeared. The bookstore, the campus, my life receded into the background.

Considine’s masterpiece became a shorthand between my brother and me. We used it as a reference point for years. Whenever we came across a particular cheesy or awful piece of art, lousy TV show, or terrible band, one of us would turn to the other and say it: “They weren’t smokin’ in that boys room.”

Presumably, now that there are AI musical “acts” that are charting, there will be LLM AI-powered critics to debate their wares. Considine would be an excellent choice to program their databanks. Both will be TTL SHT, but the latter might be fun to read.

Posted at 2:35 pm by Ed Driscoll