UM…:

THE CORBYNIZATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONTINUES APACE: House candidate Maureen Galindo pledges to send ‘American Zionists’ to internment camp.

Controversy-tarred congressional candidate Maureen Galindo this week pledged to transform a site south of San Antonio now used by the Trump administration to detain migrants into an internment camp for “American Zionists.”

“She’ll turn Karnes ICE Detention Center into a prison for American Zionists and former ICE officers for human trafficking,” Galindo wrote in an Instagram post over the weekend, referring to herself in the third person. “It will also be a castration processing center for pedophiles, which will probably be most of the Zionists.”

Galindo’s latest set of inflammatory remarks comes as the Democratic hopeful for Texas’ newly redrawn 35th Congressional District continues to draw national attention for remarks critics have called antisemitic and untethered from reality. The controversy is snowballing as she heads into the May 26 Democratic primary runoff.

Over the past week, Galindo has accused her runoff opponent — former Bexar County Public Information Officer Johnny Garcia — of participating in a human trafficking conspiracy orchestrated by billionaire zionist Jews. She also pledged during a Texas Public Radio interview to put Garcia on trial for treason.

Beyond her attacks on Garcia, Galindo has continued to promote the narrative that a cabal of Jewish zionists controls Hollywood, the media and even local politicians.

Will she be appearing on Candace, Tucker, or Megyn’s next show?

DON’T FORGET:

DAVID HARSANYI: Stephen Colbert turned into the pompous dullard he once satirized.

Above, host Stephen Colbert with dancers dressed as COVID vaccine needles in September 2021. (CBS, via YouTube)

Other guests whom Colbert lifted on his show since the 2015 election of President Donald Trump were antisemites such as Rashida Tlaib and Jamaal Bowman, and socialists such as former Democratic Missouri Rep. Cori Bush and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). An interview with Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico (he/him), who maintains that God is “nonbinary” and white skin spreads the “virus” of racism, was put online after concerns about violating the Federal Communications Commission’s “equal time” rule.

During the recent NYC mayoral race, Colbert had on Hamas apologist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, along with City Comptroller Brad Lander.

Yes, the Brad Lander. What a tremendous thrill it must have been for the late-night audience to hear from a city accountant.

Though it’s not fair to say that Colbert never had on a Republican. Trump-haters, former Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger were also on. By one measure, the host had 176 left-leaning or Democratic guests, or 99% of his visitors.

Carson, despite perceptions, did have political guests such as Robert F. Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, George McGovern, Jerry Brown, Ted Kennedy, Tip O’Neill, Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan. The point, judging from old clips, was to show the human side of these political celebrities, not to use the show as a campaign stop.

Colbert, whose legacy Eric Deggans at NPR says was that he “distinguished truth from truthiness,” is free to feature anyone he likes on the show. He can also be out of business. The monotonous, one-sided, cringy disparagement would become painful for anyone who wasn’t obsessed with politics to watch. One of the problems is that leftists simply can’t ridicule themselves. Not really.

Related: NBC Miscasts CBS Ownership as Partisan Actor as Colbert Eulogies Begin.

CHLOE MELAS: CBS was recently acquired by Skydance Media, whose owner David Ellison is a prominent Trump supporter. CBS called the cancellation a purely financial decision and not related in any way to the show’s performance. But that statement doesn’t ring true to everyone. Brian Lowry is a media veteran reporter.

BRIAN LOWRY: There was a sense the studio was eager to curry favor with the Trump administration.

The idea of Ellison as “prominent Trump supporter” makes for good narrative ahead of Colbert’s cancellation. But it simply isn’t true. As our own Brent Baker noted, in 2024 Ellison donated $929,000 to the Biden Victory Fund. AS CNBC noted, this was “the largest recorded contribution that the Skydance Media CEO ever made to a federal candidate.” Not very MAGA. Also, not very accurate.

The Ellison MAGA rebrand is an important element in the ongoing canonization of late-night comics to Resistance™ sainthood. In Colbert’s particular case this narrative is useful inasmuch as it helps brush off the financial reality of the show as a key element of its cancellation.

Not to mention the advanced average age of his viewers, as the Hollywood Reporter noted in the middle of a piece from last year headlined, “What Will Stephen Colbert Do After Late Show Ends? He Has Options:”

Another road is if Colbert decides to launch his own talk or interview show — whether a podcast or on YouTube. The average age of a Colbert viewer is 68, which perhaps says more about CBS’ audience than it does Colbert’s, but it also makes it a bit tougher to imagine Colbert hustling viewers to “smash that like and subscribe button” on YouTube alongside MrBeast.

But there’s almost three million of them. So, perhaps the next stop for Colbert is Substack?

HMM: Pakistan deploys jet squadron, thousands of troops to Saudi Arabia. “Pakistan has deployed 8,000 troops, a squadron of fighter jets and an air defence system to Saudi Arabia under a mutual defence pact, ramping up military cooperation with Riyadh even ‌as Islamabad serves as the main mediator in the Iran war. The deployment, the full scale of which is reported here for ‌the first time, was confirmed by three security officials and two government sources, all of whom described it as a substantial, combat-capable force intended to support Saudi Arabia’s military if ​the kingdom comes under further attack.”

FALLOUT:

UPDATE (FROM GLENN):

You have to wonder why Thune, et al., are so dead-set against enacting such a popular policy.

PRIMARY PREVIEW: Nancy Pelosi endorses Connie Chan to succeed her after 40 years in Congress.

California Rep. Nancy Pelosi has made her choice for who should succeed her in Congress.

The longtime congresswoman endorsed San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan on Monday in the race for the former House speaker’s seat.

Pelosi gave the nod to Chan over progressive Saikat Chakrabarti and California state Sen. Scott Weiner.

“I know this district, I know the Congress, and I know Connie,” Pelosi said in a short clip showing her seated next to Chan. “I’m proud to endorse Connie Chan, and I ask you to join me in electing her to Congress.”

I can’t help but think that voters there will go for Weiner.

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Mandalorian and Grogu Sinks Star Wars to Kiddie-Level Lows.

This is kiddie entertainment from start to finish, a parade of new creatures, mediocre CGI and cuddly characters who would make the Minions blush.

The fact that Jon Favreau (“Swingers!” “Elf!” “Iron Man!”) co-wrote and directed this slop is tragic. He gets little out of his cast. Pascal, who previously made his presence felt while behind a mask, has zero arc or character to play.

He’s Protagonist 101. That’s it.

Sigourney Weaver walks through her role as a New Republic commander. She’d be Razzie worthy if she had more screen time.

The new villains barely have a pulse, from Coyne to a crimelord (Hemky Madera) who couldn’t threaten a toddler with his theatrics.

On the other side of the big pond, the London Times’ film critic concurs, giving the movie one star and concluding, “Fold the companies, cancel the forthcoming movies and close the theme park. You wouldn’t leave a dying dog like this. But that’s what Star Wars has become. Putting it down would be a mercy killing. Oh, and Martin Scorsese provides the voice of a four-armed capuchin monkey called Hugo. So that’s nice.”

THE ACTORS CHANGE BUT THE MISSION REMAINS THE SAME:

Once more to Orwell: “It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers-out of unorthodoxy.”

ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: Civil war brewing at New York Times following publication of column alleging rape of Palestinians.

Nicholas Kristof’s column in The New York Times continues to reverberate a week after publication, and has created an internal rift between the newspaper’s newsroom and its opinion section.

The column, titled “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians,” includes allegations of systematic sexual abuse by Israeli prison guards and soldiers against Palestinian detainees. It cites testimony from 14 Palestinians alleging the use of batons and carrots, threats to rape family members and dogs used for sexual assault while prison staff laughed and filmed the incident.

The article drew widespread reactions around the world, including protests and calls to cancel subscriptions. On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar threatened to file a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper for libel against the State of Israel. Israeli officials and the Israel Prison Service have completely denied the claims, and Netanyahu called them baseless.

Earlier: The Big Tell: NYT Not Reporting Kristof Accusations on its News Pages.

Think about that: the journalists who would run with allegations from the Steele Dossier and make a two-year crusade out of proving it are too ashamed to touch Kristof’s accusations.

That’s how absurd this story is.

Thus the kerfuffle between the Gray Lady’s “news” and opinion departments:

UPDATE:

AIR FORCE ACADEMY BLUES: Why Is My Alma Mater USAFA Allowing Professors Who Undermine The Commander-In-Chief? “If any cadets or recent graduates reading this article have sat through one of Dr. Burke’s classes, and have information on additional subversive comments, please contact us at .”