KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Soy Boy Talarico’s Macho Cosplay Might Be Working. “This is a frustrating one for the GOP. Talarico keeps reinventing himself seemingly by the hour. After months of having his masculinity called into question, Talarico’s campaign people have had him on a ‘butch it up’ photo-op jag of late. They’ve got video of him driving a truck. They’ve got pictures of Talarico chowing down on meat like a man going to the electric chair. That was after he told voters that we shouldn’t do that because it’s killing poor Mother Earth.”

Yes, but…:

Democrats will not recover from this. pic.twitter.com/FhfHpd1dKx

— Bo French (@bofrench) August 4, 2026

SURELY.

This will help him in the general election. Surely. https://t.co/n7g7eoTPev

— Amy Curtis (@RantyAmyCurtis) August 5, 2026

ABOUT THOSE PAYMENTS TO DEAD PEOPLE: Readers may recall my news story in The Washington Stand last week on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent going forward with a requirement that all payments submitted to his department for issuance be pre-screened for deceased recipients. I noted that such computer database matching is not new and in fact one of President Ronald Reagan’s “junkyard dogs” started it in 1981.

That story also posed the question of why has it taken nearly five decades for the federal government to do what common sense requires, that being stop sending tax-funded checks to deceased recipients? Well, here’s the heart of the answer today on The Washington Stand.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: California scrubs political conflicts of interest from its donation portal.

California’s ethics agency oversees an unlimited, blank-check system of payments solicited by elected officials — including the $347 million Gov. Gavin Newsom has steered through California politics. An investigation by The Center Square has found the state’s “transparency” portal shows the money, but it omits the conflicts of interest.

Voters using the database have no way to search whether donors had business before the government at the time of their donations, even though that information is collected by the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).

The omission matters because California caps campaign checks. It does not cap “behested payments.” State law allows elected officials to solicit unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, tribes, foundations and other special interest groups — so long as the money goes to a third party instead of a campaign account.

That means a donor who would otherwise be limited to $39,200 per election for a governor’s campaign can give millions more to a nonprofit, public project, or outside cause if the money is solicited by that same official and reported as a behested payment.

“It’s another way of trying to influence government,” explained Richard Briffault, a Columbia University law professor and campaign finance expert.

You don’t say.

Exit quote: “California’s FPPC was born from a demand for transparency. Voters created the agency in 1974 in the wake of the Watergate scandal to shine light on political money and government ethics.”

Light’s off.

BUILD THE WALL — AT THE 49th PARALLEL:

Of course Americans have the highest take-home incomes on earth.

But what jumped out is Canadian take-home is now closer to Mexico than it is to the US 🤯 https://t.co/LA9iubQbE9

— Peter St Onge, Ph.D. (@profstonge) August 5, 2026

(Classical allusion in headline.)

THE ENEMY WITHIN: Extremist Michigan Imam Who Hosted El-Sayed Urges Followers To Turn Out To Vote and ‘Deal the Zionist a Blow,’ Frames Primary as Epic Fight Against ‘Puppet’ of Israel.

MAYBE THEY SHOULD TRY A CEO WHO ENJOYS EATING HAMBURGERS: McDonald’s Announces New CEO As Sales Slide.

Sure, the “Big Arch” wasn’t bad, but they need to concentrate on making their whole menu great — and on improving their service, which is uneven. And bring back the tallow fries!

JASON GUMP: The Cambridge fantasist is proof that stupid intellectuals are poisoning Britain.

I was a visiting professor at the University of Dorking, where my lectures astonished and inspired hundreds of thousands of people. I understand the university now claims I was never a visiting professor, which is unfair. I just said I was “visiting a professor”. Weaponising honest mistakes made by people who only sleep three hours a night as they continue the fight for social justice and raise millions for charity is ableist and disgusting. I am entitled to my feeling, my truth.

As a leading educator, semi-professional athlete, celebrated humanitarian and world expert on the lyrics of Snoop Dogg and the Great Books fallacy of Victorian white supremacist and public-school snob Matthew Arnold, I can say this humbly and with hand on heart. We will not have built a Britain of fairness and equity until people who know nothing, and have very limited ability, are allowed to run everything. The Andy Burnham government is a big sign of hope in that positive direction, but we need to go farther and faster for the sake of our children’s future.

Whether I get an interview for the job remains to be seen – I reckon I’d be terrific, although my obsession with correct spelling and high standards in general may sadly rule me out. The times we live in are so ungrammatical, so sundered from objective reality, so contrary to every diktat of common sense, that it can be a struggle some days to spot what is truth and what is lies.

At least the case of Jason Arday, who, at the age of 37, became the youngest black professor in Cambridge’s history, presents no such difficulty. Arday is, it appears, an Olympic-grade fantasist.

On the other hand, his* autobiography is likely presold to Netflix:

Great opportunity for Hollywood to do a woke remake of "The Great Imposter" or "Catch Me If You Can." DEI cred already lined up, and they can have a black guy play the black guy.

This one would be epic. And could break new ground … a woke remake that doesn't suck https://t.co/Zapk4R4WpS pic.twitter.com/vjZsbsXeHI

— Northern Barbarian (@xnoesbueno) August 5, 2026

* “In a statement to the Free Beacon, Julia Prosser, a spokeswoman for the publisher, said the book would be released as planned. Arday, Prosser said, ‘worked closely with his co-writer’—Eve Claxton, who is uncredited on the book’s Amazon page and the corresponding U.S. book cover—’as well as our editorial and legal teams, to carefully research, write and corroborate the narrative.’”

GOOD: Gov. Lee aims to make Tennessee ‘global epicenter’ of nuclear renaissance.

MICHIGAN: “Those surveys showed Abdul El-Sayed winning the party’s Senate nomination in a walkover. Instead, Haley Stevens ran a close enough election that it’s still too close to call this morning.”

It shouldn’t be close at all.

ICYMI: Mamdani’s War on New York Business Is a Double-Header.

TAR. FEATHERS.

Wow. If you thought lawfare was bad in America, Britain just took it to an entirely new level. Police spent four months investigating a reporter for the crime of emailing questions to that Cambridge “academic” caught serially plagiarizing. https://t.co/M4U8VTRl6a pic.twitter.com/oxUj5pi98I

— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) August 4, 2026

MARK JUDGE: Columbia Dean Who Praised Man Who Tortured Women Now Welcomes ‘Journalist in Residence’ Scott Pelley.

[David] Carr explored his violent, crackhead behavior in his 2008 memoir The Night of the Gun. Raised in Minneapolis, Carr, according to a Washington Post profile, “was fired from a series of jobs in Minneapolis as his life became consumed by coke snorting and dealing (not to mention dropping acid) while he checked in and out of rehab centers and kept getting arrested. His personal life was nothing to brag about, and he doesn’t: ‘My duplicity around women was towering and chronic. I conned and manipulated myself into their beds and then treated them as human jewelry, something to be worn for effect.’” While an editor at the Twin Cities Reader, Carr told a colleague she had “a nice rack.”

Then there are the truly psychotic episodes. Carr beat up a girlfriend, Anna, breaking one of her ribs and tossing  her off a dock. He also beat another girlfriend, Doolie, who called the police after he slapped her in the face. Carr: “I tortured her, mentally, verbally and, eventually, physically.” When warned that detailing such repulsive behavior could ruin his career, Carr said, “I just thought if I tried to sandpaper some corners, the whole thing would fall apart.’” In The Night of the Gun, Carr reports that he and Anna were smoking crack the day she gave birth to their premature twins.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Flashback: Scott Pelley Is Out. So What?

LIMITED TIME DEAL: Waterpik Cordless Gem 5100 Portable Water Flosser. #CommissionEarned

NOVEMBER PREVIEW: Michigan bar grovels to ‘Free Palestine’ activists for hosting event for El-Sayed’s opponent.

A Grand Rapids, Michigan, bar, Pux Cider Taphouse, has apologized on Instagram for hosting Michigan Senate hopeful and Democrat Haley Stevens at its establishment.

“When Pux was approached to book this event, we were only told it would be a private women’s Dem event,” the message read. “Pux was never advised that Haley Stevens would be connected with this event. We are heartbroken as we pride ourselves on being not only a queer-friendly space but also have advocated and continue to call for a free Palestine.

Well, there’s their problem.

THE SUPREME COURT IS SUPPOSED TO CHECK POWER, NOT JOIN THE TEAM: Sarah Isgur and Melissa Murray debate executive overreach, birthright citizenship, originalism, gun rights, and whether the justices defended the constitutional order or expanded their own authority.

INFILTRATION:

In a 2017 race a 31st Magisterial judge offered an early hint the local Democratic establishment was losing its grip: the challenger was underfunded, openly a DSA member & not expected to mount a serious challenge.
He won.
A win followed by multiple DSA challengers picking off…

— ZitoSalena (@ZitoSalena) August 4, 2026

TO BE FAIR, THAT’S A LOW BAR: Mike Rowe Respects Workers More Than the Socialists Claiming to Save Them.

JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: The AI singularity … then what?

Technically, you can’t know what’s on the other side of a singularity. If you can, it’s not a singularity.

PEREZ HILTON LIVESTREAMS APPARENT SELF-HARMING VIDEO, COPS RESPOND TO CELEB BLOGGER’S MIAMI HOME.

HOW TO HANDLE DEMOCRATS WITH ANGER ISSUES:

🚨NEW: A Hawaiian man knocked out a Democratic congressional candidate with one punch after he allegedly threatened to shoot a woman at a Maui beach.

Police say Kirill Basin, 40, became enraged after a 61-year-old man asked him to lower his music.

Basin allegedly threatened to… pic.twitter.com/awddZb1aPz

— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) August 4, 2026

Related:

This is wild. Howard Bryant, the writer trying to smear Sophie Cunningham as "anti-trans and anti-black," was arrested for choking his white wife, then assaulting a police officer, and then blamed his arrest on — wait for it — racism. https://t.co/YBTmVpY39n pic.twitter.com/NnNi0LIzEJ

— Bobby Burack (@burackbobby_) August 4, 2026

OPEN THREAD: Make it your best.

WELCOME TO THE PARTY, PAL: Mark Halperin Suddenly Notices a TEENY Bit of Bias on the Sunday Shows.

Glad you have awaken from your long slumber. You missed a lot. pic.twitter.com/XoWAqz2HfX

— Horatius (@TheBridge1971) August 3, 2026

It is the nature of bubbles that the people who exist in them have a difficult time seeing outside of them—at least not without an extremely distorted lens.

One example of this is leftist Huffington Post ‘reporter’ SV Date, who tried to clap back at Halperin with sarcasm.

So true!

Back when I was covering murderers in Daytona, my editors drilled it into me: If I’m going to include 400 words of prosecutors’ and police officers’ evidence, I also had to include 400 words saying the murderer was actually a good person. https://t.co/9x1MoYib8l

— S.V. Dáte (@svdate) August 2, 2026

Uhh … who wants to tell him?

This is exactly what legacy media does, except these days, they’ll only write from the perspective that criminals are good people. Often, they won’t even bother with the law and order perspective.

Nice own goal there, Mr. Date.

Flashback: Anatomy of a Failed Moral Panic: The left tried to reboot George Floyd–style chaos after an ICE shooting, but video evidence, public dissent, and firm federal response exposed the narrative as hollow agitprop.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: AI is ready to run spacecraft. Is the space industry ready for it?

WE’RE NOT GOING TO MOSCOW. IT’S CZECHOSLOVAKIA. IT’S LIKE GOING INTO WISCONSIN: Wisconsin Socialist Candidate for Governor Francesca Hong Wants to Cancel Thanksgiving, Defund the Police as a Modest Step Towards Abolishing Them Entirely.

She declared that Thanksgiving should be cancelled during the covid lockdowns, but went further: She said it should have been cancelled since its founding in 1621, because it’s “painful” to hysterical identity-politics-drenched racists.

Mediaite:

“Cancel Thanksgiving. Should have done this in 1621,” Hong posted. “If it takes a worldwide pandemic for us to realize we should stop celebrating colonialism and the original superspreader event that killed Indegenous [sic] folx [sic] and women so be it.”

Hong still thinks it should be cancelled but knows it’s political suicide to admit it: Should Thanksgiving Be Canceled? Socialist Candidate Can’t Give CNN a Straight Answer.

“Do you still believe that Thanksgiving should be canceled?”

It seemed like an easy enough question from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins to answer. But not for Francesca Hong (D).

Instead, the democratic socialist candidate — who is running for governor in Wisconsin — gave a rambling 46-second response on Monday night, touching on her professional restaurant experience, her claim that Thanksgiving is “incredibly painful” for many Americans, and her views on the holiday can “evolve.”

In the end, she never gave an actual “yes” or “no” answer.

Then she’s answered the question:

The correct answer is to say: "Absolutely not, I’d never cancel Thanksgiving and I can’t wait to dig into the stuffing this year!" but Democrats like Hong are nuts and wokeness is their religion. Any rejection of wokeness is literally sacrilegious to them. It’s their kryptonite. https://t.co/ZNMrGF2Rbt

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) August 4, 2026

(Classical reference in headline.)

UPDATE: