Samantha Guthrie’s Mother Abducted. Kennedy Center Kerfuffle. Anti-ICE Checkpoints. Vogue’s Big, Wet One for Newsom. Billie Eilish: Shut Up and Sing. More
Sure, there is a partial government shutdown going on (here, here, here, and here), but the shutdown news seems muted.
With other stories stealing the fanfare, it feels like a tabloid kind of day. “Snatched from Her Bed.” That is the New York Post cover headline on the strange and disturbing disappearance of Today host Savannah Guthrie’s mother:
Blood was found in the home of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie’s missing 84-year-old mom, according to a report Tuesday — with the local sheriff confirming that authorities fear “a possible kidnapping or abduction.”
Law enforcement sources told the Los Angeles Times that the blood was found alongside signs of forced entry in the house in Catalina Hills, Arizona. It was not immediately confirmed whose blood it was.
Nancy Guthrie, whom Savannah calls her “best friend,” was reported missing Sunday, hours after returning from dinner the night before.
Savannah Guthrie was absent from Today yesterday, but a statement from her was read asking for prayers as Arizona law officials continued the search.
The last tranche of the Epstein files (though they are not files at all, but three million pieces of paper and pictures) has had sleuths scouring them for notable names. The bad glitch is that the names of some victims were accidentally not redacted. Bill and Hillary Clinton have at last agreed to testify about their relationship with Epstein rather than face a contempt charge. Lord Mandelson will resign from the Labour government, and the NFL will look into Steve Tisch’s relationship with the late pedophile. Most fascinating take on the Epstein scandal:
The Jeff Epstein saga isn’t a scandal about pedophilia, it’s about a Russian word called ‘blat,’ a Soviet-era word meaning ‘the use of personal networks for obtaining goods and services in short supply and for circumventing formal procedures.’ It’s about a kind of government. As with the large number of ‘blatniks’ in the Soviet era who made sure their factories got what they needed outside the formal state procurement process, Epstein greased the wheels for the neoliberal state. His job was governance.
Never a Dull Moment: President Trump abruptly announced that he will close the Kennedy Center—or Trump Kennedy Center—for two years for renovations. The Kennedy Center is a redoubt of the establishment. Thus, it is no surprise that WaPo’s longtime critic Philip Kennicott sees this as “a grave risk” to the entertainment venue. Kennedy scion Jack Schlossberg is not taking the news well. “We All Know Why Trump Is Closing the Kennedy Center for Renovations,” National Review’s Jeffrey Blehar claims. Uh-oh.
Musing aloud on former FBI official Dan Bongino’s podcast, President Trump called for the nationalization of presidential campaigns. The Constitution largely gave state governments the role of running elections. But there’s a good reason for a REAL ID to vote, says Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Wall Street Journal columnist Bill McGurn addresses the First Amendment status of former CNN personality Don Lemon, who has made himself the star in the Minnesota church invasion by anti-ICE activists. Lemon insists that he shouldn’t be arrested because he is a journalist. His lawyer, Abbe Lowell, invokes the First Amendment. McGurn argues that newsmen have no right to disobey the law or to disrupt religious exercise. Veteran TV news writer Warren Kozak notices “Don Lemon, Tucker Carlson and the Fear of Disappearing.”
What President Trump is up to regarding Iran is anybody’s guess. “The ‘Deal’ in Iran Is Regime Change” is the headline over a Wall Street Journal editorial. The Editors write:
Any sanctions relief now would break faith with the protesters, who relied on Mr. Trump’s promises, and extend their regime a lifeline while it totters on the brink of becoming a failed state. It would also tell the region that the U.S. President blinked, which would have damaging implications for the next three years of Mr. Trump’s Presidency. …
There is a better way for President Trump: Help the protesters topple the ayatollah and his enforcers. Don’t crush the Iranian people’s hopes; give them the confidence to keep pushing against a regime that has no answer but bullets to any of their problems. If Iran’s revolutionary regime falls, the whole region gets better. China and Russia lose the third spoke in their axis of U.S. adversaries.
The price of oil is lower today than it was at the start of the 12-day war in June, and the U.S. has options to mitigate disruptions. Iran’s regime and its proxies are at their weakest, and its people are waiting. Mr. Trump has forged his opportunity, and this is his moment to seize it.
Having interviewed Crown Prince Reza Pahlevi many years ago, I am interested in Eli Lake’s assessment of him at The Free Press. The Shah’s son is rallying the people, but is he fit to lead?
Checkpoints in the USA? No way. Way. Anti-ICE activists have erected checkpoints in Minnesota and are harassing unsuspecting drivers, inspecting their licenses and plates for evidence of an ICE affiliation. From Townhall:
These people aren’t trained police. They’re left-wing clowns with no lives, likely paid by Marxist organizations to foment chaos. This is an unreasonable search and seizure, so it’s okay to be unlawful toward the police if your feelings dictate such lunacy. The anti-ICE mayhem has led to innocent people getting harassed and assaulted by these nutjobs.
Meanwhile, Christina Buttons takes us “Inside Minneapolis’s ICE Watch Network” in City Journal:
While participants frame ICE watching as a “community safety” measure, these tactics often place untrained civilians in direct, high-stakes confrontation with armed federal agents….
Members repeatedly referenced the “Simple Sabotage Field Manual,” an activist handbook that members used to generate ways to impede ICE. Members discussed throwing urine at agents, praising one such incident as “mvp” behavior. A daily update account called “The Report Card” encouraged participants to “annoy” agents with constant noise. They view “noise making and interrupting their meals and bathroom breaks” as essential, noting these tactics “serve a critical role in draining their morale.”
Vogue magazine has given California Governor Gavin Newsom a big, slobbering endorsement. Here’s how their profile of Newsom in the latest issue begins:
Let’s get this out of the way: He is embarrassingly handsome, his hair seasoned with silver, at ease with his own eminence as he delivers his final State of the State address.
Both Vogue and Newsom’s own new memoir attempt to depict Newsom as someone who suffered hardship growing up. This reminds me of Steve Martin’s signature line in the movie “The Jerk,” “I was born a poor black child.” This jerk was born in the lap of luxury. His father was a lawyer and confidant to the Getty family:
Newsom’s family ties to the Gettys have long been in the background of his career, including Gordon Getty helping bankroll Newsom’s PlumpJack Group, a hospitality company that includes Northern California wineries.
Gordon “Getty, a billionaire heir to the J. Paul Getty oil fortune, used to include Gavin and his sister, Hilary, on Getty family vacations to watch whales in Canada and elephants in Kenya,” The New Yorker magazine reported in 2004.
Ms. Must has been feeling that she didn’t do justice to singer Billie Eilish’s “stolen land” remarks at the Grammys. So, from The Federalist, here’s some more:
The biggest winner of Billie Eilish’s award-winning weekend at the Grammys might be her stalker. While accepting the Grammy Award for Song of the Year, Eilish said: “As grateful as I feel, I honestly don’t feel like I need to say anything, but, that no one is illegal on stolen land.”
“It’s just really hard to know what to say and what to do right now,” she continued. “And I just I feel really hopeful in this room, and I feel like we just need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting, and our voices really do matter, and the people matter.”
“F-ck ICE,” she added.
Her statement left little room for the belief in borders, enforcement, or the idea that some people are not allowed to cross certain boundaries. Which is awkward considering Eilish has spent years begging the government to protect her own personal property, enforce its border, and make clear that she believes some people are actually not allowed to cross certain boundaries.
