What If Iran Had a Nuke? Alec Neel Vance: First Baby Born to Sitting Veep in 150 Years. Pollster: It’s Not Socialism—It’s Distrust. Workers of World Not Uniting Behind DSA. Washington Socialites Wonder If It’s Safe Now. More
We’re back at war.
Although the Washington Post only has it that the U.S. “teeters on all-out war with Iran,” Jordan has become a new flashpoint in the conflict:
Iran has been stepping up its missile and drone attacks on U.S. forces in Jordan as it seeks to produce American casualties and deter Washington from escalating its test of wills with Tehran, current and former officials say. …
The military announced Sunday that seventeen U.S. service members have died in Iran. Three were killed in an Iranian attack on Jordan. The Pentagon has identified two of our fallen heroes who lost their lives in Iranian attacks over the weekend.
An Iranian billboard threatens that President Trump is the “next one,” after the sudden death of Senator Lindsey Graham.
An editorial in the Wall Street Journal notes that former Trump advisor John Bolton, also targeted for death by Iran, unlike the president, does not have Secret Service protection. The Editors also address Qatar’s nifty gifty, a new Air Force One, which apparently has been put in storage because of security concerns.
The Islamic Republic with a nuke is truly a metaphysical idea.
After that, we need some happy news. Congratulations to Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha, who welcomed a new baby Sunday morning:
“We are excited to announce that our baby boy, Alec Neel Vance, was born this morning,” the couple wrote. “Usha and the baby are happy and healthy, and our kids are overjoyed to meet their little brother.”
Alec Neel, the fourth Vance child, is the first child born to a sitting Vice President in150 years. Here’s a picture of Alec Neel being held by a big brother and sister.
Vice President Vance also got another present—not as sweet as Alec Neel, of course, but nice. Bill Maher said he could see himself voting for Vance in 2028:
Maher told ABC News’s Jonathan Karl on “This Week” that the Democratic Party is being “taken over.”
Would Vance succeed Trump as MAGA chieftain? The U.K. Telegraph sees Vance “breaking ranks” in a “gamble for power” as the veep is “positioning himself” to lead MAGA.
Is Nothing off Limits? Spain defeated Argentina for the World Cup. Ms. Must can’t pretend she knows about sports, but it sounded like fun. But guess what? In New York, the World Cup final becomes a Gaza proxy war:
“Israel genocide type shit,” screamed a young Latino man on a Times Square subway platform to a group sporting Argentina jerseys. “Got a problem, eat my sack.” As dusk fell on Manhattan Spanish football fans chanted, “Free Free Palestine” to celebrate their team’s World Cup victory. The game had taken place just hours before, a few miles across the Hudson River at MetLife Stadium — or “New York New Jersey Stadium,” as it is now branded by FIFA.
In recent weeks, social media has settled on a curious narrative: Argentina as the pro-Israel team and Spain as the pro-Palestine one. …
The U.S. World Cup host cities, meanwhile, saw a surprise economic boost from the games. File this under “evils of capitalism.”
Speaking of which, we’re seeing the rise of an anticapitalist movement that seems to go from strong to stronger. Lee Carter, the pollster, suggests a counterintuitive reason. In “Why I believe collapsing trust, not ideology, is reshaping American politics“:
The real story is that millions of Americans have lost confidence in the institutions they once trusted to solve problems, create opportunity and make government work. And when confidence in institutions collapses, voters don’t necessarily move left or right. They become far more willing to embrace candidates who promise to disrupt the status quo.
Gallup’s latest polling should be a flashing warning light. Confidence in America’s institutions remains near historic lows. Congress commands the confidence of just 9% of Americans. Confidence in the criminal justice system, organized religion, higher education, big business and many other institutions Americans once relied upon has eroded dramatically over the past generation.
The trust theme is strong in Joe Abraham’s Real Clear Politics story titled “The Moral Test of Self-Government.” Mr. Abraham is the father of Katie Abraham, 20, who was killed by a drunk illegal alien behind the wheel of a vehicle. The driver had been deported previously but was back and the recipient of an Illinois state driver’s license.
Whatever the cause of the socialist surge, Miranda Devine’s column is sobering—The headline: “Mamdani and his DSA comrades have one goal — a communist revolution in America.” Mamdani’s numerous invocations of international law against other countries have an obvious pattern—all have been directed at Israel. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is trying to invoke “international law” against Israel, according to a City Journal piece by Eugene Kontorovich:
Just days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a major U.S. policy to “dismantle” the International Criminal Court because it threatened American sovereignty, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani mused about the possibility of arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the basis of an ICC warrant. …
Mamdani’s numerous invocations of international law against other countries have an obvious pattern—all have been directed at Israel. … Mamdani’s repeated comments reveal how accusations of international law violations have become a special way of speaking about the Jews, much as terms like “global elites” or “cosmopolitans” have been used before. What makes international law so powerful as a tool to talk about Jews is its esoteric nature.
“Workers of the World Won’t Unite—Behind the DSA” is the headline on Rich Lowry’s latest column:
What did the country ever do to white college graduates to make them feel so disaffected from its economic and political system?
The wave of socialist victories in Democratic primaries is being driven by well-educated white voters who are more extreme than the rest of the Democratic coalition.
Lowry particularly examines the demographics of support in Michigan’s Democratic Party’s senatorial primary race between Haley Stevens, a “goofy white woman,” and Israel-hating DSA POC Abdul El-Sayed.
Much to the chagrin of the Left, an appeals court has ruled that the USPS can require states to turn over voter rolls before mailing out ballots:
That is why Democrats like Gov. Newsom object to it. They see accurate, efficient, and timely delivery of mail-in ballots as a very real threat.
While we’re mentioning California Governor Gavin Newsom, we don’t want to be sexist and exclude his wife from today’s Musts. The Washington Free Beacon has a story about her endeavors:
Documentaries produced by California’s “first partner,” Jennifer Siebel Newsom, promoting fringe views on gender have been shown to over 2.5 million K-12 students, with an accompanying lesson plan that forces teens to publicly disclose their sexual orientation to their peers and identify which of their classmates violate gender norms and may be labeled “fags,” “pussies” and “nasty butches.”
Come Out! Come Out Wherever You Are. Washington social chronicler/doyenne Sally Quinn says it’s safe now. She writes, “It’s No Longer So Much Fun to Be MAGA in Washington.” Cave Dwellers, a name for old-line Washington society, having hibernated for one of the most fascinating periods of American history, can creep out from their crepuscular existences. Or so they think. Read the piece find out what Kellyanne said to Sally!
