Somber Anniversary. Texas Dems May Be Irony Challenged. Socialism’s Resilience. Who’s That on the White House Roof? And More
Today is the 80th anniversary of the U.S. dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. “The morning of 6 August 1945 began like any other on the Pacific island of Tinian. That was until the Boeing B-29 Superfortress lifted into the sky. Its destination: Japan. Its payload: ‘Little Boy’,” is the opening of a London Spectator story (referenced by Andrew Stuttaford in a meditation on today).
In a moving column, National Review’s Rich Lowry writes that, in deciding to drop the bomb, President Harry Truman made the right decision:
Whether it was justified to use the bomb constitutes one of the most controversial historical questions in American history, but it was clearly the right call.
If it’s nice to think that Imperial Japan would have decided to surrender on the same timeline without the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there is no evidence of it.
Bequeathed with untold power by the new weapon, it is telling that we used the bomb to bring an end to a terrible war and didn’t use it to dominate Europe, or for other cynical purposes. Instead, our nuclear umbrella became part of a security arrangement that endured for decades, defending the free world from the Soviets and preventing the reoccurrence of world war.
Military historian Richard B. Frank also supports Truman’s decision to drop the bomb. “The moral indictment of the bombings works from a grossly upside-down portrait of the number and identity of the war’s victims,” Frank argues.
In an abrupt switch from a question of existential meaning, we must turn to the ridiculous: the Texas Democrats who have taken flight—ostentatiously—rather than provide a quorum on the state legislature that would led to redistricting. The GOP would gain five seats.
Hardly heirs to the heroes at the Alamo, the fugitive Democrats are hiding out in Chicago, guests of billionaire hotel magnate and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, who wants to run for President. But, of course, Governor Pritzker is no stranger to politically motivated redistricting.
“The Democratic Protectorate of Illinois” is the headline on a Wall Street Journal editorial. “Few do partisan gerrymandering better than Springfield liberals,” is the subhead. “Gerrymandering for Me but not for Thee,” is the headline of a Rich Lowry piece. No surprise that Gavin Newsom reared his well-coifed head, but the Terminator (you know who that is!) opposes him on his attempt at gerrymandering blackmail.
Examiner Chief Political Correspondent Byron York is beautiful on the flight of the legislators:
House Democrats boarded a chartered jet and fled to Illinois, where Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker welcomed their arrival. And not just welcomed — Pritzker, who wants to be president and believes Democrats have not been aggressive enough in resisting President Donald Trump, had his staff assisting the Texas Democrats for weeks. “This is a righteous act of courage,” Pritzker said.
It was also an audacious blockade of … democracy. In one beautifully ironic moment, the Texas House Democrats posted a photo of themselves outside their private jet wearing T-shirts that said “LET THE PEOPLE VOTE.” Of course, they were acting to prevent a vote in the legislature, not allow one.
I like to picture the fugitive legislators ordering continental breakfasts from room service at a Pritzker Hotel.
“Trump Threatens to Take over DC After ‘Big Balls’ Lives up to His Name” is the headline on a Hot Air post by Buck Sexton. “Big Balls” is the nickname of a former DOGE staffer, Edward Coristine, who was bloodied by would-be car jackers on DC’s mean streets. He was chivalry itself:
Edward Coristine, whose LinkedIn handle earned him the nickname “Big Balls” at DOGE, was with a woman near downtown DC when he saw the group of juveniles approach their car and “make a comment about taking the vehicle,” according to a Metropolitan Police Department incident report obtained by The Post.
“At that point, for her safety, [Coristine] pushed his significant other … into the vehicle and turned to deal with the suspects,” the dramatic report continues.
Officers patrolling the 1400 block of Swann Street NW — a popular area with several shops, bars and restaurants about a mile north of the White House — noticed “a group of approximately ten juveniles surrounding the complainants’ vehicle and assaulting [Coristine],” the report states.
Police have arrested two juvenile suspects. Other minor suspects remain at large. The President responded:
“The most recent victim was beaten mercilessly by local thugs,” Trump wrote. “Perhaps it should have been done a long time ago, then this incredible young man, and so many others, would not have had to go through the horrors of Violent Crime. If this continues, I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this City. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
DC is just one of the crime-ridden red cities in the country. Six suspects have been arrested in a racially-charged beatdown in Cincinnati that is attracting national attention. Druggies are overrunning Boston’s ritzy Beacon Hill neighborhood. One blue city had progress to report:
Shootings and the number of New Yorkers who fell victim to gun violence have plunged to all-time lows so far this year — even as the Big Apple contended with its deadliest mass shooting in 25 years, new NYPD crime statistics show. …
Richard Aborn, president of the Citizens Crime Commission of New York, credited four very specific reasons for the improving crime statistics.
The NYPD’s “relentless focus” on seizing illegal guns is bearing fruit, as is the department’s precision policing strategy that focuses cops on ever-smaller areas where crime is concentrated, he said.
The city investing millions of dollars into crime prevention organizations and district attorneys speeding up prosecutions is paying off as well, Aborn said.
Let’s hope this decline in gun crime continues even if Mr. Mamdani becomes mayor and replaces cops with social workers. Who are we kidding?
Speaking of Mr. Mamdani, an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal is headlined “The Scholar Who Saw Mamdani Coming in 2003.” The scholar is Alan Charles Kors, whose views are described by Daniel Shuckman:
Why has socialism remained resilient as a political ideal? How can a socialist candidate be the front-runner in the race for mayor of America’s largest and ostensibly most capitalist city? …
Since American children and college students weren’t being taught what happened under actual socialist regimes, it was only a matter of time before simplistic slogans attacking private property, billionaires and “profits before people,” would be successfully revived by a smooth-talking demagogue….
Is Mr. Mamdani proposing a takeover of farming and the establishment of gulags as the Soviets did in Ukraine in the 1930s? No, the mayor has no such power. But the embrace of even an innocuous-sounding, half-baked program of government-controlled food distribution—“keeping prices low, not making a profit,” his campaign website says—is disturbing for what it reveals about Mr. Mamdani’s knowledge and mindset.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren gushed over Mamdani yesterday. New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin writes that Warren’s embrace of Mamdani is “the latest example of Dems floundering—and their zany agenda.”
The Federalist’s Ben Weingarten writes that “absent justice” in the Russia hoax, the lesson is that you can get by with such a high-level scam—and that it will happen again.
Will I be drummed out of the conservative movement if I admit that there is nothing that I would dread more than hearing the Clintons testify before the House Oversight Committee? PJ Media’s Stephen Kruiser seems not to expect much in the way of revelations from the couple, noting that, after all, “This ain’t Bill and Hillary’s first subpoena rodeo.”
Two Must Reads from the Wall Street Journal Opinion Pages: “Kill Jews, Get Your Own State,” and “Britian Is On the Verge of Regime Change.” The latter is by Dominic Green. Guess what country he believes already has had a regime change.
Who was that up on the roof of the White House? President Trump, who took a stroll on the roof of the Executive Mansion. Apparently, it was to observe construction. It’s related to the new ballroom. Best headline from Babylon Bee:
Secret Service In Awe As Trump Walks On Moderately Sloped Roof
