Issue: Politics

Yes, Virginia did it.

Virginia voters narrowly approved a Democratic redistricting plan (and here). The Dems put forth an aggressive plan that radically alters the landscape for Virginia politics, possibly signaling curtains for Republicans in a heretofore purple state:  

The new map is designed to allow Democrats to pick up as many as four seats in the upcoming midterm elections.

The newly passed constitutional amendment will temporarily bypass the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission to implement a new congressional map until 2030, when mapmaking responsibilities will return to the commission.

The redistricting plan is a naked power grab by Dems. Virginia’s new map transforms a Dem edge of 6-to-1 into an overwhelming advantage of 10-to-1. In other words, the Commonwealth now joins the ranks of one-party states, and we know how that works out. National Review’s Jeffrey Blehar wrote last night (“Virginia Democrats Cast Republicans into the Outer Darkness on a Bare Majority Vote“) after the results were clear:

D.C.-area Democrats, with little more than a slight majority, have voted to federally disenfranchise the rest of the state’s Republicans. Why? Because they could. There is no “bright side” to tonight’s vote for Republicans.

The Supreme Court of Virginia could still strike down the new map — the case was put on procedural hold to be reviewed on the merits after the referendum — but that is a slim reed on which to hang one’s hopes. Republicans should never bet on a judicial deus ex machina.

It would seem, therefore, that these are Virginia’s new congressional lines until 2032 at least. The state will be represented in Congress almost entirely by Fairfax County, and most of its “downstate” representatives will hail from within a 50-mile radius of Washington, D.C. Who knows what Virginia will look like demographically once the state returns to court-drawn maps in 2032 — or what will happen to the state’s Republican Party after it has been locked out of nearly all power and relevance for six years?

Former Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin is calling upon the state Supreme Court to step in. Here is Governor Youngkin’s response to the passage of the Dem redistricting scheme on X. Former President Barack Obama is ecstatic over the vote.

Twinkly Brit Piers Morgan admitted yesterday on “The Five” that he has “no idea” what is going on with regard to Iran. Ditto Ms. Must. Ditto Democrat Senator Chris Murphy, who fell for Iranian propaganda, pronounced the terror regime’s fabricated exploit “awesome” and then tried to wiggle out by saying he was just being sarcastic.

Well, most of us aren’t that dumb. (By popular demand, another Chris Murphy item, by Townhall’s David Strom.) The U.S. and Iran delayed negotiations in Islamabad in what a Wall Street Journal headline calls “a high-stakes game of chicken.” This may be good news because, as the WSJ report indicates, Iran’s negotiators may be in disarray:

During the meetings, aides told Trump that Iran’s government wasn’t a unified entity, with hardline factions in Tehran unwilling to bend to the president’s demands. Questions were raised at the White House about whether Iran was really even in a position to negotiate and stick to any commitments.

The New York Post cover this morning acknowledges that President Trump has extended the Iran ceasefire and displays a panel of eight women Iran plans to execute with the injunction: “Save Them!“

This is the first time I’ve seen a reference to the actual people of Iran, as opposed to their monstrous leaders, in a long time. Meanwhile, three container ships in the Strait of Hormuz were hit by Iranian fire after the ceasefire was announced. This Just In: Iranian media says Iran has two container ships in custody. They are Panamanian- and Liberia-flagged tankers.

Examiner Chief Political Correspondent Byron York addresses President Trump’s frustration and Iran’s delaying tactics. “Moral Inversion and the Iran War” at The Free Press examines a new poll that finds Democrats under the age of 50 view terror-exporting Iran more favorably than Israel.

Couldn’t happen to nicer bunch of people. Not. “Southern Poverty Law Center Charged with Defrauding Donors with Payments to Extremist Informants” is an AP headline:

The Justice Department alleges the civil rights group defrauded donors by using their money to fund the very extremism it claimed to be fighting, with more than $3 million paid to informants through a now-defunct program to infiltrate white supremacist and other extremist groups. Prosecutors allege some of the money was used by extremists to carry out other crimes, but court papers did not include specific examples.

I don’t want to be the skunk at the garden party because the SPLC has a loathsome and reckless habit of designating conservatives as fomenting “hate,” but the charges seemed vague last night when Acting AG Todd Blanche discussed them on the Ingraham Angle. SPLC, however, did pay informants involved with the deadly Charlottesville, Va., incident that gave rise to the spurious “fine people on both sides” slur on President Trump. If it can be proven that the informants egged on the protests on covert behalf of SPLC, it might put the kibosh on at least one hate-spewing group: the awful SPLC itself.

The publication of a new Mollie Hemingway book is An Event. Hemingway’s “Alito: The Justice Who Reshaped the Supreme Court and Restored the Constitution” came out yesterday. Hemingway calls Alito the “Most ‘Courageous’ SCOTUS Justice You’ve Never Read About (Until Now)” at the Federalist, while at the same fine outlet, Shawn Fleetwood writes about Hemingway’s book today. Hemingway discusses her new book on Larry O’Connor’s show. Hemingway aired an intriguing idea on “The Megyn Kelly Show”—that Chief Justice Roberts, not Justice Alito, as has been bruited about by hopeful Alito-detractors, will be the Court’s next Justice to step down.

Socialist Concept of “Your” Retirement Funds. New York City Comptroller Mark Levine has announced that he will repurpose $4 billion of the city’s roughly $320 billion in pension funds to develop “affordable” housing. City Journal calls this risky and points out that the money belongs to pensioners, not housing projects. Allison Shrager writes:

Levine’s Housing Investment Initiative is not just poor risk management; it is also misguided and ill-timed. After the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 devastated the value of affordable housing, investments with real-estate firms Related Companies and Hudson Companies declined by 69 percent. Why inflict more damage? If these regulations continue in their current form, the affordable housing sector of the real-estate market has poor prospects for profitability, let alone competitive returns. The outlook will only worsen if the Rent Guidelines Board approves Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s promise to freeze rents. He recently placed six sympathetic appointees on that board to make it happen.

Landlords of rent-stabilized housing are already struggling. A rent freeze would push more of them into bankruptcy, devaluing mortgages that the city would buy and further eroding the profitability of affordable housing investments. Even the New York Times concedes that market-rate investors shy away from affordable housing because the returns are so low.

This plan takes Margaret Thatcher’s famous dictum about socialism and running out of other people’s money to a whole new level.

President Trump will go into the lion’s den this weekend. This is the den formally known as the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Journalists misleadingly refer to the affair as “nerd prom” because they think this makes them feel like they were smart in high school. James Kirchick of The Free Press takes a novel position on the impending dinner: both the journalist and President Trump are vain, so they will fit right in with each other. Dan Rather and Sam Donaldson (and, yes, before you check Google, they’re both still with us) are demanding that the journalists in attendance confront President Trump. (This could backfire.) Most of the journalists who will attend had their consciousnesses formed (and their egos expanded) way back in the Watergate era, when journalists actually did bring down a Republican president. I wish I were going this year. It might be fun for once.

Virginians go to the polls today, but there’s no candidate’s name on the ballot. It’s even more important than that:  

Residents of Virginia face a crucial decision in an off-year trip to the ballot box on Tuesday: Hand power from the state’s independent redistricting commission over to the Democratic-controlled legislature, which could potentially gain four blue congressional seats from the move, or reject the move and give Republicans a better chance at maintaining control of the U.S. House in November.

Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger is pushing the gerrymandering referendum, despite having averred as a candidate that she had no intention of doing so. “Behold the great bait and switch,” says a Republican member of the state legislature. The change would require an amendment to the Constitution of the Commonwealth, which former Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin describes as a “bastardization” of said document.

Fans of the gerrymandering bill are saying the issue is “fairness.” But c’mon—Virginia’s Senator Tim Kaine admits what it’s really about—DJT. Isn’t everything? From The Federalist:

When asked how it was fair that 90 percent of Virginians will be represented by a Democrat, even though former Vice President Kamala Harris only won the commonwealth by five points, Kaine replied, “Ninety percent of Virginians are not Democrats, that’s true, but about 100 percent of Virginians want election results to be respected. We’re deeply worried that Donald Trump will try to interfere with the election results this November or in 2028, cause we saw him do it before.”

Meanwhile, a Fox Digital opinion piece says it’s revealing that the Dems are chary about showing the proposed new map. Author Chad Mizelle, a former DOJ official, argues:

This dishonest power play seeks to make the congressional representation of a purple state nearly as blue as Massachusetts. It disenfranchises nearly half the commonwealth (Virginia went 51.8%-46.6% for Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024). The proposed districts are extreme – running from heavily populated blue areas deep into rural red areas. Federal government employees in Arlington and Fairfax will essentially dictate the congressional representation of farmers and shopkeepers up to 100 miles away.

Mizelle has mapped out a “bold option” to have the Dems shouting “unfair”: give bluey blue Arlington back to the District of Columbia. It would fit in right, no?

Speaking of one’s view of President Trump’s being the root of everything, the Wall Street Journal’s Bill McGurn writes this morning that Trump’s critics can’t cheer for American victory because it brings him credit. McGurn says that, unlike his critics, Trump knows what matters in Iran:

It comes down to victory in Iran.

The Democrats don’t matter. Nor do the Republicans. Or NATO, or other U.S. allies. Pope Leo XIV is at best a footnote. All that now matters for this president is that the U.S. prevails and the Islamic Republic ceases to be a menace to America and its interests.

The president seems to get it. His legacy, it is now clear, will rest on whether his war against Iran succeeds or fails. And that success hinges on whether Iran remains a threat not only to Israel but to our Sunni Arab friends, who have their own reasons for wanting Iran defanged. …

President Trump has put the mullahs on their heels. Now is the time to make sure the U.S. doesn’t squander these gains and let the Iranians come back and do it all over again.

This rankles American establishments. …

A Washington Post headline has the planned Islamabad negotiations with Iran, round II, on “shaky footing” because the U.S. seized a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz—not mind you, because of anything the Iranians have done. Meanwhile, Iran ratchets up the rhetoric, claiming they have “new cards” (also here) to play. An analyst says that Iran’s choice of a new IRGC head [who chose him?] is not a sign that the regime is moderating. Mojtaba, We Hardly Knew Ye. The IRGC leader has sidelined Iran’s new nepo Supreme Leader.

Not often that people tell President Trump to get tougher, but … Elliot Kaufman of the Wall Street Journal argues that the Iranians “take Trump for a sucker” because, as Kaufman sees it, the president has let them get away with playing games.

Meanwhile, a Native American has just endorsed Graham Platner in his race against GOP liberal Senator Susan Collins of Maine. No word on whether Senator Elizabeth Warren had a powwow with Mr. Platner over his storied Nazi warpaint.

“Clarence Thomas, the Constitution, and Their Critics,” by Ilya Shapiro, at City Journal, explains the importance of Justice Thomas’ recent remarks at the University of Texas:

The easiest way to misunderstand Justice Clarence Thomas’s recent speech at the University of Texas is as a conventional swipe at contemporary progressives. His target was instead deeper and older: the capital-P Progressive challenge to the American Founding itself.

Appearing in Austin as part of a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas framed the issue as one of first principles. “The Constitution is the means of government,” he said, and “it is the Declaration that announces the ends of government.”

Justice Thomas’s Austin speech was a reminder of that forgotten truth. The American Founding was a claim about human nature, political power, and the institutions needed to keep freedom alive. Any successor worthy of his seat should understand that, too.

Emeritus Harvard Professor Harvey Mansfield, one of the few conservatives on the faculty, writes about what went wrong at the once-revered institution:

Harvard makes its case for government money by emphasizing the scientific cancer research it performs. This, they imply, is service to both parties that keeps Harvard independent while still deserving of support.

Yet earlier Harvard, had gone so far as to renounce its independence. In 2023, it appointed a president, Claudine Gay, who immediately declared that the old idea of an Ivory Tower was obsolete. Harvard would now act as a “part of society.” What is the difference?

In “Ilhan Omar’s Amazing Accounting,” the Wall Street Journal writes about the scoop that wasn’t:

A bombshell report in the Journal on Friday night has triggered a media feeding frenzy. Just kidding—the story is about questionable disclosures from a left-wing politician, so the partisan press corps is largely ignoring it.

Fed head nominee Kevin Warsh’s confirmation hearing is today before the Senate Banking Committee. The hearing will require Warsh to perform a high-wire act of convincing investors without angering President Trump. Current Fed Chair Jerome Powell could remain a member of the Fed after leaving chairmanship, though there will be a new era for the Fed.

Never Forget. Rachel Goldberg-Polin writes a heart-wrenching memoir about the loss of her son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was held hostage by Hamas. Hersh’s arm was blown off, and he was later executed by Hamas.

TRANSITIONS. … Apple’s longtime CEO Tim Cook is stepping down, naming John Ternus, the affable head of its hardware division, to replace him. Ternus, 50, must “rekindle the creative fire and chart a hardware-heavy future in the AI era.”

… The Dersh Did It! “Why I’m Becoming a Republican,” by Alan Derschowitz, appears in today’s WSJ. He says “hostility to Israel” was the tipping point.

… Rep. Nancy Mace is moving to transition Florida Rep. Cory Mills, a Republican, who has faced domestic violence, sexual misconduct, and stolen valor allegations, out of Congress.

…  Also reluctant to transition is indicted House Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who refuses to “abandon her District.” She faces the possibility of expulsion:

Cherfilus-McCormick was found guilty of more than two dozen ethics violations involving financial misconduct during a rare House ethics trial in March. She has denied any wrongdoing and is facing a separate criminal trial after being indicted by a federal grand jury in 2025.

Before erstwhile bon vivant Eric Swalwell is permanently disappeared, Miranda Devine’s “All the Queen’s Men” this morning is required reading.

You know who the Queen is—America’s favorite little ol’ stock picker. Devine writes:

Eric Swalwell was Nancy Pelosi’s made man, the golden child of San Francisco’s rotten machine politics.

Today he’s roadkill, his name erased from the sign outside his congressional office, vultures feasting on his ­remains.

Swalwell’s clinical political eradication this week tells you everything about the Democratic Party and how ruthlessly and efficiently they will move to keep to power in the state they have controlled for 15 years and run into the ground.

More Swalwell-related Assigned Reading: “The Male Feminism Con Job,” by Christian Schneider at National Review. Subtitle: “The loudest voices claiming to support women often belong to the worst men.”

Because so many Dems are running for Governor of California, Swalwell’s curiously well-timed exit gives a boost to the Democratic field. Billionaire Tom Steyer moves up, apparently replacing Republican Steve Hilton as frontrunner. Mr. Steyer has a ready-made fan base (dare I say constituency?): illegal aliens. Steyer has released a plan that could jail ICE agents, whom he calls designated members of a violent extremist group. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin “pushed back” on Steyer’s agenda on the Ingraham Angle.

For homeless illegal aliens trapped in the wrong (though still illegal) body, California apparently quietly offers what every homeless person needs most: “gender affirming” care. Chris Rufo and Jonathan Choe tell this uplifting story at City Journal:

We discovered not only that the shelters were housing illegal immigrants but also that they were apparently housing a population of male-to-female “transgender” illegal aliens, who had hoped to obtain “gender-affirming care.” And, to our shock, state and local governments apparently are providing it….

Among the shelter’s residents was a group of Hondurans who identified as transgender. During our visit to MSC-South, whose executive director did not respond to a request for comment, we spoke with two Honduran men, “Lyca” and “Alondra,” who identified as transgender women. Both indicated that the local government gave them shelter and food….

Lyca, who wore long hair and red lipstick, was candid about this arrangement. He confirmed that he was an illegal immigrant and that the shelter doesn’t ask questions about immigration status. “Tengo Medi-Cal,” he said, referring to the state health-care program, which, under Governor Gavin Newsom, began providing “full scope” coverage to illegal aliens, which includes transgender procedures, or “gender affirming care.” He said he was receiving cross-sex hormone therapy—and bore the physical signs of having done so.

Lyca, who wore long hair and red lipstick, was candid about this arrangement. He confirmed that he was an illegal immigrant and that the shelter doesn’t ask questions about immigration status. “Tengo Medi-Cal,” he said, referring to the state health-care program, which, under Governor Gavin Newsom, began providing “full scope” coverage to illegal aliens, which includes transgender procedures, or “gender affirming care.” He said he was receiving cross-sex hormone therapy—and bore the physical signs of having done so.

Hot Air elaborates on the City Journal scoop. Whatever body you’re currently inhabiting, your restaurant options in California are shrinking thanks to the state’s new $30 an hour minimum wage.

Gulp. “Will Samuel Alito Retire? Trump Mulls His Supreme Court Legacy” is a USA TODAY headline. CNN has President Trump “leaning in” on the idea of replacing Justices Alito and Thomas. CNN bases its story on the president’s call-in to Maria Bartiromo’s show. Justice Thomas has an op-ed today in the Wall Street Journal. It’s headlined “Progressives vs. the Declaration.” Subtitle: “Woodrow Wilson’s ideas are opposed to the basic American creed. They can’t coexist forever.”

More Supreme Court News: Very genteel of Justice Sotomayor to apologize to Justice Kavanaugh for disparaging remarks she made about him. She called her words “inappropriate” and “hurtful.”

Unless you’re dependent on the New York Times (try this pathetic story of a reality-challenged President Trump), you probably know that the U.S. Navy blockade of the Strait of Hormuz looks to be a winner. “Iran’s War-Shattered Economy Means It Has an Urgent Reason to Negotiate” is a Wall Street Journal headline.

The Free Press’s Eli Lake has advice for President Trump: “Trump Should Negotiate for Iranian Freedom, Not Just Nuclear Promises.” The president, argues Lake, is presented with “an opportunity to negotiate for the Iranian people, not just for a narrow deal with the regime on weapons.” Meanwhile, the Iranian leaders—again, whoever they are at this point—want a ceasefire in Lebanon. A Wall Street Journal editorial cautions:

As we trend toward a cease-fire in Lebanon, it’s fair to ask who benefits. The narrative that Israeli fighting against Hezbollah terrorists obstructs U.S.-Iran diplomacy gets it backward. Israel is giving the U.S. leverage….

Iran now needs to bail out Hezbollah, which is taking substantial losses. Israel is mere days from achieving full operational control of Bint Jbeil, the “capital of the Resistance,” as Iran’s anti-Israel terrorist axis styles itself.

Iran’s need for a cease-fire in Lebanon isn’t America’s. …

What is Lebanon prepared to do for a cease-fire? Rather than pledge more talks, it could outlaw the Hezbollah terrorists’ political party.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s approach to taxes is highlighted on the New York Post cover this morning. Hochul has flip-flopped from “No New Taxes” (January) to “No, New Taxes!” today. There’s a Mamdani angle:

Gov. Kathy Hochul was dragged by critics for her sudden pied-à-terre tax push — including for backtracking on her no new taxes pledge — as Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his lefty allies cheerfully took credit Wednesday. 

Hochul — who for months has been hounded by chants of “tax the rich” from Mamdani’s Democratic Socialists of America comrades — said she now wants to slap a levy on multi-million dollar secondary homes in the city. 

“Kathy Hochul’s ‘No Tax Hike’ promise has expired faster than the families fleeing New York’s affordability crisis,” said Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate facing off against Hochul as she seeks re-election this year.

Ms. Must has been reading about Hasan Piker. The New York Times published a Hasan Piker profile recently with the headline “Hasan Piker Is Not the Enemy.” But then the Gray Lady quickly changed the headline:

Hours later, possibly disturbed by having defended a pro-murder Mao Zedong wannabe in its pages, the paper changed the headline to the equally ill-advised “This Is Why There’s No Liberal Joe Rogan.”

You idiots, Joe Rogan is a liberal — a vocal supporter of socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

[Piker] dismissed the sexual assaults of Oct. 7 with the remark that “it doesn’t matter if effing rapes happened” — Israel’s response is still unjustified.

He has referred to his critics as “ultra-Zionist pigs” and “Israel-first monsters.”

Yet Piker, who is somehow a more cartoonish version of even the laziest caricature of champagne socialism, remains welcome in Democratic circles.

Democratic candidates court his endorsement.

We’re a long way from Bill Clinton’s performative appeal to the center with his famous Sister Souljah moment.

“The Five” discussed Piker a few days ago. Laura Ingraham discussed Piker’s seeming demand for civil war last night. Speaking of the Civil War, not all such wars are socially acceptable:

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) on Monday signed into law a bill eliminating tax exemptions for multiple organizations connected to the Confederacy. 

Democrats in the Virginia House and Senate passed HB167 with vote totals of 62-35 and 21-17, respectively, earlier this year. The bill specifically removes the Virginia Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) and the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, among other similar groups, from the list of organizations exempt from state property taxes.

Last time I checked, the American Civil War was more than 150 years ago. But it’s never too late to punish elderly ladies whose chief delight is putting flowers on the graves of soldiers (on both sides of the war).

Financial writer James Grant celebrates the “Men Who Bankrolled America” in a must-read Free Press Offering. They are Robert Morris and George F. Baker:

Morris and Baker were rich, bold, indomitable, enterprising, self-made, proficient, cool in a crisis, and incapable of despair. Each was an unshakable optimist on the American future. 

Thinking Hassan Piker has a different kind of backer in mind?

It’s an old-fashioned made for the tabs scandal—and sure enough, there’s Eric Swalwell’s unsmiling face peering at us from the cover of the New York Post. Screamer headline: “Monster in the House.”

In addition to previous allegations of sexual misconduct, a new accuser has come forward to say that Swalwell, who resigned his seat in Congress yesterday, raped her in a West Hollywood hotel room in 2018. She said she believed she was drugged.

You know who had absolutely no idea that the randy Rep. might have a problem? Well, of course, his bestie and Capitol Hill roomie and wingman—think Batman and Robin or Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd. Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego, who was chairman of Swalwell’s 2020 presidential campaign, had heard rumors that Swalwell was “flirty,” but that’s all. Gallego’s judgment was “clouded” because Swalwell “lied” and “betrayed” him.

Yes, you could send a picture of your penis to a young woman very quietly (as “Flirty” is accused of having done), but the Washington Free Beacon challenges Gallego’s claim in a story headlined “On Ruben Gallego, We Told You So.” The Beacon recounts its successful battle to unseal Gallego’s divorce papers (the chivalrous solon was divorcing his heavily pregnant wife) and concludes with an ominous boast:

Gallego is either one of the few people on Capitol Hill who hadn’t gotten wind of Swalwell’s misdeeds or an enabler and participant in them, and either scenario is a non-starter for a serious presidential contender. It is worth bearing in mind that the Democratic establishment shivved Swalwell when he became a liability in a crowded primary. When Gallego’s turn in the barrel comes and the press touts the power of “investigative reporting,” well, you heard it here first.

Meanwhile, a wealthy erstwhile backer of Swalwell now says, “Eric who?” Poor Flirty. How the mighty have fallen. “Uber leftie celebs are always willing to back a sleaze like Eric Swalwell—so long as he hates Trump as much as they do,” writes Kirsten Fleming. How many of them are now saying, “Eric who?” Swalwell’s own former Chief of Staff said something similar. But before giving the rats props, consider this London Spectator headline: “Swalwell’s Electoral Math not Morality.” You might also enjoy Eddie Scarry’s Federalist piece headlined “Democrats Turned On Eric Swalwell Because He Was In The Way, Not Because They Have Morals.”

Goodness! I got so caught up in the Swalwell fall that I momentarily forgot what day it is! “Happy Tax Day, America. You’re (Still) Being Robbed” is USA TODAY columnist Nicole Russell’s headline. Russell writes:

Even with recent tax changes under President Donald Trump‘s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Americans are still paying too much. The federal government collected $5.23 trillion in fiscal year 2025, according to the Cato Institute.

Happy Tax Day. Americans are still paying too much in taxes.

Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act did cut taxes. It made his 2017 tax cuts permanent and, on average, saved working families about $1,300 instead of hitting them with a $1,700 increase.

An editorial in the Wall Street Journal (“The Growing State Tax and Jobs Divide”) explores how job growth has changed in the high-tax and low-tax states. ”Democrats want to pretend that taxes don’t matter, but these numbers don’t lie,” the Editors conclude. Vice President Vance’s anti-fraud task force has suspended 447 hospices and 23 home health agencies suspected of fraud in Los Angeles, with a total fraud estimate of more than $600 million. Anti-fraud prosecutions might be another way of saving money for the American taxpayer.

The Hormuz blockade seems to be going well. A U.S. Navy destroyer intercepted two tankers trying to leave Iran and ordered them back. An editorial in the Wall Street Journal is headlined “Trump’s Blockade Is a Crisis for Iran”:

Iran’s regime has tried to make this war all about economics, and now it is getting its wish. Since Monday the U.S. Navy has quarantined Iranian ports, blocking ships from entering or exiting the Strait of Hormuz for the purpose of commerce with Iran. The economic damage to the regime is immediate, and the pain will grow the longer the blockade is sustained….

The best estimates we have are from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Miad Maleki, who led the U.S. Treasury’s sanctions campaign against Iran until last year. He writes that the blockade is expected to wipe out $435 million in Iranian economic activity a day and force oil-field shut-ins within two weeks….

Iran’s entire economy will feel the collapse of oil exports. This includes the Revolutionary Guard, which siphons about half the revenue. Other export routes appear unable to compensate for the loss. How will Iran’s banks hold up?

The regime has tried to protect itself from its own people by cutting off the internet, crushing the digital economy with it. The destruction of Iran’s productive capacity, especially in steel and petrochemicals and industries that rely on them, also portends layoffs and a spike in inflation, even without the blockade.

Oh, and the regime’s latest budget calls for tax increases. This is not a pretty picture. The shame is that this pressure didn’t begin weeks ago.

The mainstream media presents the war as a disaster for the United States. Spiked’s Brendan O’Neill interviews former Trump official Fred Fleitz. The podcast is titled “Ignore the Doubters – Iran Is on Its Last Legs.” President Trump tells the New York Post that fresh negotiations with Iran could be imminent. But don’t think they’re any nicer.

Pope vs. President. Quarrels between popes and princes are nothing new. We don’t have a prince, but we have a president who is engaged in a spat with Pope Leo XIV. National Review’s Rich Lowry dares to urge Leo to “brush up on the Bible” (!)  and “its lessons” about war and peace:

A pope who doesn’t rebuke a president of the United States for threatening to bring a foreign civilization to an end isn’t doing his job.

Yet it’s important to understand that the Bible is not an injunction for pacifism, and it doesn’t entail a condemnation of the Iran war. 

The Bible has a realistic view of the inevitability of human conflict.

As Ecclesiastes says, there is “a time for war, and a time for peace.”

Father Gerald Murray, canon lawyer, priest of the Archdiocese of New York, and a popular commentator on the EWTN network, would handle the pontiff more gently. Still, Murray writes a piece headlined “The Catholic Case for War with Iran” at The Free Press. Subtitle: “The Church advocates peace, but it isn’t pacifist. Eliminating a nuclear threat from a determined enemy is a noble reason to make war.”

The Reverend Al Sharpton recently held his annual National Action Network convention—and they were all there! Kamala, Josh, JB, and others with 2028 aspirations. The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Riley asks, Why?

True, there was a time when Mr. Sharpton was a power broker in Democratic politics—someone who might not help you win but who could almost guarantee you’d lose if you didn’t pay his organization not to criticize you. These days, however, Mr. Sharpton is much closer to a charlatan than a kingmaker. His star has dimmed considerably, and even most black people aren’t buying what he’s selling….

It’s been clear for some time that the best way to address social inequality is economic growth. Black-white gaps in earnings shrank in the 1960s and 1980s when the economy was expanding, just as they were doing before Covid-19. What racial and ethnic minorities need most are tight labor markets, but racial activists spend most of their time searching for white scapegoats. Democratic voters deserved candidates who have figured this out.

Remember when federal Judge James Boasberg claimed he had the right to get planes deporting Venezuelan to turn around in midair? Well, now it’s Boasberg’s turn to reverse course. A federal court of appeals has ordered Boasberg to end his crusade to hold Trump administration officials in contempt for their part in enforcing immigration law.   

Remembrance of Things Past. “New Documents Reveal Democrats’ Plot to Frame Trump with Ukraine Call” at The Federalist shows that we weren’t imagining things. PJ Media quotes Alan Dershowitz, suggesting that this impeachment could be expunged.