Posts on Thursday, July 17, 2025

California Gov. Gavin Newsom claimed that he did not want to bulldoze the remains of burned-down Palisades houses and replace them with low-income housing. But that is apparently exactly what he’s doing now, with the help of the California legislature—and Donald Trump’s special missions envoy is furious. Richard Grenell accused Newsom of lying about his fire recovery goals. Newsom had scoffed, “The claim that the Governor wants to bulldoze fire victims’ neighborhoods and replace them with ‘affordable housing’ is absurd.” But he just announced over $100 million for building low-income housing in the area of the Palisades and other burned areas, as a bill moves through the California

The tech tycoon exposed for apparently having an affair with a co-worker on a “kiss cam” at a Coldplay concert raved about the staffer when she was hired just months before they were caught canoodling. Andy Byron, CEO of the AI-centric New York firm Astronomer, called his human resources officer, Kristin Cabot — with whom he was broadcast locked in an embrace Wednesday — “a proven leader” when she joined the company in November 2024. “Kristin’s exceptional leadership and deep expertise in talent management, employee engagement, and scaling people strategies will be critical as we continue our rapid trajectory,” Byron gushed.

The media’s desire to make themselves the main character in the story reached the Platonic level on Wednesday as CBS correspondent Scott MacFarlane joined former moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press, Chuck Todd, on his appropriately named podcast: The Chuck Toddcast. According to MacFarlane, he was diagnosed with PTSD after the first assassination attempt against President Trump, not because of the shooting, but because of the reaction of Trump supporters. Meanwhile, Todd thought this was a completely reasonable thing to claim. MacFarlane recalled, “For those of us there, it was such a horror because

Connie Francis, the immensely popular mid-century pop singer known for teary ballads exemplified by “Who’s Sorry Now?” and jaunty, infectious near-novelty records “Stupid Cupid” and “Vacation,” died Wednesday. She was 87. Her statement was announced on Facebook by her publicist and longtime friend Ron Roberts. A cause was not disclosed, but Francis was recently hospitalized in Florida where she reported “extreme pain” after suffering a fractured hip. In today’s post, Roberts writes: “It is with a heavy heart and extreme sadness that i inform you of the passing of my dear friend Connie Francis last night. I know that Connie would approve that her fans are among the first

New polls show President Donald Trump’s approval among Republicans has risen—not fallen—despite nonstop social media backlash over the Epstein case. CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten admitted this week he was surprised to find that Trump’s standing with Republican voters has strengthened despite widespread complaints on social media about the Epstein files. “You might think his approval ratings were going down with Republicans—if anything, they’re going up,” Enten said, referencing recent polling from CNN and Quinnipiac. According to CNN’s numbers, Republican approval of Trump rose from 86% in the previous poll to 88% this week. Quinnipiac’s poll showed a similar jump, from 87% to 90%. “He is at the apex

Emil Bove’s nomination to serve as a judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals is headed to the Senate floor after Democrats walked out of the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting in protest. The panel voted Thursday morning with only Republican support to advance Bove’s nomination, as every Democrat abstained from recording a vote either way. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) shouted over the proceedings as the roll was called, imploring colleagues to continue debate and accusing committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) of failing to follow Senate rules. All Democrats, barring Booker, left the hearing room during the votes to advance Bove and other nominees pending before the committee.

The floodgates holding back long-buried classified documents exposing government efforts to claim Donald Trump conspired with Vladimir Putin to manipulate the 2016 U.S. presidential election might finally be opening. Trump administration officials held an urgent meeting Sunday to discuss “new information on Russiagate,” which they might use to build a criminal conspiracy case against Obama and Biden administration political appointees who allegedly weaponized the government against Trump, (Snip) The documents are said to contain long-classified information, including a secret 200-page congressional audit that reveals details about how an intelligence community assessment on Russia ordered by President Obama after the 2016 election was framed in a way that portrayed Trump as

Much has been written about the enormous scandal involving the Biden administration’s cover-up of Joe Biden’s dementia. His senility was obvious when he ran for president in 2020, but was covered up by the manufactured COVID pandemic. He was even then an easily manipulated fool/tool of the far left from the moment he took control of the presidency. Now we know that he was never an acting president. He was the radical left’s frontman. What is pathetic is that his handlers ever thought for even one moment that putting him before the public was wise. The man was a disaster of monumental proportions.

There are several reasons why Jerome Powell should be fired or forced to resign: Powell pretends he cares about budget deficits and inflation, but the cost for the Federal Reserve building renovations surged $700 million past the initial budget, or almost 40%: The Federal Reserve has defended itself from White House criticism that ongoing, costly renovations at the central bank’s headquarters in Washington are the result of mismanagement. Last week, Russel Vought, the director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, said the Fed was turning its headquarters into a ‘palace.’ The cost of the renovation has risen to $2.5 billion, which is $700 million above its initial estimate.

Last week, Barack Obama gave some advice to his party, and it’s astonishing how quickly his words turned into a self-inflicted political wound. He was once hailed as the Democrat Party’s unifying figure, but Obama’s recent scolding of his own party’s base didn’t just flop — it sparked a backlash even his defenders can’t ignore. As PJ Media previously reported, during a ritzy gathering of party elites in New Jersey, Obama dismissed the rampant frustration among liberals, telling them to show “a little bit less navel-gazing and a little less whining and being in fetal positions.” "And it's going to require Democrats to just toughen up,” he said.

Labour government announces wrecking amendment to Britain’s Voter ID law by removing photo identification requirement, and slashes voting age from 18 to 16. Under international and UK law, a child is any person below the age of 18, but by the time of the next UK General Election those age 16 and 17-years-old will be legally allowed to vote for their next Member of Parliament and won’t need photo-ID to do it, the Labour government has announced. Angela Rayner, Sir Keir Starmer’s deputy prime minister, heralded the change by saying “For too long public trust in our democracy has been damaged and faith in our institutions has been allowed to decline”,

Zohran Mamdani is running for mayor of New York City at exactly the right time in American history. The confluence of a shattered Democratic Party, an electorate wild for change, and a bitterly divided opposition will make the 33-year-old socialist the next mayor of New York City. As long as he doesn't self-destruct, that is. We're going to see if Mamdani can keep his foot out of his mouth in the next three and a half months and avoid making his support of an "intifada" against Jews any larger of a campaign issue than it already is. Otherwise, there doesn't appear to be anything that can stop his election victory.

Abbas cannot have forgotten the atrocities Hamas committed against his men during the 2007 coup. Some of his loyalists were dragged to the streets and lynched, while others were thrown from the high floors of tall buildings. In addition to the 2007 coup, Hamas, a few years later, was caught planning a second coup to try to take over the West Bank as well as the Gaza Strip. The calls for Hamas to "join political action" actually aim to legitimize the terror group and present its leaders as a bunch of politicians seeking seats in parliament and jobs in government,

America is in crisis, with the left battling the ascendant right, a clash of visions between a socialist nightmare in which America becomes either a feudal, feral combination of California and a communist college campus or we re-make it into something like the glorious, golden country it once was. How does all this end? Leftists in America— and the Democrats are a leftist party that is eagerly embracing admitted communists— seem to be under the impression that normal patriotic Americans have no right to engage in their own self-governance. That’s unsustainable. We’re not giving up our self-determination. The question is whether America resolves this peacefully,

The only question remaining is, has the moving finger irrevocably moved on? The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it. – The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Stanza 71, Translated by Edward FitzGerald Numerous authors are opining on the validity or invalidity of the pardons issued under the autopen signature of the invalid who was housed in the White House for the better part of four years (when he wasn’t on the beach with his ice cream cone). Andrea Widburg has ably discussed this issue as illuminated by Biden’s interview

Conservative former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro said on Tuesday that he is “passionate” about President Donald Trump, who treated him “like a brother” when he was president of the South American country. Bolsonaro, a staunch supporter and longtime ally of President Trump, spoke with the Brazilian outlet Poder 360 on Tuesday evening for over an hour, marking his first public appearance since Prosecutor General of Brazil Paulo Gonet called on Monday for Bolsonaro’s conviction in the ongoing “coup” trial against him. The former Brazilian president and Poder 360 conversed on several topics, such as the ongoing trial, his friendship with President Trump,

The "Big Beautiful Bill" accomplished many things, not all of them positive. One positive step was to repeal many of the Inflation Reduction Act's green energy subsidies. It's somewhat disappointing that Congress didn't repeal all of them, as President Donald Trump had promised during the campaign. Yet it's also somewhat remarkable to witness a genuine rollback, something that was never a given for this bill and which typically succumbs to special-interest politics. To be clear, I want more green energy from more sources, including wind, solar, geothermal, and whatever other promising avenues innovation makes possible. However,

Salem Radio host Charlie Kirk peeled back the layers of the ongoing controversy surrounding the Epstein files. President Trump went nuclear on those pressing what he calls the Epstein hoax. Kirk expounded extensively on what he thinks is the rationale behind Trump’s moves on this matter. It’s worth a listen. In short, Trump doesn’t want a repeat of 2017, when he had to essentially quarantine his attorney general, which led to the Mueller probe and the derailing of his first administration. Kirk argues that’s not what the base wants;

Forget Miami Beach. A new Times Square billboard is wooing New Yorkers to move to Ohio to flee the threat of Mamdani-ism. It's put up by Vivek Ramaswamy, who's running for governor of the Buckeye State. But New Yorkers can take a deep breath. We don't have to move to Ohio to escape the Mamdani threat. The best remedy is to turn out to vote in November. New Yorkers alarmed by Zohran Mamdani's Marxist convictions, "defund the police" history and anti-Israel rhetoric keep insisting he's impossible to beat with so many candidates splitting the anti-Mamdani vote.

Somebody turned the Kremlin bluster machine up to 11 following President Donald Trump's 50-day ultimatum to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine — or else. My PJ Media colleague Matt Margolis covered the "or else" earlier today, but the executive summary is that unless Moscow agrees to a ceasefire within 50 days, Trump will impose a 100% tariff on exports from Russia and countries that buy Russian oil — targeting major buyers like China, India, Brazil, Turkey, and Europe, too. There's also a heavy sanctions bill working its way through the Senate that Trump says he's warming to.

New Yorkers on the street were asked about radical Muslim socialist Zohran Mamdani's recent victory in the state's Democratic primary race and his agenda. The answers they gave should scare the hell out of all Democrats. Speaking on Wednesday to Fox News' "The Faulkner Focus," ordinary people in the city were interviewed about Mamdani, and it was clear that not one of them plans to vote for the candidate when he faces off in November against former Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and incumbent NY Mayor Eric Adams.

White House border czar Tom Homan said on Wednesday that the Trump administration is considering possible changes to its immigration enforcement policy as it relates to farm and hospitality workers. In an interview on NewsNation’s “Cuomo,” Homan said people in the White House are talking about various policy solutions and he expects he could see an announcement sometime soon. “I know the Department of Homeland Security, along with the Department of Labor, and the Department of Agriculture are talking about policy changes now,” Homan said. “I mean, the president’s committed: there will be no amnesty,

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has fined a Mississippi-based company for favoring foreign workers on H-2A visas over American job applicants. This week, the DOJ announced a settlement agreement with H2A Complete II Inc., a Mississippi firm that specializes in funneling foreign H-2A visa workers to United States farms after the department’s prosecutors found that Americans were being discriminated against. “American workers seeking jobs in their own country deserve priority,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said. “This Department of Justice will continue to protect our country’s workers from unlawful discrimination in favor of foreign nationals.”

A report released Sunday in The New York Times reveals multiple pardons handed out in the final weeks of President Joe Biden’s presidency were signed by an autopen — some lacking Biden’s final authorization. The article, titled “Biden Says He Made the Clemency Decisions That Were Recorded With Autopen,” seemingly tries to dispel claims by President Donald Trump “and his allies … that Joseph R. Biden Jr. was incapacitated and his staff conspired to take presidential actions in his name.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) reintroduced legislation Wednesday to officially designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, marking the latest push in his decade-long crusade to impose sanctions on the worldwide Islamist network that spawned Hamas and other terror groups threatening American interests. The Texas Republican’s Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2025 employs a new “bottom up” strategy designed to overcome previous Democratic opposition by first identifying Brotherhood branches that explicitly engage in terrorism before designating the entire organization for supporting those terror affiliates.

Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, was fired Wednesday from the powerful Manhattan US Attorney’s Office — where she prosecuted Jeffrey Epstein, his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell and, most recently, Sean “Diddy” Combs,” sources told The Post. The reason for Comey’s firing, which law enforcement and Department of Justice sources confirmed, was not immediately clear. She was informed that she was being axed under Article II of the Constitution, which describes the powers of the president, the sources added. President Trump has a long history of conflicts with the elder Comey and fired him as FBI director in 2017 during his first term.

Will President Donald Trump soon fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, as is now hotly rumored? And do you care? If not, maybe you should. Because at this moment, the Fed chief seems to think he has to re-fight the inflation battle he lost three years ago. And his refusal to cut rates is starting to choke our economy. Make no mistake: Having lost the confidence of the president who appointed him, Powell should resign. As a matter of practical stewardship of the nation’s central bank, Powell’s effectiveness as a financial leader has been called into question. Time to go. But Powell’s defenders bizarrely argue that Fed chairmen can’t be fired.

The Senate voted early Thursday to claw back $9 billion in federal funding for global aid programs and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, sending the package requested by President Trump to the House for a final vote. The 51-48 vote on what’s known as a rescissions package is a victory for Trump, who has vowed to shrink the size of the federal government, and who has come under fire from Democrats for adding a projected $3.3 trillion to the debt over the next decade by signing his One Big, Beautiful Bill Act into law earlier this month.

President Donald Trump said he was likely to impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals as soon as the end of the month and that levies on semiconductors could come soon as well, suggesting that those import taxes could hit alongside broad “reciprocal” rates set for implementation on Aug. 1. “Probably at the end of the month, and we’re going to start off with a low tariff and give the pharmaceutical companies a year or so to build, and then we’re going to make it a very high tariff". Trump said he (snip) expected pharmaceutical tariffs to grow as high as 200% after giving companies a year to bring manufacturing back...

Canadian officials are open to considering limits on how much softwood lumber can be exported to the US to try to resolve some of the trade friction between the countries, according to the leader of British Columbia. “We think there's actually an opportunity for lumber to be one of the early agreements and wins that are struck,” Premier David Eby said. “One of the asks for years out of the American coalition has been a quota — that there’s a fixed amount of lumber that gets to come from Canada,”. American lumber producers claim Canadian sawmills are unfairly subsidized because provincial governments set low fees for harvesting timber on public lands.

Canada will restrict tariff-free import of cheap, foreign steel to help domestic manufacturers reeling from levies imposed by the US, Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced. Speaking at a news conference in Ontario, Carney also pledged to diversify its trading partners away from the US and prioritise the use of Canadian steel. The announcement comes in the wake of punitive tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump - first a 25% levy on Canadian steel, later doubling it to 50%. Imports currently account for nearly two-thirds of Canada's steel consumption, while over 90% of Canadian steel exports were destined for the US - a level of dependency he described as "unsustainable".

California's embattled high-speed rail project suffered a major setback after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the termination of $4 billion in unspent federal funding by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). Citing 16 years of failure, no completed high-speed track, and escalating costs, Duffy declared the project, dubbed the "train to nowhere," a mismanaged and over-budget "boondoggle." "This is California’s fault. Governor Newsom and the complicit Democrats have enabled this waste for years. Federal dollars are not a blank check – they come with a promise to deliver results," Duffy said in a statement.

Democrats are counting on a big victory in 2026 to bring their party out of political purgatory, but things aren't exactly going according to plan. CNN's data guru, Harry Enten, offered a "reality check" on Wednesday, citing the current polling numbers compared to what we were seeing in 2018. Traditionally, out-of-power parties have an advantage across multiple fundamentals in midterm elections. That's not materializing, though. Not yet, anyway, and as I'll discuss, that's a big problem for Democrats for one simple reason. I have to wonder how much Enten is liked over at CNN, given his job often becomes quashing the unbridled narratives of his left-wing colleagues.