July 14, 2025

FASTER, PLEASE: “The Supreme Court cleared the way for the Education Department to fire half of its workforce on Monday, a move that advances President Donald Trump’s plans to dismantle the department. The high court’s decision in McMahon v. State of New York was issued 6-3 along ideological lines.”

UPDATE:

Posted at 4:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

OH: Registered sex offender to walk free after elementary school kidnapping attempt, prosecutors say.

The 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, which covers Arapahoe County and includes Aurora and Littleton, informed FOX31 on Friday that it intends to dismiss charges against Solomon Galligan.

The 33-year-old faces one count of attempted kidnapping after he allegedly tried to take an 11-year-old boy during recess at Black Forest Hills Elementary School in April 2024.

Aurora police previously reported that Galligan is a registered sex offender, with his registration tied to the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office.

After his arrest, Galligan underwent a mental competency evaluation that determined he was unfit to stand trial. As a result, prosecutors claimed they have no choice but to drop the charges.

But he’s competent enough to be out on his own and perhaps try again.

Posted at 2:46 pm by Stephen Green

ACE OF SPADES: Not Even the Leftist Simp NYT Believes That Biden Signed His Pardons.

Biden’s post-office Politburo are clearly trying to get ahead of an upcoming Congressional investigation, but why, when GOP-led Congressional investigations invariably end with plenty of failure theater and nothing to show for their efforts?

As Ed Morrissey writes, “overturning the autopen-signed clemency actions is going to be difficult:”

Anyone ordered back into prison or reverting back to felon status will challenge such actions, and courts will put the burden of proof on those arguing that the pardons are invalid in every individual action. The most controversial of the pardons — those of the Biden family and Biden’s top aides — seem clearly intentional by Biden, and he defended them publicly at the time the pardons were issued.

However, we need to make sure that this doesn’t arise again. The autopen should be considered invalid for anything other than the most ceremonial of presidential duties and proclamations. If a president can’t affix his personal signature to any substantive action, then we should assume incapacity exists and act accordingly.

That’s fine, but Team Biden will likely skate through without an actual punishment.

Related: No enemies to the left: ABC, CBS, NBC Silent Thus Far on Biden Autopen Bombshell.

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll

ONE HAND WASHES THE OTHER: Donors Gave Big To Newsom Family Charity, Then Governor Took Their Side. “In August 2024, Newsom’s office sent a letter on his behalf to the Biden Interior Department urging it to reject a $700 million proposed casino project north of San Francisco by the Koi Nation, a tribe with fewer than 100 members. But the Biden administration approved the project anyway, so in May, Newsom sued the Trump administration in a last ditch effort to block the Koi Nation’s casino. Should Newsom get his way, it would be a major win for the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, a major California political donor which operates its own gambling compound just 15 miles away from its rival’s proposed site, which broke ground on a $1 billion expansion in 2023.”

Posted at 1:44 pm by Stephen Green

THE PERSISTENCE OF FALSE MEMORY:

Miranda Devine draws attention to a Rasmussen poll to be released today on the Russia hoax:

Astonishingly, 60% of Democratic voters still think “the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government to win the 2016 election”, according to the poll of 1,014 Likely Voters conducted on July 6-7.

A whopping 69 percent of liberal voters still cling to the Russia collusion hoax, compared to 27 percent of conservatives, and 45 percent of moderates. Among all voters, more believe it unlikely (49 percent) than likely (42 percent).

Devine comments on the Democrat cohort of true believers, but the persistence of the lie among substantial percentages of the other cohorts is astonishing as well.

Blue-Anon is a dangerous cult:

Posted at 1:33 pm by Ed Driscoll

OUT THIS WEEK FROM KURT SCHLICHTER: American Apocalypse. An oral history of the Second American Civil War, set off by the dual assassinations of President Trump and Vice President Vance. In the style of his The Attack.

Posted at 1:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds

MARK JUDGE: DeMaurice Smith Fumbles in His Turf War.

DeMaurice Smith is not happy.

Smith was the head of the NFL Players Association from 2009 to2023. On Aug. 5, he will publish a new book: Turf Wars: The Fight for the Soul of America’s Game.

I’ve obtained an early copy of the book after it leaked that Smith had a lot of nasty things to say about various figures in the league. He called the Green Bay Packers Aaron Rodgers “the god of Cheesehead Nation” and said Rogers “was isolated and dismissive” during negotiations. Smith also calls League Commissioner Roger Goodell a “cold, dark void” and says Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is cheap: “If Jerry Jones saw a dollar bill on the ground, I truly believe he’d stop and pick it up.”

While news outlets have focused on the celebrity names in Turf Wars, the book reads less as a collection of celebrity gossip and more like the sort of political screeching you’d expect to hear at a Berkeley protest. Smith does not like the NFL’s owners, to be sure, but he also has harsh things to say about America.

Exit quote: “These are explosive and intriguing claims. The problem for Smith, however, is that his anecdotes don’t serve as proof.”

From Judge’s review, Smith wrote maybe one-half of an NFL exposé. I’d love to read the really juicy half, should he ever get around to writing it.

Related (From Ed): Prior to Smith’s time at the NFL Players Association, he served “as counsel to Attorney General Eric Holder and was a member of Barack Obama’s transition team,” as the American Thinker reported in 2009, after Smith helped to blow up Rush Limbaugh’s effort to be part of the team purchasing the then-St. Louis Rams.

Posted at 12:42 pm by Stephen Green

TODAY SESAME STREET, TOMORROW THE WORLD! Elmo’s X account hacked? Sesame Street character trolls Trump, demands Epstein files in viral rant.

The official X account of popular Sesame Street character Elmo appeared to be hacked on Sunday, with some new posts urging President Donald Trump to release the Epstein files and calling him Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s ‘puppet’. The account was restored after the brief hack, and all derogatory posts were deleted.

One tweet from the Elmo account read: “Elmo says ALL JEWS SHOULD DIE. F**K JEWS. DONALD TRUMP IS NETANYAHU’S PUPPET BECAUSE HE IS IN THE EPSTEIN FILES. JEWS CONTROL THE WORLD AND NEED TO BE EXTERMINATED.”

“RELEASE THE FILES @realDonaldTrump CHILD F****R,” another post on X, platform formerly known as Twitter, read.

The account has not confirmed the alleged hack yet. We do not know who was behind these tweets.

We do know the hacker isn’t familiar with Elmo’s backstory: Elmo puppeteer cleared of under-age sex claim.

Incidentally, this isn’t the first time that Elmo has let his antisemitic freak flag fly; it happened before in 2013: ‘Anti-Semitic Elmo’ goes to jail.

A man who gained notoriety for going on anti-Semitic rants while dressed in an Elmo muppet suit in New York was sentenced to a year in jail for trying to extort $2 million from the Girl Scouts, where he worked briefly on a computer project.

Dan Sandler, who has used the name Adam Sandler as well, showed no remorse for his crimes and said as much to Judge Robert Stolz as he was sentenced at the Manhattan Criminal Court, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

“This is not the case of someone in the back room of the office trying to embezzle money — this is more of a protest, like laying down in the intersection,” Sandler said. “I am in no way sorry to the Girl Scouts organization, because I think they are a corrupt organization.”

No word yet if Elmo is joining the Mamdani campaign, or if Grok has suddenly decided to become Sesame Street’s community organizer.

UPDATE: Or when Tucker will be “just asking questions” to Elmo:

UPDATE (7/14/25): Elmo went on an antisemitic tirade — and it strangely isn’t the first time.

While Elmo himself appears to be innocent, it is strange that using the perennial toddler as a mouthpiece for such vitriol is something of a trend.

But, as many online have noted, this bizarre outburst lends some clarity to a televised assault from February of last year, when Larry David throttled Elmo during a Today Show segment.

Perhaps David had heard whisperings that the Sesame Street resident had some animus toward his people. In any case, I myself feel vindicated insisting Elmo was the least Jewish of all Muppets.

Are we sure about that? Bert was seen in some awfully strange company a quarter of a century ago:

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

THE RUSSIAN NAVY HAS FINALLY REACHED ACCEPTANCE:

Previously: In a surprising development, Russia has seemingly formed a mechanised battalion from the crew of its only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov.

Posted at 11:40 am by Stephen Green