May 6, 2026

BACK AND TO THE LEFT. BACK AND TO THE LEFT: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Isn’t Radical Enough for Graham Platner and the ‘New’ Democratic Party.

The Democrats are doubling down on crazy, and they show no sign of moderating their radical social and cultural agenda any time soon.

Last week, 78-year-old Maine Gov. Janet Mills bowed out of the primary contest for senator. Mills used traditional Democratic fundraising conduits to raise an impressive $5.4 million in two quarters. This isn’t a big haul for a large state, but it is pretty good for Maine.

Meanwhile, the infamous oyster farmer, Graham Platner, the man with the Nazi tattoo, raised $12.5 million. Mills woke up last week and realized there was no way she could compete with a juggernaut like that. Besides, Platner had awoken something in the usually staid and sensible Maine Democrats. He was leading by 30 points in some polls.

Sen. George Mitchell served three terms as a Democratic Senator from Maine. He was the Majority Leader of the Senate from 1989 to his retirement in 1995. Mitchell was the last elected Democrat to serve in the Senate (Angus King is an independent who caucuses with the Democrats).

Mitchell was a poster boy for Democratic Party moderates. He was a consummate Senate insider who put getting things done ahead of partisan bickering. His kind is gone now. They’ve been shoved aside by hysterical radicals whose grasping for power presages a dark period in U.S. political history.

How dark? This dark: Antisemitism Is The Litmus Test for Democrats in 2026.

Antisemitism is a mental disease, in the way that Trump Derangement Syndrome is.

Neither is based primarily on political or ideological affiliations, although each correlates highly with partisan affiliations and ideological commitments.

That correlation does have a causal relationship, but the opposite of what is generally assumed. The antisemitism comes first, then the ideology and the partisanship. First, the antisemitism, and only then the political decisions. That’s why you see the “right” coded antisemites flocking to the Democrats, as I wrote yesterday, and the Democrats gaining a “strange new respect” for former Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene, and right-coded Nick Fuentes.

That same sorting is happening with current and former Democrats, who are so appalled by the antisemitic outbreak in their party that they are flirting with becoming Republicans, or at least praising their clear-sightedness on this issue.

We’ve descended into some sort of bizarre hell-world in which former(?) self-admitted communist Van Jones is a voice of sanity:

Tweet continues, “It just shows you how nutty things have gotten that someone who wants to stick up for Israel and doesn’t want an open border now has to be a Republican.”

Finally, America’s Newspaper of Record is once again doing straight-up reportage:

(Though as Frank J. Fleming wryly noted, “Leftists: ‘If Graham Platner is a Nazi, then why does he hate Israel so much?’”)

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll

MAGA: The heartland’s revenge: how AI is reindustrializing the American interior.

America does not currently have the capacity to power these mega-projects, but the market is responding. Utilities are expanding existing plants, and a new generation of power stations is being planned, often funded directly by the “hyperscalers” themselves.

The materials for this build-out are coming from the “Rust Belt” and the South, regions once hollowed out by globalization. This reindustrialization is not accidental. Federal tax incentives, specifically domestic content requirements, have encouraged companies to source equipment from American manufacturers. But if policy is the carrot, our unique energy position is the engine.

By steering procurement toward domestic sources, federal policy has tapped into a decisive competitive advantage: our staggering abundance of natural gas. While much of the world faces shortages, the American interior is practically swimming in fuel. Because natural gas is often a byproduct of oil production, the shale revolution has created a massive surplus. Today, oil companies often flare this gas or pay to have it removed; now, new pipelines are being planned to transport it directly to the heavy industry hubs of the Heartland.

Here’s your takeaway: “For years, the goods economy relied on foreign products arriving at coastal hubs. But as the center of the country begins to export freight again, the gravity is shifting.”

Posted at 1:46 pm by Stephen Green

ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY:

 

 

Posted at 1:35 pm by Ed Driscoll

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D):

Posted at 1:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds

DOWN THE MEMORY HOLE: Team Mamdani Kills Page Celebrating New York’s ‘Unique Ties to Israel’ and Large Jewish Community From Official City Website. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has made no secret of his hostility to Israel, and it’s starting to bleed into New York City’s government.

Related:

More:

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SUES NYT FOR ALLEGEDLY DISCRIMINATING AGAINST WHITE, MALE EMPLOYEE:

[EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas,] who has been involved with the EEOC since President Donald Trump’s first term, was promoted to chair of the federal watchdog group in his second administration. Her goal as chair is to dial back corporate DEI policies.

As chair, Lucas’s EEOC has gone after a Coca-Cola distributor for hosting a two-day networking event, specifically for women. The group is also investigation Nike, after allegations the company discriminated against white workers in an attempt to exemplify its DEI efforts.

“No matter the size or power of the employer, the EEOC under my leadership will not pull punches in ensuring evenhanded, colorblind enforcement of Title VII to protect America’s workers, including white males,” Lucas said in a statement.

The Times’ editorial product has for years endorsed a left-wing identitarian approach to race and gender. Use of the words “racist” and “racism” increased by 700 percent in the Times from 2011 to 2019, according to an analysis by Tablet. In 2018, the Times editorial board hired the writer Sarah Jeong despite her lengthy history of denigrating white people on social media. The Times’ focus on race only increased during the moral panic around race and identity that gripped the country in 2020, with the New York Times Magazine publishing the 1619 Project, which sought to reframe America’s founding around the arrival of slaves in the new world.

Earlier: Even New York Magazine Writers Don’t Bother To Read New York Magazine.

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MEGYN?

Posted at 12:28 pm by Stephen Green

THE POWER OF SOCIAL CONDITIONING:

UPDATE (From Ed):

More (From Ed):

Posted at 10:55 am by Glenn Reynolds

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Will A.I. Make College Obsolete?
Americans already distrust institutions, including academia. More and more people may decide that its stamp of approval isn’t worth the cost. When the New Yorker of all establishment organs says this, it’s a sign: “If we agree that college primarily serves a credentialling process that stamps select young people as worthy of work, and, if we agree that A.I. helps to expose it as such, might we not conclude that, at some point, people will collectively stop paying into the system, or will start seeking out other, less expensive credentials?”

Emphasis added by me, but basically there in the original.

Posted at 10:42 am by Glenn Reynolds