MCDONALD’S TO FACE $10B LAWSUIT ALLEGING BIAS AGAINST BLACK MEDIA COMPANIES:

A $10 billion lawsuit against McDonald’s will be allowed to proceed after a federal court denied the company’s motion to dismiss and sided with media tycoon Byron Allen, who is alleging that the corporation allocates less ad funding to black-owned media.

Allen will be allowed to try and prove the franchise discriminates against black-owned media, thus violating federal civil rights laws, a federal district court in California ruled last week.

“This is about economic inclusion of African American-owned businesses in the US economy,” Allen said in a press release Tuesday. “McDonald’s takes billions from African American consumers and gives almost nothing back. The biggest trade deficit in America is the trade deficit between white corporate America and black America, and McDonald’s is guilty of perpetuating this disparity.”

Allen alleges that the company placed his networks, which include the Weather Channel and Comedy.tv, to an “African American tier” that receives less funding. The lawsuit claimed black people represent 40% of fast-food customers, but McDonald’s spent 0.3% of its $1.6 billion U.S. ad budget in 2019 on black-owned media, according to the press release.

When then-CEO Steve Easterbrook said in 2015 that he wanted to transform the corporation into a ‘modern, progressive burger company,’ apparently, he wasn’t kidding. 

HILLARY IS RIGHT: Abortions should be as hard to obtain as AR-15s. “I’m here to tell Mrs. Clinton that these terms are acceptable. Abortions nationwide should be as easy as obtaining an AR-15. The pro-life movement should begin working on implementation immediately.”

THE POWER LINE WEEK IN PICTURES: Martha’s Vineyard Sequel.

CRIME SQUAD, EPISODE 2: New video from Reason TV.

KEN BURNS’S ANGRY NEW FILM: The director acknowledges The US and the Holocaust was inspired by America First.

Explicitly acknowledging that he was inspired to make the film by the rise of the America First movement, Burns said, “I have been making films for almost 50 years about the US, and also about us. When anyone tells you there’s a ‘them,’ that’s authoritarianism. All such distinctions are biological, scientific and political fictions. They are designed to create grievances.” Burns has regularly denounced Donald Trump, saying that his presidency took the country backwards, and has now attacked Ron DeSantis, saying that the Florida governor’s scheme to send migrants to Martha’s Vineyard* was “basically saying that you can use a human life… and to put it in the position of becoming a political pawn in somebody’s authoritarian game.”

Note that while Burns is using “America First” as an attack on The Bad Orange Man and those eeeeevil Rethuglicans, the original America First group was a broad coalition of ideologies: “Like any mass political movement, America First was an amalgamation of groups and fellow travelers who sometimes shared little more in common than an opposition to America’s entry into the war. The ranks of the antiwar movement included pacifists and communists (at least until Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941), wild-haired liberals, straight-laced conservatives and everything in between.”

The Times of Israel interviewed historian Rafael Medoff on Sunday: PBS Holocaust documentary perpetuates well-worn myths to glorify FDR, says historian.

Early in his new film “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” documentarian Ken Burns claims the United States admitted more Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany than any other country on Earth.

The problem with this statement, according to historian Rafael Medoff, is that it flies in the face of publicly available data on refugees from that period.

Clocking in at six hours, “The U.S. and the Holocaust” begins airing on PBS this week. In recent press interviews, Burns said he attempted to handle Roosevelt “more critically” for “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” compared to the previous, somewhat glowing treatments of FDR in his other documentaries on the period.

Calling Burns “seriously mistaken” about the issue of Jewish refugees, Medoff told The Times of Israel that the discrepancy is connected to several other “well-worn myths” that appear in “The U.S. and the Holocaust.” These myths, said Medoff, run the gamut from why the US could not rescue Anne Frank to Roosevelt’s role in the “St. Louis” affair, alongside the perennial debate on bombing the tracks to Auschwitz.

* * * * * * * *

You were one of the historians consulted on a new Jerusalem memorial to James G. McDonald, the first ambassador of the US to Israel. As the key adviser to President Roosevelt on refugee issues, McDonald resigned his position in 1935 out of frustration for being unable to convince FDR and other leaders to take action. Why would Burns omit McDonald from a film focused on refugees?

More than a decade ago, the US Holocaust Museum published McDonald’s diaries. Subsequent research by the Wyman Institute revealed that McDonald had been much more critical of Roosevelt’s refugee policy than the editors of the diaries had acknowledged. So when the museum decided to start creating exhibits and programs promoting the notion that FDR tried to rescue the Jews, McDonald’s story became a problem — it contradicted the museum’s new narrative. McDonald was completely omitted from the museum’s 2018 exhibit on “Americans and the Holocaust” — despite the museum director’s explicit written promise to the McDonald family that he would be included.

Ken Burns has said his film is based on that exhibit, and the museum’s staff members were his consultants, so it appears that Burns’s omission of McDonald is consistent with the museum’s approach.

It’s tragic that the exhibit and the film would exclude this noble American statesman, whose efforts to help the Jews deserved to be highlighted, not ignored.

From an earlier Times of Israel article quoting Medoff on James McDonald: New Evidence Shows FDR’s Bigotry Derailed Many Holocaust Rescue Plans.

Flashback: New Documents Reveal FDR’s Eugenic Project to ‘Resettle’ Jews During World War II. As the Holocaust raged, the American president secretly asked his government to study the possible resettlement of remaining European refugees in Africa and South America. His goal: for Jews to be ‘spread thin all over the world.’

* I too confuse Martha’s Vineyard and Auschwitz. Notice that Burns isn’t angry with President Biden for re-opening the floodgates on illegal immigration — and turning illegal immigrants into political pawns in the first place, but he’s quite cross with DeSantis for exposing the utter hypocrisy of the Martha’s Vineyard wine and cheese lawn sign crowd:

As Karol Markowicz writes: DeSantis was right to send migrants to Martha’s Vineyard. We need to bring border crisis to Democrats.

Earlier: Sanctuary Cities Seethe as Illegal Immigrants Actually Arrive.

The surest sign that public policies are simply virtue signals is when the messages don’t cost anything. The easiest way to tell when that signal starts to fail is to watch politicians flounder as the costs start to rise and voters demand relief.

It was free—and meaningless—for progressive churches to post banners calling themselves “nuclear free zones” during the Reagan era. Their dwindling congregations loved it. It was free, after George Floyd‘s murder, to post woke catechism signs on your front lawn, proclaiming “In this house, we believe: Black Lives Matter, women’s rights are human rights, no human is illegal” and so on. Maybe the neighbors gave you high-fives. And for years it has been free for deep-blue cities to proclaim themselves “sanctuaries” for illegal immigrants. That’s changing now that voters want some sanctuary for themselves.

Changes like this happen when voters realize the old virtue signals actually entail serious costs—and that they will have to pay them. That is exactly what’s happening in New York City and Washington D.C. now that Texas governor Greg Abbott is sending those cities a few busloads of illegal immigrants from his state.

These progressive bastions were silent when the Biden administration flew planeloads of illegal immigrants to suburban airports in the middle of the night. TV coverage was prohibited, and the arrivals were secretly dispersed. Abbott’s buses, by contrast, arrive downtown greeted by local TV crews. Now you can hear the politicians screech.

Why, it’s as if: Democrats Discover Only The Federal Government Can Solve The Border Crisis.

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN: Climate protester set himself on fire at tennis match and instantly regretted it.

A UK climate protester literally put his skin in the game when he ran onto a tennis court before Roger Federer’s final match at O2 Arena in London and set himself on fire. That was surely meant as a sign of his absolute commitment to the cause but apparently no one had told him that fire is hot.

Wearing a white T-shirt reading “End UK Private Jets,” the protester, a young man, appeared on the court during the afternoon singles match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Diego Schwartzman. Sitting down near the net on Schwartzman’s side of the court, the man briefly set fire to his right arm, and to the court, as security officials ran toward him.

The protester appeared to immediately regret the decision to set fire to himself, and quickly put out the flames with his left hand while a small fire burned on the court next to him. A staff member smothered the on-court fire with a suit jacket while the protester calmly waited to be removed.

Once the fire was out, and with Schwartzman keeping a safe distance, three security guards carried the man off the court to a chorus of boos from the crowd.

The whole thing only lasted about 30 seconds and accomplished nothing.

Michael Shellenberger has a thread on the intersection of apocalyptic environmentalism and exhibitionist narcissism that’s well worth a read:

In contrast, in the sixties, protestors who self-immolated were made of much sterner stuff:

ROD DREHER: Sex With Children: The Gender Ideology End Game.

Irene Montero, a Communist who is the Minister of Equality in the left-wing Podemos government in Spain, says the quiet part out loud: that equality means children have the right to have sex if they want to. Here’s the clip, in Spanish, but with English subtitles (turn on the CC on the YouTube frame):

This is it. This is the end game of these queer theorists and gender ideologues: the sexualization of children. It was always going to end up here. This is what all these drag queen story hours mean, and these “family-friendly drag shows”. It’s all about sexualizing children and grooming them to become prey for pedophiles — sorry, “Minor-Attracted Persons.”

Exit questions: “Did they even go this far in Weimar Germany? How much more of this are we prepared to tolerate?”

DECLINE IS A CHOICE: The Chevy Camaro Dies in 2024, Will Be Replaced by Electric Sedan.

Currently, the two-door, gas-fed Chevy Camaro is without a future. But it has a futuristic replacement, according to Automotive News. That replacement is an all-electric sedan. Commence double takes, spit takes, and hot takes. At least the four-door that’s slated to succeed the Camaro is billed as a “performance” sedan.

General Motors is of course in the midst of a huge transition toward electric vehicles. By 2035, the automaker hopes to go all-electric, no longer selling gas- and diesel-powered cars, trucks, or SUVs. Read between the lines, and GM isn’t merely tearing up its internal combustion lineup and starting over, nor will it blindly adhere to its 2035 goal if the market hasn’t shifted to support such a move—i.e., the all-electric gambit is a goal, not a promise, and if buyers aren’t ready for only EVs, GM may still provide gas- and diesel-fed vehicles to meet demand.

Flashback: Biden seeks to make half of new U.S. auto fleet electric by 2030.

Which isn’t very surprising for an administration staffed, from the (figurehead) top on down with Obama administration retreads.

WE ARE ALL MARK JUDGE NOW:

I just had a peek at a new book by a friend, and one of our top contributors at The Stream, the gifted Mark Judge: The Devil’s Triangle: Mark Judge vs the New American Stasi. For its intrinsic merits, and for the story it tells about the dangerous attacks on freedom that we all face, it deserves to become an instant best-seller.

I barely knew Mark Judge, except as an arts columnist, before he became the target of a skilled, professional hit job. Or not the target exactly, so much as the patsy whom cynical politicians hoped to use (and if need be destroy) in order to take out their actual target, Trump Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. I offered Judge this endorsement for his book:

I was tempted to compare Mark Judge to Lech Walesa or Vaclav Havel. They were likewise targeted for personal destruction by regimes that perverted their countries’ constitutions, and were desperate to cling to power. But that isn’t entirely apt. Both Walesa and Havel at some point consciously chose to enter political activism, to pick up a stone and challenge Goliath.

Mark Judge never did. He just went to high school, struggled with alcoholism, and wrote a memoir about it. That’s it.

But highly paid professional opposition researchers hired to stop the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh at any cost came across Judge’s name. They pored over his memoir’s details, and used it as a ‘story bible’ for the attack on Kavanaugh. Then they used every weapon, legal and illegal, in their arsenal to try to force Judge to somehow help them credential their fiction.

He stood firm, which shocked them. The truth prevailed for a change. And after the Dobbs decision, we live in a new and better America. In large part, we have my friend Mark Judge to thank. I hope every American reads this book, and profits from the example of his courage.

Read the whole thing.

GRIM MILESTONE WATCH: The Dow Drops Below 30,000.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average had a bad morning today and lost nearly 700 points, putting it below 30,000 for the first time in almost two years.

Between the Fed’s monetary policy and continued concerns over inflation, traders could send stocks into a bear market. If the Dow closes below 29,439.72, it would be the first such instance since the Covid recession.

Do the numbers signify a global bear market?

Business surveys Friday showed economic activity in Europe declined sharply in September, highlighting how growth outside the U.S. has also been knocked off course. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar is experiencing a once-in-a-generation rally that threatens to worsen the slowdown in global growth and effectively export inflation around the globe.

Central banks around the world, including policy makers in Norway, Switzerland and South Africa, have lifted borrowing costs. The global commitment to policy tightening has further eroded hopes among investors for a soft landing, or only a modest hit to growth instead of a full-blown recession.

“All central banks are singing from the same hymn sheet: They’re trying to get on top of inflation no matter what,” said Antoine Bouvet, a senior rates strategist at ING. “The Fed set the tone very clearly…they will continue regardless of the economic pain inflicted on the economy.”

The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 slid 2.3%, dropping to its lowest level since December 2020.

Usually, when stocks fall, bonds offer a haven to nervous investors. But prices have been dropping for both this year, an unusual coupling that highlights just how anxious many buyers are, and how starkly different the investing environment has been in the first nine months of the year. Yields on the 10-year Treasury and two-year Treasury once again roamed near levels not seen in more than a decade.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose to 3.695% this week, notching an eighth consecutive week of gains. Two-year Treasury yields climbed to 4.212%, the highest since October 2007. Yields rise as bond prices fall.

“The Dow Is 1,400 Points Lower Than When Biden Took Office,” the Daily Wire notes.

Exit question: Is Team Biden purposefully grinding down the middle class?

JUDGE ALLOWS ARIZONA’S NEAR-TOTAL BAN ON ABORTION TO TAKE EFFECT.

MARK JUDGE: When Sting Put on the Ring: More Wisdom From a Holy Pastor.

Dear Mark,

I watched the “Synchronicity” concert on HBO the other night. I’m sorry to have to tell you that I was disappointed in Sting, though I thought the other two guys in the band were outstanding. I am afraid that your hero was a bit burnt out, perhaps from the bizarre lifestyle that superstars can get into. Especially when they are touring. Sting looked bloated and acted sloppy. It seemed to me that for the most part he was not interested enough in his songs to try and do them with all his attention. I wonder if Sting hasn’t been slipping on the Ring lately — and you know what happens to those who try to use the Ring.

Just before sitting down to write you I listened to a few numbers from the tape you made — songs like Don McLean’s “Crossroads” and George Harrison’s “Beware of Darkness” — and they sent me on a train of thought — about pain. It just so happens that one of the songs Sting did well was “King of Pain.” Then there’s the piece by Don McLean — “Can you find my pain? Can you heal it?” What is this pain they are talking about, Mark? Do you know? I know a little bit about my own, and I know that everyone has it — but I know that each person’s pain is as personal as their name. And I know that it’s worse to try and cover it and hide from it than accept it.

I was very happy that you saw the movie Gandhi, and even happier that you were impressed by it. Gandhi could live as he did because deep down he had accepted the pain without protest. And he could do so because he found a Life strong enough to absorb the pain without needing to resist — and being able to live that way is what I call salvation. In case you’re wondering, I am driving at something. It’s the Eucharist.

I was fascinated that you asked me if I was still going to Mass — and because of that I can’t help mentioning it in connection with these other things. How do you think Gandhi could ever walk around the way he did and see people as he saw them and treat them as he did? For myself I am sure it was not simply because he was a very strong individual with great moral character. I am sure that is was because he was in touch with God. Like Jesus, it wasn’t just at his death that he offered the sacrifice of his life.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Gandhi wasn’t a saint, he was a lawyer. Literally. And if you look at famous statements of his, it’s obvious, like when he was asked what he thought about Western civilization and responded that it would be a good idea. This was basically a sham: Indian civilization, of course, possessed all the flaws of Western civilization in spades — it was no stranger to imperialism, mass slaughter, exploitation, slavery, etc. — but Gandhi knew how that remark would strike his Western audience, which knew little of Indian history, and used that ignorance to put the knife in. That’s what an advocate does, but I wouldn’t exactly call it saintly.

MARC THIESSEN: If the pandemic is ‘over,’ so is Biden’s authority to forgive student debt.

Of course. Hence:  Democrats Hit the Airwaves to Walk Back Biden’s Pandemic Admission.

MALARKEY: Biden: The Catholic Church approves of abortion in some cases, you know.

‘FACT’ CHECKER GLENN KESSLER CLAIMS FETAL HEARTBEAT IS A ‘MISNOMER,’ INSTANTLY REGRETS GETTING OUT OF BED TODAY:

Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post’s intrepid “fact” checker, must have been salivating over his plan to “own the cons” when he retweeted Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams’ claim that “there’s no such thing as a heartbeat at six weeks.” Abrams (D-Tinfoil Hat) claimed that a fetal heartbeat is just a Grand Plot by men to “take control of a woman’s body.”

Kessler weighed in with, “FWIW, ‘fetal heartbeat’ is a misnomer. The ultrasound picks up electrical activity generated by an embryo.”

“The so-called ‘heartbeat’ sound you hear is created by the ultrasound,” he added. “Not until 10 weeks can the opening and closing of cardiac valves be detected by a Doppler machine.”

Apparently, a memo went out on the Left this week with the new pro-abortion talking point to justify the murder of unborn children. Dr. Stacey Abrams, M.D., and Kessler wasted no time running to Twitter to shout the New Abortion Narrative.

It can’t be easy doing cleanup duty for the president of United Earth.

LISTEN, SUG: DON’T FORGET TO SAY YOUR PRAYERS*. Time to Dust Off the Old Nuclear War-Fighting Playbook?

Unpalatable as it is, the world may be forced to dust off the old Cold War-era playbooks that kept everyone’s missiles peacefully interred in their silos. Indeed, it’s vital that Western decision-makers reacquaint themselves with the lessons of the past, and soon. The present conversation around deterring or responding to a Russian use of nonconventional weapons is downright terrifying.

Some believe that NATO nations should broadcast their potential response to Russia’s use of a nuclear weapon. Sagamore Institute senior fellow Jerry Hendrix advocates the establishment of a red line, the crossing of which would trigger a Western no-fly zone over Ukraine and NATO soldiers on the ground, the sinking of Russian naval assets in the Black and Baltic seas, and the neutralization of Russian military targets outside Russia’s borders. Lacking the capacity to respond conventionally, Moscow might be forced to respond unconventionally. “To be sure, this will result in the loss of lives and the destruction of great cities,” Hendrix writes. “This is immeasurably sorrowful and regrettable, but the responsibility will not be on the West.” True enough, but that’s cold comfort.

Sam Nunn, a former lawmaker and the co-author of a program that deactivated thousands of Soviet nuclear weapons, “favors some sort of horizontal escalation” to avoid a nuclear response to a Russian attack. For example, destroying the platform that delivers a nuclear weapon. The West could also mount non-kinetic responses, including crippling cyberattacks on Russian command and control and civilian infrastructure. And the Russians must be made aware that these consequences would inevitably follow the use of an unconventional weapon.

* And don’t forget to wear your mask when you’re in the fallout shelter:

Flashback: The Unexpected Return of Duck and Cover.

(Classical allusion in headline.)

TWO BOMBINGS IN ONE NIGHT? THAT’S NORMAL NOW IN SWEDEN.

Sweden, which has a population of around 10 million, has the highest per-capita number of deadly shootings of 22 European countries. Forty-seven people have been shot dead so far this year, which, while far from American levels of gun homicide, is extreme for Europe. Other European countries have come to look at Sweden with horror.

It may be shocking for Americans to learn that in Sweden—the land of IKEA, Spotify and Greta Thunberg—all of this is going on. Perhaps the reason you don’t know about it is because of the uncomfortable reality of how we got here.

Among shooting suspects, 85 percent are first- or second-generation immigrants, according to the newspaper Dagens Nyheter, as immigrant neighborhoods have become hotbeds for gang crime. National Police Commissioner Anders Thornberg has described the violence as “an entirely different kind of brutality than we’ve seen before” and his deputy, Mats Löfving, says that 40 criminal clans now operate throughout the country. Spreading fear are “humiliation robberies,” targeting children and youth, in which victims are subjected to degrading treatment by assailants, such as being urinated upon. Just this week, four men were sentenced for robbing, beating and urinating on an 18-year-old, who was also filmed by his tormentors.

All of which is why, for the first time ever, crime emerged as a top priority among voters ahead of this past weekend’s general election. Swedes made their concerns plain on Sunday, when they awarded the country’s most strident anti-immigration party more than 20 percent of the vote.

The Sweden Democrats, or SD, is now the second-biggest party in parliament, and the biggest party of the right-wing bloc—gaining more votes than the more traditional center-right Moderate party. (It remains to be seen whether Ulf Kristersson, leader of the Moderates, can form a government with the support of SD, while sticking to his promise not to allow the party into the government coalition.)

So how did Sweden’s famously liberal electorate usher in a party with roots on the extreme right? In a word: denial.

In response to Sweden’s increasing problems with gang violence and social unrest in immigrant suburbs, the government’s strategy for many years was to deny how serious the situation had become. ​​In the meantime, those people who noticed the problem—many of whom were working class—and spoke out about their diminished safety were accused of racism by leading politicians, the mainstream press, and the cultural elites. Only one political party did not: the SD. And in election after election, they gained more and more popular support.

As David Frum tweeted in 2018 regarding the left hurling the F-bomb at the Trump administration, “If liberals insist that enforcing borders is a job only fascists will do, then voters will hire fascists to do the job liberals won’t.”

See also: Orbán, Viktor.

WELCOME BACK, CARTER! Tone-Deaf Fortune Mag Headline: ‘Why You Should Be Happy About Inflation.’

Just NBC Lorne Michaels nodding in agreement:

"Sure, all these dollars will cause even more inflation, but who cares?" – Jimmy Carter (Dan Akroyd), 1978

""I'm sick of this stuff … the American people think the reason for inflation is government spending more money. Simply not true!" – Joe Biden, 2022

Same energy. pic.twitter.com/o6Koe7edPr

— Louder with Crowder Dot Com (@LWCnewswire) April 5, 2022

ROGER SIMON: Keystone XL Revisited: Did Biden Give Putin the ‘WherewithOIL’ for World War III?

When the newly elected (or selected, if you prefer) president put an end to the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day, leading to an economic disaster for the United States and globally, while exacerbating the tremendous worldwide suffering instigated by a mishandled pandemic (real or imagined), it also opened the door for one Vladimir Putin.

Joe Biden presented Putin with the wherewithal—or should we say “wherewithOIL”—including the vast sums of cash therefrom, to invade Ukraine and who knows who else.

The United States, Putin concluded, would no longer be providing the world with fossil fuels, so who was there left, speaking of mothers, to take up the slack in increasingly high-priced liquid gold but Mother Russia?

Of course, Iran and Venezuela were similarly ready, willing, and able, but they didn’t have anywhere near the firepower (i.e., the world’s largest supply of nukes) that the beleaguered and possibly paranoid Putin does.

So, where are we now, besides the fact that Europe will soon be grappling with a winter that may not be nuclear but certainly will be absolutely freezing cold, possibly to death? In our case, it will just cost a small fortune to heat our homes.

Two-thirds through the month of September 2022 we have learned, via Vladimir’s defense minister, that the perpetual Russian president has ordered a “partial” mobilization of up to 300,000 reservists.

Also, Putin himself has just reminded us of his modern, updated nuclear arsenal and assured us that he’s “not bluffing” about its use.

Is he or isn’t he?

I could be a wise guy and say “only your hairdresser knows for sure,” but not even he or she knows. Maybe even Vladimir himself doesn’t know… until he does.

Fortunately though, American forces under President Biden are prepared for any potential looming conflict – or, perhaps not: Biden’s Military: Forget ‘Mom,’ ‘Dad,’ Use Woke Substitutes Instead, Air Force Cadets Told.

JOSH BARRO: Gavin Newsom Is Gross and Embarrassing and Will Never Be President.

Dear readers,

I have a rant.

In theory, Gavin Newsom is running for re-election as governor of California. But he is also, in the least subtle way possible, trying to position himself for a presidential run.

He’s challenged Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — also nominally just a candidate for re-election — to a national debate on CNN. And he’s used re-election campaign funds to put up billboards in South Carolina and six other states advertising the availability of abortion in California. And there has been a steady stream of news stories, obviously fueled by the governor’s allies, about how he stands ready to run for president as soon as the Democratic nomination becomes available.

I hate this for a few reasons.

First: The posturing is gross and cheap. The abortion billboards say “California is ready to help,” but they direct readers to a website that does little more than inform readers that abortion is legal in California and they may travel there to receive one. Gee, thanks. California does not, in fact, offer anything especially useful to women living 2,000 miles away who need abortions — if you need an abortion you can’t get in South Carolina, your likely best option is to travel to North Carolina. The billboards amount to using women in red states as a prop to burnish Newsom’s image. Similarly, proposing to debate DeSantis on CNN (about what, immigration policy neither of them controls?) does nothing to address migrant issues. It’s all about how these issues can be used to draw attention to Gavin Newsom.

Not surprisingly for a flailing governor of a failing state, Newsom has a serious case of TDS: Gavin Newsom Tells a Whopper During Discussion About Massive California Exodus. “Newsom says people are fleeing California ‘because of visa policies in the Trump administration.’ I know Newsom relishes residing in fantasyland and also enjoys the luxury of a dutifully compliant state and national press that rarely challenges him, but this is just straight-up bull. One doesn’t need to take my word for it, either. As recently as July, even the Democrat apologists at the Los Angeles Times wrote a report on why people were leaving and – shocker of shockers – the main reasons people were packing up and moving out of California in record numbers were the high cost of living including outrageously high home prices, rising violent crime including deadly smash and grabs, and out of control homelessness[.]”

How many people are leaving California? U-Haul Literally Ran Out of Trucks Leaving California.

How’s that Welcome Wagon program coming along?

VDH: Martha’s Meltdown Model.

Martha’s Vineyard has been all over the news.

The tony resort community so loves aiding and comforting the undocumented immigrants who were flown in from Florida that it hugged them — for all of 48 hours.

Oddly, the Left became unhinged when red-state governors — whose states the last two years were flooded with some 3 million people who entered the country illegally — finally decided to spread welcoming chores among affluent blue-state communities.

It was a natural fit.

Most, like Washington, D.C., and New York, were on record as sanctuary city jurisdictions. In the abstract, they endorse open borders and celebrate diversity — from the serenity of thousands of miles away.

The uproar at Martha’s Vineyard prompted the Democratic hierarchy to do some explaining. Why had it not earlier objected to the federal government night flights of tens of thousands of border-crossers to red-state communities that had opposed illegal immigration?

And why be angry with governors who were only emulating that policy by flying in a mere 50 newcomers — in the light of day — to a far wealthier and liberal-minded sanctuary resort?

Read the whole thing.

CHANGE: Japan to reopen to independent travelers and lift daily arrival cap, Prime Minister Kishida says, marking a major policy shift after nearly two and a half years of strict COVID-19 restrictions.

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Border Town Puts Up ‘Martha’s Vineyard’ Sign In Hopes Government Will Come Pick Up All Their Illegal Immigrants.

BURIED LEDE: CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR GROWS A SPINE! Iranian President Scrapped Interview With CNN’s Amanpour After She Refused to Wear Headscarf During Hijab Protests.

STRIKE A POSE, THERE’S NOTHING TO IT: Oregon Democrat Says Drug Prices Are ‘Out of Control.’ As State Legislator, She Tried To Keep Them That Way.