LA COUNTY MENTAL HEALTH DEPT: Filed claims totaling in excess of $8 billion with Medicaid between 2018 and 2024, according to an unprecedented deep-dive data analysis by Open the Books.

ULTIMATE ENGINEERING: That’s the title of a new book out this week by Brit Stuart Burgess that makes a tremendously compelling case for the proposition that the human body is chock full of illustrations of a level of engineering expertise and knowledge that far exceeds the capabilities of evolutionary natural selection.

If you’ve ever been told your wrist, knee or ankle are examples of bad design, this book will demonstrate why from the perspective of one of the world’d top-flight biomechanical engineers that claim is the opposite of the reality. Here’s my review for The Washington Stand.

WHERE ARE AMERICA’S JEWISH LEADERS? That may seem like an odd question to ask in this country, which has for so long welcomed and been blessed by courageous, freedom-loving men and women of the Jewish faith who love America and sought to protect and build it.

But my friend and former newsroom co-conspirator Richard Pollock — who made the long journey from 60s Lefty buddy of the Chicago 7 to a hugely successful journalism career and ultimately commonsense conservatism — looks around today and here’s what he sees:

“Today’s vicious antisemites are constantly in the streets. Yes, they act fiercely and thrive on intimidation. They are loud, impertinent, pushy and in your face. Muslims and political progressives have joined in an alliance to denounce Jews and Israel.

“They own the streets. They act with impunity. They physically assault Jews. They hide their faces behind Palestinian Keffiyehs and masks. We see their hideous work as they paint their dirty, antisemitic slogans to deface Jewish homes, synagogues, college campuses and Jewish institutions.”

Where are today’s Jewish leaders fighting back against this swelling wave of anti-semitism, Pollock asks?

ONE ENCOURAGING SIGN on this issue is the forthcoming “Why Israel Matters to America” forums on Capitol Hill for congressional staff and others who may be interested. Details here on HillFaith.

THE FULL MIFEPRISTONE TIMELINE: The FDA approved the chemical abortion drug in 2000 with four crucially important requirements, including being used only within the first seven weeks of a pregnancy, dispensed only by a qualified prescriber (with means to react promptly in case of an incomplete abortion or severe bleeding), patients had to have followup visits within 14 days, and all adverse events were to be reported.

Boy, have things changed since that initial FDA approval and the Sept. 12, 2001, death of Brenda Vise due to complications from a botched Mifepristone-induced abortion. The Family Research Council (FRC) went back and researched it all in depth to now provide this revealing timeline.

YOU SAY YOU WANT A (TAX) REVOLUTION: Well, Democratic Socialists like Mamdani, Sanders and AOC, if you were to confiscate 100 percent of the wealth of the five richest men in America, you could fund the federal government for two months, according to a National Taxpayers Union (NTU) analysis.

The same study found taxing the top one percent of all taxpayers at a 100 percent rate would fund Uncle Sam for four months. As Lady Thatcher famously said, “the problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.”

BACKSTORY OF THAT JOBS REPORT: Yes, it’s encouraging that 172,000 new jobs were added in the economy in January, but Issues & Insights points to another equally important datapoint in the report that is hopefully even more indicative of future trends.

HOW TO SAFEGUARD WORSHIP PLACES: Violence against Christian churches and Jewish synagogues is on the rise in this country, but there are effective steps officials can and should take to reverse the tide. Richard Pollock has the scoop in an interview with holy places security expert Stephen Bryen.

DON’T LEAVE JUST YET, NANCY: Mark Alexander at Patriot Post has a suitable retirement gift for the former Speaker of the House and with Joe Biden no longer controlling the Justice Department, Pelosi just might find herself opening an official envelope containing the gift.

DON’T FAIRFAX THE REST OF VIRGINIA: A Virginia Commonwealth University professor warns the state’s Democrats that they are headed down a seriously wrong path on the redistricting issue. The X post is from the Fairfax GOP, but Professor Alex Keena is not a Republican activist.

When I lived in Northern Virginia during the Reagan/Bush 1 era, you often saw bumper stickers in surrounding counties warning “Don’t Fairfax _____ County.” Now the whole state is being Fairfaxed.

DID ANCIENT CHINESE ASTRONOMERS KNOW OF JESUS? Yes, that’s an unexpected question, but the answer is yes, they did indeed, though not by the same name known in the West, according to a Catholic research and advocacy group.

The evidence comes from close readings in the archives of the pre-polytheistic era dynasties of Chinese history when the Far Eastern giant followed a monotheistic religion very much analogous to what we today call Christianity. I’m cautiously fascinated. What do you think?

ACADEMIC ‘FREEDOM’ ON LEFT CAMPUS: Powerline’s John Hinderaker points to a special ed teacher in a California school who lost her job after expressing support for the deportation of illegal aliens. And asks the next logical questions:

“How did we get to this pass? And what is the path forward? Honestly, I think it is hard to see how those of us who support the rule of law can continue to share a country with those who do not–a group that now numbers close to half of our population. What possible basis for a common citizenship is there, between us and them? I don’t think there is one.”

DATA SAYS GOING TO CHURCH KEY TO MARITAL BLISS: In fact, according to the joint analysis of the Institute for Family Studies and UVA and the Wheatley Institute at BYU, men are 3x as likely to be happily married if they regularly attend worship services with their wives and kids. So, if healthy families are the key building block for civilization …

NO ‘GET-OUT-JAIL-FREE’ CARD FOR LEMON: Just Facts points to three Supreme Court cases, all decided years before President Donald Trump was in the Oval Office the first time, that strongly suggest former CNN host Don Lemon is headed for big-time trouble.

HAD ENOUGH COLD, SNOW AND ICE? What if you, like the Wood Frog and Japanese Macaques, had to live with it most or all of your life? Check out the amazing ways such creatures are adapted to living in the Earth’s fridge.

REAGAN REMEMBERED: Today would be Ronald Reagan’s 115th birthday were he still among us. Rod Martin republishes the superb obituary he wrote following Reagan’s death in 2004. Writing fitting obits about significant figures is a hugely difficult challenge, but Martin’s is one of the finest I’ve ever read on this great and humble man.

EXODUS EXPLORED, PART 4: This series from the John 10:10 Project exploring the historical and archeological evidence of the accuracy of the Biblical account of the Israelites’ escape from Egypt to the Wilderness and finally to the Promised Land just keeps getting more fascinating. Today’s installment on HillFaith examines the location of Mt. Sinai, one of the most crucial facts in the whole odyssey because if the Bible got that fact wrong, well ….

A QUICK HISTORY LESSON: Illustration of true meaning of Mayor Mandami’s “we will replace the frigidity of capitalism with the warmth of collectivism”

SPEAKING OF DOOMED LEFTY INSTITUTIONS: Rick Moran at PJ Media lays out the likely demise of national election-shaping lefty political power in a column updating the old saw that “demographics are destiny” for a country.

“The blue states are in a demographic doom loop. They need to create high taxes to pay for the numerous goodies they give to residents, but that leads to an exodus of wealth and people. To make up for the losses, blue states import and encourage illegal aliens to settle there. But illegals are a huge drain on the state treasury, leading to the need to raise taxes, and the loop closes on itself.”

Yes, Lord, please let it be so!

TAPS’ WPOST OBIT: Jeff Bezos warned the Washington Post newsroom two years ago that reality is an undefeated champion. Yesterday, one of every three newsroomers were let go as reality struck home. My Substack obit of what was once a great newspaper.

HUGE FRAUD, MISMANAGEMENT EXPOSED IN RED AND BLUE STATES: State and local governments are required by federal law to permit outside auditors to conduct comprehensive “Single Audits” of how officials are administering federally funded social welfare benefit programs. Media coverage of these audits is typically meager at best.

So Truth-In-Accounting (TIA) is digging deep into the most recent such audits (2024) and uncovering all kinds of costly, long-running waste, fraud and corruption. And the garbage is showing up in both Blue and Red states. Check it out here. 

PROMOTED FROM LAST EVENING

EXCLUSIVE — AMERICA’S FIVE WORST CITIES: The green eyeshade rockers at Truth-In-Accounting took a look at reams and reams of dry, boring audit reports and came away with a list with some surprises. I got my hands on an advance copy and report it on Substack.

WORLD-WIDE PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS: North Korea tops the latest edition of World Watch’s Top 50 Most Dangerous Places for Christians, HillFaith’s Amanda Hughes reports. Sudan, Eritrea, Syria, Nigeria, Pakistan, Libya and Iran fill out the top 10. See a pattern here?

MOST HILL AIDES FAVOR STOCK TRADES BAN: Talk about a super-majority! More than three-quarters of all congressional staffers surveyed say their bosses — senators and representatives — should not be able to trade stocks while in office.

WAITING GAME ON IRAN: Will there be genuine negotiations seeking a new future for the Iranian people or is President Donald Trump about to whack the Ayatollah’s regime that first came to power in 1979? Richard Pollock wants to know and he’s tuned in with some smart people.

4 WAYS CBO TOOL IS BIASED TO GROW SPENDING: It may be an obscure, deep-in-the-woods reality but the federal budget baseline tool routinely used by the Congressional Budget Office to project federal budget trends, tax revenue and economic growth has four flaws that prompt more outlays.