November 22, 2025

CHARM OFFENSIVE: Trump Played Mamdani Like a Fiddle. “Conservatives may roll their eyes in annoyance when the lamebrain left calls the president “literally Hitler” for the 10 millionth time, but they’re not saying it with a smile and a wink. They’re deadly serious. They really, truly believe that Trump is “literally Hitler.” It’s not a joke or a put-on. And here was their Boy Wonder — the Great Red Hope of the radical left — smiling and grinning and joking with Adolf freaking Hitler!”

UPDATE:

Posted at 8:59 am by Glenn Reynolds

WHEN YOU’RE A DEMOCRAT WHO’S LOST CNBC: Hakeem Jeffries Flips Out on CNBC After Anchor Calls Him Out on Obamacare.

Jeffries immediately shifted into campaign mode. He declared, “Leader Schumer offered a one-year extension in the context of trying to end the Trump Republican [sic] shutdown.” He went straight to the past, ignoring the question. [CNBC’s Rebecca] Quick stopped him.

“That’s different. I’m talking about what you have now,” she said. “Let’s not go back to what’s done in the past and what has not been extended.”

Jeffries started getting irritated at this point. “You can ask me the question. I’ll provide the answer,” he snapped.

Quick didn’t flinch. “Answer the question instead of going back.”

That’s when Jeffries’ temper started to flare. “I’m providing an answer in order to provide context,” he insisted, puffing himself up as if he were educating a misbehaving student. He accused Republicans of refusing to accept a “very reasonable multi-year extension,” insisting that Democrats had offered a one-year extension plus a long-term bipartisan commission. He lectured her, saying, “Having that context is absolutely important, regardless of what you may think.”

Quick could clearly tell that Jeffries was dodging because he doesn’t actually want a deal. And she called him out on it: “It’s important context to make me realize that I don’t think you want to get a deal done. I think this is something where you’d like to see the rates go higher and allow the Republicans to hang themselves with that. Is that the answer? Is this politics?”

Jeffries lost it. “That’s absolutely a ridiculous assertion,” he barked. “And really, shame on you for saying that.”

Shame? For noticing the obvious? For pointing out the Democrats’ favorite midterm strategy: engineer a crisis, blame Republicans, cash in politically?

Jeffries insisted, yet again, that this was a noble mission. “Listen, this is not a partisan fight for us, it’s a patriotic fight,” he declared. Quick responded with an eye roll that said everything.

Indeed: GIF Giving: CNBC Anchor Battles Liar Hakeem Jeffries Over Obamacare and Delivers Perfect Animated Meme.

Posted at 8:44 am by Ed Driscoll

OLD AND BUSTED: 12 Angry Men.

The New Hotness? ‘It defies logic:’ Dallas County’s first fentanyl dealing conviction tossed. Why? No proof of 12 jurors at trial.

The Dallas-based Fifth Court of Appeals has tossed Dallas County’s first conviction for fentanyl drug dealing because there’s no proof in the trial record that there were actually 12 jurors.

In April, a jury convicted Richard Leal of possession with intent to deliver fentanyl and sentenced him to 30 years in prison.

“It defies logic that neither the trial judge, nor the bailiff, nor the court reporter, nor either party noticed throughout the entire trial that the jury box was missing a twelfth juror,” Justice Mike Lee wrote. “…Logic dictates there must have been twelve jurors; otherwise, someone would have said something about the empty seat in the jury box. But the record reflects the seating of eleven jurors, nothing more. And on appeal, the record matters.”

Evergreen:

Posted at 8:14 am by Ed Driscoll

THE WICKED FLEE WHEN NO ONE PURSUETH:

Posted at 7:08 am by Glenn Reynolds

BRIAN ANDERSON: The Future of Journalism: Reconciling abundance with authority.

Just 28 percent of Americans say they trust newspapers, television, or radio to report fully and fairly. Among Republicans, the figure has plummeted to just 8 percent or so. Conservatives point to years of selective legacy press outrage and narrative discipline since Donald Trump decided to run for president: the phony Russia-gate investigations; the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story weeks before the 2020 election; the celebration of the “mostly peaceful” George Floyd riots; the authoritarianism of Covid-era public-health coverage; the pretense that President Biden was “sharp as a tack.” One can add countless other examples of elite outlets’ amplification of progressive ends, reinforced during the Biden presidency by a complicity among those outlets, social media firms, and administration officials to suppress and even de-platform controversial conservative voices—a failed effort to restore some kind of central command over the media cornucopia. The geography of journalism reinforced the political impression, with newsrooms clustered in a few coastal cities, steeped in the assumptions of their social class. The more those institutions declared themselves the guardians of “truth,” the more half the country concluded that “truth” was a partisan brand.

And yet the hunger for real reporting hasn’t vanished. People still want to know what happened—who did what, where, when, and why. Engagement with factual storytelling remains high. I can speak from our own experience at City Journal. Our reported pieces—Abigail Shrier writing about sexual trafficking, especially of minors, in California; Christopher Rufo’s whistleblower-based exposés on critical race theory and radical gender activism in academia and public schools; John Sailer describing the likely illegal methods universities are using to get around the constitutional ban on racial preferences in admissions; Heather Mac Donald’s relentless honesty about the realities of policing—have reached millions of readers and often had a significant impact on the public debate. I think this has to do with putting a face to the abstractions of policy choices, which makes them come alive, so that the stakes in human lives become clear. But it’s also about having the kind of journalists writing for us who have the receipts—by doing the hard work.

Most conventional journalists shun the hard work.

Posted at 7:00 am by Glenn Reynolds

WE THRIFT A LOT LESS NOW. BUT WHEN THE KIDS WERE LITTLE, IT WAS THE WAY WE SURVIVED:  I Can’t Even… A Brief Diversion.

For perspective, my first non-thrift store office chair was bought in 2022 partly with the profits of my comics-writing. And only because by then sons were off the paycheck and on their own.

Posted at 4:00 am by Sarah Hoyt

BEFORE YOU PILE COALS OF FIRE ON THEIR HEADS, WALK A MILE IN THEIR SHOES:  The Uncomfortable Truth.

Posted at 3:42 am by Sarah Hoyt