Posts on Sunday, July 26, 2026

The ideological excesses of the American Left are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Political commentator Hasan Piker recently appeared in a Mao jacket—a conspicuous tribute to the Chinese dictator whose regime was responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people—before addressing college students. Around the same time, Melat Kiros, a Democratic Socialists of America candidate in Colorado, declared that America would stop “exploiting the world” only after the country elects enough immigrants from the Global South. That is more than a campaign slogan. It reflects an ideology that seeks to replace America’s founding principles with an entirely different worldview.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has opened civil rights investigations into housing programs at two public universities after complaints alleged the schools promote or operate residential communities based on race, the agency announced. HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity is investigating the University of Connecticut and the University of Minnesota to determine whether their campus housing programs violate the Fair Housing Act by steering or advertising housing opportunities based on race or ethnicity. The investigations stem from complaints filed by the Equal Protection Project, which argues that the universities' themed residential communities unlawfully classify students by race even if participation is technically open to all students.

The U.S. has widened its military campaign against Iran, shifting from attacks on coastal military targets to strikes farther inland that have damaged key infrastructure, including bridges, transportation routes and utility facilities. The expanded operation comes after a short-lived ceasefire collapsed, reigniting fighting over the strategic Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s busiest oil shipping lanes, the Associated Press reported. Since hostilities started again, U.S. forces have moved beyond targeting naval capabilities and missile sites along Iran’s southern coast to striking military and infrastructure targets deeper inside the country.

President Donald Trump’s intelligence community has concluded that Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is far more inclined than his father to pursue nuclear weapons, raising concerns that Tehran’s long-term nuclear ambitions may have hardened despite the devastating damage inflicted on its atomic program. The assessment, first reported Friday by the New York Times and based largely on intelligence collected before the current war, found Mojtaba significantly less hesitant than his father and predecessor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, about pursuing a nuclear weapon, according to U.S. officials briefed on the intelligence.

It is the oldest trick in the authoritarian playbook. Anytime a Democrat politician looks into a television camera and declares a new policy is “for the kids,” history tells us it is time to do three things: grab your Bill of Rights, lock your wallet, and check your firearms. The political left has mastered the art of semantic camouflage. Because leftists’ true intentions—total state control and the systematic dismantling of individual liberty—are entirely unpalatable to the average citizen, they must cloak their radical agendas in the warm blanket of public safety.

The Trump administration is moving to fill gaps in the trucking industry by encouraging military veterans to step into roles left open after a crackdown on commercial driver's licenses issued improperly to immigrants. This approach makes practical sense. It rewards service members with skills already honed behind the wheel of heavy vehicles while addressing a workforce need through legal, qualified Americans. Under longstanding federal programs, veterans who operated military trucks weighing more than 2.5 tons in the past year and have two years of safe driving history in military heavy vehicles can skip the on-road skills test for a commercial driver's license. They still must pass the written exam.

It seems that everyone is talking about two things these days: The Odyssey (or, to be more strictly accurate, The Odyssey as reimagined by Christopher Nolan) and the Smithsonian Institution, specifically the National Museum of American History (NMAH), one of the roughly 20 museums that huddle under the taxpayer-funded umbrella of the Smithsonian. I have not seen the film version of Homer’s epic. But I feel confident in reporting that, for sheer entertainment, the televised cross-examination of NMAH’s longtime director, Anthea Hartig, easily beat out the cinematic version of The Odyssey. How can I say this, not having seen Matt Damon emoting around in his beard and shiny armor? Well,

A Biden-appointed majority on the First Circuit Court of Appeals handed President Donald Trump a major setback Saturday, refusing to lift an injunction blocking key election-integrity provisions of his executive order in 23 states and the District of Columbia. The three-judge panel denied emergency stay requests filed by the Trump administration and 12 Republican-led states, leaving in place a lower-court order that prevents the Department of Homeland Security from distributing federal citizenship lists and blocks the U.S. Postal Service from applying new mail-ballot requirements in the plaintiff states for elections held on or before November 3, 2026.

After 13 days of bombing Iran, on Friday we took a break. If we were dealing with rational opponents, the war in Iran would be over now, but we are dealing with fanatics and a situation where the monsters are fighting each other, and no one seems sufficiently in charge to enter into a meaningful surrender. In the meantime, we can turn to domestic matters, and to my mind, the situation at the Smithsonian Museum warrants our attention. It seems that we are paying super-woke people to denigrate our history and culture,