“At the British Open, I had my opportunities, but the ball just didn’t want to go in the hole on the back nine.”

— Fuzzy Zoeller.

“When Ballesteros triumphed at the British Open in 1979, for his first major win, he hit so few fairways off the tee that he was often mistaken for a gallery marshall.”

— Dan Jenkins.

Ryan Fox shot to the top of the leaderboard by shooting -8 under par 62. He is the 3rd player to shoot a record tying low round in the tournament. He and Si Woo Kim are tied for 2nd place, 2 shots behind Sam Burns, who finished the 3rd round at -10 under par.

Lucas Herbert, Tommy Fleetwood, and Jackson Suber are lurking. So is Scottie Scheffler who cannot make a birdie putt if you place his ball on the cup’s rim. All day, he was so close, yet so far away.

Bryson DeChambeau did tee off. He made few friends among his fellow competitors, the R&A, and the volunteers after his behavior on Friday. But he was well received by the fans, which proves there is no accounting for taste.

Today’s television coverage begins at 4:00 a.m. on USA network, and moves to NBC at 7:00 a.m. Someone will be named The Open Champion at the end of the day. But will yet another golfer shoot 62? And if he does, will it matter?

____________________________________________________________________

Today we continue reading S. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, and in fact, from the same chapter as last Sunday. 

Last Sunday, S. Paul outlined the principles of the sacrament of Holy Baptism. When we enter the waters of baptism, we are buried along with Christ: the “old man” dies. Our former way of life, enslaved to sin and ruled by disordered passions, is put to death. Then, rising from those mystical waters, we are raised with Christ to a new and transformed life.

All of this happens objectively, and is a solemn promise from God. Thus the term “sacrament.” This word was adopted in the early Church from its use in Roman society; sacramentum meant “solemn oath.” This term was used both in the military, when a soldier pledged his loyalty to the consul or emperor, and in the legal system when an amount of money was deposited with the courts as a pledge or bond. In the Christian life, the sacrament is God’s sure pledge to us, and our pledge of faithful obedience to Him.

The challenge is how to live into the objective reality brought about by our baptism into Christ, and to understand its practical implications in our day-to-day life. 

To bring this point home, S. Paul uses the analogy of slavery. We are either enslaved to sin or we are slaves in the service of God. Our experience bears out the truth of this analogy. We know that when a particular sin has its grip on us, it seems we can do nothing to shake it. Think of someone who suffers from an addiction to drugs or alcohol. He lives for that addiction. So it is with us when our besetting sin begins to dominate our lives. Whether avarice (greed), gluttony or lust, it’s hard to shake off their demonic hold.

S. Paul reminds us that sin is never content to remain where it begins. For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity. Sin has a way of deepening its hold. Before we were restored in Christ, we naturally drifted from one vice to another, often into sins more grievous than those with which we first began. What begins as idle gossip may eventually become malicious slander and the destruction of another’s good name.

Once again, we are reminded of the twofold work of our salvation. First comes the saving work accomplished by Christ upon the Cross, made present to us in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. This is wholly His work, to which we can add nothing. As S. Paul writes elsewhere: “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” Christ, the spotless Lamb of God, confronted our ancient enemies of sin, death, and the devil, and triumphed over them by His Cross. Through His victory, we are given both the power and the freedom to live as God created us to live.

Yet the Christian life does not end there. The Holy Ghost continues His work within us, the work of sanctification, or growth in holiness. This divine life, first bestowed in Holy Baptism and strengthened in Confirmation, is nourished through the sacraments and grows within us as the Holy Ghost prepares us for eternal communion with God.

This work of sanctification, however, calls for our willing cooperation. God never forces Himself upon us—not even in the matter of holiness. As we hunger and thirst for righteousness and long to be more closely united to Him, He responds by pouring out the grace we need through the sacramental life of the Church. Little by little, our hearts are conformed to His own, until, as the Psalmist says: “our hearts are knit unto Him.”

The Collect for Trinity VII beautifully gathers these themes into a single prayer: Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same. May that prayer become the sincere desire of each one of us, that, having died and risen with Christ in Baptism, we may daily walk in newness of life.

____________________________________________________________________

J.D. Vance gets it right: Christianity belongs in government

Faith provides the moral framework secular politics cannot replace

BY:          Everett Piper, The Washington Times (July 12, 2026).

Recently, Vice President J.D. Vance granted a series of interviews to The New York Times, USA Today, Fox News and others in which he openly acknowledged that his Christianity influences every aspect of his life: his politics, sense of duty, ambition and moral priorities.

In one interview, he said, “My Christian beliefs encourage me to concentrate on the positive.” He went on to explain how his faith in Christ helps him resist the temptations of “power” and redirect his carnal impulses toward service rather than self.

In another appearance, Mr. Vance stated that he believes he has providentially been placed in office “for a brief period of time to do the most amount of good for God and for the country” that he can.

Yet in another, the vice president said history shows clearly that the United States has a Christian foundation and that “Christianity is America’s creed,” one that has provided the “moral language” for America’s public and private life for the past 250 years.

In all these interviews, the vice president was consistent. For him, Christianity is not just a Sunday affair or a “private matter” that he keeps to himself and confines to the four walls of the church. To the contrary, Mr. Vance’s religion is an all-consuming, life-transforming, culture-changing worldview that, if pushed out of the public square, will leave a moral vacuum for both individual citizens and our body politic as a whole.

In summary, Mr. Vance sees the Christian faith as the foundation of America’s moral and social order, diametrically opposed to the radical secularism of the left. He argues that our nation is dramatically weakened by excluding it.

He is right, and he stands in good company.

James Russell Lowell, 19th-century abolitionist, Harvard professor and first editor of the Atlantic Monthly, once said, “The worst kind of religion is no religion at all, and these men living in ease and luxury, indulging themselves in the amusement of going without religion, may be thankful that they live in lands where the gospel they neglect has tamed the beastliness and ferocity of the men who, but for Christianity, might long ago have eaten their carcasses like the South Sea Islanders, or cut off their heads and tanned their hides like the monsters of the French Revolution.”

He went on: “When the microscopic search of skepticism, which had hunted the heavens and sounded the seas to disprove the existence of a Creator, has turned its attention to human society and has found a place on this planet ten miles square where a decent man can live in comfort and security, supporting and educating his children unspoiled and unpolluted; a place where age is reverenced, infancy respected, manhood respected, womanhood honored, and human life held in due regard — when skeptics can find such a place ten miles square on this globe, where the gospel of Christ has not gone and cleared the way and laid the foundation and made decency and security possible, it will then be in order for the skeptical literati to move thither and then ventilate their views. But so long as these men are dependent upon the religion which they discard for every privilege they enjoy, they may well hesitate a little before they seek to rob the Christian of his hope, and humanity of its faith, in that Savior who alone has given to man that hope of life eternal which makes life tolerable and society possible, and robs death of its terrors and the grave of its glooms.”

Hilaire Belloc, the early 20th-century essayist, poet, polemicist and historian, agreed with Mr. Lowell. He said: “The modern world imagines that it has outgrown religion. It has done nothing of the kind. It has merely forgotten it. And because it has forgotten it, it no longer understands itself. Men do not realize that the whole framework of their moral judgments, their political habits, and even their intellectual methods [were] formed within a Christian society and cannot exist long outside it. When that framework breaks, they will not find themselves enlightened, but bewildered; not free, but enslaved; not rational, but confused.”

Belloc, Lowell and Mr. Vance are essentially saying the same thing John Adams said in the earliest days of the birth of our nation: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people and is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.”

We should all be thankful that our current vice president is willing to suffer ridicule and mockery from our culture’s political intelligentsia and educated elites by reminding us of the obvious: Religion should never be a private matter.

Without Christianity in the public realm, our country — indeed, every country — will inevitably become a hell on earth.

____________________________________________________________________

Islam has no place in America’s public life

Our nation was founded on the Judeo-Christian ethic

BY:          Don Feder, The Washington Times (July 12, 2026).

What starts in California usually does not stop in California, sad to say. An effort is underway in the state to make two Muslim holidays — Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha — state holidays and to teach Islam in public schools.

Breakout sessions on infidel beheading are optional.

AB 2017, which passed the California Assembly by a 64-1 vote late last month, would allow public schools to close for these holidays and hold “exercises” celebrating some of the holiest days of the Muslim year.

Compare this with the treatment of Christmas and Easter, which have been secularized by transforming them into winter and spring breaks. Hanukkah and Passover? Forget it. Islam is the left’s pet religion.

If the bill passes, an “Arabian Nights” version of Islam will be taught to gullible schoolchildren, who will be told exactly what groups such as the Council on American Islamic Relations want them to learn.

There will be no discussion of how Islam was spread by the sword from India to Spain in the century after Muhammad’s death. Today’s holy war against African Christians will be strictly off limits.

In his 1996 book, “The Clash of Civilizations,” historian Samuel Huntington spoke of “Islam’s bloody borders,” meaning that wherever there is religious conflict anywhere in the world, it invariably involves Islam versus another faith: Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism or Buddhism. The outcome often is not pretty.

Absent will be any discussion of the 2001 World Trade Center attack, the 2009 Fort Hood massacre, the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, the 2016 Pulse nightclub shootings or the 2025 New Orleans pickup truck attack.

The rise of attacks on Jews parallels the growth of the U.S. Muslim population. According to the FBI, 69% of religion-based hate crimes are antisemitic, while only 2% of the U.S. population is Jewish.

The California public school push is part of a broad-based effort to normalize Islam in American life. There were 1,200 mosques in America in 2001. Today, there are 3,100. I guess demolishing the World Trade Center was not bad for business.

There are Muslim planned communities in Texas. Boston and Buffalo held flag raisings for Somali Independence Day this year. Without Somalis, who would have stolen $1 billion from federal aid programs in Minnesota?

There are currently four Muslim members of Congress, including the rabidly anti-American Rep. Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Democrat, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Michigan Democrat.

They will soon be joined by Darializa Avila Chevalier, a Haitian convert to Islam who just won the Democratic primary in a deep-blue congressional district in New York City. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayad — who refuses to say whether he believes Israel has a right to exist — is running to become the first Muslim senator in U.S. history.

Ms. Chevalier led the Columbia University boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign. Her platform calls for abolishing police and prisons and ending deportations, even for convicted murderers.

On the other hand, in Iran, protesters are hanged from cranes and women are lashed for appearing in public without a hijab.

Religious tolerance is unknown in the Muslim world (witness Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Gaza Strip under Hamas). Dissent is brutally repressed.

There is no room for Islam in America’s public life. Our nation was founded on a Judeo-Christian worldview handed down at Sinai and interpreted in Jerusalem, Rome and Geneva.

Some of our earliest settlements were religious: the Pilgrims and Puritans in Massachusetts, the Quakers and Amish in Pennsylvania, and the Catholics in Maryland.

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were overwhelmingly Orthodox Christians. The Constitution was dated on “the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven.” “Our Lord” does not refer to Allah.

Christianity has played a central role in shaping our national identity. In the 18th century, Colonial churches preached revolution against the British crown. In the 19th century, Northern churches were bastions of abolitionism. In the 20th century, they worked to end segregation.

Many of the young men who landed in Normandy on D-Day carried pocket editions of the Christian or Jewish Bible, not the Quran. They wore crosses or Stars of David. They did not carry prayer rugs.

To endure, a nation must have a shared vision. In America, that vision comes from our biblical heritage: human dignity, equality before the law and the protection of civil liberties.

Islam is as alien to American life as sexual morality is to Graham Platner.

GFK

“Wind is part of the British Open.  It is an examination and it took me a long time to pass the examination.  Eighty per cent of the fellows out there have not passed the test.”

— Gary Player.

“I never felt I could be a complete professional without having won the British Open.  It was something you had to do to complete your career.”

— Arnold Palmer.

On a sunny day, playing on a firm and dry Royal Birkdale course, leader Lucas Herbert and Sam Burns tied The Open scoring record, both shooting an -8 under par, 62.

Cameron Young is tied for 2nd at -6 under par. Sam Burns is at -5 under par. Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, and Tommy Fleetwood are 4 back at -4 under par.

Bryson DeChambeau finished in 2nd place behind Lucas Herbert, . . until he didn’t. The R&A reviewed Bryson’s play on Hole 5, determined that he improved his lie (a big golf no no), and levied a 2 stroke penalty upon him, turning a bogey 5 into a triple bogey 7. He dropped from -7 under par, to -5 under par.

Before the R&A levied the penalty on Bryson DeChambeau, Bryson informed the officials that if they penalized him, he would not play the remainder of the tournament. What an a$$! Let’s see if he tees it up today, but for his behavior, Bryson DeChambeau should be shunned by his peers and the fans. Go ahead and quit, you big fat loser!

The President spoke to the nation in prime time on Thursday evening. The president started his much-anticipated address by saying we are safer, stronger, and wealthier than ever before.  We overtook a nation in disrepair, including battling the worst inflation in 48 years, men in women’s sports, and being laughed at around the world.  We were considered a dead nation, but now economic investment is soaring, more Americans are working than ever before, and inflation experienced its largest monthly decline in six years.  The president then elaborated on Trump accounts, border security, and rebuilding our military.  Trump said we’ll be seeing the “fruits of that labor” in Iran shortly.

But then the President revealed some uncomfortable truths about foreign interference in our country’s elections. He detailed how the Chinese hacked into voter files, paid journalists to write hostile stories against President Trump, and how national intelligence agencies and analysts hid evidence about Chinese interference in our elections from the President and the Congress. Burn bags of documents detailing this information were discovered. In 2020, the intelligence agencies knew of almost 300,000 ineligible foreign voters (i.e. illegal aliens), and did nothing. Today it is known that California’s voter rolls contain almost 200,000 illegal alien voters. Various Democrat get out the vote organizations in Michigan and Pennsylvania were paid to produce illegal ballots. The amount of fraud and evidence of foreign interference is shocking.

Naturally, the Democrats do not want to hear anything about voter fraud or Chinese interference. CNN, MS NOW, CBS, ABC and NBC refused to air the President’s address. CNN issued a statement that it would be “dangerous” for them to air a presidential address unless they could review the speech and fact check it in advance. Dangerous?!?!

The very people who could not shut up about the Russia! Russia! Russia! hoax do not want to discuss actual, documented foreign interference in our nation’s elections. Because the Chinese aided China Joe, and opposed Mr. Trump. And Democrats are happy to tell you, Orange Man Bad.

Now you know one of the reasons that The Observations always referred to China Joe as China Joe. The name fits.

Representative Brandon Gill (R. Tx.) introduced legislation requiring all naturalized citizen applicants to be proficient in the English language. I cannot believe that it is not already the law.

“Having all white male doctors is just as bad for the medical profession as having all white male congressmen.  Let me just say, I have a black doctor and I sought my black doctor out.  In fact, black doctors are in high demand because black patients know that culturally competent care can be the difference between care and cure or life and death.  Republicans cry DEI and say it’s unfair.  They say we should only rely on so-called objective standards for medical competence.  But objective according to who?  You cannot standardize test your way into empathy or taking people’s pain seriously or cultural competency.  MCAT scores don’t translate to better care for black people.”

–Representative Summer Lee (D. Pa.).

Really? We should license doctors based on the color of their skin? You chose a doctor because of his skin color? And there are no objective standards. You, Representative Lee, are an ignorant racist.

Senator Thom Tillis (R. N.C.) says that he will not support Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination until he meets with the “Epstein survivors”. Senator Tillis is such an a$$.

Following the death of Senator Lindsey Graham (R. S.C.), President Trump ordered that all U.S. flags should be flown at half-staff for a period of time. Every State lowered their flags to half-staff, EXCEPT for New York, New Jersey, and Virginia. Because Governors Hochul (D. N.Y.), Sherrill (D. N.J.), and Spanberger (D. Va.) ignored the President, and ignored a sigh of respect for the late Senator Graham. And these are the “moderate” Democrat Governors.

United Airlines will reroute passengers who object to landing at Donald Trump Airport in Palm Beach, Florida. For free. Now seriously, who really cares what the name of the airport is where they are headed? TDS. And United is an enabler of TDS.

“If you can drive to McDonald’s, you can go find some place that has fresh food or canned food, or you can order it online.”

–Celebrity chef Geoffrey Zakarian. 

Mr. Zakarian dismissed the idea pushed by Democrats of “food deserts”. He made the point that we live in the United States, a country where you can get anything, almost any time.

Speaking of McDonald’s, the chain is adding 2 new breakfast sandwiches to its menu. Look for the Honey Brown Butter Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit and the Honey Brown Butter Chicken Biscuit.

____________________________________________________________________

You Don’t Have Rights If You Can’t Remember You Have Them

BY:          Brandon Morse (July 10, 2026).

I was reading Bob Hoge’s article on what went down during the Pride Parade in Fort Worth, Texas, and was just as angry as everyone else at the threat from a police officer to street preachers to hand them citations for “offensive speech.” 

I became even more concerned, however, when a second police officer more or less reinforced what the first officer had said, though it seemed he didn’t have the same ire in his demeanor as the first officer did. He was doing what he was told, it seemed, but what he was told to do is somewhere between outrageous and unforgivable. 

For those who haven’t seen it yet, the video below shows a female police officer threatening to hand a ticket to a street preacher at a Pride Parade for “offensive speech.” As you know, the Constitution has a lot to say about that. 

Or maybe it doesn’t, and what it has to say is short and sweet: “The people can say what they want.” 

The threat was to cite them for “disorderly conduct,” but as is pointed out, this has to be accompanied by the “conduct” part, and the street preachers weren’t exactly harming anyone, doing property damage, or waving their junk at children, which, I guess, is way more forgivable nowadays than preaching the love of Christ. 

The fact that this happened in my home state, which is supposedly one of the largest bastions of freedom in the U.S., made me angry on a personal level. 

But it also reinforced something I’ve been saying for some time, and that’s the attack on your rights is far more subtle than you think. 

Ask yourself this: What would’ve happened if the police officers hadn’t run into a street preacher with a camera and an understanding of the Constitution? What if it were some random person who doesn’t know any better and believed that they could, indeed, face legal punishment for speaking in ways that offend people? 

How often do you think that happens a day here in America, and you just don’t hear about it?

My guess would be that it happens far more than you think. 

Our rights are like America itself in that if you attack it directly, you’ll suddenly find yourself at the tail end of a losing battle before you think the battle has even begun. A direct assault is more or less impossible. To get a right removed from the Constitution takes so much time and legal loopholes that attempting to get something removed is hardly worth the effort. 

If you want to defeat America, you have to do it from within and slowly. You have to subtly convince more and more people that the country is evil and not worth maintaining through media, universities, and trends. You have to make people forget what the USA is, what it stands for, and define it only by its faults until the people have no pride in it and no desire to uphold it. You get cheers when you say things like “we’re going to fundamentally change the country” instead of the angry reactions and resistance you would without the furtive manipulation. 

This is also how you make people give their rights away. You vilify some of them, like the Second Amendment, but for the others, you just operate as if they don’t exist. You use pressure and intimidation (such as threats of citations for offensive speech) to make people believe they aren’t actually protected by anything. 

The hope is that soon, people will forget they have them. They won’t fight for them when threatened, and might even scoff at their rights because they’ve been vilified so effectively. The erosion of the memory of our rights will have been so quiet and subtle that there will be enforcement that defies it that won’t be fought because the people won’t remember they have a tool to fight for it. 

Then, one day, if the devil has his way, those rights will be dissolved in Washington, either to complete silence or to raucous applause. Either way, the job will have been done effectively, and the long campaign will finally have accomplished its end. You will no longer be free officially, but in truth, you wouldn’t have been free for a long time because you were told there was a cage around you and you never thought to see if there was for yourself. 

That’s the hope, at least. 

The strategy to combat it is simple. In fact, it’s being done with these officers. 

Raise hell, call for firings, hold people accountable, and make sure everyone knows that these rights are still here and protecting us all. Be legally vicious about it if you have to. 

____________________________________________________________________

Democratic socialism offers communism with better branding

Rhetoric may sound softer, but the hostility to capitalism and private property remains

BY:          Robert Knight, The Washington Times (July 12, 2026).

Political terms are quickly evolving, especially during this election cycle.

“Democrat” once meant “liberalism,” which became “progressive.” This is giving way to “democratic socialism,” which is shorthand for communism — although it pretends not to be.

Several candidates in recent Democratic primaries ran using communist rhetoric, and others campaigned — and won — under the banner of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Defeated Democrats included Rep. Dan Goldman of New York, a left-winger who was the lead counsel to House managers in President Trump’s first impeachment inquiry in 2019.

Mr. Goldman’s crime was being pro-Israel, something that until recently would not have been controversial in a city with more Jews than any other in the world.

The big news last week was Graham Platner’s withdrawal from Maine’s U.S. Senate race. The disgraced socialist candidate had been embraced by most major Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer.

At an April campaign rally in Portland, Mr. Platner was hailed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, who said he was “my kind of man” and later repeated that characterization several times.

This was long after photos had surfaced of his DSA affiliation, his past statements about being a communist and an anti-Zionist who backed Hamas, and many sexual abuse allegations by women. There was also the Nazi chest tattoo that he had sported for years (but the meaning of which he denied knowing).

The image: a skull-and-crossbones Totenkopf, a symbol for the death camp guards of the SS.

As a Babylon Bee headline said: “Dems Wishing There Had Been Some Sort of Sign That Platner Was a Bad Person.” After Mr. Platner withdrew from the race, the satirical site ran a spoof photo with this: “Nazi Really Regretting Getting Graham Platner Tattoo.”

Although two women — one a Republican, the other a Democrat — came forward with credible abuse stories reported in The New York Times in early June, Democrats shrugged. It took a rape accusation against Mr. Platner by the aforementioned Democratic woman, reported in Politico on July 6, to finally trigger buyer’s remorse.

Democrats are now scrambling to find another socialist nutcase by July 27 to face Republican Sen. Susan M. Collins in November.

The DSA was founded in 1982 by socialist Michael Harrington, who took pains to include language in its platform disavowing communism. In 2025, the party’s convention dropped the clause.

This made perfect sense because the DSA’s platform is virtually indistinguishable from that of the Communist Party USA. Both are committed to ending free market capitalism, defunding police, erasing national borders, promoting all things LGBTQ and embracing anti-Zionism, which is shorthand for hatred of Jews. So why pretend anymore?

One good reason to keep pretending would be to win elections. Most voters, especially those older than 35, would support the American way of life over communism’s horrific track record. From the Soviet Union to China, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, the Chavez-Maduro regime in Venezuela and others, it is an unbroken litany of tyranny.

Once ensconced, the “power to the people” socialists abolish private property, persecute religious people, impose a state-controlled media, create mass poverty and commit mass murder.

It is only because America’s leftist-dominated educators and media have done such a good job covering this up that so many young people have a benign view of socialism and even communism. They like the idea of free stuff at someone else’s expense, as promised by Sen. Bernard Sanders, the Vermont independent and democratic socialist who helped launch Mr. Platner’s campaign.

In “The Communist Manifesto” (1848), Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels criticized socialist movements as insufficiently revolutionary. Marx later wrote that socialism was a major step on the road to communism. This view was adopted by Vladimir Lenin after his Bolsheviks took over the Russian Revolution of 1917 and murdered the merely socialist “useful idiots.”

Socialism and communism spring from the same poisoned roots: atheism and collectivism. Both ideologies are at war with Christianity’s and Judaism’s biblical belief that people are created in the image of God and thus human life is sacred. The Bible also supports private property and the rule of law.

The only real difference between socialism and communism is the means of acquiring power. Socialists such as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a communist and Islamist, are gaining power via the ballot box amid a shocking takeover of the Democratic Party.

Mr. Mamdani finally threw Mr. Platner overboard Tuesday, telling him to drop out.

It is vital that Americans realize what will happen if this truly red movement — increasingly powered by an Islamist movement — is not stopped. Socialism is the final stage of collectivism before the guns come out to crush all resistance, including the “useful idiots” who enabled it.

As Mao Zedong said, “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”

Democratic socialists won primaries in solidly Democratic districts in New York, Colorado and California. Yet it may well be a very different story around the nation in the midterm elections in November, especially in toss-up districts that Mr. Trump won in 2024.

Republicans must connect the dots for voters. They need to make Mr. Platner and other radical candidates symbolize where the Democratic Party would take the nation if they win control of Congress this year and the White House in 2028.

GFK

“I played the British Open in 1937.  It took a week to get there and a week to get home.  I was the low American; finished fourth or fifth.  And what it came down to was, I lost a good part of my summer, won $185, and spent $1,000 on boat fare alone.”

— Byron Nelson.

“To me, the [British] Open is the tournament I would come to if I had to leave a month before and swim over.”

— Lee Trevino.

The conditions at Royal Birkdale were most un-Open like. Sunny and dry. Morning rounds faced lighter winds, compared to the afternoon. American Jackson Suber sits on top of the leaderboard after the first round.

Defending champion Scottie Scheffler got off to a good start, shooting 68 and finishing 3 back of Jackson Suber. Other notables include Colin Morikawa (-2), Bryson DeChambeau (-3), Xander Schauffele (-1), Victor Hovland (E), and Justin Thomas (E).

There is a lot of golf left. Television coverage begins today at 1:30 a.m. (DST) on Peacock, and will continue on the USA Network at 4:00 a.m. Rufe will likely be up no later than 1:30 a.m.

English and Holland left to travel to South Carolina today. This will be Holland’s only opportunity to visit Gram and Rufe before heading off to law school. I remain behind to watch the house. With Dudley. As I write this, I can see the hound’s disapproving look, as he stares daggers at me. He always blames me when English leaves. This time is no different.

Dudley really ought to reconsider his pouting and grumpiness. I control the peanuts, eggs, and the dog food. And the water bowl. And the television remote. All of which he has become rather accustomed to during his pampered life.

FUN FACT: More people died from The Kung Fu Flu under China Joe, than did under President Trump. Is that not interesting?

“[The SAVE America Act] would make it hard for any Democrat in any state to win any election.”

–Senator Elissa Slotkin (D. Mi.).

The SAVE America Act would clean voter rolls and prevent foreigners from voting. But according to Senator Slotkin, it would “rig” America’s elections such that Democrats wouldn’t be able to win anywhere in the country? What does that tell you?

“We push these demands to their furthest extent today, so we can fight for their fullest realization in a socialist future.’’

–Statement by the Democratic Socialists of America.

The Democratic Socialists of America released their platform, and here are some of the highlights:

1. Abolish the United States Senate;
2. Abolish the Electoral College;
3. Make the presidency a position chosen by the Congress, and subservient to it;
4. Make the Supreme Court justices positions chosen by the Congress, and subservient to it;
5. Enact a wealth tax;
6. Establish a 32 hour work week, with no reduction in compensation from the 40 hour work week;
7. Impose socialized medicine;
8. Abolish the military;
9. End all aid and assistance to the State of Israel;
10. “Queer liberation”, which includes a ban on discrimination based on sexual behavior, including in religious institutions, gender affirming care for all who seek it, at taxpayer cost; abortion on demand, at taxpayer cost, and free childcare;
11. Cancel all outstanding student loan debts, and provide free college for all; and,
12. Blanket amnesty and citizenship for all illegal aliens.

This is what politicians such as Bernie Sanders, Zohran Mamdani, Graham Platner, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Gavin Newsom, Tampon Tim, Commiela, and Puddin’head are pushing to impose on the American people. Vote accordingly.

“Of course, the vast majority of pregnancies are in women, and I have absolutely no problem with using the word pregnant women.  I use it myself.”

–University of California (San Francisco) Chancellor Sam Hawgood, testifying before Congress.

The vast majority of pregnancies are in women? Really?

When pressed by Representative Mary Miller (R. Il.), Chancellor Hawgood refused to concede that only women could become pregnant and have babies. He further refused to answer the question whether a biological man had ever become pregnant and given birth to a baby. Sigh. This is madness. Pure insanity.

By the way, the University of California (SF) is a medical school. By peer rankings, apparently a very good one. But after Chancellor Hawgood’s testimony, that ranking should be reexamined.

A California Superior Court judge sentenced an illegal alien who was working as a commercial tractor trailer driver, and slammed his truck into a line of stopped cars, killing 3 people, to less than 5 years in prison. THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS! A man who is not supposed to be in this country, and who should never have been issued any kind of drivers license, much less a commercial drivers license, recklessly killed 3 people. And he barely gets 1 year per death?!?!

“I don’t love it.  I don’t love it.  You know, she’ll be the first woman to be a U.S. senator in South Carolina in the history of the state.  And I think that that’s just — it’s just fundamentally wrong that South Carolina just couldn’t elect a woman and this is the only way that it was done.  I think the experience does matter.  And while she is a certified optician and while she has done great work in that field, I don’t think that she should be representing the people of South Carolina in the U.S. Senate.  I just don’t.”

—The View’s Sunny Hostin, trashing Governor McMaster’s appointment of Lindsey Graham’s sister to finish out the rest of his term.

Doctors cannot serve in Congress? Has anyone told Senators Rand Paul (R. Ky.), Bill Cassidy (R. La.), Senator Roger Marshall (R. Ks.), and John Barrasso (R. Wy.)? Or how about the 16 Representatives serving in the House, who are doctors, some of them Democrats?

U.S. Senate candidate Troy Jackson (D. Me.) rails against the rich for not paying their “fair share” of taxes. The Maine government recently placed a lien on Mr. Jackson’s home for the failure to pay his taxes. Oh. So who’s not paying their “fair share”?

Led by Governor Kathy Hochul (D. N.Y.), New York State became the 1st State to ban data centers. What a stupid move. I am a self-professed Luddite, and in no way would I support such a move. Progress is inevitable. Just not in New York.

“President Trump is the Antichrist.  And he will be killed and sent to hell.  God will prevail against evil.”

–former U.S. Marine and write-in Congressional candidate William Upham (R. Fl.).

Everyone seems to have lost their mind. Sigh.

“And I just want to make one other point.  Immigrants are less likely to murder people than other American citizens.  If you’re worried about being murdered, and I don’t want to be murdered, but you’re much more likely to be murdered by, you know, an ex-spouse that’s mad at you, somebody you fired from a job.  You’re much more likely to be killed by another American than you are an immigrant.  Just saying.”

–Representative Gwen Moore (D. Wi.), making a completely unsupportable claim (i.e. she’s lying).

If illegal aliens are so law abiding, why has crime dropped to historic laws in the midst of a border crackdown, and mass deportations of illegal aliens? But let’s humor Representative Moore; would she be in favor of allowing all illegal aliens to remain, and deporting native U.S. citizens? After all, according to Representative Moore, ordinary Americans are the problem.

The Houston illegal alien shot by ICE agents after he tried to run them over with his vehicle? The media has profiled him as a mild mannered, law abiding family man. Do mild mannered, law abiding family men try to murder ICE agents? Do mild mannered, law abiding family men drive around with large quantities of meth in their vehicles? Yep. The illegal alien who tried to murder the ICE agents was transporting illegal narcotics. How ’bout that?

Virginia Democrats are doing their best to raise Virginians’ energy costs. Governor Spanberger (D.) rejoined the disastrous Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which imposes costs upon citizens through regulating energy providers based upon the debunked notion of “man-made climate change”. Taxes are being raised, and subsidies are flowing to inefficient and expensive “green” projects. And Governor Spanberger is urging Virginians to invest in solar panels for their homes. Solar panels on a modest house start at $25,000.00, and you will still get a bill from your electric company. You will never recover your investment over the life of your mortgage. So this is what “affordability” looks like?

The City of Martinsville, Virginia’s voters will decided whether to approve a 1 cent tax sales tax increase this November, with the funds earmarked [for now] on public school capital projects. Goodness! Martinsville is a dysfunctional jurisdiction, with incompetent political and employed leadership. It has a long history of squandering taxpayers’ dollars. Why would anyone voluntarily give this government a single penny more in taxes?

Pea Soup Andersen’s restaurant in Buellton, California served coastal travelers for more than 100 years. And then it closed about 2 years ago. Today, the restaurant building faces demolition by a developer. Sad.

Kentucky Fried Chicken is bringing back popcorn chicken to its menu. Huh. It is actually pretty tasty.

Anti-Israel agitator Mahmoud Khalil had his green card revoked, and is subject to a deportation order. He refuses to leave, and some radical judges have stayed his expulsion from the country for the present. And now Mr. Khalil is suing the United States government, along with Heritage Foundation scholars, claiming that they conspired to deprive him of his civil rights. Oh, what chutzpah! Someone get this camel jockey out of here! 

A Canadian homosexual couple sued the surrogate mother of their 2 year old son, because she failed to abort the child upon learning he would be born with a cleft palate. The boy was born healthy, and is in fine health. But the homosexual couple remains upset that the woman failed to murder the unborn child. And unbelievably, these 2 men still have physical custody of the child they wished were dead.

Think that the situation with the Canadian homosexuals and their child could not happen in the United States? You are not paying attention.

GFK

“Any golfer worth his salt has to cross the sea and try to win the British Open.”

–Jack Nicklaus.

“I came back and in ’63, I was at the British Open, trying to win my first British Open.  And I had what I thought was a two-shot lead with two holes to play at Lytham.  I remember it like it was yesterday. Anybody with a proper brain would have played the ball short of the hole.  I didn’t have a proper brain at the time.  But you have to make that mistake to learn it.”

— Jack Nicklaus

The Open [the British Open] begins today at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England.  This is the 154th playing of the championship.

The Royal & Ancient refers to the tournament as “The Open”.  So does much of the world.  But in the United States, and in other discrete places, you will hear it referred to as “The British Open”.  This drives the English golf gods mad.  To the folks at the offices in St. Andrews, it is fine to refer to the “U.S. Open”, the “U.S. PGA”, or the “U.S. Masters”, but do not call it “The British Open”.  At least not within their earshot.

Whatever you call it, it is a fine test of golf, an enduring tradition, the last “major” tournament of the season, and a good reason to get up early to watch golf on television. 

Scottie Scheffler won The Open in 2025, at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. He will be defending his title, against a formidable field. This has been a frustrating year for him, as he has started slowly in so many tournaments, beginning a late charge, and coming up just short, time and again. Maybe this will be a breakout week for him.

Inflation dropped to 3.5%. WINNING!

Did you know that it was legal for banks to lend money to illegal aliens? It is illegal for them to be present in the country, but it is legal to facilitate their ability to remain in the country? This is nuts!

The House of Representatives passed a bill making Daylight Savings Time permanent. Bad choice. Very bad choice.

Senate Democrats are blocking the funding of America’s military. We have troops in harm’s way, troops serving in all corners of the world, enemies testing and probing our defenses daily, and the Democrat Party thinks that defense spending is a political stunt on which to advance their agenda. Good grief!

“God don’t like ugly!”

–Senator Raphael Warnock (D. Ga.), explaining during a Sunday worship service at The Abyssinian Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, that the July 4, 2026 thunderstorm in Washington, D.C. was a rebuke to President Trump for his policies.

The Observations suggests that it is very bold for one to presume to speak for God. Even if you are a radical Leftist preacher in Georgia.

“You’re going to be remembered as someone who betrayed your friends, who betrayed your country and who claimed that you cared about relationships.  But, in the end, the only relationship you actually cared about was the relationship with Donald Trump.  You sold your soul.  You betrayed your friends, your legacy, your own soul.  You sold your soul to the devil, and now you get to meet him in person.”

–former MSNBC host and serial racist, Joy Reid, condemning Senator Lindsey Graham (R. S.C.) to Hell.

The Observations also suggests that it is a very bad idea to judge another’s soul. But then again, Joy Reid has never demonstrated good judgement.

“I stopped carrying Sarah Huckabee Sanders briefings, just refused to carry him [President Trump] because having worked there, it like actually hurt me to watch her lying.” 

–MS NOW host Nicolle Wallace, explaining just how fragile she is.

Now that the special tax on second “luxury” homes in New York has gone into effect, the New York City housing market is in a free fall collapse. Surprise!

The New York City Council is raising its pay 18%, retroactive to January 1, 2026, and putting in automatic increases effective on January 1 of each succeeding year. These do nothing politicians draw taxpayer funded salaries at more than twice the median income of the citizens who fund their salaries. Does that sound fair to you?

Comrade Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s (D. N.Y.) tax increases and related policies have had a decisive impact on New York City. High earners are fleeing in droves, and tax receipts have dropped by $11 billion. And it is only July.

In Los Angeles, California, city council members earn more than $250,000.00 per year. And now these poor put upon politicians have decided that they need only work 1 day a week. It gives them more time to play golf, tennis, and drink white wine.

Connecticut welcomes displays in its State Capitol, from all sorts of citizens’ groups. But this Christmas season, there will be no Nativity scene. Connecticut legislators refuse to permit a Nativity scene because it is “solely religious”. Well, yes. Yes it is. Are any of you aware of the meaning of Christmas?

“The National Guard is the military, and we don’t believe the military belongs on our streets policing our neighbors.  It isn’t about the individuals.  Soldiers are trained for combat, not community policing.”

–statement issued by Tamboli’s Pizza & Pasta in Memphis, Tennessee, explaining why it refused to serve members of the Tennessee National Guard.

Despicable. Absolutely despicable.

New Hampshire State Representative Ellen Reed (D.) was ticketed for driving 100 mph in a 65 mph zone on 1 occasion, and 92 mph in a 65 mph zone on another occasion. Mrs. Reed is arguing that the tickets are invalid, because she was on her way from her home to the State Capitol for work. She is citing the State’s Constitution as her legal authority. Huh. Whatever happened to the notion that “no one is above the law”? Maybe there is a Democrat exception to that rule.

U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico (D. Tx.) looks exactly like the kid who reminded the teacher at the end of the day on Friday that she had forgotten to assign homework for the weekend. He is Mary Pete Buttigieg without the masculinity.

Mexico has begun filing criminal complaints with State prosecutors in the United States, concerning Mexican nationals who have been killed by, or otherwise dies while in custody with, ICE. Yeah. Good luck with that.

GFK

“Every MAGA, I want to punch you in the f*cking face.  I want to beat you up until you are a pulp on the ground.  I want to curb stomp the sh*t out of you.  You voted for Donald Trump? Come tell me . . . I’m gonna find where you f*cking live.  I’m gonna beat up your whole f*cking family.”

–Chelsea Goss, posted this comment on her social media page.

The Left is oh so kind, oh so tolerant, and oh so non-violent. Right? WRONG!

“Look at this room, motherf**kers, we ain’t going anywhere!  The political structures that I have to work in, that we all are surrounded by, was built on slavery, and genocide, and rape, and oppression.  Real change doesn’t come from the cowards and warmongers in Congress it comes from the streets.  It comes from all of us mobilizing and seizing the power to resist and fight back.  Gaza is the compass in this country.  Now we’re in Congress and we’re in every corner of the United States.”

–Representative Rashida Tlaib (D. Mi.), speaking at the People’s Conference for Palestine, advocating for the overthrow of the United States government and Constitution.

Expel her from Congress. Arrest her. And send her to Gaza, since she loves it so much.

It’s not complicated. Trump doesn’t believe in democracy.  He hates democratic Europe and loves the oligarchic dictatorships in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar.  He wants to stifle dissent in the media and arrest his opponents.  ALL Americans must unify against authoritarianism.

–Senator Bernie Sanders (I. Vt.).

That is so rich coming from the occasional Democrat Senator from Vermont. He was all in for Graham Platner for Senate, and was overjoyed when voters chose him in the Maine Democrat Primary, by an overwhelming majority. But when the polls shifted, showing that incumbent Senator Susan Collins (R. Me.) would best Mr. Platner in the general election, Bernie and his Democrat friends overturned the voters’ will, and a new candidate will now be chosen by the party elite. Just like it happened with China Joe and Commiela. The people who do not like “democracy” are the Democrat Left.

“Why are gangs of masked men . . . [in our cities] shooting people?  What happened to ‘Don’t tread on me?’  Are there any principled conservatives left?”

–Senator Jon Ossoff (D. Ga.).

Maybe ICE agents would not illegal aliens, if the illegal aliens did not keep trying to mow them down with pick-up trucks. Just a thought.

“There are two ways an economy can generate solutions to its problems: through the free market, discovering uses for labor and capital nobody had yet imagined, or through protectionism, freezing today’s arrangement in place by force of law.  One of these approaches has an extraordinary track record.  The other has mostly produced canals dug with spoons.  None of this is socialism, not yet.  But every time a politician decides government, not the market, should determine which jobs are allowed to exist, they aren’t opposing the socialist instinct; they’re conceding its underlying ideology.”

–Dmitri Bolt. 

Leftist Democrats are complaining (as they always do) that prices are out of control, and that government must do something about it.  Elected Democrats call it their “affordability agenda”.  Well, let us look at a few examples of government doing “something about it”.

Hospital services are up 281.4% since 2000, childcare and nursery school costs are up 158.8%, and medical care services are up 147%.  Health related spending now accounts for nearly a quarter of the federal budget by some measures, and expanding it further remains a stated priority of Democratic officials at every level, from state legislatures to governors to leaders in Congress.  They have funded public health insurance, imposed price controls, regulated providers, and layered subsidy on top of subsidy.  The explosion in cost isn’t a coincidence it’s the result of government policy.

Housing costs are up 111.4%, college tuition is up almost 200%, and even food and beverage prices are up 105.7%.  Every one of these markets carries the same fingerprint: heavy government regulation.  Washington subsidizes American farmers who, in many cases, simply can’t compete on the world stage.  It has spent decades regulating student loans and expanding programs that make tuition hikes consequence-free for universities.   And it has restricted zoning for decades, subsidizing housing demand while doing almost nothing to encourage the supply needed to meet it.

Every sector that collapsed in price while quality improved is proof of what the free market does when it’s actually allowed to operate; every sector that exploded in cost is proof of what happens the moment government decides it knows better.  Capitalism did not fail; government failed.

Senator Lindsey Graham’s (R. S.C.) body had not yet been released to the coroner before Representative Nancy Mace (R. S.C.) expressed her interest in being appointed to take his place in the United States Senate. What a despicable person! Surely neither Governor McMaster (R. S.C.) nor the voters of The Palmetto State will reward her disrespect and craven ambition.

Indeed, Governor McMaster appointed Senator Graham’s sister, Darlene Graham Nordone, to fill the remainder of his term. A special primary election will be held where voters will need to do their job, rejecting Nancy Mace. President Trump has already come out and proclaimed that he does not support her efforts to become a Senator.

“Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was murdered by ICE.   He wasn’t their intended target, but he looked like their intended target.  Lorenzo was our neighbor, a fellow Texan.  He lived in Houston for 35 years.  He worked as a construction worker and he sent his three boys to college.  His oldest son is a public school teacher, his middle son is an engineer, and his youngest is still in school.  Lorenzo Salgado embodied the American dream.  His boys called him ‘El mundo entero’ – the whole world — and they watched as their whole world died in a video posted on Facebook.  Lorenzo was a child of God, endowed with infinite worth.  His life was invaluable.  His death was senseless.  Our neighbor, our fellow Texan, deserves justice.”

–U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico (D. Tx.), lamenting the death of an illegal alien who tried to ram an ICE agent with his pick-up truck.

Lorenzo–the illegal alien–should not have entered the United States illegally. Lorenzo–the illegal alien–should have been deported 35 years ago. Lorenzo–the illegal alien–should not have tried to murder an ICE agent. Lorenzo–the illegal alien–was not murdered, that is a lie. Lorenzo–the illegal alien–was a criminal attempting to murder. Lorenzo–the illegal alien–received justice.

Miakel Guerra Morales hijacked an airplane from Cuba to Florida, violently terrorizing and assaulting passengers and crew. He was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Following his release this past December, ICE took him into custody, and began deportation proceedings against him. But the other day, a radical Democrat appointed federal judge ordered Mr. Morales released from custody, because he had been in custody “too long”. Sigh. You must be joking.

Jaime Santiago Corona is a 3 time deported illegal alien from Mexico. Recently, Mr. Corona, drunk driving, blew through a stop sign and killed a 6 year old girl in Vanceboro, North Carolina. Vanceboro is represented by Don Davis (D. N.C.) who supports amnesty for illegal aliens. North Carolina voters, please take notice.

The Observations has long chronicled the many failures of the California State government, actions which are causing businesses and persons to flee The Golden State for greener pastures. The latest candidate for exodus? Paramount Studios is preparing to relocate.

Paramount is leaving, but Kansas based Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers is expanding its West Coast presence in Northern California. Rumour has it that the chili dogs are delicious.

The United States reimposed a naval blockade in the Persian Gulf, stopping ships from leaving or entering Iranian ports. The Iranians are gluttons for punishment.

In Canada, emergency room doctors are warning that dangerously long wait times are becoming lethal.  Nearly 200,000 emergency room patients waited over 2 days for a hospital bed.  Almost 1 million Canadians leave the emergency room before receiving care because the wait is too long.  The issue has gotten so bad that even Canadian healthcare experts are calling the overcrowding a national emergency. 

Beyond the emergency room, patients can expect to wait for about 6 ½ months to receive treatment from a specialist after being referred by a general practitioner.  Even worse, nearly 6 million Canadians do not have access to a family doctor, despite roughly 24% of Canadian tax dollars funding the healthcare system, while Canadians still pay for private insurance.  As demand rises, Canada has fewer beds per person than most developed countries, at just 2.5 per 1,000 people, well below the average of 4.5. 

The list of problems goes on.  Canada’s healthcare system is failing, and citizens are forced into paying for it through taxes, all while paying out-of-pocket for private care.  Now, imagine implementing this system in a country with a population 8 ½ times that of Canada. Wait times would skyrocket, taxes would rise dramatically, and most citizens would still pay private costs for all the things that “universal” healthcare will not cover.  Obamacare already previewed this.  Rising premiums and tax rate hikes from Obamacare are causing immense strain on middle-class families, with a 14% median premium increase set for 2027.  Do not fall for the Democrats’ promise of “free” healthcare, or the emotional appeals that healthcare is a human right.  America’s healthcare system could use reforms — but “universal” coverage is not the answer. 

Congratulations to Jannik Sinner on winning the men’s tennis championship at Wimbledon. And congratulations to Linda Noskova on winning the women’s tennis championship.

Actor Sam Neill, star of the movie Jurassic Park, has died at age 78. R. I. P.

Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Greg Hawthorne has died at age 79. R. I. P.

GFK

“Liberty, Equality, Fraternity!”

–the official slogan of the French Revolution.

Today is Bastille Day, France’s national holiday.  On July 14, 1789, during the French Revolution, Parisians stormed the Bastille, a fortress and prison, in search of armaments with which to fortify themselves against the royalists. 

The French celebrated throwing off the yoke of the royalists, and the establishment of the French Republic (what edition of the Republic are we in now, 5^th?).  There was a large military parade down the Champs-Elysees, and for once, the French army suffered no embarrassing defeats or surrenders.

While Bastille Day resembles the American Independence Day, it is but a façade.  In truth, the French Revolution was a bloody reign of terror whereby the mob took out its ill-considered vengeance against the perceived enemies of the people.  It lasted 10 years, murdering first the nobility and overthrowing the monarchy, before turning on itself, murdering the very people who initiated and led the Revolution.  The entire affair ended with the establishment of a dictatorship, headed by a theretofore unknown soldier named Napoleon Bonaparte.

In the United States, approximately 20 cities celebrate Bastille Day.  Long ago, a D.C. bistro, Les Halles (an offshoot of the now defunct New York City restaurant), held waiter races down Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, where waiters would run a course while balancing a tray containing a glass of wine in one hand, over their shoulder.  The martinis were cold, and the steak tartare was delicious, making it tolerable to hang out with all the city’s Francophiles.

Berryville is not one of the 20 cities that celebrate Bastille Day.  For that, I am grateful. 

GFK

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

–Søren Kierkegaard.

The U.S. Department of Justice placed Oregon on notice that officials who refused to remove illegal aliens from the voter rolls, or who aided illegal aliens in voting, would be criminally prosecuted. YES! Unbelievably, Senator Ron Wyden (D. Or.) protested this move, and vowed to fight any efforts at prosecution. Because he wants illegal aliens to vote in our elections.

The United States Department of State was forced to intervene in order to shut down an attempt by Comrade Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D. N.Y.) to meet with Iranian officials at the United Nations today. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS GUY?

The United States of House of Representatives will vote on a bill to make Daylight Savings Time permanent. A terrible idea, that was hated when it was imposed on the American people in the 1970s. A much better plan would be to eliminate Daylight Savings Time altogether. But that would make too much sense.

“If they really think that a car is going to hurt somebody, you shoot the tires.  You don’t shoot the driver.”

–Representative Sylvia Garcia (D. Tx.), criticizing the ICE agent who shot an illegal alien attempting to run him down with a truck.

Representative Susie Lee (D. Nv.) voted against the One Big Beautiful Bill. Which means, among other things, she voted against exempting tips, overtime wages, and Social Security payments from taxation. But now that it is an election year, and Susie Lee must face the voters again, she is pushing for those tax changes to be made permanent. And somehow, her campaign omits any mention of her previous opposition to them, when she had the chance to vote for them. Fascinating.

“One of the things that brought me into starting my PhD program was finally coming to the realization that we were never going to be able to tackle white supremacy in the way that we need to without reparations.  There is no way to truly heal and to progress and move on from acts of such cruel systemic violence against an entire group of people without at the very least acknowledgment of it in a meaningful way.”

–Congressional candidate Melat Kiros (D. Co.).

Those communists! Always willing to shame America all the while spending American taxpayers’ dollars.

“Mainers voted for a new kind of politics.  One that is representative of people down here in the real world — not billionaires, oligarchs or the political establishment.  Mainers voted for Medicare for All; to ban billionaires from buying elections; and for an end to taxpayer-funded genocide and forever wars.  F*ck ICE.  Free Palestine.  Up the Hearts.”

–Graham Platner’s (D. Me.) statement accompanying his formal withdrawal as a candidate for the United States Senate. 

Mr. Platner went out the same way he came in. Stay classy, Graham!

The View’s Ana Navarro accused Secretary of State Marco Rubio of having “forgotten he’s Latino”, because of his support for deporting illegal aliens, many of whom came from Latin America. Huh. So he’s a race traitor? You stay classy, Ana! You and Graham!

“I think Democrats are the party of real freedom.  Real freedom that allows women to make decisions over their own bodies.  Allows parents like me and my wife Lori to make decisions over what vaccines our kids are going to be able to get.  That they can read the books that they want to read, not have certain ones banned by certain politicians.”

–Governor Josh Shapiro (D. Pa.), speaking during a June 2026 interview.

So “real freedom” means the ability to murder unborn children, impose vaccine mandates, and stock library shelves with homosexual porn and propaganda.  Notably, there is no mention by the Governor of free speech, or the right to keep and bear arms.

“As long as I’m Governor, Pennsylvania will never be a right to work state.”

–Governor Josh Shapiro (D. Pa.), July 8, 2026.

And apparently, “real freedom” does not include the right to work and earn a living, unless a union gets to take a portion of your wages, whether you like it or not.

“I can find no reason how Minnesota is safer or better if [the illegal alien child rapist] is deported to a country he has not been to since he was a child.”

–Governor Tampon Tim (D. Mn.).

That child rapist illegal alien that Governor Tampon Tim pardoned, in order to prevent his deportation? The federal government deported him. And he is not taking it well. Thank you Secretary of State Marco Rubio!

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D.) took a page out of Tampon Tim’s playbook, and pardoned an Albanian illegal alien murderer. DEPORT HIM ANYWAY! Calling Secretary Rubio! You have more work to do!

In Fort Worth, Texas, a police officer warned a street preacher that he could be arrested for preaching that “homosexuality is a sin”. Really? Did this police officer ever hear of the First Amendment? Or The Bible?

During the Summer of “St. George Floyd”, the American Taliban at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, took down its statue of Theodore Roosevelt, and banished it to North Dakota, where it is on display today. But the Museum is still not satisfied. Museum officials are demanding that “trigger warnings” be posted near the statue. Furthermore, the Museum is demanding that an “Advisory Council”, composed of Indians and black folks be formed and allowed to place the statue in context. Huh? North Dakota should tell the Museum to go pound sand.

The adulterous Kristi Noem, former South Dakota Governor and DHS Secretary, is divorcing her cross-dressing husband. Huh. A woman who sleeps around is upset that her husband likes to dress like a woman, and chat online with women with artificially enhanced breasts. I do not see the problem. These 2 seem to have the perfect marriage, given their penchant for perversities.

California is recruiting teens, 16 years old and up, to work as election poll workers. No United States citizenship required.

What could possibly go wrong with people not old enough to vote monitoring the activities of those who are old enough? And you do not even have to be a United States citizen? What could possibly go wrong?

A woman dropped dead in the bakery aisle, at the Vons grocery store in Granada Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Vons officials made the decision to not close the store. Rather, the store’s management placed grocery carts around the body, blocking other shoppers’ view of the dead woman. The store continued to conduct its normal business, while the woman’s family sat for 4 hours waiting for Los Angeles County officials to conduct an investigation and remove the body. I’ve never been a big fan of Vons, and am less one now. What a horrible, stupid, very bad decision these idiots made in the face of tragedy.

Culver City, California imposed a moratorium on approving businesses with drive-thru lanes, while working on a permanent ban on drive-thru lanes. This was all in response to a proposed In-N-Out location in Culver City. Local NIMBYers raised all sorts of outrage, crying about pollution, bike lanes, automobiles, walkability, safety, and, of course, “climate change”. City officials agreed that automobile traffic should be “discouraged”. In Southern California? Really?

The Observations urges In-N-Out to abandon their plans for a Culver City store. Those people do not deserve a quality burger from In-N-Out. Let them be satisfied with Jack-In-The Box, which is lousy, and, in Culver City, has a drive-thru lane.

Debbie McWilliams, casting director for the James Bond movie franchise, ruled out casting James Bond as anything other than a white man. Because Ian Fleming’s iconic character is a white man.

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation blasted the film industry for the decline in homosexual and “trans” roles in movies. Sorry, GLAAD. James Bond is not going to be cast as a homosexual either.

The Observations recently reported that an all homosexual cruise ship was denied entry into any Turkish points. Now we report that Egypt has also denied the cruise ship entry into its ports. Maybe you should keep your sodomite dreams to yourself.

Unbelievably, many of the homosexual passengers blamed a familiar figure for Turkey’s and Egypt’s refusal to permit their entry into their respective countries; it is all Donald Trump’s fault! One passenger said that the President’s “bigotry” “emboldened” Turkey and Egypt to act in a “homophobic” fashion. Unbelievable! These people are probably members of “Queers For Palestine”, not realizing that Muslim countries are happy to toss homosexuals from building rooftops, to their deaths.

After Morocco lost to France in the World Cup, mobs of Muslims rioted in parts of London, England. Police battled rioters, who set fires, looted private property, committed vandalism, and destroyed automobiles. See what happens when you invited the Third World into your country?

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is considering taking legal action against ICE, after agents shot a Mexican national in Houston, Texas. The illegal alien rammed an ICE vehicle, and attempted to run over an ICE agent, resulting in his being shot and killed. Good luck with your legal action Senora Sheinbaum. You are going to need it.

Israeli citizens blocked a convoy of vehicles traveling in Judea near a village that had been occupied by Arab terrorists. The convoy sought to travel down a closed security road. The convoy included Representative Ro Khanna (D. Ca.). The Israeli citizens blocking the closed security road summoned the Israeli Defense Force, which arrived, and then dispersed the citizens. The IDS did not allow the convoy to proceed on the closed security road, but did allowing the convoy to proceed in a different direction.

Well; this “outrage” has forced Representative Khanna to consider running for President in 2028, in order to restore “civility” and “respect for human rights throughout the world”. He also vowed to end the apartheid existing in Israel. Yeah. Ro Khanna is a self-righteous, fake, phony, fraud. And a liar. Israel is not an “apartheid” State.

Prior to aggravating the IDF, Ro Khanna was invited to meet with the former Israeli hostages held by Hamas. He declined.

The NFL team formerly known as the Washington Redskins is retiring uniform number 44, that worn by running back John Riggins. A fitting honor.

“Are the Dodgers tone deaf?  White House visit is an insult to their fans.”

—The Los Angeles Times sportswriter Bill Plashke.

Really?  Was it an insult to Dodgers fans when the team hosted the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence?  Bozo!

Actor Randolph Mantooth, star of the television series Emergency!, who played paramedic Johnny Gage, has died at age 80. R. I. P.

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R. S.C.) has died at age 71. R. I. P.

Senator Graham’s death was met with an outpouring of grief and admiration from many, not just in this country, but around the world. Senator Graham was a work horse, not a show horse, who definitely made a positive difference in the United States, and the world. But there are always a few folks who cannot conceal their hatred, even at times where respect and restraint are called for, to wit:

“Good riddance.”

–Anna Kasparian, Left Wing television host.

“Lindsey Graham has moved on to the next step in his journey, trying to convince Hades to attack Zeus and Poseidon.  He says it’ll only take a couple of weeks and won’t require any ground troops.  And there’s no way Poseidon can close the Strait.”

–Cenk Uygur, Left Wing television host.

“Good riddance.”

–Nick Fuentes, political commentator.

“[Lindsey Graham was a] lonely and unprincipled man who betrayed his country for power and his decency for attention.”

–Steve Schmidt, former MSNBC analyst, political advisor to President George W. Bush, campaign manager for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R. Ca.), and manager for Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign.

“Lindsey Graham [was] a master at living a lie, for political gain.  Which is why the U.S. is in the state it’s in.  May he finally find some inner peace.”

–former CNN correspondent Michelle Kosinski. 

These are just a sampling of the awful comments uttered by the deranged Left. They should be ashamed. They are not.

Ann Widdecombe was a principled and conservative British politician. Ann Widdecombe spent decades defending Christian morality, the sanctity of life, and Britain’s traditions. She left The Church of England, and converted to Catholicism when the Church ordained women as priests. Ann Widecombe did not seek power for its own sake, but rather to make a positive impact in her home country. Ms. Widdecombe often turned down positions of power and responsibility in Tory governments, due to her refusal to compromise her principles. Ann Widdecombe has died at age 78, a victim of a murderous intruder in her home. R. I. P.

GFK

During this period of Ordinary Time, Christians will be reading at Sunday Mass from S. Paul’s letter to the Christians at Rome. We might remember that S. Paul had neither founded the Church at Rome nor had he yet had the occasion to visit. However, as he writes in his epistle, he “longs to be with them.” He writes the Epistle to the Romans to both introduce himself as well as to catechize them in significant matters of the faith.

The Epistle to the Romans is one of the most important documents in the Christian scriptures and is certainly one of the most misunderstood. Many Protestants, beginning with Martin Luther, gravitate to this epistle not recognizing the Jewish antecedents that make this one of the most Catholic of S. Paul’s epistles.

In this week’s Epistle, we find ourselves in the section concerning our salvation in Christ. Having introduced the concept of the first Adam bringing condemnation upon all mankind and the New Adam (Jesus Christ) having restored our relationship to the Father, he turns now to the practical implications of our being made members of the Body of Christ.

He begins this passage with a rhetorical question: What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? And to this he responds with an unambiguous “God forbid!” That is, we ought not to test the grace of God by continually asking His forgiveness through repeated willful disobedience. As the the Hebrews continually “murmured” against God in the wilderness, eventually God’s mercy was withdrawn and an entire generation failed to enter into the Promised Land.

The purpose of grace is to erase our past misdeeds as well as to fortify our will in helping us to resist future transgressions. For the grace of the sacraments to become truly effective, we must be receptive to that grace and not have any impediment by way of mortal sin. S. Paul then goes on to remind us of the efficacy of the Sacrament of Baptism. 

In the waters of Baptism, we enter into the death of Our Lord. The “old man” dies. That part of ourselves given over to the attractions of the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life – is to buried in the waters of the deep. Then when we come out of the waters of Baptism, we rise with Christ out of the watery grave to newness of life. We are born again: the beginning of our new life in Christ.

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Admittedly, this is a difficult challenge. On the one hand, we are told of our victory over sin. But on the other, our daily experience suggests otherwise!

While it’s certain that we have this victory potentially, the challenge is to actualize this reality in our lives with increasing success. As G. K. Chesterton once quipped: “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” To live the Christian life successfully is quite difficult and demands both courage and determination. It involves an act of the will: Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Once we begin to see ourselves as freed from our passions, and animated by the Spirit of God, then we will begin to act accordingly.

This requires the discipline of prayer, both corporate and individual. This is why attending Mass when offered is so important to our spiritual lives. And this is why a pattern of daily prayer is so crucial as well. Only as we plug into the Source of our being will we truly become what we were created to be from the beginning: children of our Heavenly Father.

_____________________________________________________________

Democrats’ bizarre ‘we’re all going to hell’ moment

BY:          Billy Hallowell, The Washington Times (July 3, 2026).

Democrats have had some truly strange and telling moments when it comes to their handling of God and the Bible in recent years — and these past few weeks were no exception.

Case in point: Texas Democrats, who rallied at their state convention from June 25 to June 27, decided to show support for U.S. Senate candidate and state Rep. James Talarico in a deeply strange way, glossing over some of his bizarre biblical and cultural views.

At one point, the crowd bizarrely cheered with exuberance when one of their own proclaimed, “We’re all going to hell” — a comment made in solidarity with Mr. Talarico’s controversial flavor of Christianity.

The moment in question, which has been making the rounds on social media, took shape when Democratic Land Commissioner nominee Benjamin Flores urged attendees to rally behind Mr. Talarico and push back against conservative criticism.

“Next time they say that James is trans, we’re all trans,” Mr. Flores said during an impassioned speech. “When they say James is a gay, tofu-eating vegan, we’re all gay, tofu-eating vegans.”

And then he delivered the line that raised more than a few eyebrows: “And when they say James is going to hell, we’ll say we’re all going to hell.”

Before we get into the theological and political sentiment, let’s explore the context. Mr. Flores’ comments came after White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller jokingly referred to Mr. Talarico as the Democrats’ “first transgender Senate candidate” last month while appearing on Fox News.

While that explains the trans comment, the mention of hell is presumably tied to another recent event. During the Texas Republican convention last month, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick ignited a flurry of headlines when he said Mr. Talarico is “going to hell” over his views about the Bible.

“And let me tell you, that’s not a Bible I’ve ever read,” Mr. Patrick said of Mr. Talarico’s views. “I’ve never seen so much blasphemy from anyone running for office. Let me tell you what, I’m going to pray for that guy, because when he loses the Senate race, if he campaigns against God as he’s been doing, he’s going to hell for sure.”

These are certainly strong words, and it’s understandable why Mr. Flores hit back, though cheering over a proclamation that “we’re all going to hell” encompasses a flippancy and strangeness that is beyond the pale.

I’m sure Mr. Flores and the Democrats were being hyperbolic and quipping, but leftists have had a long line of issues when it comes to faith, and their collective theological understanding is often lacking at best — or diabolical at worst.

Though we shouldn’t be walking around definitively condemning people to hell, Mr. Flores and others would be smart to comprehend the strong, swift and negative reactions to Mr. Talarico’s theological claims.

The latest strangeness emerged in an unearthed clip from a 2021 interview during which Mr. Talarico said, “I always think of myself as a Christian who hates Christianity, right?”

He continued, “I always get drawn back into it because nowhere else, in no other political philosophy and no other economic theory do I find anything nearly as truly radical or revolutionary as the teachings of that barefoot rabbi.”

And these are hardly the only controversial views he’s espoused when it comes to Jesus.

Among other claims, Mr. Talarico has said Christ was a feminist, and the politician used Mary, Jesus’ mother, as an example to argue that her decision to consent after Gabriel said she would be with child is evidence that the Bible is somehow pro-choice.

“The Angel comes down and asks Mary if this is something she wants to do,” he told Joe Rogan, referring to abortion. “To me, that is an affirmation in one of our central stories that creation has to be done with consent.”

Mr. Talarico also has said “God is nonbinary” and reportedly expressed universalist ideologies, noting that “other religions of love point to the same truth” as Christianity.

The list goes on and on. While Mr. Flores and others are free to confront the political mudslinging, there’s clearly a theological problem at the core of many of these proclamations. At times, Mr. Talarico seems to reinvent Jesus and the Bible in his own image.

And this is a problem the Democratic Party continues to struggle with. As I’ve written, one of the most flummoxing and embarrassing moments in modern politics unfolded at the 2012 Democratic National Convention after God was axed from the party platform before liberals scrambled to change course.

But what we’re watching now is an attempt to redefine what it means to be a Christian and what it entails to believe the Bible — and believers ought to be smart and flee this bad theology. 

At the very least, the Democratic Party should have a greater respect for and understanding of God and these subjects than to openly cheer over the prospect of eternal damnation.

The slippery slope just keeps slipping. 

____________________________________________________________________

Mike Huckabee is right: No United States of America without Jews

The far left and right do not know history

BY:          Everett Piper, The Washington Times (July 5, 2026).

Last month, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee caused a bit of a stir for saying the following: “One of the reasons that [the United States and Israel] are tied together is because it is upon the Jewish foundation that Christianity was formed, and upon the Jewish and Judeo-Christian foundation, Western civilization was formed. Without that foundation, there would not be an America. It is as simple as that.”

Of course, everyone on the horseshoe left and right lost their minds to the point of apoplexy. “How could anyone be this ignorant?” they shouted in unison. “Don’t these MAGA neanderthals know that our nation’s founding had nothing to do with religion and most assuredly had nothing to do with the Jews?”

How do we know who is right? Is it Mr. Huckabee or his detractors? If only someone had conducted peer-reviewed research we could point to, we could put this debate to rest.

Well, it turns out someone has.

In his book “America’s Prophet: How the Story of Moses Shaped America,” Bruce Feiler tells us that in 1973, two political scientists (Donald Lutz and Charles Hyneman) undertook a comprehensive survey of American political rhetoric during the Founding era. Their methodology included reading “everything published in America between 1760 and 1805.”

This herculean effort took “ten years and covered 15,000 documents, including 2,200 for which they recorded every reference cited.”

What did they discover?

Mr. Feiler summarizes it: “Thirty-four percent of all cited material in their research was from the Bible, compared with 22 percent for the Enlightenment writers and 9 percent for the classics. The Bible was cited four times as often as Montesquieu, ten times as often as Locke, and thirty times as often as Hobbes.”

That’s not all.

Even more specific was the fact that an overwhelming percentage of the biblical references came from one particular Old Testament book: the Book of Deuteronomy.

Why Deuteronomy?

Well, maybe we should let our Founding-era thought leaders speak for themselves. Here is just a sampling of what they had to say.

In 1788, Samuel Langdon, president of Harvard, argued that America should adopt the same form of government that God handed down to Moses on Sinai. “The Republic of the Israelites is an example to the American States,” he wrote. “The Jewish government was a perfect republic.”

Ezra Stiles, the president of Yale, agreed and added this: “God is now giving this land to us who in virtue of the ancient covenant are the Seed of Abraham. … The Lord freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm, and by his awesome power, and by signs and portents. He brought us to this place and gave us this land flowing with milk and honey.”

These two statements from Messrs. Langdon and Stiles were far from anomalous. In fact, all nine of the first colleges founded on American soil before the revolution offered instruction in Hebrew. Yale’s seal depicted an open Bible with the Hebrew inscription Urim v’Thummim — rendered in the seal’s Latin motto as “Light and Truth.” The seals of Dartmouth and Columbia included Hebrew as well.

Even Harvard had a recitation in Hebrew in its annual commencement until 1817.

The evidence is overwhelming. The debt our Founders felt we owed to Israel and its model of government cannot be disputed, and this sentiment was not just from professors and preachers.

Take, for example, Thomas Paine, arguably the most secular and anti-religious of all the Founders, who explicitly cited the Jewish leaders Gideon, Samuel and David as he argued that the United States should sever ties with the British monarchy and adopt a republican form of government.

Then there is Benjamin Franklin. He proposed that the official seal of the new nation include an image of “Moses standing on the shore and extending his hand over the sea thereby causing the same to overwhelm Pharaoh who is sitting in an open chariot, [with] a crown on his head and a sword in his hand. Rays from a pillar of fire in the clouds reaching to Moses, to express that he acts by the command of Deity.”

Franklin also wanted the seal to read: “Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.”

Thomas Jefferson agreed with Franklin, adding that the seal should include an “image of the children of Israel in the wilderness, led by a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.”

The list goes on. One could write a book on the topic (as indeed Mr. Feiler did), and the conclusion of the matter is clear: Mr. Huckabee is right. There would be no America without the Jews. “It’s as simple as that.”

GFK

“From this Nation’s founding until the last few decades of the 20th century—a period that spans the enactment of all three election-day statutes—having an ‘election’ on a particular day meant completing ballot collection on that day.  Not only is today’s decision inconsistent with statutory text, legal context, historical practice, and precedent; it also threatens to produce lamentable consequences.  The majority’s holding spawns a slurry of troubling election-law questions and risks further undermining Americans’ confidence in election integrity.  By allowing States to continue receiving new ballots during these drawn-out processes, today’s decision will only exacerbate voters’ distrust.  Today’s decision is inconsistent with the terms of the election-day statutes, contemporary election-law principles, two centuries of historical practice, and the case law on the question presented.  It opens up and fails to resolve a host of questions for state election officials and courts.  And it creates a serious risk of further undermining public confidence in our elections and our system of self-government.  I therefore respectfully dissent.”

–Associate Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, writing in dissent in Watson v. Republican National Committee.  The case challenged Mississippi’s law allowing mail-in-ballots to arrive up to 5 days after election day.

Remember when there was an Election Day, and not “Election Month”?

“The court today takes the extraordinary step of holding facially unconstitutional the President’s Order excluding from citizenship the children of foreign temporary visitors and illegal aliens.  In doing so, the court adds to the sad history of the Fourteenth Amendment, which was designed and understood to secure equal rights for the freed blacks but has instead been repurposed for political projects that the Reconstruction Congress did not support.  [The Citizenship Clause] was consistently interpreted not to apply to the children of foreign temporary visitors, who were by definition not domiciled in the United States . . .

I am not sure that today’s opinion will stand the test of time.  The Citizenship Clause ‘added greatly to the dignity and glory of American citizenship.’  Today’s opinion devalues that citizenship.”

–Associate United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, dissenting in Trump v. Barbara, a case challenging the President’s Executive Order directing federal agencies to not take any action treating persons born in the United States to illegal aliens, as citizens.

How can someone who rejected the legitimacy and jurisdiction of our nation’s laws be thus “subject to the jurisdiction thereof”, and given the privileges associated with our laws? Does this make any sense to you?

Many Americans believe that the United States Supreme Court’s decisions on the Constitution are “supreme”, perhaps infallible, and that no one–not the President, not the Congress, and certainly not any States or citizens–can challenge their authoritative decisions. These Americans believe that the Constitution grants the Court his right. It does not.

Nowhere in the United States Constitution does it make the courts the sole arbiters of the Constitution’s meaning. The Supreme Court is not above the Executive or Legislative branches. It is a co-equal branch. And every branch has the power and duty to evaluate its actions in light of the Constitution. A President should not act in violation of the Constitution. The Congress should not legislate in violation of the Constitution. And the Court, when deciding a case or controversy, should not rule in violation of the Constitution.

But the myth prevails that if the Court rules that something is constitutional, or unconstitutional, that that is the end of it. And that is pure horse hockey.

In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled that a Louisiana law segregating public facilities by race was constitutional, thus beginning the rule of “separate but equal”. Does any reader really believe that decision was correct?

In 1942, the Supreme Court ruled that a farmer not engaged in interstate commerce, was, in fact, engaged in interstate commerce, by not engaging in interstate commerce. That decision still stands. Make any sense to you?

In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal Constitution contained a right to abortion. Please go read the Constitution, and contact me if you find the right to an abortion anywhere in the text.

In 1986, the Supreme Court upheld a Georgia law criminalizing sodomy. It was a State issue. But then in 2003, the Supreme Court decided that sodomy–an action, not an immutable characteristic subject to civil rights considerations–was actually a federal issue after all, and struck down a Texas law criminalizing sodomy. Again, please go read the Constitution. Contact me if you can find the word “sodomy” anywhere in the text.

In 2012, the United States Supreme Court considered the legality of the Obamacare statute in NFIB v. Sebelius. The statute provided that if a citizen did not maintain health insurance for himself, the federal government could punish him. In other words, the federal government could compel a citizen to buy a product. The hearings were held over 2 days. On day 1, the Supreme Court considered if Obamacare was a tax. Because if it were, then the challenges to it must fail. On day 2, the Supreme Court considered the substance of Obamacare, assuming it was not a tax. The Supreme Court ruled, in an opinion written by the cowardly Chief Justice John Roberts, that Obamacare was not a tax, therefore the challenges to its substance could proceed. Then that very same Chief Justice Roberts held that Obamacare was constitutional, because it was a tax. Did you follow that? It makes less sense than Wickard v. Filburn.

Finally, in Obergfell v. Hodges, issued in 2015, the Court ruled that the 14th Amendment meant that States could not limit “marriage” to 1 man and 1 woman. The federal Constitution does not govern marriage. It is not a federal issue. And nowhere in the 14th Amendment does it confer civil rights considerations on conduct.

I could go on and on about Supreme Court abuses and failures. I am not trying to criticize specific decisions by the Court so much as to correct a misconception. The point I am trying to illustrate is that the Court is not infallible. And the Court is not “supreme” in the sense that it is the last and only word on any given subject. Set forth below are some far more scholarly pieces which I hope might give you a better understanding of the Court’s limitations. Enjoy!

___________________________________________________________________

Is the Supreme Court the Final Word on the Constitution?

The answer may surprise Americans raised on the myth of judicial supremacy.

BY:          Donald Devine, The American Spectator (June 23, 2026).

It is astonishing how many Americans have been misled by the progressive law school fable that the Supreme Court is somehow above politics and should be placed at the apex of federal power as the final interpreter and owner of the Constitution—at least as long as progressives have a majority of justices!

Sarah Isgur’s new book, Last Branch Standing, is an excellent example. But in this case, Social Sciences Dean at Hillsdale College, Paul D. Moreno challenges the progressive myth in an excellent review. While giving her credit for recognizing that in fact the current Court is not led by some dominating conservative majority but is divided between three factions: 3 progressives, 3 moderate conservatives, and 3 conservatives — he goes to the heart of the matter.

Isgur is too prone to take contemporary judicial supremacy for granted. In her historical overview of the Court, she asks, “How did we end up with this Supreme Court — unique in the world — and perhaps the only one of the three branches that our Founders would recognize today?” In fact, it’s no longer unique in the world, and it is emphatically not the one that the Founders would recognize. I’d say that no feature of today’s current political system would surprise them more than judicial supremacy.

In fact, Moreno continued, “the belief that the Court had the last word in constitutional interpretation is a relatively late development. It was not until 1958, in Cooper v. Aaron, a school-desegregation enforcement case, that the Court overtly stated that its interpretation of the Constitution was as much the ‘supreme law of the land’ as the Constitution itself.”

In that same era, my generation was specifically taught by Yale University’s Robert Dahl’s sophisticated empirical analysis that scores of Supreme Court decisions had actually been overridden by Congress over the years. More recently, the Civil Rights Act of 1987 even overruled the Supreme Court’s Grove City v. Bell civil rights decision by name.

President Andrew Jackson not only refused to enforce the Supreme Court’s Worster v. Georgia decision but also specifically argued that all three branches equally interpret the Constitution. As Moreno also noted, even Abraham Lincoln questioned whether the Dred Scott decision was Constitutional as early as 1857. Lincoln led a Civil War to overrule this Supreme Court ruling with his Emancipation Proclamation, which was confirmed by the 13th Amendment.

It is no secret that with the coming of Wilsonian Progressivism, the New Deal, and the Great Society, things changed radically in favor of judicial supremacy. Progressive Supreme Court leaders like Earl Warren, William J. Brennan Jr., William O. Douglas, Louis Brandeis, and Thurgood Marshall led the way and were incredibly successful in nationalizing law, policy, and power over states’ rights.

Even with today’s moderate judicial retreat from that earlier legal progressivism, some right-leaning intellectuals like Ramesh Ponnuru have argued that today’s court has moved back too far toward states’ rights. Ponnuru recognized that some state government policy conflicts with Washington “are inevitable and perhaps even healthy in our system.” But at the end, he argues that national “rules must restrain those conflicts so that they do not undermine important national goods.” Ponnuru argues that today’s Supreme Court justices have become less and less willing to enforce limits on the states. These “have read the specific rules narrowly and are moving toward a version of the dormant commerce clause that stops only those policies that explicitly target other states’ economies.”

Today’s conservative judges are simply considered “skeptical of restrictions on the states.” Those justices “committed to originalism” believe that “laws should be interpreted as the public understood them at the time they were enacted.” Many even believe that the whole 20th-century interpretation of the commerce clause is simply “not in the text of the Constitution,” nor can the document explain how to interpret it.

These originalists, of course, are Justices Neil Gorsuch, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas; and to a lesser degree, Brett Kavanaugh, John Roberts, and Amy Barrett. These are the more conservative judges who believe they are simply reversing what they consider were the extreme progressive court interpretations of the 20th Century. They particularly objected to courts moving from narrow interpretations of “procedural due process” into a much broader “substantive due process” that dramatically increased national power and limited 10th Amendment rights.

The right critics justify a broader view of due process as necessary for free markets and commerce. While substantive due process originated there, the drastic increases in Washington’s power over states more recently have limited state social policy powers — on issues such as marriage and the family, raising and educating children, on contraception and reproductive choice, on sexual privacy, on intimate relationships, and on abortion rights procedures — none of which have a national basis in the Constitution except by judicial fiat.

As Moreno noted, Justice Clarence Thomas’s 2022 concurrence in Dobbs  suggested that much more needs to be done for a wholesale reconsideration of the Court’s 20th-century rush from its original, limited Constitutional procedural interpretations into vague and too broad substantive misinterpretations, creating new “rights,” often resulting in much of today’s social disorder.

In fact, from the very beginning, the Constitution has been a separation of powers instrument in which each of its five institutions — legislative, executive, judicial, states, and amendment — divides powers and rights where no institution has the final word and can challenge each other. Congress can pass new laws, states can mitigate and pass amendments, and the executive can interpret through enforcement actions to mitigate legal decisions.

But for the last half-century or so, the courts have overreached their powers, and it has taken the other institutions time to slowly create the conditions for a federalist rebalance more consistent with the original Constitution.

The way back requires interpretations and policies more consistent with the decentralized and balanced federalism that was built into the actual Constitution.

____________________________________________________________________

The Court’s problem children

How we get a crippled Supreme Court.

BY:          Allen Hurt, The American Thinker (July 4, 2026).

A woman I know told me a story. She happened to be outside a store where she was taking care of her five-year-old grandson while her daughter, the boy’s mother, was across town running some errands. Three teenage boys burst out of the store and sprinted off, carrying a bag they had obviously just stolen. The shopkeeper emerged and asked the woman which way they had gone. The woman imagined herself spending the rest of the day filing police reports, her grandson in tow. So she told the shopkeeper that she didn’t see them.

That is Chief Justice John Roberts. His dread of controversy compels him to squirm out of principled decisions. More times than not, he sides with the status quo for the simple fact that he knows he will take less heat for sticking with it rather than changing it. His default position is Do Nothing. Do nothing with ObamaCare by calling it a tax. Do nothing with the spurious 2020 presidential election by denying the appealing attorneys general standing. Do nothing about allowing children born here to non-citizens to automatically become citizens by cobbling together some legal gobbledegook. These are just three examples of where his sacrifice of principle has caused America immense harm. Taking a principled stand can take courage. Substituting expediency for principle never does.

Another story. I know a brilliant woman. She is MENSA. She graduated at the top of her class and rose to the pinnacle of her profession. She can debate you until you surrender and destroy you at chess. But she can’t drive a car. It’s terrifying to be in one with her when she tries. Mundane, practical, day-to-day decisions are difficult for her. She left her devoted husband in search of romance, and now she’s alone. Her mind makes her a queen in the academy and an urchin on the street.

This is Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett. There’s no connection between a decision and its consequences. Wisdom is the application of knowledge, intellect, temperament, and experience to solving a problem. Decisions tethered by wisdom are like kites that dance steadily in the wind. Decisions untethered by wisdom are kites that careen between unforeseen, unintended consequences until they inevitably crash to earth as ruin and wreckage. A shortage of wisdom explains why a fine person with a fine intellect can make such shockingly ghastly bad decisions, as she just did on the birthright citizenship matter. She can’t foresee the consequences of her decisions. Our problem is that when it comes to wisdom, you either have it or you don’t, and she’ll likely be on the bench for a long time.

____________________________________________________________________

That pesky 14th Amendment

The 14th Amendment requires a lot of interpreting…and that is the problem.

BY:          Mark C. Ross, The American Thinker (July 4, 2026).

When reading through the U.S. Constitution, the 14th Amendment marks a significant departure — not in intent, but in the first adoption of the language of complex legalese when compared to the previous language thereof.  The entry just before the 14th
Amendment to the Constitution, the 13th Amendment, simply states in its entirety that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.  Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

Plain-spoken, concise, and unambiguous, especially when compared to the subsequent additions to the supreme law of the land.  Henceforth, however, the lawyers sharpened their pencils and got seriously into the mix.  Unraveling the objective meaning of the 14th Amendment is actually an eternal task, meaning that all results will be subject to interpretation.  This is not how law should be administered. 

It is painfully obvious that “birth tourism” should not be valid, but it still is.  And bedeviling the argument over birthright citizenship is the meaning of the term “the jurisdiction thereof.”  Yeah, subject to interpretation — which is not a good foundation for a legal principle.

Kurt Schlichter at least hints at the SCOTUS majority’s motive being a reluctance to rock the boat, since a dilemma would occur over the disposition of possibly millions already having questionable citizenship — and makes a good case for this not being the end of the struggle to rationalize America’s immigration policy.  It may be reasonable to assume that the fuse has been lit for the eventual correction of this defect.

What should also be mentioned is a reminder of why John Roberts is the current chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.  Back when he was being considered for a position as an associate justice, the then–chief justice, William Rehnquist, suddenly assumed room temperature.  For the sake of efficiency, the “rulers” of America pushed Roberts up into the vacated position.

Henceforth, we have languished under the judicial dictates of the Roberts Court.  Pursuant to the latest “birthright” decision, renewed attention to the SCOTUS and its future has been uncorked.  Both sides are gearing up, I suppose, for a protracted struggle.  Whoever said the Supreme Court reads the election results knew what he was talking about.

_______________________________________________________________

What would George Washington do?

He would surely address a feckless Supreme Court, democratic socialists, sanctuary cities

BY:          Robert Knight, The Washington Times (July 5, 2026).

Our family recently took in the new, improved Mount Vernon. Frankly, it knocked our socks off.

George Washington’s 18th-century mansion and grounds are superbly restored, and there are a Smithsonian-quality museum and a riveting film about the Revolutionary War. It even snows inside the theater at one point.

Without George Washington, the United States of America would not have happened. Commander of America’s armed forces, and later the first president, he was utterly indispensable.

The Colonists had plenty of reasons to revolt. King George III and Parliament had imposed intolerable conditions, such as quartering soldiers in Colonists’ homes and demanding a “stamp tax” on all documents and transactions.

Battling extreme hardship and the greatest world empire at the time, Washington’s army dropped from 20,000 to only 3,000, and the cause seemed hopeless. Yet they fought from April 19, 1775, to the British surrender at Yorktown on Oct. 19, 1781, securing victory with help from the French fleet.

Washington, who with his wife, Martha, never had biological children of his own, became the father of his country. Offered a chance to be king, he went home instead.

As revealed in books such as “George Washington’s Sacred Fire” (Peter A. Lillback with Jerry Newcombe, 2006), he was fueled by a deep Christian faith, something conspicuously absent from Mount Vernon and modern revisionism.

The museum has some other quirks, such as ignoring Thomas Jefferson and barely mentioning the Marquis de Lafayette. Still, it respectfully chronicles the inconvenient reality that Mount Vernon had many slaves, most of them acquired from the estate of Martha’s first husband. It is handled well without overshadowing Washington’s importance.

Washington made being an American citizen one of the most valued privileges in the world.

I thought about this while poking through the legal wreckage of the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on June 30 in Trump v. Barbara, which upheld birthright citizenship. It applies even to babies born to illegal aliens and to “birth tourists” who come specifically to create new U.S. citizens.

The ruling written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. qualifies nearly anyone in the world to have a baby on U.S. territory and create an instant citizen. As Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his dissent, this “devalues” American citizenship.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer informed the court in April about evidence cited by members of Congress that communist China is sending hundreds of thousands of women to U.S. territories to have babies, bring them home and indoctrinate them, “creating a whole generation of American citizens abroad with no meaningful ties to the United States.”

This did not matter to the court’s majority, which seemed to decide that the Constitution is a suicide pact.

The 14th Amendment states that, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

The court chose to pretend that “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” is superfluous.

If simply being born on U.S. soil establishes citizenship, the “jurisdiction” phrase cannot logically mean the same thing. It is a caveat added to protect children born of freed slaves after the Civil War. In fact, the 1866 Civil Rights Act acknowledges citizenship only to people “not subject to any foreign power,” such as babies born to foreign nationals.

These points were raised in powerful dissents by Justice Thomas and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.

The United States is one of only a few countries still allowing birthright citizenship. For example, if an American woman gives birth in Tokyo, the child is not a Japanese citizen.

At the end of last month, the court delivered its most controversial decisions before recessing. On June 30, the justices rightly upheld the right of states to protect female athletes by barring males from competing in female sports. Only the three leftist women dissented.

Yet in Watson v. Republican National Committee, a June 29 opinion written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the justices rejected a challenge to state laws allowing the tallying of mail-in ballots after Election Day. In his scathing dissent, Justice Alito said there was no better way to undermine faith in fair elections than to count ballots for days and even weeks afterward, especially in close races.

We are living in a perilous time. Hundreds of thousands of foreigners, legal and illegal, are minting new U.S. citizens. The Democratic Party is being overrun by openly communist and Islamist candidates under the democratic socialist banner. They are taking power in states with sanctuary cities, massive welfare fraud, compromised voter rolls, no photo voter ID laws and astronomical numbers of illegal aliens joining the “free stuff” army.

Given the court’s reluctance to protect U.S. citizens from what amounts to a foreign invasion, the U.S. Senate has no excuse for failing to vote to pass the SAVE America Act to restore election integrity.

In the birthright citizenship ruling, Chief Justice Roberts wrote, “In the odious decision of Dred Scott v. Sandford [1857], this Court imposed the Southern States’ beliefs onto the Nation.”

Yes, and here is some updated phrasing: “In the odious decision of Trump v. Barbara, this Court imposed the Sanctuary Cities’ beliefs onto the Nation.”

I doubt that George Washington could possibly have conceived of what is happening today in America right before our eyes — and I think he would have found a way to do something about it.

GFK

“I don’t care if Monday’s blue, Tuesday’s gray and Wednesday too.  Thursday I don’t care about you.  It’s Friday I’m in love.”

–The Cure.

“When you leave work on Friday, leave work.  Don’t let technology follow you throughout your weekend (answering text messages and emails) take a break you will be more refreshed to begin the workweek if you have had a break.”

–Catherine Pulsifer.

“A wild and crazy weekend involves sitting on the front porch, smoking a cigar, reading a book.” 

–former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Senator Mitch McConnell (R. Ky.) has been hospitalized since June 14. His wife, former U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, has been in Peking, China, meeting with Red Chinese officials since June 12. She has not returned to be by her husband. Huh. So many questions . . . .

A Senate report reveals that former Special Counsel Jack Smith mishandled classified government information while prosecuting then former President Trump for . . . mishandling classified government information. Is that not just interesting?

A group of Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are pushing legislation to grant amnesty to illegal aliens who work in the agriculture industry. IS THERE A DUMBER IDEA OUT THERE? I kind of doubt it.

“Right, well those are the things I said.  What is the actual – is there evidence between her and him, evidence of a crime?  Because he’s being accused of rape.  What put this over the edge?  Because he says he didn’t and he has people on his side who say he didn’t.  She says I did and I’m trying – what’s the throughline?”

–Mike Brzezinski on MS NOW’s Morning Joe, defending Graham Platner.

Whatever happened to “believe all women”? And does anyone remember Mika Brzezinski defending Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh against the flimsy and false allegations made against him? I sure do not.

Marysville High School [California] is defying a California law banning Indian mascots and team names. GOOD! GO CHIEFS!

“I don’t want my son to walk into any room and feel like his voice is not valued or his perspective can’t be heard because he’s not saying it in one way or the other.”

–Ashley Williams, co-founder of Black Californians United for Early Care and Education.

A black activist group is urging the California public school system to accommodate “Black English” in schools, arguing that black children’s use of the dialect must be honored.  The organization is calling on the California school system to establish programs that treat students who speak in black English similarly to how it treats multilingual students.  Sigh.  It is Ebonics by another name.  Do not hold children to standards.  Instead, lower the bar, keeping them ignorant. 

Governor Kathy Hochul (D. N.Y.) is bragging about imposing high taxes on New Yorkers. Why? Because she knows that President Trump hates those taxes, and she is “sticking it” to him. Sigh. New York voters need to stick it to her in November.

Comrade Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D. N.Y.) proudly put out an official map of New York City, highlighting its ethnic enclaves. There is a “Little Palestine”, “Little Yemen”, and a “Little Pakistan”. What was omitted? Probably New York City’s most famous ethnic enclave–Little Italy.

How is this omission possible? And how is it that Comrade Mayor Mamdani seems to concentrate only on Muslim enclaves? Hmmmm.

Former Wisconsin State Court judge Hannah Dugan (D.) was sentenced to a $5,000.00 fine for her felony obstruction of justice conviction. Readers will remember that then Judge Dugan helped an illegal alien escape arrest by ICE agents. What a lucky break for her.

The Mission Regional Hospital in Texas has been advertising “birth tourism” packages in Mexico. Billboards and social media were procured, and blared the hospital’s advertisements, along with prices for the services. Words fail me.

U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico (D. Tx.) claims to oppose “gender affirming care” (i.e. genital mutilation surgery) for minors. Then why did he attend a fundraiser hosted by a doctor whose entire practice was “gender affirming care”? James Talarico is such a soy boy liar.

Mr. Talarico also claims to be a 2nd Amendment supporter. Then why did he employ as a legislative aide a member of the anti-gun organization known as “C**ks, Not Glocks”. This rather crude organization handed out thousands of dildoes on the University of Texas campus in order to protest a Texas law permitting the carrying of firearms on the campus. Again, Mr. Talarico is such a soy boy liar.

Former Representative and current Congressional candidate Elaine Luria (D. Va.) called the allegations against U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner (R. Me.) “shiny new thing to scare people.” Huh. Rape is a “shiny new thing to scare people”?

“I only have until July 13th until I am officially the nominee.  This was the last week to try to get me off of the ballot.  And that’s why this is occurring.  It’s not the false allegations, though.  That have brought us to where we are.  It’s the fact that they’re being used by the political establishment to put structural pressure on us.”

–failed U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner (D. Me.).

Meanwhile, Graham Platner suspended his campaign for the United States Senate. Mr. Platner refused to admit any wrong doing, or take any responsibility for his campaign’s implosion. Rather, he blamed the Democrat party and prominent Democrats for abandoning him. Hmmm. He might just have a point. After all, it is not like Democrats really care about his transgressions. They are only upset because he cannot win the Senate seat.

“Among all of these calls for Graham Platner to resign, for [raping] one white American woman, I’m not hearing anyone make a simultaneous call that the dozens of sitting Democratic incumbent congress people who are up for election, who have in the past voted to send bombs and billions of dollars to the army that is serially [raping] their ‘prisoners’ in Palestine, and committing genocide against hundreds of thousands of people.  Which includes, by the way, women and girls.  No one’s calling for them to step down.  When that is by any logical, moral, ethical framework, so much worse of a crime.”

–Hen Mazzig, a supporter of Graham Planter, who is outraged that he was forced out of the U.S. Senate race in Maine.

Toyota announced it would invest billions of dollars to expand its San Antonio, Texas manufacturing plant, bringing production of Tacoma trucks from Mexico to Texas. WINNING!

Chez Xue, a Chinese restaurant located South of San Francisco, California, maintains a strict policy of requiring dining patrons to control their children. Unruly children are not tolerated, and are not allowed to run throughout the restaurant, playing, and disrupting other diners’ meals. And if children break things, the restaurant “fines” the parents, placing the damages on their bill (assuming that they have not already been asked to leave). WOW! The next time I visit the Bay Area, I am definitely eating at Chez Xue.

Travel & Leisure magazine has named Appellation the #1 resort in the continental United States. Appellation is located in Healdsburg, California, a lovely, if expensive, place to spend some time.

The Chicago Bears is not the only large business fleeing Illinois’s brutal business climate. Tru Value hardware, which has been based in Chicago for more than 80 years is departing for Fort Wayne, Indiana.

President Trump called out Spain at the NATO Summit in Turkey for its refusal to increase defense spending and to permit the United States to use its airbases in the country. Mr. Trump previously called for NATO to expel Spain. Now he is suggesting that the United States may cease trade relations with the increasingly useless and communist country.

How did Spain respond to Mr. Trump’s threats? By writing a massive check to NATO. NOW THAT, is “The Art of the Deal”!

The United States repealed a license permitting Iran to sell its oil during the countries’ negotiations. Maybe Iran should have behaved itself.

In Canada, Parliament made it a “hate crime” to read The Bible in public. But mosques are allowed to blare the call to prayer 5 times a day, at loud decibels that cause the sound to travel far over communities. Think about that.

After more than 72 years, professional golf will be no more at the Firestone Country Club, in Akron, Ohio. The South Course hosted so many events over the years, its fairways trod by Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, and Woods. Following this week’s Champions Tour event, professional golf will move on. Hopefully, not for long.

Three (3) time Cy Young winner Justin Verlander announced that he will retire from professional baseball at the end of the season. Heckuva career.

Singer Bonnie Tyler has died at age 75. R. I. P.

Former New York Mets pitching coach Phil Regan has died at age 89. R. I. P.

GFK