Saturday, in the tabs, every day’s the Fourth of July …
Former Democrat Senator Joe Manchin TORCHES AOC over her vile rhetoric about Charlie Kirk during a vote to condemn his assassination:
“If that’s the way the Democrat Party is going, it’s getting worse, not better.” pic.twitter.com/D7W18ohKlN
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 19, 2025
Ed: The Squad is chasing off the center. When Donald Trump is no longer on the ballot as a bete noire to use as a rally point, Democrats will have no argument at all for power except the threat of violence. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recognizes that, which is why she tried to rally the violent in her speech that all but excused the assassination of Charlie Kirk. And it seems to have worked …
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NY Post: An armed man who was posing as a member of law enforcement was arrested by Secret Service agents at the Arizona stadium where Charlie Kirk’s funeral will be held Sunday, according to reports.
The man was detained by State Farm Stadium, home to the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, in Glendale on Friday, the Secret Service told Fox News Digital.
“The U.S. Secret Service in coordination with local law enforcement in Glendale, Arizona, is investigating an individual who was observed exhibiting suspicious behavior” at the stadium, agency spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi told the outlet Saturday.
“The individual was approached by Secret Service and stated during the encounter that he was a member of law enforcement and that he was armed. The individual is not a member of authorized law enforcement working the event and is currently in custody,” Guglielmi said.
Ed: The only surprising aspect of this is its stupidity. This is a memorial service for the victim of a political assassination, in which the President, Vice President, and other high-ranking officials will participate. Attempting to penetrate the security cordon of this particular event by impersonating law enforcement deserves a life sentence for its sheer idiocy. But this is precisely what the radical Left wants — more political violence.
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Disappointing but not surprising. But I’d rather focus on the millions who have come together and have been inspired by ❤️Charlie Kirk❤️ to try and be the best version of themselves. https://t.co/vQqUEWlQGM
— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) September 20, 2025
Ed: Especially this weekend.
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Ross Douthat, NY Times: In the aftermath, my sense is that many stewards of cultural institutions are aware that they have a problem, that they’ve lost the public trust or market share or both. The leaders of the Ivy League would like to have more ideological diversity and national credibility. The leaders of the big networks would like to cut themselves loose from their failing late night TV model. The leaders of Disney would like to figure out how to make unifying entertainment again.
But they are still dealing with internal ideological pressures — so to be able to reform, they need pressure from the outside to do the right thing.
This, then, is the arguable civic purpose of the Trump administration’s culture war. Sometimes it takes a systematic form, like the efforts to induce universities to change the way they admit and hire and handle speech issues. Sometimes it seizes on targets of opportunity, like a late night host bizarrely and offensively attacking “the MAGA gang” for correctly recognizing that the man who assassinated a conservative icon was probably left-wing. But in each case the purpose is to give cultural institutions a reason or an excuse to row back toward the great American middle.
Ed: Well, maybe. I doubt that these cultural imperialists really want to “row back toward the great American center.” They seemed happy enough imposing their ever-more-radical values on the great American center, until the backlash became too great to ignore. And I suspect that they will row back to Left with great enthusiasm if given the chance. This does, however, make Ross’ point even stronger — that the “culture war” is a necessary and hygienic effort.
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The KKK was the Democrat party.
Jasmine went to a high school that cost $35,000 a year and they didn’t explain that to her? pic.twitter.com/qH8B2KHPGE
— Molly Pitcher (@AmericanMama86) September 20, 2025
Ed: I wanted to tweet out, “Who wants to tell her?” Apparently, everyone does. Jasmine may have gone to an expensive school, but her ability to defend her intellect against education is quite impressive. To quote (or perhaps paraphrase) Aristophanes: “Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated and drunkenness sobered, but stupid lasts forever.” (This was used in one of my favorite films: The Emperor’s Club.)
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Fox 40 Sacramento: The Sacramento Police Department has arrested Anibal Hernandezsantana of Sacramento in connection with shots being fired at the building of ABC10 news, at approximately 1:30 pm on Friday.
The suspect’s vehicle was identified by police, which led them to a residence in the 5400 block of Carlson Drive. Hernandezsantana was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, shooting into an occupied building, and negligent discharge of a firearm.
Ed: Police say the motive “remains under investigation,” but the media coverage will likely tip us off to it. If this case gets tons of national media coverage, the perp will have some nexus to the Right. If this disappears off the radar, the perp will have some nexus to the Left. I did do a search on Google and Facebook and didn’t find anything, other tan an employment lawsuit in 2019 that involved someone of the same name — but there’s no way to be sure it’s the same person.
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“When Democrats are intentionally making up fake quotes that Charlie Kirk never said because they want him to be evil, they are saying: we don’t care what you actually believe. We want you to die.” pic.twitter.com/TOWVNViqe3
— Timcast News (@TimcastNews) September 20, 2025
Ed: And this is not surprising, coming from a culture of death.
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Greg Collard at Racket News: There are legitimate questions and concerns about the role of the FCC and the Trump administration’s influence in Disney’s decision to put Kimmel on hiatus. This isn’t about that, and there is already plenty of coverage and appropriate scrutiny of that decision.
But what’s not being addressed enough is whether conservative outrage over Kimmel’s monologue is understandable. Unequivically, the answer is yes — but it’s not just about what he said Monday: that “the MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
It’s about what Kimmel has been saying and doing for years. He is a tool of the Democratic Party.
Ed: To quote yet another film, The Young Victoria, again paraphrased: “You do not understand. Allow me to be clear — you have played the game, and you have lost.” Collard makes the same point, and argues that this isn’t a First Amendment issue at all but instead a market reaction to a very lousy product.
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🚨 NOW: The Department of Homeland Security is slamming Gavin Newsom for what reads like a threat toward Secretary Kristi Noem.
“Kristi Noem is going to have a bad day today. You’re welcome, America.”
“This reads like a threat. This is ugly, Gavin Newsom. Your keyboard warrior… pic.twitter.com/H5mGhayEtF
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) September 20, 2025
Ed: I guess the masks are off now.
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