Presumptuous Politics

Thursday, June 25, 2026

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Rutte Seeks to Ease Trump-NATO Tensions

NATO's Rutte Meets With Trump to Ease Tensions Over Iran

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte sought to calm tensions with President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday, using a mix of flattery and gentle pushback to argue that examples of allies' reluctance to support the U.S. war with Iran ​were "isolated cases."

The NATO chief is visiting Washington to try to ease strains over the Iran war and U.S. threats to draw down troops in ⁠Europe ahead of a pivotal NATO leaders' summit in July in Ankara.

Trump, a longtime ​NATO critic who has called the alliance a "paper tiger," has been angered by its ⁠reluctance to support the U.S. in the Middle East conflict or help reopen the Strait of Hormuz after a U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran on Feb. 28 disrupted the major oil shipping route.

During the Oval Office meeting, Rutte used cardboard charts to show how much NATO countries have stepped up their defense spending ​since Trump first came into office in 2017.

 

He also said thousands of U.S. military planes had operated from bases in Europe during the war, pointing to that cooperation as a sign of the allies' support.

"I know there have been isolated cases about which you are really disappointed, but generally speaking your European allies have ⁠been there," Rutte said.

Trump appeared largely unconvinced, though he praised Rutte's efforts.

"You really ⁠have done a good job, and I think if anybody else were in that position, we wouldn't even be ⁠meeting ⁠today, to be honest with you, because we were let down. We didn't need help on this at all," Trump said.

 

One of Rutte's primary roles since Trump's second election victory in November 2024 has been managing the president's hostility toward the alliance and preventing tense moments, including Trump's push to acquire Greenland, from spiraling into lasting crises.

Tensions between ​Washington and NATO have escalated in recent months. After NATO allies refused to back Trump's Iran campaign, which he began without prior consultation, Trump openly questioned whether the U.S. should stand by NATO’s ​mutual defense pact and said he was considering leaving the alliance.

 

Usha Vance Expertly Trolls NYT 'Journo' Who Had Epic Melt Down Over MAGA Baby Boom

Second Lady Usha Vance took to social media Wednesday afternoon to have some fun at the expense of the New York Times, which had just published an absurd article in which the author vigorously clutched her pearls over the recent MAGA baby boom. Egads, wrote Vanessa Friedman 

Sept. 13: Vanessa Friedman '89 Analyzes Donald Trump's Mugshot | Princeton  Alumni Weekly 

(who is apparently the paper's chief fashion critic), not only is Vance enjoying her pregnancy, she's flaunting it for all to see! 

To which Mrs. Vance basically replied, "Oh well."

Friedman's premise seemed to be that the second lady – along with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Katie Miller, wife of Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who both recently delivered babies – were far too into their pregnancies, as evidenced by the trio appearing in public wearing nice clothes. Oh, and they all had the nerve to cradle their growing bellies in full view of others! You know, just like every expectant mother does at some point during her pregnancy.

Vance is the first one Friedman picks on, probably because she's still pregnant and in a more vulnerable state. Real nice, right? It's a Father's Day video released by Mrs. Vance's office, in which Vice President Vance makes an appearance to read a children's book, that seems to have stoked Friedman's ire.

“Luckily, there’s going to be a new baby for you to read to,” the second lady says to her husband, “so you’re going to have many more years ahead of you.” She is wearing a stretchy coral dress that hugs her stomach, making what she is talking about very clear.

He grins and responds, “I was not yet ready to be out of the baby phase, so here we are, about to jump right in in just a few short weeks.”

This is apparently an example of how MAGA is using the "power and politics of pregnancy" to advance its agenda. Babies and motherhood, how awful! Oh, and that coral dress Usha wore in the video? That's of particular concern to Friedman, as the dress skimmed the second lady's 8-month pregnant belly in a way that seemed offensive to the author. It exhibited, Friedman wrote, "an image of idealized womanhood that gives literal shape to the pronatalist movement."


READ MORE: JD and Usha Vance Make an Exciting – and Historic! – Announcement

She Was Supposed to Be on Maternity Leave. Instead, Karoline Leavitt Brought Fire to the WH Briefing Room


Hilariously, the second lady responded on her official X account, "Now that we know the political significance of my $8.75 coral maternity dress from Old Navy, can’t wait to hear what the New York Times has to say about my elastic-waistband pants and compression socks!"

Now that we know the political significance of my $8.75 coral maternity dress from Old Navy, can’t wait to hear what the New York Times has to say about my elastic-waistband pants and compression socks! In the meantime, enjoy my pregnancy fashion (or lack thereof) and a good story with your kids on Storytime with the Second Lady.

She even provided the receipt showing she paid $8.75 for the dress that looked extremely comfortable for a woman experiencing late-stage pregnancy in the steamy heat of a Washington, D.C., summer.

Let's face it, it's the fact that the Usha Vance, Karoline Leavitt, and Katie Miller are happily-married mothers who look fantastic while pregnant and live fulfilling lives that really gets under the skin of liberal women like Vanessa Friedman. And she found some fellow "feminists" to join in her rage-fest.

“It almost feels like a memo went out,” said Jill Filipovic, the host of the “Week in Women” podcast. “They have quite intentionally opted to present themselves as, ‘I am really pregnant, and this is what women were chosen to do,’ and they are happy to say that both with their looks and their mouths.”

Oh, and they really don't like Katie Miller, who recently posted this:

“In honor of Mother’s Day,” she wrote, “a reminder that peak feminism is having babies. The most radical thing a woman can do is embrace her biological destiny."

The weirdest part of the article is the anger Friedman clearly feels over the MAGA ladies not dressing like ... Jackie Kennedy and Cherie Blair? Could someone please make that silliness make sense? 

It seems like Friedman would like nothing more than to see pregnant MAGA mamas covered head to toe – maybe even in a burka? Which brings the absurdity of this New York Times folly full-circle. Liberal ladies are nothing more than sneering, seething has-beens who have relegated themselves to the sidelines while real women embrace and celebrate their God-given ability to create life. 

There is zero scandal in Usha Vance's coral maternity dress or happy mothers smiling their way through their pregnancies, but it is indeed concerning that the left has become so hostile to traditional womanhood that even a pregnant woman in an Old Navy dress registers to them as a five-alarm political threat. Usha Vance, a very accomplished woman in her own right, only needed a receipt and a healthy sense of humor to make the New York Times and their anti-woman bias look absolutely ridiculous.

 

In New York, the Democrat Establishment Dug Their Own Graves

On New York Democrat primary night, the Democrat Socialists of America (DSA) crazies swept their three targeted congressional races, while other DSA maniacs saw “fantastic” results. Soon after the final numbers were reported, the Democrat House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08) gave a speech “cheering” the results. In response, the DSA crowd at a victory party booed and chanted “you’re next” at Jeffries, whom they loathe for his supposed “moderation.”

This, my friends, is a truly ironic development. Jeffries and the rest of the Democrat establishment have dug their own graves – their policies created the DSA and have fed its successes, so that they are now becoming the victims of it.

 

How did this happen? Here is the answer:

  1. The Dysfunctional Leftist Education System

In my last column, I discussed the leftist educational mess that the Democrat establishment has made of our colleges and K-12. The Democrat establishment was eager to allow left-wingers to enmesh themselves in the educational system, to turn the successive generations into solid Democrat voters. Well, guess who came out to the polls in the low turnout NY primaries that powered the DSA triumph – the white hipster doofi who love socialism? In areas without them, the establishment Democrats easily held on. 


READ MORE: It Should Surprise No One That the Democrats Love Socialism

Mamdani-Backed Chevalier Wins NY-13 Primary, but Check Out Who Likely Put Her Over the Top


Even more amusing is Hakeem Jeffries' personal history in all this. Jeffries is the nephew of Lionel Jeffries, a professor at the City University of New York, who eventually lost his job over his bigoted comments against whites and Jews. Hakeem Jeffries — who was in college when his uncle’s controversy began — defended his uncle in a student newspaper and invited his uncle to give a speech on campus. Now, the students taught by Lionel Jeffries and the other leftist nuts are promising to remove Hakeem Jeffries from office.

  1. The Wide Open Borders

As we all know, one of the major reasons for the big 2024 GOP victory is that under prior Democrat presidents, the border was wide open, and a huge wave of foreigners, both legal and illegal, came flooding in. The Democrat establishment loved these open border policies, as they knew that most of the immigrants would vote Democrat. Virtually no vetting was done, which meant that many of these new voters had very anti-democratic, America-hating, Islamic fundamentalist, and/or leftist backgrounds. Currently, about one million New York City residents are foreign-born Muslims, and it is likely that most of them voted for the DSA candidates.


  1. The Democrat Mismanagement of New York

The Democrats have had unified control over New York’s state government since 2018; they have had the governorship since 2007. They have also held the New York City Mayor’s office since 2013. During this time, they have run both the state and the city into the ground. As one X user noted, “NY is already a failed socialist welfare state. 42% of NYC residents are on Medicaid. 1 out of 5 are on food stamps, 1/3 live in rent stabilized apartments, 1 out of 20 living in public housing, 1 out of 4 work for either the government or a government funded non-profit. NYC has a government budget larger than Florida. NYS has a budget larger than Texas & Florida combined.” 

Even though New York’s current socialist policies are already driving it to ruin, the DSA rebels are now running against the establishment as “true socialists” who will fix the problems with more socialism.

  1. The Democrat Gerrymandering 

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the first shot of the mid-decade gerrymandering wars occurred in 2024, when the Democrats gerrymandered in New York. Their plan gave the Democrats an additional two House seats. However, the redistricting spread out Democrat black and Hispanic voters to more districts, to weaken Republican incumbents. This, in turn, resulted in the black and Hispanic incumbents being weakened in their own districts, allowing the largely upper-class white hipster doofi leftists voters to outvote the incumbents' more loyal minority voters. 

  1. TDS 

I have long lambasted the Democrat propaganda machine that has sought to demonize Donald Trump and the GOP. This is part of the normal Democrat strategy, which they have utilized against prior Republican presidents as well. However, the anti-Trump propaganda since 2015 has been especially virulent, and as a result, as Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) has observed, the Democrat Party “is governed by the TDS.” Democrat voters hate Donald Trump with a passion and want to see him defeated, impeached, removed, imprisoned, if not assassinated. Obviously, voters who are that extreme are going to vote for the Democrat faction that is most extreme, which is the DSA. 

  1. The Likely Illegal Support Structure for the DSA

As I discussed earlier, the DSA in New York benefits from a non-profit support campaign that is potentially violating the law. Again, from X: “The DSA has a well funded political machine allied with progressive non-profits that are funded by Chinese billionaire Roy Singham, Soros, NY municipal unions & taxpayers. DSA has become very good at turning out their core voters many of whom work for & are paid by the non-profits they are allied with. Once in office the DSA sends more taxpayer money to these non-profits & puts its allies & activists on the government payroll who then are expected to tithe a portion of their salary back to the DSA. These small percentage of motivated activist then control the politics of these districts.” 


SEE ALSO: Think All the Democratic Socialists Winning in NYC Was a Fluke? Look Around the Nation


Largely because of these six factors, all created by the Democrat establishment, the DSA rebels – now named the “dirtbag left” by Sen. Fetterman – swept to victory in NY in 2026. This is terrible news for the Democrat establishment. This is also terrible news for New York and our country. 

But politically speaking, it is great news for the GOP. As my RedState colleague Shipwreckedcrew has written, “the Dems in DC and the media won't be able to hide them…They are going to be in front of microphones every day from 2026 to 2028. They will be creating new Republicans.”

In New York itself, Bruce Blakeman, the GOP candidate for governor, now has a viable path to win statewide. With the state and city falling apart economically, and more socialist policies likely, the moderate Democrats, and especially the Jewish moderate Democrats who are currently being demonized by the DSA, might be attracted to the Jewish, moderate conservative, Blakeman. He just needs to raise the necessary campaign funds to make his case. 

And let’s not forget that the governor of New York has the power to remove the Mayor of New York City. This might be something Blakeman should consider, don’t you think?

 

A CNBC Host Asked a Dem Senator a Simple Question About Socialism. It Did Not Go Well.

Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., in Washington on May 12, 2022.

 You knew how this was going to turn out—we didn’t even need to set it up. New York experienced a Marxist surge in last night’s primaries, where all of Zohran Mamdani’s communist supporters won their races. Some establishment figures were defeated, like Rep. Dan Goldman, who was easily beaten by Brad Lander by more than 30 points. Goldman, who was part of the legal team during the Trump impeachment circus and one of the president’s most outspoken critics, was also pro-Israel, which is what did him in. 

New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker says he is ok with socialism in the Democrat party:

"One of things that makes the Democratic party great is it's a big tent party, we need to stay that way." pic.twitter.com/WdX47jkyhU

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 24, 2026

Anyways, given the socialist wave crashing into the Democratic Party, and some establishment types welcoming these lunatics, CNBC host Joe Kernen 

 asked Delaware Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester a simple question: Where has socialism ever worked? 

Her answer was not good. Our friends at Twitchy had it first. 

Democrat Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester dodges when asked when socialism has ever worked.

ROCHESTER: Is that another question or is that for the next interview?

CNBC: I just want to know one place...

ROCHESTER: When you have me come back on we can talk about all the races... pic.twitter.com/vEwq0ObxBi

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 24, 2026

ROCHESTER: Is that another question or is that for the next interview?

CNBC: I just want to know one place...

ROCHESTER: When you have me come back on we can talk about all the races...

Yep. We have our bumper sticker now. 

This is the 2026 bumper sticker: "Has socialism ever worked?"

— John Bachman (@JohnFBachman) June 24, 2026

Four Charged in Scheme to Profit Off NYC Migrant Housing Crisis

Four Charged in Scheme to Profit Off NYC Migrant Housing Crisis

A 13-count indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn, charging Anthony J. Carone, 54; Frank V. Carone, 56; Crystal Chen, 39; and Yan Po Zhu, 51, also known as “Andy Zhu,” for their roles in a bribery scheme that capitalized on funding meant to address New York City’s migrant crisis.

The charges include fraud, bribery, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and tax fraud. 

All four defendants were arrested today and were arraigned this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marcia M. Henry.

In 2022, New York City experienced an unprecedented influx of migrant asylum seekers. New York City was a “right to shelter” city, meaning the City was legally required to provide shelter to all homeless individuals who sought it. Because the volume of migrant asylum seekers who needed housing outpaced the City’s existing shelter system, the City instituted a process for contracting with local hotels to house migrant asylum seekers (the Emergency Shelter Contracts). Through the Emergency Shelter Contracts, the City agreed to rent entire hotels for one year or more and utilize the hotels as emergency shelters to house migrant asylum seekers.

 2026.06.24 Carone Et Al. Govt Bond Letter 26-Cr-177  by  scott.mcclallen 

Michael Considine, First Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; James C. Barnacle, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI); Harry T. Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service‑Criminal Investigation, New York (IRS-CI New York); and Nadia I. Shihata, Commissioner, New York City Department of Investigation (DOI), announced the arrests and charges.

“As alleged in the indictment, the defendants exploited the unprecedented migrant crisis in New York City for their own personal gain,” stated First Assistant United States Attorney Considine. “The defendants engaged in a bribery scheme to secure a migrant shelter contract worth millions of dollars from a city agency funded in part by billions of federal dollars. Frank Carone and his brother Anthony Carone are also charged with evading taxes on the proceeds of that scheme. This case demonstrates the Office’s commitment to protecting taxpayer dollars, and holding accountable those who misuse public funds for private gain.”

As alleged in court filings, beginning in approximately 2022, Anthony Carone and Frank Carone—who are brothers and attorneys both admitted to practice in the State of New York—Crystal Chen, and Yan Po Zhu, devised and executed a scheme to exploit the City’s migrant crisis for their personal profit.

FBI Assistant Director in Charge Barnacle: “The alleged conspiracy resulted in a massive betrayal of the American taxpayers’ trust by steering millions of dollars in funding for asylum housing in exchange for illegal bribe payments, which were then funneled to cover personal expenses. Frank Carone allegedly influenced and steered business to his brother and associates in exchange for cash. May today’s indictment emphasize the FBI’s determination to root out corrupt officials, and their co-conspirators, who use government funding for personal enrichment.”

To identify and evaluate sites for potential Emergency Shelter Contracts, employees from the city’s Department of Social Services (DSS) solicited and reviewed proposals from local hotels. Following its own due diligence, DSS recommended to city Hall that the City enter into Emergency Shelter Contracts with certain local hotels.  To fund the Emergency Shelter Contracts and other asylum services, the city received over approximately $1.8 billion of federal grant money in 2022.

“Today’s charges show how these defendants chose greed over integrity, exploiting a humanitarian crisis and siphoning taxpayer funds intended to support vulnerable migrant families. IRS Criminal Investigation worked alongside our law enforcement partners to unravel the financial maneuvers used to conceal bribe payments and evade taxes. Our mission in this case was simple—follow the money, expose corruption, and protect taxpayer funds,” stated IRS-CI New York Special Agent in Charge Chavis.

Repeatedly throughout 2022, DSS rejected the Microtel as a suitable location to be run as a migrant shelter. Frank Carone, however, used his official position as Chief of Staff to intercede on the Microtel’s behalf in exchange for $120,000 of bribe payments from Zhu and Chen. Despite DSS’s prior independent assessment that the Microtel was not a suitable location for a temporary shelter, the Microtel was ultimately awarded an Emergency Shelter Contract due to Frank Carone’s directive to DSS to consider the Microtel for such a contract. The Microtel ultimately received an Emergency Shelter Contract worth $6,825,000, which inured to the financial benefit of Zhu and Chen.

“The conduct charged in this indictment is the epitome of corrupt self-dealing. The former chief of staff in the prior mayoral administration allegedly used his connections and the influence afforded to him by his public office to push through a multimillion dollar, publicly funded contract to personally enrich himself. By allegedly engaging in this criminal scheme, as charged, all four defendants used the plight of migrants for their own profit, resulting in the inefficient use and approval of a shelter location that could house fewer people than more appropriate locations and required the City to expend additional resources to make up the difference. That two of the defendants are attorneys who allegedly violated their ethical duty to act with honesty and integrity underscores the seriousness of these charged offenses. DOI thanks the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the New York Offices of the FBI and the IRS for their steadfast partnership on this joint investigation, which highlights the need to protect the integrity of City processes and public funds, particularly during a crisis,” stated DOI Commissioner Shihata. 

As the city’s migrant crisis reached its peak in 2022, Frank Carone accepted a series of bribe payments from Zhu and Chen to steer a multi-million-dollar shelter contract to the Microtel, a hotel in Long Island City, Queens,

 


which allowed the Microtel to operate as an emergency migrant shelter. Zhu, a wealthy businessman, owned the Microtel, and Chen was Zhu’s business manager.

To conceal the criminal nature of the bribe payments, Zhu and Chen allegedly directed the bribe payments to a bank account controlled by Anthony Carone in the name of his law firm (the Law Firm Account). The bribe payments were commingled with legal fees from other clients that Frank Carone referred to Anthony Carone while Frank Carone served as Chief of Staff. Anthony Carone then steered the majority of the funds paid into the Law Firm Account to Frank Carone, including by paying Frank Carone’s personal credit card bills while Frank Carone served as Chief of Staff.

Anthony Carone also allegedly used the funds paid into the Law Firm Account to write checks payable to Frank Carone. In addition, Anthony Carone, Zhu, and Chen executed a sham retainer agreement to make the bribe payments to Frank Carone appear to be legitimate legal fees paid to Anthony Carone’s law firm. Notably, Anthony Carone did not inform his law firm partners that Zhu had allegedly retained Anthony Carone or the law firm, nor did Anthony Carone inform his law firm partners that he was facilitating cash payments from the Law Firm Account to Frank Carone including while Frank Carone was Chief of Staff.

The sham retainer agreement called for Zhu and Chen to make bribe payments totaling $120,000. After those payments were made, Chen emailed Anthony Carone and requested to terminate the sham retainer agreement. Despite the fact that the payments outlined in the sham retainer agreement had been made, Anthony Carone responded seeking additional payments. After no further payments were made, Frank Carone communicated with Zhu and expressed that he was “not happy” and would “not discuss[] [any future deals] until past is worked out.”In response, Zhu stated that he had “asked my partners to pay you for a year.”

Neither Frank Carone nor Anthony Carone reported their income from the criminal scheme to the IRS in their initial 2022 tax filings. Nor did Frank Carone report this outside income to the NYC Conflicts of Interest Board as required. In 2025, however, after learning there was a federal investigation into his finances, Anthony Carone amended his 2022 personal and law firm tax filings to declare as income the client fees he received in the Law Firm Account.

Similarly, in July 2024, after Frank Carone and Anthony Carone became aware of the federal investigation, they obstructed justice by fabricating evidence to create the false impression that the payments from the Law Firm Account to Frank Carone’s personal credit card were personal loans instead of a conduit to conceal bribe payments. Specifically, Frank Carone and Anthony Carone created and executed a document purporting to be a promissory note, which they backdated to January 2022, and subsequently provided to federal investigators.

The charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted of the charges, the defendants each face up to 20 years in prison.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Public Integrity Section and the Criminal Section of the Office’s Long Island Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Sara K. Winik, Adam R. Toporovsky, and Eric Silverberg are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Paralegal Specialists Johnson Peow and Daniel Arakawa.

On April 7, 2026, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (Fraud Division). The Fraud Division is focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people.

 

Trump delivers speech at National Mall, 'America is back!'

 

President Donald Trump kicked off a 16-day celebration marking the United States’ 250th anniversary with a political rally on the National Mall, taking the stage at the Great American State Fair to launch the nationwide commemoration.

At the highly anticipated event on Wednesday, Trump celebrated the “revitalization” of the U.S., complimenting officials within his administration and their accomplishments, highlighting America’s renewed greatness ahead of the July 4 Independence Day milestone.

He began the speech by acknowledging the Declaration of Independence, celebrating freedom and independence for American’s “by the hand of all mighty God.” The president declared that these “timeless” principals the U.S. centers on is what has defined the nation.

Next the president recognized the reclamation of America’s “sovereignty and prosperity,” emphasizing recent accomplishments in the military, economy, technology, culture and people.

 

“Especially the people,” he said. “We have the greatest people on earth.”

President Trump continued to commemorate his commitment to the opening of the Strait of Hormuz and his ongoing determination to ensure Iran will never obtain a nuclear weapon. During the speech, he also pledged low gas prices, an economic boom in the U.S. and peace in the middle east.

“I am thrilled to declare that America is back!” Trump proclaimed.


DOJ Finds UC Davis Scale Served as Racial Proxy in Admissions

Campus Reform | DOJ finds UC Davis medical school violated Title VI in  admissions process

The Department of Justice has dropped a hard truth on UC Davis School of Medicine: the so‑called “Davis Scale” was not the race‑neutral life raft its creators claimed. The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division says the scale functioned as a race proxy in admissions and concluded Davis Med violated Title VI. This is not a minor citation — it could mean enforcement, loss of federal funding conditions, or litigation if the school won’t change course.

What the DOJ actually found

The DOJ reviewed admissions data and ran regression analyses for classes admitted from 2019 through 2025. The results were stark. The agency reports that about 93% of admitted white and Asian students had MCAT scores at or above the median of admitted Black students in 2023–2025. It also found admission rates for Black and Hispanic applicants that were two to nine times higher than for white and Asian applicants in some years. The letter names the “Davis Scale” — a continuous socioeconomic disadvantage score — and quotes an internal line that leaves little room for misunderstanding: “I’d call it class‑based affirmative action. Class struggles have a huge overlap with race — that’s how we skirted the‑issue,” attributed to the school’s associate dean of admissions. In short, the DOJ says outcomes, data, and internal talk point to race being baked into practice.

Why this matters beyond one campus

This decision lands on a larger battlefield. The DOJ framed its review under Title VI and applied the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling that sharply limited race‑conscious admissions. California’s own ban on race‑based preferences also looms. What UC Davis did — or what the DOJ says it did — is exactly what regulators warned schools to avoid: using “race‑neutral” covers that produce racially engineered results. The stakes are not abstract. Medical schools train doctors. When admissions prioritize optics over merit, it risks the quality of training and the trust of patients who expect competence above social design.

UC Davis’s reply and what comes next

UC Davis pushed back, saying it “strongly disagrees” with the DOJ’s characterization and defends its individualized, merit‑based process and mission to serve underserved communities. The DOJ has offered a chance for a voluntary resolution, but it also warned it will pursue enforcement if necessary. That means UC Davis could face remedies under Title VI or conditions tied to federal funding. Other professional schools should watch closely: this is a clear signal from the Justice Department that clever rebranding won’t shield admissions schemes that end up racially balancing classes.

A short verdict

Universities should help disadvantaged students — no one argues with that. But when “help” turns into a secret formula that adjusts standards to reach racial quotas, the profession, students, and patients pay the price. If UC Davis truly believes it acted lawfully, it should lay out the evidence and stop hiding behind euphemisms like “skirting.” If the DOJ is right, accountability and a return to real, transparent merit standards are overdue. Colleges must stop chasing diversity theater and start investing in real pipelines and preparation that raise everyone without rigging the outcome.

 

How Data Centers Are Quietly Cutting Your Electric Bill

5 things Florida utilities and data centers don't want you to know | Column

Big news for working families and businesses: utilities and regulators in Georgia, Texas, Virginia and the Gulf states are cutting or projecting cuts to electricity bills — and they’re crediting huge new data‑center deals for the savings. These are not promises from wishful thinkers. Commissions and utilities are signing off on rate changes and long contracts that help pay for new power plants and transmission lines. The result: cheaper base rates for ordinary customers and a lot of economic activity where data centers land.

 


How data centers turn into lower electricity rates

Here’s the simple math. Hyperscale data centers need power 24/7. That steady demand makes utilities willing to build new plants and lines now because the large customers will help pay for them. Georgia’s state regulator approved a plan that the utility says will cut about $4 a month off the typical residential bill. Entergy is projecting roughly $5 billion in customer savings over the next 20 years because of data‑center agreements. In Texas, CenterPoint Energy forecasts billions more in savings as it energizes gigawatts of committed data‑center load. When big buyers underwrite the infrastructure, the fixed cost per household can fall — plain and simple.

 

Don’t call it magic — call it contracts and construction

These are not charity projects. Utilities are getting signed deals, minimum‑charge terms, collateral and long contracts to make sure the new buildouts don’t leave local customers on the hook. Sometimes that means new natural‑gas combined‑cycle plants and long transmission lines. That bothers some environmental groups, and it should be part of any honest debate. But what’s undeniable is this: if you want reliable, affordable electricity for AI, cloud services and growing communities, you need reliable generation and wires. Turning down practical solutions because they aren’t perfect is a luxury most families can’t afford.

Regulators must protect households while encouraging growth

Virginia’s regulator has already written rules to avoid a cost shift onto ordinary customers by creating a special large‑load tariff class with minimum charges and contract rules. That kind of common‑sense guardrail is exactly what’s needed: encourage investment, but make sure big users pay their fair share and don’t sneak long‑term risks onto residents. Lawmakers and commissions should keep the protections tight — require long terms, fair collateral and clear cost allocation — while also welcoming the jobs and tax revenue these projects bring.

Bottom line: the AI and cloud boom is delivering a real, measurable benefit to households — lower base rates and more investment. Conservatives should be proud when market signals bring investment, jobs and lower costs to ordinary people. But we should also insist on smart rules so savings stick and small customers don’t get left holding the bag. Let the NIMBYs grumble on their porches while communities get the plants, paychecks and cheaper power they need — thanks to sensible deals and yes, a little political leadership to get projects moving.

CartoonDems