“Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan.” So goes the old saying.
Meet one of the late-arriving fathers. We think you’ll recognize him.
Antony “Deer in Headlights” Blinken has risen from the ash heap of history to comment on Trump’s Gaza ceasefire deal. Taking time from writing his inevitable book (all failed Democrats get one), he spouted his usual nonsense to a world that couldn’t care less.
Antony’s (notice, not “Anthony,” but “Antony” — he’s a Roman general now) claim this time is that it’s “good that President Trump adopted and built on the plan the Biden Administration developed after months of discussion with Arab partners, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.”
Trump certainly did build on Blinken’s “insights” — that both sides should stop shooting, hostages should be released, the ceasefire should be permanent, and aid should prevent starvation. Without such brilliance, how would talks have ever succeeded?
Please.
Blinken’s term as Secretary of State empowered Iran, Hamas’s main sponsor. He let the Houthis run wild in the Red Sea and allowed Iran sympathizer Robert Malley to install suspected spies in the State Department. Then he wondered why his diplomacy failed. No one took him seriously — for good reason.
His failure to contain Iran helped ignite the Gaza conflict and crippled ceasefire efforts. Even Blinken nearly admitted it on X, writing that “Hamas realized that the cavalry (Iran, Hezbollah, the Houthis) isn’t coming.”
Trump brushed it off. Asked by Fox’s Steve Doocy about Blinken’s comment, he said, “Everybody knows that’s a joke.” And apparently, everybody does. Even the corporate media — unusually — praised Trump while dismissing Blinken. CNN’s Abby Phillip even jabbed Obama for ignoring Trump’s role. (Bill O’Reilly reported CNN anchors were ordered to praise Trump. Ordered. To state the obvious). Maybe Obama’s still bitter over the Crossfire Hurricane probe threatening his legacy.
Trump deserves full credit for this breakthrough — and even Hillary Clinton agrees. Our advice to Blinken: offer congratulations or stay quiet. Anything else is a joke.
Get back to your book. We can’t wait not to read it.
More Trouble for Lawfare Letitia
The Letitia James saga just keeps getting better. The loudest champion of lawfare is finally getting a taste of her own medicine.
James famously ran on a platform of “getting Trump,” and now the tables have turned. She faces federal charges similar to the civil ones she used against Trump and his family. Someplace in the universe, the scales of justice are balancing.
And speaking of family, it turns out there are skeletons in the James closet. She’s accused of lying on mortgage documents for a house in Norfolk, Virginia — claiming it as her primary residence when she never lived there. The actual occupants? A relative.
One of them, reportedly her niece Nakia Thompson, has a long rap sheet and is a probation absconder in North Carolina, per the New York Post. She’s been arrested for assaulting a police officer, larceny, probation violations, and multiple traffic offenses — even serving a 60-day jail sentence. If she set foot in North Carolina today, she’d be arrested.
It’s hard to imagine that Letitia James, who owns the house Thompson lives in, was unaware of her legal issues. Supporting family is admirable, but as an attorney — and New York’s Attorney General — she cannot harbor a fugitive. The ethical move is clear: hire counsel, arrange surrender, and stop pretending ignorance.
Now that this is national news, she can’t claim surprise. As the state’s top law enforcement officer, she’s duty-bound to act if a wanted person, especially one accused of assaulting an officer, lives in her property. It’s an ethics violation the New York Bar should investigate immediately.
Add this to her mounting legal problems. Good luck, Letitia — the irony couldn’t be richer.
Mamdani Math
So on-air with Martha MacCallum today, potential NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani made the claim that it costs just $4,000 a year to treat someone through Fountain House, the New York nonprofit running “clubhouses” for people with serious mental illness. It’s a catchy figure. Too bad it doesn’t seem remotely accurate.
First off, let’s find the source for that number; unsurprisingly, it’s Fountain House itself.
So we’re to believe that Fountain House is some shoestring operation? Well, then: Who funds it?
The outfit’s latest filings show about $49 million in annual revenue, much from government sources. Last year, the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene awarded it a $106 million contract over ten years to expand operations. Add another $30 million in city and state funding announced this year for 13 new clubhouses, and the picture looks far different from a $4,000-a-year program.
Even if Fountain House serves a few thousand people annually—it reports more than 2,000 members—the arithmetic still doesn’t come close. Divide $49 million by 2,000 and you get roughly $24,500 per person, per year, not counting housing, staff, and facilities. The real cost of running a community-based mental-health network in Manhattan can’t possibly be four grand a head.
Now, understand what Mamdani did here. He compared that number — $4,000 for “treatment” — to housing the mentally ill on Rikers, where the city reportedly spends more than $550,000 per inmate per year. The difference? The Rikers’ number requires housing. The Fountain House number, despite its name, does not.
And understand — being housed on Rikers means you’re not out roaming the streets. Where so many mentally ill people are continuing to randomly hurt people.
This is classic lefty double-speak. Throw out a feel-good factoid that’s too good to check, then rely on an “ism” — racism, sexism, capitalism, take your pick — to justify it. Which you just know Mamdani will do if called upon to justify this.
Now, to be clear: the Fountain House “clubhouse” model shows promise for helping people with mental illness to find stability and purpose. But it is expensive public investment makes that possible. Pretending it all happens for $4,000 a year is, frankly, way too good to be true — because it isn’t
Round numbers spread faster than audited ones—but the books tell a different story. And if Mamdani is elected mayor of NYC, we’ll find that out soon enough.
Midweek Pod: The Case Against Comey — And Friends?
Paul, Eric, and Chris argue out the new wrinkles in the James Comey case. If you haven’t heard — there are updates, and the case looks to be expanding. How much is the FBI Director who plays with seashells by the shore actually in? Join the gang to find out….
(For the full thing, click HERE. And click below for a preview).
And finally….
The new “Mac-Crow Sandwich — Only At Macdonald’s!”
Let’s hope the peace holds, irrespective of America’s fractured politics.
