Who REALLY Steered the DSA To Power?

You know her name -- and she's getting off easy

Good morning, friends.

And now that at least a portion of the Luigi Mangione saga is behind us, it feels like a good time to assess where the rest of the case is going — which Paul, who was in the courtroom for the guilty plea, takes on below.

But first: Chris starts us off with some research you won’t hear elsewhere. Specifically: Who is really the architect of the rise of the Democrat far left? The answer may surprise you.

Then our True Crime Girl catches one of the worst recent cases we’ve seen. And it’s a disgrace that there’s been so little reporting on it (read on if you’re wondering why…).

Let’s get to it.

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Nancy Pelosi and the Rise of the New Left

In Europe last month, we saw the dangers inherent in the growing radical leftism in sectors of Western society. A plot to bomb the Turin-Lyon train line by anti-capitalists was foiled by European police. Naturally, several of the conspirators were released prior to trial. And just as naturally — you likely haven’t heard about this.

America has a long history of political violence from the revolutionary left—from the anarchist violence surrounding the Haymarket Square bombing in 1886 and the Wall Street bombing of 1920, to the Weather Underground in the 1970s and the communist radicals responsible for the 1983 U.S. Capitol bombing.

Now the radical left is gaining popularity in a more frightening location—the ballot box. The rise of the Democratic Socialists in American politics is downright frightening. The horrors of Chairman Mao and Generalissimo Stalin seem to be forgotten by many of today’s communist-leaning voters and politicians.

Who is to blame? There are many factors, political and social, but one person who often escapes blame is Nancy Pelosi.

Pelosi is of the left, but she is no socialist. She loves capitalism—just follow her husband’s stock tracker for proof.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez didn’t start the socialist shift in our country, but she was a big part of its rise in popularity. When she defeated Joe Crowley in 2018, it sent shock waves through the political world.

In my opinion, her ideas are dangerous. We can ignore her recent shift toward the center—that is likely a political game to garner wider support for a presidential run.

But make no mistake: she is a socialist, an ideology that is at odds with the foundations of the United States. Her acolytes and fellow travelers want to dismantle our Constitution—and they aren’t suggesting new amendments.

Frightening.

When AOC entered our federal government as a freshman congresswoman, she had every right to her seat. She won an election, and that is how our system works.

She did not have the right to a seat on the powerful House Oversight and Reform Committee. That was given to her by Speaker Pelosi. Pelosi also seated her on the prestigious House Financial Services Committee.

Pelosi allowed her a national platform during the Michael Cohen hearings, further bolstering her popularity. She gave fellow “Squad” members Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley positions on Financial Services and Oversight as well. Ilhan Omar was appointed to the powerful Foreign Affairs and Budget Committees.

Talk about putting your head in the lion’s mouth. These radicals should have been shunned in Congress. Instead, Nancy Pelosi gave them the keys to the kingdom. Perhaps the House Committee on Small Business or House Administration would have been better appointments. Hell, create a House Committee on Paperclip Accountability and put the four of them on it.

Pelosi was more concerned about votes and power. A political animal like Pelosi should have seen the bigger picture and sent this crew to political Siberia, regardless of the short-term consequences. For all her vaunted political acumen — she didn’t do that.

And now we are facing growing leftist radicalism that could threaten our country.

Pelosi made decisions that benefited her and, in the short term, her party. That is typical in politics today and highlights the inherent danger of elected officials who forget their first priority: our country.

So the next time you hear the DSA talk about abrogating the Senate, the Presidency, and the Supreme Court as we know it… you know who to thank.

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Hate to Say It, But.…

Paul and I have often discussed the lack of efficiency in the NYPD. Hurry up and wait. Contradictory mandates. Inadequate training. Death by paperwork. They all existed in the NYPD. It’s a problem with any large bureaucracy.

We also agreed that, although The Job had its faults, it ran like a well-oiled machine compared to other government agencies. At the end of the day, the NYPD usually got the job done.

Many of the other institutions that drew our ire were federal agencies. The government of the United States is a miasma of incompetence and red tape; the word inefficient does not come close to describing most agencies.

That never seemed to apply to the U.S. Armed Forces. That seemed like the one area where the feds got it right. Of course, there are the same problems that plague any large system, but the job always got done.

I am not so sure anymore.

That is not to cast aspersions on our soldiers. A battalion of Marines can probably take on the military of many countries and come out on top. The American soldier, airman, or sailor is the best in the world, bar none.

However, the senior military leadership and decision-makers appear to have lost their way. They seem to have joined the rest of Washington, wallowing in incompetence and perhaps waste.

The situation in Iran has become embarrassing. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan “Raisin” Caine, pointed out to the President some of the problems that could arise in a conflict with Iran; but based on reporting, it sounds more like he voiced vague concerns than admonitions of imminent disaster. Perhaps the admirals and generals were ringing the alarm and doing everything they could to prevent the conflict, but it doesn’t sound that way.

Now we are months in, and several of the concerns voiced by Caine have clearly been proven true. That happens in war: problems arise, contingencies must be addressed, obstacles overcome. But our situation is more than that.

Conflict with Iran has been a strong possibility since 1979. One would assume our military had meticulously planned such an operation for decades; contingencies planned for, Iranian capabilities addressed, logistics and supply issues worked out, targets predetermined. That may be true, but it sure isn’t evident.

The United States spends far more on the military than any other country. China, with the second-largest military budget, spends only around 33% of what the U.S. does. Trump in particular has supported giving the U.S. Armed Forces everything they asked for. They have received $2,000,000,000,000—that’s trillion—in federal funds over the past two years.

But that hasn’t stopped our military leaders from crying poverty. We have repeatedly heard claims that we do not have enough interceptor missiles to sustain the campaign.

Where has that money been spent? We sure could have used those defensive systems at critical locations before the conflict began.

In the first days of the conflict, the American base in Bahrain suffered significant damage from Iranian strikes. That wasn’t just luck. They hit the base numerous times over the following months, causing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage. More importantly, Bahrain is a key supply base for naval operations in the area, and it is still not operating anywhere near peak efficiency.

The supply situation got so bad that the United States had to ask Britain for permission to use its base at Diego Garcia to help keep operations afloat. And the Brits said no! We practically had to beg them to let us ferry supplies to the troops, which they eventually acceded to.

Now we have ships like the USS Abraham Lincoln on the front lines much longer than anticipated. Liberal media outlets are making this seem like a travesty of military justice. It’s not. In wartime, soldiers and sailors should expect to do more, but it is widely reported that those sailors are not getting the supplies they need, and the relief plan for the Lincoln has the appearance of an afterthought.

The media is also gleefully blaming the whole thing on Donald Trump. Of course, the buck stops with him, but this isn’t the first disaster in planning and preparation by the military. I would encourage everyone to read books like The Afghanistan Papers by Craig Whitlock and The Hardest Place by Wesley Morgan. These books show the failures of our military in Afghanistan and how waste, incompetence, and inefficiency at the top turned that mission into a quagmire.

Almost 2,500 American troops died in Afghanistan over the 20-year war, and the military spent over $1 trillion. The results? The Taliban retook the country with stunning speed before the U.S. withdrawal was even complete. The final withdrawal was a disaster in which we lost more American lives and inconceivably left billions of dollars’ worth of weapons intact and operational for the Taliban to use.

The Iraq War did not go much better, with thousands of American soldiers dead and another trillion dollars spent. In the end, the Iranian government wound up with expanded military and political influence inside Iraq.

In all of our recent conflicts, the American soldier, sailor, airman, and Marine have performed valiantly, often going above and beyond the call of duty. Multiple enlistments, stories of amazing heroics, overcoming seemingly impossible obstacles, and great professionalism are tributes to our country. We should honor them every day.

And I would opine that even the strategic mistakes in Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan are not only the fault of our military leaders. Politicians bear much of the blame as well.

Increasingly, however, it appears the higher echelon of military leadership has become just that—politicians. Wild spending, little accountability, inadequate plans. Sounds like a politician’s work to me.

We don’t need more bureaucratic games when American soldiers’ lives are on the line. And the answer isn’t always more money.

Reports of critical shortages in munitions for the U.S. military are now rampant. This, despite trillions in spending.

Meanwhile, the Iran conflict drags on — and may well usher in a DSA-leaning Democrat majority in Congress.

Poor leadership has consequences.

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How To NOT Let Luigi Off The Hook

Luigi Mangione’s surprise guilty plea in federal court may have scrambled the prosecution calendar, but despite what you have been hearing, it does not guarantee that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s second-degree murder case is going away.

Mangione pleaded guilty Friday to federal stalking charges and admitted that he tracked and fatally shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. His attorneys immediately moved to dismiss most of the pending New York charges under the state’s unusually broad double-jeopardy statute. Unlike the federal Constitution, New York generally restricts successive state and federal prosecutions arising from the same criminal event.

The fact that the federal case was resolved first is what impacts the state case. The New York State law wouldn’t apply in reverse.

Either way, the New York statute contains exceptions, and prosecutors will argue they apply. Recall that the federal judge, Margaret Garnett, ruled that the stalking charge Mangione was charged under is inherently not a “crime of violence” (thereby removing the death penalty from the case). Recall, too, that the top state charge is Murder 2 — which most assuredly IS a crime of violence. Is that enough of a distinction for the state case to survive? Legally — unclear.

We shall see.

At the very least, New York state’s felony weapons charges may have a path forward — there is New York case law that may well support this. Mangione’s lawyers want pretty much every charge gone; Bragg’s office says it will fight.

And then there is Pennsylvania.

Mangione already faces five state counts stemming from his December 2024 arrest in Altoona—including two felonies: second-degree felony forgery and third-degree felony carrying a firearm without a license. Those charges should now become a priority.

And if federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania believe Mangione’s use of his partially 3D-printed “ghost gun” and it’s suppressor supports additional federal charges — and they should — prosecutors should learn from what happened in New York: state case first, federal case second.

Because Pennsylvania, like New York, has a law that can bar a later Pennsylvania state prosecution based on the same conduct, subject to statutory exceptions.

So Pennsylvania: don’t repeat the sequencing problem.

Pennsylvania should prosecute its pending state felonies first. Then federal prosecutors can follow with any separate federal gun and suppressor case; there are federal charges that almost certainly apply.

Mangione’s guilty plea settled one prosecution. It should not become an escape hatch from every other one. There is a path forward to ensure this lowlife never sees the light of day again. Two state jurisdictions and the Federal District of Western Pennsylvania should ensure that path is taken.

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NIGHTWATCH: NO DEAL in the Mangione Case

Friends, join us for a special edition of NIGHTWATCH with the perfect guest: former state and federal prosecutor in New York, Eric Seidel.

Here’s a guy who was head of the Homicide Bureau in the Brooklyn DA’s Office at the height of the crack epidemic. A guy who was the head of Rackets in the Manhattan DA’s Office (where the Mangione case currently resides). A federal prosecutor with the SDNY (who just accepted Mangione’s guilty plea). A law professor. We could go on.

We recorded this one just before Luigi’s appearance on his guilty plea, as the rumors of a deal between SDNY and Mangione were flying. We called this one right.

Hear why… on this week’s NIGHTWATCH.

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True Crime Girl: The Crime The Mainstreams Are Ignoring

All crimes are bad, but some are truly evil. This is one of the worst I have seen.

Seven-year-old William Evans-Ellis should have been enjoying the last weeks of summer. Instead, Cincinnati cops found him dead, beaten and bound in duct tape inside a bedroom closet.

And somehow, the story gets even more horrifying.

On August 6, William’s mother, Kaitlin Evans, walked barefoot into a hospital claiming her partner, Kirby Rankin, had tried to kill her and kidnapped William. Police responded to the family’s Oakley home.

The radio transmission soon came back:

“Child found tied up in closet.”

That child — William — was dead.

Hamilton County Coroner Dr. Lakshmi Sammarco determined that he died from blunt-force trauma to the head. His body reportedly had bruises “too numerous to count,” a fractured arm and possible burn injuries. Investigators allege he had endured approximately two months of horrific abuse.

Two months.

And William was an especially vulnerable child. His grandmother says he had autism and ADHD but described him as “brilliant in so many ways.” He loved animals, building castles, Pokémon, LEGO, cherry cordial ice cream and trips to the zoo. His grandparents called him “Sweet William.”

Police arrested his mother and two other adults living in the home: Kirby Rankin, 33, and Nessa Keaney, 23. Both identify as transgender women. Reporting by Andy Ngo says Rankin was formerly Nathan Rankin, while Keaney was formerly Adamhnán Keaney.

Then investigators allegedly found evidence suggesting this may have been more than abuse that spiraled into murder.

Prosecutors say the defendants communicated through the encrypted messaging app Signal and allege Rankin sent Keaney an audio message on July 4—more than a month before William was found—discussing a plan to kidnap and kill the child.

And Rankin wasn’t unknown to the criminal justice system.

Rankin had just been convicted in July of misdemeanor assault and aggravated menacing stemming from a January 4 confrontation outside a supermarket in Fairfield. According to police and court reporting, Rankin punched a woman in the face and threatened to shoot her while reportedly armed with a handgun.

Rankin was still out on bond in that case when William was killed.

The woman involved in the incident has since told WLWT that she urged authorities months earlier to pursue more serious felony charges against Rankin.

That doesn’t make anyone responsible for William’s death except those who committed it. But it raises an unavoidable question: Were warning signs sitting in plain sight?

All three defendants have now been indicted on 13 felony counts each, including aggravated murder, murder, kidnapping, felonious assault, child endangering and conspiracy.

Blogger Andy Andy Ngo has also reported that William’s biological father, formerly Thomas John “TJ” Ellis, now identifies as transgender and legally changed his name to Tara Jane Ellis. Ellis has not been charged with any crime in William’s death and told the court that William had been kept away for nine months. Ngo also reported on social-media posts from Ellis that he characterized as suggesting efforts to expose William to transgender ideology.

William’s grandmother says she, too, had been cut off from him during those final nine months.

So put the pieces together.

A seven-year-old autistic child is allegedly isolated from much of his extended family. Prosecutors say he endures weeks of horrific abuse inside a Cincinnati home. One of the adults living there had recently been prosecuted for a violent confrontation involving an alleged threat to shoot a woman. Prosecutors further allege that, more than a month before William’s death, two defendants were communicating about kidnapping and killing him.

Then William is found dead, duct-taped inside a closet.

The criminal case will determine exactly which of the defendants did what — but the system needs to answer a question of its own:

How does a vulnerable seven-year-old disappear from much of his family for nine months, allegedly suffer sustained abuse behind the walls of an ordinary Cincinnati home, while one of the adults around him is already cycling through the criminal justice system—and nobody reaches him until it’s too late?

And why is the mainstream media ignoring the case? Is it that transgender overlay to the story?

By the time someone finally came through that door to save William, it wasn’t a social worker, a relative or anyone else who could still make a difference.

It was the police. And they were there to recover his body.

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And finally….

Let’s hope this is accurate.