Let me surf, let me click, let me crash upon your tab …
Ed: Let’s hope this gets lots of attention in next week’s GOP midterm convention. Democratic Socialists are not new on the American political scene; they or closely aligned allies run most of America’s major cities, and have for decades. These cities are all failing as a result. Republicans need to draw connecting lines between the current crop of candidates and the accelerating decay of urban centers run by their ideological comrades. So to speak. (Also, subscribe to Nate’s channel; he’s terrific.)
===
Neil Steinberg at Chicago Sun-Times (Aug 4): Johnson chose to interpret “mob” in its organized crime sense, ignoring the “action” which made it a legal term.
In fact, “mob action” has its own section of the Illinois Criminal Statutes: ARTICLE 25. MOB ACTION AND RELATED OFFENSES
The definition runs over 1,000 words, but teens — whom Johnson reflexively reverted to “children” — rampaging through a store falls squarely within the realm.
This was a slow pitch down the middle to Fraternal Order of Police head John Catanzara and he swung from his heels.
“Nobody is renaming anybody little mini-Al Capones,” said Catanzara. “But they certainly, in many cases, had the same, terrorizing effect that Al Capone had 100 years ago with these teen takeovers, where they think they can do whatever they want with no repercussions, no parental supervision and no accountability — specifically apparent by the mayor’s office in City Hall.”
Ed: When socialists fail, they rely on language manipulation to distract from the failure. The term “mob action” applies very well to these rampages, and they stem from a lack of consequences applied to lesser violations. Johnson wants to deflect from his failures by accusing critics of racism for noticing them and using plain language – and in this case, proper legal terminology – to describe them. Sound familiar?
===
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson responded to a weekend in which 41 people were shot — including 15 in a mass shooting in Washington Park — by blaming President Trump’s proposed ATF budget cuts.
As families mourn and investigators search for answers, Johnson is again pointing to… pic.twitter.com/ctYPXB3vbM
— Illinois Review (@IllinoisReview) September 1, 2026
… Johnson is again pointing to Trump as the explanation for Chicago’s violence.
Ed: This is another use of DARVO in politics. Johnson wants to deflect blame onto Trump, even though Trump and the ATF have nothing to do with local law enforcement and the policies in place that guide its practice. Trump has repeatedly offered the assistance of the National Guard, in fact, a move that greatly improved the standard of living in Washington DC.
===
Politico: The Justice Department has adopted a sweeping new legal interpretation designed to compel states to assist the Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns.
The new opinion from the department’s Office of Legal Counsel — which provides advice to the attorney general — outlines a new path for the federal government to yank federal funding from states that don’t aid the administration’s mass deportation push. …
Prior administrations concluded that the requirement to report known undocumented immigrants applied only to state agencies implementing those federal programs.
But the new opinion instead determined that the reporting requirement extends to the entire government of a state receiving federal funding through either the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program or Supplemental Security Income — two enormous safety net programs for low-income families as well as elderly and disabled residents.
Ed: Good. It’s time for “sanctuary states” to pay for their virtue-signaling in defiance of federal immigration law. Those subsidies are meant for American citizens and legal residents. People in the country illegally should not profit from their illegal status, and states that are supposed to administer these programs need to end the fraud that occurs through them as well.
===
🚨🇺🇸 CAR@LHO, QUE LAPADA! 🔥🔥🔥
CNN: “Este é um imigrante sem documentos…”
Miller: “Eles estavam aqui ILEGALMENTE?”
CNN: “Quero que esta seja uma discussão de boa-fé…”
Miller: “Quando você usa uma linguagem feita para ocultar a verdade, isso NÃO é boa-fé. Um ESTRANGEIRO… pic.twitter.com/l8AQqGhWeN
— Paulo Spitzbarth 🇧🇷🇩🇪🇮🇱 (@PauloSpitzbarth) September 1, 2026
Ed: Inject this directly into my veins. This is the same linguistic manipulation that Johnson is attempting in Chicago, and this is PRECISELY what the Left and the media have been doing for decades to minimize these issues. The proper legal term is “illegal alien.” Period, full stop. Anything else is editorializing, manipulative, and obfuscatory. Good on Miller for calling out CNN’s “reporters” for this practice.
===
New York Times: Hundreds of federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security have been assigned to an intensive, weekslong hunt for noncitizens among the nation’s registered voters despite an absence of evidence of widespread fraud, according to documents and training videos reviewed by The New York Times.
Agents are scouring voter rolls managed by the states, and are using personally identifiable information about individual voters, such as their dates of birth and partial Social Security numbers, to look them up on those rolls, according to the documents.
In some cases, investigators are effectively posing as individual voters by plugging their names and personal information into public-facing websites run by the top election official in each state. Some of these sites declare they are meant for individual use, potentially raising privacy concerns.
The extraordinary operation reveals the extent to which the Trump administration is searching for evidence of fraud ahead of the November elections. The government is privately calling the effort the Unlawful Voter Initiative and is pulling agents from their normal duties, which include investigating such serious crimes as human trafficking and terrorism.
Ed: Absence of evidence is not the same as evidence of absence. The reason why we don’t see evidence of the rarity of “noncitizen voting,” as the NYT puts it, is because the federal government has rarely if ever investigated it. I suspect that it may not be anywhere near as widespread as some claim, but it’s not super-rare either. The DHS crackdown on illegal aliens probably has already disincentivized some of it. For that matter, you’d think the NYT would prefer DHS to conduct wild-goose chases than arrest illegal aliens, so I have to wonder whether their alarm at this shift in resources relates to good management or the likelihood of finding a lot more evidence of this practice than the NYT wants to admit or report.
===
🚨 JUST IN: Gov. Ron DeSantis was heckled mid-speech as he touted Florida cutting its budget four years running, more residents than New York, the nation’s lowest per-capita taxes, 52% of state debt paid off and a smaller government than the day he took office, firing back,… pic.twitter.com/DIuHCvNtHA
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) September 1, 2026
“Soros isn’t paying you enough because you’re not very good at this.”
Ed: Dude, he’s running.
===
WSJ: Under the cover of air-force fire, special forces from Israel’s Shin Bet security service descended on the Al-Katiba neighborhood Tuesday and nabbed a senior Hamas official near his home in broad daylight, Israeli and Hamas officials said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the official, identified by Hamas as Moein Al-Arabid, was the head of the militant group’s internal security service and was helping it re-establish its dominance after years of bruising war. …
Security analysts said Al-Arabid’s capture is a major blow for Hamas. The group’s leadership in Gaza has been successively struck down by Israel, making it harder to function and fill senior roles. The nature of his job also meant he would likely have valuable intelligence.
As chief of internal security, Al-Arabid would have detailed knowledge about protection protocols for Hamas leaders, said Michael Milshtein, a former senior Israeli military intelligence officer. He would also know who Hamas suspected of being enemy informants, and how they were being pursued, he said.
Ed: Good. Trump has tried to get Netanyahu to back down long enough to advance his Board of Peace plan, but that plan required Hamas to disarm in January at the latest. Hamas not only isn’t disarming, but they are laying the groundwork to infiltrate the “technocratic” interim government that the plan proposes to create for Gaza. It’s all nonsense until Hamas gives up its weapons in a verifiable and final manner, and Netanyahu has every right to pursue the October 7 terrorists to the last remaining perp.
===
Sure like to buy this guy a beer! 🍺 pic.twitter.com/DsTvepPB11
— Trigganometry (@grindingdude) September 1, 2026
Ed: I wouldn’t mind buying this American the frosty beverage of his choice.
===
Newsmax: Oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is moving back toward prewar levels, a development that could ease pressure on U.S. fuel prices and inflation despite renewed Iranian military action, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with Newsmax.
“We are getting at least 10 million barrels a day through,” Bessent told Newsmax’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight” on Tuesday. “Yesterday, I think, was a big day. I can’t remember, 15, 17 million barrels.”
Prewar flows were roughly 20 million barrels per day, he said.
The increasing volume demonstrates that Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz despite its military capabilities and the months-long conflict with the United States, he stressed.
Ed: So far, the oil markets aren’t convinced. As of this afternoon, crude oil rose slightly to $91 per barrel. However, the price of oil hasn’t shot upward on the basis of new attacks from both sides in the Hormuz crisis. If Bessent is correct – and others have largely corroborated this – Iran’s last bit of leverage is dissipating.
===
Kamala Harris at 60% with Black Democrats in the 2028 primary, per new Harvard Harris poll. https://t.co/N1SRt9U6MU pic.twitter.com/b4HqrCmU4P
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) September 2, 2026
Ed: Only 60%? Hmmm. Also, socialism is still polling at 26/48, DSA is at 27/43, communism is at 13/58, Hamas at 12/58, and Israel polls at 38/37. Democrats are orienting themselves on the fringe, so perhaps it’s no surprise to see an incoherent incompetent leading their 2028 sweepstakes. I may do a deep dive on the latest iteration tomorrow.
===
CBS News: Chevron said on Wednesday that it plans to invest $7 billion in Venezuela over the next five years and double its oil production in the country after receiving additional acreage in the crude-rich Orinoco Belt region.
Chevron, the only U.S. oil company operating in Venezuela, said the investment will allow it to boost production to about 600,000 barrels a day, twice its current capacity, according to a statement.
The announcement comes after President Trump announced a deal on Aug. 28 with Venezuela to create a private joint venture to operate oil fields containing 65 billion barrels of petroleum. Chevron said on Wednesday that it costs the company about $20 per barrel to produce oil in Venezuela. …
The White House’s joint venture in Venezuela involves a private company called North American Blue Energy Partners, or NABEP, the White House said Monday. Under the agreement, the Venezuelan government granted the company 100-year concessions to drill in 17 oil fields that contain about 65 billion barrels, roughly one-fifth of Venezuela’s total proven oil reserves.
Ed: It’s a smart deal for Venezuela too, whose communists ran their oil industry into the ground. Chevron will make the necessary investments, but also, the US is best suited to refine Venezuela’s more sulphuric crude. It may take a few years to get a real strategic output from this deal, but the known bonanza will still have a real impact on markets and strategic thinking now.
===
🚨 MAJOR BREAKING: The son of Iran’s former Vice President has been LIVING IN EDMONTON.
CSIS says he helped Iran build missiles to shoot down American aircraft.
He flew back to Iran and twice, he met with Iranian intelligence.
They told him not to travel to the US because the… pic.twitter.com/Qx16QumqAT
— Mario Zelaya (@mario4thenorth) September 2, 2026
Ed: See below. Why is this man still in Canada?
===
Global News (Canada): Since founding two companies in Alberta, an Edmonton resident named “Sal Ghafouri” has received more than $2 million in federal and provincial contracts, including from the RCMP and Department of National Defence, public records show.
The 45-year-old was part of an official Canadian trade mission to Latin America, received a federal business grant and was invited to “propose legislation” to the Alberta government at consultations backed by the province’s economic development minister.
But according to newly released records, Ghafouri is actually Mohammad Reza Ghafouri Fard, an Iranian who has been the subject of a long-running Canadian investigation into his alleged work for Iran’s military and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The son of Hassan Ghafouri Fard, an Iranian politician who served as the country’s vice president, Ghafouri was “involved in the research and development of Iranian military technologies,” according to a recently declassified Canadian Security Intelligence Service report.
Ed: Canada’s Leftists have allied themselves with China and Iran. That’s a good reason to rethink border practices on our northern frontiers as well as our southern frontiers. If this report is accurate, it is not just a disgrace, it’s a serious national security threat.
===
Never Forget! 🇺🇸@ABC @Sept11Memorial @DisneyPlus @natgeo @Hulu pic.twitter.com/bjjRXsq1jE
— John Ondrasik (@johnondrasik) September 2, 2026
Ed: Can’t wait to talk to John about this. Stay tuned. We still may not have learned the requisite lessons.
===
Last night’s lyric: “Run Runaway” by Slade. If I had a license to use music in my podcasts, I might choose the opening minute from the album version of this song (below). The US airplay version cut it down significantly.
Editor’s Note: If we thought our job in pushing back against the Academia/media/Democrat censorship complex was over with the election, think again. This is going to be a long fight. If you’re digging these Final Word posts and want to join the conversation in the comments—and support independent platforms—why not join our VIP Membership program? Choose VIP to support Hot Air and access our premium content, VIP Gold to extend your access to all Townhall Media platforms and participate in this show, or VIP Platinum to get access to even more content and discounts on merchandise. Use the promo code FIGHT to join or to upgrade your existing membership level today, and get 60% off!
