Upper Weird Side
When a shiny-eyed man holding a sharp object shouts “Allahu Akbar” as he rapidly approaches, it was not your lucky day.
Grouchy Fauci Set to Return
Dr. Anthony Fauci and Senator Rand Paul have provided some of the most entertaining Capitol Hill-hearings moments in recent years that did not involve Rep. Brandon Gill. Expect more fireworks on Wednesday when Dr. Fauci gives an encore performance before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “I expect he will not tell the truth,” Paul told Fox Business Channel. “I don’t expect him to be honest, he hasn’t been honest in the last six years.”
Maine Race Tight
A University of New Hampshire poll puts Democrat Troy Jackson three points ahead of incumbent Republican Susan Collins in the race for a Maine U.S. Senate seat. The first poll since Jackson became the presumptive Democratic nominee after Graham Platner, a political ally, dropped out of the race presents the picture of a calcified electorate. Put another way, the Democrat candidate changed but the Democrat electorate did not. They are immovable. The 49-46 numbers remain more or less where they were prior to Platner’s withdrawal. Given that Jackson, though a known commodity in Maine, probably enjoys a honeymoon period in the polls, the deficit appears entirely manageable for Collins. In several past cycles, polls looked discouraging for her. But she boasts five statewide wins over the last three decades in the state. Democrats may look back on this race as the one that got away.
Classical Gas
The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline jumped 15 cents from last week to $4.09 a gallon. The highest average recorded came on June 14, 2022 when regular eclipsed $5.01 per gallon.
Best Book Ever?
I read Don Quixote over a week in Massachusetts. Then I talked about it over a couple of days in La Mancha and Madrid. Join me in Spain’s old capital city and its new capital city to discuss @RightWingWilderness what makes Don Quixote so special and whether it ranks as the best book ever written. If you have read Don Quixote share your thoughts in the YouTube comments section for my video and if you have not yet subscribed to my channel, please do so—it imposes no burden on you in terms of cost or anything else and helps my page become monetized.
Daniel J. Flynn
Daniel J. Flynn, a senior editor of The American Spectator, serves as a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution for the 2024-2025 academic year. His books include Cult City: Harvey Milk, Jim Jones, and 10 Days That Shook San Francisco, Blue Collar Intellectuals: When the Enlightened and the Everyman Elevated America, A Conservative History of the American Left, and Intellectual Morons: How Ideology Makes Smart People Fall for Stupid Ideas. In 2025, he releases his magnum opus, The Man Who Invented Conservatism: The Unlikely Life of Frank S. Meyer.