Commentary Culture Investigations

The vice president thinks the dollar’s global status is a curse.

UNICEF’s recent findings show that the famine allegation was a flimsy lie.

University Greek life is in full swing as colleges start the new school year, and social media continues to blow up with “RushTok” — girls dancing to popular songs and attempting to convince prospective sorority sisters to join. (RELATED: CCP-Linked Funding at Stanford: Latest in Higher Ed Infiltration) 

I say this, as someone who voted for Trump—genius MAGA simps, the original video was NOT set to the YMCA. No one was signaling Trump support here.
Now can you admit that they look like strippers? https://t.co/bffMqIVLTu
— Megan Basham (@megbasham) August 17, 2026

The Spectator P.M. Podcast hosts Lyrah Margo and Madelynn McLaughlin discuss the trends behind RushTok and how it is impacting young women’s college experiences. They debate whether these Rush experiences are worth it and whether it portrays toxic beauty standards. (READ MORE: The Biology Feminism Can’t Explain) 
Tune in to hear their discussion!

Listen to the Spectator P.M. Podcast on Spotify.

Watch the Spectator P.M. Podcast on Rumble.

On Thursday’s Fox & Friends, the show gave attention to another story in which an illegal alien who entered the country under President Joe Biden went on to commit a savage murder in northern Virginia.Co-host Brian Kilmeade set up the story: “An arrest has been made for the murder of this Virginia mom. Police say illegal immigrant Alexis Campos has confessed to the killing. The DHS blaming the Biden administration for catching the migrant in 2024 and set him free.”Fox reporter Madeleine Rivera then recalled that El Salvadorean national Alexis Cedillos-Campos murdered one of his co-workers, Carmen Puch, who worked at the same Herndon, Virginia restaurant as the perpetrator:

Fox Highlights Another Biden Illegal Alien Who Committed Murder pic.twitter.com/DiJi2PpErE— Brad Wilmouth (@bradwilmouth) August 23, 2026

…19-year-old Alexis Campos is now facing second-degree murder after Fairfax County police say he repeatedly stabbed and killed 42-year-old Carmen Puch. Puch is the mother of a three-year-old girl. She was found outside of her car at a trail in Great Falls Park, Virginia, on Monday.After noting that the two were romantically involved, Rivera added:Police say surveillance video showed Campos, hours before the murder, arming himself with a large fixed knife that he took from the restaurant, taking a pair of black latex gloves, and a water bottle. He allegedly filled that bottle with gasoline which he doused on Puch after the stabbing to try and set her on fire, but he was unsuccessful.She then recalled that the killer was allowed into the country by President Biden after crossing the border illegally:Federal sources say Campos crossed the Southern border illegally in El Paso, Texas, in April 2024, and was apprehended by Border Patrol where he was quickly released into the country by the Biden administration. Fox was told he gave an address for a family member in Maryland and was let go.As the three Fox co-hosts discussed the story, it was pointed out that it is very difficult to find out if an illegal alien has a criminal record back in their home country, will illustrates the importance requiring a legal immigration process which involved getting a criminal background check before coming into the U.S.Co-host Ainsley Earhardt also noted that half of the murders committed in Fairfax County this year have been committed by illegal aliens.Transcript follows:Fox & FriendsAugust 2020, 20267:01 a.m. EasternBRIAN KILMEADE: An arrest has been made for the murder of this Virginia mom. Police say illegal immigrant Alexis Campos has confessed to the killing. The DHS blaming the Biden administration for catching the migrant in 2024 and set him free.CHARLES HURT: Enraging. Madeleine Rivera joins us now with the latest. Good morning, Maddie. What can you tell us about this case?MADELEINE RIVERA: Hi, good morning, guys. Well, that’s right — 19-year-old Alexis Campos is now facing second-degree murder after Fairfax County police say he repeatedly stabbed and killed 42-year-old Carmen Puch. Puch is the mother of a three-year-old girl. She was found outside of her car at a trail in Great Falls Park, Virginia, on Monday. Campos and Puch had an intimate relationship, authorities say. Both worked at a restaurant in Herndon. Police say surveillance video showed Campos, hours before the murder, arming himself with a large fixed knife that he took from the restaurant, taking a pair of black latex gloves, and a water bottle. He allegedly filled that bottle with gasoline which he doused on Puch after the stabbing to try and set her on fire, but he was unsuccessful.(…)Federal sources say Campos crossed the Southern border illegally in El Paso, Texas, in April 2024, and was apprehended by Border Patrol where he was quickly released into the country by the Biden administration. Fox was told he gave an address for a family member in Maryland and was let go. A DHS spokesperson says, “Biden and former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas hand-delivered alleged killer Cedillos-Campos to the streets of Fairfax County. … We are urging Governor Spanberger to put her community first and turn over this criminal illegal alien to ICE.”Police say they’re also looking for a black sedan that Campos may have used to travel to the scene. Charlie, Ainsley, and Brian?HURT: Thank you, Maddie. It’s absolutely infuriating. It’s all predictable. Everybody could have seen this. And it’s not just the old Biden policies. It’s the current policies of the current governor of Virginia, who continues to refuse to work with ICE and has turned all of Virginia into a basically a sanctuary state.AINSLEY EARHARDT: Fairfax County — you know it — I mean, you –KILMEADE: It’s a nice area.EARHARDT: Yeah, beautiful area. But it’s pretty liberal, right? Because we always talked about the schools being so liberal.HURT: Yeah, that’s how they end up with these crackpot politicians.EARHARDT: Yeah, well, this guy that the attorney, Steve Descano — he’s the attorney for Fairfax County, and he’s known to be very soft on crime. He’s a progressive. He went to West Point, but he’s very progressive. He wants to eliminate — is for eliminating cash bail. We know how that works because we have it here in New York City. He wants to expand the diversion programs, avoid prosecution if you get caught smoking marijuana or if you have it on you, and we’re learning now, Brian, four out of the eight people — there have been eight people who have — who are suspected of homicide this year alone — four of them are in the county illegally.KILMEADE: So it’s so interesting is, I’m listening to the conference yesterday and the cops and the D.A. and everyone talking about the outrage. Nobody really wants to bring up the guy is here illegally. And then when the question comes up, “Well, it’s not up to me to look at legal status.”What do you mean it’s not up to you? If you want to find out how to stop the next crime — be able to track down new crimes, you have to be able to find out the origin of the would-be killer. So the 19-year-old whom they kept calling “killer” who has confessed to everything, why not add to the fact that he doesn’t belong here and that that adds to the fact that maybe you want to find out how to stop the next killing, maybe working better with ICE to see the next illegal.Now, what also comes to mind, too, is this 19-year-old doesn’t have a record. So for those people who say, “Well, we’re just going to get out the criminals, oh, yeah, we’ve got to get everybody out because we don’t know who’s a criminal.HURT: Right.KILMEADE: You already broke the law and, second, sticking around. Now, he’s in a relationship and decides to horrifically murder this woman. You got to see how they describe what happened to (her). She died the most horrific way possible, and his goal was to burn her alive. He had a plastic water bottle. He got rid of the bottle, put gasoline in it. He planned on burning her alive. So, “Well, he doesn’t have a record — he’s illegal — don’t stereotype” — I’m not going to stereotype. You already broke our law once — you don’t belong here. You got to go. Because if you’re going to — if you have these criminal tendencies, I can’t detect it. I don’t want to be the first victim of your criminal tendencies.HURT: And that’s one of the most basic problems with open borders is just exactly what you said, which is, “Okay, he doesn’t have a criminal record.” Because there is no record! We have absolutely –KILMEADE: That, too — that, too.HURT: — no idea. We have no relationship with these countries. We don’t know where the countries they’re coming from. So of course we don’t know any of this. 

Singer/rapper Jelly Roll kicked of his week of guest hosting ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! by making sure he would get in the show’s obligatory attacks on President Trump. Reacting to the weekend’s IndyCar race in D.C., Jelly Roll professed that it was odd that Trump was enjoying the race “because normally he only likes his own race.”Jelly Roll began by showing a clip of Trump at the event waving the green flag, “Let’s talk about the main event of America this weekend. It was the big IndyCar race hosted by the president. The cars drove through the streets of D.C. and there’s Donald Trump, who apparently has never held a flag before. What a [bleep] job that—how do you [bleep] up waving a flag?” Jimmy Kimmel guest host Jelly Roll reacted to the IndyCar race in D.C. by claiming “the president seemed to enjoy the IndyCar race, which was a real switch up for him because normally he only likes his own race.” pic.twitter.com/KwpEEkNiwp— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) August 25, 2026 He then added, “But the president seemed to enjoy the IndyCar race, which was a real switch-up for him because normally he only likes his own race.”Even Kimmel’s guest hosts can’t resist the urge to take a sporting event and turn it into an excuse to sling mud at Trump.Concluding his Trump-IndyCar observation, Jelly Roll declared, “Trump also drove around the track in his motorcade doing what they called the ‘lap of honor,’ which sounds like the loyalty program at a strip club. ‘Five percent cash back in the champagne room for all lap of honor members!’”Jelly Roll is not the first 2026 Kimmel guest host to show up and use the show to accuse Trump or conservatives of being racist. He is not even the first one to use sports to accuse Trump of being a racist. This summer, Jimmy Kimmel Live! is just trying to prove that you can change the host, but you can’t change the show.Here is a transcript for the August 24 show:ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!8/24/202611:38 PM ETJELLY ROLL: Let’s talk about the main event of America this weekend. It was the big IndyCar race hosted by the president. The cars drove through the streets of D.C. and there’s Donald Trump, who apparently has never held a flag before. What a [bleep] job that—how do you [bleep] up waving a flag?But the president seemed to enjoy the IndyCar race, which was a real switch-up for him because normally he only likes his own race. Trump also drove around the track in his motorcade doing what they called the “lap of honor,” which sounds like the loyalty program at a strip club. “Five percent cash back in the champagne room for all lap of honor members!”

Personal photo, Orlando Sentinel front page

The Orlando Sentinel newspaper continues to hold down the obnoxious-liberal end of the political spectrum in right-leaning Florida, attacking homegrown political movements. The banner headline over Sunday’s front page: “Moms for Liberty candidates falter in school board elections.” Education reporter Steven Walker’s piece hardly even nodded toward balance, the writer seemingly gleeful over the underperformance of candidates endorsed by the Sarasota-based Moms for Liberty, the group that has earned leftist ire by challenging the ideological objectives of public-school teachers and librarians and other fans of foisting gender-bending propaganda books onto children.Steven Walker’s bias began from the fourth word and continued to the end.Moms for Liberty, the notorious conservative group formed to fight COVID-19 mask mandates and then “pornographic” books and other culture-war topics, looks to be losing influence in Florida, the birthplace of the parents-rights organization.Across Florida, many candidates who shared the group’s views lost their elections on Tuesday. Some observers said the results indicate that Moms for Liberty now looks “toxic” to many voters. The group had become known for its members’ angry denunciations at board meetings, and its “We do not co-parent with the government” t-shirts.Moms for Liberty, once dedicated to electing like-minded school board members statewide, also spent the least amount of money and endorsed the fewest school board candidates this year since its formation in 2021. And some candidates it did endorse chose not to proclaim that Moms for Liberty supported them.The journalistic description of Moms for Liberty could have been written by a political enemy.In Flagler County, two candidates aligned with Moms for Liberty lost elections, including one who was previously endorsed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The DeSantis administration embraced Moms for Liberty members, including Farrant, several years ago as it heightened scrutiny of school books, limited lessons on racism and passed a law banning instruction on sexual orientation that critics dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.”Walker let smears pass without challenge.The losses in Orange are “a reflection that we are not interested in banning books and trying to single out marginalized communities – that really we just want a strong public education for all of our students, and I think our community really has always supported that,” said Orange County School Board member Stephanie Vanos.Vanos was elected two years ago, defeating a more conservative candidate who critics said was tied to Moms for Liberty despite her denials.It isn’t surprising to see Moms for Liberty’s impact fall off in recent years, Vanos added.”Moms for Liberty is toxic. It’s a toxic label, and I think they know it,” she said.

Screenshot/YouTube

But in a statement, Moms for Liberty pushed back against the notion that the organization has lost a step.Moms for Liberty CEO and Co-Founder Tina Descovich declared victory after last week’s election, calling it a “sweep” for the group’s 15 endorsed candidates in Florida – 11 of whom won or advanced to runoffs in November.”Every couple of years someone in the media writes our obituary, and every couple of years parents show up and prove them wrong,” she said in a statement.That was it for rebuttal. Next, Walker canonized Sarasota County School Board member Tom Edwards, who had been “the subject of attacks from the local Moms for Liberty chapter….Group members would claim Edwards, who is gay, was a ‘danger’ to school children.” He let Walker lay into his political opponents.This year’s election and Ziegler’s departure marks the “death for Moms for Liberty,” he said.”We’re the bellwether for the whole country. Craziness, extremism started here, and we closed it here,” he said.Angie Gallo, the Orange school board member who defeated Farrant in the race for board chair, said most voters want school board members focused on public education, not extreme political positions, so it’s not surprising Moms for Liberty’s influence is fading.Walker wasn’t done, piling on with an arrogant quote from Joe Saunders of Equality Florida Action.”Voters are sick of the extremism of Moms for Liberty — the shrill voices of people who don’t even have kids in public schools most of the time coming to scream at school board members, attacking teachers, attacking the programs themselves, attacking libraries. They want the focus to be back on the things that matter the most,” Saunders said.

Critics argue that liberalism has not delivered broad-based prosperity.

Do we really want society to redefine marriage as an equivocal commitment?

One aspect of gray-zone operations is that the absence of hard proof of those responsible makes it more difficult to justify (publicly anyway) retribution.