The revolution will not be televised — it will be livestreamed in 4K



Narcissism has given itself a new name: socialism.

It shouldn’t come as any surprise that the generation that has grown up scrolling through social media feeds tends to be self-obsessed. This is evident in fewer marriages, lower birth rates, and a greater likelihood of mental illness. Politically, it is reflected in the alarming percentage of young people who have favorable views of socialism.

Socialism is rising in popularity because it allows today’s youth to engage in the self-absorption of influencer culture while also enjoying the faux moral superiority of communist propaganda.

Over the past few months, members of the Democratic Socialists of America have found success in political races across America. Whether it’s Zohran Mamdani’s cadre of candidates in New York City or Colorado’s Melat Kiros, it seems like no place is safe from the DSA’s growing influence.

The party’s prospects improved markedly after Mamdani’s victory in the New York City mayoral race last year. When he launched his campaign in October 2024, the DSA’s city chapter maintained a steady membership of about 5,000 and had only about 50,000 members nationally. But after Mamdani’s victory, NYC’s chapter tripled, while the national party doubled, hitting the 100,000 mark in February.

This happened as the DSA shifted its recruitment strategy, no longer relying on anger but preying on the egocentrism of today’s youth as it ramped up its focus on college campuses.

The Mamdani campaign’s many viral moments helped turn out the youth vote. His strong social media presence carried him across the finish line in America’s largest city. Other DSA candidates such as Claire Valdez and Abdul El-Sayed adopted Mamdani’s winning strategy.

They are gaining social status and expanding their voting blocs by putting themselves at the forefront of their campaigns.

The DSA candidates are having success because they aren’t painting themselves as politicians — they’re becoming influencers.

Their rallies look like nightclubs; they surround themselves with celebrities; and their TikToks show them enjoying an idyllic, manicured vision of the cities they represent. Their young followers aren’t being shown homeless encampments or violent drug addicts attacking their fellow citizens. Instead, DSA candidates shield them from the dangerous effects of the failed policies they would only accelerate.

I often hear older conservatives who grew up during or shortly after the Cold War ask the question, “Can’t these socialist kids see their city crumbling around them?” Indeed, they can. They see the graffiti, the unsafe public transportation, and the street takeovers. They choose to ignore these realities or blame them on “capitalism” as they look with awe at Zohran Mamdani joyfully walking shoulder to shoulder with his fellow New Yorkers on his way to get a poppy-seed bagel.

They’re caught up in his smile as he reads to a class of preschool children or encourages people to relinquish private property for the greater good.

RELATED: The media’s Democratic cover-up is collapsing

Chuwy/Getty Images

The DSA operates like any social media influencer, showing its audience how good life could be if they buy the right product, and in this case, that product is a trendy, Instagram-ready brand of socialism.

Perhaps no one has embodied the socialist influencer mindset more robustly than Hasan Piker. He has amassed a large following through daily, hours-long live Twitch streams, where he talks about communist theory and chats with his ever-growing group of followers.

Piker has been constantly seen with liberal elites and even made an appearance at Vanity Fair’s Oscar party, where he dressed like a chic Chairman Mao. He posts photos of himself thoughtfully “reading” Lenin or wearing expensive suits at Free Palestine rallies.

But for all of Piker’s radicalism, such as saying that the streets should “soak in red capitalist blood,” he could fairly be described as a communist MrBeast.

Piker and Mamdani represent the sinister narcissism underpinning the burgeoning socialist movement. Young people are obsessed with themselves: A recent Morning Consult poll found that 86% of respondents want to be influencers, the fourth most popular career aspiration for Americans between the ages of 13 and 38.

Socialism is rising in popularity because it allows today’s youth to engage in the self-absorption of influencer culture while also enjoying the faux moral superiority of communist propaganda. It is a match made in hell.

Kids looking to build audiences need only post about abolishing ICE or implementing rent control. Never mind that their iPhones and Instagram feeds were created by the very people and corporations they rail against. What matters is that they see their own image reflected in every inch of the world.

Editor’s note: A version of this article appeared originally in The American Mind.

How a McDonald's men's room perfectly captures blue-state decline



This week while dining at a McDonald’s in South Burlington, Vermont, I went to the men's room — and for a split second thought I’d entered a wormhole to the 1990s.

Did you ever go to a dance club that was illuminated by black-light bulbs? You know, the ones that glow purple-blue and make dirt and dandruff stand out like Christmas tree lights on your shirt?

My business partner and I were thrown out of a popular chain music supply store by three stoop-shouldered men in their 20s because we refused to wear masks.

That’s what it looked like. It was so dim I could barely navigate to the sink. I glanced up at the ceiling fixtures and sure enough, the bulbs were all dim blue. Why?

The answer will tell you all you need to know about how far my state has fallen.

Sugar crash

Consider this a companion piece to my recent article about sugar heiress Electra Havemeyer Webb and the priceless collection of American art, architecture, and industry she bequeathed to the people of the Green Mountain State.

I’m sorry to report that Mrs. Webb’s 39-acre park of wonders is an island of civility and charm losing its shoreline to blight, criminality, and despair. The same can be said of the other remaining pockets of old Vermont still hanging on.

At first, that men’s room was more puzzling than depressing. I’ve never seen a McDonald’s with a “sci-fi dystopia” decor before.

Then it hit me: This must be one of the gratingly permanent neurotic hangers-on from the days of COVID. Of course!

If such a conclusion would have never occurred to you, you must live in a red state. Or at least one of the relatively saner blue states of the northern plains.

If so, let me explain what those of us in deep Democrat territory lived through during COVID.

New England breakdown

Here in New England, the entire region went clinically insane. Everything shut down. Elderly men wearing masks outdoors on city streets screamed (yes, vocally screamed), “WHERE’S YOUR MASK?!” at people like me who went barefaced on Main Street in January.

People were thrown out of urgent care waiting rooms for not being vaccinated. A doctor implied she would report me to the state health board because I would not promise her that I would obey the governor’s self-quarantine order simply because I visited my family at Christmas.

My business partner and I were thrown out of a popular chain music supply store by three stoop-shouldered men in their 20s because we refused to wear masks. Then the restaurant across the street threw us out for the same reason, while mothers actually clutched their children to their bosom and stared at us as if we were muggers.

Yes, I know this sounds like something out of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” butI’m telling the truth. All of this really happened, and almost everyone went along with it.

Germ warfare

Today, six years later, the neurosis of that era has become the “new normal.” While the incidence has decreased, you still see people every day wearing masks outdoors on the street or alone in their cars. The post office in South Burlington still has not taken down its jury-rigged plexiglass barriers between the counter worker and the customer. The all-caps sign ordering you to STAND HERE is still there.

So naturally I thought the bulbs in the McDonald’s were meant to emit some kind of special germ-killing wavelength. Doesn’t that seem like something the geniuses who came up with all-day face diapers and “six feet apart” would suggest?

I drove 45 minutes home to the outskirts of Montpelier believing I’d figured it out. And then I did a little research.

The dim blue bulbs are not there to banish germs. They are installed to frustrate IV drug users by shining a light that makes it impossible to locate a blue vein under the skin. They are there to stop junkies from making the bathroom their private opium den or — should they overdose — their public deathbed.

“Officials in Philadelphia are handing out blue light bulbs because the glow supposedly masks the blue-tinted lines of veins — making it harder for intravenous drug users to find a vein,” National Public Radio’s Steve Inskeep intoned in 2019. That’s right, a full seven years ago.

You can find quite a bit of mainstream coverage of this phenomenon starting in about 2018. CBS News covered it in 2018, and so did Fortune magazine.

RELATED: How an NYC socialite's riches preserve America's beautiful, bustling past

Electra Havemeyer Webb. Slim Aarons/Getty Images; Background: Shelburne Museum

‘Symbolic violence’

And, from what I can tell, most of the more critical follow-up coverage only second-guessed this “important harm reduction measure” because it might make shooting up drugs more dangerous for the poor junkies. I couldn’t find any coverage that even mentioned the more important effect.

That more important effect is the degradation of civil society for normal, respectable people. The capitulation to the tyranny of junkies, criminals, and vagrants. We are a society that will not say: “No. You cannot make a place like McDonalds, which used to be a treat for children, into a no-go zone that arranges itself around the habits of low-lifes without doing a thing to make children and families feel welcome.”

Look at how an Inverse article criticized the blue lights. The article headline called the practice “symbolic violence.”

“But there are some huge problems with this approach,” author Peter Hess wrote. “Research has shown that drug users will still try to inject drugs in a blue-lit bathroom, even if it means they could accidentally miss their vein, which increases the risk of infection or soft tissue damage.”

Stand and fight

Pardon me for not giving a tinker’s damn if some addict gets soft-tissue damage. I’m part of the majority class of normal, productive citizens. We matter too. It is us and our families who pay the price for this, quite literally through taxes confiscated from us to give “safe injection spaces” for people who ought to be in a psychiatric ward. We’re paying a social and morale tax, too, as the world adds bumper cushions for the worst among us while telling law-abiding people to suck it up or get out.

This dystopia-in-a-bathroom story is just one symptom of an ongoing decline in areas governed by Democrats, progressives, and communists.

Burlington, Vermont, once a glittering city on the shores of Lake Champlain, is losing businesses in the tourist district because the city’s progressive mayor and her city council cry crocodile tears for the “unsheltered” community and refuse to hire enough police to crack down on open prostitution and drug crime.

My town, Montpelier, is barely holding on. The 19th-century Victorian Main Street is still there, but its charm is becoming blurrier and harder to see through the accumulation of graffiti, rutted streets, and open homeless encampments and drug dens in the alleys.

Whenever one writes an article like this, the most common reaction is, “Why don’t you just move, then?” My response: “Why don’t you stand and fight for the town you love?”

NYC councilwoman lays into 'rich,' 'entitled' Mamdani voters as mayor-elect plans to leave homeless encampments alone



The incoming socialist mayor of New York City says that he will end the clearing out of homeless encampments in the city once he enters office.

Zohran Mamdani made the comments during his "Hot Chocolate, Frozen Rent" event in Manhattan on Thursday, where he posited that homelessness is a result of "political choice."

'Radical left communists would rather the homeless freeze to death on the streets, live in tents without showers food or medicine than make sure they have PROPER housing.'

"If you are not connecting homeless New Yorkers to the housing that they so desperately need, then you cannot deem anything you're doing to be a success," he said.

"We are going to take an approach that understands its mission is connecting those New Yorkers to housing, whether it's supportive housing, whether it's rental housing, whatever kind of housing it is," he added. "Because what we have seen is the treatment of homelessness as if it is a natural part of living in this city, when in fact it's more often a reflection of a political choice being made time and time again."

Republican NYC Councilwoman Inna Vernikov torched Mamdani over the announcement.

"The radical left communists would rather the homeless freeze to death on the streets, live in tents without showers food or medicine than make sure they have PROPER housing and mental health treatment which many of them desperately need," said Vernikov.

While the mainstream media has tried to mischaracterize Mamdani as moderate, he has previously posited that the government might need to ban private property in order to address the housing crisis.

RELATED: Actor Jon Voight calls on Trump to 'terminate' election of Mamdani in NYC

"Mamdani voters are rich entitled liberals who never have to struggle and who believe that leaving the homeless on our streets in their tents is also appropriate PUNISHMENT for our 'intolerant and racist' neighborhoods," Vernikov continued. "BRACE YOURSELVES."

Mamdani shocked many when he won the Democrat nomination in the mayoral race despite being vastly inexperienced to run the massive city. At least one liberal commentator has compared him to Jesus Christ and Martin Luther King Jr.

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Gavin Newsom orders California cities to shut down homeless encampments: 'There are no more excuses'



California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, ordered cities to shut down homeless encampments in public spaces after a Supreme Court ruling eased restrictions on enforcement.

Newsom had previously opposed the criminalization of homelessness, but he has tried to maneuver to more centrist positions after the devastating national election swing against Democrats, according to the New York Times.

'Local leaders asked for resources — we delivered the largest state investment in history.'

On Monday, Newsom issued a framework by which cities could be more forceful about keeping homeless tents away from sidewalks, bike paths, parklands, and other public property.

“There are no more excuses,” Newsom said in a statement. “Local leaders asked for resources — we delivered the largest state investment in history. They asked for legal clarity — the courts delivered. Now, we’re giving them a model they can put to work immediately, with urgency and humanity, to resolve encampments and connect people to shelter, housing, and care.”

The governor referenced a Supreme Court ruling that found cities could enforce laws against public homeless encampments despite the lack of bed space available for homeless people to move into. Newsom had praised the ruling at the time.

"Today’s Supreme Court ruling in Grants Pass provides state and local officials the definitive authority to implement and enforce policies to clear unsafe homeless encampments and helps us deliver common-sense measures to protect the safety and well-being of our communities," he wrote.

Officials found that there were about 187,000 homeless people in the state in 2024.

Not surprisingly, homeless advocates were outraged by the order.

“Sadly, Newsom and Trump are using the same failed playbook,” said Jesse Rabinowitz of the National Homelessness Law Center. “We won’t be duped by this backwards approach, and we will continue to push for real solutions to homelessness, like housing and services.”

A news report from KTLA-TV about the model ordinance can be viewed on YouTube.

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Fed up business owners sue California city over homeless encampments — used syringes, human waste, rats



A group of California small-business owners filed a lawsuit against the City of Berkeley this week for allegedly allowing the streets around their businesses to become overrun with homeless encampments littered with used syringes, human waste, and rats.

The lawsuit was filed in Alameda County by eight businesses, which include a brewing company, a winery, a theater set production company, an automotive repair shop, a bagel shop, and a mobility equipment supplier.

'She left only to return two minutes later with a 10-foot metal pole swinging it at customers and employees.'

The county has become a hotspot for homelessness and criminal activity in recent years, largely due to soft-on-crime progressive politicians.

The owners claim that the Berkeley leaders have failed to comply with the city's nuisance laws, claiming it has "invited, permitted, and/or maintained a sprawling public encampment of tents and RVs on Harrison Street between Fifth and Ninth streets, as well as off of Harrison Street along Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Streets."

The complaint noted that encampments have been allowed to take over parts of Harrison Street and the Lower Dwight Neighborhood "because of its erroneous interpretation" of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's ruling in two cases, which stated criminal charges cannot be filed against individuals camping in public when no shelter space is available.

However, the lawsuit argued that the rulings did not permit the city to violate public nuisance laws. Furthermore, the business owners argued that shelter space has been available.

Additionally, earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the lower court's decision, stating that municipalities are allowed to dismantle public encampments regardless of available shelter space. Despite that, the makeshift tent cities in Berkeley remain.

The complaint included images taken after the city engaged in a so-called "clean up" effort, showing that the encampments were not dismantled. Instead, tents remained lined up against the side of the street, often obstructing sidewalk access.

Emily Winston, a Berkeley resident and the owner and operator of a local bagel shop told KTVU, "It's tough. It's filthy. There's trash everywhere."

"It's not safe for our customers or our staff," Winston stated. She noted that she was "not eager" to file the lawsuit.

"This was certainly not my idea of a good time. I wish the city would just have cleaned it up anyway," Winston added.

The business owners are concerned about the health and safety issues posed by the sprawling encampments. They fear that the unsightly and unsanitary conditions are driving away customers.

Barry Braden, a brewery owner, told KTVU that a woman recently entered his establishment asking for food.

"When the manager on duty offered help, she left only to return two minutes later with a 10-foot metal pole swinging it at customers and employees; she was chased out of the building by customers and ultimately arrested by police," Braden explained.

In 2018, the same year Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) took office, there were an estimated 131,000 homeless individuals residing in California. Since then, that number has reportedly reached a projected 172,000.

The city attorney did not respond to KTVU’s request for comment.

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Atlantic City to ban homeless encampments as part of cleanup effort



Officials in Atlantic City, New Jersey, are moving forward with a plan to ban homeless encampments in public spaces, the New York Post reported.

Last month, the city established the Boardwalk Improvement Group to lead a cleanup effort to move homeless individuals residing under the boardwalk into shelter spaces. City employees have been sent to the boardwalk to connect hundreds of homeless individuals with shelters and advocacy groups.

'We won't ignore the issue.'

As part of that ongoing mission, officials recently announced that they plan to introduce a law that will prohibit people from sleeping in public spaces.

The campaign to address the crisis was launched by Mayor Marty Small (D) after the Supreme Court's recent ruling that local governments have the authority to restrict individuals from sleeping in public areas. The high court noted that such laws do not constitute "cruel and unusual punishment."

Fencing will be installed to deter people from trying to sleep under the boardwalk. Law enforcement officers have also been stationed to patrol the area.

"We won't ignore the issue of homelessness in our city, an issue that has been long overlooked," Small told the Post. "We cannot be a world-class destination if we can't find a way to help the people living in our own city."

According to Small, other municipalities have been sending their homeless to Atlantic City. Small previously said he is unsure who is sending the individuals to the city.

He told the Post, "It's disappointing to see, but we deal with it."

Jarrod Barnes, Atlantic City's director of health and human services, explained that many homeless individuals have refused to move into shelters in the past, but he hopes the new law will push them to accept the assistance.

"A lot of the people we try to move away think it's fine to keep living on the street because they've just been doing it for so long, and that can't be the case," Barnes explained.

"No one deserves to live on the streets," he continued. "A lot of these people are just folks who are down on their luck or people dealing with substance abuse issues."

Homeless encampments underneath the boardwalk have caused fire hazards in the past. One 67-year-old man passed away in April after a fire ignited and spread to nearby businesses.

"We had one guy who was able to set up circuits to power a multi-bedroom apartment built under the boardwalk," Barnes stated.

Small explained that one man tapped into one of the casino's beer lines to nab free drinks.

During a July press conference, Small noted that the city's homelessness crisis did not appear overnight and would take some time to solve.

"It's my job as mayor of the great city of Atlantic City to give them the necessary tools to succeed. And we're doing that in a big way," Small said.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) recently announced an executive order to crack down on the state's rampant homelessness crisis. He also cited the Supreme Court's ruling as the catalyst for enacting the ordinance, which will push local governments to clear out encampments. Newsom has claimed for decades that solving California's homeless problem is one of his top priorities.

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Trump's Major Supreme Court VICTORY!
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Trump's Major Supreme Court VICTORY!

Trump's MAJOR Supreme Court VICTORY may set a new precedent for January 6 defendants



In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Joseph Fischer, a January 6 Capitol riot participant, challenging his federal obstruction conviction.

The justices ruled 6-3 to overturn a lower court’s decision that had allowed a charge of corruptly obstructing an official proceeding — specifically, the congressional certification of President Biden’s victory.

Like Fischer, there are over 300 defendants charged with “obstruction of an official proceeding.” Now that a new precedent has been set, these defendants may be able to look forward to similar outcomes.

“Long story short, the Court today had a very sound ruling when it comes to statutory interpretation 101 first principles. They said that this is an incorrect reading of the statute and the practical fact is that a lot of the J6ers should have their sentences heavily reduced if not thrown out altogether,” legal expert Josh Hammer tells Sara Gonzales.

Not only does this ruling affect those who were at the Capitol on January 6 — but it also is great news for former President Donald Trump.

“I think two of the four counts against Donald Trump in the Washington, D.C., indictment are now in very, very serious jeopardy. Those will likely get tossed out as well,” Hammer explains.

While the Supreme Court ruled that the case needs to go back to the lower court to be reconsidered, it shouldn’t matter that the lower court is in D.C. itself.

“They’re going to have to apply this standard still,” Hammer says, adding that “they were pretty clear that this is just not an appropriate exercise of statutory interpretation, so I’m relatively confident that this is going to play out pretty well from here.”

While many are pleased with the outcome, there is one Trump-appointed justice who, shockingly, isn’t.

“Amy Coney Barrett did dissent with Sotomayor and Kagan,” Gonzales explains.

“Amy Coney Barrett is rapidly shaping up to be perhaps perhaps Trump’s single biggest disappointment, frankly, on that court,” Hammer says.


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Democrats PANIC After Biden Has WORST Debate in US History | 6/28/24
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Democrats PANIC After Biden Has WORST Debate in US History | 6/28/24

Portland residents with physical disabilities file lawsuit against the city for allowing homeless encampments to block sidewalks



On Tuesday, 10 Portland residents with disabilities sued the city for allowing homeless encampments to block sidewalks and walkways. The lawsuit alleged that the city of Portland violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to remove tents from public walkways.

The residents requested that Portland remove the encampments from sidewalks and provide shelter for the homeless individuals who were forced to leave.

They stated in the lawsuit that the tents and personal items prevent people with disabilities from accessing public transportation, restaurants, and stores.

The Oregonian reported that the 10 residents are either caretakers for someone with mobility disabilities or have mobility disabilities themselves that require the use of electric scooters, wheelchairs, walkers, or walking sticks.

The case noted that approximately 13% of Portland residents have disabilities. The residents requested that the judge certify the case as a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all Portland citizens with disabilities.

“While political pressure has mounted on city officials to address these issues, competing political headwinds and countervailing forces have prevented the city from acting,” the lawsuit said. The residents accused city officials of taking minimal action to keep the sidewalks clear and safe.

Photographs of the homeless encampments were included with the case. The photos featured blocked sidewalks in several areas of Portland, including Old Town, the Pearl District, the Lloyd District, and the Central Eastside Industrial District.

The Oregonian noted that many of the areas shown in the photos have since been cleaned up. The news outlet reported that, despite the removal of some homeless encampments in Portland, many others have since been built in different areas.

Even though the city has banned camping along 21% of roads and sidewalks, it has failed to enforce the rule consistently. This year, Mayor Ted Wheeler has prioritized increasing law enforcement sweeps of the city to crack down on homeless encampments.

The residents addressed the concern that when police drive the homeless away from one city block, the displaced individuals inevitably move to another. According to their lawsuit, this action creates an endless cycle that can only be solved with proper resources. The residents requested that the city prioritize finding a permanent solution to housing the homeless residents of Portland.

Multnomah County, which includes Portland, has an estimated 5,228 homeless people. Only 42% of those individuals are housed in temporary shelters, while the rest reside on the city streets.

City officials told the Oregonian they were not allowed to comment on pending lawsuits.