Greetings! Department of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth lands on the griddle in this morning’s confirmation hearings.  I’m watching as I write these words…Gazing at Gaetz: I tuned in last night to watch “The Matt Gaetz Show” on the ultra-right-wing OAN.  He was better than I expected in his sixth show after debuting last week.  I get no pleasure writing this, but he came across as personable and well spoken. However, he needs a new wardrobe.  The black suit and tie combined with the white shirt made him look like a funeral director…NewsBusters used some nasty words to describe former Washington Post columnist Jen Rubin who announced yesterday that she’s leaving the famed legacy news brand to start a new outlet called The Contrarian offering political and cultural commentary. NewsBusters called her a two-time Hack Madness champion (not sure what that is), a walking cartoon and a fake conservative.  The Washington Free Beacon also threw shade at Rubin, although with less snark. “The Contrarian is built on a premise some would describe as delusional,” wrote the Free Beacon’s Andrew Stiles.  “In Rubin's view, the mainstream media have been too soft on Donald Trump, if not openly supportive of his MAGA agenda.” The criticisms didn’t seem to hurt her launch because as of last night, the site had 35,000 subscribers…TheRighting’s tech-savvy contributor David Zylber has written a handy user’s guide to leaving X and loving Bluesky.  Zylber details the growing problems with X since the Musk takeover, while crowing about the progressive-friendly Bluesky features he loves…If you keep reading, I’ll keep Righting. Howard

Greetings! One would think that the devastating Los Angeles wildfires would all but smother the 2028 White House ambitions of California Governor Gavin Newsom.  PJ Media thinks otherwise and pegs the camera-ready Newsom as the Dems’ frontrunner in four years….Professional bomb thrower, GOP antagonist and ace wordsmith Steve Schmidt has written what are surely the definitive words about Republican critics who are dancing on the ashes of beleaguered Los Angeles.  “Among the great grotesqueries and stupidities of our time is the sheer number of MAGA politicians who openly disdain the nation’s economic, technological, social, cultural, and innovation furnace,” Schmidt wrote on his Substack. “There is no scenario in which America succeeds with a failing California. Only an imbecile would root for California to fail or burn, and tragically, there is no shortage of fools in America rooting for both”…The Victory Girls blog hopes that Melania Trump wears a “chic Zhivago-style hat, complete with fur” to her husband’s inauguration as “nod to her critics”…Speaking of the incoming First Lady, she gave an eight-minute prerecorded interview on “Fox & Friends” this morning.  Melania  wasn’t as bad as I expected, but she answered the barrage of softball questions with all the warmth and humor of an elderly accountant discussing a new tax code…Last week’s craziest right wing headline courtesy of PJ Media: “Canada’s Commie Soy Boy Slithers off in Ignominy.”  The reference, of course, was to Justin Trudeau…If you keep reading, I’ll keep Righting. Howard