US launches retaliatory air strikes in Iraq and Syria

The US is currently launching retaliatory air strikes in Iraq and Syria, the Pentagon confirmed this afternoon. 

The strikes come after three American servicemembers were killed in a drone strike by an Iranian-backed militia on Sunday, with dozens more wounded.

Top Biden administration officials had said “it will pretty be clear” when the American response begins. “The first thing you see won’t be the last,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told the media Wednesday.

–Matt McDonald

Soros staffers unionize — and immediately get laid off

This month’s better-than-expected jobs numbers are cold comfort to employees of a George Soros-funded group that recruits young Democrats to run for office.

Weeks after employees at Run for Something unionized, the organization reportedly laid off 22 percent of its staff — 8 percent of whom the union says are LGBTQIA+, 71 percent of whom are women or nonbinary, and 85 percent of whom are people of color. 

In fact, days before the layoffs, the union was boasting about its success. “We extend heartfelt gratitude to our union members for their hard work and unwavering commitment to driving progress forward.” 

On some level, the layoffs are surprising, because Run for Something was part of a heavily-touted $50 million investment by George and Alex Soros’s infrastructure just two months ago, and young Democrats in Congress, like Maxwell Frost, support their work in various capacities. It’s a black eye for the younger Soros, who has long tried to step out of his father’s massive shadow to prove he’s more than just America’s latest nepo baby.

On the flip side, the layoffs follow a pattern in politics and journalism where an organization’s union organizes and massive layoffs almost immediately follow. This recently happened with the Los Angeles Times, where over 100 employees were fired shortly after employees staged a day-long walkout of their jobs.

As for the organization itself, it’s been radio silent online since the layoffs were announced. 

-Matthew Foldi 

On our radar

FANI PROBLEMS Fulton County DA Fani Willis, who is spearheading the Georgia RICO case against former president Donald Trump, admitted her romantic involvement with prosecutor Nathan Wade — but claimed there was no conflict of interest that would require her to step down from the election fraud case.

A CHALLENGER APPROACHES GOP congresswoman Nancy Mace, who represents South Carolina’s 1st congressional district, is facing a primary challenge from Catherine Templeton, who previously ran for governor of South Carolina in 2018. Templeton joins Mace’s former chief of staff, Daniel Hanlon, and Austin Anderson in the race.

JOBS, JOBS, JOBS The US economy added 353,000 jobs in January, the Labor Department reported Friday, exceeding economists’ expectations. The hot job market might cause the Federal Reserve to further delay bringing down interest rates. 

TRANS-SKEPTICAL NYT? The New York Times published an investigation Friday raising questions about how the US treats children suffering from gender dysphoria, featuring multiple interview with “detransitioners” who regret trying to change their gender. 

Condi’s chorus

There’s a disturbance in the rarified, elite DC social scene. Cockburn hears that at the secretive annual Alfalfa Club dinner, held last Saturday night, Condoleezza Rice left many members puzzled and dismayed as she led the singing of the Ukrainian national anthem on stage while she played piano, as the Ukrainian ambassador looked on approvingly.

Some attendees were reportedly aghast that Rice, chairwoman of this year’s dinner, turned the normally light-hearted, apolitical Alfalfa soirée into a Ukraine extravaganza, with a tipster telling Cockburn that Ukraine supporters are at risk of becoming the “CrossFitters of politics” for their inability to talk about anything else. Rice’s direct appeal to support Ukraine — a violation of the club’s norms, Cockburn is told — sent some attendees walking in a dignified manner for the exits in protest.

The club, which notably was started 111 years ago to honor the birthday of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, is one of the more coveted tickets in town — tickets to the dinner are for members and their guests only and run at $500.

–Cockburn

Timothy Jacobson, 1948-2024

The Spectator World team was saddened to hear of the passing of Timothy Jacobson last weekend, at the age of seventy-five. 

Timothy had written for us since 2018, the year we launched our US website, and regularly contributed to our magazine, particularly in our Food & Drink section. He was a staunch advocate for the finer things in life: he lamented the decline of the dining experience as “a believer in restaurant-as-refuge.” He also lambasted food porn: “As ubiquitous as ‘traditional’ porn and just as sad. It disorders our senses. Food tastes and smells, only thirdly does it look.” His latest piece for us, an ode to coal fires, appears in this month’s edition. 

“Burning it was banned completely in Britain in May 2023; in Virginia we can still enjoy it, though the green enforcers are sure to come for us too,” Timothy wrote. “I’ll stick with the older ways while I can, and let my senses deliver joy while they can. I actually like the smell of coal smoke on a cold night, outside the house of course, while inside the smells of a slow roast waft down the passage from the kitchen.” 

Timothy was laid to rest today in his beloved central Virginia. Somewhere he is readying a hearth for us all — and the dinner planning will be exemplary. RIP.

–Matt McDonald

From the site

Neal Pollack: How to jail a president
Lionel Shriver: Is there such thing as a fair Trump trial?