Gavin Newsom, wife guy

Thursday night saw a clash for the ages between the governors of the twin territories that sustain America’s pornography addiction. It’s hard to determine a winner of the video nasty on Fox News between Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis: DeSantis endorsers claim that their man won, Trump supporters and Democrats call it for Newsom.

One tidbit from NBC suggests that the Florida Man did a better job of getting under his opponent’s skin: the governors were potentially set to run longer, but Newsom’s wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom intervened after DeSantis pointed out that her parents had moved from California to Florida.

Per Dasha Burns and Nnamdi Egwuonwu, Siebel Newsom “came into the debate room on at least two occasions to raise some objections. She also made her way to the stage during the break after the candidates agreed to extend the debate and put an end to it… saying, ‘We’re done.’”

Governor Newsom may rule the roost when it comes to barreling through Chinese schoolchildren on the basketball court… but back home, it seems like Jennifer wears the pants…

Daniel Goldman, warrior for the elites

A nepo baby heir of the Levi Strauss fortune defended big businesses working with the government to suppress online speech.

Representative Daniel Goldman, a freshman Democrat on the House’s Weaponization subcommittee and onetime Trump impeachment lawyer, stood up for the federal government’s requests to Big Tech companies to shadow-ban and outright ban users, arguing that such content simply falls under the terms of services of platforms like Facebook and Twitter/X.

But as previous congressional testimony revealed, the government’s work with Big Tech went beyond just helpful emails. “There was an active suppression campaign as detailed in email exchanges between, at a minimum, the White House and Big Tech social media corporations from March to May of 2021,” Missouri’s attorney general told the House’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.

During yesterday’s Weaponization hearing, Goldman took defending the Biden family to absurd, and incorrect, lengths. He told Twitter Files co-author Michael Shellenberger, that Hunter Biden’s infamous “laptop from Hell” could have been hijacked by anyone, from Rudy Giuliani to the Russians.

Shellenberger asked Goldman for any evidence for laptop hacking, to which Goldman said “well, there is actual evidence of it,” but then failed to give any. What an oversight…

Goldman’s support for big business makes sense given both his immense denim-related wealth and his family’s massive financial support for the Democratic Party’s sprawling network of aligned organizations run out of Arabella Advisors, where liberal megadonors jointly fund much of the party’s outside infrastructure. Prior to his time in office, Goldman was his family foundation’s secretary and treasurer. Some résumé!

George Santos, then and now

December 1, 2023: Congressman George Santos is the first member of Congress in twenty-one years to be expelled from the House in a 311-114 vote, following an ethics probe that revealed his use of campaign funds to pay for Botox, luxury goods and OnlyFans (Cockburn has reached out to the women who claim Santos as a subscriber for comment and will keep you all posted).

December 1, 2021: Santos’s campaign consultants pass along a copy of a vulnerability report, according to emails in the Ethics report filings. “It is CRITICAL that we discuss this amongst the 3 of us immediately,” one writes to Santos, who responded by asking, “What are your top pressing issues?” The response: “This is pretty serious. Our concerns are everything laid out in the report.”

Threat/promise: Cockburn will gatecrash your Christmas party

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening? On the Hill, staffers kissing…

Christmas party season is upon us once again. Cockburn’s dance card is filling up nicely (more on that to come) — but he still has a couple of days available when he can show up to your office bash, sup your sherry and loiter under your mistletoe.

Got a party invite for him? A red hot tip? Someone or something gregarious that you’ve spotted? December is his most prolific month of the year: email cockburn@thespectator.com and let’s be merry together…

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