Never Say Die to the American Dream (Book Review of Memoir by Ke Huy Quan)

For 80s kids like me, the movies of the era stay with you, even define you. One of the best is The Goonies. No film better encapsulates the courage and camaraderie of a bunch of boys taking on a challenge and winning. One of my favorite characters is Data, played by Chinese-American actor Ke Huy Quan. I enjoyed his quirkiness, resourcefulness, and humor, which captured the character of the movie.

I like Ke Huy Quan the actor, as well. This former child star had disappeared from Hollywood for years. Then in 2023, he made an incredible comeback in the multi-Academy Award-winning movie Everything Everywhere All at Once. He hit it so big that he won multiple awards during the 2023 season. More than a dream come true or a fantasy only in script houses, Quan’s comeback is the perfect Hollywood story.

Sadly, many child actors’ careers die in a graveyard of missed or misspent potential. They struggle in adulthood, having lost their money to unscrupulous guardians, or they suffer abuse in the industry. Many of them never renew their careers because Father Time has chased away their childhood charm. Ke Huy Quan broke away from that sad pattern, bent the rules, resisted the typecasting—and won big time. His unprecedented renaissance should inspire hope in all of us, and we can relive the amazing ups and downs in his memoir Never Say Die. This book is a must-read with a literary character that should remain on readers’ minds and library shelves for years to come.

His book begins with a hazy memory: his family’s flight from Vietnam during an increased crackdown on the Chinese community. This traumatic escape sets up a major theme in his story: that from a young age, he felt like an outsider trying to fit in. When he got into movies, he felt a sense of belonging, and he stood out among his peers and his family.

We learn about the trials he faced sitting in a jail cell when trying to flee Vietnam, and he endured this incarceration as a child! He walks us through the pain, the turmoil, and the confusion he faced entering Hong Kong as a refugee, then arriving in America. We celebrate his happier times as a famous child actor, but we also respect his perseverance when acting roles dried up, and he started working behind the camera to stay in Hollywood.

Quan’s parents feature prominently in the memoir, and deservedly so. He praises their endurance, their work ethic, and their commitment to giving their children the best life possible.

The subtle literary quality of Never Say Die stands out as Ke develops other key themes (no pun intended) throughout the book. In the first part of his memoir, he writes like a child, communicating with us from a childlike point of view. As the story progresses, the author’s style reflects his growth and awareness not just in what he shares, but in how he retells his history to us.

During his first unpleasant stay in a Vietnamese jail, Ke asks his father when they can go home. His father answers, “Soon.” As an actor in the United States getting back into the craft, Ke wonders if he can make it. His faithful, comforting, supportive wife of twenty years (whom Ke praises throughout the book) comforts him: “Soon.” Reading the author’s success building upon success, we connect how all of Quan’s challenges, frustrations, and disappointments have prepared him for the latest incredible, joyful period in his life.

Ke not only reveals his heart, mind, and soul, but he brings us into the emotionally riveting life of someone in relative obscurity suddenly vaulted into fame and fortune. You feel like you’re living this life with him!

Two of his encounters as a child actor stand out.

First, he became friends with world-renowned music superstar Michael Jackson during his unexpected visit to The Goonies film lot. The same world-famous Michael Jackson would call Ke at home and invite him to a private screening of one of Quan’s movies. Ke writes that the invitation didn’t go to his head, revealing his humble spirit even as an up-and-coming child star.

Ke also met Princess Di and Prince Charles during his press tour for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I loved how he described her in the book: “She felt normal. Kind, polite, genuine. I could see why people loved her.”

Those words describe Ke Huy Quan as well.

Those two encounters stand out specifically because they display how fame affects people in drastic ways. Jackson succumbed to physical problems and drug addiction because of constant public pressure. At one point, he lamented: “I am the loneliest person in the world.” Princess Di died from the excess of fame she endured, as she crashed in a Paris tunnel attempting to flee harassing paparazzi. Thankfully, through rise and fall and rising again to fame, Ke Huy Quan didn't suffer such a terrible fate as Di or MJ. That’s good news and a great story in itself. He didn’t suffer like other child actors after losing their stardom. Part of this success was due to his strong, supportive family. In fact, his mother stayed with him (and, incidentally, protected him) during his childhood film career. Too often, child actors lose themselves or even get harmed on film sets. (Watch An Open Secret for more information).

In the second part of his memoir, Ke describes the new life he would build for himself behind the camera, then chases his dream to return to acting. He writes with a warm, budding invitational tone, showing us how all the hard moments in his life fit together, putting him in the right place at the right time—all at once! After a small role in 2021, he auditioned for EEAAO at the producers’ request. Throughout the process, he exhibits a characteristic humility and gratitude, but also a newly found calm acceptance if he doesn’t get the role (which he is convinced is perfect for him, by the way!)

Ke Huy Quan’s humility is the most engaging aspect, a man you want to meet, whose stories you want to hear. He leads us intimately through what it’s like to be famous, to endure a career slump, then to be famous again, and to remember where you’ve come from.

Quan’s memoir ends with him speaking to the UNHRC Global Refugee Forum in Geneva, Switzerland. There, he revisits his experience as a refugee. Quan’s status as a refugee was both a distant memory and a source of shame for him, an identity he had been trying to flee or suppress. At this stage of his life, with a renewed career, all the pieces of his life, every step of the journey, come together, the same way that seemingly disparate elements in a timeless classic coalesce. After the event, he gets to connect with something very personal, so profound that I don’t want to spoil it for you—you need to read the book!

In his memoir Never Say Die, Ke Huy Quan, wunderkind turned wonderful adult, relishes everything, everywhere, all at once, and we enjoy the ride with him!

His big speech at the Academy Awards captures it all perfectly:

“My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp. And somehow, I ended up here, on Hollywood’s biggest stage. This is the American dream!”

More Maxine Waters Town Halls: Lots of Noise and No Real Answers

 

Congresswoman Maxine Waters is the only Congressional representative in the South Bay section of Los Angeles County currently holding in-person town halls.

Rep. Waters has no reason to hide, and she could ignore the constituents, since she wins by 75% every cycle. Despite the fact that she easily wins, she shows up for her district. This is the key to her lasting power. She brings home the bacon, she makes all the right connections, she stays in the good graces of local leaders, so she just keeps winning.

But are her constituents winning, too?

She’s been in Congress for thirty-five years, and the cities in her district have gotten poorer, dirtier, more expensive, filled with homeless people, and crime-ridden.

But she keeps getting elected, and she keeps holding her town halls, but will anyone hold her accountable?

On October 3^rd and October 10^th, she held four town halls throughout her district.

Three of them took place in local community colleges. One of them was held in a high school. I attended the three at the colleges. Only one-third to half the seats were filled. Where was everybody?

At every event, the President of the college introduced the event with a Land Acknowledgement. If they feel so guilty about “taking” land from the Tongva/Gabrielino tribes that were running around in the region so many centuries ago, then just go back to wherever you think you came from!

And this was only the first folly from the college presidents.

In their curated introduction, they said that Congresswoman Waters represented Lomita as well as Torrance. During the previous decade, her district did include Torrance and Lomita. Not anymore. How could they be so unprepared? Then they said her latest victory was in 2022. Didn’t she win the election in 2024?

When the 88-year-old Congresswoman finally showed up, she rolled out experts to talk about the issues everyone is concerned about:

·         Housing

·         Affordability

·         Healthcare

·         Election Integrity

·         Immigration

·         Iran

The most famous panelist was Dean Logan, the Registrar-Recorder for Los Angeles County, and he spoke at every town hall on election issues as a courtesy to the Congresswoman. She even bragged that she had been harassing him on the phone about protecting the vote and stopping Trump’s so-called voter intimidation tactics. Logan’ office is supposed to be non-partisan, but he was tipping his hand for the Democrats to win big—most likely because if he doesn’t pander to them, they can cut off his money.

All of the voter precautions he discussed hide the darker reality that Democratic politicians want illegals and non-citizens to vote. Corrupt governments depend on fixing the vote or stuffing the ballot box to ensure their hold on power. Registrar Logan.

On housing, we heard empty talking points about building more. Congresswoman Waters championed a bipartisan bill (The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act) that she worked on with Committee chair French Hill to create a database of available public land as well as rolling back regulations on building materials, a $ 200 million annual grant program to local communities that loosen their zoning laws, and provides a cap on the number of homes that large corporations can open. Repealing bad regulations is good, but bribing cities to throw away their zoning laws is bad, and telling private corporations what they can and cannot buy is just communism. Housing prices are still through the roof in Southern California, despite Waters’ touting this legislation as a success.

The talking heads on affordability and healthcare complained about President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. They whined about the work requirements for recipients to stay on Medicare. These bureaucrats and lobbyists considered eighty hours a month too cruel for able-bodied adults to maintain the government subsidy. (They should get off the dole and get back to work!) They complained about the budget cuts; they complained about the reforms; they complained about the mass firings of federal employees.  To sum up, they complained that the government train of easy money is coming to an end.

The immigration “experts” condemned ICE, accused them of murder (not true), and they encouraged the audience to violate federal law by frustrating the Trump administration’s lawful enforcement of federal immigration laws. What is this?

The panel refused to acknowledge that mass immigration (legal or illegal) means higher costs for everything. Because of the immigration crackdowns, housing costs have actually started coming down in major cities, freeing up the housing market. As expected, Congresswoman Waters’ talking heads wouldn’t discuss bad regulation, high crime, or other issues that actually matter.

The more they complained, the happier I became. President Trump is doing his job, and I am glad that he came back stronger since his previous term.

Then came the question-and-answer periods.

This time around, Waters didn’t throw me out. She probably couldn’t remember me from her January 2026 town hall in Gardena.

At El Camino College, one resident started getting rowdy, and he started yelling at the panelists and the Congresswoman. She was not ready for those disruptions. The man kept bellowing about how he was smarter than everyone else on the stage. The president of the university escorted him out, and two law enforcement officers appeared to keep the peace.

I asked her about the Defund the Police movement in Los Angeles County, and whether she thought it was OK for schools and teachers to keep secrets from parents. In an unprecedented move, she openly differed with the Democratic Socialists of America and made it clear that no city’s police departments were getting defunded. Regarding parents' rights, she hid behind: “I just want everyone to be happy, and I support LGBTQ.”

At the Inglewood town hall, a young woman took to the floor and began yelling and screaming at Congresswoman Waters. Three men in the audience crowded around her to stop her shouting, but she kept yelling. My friend Keith Hardine took the video.

At the Compton town hall, I tried to get her take on biological men invading women’s sports, spaces, and prisons. She refused to defend the women, hid behind this weak argument that the government shouldn’t tell people how to live their lives (as if!), and then declared that she supports the LGBTQ.

At the Southwest College town hall, Louise Solomon of Marina Del Rey yelled at the Congresswoman for violating her oath of office. The whole room erupted, and the Congresswoman shut the meeting down early to avoid further tough questions.

Her constituents have celebrated her for years for delivering government funding for food, housing, and healthcare. How much longer will they tolerate the inaction on all these issues as prices rise and quality of life falls in their communities? This was the first time I had ever seen residents yelling at her from the audience as well.

Is the DSA planning on taking her out in the next election? Will she run in 2028, by which time she will be the oldest member of the House of Representatives? Will her constituents have any patience with her lack of accomplishments? The younger, more socialist generations are getting restless for change, and the older black female Baby Boomers who make up her core support are dwindling fast.

The Demonic DSA Possession of The City of Angeles

Last year, I told New Yorkers to vote for Republican Guardian Angel (and perennial candidate) Curt Sliwa, but prepare for the worst.

Democratic Socialist Mamdani was the favorite from May to November 2025, with polling consistently giving him the edge. Former governor Andrew Cuomo, forever corrupt and incompetent and glorying in self-aggrandizement, was the last person who should have been mayor.

Democrats and Republicans who didn’t want a crazy commie taking over their city glided toward Cuomo. Mamdani had the momentum, though; he had the outsider star power (the fact that he never held down a real job made that edge even easier), and he offered a bold set of ideas … at least to anyone ignorant of history, which describes the vast majority of the educated chattering classes in New York City Upper East or Lower West or anywhere else.

The communist won, and New Yorkers are getting what they voted for. They wanted government grocery stores? They will get lines of people waiting for bread, when across the country the bread waits in line for us. They wanted potholes filled? Good luck keeping the police officers on the force, as well. They wanted cheaper housing? They’re getting rent control, less housing, higher prices, and a feeling that they are better than the suburbs.

New York City is on its last legs, and the voters deserve what’s coming.

A silver lining shines out, though. Democrats to the left of Hochul are failing in New York City. How about electing a governor to the right? Blake ______ is gaining on the incumbent governor, and Democratic celebrities are lining up behind a Republican to keep the Empire State from turning into a rump failed state.

What about Los Angeles?

The same dynamic of left-wing getting its wings is flying on the West Coast. Another deep blue city is looking at voting between bad and worse, dumb and dumber, corrupt and more corrupt as their final choices for next mayor of Los Angeles.

During the June primary, LA voters had a chance to elect common sense, results, and accountability: Spencer Pratt. A victim of the Palisades fires, which devoured multiple homes while Mayor Karen Bass was celebrating the inauguration of the next president of Ghana, Pratt demanded a city that would work for everyone. His campaign? Lock up the criminals, clean up the streets, protect the businesses, and allow everyone to enjoy a better quality of life.

Voters also had the choice of repeat failure, politician-for-life incumbent Karen Bass, or Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-aligned city councilwoman Nithya Raman.

Raman had won her city council re-election outright in 2024, despite residents and business owners complaining about the neglected, dilapidated state of her district, which stretches from Silver Lake to Encino, with Sherman Oaks and Studio City thrown in for good measure. A richer, higher echelon of voters still voted for the least of all candidates. Homelessness has gotten so bad, that residents staged their homeless sit-in protest outside of her home! How do you like it,  Nithya? The stunts, the anger, the despair spilling onto the City of Angeles might not matter if the polling proves accurate, since all of them point to a Raman victory over incumbent Bass come November.

The Democratic Socialists of America will have realized their greatest feat yet: control over the two largest cities in the country. From there, they can build on the big donor base in the two largest cities and run one of their own for President and more US Senate seats.

Raman, an immigrant from India, educated at Harvard and MIT, blessed with all the goodness that is America, has campaigned on grievance and gain at the expense of those who work for their money or own their property. She hates the West, the wise, the good, and the common-sensical. What Democratic Party apparatchiks have promised for decades, she will deliver: voters for non-citizens, single-payer healthcare, abolition of law enforcement, etc.

California Election Law does not permit a write-in at the General election for mayor, so the voters are stuck between a rock and a prison. Indie journalist Daniel Guss urges LA voters to vote for both to spoil the county and tally their outrage and opposition, but one of them will still win.

The winner is looking more and more like Raman.

And the voters of Los Angeles deserve everything that happens to them.

Can’t they get their act together and vote for someone worthwhile? Decent? Not evil?

Los Angeles hasn’t enjoyed a Republican mayor since philanthropist Richard Riordan, who brought class and competence to city government during his tenure. Despite his endorsement of President Bill Clinton in 1996, Riordan did well by the city. Democratic successors demonstrated some competence of their own, as well as controversy. With the rise of the DSA in the last five years, and their en masse takeover of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, Los Angeles County and Los Angeles city have witnessed a sharp veer to the political Left.

Land Acknowledgements, defunding of the police, LGBT celebrations everywhere, ethnic months and non-profit pandering, reparations boards, protests against Israel, and more attacks on churches and Jews communities have erupted across every level of government in the wake of the socialist spread.

And now the mayor’s race will broaden the bad.

Bass is desperate for support, touting endorsements of local leaders in a recent spate of commercials. She expected a walk in the park as the First Female (and First Black Female) mayor in the city’s history. She’s getting walked and will likely get put out to pasture. Identity politics aren’t getting her across the finish line this time. The LA-aera progressive left has gone full commie, and they want their workers’ revolution NOW! They can out-organize the establishment, overcoming the institutional inertia of the labor unions, big business, and the many lobbyists who made Downtown Los Angeles their second home.

Nithya Raman is the face of the rising socialist uprising, and Los Angeles should get ready for the Bolshevik takeover.

The one silver lining in all of this: Karen Bass deserves to go. She’s a political climber from state assembly to assembly speaker to Congress, who had a shot at Joe Biden’s VP slot, and now LA mayor. To see her political career crash and burn will be fun.

The one question that Raman needs to consider: Is she ready for them when they turn on her, just as the DSA Left has taken Mamdani to task for not moving fast enough to enact their demented agenda? Silly DSA politicians, they never learn: the Revolution always eats its own, especially its enthusiastic thought leaders who fail (because they can’t succeed) to live up to and enact their utopian aspirations.

Finally, here’s my question to the Los Angeles electorate: will four years of DSA madness at the helm of your angelic city awaken you from your regressive leftist woke slumbers to vote for common sense? Perhaps you will vote for Spencer Pratt in four years, perhaps even a Republican? Or are you prepared for the fully demonic DSA possession of your city? Are you prepared to pay for the political exorcism once the city breathes its last?

Response to "Art in Democracy is Essential"

 

James Preston Allen writes, “Art in Democracy is essential.”

Yet he complains that the only art or culture that matters is what makes money, as though that should not be the case.

He should remember what the great English poet Alexander Pope (a Catholic who faced persecution in Protestant England, by the way) wrote about the English language’s greatest writer, William Shakespeare:

"Shakespear, (whom you and ev'ry Play-house bill
Style the divine, the matchless, what you will)
For gain, not glory, wing'd his roving flight,
And grew Immortal in his own despight."

Shakespeare wrote “To be or not to be” for gain, not glory, not goodwill, not to get a better king christened over the British Isles. He may not have changed the politics of his country, but Shakespeare’s work still stuns, moves, inspires, and influences our world.

Art has to sell. What can be more democratic than allowing the people to choose, pay for what they want to see, hear, and ponder? Art doesn’t sell, doesn’t impress, if the artist insists on shoving a message in our face, advocating a position or a policy at the expense of revealing eternal values and verities.

That matters of value, truth, worth: such concepts have little interest for the Left. All they care about is power, and that’s why left-wing activism under the guise of artistic expression fails to impress every time. Making Art political has caused many artists to fail and has ruined the art scene for the last thirty years.

Opera Must Be Restored -- But How?

 

I am an opera fan. When I was a kid, I fell in love with the movie Amadeus, especially the opera scene from Don Giovanni. Opera can take you from your humdrum world to true transcendence. In 7th grade, my music teacher took the band (I played the clarinet) and other music students to Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado.

It was very entertaining, even though some of the costumes were cringe-worthy: The gentlemen's chorus wore karate outfits. The three little girls from school wore women’s sailor suits. In eighth grade, we saw an English version of The Barber of Seville. It was funny and eventful, too.

Opera: It’s grand, it’s loud, it drives people crazy, it invites laughter.

Opera: It invites scorn, it costs a lot of money, it’s a rich part of a country’s history, it’s an essential part of the classical music canon.

It’s also facing hard times. Opera has gotten postmodern, weird, and too exclusive in trying to be inclusive.

The art form must be preserved and promoted. But how?

In the 1960s, everyday people would line up for a performance. Maria Callas and Franco Corelli commanded respect on the stage and in the press. Their voices were fresh and compelling. They were great actors as well as singers.

Luciano Pavarotti was a household name (still is, based on his ongoing social media presence) . You can listen to his incredible interpretation of “Nessun dorma,” with the ecstatic “Vincerò!” at the end. From 1979 to his last performance at the Torino 2026 Winter Olympics, his craft would only improve, touching your heart as well as mind and ears.

Opera has that kind of power. Rock stars can’t resonate within a man the way an opera can. The grand stories, the tragedies and comedies, the ongoing influence of opera in our popular culture (I still think of Elmer Fudd chanting “Kill the Rabbit! Kill the Rabbit” in one of my favorite Looney Tunes shows!)

And yet opera is facing unprecedented challenges, even at war with itself, according to former opera singer and impresario (impresaria?) Caitlin Vincent in her book Opera Wars, drawing on her experience as an MA in Fine Arts, a retired opera singer, an opera director, and a librettist.

. She approaches the subject with an academic, historical, and deconstructionist perspective, but it’s not off-putting. It’s a thorough yet light excursion into a larger-than-life artistic subject which deserves more attention—and care—than it’s getting.

In the first part of her book, she gets bogged down in definitions. The real drama over opera isn’t how best to define it, but how best to revive and refine it for the modern stage. I found her exploration of different forms of opera interesting, but none of it solves the larger opera problem.

Then she discusses the tension between composers and librettists, directors and conductors, stage crew and performers. She gives the impression that opera faces unique challenges connecting different—and disparate—artists to mount a production. Ask movie producers what they go through, or even theatre companies! The arts world faces unparalleled challenges getting their craft off the ground.

Opera is no different. Yet the movie industry is taking back ground in the culture. Books, even comic books, are still selling despite the massive reach of the Internet and the online world.

Opera can make it, too, but it needs to engage in the right operation!

Opera is special because of the music, which not only gives life to words, but allows many stories to be told at the same time!  In one of my favorite scenes from Amadeus, Mozart explains to the Emperor: “With lots of people talking at once, it’s just noise. But with music, with music, you can have a perfect harmony!”

So, what are the problems plaguing opera today?

Vincent starts with “The Canon,” i.e., the accepted and frequently played repertoire. Opera companies want reliable hits to keep the audience coming—and the money flowing. Puccini, Verdi, and Mozart will always draw box office. Bizet’s Carmen is a must-have for any opera company’s repertoire. My favorite, French composer Jacques Offenbach’s final masterpiece Les Contes d’Hoffmann has been a less frequent but reliable staple in opera houses.

Opera companies need to make money or at least try to break even. Experimental operas, new operas, or older operas not on the well-trodden stage are risky at best, and most companies are operating on a shoestring budget to get by. Opera in Los Angeles depends on government money!

Think about this, though: can you imagine the movie industry surviving simply by reviving old movies? Some movie houses survive on replays, but the industry won’t make it on sequels and replays alone. The same holds for opera. They need new and approachable works, but opera companies are reluctant to risk the house on experimental productions.

They should reconsider. Four Saints in Three Acts (1934), Nixon in China (1986), and Dead Man Walking (2000) all count as modern opera, and they are all very good.

What else is plaguing opera? Vincent shared that Canon operas come with extensive staging directions. Purists want to see La Traviata the way Verdi wanted it. New opera companies want to provide updated plots, different scenes, or even minimalist productions.

Opera isn’t struggling for talent, though. She details the struggles opera singers face, from learning they have “the Voice” (it’s never theirs, by the way. Singers and coaches talk about the voice as if it’s a separate instrument), to maintaining small victories in Young Artist Programs, to finding steady work, and then the minute cadre of singers who become superstars.

So, what’s opera’s problem?

Throughout her book, Vincent reveals a large reason why Opera is struggling, yet without recognizing it. She is committed to “representation and diversity,” and she casts aspersions on the larger role of white males in the opera world. Opera companies have been increasingly bogged down by DEI and critical theory initiatives. Vincent even writes that some of the world's most celebrated operas come off as “problematic” to younger, college-saturated audiences.

The major donors funding operas are increasingly woke, as well. They have their ideas of how opera should look, sound, and work on a stage – and the public isn’t buying.

This woke tinkering is bad enough, but modern thinking has also changed the type of singing that we hear on the stage. Here are two videos (click here and here) from opera professionals lamenting ruinous modern techniques. In the fifties and sixties, opera singers sounded fresh, lively, and engaging. Today, too many of them sound pinched, whiny, and overtly technical. Compare these two tenors as an example of the bel canto versus modern style. Tell me what you think. (Modern doesn't sound good!)

If opera wants to take center stage in our culture again, they need to embrace a rich past with an opportune future. Try new things while catering to the wants of a general audience. More importantly, though, opera performers and producers need to ditch the modern techniques and postmodern ideas, the DEI box-checking, and the identity politics. Give us a good show that will charm us and move us, opera people, and the people will come again!

 

Fareed Zakaria’s Failed Take on California’s Failed Governance

 

In June 2026, former Newsweek and Time Magazine editor (and one-time plagiarist), now current CNN host Fareed Zakaria made a stunning admission about the Golden State: “How California became a study in failed governance.” To his credit, Zakaria has not been afraid to discuss issues which the Left hides and the Democratic Party runs from, like the strong connection between Muslims majorities and rising terrorism.

On October 2^nd, 2026, CNN’s Elex Michelson interviewed his colleague about this article, whose subject was timely with the current election season in California.

Yes, Zakaria has argued the obvious. If you want to see what failure in the face of opportunity and plenty looks like, look at California. The more compelling aspect of his admission is that a liberal pundit in the national media is willing to state the obvious. We all agree: California is dysfunction writ large. There is more to the story, but at least Fareed states what his colleagues won’t acknowledge.

To his detriment, however, Zakaria outlines a bunch of solutions that miss the mark and cover up the real reasons for California’s precipitous and public decline.

At the outset of his interview, he claims that California projects and programs have come to a standstill and can accomplish nothing because of “vetocracy” throughout the state government, i.e., some apparatus or decision-maker or rule frustrates any effort for reform, growth, or change. For this term, he properly credited social scientist (and Trump-hater) Francis Fukuyama.

Explaining his argument, Zakaria points out that the bullet train approved by California voters in 2008 would have been built by now, but for the constant environmental challenges. Homelessness could have been solved if local leaders had cooperated with the state and left-wing homeless advocates wouldn’t block enforcement measures with endless lawsuits. Reforms to improve public safety, road repairs, and education could all take place if there wasn’t the relentless interest-group hustle that stopped everything.

On the surface, this “vetocracy” argument makes little sense. The California Democratic Party hegemon running the state legislation has held veto-proof supermajorities since 2016. Republican opposition can only show up, speak up, and vote “No!” on the worst stuff (sometimes, they vote with the rest of the supermajority on bad stuff!), then cash their checks and campaign for another two years to do the same rigmarole over and over. The Democrats have carte blanche power to do whatever they want. They could pass laws to streamline the bureaucracy, expedite change, enact better reforms, and fire the executives responsible for accomplishing those tasks.

But they don’t.

Zakaria’s larger theme that California Democratic leaders want to do the right thing, but can’t, is completely out of touch with reality. As a lifelong California resident, I have no idea what Zakaria is talking about, and why should he? He resides on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, another bubble of the uber-rich and well-connected, a well of Deep Blue political arrogance detached from the concerns and consequences of Democratic policy.  He loves California, but how many times has he visited? Has he ever lived there?

Regardless of California’s constant struggle, endless delays and frustrations to get anything done, the problem isn’t that everyone wants to work together but fails because of the bureaucracy. The supermajority Democratic powers that be love the red tape, the litigation, the delays, the incompetence, the virtue-signaling without virtue. They play into the will and wishes of their major donors: labor unions, left-wing interest groups, and the endless brigade of bureaucrats who consistently vote Democrat.

Performative politics among California leaders is the rule, not the exception. Picture lame-duck (and long-shot no-chance Presidential aspirant) Governor Gavin Newsom posing for well-timed photos in front of big media journalists (in reality, propagandists) while picking up some trash along the 405 freeway. Thanks, Gav, you picked up some garbage. How about enforcing the vagrancy laws on state property so that illegal homeless encampments don’t pollute our roads? Some twisted statistics, empty comparisons, and some jabs at President Trump dominate Democratic pols attempting to make a difference.

There are other problems with Zakaria’s take on California’s failed politics, or rather politics of failure, including his fawning treatment of liberal voters. Zakaria claimed that somewhat educated people vote for Democrats. They can’t be educated in any meaningful fashion if they are voting against their own interests. Failed public safety measures (including lack of coordination among departments) led to the Pacific Palisades inferno. The other issues (homelessness, year-round wildfires, rising crime) grow worse year by year, yet those educated keep voting for the same politicians who never fix the problem. That’s insanity.

When Michaelson asked why the voters keep voting for the same failed party leadership, Zakaria dodged their bad thinking and smeared Republicans, particularly President Trump. He faulted their lack of “openness” to diversity, immigration, and trade. He claimed that Republicans are “not friendly to market economics.” What does he think of Democrats, then?

Zakaria won’t accept that the Democrats own the failures, and Trump’s ascendancy in the Republican Party does not absolve them. Towards the end of his interview, Zakaria actually claimed that the Democratic Party’s heart is in the right place. Are you kidding me? If they have a heart, it’s dedicated to the rich getting richer off government cronyism and cash (how do “public servants” like Nancy Pelosi and Gavin Newsom get so rich having served most of their adult lives in government?), pandering to diabolical identity politics (LGBT celebrations, transgender sanctuary state laws, reparations for African Americans in a state which entered the union as a Free State), and non-stop Trump bashing. That’s former AG and current gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra’s favorite sport, by the way, but at least his Republican opponent ridiculed him for such weak answers in the face of California’s growing problems.

Adding insult to his failed policy prescription, Zakaria praised recently-elected San Francisco mayor Dan Lurie as a “cry for help” from the voters in The City fed up with the broad array of failures. Crime rates have dropped, homelessness has decreased, and a more moderate, pro-Lurie board of supervisors has taken power. However, the open-air drug markets persist, major conferences are not returning, and small businesses have not bounced back. Lurie is moderate compared to the Democratic Socialists of America, but simply dialing down the dysfunction should not be the best standard for better governance.

Worst of all, Zakaria actually praised DSA New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani. The former CNN contributor can identify all the problems with California he can find, but to suggest that a vile, communist, anti-Semitic perennial college student turned big-city mayor is focused on basic issues is preposterous: the rise in hate crimes, onerous tax policies, government-run grocery stores, failed rent-control policies, and hands-off approaches to the police department all reveal a boy mayor trying to fill shoes he cannot fit.

Democratic powerbrokers from Sacramento to San Diego follow the Mamdani model, generating failure and incompetence due to their “progressive” vision, all while ignoring reality, diminishing losses, and hiding the truth about the plagued state, but at least they feel good about themselves. Their vision is right, reality be damned.

When a political class celebrates such failure as success, why would they change it?

 

 

Letter to the Editor: Moved by Tribute to Kevin Whitt

 

(Response to Rest in Peace, Kevin Whitt: Detransitioner, Pro-Family Activist, and Friend)

I was very moved by your tribute to Kevin Whitt- and I don't even know him.  

Thank you for reminding me that people can change for the good no matter how far they've been involved with evil.

Jean

Jean Crocco

Pro-Life Action League

------

Thank you for your kind words.

I'm glad that my obituary is reaching out to a lot of people.

Rest In Peace, Kevin Whitt: Detransitioner, Pro-Family Activist, and Friend

 

He suffered emotional, physical, and sexual abuse many times as a kid. His peers mocked and teased him in grade school because of his effeminate ways. In middle school, he came out as gay.  He transitioned to female at 17, then joined his other queer friends and joined the gay and trans club scene.  He dressed up and played a drag queen. Relying on internet ads, he engaged in prostitution with celebrities in sports, entertainment, and the government. He lived the LGBT lifestyle out and proud.

Then one day, a dancer at a gay bar invited him to a church in Florida. He started going to church regularly, even while still in the lifestyle. He found Jesus, or rather Jesus found him. Then he got saved, transitioning from death to life; he then transitioned from homosexuality to health, from transgenderism to truth. He faced the demons that had robbed him of his childhood and marred his adulthood. Then he got busy fighting the destruction of children and the horrific lies of the LGBT cult. 

His name was Kevin Whitt. He was my friend and fellow warrior in the crusade against the LGBT agenda. I had a chance to speak with him a week and a half ago, while he was struggling through major complications following an experimental yet consistently successful surgery. He had been born with a congenital heart defect, and the latest surgery was supposed to help him breathe better, move better, and thus live better. 

Then complications emerged, and he ended up succumbing to an infection. 

This is a difficult stage of life for many my age. I am witnessing more friends and allies passing away. Neither school nor job training can prepare you for these difficult times. 

Kevin Whitt was a flamboyant personality, a hardcore conservative not afraid to shout out the truth, call out the lies, and confront the evil where it emerged. He marched and ministered with the Changed Movement, a growing community of men and women who have left the LGBT lifestyle and minister to others while telling the truth about homosexuality and transgender. He spoke out against bans on so-called conversion therapy. He helped shut down Drag Queen Story Hour programs throughout his adopted state of Texas (He was born in Benton, Arkansas). His biggest interest was to protect children, not just to end the medical and surgical mutilation of children, but to end the social transitioning as well, i.e., the practice of confused or wretched parents dressing up their boys as little girls and vice versa. Such confusion is just as abusive, twisting and tormenting the mind of an already confused child who needs truth, not enabling. 

Kevin Whitt was the best witness for convincing politicians and political groups to take a stand against this agenda. He had endured that lifestyle, and he lived reborn to tell the story. He withstood hate from both sides of the aisle, not just because he decided to turn away from the gay lifestyle and expose its decadence and destruction. Republican circles dismissed him or diminished him because he was outspoken, refusing to be silenced by the Republican political establishment.

To this day, many pro-family conservatives don't want to have these discussions. They fear being labeled a bigot, hater, homophobe, transphobe, take your pick. It's that fear which has allowed the rampant harm to children and society to proliferate.

Kevin refused to be quiet.

One of his closest confidants (and a friend of mine) was a fellow pro-family activist, Tracy Shannon. For five years, she served as the Texas director for international pro-family group MassResistance. She and Kevin waged war against a repressive, destructive, tyrannical agenda that was targeting her home state of Texas. Starting in 2021, Tracy and her team fought to end the sex mutilation of minors, to codify a clear definition of sex as a biological fact in the Texas code, and to repeal recognition of same-sex marriage based on the corrupted Supreme Court opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges. 

Kevin had a lot of connections, more than I had ever imagined.

He was there every step of the way with Tracy and MassResistance. He testified about his own trials as a child before numerous legislative committees, and he rigorously demanded that lawmakers put the needs of children and the well-being of society first. Despite the attacks from the press, including the smears that he was a conspiracy theorist or a bigot, he soldiered on to do what was right. 

During the 2020 election, Kevin was featured in two Michigan campaign ads (click here and here to see) to stop Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden and Democratic US Senator Gary Peters from winning—both supported sex mutilation of minors and allowing biological boys to invade girls’ sports. He was also featured in the Super Bowl ad “He Saves Us,” which served as a necessary and welcome response to the progressive ad series “He Gets Us.”

In October 2021, he started a nonprofit, the Whitt Project, and he invited me to attend his inaugural fundraising event. I didn't even have to pay anything because I had been an energetic activist with him. I got to meet Congressman Louie Gohmert and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz's pastor father, Rafael Cruz. It was an incredible event, listening to this once-damaged boy become a fiery activist determined to protect as many as possible from suffering what he went through.  Kevin was definitely a people person, and that care for people drove him to fight for everything right in this world.

His death is the first in recent memory in which I had the opportunity to say goodbye just before it was too late. Tracy and Kevin were planning many events after his surgery, convinced that he would tough out the complications and survive. They took no precautions, though, and friends and family visited him in the hospital before he left us.

His legacy will not be lost to this world, though. A year before his death, he completed a memoir about his life, trials, and restoration in Christ: God Saved the Queen. Production and distribution are pending, but I know it will be a great read.

I am sad to see him gone, but I know he’s in a better place, and he left this world a better place, too.

Kevin Whitt, Rest in Peace.

October 22, 1978 -- September 25, 2026

Kaiser Permanente STILL Pushing the COVID-19 Shot

I can't believe this.

It's been six years, and hospitals are still pushing the vaccine.

Unbelievable!

	Dear Arthur, You are eligible to receive an updated COVID-19 vaccine at no cost. If you are 65 or older, with a weakened immune system, or with other certain health conditions, you are at higher risk for serious illness from COVID-19. The good news is that updated COVID-19 vaccines are available, are safe, and are designed to give you stronger protection against severe illness, hospitalization, and death. Getting vaccinated can help protect your health, keep you out of the hospital, and allow you to safely enjoy time with family and friends. For more information, please visit: COVID-19 Vaccine Information | Kaiser Permanente. Sincerely, Kaiser Permanente
	Thank you for choosing Kaiser Permanente as your partner in health.

Trump Trolls China, and the Chinese Youth are Lying Flat

 

Corporate media and its commentators (The Economist, Paul Krugman, Center for Strategic and International Studies) are pushing a disturbing narrative that the Chinese are winning the economic and cultural war against the United States.

In fact, Trump proved the exact opposite to the world. His epic reception of the Chinese president on September 23–25, 2026, was the ultimate troll. The 47^th President mocked the 46^th President, who had played the perfect puppet for Chinese interests at the expense of America. If nothing else, Xi Jinping should have taken the hint that his attempt to turn the United States against itself with corrupted leaders failed. Trump also scheduled a B-2 Spirit bomber and four F-22 Raptors to fly over their red-carpet reception, allowing Trump to flex our nation’s military muscle before the leader of our main international rival. Most importantly, China walked away from the latest summit with the President with no major concessions from Trump to ease China’s growing economic challenges.

However, if Trump’s diplomacy doesn’t convince the public that China is facing serious domestic problems, consider the disturbing trend spreading among Chinese youth, which should provide the truth the West needs to know about China’s future.

Since 2021, Chinese Gen Z and younger are facing burnout like never before and responding with a growing disengagement from the relentless rat race. They face daunting college entrance challenges, fewer opportunities for studying in the United States (thank you, President Trump, for putting American students first!), and a foreboding career market, with little chance of upward mobility.

This generation of youth has labeled their movement Tang Ping, or “Lying Flat,” in which they are engaging in a non-Confucian, passive-aggressive rebellion against Chinese leaders, parents, and employers. They see corporate demands yielding diminishing returns, and employment options are not good. Instead of fighting for a better life, which is further out of reach, they have opted for the following:

·         They have given up the broader “Chinese Dream” of owning a car, property, a home, or even raising a family.

·         They have given up on “going big,” rejecting what they deem empty consumerism.

·         They don’t care about larger professional or corporate goals, opting to opt out of life in general. It’s “quiet quitting,” but with a Chinese twist.

·         They do the bare minimum so that they can just get by, since they are convinced there’s little hope of attaining anything better.

 

The Chinese Communist Party is doing what it can to reverse this trend, since the government craves a striving workforce culture to rival the United States' ongoing hegemony in the world. The government has resorted to deleting social media posts, including anything with the hashtag relating to Tang Ping. The government has cracked down on the notorious ‘996’ (9 am to 9 pm, six days a week) work culture. Large employers have implemented mandatory clock-off times and shorter workweeks, too. Last of all, the Communist government has labeled the whole push to urge young people to do as little as possible as a Western conspiracy to frustrate Chinese productivity and national success.

Yet all the prodding cannot make a Chinese ox drink, and they cannot force Chinese youth to drink the Communist Party Boba-Tea of “Work Hard, Get Ahead, Have Babies, and Make China Proud” when there’s little chance that they can achieve any of this.

Even younger generations in China are succumbing to similar Lying Flat middle-life crisis levels of disengagement. In one of the most heart-breaking videos recently posted on social media, a third-grade schoolboy from Tianjin (a major port city in northeastern China) broke down in tears, slaving over a homework assignment, while his mother filmed the entire nervous breakdown for the world to see. He wasn’t crying because the assignment was difficult. He was wailing because of a growing certainty that all his hard work would amount to nothing. He was convinced that instead of wealth, success, and independence, he would turn into another wage slave, or worse, end up in manual labor just to get by later in life.

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A post shared by Mothership (@mothershipsg)

What’s particularly striking about this exchange is that this little boy is openly challenging his mother, arguing with her, contradicting her, and talking over her despite her best attempts to calm him and redirect his attention to his studies. No matter how modern societies have become, traditional Chinese Confucian culture places considerable emphasis on filial respect and obedience to parents. Shockingly, this child dismissed submitting to those norms, revealing desperation and exhaustion.

Another concern: why would a parent want to record her child having such a horrible mental breakdown? At least she could have blurred out her son’s face. Perhaps she was trying to alert the public to the increasing stress and strain that Chinese children are facing?

What should the mother have done? She should have told him to stop working right away instead of recording his emotional outburst, given him a big hug, and then told him: “Yes, times are tough, but everything will be OK.” If none of her assurances would have helped the boy, the mother should have allowed him to be angry and let him release his emotions. Clearly, the child was losing control of himself.

Major Asian news sites, including Gutzy Asian, The Online Citizen, and Singapore-based Mothership, commented on this sad scene, with some of the articles making light of this boy’s meltdown. Perhaps Chinese government officials watched this video, or at least they should, since this suggests that their efforts to turn back the “Lying Flat” movement are failing.

Despite all the Chinese Communist Party’s pretenses, the nation’s younger generations are not doing as well as President Xi Jinping would like us to think. Rapacious business policies, unsound protectionism, and aggressive anti-American chauvinism are taking their toll on Chinese youth, forcing them into harsher competition for higher education and jobs which aren’t as plentiful as before. A large cohort of unemployed and underemployed, educated Chinese are simply dropping out in the face of increased surveillance state pressures, economic decline, and cultural malaise.

China is in trouble, and President Trump’s ongoing trade war and pressure tactics are taking advantage of these weak spots. There is no better proof of China’s ongoing problems than a Chinese boy breaking down over the stress and strain of school and career. Could that cry, multiplied by millions of other young Chinese, turn into a collective shout and national protest against the regime’s authoritarian measures? Who knows, but Chinese youths’ “Lying Down” movement shows no sign of stopping; rather, it exposes China’s ongoing national—and international—weakness in the face of President Trump’s continued MAGA policies.