Blog - Hugh Hewitt

Sunday, June 21, 2026

Los Angeles has proven completely incapable of extinguishing a warehouse fire in four days.  I could carry on for hours about this, but I just want to focus on what an utter failure it represents.  There are a few fundamental things that a municipality has to get done and get done right.  One of those is fire prevention and fire fighting.  Between the devastating wildfires of January ’25 and now this, it would seem Los Angeles cannot get that one fundamental job done.  They may be able to make mayoral votes appear out of thin air, but dealing with a fire seems impossible.  Anyplace else and this would be a political disaster, but in L.A. its just a hiccup.  The real problems lie deeper.. . .

Saturday, June 20, 2026

“Iran postponed negotiations that were meant to begin in Switzerland on Friday….”  The reason?  “Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah….”  The lede that is buried? “The Israeli military said it struck ‘Hezbollah terrorist targets’ after the group fired over 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.”  And now you know why the MOU does not matter all that much.  The important things to note are that 1) Iran is backing away from it already and 2) Iran proxies created the conditions necessary to justify their backing away.  As everyone knew from the beginning, Iran are liars and had no intention of keeping their word.  Finally, note that everyone is trying to make Israel out to be the bad guy – they are not, they are defending themselves as they should.. . .

Friday, June 19, 2026

The phrase “waste, fraud and abuse” now exists in politics-speak as a single word, bandied about with great and near-thoughtless regularity.  It is a linguistic nightmare.  But it is also an increasing reality.  Earlier this week, we looked at Fareed Zakaria’s fact-based takedown of California which included the fact that California spent over $24B (“billion” with a “B”) over a five year period on homelessness and yet homelessness had increased during the same period.  Somehow all that money is not making it where it belongs.  You know there is “waste, fraud and abuse”in there somewhere.. . .

Thursday, June 18, 2026

Impulsively, I do not like the MOU.  The reason is simple – I don’t trust Iran.  In point of fact, I would not like any deal with this bunch because I do not trust them.  It is just that simple.  And as I survey the uncountable press reactions that’s what it all boils down to.  We can’t trust them.  But does that make it a bad deal?. . .

Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Fox carried a story last Saturday about “guaranteed income” programs around the nation and groups pushing to make it permanent and national.  The amount of gobblity-gook spewed by the proponents of this scheme is immense and the fog of that noise is extremely difficult to penetrate.  It all sounds lovely until you get to that one major sticking point.. . .

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

It has been no secret for a long time now that Gavin Newsom wants to run for president.  So naked is his ambition that as soon as Trump got elected the second time, Newsom inelegantly and unmasterfully tried to position himself as a reach-across-the-aisle moderate with a quickly failed podcast.  It was so disingenuous that it fell flat on its face in a matter of weeks.  Since, he has only been able to find traction in being an ardent Trump troll.  But if you want to be president you need more than simply, “He’s awful and I’m not him.”. . .

Monday, June 15, 2026

As has become far too typical in the president’s dealing with Iran, it has been announced that something has happened, but we don’t have a clue as to what has actually happened.  On X, the host quotes John Ellis quoting Bloomberg proclaiming it a deal in which they have 60 days to come to a deal.  And so we can pretty much count on this deal going off the rails at some point because, well, it’s Iran.. . .

Sunday, June 14, 2026

Yesterday I analogized myself to the proverbial porch sitting curmudgeon.  The world is full of the completely, astonishingly outrageous.  Late last week, dean of conservative Calvinist preachers, John Piper, released a podcast entitled “Preaching Outrage” and given the current situation and my current mood, I dove in.. . .

Saturday, June 13, 2026

From the evil to the wrong to the outrageous to the stupid the world seems full of…shall we say, the less than the ideal.  So often does news of the latest “you have got to be kidding me” hit me in the face that I am beginning to wonder if I have turned into that old man sitting on his porch yelling at the kids to get off his lawn.  And I struggle to explain it.  We looked this week at how education has failed kids.  But somehow it seem insufficient as an explanation.. . .

Friday, June 12, 2026

The Chronicle of Higher Education carries a piece by Tyler Jagt, a literature and critical writing professor, entitled, “My Student’s Can’t Read.”  (I am forced to note that for any such prof I had, the use of a contraction in the headline would have been an automatic “B.”)  The article is behind a paywall, but is summarized and discussed by Frank Landymore in an online outlet called Futurism.  It is stunning in its assessment.. . .