AoSHQ The Morning Report
July 22, 2026
"This is what radical leftism is. It may wear various different slogans and ideologies across place and time. They call themselves anti-capitalist or anti-imperialist, communist, anarchist, Marxist, but the fundamental character is always the same," Marco Rubio said last week when he hosted the leaders of over 60 different countries to a ministerial on the "resurgence of transnational far-left terrorism."In Other News
He left out "democratic socialism," but let's face it. It's all the same. And Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) spoke out about that today at a House Republican leadership press conference, warning about the rise of so-called "democratic socialists" and the reality for voters and the media.
Malliotakis would know. Her mother fled Cuba in 1959 as Fidel Castro took power. The Castro regime stole her family's home and their small business, a gas station owned by her grandfather. She says her mother never saw her grandfather again after that. I've heard countless stories just like that from Venezuelan friends and acquaintances. Communism ruins families.
"Communism destroys. It steals from the people," Malliotakis said. "...people end up living in squalor and lack the basic needs that human beings need, and the people that run the regime live as kings. That's the reality. It's about power. It's about consolidating power for a select few."
She pointed out that, sadly, that's exactly what we're starting to see here in the United States with the winners of several recent primaries and elections.
Well, here's something that doesn't happen too often.In Other News
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles in Miami awarded $314 million in damages to three U.S. citizens who were imprisoned and tortured by Nicolás Maduro’s regime in Venezuela before being freed in a 2023 prisoner swap.
The three men were Jerrel Kenemore, a Texas computer scientist who'd moved to neighboring Colombia to be with a woman he met. He was kidnapped by paramilitaries in 2022 while visiting a grocery store near the Venezuela-Colombia border and held for over 600 days before being charged with "espionage" and "counterintelligence activities." He claims he was beaten, held in harsh conditions, and degraded constantly.
Edgar Jose Marval was detained for just over 120 days, but allegedly suffered the most abuse. He was beaten repeatedly until his back was broken, had his genitals electrocuted, and was tortured psychologically with made-up threats to his children. Jason Saad, the third hostage, was detained for 560 days and was subjected to similar treatment, but we don't have quite as many details on him.
If you'll remember, Joe Biden handed Alex Saab — Maduro's bagman — over in exchange for these Americans. While I'm glad they did make it back to the United States safely, I'd like to remind everyone that Donald Trump brought every single remaining U.S. hostage back home from Venezuela about a year ago, with the help of El Salvador's Nayib Bukele, and made no concessions to Maduro. As a matter of fact, six months later, he scooped him up and put him in jail.
Juan Antonio Arias Almonte, 31, of Dorchester, Massachusetts, was arrested in Belfast, Maine. Authorities seized approximately 170 grams of cocaine (worth an estimated $17,000) concealed in his vehicle's headliner. He faces charges of aggravated trafficking of Schedule W drugs and is held on $50,000 cash bail.
The arrest was the culmination of a months-long investigation led by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (MDEA). Law enforcement had received reports of a Massachusetts man selling substantial amounts of narcotics in the Belfast area but initially only knew him by an alias. On July 8, 2026, MDEA agents received credible information that Almonte was traveling to Belfast with a large quantity of cocaine. Agents conducted surveillance, located him in a Belfast parking lot, and searched his vehicle after confirming his identity.
What does it take to get arrested for treason around here, anyway? The last person to be arrested for working for the enemy and against the United States was Tomoya Kawakita, an American who switched sides to become a Japanese POW slave labor camp overseer who brutalized American soldiers in World War II. Then there was Tokyo Rose, who served the Imperial Japanese as a radio propagandist. Old Tokyo was arrested, tried, and convicted when she tried to get back into the U.S. after the war.In Other News
And that gives me an idea.
I don't know about you, but I think that's a splendid idea for what I've dubbed the "Tokyo Bros," two American media influencers who went to Tehran to lead cheers with the "Death to America" crowd and fete the dead Iranian ayatollah. They claimed that the dead ayatollah was "fighting for humanity" against "evil" Zionists when he met his 72 old bags in the afterlife.
That's no hyperbole. This guy, Jackson Hinkle, a communist and anti-American — but I repeat myself — was on stage and literally led a "Death to America" and "Down with America" chant over the weekend in an IRGC-approved massive crowd in Iran. We know it was an approved propaganda ploy because, were it a collection of thousands of "free" Iranians rising up against the dead-ender Twelvers, the Basij would have mowed them down like they did the estimated 42,000 souls murdered during Iranian street protests last January. Wink, wink.