John Davidson

American, grandpa, islander. "I wish my grandsons could experience the freedoms that I took for granted when I was young"🇱🇷

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Marc Bouldoukian captures a heartwarming moment a mama bear carrying her three cubs across the water.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

The level of fraud here is mind-blowing

[Voices of WW2 @VoicesofWW2]

84 years ago today, a pilot running out of fuel made a decision that won the Pacific War. Most Americans have never heard his name.

June 4, 1942. Six months after Pearl Harbor, Japan's navy is undefeated. Four of the carriers that burned Pearl, Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu, are steaming toward Midway to finish off the US Pacific Fleet.

At 7:52 AM, Wade McClusky launches from USS Enterprise leading 32 Dauntless dive bombers. Here's the detail nobody mentions: McClusky is a fighter pilot. He'd been given the air group weeks earlier and had barely flown a dive bomber in combat. Now he's leading every SBD the Enterprise has at the most important target in the Pacific.

9:20 AM. He arrives at the intercept point where the Japanese fleet is supposed to be.

Empty ocean. Nothing for miles.

The Japanese had turned. Nobody knew where. And now McClusky owns the worst math problem in naval aviation: his fuel is bleeding away, and every minute he keeps searching, he condemns more of his own pilots to ditch in open water where nobody will find them.

Doctrine is clear. Turn back.

McClusky keeps going. He works a search pattern, squeezing miles out of dying fuel tanks.

9:55 AM. Far below, a single Japanese destroyer is cutting a white scar across the ocean at flank speed. It's the Arashi, racing to rejoin the fleet after depth-charging the American submarine Nautilus. Think about that. A failed sub attack is about to give away the entire Japanese navy.

McClusky reads the wake like an arrow and follows it.

10:02 AM. The horizon fills with the entire Japanese strike force. Four carriers, their decks crammed with planes being refueled and rearmed. Fuel lines snaking everywhere. Bombs stacked in the open.

And here's the miracle: the sky above them is empty. Minutes earlier, American torpedo squadrons had attacked at sea level and been annihilated. Torpedo 8 lost all 15 planes. One survivor, Ensign George Gay, watched what came next while hiding under his seat cushion in the water. Those doomed pilots dragged every Japanese fighter down to the waves. The door upstairs was wide open.

10:22 AM. McClusky pushes over from 14,500 feet. Both squadrons follow him down onto Kaga. It's actually a mistake, doctrine said split the targets, but Lt. Dick Best catches it mid-dive, pulls out with two wingmen, and goes after Akagi alone. His single bomb pierces the flight deck into the packed hangar. It's enough.

By 10:28, Kaga, Akagi, and Soryu, the third hit simultaneously by Yorktown's bombers, are floating infernos. Six minutes. Three carriers that attacked Pearl Harbor, gone. Hiryu follows them to the bottom that evening.

The cost of McClusky's gamble was real. Many Enterprise bombers never made it home, some shot down, others swallowed by the sea when their tanks ran dry. McClusky himself was jumped by two Zeros on the way out, took five bullets through his shoulder, and still flew his shot-up Dauntless back to the Enterprise.

Admiral Nimitz said McClusky's decision "decided the fate of our carrier task force and our forces at Midway." Japan never won another major battle.

One borrowed pilot. One destroyer's wake. One choice to keep flying when every gauge said go home.

[John Davidson @jrd22davidson]

Yes!

Kash Patel Unveils FBI’s “Most Wanted Fraudsters” List as Officials Announce New Medicaid Fraud Indictments (VIDEO) https://t.co/bGN43Wjk2T #gatewaypundit via @gatewaypundit

[Shane Kidwell @shanerkidwell]

In WA state we don't need any more taxes, I can prove it.

Here is one example of dozens that exposes just how poorly our state manages the money we already give it.

Washington's Department of Commerce ran a $92.5 million grant program so poorly that internal staff told leadership to stop paying contractors who had not proven they did the work.
Leadership overruled them and paid anyway.

That is not my characterization. It is in the State Auditor's performance audit published January 27, 2026. The exact finding: "When department staff raised concerns about reimbursing grantees without evidence of services provided, they were overruled by leadership."

The program was called the Digital Navigator Program. It awarded $92.5 million between 2022 and 2025 to help underserved residents access online services. A worthy goal. Here is what the audit found underneath it.

Of 18 qualified grant applications, Commerce funded the ones ranked 1st, 8th, and 18th. With no documented rationale for skipping the ones in between.

The agency could not verify nearly $11 million in reimbursements to a single grantee, per the 2024 and 2025 accountability audits. The auditors' words: the documentation the grantee provided was insufficient to support the payments. Most of the expenses that did have documentation were also unallowable. That included grant money spent on alcohol and first-class airfare, costs state rules do not permit.

A subcontractor received $500,000 and later closed following an internal investigation into suspected financial mismanagement.
Then the ethics finding. A program manager left Commerce and took a job with one of the program's grantees two months later. State law requires a two-year waiting period. The matter was referred to the State Ethics Board, per KVI.

State Auditor Pat McCarthy did not soften it. Her written assessment: "In my view, this report details failures in the management of this program so pervasive they go beyond a lack of basic internal controls. There is no excuse for the myriad actions taken at the time by management at the Department of Commerce."

To be fair about the response, Governor Ferguson appointed new Commerce leadership after taking office, vetoed continued funding for the program, and the agency created a Compliance and Contracts Division to oversee its more than 8,000 contracts. That is documented and it matters.

But the program ran for three years before any of that happened.

$92.5 million went out the door. The staff who tried to stop the bad payments were overruled by the people above them.

I publish the full research and sourced breakdowns on Substack every week. Search Shane Kidwell if you want the deeper dive.

We don't need more taxes, We have the money. We just spend it poorly.

@GovBobFerguson
@komonews
@KIRO7Seattle
@KING5Seattle
@fox13seattle
@seattletimes
@thenewstribune
@SpokesmanReview
@yakima_herald
@TriCityHerald
@WARepubParty13
@WARepubParty13
@WALibertarian

[John Davidson @jrd22davidson]

@pvtjokerus That Grizzly bear is small enough that Mama bear could have been close by.

[Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh]

🚨 WOW. Rep. Brandon Gill throws Ohio Democrat State Senator into TEARS by asking: "Has Somali immigration been good for Ohio?"

"I'm processing your question and I was almost brought to tears just now!"

GILL: "72% of Somali immigrants are on welfare."

DEM: "The rate and level of HATEFUL RHETORIC based on false information!"

GILL: "They're defrauding the state at an astounding RATE. I think most Ohioans have a problem with that."

DEM: "Shocking. It's shocking to me. The lack of humanity to group—"

GILL: "It's INHUMANE to allow your own state to be DEFRAUDED at an astounding rate, billions taken!" 🔥

Well done, @RepBrandonGill 👏🏻

[🇺🇸RealRobert🇺🇸 @Real_RobN]

Here is:

The domestic terrorist Rashida Tlaib, calling on Hamas supporters to mobilize and take down the United States government, right here on U.S. soil.

“We’re in every corner of the United States.”

[JD Vance @JDVance]

Luxury cars, mansions, and rare collectables - that's what fraudsters are buying with your tax dollars. It's disgusting, and we are fighting every day to end fraud like this once and for all.

[Congressman Brandon Gill @RepBrandonGill]

You don’t accidentally register 94 companies to one address.

Foreign fraudsters built a machine to steal from American taxpayers.

[John Davidson @jrd22davidson]

@glennbeck Ditto, WA.

[John Davidson @jrd22davidson]

Wait, I thought we were in an extreme drought?

Cliff Mass Weather Blog: Wet, Cool Winter-Like Weather in June https://t.co/6xydQpPbOi

[Tim Sheehy @TimSheehyMT]

Last night, @TheJusticeDept charged two researchers at Rocky Mountain Laboratory with smuggling monkeypox into the country and lying to border agents.

This is exactly why I called for HHS to launch an investigation. Montana families deserve answers and accountability.

[Nick shirley @nickshirleyy]

Yesterday I testified in front of Congress and only TWO Democrat congressmen showed up to the hearing

Not ONE question was directed towards me from the democrats about the fraud. Weird… I wonder why lol

If Congressmen don’t show up to their hearings they aren’t representing their constituents, wtf are we paying them for?

[Isaac Holyk for U.S. Senate @voteholyk]

Hey WA,
I need your help.
I am asking @GovBobFerguson to call a special session to suspend the CCA to immedietly lower gas prices and utilities.
If you want Bob to suspend the CCA to help working families and lower gasoline and electricity costs then share this post and like it.
Others in the legislator are starting to call for it.
Let's see if Bob actually cares about working class people in Washington.
#waspecialsession2026

[Juanita Broaddrick @atensnut]

🚨Holy Mother of Mary!! Two horses were went missing from a family ranch in Miami Dade over the weekend. They were found deceased a mile away.

Illegal immigrants stole and butchered the family’s beloved horses for meat. The family is devastated.

[WA Senate Republicans @WashingtonSRC]

Can you afford a 30% utility rate increase?

Puget Sound Energy (PSE) is proposing major utility hikes: 30% on electricity and 20% on natural gas over the next three years. The biggest driver? Compliance costs tied to our state's Climate Commitment Act (SB 5126 in 2021, enacted 2023) from WA Democrats according to The Center Square.

These sharp increases need approval from the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, which is appointed by the Governor. Energy bills have already jumped 12% this year alone.

Many WA families and individuals cannot afford this. It’s time for policies that lower the cost of energy, instead of ones that constantly raise prices.

#UnaffordableWA #PowerWA #waleg

[John Davidson @jrd22davidson]

Tina Peters is home. Finally.

[Juanita Broaddrick @atensnut]

One of the most badass moves ever.

[Jim Walsh @JimWalshLD19]

Bob:
November 2028 is 29 months away.
In the meantime, I challenge you to a series of monthly debates, each focused on a single public policy topic relevant to Washington state.
One hour. Once a month, through November 2028. No notes. No staff. A different Washington-based journalist can moderate each debate. The journalist picks the single topic. No advanced notice to either of us.
Not just a one-and-run event. A steady, regular debate series about fixing what's broken in our state.
Let's give the people of Washington the chance to hear how two very different people approach issues that affect their lives.
Do you have the guts to accept?