The Revolution Meets the Lease Agreement Michael James Duntley, 59, known in Portland protest circles as “Spider Mike,” “Big Spider Mike,” and “Wider Mike,” was recorded on a profanity-filled livestream arguing with a woman who identified herself as his landlord. The woman said Duntley had been screaming, yelling, drinking, wearing a wig, and banging things around in a garage while frightening people inside the home. Duntley’s answer was that he and his online companions were “having a good time.” When he told her to call the police, she replied that she already had. It was not exactly a master class in conflict resolution, unless the class was taught by a comments section. The Clip That Started Making the Rounds https://twitter.com/ImFiredUp2/status/2093779486500159906?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw A Landlord, a Livestream, and Some Very Loud Irony During the exchange, Duntley shouted at the woman to leave and be quiet, while one person on the livestream mocked her for calling police. The woman also reminded Duntley that she had given him a place to live after he had previously been kicked out. Duntley responded that she had done him a favor six years earlier and told her to go to sleep. For a movement that often advertises “mutual…

A Fight Democrats Cannot Seem to Leave Alone Democrats keep returning to the transgender policy debate even though the issue has not been kind to them with the broader public. During the 2024 election, Donald Trump tied the issue to Kamala Harris, and post-election analysis cited in the source said it hurt her badly. That has left a plain political question sitting on the table: why stay married to an issue that voters keep rejecting? In Washington, of course, this is known as “message discipline,” which sometimes looks a lot like touching the hot stove and forming a committee to study why it burns. Doug Schoen Points to the Party’s Left Flank Democratic pollster Doug Schoen argues that establishment Democrats face a major problem heading into November’s midterms: the rise of far-left, socialist, and progressive candidates in primaries, plus the party’s willingness to give that wing the steering wheel. Schoen says the Democratic Socialists of America and similar activists have helped lock the party into unpopular positions, including strong opposition to laws that would bar biological males from competing in women’s sports. In his view, the national party’s stance is being defined by activists who have plenty of volume, even…