My amendment to prohibit toddler mask mandates just passed the House.

The Congresswoman who spoke against it claimed child masking was “evidence-based,” so I asked for the evidence. She had none. At that point she let the amendment pass without a recorded vote.

You can watch the 10-minute Floor Debate here. I also appreciated this brilliant summary of the debate from Jay Bhattacharya. Our opponent, Jessica Morse, put out a statement opposing the amendment; she was a top Newsom aide throughout the COVID insanity.

Meanwhile, China’s President Xi and other foreign leaders are in San Francisco. And as if by magic, the city has transformed before our very eyes. A frantic “beautification effort” caused homeless people and open-air drug use to go “poof” (as the New York Times put it).

Newsom even admitted he only “cleaned up” the city because “all those fancy leaders are coming into town.” His goal, of course, is more than just saving himself from humiliation; it’s to hide the disastrous consequences of the policies he wants to impose on the rest of the country.

The trouble for Newsom is that he can’t hide the evidence long. Following my Collapse of San Francisco speech earlier this year, even CNN aired an hour-long special on how his home city is falling apart.

The Legislature, for its part, has descended further into self-parody, setting up a “Select Committee on Retail Theft” rather than repeal Prop. 47. It’s reminiscent of the Select Committee on Gas Prices it formed last year after refusing to pass my gas tax suspension.

Finally, thank you to everyone for the kind feedback on the Roll Call profile (“Newsom’s Biggest Critic May Be This California Republican”). It goes without saying, but our battles are just getting started.

Kevin Kiley