May 17, 2012 — John Hinderaker

King Bibi?

Featured image Benjamin Netanyahu is on the cover of this week’s Time magazine. The accompanying article, by the magazine’s managing editor Richard Stengel, is titled “King Bibi.” On the cover next to Netanyahu’s photo are the words: “King Bibi. He’s conquered Israel. But will Netanyahu now make peace–or war?” The theme of the article is that Netanyahu has consolidated his power in Israel, giving him a golden opportunity to surrender to the »
May 17, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff

Is there trouble ahead for NPR?

Featured imageNPR is hurting financially. According to its new chief executive, Gary Knell, it has seen a sharp downturn in corporate “underwriting” and thus finds itself facing an annual operating deficit. Actually, NPR has operated at a deficit in three of the last four years. However, the hole is growing deeper this year. In addition, NPR’s audience is no longer expanding. In fact, ratings fell by a little more than 1 »
May 17, 2012 — Scott Johnson

#More popular than Obama’s budget

Featured imageJohn Hinderaker covered the story yesterday, but if you get your news from the New York Times or its followers among the mainstream media, you may have missed it: “Obama budget defeated 99-0 in Senate.” (Thank you, Mr. Drudge. Thank you, Memeorandum.) As John noted, the Senate vote comes after the House vote this past March. In the House Obama’s budget also notched a shutout, having been voted down 414-0. »
May 17, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff

Food for thought

Featured imageElizabeth Warren cannot document her claim to be part (a very small part) Cherokee Indian. But in 1984, identifying herself as a Cherokee, she contributed recipes to a cookbook edited by her cousin called “Pow Wow Chow.” If that helps. It may not. According to the Boston Herald, outraged members of the Cherokee tribe — including a Warren supporter — are demanding that the candidate release her employment records following »
May 17, 2012 — Scott Johnson

Another look inside the situation room

Featured imageA friend sends along this revealing look inside the situation room at the team that got Osama bin Laden. If you’ve been following the Obama campaign so far, you may be led to believe that this photo more fairly distributes the credit for the operation than the more widely circulated photo and related accounts, such as Peter Bergen’s Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden–From 9/11 to Abbotobad (reviewed here »
May 16, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff

A giant stands on the shoulders of dwarfs

Featured imageGreat religious prophets, when they create a new religion, usually treat the greatest prophets of pre-existing great religions as their precursors. In this way, they gain credibility while putting the earlier prophets in their place. Barack Obama is trying to do something like this when it comes to previous presidents, as Seth Mendel of Commentary discovered when he visited a White House website that provides biographies of former presidents. Mandel »
May 16, 2012 — John Hinderaker

What To Do If You Live In Arkansas

Featured imageOne of the under-reported stories of the year is the resistance that many Democrats have manifested toward the Obama administration during the primary process. Obama has no meaningful opponent for his party’s nomination, yet in a number of states, Democrats have rebelled against his policies by casting votes for anyone-but-Obama. In Oklahoma, a motley crew of opponents got 43% of the primary vote against the president’s 57%. In Massachusetts, Obama »
May 16, 2012 — John Hinderaker

Senate Democrats Achieve a New Standard of Irresponsibility

Featured imageThe Senate voted on five budgets today, at the insistence of Republican senators. The result was revealing: no Senate Democrat voted in favor of any budget. This is consistent, of course, with the fact that the Democrat-led Senate has refused to adopt a budget, in violation of federal law, for the last three years. Still, it is a little shocking to see that not a single Democrat was willing to »
May 16, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff

Boehner seeks action on debt reduction

Featured imageSpeaker John Boehner is calling on Congress to deal with the issues of budget reductions and the Bush tax cuts before the election. And he is threatening to block an increase in the federal debt ceiling unless significant new cuts occur. The case for tackling these issues now is straightforward. If they are put off until the lame duck session, there will be little time to avoid the train wreck »
May 16, 2012 — John Hinderaker

George Zimmerman’s Defense

Featured imageABC News has obtained a copy of a doctor’s report on a visit by George Zimmerman the day after the Trayvon Martin shooting. The report discloses that Zimmerman had a broken nose, two black eyes, two cuts on the back of his head, bruising on the upper lip and cheek and lower back pain. This revelation obviously bolsters Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense and sheds light on why local authorities initially »
May 16, 2012 — John Hinderaker

My Endorsement of Pete Hegseth

Featured imageA new generation of conservative leaders is emerging. Some–not all, but many–have been tested in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Minnesota’s Pete Hegseth is in this category. Pete is from Forest Lake, Minnesota. He is a Princeton graduate and a much-decorated Army officer. He returned from Afghanistan to Minnesota just in time to mount a whirlwind campaign for the Senate seat now held by Amy Klobuchar, a dull and »
May 16, 2012 — John Hinderaker

Epistemic Closure at the Atlantic? No, Just Ignorance

Featured imageI virtually never respond to attacks by liberals, because 1) I hardly ever see them, and 2) when I do, they are rarely worth the trouble. But this piece by Conor Friedersdorf in the Atlantic is worth noting because through its ineptitude, it inadvertently reinforces my point. Friedersdorf’s article is titled “A Textbook Example of the Right’s Epistemic Closure.” (By the way, I have actually studied epistemology, and in my »
May 16, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff

Obama calls debt ceiling fight “not acceptable,” whatever that means

Featured imagePresident Obama today warned congressional leaders that a replay of the debt ceiling fight of last summer is “not acceptable” and that he will not tolerate it. Obama added that he expects a “serious bipartisan approach” to tackling the budget and growing federal deficit this year. House Speaker John Boehner said yesterday that he was prepared for another debt ceiling fight, if that’s what it takes to force action to »
May 16, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff

An upset in Nebraska

Featured imageIn Nebraska, State Senator Deb Fischer has upset Jon Bruning, the state’s attorney general, to win the Republican nomination for the Senate seat held by Democrat Ben Nelson, who is retiring. Late returns had Fischer leading Bruning by 40-36. She will face former Senator Bob Kerrey. Until recently, Bruning had been leading in the polls. Fischer had been running third, behind Don Stenberg, the state’s treasurer, who was endorsed by »
May 16, 2012 — Steven Hayward

The Last Lion at Long Last

Featured imageLots of good books out right now deserving comment and reflection, including Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind (spent the day with him last Friday), Jonah Goldberg’s The Tyranny of Clichés: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas, and Jim Manzi’s Uncontrolled: The Surprising Payoff of Trial and Error for Business, Politics, and Society (Jim is another pal, and maybe one of the two or three most incandescently brilliant people »