December 14, 2017 — Scott Johnson

A Whitaker Chambers Xmas

Featured image I was reminded that a friend asked me to recommend a book about Whittaker Chambers as a Christmas gift for her smartly conservative daughter a few years ago. Chambers stands at the center of an incredible drama and four fantastic books about it. There is still much to be learned from Chambers and his case. It occurred to me that some readers might appreciate another look at these recommendations including »
December 13, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff

GOP reaches compromise on tax bill; vote expected soon

Featured imageParty leaders in the House and Senate agreed in principle to tax reform legislation that bridges the gaps between their competing versions. The leaders of the tax-writing committees in the House and the Senate — Rep. Kevin Brady and Sen. Orrin Hatch — say the final bill is “close” to completion. The Senate seems to have made out better than the House. The New York Times reports that “more of »
December 13, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff

Trey Gowdy grills Rod Rosenstein

Featured imageScott has posted video of Rep. Jim Jordan questioning Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein today. I want to share Rep. Trey Gowdy’s questioning of Rosenstein. Gowdy sets things up by noting that the only reason for the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller is the desire to have a fair, unbiased, “conflict of interest free” investigation. He then cites substantial reasons to doubt that members of Mueller’s team (past and »
December 13, 2017 — John Hinderaker

The Day After: Steve Bannon vs. Mitch McConnell

Featured imageAfter yesterday’s disaster in Alabama, we can all use a little black humor. Michael Ramirez supplies it. Let’s hope he is only kidding! Click to enlarge: »
December 13, 2017 — Scott Johnson

Analyze this

Featured imageThis morning Rep. Jim Jordan grilled Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on the red flags and anomalies that have turned up in the special counsel investigation under the direction of Robert Mueller. The investigation is to focus on the mythical Russian collusion with the Trump campaign. Among the red flags is the Steele Dossier commissioned by the Clinton campaign and involving actual collusion with Russian intelligence. Also among the red »
December 13, 2017 — Scott Johnson

Down Argentine Way: An update

Featured imageI wrote in the post below on the possible arrest of former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina on treason and other charges relating to Iran’s apparent involvement in the 1994 bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. Toby Dershowitz writes from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy with an update regarding her New York Times op-ed column he wrote with Mark Dubowitz. Toby writes: We »
December 13, 2017 — John Hinderaker

Memo to Supreme Court: Grant Cert in the Weyerhaeuser Case!

Featured imageThe government we live under does not resemble the one that is described in the Constitution. The principal reason for this is the power of federal regulatory agencies, which has grown explosively and is virtually unrestrained by Congress, the courts or even the president, who nominally controls the executive branch. The extra-constitutional administrative state now represents a grave threat to our liberties. The Supreme Court has an opportunity to begin »
December 13, 2017 — Scott Johnson

Down Argentine Way

Featured imageAlberto Nisman was about to present the findings of his investigation of the cover-up of Iranian responsibility for the 1994 bombing of the Buenos Aires Jewish community center when he died in January 2015 under mysterious circumstances. The bombing was an act of mass murder; it killed 85 people. Was Nisman himself murdered in turn? We covered the attempts to unravel the circumstances behind his death in a series of »
December 13, 2017 — Scott Johnson

Ms. Smith goes to Washington

Featured imageMinnesota Governor Dayton will announce this morning that he has chosen Lieutenant Governor Tina Smith to succeed Al Franken in the Senate upon Franken’s resignation. Franken has stated his intention to resign but left the timing vague. Once Dayton makes his announcement this morning I trust that Franken’s departure will follow in due course. Exit the clown. Star Tribune reporter Patrick Coolican notes Smith served as Dayton’s first chief of »
December 12, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff

Strzok-Page texts show hatred of Trump by the two ex-Team Mueller members

Featured imageThe Washington Examiner has obtained hundreds of text messages between Peter Strzok — the agent on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team who was demoted for critical messages about President Trump — and his alleged mistress Lisa Page, a lawyer also assigned to the probe. The messages were provided by the Justice Department to congressional committees. As described by the Examiner’s Kelly Cohen, the text messages show a couple whose hatred »
December 12, 2017 — Steven Hayward

Jones Wins: Al Franken Hardest Hit

Featured imageI might as well get into the “hot take” game. Democrats and their media echo chamber will openly celebrate Doug Jones’s narrow win in Alabama, but inside I’ll bet they are actually disappointed. There is little chance they can hold this seat in 2020 (unless Republicans nominate Roy Moore again). Meanwhile, Jones deprives them of their favorite talking point that Republicans are all drooling knuckle-dragging morons. Worse, it means Al »
December 13, 2017 — Steven Hayward

John McWhorter Unplugged and Unafraid

Featured imageYou owe it to yourself to take in a few short minutes of John McWhorter of Columbia University in the video below, starting at about the 14 minute mark, delivering an epic takedown of Scott’s favorite writer, Ta Nehesi Coates, whose work McWhorter characterizes as “dorm lounge performance art.” (McWhorter and his interlocutor Glenn Loury actually take up—and take down—Coates starting around the 4 minute mark; it is worth the »
December 13, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff

Strzok on prospect of a Trump presidency: “We can’t take that risk”

Featured imageChuck Ross of the Daily Caller reports on what might prove to be the most revealing text message exchange between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, both of the FBI. On August 25, 2016, Strzok texted Page: I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office — that there’s no way [Trump] gets elected — but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an »
December 13, 2017 — Scott Johnson

The Strange Death of Europe

Featured imageI’ve been pointing to Time’s list of the top 10 non-fiction books of 2017. While conceding I haven’t read any of them, I have noted that any such list on which Hillary Clinton and Ta-Nehisi Coates place in numbers 1 and 2 is some kind of a joke. That’s what Time’s list is. However, it’s not useless. It has prompted me to think about my own top 10 list. My »
December 13, 2017 — Steven Hayward

Beyond Immigration

Featured imageI’m for ending chain-immigration as well as having a more robust general immigration policy, but it is not clear that the problem of radical jihadism, as demonstrated once again by the bomber in New York yesterday, is mostly attributable to lax current immigration practice. The real problem is more with home-grown radicalization, which ought to trouble us more than lax immigration. The Pew Research Center released a survey in September »
December 12, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff

Report: White House trying to sneak LGBT activist through committee

Featured imageEarlier today, I reported on President Trump’s re-nomination of Chai Feldblum as EEOC commissioner. Feldblum is an LGBT activist and the architect of the Obama administration’s radical LGBT agenda, including its policy mandating that transgender individuals can use the restroom of their choice. She believes that in almost all cases where the sexual liberty of gays conflicts with religious belief, “sexual liberty should win because that’s the only way that »
December 12, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff

Alabama Senate race is even, but may be tilting against Moore [UPDATE: Jones Wins]

Featured imageAbout 85 percent of the vote has been counted in the Alabama Senate race and only a few thousand votes separate the candidates. As I write this, Roy Moore is up by around 5,000 votes. The counties that will deliver most of the as yet uncounted vote are said to be good ones for Doug Jones. That doesn’t mean the precincts in question are pro-Jones, but the smart money seems »