June 17, 2013 — John Hinderaker

Miss Utah vs. Barack Obama and Jay Carney

Featured image The Miss USA pageant was last night; it was won by Erin Brady, Miss Connecticut: There is an interesting trend toward the Northeast in Miss USA, as last year’s winner (and this year’s Miss Universe) was Olivia Culpo, Miss Rhode Island. But today’s news about the pageant focused less on Miss Brady than on Marissa Powell, Miss Utah. Miss Powell was the third runner-up, but she was deemed to have »
June 17, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

The immigration reform endgame

Featured imageEarlier today, I discussed a way in which the House leadership could bring a comprehensive, amnesty-style immigration reform bill up for a vote without clearly violating the Hastert Rule (under which only legislation supported by half of the Republican caucus comes to a vote). The House leadership could accomplish this, I speculated, if the House passes its own, significantly different immigration reform measure and then, in conference, accedes to a »
June 17, 2013 — Scott Johnson

Understanding Iran’s election

Featured imageIt really shouldn’t be difficult to understand Iran’s presidential election, assuming you pay attention to such things. If you get your news from the mainstream media, however, it might be close to impossible to understand it. As Paul demonstrates, going a little bit out of your way online you can quickly find just about everything you need to know about the election and the winner, one Hassan Rouhani. Take, for »
June 17, 2013 — Steven Hayward

Another Totally Frivolous Pop Culture Post

Featured imageSo a week or so ago on my post on “Jay Leno For President,” I noticed that frequent Power Line commenter David Hill’s FB identification reads: “Works at Veridian Dynamics.”  No way!  This is almost as good as spotting the Fred Hirsch Social Limits to Growth reference on The Big Bang Theory.  Better Off Ted (the home of Veridian Dynamics) was one of my favorite short-lived shows (not as short-lived as »
June 17, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

Obama’s approval rating plummets

Featured imagePresident Obama’s approval rating is down to 45 percent, according to a CNN/ORC poll of 1,014 adult Americans. 54 percent disapprove of his job performance. A month ago, the same pollsters found that 53 percent approved of the Obama presidency while 45 percent disapproved. Thus, his numbers have, in essence, flipped — a turnaround of 8 points if one focuses on the “approval” side. Although the decline in Obama’s approval »
June 17, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

Boehner reportedly will apply the Hastert Rule to immigration reform [Updated]

Featured imageThe Washington Examiner reports that Speaker Boehner will not bring a comprehensive immigration-reform plan to the floor if a majority of Republicans don’t support it. This is normal Republican policy in the House (it’s known as the Hastert Rule). I had speculated, however, that Boehner might waive the rule in the case of immigration reform legislation by applying a lower threshold, say one-third support. The Examiner reporter, David Drucker, cites »
June 16, 2013 — Steven Hayward

What Is Obama Up To on Keystone?

Featured imageObama can’t vote “present” on the Keystone pipeline forever, though he can probably string it out a while longer.  He won’t want to punt it to the next president, though, because it might be a Republican who will approve it on Day One.  Maybe Obama could just propose an alternate route through Guantanamo, since Gitmo is going to need a new use soon, right? Last month I predicted: What Obama »
June 16, 2013 — John Hinderaker

The Real Climate Threat

Featured imageThere is a certain irony in the fact that statists are trying to get people riled up about global warming. History’s warm eras–Roman times, the Medieval Warm Period, and the current warm cycle that follows the Little Ice Age–have been good times for humans and for the vast majority of animals. It is cold periods that we should dread, which is why the statists’ first choice, back in the 1970s, »
June 16, 2013 — John Hinderaker

Dr. Ben Carson, In Retrospect

Featured imageLast Thursday evening, I had the privilege, for the eighth consecutive year, of acting as master of ceremonies for the Annual Dinner of the Center of the American Experiment. This year’s dinner featured Dr. Benjamin Carson, one of the most eminent physicians in the United States, whose speech at the National Prayer Breakfast made him a household name. There was a lot of excitement about Dr. Carson’s appearance, and 1,000 »
June 16, 2013 — Steven Hayward

China Joins the Climate Skeptics?

Featured imageLet’s review the climate diplomacy story so far.  The elephant in the room at the UN negotiations has always been China, India, and other developing nations who have steadfastly refused to agree to future limits on their use of affordable hydrocarbon energy, which they rightly see as the path to becoming fully middle class nations as we and Europe did.  The Chinese told Al Gore in Kyoto in 1997 when »
June 15, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

The Obama administration is too cocky about Syria

Featured imageThe U.S. reportedly has decided to send small arms to Syrian rebels and is preparing to deliver these arms through bases in Turkey and Jordan that have been used to provide non-lethal assistance. According to the Washington Post the decision to supply arms predates the CIA’s conclusion with “high certainty” that regime forces have used chemical weapons against Syrian rebels. The decision is said to have been clinched not by »
June 17, 2013 — Scott Johnson

The other IRS scandal, cont’d

Featured imageIn “The other IRS scandal” John took a look at the IRS treatment of pro-Israel charities. The experience of some pro-Israel groups suggested that they had been subject to harassing and discriminatory treatment based on their support of policies that conflict with those of the Obama administration. John called for The House committees that looking into the IRS scandal to put this topic high on their agenda. My daughter Eliana »
June 16, 2013 — John Hinderaker

Happy Fathers’ Day!

Featured imageI hope that every father had as happy a Fathers’ Day as I did. It started with going to church, a fun outdoor ceremony. Then we all–my wife and I and three of our four kids–packed up a picnic lunch and drove to a park near Lake Harriet in Minneapolis. We took a number of photos, of which I will share only a few. Here, Ali and Kathryn carry the »
June 16, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

The Cantors occupy Wall Street

Featured imageIn a recent post about the prospects of passing amnesty legislation in the House, I referred to the Majority Leader as Eric “Wall Street” Cantor. Some readers probably wondered where I was coming from. This article in Politico may help explain. Politico reports that Diana Cantor, the wife of the Majority Leader, has joined the board of Revlon, the cosmetic giant. You may recall Revlon’s role in the Monica Lewinsky »
June 16, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

The Iranian election — eight takeaways

Featured imageJudith Levy of Ricochet takes a look at the newly elected Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani. Here are my takeaways from her analysis of the man I call “Sh*t Squared” (so as to distinguish him from his election rivals, Sh*t to the third and fourth power): 1. Rouhani is a disciple of Ayatollah Khomeini. He stayed close to Khomeini while in exile and then moved up the political system once Khomeini »
June 16, 2013 — Scott Johnson

Color Him Father

Featured imageMy father was a thoughtful man. In the last years of his life he listed the things he was most grateful for and in retrospect I can see he thought about gratitude a lot. He itemized the three things he was most grateful for in this order: 1) that his grandfather didn’t miss the boat from Russia to the United States, 2) that when his grandfather arrived in New York »
June 15, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

The lesser of several excrements

Featured imageThe AP reports that Hasan Rowhani has declared the winner of Iran’s presidential vote. Rowhani reportedly gained 50.7 percent of the vote, thereby avoiding a run-off. AP describes Rowhani as a “moderate cleric.” But I prefer the description provided by an Iranian friend of my wife. She calls Rowhani “sh*t, power two” (i.e. squared) as opposed to his opponents who are sh*t, power three or four. »