April 27, 2024 — John Hinderaker

A DEI Officer Bites the Dust

Featured image The kill-the-Jews rallies going on across America have resulted in casualties, including the leader of Columbia’s protests, now banned from the campus although it doesn’t appear that he has been expelled. Here in Minnesota, we have the entertaining spectacle of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion officer at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health being fired, and subsequently starting a lawsuit. On to that in a moment, but first, »
April 27, 2024 — Scott Johnson

Dead man walking

Featured imageHugh Gallagher explored what he called FDR’s Splendid Deception in his 1985 book of that title. In the title Gallagher was referring to FDR’s concealment of the polio-related paralysis that struck him in 1921. Gallagher was also a polio victim who understood the pain underlying Roosevelt’s efforts. Researching the book, Gallagher found that among the 35,000 photographs of Roosevelt at his presidential library, only two featured him in his wheelchair. »
April 26, 2024 — John Hinderaker

JournoList 2

Featured imageCommentary in the liberal press is so uniform that you wonder whether reporters and commentators have coordinated their coverage, down to the word and the phrase. Well, they have, of course. You remember JournoList, where, years ago, reporters would gather to coordinate their pro-Democrat, anti-Republican stories. JournoList supposedly disbanded after it came to light, but I assume it more likely just went underground. Here we have another instance, JournoList 2. »
April 27, 2024 — Steven Hayward

The Week in Pictures: Bossy Confusion Edition

Featured imageWe’re not done with Uncle Bosie yet, and I’m starting to wonder whether someone said something to (P)resident Biden about being a boss, or being too bossy, and it triggered one of his gummed-up but imaginative synapses to invent yet another tall tale about Biden lore—the Bidens being the greatest clan since the Borgias. The cannibalism makes perfect sense, too, since what’s left of Biden’s brain is clearly cannibalizing what »
April 26, 2024 — Steven Hayward

The Daily Chart: College Regrets

Featured imageThis survey of the most regretted college majors will come as no surprise to most of our readers, and I’m tempted to make the suggestion that student loan forgiveness should be granted in inverse proportion to this ranking. That is, if you majored in journalism, you’d be eligible for no more than 13 percent of your loan being forgiven. This would provide a strong incentive not to major in sociology, »
April 26, 2024 — John Hinderaker

Will More CO2 Warm the Atmosphere?

Featured imageThere is no doubt about the fact that various gases have a “greenhouse” effect. They trap radiation leaving the Earth’s surface, thus warming the atmosphere. The chief greenhouse gas, by a wide margin, is water vapor. Carbon dioxide and methane are two more minor greenhouse gases. We owe these substances everything: without the greenhouse effect, there would be no life on Earth. The fact that some gases absorb radiation that »
April 26, 2024 — Lloyd Billingsley

Raising the Barr?

Featured imageI’ve said all along given two bad choices, I think it’s my duty to pick the person I think would do the least harm to the country. And in my mind, I will vote the Republican ticket. I think the real danger to the country — the real danger to democracy, as I say — is the progressive agenda. Trump may be playing Russian roulette, but a continuation of the Biden administration »
April 26, 2024 — Scott Johnson

Don’t mess with Texas, “protest” edition

Featured imageTexas Governor Greg Abbott has expressed his support for the removal of the pro-Hamas kill the Jews crowd from their nascent “occupation” of the University of Texas at Austin. In the tweet below Governor Abbott reported: “Arrests being made right now and will continue until the crowd disperses. These protesters belong in jail.” Shut up, he explained: “Antisemitism will not be tolerated in Texas. Period.” Arrests being made right now »
April 25, 2024 — John Hinderaker

How Dumb Are These People?

Featured imageThe protesters setting up tent cities to celebrate Hamas may attend “elite” universities, but that doesn’t mean they are very bright. You may have seen this short video of a couple of Columbia students who aren’t exactly sure what or why they are protesting: 🚨VIDEO: A REAL interview we had at NYU: QUESTION: "Why are you protesting?" PROTESTER #1: "I don't know. I'm pretty sure there's something about Israel [turns »
April 25, 2024 — Lloyd Billingsley

Garrow Bonus Coverage

Featured imageLast August in “The Obama Factor,” Tablet’s David Samuels asked David Garrow if he could imagine Obama joining the Supreme Court. “He’d be terrible because he’s too lazy,” Garrow said.  “This in the book. It goes back to him being Hawaiian. At one point, he says, ‘I’m fundamentally lazy and it’s because I’m from Hawaii.’ That’s close to the actual quote.” Garrow’s massive Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama »
April 25, 2024 — Steven Hayward

The Daily Chart: Is Crime Falling?

Featured imageRight now we are hearing that crime—especially homicide—is falling (just like inflation—heh), suggesting that the runaway crime of recent years was somehow an epiphenomena of Covid. Here’s the chart getting wide circulation: These data are likely correct, but there is reason to doubt that crime overall is falling, for the simple reason that lots of people have lost confidence in law enforcement and prosecution and no longer report many crimes »
April 26, 2024 — Steven Hayward

Podcast: The 3WHH With Sober Thoughts on Immunity

Featured imageWe’re going up a day earlier than usual with this week’s (ad-free!) episode, partly because our constantly irregular travel schedules complicated things again, but more importantly to be timely, as John, Lucretia, and I have LOTS of thoughts on the Supreme Court argument yesterday about whether ex-presidents should enjoy broad immunity for any or all acts they took while in office. Lucretia and I think the president does, while John »
April 26, 2024 — Scott Johnson

Take Columbia’s Khymani James — please

Featured imageWell, they may be ignorant or stupid, they may be evil, but they may also need help. Take, for example, Columbia undergrad Khymani James — please. James may be in need of help, but he appears to be busy negotiating with the authorities at Columbia to stand down. One of the Columbia students leading the “protest” posted this video stating that “Zionists do not deserve to live” Some in the »
April 26, 2024 — Scott Johnson

Thoughts from the ammo line

Featured imageAmmo Grrrll reports: DOOM-SCROLLING TAKES A HOLIDAY! Commenter-Con3 in the Rearview Mirror (things are closer than they appear). She writes: Well, Commenter-Con3 (April 14-16) has come and gone and, as my hometown newspaper used to report on all social gatherings, “a good time was had by all!” I TRIED asking attendees to hold off a week on discussing CC3 because I had an earlier – now defunct — version of »
April 25, 2024 — Steven Hayward

Earth Day and Me

Featured imageLast Monday, April 22, was Earth Day, which found me in Washington DC doing a program at the American Enterprise Institute on environmental progress along with Roger Pielke Jr. If you missed the livestream, the video of the entire event is now up. It’s almost 90 minutes long in total, but my portion of the program is just the first 25 minutes or so. Chaser—while we’re on this subject, check »
April 25, 2024 — John Hinderaker

Trump In the Supreme Court

Featured imageSpecial Prosecutor Jack Smith’s case against Donald Trump was argued in the Supreme Court today. The issue is the extent to which ex-presidents are entitled to immunity for acts committed while they were in office. The New York Times covered the arguments with live updates. Here are some excerpts: Overall, several justices — maybe a majority — apear to have suggested through their questions that presidents should indeed enjoy some »
April 25, 2024 — Steven Hayward

The Campus Left Loses The Atlantic

Featured imageThe Atlantic today has posted up an article from George Packer that, as John Podhoretz noted on Twitter, you could have read in Commentary at any point for the last 35 years. The fact that this is appearing in The Atlantic perhaps marks a turning point in established  liberal opinion, but will college administrators and trustees take note and do anything about it? It’s a long piece, but here are »