Monthly Archives: January 2014
January 31, 2014 — John Hinderaker
Not that I know of. But Michael Ramirez suggests that might explain the House leadership’s otherwise inexplicable pivot to immigration. Click to enlarge:
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January 31, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
President Obama’s State of the Union address was highly forgettable. In my opinion, its only memorable line was his reference to the television show Mad Men. It was, in any case, his most tweeted line, according to Tevi Troy. Obama delivered the line in decrying alleged wage disparities between men and women. He said: “It is time to do away with policies that belong in a Mad Men episode.” Tevi,
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January 31, 2014 — Steven Hayward
The stock market tanked again today. Argentina is in disarray. (What–again? you say?) Syria is dragging its feet in disarming. (Another Gomer Pyle moment for the goobers running foreign policy.) But there is some very happy news to celebrate as we head in to Super Bowl weekend: Henry Waxman is retiring! Bonus: he’s blaming his exit on the Tea Party! “It’s been frustrating because of the extremism of Tea Party
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January 31, 2014 — Steven Hayward
As noted in posts nearby, Republicans seem determined to play the Keystone Cops on immigration,* when they should be playing Keystone pipeline layers 24/7 right now. John directs us in my post from earlier today to our friends at IER who think the positive State Department assessment means nothing. Perhaps they are right. But it is just as possible that Obama will play politics with Keystone. The NBC News report on
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January 31, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
It’s clear where Power Line stands on the House GOP leadership’s plan to push for amnesty for illegal immigrants, among other benefits. Earlier today, John and Scott expressed their dismay, and I have expressed mine. But the GOP’s rush to sell out the party’s base, not to mention American workers, in order to service the interests of business won’t be halted by advocacy. Activism is required. My sources on the
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January 31, 2014 — Steven Hayward
Talk about a candidate for a Darwin Award (from the Colorado Daily): An apparent robbery attempt between neighbors in downtown Portland resulted in one suspect with a gunshot wound to his leg, and the other suspect with a self-inflicted gunshot would to his testicles, police said Wednesday. During the dispute, the 40-year-old man pulled out a gun and shot the other man in his leg, police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson
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January 31, 2014 — John Hinderaker
Daniel Defense is a Georgia company that makes guns, including AR-15 style rifles. It attempted to place a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl broadcast, but the NFL turned it down. The commercial featured a Marine who has returned to civilian life and uses a Daniel Defense firearm to protect his home and family. The commercial was inoffensive and never depicted a gun, but the NFL apparently has a policy
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January 31, 2014 — John Hinderaker
In his State of the Union speech, President Obama called on Congress to “get immigration reform done this year.” Other proponents of “reform,” on both sides of the aisle, have echoed that refrain, saying that now is the time to address the long-simmering issue of immigration. But why? The Democrats have wanted amnesty and vastly increased low-skill immigration for a long time, but why is now–2014–a good time for Republicans
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January 31, 2014 — Steven Hayward
Lots of “folks” (as Obama quaintly calls his fellow citizens) have puzzled over the language of Obama’s State of the Union speech—especially its omissions—to try to get a clue about what he may be thinking about the Keystone pipeline. Canada is increasingly public in its fury about the delay in the decision, and when soft-spoken Canadians are publicly complaining, you know they’re really really angry. Ben Geman, a solid environmental
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January 31, 2014 — Scott Johnson
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified before Congress this week. At Commentary, Tom Wilson takes up Clapper’s testimony on Iran’s nuclear program: In yesterday’s State of the Union address President Obama spoke stridently of how “American diplomacy … has halted the progress of Iran’s nuclear program—and rolled back parts of that program.” The president spoke with apparent pride of the “peaceful” efforts being taken to prevent Iran from gaining
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January 31, 2014 — Scott Johnson
The announcement of the House GOP leadership of immigration principles is guaranteed to warm the hearts of Democrats seeking hope for the immediate future. Things are looking bleak for them, with the unpopularity of Obama and Obamacare, with the difficulty of contesting elections in the sixth year of an incumbent president’s second term, with the number of Senate seats to defend in territory friendly to Republicans, and so on. How
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January 30, 2014 — John Hinderaker
Thank goodness we don’t have a Republican president! If we did, we would be in the midst of a constitutional crisis. Imagine this scenario: an American president announces that, rather than taking care that the laws be faithfully executed, as the Constitution requires, the federal government henceforth will enforce only those provisions of federal law with which he personally agrees. Not only that, if Congress declines to enact legislation that
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January 30, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
Hundreds of career Justice Department lawyers have broken into open revolt against Attorney General Holder over his support of legislation that would drastically cut back on mandatory minimum sentences for drug pushers. The legislation Holder supports, known as the Durbin-Lee bill, would overturn the current mandatory minimum sentences not only for marijuana violations but for all drug offenses, including major and repeat trafficking in heroin, meth, PCP and other extremely
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January 30, 2014 — John Hinderaker
Today the Republican House leadership released a document titled “Standards for Immigration Reform” that evidently is a preamble to legislation the leadership intends to pass this year. The “standards,” which are really just a set of talking points, are reproduced in their entirety below. They closely resemble the talking points that were used to promote the Senate’s Gang of Eight legislation. The most damaging aspect of the Senate legislation is
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January 30, 2014 — John Hinderaker
MSNBC has once again apologized abjectly and, this time, fired an employee for a bigoted tweet that the network’s president described as “offensive and wrong.” I wrote about the episode last night. MSNBC’s string of debacles has taken a toll. Public Policy Polling finds that MSNBC is now America’s least trusted news source, tied with its parent NBC and–wait for it!–Comedy Central. PPP asked respondents which network they trust the
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January 30, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
A new Kaiser poll finds that just 24 percent of uninsured Americans have a favorable view of Obamacare, while 47 percent of the uninsured view it unfavorably. Thus, two uninsured Americans dislike Obamacare for every one American who likes it. And the ratio becomes slightly more damning when the question to the uninsured is whether they see themselves as better or worse off due to Obamacare. 30 percent say they
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January 30, 2014 — John Hinderaker
Politico’s Morning Score speculated today that the Democrats may give up on the House of Representatives and focus their resources on trying to hold the Senate: THE BIG PICTURE-FORGET ABOUT THE HOUSE, SAVE THE SENATE: POLITICO’s Alex Isenstadt: “With only so much money to go around in an election year that is tilting the GOP’s way, Democrats need to concentrate resources on preserving the chamber they have now. Losing the
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