Monthly Archives: February 2014
February 27, 2014 — Scott Johnson
Brad Smith and his colleagues at the Center for Competitive Politics have compiled an invaluable, heavily footnoted document setting forth the efforts by the regulatory agencies to police political speech at the behest Barack Obama and the Democratic Party: “The IRS harassment scandal: A timeline of ‘reform.'” In a Wall Street Journal column that cuts to the chase — you won’t read anything more important this week — Smith takes
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February 26, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has vetoed Arizona S.B. 1062, legislation that I wrote about here and here. Brewer claimed that S.B. 1062 “does not address a specific or present concern related to religious liberty in Arizona” and that it was “broadly worded and could result in unintended and negative consequences.” Her first claim makes little sense. Arizona already has a Religious Freedom Restoration Act. S.B. 1062 amends the Act to
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February 26, 2014 — John Hinderaker
That is Ted Cruz’s formula, as delivered on the Senate floor today. Cruz is, obviously, a controversial figure. He is unquestionably one of the most brilliant men in Washington, but at times his judgment has been subject to legitimate criticism. Still–speaking for myself–I like brilliance, especially in the Senate. In his speech today, Cruz pointed to the critical connections among Venezuela, Iran and Cuba. He acknowledged, and elaborated upon, Marco
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February 26, 2014 — John Hinderaker
The Obama administration’s Syria policy has been a fiasco. I don’t think anyone seriously tries to defend it. That said, the humanitarian tragedy that is unfolding in that country is not the responsibility of the U.S. government. It is the fault of Bashar Assad and his minions, and al Qaeda and other radical Muslims who have forcibly taken over the opposition to Assad. The human catastrophe in Syria is almost
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February 26, 2014 — John Hinderaker
The disgraceful Harry Reid, one of America’s most corrupt politicians, a man who has mysteriously gotten rich as a public employee, is losing his grip. This has been going on for a while; remember his insane claim during the 2012 presidential campaign that Mitt Romney doesn’t pay any taxes? Today the subject was Obamacare. Reid, probably because he sees his position as majority leader slipping away on account of popular
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February 26, 2014 — Scott Johnson
In “Useful idiots, PBS edition,” I wrote about Ray Suarez’s paean to the glories of the Cuban health care system three years ago on the PBS NewHour. My post was prompted by Mary Anastasia O’Grady’s Wall Street Journal column “A Cuban fairy tale from PBS.” I piled on Suarez together with O’Grady. Now comes five-term Iowa Senator Tom Harkin and his cookie-cutter rendition of the achievements of Communism in the
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February 26, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
A collection of Dartmouth students who describe themselves as “Concerned Asian, Black, Latin@, Native, Undocumented, Queer, and Differently-Abled students” have threatened “physical action” if the administrators do not respond to their list of demands. The list of demands is lengthy. Here are some of them: Incorporate into each department at LEAST one queer studies class. Commit multi-millions of dollars to increase faculty and staff of color in all departments, and
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February 26, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
As I explained here, Arizona S.B. 1062 would not subject gays to a regime of discrimination. The bill is simply an attempt (successful in my view) to balance the right to religious freedom and the right of non-discrimination. Eleven leading religious-liberty scholars have written to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer to provide her with a sorely needed rational analysis of S.B. 1062 as she considers whether to sign it. The professors
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February 26, 2014 — Scott Johnson
Paul Mirengoff has explained what the IRS is up to in its proposed rulemaking under section 501(c)(4) in the post “The IRS’s latest attempt to silence conservatives.” The proposed regulation means to institutionalize the criminal misconduct of the IRS that has sent many clients to Washington superlawyer Cleta Mitchell, the star of this series. The IRS and the Obama administration are deep into the cover-up phase of the IRS’s criminal
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February 26, 2014 — Scott Johnson
Edward Jay Epstein has written two compelling books and several magazine pieces deriving from his relationship with the legendary CIA counterintelligence chief James Jesus Angleton. Ed originally met Angleton while he was conducting the research for his book Legend, on Lee Harvey Oswald’s time in the Soviet Union. Angleton took him on an extraordinary grand tour of his universe of deception, populated with orchids, moles, disinformation, and the key to
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February 25, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
The Arizona legislature has passed S.B. 1066. It amends a 1999 Arizona law called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). It does so in an attempt to strengthen the ability of vendors to follow their religious conscience by, for example, declining to provide services at gay weddings. The text of the legislation can be found here. The legislation has generated much criticism. The two most recent Republican presidential candidates have
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February 25, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
The Department of HHS is claiming that “approximately 4 million people have now signed up for a private health insurance plan through the Federal and State-based Marketplaces since October 1.” The open enrollment period will last for five more weeks. HHS continues to provide the number of Obamacare “sign-ups” without telling us how many have paid and therefore actually have health insurance. Not everyone who signs up for Obamacare will
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February 25, 2014 — John Hinderaker
Stories like this happen all the time, and we can’t begin to note all of them. Still, the murder of 59 boys, either shot or burned to death, deserves mention. Terrorists from Boko Haram–which means “Western education is sinful”–attacked a school in northeast Nigeria. Attacking schools and murdering students is a favorite tactic of Boko Haram, which is trying to force Nigeria to institute Sharia law: Gunmen from Islamist group
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February 25, 2014 — John Hinderaker
One of the more amusing aspects of the current political scene is the claim of liberals to be “pro-science”–a claim that is often made in the context of the catastrophic anthropogenic global warming theory, which is anything but scientific. Science is a method, not a body of dogma, and I am not aware of anyone in public life who is anti-science. Of course, before you can be pro- or anti-anything,
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February 25, 2014 — John Hinderaker
Marco Rubio has been in the doghouse with lots of conservatives because of his endorsement of the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill. But he is solid on virtually every other issue, and is one of the most talented politicians on either side of the aisle. Yesterday he reminded us how great he can be, when he rose to respond to Tom Harkin’s paean to the wonders of socialist Cuba. For
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February 25, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
As Scott points out below, Chuck Hagel announced yesterday that the Obama administration plans to shrink the Army to its lowest troop levels since before World War II. What are we to make of this? Peter Wehner provides the correct answer in the title of a post called “Obama Consciously Engineering America’s Decline.” As Wehner explains: [Obama] views the weakening of American power as a downright positive thing, as a
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February 25, 2014 — Steven Hayward
It was inevitable that someone would offer up a Facebook “Look Back” video for Darth Vader (below), but the real news is the insider revelation that the destruction of the Death Star in Episode IV was clearly an inside job. I expect Rosie O’Donnell will be all over this story any moment now. Excerpt: THE KID WHO TOOK THE SHOT JUST HAPPENED TO BE NAMED ‘SKYWALKER.’ Yep, same as our
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