Monthly Archives: May 2017
May 29, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
“Trump blamed for targeting of press.” So declares the Washington Post (paper edition) in the sub-headline to a story citing a small number of cases in which reporters have been “roughed up.” Though the headline doesn’t say who is doing the blaming, it’s from the story that Post reporter Paul Fahri blames Trump. When a politician roughs up a reporter, there is really only one person to blame — the
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May 29, 2017 — Steven Hayward
Now this is a journal I can enthusiastically support: The International Journal of James Bond Studies. Because, after all, Blofeld is the inverse archtype of every college administrator. Now, you might well think that even academics couldn’t screw up something as straightforward as James Bond, and thankfully the first issue seems to be a feminist theory-free zone, but I’m not entirely reassured by this part of the editor’s statement in
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May 29, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
English football came to a dramatic end this weekend. Arsenal defeated Chelsea 2-1 in the FA Cup final and Huddersfield Town won “soccer’s richest game” on penalty kicks to gain promotion to the Premier League. Huddersfield Town will return to England’s top division for the first time since 1972. Judging by what I saw today, and for much of the season, it will be a short, albeit lucrative, stay unless
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May 29, 2017 — Steven Hayward
One of the great frauds of our time is the promiscuous use of “organic” as another form of virtue-signalling, and also of out-of-control marketing. I doubt there is any serious evidence of health differences between people who eat a diet rich in “organic” produce versus people who consume equal amounts of supposedly “non-organic” produce. Where do people think supposedly “non-organic” carrots come from—a Starfleet replicator? Yes, I get the idea
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May 29, 2017 — Scott Johnson
John Dickerson conducted an intensely interesting interview with Secretary of Defense James Mattis at West Point this past Saturday for broadcast yesterday (video below). RCP has posted video along with a transcript of the interview here. Secretary Mattis discussed our progress in the war against ISIS. He noted a shift in our tactics that he describes as follows: “We have already shifted from attrition tactics, where we shove them from
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May 29, 2017 — Scott Johnson
In observance of Memorial Day 2007 the Wall Street Journal published a brilliant column by Peter Collier to mark the occasion. The column remains timely and is accessible online here. I don’t think we’ll read or hear anything more thoughtful or appropriate to the occasion today. Here it is: Once we knew who and what to honor on Memorial Day: those who had given all their tomorrows, as was said
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May 28, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Today, the Washington Post dedicated an entire section of the paper to airing Palestinian grievances and talking points. The section is called “Occupied: Year 50.” One of the stories is about a Palestinian cancer patient whose children can’t get into Israel to visit her. Another shills for a Palestinian real estate developer who is building a planned city on the West Bank but fears the Israel Defense Force will thwart
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May 28, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Gregg Allman died yesterday at the age of 69. I was a big fan of the original Allman Brothers Band. “Whipping Post” isn’t my favorite Allman Brothers song, but I think it best exemplifies Gregg Allman as a blues singer. Below are (1) a studio recording of “Whipping Post” and (2) a performance of it at the Fillmore East in 1970.
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May 28, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Today’s Washington Post features three obituaries — one for Zbigniew Brzezinski (written by long-time Post foreign policy writer Jim Hoagland), one for Gregg Allman, and one for Jim Bunning. The headline in the paper edition for Brzezinski’s obit reads: “Combative adviser helped shape Carter’s foreign policy.” We’ll leave it there. The paper edition headline for Allman’s obit reads: “Southern rock pioneer led Allman Brothers Band.” Scott is our music expert
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May 28, 2017 — John Hinderaker
The number of anonymous leaks that have assailed President Trump since his inauguration is staggering. They have come from the intelligence agencies, the FBI, and all over the executive branch, including the White House. Gateway Pundit enumerates the leaks that liberal media have reported on breathlessly during just the last two and a half weeks: 17 of them, almost exactly one a day. Most have something to do with Russia,
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May 28, 2017 — Steven Hayward
Normally I don’t traffic in the typical media thumb-sucking about what’s immediately ahead for the President, or other unctuous, subjunctive commands about what the President “must do” if he is going to advance. But I make an exception now because I have a sense that Trump might make some big moves this week following on his highly successful and consequential first foreign trip. How do I know it was a
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May 28, 2017 — Scott Johnson
It was fifteen years ago this weekend — fifteen years ago today, I think, but maybe tomorrow — that John Hinderaker went to Blogger and set up Power Line. On Memorial Day that weekend he gave me a call and invited me to contribute. Once one of my daughters helped me get into the publishing platform, we were off and running. Looking back and borrowing from my tenth anniversary reflections,
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May 27, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
The Trump-related scandal of the day is news that Jared Kushner and Russia’s ambassador to Washington discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin, using Russian diplomatic facilities. Reportedly, this possibility — proposed by Kushner — was discussed at the very beginning of December 2016. Nothing came of it. There is, of course, nothing unusual about wanting a back
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May 27, 2017 — John Hinderaker
A CBS station in Sacramento headlines: “Trump threats, minimum wage, overtime hitting California farmers hard.” Put this one in the category of “inadvertently revealing.” Faced with an urgent shortage of workers, California farmers are desperate to be heard. “If we can’t change the way we’re doing business, we’re at risk,” said Brad Goehring, a fourth-generation wine grape grower in Lodi. The state has been struggling with this farm labor shortage
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May 27, 2017 — Steven Hayward
Oh happy day! The DC Circuit Court of Appeals recently voided an FAA rule that impinged directly on Power Line’s Air Force—namely, my small drone fleet. The FAA required registration of drones starting several months back. Yet a recent statute governing the FAA, the “FAA Modernization and Reform Act” of 2012, explicitly states that the FAA “may not promulgate any rule or regulation regarding a model aircraft.” But this being
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May 27, 2017 — Steven Hayward
• Climate change: Is there anything it can’t do? Climate Change Is Making It Harder to Sleep Climate change is coming for you in the night. That’s the conclusion of scientists who study how heat disturbs sleep—and how projected warming is expected to make bad sleep even worse. . . Their new study links that most individual of experiences—falling asleep—with a truly planetary phenomenon—global warming. It joins an expanding body of
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May 27, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
When I wrote about Fightin’ Greg Gianforte’s assault (as it seems to me) on a reporter, I believed that Al Franken had a history of physical aggression against folks who annoyed him. However, the only incident I recalled (and only vaguely) involved a much lower level of violence than Gianforte’s — pushing someone, perhaps someone in conservative media, out of his way in a Capitol corridor. Thus, I passed on
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