May 16, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Let’s put aside the Obama administration’s scandals for a moment, and return to an issue that will have a great deal more to do with America’s future: immigration. The proposed Gang of Eight bill will result in somewhere between 30 million and 57 million new immigrants over the next ten years. This is, in a nutshell, why the bill is so bad. The impact of such a mass influx of
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May 15, 2013 — John Hinderaker
This afternoon the White House released 100 pages of emails that trace the development of the talking points about Benghazi that Susan Rice eventually used on her notorious tour of the Sunday morning news shows, and that formed the basis for much of what the Obama administration said about the attacks for weeks afterward. This is the original version of the talking points that came out of the CIA, with
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May 15, 2013 — John Hinderaker
What is commonly referred to as the IRS scandal consists of several distinct, although obviously related, elements. The scandal was brought to light by the revelation that the IRS, in evaluating nonprofits’ applications for 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) status, discriminated against Tea Party and other conservative groups. The IRS would routinely hold up such applications, sometimes for years, while often making irrelevant inquiries of the applicant, e.g., asking for the names
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May 14, 2013 — John Hinderaker
The Treasury Department Inspector General’s report on the IRS’s discriminatory treatment of applicants for 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) status has been released; you can read it here. In general, the report doesn’t add much to what has already been reported about its contents. This graphic shows the criteria that were being used to identify “potential political cases” as of June 2011: The report says, as has been reported, that the IRS
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May 14, 2013 — John Hinderaker
One striking feature of the multiple scandals in which the Obama administration is now enmeshed is how little responsibility President Obama takes for any of them. None, actually. Not only that, he professes to be entirely in the dark, to know only what he reads in the newspapers, and to have no control over his own cabinet officers and their departments. This was a major theme of Jay Carney’s press
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May 14, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Scandals are besetting the Obama administration so rapidly that it is hard to keep track of them. So far, I don’t believe we have said anything about the revelation that the Department of Justice secretly accessed several months worth of Associated Press telephone records. The AP is on the warpath: Reporters across The Associated Press are outraged over the Justice Department’s sweeping seizure of staff phone records — and they
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May 14, 2013 — John Hinderaker
I wrote here about the Freedom Club’s annual spring dinner, featuring Steve Forbes. At the dinner, a few of us were steered in front of a camera to free associate about the club. That led to this short video, “Why the Freedom Club?”, which I think you will enjoy: The Freedom Club is a model, I think, for what can be done in other states. (There are, of course, some
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May 13, 2013 — John Hinderaker
To no one’s surprise, it is already evident that the Obama administration has been lying about the scope of the IRS’s harassment of conservative-leaning non-profits. The
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May 13, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Today the Minnesota Senate passed a bill authorizing gay marriage which will be signed into law by our governor, Mark Dayton. That is the context for this text, which my oldest daughter sent me a few minutes ago: If I had a dollar for every #time4marriage hashtag on my feed I’d be rich. Someone should start a #time4jobs trend, seeing as there are approx. twice as many unemployed Americans as
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May 13, 2013 — John Hinderaker
President Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron held a brief joint press conference this morning. After the introductory comments, the first questions related to Benghazi and the IRS. Here is some of what Obama had to say about Benghazi: With respect to Benghazi, we’ve now seen this argument that’s been made by some folks primarily up on Capitol Hill for months now. And I’ve just got to say — here’s
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May 13, 2013 — John Hinderaker
The New York Times initially covered the IRS scandal on page A11 of the Saturday paper. Having thought over the best line to take, the paper’s editors came up with this: Sure, it’s all about politics! Deeper in the article, the Times explains further: Since last year’s elections, Republicans in Congress have struggled for traction on their legislative efforts, torn between conservatives who drove the agenda after their 2010 landslide
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May 12, 2013 — John Hinderaker
The Center of the American Experiment is a nationally respected conservative organization headquartered in Minneapolis. Scott and I have both served on its board in the past. The Center’s annual dinners have long been renowned for featuring speakers like Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, Bill Bennett, George H. W. Bush, Norman Schwartzkopf, Robert Bork, Rudy Giuliani, Charles Krauthammer and many more. This year the Center has scored a coup by lining
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May 12, 2013 — John Hinderaker
The most widespread oppression in the world today is the oppression of Christians by Muslims. And yet, for some reason, the world’s foremost human rights crisis is rarely noticed, let alone opposed. Raymond Ibrahim, author of a new book titled Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians, has tirelessly tried to draw attention to the catastrophe that has befallen Christians living in predominantly Muslim countries in recent years. Ibrahim
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May 11, 2013 — John Hinderaker
2013 featured the winter that wouldn’t end. Here in Minneapolis, the snow has finally melted and leaves are starting to come out on the trees. Farther north, though, the lakes are still largely frozen. This weekend is the opening of Minnesota’s fishing season, one of the most important dates on the calendar. But it’s hard to go after those walleyes when you’re dodging ice on the lake. The Minneapolis Star
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May 11, 2013 — John Hinderaker
You may have wondered, as I did, why the IRS suddenly announced yesterday that it was guilty of harassing conservative groups, especially Tea Party groups. The answer now appears clear: the agency was trying to get out front of a story that was about to break. Politico reports that next week, the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration is expected to release a report on a nearly yearlong investigation
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May 11, 2013 — John Hinderaker
I wrote here about buying a new handgun, a SIG Sauer P938. The P938 is a 9 mm. pocket pistol, suitable for carrying. I got the Nightmare version: I was traveling on business last weekend, so today was my first opportunity to take my new gun to the range. My son and I shot for an hour this morning; we took all five of our pistols, but focused mainly on
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May 11, 2013 — John Hinderaker
If you want to see just how befuddled the Obama administration is by the Benghazi scandal, watch Jay Carney twist in the wind when asked the simplest of questions about his previous misrepresentations: I offer three conclusions: 1) Carney, apart from the fact that he looks like a teenager who has been summoned to the principal’s office, is utterly inept. 2) The Obama administration is unused to being questioned by
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