Author Archives: Paul Mirengoff

Woke ballet at Princeton, Part Two

Featured image In Part One of this series, I reported on the plan of student leaders of the Princeton University Ballet to (among other things) “decolonize” their practice of ballet, “deemphasize technique,” and exclude from membership Princeton ballet enthusiasts who are unwilling to engage in their brand of activism. In Part II, I want to consider Princeton’s stance on these matters. As I understand it, the EDI [equity, diversity, and inclusion] in »

Reports: Justice Breyer to retire

Featured image Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will retire, according to multiple reports. Some liberals have been urging him to do so since Joe Biden was elected. Many more, I suspect, were hoping he would, so that Biden could appoint a relatively young left-liberal to replace him. Breyer is 83 years old. I suspect that Breyer would like to have stayed on the Court for a few more years. However, it now »

Hall of Fame excludes Curt Schilling due to his politics

Featured image Yesterday, a group of sportswriters voted David Ortiz into the Hall of Fame. They did this even though Ortiz tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in 2003, around the time he transformed himself from a below average hitter to a star. In other Hall of Fame news, Curt Schilling fell well short of the number of votes required for admission because woke sportswriters with ballots don’t like his politics. Here »

Harvard’s president whines about Supreme Court’s cert grant

Featured image Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, a case challenging Harvard’s use of racial preferences in admissions for the benefit of Blacks. Today, Harvard’s president, Lawrence Bacow, sent a message to the Harvard community bemoaning the cert grant. By my count, the letter must have gone to four members of the Supreme Court by virtue of their having attended Harvard (and in one »

Biden’s covid “setbacks”

Featured image Fresh off of a reasonably balanced article about Joe Biden’s inflation woes, the New York Times turns to a second issue that’s bedeviling Biden. It serves up this lengthy piece about the administration’s “setbacks” in the fight against the pandemic. The Times is critical of Biden, though it tries to pin a good deal of blame for his failures on Donald Trump. Here’s how the Times summarizes the situation: [A]n »

Woke ballet at Princeton, Part One

Featured image Perhaps I should have called this post “Why ballet at Princeton?” A document sent by the leaders of the Princeton University Ballet (PUB), the student-run ballet club, seems to argue by implication for ditching ballet altogether. The document begins: Ballet is rooted in white supremacy and perfectionism. We are all entering this space with a mindset that what we see as perfect is a white standard. Unlearning that will be »

The Washington Post on the murder epidemic in America’s cities

Featured image When I read this frontpage headline in the paper edition of yesterday’s Washington Post — “Cities look to halt deadly surge” — my first thought was that there is no significant surge in deaths from the coronavirus in our cities. But the Post wasn’t writing about the pandemic. It was writing about murders. Yes, the Washington Post has finally acknowledged the epidemic of violent crime in America. No more emphasis »

Harvard’s discrimination against Asian-Americans in a nutshell

Featured image Following today’s decision by the Supreme Court to hear its case against Harvard, Students for Fair Admissions released a video describing how Harvard discriminates against Asian-Americans who seek admission. The video puts a human face on Harvard’s insulting and racist treatment of this whole category of applicants. Those interested in quantifying the extent of racial discrimination at top Ivy League schools can consult this post. It shows just how much »

Europe in character

Featured image As a Russian invasion of Ukraine becomes more and more likely, major European nations behave more and more in character. Britain, in its finest Churchill-Thatcher tradition, is stepping up to the plate. It just delivered anti-tank weapons to Ukraine. Germany, reverting to its traditional approach of accommodating Russian aggression to further its interests, reportedly refused Britain permission to transport the anti-tank weapons through German airspace. Germany denies doing so, but »

Supreme Court will hear race discrimination in college admissions cases

Featured image Today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admission v. University of North Carolina. These cases allege racial discrimination in college admissions. The two university defendants, Harvard and UNC, prevailed in the lower courts. But now they must defend their blatant racial discrimination before a conservative-leaning Supreme Court. We have written pretty extensively about the Harvard case. Some of our »

Coping with inflation, New York Times style

Featured image Today’s Sunday’s New York Times focuses on inflation — not so much the thing itself, but rather its political implications. This frontpage story is about an alleged debate over whether Joe Biden’s covid stimulus is to blame for America’s inflation rate being higher than most other countries it’s fair to compare us with. I’m not sure there is a genuine debate about this. However, to the Times’ credit, the article »

What’s next for Ukraine?

Featured image Vladimir Putin has several options for going after Ukraine short of an out-and-out ground invasion. The Washington Post tries to lay them out in this article. For example, Putin could launch air attacks, perhaps combined with cyber-attacks, and seek Ukraine’s capitulation that way. Or he could step up the war of subversion he’s been waging in eastern portions of Ukraine for some time. The Post quotes two analysts who doubt »

A year of awakening

Featured image 2021 was a year of awakening for all but the most obtuse among the woke. It was the year when we realized, or relearned, that inflation isn’t a thing of the past. It’s something that happens when government largesse helps create excess demand. And it stings. 2021 was the year when we realized, or relearned, that attacks on the police and a reduction in police funding, coupled with prosecutors whose »

How should the U.S. respond to a Russian attack on Ukraine?

Featured image I don’t know anyone who believes the U.S. should respond with American boots on the ground. I know few people who believe the U.S should do nothing. The range of acceptable options lies somewhere between imposing more sanctions on Russia, but going no further, and providing some form of military assistance short of ground troops. As to sanctions, there’s a debate about how much damage even stringent ones would impose »

Another reason to tune out the Beijing Olympics

Featured image The upcoming Winter Olympic games aren’t just the genocide Olympics. They are also the totalitarian Olympics. James Hohmann reports: China is requiring anyone attending the Winter Olympics to download an app on their cellphone that will allow the surveillance state to track their movements. Ostensibly to help with coronavirus contact tracing, the software also includes glaring encryption flaws that make it easier for authorities to snoop on athletes in attendance »

Schumer made Dems take hard vote he knew he’d lose

Featured image Last night, Chuck Schumer forced a vote on a motion to close debate on the Democrats’ voting legislation. That motion had nowhere near the support needed — 60 votes — to pass. Schumer than forced a vote on a proposed rule change to allow the voting legislation to advance with only a simple majority of votes — in other words, bypass the filibuster. That effort failed by a vote of »

For Biden, the only good pipeline is a Putin pipeline

Featured image Joe Biden has withdrawn U.S. support for a pipeline project designed to deliver Israeli natural gas to Europe. Biden thereby reverses a decision made by the Trump administration. The Biden administration tried to justify the reversal of U.S. policy on the basis of its interest in “renewable energy.” But the obvious effect of the decision is to strengthen the stranglehold Russia has on Europe’s energy supply. In this regard, it’s »