June 10, 2026 — Scott Johnson
The Wall Street Journal’s opinion editors have posted the documentary The Lockdown Dissidents. The documentary was produced, written, and directed by Michael Pack. Tim Blake Nelson provides the voiceover narration. The documentary comes with this précis: “During the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of prominent scientists challenged the prevailing government approach to lockdowns. The Lockdown Dissidents tells the story of researchers like Jay Bhattacharya, Scott Atlas, and Robert Redfield—voices who say
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June 10, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Gordon Wood was our great historian of the founding era. He was killed by a driver who hit him while he was walking this past Sunday afternoon. His death at the age of 92 represents a great loss to our country and our culture. I hope to have a few words about him from Professor Wilfred McClay to post on Power Line some time soon. AEI called on Professor Wood
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June 10, 2026 — Scott Johnson
In 1998 my friend Brian Sullivan served as the chairman of our state Republican Party’s platform committee. I think Brian appointed John Hinderaker and me committee members. We wrote the audacious platform that Brian assured us he would get approved at the party convention, as he did. We have been friends for a long time. In his current business venture, Brian is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Celcuity,
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June 10, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Maine, Nevada, North Dakota and South Carolina all held primaries yesterday. Miraculously — miraculously in light of the California experience — the results are in! RealClearPolitics has compiled them here. Most notable by far is the expected victory of Maine’s Graham Platiner as the Democrats’ man to take on incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins. Platner’s principal primary opponent was outgoing Govenor Janet Mills. She is old and respectable in a
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June 9, 2026 — Scott Johnson
The Israeli Air Force attacked the USS Liberty to devastating effect on day four of the six-day war in 1967. Michael Oren covers the attack in meticulous detail at pages 262-271 along with the related footnotes at pages 388-390 in Six Days of War (2002). He calls this section of the book Anatomy of an Accident. It was an utterly tragic friendly fire incident that is not uncommon in war.
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June 9, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Jesse Watters to the contrary notwithstanding, Israel is not “spying on the United States.” It is not “freelancing in Lebanon.” It is defending itself from attacks by Hezbollah that have depopulated large swaths of northern Israel. The Hezbollah attacks, by the way, violated the purported “ceasefire” negotiated by President Trump. What does Vice President Vance have to say about that? In what has become a characateristically “disappointing” performance, Vance sees
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June 9, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Thane Rosenbaum brings a detachment and sense of humor to his Jewish Journal/JNS column “When hippies hate.” I am more inclined to hate ’em right back, so I admire both Rosenbaum’s detachment and his sense of humor: There was a time, long ago, back in the drug-addled days of Woodstock, when tie-dyed shirts were formal wear, and hair was both a Broadway musical and a countercultural trademark. During those days,
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June 9, 2026 — Scott Johnson
In the early days of Israel’s war on Hamas after 10/7, we frequently relied on the assessments of IDF Lieutenant Colonel (reserve) Jonathan Conricus to understand the state of play. Conricus was the IDF spokesman then. He is now a fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Via X, this is his current assessment of the new status quo — he calls it “the interim score” — following this
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June 8, 2026 — Scott Johnson
“We,” in this case being the Star Tribune, an arm of the left/media establishment that reigns in Minnesota, and “your,” in this case being Alpha News, the maverick alternative news outlet that serves Minnesotans disgusted by the Star Tribune’s incessant propagandizing on behlf of its favored causes. I wrote recently about Star Tribune publisher Steve Grove’s elimination of jobs and pursuit of a purposely nonprofit structure for the paper. I
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June 8, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Scott Pelley is the pompous windbag of 60 Minutes. Ted Knight played a character like Pelley for laughs in days of old on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. Pelley amped up the character and drained it of humor. He is beyond satire. An insufferable fool, he plays himself seriously. But he’s worse than that. Jonthan Leaf explains why in the Washington Free Beacon column “Scott Pelley isn’t a serious journalist.”
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June 8, 2026 — Scott Johnson
As I wrote earlier this morning, I knew it was almost noon in Israel and Amit Segal would be filng his daily dispatch presently. It has now arrived. I see it does not contrast with my own observations, but his are harsher. I thought some readers might appreciate his perspective from Israel. This is a long excerpt of the column he headlines “Israel vs. Iran: Round 3”: * * *
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June 8, 2026 — Scott Johnson
I thought it was difficult to understand the status quo with Iran. Last week I posted General Keane’s assessment here. Suffice it to say that he was dubious about the prospects of a peaceful resolution. John posted Condoleezza Rice’s assessment here. She noticed that Iran’s exertion of control over the Strait of Hormuz constituted a dangling thread. Leaning on Khaled Abu Toameh and Victor Davis Hanson, I posted my own
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June 7, 2026 — Scott Johnson
At my oldest kids’ primary school in the 1990s, study of the Yanomamö bushmen permeated the curriculum. By the time my oldest daughter moved on from the school to seventh grade, I believe she “knew” — much of what she was taught isn’t true — more about the Yanomamö than she did about American history. I should have been paying more attention, but I had other battles to fight with
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June 6, 2026 — Scott Johnson
You undoubtedly saw the actor Charles Durning in what might have been a favorite movie or two, including such gems as The Sting, Dog Day Afternoon, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and several others. Those just happen to be my favorite of his films. Durning died in 2012 at the age of 89. His accessible Variety obituary is posted online here. Durning was also a decorated Army vet who served
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June 6, 2026 — Scott Johnson
My college classmate John Floberg retired after a distinguished career in neurology. We took Professor Peter Bien’s freshman seminar on Politics and the Novel together during our first term. John is originally from Chicago but we reconnected in the Twin Cities through Power Line 40 years after our studies with Professor Bien. Last year John wrote “Doorstops” for us. Following in a family tradition, John served as a commissioned Navy
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June 5, 2026 — Scott Johnson
I am traveling early this morning and most of the day to the wedding of John Hammel Strauss, the son of Berney Strauss, in upstate New York. Berney was my best college friend. After college we went to graduate school together pursuing our interest in literature before shifting our attention elsewhere. In lieu of my usual deliberations over the news of the day, I want to invoke Berney’s memory while
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June 4, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Jack Keane is the retired four-star General, former Vice Chief of Staff of the Army and chairman of the Institute for the Study of War. He is smart and well-informed. He discusses where we are and whither we are tending in the conflict with Iran. His observations on the status quo help to arbitrate the differences between John and me. He is the guest on the current What the Hell
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