June 9, 2026 — Steven Hayward
This week’s spotlight on new books about the Declaration of Independence features Hillsdale College historian Bradley Birzer, whose book is The Declaration of Independence: A Radical Experiment in Liberty, just out last month from Stone House Press. Prof. Birzer’s book has a somewhat shorter time frame than some of the other books we have discussed in this series, which often take the run-up to the Declaration back to the 1760s
»
June 6, 2026 — Steven Hayward
On the whole, it’s been a good week. It’s not every week that serves up the kind of supreme schadenfreudey goodness that comes from the firing of the pompous CBS News blowhard Scott Pelley, with more to follow. Less noticed was that NPR laid off most of its climate change reporters this week, too. If NPR is giving up on the climate crusade, it is well and truly over. The
»
June 3, 2026 — Steven Hayward
I’m finally back from two weeks overseas mixing an academic conference with some vacationing, and just in time. Here I am hanging on every word from the great John Malcolm at Università degli Studi di Enna Kore in Sicily last week. We’re now only a month away from the July 4 semiquincentennial of the founding of our country, and there’s still time to acquire and read through some of the
»
May 23, 2026 — Steven Hayward
Greetings from Palermo, where I’m currently on a diplomatic mission to sort out the Europeans. Meanwhile, the salient news of the week is that Republicans seem to dealing with the anti-Semites in their midst while Democrats nominate theirs for higher office. More significantly, in purging Sen. Bill Cassidy and Rep. Thomas “Hot Mess” Massie (did Trump ever call him that?—he should have if not), Trump has achieved what Franklin Roosevelt
»
May 19, 2026 — Steven Hayward
Normally I’m not much of a Nicholas Cage fan, and I have mostly outgrown action-adventure movies, but I do very much like the short scene, excerpted in the cold open in the podcast file below, from “National Treasure,” set in the National Archives, where Cage gazes reverently at the Declaration of Independence and recites the “right of revolution” passage from the middle of the famous second paragraph, after which he
»
May 12, 2026 — Steven Hayward
This special classic format podcast series leading up to July 4 will start to pick up steam in the next couple weeks. I resume here with John G. West of the Discovery Institute, who sat down with me recently in his Seattle office to discuss his new book, Endowed by Our Creator: The Bible, Science, and the Battle for America’s Soul. Margaret Thatcher once remarked that “Europe was created by
»
May 10, 2026 — Steven Hayward
Note: I am interrupting my extended sabbatical (which will soon involve spending most of the next four months overseas working on two books) from commenting on news of the day to dilate John’s post immediately below about how Minnesota Democrats reversed course on investigating social service program fraud in Minnesota. I thought about posting this just as a comment, but as it grew I then thought, what the heck. .
»
May 9, 2026 — Steven Hayward
People ridiculed President Trump in his first term when he founded the Space Force as a new branch of the military. Well who’s laughing now? True, it might seem that building a wall against alien incursions is impossible, but didn’t Star Trek solve this decades ago with modulated shields? And we’re already long past making analogies between the Administrative State and The Borg. And this, you see, is why I
»
April 25, 2026 — Steven Hayward
Looks to be a race on to see whose assets shrink fastest: Ilhan Omar from “better accounting,” or the Southern Poverty Law Center from criminal prosecution, fines, and more lawsuits to come. (By the way, why hasn’t Omar or someone ever launched the Northern Poverty Law Center? Is there something extra special about southern poverty?) Move over turtles: It’s frauds all the way down. (Plus, did you know that pickleball
»
April 20, 2026 — Steven Hayward
The old Power Line classic format podcast is being fully restored to Ricochet this week, and it coincides with a series I am launching today, which will consist of one-on-one conversations with authors and thinkers who have worthy things to say about the Declaration of Independence on the occasion of its 250th anniversary. I can hardly keep up with the flood of new books on the subject, and so this
»
April 11, 2026 — Steven Hayward
Among the many genius effects of Trump is that his crazy-man approach to dealing with our enemies only makes our enemies more insane and intransigent than before. I refer, of course, to the Democratic Party (and the mainstream media, but I repeat myself). It is a remarkable thing that Iran appears (at this writing—this could change before these pixels are dry) to be more reasonable than Democrats when it comes
»
March 29, 2026 — Steven Hayward
Yep, it’s happening. I’m getting the band back together, and reviving the Power Line Classic Podcast format, featuring me in one-on-one conversation with individual guests of note, though from time to time we may get the whole Power Line Gang together to appear on some special legacy episodes. This has been a while in the making, partly by popular demand from listeners who liked the conversations I used to do
»
March 28, 2026 — Steven Hayward
Does it seem sometimes like life is just one long TSA line? Cheer up! You could be a ship stuck at the Strait of Hormuz. But I have an idea that will supercharge this weekend’s off-Broadway revival of the “No Kings” improv troupes. Here it is: Headlines of the week: And finally. . .
»
March 14, 2026 — Steven Hayward
Is he alive or is he dead? When it comes to the new ayatollah, the answer is ultimately Yes. If he is alive, it won’t be for long. Who wants to tell him? Sadly, I don’t have any memes yet for Judge Lawrence VanDyke’s amazing dissent at the 9th Circuit Friday. (If you haven’t heard about this, see the third item here.) Headlines of the week: And finally. .
»
February 28, 2026 — Steven Hayward
So I gather “mogging,” and/or “mogged” is the new hip term for . . . something . . . among the Gen Z or Millennials, like “flexing” a decade ago. And it seems “maxxing” goes with it somehow. I can’t keep up. But somehow I suspect both terms can be used creatively with Gruesom Newsom, whose 2028 presidential campaign is already over, though he won’t know this for another couple
»
February 14, 2026 — Steven Hayward
I am calling for a complete and total shutdown of all Super Bowl halftime shows until we can figure out what the hell is going on. Moreover, I am calling for President Trump to appoint a bipartisan commission of inquiry chaired by Bugs Bunny, with full subpoena power over Bad Bunny, Good Bunny, and Okay Bunny. Also Roger Goodell, who I am renaming Roger Badell. I vote for next year’s
»
January 31, 2026 — Steven Hayward
Next Monday is Groundhog Day, but it needs updating. No, not because the PETA lunatics want us to replace Punxsutawney Phil with a hologram (see Section 3 below), but because there are other persistent things for which the groundhog indicator could be redeployed. Like ICE protests, because it is the categorical imperative of the Omnicause that protests must go on no matter how cold the weather. Or like Sydney Sweeney.
»
