History
May 4, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Chuck Chalberg is the retired history professor who taught at Normandale Community College in the Twin Cities. He has written for us several time, usually when the Star Tribune finds his latest thoughts unfit to print. Chuck goes devilishly where angels fear to tread in the Star Tribune op-ed colum “Once a Trump voter, now a TDS sufferer,” published over the weekend. This must be the best op-ed column the
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April 28, 2026 — Scott Johnson
The Washington Free Beacon’s Ira Stoll treats Wendy Sherman’s deep thoughts on Iran in his biting column “Obama-Biden Iran Negotiator Says Trump Doesn’t Have Enough Experts, Bemoans ‘Genocide.’” Sherman of course served as the Obama administration State Departmet official who led the negotiations with Iran resulting in the 2015 giveaway known as the JCPOA. Sherman thought her background in social work perfectly prepared her for the job. The JCPOA that
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April 26, 2026 — Scott Johnson
John C. “Chuck” Chalberg, is retired professor of history at Normandale Community College in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the author of Rickey and Robinson: The Preacher, the Player, and America’s Game as well as Emma Goldman: American Individualist. Here Professor Chalberg responds to the recent Star Tribune op-ed column (linked below) by former Star Tribune reporter, former Minneapolis Mayor, and current Minneapolis Foundation CEO R.T. Rybak. For some reason or other
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April 24, 2026 — Scott Johnson
We attended the Federalist Society’s 2026 G. Barry Anderson Dinner and Award yesterday evening. Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge Matthew Johnson received the award for his scrupulous contributions to the court. Third Circuit Judge Thomas Hardiman was the keynote speaker. His subject was patriotism. It was a beautiful and moving speech. Some prominent publication like the Wall Street Journal should ask for a look at the text of Judge Hardiman’s
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April 20, 2026 — Scott Johnson
It was galling to watch President Obama take the actions he took with the effect of strengthening the enemies of the United States — and to be able to do nothing about it, except to vote for Donald Trump after the damage was done. The blessing Obama accorded the Castroite regime in Cuba was sick and sickening. He got nothing in return — he merely sought to reenforce the depredations
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April 17, 2026 — Scott Johnson
This past Wednesday Justice Thomas spoke at the University of Texas, Austin, to commemmorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The Civitas Institute has posted video of the speech on YouTube (the video at the bottom) with this introduction: Justice Clarence Thomas delivered a moving address at The University of Texas at Austin on the continued relevance of the Declaration of Independence. Describing the Declaration as the foundation
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April 11, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Borrowing a phrase Yeats’s poem “Sailing to Byzantium,” I want to flag Brendan O’Neill’s Spiked interview with historian and former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren. Spiked itself flags the interview as “We can’t make peace with a terrorist state.” I have posted video at the bottom. In the interview O’Neill and Oren take up where we were, where we are, and what lies ahead in our conflict
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April 3, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Professor James Hankins is the author of Volume I of The Golden Thread (The Ancient World and Christendom). Professor Allen Guelzo is the author of Volume II (The Modern and Contemporary West), Spencer Klavan reviews both volumes in “The Renegade Academy,” just posted online by the Claremont Review of Books. Klavan rightly deems the publication of The Golden Thread “a momentous achievement” and “a landmark event in the history of
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April 2, 2026 — Scott Johnson
In our Picks I will be posting essays and review from the forthcoming issue of the Claremont Review of Books as the editors make them available online. However, having noted the publication of the awesome two-volume history The Golden Thread in this post, I want to highlight Spencer Klavan’s review of the books in “The Renegade Academy.” In my comments I confined myself to noting what the two volumes had
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April 1, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for the Boston Globe. Yesterday he sent out a column to his Arguable subscribers (of whom I am one). He he has now made the column accessible here (with numerous links) on his personal site. The column hit home for me. Jeff has kindly granted us his permision to republish it on Power Line along with his best wishes for a safe and happy Passover
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March 23, 2026 — John Hinderaker
Christopher Columbus, one of the greatest explorers of all time, has become something of a litmus test. If you celebrate the fact that he discovered America and opened the door to one of the most important sagas in world history, you are a conservative. If you think Columbus was a villain, and the European settlement of the formerly-Edenic America was a tragedy, you are a liberal. President Trump understands that
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March 21, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Power Line reader John Flenniken worked as a crew member on the 2000 film Prisoners of Hope, capturing the testimony of former American prisoners of war in North Vietnam. Among them are Leo Thorsness, author of Surviving Hell, published and kept in print by Encounter Books, and Porter Halyburton, author of Reflections on Captivity, published and kept in print by the U.S. Naval Institute. Among other former POWs featured in
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March 15, 2026 — Scott Johnson
I ask readers to forgive me for repeating this personal note on the Ides of March. It is meant to pay tribute to my high school alma mater, my high school teachers — Latin teachers Lyman Hawbaker (who also taught ancient history) and Dave Sims in particular — and to my classmates. In the course of our high school years we were required to study Latin and dip our toes
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March 10, 2026 — Scott Johnson
The Iranian regime has reportedly sent out messages that may effect an “operational trigger” to activate “sleeper assets” according to an encrypted message intercepted by the government. Drawing on ABC’s first report, the related New York Post story is posted here. The government’s warning is hedged to reflect limitations of the underlying “preliminary signals anyalysis.” The story reminds me of former Wall Street Journal reporter Jay Solomon’s book The Iran
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March 5, 2026 — Scott Johnson
In 2005 Karl Zinsmeister was editor of the American Enterprise — the monthly publication of the American Enterprise Institute — when he invited John and me to write a historical essay on income taxes that would be included in an issue devoted to George W. Bush’s promotion of an “ownership society.” Remember? I don’t either. The issue was published in March 2005 with the cover flagging the theme: From Alms
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March 2, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Taking time out from what must be a slightly busy schedule, President Trump awarded Medals of Honor to soldiers serving in World War II (Master Sergeant Roddy Edmonds, posthumous), Vietnam (Command Sergeant Major Terry Richardson), and Afghanistan (Staff Sergeant Michael Ollis, killed in action). The Army has posted summaries of their heroics on X. The White House video of the ceremony begins with fanfare and the opening prayer. Trump’s opening
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March 2, 2026 — Scott Johnson
I recently returned to Mark Bowden’s Guests of the Ayatollah: The Iran Hostage Crisis: The First Battle in America’s War With Militant Islam. Supporting one front in the war of memoray against forgetting, it’s an invaluable book. In this morning’s Wall Street Journal Free Expression newsletter, Matthew Hennessey recalls that “It All Started With the Hostages.” He writes: No one who lived through it, no matter how young, could ever
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