News you can use

News You Can Use on . . . Naked Biking?

Featured image Like everyone, I get a lot of unsolicited emails with the classic clickbait trick of offering a “top ten” list or something like it. I usually delete or block them without opening, but this one succeeded in getting the click, and I am sure it is news some Power Line readers will want to know (whether as a list of where to avoid, or cycle to, I leave to you »

I read the news today

Featured image Trying to round up the news this morning with a few comments. • The Reid out: Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid died yesterday at the age of 82. The New York Times pays tribute to Senator Reid in the obituary by Jonathan Martin. Senator McConnell has posted a generous press release on Reid’s passing. I offer condolences to his family and friends. • May I add that the death »

Today’s Breaking News [Updated]

Featured image A lot of news stories breaking today, so let’s jump on a couple. “President” Biden fell down three times boarding Air Force One today. How soon before they have to equip the AF1 staircase with one of those elevator chairs? Cue Chevy Chase and an SNL sketch. UPDATE: Here is the best take on it: More important: National Review has today—finally—succeeded in getting Michael Mann’s libel suit dismissed, after eight »

Today’s Free Comic Relief from the Left

Featured image In the Annals of Ridiculous Headlines and Fake News, this one may be the all time winner: Dan Rather Creates Graphic Novel To Unite Us In March 2019, First Second Books launched a new line of political graphic novels, World Citizen Comics, to bring in names such as Dan Rather, Seth Abramson, Jennifer L. Pozner, and more. Legendary news anchor Dan Rather provides a voice of reason and explores what it means »

Announcements: On the Road Again

Featured image This week is week three of a four-week almost non-stop road itinerary for me, which is why posts are—and will continue to be—sporadic. I’m starting to feel like a rock star on the road, except without the limos, roadies, groupies, drugs, and heart-valve replacement surgery. So in other words, not like a rock star at all really. Anyway, I’m making a few public appearances this week that are free and »

Taking on Tucker

Featured image Readers may have followed the ruckus that Tucker Carlson ignited on Fox News with his January 3rd monologue that many read as an abandonment of free market principles and an embrace of unguided populism, or at the very least, an implicit endorsement of protectionism on behalf of manufacturing and skilled labor jobs in the heartland. Now, I can pick a lot of nits with a number of particulars that Tucker »

Breaking: Feel Good Story of the Day

Featured image You have permission to have an adult beverage early today if you like: US official: airstrike kills terrorist behind USS Cole bombing The terrorist behind the 2000 attack on the USS Cole is believed to have been killed in a US airstrike in Yemen on Tuesday, according to a US administration official. Jamel Ahmed Mohammed Ali Al-Badawi was an al Qaeda operative who the US believes helped orchestrate the October »

This Week @ Yale

Featured image After the election is over tomorrow, I’ll be returning to Yale for the next installment of my lecture series there for the William F. Buckley Program, this time on the provocative title, “Justice Without Hyphens: The Dead End of Post-Modernism.” Yup, I’m planning to throw down, Jordan Peterson-style. Here’s a sample from the lecture to whet your appetite: It is not easy to get your hands around just what we »

Next Month at Grove City

Featured image For all readers in the environs of the greater Pittsburgh/northwestern Pennsylvania area, next month, on Saturday, August 11, I’ll be giving the wrap-up keynote address for the two-day summer conference of the National Association of Scholars, which is being held at Grove City College. The conference is open to the public, though there is a modest registration fee and the deadline to sign up is Friday of this week. It’s »

More Fun Times for East Bay Readers

Featured image A few weeks ago I posed on Facebook my candidate for 2020—”Furry Boi,” who was (for the time being) merely running for a seat on the Berkeley student senate. Here’s “Furry Boi” in all his glory: Well, the student election was held last week, and Furry Boi . . . won a senate seat. This is going to add a whole new dimension to everyone afflicted with ADD: Look—squirrel!  (Okay, »

News: Return to Boulder

Featured image For all of you Rocky Mountain/greater Denver readers, I am doing my Douglas MacArthur act and returning to the University of Colorado at Boulder next Monday, April 9, for one day only, participating once again in the University’s annual Conference on World Affairs, where I’ll once again torment Boulder liberals by praising their environmental “greenbelt” around the town for making the conservative quarantine so much easier to enforce. You can »

The Nanny-State Chronicles: Gas Pains in Oregon

Featured image I’m always happy to beat down on the perpetual silliness of my home state of Wackyfornia, but from time to time it is important to point out that our neighbor to the north—Oregon—is in many ways crazier than California, and has been for a long long time. After all, Oregon legalized pot several years before California got around to it, and Portlandia really is a pretty accurate documentary. The latest »

And in Other “Settled Science”

Featured image A recent book on Alcohol and Aging offers this very important chapter abstract: Epidemiological studies have observed that older adults who consume light to moderate amounts of alcohol have higher cognitive functioning and are less likely to develop different types of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, compared to older adults who do not consume alcohol. Similar findings have been reported by studies that have examined midlife alcohol consumption and cognitive functioning »

A New Theme from Glenn Reynolds

Featured image Glenn Reynolds, the ubermensch of the blogosphere, has a number of running heds on Instapundit that he either created or extends in the most creative ways. You’ll recognize them: • Higher education bubble update. • Choose the form of your destructor. • Teach women not to rape. • Why are Democrat run cities such cesspools of violence and racism? • They told me if Trump were elected we’d see [fill in the »

And Now for Something Completely Different: Stop Whining, Drink Wine!

Featured image We’ve long known that red wine reduces the risk of heart attacks and several other ailments, which is why daily consumption of red wine is part of my health regimen. But did you know wine also makes you smarter? It’s settled science! At least according to a new book, Neuroenology: How the Brain Creates the Taste of Wine, by Gordon Shepherd. Mike Meisner of Napa Valley’s Last Bottle Bar summarizes »

Attn: Central Valley Readers! Party Thursday

Featured image For all Power Line readers in the greater Fresno area of California’s central valley—the part of the wacky state that voted for Trump—I’ll be speaking Thursday night at the College of the Sequoias at 7 pm in Ponderosa Hall, on the topic, “The Crisis in Higher Education: It’s Even Worse Than You Think.” The poster for the event appears below, but the press release from the College begins, “Visalia, CA, »

A Preview of Past Attractions, or, How to Drive Liberals Mad

Featured image As many of you know (because I saw some of you), I spent last week as an inmate at the annual Conference on World Affairs at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The CWA is a big thing there every year, and it features roughly 100 speakers from all around the world and a big audience. Being Boulder, it is an overwhelmingly liberal affair. I counted exactly seven (7) conservatives »