Obama administration
June 17, 2013 — John Hinderaker
The Miss USA pageant was last night; it was won by Erin Brady, Miss Connecticut: There is an interesting trend toward the Northeast in Miss USA, as last year’s winner (and this year’s Miss Universe) was Olivia Culpo, Miss Rhode Island. But today’s news about the pageant focused less on Miss Brady than on Marissa Powell, Miss Utah. Miss Powell was the third runner-up, but she was deemed to have
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June 14, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
President Obama has drawn plenty of criticism for his position on aiding Syrian rebels in light of his acknowledgement that the Assad regime has crossed his “red line” by using chemical weapons. Here is the key part of the administration’s response to that development: [T]he President has augmented the provision of non-lethal assistance to the civilian opposition, and also authorized the expansion of our assistance to the Supreme Military Council
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June 8, 2013 — John Hinderaker
We are now nearly five years into the Age of Obama, and I think pretty much everyone understands that, economically speaking, the record is poor. If you think unprecedented levels of unemployment and poverty, declining labor force participation, booming food stamp use and so on are the signs of a healthy economy, then you should be satisfied with the Obama administration. Otherwise, not. It must have hurt the New York
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June 5, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Josh Kraushaar has an interesting National Journal column on Obama’s appointments of Susan “it was the YouTube video” Rice and Samantha “let’s invade Israel” Power today. Borrowing from the title of Power’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, I think of these ladies as “a problem from hell,” but that’s unfair. They reflect the boss. Here is the opening of Kraushaar’s column: A hallmark of the Obama administration is its imperviousness to conventional
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June 3, 2013 — Scott Johnson
In the Wall Street Journal, Fred Barnes makes the case that the Obama presidency is in “an unexpected and sharp state of decline.” Barnes differentiates Obama’s decline from the scandals, though he asserts that the scandals make recovery “next to impossible.” Carried over from Obama’s first term, The implementation of Obamacare is on the horizon and is a rather big deal. Here is what Barnes says about it: The exclusion
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May 24, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
President Obama’s legendary intellectual dishonesty was on full display once again in his “The Future of our Fight Against Terrorism” address. In essence, the speech called for a pullback, if not an end to, the “war” on terrorism. He prefaced this call with a quote from James Madison: “No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.” And he pushed it home by emphasizing the duration of
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May 23, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
With so many scandals in the picture or looming, it’s easy to miss the fact that President Obama may soon become one of the most successful presidents in American history. I’m defining success as fulfilling Obama’s mission of substantially transforming America. The Obama administration scandals matter because, to one degree or another, they involve scandalous conduct. But step back for moment. In 20 years, very few people will remember any
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May 20, 2013 — Scott Johnson
I’m attending the two-day Upper Midwest Employment Law Institute in St. Paul this year. It’s a great program that attracts leading practitioners from all around the country. I have attended several times in years past, but this year I’m here because I need the continuing legal education credits (including Minnesota’s offensive get-your-mind right elimination-of-bias requirement) before June 30. The institute program draws a large audience which begins with plenary sessions
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May 2, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Yesterday the FBI posted images of three suspects captured by surveillance cameras on the grounds of the U.S. Special Mission in Benghazi, Libya, when it was attacked on September 11, 2012 — the attack that resulted in the deaths of Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Why has it taken the FBI eight months to get around to releasing the images if they need the help? That’s
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April 30, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Victor Davis Hanson borrows the concept of the Borg from Star Trek (“the fictional alien race that appears as recurring antagonists in various incarnations”) to capture the Obama administration’s groupthink reformulating the war on terror. The Obama Borg, as Hanson dubs it, dissociate Islam from terrorism. The denial has reached absurd proportions with results that would be laughable if they weren’t so serious and pathetic. We are all familiar with
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April 15, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Reflecting upon developments in Cyprus, where bank savings accounts were to be taxed to pay for an IMF bailout. Glenn Reynolds suggested that some enterprising GOP member of the House or Senate introduce a bill to make such shenanigans illegal — and dare the Democrats to oppose it. At Reason, Nick Gillespie has seconded Glenn’s motion: I think Reynolds is on to something, though I’d be happy to see legislators
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April 13, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Any port in a storm: the Obama administration would rather talk about anything other than the economy. Understandably. So it’s one damn thing after another. Michael Ramirez notes the administration’s most recent preoccupation:
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April 13, 2013 — Scott Johnson
As we have noted many times, Jeff Sessions has become the Senate’s indispensable man on the our ruinous federal debt and deficit. In January Senator Sessions took a look at the role played by then OMB Director Jack Lew in the Obama administration’s stage management of the related public relations issues. Not pretty. Lew is not a man constrained by hidebound notions of veracity. Lew proved his worth to President
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April 11, 2013 — John Hinderaker
One of these days I will get around to writing about President Obama’s proposed budget; Paul has already done so here. In the meantime, here is a humorous video produced by the Free Enterprise Alliance titled “You May Already Be a Loser.” I think that if people really understood what the federal government is doing to them, there would be a run on tar and feathers: Now for the unintentional
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April 11, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, the White House finally released its proposed budget. The media promptly touted it as a major step forward, one that can produce a grand bargain on deficit reduction if only Republicans will respond in kind. The gushing first paragraph’s of the Washington Post’s story (by Lori Montgomery) are typical. But Obama’s proposal cannot serve as the basis for a grand bargain. Although it contains some useful steps forward on
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April 9, 2013 — Scott Johnson
In one of his routines on the justice system dating back to the early 1970′s, comedian Richard Pryor commented sarcastically (in language rated XXX): “You go down there looking for justice, that’s what you find: Just us.” Pryor was referring to the racial composition of the players involved in the administration of justice. Times have changed substantially in that respect, but reading Ben Shapiro’s account of President Obama’s gun control
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April 8, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Katrina Trinko wonders whether Tom Perez, President Obama’s nominee for Secretary of Labor, will face the kind of stiff opposition in the Senate that Chuck Hagel encountered. He certainly should. Indeed, he should be filibustered. Trinko notes that in 2009, 22 Republicans voted against Perez’s confirmation to lead the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Since then, Perez has done plenty to warrant more robust opposition. Consider: Perez is under congressional
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