April 14, 2021 — John Hinderaker

Minnesota Officer Charged With Manslaughter

Featured image Former Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter was charged with second-degree manslaughter this afternoon. As you no doubt know, she tried to tase Daunte Wright as Wright was fighting with two other officers, and inadvertently pulled her Glock instead of her taser. This is the relevant statute: 609.205 MANSLAUGHTER IN THE SECOND DEGREE. A person who causes the death of another by any of the following means is guilty of »
April 14, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff

Biden commemorates 9/11 anniversary with surrender to Taliban

Featured imageThere are various ways the U.S. could commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on our homeland. Joe Biden has decided to commemorate them by effectively surrendering to the terrorist outfit that made the attacks possible. Biden says the U.S. will withdraw from Afghanistan by September 11 of this year. There are arguments in favor of pulling out of that country, although I believe the stronger case is for »
April 13, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff

Cannabis equity, the next frontier in wokeness

Featured imageA friend from California sent me a document from the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. It’s called “Cannabis Equity Grants Programs For Local Jurisdictions.” As I read the document, California’s program will provide $2 million to help localities establish a “cannabis equity” program. An additional $13 million will be used to help “equity applicants” set up and operate cannabis businesses. “Equity applicants” include (and seem to be limited »
April 14, 2021 — John Hinderaker

An Epidemic of Police Violence?

Featured imageIf you didn’t know better, you would think that we are experiencing an epidemic of police violence against black men. And, strangely, Minnesota seems to be epicenter of the phenomenon. The Star Tribune keeps a running toll of deaths resulting from police encounters in Minnesota. For the period 2000 to 2021, the total is 207, of whom 54% were white and 27% were black. Of course, suspect behavior has a »
April 13, 2021 — Steven Hayward

It’s Official: Dems Want Tax Cut for The Rich

Featured imageIf you need proof that Democrats are really on the side of the plutocracy, look no further than New York’s Democratic House members, who today wrote to Speaker Pelosi threatening to vote against any of (P)resident Biden’s tax increase proposals unless the bill includes full repeal of the state and local tax (SALT) deduction limitations that were part of Trump’s 2017 tax reform. The SALT limitation was the single most »
April 13, 2021 — John Hinderaker

Today’s Least Surprising News Story

Featured imageProject Veritas has struck again. Using, as I understand it, a series of Tinder dates, Veritas has CNN’s Technical Director, Charlie Chester, admitting some things on tape that would be embarrassing if CNN were a news organization. Like, that CNN’s major focus in recent years was to drive Donald Trump out of the presidency. Which Chester claims credit for doing. Or the fact that CNN has tried to make Joe »
April 13, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff

A vaccination pause that seems senseless and harmful

Featured imageAmerica’s health bureaucracies have been forced by the pandemic to make dozens of difficult decisions and recommendations. Some of them have been sound and some have been flawed. In some cases, we still don’t know for sure whether the decisions/recommendations were sound or flawed. I don’t blame these bureaucracies for getting stuff wrong. They were faced with a virus about which very little was known. It was always likely that, »
April 13, 2021 — John Hinderaker

Riot? What Riot?

Featured imageMost of the Twin Cities metro area was under a 7:00 p.m. curfew last night, leading to cancellation of a Minnesota Twins home game and other sports events. Rioting and looting were widespread in Brooklyn Center, where the police encounter with Daunte Wright took place, and elsewhere. The National Guard was deployed along with local law enforcement to try to limit the damage done by rioters. More bottles coming toward »
April 12, 2021 — John Hinderaker

Is The Coronavirus Finished?

Featured imageThe Centers for Disease Control is an unreliable, politicized agency, in my opinion. But I assume they can aggregate death totals accurately from local sources. For the last year, there clearly have been some excess deaths, from all causes, over demographically predicted norms. That is what the chart below, from CDC’s web site, shows. But we also know that the overwhelming majority of people who died from covid, or rather »
April 12, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff

Trump lashes out

Featured imageOn Saturday, Donald Trump spoke to a Republican National Committee event at Mar-a-Lago. From reports by some in attendance, it looks like the former president, in true Trumpian fashion, aired grievances and bitterly attacked former allies. Most notably, Trump went after Mitch McConnell. Reportedly, he called the Minority Leader a “dumb son of a bitch” and claimed that Chuck Schumer would never have allowed the 2020 presidential results to be »
April 12, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff

How Joe Biden created the border crisis

Featured imageByron York begins his article on the present border crisis this way: Anyone paying attention to the news knows the situation on the U.S.-Mexico border is terrible. Anyone who actually visits the border discovers it is worse than that. Byron bases this statement on his visit to the border, during which he accompanied a group of GOP House members. The observations in his report support his conclusion. But why is »
April 13, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff

A “very beautiful” attack

Featured imageWe’re learning more about Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear facility at Natanz. Initially, the event was reported as a cyber attack and cyber may, in fact, have played a part. However, explosives were the main component. The Jerusalem Post reports that the attack was carried out through a device smuggled into the facility and detonated remotely. The explosives reportedly took out both the primary and backup electrical systems. (At Natanz, »
April 13, 2021 — Steven Hayward

Energy Charade Update

Featured imageIt is hard to tell sometimes whether the climatistas actually believe their apocalyptic catechism about “settled science,” how we can meet all of our energy needs with wind, solar, and processed banana peels, or whether it is just an excuse to centralize more political power over people and resources, preferably at the international level. (Of course, the two hypotheses are not mutually exclusive.) Or maybe, as we suggested Sunday in »
April 12, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff

Putin tests Biden, as well he might

Featured imageJohn wrote below about the heightened threat Russia is now posing to Ukraine. Taking an American-centric view of the matter, some news outlets characterize Russia’s move as “testing Biden.” Russia’s actions will test Biden. But it doesn’t follow that Vladimir Putin is taking these actions for that purpose. I think it’s true, however, that our adversaries are far more likely to take aggressive action against our allies when they sense »
April 12, 2021 — John Hinderaker

War In Ukraine?

Featured imageAmerica’s adversaries are on the march. China has suppressed Hong Kong and threatens Taiwan, along with Japan and other Asian allies of America. ISIS is rearing its head again in the Middle East. And Russia is once again threatening Ukraine. Russia now has more troops along its border with Ukraine than at any time since 2014, and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has little hope that war can be avoided. Moscow’s »
April 12, 2021 — John Hinderaker

“Shit! I shot him.”

Featured imageBodycam footage has been released on the police shooting last night in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Three police officers, one black man, one white man and one woman, stopped a vehicle being driven by 20-year-old Daunte Wright. Wright was wanted on an arrest warrant. Initially Wright got out of his car, but then apparently changed his mind, fought with police officers, climbed back into his car and drove away. As the »
April 12, 2021 — Steven Hayward

What’s Going On In the World?

Featured imageWhen we look out on the world scene and how the Biden Administration is positioning itself, everyone should keep in mind the summary statement of former Defense Secretary and CIA director Robert Gates (no one’s idea of a partisan firebrand, as he’s been serving presidents of both parties since the Carter Administration): Joe Biden, Gates said, “has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the »