Search Results for: contra

Contrary Speculations

Featured image • Ax yourself a question (as Kamala Harris might put it): If you are an ambitious Democrat—say, Gavin Gruesom, Wretched Whitmer, Josh Shaprio, etc—do you really want Kamala Harris to win this election? If she does win, it would seem more likely than not that she’ll be the nominee again four years from now, which means that your next shot at running will be 2032. Today’s fair-haired Democrats like Newsom »

Living with contradiction

Featured image New York Post columnist Miranda Devine literally wrote the book on The Laptop From Hell. Subtitle: Hunter Biden, Big Tech, and the Dirty Secrets the President Tried to Hide. Whenever she updates the continuing saga of Hunter Biden, attention must be paid. Today the reader’s attention is rewarded with low comedy: Hunter has been making all of his 16 lawyers in cases across the country go through this charade of »

Podcast: The 3WHH, on Equality and Equity Contrasted

Featured image A frequent recurrence to the fundamental principles of the Constitution, and a constant adherence to those of piety, justice, moderation, temperance, industry, and frugality, are absolutely necessary, to preserve the advantages of liberty, and to maintain a free government. —Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 This week’s conversation offers up some new whisky choices while continuing with a consideration of an issue raised but not fully sorted out in last week’s Happy »

Democrats Put Out a Contract on Justice Barrett [Updated]

Featured image Would-be assassin Nicholas Roske failed to carry out his mission of assassinating Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. This isn’t surprising: the sort of person who acts on incitement from the likes of Chuck Schumer is more or less deranged, and more or less incompetent. Yet there are more where Roske came from, and one of them may succeed. What do the Democrats think about attempted assassinations of Supreme Court justices? »

Top generals contradict Biden on advice he received about Afghanistan

Featured image The Senate Armed Services is conducting a hearing today into Joe Biden’s Afghanistan fiasco. I’ve been tied up with other business and therefore unable to watch the proceedings. Trying to catch up on what has transpired, I came across this piece in Politico. It demonstrates that Biden is either (1) lying about what generals recommended to him about withdrawing from Afghanistan or (2) lacks a good enough memory to serve »

Ashli Babbitt and George Floyd, compare and contrast

Featured image The Washington Post doesn’t like the fact that Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed by a police officer inside the Capitol on January 6 of this year, is being viewed by some as a martyr. The Post’s story, by anti-Trumper Josh Dawsey and Paul Schwartzman, drips with contempt for the notion that Babbitt could be a martyr. I don’t recall the Post ever questioning the view that George Floyd »

Gregg Popovich and Steve Kerr, compare and contrast

Featured image Gregg Popovich and Steve Kerr have several things in common. Both are legendary NBA coaches who coached their teams to multiple championship. Popovich’s San Antonio Spurs have won five. Kerr’s Golden State Warriors have won three. Kerr played on two of Popovich’s championship teams. Both are outspoken about politics. Both were severe critics of Donald Trump. I can’t think of any coach in any sport who attacked Trump as vigorously »

Kerry contradicts

Featured image John Kerry denies that he confided in Javad Zarif what Zarif told his interlocutor in the recording leaked to the New York Times (tweet below). The Washington Examiner reports Kerry’s denial here. I can tell you that this story and these allegations are unequivocally false. This never happened – either when I was Secretary of State or since. https://t.co/BTOdFE1khW — John Kerry (@JohnKerry) April 26, 2021 Now in assessing the »

The Geek in Pictures: Contra-Grabber Edition

Featured image • So it looks like we’re going to have another gun control debate, because gun violence is an “epidemic,” a public health problem (cue the CDC), because Americans own too many guns and are too violent. So I guess it’s time for a few charts on the subject, whose conclusions you can draw yourself: See also Slate, on “Mass Shooters Aren’t Disproportionately White.” • Next up: hate crimes. Which we »

GameStop Contrarianism

Featured image A good friend who is extremely knowledgeable about financial matters writes about the GameStop/Reddit story: I find the whole spectacle a disturbing case of unreason and run-amok passions — including, if not especially, on our side. Some questions: (1) What’s wrong with hedge funds? They’re just high risk investment vehicles; the lumpen-intelligentsia might consider that teachers’ pensions and those of “public servants” — to the extent that they are actually »

Begin and Biden, compare and contrast

Featured image Last month, in a guest post for Power Line, Stephen Silbiger wrote about a 1982 confrontation between Joe Biden and Menachem Begin, Israel’s prime minister at the time. When Biden threatened to cut off aid to Israel, Begin looked directly at the young Senator and responded, in part: Don’t threaten us with cutting off aid to Israel. It will not work. I am not a Jew with trembling knees. Tevi »

Our Four Largest States: Compare and Contrast

Featured image Yesterday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted this comparison of California, Texas, Florida and New York. It is simple but interesting in several respects: Hmmm… pic.twitter.com/k4S9xlGvdF — Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 18, 2020 Obviously, the comparison undermines the liberal conceit that shutdown orders save lives. Many similar comparisons have been done, generally supporting the same conclusion, like this one. It is also noteworthy that the states with the lowest taxes also »

Roger Scruton Contra Mundum: Who’s the Greatest?

Featured image [Note: This lengthy post is mainly intended for our academic readers and connoisseurs of conservative intellectual history, and if this is not your cup of tea—like Paul’s soccer posts—you’ll want to move on right away to another item and spare us your TL;DR complaints. . .] I had a notion that when I said in my observance of the passing of Sir Roger Scruton that he was “the greatest conservative »

Dave Martinez, a contrarian view

Featured image It’s difficult to say anything about the world champion Washington Nationals that hasn’t already been said. But I have at least one unique take on the Nats: Their manager, Dave Martinez, is getting way too much praise. Rumor has it that Martinez is a strong candidate for National League Manager of the Year. This would be an odd honor for a manager whose team barely made the Wild Card game »

Trump and the Senate Republicans on China: Compare and contrast

Featured image This is the 70th anniversary of a dark day in history — the founding of the Chinese Communist dictatorship. Jay Nordlinger correctly calls this dictatorship “one of the great tragedies and horrors of modern times.” John McCormick provides examples of the horrors: A decade [after the revolution], Mao’s Great Leap Forward killed perhaps 45 million people. The Communist regime still denies its people freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and »

Australia and Ukraine, compare and contrast

Featured image I agree with Scott that the latest media attack on President Trump — the New York Times’ report that “Trump Pressed Australian Leader to Help Barr Investigate Mueller Inquiry’s Origins” — is a non-scandal. As Scott notes, the report does not appear to be accurate. In any event, there would be nothing wrong with Trump pressing a foreign leader for cooperation in a Justice Department investigation of possible wrongdoing. As »

The Mueller Report and the Starr Report: Compare and contrast

Featured image In his long-awaited report, special counsel Robert Mueller found that the evidence failed to establish “collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia. In addition, he did not find that President Trump committed obstruction of justice, the only other offense discussed in the report. By contrast, independent counsel Kenneth Starr, in his 1998 report, established that President Clinton perjured himself during a civil deposition, conspired to obstruct justice, violated criminal prohibitions »