Monthly Archives: May 2013
May 28, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Bret Stephens took up the subject of what he called “China eco-boosterism” in his Wall Street Journal column last week (behind the Journal’s subscription wall). It put those dead pigs that turned up floating down the Whampoa river earlier this year in a cruel, if familiar, American context: Once upon a time the future belonged to China—and China was going to be green. Greener than the hills of olde England.
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May 27, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
In a post called “The Inevitable Decline of Great Britain (Con’t)”, John wrote that “in Great Britain, the authorities have no idea what to do about the real problem, an endless series of murders and attempted murders by fanatics yelling ‘Allahu Akbar!’” And John is right. However, the British public has at least a clue. A survey taken for the Daily Mail shows that almost two-thirds of voters in the
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May 27, 2013 — John Hinderaker
The answer to that question apparently is No, although you may need to be a statistician to fully appreciate Doug Keenan’s explanation. You don’t need any expertise in statistics, however, to follow the entertaining story of how the British government has bobbed and weaved in response to the Parliamentary Question, “whether they consider a rise in global temperature of 0.8 degrees Celsius since 1880 to be significant.” The important news
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May 27, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Which side should the U.S. wish to see prevail in the Syrian civil war? For me, the correct answer has seemed to be: neither side, just as it was during the war between Iran and Iraq. A victory by the butcher Assad has never looked like a good outcome, and it looks worse than ever now that Hezbollah and Iran are backing him so strongly. But a victory by the
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May 27, 2013 — John Hinderaker
The Left is hard at work on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. One aspect of that effort is a movie called Rodham, to be directed by James Ponstoldt. The film will deal with “Clinton’s time as a lawyer for the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate investigation.” Did Hillary play a significant role in Watergate? No, but I suppose the filmmakers thought that was more promising material than her years
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May 27, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Decades ago, Paul Krugman did useful work as an academic economist in the area of international trade. But those days are gone: Krugman long ago gave up any pretense of academic seriousness and became a partisan, left-wing hack. We are proud of the role we have played (along with many others) in exposing Krugman’s mendacity and laziness; you can find a summary of our efforts here. Nevertheless, Krugman continues to
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May 27, 2013 — Steven Hayward
It is well worth the ten minutes or so it takes to read this American Thinker post by Norman Rogers from a couple of weeks ago that reviews the work of Roy Spencer, John Christy, and others on the question of climate sensitivity, which we have covered here several times in the past. And while this review of the devastating findings of Spencer and company, and how the climate establishment
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May 27, 2013 — Scott Johnson
David Horovitz is the founder and editor of the Times of Israel and an extremely reasonable man. When he emails to let me know that he has “just written and published this rather angry op-ed,” as he did this morning, I pay attention. David’s column is “Memo to Kerry: It’s not the economy, stupid.” Subhead: “The secretary’s ridiculous talk of $4 billion in private investment for the Palestinians demonstrates that
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May 27, 2013 — Scott Johnson
On Memorial Day 2007 the Wall Street Journal published a characteristically brilliant column by Peter Collier to mark the occasion. I don’t think we’ll read or hear anything more thoughtful or appropriate to the occasion today. Here it is: Once we knew who and what to honor on Memorial Day: those who had given all their tomorrows, as was said of the men who stormed the beaches of Normandy, for
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May 27, 2013 — Scott Johnson
It was eleven years ago this weekend that John Hinderaker went to Blogger and set up Power Line. On Memorial Day that weekend he gave me a call and invited me to contribute. Once one of my kids helped me get into the publishing platform, we were off and running. Last year on the occasion of our tenth anniversary I looked back to offer ten thoughts that I hoped might
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May 26, 2013 — Steven Hayward
Today, the eve of Memorial Day, also happens to be Trinity Sunday on the liturgical calendar, so it is fitting to recall Churchill’s Trinity Sunday exhortation to British forces during those grim days of May, 1940—a paraphrase from the Book of Maccabees in the Apocrypha: Today is Trinity Sunday. Centuries ago words were written to be a call and a spur to the faithful servants of Truth and Justice: “Arm
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May 26, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
It’s a slow scandal weekend, so why don’t we name our Power Line EPL all-stars for the just completed season? We’ll name three teams, like last year. And, as always, you should assume that the players you believe were criminally omitted would have made Power Line’s fourth team. First Team Petr Cech — Chelsea Pablo Zabaleta — Manchester City Leighton Baines — Everton Jan Vertonghen — Tottenham Hotspur Rio Ferdinand
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May 26, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Washington Post reporters Karen DeYoung and Scott Wilson (prompted, undoubtedly, by Team Obama) find that David Petraeus is to blame for the trouble in which the administration finds itself over the Benghazi talking points. It’s not exactly a case of “blame the dead guy” — more like blame the unfaithful guy, even if he is an American hero. In the Post’s telling, Petraeus drafted talking points that exceeded the scope
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May 26, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Brian Ward and I return with a special Memorial Day episode of the Hinderaker-Ward Experience. We talk about the scandals of the day and award our Loon of the Week prize to a dim-witted Democratic senator. But the highlight is our interview with guest Adam Carolla–actor, comedian and the number one podcaster in America. (We are hoping some of that will rub off on us.) Carolla talks about what it
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May 26, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Charles Enderlin is the France 2 Jerusalem correspondent who broadcast the incendiary account of the death of 12-year-old Muhammad al-Dura at the hands of Israeli troops operating in the Gaza Strip in September 2000. Based on film footage provided by a Palestinian cameraman, Enderlin’s report has become infamous among students of terrorist propaganda both for its destructive effects and for its probable falsity. The al-Dura affair bids to join the
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May 25, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Tuesday evening, Hugh Hewitt will be in town for a program sponsored by AM 1280 the Patriot: Taking Back the Tundra. The show will be in Brooklyn Park, and if you live within driving distance of there, I would urge you to attend. The program will include something of a Northern Alliance reunion: I will participate, and I think Scott will, too. Here is the information: The dinner is now
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May 25, 2013 — John Hinderaker
In Stockholm, riots have taken place for six consecutive nights, with windows smashed, cars and schools set on fire, and policemen pelted with rocks. This would normally be considered a major problem, but the Swedes seem to be taking it pretty casually: Since last Sunday, May 19, rioters have taken to the streets of Stockholm’s suburbs every night, torching cars, schools, stores, office buildings and residential complexes. Yesterday, a police
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