Monthly Archives: November 2013
November 29, 2013 — Scott Johnson
I’ve looked for the best commentary I could find for and against the Joint Plan of Action the United States arrived at with Iran. I have read the document itself and sat in on briefings provided by David Albright, Emily Landau, senior officials of the Obama administration and others. Familiarity with the text of the short document seems to me one touchstone of intelligent commentary. One item I have not
»
November 28, 2013 — John Hinderaker
It happens every Thanksgiving: leftists crawl out from under their rocks and tell us that the holiday is a shameful celebration of “genocide.” These days, their preferred medium is Twitter. Here are a few samples: Most of the killjoys are unknown leftists, but the genocide theory of Thanksgiving may now be official dogma at MSNBC, which is a notch or two above “unknown.” Actually, some Indian tribes were victims of
»
November 28, 2013 — Steven Hayward
A few years ago the Thanksgiving craze was the “turducken” abomination. I counter-programmed pheasant and duck just to get even. (Heh.) But now comes this from Charles Phoenix: three pies baked inside a cake, a confection he is calling “Cherpumple.” Either way, this egregious aggression will not stand. I suppose the upside is that you could cover the entire Obama cabinet with just this one MIRV’ed pie. Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
»
November 28, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Isn’t it a bit churlish to dissect the president’s Thanksgiving Day message? After all, it is just a bit of holiday fluff written by some anonymous staffer, right? Nah. Obama delivered it, and messages of this sort can provide a valuable window into the assumptions that underlie everything an administration does. Plus, it’s fun. So here goes: Thanksgiving is an uncomfortable holiday for many liberals, because it implicitly poses the
»
November 28, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Byron York takes up the story of President Obama’s deep desire to subvert Thanksgiving on behalf of Obamacare: On Wednesday afternoon, just hours before Thanksgiving, President Obama’s Twitter account — which has more than 40 million followers — sent out this message: “Make sure everyone who sits down with you for #Thanksgivukkah dinner is covered.” (“Thanksgivukkah” refers to this year’s rare overlap of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah.) The president’s tweet linked
»
November 28, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Please add this as a footnote to my post “Analyze this: Ten theses.” Today the AP reports from Tehran: Iran plans to increase its production of uranium enriched at a low level, its official news agency reported Thursday. IRNA quoted Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s nuclear department, as saying machines which were earlier producing 20 percent enriched uranium will be engaged in producing low-level enriched uranium. “Hence, the
»
November 28, 2013 — Scott Johnson
When it was still somewhat readable, the late Newsweek magazine used to have a weekly Conventional Wisdom Watch feature (saluted here, for example). With arrows pointing up or down, it advised whose standing had risen or fallen in the past week according to the CW. The CW watch had a postmodern twist to it because Newsweek was itself a pillar of the conventional wisdom. I don’t think it’s too harsh
»
November 28, 2013 — Scott Johnson
We provided the platform launching Professor Paul Rahe into the blogosphere. He is one of the country’s most distinguished scholars, but he has also proved to be a natural blogger as well. He now posts regularly at Ricochet. In view of his study of Republics Ancient and Modern, Professor Paul Rahe is the academy’s foremost authority on the history of republics. Although his recent work on “soft despotism” (cited below)
»
November 27, 2013 — Steven Hayward
National Review Online asked for my favorite Thanksgiving recipe or tip, which I was happy to oblige, but they’ve got my named spelled wrong. In any case, here’s the complete text: My favorite Thanksgiving recipe involves lightly rinsing the chilled glass first with Vermouth. . . oh, wait, that’s an everyday recipe. Never mind. Thanksgiving presents a tough choice. Should you cook the turkey on a rotisserie grill, or should
»
November 27, 2013 — Scott Johnson
The interim agreement arrived at by the United States and Iran is a most peculiar document. It is denominated a Joint Plan of Action. It formulates Iran’s purported concessions in the subjunctive and styles them as “voluntary measures.” (In exchange for the concessions of the other parties to the agreement, “Iran would undertake the following voluntary measures…”) I say that’s peculiar. The White House has posted a “fact sheet” on
»
November 27, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Almost everyone knows by now that the Supreme Court has decided to hear a religious freedom-based challenge to the ObamaCare contraception mandate. I’m not sure, though, that everyone understands the stakes. Seth Mandel explains them, quoting the language that Sandra Fluke and others are using to frame the debate. Fluke warns of “an attack on allowing employers to be required to provide this insurance coverage. . .” Plainly, as Mandel
»
November 27, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Susan Glasser wonders whether “Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran comes at the cost of Syrian lives?” To me, her article suggests that the true cost of the deal to Syria will be Iranian victory. According to Glasser, who cites a very plausible account from the New York Times, our pre-deal policy was shaped by the view of White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough that the status quo in Syria
»
November 27, 2013 — Steven Hayward
This BBC story about some folks who held three women as slaves for 30 years in London is making me scratch my head with both hands: London Slavery Case: Suspects ‘Former Maoist Activists’ A married couple suspected of holding three women as slaves for more than 30 years are former Maoist activists Aravindan Balakrishnan and his wife Chanda, the BBC understands. According to national Marxist records they were leading figures
»
November 27, 2013 — Steven Hayward
A lot of “folks” (as President Obama likes to say) thought I was going way out on a limb to predict two weeks ago that Congress will vote to repeal Obamacare in advance of the election next year, but the momentum is building. Politico notes that many Democratic strategists are saying the party is “in denial” about the disaster of Obamacare: And that perceived gap between party spin and facts
»
November 27, 2013 — Scott Johnson
I posted Steve Tobak’s Fox Business column on the lies of Obamacare in our Picks a few weeks ago, but I want to pause over it and add it to this series. Tobak describes himself as a Silicon Valley-based strategy consultant and former senior executive of the technology industry. He calls his column “Lies, damn lies and Obamacare.” Tobak writes: Last week I was informed by the agent who handles
»
November 27, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Today’s Wall Street Journal carries Sohrab Ahmari’s column on the Iranians’ view of the deal (behind the Wall Street Journal’s subscription paywall). Ahmari seeks to convey the perspective of the regime on the deal. For the insiders’ perspective Ahmari turned to Iran’s hard-line Kayhan newspaper. The newspaper faithfully mirrors the views of the regime. What the New York Times is to the Obama administration, Kayhan is to the mullahs. Ahmari
»
November 26, 2013 — John Hinderaker
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, one’s thoughts naturally turn to turkeys. And, no, I don’t mean Obamacare: I mean real turkeys, especially wild ones. Wild turkeys were just about extinct not many years ago–like Canada geese, amazingly enough–and until quite recently, hardly anyone had ever seen a wild turkey. I first learned about a turkey resurgence when my older brother, at that time a near-professional hunter who lives in
»
