Monthly Archives: June 2014
June 26, 2014 — John Hinderaker
We ridiculed here an absurd constitutional amendment that the Democrats proposed in the Senate Judiciary Committee, with the support of 42 Democratic senators. The amendment would give Congress unfettered powers to regulate spending on political campaigns in any way that it chooses. I wrote: Many observers have noted that if the Udall amendment became law, Congress could set ridiculously low contribution and spending levels, so as to virtually guarantee the
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June 26, 2014 — John Hinderaker
It is hard to overstate the disaster that is taking place across our Southern border. Tens of thousands of Central American migrants, at a minimum, have made their way illegally across the Mexican border, lured by promises of amnesty, and no one thinks that they–the overwhelming majority–are ever going to leave. We have no more border, we have no more sovereignty, and this is exactly how liberals want it. Washington’s
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June 26, 2014 — John Hinderaker
President Obama is in Minneapolis today. I know this because half of the city’s principal highways were closed down at rush hour and my commute was a nightmare. Obama will stay overnight and make more appearances tomorrow, so this is a major presidential visit. Much could be said about it–for example, Obama staged a meeting with a “middle-class” woman to show solidarity with those who are oppressed by his policies.
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June 26, 2014 — Steven Hayward
With the cascade of Administration scandals and the serial ineptitude of Obama’s foreign policy, it is easy to lose sight of the central issue that should swing a lot of the close Senate races this fall. In case you’ve forgotten, here’s a 90-second video that makes the point elegantly: Democrats lied about Obamacare. And they’re not about to “fix” it.
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June 26, 2014 — Scott Johnson
Two years after activists for same-sex marriage obtained the confidential tax return and donor list of a national group opposed to redefining marriage, the Daily Signal reports, the Internal Revenue Service has admitted wrongdoing and agreed to settle the resulting lawsuit. The Daily Signal explains that under a consent judgment entered earlier this week, the IRS agreed to pay $50,000 in damages to the National Organization for Marriage as a
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June 26, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
The team from Ghana may be in disarray over a dispute about payments to the players for their World Cup services. This sort of thing happens a lot with African teams. In fact, the Cameroon team was going to stay at home until its federation showed players the money at the last minute. They might have been better off at home, though, considering Cameroon’s miserable showing in Brazil. Ghana has
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June 26, 2014 — Steven Hayward
Today’s the Supreme Court ruled unanimously against the Obama Administration’s abuse of the recess appointment power in NLRB v. Canning. Unanimous! And not for the first time. Think back to Sackett v. EPA two years ago, where a similarly unanimous Court ruled that the EPA had grossly exceeded its legal authority, or the Utility Air Regulatory Group decision on Monday, which, although 5 – 4, held that the EPA can’t
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June 26, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
Hillary Clinton appears to be experiencing a gap between her enthusiasm for high office and the public’s enthusiasm for her. For its part, the public may already be suffering from Hillary fatigue. For example, at Clinton’s appearance for a “town hall” meeting, CNN felt the need to deploy a stage director who coached the audience to applaud at various points throughout the broadcast. The town hall meeting was part of
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June 26, 2014 — Steven Hayward
John and I both took note of the disastrous first quarter GDP report yesterday. Today it is worth bringing to your attention the observations of economist John Makin of the American Enterprise Institute, who is an unassuming and soft-spoken fellow (we were billeted in the same office suite) who has a very impressive track record of calling the shifts and directions in the economy. His bottom line: forget about 3
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June 26, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
I wrote here about Rand Paul’s unconstitutional plan to propose federal legislation that would enfranchise some felons. Now, Sen. Paul has addressed the constitutional issue posed by such legislation. He argues, in essence, that states decide who votes in state elections, but the federal government has the final say on who can vote in federal elections. Roger Clegg makes short work of Paul’s contention: The U.S. Constitution itself explicitly gives
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June 25, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
Tomorrow at the World Cup, the U.S. will face powerhouse Germany in the final game of the group stage. Simultaneously, Ghana and Portugal will play. If Ghana and Portugal tie, the U.S. will advance to the knock-out stage regardless of what happens in the match against Germany. That’s because the U.S. already has four points (from a win and a draw), while Portugal and Ghana have only one point each.
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June 25, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
There is no genuine dispute that President Obama is responsible for the sudden mass influx into the U.S. of adolescent immigrants from Central America. Dreams of sanctuary under the DREAM Act and via Obama’s pen convinced Central American families to hand their children over to coyote networks that would take them across Mexico and the Rio Grande. But Michael Gonzalez of the Heritage Foundation, writing in the National Interest, shows
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June 25, 2014 — John Hinderaker
The Obama administration is awash in scandal, but our “mainstream” media resolutely avert their eyes and whistle a happy tune. As happy a tune as can be mustered under the circumstances, anyway. The great Michael Ramirez sums up the pitiful state of news coverage in this cartoon. What makes it brilliant, of course, is the “mainstream” reaction in the lower right hand corner. Click to enlarge file size: The sad
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June 25, 2014 — Steven Hayward
So, what are those wacky folks at the EPA up to these days? Writing regulations 38 times longer than the Bible? Playing “Keeping Up with the IRS” in destroying emails that Congress has requested? Worried about new forms of solid waste? If you guessed the last one, you’d be right. More right than you might imagine. Turns out EPA employees have been . . . pooping in EPA hallways. Now,
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June 25, 2014 — John Hinderaker
This morning, as Steve noted, the Commerce Department revised its estimate of 1st quarter GDP to show a shocking 2.9% annualized decline. The White House tried to spin the awful numbers, arguing that the drop was largely accounted for by cold weather. (Does this mean that we should look forward to global warming as an economic boon?) But Senator Jeff Sessions got much closer to the heart of the matter
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June 25, 2014 — Scott Johnson
The House Ways and Means Committee has issued a press release stating that Lois Lerner sought to target Republican Senator Chuck Chuck Grassley for audit. The press release is based on email messages that the committee has posted here. Through a sheer stroke of bad luck, Lois Lerner received an event invitation directed to Senator Grassley and Grassley apparently received Lerner’s. The invitation indicated that the event organizer would pay
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June 25, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
The first two rounds of group-stage play at the World Cup produced the best set of early-round matches I can recall seeing at the event. It was as if all of the 32 teams (well, almost all of them) woke up one morning and decided to play clean, open soccer. And it was if the referees, in response, decided to cease halting play for borderline infractions and handing out cards
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