Monthly Archives: July 2014

Barack Obama tries to save Hamas

Featured image Khaled Abu Toameh argues that John Kerry’s Gaza diplomacy is intended to save Hamas. And he isn’t alone in holding this view. It is shared, not without reason, by the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia — all of whom were bypassed by Kerry’s initial diplomatic foray in favor of Turkey and Qatar who support Hamas: That Kerry chose to invite Qatar and Turkey — the »

John Thune Rips Obama’s Feckless Foreign Policy

Featured image Hosting the Laura Ingraham show for the last two mornings, I had the great privilege of interviewing three of the people in public life whom I respect the most: Jeff Sessions, John Thune and Marco Rubio. I posted my interview with Rubio here. Sessions will be coming soon. And this is my interview, this morning, with Senator John Thune on America’s declining influence around the world. It is an interesting »

Jeff Sessions Holds the Line, Blocks Democrat Immigration Travesty

Featured image There was high drama on the Senate floor this evening. Harry Reid brought on for a vote President Obama’s $2.7 billion proposal to support illegals from Central America who are flooding across the border, in the form of a supplemental budget request. An extremely knowledgeable Senate insider offers this blow-by-blow account of what happened: Harry Reid filled the amendment tree on the supplemental, meaning no amendments can get votes. Sessions »

On September 10, 2001, Clinton Explained Why He Didn’t Kill bin Laden

Featured image An extraordinary historical nugget has been unearthed in Australia. In September 2001, Bill Clinton was in that country. Only hours before the terrorists struck the World Trade Center, Clinton was talking to a group in Melbourne. Terrorism and bin Laden came up in that discussion, and Clinton said that he had had an opportunity to kill bin Laden when the terrorist was in Kandahar, but he had decided not to »

Honest journalist tweets, with good reason, “out of gaza, far from Hamas retaliation”

Featured image Honest journalism from Gaza about Hamas’ tactics has been difficult to come by. Anti-Israeli media bias may have something to do with this. But threats by Hamas against honest journalists are probably a bigger factor. Consider the case of Italian journalist Gabriele Barbati. On Tuesday, he tweeted that the deaths of Palestinian children on a playground caused by rocket fire were the result of a misfired Hamas rocket. “Misfired rocket »

Sen. Sessions, we are standing by

Featured image This morning Bill Kristol explained in a powerful note to the House GOP why it should kill the bill pending before the House to address our current border crisis. Now comes word that House leadership has pulled the bill rather than see it defeated as a result of the conservative revolt against it. Where do we go from here? I hope we will hear from our man on the bridge, »

Marco Rubio on Obama’s Foreign Policy Failures

Featured image I hosted the Laura Ingraham show today, and Marco Rubio was a guest. We talked about the comprehensive failure of the Obama administration’s foreign policies, as manifested in deteriorating conditions (from the standpoint of American interests) around the world. It is a good, sharp discussion and is only around seven minutes long. The audio is a good reminder, I think, of how strong Rubio is on these issues. I will »

Poll: Harry Reid trails Gov. Sandoval in hypothetical senate race

Featured image I doubt that Harry Reid is doing this year’s Democratic Senatorial candidates any favors with his deranged attacks on the Koch Brothers, his changes to longstanding filibuster rules as a means of confirming left-wing judicial nominees, and his over-the-top partisan bluster. A new poll suggests that he isn’t doing himself any favors either. The survey, conducted this week by Harper Polling, shows Reid trailing Nevada’s popular governor Brian Sandoval by »

#GruberGate

Featured image The D.C. Circuit’s decision in the Halbig case applies the language of Obamacare against the extension of tax subsidies within the federal Obamacare exchange established by the federal government in 36 states that declined to set up their own. Liberal hacks of all stripes now cry “foul,” foremost among them Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber. Let us first go to the video below starring Gruber, smartly produced by American Commitment, with »

Civil War on the Left, Part 9

Featured image Further to our occasional series about the civil war on the left (part 8 here), it is worth taking note of a new article by Paul Waldman in The American Prospect (one of the more smartly written lefty journals) entitled “Can Liberalism Survive Obama? Yes, It Can.”  I’ll skip over the obvious ironic mocking of the title, and proceed to some relevant excerpts: It isn’t hard to find discontent with »

Mid-Week in Pictures: Milton Friedman’s Birthday

Featured image It’s Milton Friedman’s 102nd birthday today, and as such a good excuse for some reminders of his greatness, and a few pics that illustrate the economic divide of our time.  This is perhaps my favorite Milton Friedman quote, just as true now as when he first wrote it: “The society that puts [economic] equality before freedom will end up with neither. The society that puts freedom before equality will end »

The politics of crying “impeachment” [UPDATED]

Featured image The Democrats have been fundraising like crazy based on claims that President Obama is in danger of being impeached by House Republicans. Last night, John wondered whether it’s good idea to tell your party’s members repeatedly that the leader of their party is in danger of being impeached. The answer, I think, is that it is a good idea to the extent the message is heard only by party members. »

A new old regime

Featured image I wrote at some length about the inconsistency of administrative law with what we understand to be our constitutional system in “Crisis of the administrative state.” Searching around online for additional sources of learning on the subject, I happened to discover a listing for Professor Philip Hamburger’s then forthcoming book, Is Administrative Law Unlawful? I brought the listing to the attention of our friends at National Review, hoping the magazine »

Tweeting Conor Powell

Featured image Hamas carefully manages civilian casualty statistics in Gaza as a tool of war. It embeds its men and materiel among civilian facilities such as hospitals, mosques and UN schools. When Israel targets weapons depots and sources of fire, these facilities may be targeted with resulting casualties. Yet Hamas itself frequently turns out to be the direct cause of the civilian casualties, as in the case of Jihad Masharawi in 2012 »

About those new Lois Lerner emails

Featured image It didn’t require nasty emails from Lois Lerner to establish that the IRS targeted conservative groups for harassment. The numerical disparity in the IRS’s treatment of conservative vs. liberal groups makes the case. 107 conservative groups were scrutinized. They were asked an average of 15 questions and approved at a rate of 46 percent. Only seven liberal groups were scrutinized. They were asked an average of less than five questions. »

Democrats tilt towards Hamas, blame Republicans

Featured image Caroline Glick makes a persuasive case that under President Obama, America has switched sides in the Middle East. It has switched, that is, from Israel’s side to that of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. You could argue that Obama has switched sides twice. First, during the failed peace process, from Israel to the Palestinian Authority; now, in the Gaza war, from the PA to Hamas. After all, Obama undercut the »

Global Warming Hoax: The Basics

Featured image This video is a nice, four-minute summary of some of the basics of the global warming debate. It was shot at the Heartland Institute’s 9th International Conference on Climate Change, between July 7 and July 9. If you have followed the science closely, you won’t learn anything you didn’t already know. But it is a good introduction for those who are new to the science, and an enjoyable overview for »