Monthly Archives: July 2015
July 30, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
Law professor John McGinnis finds that Ivy League schools are giving short shrift to conservative Supreme Court justices when they confer honorary degrees. Is anyone surprised? The numbers are stark. Of the fourteen honorary degrees bestowed by Ivy League institutions to living Supreme Court justices twelve went to those on the left of the Court. Justice Ginsburg is the champ: she has an honorary degree from every Ivy League university
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July 30, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
By now, almost everyone has seen the list of presidential candidates who had excellent poll numbers the year before the race, but who eventually faded or collapsed. I won’t rehearse the full list, but think of Rudy Giuliani and Howard Dean. I believe Donald Trump will join this list, primarily because until fairly recently he was a Democrat and more liberal than conservative. But even if I’m right, Trump might
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July 30, 2015 — Scott Johnson
In his capacity as chairman of the relevant Senate subcommittee, Senator Cruz “gave a hard-hitting opening statement, comparing the [IRS]’s actual abuses of political opponents during the Obama presidency to Richard Nixon’s unsuccessful attempt to use the agency to target political adversaries.” So says Andrew McCarthy here at NR’s corner, where he has posted the transcript of Senator Cruz’s statement. Andy links to video of Senator Cruz’s statement here. Reiterating
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July 30, 2015 — Scott Johnson
McClatchy DC has three reporters with bylines on “Facts in Hillary’s ‘secret’ emails came from five intelligence agencies.” That headline should probably read “five (count ’em) intelligence agencies.” The McClatchy story doesn’t add much to what we already know, but it is must reading. I was most intrigued by the officials who failed to respond to the McClatchy reporters’ inquiries. Other than what must be a Republican source in a
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July 29, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
The IRS is in hot water once again with no-nonsense federal district court judge Emmet Sullivan over Lois Lerner’s emails. A year ago, Judge Sullivan ordered the IRS to explain in writing and under oath how some of Lerner’s emails went missing, and to detail any potential methods for recovering them. The IRS managed to recover 1,800 emails that it previously claimed “inadvertently” were destroyed. Now, it has again incurred
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July 29, 2015 — Steven Hayward
Haven’t had much climate change news for a while. Can’t Donald Trump say something outrageous about it so we can kickstart the issue? There’s actually lots of fun climate news right now, but it is getting lost in the ether. First, there’s a new explanation for the temperature pause that we keep being told isn’t happening. It’s those pesky volcanoes: Over the last few years, many possible explanations have been
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July 29, 2015 — Steven Hayward
Let’s begin with everyone’s favorite conservationist, Teddy Roosevelt. Roosevelt loved the big animals of Africa. He especially liked to shoot them. (Hat tip: Peter Huber, Hard Green.) Somehow he is still a revered figure, unlike Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. Well times change, you say. Lions, rhinos, elephants, and other African megafauna are rare and critically endangered. Anyone who would shoot one for sport is a moral monster on par
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July 29, 2015 — Scott Johnson
Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee today, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey put some daylight between himself and the Commander in Chief on the question of our options with Iran. President Obama, of course, serves up the choice as between the Iran deal (ineffective) or war (not gonna do it). General Dempsey, however, asserts that the United States has “a range of options” if it
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July 29, 2015 — Steven Hayward
Of course Hillary Clinton hedges over everything—did you see her dodge when asked about the Keystone XL pipeline? Even the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza called it “ridiculous.” I wonder what Cillizza makes of her comment this morning about the Planned Parenthood videos? While Hillary professed that she’s unalterably pro-choice and plans to “stand with Planned Parenthood,” there was the telltale hedging, as though she wants to leave room to run
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July 29, 2015 — Steven Hayward
Last weekend I declared an “open thread” on Trump along with some “interrogatories,” which is a little misleading since all of our posts are open to comment with everyone who is signed up for one of the filtering mechanisms that prohibit anonymous comments. (We do this, FYI, to keep the comment threads from spinning out of control as many anonymous comment boards do, as none of us have time to
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July 29, 2015 — John Hinderaker
These are perilous times: Iran is on its way to getting the bomb, Russia is on the march, China’s economy is teetering, the U.S. has a historic election in prospect. So what is the number one news story in the world? Cecil the lion. The Drudge Report: The Daily Mail. I like the supermodel angle: The Telegraph: Then there is television: Jimmy Kimmel–whom I have never watched, but isn’t he
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July 29, 2015 — Scott Johnson
At my request the Fiorina campaign has kindly forwarded the text of Carly Fiorina’s speech at the Reagan Library this week. I want to post this addendum of quotable quotes to the video of the speech that I posted here this morning. Quotable quote: “When President Obama warned Assad not to cross a red line, Assad took this as an invitation, not an admonition. This administration’s blind eye to aggression
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July 29, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
It’s well documented that until fairly recently Donald Trump was a Democrat and that he took mostly liberal positions on major issues. But Kevin Williamson deepens our understanding of Trump’s non-conservatism — as well as his deep cynicism — by looking at how the tycoon has tried to influence American politics through money. Williamson makes his point by comparing Trump to others who, as Donald likes to say, are “really
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July 29, 2015 — Steven Hayward
Ezra Klein interviewed Bernie Sanders for his tyro website Pox, and it makes for fun reading. Yes, of course we know Sanders is a socialist, but it’s helpful when a socialist is as open about it as Bernie, and in places it appears he’s even too left for Klein. Sanders emphasizes that he’s a “democratic” socialist. Oh well, then it’s okay I guess for a majority to confiscate the wealth
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July 29, 2015 — Scott Johnson
The field of Republican presidential candidates is extraordinarily impressive. Even so, Carly Fiorina stands out. She’s the only woman and she has articulated her critique of the Democratic opposition with a special zest and bite. In his recent dispatch from New Hampshire, Jay Nordlinger dubs her “Carly the communicator.” I am unsure what the premise of her candidacy for president is, but it seems to me at the least that
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July 29, 2015 — Scott Johnson
The Iran deal finances and otherwise facilitates Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. It even sets up the United States and the other parties as protectors of Iran’s nuclear program. Why would President Obama want to do that? He seems to believe that Iran should play the role of “a very successful regional power.” If he believes that this is in the national interest of thee United States, he is a
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July 28, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
The Cincinnati Reds didn’t win the National League pennant in 1964; they finished a game behind the St. Louis Cardinals. Judged by run differential, however, they were the best team in the NL. The Los Angeles Dodgers struggled in 1964, a season in which they lost Sandy Koufax for a month and a half. However, they were the champion’s of baseball in 1963. Thus, it wasn’t surprising that, as they
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