Monthly Archives: May 2016
May 29, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post offers a familiar excuse for Hillary Clinton’s insistence on using a private email server. According to Marcus, “the scar tissue built up over years of politically motivated attacks and endless investigations reinforced Clinton’s instinct for the protective crouch.” Marcus’ explanation sounds plausible, but it happens to be false (except for the part about “instinct for the protective crouch”). We know the explanation is false
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May 29, 2016 — Steven Hayward
Actually, here are two useful charts. With the first quarter’s economic growth being revised upward from the previous 0.5 percent annual rate to 0.8 percent annual rate, the Obama era continues its record as the weakest economic expansion in history. One reason is shown in this chart from the Financial Times, showing U.S. productivity growth turning negative in the first quarter: You can see that productivity growth has been slow
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May 29, 2016 — Scott Johnson
On FOX News Sunday this morning Chris Wallace pulverized Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff as he sought to regurgitate and reiterate one of the mandatory Clinton talking points on her private email server. Wallace knew that Schiff would play the Colin Powell card from the bottom of the deck and was not amused. In the clip below Wallace draws the line and makes it clear that Schiff is full of it.
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May 29, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
Ed O’Keefe of the Washington Post is unhappy that Marco Rubio is ready to support Donald Trump’s presidential bid. He calls Rubio a “shape-shifter” and implies that Rubio’s support of Trump stems from the tycoon’s improving poll numbers. Rubio has explained that wants to be “helpful,” not “harmful,” to Trump “because I don’t want Hillary Clinton to be president.” He added, “if you can live with a Clinton presidency for
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May 29, 2016 — Scott Johnson
The reality of Hillary Clinton’s serious and repeated lies about Clinton’s use of a private server has even penetrated the precincts of MSNBC. Viewing the segment below, Shaun King opines in the New York Daily News: “Hillary Clinton should quit presidential race as email scandal engulfs her campaign.” King writes: “From the very beginning of the segment, it was clear that the report issued by inspector general of the State
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May 29, 2016 — Scott Johnson
John posted the State Department Inspector General’s report on Hillary Clinton’s private email server for the conduct of her official business as Secretary of State here. John also excerpted a few telling passages from the report that expose a few of the repeated lies Clinton has told about her arrangement. Andrew McCarthy is the former Assistant United States Attorney who had substantial professional experience dealing with serious issues of national
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May 29, 2016 — Scott Johnson
It’s a good thing that Trump supporters have had the time to develop their capacity to withstand embarrassment during Trump’s march to the GOP nomination this spring. By now it must be as big as the man’s, well, you know what. Which is a good thing, because he’s still testing the limits. Most recently, speaking before a packed rally in San Diego, Trump unloaded on the judge hearing the Trump
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May 29, 2016 — Scott Johnson
When I walked into Spaulding Auditorium to see The Best Years of Our Lives as an undergrad, I had never even heard of the film. When I walked out three hours later, I couldn’t believe I had never heard of it. It is a great film with a lot of truth and a big heart in it. Tonight TCM is carrying the film as part of its Memorial Day lineup.
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May 28, 2016 — John Hinderaker
I had heard that Budweiser plans to re-name its beer America for the summer–a bit incongruous, given that Anheuser-Busch is now owned by a Belgian-Brazilian conglomerate. But Advertising Age says it is part of a trend: Coke is the latest brand dressing itself in Old Glory. The soda brand has begun selling limited edition red, white and blue cans that will be available in select convenience and grocery stores through
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May 28, 2016 — Steven Hayward
For once the Libertarian Party nomination might actually be worth having, with some polls showing the likely nominee, former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, pulling 10 percent of the vote while still a virtual unknown and before any kind of campaign has been run. It is not hard to imagine a scenario in which the negative campaigns of Hillary and The Donald drive enough voters to the mild-mannered Johnson to
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May 28, 2016 — Steven Hayward
Trump certainly keeps things interesting, doesn’t he? Paul reviewed the reasons for and against a Trump debate, concluding it’s a bad idea. That just made me think that Trump was more likely to do it, and who knows—he may well still change his mind. But what is Trump possibly thinking in attacking the judge in his Trump University civil case? (It’s also less than shrewd, even for Trump, to refer
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May 28, 2016 — John Hinderaker
Barack Obama spoke in Hiroshima yesterday. The full text of his speech is here. Obama did not quite apologize for America’s use of the atomic bomb to bring WWII to an end, as some had feared. But his speech was nevertheless deeply revealing of his world view. Let’s begin by acknowledging that parts of Obama’s address were good, or at least unexceptionable. Peace is better than war! Modern man has
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May 28, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Both the prosecution and defense rested their cases yesterday following the testimony of defendant Guled Omar. Omar was the only one of the three defendants who elected to testify on his own behalf. I infer that defendants were advised by their capable lawyers to exercise their right to remain silent and put the government to meeting its burden of proof against them, but that Omar chose to reject that advice.
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May 28, 2016 — Steven Hayward
Pessimists used to like to say that the country was “going to pot.” But of course the new zeitgeist requires that we say that the country is “going to potty.” Any potty you want, apparently. Okay, I know this has become a dead-horse theme here (though some self-identifying horses, not to be confused with horse’s asses, will take exception to this figure of speech), but it’s the gift that keeps
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May 28, 2016 — Steven Hayward
The ad below for laundry detergent is currently airing in China. Less than a minute long. Just take it in and ponder how our racial sensitivity enforcers here would react. (Tom Friedman was unavailable for comment.) Not to worry: I’m sure President Trump will ban the import of this Chinese product.
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May 27, 2016 — John Hinderaker
You can’t make this stuff up. From the Daily Mail: An asylum seeker who jokingly wore a T-shirt saying “I’m Muslim, don’t panic” was so savagely beaten by his fellow refugees that he had to be rushed to hospital. The 23-year-old Iraqi had thought that his fellow Islamic asylum seekers would see the funny side, but instead they accused him of offending their religion and decided to teach him a
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May 27, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
There’s talk of a debate between Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. It would occur before the California primary. Sanders says he’s up for it. Trump said so too, but now it seems he may have been joking. For Sanders, a successful debate against Trump could propel him to victory in California, something he dearly would love to achieve. However, it wouldn’t propel him to the nomination. Hillary Clinton has that
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