Monthly Archives: May 2016
May 27, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Dartmouth President Phil Hanlon has sent a blast email to “the Dartmouth community.” According to the subject line, the email addresses “Dartmouth Action Plan for Inclusive Excellence.” The action plan is posted here. Given the message’s concatenation of current academic cliches, I think I’ll pass. By the evidence of his message, President Hanlon has successfully stifled the urge to say anything in a voice that resembles that of a sentient
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May 27, 2016 — Scott Johnson
I flipped over singer Suzy Bogguss when I saw her perform with her band at the Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant in downtown Minneapolis in 2011. I wrote about the show here. Suzy played many of her hits and previewed her then unreleased recording of traditional American music. She returns to the Dakota this coming Wednesday and Thursday for 7:00 p.m. shows. I urge you to check out her show
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May 27, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
Gail Heriot is a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and a law professor at the University of San Diego. Some of her work may be familiar to Power Line readers. For example, although Stuart Taylor and Richard Sander popularized “mismatch theory” with their 2012 book, Heriot had been writing about the problem for many years (as had Sander). Earlier this week, Heriot testified in her capacity as
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May 27, 2016 — Steven Hayward
I’ve lost count of the number of recent papers in peer-reviewed science journals that conclude that climate sensitivity to greenhouse gas emissions is overstated. (Here’s the summary and abstract of the most recent one I have seen.) There are three new studies bearing on the issue that even Science magazine, which reported them this week, can’t help but note cast doubt on the high-end alarmist predictions. Some background: Up to
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May 27, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, the Washington Post’s editors weighed in on the new report from the State Department’s Inspector General regarding Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. Their editorial is a classic example of a familiar genre — expressing disapproval of misconduct by politicians one likes, while dismissing without analysis the possibility that the behavior is criminal. The Post has even come up with the perfect phrase with which to pull
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May 27, 2016 — John Hinderaker
Everyone knows that solar energy is unreliable and expensive. The point that isn’t made often enough (although Steve has written about it here on quite a few occasions) is that solar energy is also bad for the environment. Which raises the question, what, then, is it good for? Investigative reporter Tom Steward records what happened when residents of rural Buffalo, Minnesota got an up-close view of “green” energy: The project’s
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May 27, 2016 — Scott Johnson
The end approacheth. The prosecution called its final witnesses and rested yesterday. The last two government witnesses testified to the undercover sting operation leading to the arrest of two of the three defendants (Abdirahman Daud and Mohamed Farah) in San Diego, where they thought they were procuring fake passports facilitating their travel to join ISIS in Syria. The FBI used an undercover officer detailed from the San Diego police department
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May 27, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Ammon Grrrll is thinking allegorically about D-I-V-O-R-C-E! (An Imperfect Metaphor). She writes: We should have seen it coming. Human beings can only put up with so much. Former slave and abolitionist, genius essayist, Frederick Douglass said it best: “Find out what any people will quietly submit to and you will find out the exact measure of misery and wrong that will be heaped upon them.” It certainly seemed like a
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May 27, 2016 — Steven Hayward
I know I’ve already drawn your attention to the 10th anniversary of Al Gore’s blockbuster world-changing film, An Inconvenient Truth, and done my best to help you contain your excitement. But, my, where does the time go, huh? But Gore is out this week saying the film “understated” the seriousness of global warming, but that there’s good news! “But on the positive side, solutions are now being developed so quickly that
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May 26, 2016 — Steven Hayward
Why should Paul have all the fun? Today someone posted on YouTube the video of the Jose Canseco-assisted home run from this date in 1993. Given what we subsequently learned about Canseco’s steroid use, this all makes a little more sense. Just over one minute long:
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May 26, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
“Bernie Sanders’ goal is to transform the Democratic Party, which is already a European style social-democratic party, into a full-fledged vehicle for socialism.” So says Ron Radosh, and I agree. By running so well against Hillary Clinton, Sanders has made significant progress towards accomplishing this goal. As Radosh explains, “worried about keeping the support of Bernie’s people after her nomination is wrapped up, Clinton is being forced to tilt further
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May 26, 2016 — John Hinderaker
A common political strategy among environmentalists is called “sue and settle.” An environmental group will sue the EPA, alleging a failure to do one thing or another, likely something that wasn’t within the EPA’s powers in the first place. The lawsuit is collusive, so, after a decent interval, the EPA will agree to a settlement that results in a court order requiring EPA to do something that it wanted to
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May 26, 2016 — John Hinderaker
That is Glenn Reynolds’s modest proposal. And he is right. The supposed watchdogs of the press become toothless lap pets when the president is a Democrat, let alone a black Democrat. Those of us who believe in the Constitution can wish for only thing: a white male Republican, like Donald Trump. Only the victory of such a candidate will cause the liberal commentariat (and maybe the judiciary) to re-awaken to
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May 26, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Minnesota’s Anti-War Committee — “Organizing Against US Wars Since 1998” — has opened up a front at the federal courthouse in downtown Minneapolis. They stage weekly protests in support of the defendants in the ongoing trial of the “Minnesota men” charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and other related offenses. Six of the defendants among the current group have pleaded guilty; one is believed
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May 26, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
How many times have Hall of Fame pitchers squared off with both pitching at least nine innings of scoreless baseball? I assume it very rarely happens nowadays because pitchers don’t often pitch nine innings. It must have happened from time to time during the Dead Ball Era when pitchers did, and scores were low. As for the 70 years or so between these periods, I have no clear sense. I
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May 26, 2016 — Steven Hayward
Paul noted yesterday the bizarre and disquieting attack Donald Trump made Tuesday on New Mexico’s Republican Governor Susana Martinez. Is there an intelligible reason he might think this is a politically shrewd thing to do, or is this just another example of Trump improvising as he goes and letting loose some inner misogyny? I don’t know whether Martinez is a good or a bad governor. I’ve heard both, but haven’t
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May 26, 2016 — Steven Hayward
If you thought liberalism couldn’t beclown itself any worse than the self-mocking “Pajama Boy,” then you underestimated the Hillary Clinton campaign. This is the meme they’ve put out today (safety warning—put your coffee cup down first!): Is your keyboard still dry? One problem. Turns out this visage of pure hirsuteness is a stock photo: And he’s been used in some other ads: Maybe the Hillary campaign should stick with Venn
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