Monthly Archives: June 2016
June 25, 2016 — John Hinderaker
Last night my wife and I, along with two of our adult daughters, saw the documentary Weiner. The film was shot during Anthony Weiner’s campaign in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York. It offers an extraordinary look at a candidate and a campaign in the midst of an implosion. The documentary opens with a clip of Weiner giving a speech in the House. It is a reminder of
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June 25, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is now serving the twelfth year of his four-year term. He is an absurd and contemptible figure. In a perfectly timed companion to the Brexit referendum, Abbas had the honor of addressing the European Parliament this past Thursday. Abbas drew a standing ovation for his EU speech. In the course of his remarks Abbas accused (mythical) Israeli rabbis of “demanding” that the Israeli government poison
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June 25, 2016 — Steven Hayward
What a week. It now seems like ages ago that a reporter was making fool of himself about how shooting an AR-15 gave him PTSD, and we were focused on the aftermath of the Orlando shooting and a rogue alligator at Disney. It seemed a cinch that the House Democrats sorry imitation of a pre-school juice box mafia would dominate the images of the week, but the dramatic Brexit vote
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June 25, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Has Barack Obama ever persuaded anybody of anything? (I mean anything other than voting for him for office.) I don’t think so. Obama’s contribution to the Remain case — the threat the Great Britain will have to get “in the back of the queue” for a trade agreement with the United States — may even have proved a boon to the Brexit cause. So says Nigel Farage, the stalwart British
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June 25, 2016 — Scott Johnson
In my post “A funny thing,” I briefly discussed comedy. I mentioned Ralph Stanley along the way. Coincidentally, Stanley died Thursday at the age of 89. (Juli Thanki is the author of the obituary published by the Tennessean.) I saw Stanley perform live twice thanks to the Coen brothers (and their musical director, T Bone Burnett), whom I also mention in that post. Alan Griesinger is a Power Line reader
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June 24, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
It has taken 36 matches for the Euro 2016 field to be reduced from 24 teams to 16, the number that should have been invited to begin with. As one would expect, the quality of play improved a bit after the first set of matches as teams got used to playing together in competitive matches. It remains pretty ordinary, though. This is not mainly the fault of the minnows —
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June 24, 2016 — John Hinderaker
Senator Jeff Sessions released a statement on yesterday’s Brexit vote. As usual, Sessions has his finger on the pulse: [The people’s] strong vote arose not out of fear and pique but out of love for country and pride of place. Their experience with a distant government in Brussels was given a long and fair chance to succeed. In the end, however, they concluded that the costs outweighed the benefits. …
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June 24, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
AP has identified at least 75 meetings that Hillary Clinton had with longtime political donors, Clinton Foundation contributors, and corporate and other outside interests that were not recorded (or not properly recorded) on her State Department calendar. AP identified the meetings by comparing her calendar with separate planning schedules supplied to Clinton by aides in advance of each day’s events. In many cases, Clinton’s State Department calendar simply excluded the
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June 24, 2016 — Steven Hayward
You owe it to yourself to take in “Orange Americans for Trump,” a nice parody of several familiar tropes. But for real fun, I can’t believe I’d never seen this video of Trump and Rudy Giuliani from back in 2006 (only 45 seconds long):
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June 24, 2016 — John Hinderaker
I will have thoughts on the implications of Brexit later in the day, but for now want to ask a more limited question: why are liberals so hateful? The last days of the EU campaign were marred by the Remain camp–i.e., the forces of Britain’s establishment–trying to use the appalling murder of MP Jo Cox as political fodder. Against all reason, they tried to tar the Brexit campaign with the
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June 24, 2016 — Steven Hayward
Gerard Baker of the Wall Street Journal offers the best summary this morning of the larger meaning of Brexit. Gerry, as his friends and colleagues call him, is a subdued fellow not given to hyperbole, which is why this judgment is so bracing: Levels of dissatisfaction with leadership have reached revolutionary levels. It’s a paradox of mass modern democracy that voters feel themselves governed by rulers who “neither see nor
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June 24, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday was a big news day before any Brexit votes had been counted. Two major Supreme Court decisions, one of which voided a core Obama legacy item, plus the collapse of the Freddie Gray prosecutions. But with the Brexit vote, yesterday became historic. On this, I think both sides of the argument agree. I agree with Scott that by voting to leave the EU the British people have retaken their
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June 24, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Hillary Clinton failed to hand over to the State Department one of the key emails regarding the use of her private server for her official business as Secretary of State. The AP’s Michael Biesecker picks up the story from the Inspector Generals report on Clinton’s email server. The Daily Caller’s Chuck Ross adds context in “Clinton campaign admits Hillary didn’t turn over mysterious email exchange with top aide” (i.e., Huma
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June 24, 2016 — Scott Johnson
I never did understand the case for Britain’s continued membership in the European Union. Barack Obama’s threat against Brexit — issued at the invitation of Prime Minister Cameron, no less, and perhaps scripted by Ben Rhodes — made for a clarifying moment. Is Barack Obama a friend of Great Britain? I don’t think so. If one hesitated to make the leap to Leave, that should have sealed the deal all
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June 24, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Ammo Grrrll declares it VERY WARM: It’s that time of year again in Arizona where not only is it 114 during the day, but it’s still 99 at midnight. We Climate Change Denying Racketeers call that summer. I get a big kick out of looking on Accuweather every morning and finding any temperature under 115 termed “Very warm.” Indeed. Only when the mercury scoots past 115, does Accuweather use the
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June 24, 2016 — Steven Hayward
Wow. That’s all I can say right now. I’ve been out all evening, among other things watching a socialist argue vigorously with an even further left socialist, which allowed me to grab an extra bag of popcorn and enjoy the show. It’s like watching your ex-wife argue with your ex-mother-in-law. Brexit is Britain’s equivalent of Proposition 13 and the tax revolt of the 1970s in the U.S. I expect anti-EU
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June 23, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
I wrote here about a report, based on State Department emails, that a major Clinton Foundation donor was placed on a sensitive government intelligence advisory board even though he had no experience directly relevant to the position. The Clinton donor, a Chicago securities investor named Rajiv Fernando, served very briefly on the International Security Advisory Board (ISAB). It deals with such matters as nuclear disarmament and other arms control issues.
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