Monthly Archives: September 2016

Witnessing the Final Demise of “Mainstream” Media

Featured image If this year’s presidential election has a silver lining, it is the final demise of “mainstream media.” Which is not to say that liberal media are going away; they aren’t, of course. But liberal media’s claim to being mainstream–reliable, objective, fair, unlike fringe or partisan news sources–is gone forever. That is a good thing. No one could follow this year’s campaign without understanding that the media formerly known as mainstream »

Elect This Kid Class President King

Featured image Most of our colleges and universities seem determined to make fools of themselves, thereby eroding their support from taxpayers, in the case of public schools, and alumni and parents, in the case of private ones. One common cause of unintended hilarity is the insistence on allowing each student to choose his or her pronoun. No, wait–I shouldn’t say “his” or “her.” In today’s world, that is assuming way too much. »

Jerusalem? Where’s That?

Featured image Earlier today, the White House released a transcript of President Obama’s remarks at the memorial service for Shimon Peres, which took place at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem. Later, the White House sent out a “corrected” transcript that struck out the word “Israel” after “Jerusalem.” Here it is, courtesy of McClatchey: McClatchey regards the “correction” as proper: The White House forgot its own policy on Jerusalem Friday — at »

Does Trump Really Want to Win?

Featured image From the very beginning I’ve wondered whether Trump was really running for president thinking he’d be a real contender, or whether this was just a yuuuge business branding exercise. Because once again the Trump presidential campaign is looking more like a college frat prank that got out of hand. I thought that Trump’s Twitter feed had been brought under control, but in the middle of the night last night Trump »

Detroit newspaper endorses Gary Johnson

Featured image The Detroit News has been around since 1873. Until now, it has never endorsed a non-Republican for president (it endorsed no one in two of FDR’s races and sat out the Bush-Kerry contest in 2004). This year, though, the Detroit News is has endorsed Gary Johnson for president. Of Donald Trump it says: The 2016 nominee offered by the Republican Party rubs hard against the editorial board’s values as conservatives »

Thoughts from the ammo line

Featured image Ammo Grrrll is on strike, sort of, as she explains in THE NFL CAN GO TO HELL. She writes: Well, the day after tomorrow will mark the 3rd week that Mr. AG and I have watched no football on Sunday. That is a sea change from years and decades of watching all 3 games, and we thought we would go into some kind of terrible withdrawal at a minimum. And »

Comey: I am not a weasel [Updated With Cartoon]

Featured image FBI Director James Comey’s appearance before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday deserves the attention of every American who cares about the rule of law, as many opponents of Donald Trump purport to do. C-SPAN has posted its recording of Comey’s testimony here. I clipped the video of Rep. Ron DeSantis’s questioning of Comey (posted here) from the C-SPAN video. In my mind Comey’s testimony recalls the dark days of »

Those Angry Days

Featured image Earlier this year I finished reading Lynne Olson’s Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America’s Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941. I recommend the book unreservedly. There is so much intensely interesting history in the book. Much of the interest derives from the incredible cast of characters that populates the book. The Century Group, with which I was previously unfamiliar, alone supplies a panoply. The text runs over 450 pages »

Coming Soon: A New Dark Age?

Featured image Environmentalists always guffaw if you suggest they want us all to go back to living in caves, but the consequent logic of their practical positions certainly points that way. Consider these recent news stories: Sierra Club: No Gas, No Coal, No Nukes; Lansing Utility: No Lights, Then The Sierra Club has adopted a position that would effectively require all electricity in Michigan to come from renewable sources such as wind »

Trump’s Off-Message Detour Continues

Featured image The Democrats are doing their best to distract voters from the serious issues in this year’s campaign. Donald Trump, sadly, continues to enable them. The Associated Press reports that Trump is now obsessing on Bill Clinton’s infidelities: “An impeachment for lying,” Trump said Thursday at a campaign rally in New Hampshire, referring to the effort to remove Bill Clinton from office for lying about his affair with White House intern »

Judge finds Brown failed to give due process to student accused of sexual assualt

Featured image William Smith, the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, has ruled in favor of a Brown University student who was suspended for two years for an alleged sexual assault. Judge Smith ruled that the student did not receive due process. The judge found several defects in the procedures by which Brown tossed the student. For one thing, Brown told the student he would »

Non-citizen murder suspect voted in three elections [UPDATED: status of shooter not clear]

Featured image Arcen Cetin, the Turkish immigrant accused of murdering five strangers at a mall in Washington state, voted in the last three election cycles even though he isn’t a U.S. citizen. So reports KING 5, a Seattle television station. Cetin, who is 20 years old, registered to vote in 2014 and participated in three elections including the May presidential primary. However, Cetin is ineligible to vote because he is not a »

Barack Obama, Keeping Us Safe!

Featured image Keeping Americans safe is the president’s foremost responsibility. How has Barack Obama done in that regard? You could say that he has failed, but it would be more accurate to say he hasn’t tried. Michael Ramirez sums it up nicely. Click to enlarge: As I wrote here, the issues that matter most to voters seem to have disappeared from the presidential campaign, at least temporarily. It would be nice if »

Scott Garrett for Congress

Featured image Scott Garrett doesn’t fit the usual profile for a Power Line pick. Usually, we pick up-and-coming candidates like Tom Cotton, Mia Love, Joni Ernst, and Alex Mooney. Garrett has represented New Jersey’s fifth congressional district since 2003. However, he’s locked in a difficult race this year. Given his strongly conservative record, we are asking our readers to support him. Garrett is a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus. He »

John Kerry threatens the Russians

Featured image Secretary of State John Kerry has threatened to stop talking with the Russians if they and their Syrian ally don’t quit bombing Aleppo. So New York Times reporter Michael Gordon lets on at the top of his story “Syria talks will end if Aleppo bombing continues, U.S. tells Russia.” Adam Entous and Felicia Schwartz add some details in their Wall Street Journal story “Obama administration threatens to suspend talks with »

Gowdy strikes a nerve

Featured image When FBI Director James Comey appeared before the House Judiciary Committee yesterday, the GOP members grilled him about his handling and disposition of the Clinton email investigation. As former prosecutors, several members drew on their experience working with the FBI to point out the apparent anomalies that have come to light, including the various immunity deals that went roughly nowhere. (Paul Sperry provides a useful summary in the New York »

Live from Council Bluffs, Trump on the stump

Featured image Nebraska attorney Dave Begley returned to his stomping grounds in Council Bluffs to file another of his reports on the appearances of the presidential candidates. Here he gives us Trump on the stump yesterday (full event video below). Dave writes: The freewheelin’ Donald Trump is a thing of the past as he spoke on Wednesday using the TelePrompter. The speech was more structured but it needed some editing. The main »