Monthly Archives: November 2016

Professor watching

Featured image Turning Point USA (TPUSA), a conservative organization made up of high school and college students, has compiled a website database of more than 200 professors at universities across the nation who, in the view of the organization, “discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.” The website is called Professor Watchlist. This has outraged the left which, inevitably, complains of “McCarthyism” by TPUSA. Annabel Scott at the »

Must the Constitution Protect Flag Burning? [with comment by Paul]

Featured image Democrats are burning American flags in violent demonstrations and riots across the country, which led Donald Trump to re-ignite an old debate with a tweet: Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2016 Trump’s suggestion that flag burning should not be treated as protected »

Is Russia Preparing to Invade Ukraine?

Featured image London’s Sun isn’t much of a newspaper. Most of its articles are about crime, actresses on vacation and reality TV actors behaving badly. But even the Sun knows that the potential outbreak of war in Central Europe is worth covering: Russia is reportedly deploying a massive army on the Ukrainian border amid fears of an imminent invasion which risks destabilising Eastern Europe. Ukraine‘s Deputy Defence Minister Ihor Dolhov says a »

Investigation confirms absence of wrongdoing in Charlotte shooting

Featured image In September, rioting broke out in Charlotte, North Carolina after a black police officer shot and killed Kenneth Lamont Scott. Mr. Scott was an African-American who, according to the police, pulled a gun and refused to drop it. From the beginning, the shooting looked justified, but we couldn’t tell for sure until the matter was thoroughly investigated. Now, with the investigation complete, it is clear that there was no wrongdoing »

From the penalty box

Featured image In “After last night,” on the morning of November 9, I noted Donald Trump’s “improbable victory” over Hillary Clinton in the presidential election and consigned myself to the penalty box for “the next few months.” I might have adapted Lincoln’s statement on the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision and called it “an astonisher” in our political history. I called a “minor penalty” on myself “for manifest errors of understanding, of »

Dayton’s stormy Tuesday

Featured image In 1994 or so one of my daughters was in school with one of Mark Dayton’s sons. Dayton was serving his last year as state auditor. At a silent auction to raise funds for the school, Dayton contributed Power Lunch for 2 with Mark Dayton at the Minneapolis Club. As the auction was winding down, I noticed that not a single person had entered a bid on it. So I »

A reservation about Betsy DeVos

Featured image Donald Trump’s selection of Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education has met with considerable praise from conservatives, and for good reason. She has been excellent on school choice issues. However, the Secretary of Education is not in much of a position to affect school choice policy. Perhaps DeVos will help persuade some Republicans at the state and local level to be less resistant to school choice. Other than that, I’m »

Boycott Frosted Flakes!

Featured image Liberal bullies are trying to pressure advertisers into boycotting Breitbart.com, one of the most popular conservative sites on the internet. Unfortunately, they are having considerable success. As you probably know, Breitbart.com was founded by Andrew Breitbart and has been run by Steve Bannon following Andrew’s tragically premature death. Breitbart.com was an early and enthusiastic backer of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, and Bannon became a close adviser to Trump. He is »

Politico: What If Trump Enforces the Law?!

Featured image I have been saying for a long time that, while our current legal immigration system poses intractable problems, illegal immigration is relatively easy to solve: we only need to enforce our existing laws. Donald Trump’s appointment of Jeff Sessions as Attorney General signals that he intends to do just that. Politico belatedly tumbles, apparently, to what is going on: “Immigration-hardliner Sessions could execute crackdown as AG.” If confirmed as Trump’s »

An uninspired choice for DOT Secretary

Featured image The buzz phrase “drain the swamp” has been overused in recent days, I think. However, it applies nicely to the Department of Labor. For decades, the DOL has been a bog of oppressive regulations which, among other things, sometimes promote racial discrimination in favor of minorities. Elaine Chao presided over that swamp for eight years during the George W. Bush administration. She did little to drain, or even disturb, it. »

What happened in Minnesota (3)

Featured image In “What happened in Minnesota” I took a look at the most potent issue behind the remarkable results favoring Republicans in the state legislative races, which I noted as to the House races in part 2. I included a powerful ad that ran on the subject of Obamacare, Minnesota style, brought to us courtesy of Governor Mark Dayton. In the brief interview below with WCCO’s Esme Murphy on November 6, »

Trump’s synthesis [UPDATED]

Featured image In the run-up to this year’s election, when I thought Hillary Clinton would win, I speculated about what a post-Trump GOP would look like. It seemed to me that the Party might settle on a synthesis that mixed two doses of traditional conservatism with one dose of Trumpianism. Based on Trump’s early moves, especially his appointments, it looks like this might be the formula. Except I’m not sure about the »

Power Line Beats the NY Times—Again

Featured image Remember two days ago when I advanced the outrageous proposition that greenhouse gas emissions will fall faster under President Trump than they would have under Madam President Hillary? Yes, I was partly trolling the climatistas, but there is a serious point that much climate policy posing is unserious, counter-productive, and beside the point. Well guess who has caught up with Power Line? Today’s New York Times! Trump’s Climate Policies May »

Understanding Barack Obama

Featured image In a nearby post, Paul Mirengoff examines Colin Kaepernick’s recent statements to deduce where he is coming from. Kaepernick is an idiot. It is therefore difficult to attribute a coherent line of thought to him. Paul deduces that if Kaepernick understands what he is saying (a big if), he is an old-fashioned Marxist radical. Paul pulls up a little short of the conclusion, leaving it at “a serious leftist,” but »

Another Great Trump Appointment

Featured image Donald Trump has nominated Rep. Tom Price to head the Department of Health and Human Services. You can tell it’s a great pick by the Associated Press headline: “Trump picks Price as HHS secretary; Democrats blast choice.” Price is an orthopedic surgeon and a leading critic of Obamacare. As a Congressman, he has devoted a great deal of thought to how Obamacare can best be repealed and partially replaced. That »

Understanding Colin Kaepernick

Featured image Those who say that Colin Kaepernick is a patriot acting in the finest tradition of American dissent thoroughly misunderstand the outspoken quarterback. This view was probably a stretch back when Kaepernick was simply disrespecting America by kneeling during the National Anthem. Now, the view is untenable. Two recent developments show that Kaepernick’s behavior falls within the worst tradition of American dissent — the tradition of the totalitarian-sympathizing far left. Consider »

Attack by Somali immigrant puts 10 in hospital

Featured image This morning, Abdul Razak Ali Artan drove his car into a group of students at Ohio State University and then jumped out of the vehicle to slash others with a butcher’s knife. Ten people were hospitalized as a result. A campus police officer finally put an end to the attack by shooting Artan dead. Artan was a student at OSU and a resident of Franklin Township, Ohio. According to neighbors, »