Monthly Archives: November 2016
November 15, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
Speculation swirls as to whom Donald Trump will appoint to his Cabinet. Will Rudy Giuliani be Secretary of State? Will Jeff Sessions be Secretary of Defense or maybe Attorney General? (The latter job seems ideal for him). Meanwhile, Trump has made two key appointments that don’t require Senate confirmation. Reince Priebus will be chief of staff and Steve Bannon will be chief strategist and senior counselor. The Priebus appointment carries
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November 15, 2016 — Scott Johnson
The mainstream media treat CAIR as a benign civil rights organization. Yet it was established by supporters of Hamas and earned its status as an unindicted co-conspirator in the criminal case brought by the United States against the Holy Land Foundation for supporting Hamas. Indeed, Andy McCarthy characterizes CAIR as a spawn of Hamas in his helpful account of the group’s origins and purposes. Now Daniel Pipes explicates the tweet
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November 15, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Democrats and their media adjunct are stirring the pot about the alleged bigotry of prospective Trump White House advisor Steve Bannon, yet they are poised to name a long-time advocate of one of the leading racist and anti-Semitic organizations in the United States as chairman of their party. I’m referring of course to Minnesota Fifth District Rep. Keith Ellison and his long involvement with the Nation of Islam. Yesterday Ellison
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November 14, 2016 — John Hinderaker
In the wake of last week’s election, one might have expected reporters to be chastened, with their candidate defeated and their attacks on Donald Trump having proved unavailing if not counterproductive. But they are incorrigible. Trump is nowhere near being inaugurated, and already reporters are spinning madly. Let’s take just one example from today’s news. The Associated Press (our old friends Jill Colvin and Julie Pace, along with Steve peoples)
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November 14, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
Fred Fleitz of the Center for Security Policy is an expert on, and leading critic of, the Iran nuclear deal. He followed the Iranian nuclear issue for the CIA, the State Department, and the House Intelligence Committee. In this column for NRO, Fleitz predicts that Donald Trump will fix the Iran deal or else kill it. He cites a statement by Walid Phares, a senior national-security adviser to Trump, that
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November 14, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
One of Donald Trump’s first acts as president will, I hope, be to nominate a conservative to fill the vacancy left by Justice Scalia. I don’t doubt that Trump will pick a conservative, most likely someone from his lists. I’m also confident that the Senate will confirm Trump’s pick. If 60 votes aren’t to be had, the Senate likely will abolish the filibuster, as the Democrats did for lower court
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November 14, 2016 — Steven Hayward
I think I’ve figured out why liberals are losing their minds over Trump’s stunning upset: It’s starting to sink in that the Clintons have torpedoed a second presidential election. But for Bill’s peccadillos, Al Gore would very likely have won the electoral college contest in 2000. And but for Hillary’s baggage, they might well have won this one. There may be some karmic justice after all. Meanwhile, the memes and
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November 14, 2016 — Steven Hayward
You would think that after the Rolling Stone rape hoax fiasco, the University of Virginia, which Thomas Jefferson founded, would be wary of beclowning itself further. And you would be wrong. From the Cavalier Daily: Several groups on Grounds collaborated to write a letter to University President Teresa Sullivan against the inclusion of a Thomas Jefferson quote in her post-election email Nov. 9. In the email, Sullivan encouraged students to
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November 14, 2016 — John Hinderaker
The response to Donald Trump’s election by disappointed Democrats has included riots, assaults, play-doh sessions and cry-ins, among other irrational outpourings. Here in Minnesota, one voter responded in a manner that–while we certainly can’t recommend it–made a little more sense: Lino Lakes police: Driver at .33 BAC blames crash on anger over Trump’s victory. A day after Americans voted for president, an extremely drunken motorist rammed into two vehicles stopped
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November 14, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
Our friend Tevi Troy, the author of outstanding books about the presidency, is also CEO of the American Health Policy Institute. During the George W. Bush administration, he served as deputy secretary of Health and Human Services. Tevi, along with Lanhee Chen of the Hoover Institution, has written an op-ed on Obamacare for the Wall Street Journal (it’s behind the Journal’s pay wall). Their piece has two parts — a
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November 14, 2016 — Steven Hayward
It’s not just the college campuses that need grief counseling at the moment. Apparently greenies at the EPA are also in need of Play Doh, plush toys, and such. From E&E News: There’s been angst and even some tears for federal workers at EPA and other agencies after Donald Trump won the White House. U.S. EPA employees were in tears. Worried Energy Department staffers were offered counseling. Some federal employees
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November 14, 2016 — Scott Johnson
A reader forwards this important message distributed by Patricia McCafferty, Vice Chancellor of University Relations at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where the freakout continues. McCafferty distributes this important message from Chancellor Jacqueline Moloney herself to the “campus community,” or that part of it struggling to cope with reality: From: “McCafferty, Patricia” [email address deleted] Date: Nov 12, 2016 1:55 PM Subject: Message from Chancellor Moloney To: “McCafferty, Patricia” [email
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November 14, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Judge Davis has presided over the convictions of nine “Minnesota men” (Somali Minnesotans) who conspired to support ISIS and will now sentence then individually at hearings to be conducted today through Wednesday. He has scheduled three hearings a day in an ascending order of difficulty: three defendants who cooperated with the prosecution today, three who pleaded guilty with no cooperation tomorrow and three who contested the charges at trial on
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November 13, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
On the eve of the 2012 election, I viewed the Obama-Romney as a toss-up that the challenger would, slightly more likely than not, win. After all, the polls showed the president up by only around 1 point nationally and late deciders are thought generally to break against the incumbent. When I expressed this view to members of the smart set — both just before and just after the election —
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November 13, 2016 — John Hinderaker
Across the country, Democrats disappointed at losing the presidential election are rioting, burning American flags, throwing Molotov cocktails at police officers, hurling bricks through windows, setting fires in urban streets, and attacking random passers-by. We wrote about the riots and posted photos here. Much more could be added in the three days that have gone by since that post. The photos could be multiplied endlessly. This rioter had a particularly
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November 13, 2016 — John Hinderaker
Here in Minnesota, the GOP had a very good, and nearly a great, election. Hillary Clinton carried the state by a mere 1.5%, lending credence to the view that Minnesota will go Republican in 2020. Two Republican Congressional challengers fell short by heartbreakingly small margins, in the 1st and 8th districts, and in District 7, old-time DFLer Collin Peterson could muster only 53% of the vote against an unknown challenger.
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November 13, 2016 — Scott Johnson
I am sorry to report that Leon Russell died today in Nashville at the age of 74. He was an incredibly accomplished pianist, songwriter and performer in the world of popular music. As a member of the Wrecking Crew he played behind just about everybody. He famously recruited and led the band that accompanied Joe Cocker on the raucous Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour of 1970. He followed up with
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