Monthly Archives: April 2017
April 26, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
There is considerably less to Judge Orrick’s ruling on “defunding” sanctuary cities than initially seemed to be the case. Andy McCarthy explains that the ruling is basically an “advisory opinion” (which courts aren’t supposed to issue). The ruling is advisory because neither San Francisco nor Santa Clara, the municipal plaintiffs before Judge Orrick, faced any sort of enforcement action pursuant to the executive order they challenged. Indeed, no entity anywhere
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April 26, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Six-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon: $5.34 Copy of Hillbilly Elegy (hardcover): $15.67 Designer jeans caked in fake dirt and mud: $425 The appearance of escaping a liberal bubble: priceless. So writes Philip Wegmann regarding Nordstrom’s “dirty jeans,” which it sells for $425. Nordstrom advertises the jeans this way: These heavily distressed medium-blue denim jeans embody rugged, Americana workwear that’s seen some hard-working action with a crackled, caked-on muddy coating that
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April 26, 2017 — Scott Johnson
Tucker Carlson invited Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell to discuss the Iran deal in the context of Josh Meyer’s bombshell report for Politico. Meyer shows that Team Obama had a whole lotta lyin’ goin’ on. Where’s the outrage? Swalwell is not inclined to look back. It’s all ancient history. The video below from Tucker’s Fox News shows last night reflects Swalwell’s struggle to keep his Obama era talking points straight. Ben
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April 26, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
The House Freedom Caucus, which helped block Paul Ryan’s original Obamacare repeal and replacement legislation, has agreed to support a revised bill. The Washington Post describes, in general terms, the new approach. If the new incarnation gains sufficient support from moderate House Republicans, it will pass. This might happen quickly. For me, the key question in evaluating Obamacare replacement legislation is the impact on premiums. Not having studied the new
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April 26, 2017 — Steven Hayward
One of the most accurate lines in movie history is Mel Brooks’s Gov. Wm. J. LePetomaine in Blazing Saddles, exclaiming, “We’ve got to protect our phoney-baloney jobs!” The State Department is living up to this dictum this week. As we reported here a couple weeks ago, the Trump Administration is divided about whether to honor Trump’s campaign pledge to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. Today Bloomberg
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April 26, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Dana Milbank reports, with glee, that the United Nations “has contacted the Trump administration as part of an investigation into whether repealing [Obamacare] without an adequate substitute for the millions who would lose health coverage would be a violation of several international conventions that bind the United States.” The warning comes from the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights in Geneva. The U.N. Human Rights Commission (now
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April 26, 2017 — Scott Johnson
Here and here, we noted Josh Meyer’s 7300-word investigative report for Politico on the odious hostage deal we arrived at with Iran last year further to the even more odious JCPOA. When it comes to the approach of President Obama and his flacks to these deals, let me adapt the song made famous by Jerry Lee Lewis: whole lotta lyin’ goin’ on. If the Democrats’ mainstream adjunct has its way
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April 26, 2017 — Scott Johnson
The Hill’s Jonathan Easley reports on the reception for conservative media at the White House late Monday afternoon. Easley himself didn’t attend the event. Easley relays the complaints of frustrated guests. Easley tentatively recounts a few of the questions asked at the event. For some reason he omits Trump’s answers. We see as through a glass darkly. Okay, I’m going to come right out and say it. The limitations of
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April 25, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
In an article called “The French, Coming Apart,” Christopher Caldwell, drawing heavily on the work of author Christophe Guilluy, argues that globalization has effectively cut France in two. In 16 dynamic urban areas, Caldwell says, the world’s resources have proved a profitable complement to those found in France. However, other cities and towns have become “desertified,” with the empty storefronts and blighted downtown sectors Rust Belt Americans know well. Caldwell
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April 25, 2017 — John Hinderaker
The French election has come down to a runoff between Emmanuel Macron and Marine le Pen. The French establishment is uniting behind Macron, who is considered a mainstream figure. In one respect, though, his history is odd: he is married to one of his high school teachers, who was a married mother of three when they met. The Sun has the story, with the headline: “How French election front runner
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April 25, 2017 — John Hinderaker
We have written about the corruption of climate science over and over again. Tragically, the agencies that are responsible for maintaining surface temperature records are staffed by zealots who put ideology ahead of science. Agency after agency around the world has been caught “adjusting” temperature records to fit the alarmists’ theories. They do this by lowering past temperature records and raising recent ones. Today the Daily Caller reveals a different
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April 25, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Judge William Orrick, III, appointed by President Obama after he raised at least $200,000 for his fellow left-liberal, has issued an order blocking President Trump from withholding funds to communities that limit cooperation with U.S. immigration authorities. Judge Orrick ruled that the president has no authority to attach new conditions to federal spending. The ruling sounds high-minded and principled. However, as someone said in an email, if a city wanted
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April 25, 2017 — Steven Hayward
I thought the cultural left couldn’t get any more ridiculous than when there was a complaint that the Vagina Monologues weren’t inclusive enough because it excluded men and trans-people, though I don’t know why we should be so specieist about it. In any case, behold Bill Nye, supposedly the “science guy,” bucking to become Bill Nye the Weimar Guy (hat tip to an anonymous Facebook poster for this astute characterization),
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April 25, 2017 — Scott Johnson
Omaha attorney Dave Begley covered the appearances of presidential candidates in Iowa and Nebraska for us over the past two years. Last week he reported here on the appearance of Keith Ellison and Bernie Sanders in Omaha. Today he follows up with the counterprogramming of Mayor Jean Stothert, reported here by the Omaha World-Herald: Scott Walker was brought to Omaha in response to the visit of Bernie Sanders last week.
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April 25, 2017 — Scott Johnson
Entering the White House through the visitors’ entrance at the northwest corner of the grounds, I heard a uniformed Secret Service officer calling a colleague inside: “Press is coming in. Don’t let them wander around the West Wing.” Well, they’ve got my number, I thought to myself. Directed to the press briefing room, the invited conservative media guests were gathering in advance of the reception called for 5:00 p.m. I
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April 25, 2017 — Scott Johnson
Today we celebrate the centennial anniversary of the birth of Ella Fitzgerald, the First Lady of Song. She was a remarkable artist. Each period of her long career is rewarding, though she deepened her art as she got older. She excelled in a wide variety of material and in every musical setting. There is an emotional reserve or detachment in her singing, but there is also joy and an irrepressible
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April 24, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
A U.S. District Court in California has declared 75-year-old veteran Robert Rosebrock not guilty of violating federal law in a prosecution for allegedly displaying two four-by-six inch American flags above a Veterans Affairs fence on Memorial Day 2016. Rosebrock had been charged with hanging the two napkin-sized American flags on a section of the fence adjacent to the entrance to the VA facility in violation of a VA regulation prohibiting
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