Monthly Archives: March 2019
March 31, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
President Trump is asked from time to time about Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta. The questions arise because Acosta gave a sweetheart deal to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and, according to a federal judge, violated victims’ rights law in the process. Thus, it’s fair to wonder why Acosta still has his Cabinet-level job. In answering this question, Trump likes to say that Acosta is “doing a great job.” But I’ve never
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March 31, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Byron York calls attention to a Wall Street Journal poll that, since December of last year, has asked this question every month: Based on what you have seen, read, or heard about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, has it given you more doubts about Donald Trump’s presidency or not? In December, 50 percent of respondents said the investigation has given them more doubts about the Trump presidency. 44 percent said
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March 31, 2019 — John Hinderaker
In an op-ed in the Washington Post, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg called on governments to increase regulation of internet speech. It is easy to understand why Zuckerberg wants governments to tell Facebook what to do. Following regulations will insulate Facebook against liability, and the free speech controversies of recent years have been an unwelcome distraction from Facebook’s remarkably successful business model. Zuckerberg wants government action “in four areas: harmful content,
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March 31, 2019 — Steven Hayward
The left is having a hard time coming to grips with its rout at the hands of the Mueller Report. As has been reported, Rachel Maddow’s viewership on MSNBC cratered last week, and The Guardian—The Frickin’ Guardian!!—wonders if Maddow should pay a price for her egregious sensationalizing of the collusion story: The worst-kept secret in the liberal media ecosystem is that Donald Trump is great for business. Rebranded for the
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March 31, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wallows in ignorance the depth of which is hard to fathom. The fact that this woman graduated from high school and college is an ongoing rebuke to our educational system. Her most recent howler related to the 22nd Amendment, which limits presidents to two terms in office. AOC helpfully explained that it was passed in order to prevent the re-election of Franklin Roosevelt: According to AOC, Congress amended
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March 31, 2019 — Scott Johnson
The long-awaited trial of former Minneapolis police office Mohammed Noor for murder begins tomorrow in Hennepin County District Court before Judge Kathryn Quaintance. In an egregious example of police incompetence, Noor killed Justine Damond on July 15, 2017. Noor should not have been on the force. His killing of Damond represents an utterly needless tragedy that exposed Minneapolis’s kakistocracy for the world to see and now, in the words of
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March 31, 2019 — Scott Johnson
It’s been a few years since we last explored the work of Emmylou Harris. Emmylou celebrates her birthday this coming Tuesday. She is, to say the least, still going strong. In the world of the Cosmic American Music, attention must be paid. I want to take the opportunity to revisit her career with a few examples of her work. For me, anyway, this is the pause that refreshes. I’m a
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March 30, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Earlier today, John wrote about the accusation that Joe Biden touched Lucy Flores inappropriately when he campaigned for her back in 2014. I want to focus on the statement Biden’s team put out in response: Neither then, nor in the years since, did he or the staff with him at the time have an inkling that Ms. Flores had been at any time uncomfortable, nor do they recall what she
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March 30, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
This week, at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, President Trump called bullsh*t on the Democrats. Literally. He told the crowd that the Democrats must now decide whether “they will continue defrauding the public with ridiculous bullsh*t.” This was, I think, a first. To my knowledge, no president has ever used that obscenity in a speech to describe the opposition’s position, or for any other purpose. Another norm falls by
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March 30, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Shills for wind- and solar-derived energy refer to such sources as “green” or “clean.” But are they really? In what sense? And compared to what? This video by the Clear Energy Alliance makes the case that wind and solar energy are not notably cleaner than fossil fuels, pollution from which has declined rapidly. Actually, the video is understated. It could have been more hard-hitting, I think, with a sharper focus
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March 30, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Lucy Flores was the Democrats’ candidate for lieutenant governor of Nevada in 2014. Vice-President Joe Biden went to Nevada to campaign for her. Now, Ms. Flores has decided the time has come to reveal that Biden touched her inappropriately: As I was taking deep breaths and preparing myself to make my case to the crowd, I felt two hands on my shoulders. I froze. “Why is the vice-president of the
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March 30, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Were it not for Brit Hume’s valuable Twitter feed, I wouldn’t know that Byron York has recorded a Ricochet podcast with former Trump attorney John Dowd regarding the Mueller investigation. Byron comments: “Boy, was there a lot going on behind the scenes.” He accurately describes the interview as “[a] peek inside the epic battle of the presidency with the president’s attorney.” Dowd is a formidable attorney with a record that
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March 30, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Yesterday, Judge Roger Benitez of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California handed down an 86-page decision holding that California’s ban on magazines that contain more than ten rounds violates the Second Amendment. Judge Benitez’s decision is closely reasoned and unsparing in its dismantling of the feeble evidentiary case made on behalf of the state. It is premised largely on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in District
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March 30, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Among the high former Obama administration officials who have disgraced themselves by their public comments since leaving office, John Brennan deserves special recognition. Marc Thiessen has done us the favor of making the case in the Washington Post column “The Trump-Russia collusion hall of shame” (accessible via the link at Jewish World Review). Thiessen renders this damning judgment: Put aside the rogues’ gallery of reporters and pundits who assured us
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March 30, 2019 — Steven Hayward
The ink was barely dry on the Mueller Report when the news broke that Jussie Smollett effect a breakout worthy of Houdini. Maybe it wasn’t a breakout as much as it was a case of the Foxx guarding the hoax-house. But we’re not done with the Mueller Report beat down on the Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself). Nosiree Bob! And the Green Nude Eel is still on
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March 29, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Michael Auslin, an Asia expert at the Hoover Institution, examines what I consider the most important foreign policy issue of our time — U.S. relations with China. Auslin believes this may be “crunch time” for these relations. Auslin is happy with President Trump’s China policy so far: The Trump administration’s full-court press against China is going strong, buttressed by a dramatic shift in opinion among the foreign-policy community, now increasingly
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March 29, 2019 — John Hinderaker
When I was growing up, any 12-year-old could accurately describe the Monroe Doctrine. I don’t suppose that is true anymore. Instead, we have John Kerry–in my estimation, one of the least capable men ever to engage in American public life–assuring us that “the era of the Monroe Doctrine is over.” Russia took advantage of that assurance to send around 100 “specialists” to aid Venezuela’s bankrupt socialist regime. The Trump administration
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