Monthly Archives: September 2019
September 30, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the 1919 World Series, the one that was fixed. Eight members of the Chicago White Sox (or was it really just seven) threw the Series so crooked gamblers could cash in on a Cincinnati upset win. Cincinnati did win the best of nine series, five games to three. Harry Stein has a good account of it in this article for City
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September 30, 2019 — Steven Hayward
I know. What do you mean, “this week” in crazy? With today’s regnant liberalism, we could easily do “the last half-hour in crazy.” But I do have a day job, plus a wine and whisky addiction that has to be attended to, so I have to be, as the great Ian Faith put it, “more selective.” (Bonus pop culture points for knowing that reference.) Let’s start with . . .
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September 30, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Steve has ably set forth four theories as to why House Democrats have decided now to impeach President Trump. Here’s another, more pedestrian theory: House Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi hate Trump and would like to see him impeached. Pelosi held off until now because she thought impeachment was a political loser. However, the pressure on her to give in was mounting, and Trump’s Ukraine phone call made her think that
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September 30, 2019 — John Hinderaker
The GOP is beginning to fight back against the Democrats’ impeachment mania. The RNC has unveiled a new web site called Stop the Madness, at StopTheMadness.gop. It features this video: The text is straightforward: Democrats have proven, yet again, they have no problem ignoring the will of the American people and THE TRUTH. Contrary to the lies Democrats are spreading, there was: NO QUID PRO QUO. NOTHING INAPPROPRIATE WAS MENTIONED.
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September 30, 2019 — John Hinderaker
I will be hosting the Dennis Prager radio show tomorrow from 12 to 3 p.m. Eastern. It is my first time guest hosting Dennis’s program, so it would be great if some Power Line readers tune in and, better yet, call the show. While I can’t match Dennis for erudition, there is so much in the news these days that it should be an exciting show. So please do listen
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September 30, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Why impeachment, and why now? Herewith four theories that are neither mutually exclusive nor the sole or dominant reason—all four can be true to some extent, along with other reasons already floating around. • The Democratic 2020 president field is unbelievably weak. The two front runners are a doddering old fool and a fake Indian whose shrill demeanor and radical ideas assure a Trump re-election. Hence the impeachment crusade is
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September 30, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
House Democrats have decided that Adam Schiff, not Jerry Nadler, will lead their impeachment charge. The Washington Post suggests that Corey Lewandowski’s appearance before Nadler and the House Judiciary Committee sealed the deal. In the Post’s words, Lewandowski “made his questioners look helpless. . .” One top Democrat pronounced the hearing “a fiasco.” According to the Post, Schiff earned the trust of his Democratic colleagues as a public messenger by
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September 29, 2019 — Steven Hayward
What would we do without the New York Times warning us about the menace of . . . (checks notes) . . . surf Nazis! From yesterday’s Times: The first time I saw a swastika in the wild, I happened to be carrying a surfboard. . . At the time, the term “surf Nazi” often got applied to any surfer ferociously committed to the sport and territorial about his local
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September 29, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Yuri Lutsenko was Ukraine’s chief prosecutor from May 2016 until August 2019. Thus, he held that position at the time of President Trump’s now famous phone conversation with Ukraine’s president. Lutsenko says he told Rudy Giuliani that he would be happy to cooperate if the FBI or other U.S. authorities began their own investigation of Joe Biden and/or Hunter Biden. However, he told Giuliani that, as far as he knew,
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September 29, 2019 — John Hinderaker
New York City is trying to ban the phrase “illegal alien” in various contexts, including employment and housing. It has issued a guidance to that effect under the New York City Human Rights Law. Under the City’s interpretation, calling an illegal alien an “illegal alien” could cost you $250,000. At Liberty Unyielding, Hans Bader points out that the guidance is obviously unconstitutional: New York City is seeking to use an
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September 29, 2019 — John Hinderaker
President Trump met with Wayne LaPierre, President of the National Rifle Association, at the White House on Friday. This isn’t particularly big news; “President meets with political ally” is about as yawn-inducing a headline as a paper could produce. So the Times decided to spice it up, reporting that “in return for” the NRA’s support, LaPierre asked the president to “stop the games” over gun control legislation. Such a quid
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September 29, 2019 — Steven Hayward
I’m a little late getting this week’s episode put together, but just in time for your Sunday afternoon walk or Monday morning commute, another installment in our special series critiquing the 1619 Project. For this episode I gave a field promotion to co-host for “Lucretia,” because we have a very special guest Lucas Morel, who is professor of politics and head of the politics department at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia,
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September 29, 2019 — John Hinderaker
As I have said before, I think the claim that President Trump’s phone conversation with President Zelensky of Ukraine somehow constitutes an impeachable offense is ridiculous. But impeachment is a political act, not a legal one, and the Democrats’ motives are entirely political. They think that impeaching President Trump will cast a pall of discredit over him and weaken his chances for re-election in 2020. I think that calculation is
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September 29, 2019 — Scott Johnson
I recently drew the attention of Power Line readers to Professor Gary Saul Morson’s essay “How the great truth dawned.” It leads off the September issue of The New Criterion. Beginning and ending with Solzhenitsyn, it takes up the Gulag, Communism, mass murder, Russian literature, the turn to God and much more. It is a great essay. The New Criterion invited Professor Morson back to deliver its inaugural Circle Lecture
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September 28, 2019 — John Hinderaker
It is not news to anyone who reads this site that the Democrats have gone around the bend. But their latest attack on the Trump administration, based on the fact that transcripts of Trump’s conversations with foreign leaders have been kept on a secure server, is perhaps the most insane yet. Conversations between our president and foreign heads of state on a secure server? I should hope so! Where else
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September 28, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
There’s nothing wrong with a U.S. official asking a foreign leader for help in investigating possible criminal acts by Americans committed in, or relating to, the foreign leader’s country. There’s nothing wrong with a U.S. president asking a foreign leader to speak to and work with a U.S. official conducting such an investigation. This is true regardless of whether the person being investigated is a political opponent of the president.
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September 28, 2019 — John Hinderaker
At the beginning of the Democratic primary process, observers assigned candidates to “lanes.” The least crowded is the so-called sane lane. Some people put Amy Klobuchar there; I’ve even seen it written that she has that lane to herself. But Amy isn’t sane, she’s just cautious. She is all in for impeachment. That leaves Tulsi Gabbard, whom I like for several reasons even though she is far to my left.
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