Monthly Archives: December 2019
December 12, 2019 — John Hinderaker
In polite society, we are required to pretend that the Earth faces an existential crisis because of increasing levels of atmospheric CO2; that global warming will destroy the planet, that the oceans will rise and storms will batter the sea coasts; that fossil fuels are the devil’s spawn, and in a short time–by 2050, say–all civilized societies will have banned their use, and we will be living in a solar-
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December 12, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The most bitter local rivalry in British football is probably the one between Celtic United and Rangers, a pair of Glasgow teams that long have dominated Scottish soccer. Unlike the rivalries between, say, Liverpool and Everton or Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, the Celtic-Rangers rivalry has major sectarian overtones. Celtic is the team of choice for Catholics, Rangers for Protestants. Last weekend, Celtic defeated Rangers 1-0 in the League Cup Final.
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December 12, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, President Trump signed an executive order that will enable the government to consider discrimination against Jews to be a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. This means that colleges and universities can lose federal funding if they fail to combat discrimination against Jewish students. Trump’s move is a response to the growing number of anti-Semitic incidents on our campuses. To receive Title VI protection, Jews must
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December 12, 2019 — Steven Hayward
As I write we’re not far away from getting the first results of the British election today. I’ve seen stories of long lines to vote and indicators of a heavy turnout. And the British Pound seems to be under pressure today, which might be an ill omen, except that recall the Dow Jones futures plummeted on election night here in 2016, before soaring the next day when people realized that
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December 12, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Everyone who plays poker is familiar with the “tell,” that is, a nervous tic or subtle mannerism that betrays when a player has a strong or bluff hand. I think the Democrats’ behavior this week includes several “tells” that their impeachment hand is weak, and might cause them to lose the whole political pot next year. The first is the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that John notes immediately below. It was
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December 12, 2019 — John Hinderaker
The Trump administration negotiated the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), an important update and revision to NAFTA, a year ago, but House Democrats have refused, until now, to bring it up for a vote. Democrats have been focused exclusively on impeachment and other means of undermining the Trump administration, and didn’t want to give President Trump an important victory. Happily, that opposition has now collapsed, and Nancy Pelosi announced on Tuesday that
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December 12, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Carter Page served as a pretext for Obama’s FBI to surveil the Trump campaign. Having taken out four FISA warrants on him on the basis of the Democrats’ fraudulent Steele Dossier, the FBI found nothing on him. On the contrary, the FBI suppressed exculpatory evidence to maintain its surveillance on him and his associates. Page has been wronged in secret and in public over and over again by the FBI.
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December 12, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Watching Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz testify yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee was a somewhat weird experience. Horowitz frankly identified the egregious government misconduct involved in the FBI’s surveillance of the Trump campaign, but couldn’t “connect the dots” or draw inescapable inferences from the facts he had found. It was all over his head and beyond his grasp. Committee Democrats sought to distract and downplay and suppress
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December 12, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Brits go to the polls today in their lost shot at Brexit. The brilliant Douglas Murray memorably sketches one of the other notable choices confronting voters in the Spectator column “Labour’s anti-Semitism shame must never be forgiven.” The transformation of the Labour Party looks like a harbinger of trends in the Democratic Party. Attention must paid. Murray writes: A huge amount has been written about Corbyn’s anti-Semitism and links to
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December 12, 2019 — Scott Johnson
The Claremont Review of Books has just published its new (Fall) issue. I reviewed the issue in galley to pick out four pieces to feature for Power Line readers, but have been authorized to let you in on a secret. The magazine has moved to a new site with a new URL (claremontreviewofbooks.com). Celebrating its twentieth year of publication in its second life, the editors have made the new issue
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December 11, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
As John discussed below, Michael Horowitz testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee today. He told the committee that there were 17 instances of misconduct by the FBI in connection with the FISA application process. Horowitz also said that his team found no evidence of intentional misconduct. However, he added that the FBI agents involved were unable to provide satisfactory explanations for their actions. But the absence of an innocent explanation
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December 11, 2019 — John Hinderaker
…I’d hate to see inculpation! James Comey and other Democrats are absurdly claiming that Michael Horowitz’s report vindicates or exonerates them. That is ridiculous, as anyone who follows the news even casually knows. Horowitz testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee today–testimony that, as I understand it, was not broadcast by the television networks. Horowitz’s testimony was summarized in a White House email a few hours ago: As Horowitz made clear
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December 11, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Here are a couple of data points that suggest part of the answer, at least, is that they are remarkably ill-informed. First, a video in which students are asked whether they favor Medicare for all. Of course they do! Then they are told a few basic facts about the Sanders proposal, now widely adopted by Democratic politicians, all of which come as a surprise. (“What, you have to pay for
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December 11, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
We have discussed from time to time Jim Scanlan’s insight that reducing an adverse outcome tends to increase relative racial differences in rates of experiencing the outcome. Thus, for example, if one lowers the passing score for an employment test because that test is disqualifying minority applicants at a disproportionate rate, more minority applicants will pass the test but the test will disqualify members of this group at an even
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December 11, 2019 — Steven Hayward
You don’t need to be a complete cynic to be unsurprised by the announcement this morning that St. Greta of Thunberg is Time magazine’s Person of the Year. You knew it was going to be her a few days ago when the five finalists were leaked out. The five were President Trump, Nancy Pelosi (snore. . .), the “whistleblower” (seriously?), and the Hong Kong protesters, and St. Greta. The Hong
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December 11, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Mollie Hemingway performs the great service of reviewing the dueling House Intelligence Committee memos, one by Adam Schiff and one by Devin Nunes, that were released in early 2018, in light of the DOJ Inspector General’s report: “IG Report Confirms Schiff FISA Memo Media Praised Was Riddled With Lies.” Let’s stroll down memory lane to recall what Schiff claimed in the committee majority’s memo: 1. FBI and DOJ officials did
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December 11, 2019 — Scott Johnson
The Washington Free Beacon’s Joe Schoffstall has a good story on the Federal Election Commission’s letter to Ilhan Omar regarding her unitemized small-dollar third-quarter contributions exceeding $800,000. I posted a copy of the letter yesterday here. I understand that the FEC letter to Omar’s campaign is routine and unaccusatory. I should have made that clear in my post. Schoffstall reports, however, that AOC’s campaign reported $1.1 million in unitemized small-dollar
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