Monthly Archives: December 2019
December 27, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Even more surprising than fake religion from Pete Buttigieg is fake religion from the formidable Timothy Cardinal Dolan. In his Christmas Eve New York Post column “A Christmas lesson on housing the poor,” Cardinal Dolan writes: “The Son of God was homeless; his earthly parents were immigrants and refugees.” I’m not Christian and mean no disrespect. For the reasons set forth in Paul’s post, however, I doubt Cardinal Dolan has
»
December 27, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Ammo Grrrll has a tip: MIDWAY! DO NOT MISS IT! She writes: I really do not go to movies in a theater. We are appalled by most of the braindead twits in Hollywood and do not care to help pay for their relentless attacks on everything we value – America, masculine male men, the military, cops, fossil fuels, Christianity, observant Judaism, the rule of law, capitalism, free speech, secure borders,
»
December 26, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Pete Buttigieg has tried to carve out a niche among Democratic presidential hopefuls as the candidate who is comfortable talking about religion. Unfortunately, he’s only comfortable trying to use religion as a means of beating conservatives, especially religious ones, over the head. This annoying penchant was on display again in Buttigieg’s Christmas message. He tweeted: Today I join millions around the world in celebrating the arrival of divinity on earth,
»
December 26, 2019 — Scott Johnson
NR’s Kyle Smith includes The Cold Blue somewhere near the top of his list of 2019’s ten best documentaries. Smith writes: Back when leading Hollywood personalities felt it was their patriotic duty to put themselves in harm’s way for their country, the director William Wyler (who would go on to make The Best Years of Our Lives and Ben-Hur) was among those who went off to make movies as part
»
December 26, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
I didn’t get a Christmas card from Joe Biden, but I take the Daily Caller’s word that the family picture that graced the card did not include Hunter Biden. Six family members appear on the card, along with the former vice president and his wife. Hunter is not among them. Joe Biden followed up with a video of two family dogs. He tweeted: When we say Merry Christmas from the
»
December 26, 2019 — Steven Hayward
• This installment of our Crazy Chronicles begins with the always reliable Amanda Marcotte of Salon, who believes that “Hallmark movies are fascist propaganda.” No, really—that’s what she thinks: Running down this year’s schedule of Christmas movie offerings is like a trip into an uncanny valley of shiny-teethed, blow-dried heteronormative whiteness, with only a few token movies with characters of color. It’s like watching “The Stepford Wives,” but scarier, since
»
December 26, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Britain’s Sun newspaper comments on a new report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research. The Sun’s focus is Britain, but the report is highly relevant to the U.S. as well: BRITAIN’s economy has defied forecasts predicting it would be overtaken by France as a new report reveals we have cemented sixth place in the world. And by 2034 the UK’s economy is now predicted to be a quarter
»
December 26, 2019 — John Hinderaker
This evening, starting at 7 p.m. Central time (5 Pacific, 8 Eastern), we are doing a VIP Live event. If you are a VIP member, you will get an email with a link to a live address where you can watch the event and submit your own comments and questions on the issues of the day. We have quite a few new VIP members; if you have joined recently, I
»
December 26, 2019 — Scott Johnson
The Aspen Times deposited the metaphorical lump of coal in conservative columnist Glenn Beaton’s Christmas stocking this year. After a seven-year run as the paper’s one and only conservative columnist as well as its most widely read columnist, period, the editors terminated him. The reason given for Glenn’s abrupt firing was that his “values” conflict with those of the newspaper. Glenn is a Trump supporter and has been critical of
»
December 25, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
These days, televised sports on Christmas center on the NBA. Five of its games were shown today. College football took the day off. So did big time soccer. There were a few college basketball games on television, but none of note. For me, this nearly meant a day off from watching sports on the tube. I caught only the last ten minutes of the NBA’s marquee game between the Clippers
»
December 25, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
2019 was a banner year for confirming federal judges — an accomplishment that will reverberate long after many of the leading stories of the year, including impeachment, have been largely forgotten. Let’s start with federal district court judges. These positions didn’t used to be considered politically charged. Confirmation of district court nominees once was routine. That’s no longer true. District judges are actively participating in the anti-Trump resistance. They are
»
December 25, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Alright, alright, I give in. I wasn’t going to post a special gallery today, but I’ve been bombarded with notes wondering why not. And we’re all about fan service at Power Line these days! So herewith a special Christmas Day gallery: And finally. . . Actually, how about a ghost pic, exposing Santa’s hypocrisy about the whole “naughty and nice” thing. . .
»
December 25, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Christmas Day seems like a suitable occasion for a diversion from the political ephemera of the day with an extended reflection on the great C.S. Lewis (because repeating the self-evident arguments about why Die Hard is a Christmas movie is getting boring). I have previously quoted here the liberal grandee Arthur Schlesinger: “Ignorance is never any bar to certitude in the progressive dreamworld.” This remark appears in his best book,
»
December 25, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Victor Davis Hanson recalls the Battle of the Bulge, which I hadn’t realized was the bloodiest battle in U.S. history: Seventy-five years ago, at the Battle of the Bulge (fought from Dec. 16, 1944, to Jan. 25, 1945), the United States suffered more casualties than in any other battle in its history. Some 19,000 Americans were killed, 47,500 wounded and 23,000 reported missing. The American and British armies were completely
»
December 25, 2019 — Scott Johnson
This year Benjamin Netanyahu became the longest serving prime minister in Israel’s history. He is not only able to distinguish between Israel’s friends and its enemies, he has expanded its circle of friends (and allies of convenience) in surprising ways. In the tweet below he conveys his annual Christmas wishes to Israel’s Christian friends around the world. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Merry Christmas to all our Christian friends in Israel
»
December 24, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Sad news on this eve of Christmas of the passing of John Alvis, a long-time professor at the University of Dallas. Professor Alvis was best known—though nowhere near as well known as he deserved to be—as a profound thinker and teacher on the relation between literature and politics. He wrote several extraordinary books and essays about Shakespeare’s politics in particular, but equally fine books on Homer, Virgil , and Milton. I
»
December 24, 2019 — John Hinderaker
The Wall Street Journal sends a daily email to subscribers with highlights from the news. Today’s email begins: Stocks and bonds are staging an extraordinary run. They are on track for their biggest simultaneous gains in more than two decades. The S&P 500 has soared 28.6% this year, while a bond rally has pushed the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note down by three quarters of a percentage point.
»
