Monthly Archives: May 2023
May 22, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Matt Taibbi has just published the subscribers-only post “Looking Back on the Sadism of the Covid-19 Shaming Campaign” at his Racket News site. He draws on Matt Orfalea’s new video (at the bottom) to argue that “apologies are due for the media campaign against ‘the unvaccinated,’ which unveiled open cruelty as public policy strategy.” Taibbi defends the right and the wisdom of thinking for yourself: In this case one didn’t
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May 21, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The scientific method works as follows: 1) You come up with a hypothesis. 2) You look for the implications of the hypothesis. What will be the case if the hypothesis is true, but will not be the case if the hypothesis is wrong? 3) You carry out observations or run experiments to find out whether the facts implied by the hypothesis do or do not obtain. 4) If you find
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May 21, 2023 — Steven Hayward
There has long been speculation that Jeffrey Epstein acquired much of his murky fortune and influence through a sophisticated blackmail operation, but there has been no solid evidence reported in support of this theory. Until today. The Wall Street Journal is out mid-day with a genuine bombshell story that Epstein attempted to exploit an affair Gates had in 2010 with a young Russian bridge player to coerce Gates into contributing
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May 21, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
A group of boys at Lakeridge High School in Lake Oswego, Oregon, showed state lawmakers exactly what they thought of HB 3294, the “Menstrual Dignity Act,” legislation that passed in 2021. They pulled the newly installed feminine hygiene dispenser off the boys room wall and threw it in a toilet, precisely where the unnecessary and offensive device belonged. High school boys simply put the tampon dispenser in their bathroom EXACTLY
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May 21, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Bob Dylan celebrates his 82nd birthday on Wednesday. When he snagged the Nobel Prize for Literature a few years ago, I pulled out all the stops by posting a big set of my favorite covers of his songs. I don’t have any stops left to pull, but I’m adding a few more covers (again) this year in honor of his birthday this week. In my estimation Dylan is first and
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May 21, 2023 — Scott Johnson
This coming Wednesday is the birthday of Minnesota native son Bob Dylan; he turns the ripe old age of 82. It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there. I want to celebrate him as long we’re both still around to enjoy the occasion. He is a remarkable artist, self-invented, deep in the American grain. A few years back I visited Dylan’s old home at 2425 7th Avenue East in Hibbing.
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May 20, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Illinois instituted a program to pay medical expenses for illegal immigrants. Shockingly, more illegals showed up than had been anticipated, and a program estimated to cost $2 million to $4 million now weighs in at $1.1 billion. They were only off by 27,500 percent! Close enough, I suppose, for government work: Update from already-broke Illinois: pic.twitter.com/a2hiCXthiv — Guy Benson (@guypbenson) May 19, 2023 The problem is that “the state needs
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May 20, 2023 — John Hinderaker
It wouldn’t be if it were imposed by a private party, although there might be other problems with it. But can a government entity require its employees to assent to a series of political propositions, and to take what is effectively a loyalty oath? I don’t think so. That’s why my organization has moved to participate in the case of Henderson v. Springfield R-12 School District, now on appeal in
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May 20, 2023 — Steven Hayward
I don’t know whether it is an overstatement to suggest people with “gender dysphoria” have a mental illness, or whether there is a social contagion at work (like the anorexia epidemic among young women a couple decades ago that ultimately faded out to a large extent), but scenes like this state legislator in Nebraska aren’t reassuring that there’s a rational defense of the trans-phenomenon. (Wonder what she will do when
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May 20, 2023 — Steven Hayward
With me back in the host chair this week, the Three Whisky Happy Hour actually breaks some real news with special guest Kelly Janes Torrance, the op-ed editor of the indispensible New York Post. This week Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is attracting surprising interest from many conservatives, visited the Post for a grilling from the Post‘s editorial board, and Kelly Jane opened up her reporter’s notebook to share previously
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May 20, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Rotten apples or rotten to the core? That is the question raised about the FBI yesterday by Kim Strassel’s weekly Wall Street Journal column on the Durham report. John excerpted her column in a nearby post. John’s post really helps to bring the question into focus. In my own “Note on the Durham report” I asserted that the FBI needed to be torn down and rebuilt. I quoted the FBI’s
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May 20, 2023 — Steven Hayward
Forget calling FBI agents “G-men” from now on. They should be henceforth known as “F-men.” You can piece it together if you try. If you had a life raft that could hold only one person and you had an FBI agent and a mainstream media reporter hanging on, why would you pop the life raft instead of saving one of them? Headlines of the week: And finally.
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May 19, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Time was when a politician like Patrick Henry (“Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace–but there is no peace!”) or Abraham Lincoln (“A house divided against itself cannot stand”) could quote from the Bible and assume that pretty much everyone in his audience got the reference. Those days are gone, of course. But most Americans still have at least a nodding acquaintance with the Book. Not, however, those who write and edit
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May 19, 2023 — John Hinderaker
In the Wall Street Journal, relying in part on the Durham report, Kim Strassel argues that the FBI is not fundamentally rotten. Rather, the problems lay at the top: Readers won’t find many direct quotes in the report from former Director James Comey or former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe—both refused to cooperate with Mr. Durham. Mr. Comey has publicly distanced himself from events, honing his mastery of “I don’t recall.”
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May 19, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Joe Biden is attending a G7 meeting in Hiroshima. I haven’t noticed that the event has made any news, with one exception–people are commenting on Biden’s decrepitude. The New York Post: A confused-looking President Biden had to be gently guided by Japanese leader Fumio Kishida on Friday — before tripping and almost falling down some stairs. The oldest-ever US president looked confused as first lady Jill Biden led him by
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May 19, 2023 — Steven Hayward
NOTE: I composed today’s chart before the news broke that the GOP negotiators have suspended the debt ceiling talks today. I suspect they are getting in front of what looks like a Democrat attempt to trap them, as speculated below. After (P)resident Biden spent months of stubbornly insisting that he would not negotiate about lifting the debt ceiling, suddenly he is having negotiations and striking very conciliatory poses about reaching
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May 19, 2023 — Scott Johnson
I don’t think Steve Hayward has plans to run this useful little chart by our friend Mark Perry in his Daily Chart series, but it would in any event bear repetition. It is Mark’s concise response to President Biden’s characterization of the “poison of white supremacy” as the “most dangerous threat to our homeland security” this past weekend in his Howard University Class of 2023 commencement address. At his commencement
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