February 16, 2025 — John Hinderaker

Exercise caution in watching this video. It could cost you some brain cells. Margaret Brennan–CBS’s chief foreign affairs correspondent!–tries to tell Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the problem with Nazi Germany was that they had too much free speech. Hence the Holocaust. Marco commendably keeps his composure in responding: Secretary of State Marco Rubio defends @JDVance's "historic" speech last week in Munich, leaves ABC's Margaret Brennan speechless after she
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February 16, 2025 — John Hinderaker

I appeared on Sky News Australia’s excellent Outsiders program last night. In a bit of a departure, most of my segment dealt with foreign policy. We talked about Gaza and Israel, and the fact that noon yesterday passed without all Hell breaking loose. We talked about the prospects for peace in Ukraine and Secretary Rubio’s visit to Israel. And we found time at the end for DOGE and the vast
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February 16, 2025 — John Hinderaker

Currently the Four Nations round-robin hockey tournament is in progress. The U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland are participating. It started with two games in Montreal, and will continue with two games in Boston. Last night, a fired-up Team USA beat Canada 3-1 to take a commanding lead in the tournament going into the final two games. The evening began with a hostile Canadian crowd, that included Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,
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February 15, 2025 — John Hinderaker

The Trump administration’s attack on corruption continues: Roses are red, violets are blue,Today, DOGE and 10 agencies made 586 wasteful contracts bid adieu! With a ceiling value of $2.1B and $445M in savings secured,A perfect Valentine’s gift for all taxpayers—well-earned and deserved! Today’s batch includes a $8.2M USDA… pic.twitter.com/6Pehk3vn2L — Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) February 15, 2025 Also: $1.9 billion of HUD money was just recovered after being misplaced
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February 15, 2025 — John Hinderaker

One could assemble news stories like the ones below just about any day of the week: Ford Loses Another $5.1B On EVs. This week, Ford Motor Company reported that it lost $5.1 billion on its EV business in 2024. … Kelley Blue Book reported that Ford’s EV sales were 30,176 for the fourth quarter and 97,865 for the entire year. Therefore, Ford lost $46,394 for each EV it sold in
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February 15, 2025 — John Hinderaker

What is the purpose of a mug shot? I am not sure, but the practice of taking mug shots is universal, so there must be a reason for it. Whatever the purpose is, it no doubt requires that the person under arrest be visible in the photograph. Which brings us to the case of Farishta Jami, born in Afghanistan but now resident in the U.K., who was convicted of terrorism
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February 14, 2025 — John Hinderaker

The Democrats are foaming at the mouth over everything the Trump administration does, but so far the public isn’t buying it. Most people who aren’t Democrats don’t want the government to waste money and disapprove of fraud, so they like what Trump and Musk are trying to do. Rasmussen finds a pretty solid majority of likely voters approving of what the Trump administration is doing so far: The Rasmussen Reports
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February 14, 2025 — John Hinderaker

We always knew the federal government 1) wastes an enormous amount of money, and 2) slides large amounts to leftists of various stripes. “Defund the Left” was a Newt Gingrich battle cry in 1994, but it never happened. So we knew it was bad, but this is ridiculous. In the dying days of the Biden administration, the EPA shoveled $20 billion out the door to left-wing nonprofits in the name
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February 13, 2025 — John Hinderaker

Today a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on USAID abuses was interrupted by insurrectionists who had to be physically removed from the hearing room: It turns out that the insurrectionists, carrying pre-printed signs and presumably acting on directions or bad information from the Democratic Party, didn’t know what they were talking about. Clueless lefty protesters interrupted a Thursday hearing into the controversial government organization US Agency for International Development (USAID)
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February 13, 2025 — John Hinderaker

Robert Kennedy was confirmed this morning as Secretary of Health and Human Services on a 52-48 vote, with only Mitch McConnell joining the Democrats. McConnell’s sad decline continues, but the story here is that every one of Trump’s nominees has been, or will be, confirmed. (I am disregarding Matt Gaetz.) Kennedy was the last nominee, I think, about whom there was any doubt, and by the time the vote drew
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February 12, 2025 — John Hinderaker

While the national scene dominates the news, much of the real action takes place at the state level. The states also can be a harbinger: what starts as a popular movement in the states likely will be reflected in Washington before long. So, if we accept that state legislatures are a closer representation of grass roots strength than Congressional delegations, what does that tell us? This map shows the current
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February 12, 2025 — John Hinderaker

This video of Democratic Congresspeople leading a demonstration in front of the Treasury Department is embarrassing on several levels. One is tempted to headline it, “Democrats can’t sing.” But of course, that is the least of it: 😬 pic.twitter.com/0NON9Sp16h — Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) February 12, 2025 More significant is, what are the Democrats protesting against? The revelation of massive fraud and waste in the federal government. Do Democrats really want
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February 12, 2025 — John Hinderaker

Steve has noted that President Trump is working hard to bring the Russia-Ukraine war to an end. In a closely related development, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth warned our NATO allies that they will have to be primarily responsible for defending Europe: America cannot be relied upon to guarantee the security of Europe from Russia because it has to focus on its own borders and the threat of China, President
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February 11, 2025 — John Hinderaker

The Rocky Mountain Institute is a far-left, “environmentalist” organization that is best known for leading the campaign to ban gas stoves. But there is more to the organization’s radicalism than that, as energy expert Robert Bryce notes: RMI is pushing these policies even though 69% of voters oppose bans on gas stoves. However, the gas bans are only one aspect of RMI’s radical agenda. In 2023, it published a report
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February 11, 2025 — John Hinderaker

Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination as Director of National Intelligence advanced last night on a 52-46 vote. The final vote on her confirmation, which Democrats have delayed as long as they can, will be late tomorrow night. It is not in doubt, and J.D. Vance is out of the country, as his vote will not be needed to break a tie. I think Gabbard is an excellent choice for this role. Senator
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February 11, 2025 — John Hinderaker

I wrote here about the absurd order issued by a Democratic Party judge that purports to bar the Secretary of the Treasury, along with many others, from accessing the Treasury Department’s data. The judge who issued that ex parte order–that means he issued it without even waiting to hear from the government–was Paul Engelmayer. Engelmayer sits in the Southern District of New York, a venue that has no apparent connection
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February 11, 2025 — John Hinderaker

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered that Fort Liberty–re-named such during the post-George Floyd hysteria–once again be called Fort Bragg. Fort Bragg was named after Confederate General Braxton Bragg, who fought generally in the Western theater and was from North Carolina, where the fort is located. Bragg was not a particularly good general, and he didn’t achieve anything noteworthy in civilian life. Fort Bragg was founded during World War
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