February 19, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Nick Sandmann, the kid from Covington, Kentucky who was vilified for misconduct towards a Native American that he didn’t engage in, has sued the Washington Post for $250 million. He filed the complaint in the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Northern Division at Covington. You can read the complaint here. The amount of monetary damages Sandmann seeks corresponds to the amount of cash Jeff Bezos paid
»
February 19, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, seven members of Parliament left Britian’s Labour Party. They will remain in Parliament as an independent bloc. The Washington Post has the details. The leader of Britain’s small Liberal Democrat party said he hoped to work with this bloc. He also suggested that it might grow in the near future. The seven MPs cited several areas of disagreement with the direction of the Labour Party under its radical head,
»
February 18, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The race for the Democratic presidential nomination has barely commenced, but already Margaret Sullivan, the Washington Post’s media columnist, is whining about “sexist” coverage of female candidates. As evidence she mentions the “mocking” of Kirsten Gillibrand’s uncertainty about how to eat fried chicken. However, candidates of both genders are routinely mocked when they eat “down home” food in an uptown manner. It happened to Donald Trump and John Kasich in
»
February 18, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Over the weekend, I linked to Jack Goldsmith’s article on President Trump’s use of national emergency power to come up with the money to build more border fencing. Goldsmith took no position at this early date on the legality of Trump’s move. However, his initial view is that hysteria over it is misplaced and that Trump’s legal position is plausible. John Yoo goes further. He finds that the law is
»
February 18, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Sen. Lindsey Graham says the Senate Judiciary Committee, which he chairs, will investigate Andrew McCabe’s claim that Rod Rosenstein raised the possibility of ousting President Trump via the 25th Amendment. Graham called McCabe’s statement “beyond stunning.” If true, McCabe’s statement is stunning. But in order to justify an investigation, there should be some reason to believe the statement is true. McCabe is a liar. The DOJ’s inspector general so concluded,
»
February 17, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Steve Hayward’s post about an upcoming event with Tucker Carlson, which Steve will moderate, refocused my attention on Carlson’s controversial monologue in early January. I wrote about it here . I concluded my post, which praised Carlson for his “insights and plausible, thought-provoking claims” about the problems in rural America, by saying that he avoided the question of “personal responsibility.” I did not elaborate. I want to do so now.
»
February 17, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
George Will takes up the question. He notes that socialism once stood for state ownership of the means of production. Then, it stood for state ownership of the economy’s “commanding heights” — its most important entities. Now, says Will, it stands for the proposition that “the government [shall] distribute, according to its conception of equity, the wealth produced by capitalism.” To this, I would add that the government shall exert
»
February 16, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
President Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency and move funds around to pay for more wall building is certain to be challenged in court. The case almost surely will arrive at the Supreme Court. When it does, Trump may not have five votes. Chief Justice Roberts, and conceivably others among the five center-right Justices, may be quite skeptical of this use of executive power as, indeed, are a number
»
February 15, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
I’ve wondered whether by signing the bipartisan funding bill, President Trump weakens his case that we face a national emergency. I don’t know that he does, it just seemed like a possibility worth discussing. But today, Trump appeared truly to weaken his case. During a press event, Trump declared that he didn’t need to “do this” (i.e. declare the emergency), but he wanted to build the wall “much faster.” Isn’t
»
February 15, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Later this afternoon, I will be the guest of Seth Leibsohn on KKNT 960—”The Patriot”—in Arizona. I’m scheduled to appear at 6:00 Eastern Time. We will be discussing the bipartisan funding bill and President Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency in order to fund more fully a border wall.
»
February 15, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Days before President Obama left office, the Labor Department sued Oracle for alleged pay discrimination against blacks, Asians, and women. The suit was grounded in the Obama-Tom Perez DOL’s misuse of statistics. I discussed that misuse here. When a center-right administration inherits lawsuits grounded in leftist dogma, it faces a dilemma. It can simply drop the case, but that would alienate staff and arguably make the agency look bad. It
»
February 14, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The funding bill passed the Senate 83-16. Richard Burr of North Carolina did not vote. Of the 16 “no” votes, 11 were cast by Republicans. They are: Mike Braun (Ind.) Tom Cotton (Ark.) Ted Cruz (Tex.) Josh Hawley (Mo.) James M. Inhofe (Okla.) Mike Lee (Utah) Rand Paul (Ky.) Marco Rubio (Fla.) Ben Sasse (Neb.) Tim Scott (S.C.) Patrick Toomey (Pa.) Four of the five Democrats who voted no are
»
February 14, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The bipartisan bill to fund the government is a disaster. As I explained here, per Mark Krikorian, it is unlikely to enable more than minimal wall building. In addition, it appears to prevent ICE from detaining or removing any illegal immigrant who has, in effect, any relationship with an “unaccompanied” minor. Among other evils, this will create an incentive for illegal immigrants already here to order up kids from Central
»
February 14, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Democrats have hoodwinked Republicans on the border compromise legislation that would end the dispute over funding the government. That’s the most charitable interpretation of what has happened. It’s possible that the Republicans who agreed to the deal know about the “landmines” that will undermine the Trump administration and simply don’t care. Mark Krikorian blows the whistle. He writes: The bill is disappointing in many respects, but if it had been
»
February 14, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The Senate today confirmed William Barr as Attorney General of the United States. Barr will be sworn in this afternoon. The swearing in may have occurred by the time this post goes up. The vote was 54-45. Three Democrats voted to confirm Barr. The three are Joe Manchin, Doug Jones, and Kyrsten Sinema. Rand Paul voted against confirming Barr. Barr served as Attorney General under President George H.W. Bush. Then,
»
February 14, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Neomi Rao is President Trump’s highly-qualified nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit. We’ve written about her here and here. Democrats are determined to block Rao. She is what they despise: a brilliant conservative minority group member and potential future Supreme Court nominee. To make matters worse, her professional focus has been the administrative state, on which Democrats rely to reshape America without the consent of its people.
»
February 13, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
We aren’t quite half way through February yet, but pitchers and catchers are reporting to Spring Training today. The big story of the off-season is what didn’t happen. Prize free agents Bryce Harper and Manny Machado didn’t sign with any club. Most of the rest of the free agent crop didn’t either. This surprising development has players complaining about collusion (the non-Russia kind). However, I think what has really happened
»
