August 12, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Negotiations with the Iranian regime facilitated by our Russian “friends” have culminated in a final text of a new nuke deal announced in Vienna this week on August 8. FDD’s Richard Goldberg reviews the state of play in the disheartening essay “Five minutes from disaster.” Under the terms of a new deal: Iran would receive $275 billion of sanctions relief in the first year and $1 trillion by 2030, including
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August 12, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Drawing on this week’s BLS report on the Consumer Price Index, President Biden and his flacks promoted the idea that inflation had dramatically fallen to 0 percent last month. I noted the administration’s 0 percent chorus here yesterday. Is it too late to cancel the destructive monstrosity moving through Congress under the misnomer of the Inflation Reduction Act? That is one question the Democrat media adjunct failed to raise as
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August 12, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Where the country rock group Poco once picked up the pieces, Ammo Grrrll is PICKING UP THE THREADS. She writes: Big doings this week for sure. I put in my opinion as a short comment on John’s Tuesday post. But I figured by Friday we would have so much new information that anything I wrote for Wednesday’s submission would not age well. However, even more important, I have been mercifully
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August 11, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Coordination among the authorities and the mainstream media operatives is so blatant one might conclude is so blatant as to be laughable. We miss Rush Limbaugh’s recurring demonstration of the phenomenon. The FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence is only the latest in a long line of examples. Word came down that what was once a “raid” is now a “search.” The conformity of the talking heads is mind-boggling. The
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August 11, 2022 — Scott Johnson
In their own way President Biden’s White House minders must be just about as far gone as he is. With the announcement that Consumer Price Index had declined year-over-year from 9.1 percent to 8.5 percent, they thought it made sense to push the line that the numbers reflect “zero inflation last month” (i.e., on a month to month basis). The Bureau of Labor Statistics data are compiled here (home page)
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August 10, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Everyone knows Ilhan Omar is a vile ingrate and egregious liar, but these may be among her less detestable qualities. I had nevertheless yet to hear her called out in public by a prominent Minnesota Democrat in the fashion she was last night by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (video below). Frey’s condemnation of Omar reflects his personal experience and it is something more than the weak tea we have come
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August 10, 2022 — Scott Johnson
What do we know? Law enforcement leaks and confirmation from the Trump side indicate that the FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence indicate that the search was focused on presidential records and the possible violation of the Presidential Records Act. In her inside account of the raid, Miranda Devine puts it this way: “The Post has learned that the search warrant used by the FBI to enter the palatial Palm
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August 10, 2022 — Scott Johnson
With every advantage in the race, Ilhan Omar narrowly emerged as the winner of Minnesota’s Fifth District (Minneapolis and inner ring suburbs) DFL primary yesterday. She defeated challenger Don Samuels by 2,500 votes out of nearly 113,000 votes cast (2.1 percent). I don’t think anyone other than Samuels and his supporters anticipated a race this close. The result strongly suggests that Omar can be beaten from within the party by
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August 9, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Michael Senger read Deborah Birx’s memoir Silent Invasion: The Untold Story of the Trump Administration, Covid-19, and Preventing the Next Pandemic Before It’s Too Late so that we don’t have to. In Senger’s judgment, Birx’s book “reads like a how-to guide from the front lines of subverting a democratic superpower from within.” Given late-breaking events yesterday, I can’t declare this the quote of the day, but it deserves special attention:
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August 9, 2022 — Scott Johnson
With the FBI raid and New York Times write-up by Maggie Haberman, Ben Protess, and Adam Goldman, President Trump was James O’Keefed yesterday. O’Keefe was raided, humiliated, and Times’d over Ashley Biden’s diary. The government is out to get him. So it is with President Trump, right down to the Times coordination with the national security establishment (“according to multiple people familiar with the investigation”). Thinking that Trump had been
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August 8, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Today comes news of the death of historian David McCullough yesterday at the age of 89. The New York Times obituary by Daniel Lewis is here. McCullough was a popular historian who was an intense researcher with an incredible gift for narrative. I think he loved narrative history and America in roughly equal measure. The two loves made him an immensely popular popular historian — a popular historian of quality.
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August 8, 2022 — Scott Johnson
The political news of the day is the passage of the shove-it-down-your-throat absurdity of the Inflation Reduction Act. What this country needs is a vastly expanded Internal Revenue Service! (said no sane man or woman ever). Adding to the insufferable stupidity and deceit of the bill’s provisions is the insufferable stupidity and deceit of the media coverage of the bill itself. Feel the excitement coursing through Politico Playbook’s “How it
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August 8, 2022 — Scott Johnson
We are close to the end of this song of the day series featuring Minnesota musicians, but I may indulge myself one more time tomorrow. If you have followed along, you may have noticed that I have excavated songs with an upbeat tone or feeling. In the spirit of the Inflation Reduction Act, the time has come for music in a more desperate mood. With my friend Scott Sansby I
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August 7, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Following up on “An utterly bizarre statement,” reader Dave Begley wrote Hunter Biden attorney Christopher Clark. Dave wrote Clark: Hunter Biden is a criminal, tool for China, and a traitor. His parents won’t mount him. Clark responded to Dave: You are a genius!!!! Christopher J. Clark Latham & Watkins LLP The email from Clark comes with the obligatory firm warning: “This email may contain material that is confidential, privileged and/or
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August 7, 2022 — Scott Johnson
In his Wall Street Journal morning editorial report email, Paul Gigot usefully summarizes the damage done in the absurdly named “Inflation Reduction Act” that the Senate is approving via the reconciliation process: The Washington press corps prefers to cover politics over policy, so it’s mostly ignored the details in Sen. Joe Manchin’s tax-and-spending deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. The Journal opinion pages have tried to fill that gaping
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August 7, 2022 — Scott Johnson
When Steve returns to his post on the left coast this week, I will bring this song of the day series featuring Minnesota musicans to an end. Matt Wilson and John Munson have teamed up again in the group The Twilight Hours. Matt and John are ex- of Trip Shakespeare and Semisonic. John is the bassist in the New Standards trio. Matt also leads Matt Wilson & His Orchestra. Matt
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August 6, 2022 — Scott Johnson
The Daily Mail has published another exploration of the Biden family business in this story by Josh Boswell. Boswell draws on the laptop from hell and White House visitor logs to show the apparently direct involvement of President Biden in the business. Please check out Boswell’s excellent story. Boswell’s story is profusely illustrated, Daily Mail style. Best of all, it includes the statement below from Latham & Watkins criminal defense
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