February 23, 2019 — Scott Johnson
In today’s New York Times Matt Flegenheimer and Sydney Ember perform the proverbial deep dive on the experience of working for Minnesota’s own presidential candidate, Amy Klobuchar (accessible here on MSN and here on Outline). The The Amy Klobucahr Experience is not pleasant. Klobucahr’s Minnesota nice thing is a facade. You probably wouldn’t want to work as a direct report for Klobuchar. The story does not come as a great
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February 23, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Did you know that Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has launched a presidential campaign? Yesterday she brought her campaign to Council Bluffs. We had Dave Begley on hand to cover the festivities. Dave is a Nebraska attorney practicing elder law and estate planning in Omaha. He is also our occasional presidential campaign correspondent. Dave has filed this report on Gabbard in Council Bluffs (thumbnail photo and photo below courtesy of Matt
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February 22, 2019 — Scott Johnson
In the current Mosaic podcast (introduced here), the Hudson Institute’s Michael Doran supports the withdrawal of American troops from their stations in Syria. In his January essay for Mosaic, Doran defended the White House’s strategy in Syria based on a prudent assessment of geopolitical realities. Weighing the pros and cons, Doran forcefully makes the case that, if the United States is to succeed in advancing its interests and elevating its
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February 22, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made headlines last week as an opponent of Amazon. She desired Amazon to take their 25,000 headquarters jobs and shove them — shove them somewhere other than New York. She proclaimed victory when Amazon announced it would do so. ‘Twas a famous victory, with a footnote: Apparently AOC stands for Amazon Online Customer. Before freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez celebrated scaring away the online retail giant, she spent thousands
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February 22, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Ammo Grrrll takes a lemon and makes a lemonade in A MEDITATION ON GRATITUDE. She writes: Last Saturday, I read Scott’s column on the unseemly ingratitude of Ilhan Omar. Unfortunately, the day before, I had written an almost identical column to post this week. I sent mine to Scott with a laugh, accusing him of performing a Vulcan mind-meld, but he encouraged me to give it my own spin. So
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February 22, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Today we celebrate the anniversary of the birth of George Washington. Of all the great men of the revolutionary era to whom we owe our freedom, Washington’s greatness was the rarest and the most needed. At this remove in time, it is also the hardest to comprehend. Take, for example, Washington’s contribution to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Washington’s mere presence lent the undertaking and its handiwork the legitimacy that
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February 21, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson called a press conference this morning to announce the department’s findings in the matter of Empire actor Jussie Smollett. According to the department’s investigation, Smollett orchestrated the alleged attack on himself. And that’s not all. He also sent a threatening letter to himself at the Fox studio lot before the attack. He said Smollett was dissatisfied with his salary. “I’m left hanging my head and
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February 21, 2019 — Scott Johnson
I’m struggling with a painful condition that has not yet been subdued by medication. The condition is disrupting my sleep and the medication is suppressing my energy. (I should add that my painful condition is only painful. It does not have any other physical effect.) Borrowing the heading from the old National Review Notes & Asides column in which William F. Buckley responded to letters from readers — he compiled
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February 20, 2019 — Scott Johnson
In Minneapolis, what was once Lake Calhoun — the city’s biggest lake — has recently been renamed Bde Maka Ska, for all the painfully familiar reasons. Roger Kimball addresses the issues embedded in those reasons in his Imprimis essay “Shall we defend our common history?” This is a smart and biting essay that sheds light on dark corners of the left’s will to power. I asked Roger if there was
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February 19, 2019 — Scott Johnson
President Trump has rejected the status quo ante in American foreign policy. He has rededicated the United States to the support of Israel. He has withdrawn the United States from the disgraceful deal with Iran. He has tightened the sanctions regime with the intent of disabling the mullahs. He has shaken up matters with the North Korean regime in the interest of putting their nuclear weapons program on the path
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February 19, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Victor Davis Hanson pieces together much of what we have learned so far in the efforts to prevent and then undo the election of Donald Trump — the affair that I refer to in whole as the Mueller Switch Project — in “Autopsy of a dead coup.” It’s an excellent and needed column by a great historian. With a timely endorsement by Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Hanson’s book The Case For
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February 19, 2019 — Scott Johnson
On the Sunday following the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue shootings this past October we saw the documentary Sammy Davis Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me at the Sabes Minneapolis Jewish Community Center. I mention the shootings because they accounted in part for the emotional reaction I refer to below. The film is finally to be broadcast tonight at 9:00 p.m. (Eastern) as part of the PBS American Masters series. This
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February 18, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Steve Hayward writes this morning to convey the sad news that former Dartmouth English professor Jeffrey Hart has died. The news comes via Professor Hart’s National Review colleague Jay Nordlinger, who writes: “He was one of the brightest, most learned men I ever knew. Nationally, he was known for his political writing (and his tennis commentary!). But he is also a legendary professor of English. A rara avis.” Professor Hart
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February 17, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Did you know that California Rep. Eric Swalwell is launching a presidential campaign? Yesterday he came to Council Bluffs. We had Dave Begley on hand to cover the festivities for us. Dave is a Nebraska attorney practicing elder law and estate planning in Omaha. He is also our occasional presidential campaign correspondent. Dave has filed this report on Swalwell in Council Bluffs (thumbnail photo and photo below by Dave): The
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February 16, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Mark Penn puts the greatest scandal of Obama administration officials — the greatest political scandal in our history — this way: The most egregious anti-democratic actions ever taken by the what can now fairly be called the Deep State are confirmed with the publication of fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s new book detailing how the FBI and Justice Department plotted to remove President Trump from office for firing FBI
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February 16, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar must be one of the most fortunate people in the world. She left Somalia during its civil war to take up residence in a Kenyan refugee camp. From the refugee camp she immigrated to the United States as a young girl and ultimately made her way to the Twin Cities with her family. She was elected to the state legislature at the age of 35 and
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February 16, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Let’s say that former Obama auto industry czar Steven Rattner concurs with John Hinderaker’s assessment of the state of Alexadria Ocasio-Cortez’s knowledge, if I may use that word in this context (tweet below). I thought Rattner’s concurrence added support of John’s analysis of AOC’s comments from an unlikely source. Amazon’s decision to take its 25,000 jobs and tell New York to shove it — ’twas a famous victory. On Rattner’s
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