June 20, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seems to be among the intellectual leaders of the Democratic Party despite, or on account of, the near daily demonstration of her nescience. I don’t think she can safely be ignored. She recently opined: “The United States is running concentration camps on our southern border and that is exactly what they are: concentration camps.” Israel’s Yad Vashem doesn’t wade into American politics, but it made an exception in
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June 19, 2019 — Scott Johnson
I think we’re up to part 4 with a bullet in the series that Steve recently initiated. Politico Playbook PM reports: “NOTHING. We desperately wanted to get an explanation about what JOE BIDEN meant when he spoke longingly about working with segregationists James Eastland and Herman Talmadge. But the Biden campaign declined to talk about it on the record or on background, or explain whether Biden would further clarify what
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June 19, 2019 — Scott Johnson
In this series I have complained repeatedly of the Star Tribune’s noncoverage of the news about Ilhan Omar. There’s something about Ilhan! This morning the Star Tribune delivers what they seem to think is big news, courtesy of Washington bureau chief Patrick Condon: “Rep. Ilhan Omar, Valerie Castile call for federal ban on school lunch shaming.” Speaking of shame, I wonder about the Star Tribune. We learn from Erin Schulte’s
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June 19, 2019 — Scott Johnson
President Trump kicked off his 2020 presidential campaign with a best-ever rally of the faithful at the Amway Center in Orlando last night (video below). Bruce Kesler posted the photo above taken by his son at the rally here at Maggie’s Farm. Bruce also quoted Trump on the opposition: “Our radical Democrat opponents are driven by hatred, prejudice and rage. They want to destroy you and they want to destroy
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June 19, 2019 — Scott Johnson
This series has as its subject the intersection of press and politics in Minnesota. The politician is Ilhan Omar; the press is the Star Tribune. Yesterday I addressed a few basic questions to Star Tribune editor Rene Sanchez. Here is the message I sent, lightly edited to correct errors and add a page citation: Dear Rene: As of this afternoon, the Star Tribune has yet to run a single follow-up
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June 18, 2019 — Scott Johnson
It was nearly two weeks ago that we learned Minnesota Fifth District Rep. Ilhan Omar filed joint tax returns in 2014 and 2015 with a man to whom she was not married — while she was married to another man. We have learned this thanks to the investigation conducted by the Minnesota campaign finance board of Omar’s 2016 campaign for the state legislature. The board has made its investigative file
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June 18, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Speaking at a presidential forum convened by the Poor People’s Campaign yesterday, Joe Biden was asked how to eliminate poverty now (video below). In response to the question, Biden advocated the elimination of the Trump tax cuts and observed that there is plenty of money around. So no problem or, as Biden might put it, no problem, man. The question and answer inspire a modest proposal of my own: Eliminate
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June 18, 2019 — Scott Johnson
While the academic study of military history is in a state of sickness unto death in the academy, it lives because of its popularity with the American people. In his terrific essay “Why study war,” Victor Davis Hanson observes: The university’s aversion to the study of war certainly doesn’t reflect public lack of interest in the subject. Students love old-fashioned war classes on those rare occasions when they’re offered, usually
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June 17, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Jack Handey gave us this deep thought: If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is “God is crying.” And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is “Probably because of something you did.” James Comey gave us this deep thought. Political candidates and elected officials should not talk about the future prosecution of any individual.
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June 17, 2019 — Scott Johnson
The Minnesota campaign finance board deposed Rep. Ilhan Omar in the course of its investigation of her use of campaign funds for personal purposes. I have posted the transcript on Scribd and embedded it below. I have separately posted the deposition exhibits here on Scribd. Executive director Jeff Sigurdson channeled Omar’s view of the underlying story at page 31 in this preface to a question: MR. SIGURDSON: More or less
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June 17, 2019 — Scott Johnson
The Tikvah Fund has posted an intensely interesting podcast with Jerusalem Post editor Yaakov Katz here; I have embedded it below. Katz is the author of Shadow Strike, a new and deeply reported account of Israel’s strike on Syria’s nuclear reactor in 2007. The story remains of current interest in various aspects. Tikvah introduces the podcast as follows: On September 6, 2007, shortly after midnight, Israeli fighters advanced on Deir
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June 16, 2019 — Scott Johnson
It is now 10 days since Minnesota Fifth District Rep. Ilhan Omar was found to have filed joint tax returns with a man to whom she was not married — while she was married to another man. Although the Star Tribune is proud of its editorial criticizing Omar, the paper has yet to run a single follow-up story on Omar’s misconduct. We know Omar filed the illegal returns for tax
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June 16, 2019 — Scott Johnson
I wrote this on Father’s Day a few years ago. It is a post that struck a chord with at least a few readers. I am taking the liberty of reposting it today in honor of the day. My father was a thoughtful man in his own way. In the last years of his life he recited for me the things for which he was most grateful. In retrospect I
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June 15, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Bernie Sanders seems to me to embody the trouble with socialism. In his cranky attitude and crabby visage he gives expressive form to the spirit driving the thing. He takes the vast wealth produced by the citizens of the United States as a given. He wants at it with no apparent attention to the destructive effects of the socialist imperative. This week he purported to restate his manifesto (text here,
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June 15, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Douglas Murray is the brilliant author of The Strange Death of Europe. Everything he writes is worth reading and everything he has to say is worth hearing. Following him on Twitter, I came across the video below. It makes for something of a wake-up call in less than three minutes’ time. Someone has picked up on comments I recently made on 'Meaning and Western civilisation' and turned them into this
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June 14, 2019 — Scott Johnson
We continue posting items of interest from the Minnesota campaign finance board investigation of Ilhan Omar’s 2016 state legislative campaign. The board investigation coincidentally revealed that Omar had filed joint tax returns in 2014 and 2015 with a man to whom she was not married while legally married to another man. It is my goal to get some help in pulling on the threads that will unravel the story we
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June 14, 2019 — Scott Johnson
It has now been a week since the Minnesota campaign finance board released its incendiary findings in the matter of Ilhan Omar’s 2016 campaign for the state house. The Star Tribune has published one story noting the board’s findings that Omar filed joint tax returns in 2014 and 205 with a man to whom she was not married while she was legally married to another man. Over what period of
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