December 9, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Karla Bonoff and Livingston Taylor came to town for two holiday themed shows at the Dakota this week. Karla has listed upcoming appearances here. This is a beautiful, beautiful show. Among other upcoming shows I want to note that they will hit the Birchmere in Alexandria on Tuesday. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed if you seize the opportunity to see the show. We made it last night and had
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December 8, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Cliff May is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a columnist for the Washington Times. He is a veteran reporter, foreign correspondent, and editor for the New York Times and other publications. Cliff’s current column is “The speech Biden should make now” (at FDD, where it is posted with links). Cliff has kindly given us his permission to post his column on Power Line.
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December 8, 2023 — Scott Johnson
A Central District of California federal grand jury has handed up a nine-count indictment of Hunter Biden on tax charges. Three of the charged crimes are felonies. The rest are misdemeanors. The detailed 56-page indictment is posted online here and embedded in Victor Nava’s New York Post story here. The gist of the case is set forth in paragraph 4 of the indictment: “The Defendant engaged in a four-year scheme
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December 8, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Ammo Grrrll draws FIVE LESSONS FROM CHANUKAH. She writes: Last night was the first night of Chanukah. We set out all our menorahs and lit the one candle with the “chamash” or helper candle in each one. It looked pretty festive, but I always make my Chanukah Party on the seventh or eighth night when it’s a veritable bonfire – five menorahs with 9 candles apiece! Quite glorious. There is
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December 7, 2023 — Scott Johnson
I attended the Trumpless GOP presidential candidates debate in Tuscaloosa last night at the Moody Music Building Concert Hall of the University of Alabama. University of Alabama President Stuart Bell welcomed the crowd with introductory remarks and then took a seat in the second row to watch the debate. I know nothing about him, but he struck me as a stand-up guy. I introduced myself after the debate and told
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December 7, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Yesterday President Biden appeared to make remarks urging Congress to pass his national security supplemental funding request. The White House has posted the transcript here. New York Post reporter Steven Nelson had this exchange with Biden (video below): Q President Biden, on Ukraine and also China. President Biden, on Ukraine and also China. There’s polling by the Associated Press that shows that almost 70 percent of Americans, including 40 percent
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December 6, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The New York Post story on the latest findings in the House investigation of the Biden family business appears to contradict a number of themes that President Biden has hammered in his shifting defenses: For nearly a decade, Joe Biden used multiple email aliases to send hundreds of messages to his son Hunter’s former business partner, a Republican-led House committee leading the impeachment inquiry into the president revealed Tuesday. The
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December 6, 2023 — Scott Johnson
JNS has a good update on the progress of the IDF’s war on Hamas in the story “IDF strikes 250 terror sites in Gaza as ground battles intensify.” The story includes the heartwarming IDF tweet below picturing a five bygone Hamas leaders in happier days. Unfortunately, however, Hamas appears to be incredibly well stocked with rockets and other munitions. The Times of Israel reports that Hamas rocket barrages continue to
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December 6, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Bill Ackman is the founder and chief executive officer of the Pershing Square Capital Management hedge fund and an alumnus of Harvard College as well as the Harvard Business School. I’m sure he has generously supported the university in the past, but he has now taken a position of leadership urging alumni to oppose the campus intifada. Yesterday Ackman watched the testimony of the university presidents before the House Committee
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December 5, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman made news at a House hearing last week. He alleged without a scrap of evidence that the Hunter Biden laptop hard drive might have been altered by Rudy Giuliani. According to Goldman, the hard drive “was not authenticated as real.” It’s as real as Goldman is fake. The episode reminded me of one of Alger Hiss’s claims of innocence following his conviction of perjury. According to
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December 5, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The almost unbelievable atrocities committed by Hamas on Israelis continue to come to light and there are more to come. They almost appear to be something new under the sun. Consider, for example, the rape variations employed by Hamas as a tool of war. This morning the Associated Press provides a reported backgrounder on Hamas’s hostage strategy. Atrocities are implicit in the story. Today the Times of Israel adds that
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December 5, 2023 — Scott Johnson
This morning the Supreme Court hears oral argument in Moore v. United States. It could be one of the most important cases to be heard by the Supreme Court this year. In it the Court has certified this question for review (references to “App.” are to the appendix to the petition for review filed with the Court by counsel for Mr. and Mrs. Moore): The Sixteenth Amendment authorizes Congress to
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December 4, 2023 — Scott Johnson
I offered 10 notes on Erik Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts in “In Larson’s garden.” The book tells the story of United States Ambassador William E. Dodd as he witnessed the rising terror of Hitler’s rule. Larson gives us Hitler and the Nazi regime through Dodd’s eyes in Berlin in mid-1933 when the future was an open question. In my tenth note I asked: if you had been an
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December 3, 2023 — Scott Johnson
I had my say on “My Cousin Dean” (i.e., Rep. Dean Phillips) just before he announced his campaign to challenge President Biden for the Democratic nomination for president. I intend to leave it at that unless events transform the shape of the nomination contest — and the Democrat powers-that-be are doing their best to make sure that doesn’t happen. Jonathan Turley observes Dean’s treatment to democracy, Democrat style, in his
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December 2, 2023 — Scott Johnson
On its news pages the Wall Street Journal’s more or less marches in lockstep with the rest of the braindead media on Israel’s response to the Hamas massacres. Yaroslav Trofimov is the chief foreign-affairs correspondent of The Wall Street Journal. He wrote the Review section’s featured essay “Does the West Have a Double Standard for Ukraine and Gaza?” Beyond the ambit of the news section, it reflects some of the
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December 2, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israel’s war cabinet this week. I wrote briefly about the meeting yesterday in “Annals of strategery.” As has been obvious for a while now, the Biden administration is undermining Israel’s war on Hamas and defaming the IDF in the process. In the context of Biden’s expression of unqualified support for Israel in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 massacres, it is something
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December 1, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The IDF has announced that Hamas violated the terms of the current ceasefire and that it has resumed combat operations against Hamas in Gaza (below). The Times of Israel has posted a long story on the resumption of combat this morning here. Hamas violated the operational pause, and in addition, fired toward Israeli territory. The IDF has resumed combat against the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/gVRpctD79R — Israel Defense
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