Books
May 21, 2024 — Scott Johnson
In 1968 Simon & Schuster published Quotations From Chairman LBJ — in the form of Quotations From Chairman Mao (“The Little Red Book”). The cover depicted President Johnson in a Mao jacket. With thirty chapters on varying subjects, the book was “translated” (compiled) by Jack Shepherd and Christopher Wren. I still have my copy. It leads with this epigraph attributed to “Chairman Johnson”: “Don’t spit in the soup. We’ve all
»
May 16, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Mark Judge is a witness with a powerful story to tell about the operation to take down the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. He tells the story in his 2022 book The Devil’s Triangle: Mark Judge vs. the New American Stasi. Mark recently returned with his timely review of Christine Blasey Ford’s book (cited below). We offered to publish Mark’s review and I have inserted the editorial
»
May 14, 2024 — Scott Johnson
In a nearby post John writes about the case of Myon Burrell. In the early days of Power Line John and I wrote several columns for the local newspapers decrying the murder of 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards. Tyesha was doing her homework at the dining room table in November 2002 when she was caught in the crossfire of Minneapolis gangbangers. Myon Burrell was convicted twice of Tyesha’s murder and sentenced to
»
May 13, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Quillette has published Ron Radosh’s long review of Benn Steil’s new biography of Henry Wallace as “Misadventures of a Stalinist stooge” (subscribers only). Steil’s new biography is titled The World That Wasn’t: Henry Wallace and the Fate of the American Century. You can read the first section of Ron’s review at the link. You can also listen to the whole thing via the reading of the review in the audio
»
May 12, 2024 — Scott Johnson
The new book by Victor Davis Hanson is The End of Everything: How Wars Descend Into Annihilation. It was published this past Tuesday. The New York Post extracted Victor’s thesis statement from the book for this column (the headline doesn’t come close to capturing the thesis). In the book Victor recounts the annihilation of Thebes, Carthage, Constantinople, and Tenochtitlan. Victor provides a précis in the publisher’s video below (more VDH
»
April 30, 2024 — Scott Johnson
I am warming up to watch the documentary Rather, celebrating the career of the disgraced former CBS News anchor. It is to be aired this coming Wednesday on Netflix. Apparently having access to a screener for media critics, the Star Tribune’s Neal Justin found the documentary to be wanting (“when it comes to the stumbles, like walking off the set when a tennis match went long, the legendary broadcaster goes
»
April 27, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Hugh Gallagher explored what he called FDR’s Splendid Deception in his 1985 book of that title. In the title Gallagher was referring to FDR’s concealment of the polio-related paralysis that struck him in 1921. Gallagher was also a polio victim who understood the pain underlying Roosevelt’s efforts. Researching the book, Gallagher found that among the 35,000 photographs of Roosevelt at his presidential library, only two featured him in his wheelchair.
»
April 25, 2024 — Scott Johnson
I have set the over/under on President Biden’s mental capacity at 40 percent. He has half a mind to be president. Yesterday he read the instruction inserted in the text of his remarks to “Pause” for the crowd to take up the chant of “Four more years.” The White House has posted the transcript of Biden’s remarks to North America’s Building Trades Union National Legislative Conference here. However, Biden’s reading
»
April 21, 2024 — Scott Johnson
In a recent post Lloyd Billingsley returns to David Garrow and holds out the prospect of more. I thought I would repeat my own observations on Garrow in the context of a review he wrote for the Washington Free Beacon today (quoted below). Bear with me while I work my way back to it. I think you will find it worth waiting for. I greatly respect David Garrow’s integrity as
»
April 19, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Current events at Columbia may call to mind events at Columbia circa 1968. Before matriculating at Dartmouth in the fall of 1969, I joined a group of incoming freshmen who met to discuss Eldridge Cleaver’s Soul On Ice and Columbia undergrad James Simon Kunen’s just-published The Strawberry Statement. We didn’t take Cleaver’s book particularly seriously and Eric Hoffer did even less so. He caustically mocked it as Soul On Horse
»
April 5, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Philip Hamburger’s Is Administrative Law Unlawful? (2014) constitutes a pioneering work of intellectual restoration. Provoked by recent developments in administrative law, I have returned to it this week. Just in time for this concluding post, I heard from Professor Hamburger last night. He wrote: Dear Scott, Thank you so much for your kind discussion of my book! Alas, there is still a long way to go in clearing up the
»
April 4, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Philip Hamburger is the Maurice and Hilda Friedman Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and the author of Is Administrative Law Unlawful? I thought I would follow up “The case against administrative law” with the interview I conducted with Professor Hamburger back in 2014, after I had reviewed Is Administrative Law Unlawful? for National Review. It may be slightly dated. However, as the song goes, “the fundamental things apply.”
»
April 3, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Every day the news brings word of edicts handed down from on high by rulers whose names we have never heard of or voted for. I mean the heads of the various administrative agencies that control every corner of our lives. Administrative law is not an inherently interesting subject. You may not be interested in administrative law, but administrative law is interested in you. William F. Buckley, Jr. used to
»
April 2, 2024 — Scott Johnson
President Biden revived one of the Democrat/left’s greatest hits in his shoutfest that passed for a State of the Union address last month: And now it’s my goal to cut the federal deficit $3 trillion more by making big corporations and the very wealthy finally pay their fair share. Look, I’m a capitalist. If you want to make a million bucks – great! Just pay your fair share in taxes.
»
March 30, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Coleman Hughes was a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and contributing editor of MI’s City Journal. MI has compiled his City Journal publications online here. He is the author of the book The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America, published last month by Penguin Random House. Hughes was invited to talk about the subject of his book on The View this week. I have posted the video
»
March 29, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Ammo Grrrll proudly celebrates her Power Line anniversary and announces the publication of Over My Limit – Ammo Grrrll’s Tenth Year of Shooting Fish In A Barrel. She writes: The NSFW but hilarious comic Ron White has the famous wonderful line (at least 30 years old, so I feel comfortable quoting it) about being unable to avoid further trouble when arrested: “I had the right to remain silent, but I
»
March 15, 2024 — Scott Johnson
I ask readers to forgive me for repeating this personal note from last year. It is meant to pay tribute to my high school, my high school teachers — Latin teachers Lyman Hawbaker (who also taught ancient history) and Dave Sims in particular — and to my classmates. In the course of our high school years we were required to study Latin and dip our toes into Caesars’s Gallic Wars,
»
