Culture
August 25, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Is it something I said? A faithful reader drew my attention to the effusions of former frequent Power Line commenter Phronk Burrito: Perhaps you’ve seen these comments by Phronk Burrito and are just overlooking them: 1. He calls commenters here and other conservatives “filth” — a word search turned up 18 instances within the last month. – You know what filth, you have this in reverse. It doesn’t matter who
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August 18, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The Walker Art Center is a modern art museum in Minneapolis. Alpha News reports that the Walker has just hosted a family-friendly demon summoning event: The Walker Art Center held a pagan ritual geared toward families last weekend, with a performance called “Lilit the Empathic Demon.” “Demons have a bad reputation, but maybe we’re just not very good at getting to know them,” an event description reads. The event, which
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August 9, 2023 — Scott Johnson
I geared my comments on Sound of Freedom to the story I saw on the screen. That’s what I reacted to. I thought the story was full of transparent fakery — the superhero story of former DHS agent Tim Ballard, not the phenomenon of human trafficking depicted in the movie. My comments on Sound of Freedom elicited a torrent of personal abuse akin to the torrents that John unleashes when
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August 6, 2023 — Scott Johnson
I ventured out to a movie theater for the first time post-Covid for the annual Grateful Dead meet-up in November 2022 (here) and again this year in June (here). I wrote up my assessments for the benefit of commenters who can’t enjoy displaying their superiority with their derision. It is my privilege to share my enthusiasms on Power Line. The Grateful Dead is certainly one. It took the Dead to
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August 5, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Andrew McCarthy’s weekly NRO column eludcidates “The ‘Biden brand’ racket.” It is educational and biting. He deserves a Pulitzer Prize for commentary of this quality week after week. The only problem is that it is kept behind NRO’s paywall. Somebody really ought to arrange with NRO to let McCarthy’s columns run free. As the kid says in A Thousand Clowns, “And that’s my opinion from the blue, blue sky.” What
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July 23, 2023 — John Hinderaker
You probably know about the controversy surrounding country singer Jason Aldean and his song “Try That In a Small Town.” I wrote about it here. Liberals attacked the song for being, among other things, “pro-lynching,” which of course is demented. But they succeeded in getting the song’s video banned by Country Music Television. Aldean, happily, is unapologetic. On Friday night he performed a concert in Cincinnati and addressed the attacks
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July 20, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Today’s raging culture clash relates to a song by country superstar Jason Aldean called “Try That In a Small Town.” The song has been out since May, but for some reason it has recently attracted the attention of leftists. The context of the Left’s attack is that Aldean and his wife Brittany are “out” conservatives. Following attacks by liberals, Country Music TV banned the song’s video. Here it is: So
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June 7, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Scott does as much as anyone to promote knowledge of the history of popular music, and yet memories fade as the years go by. I found this correction in today’s New York Times depressing: An obituary on Saturday about the former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Harvey Pitt misstated the name of a pop group that had many hits in the 1960s. They are Herman’s Hermits, not Hermit’s Hermits. The
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May 19, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Time was when a politician like Patrick Henry (“Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace–but there is no peace!”) or Abraham Lincoln (“A house divided against itself cannot stand”) could quote from the Bible and assume that pretty much everyone in his audience got the reference. Those days are gone, of course. But most Americans still have at least a nodding acquaintance with the Book. Not, however, those who write and edit
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May 18, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (Harry and Meghan) are among the world’s most annoying people. They are the ultimate in having one’s cake and eating it too; i.e., abandoning royal duties but insisting on royal status. Unsurprisingly, they are massively unpopular in the U.K. In their never-ending quest to remain in the public eye, despite the fact that they do nothing noteworthy, they claimed rather hysterically to have been
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April 6, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
Victor Davis Hanson joined Fox News’ Tucker Carlson on Tuesday night to react to New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s indictment of former President Donald Trump. Hanson characterized it as “the worst example of third-world election tampering” and said, “We are in the middle of a revolution that we don’t even know we’re in.” We’re seeing war clouds gather abroad, and I think the United States’ economy, politically, foreign
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March 22, 2023 — Scott Johnson
President Biden handed out National Humanities Medals and National Medals of Arts to 12 recipients (including Bruce Springsteen, Gladys Knight, Julia Louis-Dreyfus et al.) in the East Room of the White House yesterday. The transcript of his remarks is posted here. One of the honorees was “Maine poet” Richard Blanco. I’m guessing the quality of Blanco’s poetry was not Blanco’s principal qualification for the award. His citation reads: For breathing
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March 16, 2023 — Scott Johnson
In my comments on his new book I expressed my regard for the incomparable Edward Jay Epstein and his autobiography Assume Nothing, just published by Encounter Books. I wanted to follow up with Ed to bring the book to your attention again and perhaps to spark your interest in reading it. Below is my written interview with Ed geared to the publication of the book on March 7: Power Line:
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March 11, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The news is doing nothing for me today, so here is something I have done once or twice before. The following are 14 propositions that I believe to be true. Or at least, I think I do. Each is intended to be fodder for disagreement. Feel free to say “Amen, brother” or “You can’t be serious” in the comments. If this gets a good reception, maybe next time I will
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March 10, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Mean scores on IQ tests rose generally in the U.S. beginning in the 1930s, apparently reflecting better nutrition and improved schooling. But that trend has now been reversed. A paper published in an upcoming journal finds IQ scores now declining: Labeled the Flynn effect (Herrnstein and Murray, 2010), intelligence quotient (IQ) scores substantially increased since 1932 and through the twentieth century, with differences ranging from 3.0 to 5.0 IQ points
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March 5, 2023 — Scott Johnson
And now for something completely different, I would like to introduce readers to Benjamin Bagby. Mr. Bagby is a medievalist, musician, composer, and performer. Among other things, he has memorized and performed the epic poem Beowulf. At the bottom of this post is a video of Bagby performing Beowulf at the 92nd Street Y in August 2020. Bagby’s performance begins at about 1:50 of the video. I read Beowulf in
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March 2, 2023 — John Hinderaker
That isn’t surprising–social science data have long shown that conservatives are generally happier than liberals. But this study, which sampled 12th graders from 2005 through 2018, documents the deteriorating condition of liberals, and especially liberal girls: Adolescent internalizing symptoms (e.g. depressive affect) have increased over the past decade in the US, particularly among girls. The reasons for these increases are unclear. We hypothesize that increasing exposure to politicized events has
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