Holidays
December 25, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Merry Christmas to all of our Christian readers and friends. We hope you are enjoying the holiday. Ours is highlighted by the presence of grandchildren, who motivated us to get our tree decorated: This Nativity scene has been put up every year since 1954 or 1955. Someday I suppose I will pass it on to one of our kids. When we were young, my older brother and I used to
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November 22, 2022 — John Hinderaker
I do plan on commenting on the news later today, but this is pure tourism. My wife and I walked toward Buckingham Palace this morning, but found the Mall blocked and an expectant crowd lined up. Which reminded us that the South African head of state is in town for meetings with royals and politicians. So we stood and watched for a while. First a band marched toward us from
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October 4, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Jews begin the observance of Yom Kippur at sundown tonight with the Kol Nidre prayer service. Ten years ago our friend Rachel Paulose asked to join us at our service. Since then she has regularly attended the service with us and joined my family when we break our fast, although she is at work out of town this year. Next year in the Twin Cities! The first time around at
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July 9, 2022 — Steven Hayward
I am thrilled to have Emina Melonic contributing to Power Line in my absence. Long time readers and podcast listeners will recall our fondness here for the late Peter Schramm, the Hungarian who fled to America after the failed anti-Soviet revolt of 1956. “Why are we going to America, father?,” he asked at the age of ten. “Because we were born American, but in the wrong country.” That was all
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July 4, 2022 — John Hinderaker
I am so old, I can remember when liberals at least pretended to be patriotic. And some of them really were. George McGovern, for instance, was a legitimate World War II hero, flying a B-24 Liberator in combat. He was wrong about many things, but he wasn’t wrong because he hated his country. Fast forward to now. We have been seeing poll data for some years, indicating that liberals generally
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June 19, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I wrote this on Father’s Day several years ago. It is a post that struck a chord with at least a few readers. I have amplified it since then and am taking the liberty of reposting these reflections 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
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December 25, 2021 — John Hinderaker
This is the 20th time we have wished our readers a merry Christmas. We have had a rather low-key holiday, compared to the years when the kids were kids. But we did manage to get a tree up, even if it is artificial: A Christmas Eve highlight was hanging out with our two oldest grandchildren: Christmas dinner is yet to come, with two of our four children–a pretty good ratio
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October 11, 2021 — Steven Hayward
John has already dilated the self-abuse of liberals with regards to Indigenous Peoples Day Columbus Day, so I won’t add more here (except to say that when it comes to the supposed sin of “assimilation,” people ought to meditate on the deeper meaning of the seldom-noted clause in the Constitution which reads “excluding indians not taxed”—there’s a serious principle embedded in that seemingly technical phrase that is totally lost on today’s
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July 5, 2021 — John Hinderaker
We often go to South Dakota for the Fourth of July, in part because fireworks of pretty much all kinds are legal here, and in part to enjoy the general air of patriotism and freedom. We didn’t have any kids with us this year, so we enjoyed others’ fireworks rather than setting off our own. We went for a long boat ride on Lake Kampeska, where I spent summers as
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July 4, 2021 — Steven Hayward
Last year in the small rural town where I’m temporarily residing while the COVID-delayed major renovations on my house get started, the town “officially” canceled the July 4 parade, but the town mostly ignored officialdom and held a spontaneous parade anyway, mostly without masks. This year’s parade was more than “back to normal,” with a huge crowd, and lots of great small-town spirit. I made a short highlight reel: Meanwhile,
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July 4, 2021 — Steven Hayward
It is especially worth repeating, in Year 2 of Our Lord and Savior George Floyd, Ronald Reagan’s great quip that July 4 is every conservative’s favorite day of the year, while the liberal’s favorite day is April 15. Meanwhile, did you see that the White House is fighting back against inflation worries with the calculation that your July 4 barbecue is SIXTEEN CENTS cheaper than last year? Sixteen whole cents!
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April 4, 2021 — John Hinderaker
Happy Easter to all of our Christian readers! I confess to feeling surly about the fact that this is the second consecutive Easter on which we have not been able to actually go to church. In many quarters, the covid shutdown persists. I think that our collective reaction to the coronavirus will be studied for many years to come as an instance of terrible public policy, driven by emotion and
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December 31, 2020 — Steven Hayward
By the time the regular TWiP is posted Saturday morning, New Year’s eve and New Year’s Day will be receding in the rear view mirror already. So in the spirit of this quasi-holiday, here’s some news you can use today: And for breakfast tomorrow morning: Cheers!
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December 25, 2020 — John Hinderaker
This is the 19th time we have wished our readers a Merry Christmas. The holiday season is always a time for reflection; now so, perhaps more than usual. We look forward to a troubled 2021, as the Evil Empire plans for a decisive onslaught that will destroy (or at least silence) the rest of us. Important battles will be fought, and soon. But for now, let’s just say Merry Christmas,
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December 20, 2020 — John Hinderaker
I posted this, my favorite Christmas story, in 2012. It harkens back to a better time, or, at least, a more inspiring one. Some years ago, the sportswriter Rick Reilly wrote: You can take all your Tiny Tims and your Grinches and your Miracles on Whatever Street and stuff them in your stocking. The best Christmas story is about a boxer. It starts the day in 1918 when a doctor
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July 5, 2020 — John Hinderaker
I’ve been offline for a day or two, visiting family in South Dakota for Independence Day. (Or “Independence” Day as CNN would have it.) We had a big group: three of my kids, a daughter-in-law, two grandchildren, a fiance and a boyfriend. This year, more than ever, it was good to spend the 4th in a land of freedom and unabashed patriotism. South Dakota was in the news, too, with
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December 25, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Christmas Day seems like a suitable occasion for a diversion from the political ephemera of the day with an extended reflection on the great C.S. Lewis (because repeating the self-evident arguments about why Die Hard is a Christmas movie is getting boring). I have previously quoted here the liberal grandee Arthur Schlesinger: “Ignorance is never any bar to certitude in the progressive dreamworld.” This remark appears in his best book,
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