Leftism
February 2, 2025 — John Hinderaker

I remember this case, because it was so horrible: in July 2007, Steven Hayes and a younger accomplice invaded the Connecticut home of Dr. William Petit in Connecticut. They held the family prisoners for hours, after tying up Dr. Petit and beating him with a baseball bat. Hayes forced Petit’s wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, to withdraw $15,000 in cash from an ATM. He brought her back to the house, where he
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January 31, 2025 — John Hinderaker

From the world of commercial real estate, this shocking news: Minnetonka-based Onward Investors purchased the 31-story Ameriprise Financial Center at a big discount, adding to its growing portfolio of downtown Minneapolis office buildings. The firm paid $6.25 million in cash for the property at 707 S. Second Av., according to sources familiar with the deal. The building last sold in 2016 for $200 million. So that represents a 97% decline
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January 29, 2025 — John Hinderaker

When Donald Trump pardoned the January 6 protesters, or commuted their sentences, it prompted a wave of complaints from Democrats that he was putting their lives in danger. The appalling Chris Murphy of Connecticut, for example, asserted that as a result of Trump’s pardons, “political violence just got legitimized in this country. And you’re going to see it again and again and again, specifically directed towards Democrats.” This talking point
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January 28, 2025 — John Hinderaker

Installed as Secretary of Defense, our friend Pete Hegseth has wasted no time executing the Trump Administration mission. General Mark Milley conducted himself disgracefully during Trump’s first term, contacting the Red Chinese on his own initiative to assure them that if President Trump issued any extraordinary orders, they would not be obeyed. Don’t worry, we won’t bomb you! Not that Trump intended to do any such thing, but this was
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January 27, 2025 — John Hinderaker

It has been a long time since we paid much attention to Paul Krugman, the far-left columnist at the New York Times. Years ago, I caught him in a number of lies, some of which are itemized here. When his retirement from the Times was announced recently, I commented on it here. I thought we were done with “poor, dumb Paul Krugman,” as I referred to him here. But now
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January 4, 2025 — John Hinderaker

We can’t be sure, since his alleged presidency still has 16 days to go. But Biden’s awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to George Soros is likely to stand as his final insult to America. In honoring Soros, Biden said: “Born into a Jewish family in Hungary, George Soros escaped Nazi occupation to build a life of freedom for himself and countless others around the world,” reads the Soros citation.
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December 24, 2024 — John Hinderaker

Yesterday Luigi Mangione was arraigned in Manhattan. An adoring throng greeted Mangione outside the courtroom, and “[a]t least two dozen women packed the courtroom for the twisted heartthrob.” Mangione appeared to enjoy the proceedings: A grinning Luigi Mangione appeared to yuk it up in a Manhattan courtroom Monday as he pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. What to make of Mangione’s popularity with a not-insignificant
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December 17, 2024 — John Hinderaker

Many have been shocked by expressions of approval for Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson on social media, in a few instances by journalists and other relatively prominent Democrats. But it turns out that those seeming outliers were speaking for many Americans. An Emerson College poll finds that Mangione’s murder is broadly supported by young people: A poll found 41 percent of adults under 30 consider the killing of UnitedHealthcare
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December 16, 2024 — John Hinderaker

Paul Krugman is retiring as a New York Times columnist. His final column is here, but I haven’t found a way to get past the Times paywall. That’s OK: Krugman’s content is certainly not worth paying for. This is how much I can extract from the Times: What strikes me, looking back, is how optimistic many people, both here and in much of the Western world, were back then [when
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December 11, 2024 — John Hinderaker

Luigi Mangione is obviously guilty of murdering Brian Thompson, so, as his lawyers search for a defense, insanity is sure to come to mind. Insanity defenses rarely succeed, perhaps because anyone who commits a murder for which he is almost certain to be caught and punished is, in the popular sense of the word, “crazy.” The legal definition of insanity is necessarily much higher. There may be another problem with
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December 10, 2024 — John Hinderaker

That is what Luigi Mangione accused someone–law enforcement, I take it–of doing, as he yelled to reporters while police officers escorted him into a Pennsylvania courthouse: Mangione shouts, “This is extremely unjust and an insult to the intelligence of the American people, and lived experience.” Unjust that he has been arrested for a murder that he obviously committed? Expecting justice to be done insults the intelligence of Americans, or maybe
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December 9, 2024 — John Hinderaker

Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, has been arrested for the murder of Brian Thompson. Based on news accounts, there doesn’t seem to be any doubt that they got the right man. Mangione was recognized by a patron or employee in a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, who dialed 911. The Daily Mail describes the alleged murderer: Mangione is originally from Towson, Maryland, and is an
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December 9, 2024 — John Hinderaker

The murder of United Health CEO Brian Thompson shocked most of us, but some have gone so far as to applaud it. The Wall Street Journal headlines: “Manhunt for UnitedHealthcare CEO Killer Meets Unexpected Obstacle: Sympathy for the Gunman.” As they search for the man who assassinated a top health-insurance executive in Midtown Manhattan last week, authorities are contending with an unanticipated challenge: an outpouring of popular sympathy for the
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December 3, 2024 — John Hinderaker

Traditionally, conservatives have seen liberals as misguided and ill-informed, but well-meaning. Was that accurate at one time? I don’t know. Maybe. But it certainly isn’t true now. A large proportion of liberals–whether a majority, I have no idea–are downright evil. And whatever those statistics might be, it is evil, not ignorance, that mainly drives leftism in the U.S. and around the world. A case in point comes from my own
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December 3, 2024 — John Hinderaker

My organization, Center of the American Experiment, has been battling for four years to keep leftist indoctrination out of Minnesota’s public schools. A climax of sorts came in 2023, when Minnesota’s Democrat-controlled legislature mandated that Ethnic Studies be incorporated into every K-12 class. So, welcome to the world of Ethnic Algebra. Governor Tim Walz’s Department of Education appointed a committee to implement that legislation by drawing up Guidelines to be
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November 28, 2024 — Steven Hayward

On this Thanksgiving Day, spare a thankful thought for the irrepressible hatred of the left, as it ratifies the ancient Greek proverb (its exact origin is disputed), “Those whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.” While the left is suffering a case of shell shock and PTSD from Trump’s smashing victory, don’t be fooled. They will regroup, and return filled with more hatred and loathing than before for
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November 23, 2024 — John Hinderaker

Climate conferences are mostly dreary boondoggles, but every now and then things come into focus. Like when they talk about money. The “green” scam is all about the money. Global warming warriors are trying to pull off the greatest transfer of wealth since the Industrial Revolution. Mostly is this is from industry to industry, but it also applies from country to country. Thus, the “developing” countries try to shame the
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