Look back in anger

Featured image The Wall Street Journal’s opinion editors have posted the documentary The Lockdown Dissidents. The documentary was produced, written, and directed by Michael Pack. Tim Blake Nelson provides the voiceover narration. The documentary comes with this précis: “During the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of prominent scientists challenged the prevailing government approach to lockdowns. The Lockdown Dissidents tells the story of researchers like Jay Bhattacharya, Scott Atlas, and Robert Redfield—voices who say »

Quote of the day

Featured imageGordon Wood was our great historian of the founding era. He was killed by a driver who hit him while he was walking this past Sunday afternoon. His death at the age of 92 represents a great loss to our country and our culture. I hope to have a few words about him from Professor Wilfred McClay to post on Power Line some time soon. AEI called on Professor Wood »

After last night

Featured imageMaine, Nevada, North Dakota and South Carolina all held primaries yesterday. Miraculously — miraculously in light of the California experience — the results are in! RealClearPolitics has compiled them here. Most notable by far is the expected victory of Maine’s Graham Platiner as the Democrats’ man to take on incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins. Platner’s principal primary opponent was outgoing Govenor Janet Mills. She is old and respectable in a »

Treating advanced breast cancer

Featured imageIn 1998 my friend Brian Sullivan served as the chairman of our state Republican Party’s platform committee. I think Brian appointed John Hinderaker and me committee members. We wrote the audacious platform that Brian assured us he would get approved at the party convention, as he did. We have been friends for a long time. In his current business venture, Brian is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Celcuity, »

Government Fraud: Not Just an American Problem

Featured imageThis is another story that is roiling the U.K.: “Billions in aid handed to terrorists and criminals.” Sounds just like us: Terrorists, hostile states and gangsters have been given more than £28bn of taxpayers’ money, including through aid payments, according to a secret government report. The Telegraph can reveal details of a dossier showing that billions of pounds went to organised crime, with millions going to Russia and Islamic State. »

Immigration Comes to Belfast

Featured imageIt seems that hardly a day goes by without the United Kingdom suffering another immigration-related disaster. This one involves a Sudanese who tried to decapitate a passer-by: A Sudanese migrant has been arrested after a barbaric video shows someone seemingly trying to behead another man in the middle of a UK street in scenes likened to “something out of a horror movie.” The horrific footage shows the blood-soaked knifeman pinning »

Anatomy of an accident

Featured imageThe Israeli Air Force attacked the USS Liberty to devastating effect on day four of the six-day war in 1967. Michael Oren covers the attack in meticulous detail at pages 262-271 along with the related footnotes at pages 388-390 in Six Days of War (2002). He calls this section of the book Anatomy of an Accident. It was an utterly tragic friendly fire incident that is not uncommon in war. »

When hippies hate

Featured imageThane Rosenbaum brings a detachment and sense of humor to his Jewish Journal/JNS column “When hippies hate.” I am more inclined to hate ’em right back, so I admire both Rosenbaum’s detachment and his sense of humor: There was a time, long ago, back in the drug-addled days of Woodstock, when tie-dyed shirts were formal wear, and hair was both a Broadway musical and a countercultural trademark. During those days, »

Boots on the Ground, America’s Drama Queen, California Dreaming and More

Featured imageLast night I was on the Rita Panahi Show, with Caroline Marcus filling in for Rita. It was a good interview, covering the latest from Iran, NBC’s claim that Israel is spying on the Trump administration, Trump’s walkout on the Welker interview, drama queen Scott Pelley and his alleged foxhole experiences, Graham Platner’s complaint that his enemies are using his past against him, and California’s lax election processes. You shouldn’t »

Massie’s Parting Shot

Featured imageRep. Thomas Massie is on his way out of the House, having resoundingly lost his primary election last month. So how is he spending his last months in public office? He is defaming Israel. Today, on the floor of the House, Massie resurrected an old calumny against the Jewish state, the USS Liberty incident, which occurred in 1967 during the six-day war. He described his shameful performance as “one of »

We Find Your Offer Acceptable

Featured imageIncreasingly, it seems that American liberals and conservatives are living on different planets. The latest case in point: 55% of Democrats say they would rather live in a country other than the United States: According to a new Elon University/YouGov poll, a full *55%* of Democrats said that they would rather live in a different country than the United States. Only 10% of Republicans said the same. pic.twitter.com/cSpccKhC6d — Greg »

Another Declaration Podcast: Brad Birzer’s “A Radical Experiment in Liberty”

Featured imageThis week’s spotlight on new books about the Declaration of Independence features Hillsdale College historian Bradley Birzer, whose book is The Declaration of Independence: A Radical Experiment in Liberty, just out last month from Stone House Press. Prof. Birzer’s book has a somewhat shorter time frame than some of the other books we have discussed in this series, which often take the run-up to the Declaration back to the 1760s »

The new status quo, per Vance

Featured imageJesse Watters to the contrary notwithstanding, Israel is not “spying on the United States.” It is not “freelancing in Lebanon.” It is defending itself from attacks by Hezbollah that have depopulated large swaths of northern Israel. The Hezbollah attacks, by the way, violated the purported “ceasefire” negotiated by President Trump. What does Vice President Vance have to say about that? In what has become a characateristically “disappointing” performance, Vance sees »

The new status quo

Featured imageIn the early days of Israel’s war on Hamas after 10/7, we frequently relied on the assessments of IDF Lieutenant Colonel (reserve) Jonathan Conricus to understand the state of play. Conricus was the IDF spokesman then. He is now a fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Via X, this is his current assessment of the new status quo — he calls it “the interim score” — following this »

Will Fujimori pull it out? [Updated]

Featured imageThe final round of the Peruvian presidential election took place yesterday. Early signs were looking good for the conservative candidate, Keiko Fujimori. She appeared to lead in exit polls and in the election-night vote tabulations. Following an all-too-familiar pattern, as the votes continued to be counted the day after, her lead continued to shrink until she eventually fell behind her leftist opponent, Roberto Sanchez. With about 95 percent counted, she »

We find your offer unacceptable [With Comment by John]

Featured image“We,” in this case being the Star Tribune, an arm of the left/media establishment that reigns in Minnesota, and “your,” in this case being Alpha News, the maverick alternative news outlet that serves Minnesotans disgusted by the Star Tribune’s incessant propagandizing on behlf of its favored causes. I wrote recently about Star Tribune publisher Steve Grove’s elimination of jobs and pursuit of a purposely nonprofit structure for the paper. I »

Minnesota fraud: they knew all along

Featured imageThe U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee released a comprehensive report on fraud in Minnesota. The headline from the committee’s press release, Oversight Committee Releases Bombshell Report Exposing Rampant Fraud Plaguing Minnesota’s Taxpayer-Funded Social Programs. The report itself runs some 205 pages (including appendices) and makes five key findings. You will not be surprised by Finding No. 1, Finding #1. Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison Knew about Widespread Fraud »