June 24, 2026 — John Hinderaker

Murder, the Deal, Socialism, Libel and the Supreme Court

Featured image Last night I was on the Rita Panahi Show, and the conversation was lively as usual. We talked about the Karmelo Anthony case, the bizarre situation in Iran, the Democrats’ rush to socialism, Elon Musk’s threatened libel suit against Ro Khanna, and the Supreme Court’s most recent immigration decision. All good stuff. I come on following the video clips at 4:30, but you shouldn’t miss Lefties Losing It: »
June 24, 2026 — Bill Glahn

Retraction

Featured imageThe Minneapolis Star Tribune suffers a humiliating setback over a TMZ-style hit piece. A  TV news anchor for the local NBC affiliate, Julie Nelson, and her husband were injured in a boating accident across the border last week in Wisconsin. Here at Power Line, we wish them both a speedy recovery. The Star Tribune saw the incident as an opportunity to go after a local rival, publishing a story on »
June 24, 2026 — Scott Johnson

Quote of the day

Featured imageI headlined my post on St. Paul Academy alumnus Tim Sheey’s appearance on Fox News with Brian Kilmeade “Senator Sheehy explains.” The Wall Street Journal headlines its editorial on the same segment “Tim Sheehy explains Iran.” The Journal’s editors write: The Trump Administration is working overtime to sell its deal with Iran and assail anyone who questions sanctions relief for the regime that has massacred thousands of its own people. »
June 24, 2026 — Steven Hayward

The Power Line Podcast: Ed Larson’s “Why 1776 Matters”

Featured imageMost of the books I have been featuring in this series highlight the philosophical and political background of the Declaration, going all the way back to antiquity in some cases, as well as dilating the ongoing controversies about several key aspects of the Declaration, such as the nature of “self-evident truth” or “all men are created equal.” This week’s featured book takes a different tack. It is Declaring Independence: Why »
June 24, 2026 — Scott Johnson

At SPA, Matt Bauer’s lawsuit

Featured imageSt. Paul Academy parent Matt Bauer declined an interveiew with Star Tribune reporter Eva Herscowitz in connection with her page-one-story on the troubled reign of Luis Ottley as head of school, but his experience is at the heart of it. Ottley threatened Bauer’s children with dismissal on the eve of his older son’s high school graduation and matriculation at the Naval Academy. He actually dismissed Bauer’s younger son from enrollment »
June 24, 2026 — John Hinderaker

Antifa Gets What It Deserves

Featured imageAntifa is a violent insurrectionist organization that can reasonably be seen as the militant arm of the Democratic Party, much as the Ku Klux Klan was the Democrats’ militant arm a couple of generations ago. Some Democratic politicians cheer on Antifa, while most maintain a discreet silence with regard to its activities. I don’t recall having seen a Democratic politician criticize the organization. On July 4, 2025, an Antifa cell »
June 24, 2026 — Scott Johnson

After last night

Featured imageThe Democrats’ wave of the future lapped the shore again yesterday in New York’s congressional primaries. It’s the Mamdani wave — a wave carrying a combination of socialism and rank anti-Semitism. In other words, it’s a wave of the future that harks back to the past. It portends nothing good. Politico highlights the socialist component of the wave. According to results posted here by the New York Times, Mamdani-endorsed candidates »
June 23, 2026 — John Hinderaker

Revisionist History: Fact Or Fiction?

Featured imageThis story comes from the U.K., but it could equally well have originated here. First the facts: A video display at the National Portrait Gallery which criticised Winston Churchill, claiming he deliberately killed millions of Indians by starvation during the Second World War, has been withdrawn by the artist. This is a question of historical fact. Churchill either deliberately killed millions of people, or he didn’t. There is a vast »
June 23, 2026 — Scott Johnson

Senator Sheehy explains

Featured imageThere is much more to be said about the terms of the ceasefire under which the Iranian regime is now raking in the billions (under the general license granted by Secretary Bessent that I posted yesterday in “First tango in Lake Lucerne”) . We must have lost the war. President Trump has posited the alternative to the deal as a global depression. I didn’t think a master dealmaker would reveal »
June 22, 2026 — John Hinderaker

Our Socialist Fellow-Citizens

Featured imageThe gulf between Republicans/conservatives and Democrats/socialists has grown to the point where it may be unbridgeable. Check out these recent poll data from CNN. Democrats are now firmly in the socialist camp: This is a problem many on the Right don't want to accept The Left is no longer "just like us they just want to have more welfare" The left is abandoning Capitalism, Christianity and all of the values »
June 22, 2026 — Scott Johnson

First tango at Lake Lucerne

Featured imageThe United States is now deeply invested in the removal of the architecture of sanctions that has handicapped the Iranian regime. As of this morning, Secretary Bessent commenced the unraveling with a 60-day license allowing Iran to engage in all aspects of the oil trade in dollars. This move was in exchange for the apparent restoration of the status quo ante in the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranian regime last »
June 24, 2026 — Scott Johnson

Easy mullah

Featured imageIn the Memorandum of Understanding to which the United States and Iran agreed, President Trump granted Iran an immdediate concession. Under the concession, the United States has issued a general license to Iran. Under the general license, Iran is authorized to sell oil in dollars for 60 days. If we granted this huge concession in exchange for anything, it must have been Iran’s agreement to open the Strait of Hormuz »
June 23, 2026 — Bill Glahn

Taking out the trash

Featured imageYour feel-good story of the day, from the New York Post, Woman who emptied Knicks trashcan on street— then stole it — fired from JPMorgan Chase, was DEI exec. Of course she was. You may have seen the video posted right after the New York Knicks championship victory parade last week. The Post reports, A woman caught on video emptying a public trash can on the street then stealing it »
June 23, 2026 — John Hinderaker

Good Riddance

Featured imageWe are a day or two late bidding farewell to Tucker Carlson, but, given the attention we have paid to his descent, a few comments are in order. Carlson says he is leaving the Republican Party. This is from Axios: “I’m out,” Carlson said on an episode of the “Can’t Be Censored” podcast that aired Thursday but gained traction online Monday. * “And if I’m out, then I think a »
June 23, 2026 — Scott Johnson

At SPA, the Ottley response

Featured imageStar Tribune reporter Eva Herscowitz worked on the page-one story published on Sunday over a period of weeks. Focused on controversies that have roiled St. Paul Academy during the tenure of head of school, Herscowitz interviewed 11 parents and students for the story. She also reviewed documentary materials related to the controversies. Most of the parents and students — those who have found Ottley to be at fault in the »
June 22, 2026 — John Hinderaker

Mamdani’s Monsters

Featured imageNew York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has outdone himself by branding the pro-Israel AIPAC “monsters.” Mayor Zohran Mamdani doubled down on branding a pro-Israel super PAC as “monsters” — even as Jewish New Yorkers warned the word choice could incite violence. Hizzoner took aim at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee [AIPAC] last week during a campaign rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), saying “these monsters take many forms today.” Mamdani »
June 22, 2026 — Scott Johnson

In a golden eye

Featured imageI’m traveling home from Washington, D.C. and thought I would draw on something I wrote last year to kick things off on an apolitical note this morning. Over the weekend TCM played Reflections In a Golden Eye (1967) with an unilluminating introduction by Dave Karger. The movie stars Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando perhaps somewhere past the peak of their powers but close enough for enjoyable viewing. Relatively faithful to »