Marie Yovanovitch, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, testifies on Capitol Hill, November 15, 2019. (Sarah Silbiger/Reuters) She did not move the needle on impeachment, but the main event has always been 2020. There were fireworks aplenty, but the most important development during former U.S. ambassador Marie Yovanovitch’s testimony at Friday’s House impeachment hearing was an
POLITICS & POLICY
Don Cherry has enjoyed a rich, varied, and polemical career as a hockey player, sportswriter, celebrated public figure, five-season coach of the Boston Bruins, longtime commentator for Hockey Night in Canada, and co-host of a between-periods segment called Coach’s Corner. No stranger to controversy, he has refered to progressives as “left-wing pinkos,” made disparaging comments
1993—In Steffan v. Perry, a trifecta of Carter appointees on the D.C. Circuit—Abner J. Mikva, Patricia M. Wald, and Harry T. Edwards—rules that Department of Defense Directives excluding homosexuals from military service cannot constitutionally be applied to someone who has identified himself as a homosexual but who has not been shown to have engaged in
Billed as a “clarion call to reform the draconian and racist American criminal justice system, CAIR-Philadelphia and Emgage held their Fourth Annual Muslim Capitol Day in Harrisburg Pennsylvania on Wednesday, October 30th. But the event suffered from low attendance, a disjointed message, and confused political demands. CAIR’s plan for the advocacy day called for bringing
Display at a gun store in Uniondale, N.Y., in 2013. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters) It comes via Representative Jennifer Wexton, the Democrat who recently replaced Barbara Comstock in Northern Virginia. The obvious inspiration is Andrew Ross Sorkin’s suggestion in the New York Times last year that financial institutions should reject or report gun purchases made on credit
This “impeachment” is enough to prompt even the most dogged pro-Trump armchair politicos to reach for the remote. Bad enough to cause the president’s most loyal cable hounds to detach and find something better to do. Reportedly, President Trump isn’t watching the impeachment proceedings. Can we surmise that legions of his supporters are tuning out
Deval Patrick, Democratic presidential candidate; Piotr I. Tchaikovsky, immortal composer (Brian Snyder / Reuters; Library of Congress) That’s kind of an odd pairing up there, right? Deval Patrick and Piotr I. Tchaikovsky? I’d better explain. I’ve done a podcast — a Q&A — with Alexandra DeSanctis, my colleague here at National Review. We cover the
What We’ve Learned So Far Nothing. OK, maybe we’ve learned that events which get all of Washington buzzing don’t play in Peoria. I will admit up front here that I haven’t watched one moment of the proceedings. As I do with most modern-day political circuses, I let Twitter watch it for me. I already know
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks in New York City, N.Y., U.S., September 24, 2019. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters) President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani is being probed by federal authorities for allegations of campaign finance violations and failure to register as a foreign agent in his dealings with Ukraine, according to a report Friday.
You know what doesn’t pass the smell test in the Democrats’ sham impeachment crusade? Their main beef is that President Donald Trump abused his power to interfere with a presidential election (2020), yet that’s all they have been doing for the last three years. Interference with a presidential election (2016) was also their allegation with
(File photo: Patrick Semansky/Pool/via Reuters) In the coming weeks, the Supreme Court will consider whether to grant a petition for certiorari filed by the Becket Fund in Morrissey-Berru v. Our Lady of Guadalupe, which concerns the proper scope of the “ministerial exception.” We filed an amicus brief supporting the petition on behalf of a group
THE SQUEAK DESK IS FIXED. The topic of liberal nonsense in entertainment is one that we will obviously be revisiting. This episode deals specifically with two current streaming original hits: The Kominsky Method on Netflix and Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime Video. Both shows had very entertaining and promising first seasons. Both also decided to alienate every conservative viewer
Former President Ronald Reagan in 1991 (Gary Cameron/Reuters) A political neophyte delivered a speech from note cards — and made history. For a speech that launched one of the most consequential political careers in American history, it didn’t seem to be a good idea to some people. The race for the White House had only
What do Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri—that is, the late leader of ISIS, and the late and current leaders of al-Qaeda—have in common? That they’re among the world’s most notorious Islamic terrorists? Yes, but there’s something else, something more subtle, that binds them: they all began their careers as members of
Senator Lindsey Graham (R, S.C.) in 2018 (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) Hours after challenging Turkish President Recep Erdogan over the treatment of Syrian Kurds, Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) blocked a resolution that would have formally recognized the Armenian genocide. Graham argued that the Senate should not “sugarcoat history or try to rewrite it,” and said that
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wants “Medicare for All,” as does Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., her self-described “Democratic socialist” rival. Unlike Sanders, however, Warren claims she can finance her plan by raising taxes only on the super rich. The middle class, Warren insists, will see their health care costs go down and their taxes will not
The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., November 13, 2018 (Al Drago/Reuters) The notion that a Democratic president should be able to unilaterally implement a policy like DACA but that it should be unlawful for a Republican president to undo the same policy in the same way really reflects the contemporary progressive view of American
Welcome, my VIP friends, to the first episode of my twice-weekly podcast offering for you fine people. This is just an introductory episode where I expand on some of my bio that I went over in my first VIP column, “Kruiser’s ‘Worst Week Ever’.” There’s talk of what I hope the podcast will be, and
President Donald Trump in Pittsburgh, Pa., October 23, 2019 (Leah Millis/Reuters) Is it time for Republicans to freak out about Trump losing Georgia in 2020? This morning, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution unveiled a new survey that showed Trump losing Georgia against all the Democratic candidates polled, trailing Joe Biden by eight percentage points, Bernie Sanders by
No Hiding It Anymore For years, those of us who don’t buy into the Chicken Little predictions of the climate alarmists have been accusing them of being a religious doomsday cult. It would appear that they are finally agreeing: At today’s DACA prayer breakfast, Sen. @maziehirono says we need activists “committed to human rights and
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) shouts during a confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., September 27, 2018. (Win McNamee/Reuters) Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) joined Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) and other GOP senators in announcing on Tuesday their intentions not to watch the first public hearings in the House impeachment inquiry slated to begin
Governments create problems. Then they complain about them. “A public health crisis exists,” says Kentucky’s government, citing a report that found “a shortage of ambulance providers.” Local TV stations report on “people waiting hours for medical transportation.” “Six-year-old Kyler Truesdell fell off his motorcycle,” reported Channel 12 news. “The local hospital told (his mother) he
(Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) When President Obama unilaterally changed immigration policy after repeatedly and correctly insisting that he lacked the constitutional power to do it, he said that congressional inaction had forced his hand. In the case of his first major unilateral move — “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals,” which gave quasi-legal status to illegal immigrants who
As a red-blooded conservative, I grew up learning that feminism is evil. I was taught to support traditional marriage and oppose abortion, and feminists — especially lesbian feminists — always seemed like my enemies. I was in for a rude awakening. Some of the very feminists I once mistrusted have become my heroes, showing the
A pedestrian walks past segments of the East Side Gallery, the largest remaining part of the former Berlin Wall, in Berlin, Germany, September 19, 2019. (Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters) The ‘Democratic Republic’ was an authoritarian state whose history holds lessons for today’s America. The modern German state — the vibrant liberal democracy at the heart of a
MAKE IT GO AWAY While I certainly don’t count myself among those who worry about the fate of the planet — the old girl is just fine — the Cult of Greta Thunberg is beginning to make me hope they might be right. In fact, I’m kind of hoping that their predictions are too conservative
Demonstrators hold signs outside the U.S. Supreme Court as justices were scheduled to hear oral arguments regarding the Trump administration’s bid to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in Washington, U.S., November 12, 2019. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) The Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the DACA case today, with a ruling expected next
Pennsylvania is not a slam-dunk for Donald Trump’s reelection campaign. That’s one takeaway from Tuesday’s elections, which turned the Philadelphia suburbs even bluer, as Republicans suffered additional congressional losses following last year’s midterms. The Democrats have gone from a 13-5 minority in the House to a 9-9 split. These results in the eastern part of
While President Trump is sticking with the “no quid pro quo” defense of his “perfect” phone call with Ukraine’s president, Republicans in Congress continue to be all over the map. Louisiana Republican senator John Kennedy argued on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday that assessing President Trump’s motive will be the decisive factor in any
House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill, May 8, 2019. (Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters) Representative Liz Cheney (R., Wyo.) called on the State Department Monday to ban the bodyguards of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan who assaulted protesters in a 2017 incident in Washington, D.C. from reentering the U.S.