POLITICS & POLICY

The Bloedel Conservatory, a triodetic biodome located in Queen Elizabeth Park at the highest point in Vancouver, Canada, houses more than 120 free-flying birds and 500 exotic plants and flowers in a temperature-controlled environment. It was financed by a lavish gift from timber industrialist Prentice Bloedel in the mid-20th century and built by the ten
0 Comments
President Donald Trump listens as he meets with Danny Burch, a former hostage in Yemen, Washington, D.C., March 6, 2019. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) The president’s veto of a bipartisan resolution demanding the end of American involvement in the conflict further degrades our constitutional architecture. Yesterday, Donald Trump vetoed a bipartisan congressional resolution demanding an end to
0 Comments
(Pixabay) In the long run, Republicans will need to develop a health-care vision. In the meantime, baby-step efforts to fix flaws in the existing system are what’s needed. When congressional Republicans rebuffed President Trump’s renewed push to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on April 2, Trump suggested a plan to pursue another
0 Comments
In the wake of semi-famous actresses being indicted for bribing their children’s way into sometimes semi-prestigious universities, the LA Times ran an article with the headline “In college scandal, rowing was the ideal sport for stowaways, cheating.” And all over the nation, any coach who’s ever been involved with high-level high school athletes responded with
0 Comments
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is Jonah Goldberg’s weekly “news”letter, the G-File. Subscribe here to get the G-File delivered to your inbox on Fridays. Dear Reader (Including those of you about to be dropped off in a sanctuary city), Damn Jim Geraghty. Damn him straight to hell, or Newark airport, … Read More
0 Comments
The Times article that Robert VerBruggen highlights below suggests that Democrats have been successful in misinforming the public about how many Americans have gotten a tax cut from the Republicans. But it’s probably not just political spin, or the design of that tax law, that caused people to underestimate the extent of the tax cut.
0 Comments
Rosemary Barkett and President Bill Clinton. 1994—In the face of her manifestly terrible record, the Senate, by a vote of 61 to 37, confirms President Clinton’s nomination of Florida chief justice Rosemary Barkett (recognize the name yet?) to the Eleventh Circuit. Barkett wins high praise from Senate Democrats—for example, Teddy Kennedy labels her an “outstanding
0 Comments
Thomas Farr at his September 2017 Senate confirmation hearing. (via C-SPAN) The racism allegations against this judicial candidate are  bogus. Conservative activists are disappointed with Senator Tim Scott (R., S.C.), normally an ally. They are puzzled by his opposition to North Carolina attorney Tom Farr for a federal judgeship, owing to claims of racial bias.
0 Comments
Yesterday, the University of Virginia law school awarded Mississippi federal district judge (and UVA law alumnus) Carlton W. Reeves its Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Law. In his acceptance speech, which opens with a moving discussion of the “complication[s]” involved in a black judge’s receiving an award named after Thomas Jefferson, Judge Reeves addresses what
0 Comments
U.S. Army recruits march during basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., in 2006. (Staff Sergeant Shawn Weismiller/US Army) As President Trump’s ban on most transgender individuals’ serving in the military took effect on Friday, prominent Democrats lashed out at the policy. New York governor Andrew Cuomo called the new regulation “abhorrent,” and “assault on our nation’s
0 Comments
Donald Trump is one of the most constitutionally sound presidents ever to hold the highest office in our republic. We’re talking here about physical strength and mental and emotional endurance. He’s been diligent about defending our founding documents too, but what we’re talking about is the ability to constitutionally withstand the most vicious and relentless
0 Comments
Despite its many falterings and regressions, the Judeo-Hellenic-Christian West over the long and tortuous course of its evolution has produced the most advanced civilization known to history. Characterized by the rule of law, scientific discovery, technological invention, educational opportunity for the masses, economic prosperity, individual autonomy and relative freedom from the harsh exactions of nature,
0 Comments
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi addresses guests at an event hosted by the Economic Club of Washington in Washington, D.C., March 8, 2019. (Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS) House speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she is holding out hope Democrats and President Trump can work together on immigration reform, which she said “has to happen.” “It’s complicated, but it isn’t
0 Comments
Acting ICE director Ronald Vitiello (left) shakes hands with Vice President Mike Pence before Pence delivered remarks at ICE headquarters in Washington, D.C., July 6, 2018. (Leah Millis/Reuters) Acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Ron Vitiello resigned suddenly on Wednesday, the latest personnel change in President Trump’s massive shakeup of the Department of Homeland
0 Comments
Do not be surprised when college presidents say, “I oppose free speech on college campuses,” or law deans say that President Trump’s executive order to require free speech on campuses is “unconstitutional.” The reason is simple: college and university administrators and professors do not believe in free speech and do not wish to hear it in
0 Comments
In the middle of a column about how norms change, David Brooks remarks, “There used to be a social penalty for supporting gay marriage. Now there’s a social penalty for not supporting it.” I am not at all sure that there was a significant social penalty, in almost any stratum of our society, for supporting
0 Comments