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

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.

Bernie Sanders is newly vocal defender of making a lot of money, now that it has emerged that he himself is a millionaire: “I didn’t know that it was a crime to write a good book which turns out to be a bestseller,” Sanders said at a community meeting in Gary, Indiana. Since Sanders described himself

A passenger exits an Uber car on 6th Avenue in New York City in 2018. (Mike Segar/Reuters) The historical origins of capitalism shed light on our current crisis. I  would like you to entertain, for a moment, an idea that might sound a little eccentric, or maybe as plain and obvious as a thing can

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

If I told you there was a movement to create a navy or an air force, you might respond, “Don’t we already have those?” If I said we need a movement to persuade bears to relieve themselves in the woods, you might say, “Wait. Isn’t that happening already?” But if I said we needed to

Julian Assange on the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, May 19, 2017 (Peter Nicholls/Reuters) The government would have a chance to prove in court that Russia was WikiLeaks’ source. Prior to the publication of the stolen Democratic-party emails and internal documents, Julian Assange and WikiLeaks exhorted Russian government hackers to send them “new

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.

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

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

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

Businesses can often gain by merging and leaders are on the lookout for good opportunities. Colleges can also sometimes benefit from merging, but public officials are less inclined to look for prospects. In the University of Georgia system, however, mergers and consolidations have been rather common, with benefits for state taxpayers and for students. In

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,

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks to the media on Capitol Hill, February 12, 2019. (Mary F. Calvert/Reuters) Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that the U.S. needs a “referendum on socialism” in the 2020 congressional elections and that the Republican Party will be on the front lines against it. “We need to have

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

In a new video for National Review, editor in chief Rich Lowry warns of the current “dangerous and absurd campaign” against Chick-fil-A, the fast food chain founded by Truett Cathy in 1946. In the last two weeks, Chick-fil-A has been excluded from airports in both San Antonio, Texas, and Buffalo, New York. Local officials in

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

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

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

On the campus of Yale University in 2012 (Michelle McLoughlin/Reuters) Over at the home page, I’ve got a piece making the case that the latest edition of the Chick-fil-A wars demonstrates how our culture war continues its downward, toxic spiral. One of the prime sources of renewed conflict is the increasing progressive tendency to use

Flag at a protest against Trump administration transgender policies outside City Hall in New York City, October 24, 2018. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters) A group of hundreds of concerned parents is calling for an immediate halt to a taxpayer-funded study on transgender youth where the young participants are given powerful hormone blockers to stave off puberty and

It’s now 955 days until Election Day 2020, and it looks right now like it’s going to be a litany of daily offers of New Free Stuff by the Democrat candidates for president. Of course, at last count there were 1,123 Democrat candidates for the presidency, so that’s a lot of Free Stuff in the

President Trump tours the area around the U.S.-Mexico border in Calexico, Calif., April 5, 2019. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) President Trump on Tuesday denied recent reports that he is planning to order the Department of Homeland Security to once again separate families that arrive at the southern border seeking asylum. “We’re not looking to do that, no,”

What does it take to make a good neighborhood? Without question, the answer is communication and openness. While they say that “good fences” make good neighbors, what about the opposite of that? Do fences that are too high make for indifferent neighbors? Do high fences make for neighbors who never communicate, or isolate themselves and

People line up outside a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Manhattan in 2015. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters) In the past two weeks, two different airports have blocked Chick-fil-A from the premises. First, the city council of San Antonio banned the chain because, in the words of councilman Robert Trevino, “everyone should feel welcome when they walk through our airport.” Then,

President Donald Trump has taken five dramatic, unprecedented pro-Israel measures. They’re not the only factors that make him popular in Israel; others include his withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal and his sanctions on Iran and its proxy Hizballah. But those aren’t moves directed at Israel specifically. The explicitly pro-Israel moves include: 1. Declaring Jerusalem

Central American migrants surrender to U.S. Border Patrol Agents south of the U.S.-Mexico border fence in El Paso, Texas, March 6, 2019. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters) A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration’s policy of returning Central American asylum seekers to Mexico until their cases are processed. Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco delayed the enforcement

During the last two years, the media have been reporting about a rise in anti-Semitism. When the media write and speak about it, their focus is almost exclusively on “right-wing” anti-Semitism. Most of the establishment Jewish organizations, well known for their political liberalism and identification with the Democrat Party, similarly focus on anti-Semitism from the

The Senate’s challenge in approving nominees has affected multiple agencies, but the problem is particularly bad at the EEOC. Last year, I noted in the Wall Street Journal that vacancies at the EEOC had left the Democrat commissioners as the majority of what is supposed to be a five person, bipartisan commission.  Now, since the Democratic chairwoman’s term expired,

Comrades, I know what you think I, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, have risen from my mausoleum by Kremlin Wall Red Square as amusement for Day of Fools of April. Not so! Trust me, bolsheviki, I do not play idle game in honor reactionary bourgeois holiday invented to drug proletariat with bad jokes. We are at moment