Random stuff I find interesting and you may not.
Two days ago, Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the 5–4 majority that ruled against President Trump in the case of Department of State v. AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition. This has occasioned a great deal of criticism of Barrett from the right — to the point at which many commentators have felt comfortable describing her as … Read more
As National Review’s resident teenage knife-fighting expert, I was disappointed to read that the actor Idris Elba wants the British government to circumcise all of the privately owned knives in the United Kingdom in the hope that doing so will help reduce crime. Here’s Elba, talking to BBC Radio 4: “Not all kitchen knives need … Read more
One of the arguments I am seeing thrown at anyone who, like me, does not think that, say, Matt Gaetz or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. should be given jobs in the Cabinet — and who certainly does not think that they should be given jobs in the Cabinet absent a vote in the Senate — … Read more
On Twitter, the socialist writer Owen Jones praises the man who burned himself to death in support of Hamas: Aaron Bushnell died because he had too much humanity for a world run by people who don’t have any https://t.co/9WcyjBUH0v — Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) February 27, 2024 I am always fascinated by mawkish statements such as … Read more
I have been amused by many of the reports of Google Gemini’s peculiar behavior (for excellent examples see here, here, here, here, and read Jeff’s piece), but, in my view, the most interesting thing about this episode is what it has shown about where Google now is as a company. All told, Google Gemini has … Read more
On balance, most Americans dislike Trump more than they dislike his opposition. In recent days, I have been reaching for a concise way of describing the difference between Donald Trump as a candidate or power broker within the Republican primary system and Donald Trump as a candidate or power broker within the United States at … Read more
Always has been, always will be. There is a moment in Back to the Future Part III in which Marty McFly steps outside of the unfamiliar mores of the 19th-century American West and says of Buford Tannen, the man who has challenged him to a duel, “He’s an asshole!” That line is just three words … Read more
Give it up, guys. Only Donald Trump can prevail against Joe Biden. Why? In 2016, when Trump won the White House, he obtained just 46.1 percent of the vote. Had his opponent not been so historically unpopular — and had the Green Party not siphoned off votes from the Democrats in a handful of key … Read more
Conservative Americans must choose. Do they want Donald Trump to play a central role in Republican politics, or do they want to win elections and achieve the policy outcomes that supposedly inspired them to get involved in politics in the first instance? My question is literal, not rhetorical. Conservatives must choose. They cannot have both … Read more
Are you not tired of this crap yet? Former President Donald Trump on Monday denied he wanted to “‘terminate’ the Constitution,” two days after suggesting “the termination of all rules … even those found in the Constitution.” “The Fake News is actually trying to convince the American People that I said I wanted to ‘terminate’ … Read more
Unlike Tennyson’s star-crossed Light Brigade, those among us who hope that the Republican Party does not renominate Donald Trump in 2024 possess a great deal of agency over our fates. Ours is, indeed, to “make reply.” Ours is, indeed, to “reason why.” In what manner? Ay, there’s the rub. Seven years ago, it was forgivable … Read more
Scranton Joe is sending cash from the people he cynically pretends to care about to the people he really cares about. . . . It seems so arbitrary. Why does Biden not want to do the same thing for loans on trucks owned by plumbers? Why not for mortgages — which, given how heavily it … Read more
During her appearance on the Pod Save America podcast last week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki suggested that before August 31 of this year, the Biden administration intends to make “a decision . . . about canceling student debt.” Psaki’s asseveration was thrown in casually — as an aside, almost. But there is nothing … Read more
Yesterday, Governor Ron DeSantis issued a proclamation instructing a special session of the Florida legislature to review whether Walt Disney World’s 50-year-old “independent special district” status should be rescinded now that the Walt Disney Company has had the temerity to annoy the Republican Party. Disney’s status, DeSantis wrote, should now be subject to a “review” … Read more
Donald Trump? In 2024? Why on earth would conservatives choose that guy? I’m serious: Why? Why would we do that when we have a choice? The idea should be absurd, risible, farcical, outré. It should be a punchline, a mania, the preserve of the demented fringe. Politics matters. And because politics matters, it is a … Read more
Yesterday (Feb. 28, 2022), Alexandra noted that: This evening, the Senate failed to invoke cloture and proceed to a vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act, a radical piece of pro-abortion legislation that “codifies Roe v. Wade,” establishes a fundamental right to abortion on demand, and nullifies state pro-life laws across the country. It was … Read more
Settle down, everyone. Washington’s cackling mediocrity won’t be tapped for the Supreme Court vacancy. Close Twitter, turn off your TV, and suppress the palace whispering for a moment so that you might better understand a truth that obtains now, and for all time beyond: Vice President Kamala Harris is not going to be nominated for … Read more
Reflections on the decade in which I found my home. At some point — I can’t quite remember when — it stopped happening. People still heard my English accent, of course, but the question it elicited changed from “are you visiting?” to “when did you move here?” Without even noticing, I had become of this … Read more
Donald Trump really does believe that he, along with two former GOP senators, will be ‘reinstated’ to office this summer. Two days ago, the New York Times’s Maggie Haberman reported that Donald Trump “has been telling a number of people he’s in contact with that he expects he will get reinstated by August.” In response, … Read more