April 2015

After yesterday’s disappointing GDP number (it grew by a meager .2% in the last quarter) we got this from Jason Furman, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisors:

David Catanese has a long profile of Jeb Bush in U.S. News & World Report. It’s well worth reading. But this line really stuck out:

Once upon a time the world was run by preppy Wasp men and well-tended sylph-like women. The rules were clear: casual was OK for men so long as they had a crocodile sewn over their hearts, and desert was OK for women, some known as “social X-rays” -- once a month, if that. Lisa Birnbach, co-author…

On Wednesday, April 29, King Salman Bin Abd Al-Aziz of Saudi Arabia announced a set of changes to his cabinet. Salman, 79, assumed the throne after the death of his half-brother, King Abdullah Bin Abd Al-Aziz, in January. Abdullah, who was 90 or 91, earned a reputation as a reformer of the desert…

Even by the low, low standards of North Korean "diplomats," the scene at the United Nations on Thursday was a particularly vile one.

President Obama told a Washington, D.C. classroom today he'll "still be a pretty young man" when he finishes his second term in the White House. And that he wants to help people after his presidency. 

Rachel Maddow understands the utility of a good old-fashioned riot.

Hillary Clinton is a ferocious critic of Israeli settlements. She took point on the Obama administration's demand for a settlement freeze. She regularly berated Prime Minister Netanyahu on the subject, including an infamous, expletive-laced 45-minute phone call in 2010. She calls settlements…

There’s ominous (is there any other kind?) news from North Korea. South Korean intelligence has reported that Kim Jong-un has executed some fifteen of his top officials, including the vice minister of forestry. Granted, as satraps of the world’s cruelest regime, it’s hard to gin up much sympathy…

Hillary Clinton is against Barack Obama's trade policy, the Huffington Post reports:

When President Obama visited Jamaica in early April, he held a town hall meeting with "Young Leaders of the Americas" at University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. The president made remarks and took questions for only about 75 minutes in the Assembly Hall building on the Mona campus of…

Bill Kristol, chairman of the Emergency Committee for Israel, has released a statement calling on senators to strengthen the Corker-Cardin Iran bill:

Florida senator Marco Rubio went to the Senate floor on Wednesday to push for votes on amendments to legislation concerning a nuclear deal with Iran. "If you don't want to vote on things, don't run for office," Rubio said. "Be a columnist. Get a talk show."

Republican senator Ted Cruz said Wednesday afternoon he is “long-term optimistic and short-term pessimistic” on the question of passing any immigration reform legislation. Speaking with Javier Palomarez, the president of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Texan presidential…

Bob: I've got an idea for a new government program to help homeowners.

The Democrats have finally decided on the fair, just minimum wage -- $12 per hour. But they fail to make one important point in favor of their demand. Recall the tale of the diligent robbers who spend a weekend drilling into the vault of a posh jeweler, making off with millions in bling for their…

When arguing before the Supreme Court, a lawyer normally takes pains to convince the Justices that ruling in his or her favor in that particular case would not have dramatic consequences elsewhere. In Hobby Lobby, for example, Paul Clement urged that exempting his clients from part of HHS's…

At a Manhattan fundraiser yesterday (as noted by The Hill), potential presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke of the rioting in Baltimore by invoking a theme of the Obama administration: the need for reform of the criminal justice system.

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol on the riots in Baltimore.

America has a rather unique role for the wives of Presidents and other office holders -- we designate them “First Ladies” and make available to them the bloody pulpit of their husbands’ office and considerable staff support. At times there is a public benefit: teacher-librarian Laura Bush did…

We're living in a transgender moment in America -- which is a little odd, when you think about it. For transgender people are not exactly new to the news: The British travel writer James Morris became Jan Morris as long ago as 1972, and the ophthalmologist Richard Raskind became tennis pro Renee…

Later today, Hillary Clinton is expected to give a speech where she comes out in favor of police being required to wear body cameras. I'm not necessarily opposed to the idea, except to say that I doubt it will prove to be the panacea for reining in law enforcement abuses that many of its advocates…

Inevitability is said to be one of Hillary Clinton's hinderances in securing the Democratic party's nomination for president, that she must earn the nomination rather than claim it as a right. But to listen to Mrs. Clinton's recent videotaped message to the South Carolina Democratic Party's…

Earlier today on CBS This Morning, Baltimore mother Toya Graham told her story about the now-viral scene from Monday where she pulled her son Michael off of the streets of rioting Baltimore.

Shortly after Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy for president, the Clinton Foundation announced: "In light of Secretary Clinton’s decision to run for President, Secretary Clinton has stepped down from the Clinton Foundation board." While Mrs. Clinton was removed from the board (she no longer…

At an Ivy League university, Hillary Clinton will propose having "body cameras for every officer nationally," the New York Times's Maggie Haberman reports on Twitter.

Don't worry, Valerie Jarrett is in "regular contact" with the mayor of Baltimore, the White House announced late Tuesday night. 

Hillary Clinton appeared to avoid the press waiting outside her first 2016 presidential fundraiser by talking to herself as she made her way to an awaiting Secret Service vehicle. 

''We've taken this action to make certain the Iranians have no illusions about the cost of irresponsible behavior,'' the president said. ''We aim to deter Iranian aggression, not provoke it,” he continued, warning Iran against further hostile actions in the strategically vital Persian Gulf.  “'They…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior writer Steve Hayes on his recent story "The Coming GOP Divide."

The Baltimore Orioles will play tomorrow's baseball game at an empty stadium. It will be closed to the public due to ongoing riots in Baltimore. 

A new poll of likely Iowa Republican presidential caucus goers finds a wide-open field with three candidates vying for the top spot and a plurality undecided. Scott Walker, the governor of neighboring Wisconsin, leads the latest poll from Loras College, earning 12.6 percent support. Florida senator…

It was the biggest weekend of the spring, with people coming from all over to a little strip of beach known as “Perdido Key,” for a gathering known as the FloraBama Mullet Toss. It has been going on for three decades and every year it grows; it now claims to draw numbers in the “tens of…

Brian Blake of the 2017 Project advises conservatives on how to respond to a "victory" in the Supreme Court case King v. Burwell:

President Obama called the Baltimore riots "counterproductive" in remarks today at the White House:

New Jersey governor Chris Christie will be sending New Jersey cops to Baltimore. The Republican governor made the announcement on Twitter. 

The Iranian organ Farsnews claims that Iran has seized a U.S. ship. Thirty-four are on board, the outlet claims. Fars claims: 

At this weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, President Obama’s comic routine seemed to have some nasty implications about his political opponents. After reviewing the speech in depth, Byron York reads this between the lines:

Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska reports on the four central questions he's been getting from constituents on Iran:

A Vietnam veteran interviewed on CNN last night told protesters to go get "their butts at home." The veteran, who identified himself as Robert Valentine, said, "I'm very pissed." Watch here:

CNN political commentator Marc Lamont Hill advised that "we should be strategic in how we riot."

Although neither the White House nor the State Department released statements or posted greetings on the 67th Independence Day of the nation of Israel last Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden did attend the annual Israeli Independence Day Celebration at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington…

Attorney General Loretta Lynch reponds to the violence in Baltimore:

Martin O'Malley, the former governor of Maryland and possible Democratic presidential candidate, is speaking out on the violence in Baltimore. O'Malley's rival, Hillary Clinton, is not. 

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with literary editor Philip Terzian on the Books & Arts section from the April 27th issue.

Every true conservative, or at least every Republican conservative, knows that our freedoms are under continuing threat from the Obama administration, which has already seized control of the health care and energy sectors, and is circling the education sector with the threat of a core curriculum.…

Every liberal knows that poverty breeds crime, although data are unable to show such a correlation, much less causation. This understanding of what is called the root cause of crime was best expressed in one of those Woody Allen flashbacks in which his father is defending the family maid against…

Over the weekend, the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins appeared on CBS's Face the Nation. Here's one of the questions that outgoing host Bob Schieffer asked him:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with executive editor Fred Barnes on his story "What We Don't Know About 2016."

Bill Kristol writes in this week's newsletter: 

The latest of episode of Conversations With Bill Kristol, featuring Gary Bauer:

Last year Hillary Clinton called the Russia "reset" policy "totally transactional." The comments seem to take on a new meaning after last week's news about Clinton helping to approve the sale of uranium company to the Russians.

Baltimore police are warning that there is a "credible threat" to "take-out" law enforcement officers, according a press release from the Baltimore Police Department. 

Possible Democratic presidential candidate Jim Webb is asking supporters to "invest in leadership you can trust." That's the subject line of Webb's latest fundraising pitch.

The insults against the memory of the writers, editors, and artists who were murdered by Islamic extremists in Paris earlier this year continue apace. The New York Times reports:

According to Gallup, only 7 percent of Americans want immigration levels to increase, while 86 percent either want them to remain at current levels (47 percent) or decrease (39 percent).  With most current and prospective Republican presidential candidates tripping over each other to vie for that 7…

The evils of North Korea are well-chronicled: from its political prison camps to the needless and preventable starvation deaths of between 450,000 and 2 million people. That latter estimate comes from an exhaustive report by a U.N. Commission of Inquiry, which found the North Korean…

A year after news broke of the waiting list scandal at the Veterans Affairs medical facility in Phoenix, Arizona, President Obama finally visited the facility in March. And while they didn't quite roll out the red carpet for the president, they did clean the floors -- and spent $5,000 to do it.

Nowadays when you mention the book Profiles in Character to Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida and, as it happens, the coauthor of Profiles in Character, he immediately cracks wise.

There are three ways to view a carbon tax. Conservatives see it, or should see it, as what is called “a tax swap”—a revenue-neutral tool to shift the burden of taxation from income and other taxes that reduce economic growth and risk-taking to consumption, thereby increasing the efficiency of the…

We are the friends of liberty everywhere, the guardians only of our own: John Quincy Adams’s famous aphorism comes to mind as we observe the cruel realities of international affairs. It is a happy day in Kabylie—the large mountainous region east of Algiers that is home to Algeria’s biggest Berber…

The Scrapbook is not in the habit of closely following show biz gossip—well, not too closely. Still, we couldn’t help but notice that the Manhattan media world is abuzz about the return of Andrew Lack, after several years’ absence, as chief of NBC News. This, in itself, is of no particular…

Do you want to know how to beat the stock market? In 46 of America’s 50 largest cities, installing a fully financed, typical-sized, residential solar power system will do just that, according to a Department of Energy-backed study released earlier this year. In other words, by investing in solar…

The New York Times recently declared, citing the release of a University of California study, that companies with employees earning an annual wage so low as to qualify them for government aid of some sort are effectively being subsidized by the federal government and implied that this is an odious…

"Cultural biography” is not the sort of classification that usually inspires much confidence. It’s generally a sure sign that the reader will be spending most of his time with everyone in contemporary society but the subject: more pages on loom weavers than on Elizabeth Gaskell, more on the Irish…

"Do you have a statement for the Palestinians?” “What about your gaffes?” “Do you feel that your gaffes have overshadowed your foreign trip?”

Not that long ago, if you’d spun a dystopian yarn about some future society where culture wars were so pervasive that nobody could enjoy reading a novel without first approving of the author’s politics, it would have been almost too fantastical to be believed. But within the insular world of…

Cartoonist Garry Trudeau accepted the Career Achievement Award last week at the allegedly prestigious George Polk journalism awards. But in his acceptance speech, he raised more than a few eyebrows by attacking the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo—the ones who were murdered earlier this year when…

Hillary Rodham Clinton, quondam secretary of state and presumptive heir to the presidency 

The Scrapbook has previously touted the Conversations with Bill Kristol video series, but we suspect readers will be particularly drawn by the latest in the series—an extended discussion between our editor and one of our renowned contributing editors, Charles Krauthammer.

Middleburg, Va.

Miami

In The Selling of the President, Joe McGinniss details how Richard Nixon’s handlers micromanaged every aspect of his public persona in 1968, to craft an image for a fickle public that had rejected the longtime politician eight years before.

During Christmas vacation 1968-69 I ran into a high school friend much wiser in the ways of the world than I. He had stumbled onto a curious job for the next few weeks— collecting the proceeds from a chain of bowling alleys in the Washington area, counting the loot, and delivering it to corporate…

With congressional Republicans back from their spring recess, presumably revived and resolved to keep our country competitive, there is one more thing they should do to gird up for the resumption of legislative business.

A month and a half has passed since Boris Nemtsov, the Russian political activist who rose to prominence as a dynamic young reformer in the 1990s and later became one of the fiercest critics of Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian rule, was shot dead a few blocks from the Kremlin. The shocking murder,…

Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake told the press that her city "gave those who wished to destroy space to do that" at last night's protest. Watch here:

Hillary Clinton was the target of a few jokes last night at the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C.:

The Clinton Foundation is now admitting that mistakes were made. "[Y]es, we made mistakes, as many organizations of our size do, but we are acting quickly to remedy them, and have taken steps to ensure they don't happen in the future. We are committed to operating the Foundation responsibly and…

Senior Editor Andrew Ferguson joined C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb for their Q&A series to discuss his career in journalism, the founding of the Weekly Standard, his writing process, and stories from his time on the 2016 campaign trail.

It can be hard to say anything nice about a man whose administration would malevolently inflict a traffic jam on residents of the Tristate area, but Governor Chris Christie’s recent proposal aimed at fixing the country’s broken Social Security system may make him deserving of forgiveness. The plan…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol, live from Las Vegas at the Republican Jewish Coalition spring meeting, on the week that was and whether or not Hillary is truly inevitable.

Last week, a senior Yemeni Houthi official was buried in Beirut. Mohammed Abdel Malik al-Shami, the spiritual leader of the Houthis, had been critically wounded in the March 20 Islamic State suicide bombing of Al Hashahush mosque in Sanaa. He was airlifted to Tehran for medical treatment, but…

Late-night TV host Seth Meyers spent a segment of his program Thursday knocking Peter Schweizer's new book Clinton Cash. The Schweizer book documents the web of conflicts of interest and secretive cash flows that surround the foundations and initiatives of Bill and Hillary Clinton. News outlets as…

The day President Obama believes relevant history began. Rather like the French revolutionaries who decreed that the establishment of their Republic be dated Year I of the French Republic. August 4, 1961 was the day on which Barack Hussein Obama arrived on this earth in Honolulu, Hawaii. Anything…

The Daily Caller's Kerry Picket reports that likely Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said in a speech on Thursday in New York that religious beliefs about abortion "have to be changed."

It is not certain that Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, actually said, “The capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them,” but if he didn’t, he certainly thought it, and if still around would like to claim that prophesy as his own. IBM has announced plans “to help a…

I have come back to you from thorny uncertainty. I want you as straight as the sword or the road. But you insist on keeping a nook of shadow I do not want.

Now that it’s been reported the Comcast-TimeWarner merger talks have collapsed, there will be much ad time to be filled on television and radio (as well as print). At least if you live in the D.C. area, radio commercials are often about impending legislation and a voiceover urging listeners to…

The Hillary Clinton campaign is fundraising off new reporting in the Peter Schweizer book Clinton Cash. 

The stakes for the 2016 presidential election are high. Consider this: four Supreme Court justices are 76 or older.

Fox News reported this morning on the latest news to come from the Clinton Cash book:

Despite issuing statements commemorating the National Days or Independence Days of nearly 170 countries in the past twelve months, Secretary of State John Kerry allowed the 67th anniversary of the establishment of the nation of Israel to pass without comment. This is the third year in a row Kerry…

“Oh, Khatcher agha, the killers have come.” Those words were spoken to my grandfather, Khatcher Matosian, with a tap on the back so that he would redirect his gaze. He and relatives had been peering from the rooftops of their Armenian village in central Turkey after hearing about the Ottoman…

Ohio Gov. John Kasich has made clear that he's seriously considering running for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. If he formally announces, it will be important for conservative voters to punish him for his expansion of President Obama's healthcare law in his state.

Today is Shakespeare’s 451st birthday. Around the world, performances and recitals will be put on in a host of languages, and in a multitude of countries. There is something in Shakespeare’s art wherein everyone tends to find a positive reflection of their community and values, which explains the…

Growing up blind and poor in rural China, Chen Guangcheng had few prospects. Yet before he turned 40, Chen was one of China’s most famous human rights activists, known around the world after he became the subject of a dramatic standoff between the American and Chinese governments.  Chen's new…

Kellie Lunney at Government Executive writes, in a report on yesterday’s hearings into mismanagement at the Veterans Affairs Department, that:

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has voted to confirm Loretta Lynch to be the next attorney general. 

In one of his gag appearances, this one as a 2000-year old man, Mel Brooks was asked to name the greatest invention he had witnessed in his long life. “Saran wrap,” he shot back. A useful product, surely, but if environmentalists had the power they now have, unlikely to have emerged from the lab…

In the past I've wondered about the obsession with Israel by Human Rights Watch. Now I wonder again, due to the organization's new 74-page report entitled, "Ripe for Abuse: Palestinian Child Labor in Israeli Agricultural Settlements in the West Bank." Check out the HRW web site to see what subjects…

Fox News's Bret Baier previewed his Clinton Cash special this morning by highlighting how Kazakhstan invested in the Clintons -- and was then sold to the Russians. More specifically, it was a uranium company, which might now supply the element to Iran.

As always, Winston Churchill said it best. Here he is on March 24, 1938, speaking less than two weeks after the Anschluss, the Nazi annexation of Austria:

Chelsea Clinton was asked about the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation taking money from countries with terrible women's rights records. Clinton was also asked about the New York Times report today on shady payments to her family. She dodged the questions.

As Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton comes under fire for shady financial dealins, Jim Webb is calling for a "new leadership model for our country." Webb, also a Democrat, is considering a presidential run.

A new poll finds that a majority of voters believes President Barack Obama is "being too soft" on the terror-sponsoring Iranian regime. Only 2 percent believe Obama is "being too tough."

Hillary Clinton's campaign is criticizing the author of a forthcoming book, Clinton Cash, which details the shady financial dealings of the Clinton family, as being "backed by a Koch Brothers-linked organization." But today the Democratic presidential candidate is speaking on a Koch Brothers-backed…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior editor Lee Smith on the situation with Yemen and how it plays into the pending nuclear deal with Iran.

State Department deputy secretary Heather Higginbottom testified on Capitol Hill today that the State Department is routinely cyber-attacked. “We are attacked every day, thousands of times a day,” Higginbottom said in response to questioning from Georgia senator David Perdue.

Tina Brown now says that criticizing Hillary Clinton is "fair game." She made the remarks in an interview with Yahoo!:

Jordan Fabian at The Hill reports that:

Elizabeth Warren ripped the Obama administration for disagreeing with her on trade. Warren made the comments on Twitter.

Scott Walker’s recent comments suggesting that the United States’s policy on legal immigration should be focused on what’s good for American workers — a seemingly obvious point that nevertheless has ruffled feathers — offers further evidence of the Wisconsin governor’s political savvy.  When two of…

A top New Hampshire Democrat warned Hillary Clinton fans that they "can’t be like a group of my gay friends at a Lady Gaga concert." The comments, which were made in front of Clinton and caused the candidate to laugh, were made by New Hampshire Democratic party chairman Ray Buckley.

If you tried to contact the IRS with a question about your taxes this year, chances are you didn't get a response. The IRS estimated that it would only answer 17 million of the 49 million calls received this filing season. Taxpayers lucky enough to have the IRS answer their calls waited an average…

Democratic Rep. Luis V. Gutiérrez of Illinois has introduced a law to put a woman on the $20 bill. The law is being called, "Put a Woman on the Twenty Act."

Speaking Tuesday at the 45th Annual Washington Conference of the Council of the Americas, Secretary of State John Kerry said that "countries are far more likely to advance economically and socially when citizens have faith in their governments and are able to rely on them for justice and equal…

The inspector general of the State Department confirmed today in Senate testimony that the State Department network at some point was hacked. He made the comments in response to a question from Georgia senator David Perdue.

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with online editor and Clinton chronicler Daniel Halper on the latest on the Hillary campaign.

As Earth Day approaches, the White House is once again pushing action on climate change, presenting a rather stark contrast between action and inaction on carbon emissions. On Monday, the following graphic appeared in a White House tweet, presenting an almost night-and-day difference between the…

Former President Bill Clinton called the terrorist group ISIS the "most interesting non-governmental organization today" in remarks at Georgetown University:

Meghann Myers of Navy Times reports that:

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe did not go into his line of work to make friends. Since regaining the premiership in 2012, Abe has made a habit of insulting Japan’s neighbors and allies. He’s denied, in the face of copious evidence, that the Imperial Japanese Army used hundreds of thousands of…

Bloomberg's Eli Lake reports Tuesday that the Obama administration kept secret until the beginning of April Iran's two to three month breakout time for a nuclear weapon, saying "the administration only declassified this estimate at the beginning of the month, just in time for the White House to…

A friend sends along an email attachment—a handwritten letter by his 8-year-old son, Peter. It’s addressed to First Lady Michelle Obama. “It all started because he saw something about school lunches [and] how ketchup is bad for you, and that Michelle Obama wants to limit the amount of ketchup” in…

The director of press advance at the White House has joined the press. The Los Angeles Times announced this morning the hiring of Johanna Maska, an aide to President Obama.

Bill de Blasio is trying to insert himself into the foreign policy arena. The New York City mayor, more specifically, has commented on the deaths of refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea.

The original corn laws put tariffs on imported grain in an effort to help domestic producers.  That was nearly two centuries ago, in England, and the experiment is taught as an example of bad economic policy. But people never learn and in this country, today, we have the renewable fuel mandates…

Last month the Kosovar Center for Security Studies (KCSS), a think-tank in the Balkan republic, published a “Report Inquiring Into the Causes and Consequences of Kosovo Citizens’ Involvement as Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq.” The survey was financed by the U.S. Embassy in Pristina, the Kosovo…

Today, writing in his weekly "Kristol Clear" newsletter, the boss sent around an updated straw poll to gauge who readers think, at this point, should be the 2016 GOP nominee.

On a campaign swing in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton knocked her son-in-law's profession. Marc Mezvinsky, the husband of Clinton's daughter Chelsea, is a hedgefund manager. 

Bill Roggio and Caleb Weiss, at longwarjournal.com, write that:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with executive editor Fred Barnes on his recent trip to New Hampshire, and his views on the 2016 GOP field of presidential candidate.

Spokeswoman Karen Finney claimed today on MSNBC that Hillary Clinton did not flip-flop on the issue of same-sex marriage.

Nashua, N.H.

The president is taking Air Force One to Florida this week. He is going there, unsurprisingly, to make a speech. On Earth Day, about climate change. He could make the speech in Washington, of course, but he needs a prop—in this case, will be the Everglades, which he describes as “one of the most…

Senator Lindsey Graham, a possible Republican presidential candidate, mocked Jeb Bush for being close to Democrat Hillary Clinton. 

The U.S. State Department is looking to design and facilitate a media ethics course for journalists in India, and has even proposed appropriating the name of Robin Thicke's 2013 hit "Blurred Lines" as a title for the course. The U.S. consulate general in Hyderabad, India is looking for a non-profit…

In winning Nigeria’s presidency on his fourth try, Muhammadu Buhari, former military dictator and proponent of sharia, may have answered the Nigerian question: Is the big West African country more than a geographical entity—does it have a sense of nationhood transcending sectional and religious…

"Who,” asked Hitler in August 1939, “speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?” Raphael Lemkin did, and in 1944, Lemkin, a Polish-born Jew, published his theory of genocide. Lemkin’s models were the ongoing Holocaust of Europe’s Jews and the Meds Yeghern, or “Great Calamity,” of 1915-16:…

The title of Morris Dickstein’s memoir alludes to an often-quoted line from Robert Lowell’s epilogue to his last book of poems, Day by Day. “Yet why not say what happened?” is Lowell’s question to himself as he prays for “the grace of accuracy.” Dickstein, emeritus professor at CUNY Graduate Center…

If there is one thing on which Democrats and Republicans can agree, it is that it is undesirable for countries other than the United States to possess nuclear weapons. For this reason, America’s nonproliferation policy has traditionally been characterized by strong bipartisanship. It is notable,…

Last week, Edward Snowden came out (or was let out) of his home in liberty-loving Russia to grant an interview to John Oliver, erstwhile Comedy Central Daily Show correspondent and current host of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. A few seconds in, the ever-so-earnest Snowden began to realize…

The two armies had been in almost constant contact for the first week of what would become known as “the Forty Days.” The Battle of the Wilderness had been inconclusive, as, thus far, had the one at Spotsylvania, with the epic struggle for “the Bloody Angle” still to come. Neither commander had…

Over the past decade, huge improvements in hydraulic fracturing techniques used to unlock natural gas deposits have lowered energy prices and boosted the economy. They’ve been great for the environment, too. While it’s not pollution-free, gas produces almost none of the particulates and much less…

Our fascination with the brain seems to come from a longing to make psychology more like a hard science and hence, we assume, more useful. Physics gave us electricity, skyscrapers, and the Internet. Chemistry gave us medicine and more fresh food. Psychology is still taking baby steps, designing…

The hot new word on campuses is “triggering.” The current generation of special snowflakes wants to be excused from discussing violence and other terrible facts of life, lest such discussions “trigger” a recollection of their own personal traumas (real or imagined is anyone’s guess).

Bob Dylan and Annie Lennox have each released standards albums recently, joining a long procession of contemporary singers that extends back to Willie Nelson and his 1978 Stardust album and includes Rod Stewart, Linda Ronstadt, Carly Simon, and, in the finest and most improbable effort of all,…

There were many horrendous moments for the American hostages held by Iranians for 444 days at the U.S. embassy in Tehran. One of the worst occurred when Iranian captors showed a hostage a photo of the school bus that took his son to and from school. If the hostage didn’t cooperate, his son’s…

Is President Barack Obama right that the so-called framework nuclear agreement with Iran, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) announced on April 2, will “cut off every pathway Iran could take to develop a nuclear weapon”? Some will assess the truth of his statement by crunching the…

The ouster of ISIS fighters from Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s hometown, has been widely celebrated. Although this victory was brought about in no small part by American airpower, it was a triumph for Iran more than for the United States. The vast majority of fighters on the front lines belonged to…

Readers are no doubt aware of the details of the gang rape that didn’t take place at a University of Virginia fraternity house in 2012. It was the subject of a shocking account in Rolling Stone that dominated national discussion of the “rape culture” that permeates America’s universities. The UVA…

Tallinn

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered this assessment of the American-led negotiations with Iran the day before a deal was announced:

On March 23, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a permanent “doc fix.” Now it heads to the Senate, where it is expected to pass easily. This bipartisan effort will end the yearly ritual of bypassing Medicare reforms imposed by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Much of professional…

The writer-director Noah Baumbach has a gimlet satirical eye for the foibles and follies of the upper-middle class, which he deploys to brilliant and hilarious effect in his new movie, While We’re Young. A childless husband and wife in their 40s, played with beautiful understatement by Ben Stiller…

"Keep our story going,” implored Commander Dave Evans in his remarks closing the monthly meeting of the Korean War Veterans Association, General Brad Smith Chapter. At the meeting, one of us—Cita—had given a talk, as she often volunteers to do to veterans’ groups, about Winston Churchill, based on…

Less than two months ago, Google launched YouTube Kids, a new app for tablets and smartphones aimed at providing child-friendly video content. Unlike Netflix, the service is free. Since YouTube Kids is not an act of charity, however, it does have commercials. And this is apparently not just…

What is to be done about Obama’s Iran “deal”? We could, fatalistically, lament the collapse of American foreign policy. We could, indignantly, gnash our teeth in frustration at the current administration. We could, constructively, work to secure congressional review of the deal and urge…

Ever since it announced the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran last month, the Obama administration has flooded the news media with technical details elaborating the many virtues of the proposed framework agreement. Indeed, the White House sent its energy secretary, Ernest Moniz, a…

As America prepares to mark the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s death on April 15, fresh insight into the events that occurred a century and a half ago can be gleaned by seeing that entire week through the eyes of America’s Jews, and especially of those Jews who attended America’s oldest and most…

Nashua, N.H.

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with literary editor Philip Terzian on the Books & Arts section from the April 20th issue.

Nashua, N.H.

Manchester, N.H.

A must-read, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal opinion pages: Remarks from earlier this week in San Francisco by retired four-star Marine Corps general James Mattis to veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

My colleague Jay Cost flags this Newsweek article, which is ostensibly about the scandalous revelation that one of the largest Clinton Foundation donor has trade ties to Iran. But here's the first paragraph:

Every spring, thousands of American higher learning institutions and tens of thousands  of high schools send their graduates off with a commencement ceremony. A centerpiece of the event, as old as American education itself, is the commencement speech. At their best, these speeches furnish students…

Nashua, N.H.

General Electric is divesting its finance business, starting with the sale of $26.5 billion of real estate assets. Back to its roots as an industrial manufacturing powerhouse, churning out jet engines, medical devices, oil drilling equipment and the other heavy equipment. Jeff Immelt finally has…

I understand that to many people who work at the New York Times, guns are frightening animistic objects. But Andrew Rosenthal, the editorial page editor of the Times, just took the following swipe at Ted Cruz, under the headline "Ted Cruz’s Strange Gun Argument," and it is his argument, not Ted…

The Obama administration once pointed to Yemen as the proof that the application of what it calls “smart power” works.  Today, from John Zarocostas, writing for McClatchy, we learn that:

Mike Huckabee, who may declare his intention to run for president soon, has some very ill-advised opinions about Medicare and Social Security. In an interview with a small group of reporters, he said the following:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior writer Stephen F. Hayes on the week that was for Hillary in Washington, Ohio, Iowa, and around the world.

Now that the liberals who were once insurgent voices in the undergraduate student body are the presidents and deans of American universities, they’ve decided it is high time for those universities to reevaluate their outdated devotion to freedom of speech.  The proper modern university, they…

Windham, N.H.

That was Henry Kissinger’s famous sally about the war between Iran and Iraq, back in the 80s.  Now, the big rivals in that part of the world are not actually nations, in the conventional sense.  They are, rather, movements with aspirations to more than just physical territory. They are out to…

If there is anything that liberals and Big Business can seemingly agree upon, it’s that we don’t need an approach to immigration that benefits Main Street.  It remains to be seen whether anyone running for president will seize this opening and buck the liberal-corporate consensus, but in the…

As he gears up for another presidential campaign, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is making a big break with the Republican party on the issue of entitlement reform. Meeting with reporters at a hotel in Washington, D.C. this morning, Huckabee strongly criticized New Jersey governor Chris…

The system of federal and state "exchanges" or "marketplaces" that offer health insurance through the Affordable Care Act lean heavily on "navigators" to guide consumers in their choices. Organizations such as community health centers, legal aid societies, social service groups, church groups and…

The other day on Newsmax radio, Bill Kristol recommended that, if Hillary Clinton wanted to be in touch with so-called everyday Americans, she should ride in the back of the plane like the rest of us.

Although "life-sized roaring, breathing dinosaurs" may not typically be found at a Presidential Center, visitors to the Clinton Presidential Center will soon find not just one but thirteen of the prehistoric creatures as part of Dinosaurs Around the World, which runs from April 25 to October 18 at…

I've received several inquiries asking me to spell out some implications of this week's editorial. Here goes:

Maryland governor Martin O'Malley knocked Hillary Clinton for following "polls" instead of "principles." Specifically, O'Malley was referring to Clinton's recent flip-flops on same-sex marriage (she now believes the Supreme Court should rule in favor of it) and immigration (she now believes illegal…

One of the important pieces of news to come out of Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi’s visit to the White House Tuesday is that Iraq will be receiving delivery of F-16s. At Commentary, Max Boot asks if this is such a wise move, “Why Are We Giving F-16s to an Iranian-Infiltrated Government?”

There's one issue Hillary Clinton won't flip-flop on: accepting money from lobbyists. The Huffington Post reports:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with staff writer Michael Warren on Hillary's campaign rollout.

Iowans had their cellphones and cameras confiscated before getting to meet the Democratic presidential frontrunner, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Hillary Clinton's van parked in a handicap spot, RNC deputy communications director Raj Shah points out in a recent tweet. "Woman of the people!! @HillaryClinton Scooby Doo Van parks in handicap spot," Shah tweets.

Following Marco Rubio's announcement that he's running for president, the Associated Press decided to "fact check" some of the candidate's rhetoric. If you follow the news, you're probably aware that "fact checking" is more often than not a lame attempt to cloak partisan opinion behind a veil of…

Hillary Clinton's campaign is now saying she supports driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. "Hillary supports state policies to provide driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants," a spokesperson told the Huffington Post.

This morning at 10:00 a.m., in Israel, all activity came to a halt as sirens sounded, and Israelis stood for two minutes with heads bowed in memory of the 6 million Jews, one third of the Jewish people, who perished in the Holocaust. Yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at Yad Vashem…

A prominent Pakistani-born women's rights activist is asking presidential candidates, including Hillary Clinton, to pledge not to accept donations from foreign nations that oppress women. Raheel Raza, the Canadian journalist behind the documentary film Honor Diaries, is requesting all the…

Every year since 2011, the White House has used tax time to post a "Federal Taxpayer Receipt" showing taxpayers how their federal tax dollars are being spent. President Obama introduced the concept in his 2011 State of the Union address, and Wednesday the White House posted the fifth installment so…

In a short video released today, possible Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley slammed Hillary Clinton for flip-flopping on same sex marriage. "History celebrates profiles in courage, not profiles in convenience," O'Malley says, taking aim at Clinton.

While Hillary Clinton was meeting with voters in Iowa on her second full day as a presidential candidate, Marco Rubio spent part of his discussing a tax policy white paper at a Washington think tank. The newly declared candidate joined with Utah Republican Mike Lee at the Heritage Foundation to…

The Daily Beast’s Michael Tomasky is celebrating this April 15 by declaring that America is “the most undertaxed advanced country in the world.” He claims that this chart offers proof of his assertion.

Hillary Clinton opposed same-sex marriage until 2013, but as late as 2014 she suggested that marriage laws still ought to be determined by the states. Talking Points Memo's Sahil Kapur reports today that Clinton, who graduated from law school 42 years ago, has somehow discovered in 2015 that the…

Jim Webb, a possible Democratic presidential candidate, accussed Hillary Clinton of stealing his lines. Webb made comments on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports.

Christina Sommers says it’s time to pull the trigger on trigger warnings and treat even the once-traumatized as adults.

Look, this is happening. It's a thing. Remember the jokes that started in 1992 with "two Clintons for the price of one"? Remember the incredulity of people in 1999 when it was quietly suggested that the first lady of the United States might decamp to New York and place a Senate seat into her carpet…

Kuwait City

Scott Walker and Hillary Clinton may very well face off against other in the general election for president next year, but the Republican from Wisconsin has claimed to have had Clinton's number for more than a decade. Long before he had become a national figure, Walker said on a Wisconsin radio…

President Barack Obama's top adviser, Valerie Jarrett, went around the table and kissed reporters before an interview this morning on MNSBC's Morning Joe. The moment was briefly captured on live television before the network cut away to a commercial break. 

In recognition of Equal Pay Day Tuesday, Betsey Stevenson, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, wrote an entry on the White House blog entitled Five Facts About the Gender Pay Gap. While touching on a number of factors influencing the "gender pay gap," Stevenson cites…

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio once again refused to endorse his former boss, Hillary Clinton, in remarks today. "This is a different country we’re living in right now, and I think we need to hear a vision that relates to this time," de Blasio said.

There are debates worth having, and then there are debates. One of the most dispiriting aspects of our current age is that very often you have to get one side of the debate up to a baseline of logic before any positive exchange of ideas can begin. Recent weeks have provided a rather dramatic…

Today we observe the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. We're also at the start of the presidential political season. Over the course of the next year and a half, we will be presented with contrasting visions of America’s future. To help us evaluate these arguments, it is useful…

Hillary Clinton has arrived at her first campaign stop, completing the 965 mile trip from Chappaqua, New York to Le Claire, Iowa in about two days time. Her choice of transportation? A Secret Service owned and operated van. 

Out on the Twitters, people have been generally down on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign logo. The New York Times’s Nate Cohn said it looked like a hospital sign. Others suggested it looked like the Cuban flag. Or the Fed-Ex brand. Box CEO Aaron Levie said it looked like it was drawn with MS Paint.…

En route to Iowa, Hillary Clinton's motorcade pulled over yesterday at an Ohio Chipotle for lunch. She grabbed a chicken burrito bowl with guacamole, but didn't even bother to introduce herself to any of the potential 2016 voters, instead preferring to go incognito in sunglasses.

A man featured in Hillary Clinton's launch ad wants Democratic candidates to challenge Clinton in the primary. He made the comment this morning in an interview with CBS:

Over the weekend, as he berated the Israeli government for its opposition to the proposed Iranian nuclear deal, President Obama attempted to strike a literary note. Condemning Jerusalem’s supposed flip-flopping on the merits of the deal, the president sarcastically said, “you know, consistency is…

The brand new 2016 presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton will embrace "small donors in early fundraising," according to a Monday Politico story. The second-time presidential candidate wants to "make even small-dollar donors feel like they are part of the inner circle." Based on the campaign's…

Miami

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has devoted time of late to discussing the significant problem of inequality. At a conference on April 2nd, Ms. Yellen urged that research be undertaken “to understand whether any policies may hold people back or discourage upward mobility.” Perhaps such research…

Marco Rubio told ABC News's George Stephanopoulos that the United States is at a "generational moment"—a further sign the 43-year-old Republican senator will make his youth a focus of his presidential campaign against older candidates in both the primary and general election.

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with staff writer Jay Cost on Hillary Clinton and her quest to be the next President.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the controversial Muslim-turned-atheist, told a National Press Club audience last week some hard facts about Islam and its propensity toward violence. But her remarks about Christianity—about its capacity to soften sectarian hatreds—may prove an even tougher pill to swallow.

Congress returns from its two week break on Monday. If it has any respect for itself, it will promptly schedule a vote on President Obama’s most recent veto.

The latest episode of Conversations With Bill Kristol, featuring Charles Krauthammer:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol on Hillary Clinton's campaign roll out and Marco Rubio's expected presidential announcement today.

Hillary Clinton is on a road trip from New York to Iowa. But don't expect to catch her pumping her own gas.

Florida senator Marco Rubio is running for president. The Associated Press reports Rubio told donors Monday he would seek the Republican nomination. Here's the AP:

On Friday, I wrote a short blog post about cartoonist Garry Trudeau, who in the process of receiving a George Polk journalism award, said the murdered cartoonists at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo "wandered into the realm of hate speech" and that "free speech...... becomes its own kind of…

A new chart from the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest has produced this chart showing that, "U.S. To Admit More New Immigrants Over Next Decade Than The Population Of A Half-Dozen Major American Cities Combined."

Watching Hillary Clinton kick off yet another presidential campaign, it's hard to believe that the Clintons once were new on the national political scene. But of course they were new in 1992, a moment captured in War Room, the groundbreaking documentary of the '92 campaign. 

On Friday, I wrote a short blog post about cartoonist Gary Trudeau, who in the process of receiving a George Polk journalism award, said the murdered cartoonists at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo "wandered into the realm of hate speech" and that "free speech...... becomes its own kind of…

Republican Carly Fiorina, a possible presidential candidate, reacts to Hillary Clinton's entry into the 2016 race.

Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, New York senator, and first lady, is running for president. Clinton, a Democrat, announced Sunday afternoon with a video showcasing numerous Americans "getting ready" for something—retirement, a baby, school. The video ends with Clinton saying, "I'm…

On Friday, I wrote a short blog post about cartoonist Gary Trudeau, who in the process of receiving a George Polk journalism award, said the murdered cartoonists at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo "wandered into the realm of hate speech" and that "free speech...... becomes its own kind of…

The Secret Service scrambled this afternoon at an unidentified 4-year-old managed to climb under a White House fence.

Earlier today, Hillary Clinton's former campaign manager, Bill de Blasio, passed up an opportunity to endorse his former boss. De Blasio, the mayor of New York City, told NBC's Chuck Todd he'd wait to see "an actual vision" from Clinton before offering his support. 

California senator Barbara Boxer said that she's so excited about Hillary Clinton running for president that her "heart's beating a little faster today."

Last night, Saturday Night Live took advantage of Hillary Clinton's expected Sunday campaign announcement to skewer the former secretary of state in the Cold Open segment of the show.

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with literary editor Philip Terzian on the Books & Arts section from the April 6 / April 13 double issue.

Hillary Clinton will announce today that she is running for president. The tension is … well, bearable. Evidently she will be making this announcement on social media and that’s fine just so long as it doesn’t get in the way of those of us who will be following Dan Jenkins, tweeting from the…

Bill de Blasio ran Hillary Clinton's New York Senate race in 2000. But he's not yet ready to endorse his former boss for president of the United States. He made the comments this morning in an interview with NBC's Chuck Todd:

A source sends along these photos from Brooklyn today of anti-Hillary Clinton signs everywhere. Clinton is expected to announce her presidential campaign later today. The campaign's headquarters are located in Brooklyn.

At a conference this evening in Panama, President Obama announced after meeting with Cuban leader Raul Castro that "the Cold War is over."

Martin O'Malley, a possible Democratic presidential candidate, took a shot at Hillary Clinton (and Jeb Bush and possibly Rand Paul) in an interview with MSNBC:

President Obama is meeting today with the president of Cuba, Raul Castro. Here's a picture of the meeting, via ABC's Jon Williams:

President Obama this week told an audience in Jamaica that U.S. efforts against illegal drugs were “counterproductive” because they relied too much on incarceration—particularly for “young people who did not engage in violence.” 

THE WEEKLY STANDARD Casual Podcast, with David Skinner reading his casual essay "Skin in the Game."

The strong dollar, warns Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock in a letter to be released to shareholders next week, “will lead to an erosion of confidence on the part of CEOs, with the potential to slow both investment decisions and future growth in the U.S.” When you manage almost $5 trillion in assets,…

President Obama shook the hand of the leader of Cuba, Raul Castro, today at an event in Panama. A Mexican TV reporter captured the footage and put it on Instagram:

Today, Doonesbury's Garry Trudeau became the first cartoonist to ever receieve a George Polk Award. During the festivities*, he remarked that the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo -- the satirical Parisian magazine that was recently the site of a terror attack -- "wandered into the realm of hate…

Marco Rubio, the Florida senator who is expected to announce he is running for president next week, has released a video titled "A New American Century." The five-and-a-half-minute video stitches together several speeches Rubio has given since his 2010 run for the U.S. Senate. The patchwork speech…

Attorney General Eric Holder, the nation's top law enforcement officer, just issued the following memo. That this memo was deemed necessary inadvertantly reveals a great deal about the state of the Federal workforce:

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton is dodging a key question in the abortion debate: Under what circumstances should late-term abortion be legal?

It appears to be a three-way tie in the Mike Lee presidential primary. At a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor in Washington Friday morning, the Republican and first-term senator from Utah spoke glowingly about his “three best friends” in the Senate who are or are preparing to run…

Travis J. Tritten of Stars and Stripes reports that:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol on how both President Obama's pending nuclear deal with Iran, and Hillary Clinton in 2016 can be defeated.

Hillary Clinton's team met privately with reporters ahead of her presidential campaign launch. Clinton is expected to announce her intentions to run for president as soon as this weekend. 

The Republican National Committee is kicking off a paid online ad campaign just ahead of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign announcement. Clinton is expected to make the much anticipated move as early as this weekend.

Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, a possible Republican presidential candidate, made the case that immigration policy should "protect"American workers and wages. Walker made the comments in an interview with Fox News's Sean Hannity:

Secretary of State John Kerry will be meeting with Cuba's foreign minister tonight. The meeting will occur in Panama.

Barack Obama took a shot at the war on drugs at a town hall event today in Jamaica. The president, responding to a question from an audience member, even went so far as to call the effort "counterproductive."

President Obama has long known that the real decision maker in Iran is Ayatollah Khamenei, the so-called supreme leader. While other Iranian officials have negotiated with Western powers over the mullahs’ nuclear program, Khamenei’s opinion is the only one that really counts. It is for this reason…

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is going to cause big trouble for the Obama administration. In a speech today, Khamenei denounced the White House’s spin tactics—according to the rahbar, there is no nuclear deal. Counter to what the White House has been peddling since it announced the…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with staff writer Michael Warren on Rand Paul's 2016 presidential campaign rollout, and Lincoln Chafee's unexpected entrance on the Democratic side.

In response to this post, several readers have accurately pointed out that a page of the IRS website, posted on March 25, clearly states that, “If you are not required to file a tax return and don’t want to file a return, you do not need to file a return solely to claim this exemption.”

Today, at 1:48 EST, Tiger Woods will be teeing it up at the Masters.  It has been a long time since he has played in a tournament.  Longer still since he has won.  His round today will be closely scrutinized by fans of golf and millions of others whose interest in the game pretty much begins and…

Now that the Supreme Court has held its oral arguments in King v. Burwell, the case has somewhat receded from the headlines.  But conservatives would be wise to use this period between the oral arguments and the Court’s ruling, expected in late June, to encourage Republicans to unite around a…

Lincoln Chafee, a former Republican senator and independent governor in Rhode Island, says he is exploring a bid for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016. Watch the video below:

Rand Paul announced his candidacy for president this week, and the libertarian Republican was immediately greeted by a chorus of doomsayers. NBC News went with the headline, "Why Rand Paul Probably Can't Win Republican Nomination." Dick Morris says, "Rand Paul can’t win." The New York Times's Nate…

If one were to deny Barack Obama the use of straw-man attacks, misrepresentation of facts, accusations that opponents are operating in bad faith, and other non-sequiturs, one would hear mostly silence coming from the White House. This administration is chronically incapable of having a serious…

Secretary of State John Kerry has often spoken to the Muslim world during his tenure, particularly during the past year as negotiations with Iran have intensified and conflict with the Islamic State has escalated. But what Kerry has not said during the past twelve months is also significant. A…

California’s terrible drought has become -- like just about everything else in the United States -- a political issue. Many liberals have taken to blaming anthropogenic climate change for the drought, while some conservatives have placed the blame at the feet of “liberal environmentalists.” The…

ABC News reporter Arlette Saenz reports on Twitter that President Obama is right now visiting the Bob Marley Museum in Jamaica.

Rand Paul told CNN that he's "short-tempered" with not just female reporters, but also with male reporters.

Kasia Klimasinska of Bloomberg reports that:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with executive editor Fred Barnes on the Iran nuclear deal, the Americans held by Iran as hostages, and whether the hostages and their families will recieve compensation from the government of Iran.

Start with those old enough to be graduating from law school. The law business ain’t exactly what it used to be -- so hungry for new lawyers that anyone with a law degree could find work and earn enough to start chipping away at his or her student loan, unless responding to government incentives to…

For your further enlightenment, two news stories on page one of last Sunday’s New York Times. One begins a long report on California’s water problems, attributed to a drought rather than bureaucratic mismanagement. A list of past “catastrophes” that state has survived ends with “budgetary collapse…

Harvard’s estimable Joe Nye has argued for decades that an important component of America’s ability to  influence world affairs is soft power -- a culture and values that coopt other nations and makes them want to follow our lead. A notion beloved of liberals who forget that Nye also mentioned the…

While everyone else was concentrating on Indiana and Iran last week, a much smaller piece of news broke that was of little interest to the wider world. It was so microscopic that I would have missed it entirely, if not for Sonny Bunch's indispensible blog, Everything's A Problem.

There are no guarantees in politics, but Joe Nosef feels pretty confident in his prediction regarding the May 12 special election for Mississippi’s open congressional seat.

The situation in Yemen grows more dangerous, with the latest escalation coming from Iran which, as the Jerusalem Post reports:

Vice President Dick Cheney had harsh criticism for President Barack Obama in an interview last night with radio host Hugh Hewitt. 

A front-page story in Tuesday’s Washington Post examines former Florida governor Jeb Bush’s record on ending affirmative action for college admissions. Through a 2000 executive order, Bush banned racial preferences in Florida’s public universities and colleges. The move was controversial at the…

Senate minority leader Harry Reid is blind in one eye. The news comes a week after Reid announced that he will retire at the end of this session of Congress and not run for reelection.

Rand Paul argued for immigration reform in an interview tonigth with Fox News's Sean Hannity:

At an event today at Howard University in Washington, D.C., President Obama warned of the public health risks assocaited with global warming. 

The Obama administration has been campaigning on behalf of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran since it was announced last week—even as the exact details of the proposed deal are still unclear. What we do know is that the JCPOA will turn Iran into a nuclear threshold state. Even Obama…

In January, Sri Lanka’s voters kicked out President Mahinda Rajapaksa for being corrupt, repressive, and too close to China. The country’s new government, led by President Maithripala Sirisena, promptly drew attention and not a little admiration for halting a Chinese-led development project, citing…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior writer Stephen F. Hayes on Rand Paul's presidential announcement, and the Obama/Iran nuclear deal.

Kentucky senator Rand Paul launched his presidential campaign Tuesday, promising to be a "different kind of Republican" who can extend the party's reach to minorities and young people. Paul's campaign website even offers a handy slate of social-media profile pictures for different members of these…

Here's video, via Fox News, of the power outage at the State Department today:

The German chancellor bestrides Europe like a colossus. She sets economic policy for the 18-nation eurozone. She says “If the euro goes, Europe goes”, by which she means that the currency’s value favors German exports to her eurozone partners, and makes it more difficult for them to sell their…

Weightier matters no longer have to wait, to paraphrase the great Stephen Sondheim. Or weight is about to be regulated, caught in a pincer movement. A report from Richard Dobbs, a director of the McKinsey Global Institute, and Boyd Swinburn -- get this -- the Director of the World Health…

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz welcomes his "good friend" into the presidential race.

Judith Miller, the former New York Times reporter, has blown a big hole in the case against Lewis “Scooter” Libby, convicted of lying to avoid blame for outing a CIA agent. Miller was a key witness in Libby’s trial, but in her new book she has repudiated her testimony.

Governor Scott Walker has responded to a shot taken at him by President Obama with his own strong statement.

Under President Obama's deal with Iran, the nuclear breakout time for the rogue regime will shrink to zero. Obama admitted as much in an interview with National Public Radio.

A top intelligence official under President Obama, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn,  says that the chances Hillary Clinton's private emails were hacked is "very high." Flynn, who ran the Defense Intelligence Agency but is now retired, called it hackings "likely."

If anyone was unsure of the veracity of Rolling Stone's account of an alleged gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity, the final nail is now in the story's coffin. Sunday night, the Columbia School of Journalism released its much anticipated blistering report on the magazine's November…

Bill O'Reilly and  Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer reported tonight on Fox News on a 2009 NCIS report on Bowe Bergdahl's alleged attempts to go "over to the other side" :

The pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC, Ready for Hillary, is getting set for the Democratic presidential candidate to officially enter the presidential race. This afternoon, the group sent out an email to supporters announcing a 50 percent sale on whiskey glasses, mason jars, and Champagne glasses.

In an interview with National Public Radio, President Obama said that it would be a "fundamental misjudgment" to require that Iran recognize the Jewish state of Israel as part of the nuclear deal. The condition, rejected by Obama, was one that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested: A…

The AP is reporting that

We must ever bear in mind that the great end in view is righteousness, justice as between man and man, nation and nation, the chance to lead our lives on a somewhat higher level, with a broader spirit of brotherly goodwill one for another. Peace is generally good in itself, but it is never the…

Central European countries are currently commemorating the 70th anniversary of their liberation from Nazism at the end of World War Two. Budapest was captured by the Red Army in February 1945; Slovakia’s capital, Bratislava, was taken on April 4; Prague was liberated only after hostilities…

In the course of trying to explain to Tom Friedman why his diplomatic outreach to Iran is no threat to America or our allies, President Obama sounded for a brief moment like the kind of warmonger he is normally heard denouncing.

Eric Cohen writes about Jewish conservatism for Mosaic magazine:

In an interview with the New York Times's Tom Friedman, President Obama defined his very own doctrine. It is, in short, "We will engage, but we preserve all our capabilities."

As reported by the Austrian daily Der Standard, some fifty Bosnian soccer fans broke into a chant of “Kill, kill the Jews!” during a pro-Palestinian rally in Vienna’s central Saint Stephan’s Square last week. The incident appears to have occurred on Tuesday, when the Bosnian national team was in…

Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury is presently headlining a tour of Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit, the play that won her a fifth Tony in 2009. She plays Madame Arcati, an eccentric medium who conjures up a novelist’s dead wife to the tune of Irving Berlin’s “Always,” much to the comedic exasperation of his…

Jerusalem

Normally The Scrapbook is pleased to learn of advances in technology allowing greater numbers of people access to the news. Ceteris paribus, these innovations help cultivate an informed public and, we like to hope, keep our journalistic colleagues from the economic chopping block just a little…

America’s freight railroads get to continue their argument with Amtrak, America’s passenger rail service.

By happy accident, the city of Philadelphia has been blessed over the years with a number of sports stars who embody the city’s general temperament: pugnacious, diligent, and impolitic. The town has little love for professional athletes in the movie star or gentleman mode. Instead, Philadelphians…

In 1989, Gary Palmer founded the Alabama Policy Institute, a conservative think tank. By the time he resigned as its president last year, API had become a powerful force on state issues, everything from pensions to prison reform to politics. Palmer led the successful fight against a lottery—Alabama…

Last century, American professors accomplished a miracle. In a nation not known for its love of intellectuals, the American Association of University Professors declared, in 1915, that they were more than employees. Their relationship to trustees, who are legally responsible for governing…

After two years of reading and writing about those who live the politicized life—those who suffuse every aspect of their personas with politics and allow ideological considerations to trump all others—I’d finally found what I was looking for: I’d discovered the worst person in the world. 

Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan

Immediately after Israel’s March 17 election, Obama administration officials threatened to allow (or even encourage) the U.N. Security Council to recognize a Palestinian state and confine Israel to its pre-1967 borders. Within days, the president himself joined in, publicly criticizing not just…

Readers with sharp memories will recall that, a little over two years ago, The Scrapbook was pleased to report the results of a forensic DNA test: The skeleton that had been unearthed in 2012 in a Leicester, England, parking lot, and which had been thought to be the remains of Richard III, was…

Transgender persons are in the news so much lately that they’ve almost forced sinister college fraternities and ISIS off the front page. Media coverage of the transgender issue has been attention-getting, positive, and (please raise my consciousness if I’m somehow making an insensitive pun)…

The third time will apparently be the charm for the Federal Communications Commission’s “net neutrality” regulations. Having been shot down twice by the courts in earlier attempts to regulate broadband, members of the commission—enterprising bureaucrats that they are—found new legal authority for…

I got married on April Fool’s Day, but not to make some kind of point, ironic or otherwise. It was just one of the Saturdays on the calendar when my fiancée Cynthia and I were trying to schedule our wedding. 

"I can’t have you participate in class anymore.”

Whn shopping for eggs, you’ll notice the cartons often tout being cage-free, free-range, or pasture-raised. The move -towards giving hens more space has been gaining ground for some time. -According to the Wall Street Journal, 17 million hens (6 percent of the U.S. egg-laying flock) now roam free.…

In 1856, while hiking through the woods in Borneo, the English naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace saw some movement in the trees. On a quest to hunt great apes, he didn’t waste time. The female orangutan that tumbled out of the tree turned out to be surprisingly hard to kill: Three shots were needed…

Seoul

Some 60 million people perished in World War II. Before the embers of that terrible conflagration could cool, a new conflict loomed. Joseph Stalin’s Russia was imposing a cruel dictatorship on the conquered peoples of Eastern Europe and threatening Western Europe by subversion and force of arms. By…

The chapter of the Young America’s Foundation at George Washington University is currently threatened with a loss of funding for refusing to attend mandatory LGBT sensitivity training. The student government at GWU recently made this a requirement for all student leaders, and YAF is being called…

One of many startling statements in President's Obama interview with Tom Friedman is his assertion that he's seeking “to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see whether or not we can at least take the nuclear issue off the table.”

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal talked about religious liberty on NBC's Meet the Press this morning:

The first family has gone to church on this Easter Sunday, according to the White House pool reporter. 

Dianne Feinstein, a Democratic senator from California, warned Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to "contain" himself. She was reacting to his criticism of the deal the U.S. is working on with Iran.

It's worth watching President Bill Clinton hail the virtues of the nuclear deal with North Korea, in this video from October 21, 1994:

Commentators have exposed how bad the Iran deal is in various ways; the point, however, is to kill it.

The economy might, but only might, be slowing. In March we added only 126,000 jobs, the lowest increase since December 2013, barely enough to absorb new entrants into the workforce. Almost all measures of the health of the labor market -- the unemployment rate, the number of workers jobless for…

A new video from American Legacy PAC draws from history to aim at the Obama administration's nuclear deal with Iran. "It's time for American leadership," says the voiceover, morphing an image of British prime minister Neville Chamberlain to Barack Obama. "Not surrender."

Expectations were for more than 200,000 new jobs.  The report, this morning, crushed those expectations. In the old fashioned sense of “crushed.” As Joseph Lawler of the Washington Examiner writes:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol on why Congress needs to kill President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran.

Seth Lipsky of the New York Sun grasps the significance of the moment in his editorial today, "The Shape of Things to Come":

Hillary Clinton has reportedly leased office space in Brooklyn on Wednesday for what is likely to be a campaign for president. The Democrat supposedly signed the lease sometime in the last few days, and according to regulations Clinton must file with the Federal Election Commission within 15 days…

Matthew Continetti, writing for the Washington Free Beacon:

The latest episode of Conversations With Bill Kristol, featuring Jeff Bell:

UPDATE: Several readers have accurately pointed out that a page of the IRS website posted on March 25 clearly states that “If you are not required to file a tax return and don’t want to file a return, you do not need to file a return solely to claim this exemption.”

As Kentucky senator Rand Paul gears up to launch a presidential campaign, the libertarian leaning Republican may have some problems getting social conservatives on board. Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, suggested in an interview that Paul’s brand of Republicanism doesn’t…

Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, said Indiana governor Mike Pence was “unprepared” for the backlash to the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act but defended the law as a necessary safeguard for religious liberty.

President Obama met privately with Mormon leaders last night in Utah. One topic on the agenda for the meeting? Immigration. 

Hillary Clinton released a statement saying it was "absolutely crucial" to reach "a final deal" with Iran. Though the former secretary of state admitted it "won't be easy."

The Emergency Committee for Israel calls on every member of Congress to "do his duty and act to kill this proposed deal."

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior writer John McCormack and the amendment to the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Several months ago, comedian Patton Oswalt, theretofore a favorite among the bien pensant Internet types, angered the online left with a plea for satire over self-victimization. After being accused of all manner of horribles, from “victim-blaming” to “victim-shaming,” he attempted to win back his…

The Chinese have come up with a new strategy for controlling vital sea lanes.  Build islands and then put bases on them. They have, according to U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Harry Harris, built "a 'great wall of sand' in contested waters near its shores … pumping sand onto live coral reefs —…

American entrepreneurship is a wonderful thing, with its emphasis on the new and exciting, so it was no surprise that the Washington Post gave a spot on page one to a creative new enterprise: an abortion clinic that seeks to present a pleasant and even soothing experience, one that looks and…

Kevin Williamson writes at National Review Online about a society where it is no longer "safe to be popular," in the words of Adlai Stevenson. Here's Williamson:

In economic theory, "signaling" is an action one party takes that has, superficially, no plausible economic explanation. The reason the action is undertaken isn't because the action itself is helpful, but because the action transmits important information to a second actor.

Indiana Republicans released an amendment to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act Thursday morning. Here's the text:

Shlomo Papirblat of Haaretz is reporting that:

The State Department has cancelled daily press briefings in Washington, D.C. three days in a row as John Kerry continues to try to strike a nuclear deal with Iran. Matt Lee of the Associated Press notes the schedule changes:

Anti-Israel groups are rallying around the Virginia State Bar after the legal group announced the cancellation of a planned trip to Israel. The support is coming in the form of a letter signed by 40 groups, which are part of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.

President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are no longer "broke" if their choice of holiday destinations is any indication. A short article at DominicanToday.com colorfully reports that the famous couple was in the Dominican Republic to "hobnob with tycoons at Dominican…

So says the interior minister of Iraq, Mohammed al-Ghabban. As Reuters is reporting:

Several of the likely Republican presidential candidates have embraced Indiana’s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act. But a front-page story in Wednesday’s Washington Post suggests the controversy over Indiana’s law has dragged the GOP “into the divisive culture wars”—to the detriment of the…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently noted that with the Middle East in chaos, it may not be a good time to establish another rogue state, Palestine, which would likely be taken over by Iran’s proxy, Hamas, which would then launch a bloody war against Israel. The Prime Minister’s…

Brevity Is The Soul Of Wit

In my latest newsletter (you can subscribe here—it's free!), I noted the death last week of Yehuda Avner, an adviser and English speechwriter to four Israeli prime ministers. I wrote, 

Indiana House speaker Brian Bosma tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD that he hopes to unveil text of an amendment clarifying the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) on Thursday. But it's still not clear what precisely the amendment will say. 

In an interesting story in Bloomberg entitled "Iran's Charmer in Chief Wins Again," Eli Lake discusses the "charm" of Iran's top nuclear negotiator and foreign minister, Mohammed Javad Zarif.

In a statement today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the ongoing nuclear talks with Iran. 

James Carville, a longtime political aide to Bill Clinton, admitted this morning on MNSBC's Morning Joe that questions about Hillary Clinton's private email server are "fair."

Citing a lack of cooperation from the Secret Service, Chairman Jason Chaffetz of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued subpoenas for two Secret Service agents to testify to the committee about recent security breaches and other disfunction at the agency. Chaffetz said that…

Former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley told Fox News that, if she isn't hiding anything, it should be easy for Hillary Clinton to answer questions about her email usage.