October 2018

"That's not funny." - my mom, probably.

Russia has been in violation of the Cold War-era treaty for at least four years.

Chris R. Morgan reviews a new history of the pre-‘Dracula’ life of the undead.

Defending the vaporware and setting up a scapegoat at the same time.

Old falsehoods never die, they just (hopefully) fade away.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

Also: Rod Dreher recommends A Gentleman In Moscow, and more.

It's not really about Beautiful Ted and Beto. It's about the future.

Government by fiat—again.

News that P. G. Wodehouse will at last get a memorial stone in Westminster Abbey in London will warm the hearts of Wodehouse fans. For some years after the Second World War, the British government treated the writer with disdain, owing to the mistaken belief that Wodehouse had willingly…

Bellingcat’s amateurs excel at the intelligence game.

Strange bedfellows in a case before SCOTUS on Wednesday, which involves the president declining to exercise a lawful power in an international environmental dispute.

With a body count in the millions, you’d think it would be hard to rebrand.

There are opportunities in both Syria and Iraq.

The dream lives on.

Draft legislation from Ted Cruz would require the administration to penalize a key financial cooperative if it doesn’t cut off Iranian banks.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

Let us go back to the turn of the 20th century.

Todd H. Bol, 1956-2018.

The business of NFL broadcasting contracts. Plus: All things Scotland, from notes from a visit to notes on the TV show 'Outlander.'

Also: The lessons of Rome’s decline, and more.

The Senate races that could shock you on election night.

Priscilla M. Jensen on the sisterhood of the spiral-bound cookbook.

New report looks at 22 races, including 13 in the House and three in the Senate

Courts are more often recognizing the arguments of religious-freedom advocates.

Another promise broken.

No state that actively supports terrorism and foreign insurgencies ought to have access to the global financial system.

It took the United States 193 years to accumulate its first trillion dollars of federal debt. We will add that much in the current fiscal year alone.

Plus, news you can use for Texans.

The former president raises questions about whether the secretary of state is too compromised to oversee an election in which he’s campaigning.

A picture is worth a thousand fake narratives.

Trumpism (if not Trump himself) has given oxygen to some of the ugliest impulses among us.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

The Democratic incumbent is looking vulnerable in Missouri

Also: The life and poetry of Helen Pinkerton, British detective shows, and more.

A recent headline in the New York Times: “Democrats Want to Beat Scott Walker But the Wisconsin Economy Is a Hurdle.” The lengthy report examines the Badger State’s Democrats’ attempt to deprive Walker of a third term as governor. Their problems consist mainly of good news: The state’s unemployment…

Maybe not.

What the model shows.

As legalization looms, psychiatrists and public health advocates are spreading awareness.

Political dysfunction as far as the eye can see.

With the November midterms fast approaching, Missouri’s Democratic senator Claire McCaskill is doing her best to stave off a late surge from her Republican challenger, state attorney general Josh Hawley. But with under ten days to go until Decision Day, the latest polling shows that Hawley may have…

Gary Saul Morson on the literary legacy of 19th-century Russian revolutionary terrorism.

Chris R. Morgan on the lasting appeal of the horror genre.

Thomas Vinciguerra reviews a collection of Cornell lectures from the comic actor and Monty Python legend.

John Podhoretz on a down-and-out writer’s clever path to sham success.

The Roman Republic didn’t end all at once. As Ian Lindquist explains, its decline began with an earlier erosion of political norms.

He didn't start it, but he's joining it.

Freedom of speech is the latest casualty of Europe's encounter with Islam.

The Washington Post ran an item recently about a private school in the greater Washington area that was hiring a director of alumni. Doesn’t sound like much of a story, except for the fact that the institution in question is Georgetown Prep, the school attended by Supreme Court justice Brett…

Cesar Sayoc, 56, faces up to 58 years in prison.

This morning we learned the utterly unsurprising news that the loon who’s—allegedly—been mailing crude bombs to every Democratic politician and TV talking head he could think of is—allegedly—a gentleman named Cesar Sayoc, who seems to be devoted to Donald Trump. And since then a few ordinarily…

Everything is terrible.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

What we do and don’t know .

Also: The relationship between geography and time, how Kit Kat conquered Japan, and more.

Really.

Lock them both up?

Italy’s coalition government came to power in May partly by winning an economic argument: The tight-budget “austerity” policies promoted by the European Union in the wake of the financial crises that began a decade ago were a sucker’s game, at least for slow-moving economies like Italy’s. Now the…

A close Senate race may hold clues for 2020.

But don’t call Missouri’s Josh Hawley a ‘golden boy.’

The voter-suppression rap on Georgia’s Brian Kemp is unfair.

PEN International, founded in London in 1921, is an organization of writers dedicated to the cause of free expression. Originally the title stood for Poets, Essayists, Novelists, but the group now includes every sort of littérateur, even humble magazine writers. We revere the organization’s…

America’s most deplorable congressman is back. And worse than ever.

“I will tell the truth tomorrow.”

Judiciary chairman complains that false claims 'divert Committee resources during time-sensitive investigations and materially impede our work.'

Many on the right are drifting toward him.

Claims that the device sent to CNN was not delivered are pure bunk.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

Also: The outrageous economics of peer-reviewed journals, and more.

On this latest episode, the Substandard discusses Halloween and the blockbuster horror genre. JVL goes on a babymoon with his ... best friend? Sonny investigates a strange-looking swing set at a playground. And Vic enjoys the symphony—while watching The Empire Strikes Back. Plus JVL's decibel war…

At the very least, it could eliminate most federal prohibitions in states that have legalized marijuana.

More and more Democrats are embracing socialized health insurance, but calling it that won’t necessarily help.

Democrats have owned the debate for two years, while Republicans have had difficulty articulating their side of it.

How Trump's Presidency Might Lead to the End of Walker's Governorship

When it comes to the midterm elections, security has already lost.

Plus, who are the "Proud Boys?"

“All Claire wants is to win by any means necessary, and if that means stomping on the people who are her base, she’ll do it.”

It's a bold strategy. Let's see if it pays off.

Is it terrorism? It depends.

Merch.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

Also: A trip to kitschy Salem, Massachusetts, and more.

It’s a synecdoche—and a dramatic one—for the biggest issue in global politics.

A fun look back at a district-picking game

Ask Matt Labash, who believes in these tribal times we are not enemies but friends, especially when neighborhood barbecues are involved.

Occasionally one reads an op-ed in one of the country’s big newspapers from an author, usually a Washington insider of some variety, who decided to get out and see the country he loves. The op-ed writer has taken a road trip across the country and wishes to tell his metropolitan readers about the…

I have a new set of socket wrenches. If you knew me well, you might not be completely surprised, but nevertheless, this is a first for me.

I was awakened out of my reverie the other morning by a shocking news flash: Nikki Haley was resigning from her post as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations! According to initial reports, the envoy’s announcement was “sudden” and “unexpected” and “caught Washington”—certainly caught me—“off guard.”

Republican Josh Hawley led incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill by 7 points in the closely watched Missouri Senate race, according to a fresh poll conducted for the challenger’s campaign.

The administration plans to revoke the visas of the Saudi officials who are suspected of being involved.

The Pentagon disagrees.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

Some do. Some don't.

Also: How James Joyce’s father shaped his writing, and more.

Plus: 'Tis the season for around-the-clock coverage of Elizabeth Warren and around-the-clock Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel.

An object lesson in Trumpism.

Demagoguery doesn’t always work.

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In New Jersey’s 11th, GOP candidate Jay Webber promises to be ‘a tough out.’

The ferocious incivility Americans have witnessed for decades has arisen largely from the left—and for good reason

Can Rhode Island’s tax-cutting governor win another three-way race?

Marsha Blackburn might be the most important Republican on the Senate map.

Real diversity exists at many public universities, but students often struggle to stay enrolled.

He denied that there were Nazi-operated gas chambers and received an award from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“Memes are dank”―(not) Abraham Lincoln.

The retiring Arizona senator touted the benefits of foreign aid to the central American countries whose migrants are headed north to the U.S. border.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

It's not accurate or helpful to imply that conservatism has always been racist, authoritarian, and morally bankrupt.

Also: Jason Lutes’s “expansive” Berlin, in defense of the “bookish” life, and more.

Changing the college application process and emphasizing civics education in high school can create university environments where speech controversies are less likely to flare up.

The royals admit to murdering Jamal Khashoggi—but without admitting it.

Did you know we’re not supposed to notice the difference between male and female robots? In this month’s Wired magazine, we learn about the pressing question of whether we should assign certain gender traits to certain kinds of robots. Why do we care about this infinitesimal non-issue? Because…

Reassessing ‘bimbo eruptions’ in the #MeToo era

Policy remedies for climate change are inherently difficult. But much of the difficulty stems from an economic problem, which exists at an individual level.

They force the electorate to pay attention to women who don’t fit any preferred narratives.

A Democratic takeover of the House will change things.

If Katie Arrington wins her race, it will be just the latest triumph in a life of struggles.

Will a road to nowhere in London lead back to Brussels?

Chris R. Morgan on how Salem’s legacy of fear and injustice gave rise to a kitschy way of life.

Adam Roberts reviews ‘Red Moon,’ the latest novel from science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson.

The Swedish Academy took the year off. Robert Messenger explains why we should be glad.

Tim Markatos’s whirlwind weekend at this year’s New York Film Festival.

HBO’s ‘Come Inside My Mind’ examines his comic genius—and his struggles with drinking, drugs, and depression.

How to punish Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

He built the first one in 2009. Now there are 75,000 of them.

Trump said he would erase America's debt in 8 years. It's now bigger than ever.

Ordinarily The Scrapbook enjoys writing about the stupid things associated with modern politics and culture. It’s a touch irritating, though, to have to spend time and energy insisting that obviously true things are, in fact, true. Things like the differences between men and women.

A peculiar argument has begun to circulate on the right: Conservatives who care about the future of conservatism should not only refuse to vote for Republicans who share Donald Trump’s worst traits on November 6, they should support Democrats across the board. Doing so, this reasoning goes, would…

He made more than 10 calls to two different lawmakers.

Some mutated game of telephone as occurred.

Also: The eccentric Mark Twain, the most successful sitcom star ever, and more.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

How should the U.S. respond to the crimes of a reforming ally?

Concluding her Senate floor speech in behalf of Judge Brett Kava­naugh—her vote for him was the decisive one—Republican Susan Collins expressed “her fervent hope” that he “will work to lessen the divisions in the Supreme Court so that we have fewer 5-4 decisions and so that public confidence in our…

It took a politics professor’s study of the problem to diagnose the contagion.

We now know why President Obama had to struggle so hard to spur the economy and allow it to grow more than 2 percent a year. And that was the high-water mark. In the last quarter of his presidency, growth had slipped to 1.5 percent. Today it’s obvious what Obama’s problem was. He had the wrong…

It’s not because Beijing disappeared Meng Hongwei.

Marsha Blackburn finally seems to be pulling ahead in the Senate race.

Readers will know the background already: Elizabeth Warren claimed to be Native American while she was a law professor at Harvard despite (a) appearing about as Anglo-white as one can appear and (b) having scant evidence that her claim of Native American heritage was true. She cited family lore…

Plus, why Gavin McInnes is a baddie.

And then they'll act.

You have to understand the climate at Harvard at the time.

Literal Fake News.

The Taliban, which knows the U.S. is desperate to leave, just attacked a meeting between Afghan officials and the top U.S. military commander.

Gov. Rick Scott issues executive order to give eight affected counties more flexibility regarding election procedures.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

Also: Image appoints new editors, PEN America sues Donald Trump, and more.

Big reveal: She is a garden-variety Democrat doing her best to win re-election in a red state.

On this latest episode, the Substandard reviews First Man, which Sonny and Vic enjoyed. JVL begs to differ. Vic goes to an all-you-can-eat Balkan restaurant. JVL enlightens us on the concierge bee-keeping industry. Plus a ranking of NASA-ish movies!

Another win for Israel and Trump.

A Different Way To Look At the House Elections

John Podhoretz: The new Neil Armstrong biopic starring Ryan Gosling is a joyless schlep.

The imprisoned human rights lawyer embodies a fight shared by many.

We suspect some of our readers are pretty well tired of reading about the Kavanaugh confirmation fight. So are we. Allow us to press your patience one more time. This week a friend of The Scrapbook passed along a nearly 20-year-old article from the New York Times, and we thought perhaps our readers…

The former can't admit that some good has happened during the last two years; the latter can't admit that plenty of bad stuff has.

He’s an embarrassment to the GOP and to America.

Marsha Blackburn, the Republican Senate candidate in Tennessee, doesn’t have much disagreement with Donald Trump. “Tennessee needs a senator who is going to support President Donald Trump, and I am going to be there to stand with President Donald Trump,” she said at a rally with the president…

She’s no Sanger.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

Photoshop.

Also: Israeli science fiction, the novels of Robin Jenkins, and more.

On Monday, the Treasury Department announced that for the 2018 fiscal year, the federal government ran a $799 billion deficit. That’s $113 billion more than the year before, which is a 17 percent increase in the difference between the Treasury’s revenues and government spending. The 2017 tax cuts…

The work of ruining sports continues apace. The Atlantic last week announced the hiring of Jemele Hill, a “wonderfully talented journalist who is famous for her acute commentary, fearless writing and encyclopedic knowledge of sports,” the magazine’s editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, said in a press…

Solving a paradox in the forecast.

My daughter came to visit for the long weekend. Some friends mentioned that they were driving across the state, and so—on a whim, at the last minute—she threw some clothes in a bag, gathered up her schoolbooks, and piled into the car with her friends. And why not? It’s just 350 miles or so from the…

Looking ahead to 2020.

It's not just about helping Assad; it's about disrupting American interests.

The school was sued by a business and won't back down. It says a lot about the state of liberal arts colleges today.

The Senate majority leader talked to THE WEEKLY STANDARD about judicial confirmations, the midterm elections and Democrats wanting to change the rules.

Plus, the U.S. mercenaries of Yemen.

“In what world would that happen in?” Nick Miller, Season 5, Episode 22.

The casual political observer in Indiana would be confused.

Also: The most popular kids’ show on YouTube, and more.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

The three most prolific QBs ever are evidence. Plus: the annual New York Times Corrections on Fast Forward!

Graham adds that Saudi leader has "got to go."

Nebraska’s junior senator finds hope all around—but not on TV, not on a screen, and not in Washington.

Similar measures worked in 2012.

For as long as The Scrapbook can remember, we’ve watched impressive Republicans run for the Senate in New Jersey and flop. No Republican has won a Senate seat in the Garden State since Clifford Case was re-elected in 1972.

It takes a lot of trips to Dairy Queen.

The Republican win probability has doubled in Arizona.

In its latest chapter, Elizabeth Warren and Donald Trump only pile on.

A simple rumor weed.

Politicians talk about "witch hunts" so often that the occult has almost become cliche in American politics. But in Arizona, there's at least one candidate on the ballot who takes sorcery very seriously.

The president has previously suggested that the dissident’s disappearance from the Saudi consulate in Turkey should not endanger a lucrative arms deal with the U.S.

Ultimately, fully funding it may be unrealistic for myriad reasons.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

Not much about genealogy, alas. But we do see what effect Donald Trump has on his opponents.

Right cause, wrong suffragette.

The bankruptcy of the original everything store tells us a lot about where America is going.

Also: The music of Willa Cather’s My Ántonia, why you should read Huxley’s Brave New World, and more.

The real reason behind data-localization requirements.

The new film Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer begins with a title card: “Most incidents portrayed are exact representations of court transcripts, police interviews, or eyewitness accounts.” Those familiar with the case involving the Philadelphia abortion doctor—and that’s not…

The lawsuit against Harvard may spell the end of race-based college admissions. Applauding that end is right—but insufficient.

Not much.

The mystery, confusion, and fear of Lyme disease

A conviction in Chicago’s highest-profile police shooting in decades.

Anthony Paletta sits with Pritzker Prize winner B.V. Doshi.

Danny Heitman on PBS’s ‘The Durrells on Corfu’ and the island childhood that inspired Gerald Durrell’s career.

John Check explains how Willa Cather’s classic, now 100 years old, still sings and dances.

Andrew Egger reviews ‘Where Did You Get This Number?: A Pollster's Guide to Making Sense of the World’

Donald Trump wants Jay Powell to stop raising rates. Like, now.

Mormons don’t want to be called Mormons anymore. “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” is a bit of a mouthful—a bit like “the United States of America,” come to think of it—but in August the president of the church, Russell M. Nelson, issued a written edict about using the church’s full…

In 2003, the Supreme Court hoped the use of racial preferences would last no more than 25 years. They are becoming permanent.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

Actually, yes.

"Abolish ICE" appears to have abolished David Garcia’s campaign.

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper shine in ‘A Star Is Born’—and Hollywood should make more melodramas.

We’ve been to some electrifying concerts in our day, but The Scrapbook is holding out little hope for a 13-city tour the entertainment firm Live Nation announced this week: “An Evening with President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

Silicon Valley is often praised for its enlightened workplaces, with tech companies offering amenities such as yoga classes, free organic food, and nap pods. But Facebook employees evidently believe these corporate perks extend to the coddling of their personal political views. At least that’s one…

In 1987, when Robert Bork met with Senator Edward Kennedy on the eve of his nomination as a justice of the Supreme Court, it was an awkward visit. Kennedy said his response would not be personal. He said that several times.

Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed, but the fight against him has done lasting damage.

You can fool some of the academics all of the time.

America's favorite septuagenarian socialist is back—Bernie Sanders is getting ready for another White House bid.

It would solve a lot of problems.

Hosted by Jim Swift

Left unchecked, document says, the Islamic Republic will use whatever means it can to continue terror financing.

“Harness that energy.”

On this latest episode, the Substandard takes on Venom (plus a Tom Hardy ranking!). JVL unveils his latest watch, Sonny asks why the watch has no numbers, and Vic barely survives his eating adventure in Texas.

But Phil Bredesen says he thinks the chances his party wins a Senate majority are "minuscule."

Rep. Glenn Grothman offers a better alternative to the Trump administration's "public charge" rule.

A new book by Fox Butterfield traces an American family’s criminal inheritance through generations.

Some data and context.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

The Democrat turned Republican turned Independent re-registers as a Democrat with 2020 on his mind.

Also: In praise of Frank Miller, China’s most controversial novelist, and more.

Goldman Sachs wine thief took his own life on the day he was to plead guilty.

This isn't a book; it's a direct mail pitch that you have to pay to read.

When Democrats go low, Hillary Clinton goes with them

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Will Oregon be the next blue state with a Republican governor?

If you care about logic, it makes no sense.

The first time I felt it was in the first grade. I wasn’t in Mrs. Conn’s class, but she reprimanded me for talking back as we stood in line in the lunchroom. The feeling, a cold burn, rose briefly in my chest before sinking down, down, down, into the pit of my stomach. Woooop, went the Big Sink.…

Plus, meet "The Bulwark."

John McCain loved vulnerable democracies. Will anyone else?

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

Cutting off funding for Senate candidates and elevating Michael Avenatti are just two examples.

Also: T. S. Eliot on winning the Nobel, a history of the nightcap, and more.

The outgoing U.N. ambassador does not mention her future plans.

Headlined by the record-breaking Drew Brees (b. 1979). Plus: Wonder Woman explains the American electorate, and 'Chicago P.D.' fails miserably to explain American crime.

Swift fills in the blank space.

But where’s the crime?

When identity politics are good, when they're bad, and when they're just plain stupid.

As if bureaucracies weren’t complicated enough. The New York Times reports that beginning next year, New York City will give people the option of identifying themselves on their birth certificates not only as “male” or “female,” but also as “X.” New Yorkers such as Charlie Arrowood (who, we are…

Just look at all the power she wants to give the executive branch in the legislation she pushes in Congress.

Autonomous vehicles are giant security risk and the white hats need to get there before the black hats do.

Charm makes the world seem a more enticing place—but it is going the way of chivalry, good manners, and unmotivated kindness.

Taylor Swift finally gets political.

Also: “Instagram poetry is a huckster’s paradise,” and more.

"I bless the fates it was not so." —Spartacus (War of the Damned).

But that’s what happens when scholars elevate the “grievance industry.”

More than event planning?

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

The California senator has plunged the nation into a bitter fight from which it will not soon emerge.

In California’s 8th, both candidates are on the right. But which is Trumpier?

The failed Macedonia referendum.

What started as a rebellion in rural England over agricultural regulations has become a continent-wide quarrel about who governs whom.

When pot goes legal nationwide, what will become of the drug-sniffing K9s?

Britain’s Conservative party comes together—and soon it will be coming apart

Our model shows Republicans winning about 70 percent of model simulations.

"We are the tools and the vassals of the rich behind the scenes. We are marionettes. These men pull the strings and we dance."

Noah Millman on the promise and pitfalls of cross-gender casting in Shakespeare.

James Gardner on Delacroix’s undeserved reputation for greatness.

Ashley May on the fire that destroyed Brazil’s Museu Nacional—and the risk factors for American museums.

Andrew Egger on the prickly street preacher who became the ‘father of Christian rock.’

Italian citizens’ role in the Shoah: Michael M. Rosen reviews Simon Levis Sullam’s new book ‘The Italian Executioners.’

The USMCA is more than just a rebranded NAFTA. It's the shape of things to come.

French politician Marine Le Pen is a great fan of Vladimir Putin, a social progressive, and leader of a political party that from time to time flirts with the anti-Semitic right—she’s not a woman with whom we can ordinarily sympathize. Still, she has a talent for stirring European elites in ways…

Not that we know.

Walter Laqueur, 1921-2018.

Maine senator: ‘We will be ill-served in the long run if we abandon the presumption of innocence and fairness, tempting as it may be.’

Also: A dull French Exit, how China hacked America’s biggest companies, and more.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

Judiciary chairman, in letter, says the committee 'has a constitutional obligation to investigate Dr. Ford’s allegations.'

Putin’s malevolence revealed, again.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he has no idea how a key vote will go on Friday morning for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

A barroom tussle? Drinking beer on a weeknight? That’s nothing. How about the time the 19-year-old wrote a theater review in which he lamented the cast of “perma-smile actresses whose only qualifications seem to be their phenomenally large breasts and tight buttocks.” What sort of vile misogynistic…

Years from now, perhaps only days from now, when people are no longer quite so inebriated with partisanship, those who wish Brett Kavanaugh well and those who wish him ill will probably agree on one thing: His defiant September 27 statement denying the charges leveled against him in the course of…

The Sox won 108 games and are the best team in baseball heading into the playoffs. And they're in trouble.

Many news organizations have disgraced themselves over these last few weeks in the unlovely quest for peccadillos in Brett Kavanaugh’s youth, but the New York Times has outshone the rest. A story on October 2 brought us finally to the point of self-parody. The lede was breathtaking in its…

For anybody who wasn’t totally committed to the proposition that Christine Blasey Ford spoke only the literal truth about Brett Kavanaugh during her testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, there were long stretches during Kavanaugh’s testimony that felt like a show trial. For hours we watched…

Plus, Isaiah Crowell's new butt wipes.

ACLU tweet suggests that the Nebraska senator is undecided but Sasse voted to advance the nominee out of committee.

The survey was commissioned by a pro-Hawley PAC but indicate he's gained ground since June.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

The persistence of Scots, and more.

Will it change anything?

A fight delayed.

Let us count the ways.

On this latest episode, the Substandard goes out on a limb and picks the nominees and winners for the next Oscars (which don't take place til, ahem, February). Sonny is confident he will win again. JVL explains the VORM. Vic hopes his choices are as successful as his candy draft. Plus team…

An ugly, dishonest and ever-changing attack on Brett Kavanaugh and the nomination process.

Senate Republican leaders are moving ahead with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation, as members of the chamber will begin viewing material from an FBI supplemental background check to investigate claims of sexual assault against the nominee on Thursday morning.

With their legally adopted daughter denied citizenship, the Schreiber family may leave the country.

We have data.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

Let's roll the footage.

Pompeo says Iran has been using the ICJ for ‘propaganda purposes.’

When ill-conceived jokes become false information.

Also: The iconography of Vladimir Grigorenko, and more.

It did in Alabama. It might in New Jersey.

Administration officials seem to have talked the president out of leaving Syria. They’re right.

But we tend to romanticize athletes and sports, and gambling will inevitably complicate relations.

Eastern Mediterranean gas creates new allies—and deepens old enmities

Ralph Taylor, owner of the Orion Insurance Group in Lynnwood, Washington, is decidedly white. Several years ago, though, he took a DNA ancestry test that determined he was only 90 percent Caucasian. He was also, according to the ancestry test, 6 percent “indigenous American” and 4 percent…

Stories of first deer hunts are a staple of family lore for many Americans. The genre peaks around the dinner table at Thanksgiving and Christmas, where the token vegan relatives, already feeling a twinge of guilt for demanding a meatless turkey molded out of tofu, are obliged to hear how cousin…

Plus, will eScooters survive the regulators?

Montgomery County records from the 1980s aren't digitized. Remember microfiche?

His anger wasn't the problem; the expression of it was.

Julie Swetnick's allegations gave the judge the fire he needed.

Tracing sexual politics and women’s rage in the Trump era.

Staffers opened an envelope containing a white powdery substance.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

So here's the thing about internet memes ...

Also: The mundane life of a dinosaur bone smuggler, and more.

President Trump gets a laugh out of his relationship with the world's worst mass murderer.

Term limits for SCOTUS, anyone? In addition to TMQ, this week it's Tuesday Morning Courterback.

Given our inveterate mocking of the New York Times, we’d be remiss if we didn’t draw attention to an incisive op-ed published in the paper’s September 20 edition by the Cato Institute’s Emily Ekins. The headline: “The Liberalism of the Religious Right.”

The ‘progressive’ problem.

Are California’s Democrats really charting a future path for the rest of the country?

Who are people searching for, and what issues do they care about?

Michael Avenatti said Monday evening that his client, Julie Swetnick, did not witness first-hand Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh allegedly spiking the punch at high school parties in the early 1980s. But he knows a woman who claims to have seen the act, and while she is willing to speak to…

She claims to have seen Kavanaugh "around the punch."

Officials say the question will have to be addressed separately from the USMCA.

Today on the Daily Standard Podcast, reporter Haley Byrd and deputy online editor Jim Swift join host Charlie Sykes to discuss the latest with the Kavanaugh nomination and Trump's recently inked NAFTA remix. Will the "USMCA" get a vote in Congress?

Former FBI director James Comey endorsed the agency’s capability to impartially investigate allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, writing in a Sunday New York Times op-ed that the bureau is staffed with “people who just want to figure out what’s true.” Such an angle could lead…

The pact should be met with a degree of both optimism and skepticism

Also: Dan Chiasson reviews Max Ritvo, the Bubble Nebula, and more.

“The burden is on the nominee”?

It's in the substance, not the principle of the thing.

On September 20, 2001, speaking to a joint session of Congress, President George W. Bush famously articulated the key component of what would later be called the Bush Doctrine: “From this day forward,” the president said, “any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by…

Jalaluddin Haqqani is dead. The terror network he created lives on.

The tribalization of conservatism.

They are many and varied.