October 22, 2018

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…

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

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

When Democrats go low, Hillary Clinton goes with them

Swift fills in the blank space.

Looking ahead to 2020.

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…

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.

It takes a lot of trips to Dairy Queen.

The mystery, confusion, and fear of Lyme disease

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

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

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

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

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…

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.

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…

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.”

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…