Over the weekend, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) hosted its 50th annual Image Awards. At the awards, comedians Chris Rock and Trevor Noah slammed Empire star Jussie Smollett, who was nominated for an Image Award but did not win. Smollett did not show his face, but the NAACP did not rescind

A pro-Brexit, yellow-vest protester in London, March 30, 2019 (Henry Nicholls/Reuters) The U.K. needs those European goods, and the Europeans are of course keen to sell them. When the politicians talk about international trade, they always talk about what the businesses in their country can sell. But British businesses, faced with the possibility of an

I was always fascinated by airplanes, as a kid setting up a ramshackle workshop to build models—I admit I was partial to the smell of airplane glue and the feel of balsa wood—later flying in Cessnas with friends training for their license, and spending afternoons at the airport watching 747s take off and land. I

(Brendan McDermid/Reuters) 1969—Justice Thurgood Marshall’s majority opinion in Stanley v. Georgia declares that the First Amendment forbids criminalizing the possession of concededly obscene material. Marshall blithely distinguishes away the Court’s previous categorical statements that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment. Stanley, Marshall grandiosely proclaims, is asserting “the right to satisfy his intellectual and

Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur and founder of the aerospace powerhouse SpaceX, is a fascinating case study in leadership. While brilliant, diligent, and hardworking, Musk’s admirable qualities are often outweighed by his troublesome personality quirks. Self-admittedly impulsive and narcissistic—a dangerously potent combo—Musk is his own greatest adversary. His visionary guidance is, without a doubt, an

The idea of merit has fallen on evil times, as has its corollary concept, objectivity. These principles have now been breached by a consortium of the ideologically minded, who resemble a gang of robbers tunneling under a bank vault. The masterminds planning and executing this operation are a class of “treasonous” intellectuals as Julien Benda

D0 not be alarmed, comrades, that I, V. I. Lenin, here again so soon from mausoleum after first time to address you. Once you back from what people’s author Raymond Chandler call “Big Sleep,” it become difficult to stop self-commenting affair of day. And we have extreme serious counter-revolutionary problem, tovariches — almost as bad Stalin

Former Vice President Joe Biden talks to the media after speaking at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers conference in Washington, D.C., April 5, 2019. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) Progressives attack Joe Biden for having followed customs and mores of that foreign country that is the past. EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is Jonah Goldberg’s weekly “news”letter, the

A video of Trump supposedly calling asylum-seekers animals has been lighting up Twitter, but the clip is dishonestly edited to leave out the comment he was responding to, which was about MS-13 not asylum-seekers. Here is a good example of the misleading version: .@realDonaldTrump on people asking for asylum “These aren’t people. These are animals.”

Justice Harry Blackmun. 1994—Justice Harry Blackmun announces his impending retirement after 24 years on the Court. His majority opinion in Roe v. Wade (1973) is rivaled only by Dred Scott as the worst opinion in Supreme Court history. As one of Blackmun’s former clerks, Edward Lazarus (who described himself as “someone utterly committed to the

President Trump with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, November 10, 2018. (Vincent Kessler/Reuters) It was only a few weeks ago that France seemed to be on the verge of total breakdown. The flammable environment of French politics was created by the political disconnect between provincial France and the Parisian elite.

Attorney General William Barr (Yuri Gripas/Reuters) Democrats will complain, but the attorney general can’t be faulted for following the law. In disclosing the Mueller report, Attorney General William P. Barr will have to redact grand-jury information. That is the upshot of the ruling today by a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for

President Trump attends a Department of Veterans Affairs event at the White House, August 3, 2017. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) Making the click-through worthwhile: Democrats in the House demand that the IRS turn over six years of President Trump’s tax returns; Bernie Sanders isn’t quite clear on when he’ll release his tax returns; Beto O’Rourke identifies the

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., January 15, 2019. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters) During the Senate Judiciary Committee’s business meeting today, Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) made some claims about the confirmation process that need correction. She said, for example, that the Senate abolished nomination filibusters in November 2013 only

Chicago mayoral candidate Lori Lightfoot speaks during a news conference in Chicago, Illinois, March 26, 2019. (File photo: Joshua Lott/Reuters) Newly elected Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot vowed Wednesday to investigate why the Cook County state’s attorney’s office dropped all charges against Empire actor Jussie Smollett despite the “compelling” evidence that suggests he staged a hate crime against

(Nejron/Dreamstime) 1939—Two weeks after President Roosevelt nominates SEC chairman (and former Yale law professor) William O. Douglas to the Supreme Court, the Senate confirms the nomination by a 62-4 vote. On the Court from 1939 until 1975, Douglas will become the longest-misserving justice in history. 2017—“The goalposts have been moving over the years,” asserts the

A Trump supporter holds an American flag at a rally in Madison, Ala., February 2016. (Marvin Gentry/Reuters) In response to God, Ancient Israel, and Nationalism I am enjoying the widening gyre of my discussion with Rich a great deal. And I’m glad for Rich’s clarification below. But I have an empirical question. Rich writes: In

Protesters demonstrate against President Donald Trump’s plans to end Obamacare in Washington, D.C., March 23, 2017. (Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS) Having weathered the Russian frame-up, the Republicans must now produce a health-care plan. The Democrats and most of their media hallelujah chorus are still sanctimoniously congratulating themselves for showing such vigilance over Russia’s impact on the election.

A Customs and Border Protection officer near an enclosure holding Central American migrants who illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, March 27, 2019. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters) Of course we have a border crisis — just not the one Trump keeps ranting about. When President Trump shut down the government in an attempt

Julia Beck testifies against the Equality Act on Capitol Hill, April 2, 2019. (House Judiciary Committee Hearings/YouTube) On Tuesday Julia Beck testified against the Equality Act (H.R. 5) before the House Judiciary Committee. Beck is a lesbian who was booted out of the Baltimore LGBT Commission for describing a male transgender rapist as a male

Rep. Steve Scalise (R., La.) speaks at a Capitol Hill press conference in January. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) Representative Steve Scalise (R., La.), minority whip in the House of Representatives, has filed a discharge petition today to override Democratic leadership and bring the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act to the House floor. The bill, sponsored by Representative

A group of Central American migrants surrenders to U.S. Border Patrol Agent Jose Martinez south of the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, March 6, 2019. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters) It’s not that border control has been tried and failed; it hasn’t been tried. When historians look back to this era, they will wonder why we insisted

‘There was absolutely no collusion!” “Are you kidding? There was a boatload of collusion!” I’ve been doing legal analysis in hotly contested cases, including political cases, for about 35 years. By now, I should be used to the insidious word games, as well as the confusion inherent when people … Read More