This week on “Need to Know,” the perspicacious James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal joins Jay and me. He answers the question: Which of the Obama scandals is the worst? We wonder about trusting government and – who can resist? – ponder how a Republican administration that was revealed to have sicced the IRS on its opponents would be treated. James muses on what happens when you elect a community organizer as president of the United States. We tour the lesser scandals of the week (oh yes, there are more), pause to praise Rudyard Kipling, and ponder the greatness of people who stand up for freedom and human dignity in repressive states, knowing that they will be tortured. Jay rubbed shoulders with some of them this week at the Oslo Freedom Forum.
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The Catholic Church’s Rotherham
‘We are deeply saddened.” So begin the many perfunctory statements of many Catholic bishops today in response to the Pennsylvania grand-jury report detailing how priests in that state abused children and how bishops shuffled these priests around. What deeply saddens these men? The rape of children, the ...
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The Deflation of the Academic Brand
Trumpism is sometimes derided as an updated know-nothingism that rejects expertise and the input of credentialed expertise. Supposedly, professionals who could now save us tragically have their talent untapped as they sit idle at the Council on Foreign Relations, the economics Department at Harvard, or in the ...
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Why Are People Giving Peter Strzok Their Money?
Every now and then, I’ll read some news that makes my eyes bug out and my jaw drop to the floor because I can’t believe how stupid it is.
This week, it was the news that fired FBI agent Peter Strzok has raised over $400,000 for his legal costs and lost income via a GoFundMe campaign.
Let me rephrase: ...
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My Journey into the Heart of Obama-Trump Country
After eight years of displeasure with Barack Obama’s presidency, Carla Johnson was ready for a drastic change. The 41-year-old lab technician from Cresco, Iowa, fell for Donald Trump very early in the 2016 primary season.
She loved his “take-no-[sh**]” style, his conservative stances on gun control and ...
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End the Double Standards in Reporting Political Violence
Let’s take a short walk down memory lane. Not long ago, on January 2, 2016, a small group of armed protesters seized an unoccupied federal building in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is located in a relatively isolated area in eastern Oregon, and the occupied building itself was far from any ...
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The Problem with the Left’s Attempts to Redefine Racism
People are making this so complicated.
A couple of weeks ago, the New York Times editorial board hired a technology writer, Sarah Jeong. When it was revealed that she had tweeted barbs against white people, conservatives formed a Twitter mob to demand her dismissal. While a few on the right said — or claimed ...
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