Magazine August 15, 2011, Issue

The Week

By NR Staff

About NR Staff

July 28, 2011 4:00 AM

Rahm Emanuel (Roman Genn)

‐ Mr. Strauss-Kahn seems quite well qualified to be prime minister — of Italy.

‐ Rep. Michele Bachmann and former governor Tim Pawlenty, both Minnesotans, have been trading jabs as they run for president. Pawlenty says she has never accomplished much in government and often gets her facts wrong, and he took the opportunity to needle her over the migraine story (see below). Bachmann says he was a squishy governor who left the state with a budget mess. There are elements of truth in both sets of accusations. Pawlenty was as conservative a governor as Minnesota has had, but he did …

In This Issue

Articles

Politics & Policy

Credibility Deficit

By Ramesh Ponnuru

Republicans have long sought to amend the Constitution to require that the federal budget be balanced. President Reagan campaigned for an amendment, and the Senate voted for it by the ...

Politics & Policy

Downgraded President

By Kevin D. Williamson

I shall not want capital in Heaven / For I shall meet Sir Alfred Mond / We two shall lie together, lapt / In a five per cent. Exchequer Bond. — ...

Politics & Policy

House of Doubt

By Christopher Papagianis

The ongoing struggles of the housing market are contributing to the softness of our overall economic recovery. Over the last couple of weeks, the Obama administration has restarted debate about ...

Politics & Policy

United States of Google

By Reihan Salam

In just a few short weeks, Google+, a new social network from the company that gave us the world’s most popular and profitable search engine, has signed up over 10 ...

Politics & Policy

The Failing of the Fishwrap

By John Derbyshire

The newspaper, in the sense of news actually printed on actual paper, is clearly in its last days. The content of a newspaper can be delivered online at far lower ...

Politics & Policy

An End to Borders

By Jay Nordlinger

‘There’s no crying in baseball!” says the manager in A League of Their Own, the 1992 movie about female baseball players. There’s no crying in a free-market economy either. You ...

Features

Politics & Policy

Obama’s Nemesis

By Robert Costa

Washington, D.C. — Across the rotunda, Sen. Harry Reid, a 71-year-old Democrat, is grumbling about Rep. Eric Cantor, the House majority leader. The previous evening, Cantor, a boyish Virginia Republican, ...

Politics & Policy

The Last of Lugar?

By John J. Miller

When Barack Obama was running for president, there was one Republican besides George W. Bush whom he wouldn’t stop talking about. “Politics don’t have to divide us,” he said at ...

Politics & Policy

To Reform Immigration, Legal and Illegal

By Mark Krikorian

Members of the chattering classes keep hoping the immigration issue will just go away. I was once interviewed on a radio show along with an activist on the other side ...

Books, Arts & Manners

Politics & Policy

Faraway, So Close

By Duncan Currie

Whether or not the late Mexican military ruler Porfirio Díaz (1830–1915) ever actually said, “Poor Mexico! So far from God and so close to the United States,” his alleged quip ...

Politics & Policy

Songs and Tanks

By Jay Nordlinger

Last month, a singer named Ibrahim Kashush was leading crowds in Syria. They were demonstrating against the dictatorship and for democracy and freedom. Kashush entertained, inspired, and delighted them with ...

City Desk

Avec Moi Le Déluge

By Richard Brookhiser

I was arriving early for a dinner appointment in midtown. The cabbie made a wrong turn several blocks away, so I got out to walk. The sun was leaning over ...

Politics & Policy

Love in the Land of the Free

By Mary Eberstadt

Here’s something genuinely new under the summer sun: a book that can be enjoyed simultaneously by anyone with an interest in modern sociology — and by anyone who has ever ...

Politics & Policy

Apocalyptic Witness and Wit

By M. D. Aeschliman

In the course of a long, varied life, several of whose chapters were truly a “rake’s progress,” Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–90) managed, alternately and sometimes simultaneously, to amuse, inspire, and offend. ...

Sections

Politics & Policy

Letters

By NR Staff

Hazardous to Your Freedom Regarding Daniel Foster’s “Smoke Alarm” (July 18): If the nanny state’s real objective is to scare a significant number of smokers into stopping puffing, let me suggest ...

Politics & Policy

The Week

By NR Staff

‐ Mr. Strauss-Kahn seems quite well qualified to be prime minister — of Italy. ‐ Rep. Michele Bachmann and former governor Tim Pawlenty, both Minnesotans, have been trading jabs as they ...

TO: Studio Personnel

By Rob Long

TO: Studio Personnel FROM: Production RE: Captain America This weekend’s excellent box-office grosses for Captain America have been incredibly gratifying. The movie is performing very well nationally, and we’re on track for another ...

Athwart

Statism Down Our Throats

By James Lileks

People who see everything as a problem to be solved by the application of exquisitely calibrated governmental force remind you of the maxim: When all you have is a hammer, ...

Politics & Policy

Poetry

By Daniel Mark Epstein

ON A THEME OF D’ALIBRAY Such a fine day rides on the soft air, Laura, please pay heed to the new season, That laughs at the clear sky and sings of love: Spring is ...

How Weird How Soon?

By Mark Steyn

From London’s Daily Mail: “Scientists have created more than 150 human-animal hybrid embryos in British laboratories.” You don’t say. Now why would they do that? Don’t worry, it’s all perfectly legit, ...

Recommended

Minnesota Nasty

Minnesota Nasty

Minneapolis is a nice city no longer.

Kevin D. Williamson

What Happened to Officer Sicknick?

What Happened to Officer Sicknick?

Democratic impeachment managers have a duty to explain how Officer Sicknick died.

Andrew C. McCarthy

Cruz: Actually, It Is Constitutional to Impeach and Convict a Former President

Cruz: Actually, It Is Constitutional to Impeach and Convict a Former President

Never mind how he voted.

Guess Who Just Admitted Harris and Becerra Violated the First Amendment

Guess Who Just Admitted Harris and Becerra Violated the First Amendment

Surprising briefs emerge in a First Amendment case before the Supreme Court.

The Absurd Criticism of Rand Paul’s Rachel Levine Questioning

The Absurd Criticism of Rand Paul’s Rachel Levine Questioning

How likely is it that this dangerous ideological agenda is about to get worse?

Madeleine Kearns

Biden Signs Executive Order Allowing the U.S. to Fund Global Abortions

Biden Signs Executive Order Allowing the U.S. to Fund Global Abortions

The policy was first instated by President Reagan to ensure that taxpayers would not be required to indirectly fund abortions in other countries.

Alexandra DeSanctis

The Latest

Number of Migrant Children in Border Patrol Custody Triples in Two Weeks

Number of Migrant Children in Border Patrol Custody Triples in Two Weeks

The number of migrant children detained in Border Patrol facilities has tripled over the past two weeks, amid an ongoing surge of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

Biden Admin Offers Protected Status to Venezuelan Migrants

Biden Admin Offers Protected Status to Venezuelan Migrants

Roughly 5.4 million Venezuelans have fled the country in recent years, according to figures from the United Nations.

NY Republicans to Introduce Cuomo Impeachment Resolution

NY Republicans to Introduce Cuomo Impeachment Resolution

State Assembly minority leader Will Barclay acknowledged that the caucus would not be able to force a vote on the issue.

Tyrannosaurus Regs and Regulatory Dark Matter: Biden’s Accountability Deficit on Regulation

Tyrannosaurus Regs and Regulatory Dark Matter: Biden’s Accountability Deficit on Regulation

Biden’s attack on public transparency can’t touch one Trump regulatory safeguard — yet.

Clarence Thomas Delivers Decisive Ruling in Religious-Free-Speech Case

Clarence Thomas Delivers Decisive Ruling in Religious-Free-Speech Case

Monday was a bad day in court for universities and other serial violators of the First Amendment.

Jake Tapper’s ‘Empirically Racist’ Dr. Seuss Nonsense

Jake Tapper’s ‘Empirically Racist’ Dr. Seuss Nonsense

There’s no consistent, much less scientific, measure of racism. That’s the problem. Nobody can keep track of the rules.