IN THE May 4, 2015, ISSUE
The Rebel Sheriff
In January 2013, a 32-second radio advertisement was broadcast in Milwaukee, and — quite by accident — a political star was born. Hoping to encourage local residents to play a ...
Also In This Issue
Articles
The Even-Steven Temptation
When I was growing up, the worst thing you could be was a racist. (And racism was often defined with grotesque, malicious looseness.) The second-worst thing you could be, probably, ...
Hillary, Herself
Every Mystery Machine must have its Velma.
You’ll remember Velma Dinkley, the grim-faced young fogey of the Scooby-Doo gang: turtleneck and knee socks, orange; pleated skirt and pumps, red; spectacle lenses ...
The RFRA Furor
Nothing better illustrates the sheer irrationality of the national furor over the religious-freedom law passed by Indiana than the absence of a national furor over the religious-freedom law passed by ...
Obama’s Iran Capitulation
During the 1970s, Americans hotly debated whether we should approach the Soviet Union in the spirit of “détente” or confront it and, if possible, roll it back, but virtually everyone ...
Features
Drydock Time
A battle of the hawks is raging on Capitol Hill. Defense hawks say the nation’s security will be endangered if the caps imposed under the 2011 Budget Control Act aren’t ...
The Rebel Sheriff
In January 2013, a 32-second radio advertisement was broadcast in Milwaukee, and — quite by accident — a political star was born. Hoping to encourage local residents to play a ...
John Doe’s Tyranny
‘They came with a battering ram.”
Cindy Archer, one of the lead architects of Wisconsin’s Act 10 — also called the “Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill,” it limited public-employee benefits and altered ...
Fear Not the Robot
Every few years, we experience a wave of concern over the rise of robots and its effect on jobs. Automation, we hear, will rid the economy of human labor, replacing ...
Books, Arts & Manners
Bold Fusion
By the second page of the introduction, I knew I would like this book. American conservatism is “marked by its unorthodoxy and its radicalism,” observes the British-born National Review writer ...
Genres without Borders
Everything changed in 1922.
Until then, novelists were novelists. End of story. So to speak.
Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, and Emily Brontë wrote beautiful, moving narratives that examined the relationships between men ...
In the Crucible
From 1754 to 1763, Britain and France were locked in a bitter, bloody struggle for control of North America. The conflict, which spread across the globe, could be considered the ...
Where the Buck Stopped
Years from now, presidential historians will still be saying a silent “Thank you” to Marty and Annelise Anderson and Kiron Skinner for editing Reagan in His Own Hand, Reagan: A ...
Way to Live
‘Strength and gentleness go hand in hand.” That’s one of the lessons Dana Perino learned from her grandfather early on, living the ranching life in Wyoming. Her new book is ...
Sections
Letters
Learning from Dorothy
Jay Nordlinger’s piece on Dorothy L. Sayers (“Sing It, Dorothy”) in the April 6 issue of National Review spoke to my heart. More than a decade ago I ...
The Week
‐ In the tense negotiations over a nuclear deal with Iran, Obama swore he would make no concessions to America’s most dangerous enemy. Unfortunately for him, Congress held firm.
‐ Farmer’s ...
Rand’s Riposte
Hillary is running for president, a turn of events so shocking you could knock me over with a feather or a dossier of her Senate accomplishments. Expect the press to ...
National Security Agency Radio-Frequency Monitoring
LOCATION: DUNBAR, OHIO
FREQUENCY: 287.90 GHz
BEGIN EXTRACT
[Static.]
Male Voice: “Can you hear me, Mrs. Clinton? Nod and wave if you can hear me?”
Female Voice: “What’s she doing?”
Second Female Voice: “Is she waving? We ...
Poetry
FOR MARIA SHARAPOVA
Harder, harder, harder — slam the ball
Down through the claws of those opposing hands.
The prince and duchess, present in the stands,
Will soon invite you into Anmer Hall.
They recognize ...
Who Is for Hillary
Below, for posterity, a partial list of the things that happened in the first 24 hours of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign:
Clinton’s announcement, the circumstances of which she had nearly ...