(Scott Johnson) I studied Latin at St. Paul Academy from eighth grade through graduation from high school. My Latin teachers over those five years were Lyman Hawbaker and David Sims. I loved Latin and respected my teachers. I feel a deep debt of gratitude both to Mr. Hawbaker and to Mr. Sims. In my junior and senior years with Mr. Hawbaker we studied Virgil’s Aeneid (“forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit”) and the Roman comic playwrights Plautus (see A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) and Terence, respectively. He taught ancient history in addition to Latin, but I lacked the wisd ..read more

(Scott Johnson) If some reputable organization declared Minneapolis the smuggest city in the United States, I would find it plausible. The happiest, not bloody likely. Yet according to the Institute for the Quality of Life 2024 Happy City Index, Minneapolis is it. Surely you — you Institute — jest. I think Rodgers and Hart’s “Glad To Be Unhappy” is more like it: “Look at yourself – if you had a sense of humor/You would laugh to beat the band.” You don’t have to be a social scientist to guess that the Institute’s methodology might be a tad off. Rather than asking residents how happy they are, w ..read more

(John Hinderaker) This month has seen a series of arson attacks on the University of California, Berkeley campus. Yesterday a suspect was arrested. The culprit is a walking stereotype: Casey Goonan was arrested Monday morning at his parents’ $1.1 million home in Pleasant Hill… To be fair, in the Bay Area a $1.1 million home is probably a rambler. The salient fact is that, at age 34–read on–Goonan lives with his parents. …on suspicion of a string of arson attacks at UC Berkeley from June 1 to 16. Feds, cops and CalFire allege the 34-year-old, a Northwestern University doctorate of African Am ..read more

(Lloyd Billingsley) “President Joe Biden is taking executive action to protect undocumented spouses of American citizens,” NBC reports, “a move that would shield about 500,000 immigrants from deportation.” As legal immigrants and legitimate citizens should know, this is old news. “You know, 11 million people live in the shadows. I believe they’re already American citizens,” said Vice President Biden in 2014.  As he had to know, according to current law they aren’t American citizens, and the number is also wrong. More than 22 million people are illegally present in the United States ..read more

(Lloyd Billingsley) In “Our Brezhnev, Our Pravda, Our Soviet Union,” Victor Davis Hanson compared the demented Joe Biden to decrepit Soviet dictator Leonid Brezhnev, and the establishment media to Pravda, the Soviets’ worshipful mouthpiece. To drag in “our Soviet Union” might seem a stretch but there’s more to it than people might think. Donald Trump was not from the American political class, so he represented a provisional government that might be compared to the early days of the USSR. Trump was  opposed from day one by the Democrat-deep state axis, which deployed the Russia hoax, impea ..read more

(John Hinderaker) This story seems almost incredible, but it is in the New York Post, sourced to “law enforcement officials” and the AP: “Local cop confronted would-be Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks on roof moments before he opened fire, but failed to stop him.” After rallygoers spotted Crooks on the roof of a manufacturing plant just 130 yards from the stage where Trump was speaking just after 6 p.m. Tuesday, police were notified and one officer climbed a ladder to investigate, law enforcement officials told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. The officer – whose depart ..read more

(John Hinderaker) The man who tried to assassinate Donald Trump has been identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who lived in Pennsylvania, not far from where last night’s rally took place. So far, not much has been reported about Crooks. He seems to have been one of America’s few 20-year-olds who didn’t have any social media accounts, but perhaps something will come to light. And there is no report, yet, of any “manifesto” or other writings relating to his assassination attempt. I take it that this is understood to be a photo of Crooks, although I am not sure that has been confirmed ..read more

(Scott Johnson) A few thoughts on the attempted assassination of President Trump last night limited to ten bullet points: • Ernest Hemingway famously defined courage as grace under pressure. President Trump displayed grace under pressure last night. Mr. President, you made us proud. • It was not just Donald Trump who dodged a bullet last night. We all dodged a bullet. The anger and chaos that would have followed his successful assassination are unimaginable. Thank you, Lord for sparing us the ordeal. • It was moving to see the Secret Service agents in Trump’s detail immediately jump in to prot ..read more

(Steven Hayward) The Biden Administration’s diplomacy with Israel over its war against Hamas has reached the Animal House “double-secret probation” stage, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken warning Israel that it may find itself diplomatically “isolated” in the world if it attacks Rafah. Is it possible for Israel to be any more “isolated” than it already is in the joke that is called “the diplomatic community”? Dean Wormer could hardly have done it better, though, to be fair to Faber College, Dean Wormer would make a better secretary of state than Blinken. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Hoodie) is ..read more

(Steven Hayward) Robert “Beto” O’Rourke—remember him?—appeared on Bill Maher’s comedy show Friday night, and accused Big Retail—”the Walmarts, the Amazons, the Krogers of the world” of price gouging. But it is O’Rourke’s explanation that earns him an entire feature display in the Museum of Leftist Stupidity: “They were jacking prices in the middle of inflation and blaming it on the economy.” Imagine! Raising prices during inflation! Who ever heard of such a thing? I’m sure his solution will be government price controls, because when you are this dumb, it is too much to expect even a minimal ..read more