Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) discusses the Senate passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the budget resolution during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., August 11, 2021. (Gabrielle Crockett/Reuters) The Senate parliamentarian’s rejection of Democrats’ amnesty push is a win for republican self-government. At a time of unprecedented breakdown

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the response to Hurricane Ida from the White House in Washington, D.C., September 2, 2021. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) In July, President Biden nominated Graham Steele for assistant secretary of the Treasury for financial institutions. Steele will be in front of the Senate Banking Committee tomorrow for his nomination hearing. If

The Senate parliamentarian says that Senate Democrats can’t stuff an amnesty for 8 million people into the reconciliation bill. The idea that large-scale changes to the immigration system are primarily fiscal in nature and therefore could be included in reconciliation was always laughably absurd, and the parliamentarian has done the right thing here.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Senator Joe Manchin (D., W.Va) confer before addressing reporters at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., July 9, 2019. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) Per Axios, Joe Manchin may be closer to realizing that the Democrats’ spending plans are ridiculous than his party had realized heretofore: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is

Thousands of migrants take shelter as they await to be processed near the Del Rio International Bridge after crossing the Rio Grande river in Del Rio, Texas, U.S. September 2021. (Adrees Latif/Reuters) Representative August Pfluger (R., Texas) is sounding alarms after visiting Del Rio, Texas, where Border Patrol agents have been overwhelmed by thousands of

Migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. bathe and wash their clothes in the Rio Grande river near the International Bridge between Mexico and the U.S. as they wait to be processed, in Del Rio, Texas, September 2021. (Go Nakamura/Reuters) Taking advantage of an apparent lapse in border security at the junction of Del Rio, Texas

Wind farm in Graincourt-les-Havrincourt, France, April 27, 2020. (Pascal Rossignol/Reuters) The week of September 13: climate policy and Europe’s energy crunch, inflation, taxation, and much more. Much of last week’s Capital Letter was focused on the growing energy crunch in Europe — a crunch that has something (but not everything) to do with needlessly destructive

The then Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders takes the stage with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez at a campaign rally at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H., February 10, 2020. (Mike Segar/Reuters) The Congressional Progressive Caucus is deliberating whether to deploy its members to kill the $1 trillion Biden-backed infrastructure bill if

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) speaks to the media during a briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., March 11, 2021. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy on Friday called on President Biden to deploy the National Guard to Del Rio, Texas, where Border Patrol agents have been overwhelmed by thousands of

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a meeting with the Philippines’ Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin at the State Department in Washington, D.C., September 9, 2021. (Jacquelyn Martin/Pool via Reuters) Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reportedly deleted a tweet accusing Chinese leaders of weakening Hong Kong’s long-term political and social stability and affirming the

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) participates in a climate-change demonstration outside the White House, June 28, 2021. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters) Dear Weekend Jolter, We should probably talk some more about the dress. You know the one, of Chick-fil-A color scheme and in-your-face situational unawareness. This newsletter is referring, of course, to AOC’s outfit. (Apologies if you’re all dressed-out

Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH) attends a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, December 2, 2020. (Greg Nash/Pool via Reuters) Representative Anthony Gonzalez (R., Ohio) announced on Thursday evening that he will not run for reelection in 2022, citing the strain on his family of political work as well as “toxic dynamics” in the Republican

U.S. Attorney John Durham (United States Attorney’s Office, District of Connecticut/Wikimedia) John Durham, the special counsel tapped by the Trump administration to audit the Russia investigation, is expected to direct a grand jury to indict a cybersecurity attorney for knowingly making a false statement to the FBI. Durham is reportedly investigating whether Michael Sussmann, a

United States Penitentiary, Marion, Ill. (Steve Starr/Corbis via Getty Images) The incarcerated population is falling, and it’s mostly hardened criminals ‘We take the big sellers, you take the small sellers.” It was a sensible division of labor, the kind that needs to be made when the federal and state governments have “concurrent jurisdiction” over a

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) asks a question during the nomination hearing of Ed Gonzalez for director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., July 15, 2021. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters) Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) sent a letter to Google on Wednesday demanding answers  about why it has “seemingly censored” ads by

Members of the National Guard patrol near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., January 19, 2021. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters) Capitol Police have requested a military presence in Washington, D.C., ahead of Saturday’s “Justice for J6” rally in support of people who were charged with crimes related to the Capitol riot. The department told Reuters it had

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks during a campaign rally for Senator Bernie Sanders at Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California, U.S., December 21, 2019. (REUTERS/Monica Almeida) The mortgage has to be paid somehow, and politics beats the hell out of most rackets. NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE T he thing to keep in mind is, none of the

California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at St. Mary’s Center during a “Stop The Recall” rally ahead of the recall election in Oakland, Calif., September 11, 2021. (Brittany Hosea-Small/Reuters) Personally, I don’t find it hard to imagine a Democrat winning a political race in California. Even a Democrat like Gavin Newsom. I especially don’t find it

A Google logo is seen at the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, California, U.S., November 1, 2018. (Stephen Lam/Reuters) According to pro-life organization Live Action, Google has banned all of the group’s online advertising and prohibited the group from promoting its new video featuring a life-like reproduction of how an unborn baby develops in the

ShutDownDC protesters assemble in Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s neighborhood. (Nic Rowan) Protesters raged against ‘white, cis, het men’ outside his home. Chevy Chase, Md. — Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s residence is surprisingly modest, given his neighborhood’s tony reputation. The house where he, his wife, and their two daughters live is a well-kept Cape Cod dressed head to

Lake Forest School District 115 school board meeting, September 13, 2021. (Screengrab via LFHS Info/YouTube) Members of an Illinois school board voted unanimously on Monday night to adjourn a meeting of the board until a later date after a community member refused to wear a mask during a heated public-comment portion of the meeting.  More

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a joint news conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Doha, Qatar, September 7, 2021. (Olivier Douliery/Reuters) At a congressional hearing on Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted that thousands of legal permanent residents of the United States were left in Afghanistan:  Blinken: “Several thousand green

Those who are pushing the private sector to coerce their employees with vaccine mandates might want to reconsider. Rather than accomplish the goal, employers may instead find that workers quit rather than comply, thereby crippling the enterprise itself. That is what happened at a hospital in New York state, which will temporarily close its maternity

United States Chief Justice John G. Roberts (Jim Young/Reuters) 2005—Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. stoically endures the endless opening statements of Senate Judiciary Committee members as his confirmation hearing begins. Roberts manages to keep a straight face throughout, including when hard-left Senator Charles Schumer, who (along with Teddy Kennedy and Dick Durbin) voted

Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, April 23, 2021 (Erin Schaff/Reuters) Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer brushed off progressives’ demands that he retire to make room for a new nominee while the Democratic Party still holds power in the White House and Senate. During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, the 83-year-old justice said, “I didn’t retire

Sen. Bernie Sanders, (D-VT) questions former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm during a hearing to examine her nomination to be Secretary of Energy on Capitol Hill, January 27, 2021. (Graeme Jennings/Pool via Reuters) After passing with bipartisan support in the Senate, the Biden-backed $1 trillion infrastructure package is in limbo, as Democrats in the House of

An American flag flies near the base of the destroyed World Trade Center in New York City, September 11, 2001. (Peter Morgan/Reuters) The events of that day must be remembered, not whitewashed or sanitized for those who lack contemporary memories of them. We swore we would never forget. Twenty years ago this week, we watched

The entrance to the New York Times Building in New York, June 29, 2021 (Brent Buterbaugh) 2017—In a New York Times interview just days after his retirement from the Seventh Circuit, Reagan appointee Richard A. Posner provides a candid description of his lawless “pragmatism”: “I pay very little attention to legal rules, statutes, constitutional provisions,”

Environmentalists demonstration near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, during the 2015 World Climate Change Conference. (Mal Langsdon/Reuters) When COVID finally fades, how will the new authoritarianism that the public-health emergency enabled, be retained? By turning global warming/climate change into the next major public-health emergency. And the good news from our would-be overlords’ perspective, is

Students wearing protective masks arrive for classes on the first day of school in Miami-Dade County amid the coronavirus pandemic at Barbara Goleman Senior High School in Miami, Fla., August 23, 2021. (Marco Bello/Reuters) Following the cues of President Joe Biden, the civil-rights arm of the Department of Education has launched a probe into Florida’s