National Review

I don't know anything about Mike Tomlin (although as an old Houston Oilers fan, I still have an anti-Steelers grudge), and perhaps he deserves the benefit of the doubt in trying to forge a unified team response to the #TakeTheKnee agitation this weekend. But…

Americans do not and should not worship idols. We do not and should not worship the flag. As a nation we stand in respect for the national anthem and stand in respect for the flag not simply because we were born here or because it’s our flag. We stand in…

The problem with the NFL is not just Donald Trump, but the greater dilemma that the league’s reason to be has become predicated on a labyrinth of lies. The majority of the viewing audience is not young, hip, and loyal as hyped, but, even if fading, still…

a d v e r t i s e m e n t Hillsdale College invites application for a full-time tenure-track faculty position in History (beginning August, 2018), rank to be determined by the level of experience and the record of the successful candidate. We seek an…

Once again, one is left asking, “What is Trump doing?” Having navigated hurricane season with a certain aplomb -- and having avoided attracting any lightning for a while -- the president’s approval rating was slowly ticking up. In the meantime, he looked…

According to the Washington Post’s database, there have been 721 fatal police shootings in the United States so far in 2017. Out of these shootings, nine were unarmed black males. Only 32 total were unarmed. The phenomenon of police fatally shooting an…

From the first Morning Jolt of the week... Our Sports-Talk-Radio-Caller President According to the Washington Post’s database, there have been 721 fatal police shootings in the United States so far in 2017. Out of these shootings, nine were unarmed black…

Composer Dimitri Shostakovich was born September 25, 1906: some quotes, history, and music. Mind-Altering Cat Parasite Just Got Linked to a Whole Lot of Neurological Disorders. How the Star Trek Punch Became the Worst Fight Move on TV. Hypnotic breast…

Martin Bernheimer, the prize-winning music critic, is retiring after a 60-year career. I wrote an appreciation of him last week. I pondered the question, What makes him great? (Rob Kapilow has a long-running series about music called “What Makes It…

‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” came to mind after, I confess, I’d felt some unholy anger toward people who vandalized a Saint Junipero Serra statue in California recently. It was a somewhat familiar scene at this point. At Old…

Anyone who wishes to analyze the strange effect that Donald Trump has had on the Republican party needs look no further than Alabama, where two Republicans are battling in a primary runoff to take over the seat that Jeff Sessions vacated when he became U.S.…

This month marks an important anniversary. It has been 230 years since the delegates to the Constitutional Convention completed their work and signed the Constitution, sending it off to the states for ratification. The Constitution is the greatest instrument…

Last week, a new study reported that 28 percent of teachers working in traditional public schools use sick days or personal leave to miss more than ten days of school each year. The analysis, authored by David Griffith of the center-right Fordham Institute,…

New York City’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, was elected with 73 percent of the vote, and on November 7 he’ll probably be reelected in a comparable landslide. On September 12 he faced token opposition in the Democratic primary, to be followed by token opposition…

Like a rookie agent in a spy thriller, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke went rogue in responding to President Trump’s executive order to review and make recommendations regarding the legality of two decades of national-monument decrees whereby past…

Jacob Rees-Mogg has caused outrage in the British media with a recent interview in which he described abortion as “morally indefensible” and restated the perennial Christian teaching on the nature of marriage. Members of his own party have been quick to…

Last week, I wrote a tribute to, and appreciation of, Martin Bernheimer. (Go here.) He is a friend and colleague of mine. Moreover, he is one of the best critics of our time. For 60 years, he has been a music critic (with some dance thrown in). He has now…

A few more points about the NFL fracas: #*#I agree with Michael that the NFL is going to find itself in an uncomfortable spot now that it’s in the middle of a wedge issue. The league has to side with its players, many of whom now hate Trump, but the renewed…

German chancellor Angela Merkel has paid a steep price for her controversial 2015 decision to let in millions of people fleeing Middle Eastern and African countries. Merkel’s party, the Christian Democratic Union, came in first in Sunday’s elections, but…

A lot of stories have broken this weekend; here’s a quick overview of what’s going on. As you consider these tidbits, the key facts to remember are (a) the bill won’t pass if more than two Republican senators oppose it and (b) John McCain has already…

“We just weren’t good enough,” said Ralph McInerny, the late novelist and legendary Thomist at Notre Dame. He meant that the American Catholic literary bloom that began in the mid-20th century withered after the ’60s not because the world turned…

Well… Angela Merkel, Germany’s worst postwar chancellor, but the leader (to some) of the free world and paramount defender (to some) of ‘liberal values’ appears to have stumbled (just a bit, at least: She still won) in today's parliamentary elections.…

Rich Lowry is probably correct about the political dynamics at work when president Trump said NFL owners should fire players who don’t stand for the national anthem. In his crude way, Trump found a way to activate a majoritarian kick reflex. But, what might…

The Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2004. A few months later, they went to the White House for the traditional round of presidential congratulations. Manny Ramirez was a no-show. Why? He didn’t like the president, George W. Bush, a baseball man…

Is Trey Trainor too Catholic for the FEC? Trainor, a conservative Texas lawyer with a long background in campaign-finance law, is by his own description “a very devout, orthodox Catholic.” When his nomination by President Trump to the Federal Elections…

It was an epoch-defining decision to place in Westminster Abbey, among statues of monarchs, priests, and poets, a large one of James Watt, inventor of the separate-condenser steam engine. The statue’s inscription says Watt ranks among the world’s…

Why did Theresa May take herself and the Westminster press corps on a trip to Florence when she could perfectly well have delivered the same Brexit speech while remaining in the comfort of Downing Street or in the familiar surroundings of the House of Commons?…

My wife and I cared for my late mother in our home for the last five months of her life. She had Alzheimer's, so I know what that disease is up close and personal. Believe me, it's more than memory loss. Far more. That is one reason this story chills me to my…

Regarding Trump’s fire-the-NFL-protesters line last night that Teddy noted, it is a classic example of Trump’s, at times, gut-level political savvy. This kind of thing is why he’s president. He takes a commonly held sentiment -- most people don't like…

Last night, the president came after the assorted NFL players who have been kneeling for the national anthem. “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now.…