Today's Standard

• January 5, 2017

Reports: Dan Coats Tapped for National Intelligence Chief

4:26 PM, Jan 05, 2017
Former senator and U.S. Ambassador to Germany Dan Coats is President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for Director of National Intelligence, according to multiple reports, with a formal announcement expected as soon as Friday. Read more

Intel Chiefs Now 'More Resolute' About Russian Election Interference

Clapper, IC raise stakes amid tension with Trump.
2:39 PM, Jan 05, 2017
Top U.S. intelligence officials doubled down Wednesday on assessments that the Kremlin led a campaign to influence the 2016 election, with the country’s intel chief blaming Russia for more than just data "hacking." Read more

Top U.S. Intelligence Officials Say Assange Has No Credibility

11:10 AM, Jan 05, 2017
Two of the country's top intelligence officers say the man behind the WikiLeaks organization, Julian Assange, has no credibility and has done damage to the United States. Read more

The Washington Post's 'Express,' With an Error for the Ages

10:39 AM, Jan 05, 2017
Far be it for me to mock another publication's typos. But this screamer from Thursday's Express, a free daily tabloid put out for the Washington Post for subway commuters, deserves some kind of recognition. Read more

Kristol Slams Trump's Public Doubt of U.S. Intel on Russia, Siding with Assange: 'Foolish, Irresponsible'

10:30 AM, Jan 05, 2017
Bill Kristol warned Trump supporters against justifying President-elect Donald Trump’s doubts about intelligence assessments affirming Kremlin attempts to sway the results of the 2016 election. Trump has reaffirmed those doubts in recent days by siding with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who released tranches of the Democrats' hacked emails on his website, and denied that the source of those emails was the Russian government. Read more

Chicago Police Considering Hate Crime Charges in Facebook Live Attack

10:20 AM, Jan 05, 2017
Police tell the Chicago Tribune that four black people who earlier this week broadcast live on Facebook their violent attack on a white man with special needs could be charged with hate crimes. The attackers were shown to be yelling about Donald Trump and race. The Tribune has more: Read more

San Francisco Transit Website Promotes 'Inauguration Day P*ssy March'

10:00 AM, Jan 05, 2017
President-elect Trump is set to take office on January 20th. This week, the website of the city of San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit system listed an event marking the inauguration of the soon-to-be 45th president. The event is entitled "Inauguration Day P*ssy March." Read more

Prufrock: Boozy Wodehouse, Shakespeare in America, and Bad Women Writers

9:30 AM, Jan 05, 2017
The best in books and arts from around the web, including: Marco Grazzi on the 1966 Florence flood, a history of the U. S. Marshalls Service, Michael Dirda on Dumas’s The Red Sphinx, and more. Read more

How Republicans Can Avoid Being Blamed for High Premiums

8:19 AM, Jan 05, 2017
When it comes to trying to decide what the worst part of Obamacare is, there’s no shortage of contenders. From a constitutional standpoint, the worst part is its unprecedented individual mandate. From the standpoint of the republic's overall well-being, the worst part is its consolidation and centralization of power. From the standpoint of preserving the high quality of American medicine, the worst part is its determination to move doctors out of private practice and make them hospital employees (the better to control them). And from a cost standpoint, the worst part is its effective ban on the traditional idea of insurance—for since at least the Renaissance, insurance has been something that one must buy before the thing happens that one is protecting againstRead more

We Are Living in an Alternate Timeline

Sinbad, Anthea Butler, and the Mandela Effect.
7:15 AM, Jan 05, 2017
There were two stories before Christmas that pointed to the possibility that we are now living in an alternate universe, or have diverged onto a new timeline, or pick your Fringe metaphor. Read more

Obama Ally Perriello to Run for Governor of Virginia

6:00 AM, Jan 05, 2017
Tom Perriello, the one-term Democratic congressman from Virginia, will run for governor in this year’s election. Jonathan Martin at the New York Times reports: Read more

Is The GOP Really Ready For 'Repeal and Replace?'

Hosted by Michael Graham.
5:30 AM, Jan 05, 2017
The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with deputy online editor Chris Deaton on Obamacare's future in 2017. Read more

An Uncertain Trumpet

From the January 2 / January 9, 2017, issue of THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
5:15 AM, Jan 05, 2017
The election of Donald Trump initially seemed to be a lifeline to an American military suffering from unrelenting budget cuts—a loss of more than $250 billion in spending power from the 2009 budget alone—and an equally punishing pace of operations. The morning after the election, Forbes magazine confidently predicted the restoration of at least $500 billion in defense spending. Read more

Ted Cruz Joins Lindsey Graham to Cut United Nations Funding

"They don't really care what we have to say, but they want our dollars."
5:00 AM, Jan 05, 2017
Republican senators Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham are joining forces to propose legislation that will cut off American taxpayer funding of the United Nations until the international body reverses its December 24 Security Council resolution on Israel. Read more

Rob Schneider's Attempt at Spanish Cooking Roasted for Being Culturally Offensive

You can't do it!
5:00 PM, Jan 04, 2017
Comedian Rob Schneider decided to make paella, and got himself into a paella pan of hot water thanks to the culinary-correctness policeRead more

In 2010, Assange's WikiLeaks Slandered U.S. Troops As Murderers

3:32 PM, Jan 04, 2017
During an interview with Sean Hannity that aired Tuesday night, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange asserted: "We have the trust of our sources, we have the trust of our readers, having never got it wrong."

"This is an important point," Hannity interjected. "Not one evidence [sic] where you've been proven wrong."

"Not even one sustained allegation," Assange replied. "We have a perfect record in relation to authenticating the material that we publish. That's a very valuable reputation to have."

 Read more

Pence and Ryan Make Clear Their Obamacare Plan Is a Two-Step Process

The health care pickle.
1:15 PM, Jan 04, 2017
Top GOP officials say their first order of business in the new year is to repeal and replace Obamacare. But the first order itself has a clear first step. Read more

Kerry Falls Short in Goals for 'Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Ambassadors'

10:44 AM, Jan 04, 2017
President Barack Obama's administration has indisputably done more to advance the LGBT agenda than any prior administration. Ending Don't Ask-Don't Tell for the military, vigorous support of gay marriage, and bathroom choice for the transgendered are only a few of the boxes checked off the LGBT wish list. At the State Department, however, Obama's secretary of state John Kerry did fall short of his goals for the L, B and T members of the community. Read more

Cotton: Russia Has Committed 'Crimes and Transgressions' Against the United States

Why Russia isn't "on our side" and the Obama administration has accommodated Putin.
10:00 AM, Jan 04, 2017
Arkansas senator Tom Cotton blasted Barack Obama for his accommodation of Russian aggression over the past eight years and argued that Russia has committed "crimes and transgressions against the United States and our interests" while the administration "looked the other way." Speaking to Tucker Carlson on Fox News Tuesday, Cotton laid out a case for why Vladimir Putin and Russia deserve tough consequences for their actions, citing the harassment of American diplomats in Russia and successful hack of the Democratic National Committee. Read more

Prufrock: The Meaning of 'Hamlet', Ruskin's Taste, and Britain's Trash

9:30 AM, Jan 04, 2017
The best in books and arts from around the web, including: Joyce among the Jesuits, Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Heart of a Dog, Robert Rauschenberg's Tiffany windows, and more. Read more

Celebrating 100 Years of the National Parks Service


Safety Not Guaranteed

Yellowstone in the age of the helicopter parent

By Jonathan V. Last

The Bluest Blue

Crater Lake National Park, a volcanic jewel

By Geoffrey Norman

Mountains Alive

At Glacier National Park

By Geoffrey Norman

High Peaks and Splendid Walks

The pleasures of Rocky Mountain National Park

By Geoffrey Norman

The Most Beautiful Star

On gazing into the Grand Canyon

By Geoffrey Norman

...