Today, turn someone on to NRO.

- June 23, 2014

Today on NRO

OREN CASS: China is waging war on free trade. Fight the Dragon.

RYAN LOVELACE: In the Rio Grande Valley, illegal border-crossers are surrendering voluntarily. What an Open Border Looks Like.

TOM ROGAN: Iraq's troubles are more complicated than its main religious divide. Iraq: Beyond Shia vs. Sunni.

JOHN FUND: The taxi industry tries to regulate a technology-fueled competitor. Uber Alles.

SLIDESHOW: The Siege of Petersburg.

Morning Jolt
. . . with Jim Geraghty

June 23, 2014

Dear Jolters,

First, if you think today's edition of the Jolt is brought to you by the National Review 2014 Post-Election Caribbean Cruise, well, you'd be right.

And now that we have that ham-handed plug out of the way, let me bellow: Don't look so glum! Sure, Big Jim Geraghty isn't around this week providing you with your A.M. dose of political wisdom and wit. But he'll be back in just a few short days — if he survives the move to his new digs in the DC area's life-sapping humidity.

By the way, you can help him pay forthcoming mortgage bills by purchasing your copy of The Weed Agency. I skulked around its Amazon page and found this amongst the many four- and five-star reviews:

This book is every bit as good as I hoped it would be. If you are a Washington bureaucrat or lobbyist or are employed by one, this book's contents won't be news to you but you'll still laugh yourself silly reading it. If you don't know how Washington really works but want to learn and laugh at the same time, read this book now. If you are reasonably bright but have no interest in politics and government and would rather not think about any of it, you'll still laugh at the humor in Geraghty's book.

Amen, I say unto thee. Very true. You can buy The Weed Agency (it's only $9.97!) here.

Now, as is my duty in these pinch-hitting situations, let me suggest a few things that you should read and share on NRO.

Jillian Melchior has a troubling piece on how Colorado lefties are trying to block landowners from exercising their mineral rights (there's a moratorium vote in Loveland tomorrow) by allowing energy companies to set up fracking operations on their (private!) properties. Learn all about it here.

Sick of political correctness? Check out our slideshow, "New Redskin Name." And read Rich Lowry's most recent column, "Hail to the Redskins."

Andy McCarthy's new NRO essay, "Our Vacuous Foreign Policy," is tough and powerful, as usual. A selection:

Unlike us, Islamic supremacists have a strategic vision fit for a global conflict. They do not think in terms of countries. You will never find them thinking their allies in Syria are their mortal enemies in Iraq. They know the principal enemy is Western civilization — especially the United States and Israel. When we are involved, Sunni and Shiite supremacists put aside their mutual hatred and collaborate against us — so that their version of Islam "emerges triumphant." When we are not involved, they go back to killing each other. 'Twas ever thus, and so shall it ever be, at least in our lifetimes.

Here in the United States, neither the government nor the commentariat has a strategic vision for a global conflict. We have the vacuum, and it shows.

By the way, go ahead and buy your copy of Andy's new, controversial, and acclaimed book, Faithless Execution: Building the Political Case for Obama's Impeachment.

If stories about local-government regulators channeling Napoleon make your blood pressure spike, don't read Kevin Williamson's piece about one Kansas jackass. Its ending is pure KDW:

We pay a great deal of attention to the composition of our laws — the occasional gazillion-dollar national health-care bill notwithstanding — but no amount of care in the revision of legal language will ever substitute for prudence, wisdom, and discretion, our shocking public deficits in which transcend mere partisan and ideological affiliation. From the suburbs to the capital, we are governed by fools.

Larry Kudlow's take on Steve Scalise, the new House GOP whip, is a good primer on a rising conservative star.

And last but not least, this Corner post by Deroy Murdock is too delicious — a phony gets nailed big time.

So read these, please. And share them with your friends. Go ahead: Today, turn someone on to NRO. And while you're at it, buy that NR cruise cabin. Come back tomorrow: We'll be here waiting for you.

God bless,

Jack Fowler
Publisher
National Review

To read more, visit www.nationalreview.com

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