Category: Conservative Review
Teachers’ Unions Sue To Block Tax Cut Referendum From Appearing on Ballot
Massachusetts teachers’ unions are suing to block residents from being able to vote on a statewide tax cut, asking the state’s supreme court to keep it off the ballot in November.
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‘Melania’ soars: Audiences love first lady’s documentary while the usual haters hate
Audiences rave and critics sneer as the documentary “Melania” exceeds industry expectations in its opening weekend.
The opening gross domestic ticket sales reached $7 million, placing the film third overall at the domestic box office behind two major studio releases.
‘To say that “Melania” is a hagiography would be an insult to hagiographies.’
The film, which chronicles first lady Melania Trump in the weeks leading up to President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, debuted in 1,778 theaters nationwide, an unusually wide release for a documentary.
Prerelease projections published by entertainment outlets such as People magazine estimated the film would earn between $3 million and $5 million.
RELATED: New ‘Melania’ documentary blends unprecedented access with subtle, profound message
Brooks Kraft/Getty Images
While the film did not screen in advance for critics, reviews published after release were largely unfavorable.
Critics from the Guardian, Variety, and the Hollywood Reporter described the documentary as politically one-sided and overly sympathetic.
Xan Brooks of the Guardian compared the film to a “medieval tribute to placate the greedy king on his throne.” Owen Gleiberman of Variety described it as a “cheese ball infomercial of staggering inertia.” Frank Scheck of the Hollywood Reporter wrote, “To say that ‘Melania’ is a hagiography would be an insult to hagiographies.”
Audiences reacted differently.
Opening-night viewers awarded the film an “A” at CinemaScore, a metric based on verified exit polling conducted at theaters nationwide.
Photo by Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images
The film was distributed by Amazon MGM Studios, which reportedly paid $40 million for distribution rights and spent an additional $35 million on marketing.
The total investment made the project the most expensive documentary release to date.
Despite the high cost, box-office analysts interviewed by AP noted that political documentaries are often evaluated based on visibility and audience engagement rather than traditional profitability.
The film premiered at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., with attendance from members of Congress, Cabinet officials, and business executives.
Following its theatrical run, “Melania” is scheduled to stream on Prime Video. International theatrical distribution is expected to be limited.
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Ketanji Brown Jackson, Wordy Supreme Court Justice, Spotted At Star-Studded Awards Show
‘Appeal directly to the Supreme Court’
Skype, Sushi, and a ‘Phone Date’: Democratic Megadonor Reid Hoffman Maintained Jeffrey Epstein Relationship Years After He Said It Ended
Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman, the cofounder of LinkedIn, has claimed that his “last interaction” with Jeffrey Epstein was in 2015. New records show they interacted in 2016, 2017, 2018, and perhaps 2019, the year Epstein was charged with trafficking dozens of girls for sex.
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America won’t beat China without Alaska
America’s past energy weakness wasn’t accidental. It was a result of misguided political pressure.
While Washington politicians congratulated themselves on “green leadership,” they systematically strangled the most energy‑rich state in the nation: Alaska. The result has been higher costs, increased foreign dependence, and a national security posture that makes our adversaries smile.
Alaska proves what Washington refuses to admit: You can develop resources responsibly, or you outsource damage to others.
Revitalizing the Alaskan oil industry is the key to reversing these costly mistakes.
The Trans‑Alaska Pipeline System was built after the 1973 Arab oil embargo made the danger of foreign dependence painfully clear. Authorized by Congress and completed in 1977, the 800‑mile pipeline has moved more than 17 billion barrels of oil to U.S. markets.
At its peak, TAPS delivered over 2 million barrels per day, dramatically reducing reliance on OPEC and reinforcing American energy security. It funded public services, created tens of thousands of jobs, and helped stabilize global markets — all while operating under some of the toughest environmental standards in the world.
The truth about foreign energy dependence
The United States still imports billions of barrels of oil every year. Roughly 20%of our petroleum needs are met by foreign suppliers. While Canada and Mexico are reliable partners, global pricing and supply remain hostage to instability in the Middle East and geopolitical maneuvering by OPEC+.
This instability is the cost of blocking domestic development. If America won’t produce energy, others will — often with weaker labor laws, worse environmental practices, and profits flowing to regimes aligned against U.S. interests.
Environmental activism does not stop the demand, but it does decrease American leverage.
In Alaska, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain alone holds an estimated 7.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil, with total North Slope reserves exceeding 10 billion barrels. Development could deliver up to 1.2 million barrels per day at peak production — enough to materially offset foreign imports and extend the life of TAPS.
This untapped potential is why restrictions on Alaska energy development were so destructive. They ignored economic reality and national defense in favor of ideology.
Recent deregulatory efforts show the correct path forward: Open ANWR and the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, streamline permitting, modernize infrastructure, expand offshore access, and invest in liquid natural gas for both domestic use and exports to allies.
Cheap energy is a conservative value
Affordable energy lowers grocery bills, keeps manufacturing competitive, restrains inflation, and allows young families to build lives without fleeing high‑cost states. It is no coincidence that states with affordable energy policies attract investment and jobs while those with ideological energy policies hemorrhage both.
Alaska understands this reality very well. In a cold, remote state, energy reliability is not optional. That same realism should guide national policy.
Natural gas, large‑scale hydro, clean coal, and next‑generation nuclear are the way forward. They don’t collapse during cold snaps. They don’t require permanent subsidies. And they work at scale.
A country that depends on foreign energy can be easily manipulated and destabilized. A country that exports energy sets its own terms.
Alaska’s location makes it a critical asset. LNG exports from Alaska strengthen allies while undercutting Russian influence and Chinese leverage. Continuing to restrain the state’s energy potential does nothing but weaken America and strengthen our rivals.
RELATED: What’s Greenland to us?
Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images
The choice in front of us
Critics repeat the same tired scare tactics, but reality tells a different story.
Wildlife adapted around the Trans‑Alaska Pipeline. Fisheries can easily coexist with modern development. Today’s monitoring, engineering, and land management dramatically exceed anything available a generation ago.
Alaska proves what Washington refuses to admit: You can develop resources responsibly, or you outsource damage to others.
America can keep pretending that energy comes from press releases and foreign tankers, or we can reclaim the proven model that once made it strong: Produce at home under American rules, for American families.
The path to energy independence doesn’t run through climate conferences or regulatory delay. It runs through Alaska.
Kicking and Screaming Against America and Israel
In the 1970s, after the Six-Day War had time to sink in, an impressive number of Western academics, journalists, politicians, diplomats, spooks, and especially oil executives gave Israel a centripetal eminence in the Middle East that neither its population, geography, faith, wealth, nor even military accomplishments merited. Thirteen hundred years of Islamic history over 3.8 million square miles started getting boiled down to onerous and acrimonious conversations about the contemporary bloody wrestling matches between Jews and Arabs on less than 11,000 square miles of the eastern Mediterranean littoral. Modern Middle Eastern studies, where certainly the most passionate if not the most accomplished students gravitated, became battlefields where anti-Zionist sentiments usually proved triumphant.
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Membership Has Its Privileges
London Clubland: A Companion for the Curious, by historian Seth Alexander Thévoz, is the rare book that manages to be both reverent and sly: an impeccably researched directory of London’s private members’ clubs that understands, at a cellular level, which of these places want to be mythologized and which would rather die than be written about at all. The former are treated gently, the latter mercilessly. My favorite section, “What They Probably Don’t Want You to Know,” skewers this distinction perfectly, offering quiet mockery for the clubs desperate to be talked about—Soho House, for instance, which has built an entire business model on insisting it is still misunderstood—while maintaining gentlemanly discretion around those that still prize silence over clout.
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The Music Never Stopped for Bob Weir
Bob Weir’s death was surprising but not a shock. Grateful Dead fans have had plenty of practice saying fare thee well to other band members, most prominently Phil Lesh, Jerry Garcia, and Ron McKernan (aka Pigpen). Weir, who died Jan. 10 at 78, kept the Dead spirit alive after Garcia’s death in 1995 (just after turning 53), and with his passing the band’s music moves into a new realm. Never again will it be performed by the people who created it (holograms need not apply). A veil of sorts has fallen over the Skull and Roses.
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