James Bowman

2 days ago | newcriterion.com | Kyle Smith |Robert Erickson |James Bowman |Douglas Murray

T-shirts for sale in the lobby at Angry Alan, the new play by Penelope Skinner (at the Studio Seaview through August 3) are printed with the legend “Carry yourself with the confidence of a mediocre white man.” Experience suggested I turn around and leave immediately, but duty compelled me to stay. The slogan comes up during the play, which is a sort of stage equivalent of a feminist T-shirt.

2 days ago | newcriterion.com | Mark Judge |Robert Erickson |James Bowman |Douglas Murray

Sally Quinn won’t return my emails. Perhaps Quinn, the doyenne of Washington, D.C., and the widow of the Washington Post legend Ben Bradlee, is overwrought. As she recently lamented in The New York Times, her city is under siege:This spring Washington is a city in crisis. Physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. It’s as if the fragrant air were permeated with an invisible poison, as if we were silently choking on carbon monoxide.

Mar 20, 2024 | newcriterion.com | James Bowman

Where’s the outrage?” cried Bob Dole toward the end of his losing campaign for the presidency in 1996. His words linger on in the American consciousness long after the would-be scandal that prompted them has been forgotten. Didn’t it have something to do with foreign contributions to the Bill Clinton campaign coffers? Anyway, the putative outrages of 1996 didn’t seem like much to go on, outrage-wise, to anybody other than Mr. Dole at the time.

Feb 21, 2024 | newcriterion.com | James Bowman

A curious column on The Wall Street Journal’s op-ed page toward the end of January put its headline in the imperative mood. “Lay Down Your Weaponization,” commanded the Journal on behalf of its columnist Andy Kessler. He was citing numerous examples from both left and right on the political spectrum of writers accusing somebody else—it’s always somebody else—of “weaponizing” something that is not usually thought of as a weapon: the law, the border, the climate, information, even children.

Feb 12, 2024 | eppc.org | James Bowman |Brad Littlejohn |Rachel Morrison |Patrick Brown

Published February 12, 2024Defending Life After DobbsAbortion supporters often claim that abortion is necessary to address the mental-health issues that women may experience during or after pregnancy. In fact, this claim is specious and unsubstantiated, based not on empirical evidence but on speculation.