Latest news with #JamesTaranto
Wall Street Journal
4 days ago
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
‘Fact Check'? That's Just Your Opinion, Man
Glenn Kessler made a revealing comment when he wrote, 'readers flocked to read my fact checks, even if they vehemently disagreed with my findings' ('The 'Fact Checker' Checks Out' by James Taranto, Aug. 12). But how can one disagree with facts? Someone might dispute whether things stated as fact are truly facts; others might believe that facts should be placed in perspective, or perhaps disagree on the policy implications that flow from various facts. But facts themselves are exactly that: facts. The impetus for 'fact checking' arose from readers' desire to know who or what to believe. If, for example, a candidate said that 'spending on X has increased by $60 billion on my opponent's watch,' voters simply wanted to know if that was true. A true 'fact checker' might have dryly reported: 'Spending on X is up $57.7 billion.'
Wall Street Journal
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Be Wary of Judicial Umpires
James Taranto notes that Judge James C. Ho is skeptical that judges merely 'call balls and strikes' ('The Case of District Judges vs. Trump,' Weekend Interview, May 10). Actual umpires, 'worried about the booing of the crowd,' are responsible for providing a 'home-field advantage.' In legal contests, a similar dynamic applies, with the crowd being composed of 'cultural elites' whose favor jurists seek. Chief Justice John Roberts used the baseball analogy in his 2005 confirmation hearings. The trouble is that umpires define the strike zone, which they can change from inning to inning, or even from batter to batter, and there's no review. That was a pitch the senators on the committee never saw coming. Nathan I. Silver Bethesda, Md.
Wall Street Journal
13-04-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
First Amendment Prevails in Trump vs. the AP
The government can't punish the press for refusing to parrot its preferred language. That is why a Trump-appointed judge last week blocked the White House from denying the Associated Press access to certain official press events for continuing to use the term 'Gulf of Mexico.' In 'The AP Case Is About Separation of Powers' (op-ed, April 10), James Taranto argues that Judge Trevor McFadden's ruling 'violates the separation of powers, because the president's control over his physical office is intrinsic to the authority of his political office.' But it doesn't violate the separation of powers for courts to say what the law is. That's their job, as Chief Justice John Marshall famously affirmed two centuries ago.
