Free Republic

This might be Yosemite’s worst birthday ever. The national park turns 123 on Tuesday, the same day that a government shutdown will close the park to all visitors. Google celebrated Yosemite’s big day by creating a lovely Google Doodle depicting Yosemite badges to honor one of the nation’s favorite parks. Sadly, the anniversary comes at a time when no visitors will be able to visit the Half Dome, El Capitan, or Yosemite Falls.

2. What has the fall of the New York Times meant for America, if anything?The Times is the Harvard of news. It is at the top of the journalistic food chain and what it says is news sets the agenda for much of the rest of the press. That might be changing somewhat, but it’s still important. The problem is that the Times has seen a lessening in its commitment to agnostic, professionally detached and neutral reporting in favor of advancing its political values in a way very correctly characterized, in many cases, as “cheerleading.” Yet this kind of p.c....