The Hoover Institution hosted its annual Board of Overseers’ summer meeting during July 9–11, 2013.

The program began on Tuesday evening with before-dinner remarks by Paul D. Clement, a partner at Bancroft PLLC. Clement served as the forty-third solicitor general of the United States from June 2005 until June 2008. He has argued more than sixty-five cases before the US Supreme Court. During Clement’s speech, titled “Federalism in the Roberts Court,” he talked about the revitalization of federalism in the Rehnquist court “imposing some limits on the federal government’s power vis-a-vis the states.”

You may remember the story of how the first European Conference on Intelligent Design (TDI Europe) was chased out of two universities in Portugal only to find refuge in León, Spain. Paul Nelson, who was there and traveled with the refugees (what else to call them?), told about his experiences in an article at Evolution News. 

The Hoover Institution’s Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson will appear on the new Fox Nation streaming service on Nov. 29 with an exclusive interview of economist and Hoover senior fellow Thomas Sowell.

Democracy and freedom currently hang by a thread in Hong Kong. How much longer will China tolerate dissent before violently crushing the protests? What is America's role and responsibility in the fight to save liberty in Hong Kong?

James Woolsey discusses the failure of the intelligence community in the run-up to the Iraq war and considers Barak Obama’s selection of Leon Panetta to head the CIA in light of the historical relationship between the president and the CIA director. He outlines the challenges the intelligent community faces in what he calls America’s war against “theocratic totalitarianism.” Finally, he asserts that it is imperative for us to destroy oil as a strategic commodity – not only for our security but also for the good of the planet. (36:56 ) Video transcript

As a plague compounds our political divisions, it’s essential to recall that the cause of the global carnage is not across the congressional aisle or parliamentary divide. This pandemic came courtesy of the breathtaking (literally, in this case) ruthlessness of the Chinese dictatorship, whose policies nurtured, hid, and fostered the spread of the COVID-19 virus currently killing our citizens by the tens of thousands and crippling economies worldwide.

The new Stanford initiative Cardinal Conversations examined the intersections of politics and technology with entrepreneurs and Stanford alumni Reid Hoffman and Peter Thiel. Historian Niall Ferguson of the Hoover Institution moderated a discussion that included questions from the largely student audience.

Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist, insists that we humans must face the truth about ourselves—no matter how good it might be. An interview with Peter Robinson.