Columnist.
A recent New York Times headline read, "Raising Taxes on the Wealthiest Would Pay for Bold Plans." The story says that by soaking the rich "the government could raise large amounts of revenue ... while still allowing them to take home a majority of their income." Nowhere in the story, nor in the endless promises of Democratic presidential candidates, is there a single word about whether more government spending will produce the promised outcomes.
When President Obama meets in Washington November 9 with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, I would imagine Netanyahu's main concern will be to find out exactly what the U.S. means by "infringement" as it applies to the Iran nuclear agreement. What exactly will the U.S. do when, not if, Iran violates the deal? What if Israel and the U.S. disagree as to whether there has been a violation?
"[I]t was stale, old and uninspiring, like the candidates."
Watching the Democratic candidates' presidential debate Tuesday night one might think a Republican has been in the White House since 2009. These political Lilliputians could find little to say that was positive. The economy is bad, too many people aren't working (whose fault is that?), we should spend trillions more we don't have because everything we're spending now isn't producing results. Memo to Democrats: If your policies are failing, try something different.
When Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) walked into a Capitol Hill conference room to meet with his Republican colleagues last Thursday, he seemed a certain bet to be elected the next speaker of the House of Representatives. Subsequent reports revealed McCarthy already knew he didn't have enough votes to win, or if he did, it was barely enough, but an insufficient majority to rule the contentious GOP caucus. And so he shocked everyone when he emerged and announced his withdrawal as a candidate.
Hillary Clinton is borrowing from Richard Nixon, a man she worked to impeach while a staff member of the House Judiciary Committee in the early 1970s. Like Nixon, whose handlers successfully fooled a majority of voters by trotting out a "new Nixon" after his election defeats in 1960 and 1962, Hillary Clinton is trying to change her public image with voters, a majority of whom finds her "Unlikeable," to borrow from the title of Ed Klein's new book.
Hurricane Joaquin dumped large amounts of rain on the East Coast, but another "force of nature" flooded the country with so much rhetoric it was difficult for most people to keep up. Before barely any facts were known, there was President Obama on camera (when isn't he?) making a 12-minute address — a relatively short time for him — about the school shootings in Roseburg, Oregon. The president referred to himself 28 times, according to Grabien.com, again proving that whatever happens in this country, or the world, it really is all about him.
The White House Historical Association is promoting a Christmas ornament honoring our 30th president, Calvin Coolidge. This summer, Coolidge was added to the "racing presidents" feature at Washington Nationals home games, in which mascots representing past presidents sprint down the sideline. The club even gave away a Coolidge bobblehead doll. Does this mean the long-neglected Coolidge is making a comeback? I hope so, because his thoughts and policies, especially when it comes to taxes and spending, are needed today.
The announcement by House Speaker John Boehner that he is retiring at the end of October stunned Washington where life is all about grabbing power and holding on to it, often until death they do part. At a meeting with reporters, Boehner said, "My first job as speaker is to protect the institution." Really? Is that why Ohio voters sent him to Washington in 16 elections and his Republican colleagues elected and re-elected him speaker? Did he take an oath to preserve, protect and defend the institution of the House or the Constitution, which, if followed, offers protection enough?
"Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits." (Matthew 7:15-16) Major newspaper editorials and some columnists have their knickers in a twist over remarks by Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson. Appearing last Sunday on "Meet the Press," Carson was asked by host Chuck Todd whether he believes Islam is consistent with the Constitution. "No, I don't," he said. "I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation." Asked whether he could vote for a Muslim for Congress, Carson said Congress is a different story, but that it "depends on who that Muslim is and what their policies are."
To invoke a baseball metaphor, Carly Fiorina has been called up from the minors to the major leagues. After her widely praised debate performance last week, she can expect "fastballs" to be thrown at her head, not only by some of her Republican opponents, but by Democrats. It has already started. The first pitch at Fiorina is the number of jobs lost during her tenure as the CEO of Hewlett-Packard. While some say she is technically correct that the company's income grew while she ran it, thousands of people lost their jobs, as did many others during the 1990s economic downturn in the technology industry. There is a good answer for this beyond the technical one she has been giving and it can be grafted into an argument about the need to reduce the size and cost of the federal government.
Self-declared socialist and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders entered what his supporters must consider the belly of the beast on Monday. He spoke at the conservative evangelical Liberty University in Virginia. Some of those supporters sat in reserved seats, ensuring his remarks would be received with some applause. Liberal and Democratic speakers at Liberty are not as rare as one might think. In 1983, Sen. Ted Kennedy visited and spoke about religious freedom, standing up for the right of conservative evangelicals to be heard in the public square. Rev. Jesse Jackson delivered a message from Jerry Falwell's pulpit one Sunday morning. Donald Trump has also spoken at the school.
Rarely and perhaps not in modern times has a presidential campaign more resembled the classic 1957 film, "A Face in the Crowd." Written by Budd Schulberg and starring Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal and Walter Matthau, the storyline follows an Arkansas hayseed named Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes (Griffith), whom Marcia Jeffries (Neal) discovers in a county jail. Jeffries has a local radio show on which she interviews interesting characters. She finds Rhodes irresistible and puts him on the air. Rhodes becomes a sensation, eventually climbing the ladder to his own network TV show and then, as politicians approach him for endorsements, a self-described kingmaker.
Let's get something straight. America has never been a "Christian nation." Those who believe otherwise have an obligation to say what part of our history was uniquely Christian. Was it when slavery was legal? How about when women were denied the vote? The Gilded Age? The Roaring '20s? America is a nation in which Christians — and every other religious and nonreligious person — have the right to practice their beliefs in private and public free of government intrusion, except in some cases of life-threatening medical conditions in which the courts have occasionally intruded. It may make some evangelicals feel better to believe the country once reflected biblical principles, but despite generic quotations about "Divine Providence" that hark back to our founding, that's difficult to prove.
In aviation it's called the point of no return. That point in a flight when catastrophe strikes and the airplane, because of low fuel or mechanical impairment, cannot make it safely back to its take-off point. That's where we are with the dangerous Iran nuclear deal, the theocratic Islamic Republic of Iran and the 34 shameless Senate Democrats who bowed to pressure and announced their support for the flawed pact, thereby guaranteeing that the president's veto of any measure of disapproval cannot be overridden. While that still leaves, as of now, 66 senators opposed to the deal and a large majority in the House likely opposed to it as well, the way things work, or don't work in Washington, the Iran Nuke Deal will likely stand.
Back when I was in school, I performed a scientific experiment in which I poured a liquid of one color into a beaker that contained liquid of a different color. At first the liquid in the beaker was diluted, but as I kept pouring, the poured liquid eventually overtook the liquid in the beaker, creating an entirely new substance. That's what is happening in Europe as thousands of migrants flee their home countries, seeking refuge in the European Union. Germany, alone, is expected to have received 800,000 migrants by the end of the year, four times last year's number.
The horrible murder of two local journalists in Roanoke, Virginia, has affected me more than I thought it would. Journalists are taught early on to compartmentalize. As a local TV reporter, I saw bodies from plane crashes and victims of mass murder. I covered natural disasters and witnessed the aftermath of cruelty to children and other inhumanities. The murders of 24-year-old Alison Parker and her 27-year-old cameraman, Adam Ward, by a deranged and disgruntled man whose shoulder chip was as big as a boulder took me back to my early days in the business.
It's remarkable how often British and American politics resemble each other; often only the accents differ. Following a disastrous defeat at the hands of Prime Minister David Cameron's Tories, the Labour Party appears ready to elect as its next leader one Jeremy Corbyn, a hardcore leftist, self-described socialist and member of Parliament, who recently compared ISIS to the U.S. military and has called the terrorist group Hamas a "friend." Corbyn also wants to renationalize some British industries and increase taxes on "the rich," who are already paying more than half their earnings in income taxes, as well as a nationwide Value Added Tax of 20 percent.
When Ronald Reagan announced in November 1994 he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, even some of his most ardent political opponents paused to wish him well. It was the same last Thursday when former President Jimmy Carter, who will soon be 91, held a news conference in Atlanta to announce that a cancer first discovered in his liver has spread to other parts of his body, including his brain. While death is the ultimate end of all on Earth, the knowledge that one's expiration date is getting close has a way of focusing the mind, and not just for the person who has received the news. Reporters at the news conference were unusually deferential to Carter, which has not always been their attitude since he left office in 1981.
Since his party's impressive election victory in May, Prime Minister David Cameron is moving quickly to fulfill his campaign promise to ensure welfare benefits are no longer a way of life for many of his fellow citizens. Instead of open-ended benefits for the unemployed, the government, beginning in April 2017, will require young people between 18 and 21 who don't have jobs, but are collecting welfare, to attend three-week "boot camps" to prepare them for work in a rapidly improving economy. If they refuse, they will be denied benefits if they are unemployed for six months.
