Columnist.
President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have until March 17th to issue a determination that ISIS's attacks on Christians in the Mideast are genocide. Time is running out. The foot-dragging and hesitancy of this administration in calling it genocide is inexplicable. Why do they have to be prodded to do what is right? All of us have seen the horrific images of 21 Coptic Christians lined up on a North African beach and beheaded. These Egyptian martyrs died with the name of Jesus on their lips. These murders, rapes, arsons and kidnappings are taking place daily in regions where ISIS has extended its bloodstained reach.
For 30 years Antonin Scalia sat on the Supreme Court. He was a legal giant, unimpressed with the pretensions of power and resistant to liberal orthodoxies. He was unafraid to skewer what typically passes for legal "reasoning," even — or perhaps especially — when expressed by his colleagues. And he sometimes surprised even his critics, rigorously defending the Constitution irrespective of the issue.
At the funeral of Justice Antonin Scalia, his son Paul, giving the homily, cited his father's belief that the success of America arose from the blessing of God — a blessing experienced in part because of faith's role in the life of this nation. As usual, the justice himself explained it best. In his life and at his death, Scalia has defined the contours of an epic battle that will determine a central part of America's future.
The American presidential election season so far has been simply amazing. Its unpredictability, liveliness and sometimes profoundly rancorous debates, are integral parts of our democratic system, something that we as Americans enjoy and often take for granted. A free and fair election is the bedrock of the democracy that the Founders of our country fought to provide. But the citizens of many countries are deprived of this and are striving dearly to achieve it as Founders of America did. A case in point is Iran.
The late Justice Antonin Scalia was many things — brilliant, principled, good hearted, fearless. He was also an unmatched defender of constitutional liberties, not least of which is property rights. As George Mason Law professor Ilya Somin notes, "During his 30 years on the Court, (Scalia) helped lead a revival of judicial protection for constitutional property rights (and) deserves great credit for his role in strengthening judicial protection for property rights." The right of owning what one earns or purchases is one of the indisputable reasons for America's economic prosperity. Yet those on the Left simply refuse to accept it. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton would, if elected, enact even more confiscatory tax hikes than already exist. In the name of "fairness," they would mandate coercive charity: One segment of the population being required to give some of its income to another.
Scott Walker, Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal, Mike Huckabee and now Rand Paul. All were considered to be serious candidates for the Republican nomination for president and all have dropped out. Carly Fiorina began the campaign with far less name recognition, far less money, and yet her national profile has grown and when she speaks people hang on every word. She has far outlasted the so-called heavyweights. Do not count her out. While I have yet to endorse in the GOP presidential race, what has so impressed me about Carly is the drive, persistence and consistency she has shown throughout the entire process. She is undaunted and undeterred, and that's what it takes to go the distance when one plays at this level.
It's Republican presidential primary "game time," and where the party's candidates stand on the proper role of judges in our representative democracy could not be a more important — or, in most respects, a more unifying — issue. All GOP contenders understand that the next president will shape the U.S. Supreme Court and appeals courts for the next decade, and possibly the next generation, given the ages of jurists and philosophical breakdowns on these courts. The Republican candidates all also share the same view of the judge's role in our system of government.
President Obama's legacy is sadly clear. Eight years of this administration's disastrous environmental policies and unwarranted regulations are not only creating havoc in Washington, DC, they are trickling down into individual states, increasing costs for businesses and potentially stalling much needed economic development in areas starving for prosperity and growth. Even worse is emerging evidence of state regulators tearing pages out of the EPA's playbook and piling on with additional environmental rules and penalties that only add to the confusion and costs for businesses around the country.
As world leaders gathered in Paris last month for the United Nations climate summit, many seemed surprised that several large oil companies, including BP and Shell, endorsed a carbon tax as a "key element" of any international climate deal. Less surprising was the preference of those in the renewable energy sector to see a tax on carbon. The implication was of course that if major companies — oil companies in particular — want to tax themselves, who are we to stand in the way? It must be an indication that the climate crisis is so acute that even they have seen the light.
Politically we appear to be living in the year of the outsider. Donald Trump has shocked the established political class and its loyal journalistic following. Senators Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders are upsetting governing elites almost as much as Trump. The public says it is angry and isn't going to take it anymore. Yet the prescription offered by these three candidates is very different. The Donald constantly trumpets that he is a deal maker. Cruz and Sanders are more interested in the substance of the deal and always ready to say no deal.
Everyone loves to deal with moderates, especially when they represent a rare shift toward moderation for a rogue state. The trouble is that the concept of a moderate is relative. In dealing with the former Soviet Union we heard the term "Politburo moderates" over and over. Reaching out to this fabricated species was an excuse for being nice to despicable governments. In the case of the Islamic Republic of Iran, reaching out to "moderates" among the ayatollahs' inner circles has been a constant dream of American officials for the past 30 years. These moderates are supposed to be the cure to the Iranian enigma, which has been a unique problem for every US administration for the past three decades.
"The March for Life is a sad occasion... But it also is a moment of hope and triumph."
It has been more than four decades since the Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that unborn were of no account. Precious life created in the image of God was treated as but an inconvenience to be removed "on demand." A Constitution drafted by those who believed in life and liberty became a license to kill the most helpless and defenseless among us. The ruling greatly accelerated what Pope John Paul II termed the "culture of death."
Just as President Obama is about to revoke the economic sanctions on Iran's years-long illegal nuclear projects, the fundamentalist mullahs once again showed their true colors. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) detained 10 of our sailors at gun point and Tehran's state-television broadcast images of them with their hands above their heads being involuntarily taken to the Iranian island of Farsi.
Political correctness has become one of the constants of our age. Many of the examples are more ridiculous than anything else. Inappropriate Halloween costumes, campus safe zones free from controversial ideas, saying "happy holidays," and now, from Sweden, men sitting when they have to urinate. But at a time when people are being murdered at home and abroad because of their religion, PC — which really stands for political cowardice — can be downright dangerous.
Voters are fickle and often don't pay much attention to races besides the top ones, like president and governor. That must be why Virginians narrowly elected Mark Herring state attorney general two years ago. A majority of people apparently didn't think it mattered a lot who held the office. Were they wrong! A couple of weeks ago Herring decided he would no longer recognize concealed carry permits from 25 other states. Roughly 6.3 million people currently allowed to carry weapons — and thus protect themselves and others — will be disqualified. Half of the states in the union will see Virginia as an inconsistent partner and some law-abiding gun owners denied the right of self-defense might not visit the state, costing it tourism dollars.
An activist government can wreak havoc on the free market. From our nation's earliest days, it was heard that "the power to tax is the power to destroy." But Americans should be especially wary of when the government steps beyond setting rules for the marketplace and seeks to set the marketplace itself. This is the risk when government regulators overplay their hand with pending mergers and acquisitions.
It wasn't until last week that I realized the ACLU opposed gun control. The co-chair of the Colorado ACLU announced his support for use of guns in self-defense on Facebook. Unfortunately, in the resulting furor he was forced to resign. Indicating that he owned a firearm apparently was too much for his colleagues to bear.
Another terrorist attack, another refusal by President Barack Obama to tell the truth. Instead of admitting that Islamic terrorists had staged another murderous assault on innocent people, he turned the victims into a political prop. Instead of explaining how he intended to stop terrorists from killing Americans, he launched another campaign to stop Americans from owning guns.
