Columnist.
To call President Obama's Afghanistan policy a mess is a colossal understatement. To call it a coherent "policy," for that matter, is a gut-busting exaggeration. It's a bloody, incompetent and treacherous disaster. Our military heroes and families, God bless them, refuse to stay silent about the consequences. Consider these three national security fiascos: 1. Washington is awash in conflicting reports this week that the Pentagon may -- or may not -- charge Taliban tool Bowe Bergdahl with desertion. I first reported on Bergdahl's betrayal and abandonment of his post in July 2009. A military source tells me that the Obama administration has "slow rolled" the investigation and prosecution -- while withholding vital intelligence gathered from Bergdahl's debriefing last summer.
This is National School Choice Week, but I want to talk about parents' school *testing* choice. Moms and dads, you have the inherent right and responsibility to protect your children. You can choose to refuse the top-down Common Core racket of costly standardized tests of dubious academic value, reliability and validity. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I'm reminding you of your right to choose because the spring season of testing tyranny is about to hit the fan. Do you object to the time being taken away from your kids' classroom learning? Are you alarmed by the intrusive data-sharing and data-mining enabled by assessment-driven special interests? Are you opposed to the usurpation of local control by corporate testing giants and federal lobbyists?
When President Obama declares something a "success story," you know it has "TOTAL FAILURE" embedded in its DNA. Four months ago, America's King Midas in Reverse crowed about the fruits of his triumphant foreign policy in jihad-infested Yemen. A "light footprint" approach to counterterrorism operations, he claimed, was the most effective path to stability. In addition, Obama has shoveled nearly $1 billion in American tax-subsidized foreign aid to Yemen. Four months later, Iran-backed Shia rebels seized a Yemeni presidential palace. The president and his entire cabinet tendered their resignations on Thursday, creating a vacuum that al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is ready and eager to fill. ISIS is gaining its own Sunni foothold in the Muslim terror-breeding ground. And while the JV team at the State Department dithers with hashtag games and selfies, adults at the Pentagon want to evacuate U.S. embassy personnel and other Americans before it's too late.
From the liberal media's coverage of my beautiful adopted hometown, you'd think we live in a KKK-infested hotbed where every person of color fears for his or her life. Take a look at these ominous headlines: --"Bombing of NAACP headquarters harkens to bad old days" -- MSNBC --"Colorado Springs explosion recalls violence against NAACP" -- The Washington Post --"NAACP Bombing Evokes Memories of Civil Rights Strife" -- Time magazine --"Explosion outside NAACP office could be a hate crime, officials say" -- Los Angeles Times
I stand with the Santa Barbara News-Press. How about you? The newspaper is under fire for refusing to kowtow to left-wing word police and militant propagandists who demand unfettered illegal immigration. Last week, in the wake of angry protests against the publication, vandals threw paint bombs and spray-painted graffiti on its offices. So, what exactly is the News-Press' unforgivable crime? Calling illegal aliens "illegals" in a headline for a story about illegal aliens descending on California DMVs. A new law went into effect last Friday allowing illegal aliens to obtain driver's licenses without proof of lawful residence. The article featured interviews with ecstatic illegal aliens, including one who has been in the country illegally for "22 years."
With vengeance-seeking global jihadists on the loose here and around the world, now is a good time to ask (again): Are we ready for a nefarious terrorist attack on our train and transit lines? Smoke and fire plagued two of the nation's major metro rail stations this week, raising justified questions about safety and preparedness. On Monday, one person died and 84 fell ill after heavy smoke filled the L'Enfant Plaza Metro in Washington, D.C. Officials believe an "electrical arcing event" caused the lethal Beltway incident. A probe into the cause of the arcing -- as well as an investigation into evacuation delays that trapped hundreds of passengers -- is underway.
I have never laughed so bitterly as I did while reading Thursday's lead editorial by the great pretender-defenders of free speech at The New York Times. Paying obligatory lip service to the 10 cartoonists and staffers of the Paris satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo who were slaughtered for offending Islam, the Times intoned: "It is absurd to suggest that the way to avoid terrorist attacks is to let the terrorists dictate standards in a democracy." My GPS tracker of journalistic hypocrisy immediately identified the Times editorial board's high-altitude location -- ensconced atop their own Mt. Everest of absurdity and self-unawareness.
America's social justice movement has reached a critical turning point. The left's bravest young warriors for change have turned ... back to 1989 and borrowed costumes from Janet Jackson's "Rhythm Nation" music video. Clad in black-ops black from head to toe with fists held high, stylin' members of the so-called "Black Brunch" brigade look like they're ready to break into some old-school New Jack Swing dance moves. And 5, 6, 7, 8! But seriously, all you hate-mongering, racist oppressors. You must banish your colonialist, imperialist and patriarchal impulses to mock. The "comrades" (yes, they really call themselves that) who don the solidarity-enhancing Black Brunch costume are sending a revolutionary, transformative message: This is war!
There's no candy coating the truth: Obamacare has had a very terrible, horrible, crappy, none-too-happy year. What it really means is that the victims of Obamacare -- taxpayers, health care consumers, health care providers, employers and employees -- have had a hellish, nightmarish 2014. Let's start with premiums. President Candy Land promised that he'd "lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year." But premiums for people in the individual market for health insurance have spiked over the last year. In fact, Forbes health policy journalist Avik Roy and the Manhattan Institute analyzed 3,137 counties and found that individual market premiums rose an average of 49 percent.
"Jahi McMath is ALIVE." The very first column I filed in 2014 exposed the plight of a beautiful young girl, the same age as my daughter, whom medical experts declared "brain dead" after a routine tonsillectomy gone wrong. Are you ready for the rest of the story? Doctors told Jahi's mom, Nailah Winkfield, that her child's organs would "shut down" and her brain would "liquefy" if kept on life support. Hostile hospital administrators in Oakland moved to pull the plug on Jahi. Medical officials callously referred to Jahi as "dead, dead, dead" and dismissed the child as a "body." Smug critics mocked and hounded the family to give up and let go. Jahi's life, they concluded, was worthless.
Oh, woe is she. In an "exclusive" interview with People magazine this week, first lady Michelle Obama lamented the "sting" of "racist experiences" that she and her husband allegedly still suffer. My message for America's Marie Antoinette? Cry me a river. To show how she's down with The Struggle of post-Ferguson agitators, Mrs. Obama cited a supposedly horrifying incident at a Target store where she was treated, in her paranoid mind, as a subservient. "Even as the first lady," she bemoaned, "not highly disguised, the only person who came up to me in the store was a woman who asked me to help her take something off a shelf."
Allow me to unite America's left, right and center in just three words: No, Jeb, No. Former GOP Florida governor Jeb Bush made the obvious official this week when he announced on Facebook that he's "actively exploring" a 2016 White House run. Of course, he's running. That's what inveterate politicians do. Well, I hate to break it to Jeb Inc. There's no popular groundswell for Bush Part III. None, zip, nada. Independents, progressives and conservatives are all weary of the entrenched bipartisan dynasties that rule Washington and ruin America. Only in the hallowed bubble of D.C. and New York City elites does a Jeb Bush presidential bid make any sense.
In Manhattan's Union Square last week, a protester wielded a menacing sign. It didn't make the front page of any newspaper. You didn't see it on cable news. An appalled bystander sent me a photo of the marcher and his inciteful placard, but didn't want to be identified in any way. You'll know why in a moment. "Justice Please," the top line of the poster read. "Before we see a lot of new Larry Davis[es]," the message threatened. "1986 6 cops killed," the banner ended ominously. It was underlined in red marker for bloody emphasis.
The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round, just like the endless cycles of big, bad government programs to federalize preschool and daycare. On Wednesday, the White House Summit on Early Education will unveil nearly $1 billion in new "investments" to "expand access to high-quality early childhood education to every child in America" from "birth and continuing to age 5." It's a retread of President Obama's 2013 State of the Union school-spending plan, which was a repackaging of his 2011 Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge program.
In his "Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior," George Washington offered this sage advice: "Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company." Too bad President Obama and his best Chicago golfing buddy (BCGB), Dr. Eric Whitaker, didn't heed our Founding Father's wisdom. The duo's continued intimacy, as the stench of government corruption thickens around them, speaks volumes about our current commander in chief's reckless disregard for his reputation.
If real estate mogul and deep-pocketed White House donor Terry Bean were a Republican, he'd be a household name by now. Bean's face would be splashed all over the covers of grocery-stand newsweeklies. The garrulous hostesses of ABC's "The View" would be haranguing the GOP to return his campaign contributions. Child-welfare advocates would be demanding his resignation from top political advocacy and civic groups. Media satellite trucks from NBC's "Today" show would be parked outside the Lane County, Ore., Circuit Court on Dec. 3 for his first appearance.
In his 967-word statement to the nation about the Ferguson grand jury decision on Tuesday night, President Obama devoted precisely one sentence to the risks and sacrifices police officers make to keep the peace. One. Obama delivered a tepid, obligatory acknowledgement that "our police officers put their lives on the line for us every single day." But he sandwiched it between a finger-wagging admonition that cops need to "show care and restraint" and a pandering discourse justifying the "deep distrust" that "communities of color" have toward law enforcement because of the "legacy of racial discrimination in this country."
When it rains, it pours. Just before unveiling his colossal administrative amnesty for millions of "undocumented" aliens and foreign tech workers on Thursday, President Obama separately ordered up to 8,000 more executive pardons and special work passes for Liberians, Sierra Leoneans and Guineans illegally in this country. Strange, isn't it? The same administration that refused to enact travel bans from Ebola-plagued West African nations to protect Americans is now granting "temporary protected status" (TPS) to West Africans on American soil so they don't have to go back.
President Obama is poised to show his "compassion" this week by granting work cards to an estimated five million illegal immigrants through an imperial executive order. As for the vast, untold number of law-abiding citizens whose identities have been stolen by foreign law-breakers, two words: Tough luck. Social Security card fraudsters have made out like bandits thanks to the White House. Their victims are about to get kicked in the teeth again.
Cheating. Bullying. Cybersexting. Hazing. Molestation. Suicide. Drug abuse. Murder. Scanning the headlines of the latest scandals in America's schools, it's quite clear that the problem is not that there's too much God in students' lives. The problem is that there isn't nearly enough of Him. With the malfunction of moral seatbelts and the erosion of moral guardrails, too many kids have turned to a pantheon of false gods, crutches and palliatives. They're obsessed with "Slender Man" and "Vampire Diaries." Alex from Target's hair and Rihanna's tattoos. Overpriced basketball sneakers and underdressed reality stars. Choking games and YouTube games. Gossip and hookups. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat.
