Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Thursday, December 15, 2016
The Tyranny of the Dot
There’s a quote that is attributed to President Eisenhower that asserts, “What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.” His quote mirrors this more popular saying: “the urgent is enemy of the important.” Both quotes speak to the fact that too often many of us focus our resources and time on matters of an urgent nature, which invariably leads to ignoring or devaluing the important.
Court Should Reject Obama’s Radical Social Experiment
Once it had convinced the Supreme Court to redefine marriage for the entire nation, you would think the Obama administration would have paused and let the country catch its breath. It didn’t.
Starbucks and Our Pursuit of Snobbery
Indiana’s Thomas R. Marshall, who was America’s vice president 100 years ago, voiced — he plucked it from a Hoosier humorist — one of the few long-remembered utterances to issue from that office: “What this country needs is a good 5-cent cigar,” which would be $1.11 in today’s currency. A century later, what the country needs is a $12 twelve-ounce cup of coffee.
Has Trump Nominated Too Many Military Leaders — or Not Enough?
President-elect Donald Trump is being faulted for supposedly appointing too many retired generals to Cabinet-level jobs and “militarizing” the government.
Faking the News
Mainstream media are suddenly concerned about “fake news.” It used to be that phony stories were easy to spot. They usually focused on space aliens or mysterious creatures found wandering deep in the woods. My personal favorite in this genre was a 1992 “story” in the supermarket tabloid Weekly World News that claimed the bones of Adam and Eve had been discovered in Colorado. A “leading archaeologist” was quoted, presumably to add credence to the fake story.
Will the Ex-Im Bank Enable Boeing’s Deal With Iran?
After months of negotiations and political maneuvering, Boeing finally sealed a $17 billion deal with Iran. The cash will buy 80 aircraft to replace some of the 400 outdated state-owned Iran Air planes. The sale to the Iranian carrier is a direct result of a nuclear accord that removed sanctions on Tehran.
The Mad Search for Pro-Trump Columnists
Over the weekend some pathetic wretch — obviously a casualty of the Nov. 8 election — writing under the pen name Paul Farhi filed a column in the Washington Post lamenting that after an extensive search of the newspapers of this great country, he could hardly find any pro-Trump columnists. Actually, he could not find any, not even among the alt-right, the Ku Klux Klan or the Neo-Nazis with whom the Post has become so familiar during this election year. Apparently the pro-Trumpers are nowhere to be found.
Electoral College Sabotage?
I hope everyone who cares about the sanctity of life fully appreciates just how close we may be to ending abortion on demand in America. Most of the pieces will be in place early next year. And that is why the radical pro-abortion left is preparing for “war.” Their word, not mine.
Trump’s Victory: Even Charlie ‘Race Card’ Rangel Doesn’t Blame ‘Whitelash’
Donald Trump once called the Rev. Al Sharpton “a con man,” meaning that Sharpton plays the race card less out of sincerity and more as a method to make demands and extract concessions. But has there ever been a bigger legislative con man than the soon-to-be-retired Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., currently the second-longest serving member of the House?
Questions for Rex Tillerson
The American appetite for businessmen in government is a hardy perennial. Ross Perot won 19 percent of the popular vote in 1992 on the strength of his “get under the hood” appeal. The Republican Party nominated Wendell Willkie in 1940 (though he’d been a Democrat until 1939) because he was perceived as a businessman “with a heart.” Now, the president-elect has chosen Exxon Mobil chief Rex Tillerson for secretary of state. Is a businessman — a great dealmaker, according to the Donald Trump camp — what we need as secretary of state?
Planned Parenthood Gets Criminal Referral
Twice this month, Planned Parenthood has been referred for prosecution in the baby body parts scandal that has engulfed the nation’s largest abortion provider. On December 2nd, the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives referred Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast for prosecution after concluding the committee had ample evidence of “potential criminal activity.”
Ho Ho No: School Choirs Banned From Nativity Celebration
School children in Wake County, North Carolina, will no longer be allowed to sing Christmas carols at an annual Nativity celebration after they received a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based group of atheists, agnostics and free-thinkers. The Freedom From Religion Foundation said the performances at the annual Apex Christmas Nativity Celebration were unconstitutional and could not continue.
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Trump’s Picks: In Defense of Military and Business Leaders
Some seem to believe the election of Donald Trump reflects a general disintegration of American society evidenced by Time magazine’s selection of Trump as “Person of the Year” presiding over a “Divided States of America.” Traditionalist pundits like Christiane Amanpour, who recently melted down over Trump’s election, never fully comprehended American stalwarts like Ronald Reagan and Billy Graham.
Focus, Please
Two events that have major implications for American foreign policy have unfolded in the last 72 hours. Ending days of speculation, President-elect Trump announced [yesterday] that Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil, will be his nominee for secretary of state.
Here’s Why Jeff Sessions Is the Perfect Pick for Attorney General
President-elect Donald Trump has picked Sen. Jeff Sessions to serve as the 84th Attorney General of the United States — and he couldn’t have made a better choice. Throughout his career, Sessions has demonstrated unshakable commitment and fidelity to the Constitution, the rule of law, and protecting the freedom and liberty that is our birthright as Americans.
It’s Not a Junta
President-elect Donald Trump has already committed a grave offense against our system of government by forming a “junta,” according to his critics. The Trump junta consists of three former generals whom the president-elect has tapped for top national-security positions, with others still under consideration. Like much of what Trump does, the military selections have inflamed people who pride themselves on their knowledge and discernment into flights of self-discrediting outrage.
Skating to Freedom
My last Fox Business Network TV show airs Friday. That news pleases some people, like internet trolls who write that they are happy to be “rid of that noted LIAR and falsifier of news” who produces “hit pieces.” Another wrote, “Hopefully the cancer came back to finish him off.” To be clear, I’m not ending “Stossel” because I have cancer. I don’t have cancer. I had a small tumor removed, and, best we can tell, it’s gone. I didn’t even have chemo or radiation.
A New Victim in the War on Small-Biz Bakeries
It is not enough for family-owned pastry shops to bow to the gay marriage mob. Now, they’re being targeted by the social justice mafia.
Less, Not More, Government Will Help Labor
With the nomination of business executive Andy Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants, to be labor secretary, president-elect Donald Trump has picked a businessman who is economically literate and who understands the power of freedom and capitalism.
Whitewashing the Black President’s Legacy
As President Barack Obama’s White House days run out, it’s time for his obsequious courtiers in the liberal media to announce his glorious “legacy.” On Dec. 7, CNN devoted a two-hour prime-time special to the Obama legacy. It was hosted by Fareed Zakaria, a journalist whom Obama had invited to the White House so he could soak in Zakaria’s wisdom and expertise — in other words, so he could flatter a journalist into giving him softball coverage.