Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Monday, October 3, 2016
NBA Star Insults West Point Cadets
New York Knicks center Joakim Noah makes his living by dribbling a basketball. The cadets at the U.S. Military Academy make their living by protecting a nation that affords Mr. Noah the opportunity to dribble that basketball. So the decent thing to do would be for NBA stars like Mr. Noah to show a little gratitude for these brave young men and women. Instead, Mr. Noah disrespected the West Point cadets and demonstrated once again that an alarming number of professional athletes hold our nation in contempt.
Presidents Make Policy, Generals Make Plans
Over the next two presidential debates, we can expect questions for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump about their respective plans for dealing with ISIS. But should Clinton or Trump even have a plan? Presidents don’t make military plans, generals and admirals do — or, their deputies for operations do. Presidents are responsible for establishing national security policy.
In an Election About Character, Trump and Clinton Are Beyond the Pale
Would you hire a babysitter who lied with impunity? Would you choose a therapist who was a compulsive braggart? Would you want as your accountant or financial adviser someone who trailed the reek of corruption and bottomless avarice? Would you list your home with a real-estate agent who routinely played fast and loose with rules that others must abide by? Would you attend the church of a pastor who spewed insults and threats and trafficked in delusional conspiracy theories? If so, you’ll have no trouble supporting Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton for president.
Shampoo Economics
In the old days, we had Gypsies with crystal balls, seers who saw the future through the medium of tea leaves and phrenologists who claimed to read your future through studying the bumps on your skull. Today, the whole gaggle of them are pretty much gone, but because Nature tends to abhor a vacuum, they’ve left the field clear to economists. There are those who insist that economics is a science. But whereas actual scientists all agree about such things as the existence of gravity, the distance to the moon and such laws as the one that holds that things in motion tend to remain in motion, economists can’t agree about anything.
Sunday, October 2, 2016
Family Bakery Bullied by Militant LGBT Mob Closes
In 2013, a small family bakery in Northwestern Oregon refused to make a cake for a lesbian wedding. The owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa had no idea that their decision to follow the teachings of their Christian faith would lead to a multi-year legal battle. It’s a battle still being waged. Aaron and Melissa Klein were eventually punished by the state of Oregon — fined $135,000 dollars for refusing to participate in the lesbian wedding event. It was the price they had to pay for refusing to violate their conscience.
Why All the Love for the Cubs’ Consistent Failure?
The good news, a commodity in short supply, is that Americans are about to get a respite from the inundating Niagara of candidates’ blather. The bad news is that the respite will be a tsunami of Cubs Gush, which will slosh from sea to shining sea. So, brace yourself for a surfeit of dubious sociology and worse metaphysics. There is something about baseball, and especially about the Chicago National League Ball Club, that triggers — consider this column a trigger warning — incontinent rhapsodizing and nonsensical theorizing by otherwise sensible citizens.
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Trump Ready to Lead
There is a great opinion piece by Indiana Governor Mike Pence in USA Today highlighting the strong leadership qualities of Donald Trump. He stresses the similarities between Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan, as well as how the political establishment reacted to each candidate. Here are a few excerpts: “In 1980, Ronald Reagan was regarded by the Washington political establishment as little more than a cowboy or a celebrity who entered politics late in life. He even made some Republicans uneasy. Along the way, people heard his vision of a renewed America. Americans from all walks of life flocked to a man who was so clearly unbound by Washington niceties and political correctness.”
Dems Try to Hyde Agenda
Imagine wiping the city of Houston completely off the map. That’s how many people would have lost their lives if the Hyde Amendment had never been passed. Two *million* Americans. In the 40 years since Henry Hyde passed his ban on taxpayer-funded abortion, generations of children have celebrated birthdays. They’re alive because Congress realized what everyone should: forcing taxpayers to finance the culture of death is un-American and inhumane. Yet today, as pro-lifers blow out the candles on four decades of life-saving legislation, liberals are already hard at work to snuff future lives out. Starting with the Democratic platform, the president’s party is on the march to destroy the Hyde Amendment — and put Americans back on the hook for the destruction of innocent unborn children.
The Politics of ‘The Shallows’
What ails American democracy? Too much information and too little thought.
Grant Strobl Fought the Pronoun Wars — and Won!
When future generations read about the “Great Gender Pronoun Wars” of the early 21st century, they will most certainly learn of Grant Strobl, a noble and mighty king. “His Majesty” is an unlikely title for a 21-year-old political science major from Grosse Pointe, Michigan. “It was definitely activism by accident,” he told me. In less than 24 hours, the brave conservative single-handedly defeated an army of gender-neutral activists at the University of Michigan. Think David versus a gender-confused Goliath. The University of Michigan recently announced a new initiative to allow students to select their preferred gender pronouns through an online service.
Hip, Hip, Hooray for the Hackers!
Until now, I had regarded computer hackers as evil incarnate. That’s because I thought of them as jerks sitting in their parents’ basement screwing with our computers just for the heck of it. But, I have recently had reason to modify my position, at least so long as they limit the activity to telling us the truth that the NY Times either can’t or, far more likely, refuses to reveal. Starting with the hacking of the DNC files, exposing the fact that the Party big wigs really were stacking the deck against Bernie Sanders, exactly the way he claimed, I have found myself depending on the hackers for my news. Best of all, unlike Fox News, they don’t pretend to be fair and balanced, so I don’t have to put up with Juan Williams, Alan Colmes or Kirsten Powers.
Friday, September 30, 2016
The Not-So Great Debate
The Great Debate already seems weeks ago. I watched every minute of it with my wife and daughter and a glass of good wine. I’ve found it’s the heart-healthiest way to watch a presidential debate, because you can’t scream like hell and wave your arms around with a glass of wine in your hand. We all know that Trump did well in the first 20 minutes of Monday’s debate because he stayed on message. We also know he lost the debate and missed a dozen opportunities to hit Hillary.
The Media Freakout
We are in the midst of an epic media freakout. It is a subset of a larger liberal panic over Donald Trump’s strength in the general election. The mood of the center-left is, “America, how dare you?” The outraged incomprehension is seeping into and, increasingly, driving the coverage of the race. The freakout began a few weeks ago when Donald Trump started to close the polling gap with Hillary Clinton, and picked up intensity as the race essentially became a tie. The media is going to be in a perpetual state of high anxiety and dudgeon until Election Day.
When Facts, Logic and History Don’t Matter
And now, less than six weeks from the election, what is the main event of the day? A fight between the GOP presidential nominee and a former Miss Universe, whom he had 20 years ago called Miss Piggy and other choice pejoratives. Just a few weeks earlier, we were seized by a transient hysteria over a minor Hillary Clinton lung infection hyped to near-mortal status. The latest curiosity is Donald Trump’s 37 sniffles during the first presidential debate. (People count this sort of thing.) Dr. Howard Dean has suggested a possible cocaine addiction.
Trump Threatens Clinton Over Lewinsky — Really?
Donald Trump, always the hero of his own tales, closed out the first presidential debate with a tribute to his own courtesy and high-mindedness: “I was going to say something extremely rough to Hillary, to her family,” he said. “And I said to myself, I can’t do it. I just can’t do it. It’s inappropriate, it’s not nice. But she’s spent hundreds of millions of dollars on negative ads on me.” Later, the candidate’s son, Eric Trump, offered that it required not just magnanimity for Trump to avoid mentioning the topic, but “a lot of courage.” The rhetorical term for what Trump is up to here is called paralipsis. It’s raising something by claiming to abjure it. “I could mention your DUIs, but I’ll refrain.” Thanks. Once the campaign boiled down to two tabloid candidates, this pass was inevitable. I’m old enough to remember 2015, when many in both parties opposed the specter of another Bush or another Clinton precisely because of weariness with all that they represent. The voters decreed otherwise, so let’s iron out a few wrinkles.
Whatever Floats Your Vote
In a race as tight as this one, everything comes down to turnout. And that’s exactly what Democrats must be afraid of after seeing Gallup’s latest numbers. The GOP holds a distinct advantage in the likely voters for the November 8 elections — an 11-point advantage to be exact. For the president’s party, the percentage of Americans planning to head to the ballot booth is at a 16-year low, a drop that analysts blame on their “uninspiring choice” for president. Enthusiasm is significantly lagging for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, especially with young adults — who helped deliver the last two elections for Barack Obama. (Maybe Republicans aren’t the only ones rethinking another four years of this failed liberal experiment.)
Why Didn’t the FBI Give Hillary Clinton Immunity and Spare Us the Drama?
Rather than striking immunity deals with virtually every person who had intimate knowledge of Hillary Clinton’s illegal private server and emails, the Justice Department would have saved everyone some time by offering Clinton protection instead. FBI Director James Comey, who testified in front of two congressional committees this week, still maintains that he was unable to recommend that the DOJ charge Clinton with mishandling classified documents because of insufficient evidence proving “intent” — although the actions themselves are irrefutably illegal. Well, how exactly did he anticipate gathering this proof, when the DOJ had proactively shielded the five people tasked with setting up the private system and then destroying it? Was he hoping to extract a confession directly from Clinton?
What the Debate Tells About How Candidates Would Govern
You’ve heard and read by now lots of spin and speculation about who won and where the polls are going to move after Monday’s presidential debate. We’ll know the answers to these questions soon. The more important question for the long run is how each of these candidates would govern. The debate provides no certain answers to that question, but it does offer some useful clues. Hillary Clinton started off with a laundry list of incremental economic programs — none of which would promote economic growth. Some have already been legislated (equal pay for women, 1963), others are tilted to the upscale (debt-free college). A possible exception: the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, which she has renounced but which she might, as Donald Trump predicted, manage to find acceptable once elected.
ABC Keeps ‘Modernizing’ the Family Leftward
ABC debuted the sitcom “Modern Family” in 2009 in part to push a broader acceptance of same-sex couples. But the cultural deconstructionists cannot rest until the mission is complete, so then they pushed it even further, agitating for a broader acceptance of same-sex marriage as just as sacred as traditional marriage. Now, the deconstructionists are doing it again, this time pushing transgender acceptance...with a transgender child actor. This new initiative came just a few weeks after transgender actors became the latest social justice cause pushed at the Emmy Awards. When he accepted a highly politicized Emmy award for the second year in a row, Jeffrey Tambor of “Transparent” pleaded that he should be the last “cisgender” actor — an actor who “identifies” with his or her biological sex — to play a transgender on television. He said: “Please give transgender talent a chance. Give them auditions. Give them their story.”
When Faith and Politics Collide
Just over a year ago I enrolled in seminary. I had two reasons for doing so. First, I have found myself spending more time than I ever imagined both writing and talking about cultural and faith issues. Second, I had been getting numerous requests for me to preach on Sundays. I turned them all down as I thought it not appropriate to preach without any formal theological training. Naturally, once I enrolled in seminary the invitations to preach ceased. During my journey through seminary I have had a harder and harder time reconciling my faith and politics. I think our faith should challenge us. If our faith and politics align perfectly, we are most likely worshiping idols. All of this has been brought to a head this election season as I have been forced to reconsider my strong opposition to Donald Trump.