Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Obama and Communist China Agree
Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and President Barack Obama rendezvoused Saturday, Sept. 3, in the People’s Republic of China. Thus unfolded a moment of unusual clarity in the struggle between those who believe in individual liberty and those who believe government should plan and control our lives. The purpose of the meeting? The Communist leader and the president handed over to the secretary general documents declaring their nations were officially joining the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Corrupt Academics and the Media
Some are puzzled by the dishonesty, lack of character and sheer stupidity of many people in the media. But seeing as most of them are college graduates, they don’t bear the full blame. They are taught by dishonest and irresponsible academics. Let’s look at it. “A Clash of Police Policies,” a column written by Dr. Thomas Sowell, presents some readily available statistics: “Homicide rates among black males went down by 18 percent in the 1940s and by 22 percent in the 1950s. It was in the 1960s, when the ideas of Chief Justice (Earl) Warren and others triumphed, that this long decline in homicide rates among black males reversed and skyrocketed by 89 percent, wiping out all the progress of the previous 20 years.” Academics and the media blame poverty and discrimination for today’s crime. No one bothers to ask why crime was falling in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s, when blacks faced far greater poverty and discrimination.
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Obama Defends Anti-American 49ers QB Kaepernick
President Obama defended NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s decision not to stand during the playing of the National Anthem calling the controversial move “sincere.” “As a general matter, when it comes to the flag, and the National Anthem and the meaning that that holds for our men and women in uniform and those that fought for us — that is a tough thing for them to get past, to then hear what his deeper concerns are,” Obama said. “But I don’t doubt his sincerity. I think he cares about some real, legitimate issues that need to be talked about and, if nothing else, what he’s done is generated more conversation about some topics that need to be talked about.” The president, speaking at the G20 economic summit in China, said Kaepernick had a “constitutional right” to protest.
Don’t Make a Federal Case Out of It!
The Democrats are now playing the Russia card. As Donald Trump rises in the polls against an increasingly unpopular Hillary Clinton, Democrats are raising the specter of the nefarious Vladimir Putin. Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s famous reset of relations was a bust, but we are supposed to trust her to handle Putin in the future. More important, the Democrats are sowing grounds to challenge the election, relying on their unnatural ability to squeeze, as if by magic, extra votes from the courtroom. There may be an even more insidious objective, however, than swaying the 2016 result. Outgoing Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, never a fan of election fair play, warned of Russian tampering and called for an FBI investigation. This followed warnings by Jeh Johnson, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, of potential cyber-attacks come November. He indicated he was considering designating the election system “critical infrastructure.”
Trump, Republicans and the ‘Principles’ Question
All #NeverTrump conservatives maintain that their decision to never vote for Donald Trump is guided by their principles. I have no doubt that this is true. But some of them seem to imply, or at least might think, that conservatives who vote for Trump have abandoned their principles. Indeed, the charge of compromising on principle is explicitly levied at Republican politicians and members of the Republican “establishment” who support Trump. I cannot speak for all conservatives who are voting for Trump, but I can speak for many in making this assertion: We have the same principles as the #NeverTrumpers, especially those of us who strongly opposed nominating Trump. That’s why we opposed him, after all. Almost everything that prevents #NeverTrumpers from voting for Trump also troubled us about the candidate. (I should note that some of us are less troubled today.)
The EU’s Taxing Problem
Economics was not one of my favorite subjects in college, so I avoided economic courses. But I do know a few things about human nature. If you tax income at too high a rate, corporations will look elsewhere for relief. Take Ireland. In 1991, Apple Corporation cut a deal with the Irish government so that only a certain bracket of its earnings would be taxed, giving it, writes Business Insider, “...a dramatically lower tax rate than it would have to pay in the U.S.” In return, Apple promised jobs, lots of jobs, which it provided. The company currently employs 4,000 at its Cork campus and announced in November that it will expand that number by 1,000 by 2017. It is estimated there are 18,000 Apple jobs across the country, including over 5,000 direct Apple employees.
Misleading Statistics
Mark Twain famously said that there were three kinds of lies — “lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Since this is an election year, we can expect to hear plenty of all three kinds. Even if the statistics themselves are absolutely accurate, the words that describe what they are measuring can be grossly misleading. Household income statistics are an obvious example. When we hear about how much more income the top 20 percent of households make, compared to the bottom 20 percent of households, one key fact is usually left out. There are millions more people in the top 20 percent of households than in the bottom 20 percent of households.
Death Tax Is the Unfairest Tax of All
It was in 1916 — 100 years ago this year — that America made a big, big mistake, one that has done significant damage to our economy and the fairness of our tax system for an entire century. We are talking about the estate tax, more popularly known as the death tax. The tax is in the news again because Hillary Clinton wants to raise the tax at death from 40 percent to 45 percent and impose it on far more small family-owned businesses, farms and ranches. Donald Trump wants to eliminate this unfair tax, because a lifetime of paying income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, dividend taxes, capital gains taxes, payroll taxes and employee taxes should be enough. Almost every small-business association in America agrees and has endorsed the Trump plan.
Monday, September 5, 2016
High School Performs Jaw-Dropping Show to Honor Troops, Police
These days it seems that celebrating America is not exactly politically correct, whether its public schools banning the U.S. flag or professional football players refusing to stand for the Star-Spangled Banner. We’ve seen protesters burn Old Glory while politicians bicker about whether these great United States are still a most exceptional country. But there’s a little high school on the shores of Lake Michigan that still believes in America. They still believe in concepts like God and Country, duty and honor — the idea that we are still that shining city on a hill. And what they folks at Mona Shores High School did before the Thursday night football game on Sept. 1st has folks all across the fruited plain grabbing for a hanky.
Things I Hate
In compiling all the things that offend me, I’m not sure where to start or if I have the time or space to get to all of them. But let’s give it a shot. I hate computer passwords. I hate having to keep track of unrelated letters and numbers just so that I won’t be hacked. The thing is, everything I have to say about anything is stuff I write about. Besides, as we’ve seen with secret federal websites, if someone wants in, they’re going to crack the code even if it’s as complicated as my dog’s name spelled backwards. And inasmuch as I’m not silly enough to do banking online, the only thing those passwords are good for is driving me nuts if I happen to forget one.
Sunday, September 4, 2016
School May Drop Valedictorians Over ‘Unhealthy Competition’
A public school district near Louisville, Kentucky, has come down with a bad case of what I call “Participation Trophy Syndrome,” or PTS. The Greater Clark County School Board in Jeffersonville, Indiana, is considering a plan to eliminate the valedictorian system because it creates “unhealthy competition,” according to Supt. Andrew Melin. Unhealthy competition? Is he serious? Did a kid suffer a concussion while trying to parse a participle?
Which Candidate Will Raise your Wage? (Hint: It’s Not Hillary)
Stagnant wages are the dominant theme of this year’s presidential election. Appropriately so. According to the (pro-labor) Economic Policy Institute, the median wage has risen only 6 percent in real terms over the past three decades. Low-wage workers have actually seen a 5 percent decline. So what are the candidates promising to do about that? Although they often talk about wages, political candidates almost never advocate policies that would credibly make them higher. This year, Donald Trump is an exception. He is advocating a policy change that will increase the income of the average family by an estimated $4,000 a year within the next four years. And here is a surprise: That policy change has nothing to do with immigration. Or foreign trade. In fact, it is something Trump almost never talks about. For that matter, Hillary Clinton doesn’t talk about it either.
Israel Doesn’t Need American Foreign Aid
A longtime reader, unabashedly Zionist, chastises me. “I can’t believe you’re going to vote for Gary Johnson for president,” she writes. “You’ve always been a great supporter of Israel. How can you be with a candidate who wants to eliminate U.S. aid to Israel?” I replied that Johnson, the Libertarian Party nominee, has a number of positions I strongly disagree with. But this isn’t one of them. I want to eliminate U.S. aid to Israel too. Johnson has said that he “advocate[s] ending all foreign aid” and has criticized the federal government for “spending us deeper and deeper into debt while we shell out billions in foreign aid we can no longer afford.” The Libertarian platform endorses a policy of no foreign intervention, “including military and economic aid.”
Baseball’s Storyteller, Our Friend
For 67 years, the son of Vincent and Bridget Scully, immigrants who came to New York City from County Cavan, Ireland, has been plying his trade. For eight years on the East Coast and 59 on the West Coast, on radio and television, he has strolled with Brooklyn Dodgers fans and then Los Angeles Dodgers fans down the long, winding road of baseball’s seasons. In an era with a surfeit of shoddiness, two things are well-made — major league baseball and Vin Scully’s broadcasts of it. Although he uses language fluently and precisely, he is not a poet. He is something equally dignified and exemplary but less celebrated: He is a craftsman. Scully, the most famous and beloved person in Southern California, is not a movie star, but has the at-ease, old-shoe persona of Jimmy Stewart. With his shock of red hair and maple syrup voice, Scully seems half his 88 years.
Saturday, September 3, 2016
Yes, America First
Donald Trump’s speech in Arizona has occasioned wailing and rending of garments among the commentariat and “respectable” people everywhere. At bottom, the cause of the freakout is simple: Trump believes in immigration laws, and the country’s elite really doesn’t. Minus a few trademark excesses that are too ingrained in the Trump shtick to abandon at this point — e.g., we are going to build a wall and Mexico is going to pay for it — Trump’s speech was rock-solid on policy. The core of it represents what, more or less, any realistic regime of immigration enforcement would look like.
The Way Things Are
These are very weird times, indeed. For openers, we have the two most unpopular candidates in history facing off for the presidency. In the past, we were accustomed to 50% of the electorate being miserable once the votes were counted. In 2016, it appears that number will jump to 60 or 65%. Having said that, I still don’t understand those people who by word or deed express a preference for Hillary Clinton. Although Trump can be oafish, rude and outrageous, those failings seem almost cute when compared to the endless lies, insatiable greed and risks to national security, for which Mrs. Clinton has come to be known.
Can Anxiety Beat Depression in November?
Trump inches up in the polls. Perhaps the reason is not him but Hillary.
Atheists Fear Hotel Bible Might Cause Spontaneous Conversion
The Good Book has been banished from rooms at a hotel operated by Arizona State University. The religious cleansing of the Thunderbird Executive Inn took place after the Freedom From Religion Foundation complained. It was a story first reported by Billy Hallowell of Deseret News. “Providing Bibles to Inn guests sends the message that ASU endorses the religious texts,” attorney Madeline Ziegler wrote to the university. The FFRF is a group of perpetually offended atheists and agnostic whack-a-doodles from Wisconsin. They are very unpleasant and very litigious people.
Closing the Gap
Donald Trump had a good week and Hillary Clinton had a bad one. That’s not just my opinion. The polls confirm it. Survey after survey this week found Trump closing the gap with Clinton. For example: A Fox News poll found Clinton leading Trump by just two points — 41% to 39%. Earlier this month, Clinton led Trump by nine points in the same poll. The latest Rasmussen poll has Trump leading by one point — 40% to 39% for Clinton. Last week, Rasmussen had Clinton leading 42% to 38%. In addition, there is positive movement in key states too. A series of polls by Emerson College found Hillary leading Trump by five points in Michigan (45% to 40%), three points in Pennsylvania (46% to 43%) and the candidates were tied at 43% in Ohio. In Wisconsin, a Marquette University poll found Trump just three points behind Hillary. Earlier this month, the same poll had him down 15 points! And in Virginia, where Trump trailed by as much as 19 points earlier this month, a new Hampton University poll finds Clinton leading by only two points — 43% to 41%.
Friday, September 2, 2016
Hey NFL — Meet a Public School That Loves America
It seems like every day there’s a news story about a school banning the U.S. flag or a second-rate professional football player hating on America. These days it’s not politically correct to say that you are proud to be an American. So you can imagine my delight when a reader told me about a group of patriots at a Michigan middle school just a stone’s throw from the Muskegon River. Boys and girls at Big Rapids Middle School gathered around the flag pole on Monday — the first day of the new school year. A trumpeter played Reveille as they raised a crisp, new American flag. And then, a huge crowd of students and teachers began reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.