Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Hillary Clinton: Tax, Spend and Recession
Poor Hillary Clinton. She’s trying so fervently to come up with at least one new and inspiring idea to jump-start a moribund economy and help the financially stressed middle class. But the left’s idea cupboard is empty. They have nothing to offer except: tax; spend; spin; hit the button again. So in her speech on Thursday on the economy, she proposed last week’s leftover cold porridge. And it doesn’t taste any better today than when President Obama first served it up. Clinton touted her proposed jobs program, which she has said she will launch “in (her) first 100 days (in office).” Sure. But her former boss Barack Obama has had not 100 but close to 3,000 days to come up with a jobs program. Where are the jobs? Where are the pay raises? Where is the growth?
Why Do People Still Donate to Universities?
There was rare good news this month. On August 4, The New York Times published a front-page article headlined, “College Students Protest, Alumni’s Fondness Fades and Checks Shrink.” According to The Times, some college alumni are awakening to the fact that their beloved alma maters are nothing like the decent, open, tolerant, committed-to-learning places they remember. Rather, nearly every college and university in America has become the least open, the least tolerant, the most hate-filled and the most anti-American (and, of course, anti-Israel) mainstream institution in America. As stated in the article: “Alumni from a range of generations say they are baffled by today’s college culture. Among their laments: Students are too wrapped up in racial and identity politics.”
Does Black Success Matter?
We keep hearing that “black lives matter,” but they seem to matter only when that helps politicians to get votes, or when that slogan helps demagogues demonize the police. The other 99 percent of black lives destroyed by people who are not police do not seem to attract nearly as much attention in the media. What about black success? Does that matter? Apparently not so much. We have heard a lot about black students failing to meet academic standards. So you might think that it would be front-page news when some whole ghetto schools not only meet, but exceed, the academic standards of schools in more upscale communities.
What the Past Can Teach Us
While we shouldn’t live in the past, we can certainly learn from it. We are not the first humans to walk the Earth and yet too many, especially the young, suffer from the conceit that history is just a boring subject in school. PBS is rerunning episodes on its award-winning series “American Experience” on modern presidents and the challenges they faced. Each episode retraces what presidents believed to be good ideas at the time -- from Lyndon Johnson’s program to wipe out poverty and defeat the communists in Vietnam, to George W. Bush’s toppling of Saddam Hussein. In each episode, historians, as well as members of those administrations, are interviewed and provide perspective only hindsight can give.
Monday, August 15, 2016
How Does Burning a Gas Station Advance Your Cause?
It was a weekend of violent unrest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A rampaging mob burned businesses and battled with police. The rioting started after a black police officer shot and killed a black suspect. The bad guy had a gun, and when he refused to drop his weapon the officer opened fire. The mob took to the streets, causing all sorts of mayhem. A number of buildings were set ablaze, including a gas station. Five police officers were hurt, one hit by a brick. White people were also purportedly targeted. A number of websites, including Fox Nation, posted a video showing some protesters trying to hunt down white motorists. “They beating up all the white people,” one eyewitness said on the video. We cannot confirm if any were in fact injured.
The Changing Faith of Hillary Clinton
When many conservatives first learned back in 2007 that I had the temerity to write a book on the faith of Hillary Clinton, especially after books on the faiths of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, they looked at me with a mix of amazement and annoyance. *Why would you do that?* My response, however, often surprised them. Yes, I told them that Hillary was, largely, a fairly standard Religious Left Protestant, though with a striking stridency on abortion far to the left of most of the Religious Left. But I always grabbed their attention with two particularly interesting things I stressed in the book: For one, Hillary Clinton supported natural, traditional, biblical marriage, with her faith a primary reason. Second, I noted that Hillary was a solid defender of religious freedom.
The Malcontents
If you had a split screen, you could have watched the 2016 DNC convention in Philadelphia and one of the Communist gatherings that used to take place in Madison Square Garden in the 1930s and, clothing aside, you would have had a hard time figuring which was which. If you tuned in the first night, you’d have seen more flags than they have at the U.N. What you wouldn’t have spotted was the Stars and Stripes. The reason, I suspect, was because the only ones on hand were being burned outside the arena.
Sunday, August 14, 2016
All Eyes on the Silver State
Nevada, which calls itself the “Battle Born State,” actually was born prematurely because of Republicans’ anxiety. Now, 152 years later, it again is a subject of their anxiety. Entering 1864, Abraham Lincoln and his party were intensely, and reasonably, in doubt about his re-election. So, scrambling for every electorate vote, Republicans decided to conjure three from thin air — thin desert air. They began the process of admitting Nevada to the union, even though the 1860 census said its population was 6,857, far short of the 60,000 ostensibly required for statehood. Nine days before the election, the Republican-controlled Congress made Nevada a state (although Gen. Sherman’s Sept. 2 capture of Atlanta probably guaranteed Lincoln’s victory).
Saturday, August 13, 2016
Is Clinton in the Clear?
After FBI Director James Comey refused to pursue charges against Hillary Clinton for her “extremely careless” handling of classified information on her private email server, many assumed that she was clear of any legal jeopardy that might hamper her presidential ambitions. That may not be the case. According to The Daily Caller, “Multiple FBI investigations are underway involving potential corruption charges against the Clinton Foundation. . . The New York-based probe is being led by Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Bharara’s prosecutorial aggressiveness has resulted in a large number of convictions of banks, hedge funds and Wall Street insiders.”
Will Mr. Khan Please Shut Up?
In case you weren’t watching the DNC convention — and if you weren’t, my compliments — you might have missed Khizr Muazzam Khan, father of a Muslim soldier who died fighting for the U.S. in 2004, giving Donald Trump what-for. In a moment that was obviously choreographed by someone connected to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, Mr. Khan pulled out a pocket-size copy of the U.S. Constitution and offered to lend it to Mr. Trump. In case you did miss it, every network and the NY Times has made certain you eventually got to see it or read all about it. Since the convention, Mr. Khan has been on TV more often than Matt Lauer, Jimmy Fallon and “I Love Lucy” reruns.
Friday, August 12, 2016
Hillary’s Latest Scandal
Newly released emails obtained by Judicial Watch are spelling out Hillary Clinton’s pay-to-play scheme between the Clinton Foundation and her work at the State Department. Here’s just one example: UBS, a major European bank, donated $600,000 to the Clinton Foundation and paid Bill Clinton $1.5 million for speeches. In return, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton intervened on the bank’s behalf in a dispute with the IRS. There is much, much more. Keep in mind, friends, that the Obama Justice Department tried to send Virginia’s former Republican governor to jail for a lot less.
The Moral of the Simone Biles Story
We know that America is feeling like a cancer patient at the moment. Doctors explain that there are only two options: amputate a limb or go through chemotherapy, which might save the limb, but also might kill us. We shuffle around in a daze, scarcely believing that there are no good exits from this house of mirrors. So, in the spirit of escapism from our national crisis, let’s turn to the Olympics. It’s not that the Olympics have exactly been a beacon of righteousness through the years. In 1936, Adolf Hitler did his best to make the games an infomercial for the “master race.” (Jesse Owens and the American men’s rowing team did their bit to deflate him.) In 1972, Avery Brundage disgraced the U.S. and the IOC by comparing the murder of 11 Israeli athletes to the exclusion of Rhodesia from the competition. And in 2002, in Salt Lake City, an ice-dancing judge admitted that she had been pressured to vote for the Russians and did so.
Driving Ms. Muhammad
The Olympics are only the latest event where our elites mistake diversity for “history.” One breakout star across the TV networks is Ibtihaj Muhammad, a 30-year-old fencer from New Jersey. While a traditional Catholic woman from Maryland would register a collective yawn, a black Muslim woman in a hijab gets a perfect 10 from the diversity judges. ABC reporter Matt Gutman gushed: “(She is) set to become the first U.S. woman ever to compete at the Olympics wearing a hijab. And she wasn’t at all en garde, sorry for the pun, for breaking barriers and slashing her way into history.” NBC found Muhammad’s mentor, Peter Westbrook, to praise her: “She is an absolute role model for the children, for our organization, for Islamic people, for all Americans all over the world.” On CBS, Charlie Rose said, “Sounds like she’s a superachiever.” Well, no. Actually, Muhammad lost in her second-round sabre match and didn’t move beyond the round of 16.
The Never Ending Politics of Truth
Truth is something that should not be disputed. Facts are facts and truth is truth. The sky appearing blue is a fact. Gravity is a fact. It is true that if you jump from a building you will fall. We are, unfortunately, reaching a moment when facts and truth are in dispute because of the politicization of everything. The debate over climate change is a good example. I know of no one who disputes that the climate changes. After all, we have seasons. Likewise, I know few people who are unwilling to admit that mankind might be affecting the environment. But I find it remarkable that whether the political left in America, of which the environmentalist movement is a part, thinks the world is cooling or warming, the solutions are always the same. Poor countries must stay poor and rich countries must become poor countries.
Nationalism Is Not Necessarily a Bad Thing
Google “Donald Trump” and “nationalism” and you’ll get 1,090,000 results, the large percentage of which are, to judge from the top hits, negative. “Nationalism” is deemed to be bad stuff, maybe even akin to Nazism. But is nationalism always so bad? Not, it seems, for the millions of people around the world watching the Rio Olympics. They watch as the TV networks keep track of the metal count — and they root for the men and women they see representing their nations. Americans were thrilled to see Michael Phelps propel the U.S. team to gold in the freestyle relay and excited to watch 19-year-old Katie Ledecky destroy the field in the 400 meter freestyle. People who watch gymnasts at only four-year intervals were amazed at the skill of the 4-foot-9-inch Simone Biles.
Hillary’s Advantage Is That She’s Boring, Not Shocking
Donald Trump’s supporters complain that the media is fixated on the billionaire’s wild and crazy campaign while ignoring or at least downplaying Hillary Clinton’s gaffes, missteps and outright scandals. And they’re right. There is a double standard. Actually, it’s a multipronged standard. For some in the mainstream media, good old-fashioned left-wing bias is at work. Every four years, the Republican presidential candidate is treated like some alien warlord wandering in from the badlands beyond the frontier to seize power in our glorious capital city.
To Each His Own Olympics
You may be thrilled by the feats of Katie Ledecky, mesmerized by the grace of the women gymnasts, startled by Rio spectators mocking U.S. soccer star Hope Solo with chants of “Zika! Zika!” (the first recorded instance, noted one wit, of a stadium rocking to the invocation of a virus). Allow me, however, to interrupt the prepackaged, heart-tugging, tape-delayed Olympic coverage to bring you the real sporting news of the year. It has just been announced that on November 11 in New York City the World Chess Championship will begin. You scoff, of course. For years, I’ve had to put up with amused puzzlement at my taste in entertainment. (Old joke: How do you do the wave at a chess match? With your eyebrows.) But I remain undaunted.
Hillary Would Give Us a Disastrous Third Obama Term
When it comes to unity, the Democrats talk a good game — but in the end they promote disunity because their electability depends on dividing society into groups and inciting anger, resentment and distrust. I don’t need to cite examples of Democrats’ blaming Republicans for divisiveness and falsely extolling their own aspirations of unity. They are everywhere. It’s what they do, from their talk of our “common humanity,” to their glorification of all kinds of diversity, except diversity of thought, to their proclaimed monopoly on tolerance. It’s ironic that Democrats get away with this lie. It is Republicans, or at least the conservatives among them, who preach that a rising tide lifts all boats — that economic growth across the board will help the most people.
The Entertainment Candidate
Donald Trump is running a top-notch campaign to be a conservative media celebrity. Unfortunately for him, and especially for the Republican Party, this isn’t the same thing as running a good, or even minimally competent, campaign for president. From the beginning, Trump has been the candidate by and for the Entertainment Right — the talk-radio hosts, cable personalities and authors who recognize in Trump their own combative style and find it irresistible. Trump’s campaign has hewed closely to the rules for 21st-century media provocateurs: Always be inflammatory, and never apologize. Wear the media’s outrage as a badge of honor, and attack your critics twice as hard. Repeat as necessary.
Trump Blows Himself Up Again
Donald Trump didn’t listen. Last week I said the only thing that could save his campaign was for him to literally shut up for at least a month. My modest proposal was for his campaign people to lock him in a soundproof booth until November 9th. But forget that. I’ve got a better idea to put the Trump circus train on the right track. Trump’s support in the polls is stuck at about 42 percent. To win, we know he has to get the votes of disaffected Republicans, terrified independents and people who don’t already believe Obama was born in a grass hut in Kenya.