Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Did #NeverTrumpers Hear Hillary Clinton’s Frightening Speech?
My #NeverTrump colleagues and friends make valid points about Donald Trump. I know — I made them myself during the Republican primaries. But it is vital to understand what will happen if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency. This country will be so far from what the Founding Fathers wanted, so different from what the #NeverTrumpers have always fought for, that it is almost impossible to see how America could recover from her — or any Democrat’s — victory. Thanks to the universities’ leftist indoctrination of two generations of Americans, and thanks to Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Party is now in all but name a socialist party. In fact, it is actually to the left of many European socialist parties.
Monday, August 1, 2016
Last Call for Frederick Weller
For more than six decades, Frederick Weller belonged to the Plessis Volunteer Fire Department in northern New York State. He had joined in 1955, as soon as he and his young wife and their infant daughter had moved into the little house on County Route 3. Since the house was literally next to the fire station, he was invariably the first to respond when the siren went off. He was the first once again on the evening of July 19, when the wail of the siren woke him from a catnap in his kitchen. At 85, Fred no longer had the strength and speed of a young man; it had been at least a dozen years since he could suit up to actively battle fires.
What Must De Gaulle Be Thinking?
My first reaction to the slaughter in Nice, France, was “Not again?!” My second was to wonder if that whirring sound I keep hearing is Charles De Gaulle spinning in his grave. I don’t believe that France’s wartime leader, the man who was so proud of France that he removed it from NATO, insisting that the nation must be solely responsible for its own defense, and who would go on to make France the fourth nation with a nuclear arsenal, would merely stand around like current President Hollande, seemingly content to wring his hands and deliver eulogies every few months.
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Presidential Abuse of the Pardoning Power Must Be Curbed
Those of us concerned over President Barack Obama’s excessive use of his power under Art. II, §2, Cl. 1 of the Constitution to grant pardons and commutations to hundreds of drug dealers, many of whom also were convicted of firearms offenses (and therefore, contrary to what the president said, not nonviolent offenders), should realize that he is not the first president to misuse that authority. When former President Bill Clinton was reminiscing this week in his prime-time speech to the nation at the Democratic National Convention, he forgot to mention the scandalous pardons he issued at the end of his administration.
How Entangled With Russia Is Trump?
To gauge the opportunism and hypocrisy that define Donald Trump’s Republican Party, consider this: Imagine the scalding rhetoric that would have boiled from the likes of Newt Gingrich, that Metternich of many green rooms, if Hillary Clinton had offhandedly undermined the collective security architecture of U.S. foreign policy since NATO was created in 1949. Vladimir Putin’s regime is saturating Europe with anti-Americanism, buying print and broadcast media, pliable journalists and other opinion leaders, and funding fringe political parties, think tanks and cultural institutions. (Putin is again following Hitler’s playbook; read Alan Furst’s historical novel “Mission to Paris,” set in pre-war France.) Putin is etching with acid a picture of America as ignorant, narcissistic and, especially, unreliable. Trump validates every component of this indictment, even saying that the U.S. commitment to NATO’s foundational principle — an attack on one member is an attack on all — is not categorical.
Saturday, July 30, 2016
Newspaper Rejects Ad Over the Word ‘Christian’
The owners of a Christian bookstore in Knoxville, Tennessee, were dumbfounded after the News Sentinel rejected their ad because it included an offensive word — “Christian.” Lois McGinnis and her family own Cedar Springs Christian Store. They recently decided to close a second location of the store so they decided to place an ad in the classified section of the newspaper, which is owned by Gannett. The advertisement read: “Store closing sale — Cedar Springs Christian Store — Clinton Highway location — All merchandise, fixtures, slat walls must go. Sale through August 13, phone 865.947.XXX.” Mrs. McGinnis placed the ad on July 26. It was supposed to run on July 28. But when she opened up the newspaper, the ad was nowhere to be found.
The Rise of the ‘Safe Socialists’
The Democratic Party has perhaps never been so radical or so conventional. The Democrats are now to the left of President Barack Obama and are desperately trying to placate the teary-eyed, obstreperous shock troops of the Bernie Sanders Revolution, yet they also are portraying themselves as the party of sobriety and traditional political norms. This year, Democrats want to fight the man and be the man, and running against Donald Trump, they might manage the feat.
U.S. Policy Should Work to Transform Iran
In around 100 days America will be witnessing a crucial election. In the meantime, much will be done on both sides of the national divide, and this year we may see more than the usual political maneuvering in the run-up to this election. Regardless of the outcome, the next president will face the same unique national security challenges. The Middle East is in a greater crisis than ever before and according to various analysts, it is heading toward anarchy. The scenes of defenseless people getting killed in Syria have only grown more painful over the past year, even as they have become less prevalent on our TV screens. Islamic extremism and the resulting terrorism is now targeting Western Europe, America and the Middle East with unprecedented barbarity, and there is no easy response to it.
Officer Down
Just when it seems that tensions might be relaxing a bit, there comes the heartbreaking news of another police shooting. Late [Thursday] night, two San Diego officers, members of the gang suppression unit, were shot during a routine traffic stop. Sadly, one of these courageous men has since died. We know from the news — Dallas, Baton Rouge and now San Diego — that the men and women who protect us on the thin blue line have become targets. Their job was always a difficult one, but now those who hunt criminals are being hunted. What was once unthinkable — killing a cop — has seemingly become a sport.
Democratic Voters: Here Comes the Shun
The glass ceiling isn’t the only thing Hillary Clinton shattered this week. She may have also fractured her own party. After adopting the most radical platform in DNC history, some Democrats worry that the party is about to learn a hard lesson about its extreme social stance. The incredible shrinking tent is having a major effect on the base, which warns that the country is nowhere near Clinton’s fanatical approach to abortion.
The Trump Conversion
My readers all know that I have been lukewarm about Donald Trump’s candidacy from the very beginning. But I have seen the light. Any man who could generate so much respect and, well, love, from all of those who know him best — his wife and kids — must be far more than the sum of his occasionally goofy parts. As for his wife, Melania, I received two very telling emails in the wake of her address at the convention. A reader named Ralph wanted me to know that he was hoping that the convention would provide him with a reason to vote for Trump, and, happily, “It did! I’m voting for Melania.”
Friday, July 29, 2016
The Democratic Convention: Mission Partly Accomplished
It was a variant on a traditional convention for a party seeking a third straight term in the White House, attempting to overcome an apparent post-convention bounce for the opposition’s candidate: shades of 1988 or 2000 or 2008. Usually it starts with a valedictory speech by the incumbent president, followed by celebration of the new nominee and ending with a rousing acceptance speech. This year’s Democratic convention in Philadelphia was different, because circumstances were different. Monday was about unifying the party, Tuesday about humanizing the nominee, Wednesday about disqualifying the opponent, and Thursday had sure-to-be-overlooked minor events leading to Hillary Clinton’s acceptance speech.
The Mess of the European Union Banking System — Are Italian Banks Doomed?
In January, European Union (EU) bureaucrats based in Brussels passed an EU banking reform referred to as the BRRD. The BRRD stands for Banking Recovery and Resolution Directive. The reform rules were aimed at shielding EU taxpayers from bailing out troubled EU banks with taxpayer-sourced funding. The rules were modeled after the Cyprus banking crisis solution referred to as a “bail-in.” A bail-in is where bank bond holders and large bank depositors are all placed at the front of the line and used as funding sources to offset a write-down of bad bank loans. Taxpayer-based funding (a bailout) becomes a last resort.
When Assisted Suicide Becomes Coercive
Even the best intentions cannot reverse the insidious effects of a wrong policy. When those who advocate for assisted suicide cite a benevolent desire to relieve suffering, the horrifying results of such a practice still lie just beneath the surface. Recently, an elderly Vermont woman found herself repeatedly pressured to commit assisted suicide. Her grave ailment? Only a broken wrist. Nevertheless, staff at her rehab center “repeatedly asked the elderly woman if she was in pain or depressed; then they would remind her that she could commit doctor-prescribed suicide under the new law.”
Forgiving John Hinckley
A federal judge has ruled that John Hinckley Jr., the mentally disturbed man who tried to assassinate my father 35 years ago, will be set free in about a week. Many people, including members of my own family, think it’s a terrible injustice that Hinckley, now 61, will be allowed to leave the mental hospital and live permanently with his elderly mother in Virginia. I don’t. Before I explain, I’d like to remind people of what my father said and did in the days following the events of March 30, 1981.
What’s the Case for Hillary?
“The best darn change-maker I ever met in my entire life.” So said Bill Clinton in making the case for his wife at the Democratic National Convention. Considering that Bernie Sanders ran as the author of a political revolution and Donald Trump as the man who would “kick over the table” (to quote Newt Gingrich) in Washington, “change-maker” does not exactly make the heart race. Which is the fundamental problem with the Clinton campaign. What precisely is it about? Why is she running in the first place? Like most dynastic candidates (most famously Ted Kennedy in 1979), she really doesn’t know. She seeks the office because, well, it’s the next — the final — step on the ladder.
What New Right Is This?
The Republicans spent their week in Cleveland talking about terrorism and the lack of jobs around the country. Democrats spent much more energy in Philadelphia talking about confiscating gun rights and letting men in my daughter’s bathroom. Curiously, the Democrats did spend a lot more time talking about God than the GOP did. On Wednesday night, President Obama gave a stirring address that, in part, was the Republican response to Donald Trump. In part it was a stirring defense of progressivism. But like Bill Clinton totally skipping the year 1998 in his speech, Barack Obama totally skipped over the lack of economic growth during his entire tenure in office. Yes, unemployment is down. But that has more to do with people giving up looking for jobs than with new jobs being created.
Where Does a Patriot Turn in 2016?
Where does a true patriot turn in the 2016 presidential election? The Democratic Party’s national convention is attempting to lay claim to the patriot mantle. Yet the party is not quite there. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was heckled with chants of “no more war.” The Code Pink wing lost the nomination this year, but it won the platform — and may yet win it all in the next cycle. President Barack Obama seeded his own speech with patriotic grace notes, and though he recoils from Donald Trump, his horror at Trump’s style seemingly blinds him to their similarities. On substance, they are more alike than not. This shouldn’t be shocking, considering that Trump has been a Democrat for most of his life. What is stunning is the degree to which so many patriots whose eyes water at the flag and the national anthem imagine that Trump is a patriot in the same mold.
If David Duke Won, Wouldn’t Republicans Have to Vote for Him?
When David Duke announced last week that he would be running for Senate in Louisiana, GOP Chairman Reince Priebus swiftly sent out a tweet assuring America that the former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard’s “hateful bigotry [has] no place in the Republican Party & the RNC will never support his candidacy under any circumstance.” No major party should ever consider supporting a candidate with a long history of vile bigotry — even if the candidate had a shot at winning the race. But the argument itself doesn’t really mesh with what Priebus and others have been telling me this election cycle.
Anti-Semitism on the Rise
The ancient evil of anti-Semitism is on the rise. And for all the talk of tolerance and diversity, one of the most dangerous places for a Jew today is on an American university campus. A new study that monitored activity at more than 100 American colleges and universities since 2015, found a dramatic increase in anti-Semitic events in the first half of this year.