Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
The Battle for Religious Freedom
Georgia Republican Governor Nathan Deal recently vetoed H.B. 757, the Georgia Religious Liberty Bill. The governor warned that he would veto any legislation that "allows discrimination in our state in order to protect people of faith." He went on to tell fellow Republicans, who shepherded the bill that they should "recognize that the world is changing around us." Governor Deal wasn't alone in issuing warnings about the bill. Large corporations with a presence in the state threatened to pull operations out of Georgia if the bill passed. Perhaps this was more on Governor Deal's mind than our changing world.
Ice May Be Thawing Between Cruz, GOP Leaders
I wouldn't say that the GOP is falling in love with Ted Cruz, but maybe it's falling in like. In arguably the most improbable political season of our lifetimes, this fact has to rank high on the list of things no one could have seen coming. If they gave out report cards for first-term senators, Cruz would get an "F" in the "plays well with others" category. Party leaders believed that his 2013 gambit to shut down the government over Obamacare was a disaster for everyone but Cruz, and they have harbored a not-so-secret disdain for him since.
The Suicidal Left Throws Bill Clinton Over
This week, the Bernie Sanders revolution finally ate its own. The vultures of the hard left forced former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to sink her own carnivorous beak into the withered flesh of her titular husband, former President Bill Clinton, denouncing his key legislative achievements and relegating him to the dustbin of history.
Bibles Are Being Removed From Missing Man Tributes
It really takes a special kind of low-life to desecrate a military display honoring prisoners of war and those missing in action. Over the past several months the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has waged a campaign to have Bibles removed from "Missing Man" displays located on federal property. They claim the inclusion of the Bible is a violation of federal law. So far at least three VA medical clinics and one Air Force base have complied with the MRFF's demands to cleanse the displays of the Good Book.
Genocide Designation Is a Call to Solidarity Between Domestic and International Church
Last month, the United States formally recognized that a genocide against Middle Eastern Christians and other minorities is taking place at the hands of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. What next?
Another Libertarian Moment?
The Libertarian Party might get more votes this year. Before the primaries, Time Magazine, frequent pusher of trends that do not exist, put Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ken.) on its cover and called him the "most interesting man in politics." Then Paul fizzled, and pundits said the "libertarian moment," if there ever was one, had ended. But Sen. Paul never ran as a libertarian. He ran as a libertarian-ish Republican, and he wasn't particularly convincing when he got to speak in debates. Americans were unimpressed.
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
How Fracking Has Reduced Greenhouse Gases
The U.S. Department of Energy published data last week with some amazing revelations — so amazing that most Americans will find them hard to believe. As a nation, the United States reduced its carbon emissions by 2 percent from last year. Over the past 14 years, our carbon emissions are down more than 10 percent. On a per-unit-of-GDP basis, U.S. carbon emissions are down by closer to 20 percent. Even more stunning: We've reduced our carbon emissions more than virtually any other nation in the world, including most of Europe. How can this be? We never ratified the Kyoto Treaty. We never adopted a national cap-and-trade system, or a carbon tax, as so many of the sanctimonious Europeans have done.
'Pigasus' for President: Chicago 1968 Speaks to 2016
In late August 1968, two months after an assassin killed presidential candidate Senator Robert Kennedy and shortly after Republicans nominated Richard Nixon for president, the Democrats gathered in Chicago to pick their candidate. The Democratic Party "establishment" supported Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who was opposed by antiwar contenders Senator Eugene McCarthy and Senator George McGovern. The culminating point occurred on August 28 when delegates debated two rival Vietnam policy planks.
Liberals' Double Standard on Bathrooms, Boycotts, and Religious Freedom
If it wasn't for double standards, some liberals would have none at all. That seems to be the lesson from the past few weeks, where liberals have displayed three distinct forms of hypocrisy. Liberal governors and mayors signed travel bans to North Carolina and Mississippi, CEOs of major corporations pledged boycotts and relocations, and Bruce Springsteen and Bryan Adams have canceled scheduled concerts in those states.
Warning: White People Singing Rihanna Could Cause 'Microaggressions'
You can't be singing Rihanna's "Umbrella" if you happen to be a white fella. That's what kids learned during a lesson on "privilege" and "microaggressions" in a human relations theory class at the University of Oklahoma. Ah, yes. There's nothing quite like a bit of white-shaming courtesy of the American taxpayers.
Bill Clinton Was Right
Bill Clinton trespassed against the cardinal rule of contemporary Democratic politics, which is that Thou Shalt Not Contradict Black Lives Matter Protesters. Clinton's lapse came at a Philadelphia rally last week. When demonstrators inveighed against the 1994 crime bill signed by Clinton, the former president gave much better than he got. He rebutted them in finger-wagging detail, repeatedly returning to the point that the crime bill sought to diminish the rampant criminality that was destroying black lives.
The Tragic Deterioration of Washington's Great Society Subway
If you live any distance beyond the Capital Beltway you probably didn't notice, but an important part of government in Washington shut down on Wednesday, March 16. That's when the Metro subway system's recently installed general manager, Paul Wiedefeld, ordered a one-day shutdown of the entire 117-mile system for emergency inspection of track-based power cables. The result was not quite as dire as many feared. Some Metro commuters took a day off; others climbed into buses or cars early to weather expected traffic jams. The federal government and the city's lawyers and lobbyists continued to function.
The 'Voice of the People' Fallacy
We hear many fallacies in election years. The fallacy that seems to be most popular this year is that, if Donald Trump comes close to getting the 1,237 delegates required to become the Republican nominee, and that nomination goes instead to someone else, then the convention will have ignored "the voice of the people." Supposedly Republican voters would be outraged, many would stay home on election day, and some might even vote for the Democrats' nominee, whether Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders.
British Muslims Not Assimilating
Whenever conservatives raise concerns about increasing Muslim immigration, many on the left respond by suggesting that the Muslims coming to America are different than the ones in Europe. I don't know why that would be true, but let's pray it is. A new study of British Muslims should set off alarm bells.
The Rule: First Candidate to 1,237 Wins
I have been concerned for some time that forces supporting Donald Trump have intentionally been laying the groundwork for claiming that Trump will have been cheated if he doesn't earn the GOP nomination. When this primary season began, few people gave Ted Cruz a snowball's chance to be in serious contention, but he has repeatedly demonstrated just how much people underestimated him. He not only is the most informed and consistent on policy but also has assembled a grass-roots organization whose sophistication makes Obama's then-cutting-edge 2008 campaign look like 1990.
Scorn in the U.S.A.
He was born to run all right. Bruce Springsteen is blowing off his tour date in North Carolina Friday because the state is daring to let businesses set their own bathroom policies. What a scandalous idea! Like other liberal extremists, The Boss (or is it Bossy?) is furious that the North Carolina government won't barge into board rooms and tell companies how to operate. Apparently he wants to do away with the free market principles that are making conservative states thrive and orchestrate a hostile takeover of businesses. "Some things are more important than a rock show, and this fight against prejudice and bigotry — which is happening as I write — is one of them."
Calls for American Unity Are Either Dishonest or Naive
Just about all candidates for president regularly announce their intent to unite Americans, to "bring us together." It's a gimmick. If they are sincere, they are profoundly naive; if they are just muttering sweet nothings in order to seduce Americans to vote for them, they are manipulative. In his acceptance speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, John Kerry, one of the most polarizing figures in modern American political history, said, "Maybe some just see us divided into those red states and blue states, but I see us as one America: red, white and blue."
A Civics Primer for Fifth Graders (and Donald Trump)
There is much about America and our system of government that every child in our country needs to know. Fifth grade is the year most schools begin teaching "Civics" and American History, but since the majority of public schools do it so poorly, I've prepared a list of 7 basic items that every ten-year-old should know. If anyone sees Donald Trump please share this list with him. I've explained them very simply so that he can understand.
Where Are They Now?
It's called Frontex and, according to its website, the agency "promotes, coordinates and develops European border management in line with the (European Union) fundamental rights charter applying the concept of Integrated Border Management." Except that it isn't. As reported by the UK Daily Mail, "Mass immigration is allowing terrorists to sneak into the EU." In a devastating report, the agency hired by the EU to keep member countries safe from jihadists has admitted what should have been obvious to anyone paying attention and taking seriously their threats.