Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Friday, April 8, 2016
A State's Budget Crisis: A Look at the Mess in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has finally announced that he will allow the budget passed by the legislature for the 2015-16 fiscal year to become law. It is now time for the legislature to consider the 2016-17 budget proposal, since the legislature must decide on that budget by June 30. Disagreements about tax and spending policy last year resulted in the longest budget impasse in the state in 60 years. But coming up with a budget that is balanced and politically acceptable to the Republican legislature and the Democratic governor may be even more difficult this year.
North Carolina: We Won't Be Bullied by Big Business Hypocrites
PayPal, the website known for processing online payments, believes grown men have a constitutional right to use the same bathrooms as little girls. So when North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed a bill that banned people from using bathrooms not assigned to their birth sex, PayPal became enraged and retaliated. They canceled plans to open a new operations center in Charlotte – a facility that would've employed more than 400 workers. "The new law perpetuates discrimination and it violates the values and principles that are at the core of PayPal's mission and culture," CEO Dan Schulman wrote in a memorandum on the company's website.
Splendor in the Grassley
If anyone's relieved to be back in session, it's Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kans.). The Kansas Republican got an earful back home when he unexpectedly broke ranks with his fellow Republicans and called for action on President Obama's Supreme Court pick. "I think we have a responsibility to have a hearing [on Merrick Gardland]," he said, to the astonishment of both voters and his party. Within hours, the Tea Party, state activists, and even national groups like FreedomWorks sprang into action, calling the suggestion "outrageous" and vowing to primary Moran. By last Friday, the senator's office was flooded by more than 28,000 emails blasting the conservative for stepping out of line.
Obama's Priorities
We all know the anxiety level in the country is sky high. There is tremendous economic insecurity. Obama's foreign policy is failing us. Our alliances are frayed. Recent polls find that two-thirds of Americans think the country is on the wrong track, nearly as many say their values are under attack, and 57% feel like they are falling further and further behind. There appears to be a war on law enforcement.
Thursday, April 7, 2016
Hey Kids, How Much Privilege Do You Have? Quiz Riles Florida Parents
Kids at Monroe Middle School in Florida got a lesson on privilege the other day — in their Spanish class. "How much privilege do you have?" That was the name of the survey administered to seventh and eighth grade students. It wasn't quite as bad as the white-shaming exercises we've seen on university campuses and in the Armed Forces. But it was certainly inappropriate for a bunch of 12-, 13- and 14-year-olds.
The Extraordinary Courage of Gov. Phil Bryant
On Tuesday, Gov. Phil Bryant of Mississippi signed the Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act into law. To protect religious liberty in his state, he stood up against corporate bullies and leftist pressure groups. The Republican governor should be an inspiration to lawmakers everywhere. In the last few years, states and localities nationwide have prosecuted small businesses for declining involvement in gay marriage ceremonies. We've seen the government do some pretty terrible things, like Washington state trying to bankrupt a 70-year-old florist, or Oregon fining a bakery $135,000 and then placing a gag order on the owners to silence them.
A Tragic Night
At 9:30 p.m. the other night, I was presented with a tragic lesson regarding one of our country's pig-headed policy errors, devised ever so quietly by President Barack Obama in league with progressives all over the country. Most Americans are unaware of this policy — they never voted for it; they never debated it. The progressives are just imposing it on us through stealth. This is the Democrats' latest advance in democratic process.
Wisconsin Results, the Delegate Race, and the Award Goes To...
Before [Tuesday's] voting began, Senator Bernie Sanders had a narrow lead in the polls — 48% to 45% for Hillary Clinton. Evidently, Wisconsin voters were feeling the Bern! [Tuesday] night, Sanders won not by three points, but by 14 points — 57% to 43%. Sanders clearly has what is called "the big Mo" — momentum. He has won six of the last seven Democrat primaries.
What Left-Wing Abortion Extremism?
Donald Trump, when asked, "Do you believe in punishment for abortion?" said, "There has to be some form of punishment." "For the woman?" asked MSNBC's Chris Matthews. "Yeah," said Trump. Hours later, Trump walked it back, and said: "The doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman. The woman is a victim." But the bell was not to be un-rung.
Trump Whines and Whines Until He Loses
On Tuesday night, Senator Ted Cruz, R-TX, won a sweeping victory over 2016 Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump in Wisconsin. Cruz won virtually every demographic, nearly 50 percent of the vote and the vast bulk of the delegates. It's becoming increasingly clear that Trump could fail to reach the necessary 1,237 delegates in order to win the nomination outright on the first ballot at the convention. If so, there's no way he wins the nomination at all.
Obama Claims Power to Make Illegal Immigrants Eligible for Social Security, Disability
Does the president of the United States have the power to unilaterally tell millions of individuals who are violating federal law that he will not enforce that law against them now, that they may continue to violate that law in the future and that he will take action that makes them eligible for federal benefit programs for which they are not currently eligible due to their unlawful status?
The Coming Illegality of Acting Legally
If you haven't heard yet, the release of the so-called Panama Papers has revealed that top global leaders such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iceland's prime minister may be using companies and other business entities created by a Panama-based firm as a way to avoid taxes or conceal wealth. It's creating quite an uproar. Unsurprisingly, with very little evidence of actual illegality on the part of the law firm from which the documents were stolen — or most of its clients — the usual suspects are already calling for sanctions or dramatic and punitive changes to international tax laws.
Ted Cruz Is Surging by Design
People here at Ted Cruz's campaign headquarters are meticulously preparing to win a contested convention, if there is one. Because Donald Trump is a low-energy fellow, Cruz will be positioned to trounce him in Cleveland, where Trump's slide toward earned oblivion would accelerate during a second ballot.
Whose Morality?
In a recent interview for the BBC2 series âInside Obamaâs White House," President Obama sounded somewhat wistful as he spoke to an interviewer about how he has tried to use his voice "to move things toward a more ethical and moral outcome." The question of morals and ethics has been debated since the dawn of humanity. It won't be settled by the shifting winds of politics, because not everyone can agree on what is moral and what is not. Dictionary.com defines morality: "Conformity to the rules of right conduct."
The Politicization of the English Language
Last week, French President Francois Hollande met President Obama in Washington to discuss joint strategies for stopping the sort of radical Islamic terrorists who have killed dozens of innocents in Brussels, Paris and San Bernardino in recent months. Hollande at one point explicitly referred to the violence as "Islamist terrorism."
God & Campaign 2016: Relevant or Remote?
Since my teenage years, I can recall a dozen Presidential elections, beginning with the Nixon, McGovern campaign in 1972. Even though many of my early years were spent growing up in Spain, my interest in US politics was high, stemming from my father's close following of political issues. But as I think back over all the Presidential cycles since 1972, I can think of no election that has been more interesting and contentious than Campaign 2016.
Big Business's Big Problem
The media writes, but does it read? Too few seem to, based on the coverage of Mississippi's new religious liberty law. After Governor Phil Bryant (R-Miss.) signed a bill that essentially reaffirmed the First Amendment, headlines across the country screamed that Mississippi had just given Americans a "license to discriminate." "Mississippi governor signs law allowing businesses to deny service to gay people," some read — regardless of the fact that the measure does no such thing!
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Mississippi Has Taken a Bold Step to Defend Religious Liberty
Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed a religious freedom law Tuesday that will protect people who believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. The Religious Freedom Law will "protect sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions of individuals, organizations and private associations from discriminatory action by state government or its political subdivisions, which would include counties, cities, and institutions of higher learning."
Ruled by Bureaucrat
President Obama opened the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House this year by saying it was a bittersweet moment: It would be his last time hosting it. The term "Easter egg" is also used to indicate little surprises hidden on a website or DVD menu. Of course, those surprises are pleasant and intended to be found. As the Obama administration approaches the end of its term, however, we can expect a different type of surprise — and certainly not the friendly kind.
Do Not Fear the Chalk
Students at the University of Michigan called police the other day — because someone had written Donald Trump's name in chalk. No arrests were made. The episode is part of a nationwide trend of Trump supporters writing pro-Trump messages on sidewalks, stairs and other surfaces at college campuses, where fainting fits are sure to ensue.