Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
NBA's Threatening North Carolina Is Textbook Cultural Cronyism
Big business has stomped into another state, trying to impose the values of the cultural left. This time, a governor who dared to stand up for responsible policy is being targeted by big business' bullying over bathrooms. At issue is H.B. 2, a bill North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law last week after it passed the House 83-25 and the Senate 32-0. The bill accomplishes two main objectives. First, it says that private schools, restaurants, stores, and businesses are free to establish whatever bathroom policies they'd like, but that access to government bathrooms will be determined primarily by biological sex.
Why Does This Water Tower Anger Atheists?
The city council in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma was in a bit of a pickle. The city was in the middle of a growth spurt and needed high ground to build a one-million gallon water tower. But the property they needed was owned by the First Baptist Church. So they made a deal with Pastor Nick Garland and the congregation. "We donated the land and the easements for the tower," Pastor Garland told me. "In kind, they said they would paint our name on the water tower." It was a fair trade — all on the up and up.
Why Estonia's Future Matters to the US
I recently stood on the Estonian-Russian border. It was freezing cold and snowing lightly. Looking south along the Narva River, I could see the Estonian city of Narva on the right and the Russian city of Ivangorod on the left. I was standing on Freedom's frontier. This river, maybe 100 yards across, is the dividing line between a free and democratic Europe and an oppressed and autocratic Russia. The two historical castles on each side served as a stark reminder of how contested this region has been for centuries.
Yes, the Delegates Can Decide
Donald Trump has made his first threat to sue over the procedures for selecting delegates to the Republican convention. It surely won't be his last. The Wall Street Journal reported that Ted Cruz may come out of Louisiana with as many as 10 more delegates than Trump, even though the mogul narrowly beat Cruz in the popular vote there. In a tweet, Trump pronounced it "unfair," and worthy of litigation. The Louisiana delegate picture isn't evidence of anything untoward. Trump and Cruz both won 18 delegates on election night. Marco Rubio, since dropped out, won five, and another five are uncommitted. The Cruz campaign has done the nitty-gritty work to see that those delegates are likely Cruz supporters.
Campus Lunacy
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni publishes occasional reports on what college students know. Nearly 10 percent of the college graduates surveyed thought Judith Sheindlin, TV's "Judge Judy," is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court. Less than 20 percent of the college graduates knew the effect of the Emancipation Proclamation. More than a quarter of the college graduates did not know Franklin D. Roosevelt was president during World War II; one-third did not know he was the president who spearheaded the New Deal. But it is little mystery why so many college students are illiterate, innumerate and resistant to understanding. Let's look at it.
Charting a Course Around a Trump Nomination
How can Donald Trump be stopped? For months, conservatives have debated what Trump represents and whether they can or should support him. While millions of voters still have time to make their choice (and still need to be informed about his baleful record), among those pundits, politicians, activists, donors and strategists who've been hashing this out for a seeming eternity, that argument is over. Trump is either someone you can live with — or celebrate — as the standard-bearer of your cause and your party, or he isn't.
How the Clintons Made Donald Trump
Donald Trump is a boor. He's a vulgarian, a liar, an ignoramus. He has only the most cursory grasp of policy, a stentorian voice and a great big set of self-assurance. He's winning the Republican nomination. Why? It is partly because of the Clintons. While the media point and laugh at the Trump reality show carnival, they forget that the Clintons originally took us all to the circus. This week, we found out that Hillary Clinton's email scandal now occupies the attention of 147 FBI agents, and that she will be questioned by the FBI. We found out that her pig husband allegedly snorted cocaine off the table of one of his former lovers in 1983, as well as gallivanted around her place wearing her nightie while playing the saxophone. And the indispensable Judicial Watch released information that the Obama administration is withholding draft indictments of Hillary Clinton, including an indictment over the Whitewater case during her husband's first term in office.
A Better Choice
Trump! Clinton! Is that all there is? No. Fortunately, we have other choices. A recent poll shows that if the election were held today, 11 percent of Americans would vote for a Libertarian, former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson. That's surprising, since last election Johnson got just 1 percent of the vote. This year, he's doing better, probably because Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton hold the highest percentage of "unfavorable" reactions from voters in more than 30 years. I assume the Libertarian total will go higher, since most poll respondents had *no* opinion about Johnson. They probably don't know who he is.
Why Voters Are Turning Off
Although the current colorful, for want of a better word, presidential campaign is attracting attention from voters, indicators are that this attention reflects voters being turned off to the whole process. According to new polling data from Gallup, in the first three months of 2016 the percentage of Americans who say they have given "a lot of thought" to the election increased from 63 percent to 71 percent. However, over the same period, the percentage saying they are "extremely or very enthusiastic" about voting dropped from 48 percent to 43 percent.
Nuclear Jihad: The Threats Are Inside Our Tent
It's not over. It's never over. After last week's deadly airport and subway bombings in Brussels, the Belgian government remains on high alert for jihad attacks and espionage at its nuclear facilities. One Belgian nuke plant security guard was murdered recently and his ID is missing. Two of the Brussels bombers reportedly spied on the home of a top senior scientist in the country's nuclear program. ISIS has been implicated in an alleged insider plot to obtain radioisotopes from one of Belgium's nuclear plants for a dirty bomb. Two former Belgian nuke plant workers left their jobs to fight for ISIS in Syria.
Terrorists Target Turkey
ISIS-inspired terrorism from Syria and Iraq is increasingly spilling over into Turkey. The nation has been rocked by a series of recent bombings that have killed nearly 100 people since the beginning of the year. Today, there are credible reports that a major ISIS attack targeting Jewish children is "imminent." The intelligence was obtained from six ISIS jihadis who were arrested last week.
Last Stand for the Free Exercise of Religion
Many reporters attending oral arguments in the Supreme Court sit in assigned chairs on the far left side of the chamber. These chairs stand behind a double row of massive marble columns. Brass gates, some opened and some closed, stretch between the columns; burgundy curtains, pulled back by cords, hang behind them. Given their assigned seats, some reporters may not be able to see any of the justices holding forth at the front of the chamber. All they hear are their voices.
Snub Hub: Intolerant Libs Try to Blacklist N.C.
North Carolina's policy may be settled — but the dust certainly hasn't. After having their way with political squishes like Georgia's Governor Nathan Deal (R), liberals are beside themselves with Governor Pat McCrory's decision to listen to the voters of his state and repeal Charlotte's hugely unpopular bathroom bill. Big Business is hyperventilating, out-of-state leaders are boycotting, and the ACLU is suing. But does North Carolina regret its decision? Not one bit. Unlike Georgia, McCrory knows the best way to silence a bully is ignore it.
Dumping Tabloid Trash on Ted Cruz
The National Enquirer's name in journalism is synonymous with factually unsupported drivel of the lowest kind. It is a sacred truth that no responsible journalist would reference the kind of garbage found in this tabloid. But somehow it's perfectly appropriate for the same responsible journalists to report the sleaze over and over, emphasizing, of course, that the source is the awful National Enquirer. This is what the networks have done to Sen. Ted Cruz, who the Enquirer recently claimed had affairs with five secret mistresses, including Trump's spokeswoman Katrina Pierson. The unsubstantiated smear should have never seen the light of day.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Georgia Governor Caves to Big Business, Vetoes Religious Freedom Bill
Georgia's Republican Governor Nathan Deal has caved to pressure from big business and special interests and vetoed a very modest religious liberty bill. This shows the lack of courage of many in the political class, and it also highlights the extreme nature of the left and the business community. To these groups, even mild religious liberty protections are unacceptable.
Does Social Connectedness Explain Trump's Appeal?
How can one make sense of the electoral divisions in this year's Republican primaries and caucuses? The contours of Donald Trump's support and opposition don't fall on traditional lines. There's not a regional division, for example. Trump's best states have been Massachusetts, Mississippi and Arizona. We're not seeing the divide between evangelical Christians and others apparent in the 2008 race between Mike Huckabee and John McCain. We're not seeing the suburbs/countryside division of 2012, when in crucial primaries Mitt Romney carried million-plus metro areas and Rick Santorum carried almost all other counties. Trump carried metro Detroit and Chicago — Romney country last time — but lost to Ted Cruz in Raleigh-Durham and Kansas City.
The Free-Trade Paradox
No issue is more entwined in paradox than that of free trade versus protectionism. Here's an example: Polling suggests that voters recognize the benefits of free trade more now than at anytime in many years, even as the presidential candidates advocate more protectionism. The polling company Gallup recently studied public attitudes on trade over the past quarter century. The question Gallup has asked over the years is whether free trade is more of a "threat" to America or an "opportunity." In 2016, 58 percent of respondents said trade was more on opportunity versus 34 percent who said it is a threat. This may not be an overwhelming acclamation for international trade, but it is the most support Gallup has recorded.
Must Terrorism Be the New Normal?
Are the increasing incidents of terrorist attacks in Europe the "new normal"? Must Europeans and Americans become resigned to the inevitability of regular jihadist assaults? Must we endure more meaningless bromides about not "overreacting" because we might offend the world's 1.6 billion Muslims, playing into the hands of terrorists who promote the notion that the "Christian" West is at war with Islam?
Supreme Hypocrisy
If there is one thing that is bipartisan in Washington, it is brazen hypocrisy. Currently there is much indignation being expressed by Democrats because the Republican-controlled Senate refuses to hold confirmation hearings on President Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. The Democrats complain, and the media echo their complaint, that it is the Senate's duty to provide "advice and consent" on the President's appointment of various federal officials. Therefore, according to this claim, the Senate is neglecting its Constitutional duty by refusing even to hold hearings to determine whether the nominee is qualified, and then vote accordingly.
Obama's Unacceptable Love Affair With Communism
Conservatives and other Obama critics are entitled to a big "I told you so," after Obama's stunning admission that he doesn't believe there's that much difference between communism and capitalism. Actually, it's not that stunning to people paying attention. Many of us warned about Obama's Marxist sympathies before he was first elected president, and we've repeatedly pointed it out during his presidency. Obama was raised and mentored by communists and spent many years engaged in community organizing (radical leftist activism). He established himself as the most liberal member of the Senate. Yet our warnings were met with cries of extremism, irrationality and, of course, racism. I wonder what these scolds would say now.