Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
How to Structure Infrastructure Spending
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has a plan to jump-start the economy. It would require an additional $250 billion in federal infrastructure spending over five years — on top of the $250 billion over the next five years that Congress already wants to spend — along with the creation of a $25 billion federal infrastructure bank.
In Israel, the More Things Change...
More than a decade after my 19th trip to Israel and the Middle East, this 20th visit shows how some things have changed, but the important ones remain the same. What one notices first is the large amount of new construction, which suggests a certain Israeli permanency against religious opposition, hatred and threats of annihilation perhaps no other country has had to endure. Second are the many prosperous Arab neighborhoods, which defies much of the propaganda broadcast to the world about how Israelis mistreat Arabs and Muslims, locking them in poverty.
Putin Pouts
Truth be told, I once rather admired Vladimir Putin, as George W. Bush rather admired him. I cannot say, as Bush can, that I looked into his eyes and "was able to get a sense of his soul." But his nation has suffered through a long century, when the Western world had achieved so much. True, the Russian despots put the Western world through dreadful travail, but in terms of wealth and happiness, we did OK. The 20th century has been the best, by far, for the West — at least in material terms. Meanwhile, the Russian despots were veritable jailers to their countrymen and they cost them dearly. At the end of the Cold War, Russia was an emerging nation.
Chicagoland: A Tale of Two Tragedies
In October 2014, 17-year-old Laquan McDonald was shot and killed by Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke. The dash-cam video of the shooting was not released until a few days ago, when ordered by a judge. Right before the video's release, the county prosecutor announced the intention to charge Van Dyke with first-degree murder. The excessive charge and the timing were done, presumably, to mollify potential protesters because the prosecutor called the investigation "ongoing."
Military Pros Split From Obama
White House aides were reaching for the Maalox [Tuesday] as their messaging strategy clearly went off the tracks. While Obama was in Paris this week marshaling world leaders to tackle the threat of climate change, his top defense chiefs were on Capitol Hill asserting that Islamic terrorism is a greater danger to our country. During a House Armed Services Committee hearing [Tuesday], Rep. Ryan Zinke, a retired Navy Seal commander, asked Secretary of Defense Ash Carter whether ISIS and other Islamic terrorist groups represented the most imminent and dangerous threat facing the country today.
America Should Be Cautious as Well as Compassionate When Accepting Refugees
Americans always have welcomed those fleeing danger and oppression abroad. Some of the earliest Americas crossed the Atlantic to escape religious persecution in Great Britain. We should continue to offer sanctuary to those in need. Christians, especially, should be compassionate to those who face death for their beliefs. But in today's world we must be cautious as well. After all, the first responsibility of the government in Washington is to those who already are here. We can enjoy our liberties only when our lives are secure.
Wise Men Still Seek Repeal
When Americans went around the table last Thursday to say what they were grateful for, ObamaCare probably wasn't one of them. Despite the millions spent in PR, the president's disaster of a health care law hasn't made it out of the basement of public opinion in months. The bottom-dwelling numbers continued in last week's polls, with barely 38 percent approval for a law that was supposed to usher in a new era of affordable care.
Good Grief! Obama Thinks Christmas Is About Loving Tiny Trees
President Obama took a break from saving the icebergs to weigh in on what he believes to be the true meaning of Christmas — loving tiny trees. The president, along with the first lady, delivered their homage to foliage during an appearance on a television program recognizing the 50th anniversary of "A Charlie Brown Christmas." "For half a century, people of all ages have gathered around the tv to watch Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus and the rest of the gang teach us the true meaning of Christmas," Mrs. Obama said during a taping of ABC's "It's Your 50th Christmas, Charlie Brown."
Making the Nation More Secure
You'll find charts galore in the 2016 Index of U.S. Military Strength, but two at the start of the detailed report are particularly troubling. One shows the overall state of our military. It's not "very strong" or even "strong," according to the foreign-policy experts who wrote the index, but "marginal" for all branches except one — the Army, which is rated as "weak." The other chart notes the threats to our vital interests. They range from "elevated" for Iran and Middle East terrorism, to "high" for Russia, China and Afghanistan-Pakistan terrorism, to "severe" for North Korea.
South Carolina's Predictive Power
Sen. Tim Scott, who evidently has not received the memo explaining that politics is a grim and bitter business, laughs easily and often, as when, during lunch in this city's humming downtown, he explains that South Carolina's Lowcountry is benefiting from what are called "halfbacks." These are migrants who moved from Northern states to Florida in search of warmth but, finding high prices and congestion, then moved halfway back, settling in South Carolina. Doing so, they have located in the state where, Scott believes and history suggests, the 2016 Republican presidential nomination will begin to come to closure.
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Judge Throws Out Lawsuit Filed by Those Who Found a WWI Memorial Cross Offensive
In a decision on Monday that preserves the thanks of a nation for the sacrifice of Americans who died in World War I, Maryland federal judge Deborah Chasanow (a Clinton appointee) threw out a lawsuit filed by the American Humanist Association over a forty-foot-tall war memorial that is almost 100 years old.
State Department Rushed Approval for Hillary Clinton’s Memoirs
We've been stonewalled for years on our Benghazi and Clinton cash Freedom of Information requests and lawsuits by the State Department. However, if you are Hillary Clinton, the State Department will rubber stamp your proposed, perhaps with sensitive information that should not see the light of day, in record time.
Obama's Deflate-Gate
Why is the administration so driven to punish nuns that it cheated to win?
A Resurgence of Intolerance
Storm trooper tactics by bands of college students making ideological demands across the country, and immediate preemptive surrender by college administrators — such as at the University of Missouri recently — bring back memories of the 1960s, for those of us old enough to remember what it was like being there, and seeing first-hand how painful events unfolded.
Shots in the Park
After Officer Timothy Loehmann fatally shot a 12-year-old boy named Tamir Rice at a Cleveland park in November 2014, police sources fed two exculpating details to the press: Tamir had disregarded Loehmann's command to raise his hands, and had instead brandished an Airsoft pellet gun that looked just like a real pistol. Two days later, surveillance camera footage showed neither of those claims was true.
President Obama's Imaginary World
President Obama lives in a world all his own. It's a world in which he's widely beloved but also misunderstood, a world in which everyone is racist except for those who support him, a world in which his foreign policy has been heroically successful and his domestic policy even more so. President Obama lives in Fantasyland. In this Fantasyland, it's not enough for President Obama to define the world around him in self-serving fashion. He must define his enemies the same way.
Donald Schwarzentrump
Although there is a sense that Donald Trump's unusual and outlandish run for the presidency is the first ever of its kind, this is not entirely true. Californians, such as myself, remember how Arnold Schwarzenegger captured the governorship of California in 2003, in a campaign remarkably similar to Trump's. Obviously, governor of California is not the same as president of the United States, but it is the chief executive of the nation's most populous state. That year, California's incumbent Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, was pulled from office in a recall election. It was a time of disillusionment and cynicism toward the governor and government, amidst a poor economy and rising energy prices.
The Smear
This week my TV show is on gun control. I interviewed activist Leah Barrett, who wants stricter gun laws. I pointed out that after most states *loosened* gun laws to let people carry guns, 29 peer-reviewed studies examined the effect. Eighteen found less crime, 10 found no difference and only one found an increase. "Which studies?" Barrett snapped. "John Lott's? His research has been *totally* discredited." "Discredited" is a word the anti-gun activists use a lot. It's as if they speak from the same playbook.
Blame for Planned Parenthood Killings Rests With Shooter Alone
"No more baby parts." As of this writing, that statement by Robert Lewis Dear is the only evidence that the "Planned Parenthood shooter" in Colorado Springs, Colo., was motivated by anti-abortion rhetoric. Dear's comment came amid a rambling interview that left law enforcement officials unsure what his motivations were.
The Debate Continues
The debate over whether Muslims in America celebrated during the 9/11 attacks continues. The Trump campaign [Tuesday] produced a New York Post column written by Professor Fred Siegel three days after the 9/11 attacks. (How is it that none of the fact checkers and media mavens could find it?)