Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Political Translations
It is amazing how many different ways the same thing can be said, creating totally different impressions. For example, when President Barack Obama says that defeating ISIS is going to take a long time, how is that different from saying that he is going to do very little, very slowly? It is saying the same thing in different words.
Have a Happy, Politics-Free Thanksgiving
Many people naturally assume that since I work in political journalism, I must breathe, drink and eat politics 24/7/365 — including on the Thanksgiving holiday. The thought of it gives me indigestion. Self-absorbed creatures who have no life outside the Beltway world are the most tiresome ogres. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest advised Americans "sitting around the Thanksgiving table" to talk about gun control.
The New York Times Book Review Cheaters
The Bible is the best-selling book of all time, but The New York Times would have to consign it to the ghetto for "Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous" books. That's what "The Gray Lady" has done to David Limbaugh and his new book, "The Emmaus Code: Finding Jesus in the Old Testament." Paul Bedard at The Washington Examiner revealed that on the newspaper's Nov. 29 best-seller chart, the Times didn't put David Limbaugh's book at No. 8 on the nonfiction list, where it belonged. They set it aside in the "Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous" category.
The Death of Free Speech
Four in 10 young Americans have no idea what America is. That's the takeaway from a new Pew Research poll showing that 40 percent of Americans aged 18-34 say that the government should be able to prevent people from making "statements that are offensive to minority groups." This same group of young people has granted broad awareness to the culture of "microaggression" — unintended slights taken as grave insults by their victims; they've also called for "trigger warnings," alerts that certain communications may dredge up unpleasant past memories or ideas.
We Are Less Safe
There is little doubt that the world has become a more dangerous place since Barack Obama became president. The Nobel Committee should demand its Peace Prize back. As America retreats, our enemies fill the void. There is news [from Tuesday] that a Russian jet was shot down by Turkish fighters. Turkey is a member of NATO, and it claims that the Russian jet repeatedly violated Turkish airspace. [Yesterday's] action reportedly marks the first time NATO has shot down a Russian aircraft since the 1950s.
Obama’s Citizenship Push for Immigrants the Focus of New Judicial Watch Lawsuit
Further proof that the Obama administration is a menace to the rule of law, our nation's security, and our republican form of government can be found in the background behind just one new Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit. Judicial Watch attorneys filed the lawsuit last month to obtain records related to letters sent by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to current green card holders, urging individuals to become naturalized U.S. citizens prior to the 2016 election.
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Obama’s Unilateral Immigration Amnesty Plan Gets to the Supreme Court
On Friday, the U.S. Justice Department filed a 35-page petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review Texas v. U.S., the case filed by 26 states against President Obama's immigration amnesty plan. The government is appealing a preliminary injunction that stopped implementation of Obama's amnesty plan, which was issued by a federal district court and upheld by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Nov. 9.
VA Christmas Tree Ban Causes Yuletide Uprising
Folks around Salem, Virginia, were ready to jingle the government's bells after they implemented a ban on Christmas trees and religious Christmas carols in the public spaces of the local VA hospital. The holiday hullabaloo began last week when workers received an email announcing that Christmas trees would no longer be allowed in public spaces at the Salem Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Terrorists as 'Tourists'
President Obama has put a new twist on the Islamic invasion now taking place across Europe and the United States. Speaking to reporters last week during his visit to the Philippines, the president compared Syrian refugees to "tourists," saying they are no bigger a threat than people who come to sightsee and visit attractions.
Who Created These Campus Whiners?
Remember the campus unrest in the 1960s? Whether or not you agreed with the students, they were protesting about things of great consequence — civil rights, the military draft, the Vietnam War. They had chants such as "Hell no, we won't go." Those were the good old days. Now we are witnessing whiny college kids marching in the streets, screaming obscenities or taking over the university president's office, and for what? Feeling slighted? Having their feelings hurt? Talk about rebels without a cause.
Be Afraid ... of Obama
According to a new Fox News poll, 83% of Americans think it is likely that ISIS will attempt to attack America in the near future. President Obama's refusal to acknowledge and counter the threats facing the United States and Western Civilization is likely contributing to the fear and anxiety that Americans are feeling. There is less and less trust even in some corners of the left that Obama is capable or willing to steer the ship of state through these storm-filled waters.
American Universities Begin to Implode
For over half a century, American universities, with few exceptions, have ceased teaching and begun indoctrinating. In the last few weeks, this downhill spiral has accelerated. The university is now a caricature of an educational institution. It is difficult to come up with an idea or policy that is more absurd than the ideas and policies that now dominate American campuses. The University of California, once an elite public institution, now circulates a list of "microaggressions" that students and faculty must be careful to avoid lest they engage in racism and bigotry.
Which Party Will Emerge From Its Gathering Storm?
Each of our two political parties, ancient by world standards, seems to be facing a gathering storm. Part of the gathering storm for Republicans is Donald Trump's candidacy and his persistent lead in most primary polls. He is given to outlandish proposals and lacks the temperamental ballast and government experience that general election voters usually seek in a president.
The Disappearing Governors
There is a painful irony in a recent decision of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, on the side of Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, whom the U.S. Department of Justice tried to stop from making charter schools widely available to minority youngsters in his state. The Circuit Court's decision over-ruled a lower court decision on the side of the Justice Department, which was opposing the large-scale creation of charter schools in Louisiana, on grounds that this would interfere with long-standing federal government efforts to racially integrate public schools.
The America-Basher in Chief Rolls On
How could America have twice elected a president who not only can't stand America but also won't perform his constitutional duty of defending it? Even some former administration officials and rank-and-file Democrats are finally recognizing that there is something strange about a commander in chief who declines to listen to his advisers on terrorism, won't read their daily briefings and is uninterested in their threat assessments.
GOP Hopefuls Hope to Break the ISIS
While the rest of the West hunkers down to shore up their security plans, President Obama has been jet-setting to Asia to talk climate change. Well, the world is heating up all right — but it has nothing to do with greenhouse gas. Regardless, the president seems intent on minimizing the crisis that even his own party seems to recognize. On the hot seat over his plan to flood the U.S. with at least 10,000 Syrians (and who knows how many terrorists hiding among the refugees), the White House's latest approach seems to be ignoring ISIS into submission.
Monday, November 23, 2015
5 Questions That Expose the Errors of Climate Alarmism
As the UN climate summit in Paris draws near, people are asking us for questions they can raise at various public meetings — at churches, schools, universities, community organizations, etc. — to expose the errors of climate alarmism. Here are five...
A New College President’s First Address
The recrudescence of college radicalism over recent weeks has been highlighted by stunningly craven responses by college administrators and presidents, bringing into bold relief the suicidal impulses of America's supposed academic elite. However, let us imagine, as a thought experiment, what might happen if a new college president with a different set of priorities was vaulted into office, say, an interim-president charged with the task of dealing with contumacious crowds bent on taking over the university. As a public service, I offer the following comments for this individual's first address to fellow administrators, faculty, and students.
At 60, National Review's Battle of Ideas Is as Spirited as Ever
If gratitude is the quintessential conservative virtue, then Thanksgiving must be the quintessential conservative holiday. And with Thanksgiving 2015 comes an additional reason for gratefulness on the right: National Review has turned 60 and is marking the occasion with a grand anniversary issue. In a column some years ago, I characterized NR, which was launched by William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955, as "the publication that blew the wind into the sails of American conservatism." I wrote of first discovering the magazine as a 17-year-old college sophomore, and of my exhilaration at encountering in its pages "words and arguments that gave shape and coherence to my own inchoate political beliefs," packaged in a style that was "feisty, smart, playful, elegant."
RIP Van Prelutsky's Diary
I often find myself wondering what Rip Van Winkle would make of America if he suddenly awoke from an especially long snooze. I hardly know what to make of it and I've been wide awake all along. For instance, in recent weeks, we have seen an assistant high school football coach, Joe Kennedy of Bremerton (WA) High School, suspended, albeit with pay, for having the audacity of kneeling on the field after a game and praying. I don't know the nature of his prayers, but since it was after the game ended, I imagine he was either giving thanks that nobody was injured or perhaps that they'd won.