Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Welcome to Wealthy Middle Eastern Thug Privilege
You've heard endlessly about "white privilege" from the professional social justice warrior gripers. But rarely does that crusading crowd — or their spiritual leaders in the White House — acknowledge the brutal impact of wealthy Middle Eastern thug privilege in America. I'm looking especially at you, Barack, Michelle and Valerie Jarrett (who hosted Black Lives Matter activists at 1600 Pennsylvania last week). The latest case of WMET privilege involves a well-connected Saudi prince arrested on Wednesday after allegedly sexually assaulting a woman at his $40 million Beverly Hills rental mansion. Witnesses reported seeing a bloodied woman screaming for help as she scrambled over an 8-foot wall surrounding the property. LAPD officers charged 28-year-old Majed Abdulaziz al-Saud with sodomy, battery and false imprisonment.
When the General Assembly Votes, the U.S. Should Abstain
Each year, the United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution condemning the US economic embargo on Cuba. Each year, the United States, joined by a dwindling number of friends, votes against the resolution. Passage is a foregone conclusion. The vote last year was 188-2. The resolution has no legal effect. It is merely a vehicle for inveighing against Washington, and for pretending that communist Cuba's long record of economic failure and human-rights abuse is somehow the fault of the United States.
War on Women: Planned Parenthood Killed About 438 Unborn Baby Girls Per Day
Rep. Gerry Connolly — who represents Virginia suburbs that rank among the wealthiest communities in America because they are populated with Washington bureaucrats, lobbyists and federal contractors — is a classic example of the modern American elitist. Or to put it another way: He is a leftist ideologue on the public payroll. When Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards testified in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee this week, Connolly fervently attempted to present himself as a champion of women.
Media Trust Hits All-Time Low
Washington Post political reporter Chris Cillizza is one of those self-impressed Watergate babies who thinks everything the media report brings great value to society. His latest article was titled "Trust in the media is at an all-time low. That's a terrible thing for all of us." It is? Automobile manufacturers can claim we need a car to get anywhere. The farmers and food companies will impress on the world its need to eat. But for the news media — especially this news media — to suggest civilization as we know it will cease to exist without their profound wisdom and professionalism is arrogant. And laughable. And apparently a lot of people agree with us.
Planned Parenthood's Cecile the Lyin'
While businesses start closing the books on another fiscal year, Congress is fighting to close the books on taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood — permanently. Caught in a scandal with an unprecedented "ick" factor, organization President Cecile Richards took the stand for the first time to try to justify the grisly baby harvesting ring her group has been hiding.
Unnecessary Loss of Life
War is nasty, brutal and costly. In our latest wars, many of the casualties suffered by American troops are a direct result of their having to obey rules of engagement created by politicians who have never set foot on — or even seen — a battlefield. Today's battlefield commanders must be alert to the media and do-gooders who are all too ready to demonize troops involved in a battle that produces noncombatant deaths, so-called collateral damage.
The Cult of Victims
The world has enough real problems without declaring everyone a "victim." Bill Clinton says Hillary is a victim of a right-wing conspiracy. Lindsay Lohan, when jailed for driving drunk and breaking parole, says she's a victim of cruel and unusual punishment. Michael Sam says his NFL career would have gone better had he not come out as gay. A Philadelphia dentist caught groping his patients' breasts said he is a victim of frotteurism, a disease that compels you to fondle breasts. Really. People benefit by playing the victim.
Defunding Planned Parenthood Takes Leadership
House Speaker John Boehner, who will step down at the end of October, said on "Face the Nation" Sunday, "We have got groups here in town, members of the House and Senate here in town, who whip people into a frenzy believing they can accomplish things that they know, they know are never going to happen." The Speaker was referring to the latest threat by conservative Republicans to hold up spending authorization for the government if it includes $500 million in taxpayer funds going to Planned Parenthood.
Hillary Clinton's Transparent Lies
How the Democratic Presidential Candidate Kept an Email Controversy Alive
Refugees and the Moral Crisis of Our National Debt
As a college student, in an era when college tuition was much lower, I was able to pay my college bills without taking any loans. First, I had the support of my parents. They paid my bill in full for my freshman year, with the understanding that they did not have sufficient resources to continue that contribution for four years. In February of that year, I started working as a part-time janitor in a middle school. I spent most of my hours vacuuming, during which time I memorized vocabulary words for the foreign language I was studying, multitasking as much as I could. I accepted extra hours whenever they were offered, which often meant shoveling sidewalks and mowing grass.
To Replace Boehner, Why Not Newt Gingrich for Speaker?
Almost exactly seven years ago, House Speaker John Boehner said of the Wall Street bailout bill, "I think this thing is a crap sandwich" — but he'd vote for it anyway. I remarked at the time, "It's crap sandwiches for as far as the eye can see" — and I was right. Boehner finally had his fill of the meal, opting to push away from the table, as it were. On Friday, he announced he'll be resigning the speakership and his seat. Boehner has become a lightning rod for a large segment of the base that is simply fed up with GOP failures, both real and imagined, in the age of Obama.
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Why Forcing Non-Profits to Disclose Their Donors Would Damage Free Speech
Critics of the current campaign process for state and federal offices are urging states and Congress to require nonprofit advocacy organizations to disclose the identities of their donors to the government, and thus the public, when they engage in political speech and discussion of public policy issues that might have an effect on an election. However, such forced disclosure may very well violate free speech and associational rights under the Constitution.
Feminists Should Be Terrified of Carly
Carly Fiorina is a no-nonsense former business executive who is showing she can play — and throw elbows — with the big boys in the Republican presidential nomination battle. Feminists have noticed, but their admiration is tinged with dread — and it should be. An eloquent, fearless critic of abortion, the latest outsider to climb into the Republican race is a clear and present danger to what feminists hold most dear. Even if she had said nothing else at the CNN debate, Fiorina would have stood out for her gut-punch of a statement about the horror of the guerrilla Planned Parenthood videos capturing the ghoulish organ harvesting that is an important side business of the organization (the main business, of course, is aborting babies).
Cultural Surrenderists
While many believe the most dangerous people in the world today are Islamic fanatics, they are mistaken. The pale in comparison to the Cultural Surrenderists (CS). The Cultural Surrenderists — on both sides of the Atlantic — are those who believe Western culture is something for which they owe the world an ongoing apology. That apology manifests itself in a number of ways, the foremost of which are the contemptible concepts known as multiculturalism and diversity. Both of them are based on the idea that all cultures, customs, religions and belief systems are equally viable, and that no one societal ethos is better than any other.
Fighting for Religious Freedom
Last week's Values Voter Summit was a smashing success. The event, the premier gathering of social conservatives in Washington, D.C., is always a highlight of my year. There are many serious issues confronting our nation right now. But one of the most critical is the collapse of religious freedom in the world and the increasing persecution of Christians and Jews. That was the focus of my remarks at the Values Voter Summit last week.
GOP, Let Obama Shut It Down and Own It
Establishment Republicans inside and outside Washington miss the grassroots' point. Even if we don't eventually prevail with defunding Planned Parenthood, we need to take this issue to the American people. Establishment types believe that just as we are finally poised to recapture the White House, crazy tea party extremists are about to mess everything up because voters would blame and punish the GOP in 2016 for a shutdown. But they always tell us to wait until the next election. When we didn't control the House, they told us to wait until we did. Same with the Senate. Now they say we have to wait until Jeb Bush is president.
John Boehner: Then and Now
The announcement by House Speaker John Boehner that he is retiring at the end of October stunned Washington where life is all about grabbing power and holding on to it, often until death they do part. At a meeting with reporters, Boehner said, "My first job as speaker is to protect the institution." Really? Is that why Ohio voters sent him to Washington in 16 elections and his Republican colleagues elected and re-elected him speaker? Did he take an oath to preserve, protect and defend the institution of the House or the Constitution, which, if followed, offers protection enough?
Americans Still Voting With Their Feet, Fleeing Blue States
So-called progressives love to talk about how their policies will create a workers' paradise. Why is it, then, day after day, month after month, year after year, people are fleeing liberal blue states for conservative red states? New census data on where we live and where we moved to in 2014 shows that the top seven states with the biggest percentage increases in inbound migration from other states are, in order: North Dakota, Nevada, South Carolina, Colorado, Florida, Arizona and Texas. All of these states are politically red, except Colorado, which is purple.
Cruz Makes Hay With Straw Poll
Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) may have taken top honors, but there were plenty of winners at this year's Values Voter Summit! In a jam-packed weekend that featured everything from presidential candidates to grassroots celebrities, the greatest victory belonged to the conservative movement. Ten years into what even our adversaries call "one of the country's highest-profile conservative gatherings," the crowd was electric.
The 'Affordable Housing' Fraud
Nowhere has there been so much hand-wringing over a lack of "affordable housing," as among politicians and others in coastal California. And nobody has done more to make housing unaffordable than those same politicians and their supporters. A recent survey showed that the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco was just over $3,500. Some people are paying $1,800 a month just to rent a bunk bed in a San Francisco apartment. It is not just in San Francisco that putting a roof over your head can take a big chunk out of your pay check. The whole Bay Area is like that. Thirty miles away, Palo Alto home prices are similarly unbelievable.