Right Opinion

Jon Stewart, Reagan-Mocking Obama Hack

In November of 2002, Washington Post reporter-editor Bob Woodward unveiled excerpts of his latest book, "Bush at War," and created a big stir by revealing that Fox News boss Roger Ailes had sent a "back-channel message" to the Bush White House shortly after 9/11. He had insisted the president talk tough against the terrorists. The liberal media seized on this report as proof that the Fox News Channel was a tool of George W. Bush (or maybe it was that Bush was a tool of Fox). But all Ailes had done was encourage the president to rally the country after the worst domestic terrorist attack in our history. Was this press-driven controversy fueled by anti-conservative biases? Consider this: At the same time Ailes was supporting Bush, CBS anchor Dan Rather was breaking down on the Letterman show and declaring "George Bush is the President. He makes the decisions, and, you know, it's just one American, wherever he wants me to line up, just tell me where."

Creating a Case for Conservatism

Being conservative in a politically correct culture has never been easy. Whether you're a politician trying to explain a controversial sound-bite, or a voter attempting to defend your stance on a hot-button issue to co-workers, you either grow a thick skin — or learn to keep quiet. Sadly, you get used to having your motives impugned by people who assume that no one could possibly believe what you believe. You must have some ulterior motive, right? Say, for example, we need less regulation, and you'll be accused of shilling for some corporation. Call for more defense spending, and you're a warmonger.

Barack's Great Gambit

The plot thickens! As we all know, the inspector general of the intelligence community has discovered that a small number of a small number of emails on Hillary Rodham Clinton's personal, albeit mysterious, server were, in fact, classified. She as recently as this weekend denied that they were classified, but we shall see. There could be many more classified documents on that server. After all, she herself admits there were some 30,000 more emails. At any rate, the inspector general has made a "security referral" to the Department of Justice. According to federal law, the FBI will now begin an investigation of Clinton's server and, presumably, of her entire correspondence. At the outset of this imbroglio in early March, all she wanted to do was run for the highest office in the land. Now she may be running for her life ... once again. All this is because of an inspector general whose name and duties are not known to the wide public.

Why Do Bill and Hillary Clinton Still Get a Pass?

Donald Trump's ex-wife, Ivana, recently denied a 30-year-old allegation that Donald Trump raped her. The allegation, according to the New York Daily News, stems from the book "The Last Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump" by Harry Hurt III. The News wrote: "Hurt's 1993 book ... cited a divorce deposition, in which Ivana Trump claimed her then-husband sexually attacked her. ... In a rage, Trump allegedly tore out clumps of his wife's hair, the book claimed, and ripped off her clothes and assaulted her. 'According to versions she repeats to some of her closest confidantes, 'he raped me.' ... "Ivana Trump herself, in a statement that ended up on the first page of the book, admitted to there having been an ugly night between herself and Trump in 1989, but said she hadn't used the word 'rape' in her deposition literally."

The Return of the Grad-Tax Hustle

President Obama: Out of (Touch with) Africa

President Obama's sentimental journey to East Africa should have been a harmonious one. He used the occasion of a toast to Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta to joke about his own search for his birth certificate. The usual round of VIP visits and dinners were marred, however, by this president's insistence on pushing his radical social agenda on Africans. He lectured the leaders of Kenya about election violence. Meanwhile, Mr. Obama ignored the burgeoning Planned Parenthood scandal back home in the U.S.A. While deploring violence in Kenya's elections that took 1,000 lives in 2007, the President has no remedy for the violence of Planned Parenthood — those traffickers in human flesh. Each day in America, this outfit kills 800 unborn children. And now we know they market their hearts, lungs and livers.

With Iran Deal, Obama Makes Bad History

It came two days after the announcement of the nuclear agreement with Iran, yet little mention was made on July 16 of the 70th anniversary of the first nuclear explosion, near Alamogordo, New Mexico. The anniversary underscored that the agreement attempts to thwart proliferation of technology seven decades old. Nuclear-weapons technology has become markedly more sophisticated since 1945. But not so sophisticated that nations with sufficient money and determination cannot master or acquire it. Iran's determination is probably related to America's demonstration, in Iraq and Libya, of the perils of not having nuclear weapons. Critics who think more severe sanctions are achievable and would break Iran's determination must answer this: When have sanctions caused a large nation to surrender what it considers a vital national security interest? Critics have, however, amply demonstrated two things:

Voters to GOP: We're Just Not That Into Immigrants

For years, Republican candidates have been assured by their political consultants that amnesty is a runaway hit with the public. Then they always come in for a zinger of a surprise when the American people are finally able to express themselves on the subject. (Sometimes it seems as if political consultants are in the game only to make money.) Washington has tried to sneak through three amnesties in the last decade — in 2006, 2007 and 2013. Each time, amnesty had the full support of the media, the White House, leaders of both political parties, big campaign donors and lobbyists. And every time, as soon as the public got wind of what was happening, the politicians scattered like roaches and the loudest amnesty proponent in the room would suddenly be demanding "border security first!"

America Needs a Sensible Approach to Illegal Immigration

Can we be honest about illegal immigration? It is a common challenge to almost every advanced Western country that is adjacent to poorer nations. American employers and ethnic activists have long colluded to weaken border enforcement and render immigration law meaningless. The former wanted greater profits from cheaper labor, the latter wished more political clout for themselves. Mexico conspired, too. It received billions of easy dollars in remittances from its expatriates in America. Mexico had few qualms about letting millions of its own citizens illegally cross its northern border into the United States — even though the Mexican government would never tolerate millions of Central Americans illegally crossing the border to become permanent residents of Mexico.

Debates vs. Debates

When it comes to debates the Oxford Union, which bills itself as the "world's most prestigious debating society," remains the gold standard. Begun in 1823, The Union, in modern times, has hosted debates that have included such luminaries as Ronald Reagan and the Dalai Lama. The Oxford Union debates produce useful information. The same cannot be said for U.S. presidential debates. Next week, 10 Republican presidential candidates will gather on a stage in Cleveland, Ohio, behind podiums like "Jeopardy" contestants. With so many candidates having so little time, little useful information will be dispensed. More likely the all-male cast will be looking for ways to squeeze in their rehearsed sound bites, which will be replayed in their campaign ads and, they hope, on major news programs. But not to leave anyone out, Fox News has just announced a prequel to the main debate for all the other GOP candidates who failed to meet the requirements for the primetime event. So now Carly Fiorina, George Pataki and Sen. Lindsey Graham will also get their chance to say little of substance.

Good Intentions and Unintended Effects of the Minimum Wage

In November 2016, District of Columbia voters may get a chance to vote on a proposal to raise the hourly minimum wage to $15. If approved, the measure would lift D.C.'s minimum wage to be on a par with those in such liberal cities as Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. But though the $4.50 jump from its current level might help a few workers, it would hurt many others, alongside consumers and businesses in some parts of the city. On the surface, this might seem like a way to increase the standard of living for lower-income workers in the district, but in reality, the policy would most likely backfire. For instance, research by economists David Neumark of the University of California, Irvine, William Wascher of the Federal Reserve Board and Mark Schweitzer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland shows that minimum wages increase poverty — and hence poverty reduction shouldn't be expected as a benefit of raising the minimum wage. That's because, contrary to common belief, the relationship between low wages and poverty is extremely weak.

Huckabee Blasts Bush: 'We Need a Churchill, Not a Chamberlain'

Former Gov. Mike Huckabee's passionate defense of Israel has caused a massive puckering among Democrats and Establishment Republicans — including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. "This is about whether we want to stand against tyrants and tyranny," the former Arkansas governor told me. Bush called on Huckabee to "tone down the rhetoric" over President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran. Last weekend, Huckabee called the president's plan idiotic and said that President Obama will ultimately "take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven."

How to Kill the Summer Job

I had a lot of summer jobs. I was a foot messenger in New York for a couple of summers. I worked as a receptionist and mail room flunky. Before my junior year of high school, I briefly sold ice cream snacks — sort of yuppie bonbons — on the street for a company called Love Bites. The uniform was a tight red T-shirt (with a cupid over the heart), a straw hat, cane and snug brown shorts. When my manager asked me to work weekend nights in the (famously gay) West Village, I defected to a company that sold Italian ices. First, I didn't want to work nights. But at 16, I also wasn't ready to say, "Hey mister, would you like a Love Bite?" to the gang leaving the Stonewall Inn. Truth be told, all I wanted out of most of these gigs was beer money. Today, however, psychologists, educators and economists all talk about the benefits of summer jobs in the context of acquiring "life skills."

Dealing With Donald Trump

A businessman once told me that in business, when things are not working, sometimes you have to "throw a brick through the window." Sometimes shock is the only thing that will shake up an entrenched status quo. A brick smashing through glass might be the only thing that will get attention. Donald Trump is a businessman who understands this. This is what he is doing and it's working. There's a lot of frustration in America today, and there should be.

Governed by Zealots

The government's environmental rules defeat even environmentalists. Thomas Collier is a Democrat who managed environmental policy for Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Then he noticed a mining opportunity in Alaska, one he calls "the single largest deposit of gold and silver that is not being developed in the entire world." Tom's company hired hundreds of people to study the Pebble Mine's potential environmental impact, a first step before asking the Environmental Protection Agency for permission to dig. Usually, the EPA analyzes a company's study, then does its own research, then rules. But in this case, the EPA did something odd — it rejected the mine before Pebble even got its application in.

The Second Indictment of Dylann Roof Is Worse Than Redundant

New Charges Against the Charleston Shooter Highlight the Unconstitutional Absurdity of the Federal Hate Crime Statute

Obama Cronyism + Your Personal Data = Trouble

It's the most far-reaching scandal in Washington that no one wants to talk about: Tens of millions of federal employees had their personal information hacked as a result of Obama administration incompetence and political favoritism. Ethnic community organizer-turned-Office of Personnel Management head Katherine Archuleta recklessly eschewed basic cybersecurity in favor of politically correct "diversity" initiatives during her disastrous crony tenure. This Beltway business-as-usual created an irresistible opportunity for hackers to reach out and grab massive amounts of sensitive data — compromising everyone from rank-and-file government employees to CIA spies. Could it get worse? You betcha.

Canadian Islam Converts Plotted to Kill Jewish Children

Lest they grow up to be adult Jews.

Laughing Over Dead Babies? Media Bored

The Center for Medical Progress has now issued a third recording of Planned Parenthood officials explaining their grotesque trafficking in baby body parts. It is even more devastating than the first two. The "news" media barely covered the second installment. They will probably pass over this one altogether. Trump World is apparently far more important than the extermination of babies for profit. The star of the new video is Holly O'Donnell, a young phlebotomist who worked for six months as a "procurement technician" for a company called Stem Express, which buys baby "specimens" from Planned Parenthood. She thought she would just be drawing blood. She had no idea she'd be called to dissect babies. She fainted on her first day of training after being instructed to pick up a baby's leg with a pair of tweezers.

What We Learn From Football

In the coming days, a million or more teenage boys will eagerly show up at their high school campuses weeks before regular classes start. They will plan to spend their whole day at school, pay close attention to their instructors, and work as hard as they can. They will spend time in the classroom and time in the field, and they will all be focused on a single, venerable all-American goal: becoming part of a winning football team. Football is America's greatest game for boys, not only because of the lessons it teaches but also because of the broad range of young men who can play the game and learn those lessons.