Right Opinion

How to Rescue Families Trapped in Violence, Despair and Joblessness

The scenes of Baltimore set ablaze have many Americans thinking: What can be done to rescue families trapped in an inner-city culture of violence, despair and joblessness? There are no easy answers, but down the road from Baltimore in Washington, D.C., an education program is giving children in poor neighborhoods a big lift up. The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which George W. Bush signed into law in 2004, has so far funded private school tuition for nearly 5,000 students, 95 percent of whom are African-American. They attend religious schools, music and arts schools, even elite college-prep schools. Last month at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, I met with about 20 parents and children who participate in the program. I also visited several of these families in their homes — which are located in some of the most beaten-down neighborhoods in the city, places that in many ways resemble the trouble spots in Baltimore.

A 'Damascus Road' Vision for Castro?

You might have another notion entirely. I prefer to see the fruits of Raul Castro's semi-conversion to Catholicism before reaching conclusions as to his sincerity. "I read all the speeches of the pope, his commentaries," said Raul on Sunday, following a meeting at the Vatican with the hugely popular Pope Francis, "and if the pope continues this way, I will go back to praying and go back to the church. I'm not joking." Magnifico! And then how quickly do the Cuban peoples' shackles fall off? Freedom of speech returns ... when? Not to mention, in the present context, freedom of religion? Liberal admirers of Pope Francis are likely to seize on Raul's Vatican epiphany as heightened evidence of the pope's unanticipated impact on the secular world: his high ratings in the polls; his friendliness to social outcasts; the rapture he excites when the media catch him downplaying the "culture wars."

Liberty Grads Begin Jeb Search

Jeb Bush was addressing the Class of 2015, but most eyes were on 2016. While other presidential hopefuls were speaking to voters, the unofficial candidate was talking to graduates at Liberty University's commencement ceremony. The weekend's festivities drew plenty of attention — not just because Liberty is the largest Christian university in America, but because many realized that this was an important opportunity for Jeb to connect with evangelicals. Like Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who announced his candidacy at Liberty, the Florida Governor seized the moment to highlight core values like life, religious liberty, faith, and family. From sex trafficking to Israel, Jeb knew which notes to hit with the young, conservative base. And while the speech touched on plenty of issues, religious freedom was easily the most prominent.

The Real Takeaways From the Halperin-Cruz Interview

Liberal media honcho Mark Halperin really showed his "colors" as he tried to de-Hispanify Sen. Ted Cruz in an interview for Bloomberg Politics over the weekend. If you like arrogant, condescending, rude, insolent and patronizing Beltway journalism, you may appreciate Halperin's performance. If you are a person of ordinary sensibilities, however, and not so intoxicated with the leftist worldview that you are incapable of dispassionately assessing the segment, you will have a different reaction. What first struck me about the interview was not so much the objectively asinine questions Halperin asked but his obvious motive and attitude in asking them. Aside from a few throwaways, all of his questions were aimed at exposing Cruz as an inauthentic Hispanic. And as insulting as that is, there is something more noteworthy about it that some are missing in all the hubbub about the interview.

The British Elections

"Shocked," "surprised," "stunned" were some of the words used by broadcasters, columnists, political "experts" and pollsters when a Conservative Party victory was forecast by exit polls on election night. Former Liberal Democrat Party leader Paddy Ashdown was so certain the exit polls were wrong that he announced on the BBC he would publicly eat his hat if they were right. British chefs may now be considering whether a traditional bowler or a Carnaby Snap Brim from Christys’ would make the most palatable meal. When the actual results were in — a Conservative sweep, with the exception of Scotland — the experts were even more gobsmacked. How could this have happened? They had predicted an outcome too close to call, a hung Parliament and the possibility that Labour Leader Ed Miliband, who ran a campaign attacking "the rich" and promised higher taxes, was poised to become the next prime minister.

Big Surprise in Britain

Conservatives Beat Labour — and the Polls

The Death of the Green Energy Movement

The green energy movement in America is dead. May it rest in peace. No, a majority of American energy over the next 20 years is not going to come from windmills and solar panels. One important lesson to be learned from the green energy fad's rapid and expensive demise is that central planning doesn't work. What crushed green energy was the boom in shale oil and gas along with the steep decline in the price of fossil fuel that few saw coming just a few years ago. A new International Energy Agency report concedes that green energy is in fast retreat and is getting crushed by "the recent drop in fossil fuel prices." It finds that the huge price advantage for oil and natural gas means "fossil plants still dominate recent (electric power) capacity additions."

When U.S. Troops Left Too Soon

Last month marked the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, a moment vividly encapsulated by the frenzied scene of South Vietnamese desperately trying to reach the last helicopter on the roof of the American embassy. April was also the 150th anniversary of the surrender at Appomattox, when Robert E. Lee capitulated to Ulysses S. Grant, bringing the bloodiest fighting of the Civil War to an end. The two episodes seemingly have little to do with each other. But each, in its way, illustrates one of the bleakly recurring themes of US military history: When America's armed forces prematurely abandon the field, the results are usually heartbreaking for the people they leave behind. The Vietnam experience makes the point with aching sorrow. By 1972, the US war against the North Vietnamese communists was being won on the ground; it was lost in Congress and at the Paris peace talks under the political pressure of the antiwar movement.

Boys Without Dads: A Cruel and Volatile Calculus

The rioting in Baltimore is disturbing to all Americans, as the unresolved cause of Freddie Gray's death while in police custody should be, as well. It is right that political and religious leaders, community groups, business organizations, and law enforcement officials are commenting about all the causes and effects of the riots. But one thing seems missing from the discussion, a factor whose omission is unacceptable. It's called fatherhood. The rioting is inexcusable but should not be wholly surprising. It is likely that the great majority of it was been done by young black men — young black men without fathers.

House Looks the Mother Way

House leaders are giving Americans an early Mother's Day present — a mid-week vote on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act! After a five-month tug-of-war, the rape and incest issues that snagged the bill are finally ironed out, and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) says conservatives are ready to deliver on the promise they made in January: getting the measure back on track. Under this latest version of the bill, members have closed some of the loopholes and added even more protective layers to the five-month ban, especially where young women are concerned. Apart from blocking abortions after 20 weeks, when babies suffer most, the new language includes a 48-hour waiting period for any woman requesting a late-term abortion under the exceptions — and ensures that she's had counseling and medical help. It also adds a key Born-Alive Infants Protection component, which guarantees that babies who survive an abortion would get the same hospital care that any other preemie would.

Hilarity With Hillary

I know that a lot of people are waiting to hear Mrs. Clinton answer tough questions from reporters, but I'm not one of them. I'm pretty old and I'm not sure I have the time to sit through too many of her answers. For instance, Morton Michaels reminds me that in 2014, when asked about her accomplishments as Secretary of State, she responded: "Well, I'm glad you asked me that! My proudest accomplishment in which I take the most pride, mostly because of the opposition it faced early on, you know … the remnants of prior situations and mindsets that were too narrowly focused in a manner whereby they may have overlooked the bigger picture and we didn't do that and I'm proud of that. Very proud. I would say that's a major accomplishment." The scariest thing of all is that tens of millions of Democrats would listen to that incoherent drivel, nod and say, "Yep, she's the smartest woman in the world."

Happy Mother’s Day

Onward Christian Huckabee

In the 1950s, during one of his two campaigns as the Democrats' presidential nominee, Adlai Stevenson was invited to address a gathering of Baptists in Houston, where in 1960 John Kennedy would address a group of Protestant ministers to refute charges that his Catholicism rendered him unfit to be president. This was an opinion vociferously promulgated by Norman Vincent Peale, a broadcast preacher and author of "The Power of Positive Thinking." The man introducing Stevenson said the candidate had been invited only "as a courtesy" because Peale "has instructed us to vote for your opponent." In response, Stevenson repeated a quip he had made when, in 1952, Peale said Stevenson was unfit to be president because he was divorced. Stevenson said: "I find the Apostle Paul appealing and the Apostle Peale appalling." Now comes the Apostle Mike, determined to save Christian America. Mike Huckabee's second run for the Republican presidential nomination will reveal how much embarrassment can emanate from one small town.

When Liberals Run Cities

Did Bill Gates, the world's richest man, cause the breakdown of civil order in Baltimore? How about JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter novels and the world's richest woman? Is she the cause of all the mayhem? Last time I looked, Gates was producing products that bring joy to the life of kids who live everywhere. And he is giving away almost all his wealth to help the poorest people in the world. And Rowling? All she does is write books that youngsters like to read and help make movies people of all ages flock to see. What I know about the riots in Baltimore is mainly what I have seen on my TV screen. But I don't recall any signs that read "Down with Gates" or "We Hate Rowling." That doesn't stop New York Times writer Paul Krugman, who is up to the task of turning almost any tragedy into an opportunity to peddle snake oil. When he is not covering up his abysmal record economic prediction, Krugman's columns tend to have three themes: (1) people are poor because they can't find jobs, (2) nonetheless we should do everything we can to close off job opportunities, by encouraging labor union monopolies, raising the minimum wage and voting against any political candidate who has the courage to oppose the teacher unions and try to improve the schools and (3) then blame the tragedy that unfolds on the "top tenth of the top 1 percent."

State of the Planet: Better Than Ever

Think about this: There is no time in the history of mankind that would be a better time to be alive than today. Although most people resist this message, and perhaps it is natural to have a yearning for the simpler times of yesteryear, nearly every objective measure of the state of the planet and the state of human progress shows vast improvement over time. You can find proof of this in about 30 seconds on your iPhone, which has about as much computing power than every computer used by all the nations of World War II. Why is there so much pessimism about the state of our planet? I recently watched the Earth Day speeches on the Washington Mall and they were drenched with Chicken Little tales of a coming apocalypse. Here is the way CNN explained what we have to look forward to: "Think super droughts, rising seas, mass extinctions, and acidifying oceans." Then it warned: "Disappearing coasts," and "bye bye, animals."

Gender Is No Credential for the White House

Republican Carly Fiorina announced her candidacy for president this week, making her the second woman to join the 2016 race — the other, of course, being Democrat Hillary Clinton. Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, is considered a long shot for the GOP nomination, while Clinton is widely seen as a shoo-in for the Democrats. But who knows? The first caucuses and primaries are still many months off, and in politics anything can happen. This early in the presidential cycle, I make no predictions about how the race will play out. But one thing I'm sure of: America doesn't need to send a woman to the White House. Needless to say, many Clinton supporters vehemently proclaim the opposite.

GOP Will Lose in 2016 Without Sensible Immigration Reform

If the GOP doesn't put together a sensible immigration policy, it will lose the 2016 presidential election. When Obama beat Romney in 2012, with the former Massachusetts governor attracting only 27 percent of the Hispanic vote with his self-deportation argument, Republicans across the map decided they must develop an immigration-reform policy with an outreach approach to minority groups. According to the Republican National Committee, the days of harsh language and punitive legislation must end. In its place, the GOP must reconstruct the Ronald Reagan/Jack Kemp "big tent" theory of politics, where there is plenty of room for all groups — blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Millennials, women and gays. As Reagan put it, if you and I agree 80 percent of the time and disagree 20 percent, we are not enemies. A lot of clear-headed Republicans have a strong dislike for identity-group politics. Me too. Instead, I prefer a program of economic growth, strong national defense, deregulation, low flat-tax-rate reform, free trade and sound money to unleash American prosperity and bolster national security. If this positive message is sold — to everyone and all groups — it will work politically.

'Offensive Art' and Double Standards at the NY Times

Remembering the Gray Lady’s take on “hateful” art of the past.

Time for a Different Narrative on Iran

While Washington is abuzz with raging debate on the nuclear deal with Iran, the narrative that the Obama administration keeps repeating is that you either take the deal or you are a warmonger. Not so fast! The US Congress is rightly fighting to play its due role in such an important national security issue. And on April 29 it took a bold, rather overdue move and invited Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade. Mrs. Rajavi, advocates a tolerant, democratic Islam as the antithesis of Islamic fundamentalism. The NCRI and its principal constituent group, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK), have made headlines at various times since 2002 for revealing details of the Iranian nuclear program through an intelligence network inside of Iran. Her movement has suffered the brunt of repression at home at the hands of the theocratic regime, and tens of thousands of her supporters have been executed for their defense of human rights and democracy.

Let's Not Knock Yesterday

Marco Rubio got an ovation when, while announcing his intention to run in 2016, he took a swipe at not only Hillary Clinton, but Jeb Bush, by pointing out she represents yesterday while young Rubio represents tomorrow or even a week from next Thursday. The problem is that George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and Ronald Reagan, all go back even further than Mrs. Clinton. Her problem isn't that she's been around Washington for a quarter of a century or that she's in her late 60s, but that all she has to offer is the same liberal drivel which states that the federal government is the fount of all wisdom and that politicians and bureaucrats spend our money more wisely than we do and are in the best position to determine how the rest of us live our lives.