Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
No Facts, No Peace
It's important to remember that, in police shooting cases like the one in Ferguson, Missouri, the initial facts are often wrong. You don't want to end up looking like Rich Lowry, National Review editor, whose March 23, 2012, column on the Trayvon Martin shooting was titled, "Al Sharpton Is Right." Early accounts are especially unreliable when reporters think they have a white racism story. Stirring up racial hatred is how journalists make up for sending their own kids to lily-white private schools. As detailed in my book Mugged: Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama, the old media's standard for any police shooting of a black person is: "Racist until proved innocent." We got three-alarm racism stories for the shootings of Jose (Kiko) Garcia, Eleanor Bumpurs, Michael Stewart and Edmund Perry.
Ferguson: Not Even an O.J. Jury Would Convict Officer Wilson
Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson is neither Mark Fuhrman nor Barney Fife. Based on what has been presented so far in the media, not even an O.J. Simpson juror would find Wilson guilty of murder. Many simply have chosen to believe that teenager Michael Brown was "executed" or "shot several times in the back" -- the evidence can wait. Witnesses who definitively assert that officer Wilson "shot him in the back" have been contradicted by the Brown family's own medical expert, respected pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, who conceded the wounds could be consistent with Brown charging toward Wilson, not running away.
ISIS 'A National Security Threat'
U.S. airstrikes that have helped Iraqi and Kurdish forces recapture a strategic dam and halt, at least temporarily, the advance of ISIS terrorists on the Kurdish capital of Erbil are a welcome pushback against a relentless enemy that for a time seemed invincible. But it may be of no more strategic significance than Jimmy Doolittle's bombing run against Japan in World War II. Doolittle's raid gave a psychological boost to the United States, but it had to be followed by much sterner stuff before victory was achieved. Just as Japan and Germany were once threats to free people, so are Islamic fanatics by whatever label they wear. The beheading of James Foley, an American photojournalist, and a threat to behead a second American kidnapped by ISIS fighters is only the latest of numerous atrocities perpetrated by these fanatics.
The Media and the Mob
Those of us who admit that we were not there, and do not know what happened when Michael Brown was shot by a policeman in Ferguson, Missouri, seem to be in the minority. We all know what has happened since then -- and it has been a complete disgrace by politicians, the media and mobs of rioters and looters. Despite all the people who act as if they know exactly what happened, nevertheless when the full facts come out, that can change everything. This is why we have courts of law, instead of relying on the media or mobs. But politics is undermining law.
Marijuana vs. Scotch and a Low IQ
Turning once again to what the sociologists call "coping mechanisms": There is marijuana and then there is alcohol. They are increasingly the civilized options. Consider alcohol. Consider a suave scotch and soda. One does not sit down to a scotch and soda to get blitzed, unless one is a veritable drunk. One sits down and sips a scotch and soda while conversing with friends. Perhaps one reads a book. One enjoys the scotch for the taste. With scotch there are scores of different tastes. One drinks a single malt. One drinks a blend. The same is true with bourbon and all manner of alcoholic drinks. One imbibes for the taste, then for the refreshment, finally for the relaxed feeling it imparts. Very, very finally, some drinkers drink a scotch and soda to get blitzed and drop out. Maybe the pathetico drinks to pass out or to throw up. A true alcoholic is a sad spectacle. A drunk is a person who has ruined many a good drink.
Opportunists Fan the Flames of Racial Unrest
Violence following the recent fatal shooting of an unarmed robbery suspect in Ferguson, Missouri, has tragically followed a predictable script. On average, more than 6,000 African-Americans are killed by gun violence each year. That startling figure is nearly equal to all of the U.S. combat fatalities incurred in both Afghanistan and Iraq over some 13 years. African-Americans are the victims in about half of the homicides in America each year despite the fact that blacks represent only about 13 percent of the U.S. population. One would think that these alarming statistics would provoke the sort of protests that we've seen in Ferguson, but that is not the case. Nor does racial unrest automatically follow cases in which white police officers fatally shoot black criminal suspects. Only a small handful of such instances trigger outrage in the black community.
Taking Things for Granted
We live in a culture that is all about "me, me, me." Take a stroll through the mall on any given day and you will see children whining when they can't have the latest toy or video game, while discouraged parents shrug their shoulders and give in. Hang around any retail store and it may seem like the "Gimme" generation is running the show. You hear an "I want this" and the register replies with a hearty "ch-ching!" Overindulging children instead of teaching them the value of *earning* what they receive is a big problem. It creates an unrealistic perception of life, turns our sons and daughters into "brats" and even weakens our nation and economy in the long-run. If our children don't learn the meaning of earning through practical and real experience as children, adulthood will hit them like a slap in the face. They will feel like they were thrown into the pool before they learned how to swim. Some will drown -- and some will cling to others and cause the great swimmers who feed the economy to be bogged down and maybe even drown too. Creating a sense of entitlement ruins individuals, and if we as a society create too many of them, the nation can come to ruin too.
Fed Up With Cupcake Cops
In physics, a unified field theory is an attempt to explain with a single hypothesis the behavior of several fields. Its political corollary is the Cupcake Postulate, which explains *everything*, from Missouri to Iraq, concerning Americans' comprehensive withdrawal of confidence from government at all levels and all areas of activity. Washington's response to the menace of school bake sales illustrates progressivism's ratchet: The federal government subsidizes school lunches, so it *must* control the lunches' contents, which *validates* regulation of what it calls "competitive foods," such as vending machine snacks. Hence the need to close the bake sale loophole, through which sugary cupcakes might sneak: Foods sold at fundraising bake sales must, with some exceptions, conform to federal standards.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
The 35.4 Percent: 109,631,000 on Welfare
109,631,000 Americans lived in households that received benefits from one or more federally funded "means-tested programs" -- also known as welfare -- as of the fourth quarter of 2012, according to data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau. The Census Bureau has not yet reported how many were on welfare in 2013 or the first two quarters of 2014. But the 109,631,000 living in households taking federal welfare benefits as of the end of 2012, according to the Census Bureau, equaled 35.4 percent of all 309,467,000 people living in the United States at that time.
The Great Racial Disconnect on Police
On Monday, Rasmussen released a poll of Americans regarding the guilt or innocence of Officer Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot unarmed 18-year-old black man Michael Brown six times in Ferguson, Missouri. Those polls show that 57 percent of black adults think that Wilson should be found guilty of murder; 56 percent of whites, by contrast, are undecided on the matter. The latter position is the correct one. Witnesses, including one Dorian Johnson, claim that Brown was pulled over by Wilson, attacked by him and pulled into the car, ran, stopped when told to freeze by Wilson, held up his hands, and was then shot. Other witnesses -- more than a dozen of them, according to local media -- say that Brown attacked Wilson, went for Wilson's gun, fled before being told to stop, then charged Wilson before being shot.
The Media's Sharpton Agenda in Ferguson
The late media critic Edwin Diamond once notably quipped that to the American news media, "10,000 deaths in Nepal equals 100 deaths in Wales equals 10 deaths in West Virginia equals one death next door." When it comes to race relations, a similar rule applies. 400,000 civilians have been murdered in Darfur, but one death of a black man in Missouri, allegedly due to white police brutality, is infinitely more newsworthy. The national media are currently obsessed with Michael Brown's killing by a policeman in Ferguson, Missouri, just as they obsessed over Trayvon Martin's killing in Sanford, Florida.
The Ferguson Feeding Frenzy
The most poisonous "-ism" now infecting Ferguson, Missouri, is not virulent racism. It's viral narcissism. Over the past two weeks, the impoverished St. Louis County suburb has become a magnet for self-absorbed publicity seekers of all colors and agendas. Perhaps the most repulsive species on display in Ferguson is the Journalisto Vanitatis. This breed of egotistical East-Coast reporters can be easily identified by its ever-present appendages: a smartphone and smart glasses. For the J.V., the story is all about "me, me, me!" Huffington Post reporter Ryan Reilly and Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery were among the first and most prominent Beltway journos to parachute into the Ferguson protests.
Tuition Pays for This
According to College Board, average tuition and fees for the 2013-14 school year totaled $30,094 at private colleges, $8,893 for in-state residents at public colleges and $22,203 for out-of-state residents. Many schools, such as Columbia University and George Washington University, charge yearly tuition and fees close to $50,000. Faced with the increasing costs of higher education, parents and taxpayers might like to know what they're getting for their money. Campus Reform documents outrageous behavior at some colleges. Mark Landis, a former accounting professor at San Francisco State University, frequently entertained students at this home. He now faces 15 charges of invasion of privacy. Police say he was discovered with dozens of graphic videos he had made of students using his bathroom.
In Ferguson, a Race to Be Wrong
The events in Ferguson, Missouri, have launched a familiar spectacle: the race to be wrong first. Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African-American man, was shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. The Washington Post had more on the story about what one witness called an "execution-style slaying": "Lawyer Freeman Bosley Jr. said Dorian Johnson, a friend of Brown's, has told the FBI that Officer Darren Wilson confronted the two because they were walking in the middle of the street.
Policing a Riot
Libertarians warned for years that government is force, that government always grows and that America's police have become too much like an occupying army. We get accused of being paranoid, but we look less paranoid after heavily armed police in Ferguson, Missouri, tear gassed peaceful protesters, arrested journalists and stopped some journalists from entering the town. One week before the rioting began, Fox News aired my documentary on the militarization of law enforcement, "Policing America."
Must Conservatives Be Cop Lovers?
Rand Paul Challenges Fellow Republicans to Rethink Their Reflexive Support of Law Enforcement
To Impeach or Not to Impeach
Even before Sarah Palin called on the GOP House to institute impeachment proceedings against Barack Obama, I suggested it, so long as they held off until after the mid-term elections. That's because I didn't want anyone to be distracted from the Affordable Care Act or any of the numerous scandals associated with this administration. It wasn't that I believed the Senate, whether controlled by Harry Reid and the Democrats or by a post-January GOP majority would actually vote Obama out of office. What I wanted was for all those millions of people who manage to get through life while paying no attention to politics to finally have no place left to hide. When a president is being impeached, even those who spend most of their time watching "American Idol," "Perry Mason" re-runs and fishing shows can't help but absorb some unpleasant facts through osmosis.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Cameras and More Cameras
The Ferguson, Missouri police department released convenience store surveillance tape that showed Michael Brown allegedly stealing some cigars minutes before he was shot by a police officer. Aware that the release of this footage might look like posthumous character assassination of the shooting victim, Captain Ronald Johnson of the Ferguson police explained that the tape was released pursuant to freedom of information requests. Maybe, though the behavior of the police in other respects doesn't exactly scream respect for the Fourth Estate. Journalists from the Washington Post and Huffington Post were arrested, and a team from Al-Jazeera was tear-gassed.