Right Opinion

A Cop-Killer Advocate Goes Down in Flames in the Senate

A victory against Obama's radicalization of the Department of Justice.

Crimea River

It's pointless to pay attention to foreign policy when a Democrat is president, unless you enjoy having your stomach in a knot. As long as a Democrat sits in the White House, America will be repeatedly humiliated, the world will become a much more dangerous place -- and there's absolutely nothing anybody can do about it. (Though this information might come in handy when voting for president, America!) The following stroll down memory lane is but the briefest of summaries. For a full accounting of Democratic national security disasters, please read my book, "Treason: Liberal Treachery From the Cold War to the War on Terrorism."

Putin, Petroleum and Pantyhose

Mr. Putin's quick takeover of the Crimean peninsula was no surprise to me. Neither was the Obama administration's half-butted reaction on Tuesday. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced that to show our support for Poland and the Baltic states after Russia's intervention in Ukraine, the we will train more Polish pilots and expand our role in NATO's air policing mission over their territories. I'm sure Comrade Putin is quaking in his combat boots.

Hillary: Regret 'Reset' Yet?

It was the most memorable moment in the debates of the 2008 nomination cycle. Before the New Hampshire Primary, Sen. Hillary Clinton was asked by the debate moderator to respond to comments that she had a powerful resume, impressive achievements, but she didn't measure up on the "likeability" scale. Her response was charming. "That hurts my feelings." But her opponent, freshman Sen. Barack Obama scored a knockout with his ultra-cool rejoinder. "Your likeable enough, Hillary." You have to see it. Hillary actually won that primary, narrowly. But it didn't take away the sting of Obama's barb. Likeable enough.

Hollywood Favors High Tax, 'Gender Pay Equity'

Just Not in Hollywood

Pressuring the Wrong Country

The Obama administration is showing it can be tough on foreign policy. Unfortunately, that toughness is not directed at Russia and its incursion into Crimea, but at Israel, America's ally. In an interview with President Obama, prior to the Washington arrival of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Jeffrey Goldberg of Bloomberg.com writes that the president planned to tell Netanyahu "that his country could face a bleak future -- one of international isolation and demographic disaster -- if he refuses to endorse a U.S.-drafted framework agreement for peace with the Palestinians." Goldberg adds, "Obama will warn Netanyahu that time is running out for Israel as a Jewish-majority democracy."

If at First You Don't Succeed, Pay for More Failure

The White House couldn't have picked a more perfect day to release its bloated budget than Fat Tuesday. Bulging with new spending and taxes, the President's plan fit right in with Tuesday's celebration of excess. After striking out the first two tries, President Obama is still looking for that first "aye" on a budget after failing to win a single vote in 2011 (97-0) and 2012 (99-0). Based on the reaction to this latest draft, this version has the potential to be even more unpopular (if that's possible). For once, the White House dropped its façade of frugality and mapped out a glutted plan that would spend $56 billion more than the two-year deal Congress just passed. With a $3.9 trillion price tag, the 2014 edition sets the record for the fewest proposed cuts since President Obama took office. Instead, the federal government, which has spent $18,000,000,000,000 since 2009, would put America in the hole another $8.3 trillion. Even the extra $1.8 million in tax hikes doesn't begin to offset the debt the country would be saddled with under the Obama blueprint.

Obama's Fantasy Middle East

In Barack Obama's Middle East, the explanation for the persistent lack of peace between Israel and the Palestinians is clear: It's Bibi Netanyahu's fault. Things would be so much easier if only the Israeli prime minister would bite the bullet. "One of the things my mom always used to tell me ... is if there's something you know you have to do, even if it's difficult or unpleasant, you might as well just go ahead and do it, because waiting isn't going to help," Obama said in a Bloomberg interview published just before Netanyahu's arrival in Washington this week. "This is not a situation where you wait and the problem goes away," he warned. The Israeli leader had better "seize the moment" to finalize a peace deal with the Palestinians, or prepare for a painful global backlash that the United States will be powerless to stop. Stop building settlements across the Green Line, give the Palestinians the state they demand, or "our ability to manage the international fallout is going to be limited."

Ukraine and the Return of the KGB

Regarding our community activist's present imbroglio with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, I stand with Donald Trump who said recently: "The thing I have the most concern about is that he's being so lambasted for not being respected, and for being a joke, that he'll do something really stupid to show that he's a man." We are now about where we were with Jimmy Carter after he lectured his fellow citizens about their so-called "inordinate fear of communism" even as the Soviet Union was spreading its tentacles over the Third World. His sudden turnaround -- caused by Soviet aggression in Afghanistan -- from a position of sweet reason to the pose of a hawk alarmed me and doubtless alarmed the Russians. Jimmy began the military build-up that a more gifted statesman, President Ronald Reagan, consummated in pursuit of a peaceful ending of the Cold War. Yet while Jimmy resided in the White House, I was uneasy with the sudden anti-communism of this moralistic twerp. Most probably Donald was, too. Now we have to worry about the intolerable greenhorn Barack Obama. What will he do next?

Obama in Denial on Russia

Things are moving far too fast in Kiev, Moscow and Crimea to write about events there. But the past isn't going anywhere. Though you wouldn't know that from the way the Obama administration talks about it. Throughout this crisis -- indeed, throughout all of Barack Obama's presidency -- the White House has been eager to insist that our long, unpleasant history with the Russians is behind us. Obviously, every administration wants a fresh start with long-time rivals. That's why there have been four "resets" with the Russians since 1991, including George W. Bush's famous soul-searching gaze into Vladimir Putin's eyes and Hillary Clinton's comic effort to give the Russians a "reset" button (that actually said "overcharge" on it).

Science and Reason vs. Political Correctness

President Obama entered office promising to restore the sanctity of science. Instead, a fresh war against science, statistics and reason is being waged on behalf of politically correct politics. After the Sandy Hook tragedy, the president attempted to convert national outrage into new gun-control legislation. Specifically, he focused on curtailing semi-automatic "assault" rifles. But there is no statistical evidence that such guns -- semi-automatic rifles that have mostly cosmetic changes to appear similar to banned military-style fully automatic assault weapons -- lead to increased gun-related crimes.

Recalling the Days When Democrats Cut Taxes

Fifty years ago last week, on Feb. 26, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the sweeping tax cuts that had been championed by his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. The law brought the top marginal income-tax rate down to 70 percent from 91 percent and the bottom marginal rate down to 14 percent from 20 percent. The 22 rates in-between also were cut. The tax legislation of 1964 was one of three major across-the-board income-tax cuts in the 20th century. The others took place in the 1920s, during the Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge administrations, and in 1981 and 1986 during the Ronald Reagan administration. After the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the top marginal rate was all of 28 percent. Today it is 39.6 percent.

Climate Agenda, Not Global Warming, Our Biggest Threat

Budget Baloney

This week, President Barack Obama proposed "a budget that will create new jobs in manufacturing and energy and innovation and infrastructure, and we'll pay for every dime of it by cutting unnecessary spending, closing wasteful tax loopholes!" What? I must have fallen asleep and woken up in 2008. That could not be something he'd claim after five years in office -- years after making similar claims and not delivering on them. Does he think we have no memory, or that we're just ignorant? Are these just poll-tested phrases that work because most voters are too busy to pay attention?

The Faculty Lounge Administration

On Sunday, Secretary of State John Kerry appeared on CBS's "Face the Nation" to respond to Russia's invasion of the Crimea region of Ukraine. "You just don't in the 21st century behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped up pretext," Kerry stated. He added, "It's an incredible act of aggression. It is really a stunning, willful choice by President (Vladimir) Putin to invade another country." So, what would the United States *do* about Russian aggression? America would consider dropping its scheduled attendance at the G8 meeting in Sochi, Kerry said: "He is not going to have a Sochi G8, he may not even remain in the G8 if this continues." And on Monday, the Obama administration got *truly* tough: It announced that it would not send a presidential delegation to the Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi.

Is Marijuana Legalization Illegal?

Raymond Yans is president of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), the U.N. agency charged with monitoring the implementation of anti-drug treaties. It is therefore not surprising that Yans takes a dim view of marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington, which he says poses "a grave danger to public health and well-being." But according to the INCB, legalization is not just dangerous; legalization is illegal. Even Americans who support marijuana prohibition should be troubled by the implications of that argument, which suggests that international treaties trump the Constitution.

The Inevitability of ObamaCare for Illegal Aliens

You knew it was coming. I knew it was coming. When government expands entitlements, illegal aliens always end up with a piece of the pie. Obamacare promoters relented to GOP pressure to include an illegal alien ban on eligibility and vowed endlessly that no benefits would go to the "undocumented." But denial isn't just a river in Egypt. It's the Obama way. In Oregon this week, officials confessed that nearly 4,000 illegal immigrants had been "accidentally" steered from the state's low-income Medicaid program and instead were enrolled in Obamacare in violation of the law. Oopsie. The Oregonian newspaper's Nick Budnick reported that the health bureaucrats "discovered the problem several weeks ago and are correcting it." Get in line. The beleaguered Cover Oregon health insurance exchange has been riddled with ongoing problems, errors and glitches since last October that have yet to be fixed.

Obama Flops on Russia

After Russia invaded Ukraine, demonstrating how Vladimir Putin has zero fear of President Barack Obama, Fox News anchor Bret Baier reran a snippet from the third presidential debate in 2012, showing who felt Russia was a geopolitical threat, and who thought that sounded silly. Obama mocked Mitt Romney for being concerned about Russia. "When you were asked, 'What's the biggest geopolitical threat facing America?' you said Russia. Not al-Qaida. You said Russia, and the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the Cold War has been over for 20 years." A clever quip from the man whose foreign policy is a joke.

Reagan Was Right, ACU Wrong: Atheism Is Enemy of America

Are atheism and promoting atheism consistent with American -- let alone conservative -- values and principles? The operational policy of the American Conservative Union now appears to contradict Ronald Reagan's view on this. Reagan believed atheism was not merely wrong, but the enemy of freedom. The ACU has functionally adopted the position that groups promoting atheism can be featured at its annual Conservative Political Action Conference -- so long as they promote godlessness with civility. In the same 1983 speech in which he declared the Soviet Union an "evil empire," Reagan unapologetically spelt out the "ideals and principles" that brought him into politics.

Insurers in Holding Pattern after Delay

If you like your Dems, you can keep them! That seems to be the motivation behind the ObamaCare delay du jour, which would help the President's party dodge some of the health care backlash at the ballot box. Like the last 29 ObamaCare deferrals, insiders say the new announcement is designed to give liberals cover heading into the midterm elections.