Category: Column

By abandoning virtually all its demands for serious restrictions on Iran’s nuclear bomb program, the Obama administration has apparently achieved the semblance of a preliminary introduction to the beginning of a tentative framework for a possible hope of an eventual agreement with Iran. But even this hazy “achievement” may vanish like a mirage. It takes […]

Far too many people have become unacceptably cynical about the issue of integrity in politics, and it is having disastrous consequences. Only the scofflaws and reprobates benefit from such an unraveling of our ethical sensitivities. I’m sure you won’t be surprised to find that I believe this phenomenon is occurring largely on the political left […]

Just last month, Apple chief executive Tim Cook made headlines when he wrote a piece in The Washington Post, panning Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act as “very dangerous.” Apple, Cook wrote, does not believe in discrimination and strives to “do business in a way that is just and fair.” This month, the San Francisco Chronicle’s […]

As one who loves America — not only because I am American, but even more so because I know (not believe, know) that the American experiment in forming a decent society has been the most successful in history — I write the following words in sadness: With few exceptions, every aspect of American life is […]

It’s springtime, and the Census Bureau has released its population estimates for counties and metropolitan areas as of July 1, 2014. Initial analysis has focused on year-to-year movements or changes since the 2010 Census — subjects worthy of attention. But it’s also interesting to take a longer look, to see where population has been booming […]

Too bad the “framework” of a nuclear weapons deal with Iran didn’t come four days earlier on April Fools’ Day. It would have been more appropriate. The United States is being asked to foolishly believe promises by a regime that is religiously motivated to eliminate Israel and ultimately the United States, is the premier sponsor […]

This week the Justice Department announced it would not charge former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official Lois Lerner with contempt of Congress. Some members of Congress requested that Lerner be charged with contempt after she refused to testify at a congressional hearing investigating her role in denying or delaying the applications for tax-exempt status of […]

Ah, springtime has finally arrived in Washington, D.C. The National Cherry Blossom Festival is beginning. The cherry trees, 3,700 of them given to America by the Japanese in 1912, will soon be in full bloom. It reminds me why Americans are so wary of Washington. In the spring of 1999, you see, some culprits had […]

Columnist George Will points out that Apple’s openly gay CEO, Tim Cook, “…thinks Indiana is a terrible place. (But) He opened marketing and retail operations in Saudi Arabia two months before a man was sentenced to 450 lashes for being gay.” Will was commenting on Cook’s recent Washington Post op-ed protesting Indiana’s new, now amended, […]

Nothing upsets progressives like disagreeing with them. Like children throwing a fit because they can’t get the toy they want, leftists become unhinged when confronted with a reality they don’t like. The digital lynch mob that failed to destroy Memories Pizza is but one example of how progressives (liberals, Democrats, or whatever else they call […]

Apple CEO Tim Cook should know better than to freak out over Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). His company was also the victim of media alarmism and hyperbole. A few months ago, the media was frothing over seemingly millions of people bending their $650 iPhones in their pockets. #BendGate became a trending topic on […]

Imagine a government energy program that is such a disaster that the Environmental Working Group and the American Petroleum Institute both oppose it. The anti-poverty group ActionAid USA wants to get rid of it, as does the pro-business Competitive Enterprise Institute. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., wants to end it. So does Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. […]

Perspective always has two sides, right and wrong. During tough times, the right perspective can propel the least likely among us to greatness when the fiery passion burning within inspires them to do the impossible. Pressing forward, they inadvertently change the world around them with each painful step. They understand they cannot control what happens […]

March Madness hit Indiana hard this week. It had nothing to do with the NCAA’s Final Four Championship, which is coming to Indianapolis on Saturday. And despite what you think, it wasn’t about gay rights, either. It was really all about was 2016 presidential politics. The firestorm of media attention and orchestrated liberal outrage started […]

There has been a great ruckus about Indiana’s recently passed religious freedom law. Some, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, see it as endorsing anti-gay bigotry. Democratic Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy has banned state employees from traveling to Indiana, even though Connecticut has a similar law even more favorable to claims of religious objectors. Perhaps he […]

For decades Democrats have gone to extraordinary lengths to impose new energy taxes. They do not, to put it mildly, have the support of the American people. So they have turned to increasingly complex schemes to pretend the taxes they are advancing are not taxes. They’ve now reached an unprecedented level of obfuscation: a federal […]

Lena Dunham received plenty of criticism for her insufferable New Yorker piece titled “Dog or Jewish Boyfriend? A Quiz.” In it, the creator of “Girls” weighs the pros and cons of getting a pet or keeping her Jewish boyfriend: “He doesn’t tip,” and “he never brings his wallet anywhere,” and so on. The jokes may […]

Immigration remains a major issue across the country, but in Texas, it’s not just a political football. Border security is a top priority this legislative session. In his State of the State address, Gov. Greg Abbott made it an emergency item, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick consistently campaigned on the issue, and both the Texas House […]

“It’s the Jim Crow law of our time.” That exact quote, or one very much like it, has come from the mouths of reporters, editorialists, activists, corporate CEOs and, of course, politicians, all because of Indiana’s Religious Freedom and Restoration Act. (RFRA) The other day I wrote a column arguing that it’s ridiculous to compare […]

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. — George Washington Until almost literally the day before yesterday, it was universally acknowledged that religious faith and expression were bedrock American freedoms — enshrined in the Constitution, protected in law and honored in custom. But now, because […]

One may reasonably wonder whether the militant left in this country is solely dedicated to manufacturing issues to keep the nation in a constant state of uproar, angst and disharmony. We’re seeing lots of negativity and intolerance from those so concerned that we all love one another. Their most recent cause for hysterical urgency is […]

I recently highlighted an important book that describes how politics really works. “Bootleggers and Baptists: How Economic Forces and Moral Persuasion Interact to Shape Regulatory Politics,” by Adam Smith and Bruce Yandle, showed that prohibition became reality because it appeared to satisfy both Baptists and Bootleggers. The Baptists wanted people to stop drinking. The Bootleggers […]

If I visit a kosher restaurant and order a pork chop, am I being discriminated against when the waiter says they don’t serve pork? If an establishment requires that men wear jackets and women dress in what that establishment defines as an “appropriate way,” does that constitute discrimination? When I visit the Vatican, the Swiss […]