Category: Column

Nancy Pelosi was near tears. After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress on Tuesday, the House minority leader sent out a press release informing the media, “I was near tears throughout the Prime Minister’s speech — saddened by the insult to the intelligence of the United States” and “saddened by the condescension toward […]

PARIS — Ever since Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov was gunned down while walking with a girlfriend near Moscow’s Red Square last week, there has been rampant international speculation about who’s responsible for the murder. Why is everyone in such a hurry to log onto social media, voice an opinion on Nemtsov’s killing, huddle with […]

On Monday, The New York Times reported that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton never — not once — used her official State Department email address for her official communications. Instead, she utilized a private email account, effectively protecting her emails from public scrutiny. The Washington Post then broke the news that Hillary had registered […]

Any chef will tell you that you need great ingredients to pull off a great meal. Less discussed but just as true: You need to cook the ingredients in the right order. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has nearly all of the right ingredients to win the GOP nomination. He is popular among both anti-establishment activists […]

The story about the ex-con who robbed a bank just so he’d be sent back to prison — for a bed and three meals a day — was heartbreaking. It disturbed the judge. And when I read the story in the Gary Post-Tribune, written by reporter Ruth Ann Krause, it disturbed me too. “I hope […]

Like many of the important discussions in the economic world today, the negotiations between Greece and its European creditors has become increasingly absurd (see “A Patient Fed Considers Losing Patience” in our latest newsletter). Late on Friday, February 20, in a tense meeting between the new Greek Finance Minister and a host of ministers from 19 Eurozone countries, Germany […]

There may be some poetic justice in the recent revelation that Hillary Clinton, who has made big noises about a “pay gap” between women and men, paid the women on her Senate staff just 72 percent of what she paid the men. The Obama White House staff likewise has a pay gap between women and […]

The Obama White House is in full war mode against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of our best ally in the Middle East, for accepting House Speaker John Boehner’s invitation to speak before Congress, while it mollycoddles that region’s most dangerous nation, Iran. No one crosses Obama without facing his wrath. No one dares. […]

There is no question about whether President Obama — along with Secretary of State John Kerry and the editorial pages of many newspapers — has a particular dislike of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But there is another question: Why? And the answer is due to an important rule of life that too few people […]

Going into 2015 the economic outlook held by the U.S. investment establishment could not have been much more positive, and more unified. Pundits saw all the variables aligning to create the best of all investment worlds, a virtual “no-brainer” of optimism. Many believed that the 5.0% annualized growth in 3rd quarter would stay strong in […]

Late Friday night, Congress passed legislation funding the Department of Homeland Security for one week. This vote followed weeks of debate over efforts to attach a prohibition on funding President Obama’s executive order granting amnesty to certain illegal immigrants to the Homeland Security funding bill. Despite the heated rhetoric from both sides, no one seriously […]

The White House opposes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking to Congress, but not because the speech has political implications, coming as it does just two weeks before Israel’s March 17 election. If the administration truly had political concerns it would not have dispatched a team of Obama loyalists to Israel to help defeat Netanyahu. […]

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie gave his first-date speech at the California Republican Party’s spring convention in Sacramento on Saturday. Like a big man on campus, Christie essentially was telling the party faithful: I know you’ve heard some bad stuff about me, but here’s why you should go out with me. Three years ago, Christie […]

If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I probably wouldn’t have believed it – the president of the United States said, “We’re a nation of laws, but…” What came next is irrelevant, but for the record it was “we’re also respecting the fact that we’re a nation of immigrants.” There is no “but.” […]

Susan Rice, President Obama’s National Security Advisor, told TV talk show host Charlie Rose that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming speech before Congress about Iran is “destructive” to the relationship between the United States and Israel. What is going on? The National Security Advisor is just that – an advisor. It is not a […]

The Lesson in MSM’s Response to Rudy A week or so ago, the MSM wanted Rudy Giuliani boiled in oil for daring to question Obama’s love for America. They were shocked and outraged. How dare Rudy be so rude to Obama. They ran to Republicans for comments, hoping they would throw Rudy under the bus. […]

I admit it: I love the snow and the cold. I love to be outside, gazing up at the stars on cold, crisp evenings. I love how the snow blankets my hillsides. And most of all, I love how snow disrupts daily life – particularly in Washington, D.C. I lived in Washington for nearly eight […]

An offensively stupid comment by influential and presumably smart people sometimes brings awareness to a subject that would otherwise be largely ignored. Example number one: There would be less reporting recently on the plight of homeless veterans had Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald not lied about his military experience. In a photo op gone […]

“I am under ‘investigation,’” professor Roger Pielke Jr. of the University of Colorado Boulder posted on his blog Wednesday. The top Democrat on the House Committee on Natural Resources, Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, sent a letter to university President Bruce Benson that asked the school to provide its financial disclosure policies and information on […]

Comprehensive immigration reform’s first death knell sounded in 2012 when President Obama unilaterally removed some young adult aliens from deportation, rewarded them with Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), and issued them Social Security numbers. Called deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA), the program went beyond Obama’s constitutional authority, and put enforcement advocates on high alert that […]

In reflecting on relations between the United States and China, Henry Kissinger in his 2011 book, “On China,” notes that since he and Richard Nixon ventured to Beijing more than 40 years ago, “Eight American presidents and four generations of Chinese leaders have managed this delicate relationship in an astonishingly consistent manner, considering the difference […]

Jonathan Gruber was, in the lower courts, the government’s principal expert. They relied on his “three-legged stool” metaphor to argue that (even though the law says they are only available through an “exchange established by the state”) subsidies must be available through federal exchanges. Then he was caught on tape, not once but twice, expressly […]

On March 4, the fate of Obamacare is in front of the Supreme Court again. At stake are the subsidies intended to make Obamacare plans “affordable.” The letter of the law allows consumers to get subsidies only in the 14 states that set up their own exchanges, not in those that didn’t. But the Obama […]

The Obama administration values a future relationship with Iran more than it values the historic relationship it has with Israel. Unless there’s a reversal in the reported deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran, all the superficial talk about this extraordinary friendship between Israel and the United States isn’t going to mean much. And the […]

Canaries are not very formidable birds, but they have their uses. For instance, coal miners learned over a century ago that when canaries gag and drop dead at the bottom of the cage, it’s a sign that maybe there’s something wrong with the air in the mine. MSNBC is not a very formidable network, but […]

Honestly, are any of my Democratic friends even slightly bothered by President Obama’s habitual and brazen lawlessness and what that could mean for our liberties? Does it bother them that he implemented two new administration programs to halt deportations and allow work permits for up to 5 million immigrants living illegally in the United States […]

Gov. Scott Walker has leapt to the top of polls in Iowa. As day follows night, he has moved to the center of the liberal press’s crosshairs. This is the world we inhabit: When a Democrat is perceived as popular, the press discovers layers of humor and elan we never suspected. When a Republican is […]

Two-thirds of all federal spending is consumed by just three program areas: Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid and National Defense. Because these programs consume most of the budget and are responsible for most of the annual spending increases, there is simply no way to regain control of federal spending without addressing these programs. So either taxes will […]