Category: Column

When George W. Bush was president of the United States, many of the left fell prey to what columnist Charles Krauthammer called “Bush Derangement Syndrome”: “the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency — nay — the very existence of George W. Bush.” With Bush out of […]

PARIS — Tens of thousands of protesters are flooding the streets of Ukraine, blocking access to government offices and threatening to start what the media is largely (and preemptively, if not mistakenly) referring to as a “revolution.” All this over the pro-Russian Ukraine leadership’s decision to renounce a free-trade agreement with Europe that would have […]

Success! The Obama administration announced over the weekend that it had hit its deadline of Nov. 30 for HealthCare.gov. Of course, there were caveats. The site will still probably get buggy when there’s a lot of traffic, which is why Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius advised people to use it at off-peak hours. […]

Depressing news about black students scoring far below white students on various mental tests has become so familiar that people in different parts of the ideological spectrum have long ago developed their different explanations for why this is so. But both may have to do some rethinking, in light of radically different news from England. […]

Another Thanksgiving has passed without a presidential commutation for Clarence Aaron, who, at age 24, was sentenced to life without parole for a first-time nonviolent drug conviction in 1993. President Barack Obama has the unfettered power to pardon ex-cons and commute the sentences of federal inmates. Yet this term, he has used that power to […]

In Part 1 of my series on the Common Core State Standards being infused into 45 state public school systems, I revealed how the feds spent $350 million of taxpayer money, giving grants and waivers to muscle states and local school districts to accept the standards. And that was after 2009, when feds awarded, in […]

I’m not sure which the Obama administration is better at, deceiving the American people into accepting its initial policy changes or conning them into accepting, after the fact, the lowering of expectations for these failed policies. Just look at this president’s miserable track record on both counts. His administration predicted his exorbitant stimulus package would […]

Remember the terrible murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyo. in 1998 — tortured, beaten and left hanging on a fence to die because he was gay? The American people were led from the outset to believe that Shepard was the victim of a hate crime, murdered because of his sexual orientation. And that is […]

We conservatives are always on about the “unintended consequences” of government programs, but we didn’t expect the Obama administration and congressional Democrats to provide such a vivid object lesson. If the tipsy, teetering debut of Obamacare invites a new skepticism about the capacity of government to run things, it will be the most welcome unintended […]

Not many foreign policy experts would argue with the proposition that the country with which the United States has the most problematic relationship is Pakistan. Most Americans, when they have thought about it, have taken a similar view since Osama bin Laden was killed in a raid by Navy SEAL Team Six in May 2011. […]

“If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace.” — John Lennon “Black Friday” was a metaphor beyond the merchants’ bottom line. Headlines on last Friday’s Drudge Report reflect a culture that is being trampled by the greed and me-only attitude of a growing number of us: — “Mall mayhem… — […]

As we experience more of the unpleasant realities of the Affordable Care Act, Americans are questioning, finally, the forthrightness and honesty of their president in his selling of this law. As millions of individual health insurance policies are cancelled, it is transparent that the president distorted the truth when he told Americans, “ if you […]

I love movies. I always have. I make a lot references to movies both in my writing and on my radio show. It’s not unique to me. Most writers, hosts and everyone else for that matter, make at least occasional references, if not flat-out word-for-word quotes of movies while making points, even in politics. This […]

As I have done at Thanksgiving for many years, I want to proclaim some of the things for which I am thankful on this uniquely American holiday. First and foremost, I am thankful to God, who gives me what the Bible calls “a peace that passes all understanding.” This is especially true this year as […]

Sure, the country isn’t doing so well at the moment, but there are still plenty of reasons to be thankful this Thanksgiving. I sit at the “big people’s table” now, just to the left of my father. It took me years to earn that coveted spot, and for that, I am thankful. Everyone in my […]

A few things have happened since California voters approved $10 billion in bonds for a $45 billion California High-Speed Rail project — which promised to take passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 2 hours and 40 minutes — in 2008. Most recently, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny blocked the release of $8 […]

It’s been an up and down, rough and tumble, crazy, sad, frustrating year for America the Beautiful so far. As usual, except for the parade of hurricanes, tornados, fires and floods, most of the trouble and strife in our lives came from the professional nincompoops and evildoers in Washington. The Obama regime and its congressional […]

Since June when the Senate passed the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization bill, tens of thousands of stories and broadcasts have been devoted to comprehensive immigration reform. Yet only a handful have outlined the bill’s most crucial feature, namely that it will in most cases give immediate legal status and therefore work authorization […]

You might not be able to keep your plan and you might not be able to keep your doctor. Even President Obama has now apologized for his infamous statement to the contrary. But the promise was worse than untrue. It was used to obscure a moral wrong at the heart of Obamacare. Democrats usually send […]

How is it possible that Barack Obama did not know that his beloved healthcare.gov: website was a botch? That’s a question many thoughtful people (including thoughtful Democrats) are asking. We heard him say that he wouldn’t have boasted that it would be as easy to use as: amazon.comor: obitz.com: had he known that it wouldn’t. I’m not “stupid enough,” […]

Back in September, The New York Times promoted Bill de Blasio’s mayoral candidacy with an editorial titled, “Don’t Fear the Squeegee Man.” The editorial informed readers that crime wouldn’t get worse under de Blasio because “policing is far better than it used to be, thanks to innovations by Mayor David Dinkins.” (Emphasis added — the […]

The densely populated coastal corridors from Boston to Washington and from San Diego to Berkeley are where most of America’s big decisions are made. They remind us of two quite different Americas: one country along these coasts and everything else in between. Those in Boston, New York and Washington determine how our government works; what […]

The “knockout game” — and the media underreporting of it — combines the breakdown of the family with the media’s condescending determination to serve as a public relations bureau for blacks. The “game” is a dare in which a young man — all the perps appear to be male people of color, mostly blacks — […]

For some, Thanksgiving is difficult enough with abrasive relatives gobbling up your food without a scintilla of gratitude. Now President Obama comes along with a proposal that could cause turmoil in even the happiest of homes. The president wants us to discuss politics, immigration reform and Obamacare at our holiday tables. Imagine the scene. One […]

“In space, no one can hear you scream” was the tag line for Ridley Scott’s breakthrough 1979 sci-fi flick, “Alien.” With the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to revisit its 22-year ban on using cellphones in flight on passenger planes, that could change. Oh, joy, was my first thought. That obnoxious Alec Baldwin wannabe who makes […]

Are Republican politicians trying to frame a policy agenda stuck in a Reagan rut? A good case can be made that they are — or have been. Tax cuts have been a staple of Republican platforms since Jack Kemp persuaded Ronald Reagan to back a 30 percent tax rate cut in the 1980 campaign. Republicans, […]

Religious liberty is front and center on the nation’s Thanksgiving table. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. The family-owned craft store company is intrepidly challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare’s abortion coverage mandate. Hobby Lobby’s faithful owners deserve our thanks and praise as they defend freedom of conscience […]

Had today’s politicians and opinion-makers been in power four centuries ago, Americans might celebrate “Starvation Day” this week, not Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims started out with communal property rules. When they first settled at Plymouth, they were told: “Share everything, share the work, and we’ll share the harvest.” The colony’s contract said their new settlement was […]