Category: Column

By John Hawkins TPNN Contributor After John Cornyn was reelected in 2008, he took over as the National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman. Since Cornyn was viewed as smart and conservative, most Republicans were pleased with that selection. However, Cornyn proved to be a DISASTER. To be fair, Cornyn did have a good year in 2010 […]

During the Los Angeles riots of 1992, Rodney King famously asked, “Can’t we all just get along?” The answer should be an easy and unequivocal “yes,” but it seems less and less likely these days. King was speaking in term of race, but the same could be said of political ideology. Liberals, conservatives and every […]

In his first formal press conference in months, Barack Obama showed that getting re-elected can increase a president’s confidence and combativeness. He staked out tough stands on several issues, especially on the looming budget negotiations. Looking ahead to the “fiscal cliff” on Dec. 31, when the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts expire and sequestration cuts […]

I have to admit that when Obama “won” re-election I became more depressed than Madonna’s audience was when they were forced to watch her strip the other night. For God’s sake, Madonna, put some material on that mess, material girl. I guess she’s going to follow Cher’s path and torture us with her exhibitionism ‘til […]

Stewart Rahr, the flamboyant philanthropist billionaire donated $100,000 this week to The: Salvation Army to directly benefit Hurricane Sandy victims. Rahr made the donations live on the air during a ABC/NY radio show program with the famed Geraldo Rivera. The gregarious Stewart Rahr: is listed as #298 on the Forbes 400 according to Forbes Magazine. Rahr sold […]

Obama’s victory means four more years with no hope or change. When I think about what the future offers, it reminds me of the last thing I said during my closing remarks at a 2008 debate for state representative in Massachusetts. I said: “If you like the way things are, vote for the incumbent… and […]

The tiny country of Israel, which is the size of New Jersey is in the media constantly and regularly.: : There is an extreme amount of media bias against Israel, and here are 10 reasons media is biased against Israel: Freedom of the press as in other democracies.: : The only difference is that Israel’s neighbors — and conflicts […]

I’m going to make a bold prediction: America’s War on Drugs is now officially over. Oh, no one in Washington is going to make any sort of announcement to confirm this, but take it from me: Our four-decades-old drug war strategy is now formally kaput. To be entirely honest, it has been sputtering along for […]

Recently saw an amazing movie, Swingman, a documentary by filmmaker: Mark Birnbaum: about: a Texas firefighter’s life and emotional journey after a biking accident left him a quadriplegic.: Captain Marshall Allen in 2001,: an athlete and pioneering black fireman, was wrapping up a 30-mile bike trip when he tried to hop over a branch in the road and went into […]

By John Hawkins TPNN Contributor This is an absolute outrage and if the Republican Party doesn’t make this into a major issue, it should just fold its tents and go home. President Obama’s labor regulators are preparing to give his “army” of unions the private contact information of workers employed by non-union companies, as part […]

Exactly two years ago this week, the Obama administration announced it had issued more than 100 waivers en masse to a select group of companies, unions and other health insurance providers seeking relief from the onerous federal health care law. The Obamacare waiver winner’s club now totals 2,000. Where are they now? Answer: In the […]

I think I owe an apology to George W. Bush. William F. Buckley once noted that he was 19 when the Cold War began at the Yalta conference. The year the Berlin Wall came down, he became a senior citizen. In other words, he explained, anti-Communism was a defining feature of conservatism his entire adult […]

Obama’s first post-election press conference, if you could call it that, tells us a great deal about his attitude and the approach he intends to pursue in his second term, which is the same failed policy mix on steroids. Obama’s re-election, of course, gives him the right to pursue these policies, but it doesn’t deny […]

More than 40 years ago, the federal government launched a war on drugs. Over the past decade, the nation has spent hundreds of billions of dollars fighting that war, a figure that does not even include the high costs of prosecuting and jailing drug law offenders. It’s hard to put a price on that aspect […]

As the popular vote counts emerge and we move out from under the shadow of the media spin, we are learning the real reason Mitt Romney lost. The mainstream media is pushing the story that a massive turnout among minorities and the young drowned the white male vote as America changes its demography. But the […]

Rules are meant to be broken says the rabble rouser, the rebel with a cause, the tens of thousands following in the footsteps of provocateur Andrew Breitbart. The rule of the land had mirrored that of the illusion–we were the best. It is gone–and may never be repaired. Conservative thought-leader Thomas Sowell warned years ago […]

Interestingly, I received an invitation recently to a major Public Relations conference in Iran.: : The: “Islamic Public Relations” conference is being held on: December 8-9, 2012 in Tehran, Iran.” While the conference aim is “establishing relationship between Muslim PR practitioners with the aim of increasing convergence and synergizing capabilities,” one wonders of the “Public relations leaders, managers and […]

The second-term curse goes like this: A president (e.g., Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, etc.) wins re-election, but then his presidency implodes over the next four years — mired in scandals or disasters such as Watergate, Iran-Contra, Monica Lewinsky, the Iraqi insurgency and Hurricane Katrina. Apparently, like tragic Greek heroes, administrations […]

You’ll remember that President Barack Obama was the only candidate with a detailed plan to deal with the impending fiscal unpleasantness. And, as the president explained this week during his first press conference since winning re-election, “more voters agreed” with him, so naturally, it’s time to give the people what they want. So what do […]

The resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus over an extramarital affair has raised and will continue to raise a number of questions. First among them (OK, maybe not first, national security being more important, but stay with me) is why should he have resigned? I am always amused when journalists use the words “sex scandal” […]

The most successful Republican presidential candidate of the past half century– Ronald Reagan, who was elected and reelected with landslide victories– bore little resemblance to the moderate candidates that Republican conventional wisdom depicts as the key to victory, even though most of these moderate candidates have in fact gone down to defeat. One of the […]

Barack Obama attended more than 200 fundraisers for his presidential campaign, but he refrained from raising money for congressional Democrats. That proved to be a wise move for him, as were his strategists’ decisions to run heavy ad campaigns against Mitt Romney and to build an even more effective turnout machine in target states. But […]

Democrats want illegal immigrants to vote — because they are likely to be supporters — but not to work — because of union sensibilities. Republicans, on the other hand, want them to work — in agribusinesses and the like often owned by their fellow partisans — but not to vote. So the key to a […]

A recent survey by the Chronicle of Philanthropy showed that Republicans and right-wingers are much more likely to give charity than liberals – and it’s not at all surprising. As a self-made entrepreneur, I give charity and nearly every self-made entrepreneur I know gives considerably. People who work hard give and understand the importance of […]

The “good news,” such as it is,: appears to be that “Elmo” isn’t a statutory rapist. The 23-year-old man who accused Kevin Clash, the man who has been the voice of Elmo on “Sesame Street” for nearly three decades, of having had a sexual relationship with him when he was a minor recanted the allegation today. […]

In 2004, we were hearing talk about how Republicans had realigned the map and Democrats were DOOMED FOREVER. Now, just 8 years later, after Mitt Romney lost an election he should have won, we’re hearing the same thing from Republicans. We lost, so it’s game over, man! The fact that an easy win for Obama […]