Category: Column

It’s almost Thanksgiving. The fireplaceinside crackleswhile the snow outside falls, painting an exceptionally-Alaskan scene as I write, also reminding me that this is also the time of year I receive correspondence from thoughtful people asking how a particular American hero, a man who gave up his youth to serve this great nation under four presidents, […]

“From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some trans-Atlantic military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe and Asia … could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of […]

Sure, that sounds counterintuitive. Thanksgiving Thursday is the first day of a (for most of us) four-day weekend, a time devoted to gorging on comfort food and nonstop viewing of college and professional football games. It’s a time as well for contemplation, already primed by overfamiliar songs in shopping malls, of an even longer holiday […]

A little over a year ago, when Ben Carson was gearing up to run for president, I questioned in this space whether he was ready for what lay ahead. We now have our answer: No. Carson had a great number of things going for him: his amazing life story, charm, professional accomplishments, eloquence and courage. […]

This special edition of The Glazov Gang was joined by Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center who writes the blog The Point at Frontpagemag.com. Daniel discussed When Brown-Shirts Need to Feel “Safe” on the American Campus, explaining why truth tellers about Islam like Ayaan Hirsi Ali need to be punished by […]

“Who is happy?” asks a sage in the great Jewish wisdom compendium “Sayings of the Fathers.” Answer: “He who is contented with his lot.” And how, this Thanksgiving Day, do you acquire contentment when you are constantly barraged with evidence that others have more beautiful possessions or are better looking, more talented, healthier, more admired, […]

For much of 2015, the political questions concerning former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have been whether or not she can hold the lead. She entered the year the clear favorite to win the Democratic nomination. She was, in fact, the most dominant frontrunner since, well, Hillary Clinton eight years ago. And that’s what made […]

An office manager in Louisiana who billed Medicare for services that weren’t needed or even provided was recently sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay $14.1 million in restitution. Twelve other defendants are awaiting sentencing for their roles in the $50 million scheme to defraud Medicare. The next day, a Detroit-area physician […]

The recent wave of student protests is aimed at liberal professors and administrators. Current student anger eerily fits the pattern of most left-wing unrest, from the cycles of the French Revolution to the campus riots of the 1960s. First, protests gradually grow more extreme. Venom is directed at fellow leftists who are deemed insufficiently radical. […]

When students protesting “microaggressions” took over an administrative building at Occidental College in California, they issued 14 demands. The school agreed to all except the first, which required the firing of its president. Similar protests took place concurrently at other colleges nationwide. Occidental’s five-day takeover was organized by Oxy United for Black Liberation, led by […]

Earlier generations believe that male enlistment in the military had an equalizing effect; wars brought men from all classes together to fight for a common cause. Newspapers are the modern (much less dangerous) equivalent, in that they provide a common experience for people of all walks of life, as well as a common investment. My […]

It’s just bad news after bad news for the republican establishment.   First it was Jeb Bush, who was supposed to be the heir apparent – as if he were the next man up to carry the establish mantle because everyone just assumed it was his turn. And that’s the way the establishment does it […]

This special edition of The Glazov Gang was joined by Stephen Coughlin, the co-founder of UnconstrainedAnalytics.org and the author of the new book, Catastrophic Failure. He came on the show to discuss The Dreadful Lessons of ISIS’s Paris Massacre, shedding troubling light on Jihadists’ dire warning to America. [See also Stephen on the Glazov Gang special: […]

The first thought I had upon hearing about the horrific Islamic terrorist attacks in Paris was that this is the result of playing nice with evil. In an episode of The Andy Griffith Show, Deputy Barney warned Sheriff Andy to “nip it in the bud” when dealing with lawbreakers. Paris’s government foolishly refused to nip […]

New York Times, Monday, Nov. 16, 2015: “BRUSSELS — The French authorities have concluded that Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a 27-year-old Belgian man who has fought in Syria for the Islamic State, was the mastermind of the Paris terrorist attacks.” Franco-Belgian yet cosmopolitan in culture, Abaaoud’s great-grandfather, Anselmus Aaster, opened the first chocolate shop on the Rue […]

Many people naturally assume that since I work in political journalism, I must breathe, drink and eat politics 24/7/365 — including on the Thanksgiving holiday. The thought of it gives me indigestion. Self-absorbed creatures who have no life outside the Beltway world are the most tiresome ogres. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest advised Americans […]

What might have happened if a few of the 1,500 concert attendees in Paris’ Bataclan theater had guns? The terrorists had time to kill, reload and kill again. The police unit didn’t come for more than a half hour. If a few people in the theater were armed, might they have killed the killers? We’ll […]

Recent events at the University of Missouri, Yale University and some other colleges demonstrate an ongoing ignorance and/or contempt for the principles of free speech. So let’s examine some of those principles by asking: What is the true test of one’s commitment to free speech? Contrary to the widespread belief of tyrants among college students, […]

If you’re at risk of prostate cancer — in other words, if you’re male — the best place to be is the United States, where survival rates are highest in the world. But not for long, if the Obama administration gets its way by curtailing a test that flags prostate cancer before it spreads. The […]

Four in 10 young Americans have no idea what America is. That’s the takeaway from a new Pew Research poll showing that 40 percent of Americans aged 18-34 say that the government should be able to prevent people from making “statements that are offensive to minority groups.” This same group of young people has granted […]

I liked Spike Lee’s new movie “Chi-Raq,” the story about the gang wars and all the lives lost in the war zone that is Chicago. The politicians and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel won’t like it. But that’s OK. After it was over, I thought there was one more thing Lee could do for Chicago. He […]

PARIS — The U.S. State Department has issued a blunt worldwide travel alert for Americans. Nothing cuts through murky rhetorical waters and diplomatic platitudes like a terrorist’s bomb. Suddenly, reasonable people are faced with a stark choice between keeping safe and taking the sort of laissez-faire approach to security that the Paris attackers were able […]

Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin have a couple things in common. Both are domestic authoritarians and both believe themselves to be dictators of their respective countries. Beyond that, they are pretty much polar opposites.   Putin, the ex-KGB agent fancies himself a tough guy, a man’s man, spending a great amount of time shirtless and […]

There is a painful irony in a recent decision of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, on the side of Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, whom the U.S. Department of Justice tried to stop from making charter schools widely available to minority youngsters in his state. The Circuit Court’s decision over-ruled a lower court […]

How could America have twice elected a president who not only can’t stand America but also won’t perform his constitutional duty of defending it? Even some former administration officials and rank-and-file Democrats are finally recognizing that there is something strange about a commander in chief who declines to listen to his advisers on terrorism, won’t […]

For over half a century, American universities, with few exceptions, have ceased teaching and begun indoctrinating. In the last few weeks, this downhill spiral has accelerated. The university is now a caricature of an educational institution. It is difficult to come up with an idea or policy that is more absurd than the ideas and […]

It’s time for Governor Chris Christie to drop out of this cluttered, overcrowded race for president. Polling data out this past weekend shows what a train wreck his campaign has been: The ABC News poll has him at just 2 percent. Last week, the Fairleigh Dickinson University poll of New Jersey voters have their “hometown” […]

Each of our two political parties, ancient by world standards, seems to be facing a gathering storm. Part of the gathering storm for Republicans is Donald Trump’s candidacy and his persistent lead in most primary polls. He is given to outlandish proposals and lacks the temperamental ballast and government experience that general election voters usually […]

After years of review, President Obama has killed the Keystone XL pipeline project. The pipeline would have moved crude oil from Western Canada to Nebraska, where it would have connected to existing pipelines and moved the oil to refineries at the U.S. Gulf Coast. The exact number of jobs that the project would have created […]

When was the last time President Obama tried to persuade you on something? Not as in he called you up and tried to talk you into a timeshare … but when was the last time he tried to talk the American people into supporting one of his ideas? Has he truly tried to sell us […]