Conservatives for Trump?
The sudden appearance of Donald Trump on the political horizon last year may have been surprising, but not nearly as surprising as seeing some conservatives supporting him. Does Trump have conservative...
View ArticleRandom Thoughts
Random thoughts on the passing scene: One of the problems with being a pessimist is that you can never celebrate when you are proven right. If what you want from politicians are quick and easy answers,...
View ArticleAn Unmitigated Disaster
Republican party leaders may have worried that Donald Trump would not only lose the general election for the presidency, but would so poison the image of the party as to cause Republican candidates for...
View ArticleDry Rot in Academia
Jason Riley has now joined the long and distinguished list of people invited — and then disinvited — to give a talk on a college campus, in this case Virginia Tech. Mr. Riley is a Senior Fellow at the...
View ArticleGrim Choices
We must frankly face the fact that the front runners in both political parties represent a new low, at a time of domestic polarization and unprecedented nuclear dangers internationally. This year’s...
View ArticleCommencement Season
This is the season of college Commencement speeches — an art form that has seldom been memorable, but has increasingly become toxic in recent times. Two themes seem to dominate Commencement speeches....
View ArticleSocialism for the Uninformed
Socialism sounds great. It has always sounded great. And it will probably always continue to sound great. It is only when you go beyond rhetoric, and start looking at hard facts, that socialism turns...
View ArticleIs Personal Responsibility Obsolete?
Among the many disturbing signs of our times are conservatives and libertarians of high intelligence and high principles who are advocating government programs that relieve people of the necessity of...
View ArticleIs Personal Responsibility Obsolete?: Part II
Too many social problems are conceived of in terms of what “we” can do for “them.” After decades of massive expansions of the welfare state, the answer seems to range from “not very much” to “making...
View ArticleWill Orlando Change Anything?
However great the shock of the massacre in Orlando, it is only a matter of time before we start hearing again the fact-free dogma that “diversity is our strength.” If there is any place in the Guinness...
View ArticleThe Gun Control Farce
Surely murder is a serious subject, which ought to be examined seriously. Instead, it is almost always examined politically in the context of gun control controversies, with stock arguments on both...
View ArticleThe Fraud Goes On
Last week the Supreme Court of the United States voted that President Obama exceeded his authority when he granted exemptions from the immigration laws passed by Congress. But the Supreme Court also...
View ArticleWhat Are We Celebrating?
There was a time when the Fourth of July meant something more than a three-day weekend. Speeches, writings and commemorative ceremonies reminded us of the origins and greatness of America. No matter...
View ArticleThe War on Cops
There was never a more appropriately named book than “The War on Cops” by Heather Mac Donald, published a few weeks ago, on the eve of the greatest escalation of that war by the ambush murders of five...
View ArticleThe War on Cops: Part II
Even in this age of runaway emotions, there are still some people who want to know the facts. Nowhere are facts more important, or more lacking, than in what has been aptly called “The War on Cops,”...
View ArticleThe Dumbest Idea
If there were a contest for the most stupid idea in politics, my choice would be the assumption that people would be evenly or randomly distributed in incomes, institutions, occupations or awards, in...
View ArticleBlack Votes Matter
Black votes matter. If Republicans could get 20 percent of black votes, the Democrats would be ruined. This is highly unlikely, given the approach used by Republicans. However, the point is that...
View ArticleThe Political Picture
The good news is that both political conventions are now behind us. The bad news is that the election is ahead of us. No one knows how this election will turn out but — given the awful presidential...
View ArticleOld Lies
We expect to hear a lot of lies during an election year, and this year is certainly no exception. What is surprising is how old some of these lies are, and how often they have been shown to be lies,...
View ArticleNew Critics of Trump
A year ago, in August 2015, this column called “The Donald” the Democrats’ Trump card. It is hard to imagine any other Republican candidate who could rescue a thoroughly discredited Hillary Clinton...
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