n October 28, 2019, with American commandos closing in, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest and took his life. On January 3, 2020, Qasem Soleimani was blown to bits in a U.S. air strike. Baghdadi was the leader of ISIS; Soleimani was Iran’s most powerful military commander. Despite losing the territory it had overrun […]
nyone thinking about blaming the police for the anarchy that grips America’s liberal cities is not paying attention. The police know how to do their jobs. The politicians, elected by progressive liberals, do not let them. And often enough, even when there are laws remaining on the books that might permit prosecution, activist prosecutors, also […]
ot quite a year ago, online journalist Kaitlin Bennett interviewed a Rutgers student who said “neoliberalism has torn through humanity.” Without meaning to, the student neatly expressed the reason Donald Trump appeals to increasing numbers of Bernie Sanders voters, and why NeverTrump Republicans are better suited to be Democrats. Among the populist leftist movement in […]
illions of acres of California forest have been blackened by wildfires this summer, leading to the usual angry denunciations from the usual quarters about climate change. But in 1999, the Associated Press reported that forestry experts had long agreed that “clearing undergrowth would save trees,” and that “years of aggressive firefighting have allowed brush to […]
n case anyone still thinks it is, the COVID-19 pandemic is not a hoax. How and why it originated may never be known for certain. How societies ought to respond to it, and who are most vulnerable to the disease, are both topics of intense debate. But deaths in America from all causes are up […]
he recent expressions of support for Black Lives Matter by professional athletes can be understood as legitimate reactions to tragic episodes of injustice that occur in the United States. But almost everything beyond that noble sentiment is flawed. “Systemic racism,” to the extent it even exists, explains very little of black underachievement, and the Black […]
elevision and cable network news are biased overwhelmingly in favor of the Democratic Party, but at least viewers in search of balance can find options. Fox News will usually report both sides of the story, and One America News can be relied on for a consistent conservative perspective. Similarly, online search and social media platforms […]
arlier this month Twitter engaged in something that has become all too common among the online communications giants: they banned more conservative content from their platform. This time, their targets were conservative humorists. Two of the banned accounts, Titania McGrath and the Babylon Bee, offer some of the most hilarious satire to be found anywhere. […]
f you’re rich, there aren’t too many places on earth better than California to live. Sure, there are the perennial earthquakes and wildfires, but those are more than made up for by the Mediterranean climate and the scenic splendor; the Pacific Shore, the High Sierra. And apart from these natural disasters, nothing is wrong with […]
est anyone be tempted to suggest this essay is written under a pretense of journalistic indifference, let’s make its ideological position clear: Affirmative action, preferential hiring or admissions, or legislatively enforced quotas of any kind—whether based on race, sex, religion, income, or anything else relating to an identifiable “group”—is evil. Affirmative action may masquerade as […]
merica today faces challenges that cannot be overcome without national unity. Desperate economic hardship and existential international threats are beyond the living memory of most Americans, but they could be coming back. The Pax Americana, in effect since 1945, may be coming to an end. Since the end of the Cold War in 1991 America […]
An important new book by Michael Shellenberger, Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All, attempts to counter the common belief that climate change poses an imminent and existential threat to humanity and the planet. At 285 pages, this is a relatively short and very readable book, but it covers a lot of ground. And with […]
here are few if any slurs that offend the conscience of Americans and carry more weight than the term “racist.” For this reason, most Americans go out of their way to live their lives in a way that is fair to everyone, regardless of race. Also for this reason, in order to get support for […]
“Sauron’s wrath will be terrible, his retribution swift. The battle for Helm’s Deep is over, the battle for Middle Earth has begun.” —Gandalf the White, “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,” (2002) hen applied to American politics and public policy, this quote from one of Peter Jackson’s film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic Lord […]
he only thing we know for certain about COVID-19 is that more people are dying this year than in previous years. A lot more. CDC data on deaths from all causes show an increase through May 20 of 11 percent above the average through that same date for the previous six years. That’s over 127,000 […]
ccording to the latest woke wisdom, to be “colorblind” is actually a way to “uphold racism.” Writing for Psychology Today, Monnica Williams, a licensed clinical psychologist and associate professor at the University of Ottawa, explains: Colorblindness is the racial ideology that posits the best way to end discrimination is by treating individuals as equally as […]
vershadowed by the tragic and sustained violence of the past several weeks is the encouraging fact that a strong consensus is forming in America on the question of police and criminal justice reform. But any discussion of the ultimate legislative response to this stronger-than-ever consensus should acknowledge the complexities that must confront any search for […]
The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky, are also on the faces, of people going by, I see friends shaking hands, saying how do you do, they’re really saying, I love you… —Louis Armstrong, “What a Wonderful World” he American River runs through the heart of Sacramento, from the bedroom communities in […]
hen it comes to memes, “COVID-19 Cured Pneumonia” is a good one. Its obvious implausibility immediately directs the reader to consider the underlying allegation, which is that pneumonia deaths are being deliberately understated in order for the Centers for Disease Control to reclassify them as COVID-19 deaths, thus fanning public panic. When there’s a meme, […]
merica was at a historic crossroads in 1971. The war in Vietnam increasingly was seen as unwinnable, while triggering ongoing unrest in cities and college campuses across the nation. The economy was challenged with rising inflation and rising trade deficits. In August 1971, the British ambassador turned up at the Treasury Department to request that […]