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 Harvard Puts a Priority By IRA STOLL, Nothing like a president-elect widely feared as an erratic bully to trigger newfound respect on the left for the rule of law, right? Well, maybe not. The Harvard Crimson reports that the dean of Harvard College, Rakesh Khurana, �will prioritize… Press Turned Servile By CONRAD BLACK, As the days have ticked past since the U.S. election, its implications, especially for the press, have been interpreted with agonizing slowness. The polls, so inaccurate, yet uniformly revealed public disrespect for the press. Ninety per cent of… Father�s Secret Plan By SETH LIPSKY, Did anyone ever stop to ask why there�s only one day a year when we are supposed to eat yams? This tasteless tuber the color of carrots may be the least edible substance known to man. What in the world is the logic of serving yams on a day for giving… A Vanquished Press By CONRAD BLACK, As there is an incessant crescendo, still gaining in volume each week, about President Obama�s �legacy,� I thought it appropriate to try to identify this legacy, which his supporters believe history will honor. I have written here and elsewhere that… Could Flyover Country By IRA STOLL, DEARBORN, Michigan � For some quick perspective on topics that are flaring in the aftermath of the presidential election �American manufacturing, bigotry, the difference between coastal elite America and flyover country, the environment � one can do a… �Modified Limited Hangout� By CONRAD BLACK, There is little more to be said about the election result. Though my preference was known to readers and has been favored by the voters, I am disconcerted by the divisions that have arisen among former allies, especially between thoughtful… Jonathan Gruber Discovers By IRA STOLL, Call it the Jonathan Gruber election. He is the Ford professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He got his Ph.D. at Harvard. As a White House consultant, he helped to design ObamaCare and was then caught afterward on videotape explaining its passage by talking about �the stupidity of the American voter.� Public�s Loathing of the Press By CONRAD BLACK, There are many who will or should engage in some soul-searching, following the U.S election, in which for the first time in the country�s history, someone came from no background in public office or military command and seized control of a major… How Trump�s Billingsgate By CONRAD BLACK, It is not such a surprise that Americans have elevated Donald Trump to the headship of their country. It was improbable at first, because of his raucous personality, and the fact he had never held public office or a high military command (the almost… Pardon for Hillary Clinton By SETH LIPSKY, President-elect Donald Trump and President Obama are due to meet Thursday to begin the transition in a way designed to unite the country. One of the best things they could discuss is the possibility of a pardon for Hillary Clinton. This question was… A Post-Election Market Tip: By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The wisdom on Wall Street is that Hillary Clinton is the safe choice. She�s the certainty candidate to Donald Trump�s uncertainty. So when James Comey announced the reopening of the FBI�s Clinton investigation, stocks fell for nine days. After he… How a President Clinton By IRA STOLL, If there is a President-elect Hillary Clinton, she may find herself missing Justice Scalia. When Scalia died in February, Mrs. Clinton issued a statement: �I did not hold Justice Scalia�s views, but he was a dedicated public servant who brought energy… As Election Day Approaches, By CONRAD BLACK, It is hard to believe that this clangorous campaign of defamations is in its last week. Of course, in the first year of Donald Trump�s largely self-financed campaign, which broke all records for the sale of silly T-shirts, hats, and badges, his… Why Does Mrs. Clinton By SETH LIPSKY, The best move for Hillary Clinton in the face of the FBI�s release of its trove of documents in the Marc Rich case is to defend her husband Bill. He�s the one who, in the last hours of his presidency, pardoned the fugitive financier and his partner… By GARDNER WALDEIER, Two hours before sun up, the stillness was broken occasionally by the call of some early bird or the waking shuffles of a grey squirrel. In the darkness, it seemed like I could hear the heartbeat of a sleeping vole. I was tuned more than on most mornings because like the squirrel, I was looking to put up some food for the winter. Based on the hoof prints and scraped ground in the fresh snow, I had reason to believe that a male deer would be passing through the field where grew the oak tree in which I was perched. Wrapped tightly in shaggy wool to keep out the cold and keep in my smell, I looked, I imagine, like some proto man-owl. �Saint� or �Crooked� Hillary? By IRA STOLL, Forget about Donald Trump versus Hillary Clinton. The most interesting and consequential contest of the presidential campaign � and of the next four or eight years, if Mrs. Clinton prevails in the election � may just be the one between Crooked Hillary… Reopening Email Case By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, We knew there could be a big October surprise before this bizarre and unpopular election finally came to an end. But who knew it would come from e-mails found on a device that was used by the ex congressman, Anthony Weiner, and that was confiscated by… Trump�s Off-Hand Aside By STEPHEN MacLEAN, Give The Donald his due: rarely is there a dull moment at a Trump rally. Last night at Geneva, Ohio, he ruminated on his �America First� economic policy. Mr. Trump returned to his protectionist message that companies moving manufacturing jobs out of… How a GI for Our Time By SETH LIPSKY, Four days before the election, Mel Gibson�s new movie � �Hacksaw Ridge� � is going to hit the screens. It�s about Private Desmond Doss, a Seventh Day Adventist who refused to carry a weapon but went into the Battle of Okinawa as a medic. And was… Trump Goes To Gettysburg By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The Trump campaign is due to deliver a major speech today at historic Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He will present his closing arguments for American voters, outlining the steps he will take in his first 100 days to make America great again. I hope it�s… Could Our Election Drama By SETH LIPSKY, For all the drama � and melodrama � that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have brought to this election, are they merely bobbing about on the currents of history? Is it all just a case of America going through the 24-year itch? That�s the phrase of a… Melania Trump Points By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, When the now-infamous Donald Trump/Billy Bush audio feed was released, my confidence in Donald Trump all but evaporated. The so-called locker-room conversation -- about kissing, groping, and fondling women -- was worse than locker room. It was vile… How Special Prosecutors By SETH LIPSKY, Donald Trump�s threat to appoint a special prosecutor to put Hillary Clinton in jail is generating a volcano of outrage among the Democrats. They suggest it�s anti-democratic, abusive, cross-wise with the spirit of the Constitution, and thuggish. I… A Debate on Character By CONRAD BLACK, As I am about to depart on an overseas trip and will miss at least one week in this space, I offer a brief forward look on the home stretch of the election campaign. The Democrats have absolutely no plausible argument for their own reelection or for… Clinton�s Pledge on Debt By STEPHEN MacLEAN, A risible headline comes courtesy of Hillary Clinton. �I am not going to add a penny to the national debt,� she promises. Raucous readers are permitted a moment to compose themselves. Let�s be generous and take the former secretary of state at her… Clinton Could End Up By SETH LIPSKY, Could it be that in riding the issue of Donald Trump�s �fitness� for the presidency, Hillary Clinton is setting herself a trap? After all, if she wins on that issue, as she may well do, what kind of mandate will she have? It�s not my intention here to… Neusner, Famed Scholar, By IRA STOLL, Jacob Neusner wrote, in his report to his Harvard classmates for his 30th college reunion, �When I came to Harvard in 1950, I was so enthralled with this new world...that I just did not want to go home. I stayed at the college the entire year and did… Trump, Despite Long Odds, By CONRAD BLACK, American presidential politics are now in uncharted and turbulent waters. The key to Donald Trump�s success in the primaries and in thrashing the mainstream Republican party, which sank without a ripple apart from the hundreds of millions of dollars… President Obama Picks By SETH LIPSKY, It�s all her fault. That�s the latest from President Obama. He says he�s not to blame for Donald Trump. Nope. Nor is Hillary Clinton. According to the President, it�s all the fault of Sarah Palin. Mr. Obama unloaded this brainstorm in an interview… Writing Is on the Wall By CONRAD BLACK, It is already a platitude that Donald Trump had a bad week. The stridently partisan national (and international) press has translated Mrs. Clinton�s unimpressive and fairly narrow victory in the first debate into a terrible �drubbing� (the word is… Ceding Control of Internet By BETSY McCAUGHEY, In another blow to American global leadership the Obama administration is abdicating control of the Internet. Countries that loathe freedom are gaining more influence over what you�ll be able to find on the web. America started the Internet and from… Clinton�s Long March By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, You�ve got to hand it to Team Hillary Clinton. Their message discipline is awesome -- at least in terms of taxes. It reminds me of the orderly march of the Chinese Red Army on the way to battle. Here�s the latest: The Bush tax cuts were responsible… Trump�s Tax Return By SETH LIPSKY, If I were Donald Trump � a stretch, to be sure � I�d respond to Hillary Clinton�s nudging by refusing to release my tax return, now or ever. It�s none of her, or anyone else�s, business. The idea that baring one�s tax return should be required of… Here�s a Lesson for All, By IRA STOLL, Beginning Sunday evening with the holiday of Rosh Hashanah that marks the Jewish New Year, and continuing through Yom Kippur the following week, the world�s Jews engage in a period of self-examination. As is often the case with Jewish ideas, this… How Hillary Clinton By CONRAD BLACK, While I have consistently dissented in this column and elsewhere from extreme versions of the anti-Trump barrage across the American and international press, he was not my first choice for the Republican nomination, and I have tried not to close the… Will Trump Target the Times By IRA STOLL, The Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, is taking aim at the nation�s largest and most powerful left-of-center newspaper, the New York Times, in an attack that may expose how the newspaper is being propped up financially by a Mexican… By GARDNER WALDEIER, Since the first time my father let me take the old Ford tractor down into the field to pick up potatoes, I have waited for the opportunity to run a piece of heavy equipment. A generation later, as I�m about to build my own house, the first tool is a borrowed Caterpillar 311B. It has 89 diesel horsepower and moves on steel tracks. Trump, JFK Vowed Tax Cuts By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, How fitting that Donald Trump made his most important economic policy speech at the Economic Club of New York. That�s where, 54 years ago, President Kennedy unveiled a dramatic tax-cut plan to revive the long-stagnant U.S. economy. He proposed… Trump Emerges in Center, By CONRAD BLACK, As I suggested when I gave readers a rest from me five weeks ago, the Republican convention successfully celebrated the complete rejection of the Post-Reagan Republican party: The Bushes, Senator McCain, and Governor Romney weren�t present or… Art Comes to Ground Zero By SETH LIPSKY, Call it a tale of two statues � and inspiring works at that. One is a searing sculpture of a woman falling through the air from the World Trade Center on 9/11. The other is a heroic bronze of an American soldier riding into battle on a horse. The… The Joe Biden Rail Cars By IRA STOLL, Pretty much everything that�s wrong with government is encapsulated in the recent announcement of what the New York Times described as a �$2.45 billion loan� to Amtrak to buy new Acela trains to replace the ones that currently ride the rails between… The Secret History By SETH LIPSKY, Bullseye. That�s my reaction to Donald Trump�s charge � made to reporters on Labor Day � that the economic recovery Hillary Clinton and President Obama have been boasting about is a �false economy.� Questions for Loretta Lynch By CLAUDIA ROSETT, The next chapter in the Obama administration�s cash for hostages scandal involves the disclosure that the $1.3 billion it says it sent to the ayatollahs for �interest� payments was flown to the terrorist capital in cash � drawn from a taxpayer funded… �Ridiculous� Is the Word By DAVID MALPASS, Secretary of State Clinton picked an odd battle to fight today. Speaking to her travelling press core, she criticized Donald Trump for questioning the Federal Reserve: �You should not be commenting on Fed actions when you are either running for… What the Left Dasn�t Admit By IRA STOLL, America can return to prosperity and robust economic growth by looking to the Kennedy-Reagan model of income tax cuts and a strong, stable dollar, a new book argues. �JFK and the Reagan Revolution: A Secret History of American Prosperity,� by Lawrence… Trump Aims To Repatriate By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, As the election season heats up, the surprisingly soft August jobs report will lend a little political advantage to Donald Trump. In general, jobs came in between 30,000 and 40,000 below expectations. Goods producing and manufacturing jobs decreased… American History Bodes Ill By CONRAD BLACK, The dust has settled since the conventions and Hillary Clinton appears to have settled into a lead of three to seven points. This reflects the usual convention surge and a final flare-up of Trumpian foot-in-mouth disorder. It is far from a safe margin… Big Cost for EpiPens By IRA STOLL, The most expensive school supply our family purchases each year comes from the pharmacy: a new package of EpiPens to have on hand in case of an allergic reaction. So I�ve been following the flap over pricing the pre-loaded injection devices with more… Call It Judgment Day: By SETH LIPSKY, Call it judgment day. It looks like the Obama administration might yet face some kind of reckoning � in Congress, at least � over its payoff of a long-simmering claim to the Iranian regime. That�s because to do so, the administration tapped a… Are Yanks Happy Enough By IRA STOLL, If a political party can deliver peace and prosperity, it usually means it can win re-election. That idea is simple enough. Applying it to the upcoming election, though, is not so easy. Giving it a try may help illuminate some of the issues involved… Pols Deserve Olympic Medal By IRA STOLL, When the senior senator from New York, Charles Schumer, and the president of Americans for Tax Reform, Grover Norquist, are on the same side of an issue in Washington, it�s worth taking a moment to figure out what is going on. Mr. Schumer, a… Stagnation of U.S. Growth By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, when in fact the results never change, is one definition of insanity. That definition works for economic insanity, too. Over the past seven-and-a-half years, President Obama has… What Will Liberals Say By SETH LIPSKY, What are liberals going to say for themselves if Donald Trump gets assassinated? That�s a question worth pondering as a new effort is under way to delegitimize The Donald in the wake of his remarks on the Second Amendment. Leftists are accusing Mr… Trump�s Cry �You�re Fired�: By IRA STOLL, The presidential election may hinge on the meaning of two words: �you�re fired.� Democrats are trying to turn Donald Trump�s line from �The Apprentice� against him. Campaigning earlier this month in Las Vegas, Hillary Clinton said, �You have got to… Trump Readies a Speech By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Did Hillary Clinton actually propose raising middle-income taxes in a recent speech? The audio suggests she said �we are going to raise taxes on the middle class,� although the prepared remarks indicate she meant �we aren�t.� Well, these things happen… Tax-Shaming of Trump By BETSY McCAUGHEY, Hillary Clinton and the press are trying to goad Donald Trump into releasing his tax returns, suggesting he�s unwilling to pay his �fair share.� Even a few of Trump�s fellow Republicans are piling on. Their premise: Paying the IRS more than you… A Clinton Recession By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, This economy may be perilously close to recession. That was the message of the second-quarter real-GDP report and its meager 1.2% growth rate. Over the past year, real GDP has slipped to a paltry 1.2%. Business investment continues to fall. Building… How Mike Bloomberg By CONRAD BLACK, The Democratic National Convention has been a piercing glimpse into why the United States has every appearance of being a country of vulgar idiots governed by vulgar idiots. Of course it is a great country, by most measurements the greatest country there has ever been. And shame on anyone who does not acknowledge with thanks the fact that the world owes chiefly to the United States the deliverance of the world from Nazism and Communism, and the comparative success of democracy and the free market economy throughout much of the world. Momentum Is With Trump By CONRAD BLACK, The last of the endless refuges of the Never Trump brigades were vacated as the once unthinkable Trump campaign departed Cleveland victorious. All the claims that there would be an anti-Trump coup attempt by procedural experts at the convention, or a… In the Bernie Sanders Fight By SETH LIPSKY, In the great Bernie Sanders battle, I�m with her. Not Hillary Clinton, though I�m not a Hillary hater. In the fight that�s ripping the Democratic Party down the middle, the �her� I�m with is Debbie Wasserman Schultz. That might seem surprising from a right-wing newspaper editor. But, as I�ve written before, I�m sorry to see Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz forced from the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee. Mrs. Wasserman Schultz might be light-years to the left of the GOP, but she is far better than the rest of her party on Israel. She�s not perfect, not by any means � but she�s one of the few remaining Democrats with an emotional attachment to Zion . . . Battle Over Airbnb By BETSY McCAUGHEY, The battle over Airbnb is taking center stage at the Democratic National Convention. The fight is emblematic of the dispute between Republicans and Democrats over who should steer the economy: government regulators, on the one hand, or consumers and… Bloomberg Backing Clinton By IRA STOLL, If Michael Bloomberg really wants Hillary Clinton to beat Donald Trump in November, the former mayor of New York might want to rethink his plan to endorse her in a prime-time speech at the Democratic National Convention. Mrs. Clinton�s chances of… Even as Trump Triumphs By CONRAD BLACK, Even in the week that Donald Trump is nominated by the Republican Party for the presidency of the United States, intelligent people fail in droves to understand what he has accomplished. It was disappointing to read the editorial in this newspaper on… Pence Rescues GOP Parley, By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Ted Cruz essentially gave a career-ending speech at the GOP convention on Wednesday night. It was a slap in the face to GOP nominee Donald Trump. This whole business about �vote your conscience� is a wonderful-sounding phrase. But we all know what he… Senators Booker and Scott By IRA STOLL, Instead of paying attention only to Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton today, take a moment to listen to Senators Tim Scott and Cory Booker. Mr. Scott is a black Republican from South Carolina. Mr. Booker is a black Democrat from New Jersey. Together… Trump-Pence Would Send By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Donald Trump hit two home runs this week. The first, immediately following the horrific terrorist truck attack in Nice, was his statement in a media interview that if elected he would ask Congress for a declaration of war to combat global terrorism… Ginsburg Vows To Retire By SETH LIPSKY, No wonder they call her Notorious RBG. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has just come out against Donald Trump, announcing that if he is elected president, she�d consider moving to New Zealand. It would be a good place for her. I haven�t done… Why Are Stocks Soaring By IRA STOLL, Our presidential election is a choice between a socialist-leaning, anti-free-trade, tax-and-spend Democrat, Hillary Clinton, and a reckless, anti-free-trade Republican, Donald Trump, who has been running around criticizing Hillary Clinton as too… Democrats Feel the Bern By BETSY McCAUGHEY, The Democratic Party is feeling the Bern. The party�s newly drafted 2016 platform parrots Senator Sanders� strident Socialist rhetoric, and Mr. Sanders is pressing party brass to move even farther left. The platform claims the biggest problem facing… Only a Proper Pardon By SETH LIPSKY, No sooner did the director of the FBI, James Comey, take a powder on the Hillary Clinton scandal than the calls started coming for the appointment of a special counsel. If Mr. Comey�s idea was to quell the controversy, it looks like he failed. So… Five Easy Pieces By IRA STOLL, The Commerce Department will unveil later this month its estimate of how much the American economy grew in the second quarter of 2016. If the recent pattern holds, the number will be disappointing. Last week the government announced that the economy… Obama Fails To Rule Out By IRA STOLL, The funniest political moment of the past month came in President Obama�s interview with journalists from Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Businessweek. Bloomberg rendered the transcript of it like this: So it�s unlikely, then, that you�ll go to work on… Trump�s Feud with Bezos By IRA STOLL, The hottest political fight in America right now may not be between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, but between Mr. Trump and Jeffrey Bezos, who is the founder and CEO of Amazon.com and the owner of the Washington Post. Look for it to end up like Mr… Stage for Trump Was Set By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Famed investor Wilbur Ross recently told CNBC that Donald Trump �represents a more radical new approach to government that the nation�s economy desperately needs.� He�s right. Mr. Trump seeks an overthrow of the establishment. He�s a disrupter. Just… As Clinton Derides Trump, By IRA STOLL, So I get that the left disagrees with Donald Trump�s plan to respond to the Orlando terrorist attack � and the San Bernardino shooting, and the Boston Marathon bombing, and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 � with a temporary moratorium on… If Trump Can Patch It Up By CONRAD BLACK, As the Wall Street Journal has the most interesting comment pages of any newspaper in the English- or French-speaking worlds (the only languages in which I am competent to judge), and its contributors have followed a more thoughtful and dignified… As Obama Economy Falters By BETSY McCAUGHEY, The somber assessment of the current jobs market, offered Monday by the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, certainly throws cold water on President Obama�s election-year messaging. Mr. Obama has been bragging that America has �the… Taylor Swift, Robots, Uber By IRA STOLL, A person can�t open the newspaper these days without encountering a reminder of the plummeting value of the dollar. Sunday�s New York Times was an example. The lead editorial, about money in politics, reports, �As the money torrent rises, it�s no… Shock Report on Jobs By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The May jobs report is a shocker, with nonfarm payrolls up only 38,000 and private jobs up a mere 25,000. Investors and economists are making the case that this was a weird, one-off, statistical glitch and that stronger employment is on the way. They… Wake Up Call for Feds By BETSY McCAUGHEY, Federal officials are predicting doom because a Pennsylvania woman became infected with a germ that can�t be controlled by most antibiotics. �The medicine cabinet is empty for some patients,� warned the director of the Centers for Disease Control and… Johnson-Weld in 2016? By IRA STOLL, Johnson-Weld 2016? A lot of American voters will give the Libertarian Party ticket nominated this weekend a closer look than usual this year, because of dissatisfaction with the major party alternatives. I�m one of them. To me, it�s not a big surprise… Hillary Assails Trump By LAWRENCE KUDLOW and STEPHEN MOORE, We are going to disclose the grand secret to getting rich by investing. It's a simple formula that has worked for Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn, and all the greatest investment gurus over the years. Ready? Buy low, sell high. It turns out that Donald… Democrats� Drift on Israel By SETH LIPSKY, What a hoopla has arisen over the fact that the first Jewish candidate to get to the homestretch of a Democratic presidential primary is making it his business to move the party formally away from its support of Israel. At least to the degree that… Public Impatience Ignites By CONRAD BLACK, The most astounding thing about this year of political surprises in the United States is how slowly even eminent commentators have recognized the radical change in national political opinion. Essentially, 75% to 80% of the Republicans and… Just in Time for November, By IRA STOLL, Yuval Levin, who was an aide to Newt Gingrich and to George W. Bush, is one of the most prominent intellectuals on the center-right, and his new book, �The Fractured Republic: Renewing America�s Social Contract in the Age of Individualism,� is… Democrats Fear Repeat By SETH LIPSKY, The Democratic warhorse Dianne Feinstein is warning that Bernie Sanders� campaign against Hillary Clinton could turn the party�s convention in Philadelphia into the kind of disaster that erupted in Chicago in 1968. �It worries me a great deal,�… Where There�s Smoke of Bias By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Mark Zuckerberg and his social-press site Facebook have come under strong criticism for allegedly suppressing stories of interest for conservative readers from its influential �trending� news section. Facebook has roughly 1.6 billion users worldwide… Clinton Ups the Ante By IRA STOLL, Hillary Clinton is heading into the general election with a strong signal that she won�t be put off by Bernie Sanders� attacks on her hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees for secret speeches to Goldman Sachs. She�s upping the ante by deploying, as… �Donald the Disrupter� By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the GOP House leadership member from Washington state, finally uttered the words I�ve been waiting to hear with respect to Donald Trump�s march on the nation�s capital. In an NBC News interview with my pal Luke Russert, she… Golden Opportunity Awaits By JUDY SHELTON, When Speaker Ryan and Donald Trump meet tomorrow at Washington, they should seek to reconcile dueling agendas. One goal they both embrace is the need for stronger economic growth and more job creation. But the two strong-willed leaders differ… The Constitution State: By CHRIS POWELL, Revolutionary With Connecticut�s tax revenue continuing to collapse, many elected state officials, starting with Governor Malloy and Republican legislators and now even many Democratic legislators, members of the governor�s own party, are starting to… Burden Is on Donald Trump By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Donald Trump has swept the primaries and is now the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. His primary surge � from New York to Indiana �has confounded almost all the pundits and a majority of elected officials. He understood the populist economic… Trump Is Being Lofted By CONRAD BLACK, The United States is now moving in high gear into the most interesting election campaign it has had since 1968, and without the constant riots that occurred throughout that election year and surely, the assassinations (of Martin Luther King Jr. and… Beyond All the Bluster By BETSY McCAUGHEY, The rap on Donald Trump is he�s all bluster. The New York Times says he�s offering �incoherent mishmash.� GOP rival Ted Cruz claims Trump has �no idea� how to fix the economy. Don�t� believe it. The Trump campaign is putting forward proposals to fix… Charles Lindbergh�s Babies: By SETH LIPSKY, As Donald Trump careers toward the election, it looks like his critics are going to try to tar him with his own campaign slogan, �America First.� It was, after all, the cry of those who wanted America to stay out of the fight against Hitler. They formed the �America First Committee� in 1940, even after the war in Europe had begun and the Nazis were gearing up for the Final Solution. The left is going to try to hang all this on Mr. Trump. This is going to be rich Candidates� Sad Siblings By IRA STOLL, Call them the sad siblings. Senator Ted Cruz�s half-sister Miriam died of an overdose in 2011 after a struggle with drug addiction and a series of arrests. Governor John Kasich�s brother Richard has schizoaffective disorder and receives government… Collapse of U.S. Growth By LAWRENCE KUDLOW and STEVE MOORE, GDP for the first quarter of 2016 came in at a paltry one-half of one-percent. That sorry showing follows growth of 1.4% and 2% in the previous two quarters. If such a thing is possible, the already anemic economy is actually getting worse. Even… Trump-Cruz Odds Are Even By RED JAHNCKE, Donald Trump�s five-state, 110-delegate triumph Tuesday in the �Acela primary� sweep may have been expected, since his only real competition, Senator Cruz, had conceded much of the territory as too unwelcoming to warrant investment. The back-to-back… A Cruz-Kasich Ticket By RED JAHNCKE, A Cruz-Kasich ticket is starting to come into focus with the two campaigns� joint announcement that they will coordinate on three upcoming primaries. Don�t be so literal as to see things only as coordination in just three states. While many in the… Clinton Campaign Themes By IRA STOLL, Hillary Clinton is finding the themes for her presidential campaign in language already road-tested by candidates who ran, and lost, in the Republican presidential contest. Mrs. Clinton, a Democrat, just released a campaign�commercial�in which the… How Trump Outflanked Cruz By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Donald Trump�s landslide victory in the New York GOP primary was a game-changer. It ended his Wisconsin slump and set the stage for an across-the-board sweep next Tuesday in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Mr. Trump�s… Devil Will Lurk in Details By BETSY McCAUGHEY, On Monday, House Republicans promised to offer a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare within a month. It�s not a moment too soon. Obamacare is collapsing. UnitedHealth will abandon most Obamacare markets, it said Tuesday. Giant insurers such as Aetna… Clinton Returns to Walmart, By IRA STOLL, Senator Sanders is emailing supporters to highlight the fact that his opponent in the Democratic presidential primary, Hillary Clinton, is being supported by �enormous checks from people like Alice Walton (yes, Wal-Mart).� And it is true. Federal… Trump May Soon Discover By RED JAHNCKE, What�s up with all of this after-the-fact complaining we�ve heard from Donald Trump in the wake of his recent losses to Senator Cruz? Yesterday, Mr. Cruz romped in Wyoming. Mr. Trump charged that the Texan had bought the delegates. A week earlier… Sanders� Workers� Paradise By STEPHEN MOORE, If you want to see welfare-state socialism in action, go to bankrupt Puerto Rico. Let�s hope Bernie Sanders� voters are paying attention to what their worker paradise dreams turn into in real life. Puerto Rico is a financial basket base with… How One Heroic Woman By IRA STOLL, Uninspired by the presidential race? This past weekend brought an emphatic reminder that some of the most consequential lives are led by those who are never elected to political office. The reminder came in the form of the obituaries for Barbara… Trump Can Yet Prevail By CONRAD BLACK, Since writing last week that the moment of truth had arrived for Donald Trump, even I, and even at this late date, have been astounded at the frenzied amplification of the hysteria of his opponents within the Republican party and in the national press… Will Atlas Stop Shrugging By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Does the American government want to help American business or not? Does it want Atlas to stop shrugging? Does the administration want to help middle-income wage earners or not? Does team Obama want to grow the American economy at its historic 3.5%… A Trump Loss at Wisconsin By RED JAHNCKE, Donald Trump is being badgered in Wisconsin today, on the heels of a defeat, at North Dakota, where most delegate chosen this weekend were supporters of Senator Cruz, albeit soft unbound supporters. Mr. Trump will point ahead to New York, where he is… Taxes Emerge as Priority By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Speaking before a packed audience at the prestigious Economic Club of New York, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, basically announced that there would be no rate hikes for quite some time � maybe once before yearend, maybe not. Her… Harvard�s Drew Faust By SETH LIPSKY, Maybe Drew Faust ought to run for president. She�s the head of Harvard University and just delivered at West Point a speech praising the military that once would have been unthinkable from Ivy League leadership. And just when we need it most � facing… Clinton Campaign Owns Up By BETSY McCAUGHEY, The Clinton campaign is finally owning up to what most Americans learned the hard way. The Affordable Care Act is anything but affordable. Its costs are �crushing� people who have to buy health insurance. Hillary Clinton vows to fix the problem, but… GOP�s Moment of Truth By CONRAD BLACK, The moment of truth is at hand for the Republicans. Much of the last 35 years of American political history was determined when James A. Baker, George H. W. Bush�s campaign manager when he sought the presidential nomination in 1980, persuaded Mr. Bush… Scheme of Connecticut By IRA STOLL, Maybe Yale should move. That�s the reaction of at least one Yale graduate, the Cato Institute�s Walter Olson, to the news that the Connecticut state legislature is reportedly considering imposing a new tax on endowment income of universities with… �Denial Number� Emerges By RED JAHNCKE, The next metric on which to focus in the Republican primary is the �the number to deny.� So far the news stories have been focusing on the number needed to win the nomination on the first ballot at the Republican convention. Donald Trump, according to… A Triumph by Trump By CONRAD BLACK, The feverish activity concerning a third-party race by Republican defectors from Donald Trump is sawdust. Any such effort would replicate the nonsensical challenges of Henry Wallace against Harry Truman in 1948 and John Anderson against Ronald Reagan… �Unprecedented� Is the Word By SETH LIPSKY, �Unprecedented� is the word the Washington Post is using for the apology issued by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee for the applause given to Donald Trump at its conference this week. AIPAC is shocked � shocked � that The Donald criticized… Logic Grows for Kasich By RED JAHNCKE, The most unifying move that Governor Kasich could make in the Republican primaries would be to suspend his campaign � immediately. It�s unlikely he will win delegates tomorrow at Arizona and Utah or more than a handful of delegates in the next two… Anti-Israel Billboards Rise, By IRA STOLL, The big news in my hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts. this month has been the appearance, near a major highway, of a billboard criticizing America�s foreign aid to Israel. �We give Israel $10 million a day! That money could send our kids to… Who Will Lead GOP By JUDY SHELTON, The backlash against free trade that has come bubbling to the surface under the pressure of presidential campaigning is fueled by long-simmering resentment. Why is China allowed to devalue its currency against the dollar? How is it fair to American… Hamilton Saw Senate Power By SETH LIPSKY, Somewhere Alexander Hamilton is smiling. For the battle that�s beginning over President Obama�s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court vindicates the famous Founder�s assurances on judicial appointments. Hamilton knew that Americans… Frontlash for Trump By CONRAD BLACK, Those who initially saw the Trump candidacy as an exercise in buffoonery and exhibitionism, and gradually accepted it as an insurgency, now see it as an attempt to hijack and ravish the Republican Party and even to hoodwink the entire electorate. The… Baby Boomers� Last Gasp By IRA STOLL, Neither the Trump fans nor the Hillary Clinton fans want to hear it, but the two politicians have more in common than either of the presidential candidates wants to acknowledge. He gave money to her foundation and her campaigns. Federal campaign… Constitution State Mulls By CHRIS POWELL, Liberalism in Connecticut used to stand for due process of law, but not anymore. Increasingly liberalism in Connecticut stands instead for mere political correctness, as signified by two liberal causes advancing through the General Assembly. They… GOP Set To Nominate By RED JAHNCKE, So, Mr. and Mrs. GOP �establishment,� you want to �stop� Donald Trump at a contested convention? Really? Knowing that the real meaning of �contested� is �stolen� to vast numbers of disaffected party members and Trump and Cruz supporters? The party… Kudlow on Donald Trump: By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, My friend Jonah Goldberg has written a column entitled �Conservative Purists Are Capitulating With Support of Trump.� Jonah goes after me and Stephen Moore for allegedly giving up our free-market principles for what he calls �purely consequentialist… Autophagy of Aristocrats: By IRA STOLL, Think the real story of the political-economic moment is the populist uprising powering Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump against the power centers of Wall Street and Washington? Perhaps. But the even more compelling drama may be what could be called… Show Me, Says Missouri, By RED JAHNCKE, If Donald Trump does not win the Florida primary on March 15, Senator Cruz would become the presumptive GOP nominee. A loss by Mr. Trump would mean Messrs. Rubio or Cruz was a winner. A Rubio win would be a so-what for Mr. Rubio, because it is his… Ten Days Will Decide By RED JAHNCKE, Super Saturday, when Senator Cruz won 15 more delegates than Donald Trump, marks the beginning of the end of Trumpmania. Mr. Cruz won Kansas and Maine by big double-digit margins, while Mr. Trump nosed out Cruz in Louisiana and Kentucky only by… GOP Comes Into Focus By RED JAHNCKE, �Trump and Clinton Feast as 12 States Vote,� screamed the front-page headline of the New York Times, but it should have continued to say �but Trump collected only about 43% of the delegates yesterday.� In Texas, Senator Cruz (44%) crushed Mr. Trump… Clinton Camp Co-Opting By IRA STOLL, WORCESTER, Mass. � Governor Jeb Bush has only been out of the presidential race for ten days and Governor Kasich is still running, but that hasn�t stopped the Clinton campaign from borrowing the �right to rise� language from the Republicans. Speaking… How Cruz Eclipses Rubio By RED JAHNCKE, Republicans who want to stop Donald Trump are rallying behind Senator Rubio. They have the wrong candidate. In two new polls, Mr. Rubio trails Mr. Trump by 16 points and 20 points in Florida, which for the senator is a must-win home-state contest just… Fears of Trump as Fascist By IRA STOLL, How panicked should we be about the rise of Donald Trump? A professor at Harvard, Danielle Allen, recently published a widely shared op-ed piece in the Washington Post likening his rise to that of Hitler in Germany. She�s hardly the only one drawing… Economy Bound To Emerge By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The good news is that the economy is growing at 2% and that there�s no recession in sight (barring a complete collapse of profits). The bad news is that the economy is growing at 2%. It�s been doing so for nearly 15 years under Democratic and… �Helicopter Money� Next? By DAVID MALPASS, It�s hard to imagine central banks getting even wilder, but never underestimate government expansionism. That�s the red flag raised by the Financial Times with its headline Wednesday: �Helicopter drops (of money) might not be far away.� Columnist… As Trump Takes Lead Here By CONRAD BLACK, Both the United States and Great Britain crossed historic thresholds last week. I will get to the British in a few paragraphs. No Republican candidate who has won the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries has ever been denied his party�s… Trump Could Sew Up By RED JAHNCKE, If Donald Trump wins the Florida primary on March 15, he will have sewn up the GOP nomination. The odds are that he will win the Sunshine State, where the latest polls show him at 40%, 21 points ahead of second place in the Real Clear Politics average… If Obama Fills Scalia�s Seat By IRA STOLL, Will it be a fight or a trap? That�s the choice facing President Obama as he looks for a candidate for what is likely to be his final nomination to the Supreme Court. Republicans who control the Senate have already signaled their preference and… Banning the Benjamin By SETH LIPSKY, The latest brainstorm being cooked up by the Democrats � to do away with the hundred-dollar bill � is front-page news all over the world. And for good reason. It�s a terrible idea, and not only because the c-note is the most popular form of green… Clinton�s Secret Tax Plan By IRA STOLL, The most newsworthy exchange in the most recent Democratic presidential debate was one that didn�t get a lot of attention. It came when Bernie Sanders challenged Hillary Clinton to join him in promising to apply the Social Security payroll tax to… Contrast of Trump, Yellen By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Most political reporters are fixated on the presidential horserace rather than the message candidates are sending to voters. Message wins all the time. Message moves polls. Message raises money. Message determines elections.� Most of all, a clear… A Trump-Clinton Race By CONRAD BLACK, The New Hampshire primary illustrated the determination of the American public to chastise the political class responsible for the successive national disasters of the last 20 years, both parties, all branches and levels of government. The country… What Is Sanders Hiding? By SETH LIPSKY, What Bernie Sanders needs, said the headline over a column in � of all places � the Jewish Forward, is a �come-to-Jesus moment.� I don�t mind saying that I almost fell out of my socks. The Forward seems to be referring to the need for Mr. Sanders to… Veterans Issue Emerges By IRA STOLL, The presidential campaign issue of veterans health care is worth keeping a close eye on, even if you aren�t a veteran or a close family member of one. The matter came up at both of the two most recent presidential debates. It�s in the news not only… February 7, 2016 The best program of any Republican right now is being offered by a leader who isn�t running � Steve Forbes. He�s out with a new book, �Reviving America: How Repealing Obamacare, Replacing the Tax Code, and Reforming the Fed will Restore Hope and… Keep an Eye on Kasich By CONRAD BLACK, Bernie sanders was the big winner in Iowa, as he had, as he called it, a �virtual tie� with Hillary Clinton, and the Vermont senator has set himself a fine launch into the neighboring state of New Hampshire, where he should trounce Mrs. Clinton next… Pollsters Start Awakening By IRA STOLL, The most newsworthy presidential candidate at the moment is one who wasn�t on the ballot in the Iowa caucuses � Michael Bloomberg. Pollster Frank Luntz, who worked for Mr. Bloomberg�s successful New York City mayoral campaign in 2001, is out with a… Sharansky Breasts a Protest By IRA STOLL, PROVIDENCE, R.I. � Anyone who doubts the gravity of the threat to Israel and Jewish students on American college campuses could have stopped by the Brown University campus here on Thursday night. Students and community members attempting to listen to… Rudderless Federal Reserve By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Early in the new year, Federal Reserve vice chair Stanley Fischer delivered a hawkish speech to the American Economic Association. Completely misreading the economy, which is woefully weak while inflation is virtually nil, Mr.Fischer strongly hinted… Press Wheels on Reporters By SETH LIPSKY, You know the line about how a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich? Well, feature the hoagie that�s been handed up in Houston, where a runaway grand jury has just indicted two anti-abortion activists for going undercover against Planned Parenthood… Trump-Rubio for GOP, By CONRAD BLACK, The presidential political tides are shifting in all directions. The recent vigorous attacks on Donald Trump in National Review and the Weekly Standard by an imposing phalanx of commentators, including some eminent conservative intellectuals, coupled… Donald Trump Unmoors By IRA STOLL, Donald Trump is not exactly my cup of tea. But the arguments marshaled against him by National Review and its contributors in the magazine�s special issue aimed at derailing his presidential candidacy are so pathetically weak � �philosophically… By GARDNER WALDEIER, One winter ago, I cut down with a chainsaw eight or nine large white pine trees looming over my farmhouse at Maine. . . . A Sad Marker Is Set By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, GE�s decision to leave Fairfield for Boston is another sad marker in the downhill slide brought about by Connecticut�s high-tax, high-regulation, anti-business policies of the last 25 years. Governor Malloy, a Democrat, accelerated the state�s… Next Up for Connecticut By RED JAHNCKE, The next move after General Electric�s decision to quit Connecticut for Boston is to hold Governor Malloy and the Democrats accountable. That will require maintaining a clear distinction between GE�s reasons for leaving Connecticut and its reasons for… Ted Cruz�s Tin Ear By SETH LIPSKY, Ted Cruz, by my lights, was doing pretty well in this presidential campaign until he started attacking Donald Trump for having �New York values.� What in the Statue of Liberty do you figure the tin-eared Texan could�ve been thinking? If he was… Sale of the New Republic By IRA STOLL, News that the New Republic, the 101-year-old political and cultural magazine, is for sale is a press business story, but the more newsworthy aspect of it is the political story. The press business story is that small, standalone publications have a… Dow�s 1,000-Point Plunge By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The Dow Jones shed more than 1,000 points this week. It�s down 9% over the past year. The broader S&P 500 also got clobbered, and is down 7% in the past year. What�s going on? Is the world coming to an end? Is it 2008 all over again? Will the U.S… By GARDNER WALDEIER, Every few years the lakes of northern New England skim over with ice before the snow flies. An early January cold snap turns the waves of Keoka into glass, smooth black ice unblemished and calling for exploration. Two inches thick will safely support a human man, and I dig the ice skates out of the attic. December of Obamaism By CONRAD BLACK, The country, bloody, bowed, is yet lumbering determinedly forward, toward the last year of the Obama economic, social, and geopolitical miracle. All polls, from right to left, show the administration�s disapproval rating 10 to 20 points ahead of its… It�s the GOP�s To Lose, By CONRAD BLACK, As this will be my last offering here until the Iowa caucuses are almost upon us, I will try to cobble together some election predictions. The Republicans should win. Since the big Republican series of victories through and after the Civil War, ending… Mystery of �Missing Middle� By IRA STOLL, Call it �the missing middle.� Not the supposedly vanishing middle-income or middle-class American family, about which politicians from both parties have been raising an alarm, but rather the moderate middle of American politics, which has lately been… �Spotlight� This: Office Pool By IRA STOLL, In memory of the late William Safire, our annual advance peek at possibilities for the year ahead: 1) The big winner at the Oscars is a) �Spotlight,� for its mixture of nostalgia for the days of influential print newspapers and its depiction of… The Truth About Santa: By SETH LIPSKY, It had not been my plan to devote my pre-Christmas column to the question of whether Santa is a socialist. But how was I supposed to know that the Huffington Post would issue a headline saying, �Yes, Virginia, there is a Sanders Claus�? That headline… �Ridiculous� Says the Times By IRA STOLL, Sunday�s New York Times editorial faulting pharmaceutical companies for pushing medicine prices �to astronomical heights for no reason other than the desire of drug makers to maximize profits� arrived less than a week after an email from the newspaper… Trial of Sergeant Bergdahl By SETH LIPSKY, General Robert Abrams of the Army didn�t explain his thinking when he referred Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl to a general court-martial that could send him to prison for life. But let me hazard a guess. The general wants to signal that desertion and… How Trump Will Foil By CONRAD BLACK, It is time to look more seriously at the Donald Trump presidential candidacy. He continues to lead the polls among Republicans; his closest rivals seem now to be Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, easing ahead of Dr. Ben Carson. There does not seem to… A Wartime Lockdown By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, This is not my usual position. But this is a war. Therefore I have come to believe there should be no immigration or visa waivers until America adopts a completely new system to stop radical Islamic terrorists from entering the country. A wartime… Claim That Democrats By IRA STOLL, At the Democratic debate this coming weekend, expect to hear Hillary Clinton claim that the economy does better when Democrats control the White House. The claim is a staple of campaign appearances by the former secretary of state. She uttered a… Obama�s Call To Arms By SETH LIPSKY, The logical next step in the war on the Islamic State is for Congress to declare it. That�s what President Obama seemed to suggest when he spoke to the nation Sunday about the slaughter at San Bernardino. Seemed to suggest is the operative phrase. If… Hillary�s Reichsfluchtsteuer By IRA STOLL, Call it Hillary�s Reichsfluchtsteuer. The former secretary of state and senator from New York, Hillary Clinton, reportedly will announce on Wednesday plans to impose an �exit tax� on companies that move their headquarters out of America or merge with… An Election Up for Grabs By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, A 211,000 jobs increase for November will finally push the Federal Reserve over the line and into a quarter-of-a-point rate hike later this month. The question is, how much and how fast will the central bank raise its target rates? My advice to Janet… Read Clinton�s Lips: By IRA STOLL, Hillary Clinton is promising she will not raise taxes as president. �I�m the only Democratic candidate in this race who will pledge to raise your incomes, not your taxes,� the former secretary of state and United States senator from New York said… The Marshmallow Dodge By SETH LIPSKY, There comes a time in the life of every father when he announces that he has cooked his last Thanksgiving turkey. A lot of good it does him, as I learned when I innocently inquired, �Why not, instead of a turkey on Thursday, I cook something new.� The… The Custom 49 Horsepower By GARDNER WALDEIER, A year ago I bought a 1957 Ford 641 Workmaster that I didn�t need and now can�t live without. After a few days of exploratory maintenance and minor upgrades, including all four fluids changed, the old four cylinder Red Tiger breathed confidently with newfound glory. Cruz, Bush, Rubio, Clinton, By IRA STOLL, Here�s a rare presidential campaign issue that Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina, Bernie Sanders, and Hillary Clinton all are on the same side of: they claim to prefer cute little �community banks� instead of Wall Street behemoths. And… Is It Ruth Bader Trump? By IRA STOLL, The news that Fox News�s Neil Cavuto will be one of the moderators for this week�s Republican presidential debate should reassure anyone fearing a replay of last month�s CNBC debacle. Mr. Cavuto was known in the New York Sun newsroom as �The Great… A Homefront Heroine By SETH LIPSKY, Sybil Stockdale is going to be buried Friday at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, where she�ll rest beside her husband, Vice Admiral James Stockdale. He was one of the greatest heroes in American history � and so was she. They are a pair to think… Guess Which Candidate By IRA STOLL, Guess which presidential candidate, while campaigning in New Hampshire last week, said this? �I want to be the small business president...They represent American ingenuity and hard work. But we�re slipping. A recent global study showed that where we… Back to the Future? By IRA STOLL, The Republican Congress has not repealed ObamaCare. It hasn�t cut taxes or simplified them. It hasn�t reformed immigration law. And it hasn�t managed to prevent President Obama�s deal to lift the nuclear sanctions that had been imposed on Iran. It… Miss the Cold War? By SETH LIPSKY, �How I miss the Cold War,� I said to my wife as we strolled home from seeing Steven Spielberg�s latest movie, �Bridge of Spies,� in which Tom Hanks plays the lawyer for Soviet agent Rudolf Abel. �Be careful,� she said. It�s not that I miss living… Robert Rubin Reviews By IRA STOLL, The publication this week of a new history of the founding of the Federal Reserve might provide an opportunity for an objective reevaluation of whether the American central bank, as created by the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, was a good idea. Alas, if… As the Democrats Dither By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The Democratic presidential debate ironically took place the same week that a Princeton University professor was awarded the Nobel Prize for economics. Why ironic? Because Professor Angus Deaton is a strong advocate of economic growth. Today�s… Bubble, Bubble, Toil and . . . By STEPHEN MOORE, Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble. That might as well be the new theme for the American economy. Washington, the White House, Congress, housing agencies, and the Fed, none of them have learned from the housing bubble of 2007-08. So here we go again… Chaos in the Congress By BETSY McCAUGHEY, Don�t be bamboozled by the coverage of the overthrow of Speaker John Boehner. It is not �chaos,� nor a brawl among politicians with oversized personalities and ambitions. The battle is over a key American principle, and the outcome will affect you… Just in Time for the GOP By IRA STOLL, Just in time for the Republican presidential primary season � and for the free-for-all search for a new speaker of the House � comes a new biography of Jack Kemp. Jack Kemp: The Bleeding Heart Conservative Who Changed America, by Morton Kondracke and… Ryan Could Well Solve By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, As of this writing House Ways and Means chairman Paul Ryan has yet to decide whether to run for speaker. He has been bombarded by all the Republican factions. Even Mitt Romney says the Wisconsinite can unify the Republican conference and take the job… Why Nobel Peace Prize By SETH LIPSKY, The Norwegian Nobel committee is getting ready to award its peace prize on October 9, and my hopes are on GI Joe. How about recognizing the American soldier � GI Joe, GI Jane � as the noblest force for peace on the planet for the last century? Though… Clinton Destroying Billions By IRA STOLL, Hillary Clinton isn�t even president of the United States yet, and she�s already managed to destroy billions of dollars worth of shareholder value. Don�t take it from me; take it from the New York Times. It reported in a recent news article that �The… Could 2016 Election See By SETH LIPSKY, Could 2016 be the election in which the alliance between labor unions and the Democrats is ruptured?�That might have sounded improbable � until the latest news from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which just decided to withhold an… Folly of Crowds Emerges By IRA STOLL, The voice I find myself missing this political season is that of Fouad Ajami, who died last year. Not so much for Mr. Ajami�s insights into the area that was his academic speciality, the Middle East, though one certainly wishes for his thoughts on the… Next Government Shutdown By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Nobody really likes government shutdowns, including me. But sometimes you have to make a point. Send a message. Show voters what you really believe. Take a stand. With John Boehner set to resign at the end of October, many believe the outgoing speaker… How Rosy Reports on ISIS By WARREN KOZAK, It would appear, on the surface, to be one of the dumbest ideas on earth � falsifying or editing military intelligence reports to conform to the wishes of political leaders. Not surprisingly, the outcome is rarely positive. One of the starkest… Can Bernie Sanders Escape By IRA STOLL, Socialist presidential candidates aren�t usually people I have a lot of admiration for, but I received an email the other day from Bernie Sanders that moved him up a notch in my estimation. The subject line was �Why on earth would Bernie go there?� It… Big Issue Proved Missing By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, While there were some great moments in the latest GOP debate, and some terrific individual performances � Carly Fiorina seemed to grab all the buzz in the aftermath � one thing that barely came up was the economy. It was like the first debate. The day… The Donald Trump I Know: By CONRAD BLACK, Republicans find themselves at the confluence of two powerful political streams, a fortuitous occurrence complicated by the fact that the streams are colliding, as if rolling inexorably toward each other from two mighty sources diametrically opposite… Bernie Sanders Gets Backed By IRA STOLL, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are both running for president while at the same time calling for a constitutional amendment that would change the laws governing our elections. It�s an unusual situation in that if either of them manage to get… Failure of Reform at VA By BETSY McCAUGHEY, Robert McDonald, head of the Veterans Administration, claims he�s making �great progress� delivering health care to vets and turning around the agency�s mismanagement and corruption. Don�t believe him. Right now, more than 35,000 combat vets who are… �You�re Fired!� Emerges By IRA STOLL, What�s behind the extraordinary appeal of Donald Trump? I�ve been having a tough time understanding it, myself, but I think I�ve finally got a theory that at least is plausible. The variety of explanations offered elsewhere suggests that I�m not the… How a Gold-Backed Bond By JUDY SHELTON, Global financial markets are being whipsawed from one day to the next as we get closer to the Federal Reserve�s fateful decision on interest rates. Maybe everything will calm down on September 17 once investors learn that Fed officials have decided… A Tiny Move by the Fed By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, As stocks endure their worst correction since 2011 and the battle between Fed doves and hawks rages on over a quarter-of-a-percentage-point rate liftoff, the much-anticipated August employment numbers made for a surprisingly mediocre report. Nonfarm… �16 West Point Cadets By SETH LIPSKY, When graduates of West Point�s Class of 2016 go into their years of service as officers of the Army, they will be wearing something no other cadets have worn before � class rings that include steel from the World Trade Center. It hasn�t received… How Disney�s Magic By IRA STOLL, Anyone looking to educate voters about how the private sector works better than the government might want to consider offering trips to Disney World. Compare the company-run lines at Disney�s Magic Kingdom theme park with the government-run security… Fed Awaits the Moment By DAVID MALPASS, Inflation is the main subject of the ongoing Federal Reserve conference in Jackson Hole. That�s a great topic because confidence in the stability of prices and the dollar is one of the most important ingredients for fast economic growth. It ranks with… A �Staggering Betrayal� By SETH LIPSKY, A �staggering betrayal� is how one pro-Israel activist in Washington describes any use by the Democrats of a filibuster to prevent the Iran deal from getting a full vote next month in the Senate. That is emerging as the goal of the backers of… Herbert Hoover Trump By LAWRENCE KUDLOW and STEVE MOORE, Here�s a historical fact that Donald Trump, and many voters attracted to him, may not know: The last American president who was a trade protectionist was Republican Herbert Hoover. Obviously that economic strategy didn�t turn out so well � either for… The Trump Recession: By IRA STOLL, Investors and financial journalists scrambling to find an explanation for the recent plunge in global stock markets have plenty of suspects. Some look abroad for scapegoats: Greece or China. Others blame Janet Yellen: the Federal Reserve she chairs is… Jefferson Could Be Snatched By SETH LIPSKY, The best move the Republican Party could make right now would be to kidnap � so to speak � Thomas Jefferson. The Democrats are fixing to excommunicate our third president, because he owned slaves. It�s not my intention to put the gloss on the… Latest Minutes of the Fed By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Just-published minutes from the Fed�s late July meeting indicate that most officials saw conditions for a rate liftoff as �not yet� achieved. They may be approaching a rate-hike moment, but they�re not there yet. Good call. That�s right: Good call. As… Right Move for the Fed By DAVID MALPASS, To watch financial markets in the dead of August, one might think that the world economy is in a death spiral. That�s possible, but the more likely explanation for the escalating turbulence is that world decision-making is frozen, transfixed by the… A Mystery Issue Eludes By IRA STOLL, The presidential race has reached the moment when the candidates are talking about issues. Donald Trump has put out a plan to restrict immigration. Jeb Bush gave a big foreign policy speech, as did Marco Rubio. The governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker… Careful for What You Wish By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Pretty much everyone in the world wants the Federal Reserve to begin its �rate liftoff.� September is the latest target date for this market consensus. But permit me one dissenting question: Are you sure? Or as the saying goes, be careful what you… Master of the Senate? By SETH LIPSKY, Can Charles Schumer ever be master of the Senate? It�s hard to imagine on the basis of the lackluster nature of his opposition to President Obama�s nuclear-arms deal with the regime in Iran. �Master of the Senate� is the title of the volume of Robert… A Trump-Sanders Ticket? By IRA STOLL, The surprise stories of the presidential campaign so far have been the billionaire and the anti-billionaire. They are more alike than you might think. The billionaire, Donald Trump, has been topping polls on the Republican side. The anti-billionaire… Smoot-Trump Falters By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, With a record 24 million people watching the GOP debate, one would think there would have been a lot more time spent on the most important issue of the day: the economy. Look at any poll. Jobs and the economy are always at the top of the list. But… Wealth of the Candidates By IRA STOLL, The wealth, or lack of it, of the presidential candidates, or potential presidential candidates, is emerging as an issue in the presidential race. On the Democratic side of things, the matter was thrown into sharp relief by the juxtaposition of the… Is Trump a Supply-Sider? By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Is Donald Trump a supply-sider? In his still young presidential campaign, he has said several times that he wants to be the �jobs president.� In his announcement speech, he put it this way: �I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created.� Those are generalities . . . Central Planning Emerges By IRA STOLL, In a YouTube video released over the weekend, the leading Democratic candidate for president, Hillary Clinton, announced that �on day one as president,� she would set �two ambitious national goals that will test our capacities.� Said Mrs. Clinton… Nigh Inconceivably Stupid By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The worst sectors of the worst recovery since World War II are business investment in new plants and equipment and new business start-ups. These are the biggest job-creators, and their slump is a key reason for the sub-par labor recovery, with low… Vietnam Makes a Last Call By SETH LIPSKY, Could it be that the election of 2016 will be the last call of the Vietnam generation on the long-suffering American voter? The backlash against Donald Trump for denying Senator McCain�s war heroism certainly puts that question into sharp relief. It… First GOP Primary Debate By IRA STOLL, The first Republican presidential debate is coming up August 6 in Cleveland, Ohio. Here are some questions the moderators might consider asking two of the candidates. For Governor Walker of Wisconsin: Over the weekend you cited President Reagan�s 1986… Little Sisters of the Poor By SETH LIPSKY, Who gets to decide what your religious beliefs are? Do you get to decide this yourself? Can you determine this in the privacy of your church, synagogue or mosque? Or does the Health and Human Services secretary, Sylvia Burwell, get to make the choice?… Clinton Offers a Glimpse By IRA STOLL, Hillary Clinton gave an economic policy speech Monday at the New School in New York, calling for what she called a �growth and fairness economy� and outlining her domestic policy message for the campaign going forward. Here are eight observations: She… Look Out, Grandma: By BETSY McCAUGHEY, Look out, Grandma. Medicare said last week it wants to start paying for end-of-life counseling. It�s being sold as �death with dignity,� but it�s more like dying for dollars. Seniors are pressured to forego life-sustaining procedures to go into… Clinton Facing a Dilemma By STEPHEN MOORE, Hillary Clinton will attempt to reinvent herself for the umpteenth time on Monday when she releases her �new� economic agenda for the working class. Except that from what the Clinton team released over the weekend this is not much more than a… Jobs Data Favor Jeb Bush By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Jeb Bush is right, and Hillary Clinton is wrong. You can probably say that about a lot of things. In this case it�s about the need for more part-time American workers to work full-time in order to improve their own lots as well as the lot of the… Rockefellers Hit the Jackpot By IRA STOLL, Measured purely in terms of philanthropic bang-for-the-buck, the $4.3 million that the Rockefeller Brothers Fund has spent since 2003 on promoting a nuclear deal between America and Iran has to be one of the greatest bargains in the history of… Where Are the Workers? By STEPHEN MOORE, What ever happened to the old-fashioned American work ethic? I ask this because Thursday�s Labor Department report for June found yet another 430,000 Americans of working age (16+) dropped out of the workforce. Over the last year more only 1.3 million… Congress Siphoning Billions By STEPHEN MOORE, Last week I testified before the Senate Finance Committee on whether we need a federal gas tax hike. While most of the members of Congress and the army of lobbyists in the room wanted a higher gas tax, I argued emphatically no. Congress and the… GOP Railing at High Court By IRA STOLL, �If we want to save some money, let�s just get rid of the court,� was the reaction of Republican presidential candidate Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, to Friday�s majority opinion locating a right to gay marriage within the text of the… Big Damage to Hiring By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The judicial decision to uphold all of the president�s health-care subsidies may be disappointing, but the economics of Obamacare are far worse than whatever constitutional mistakes have been committed by the Supreme Court. The economics of Obamacare… Scotuscare Marks a Victory By BETSY McCAUGHEY, The Supreme Court ruyling today on Obamacare hands a victory to the most hated agency of the federal government, the IRS. The Justices voted six to three that the Internal Revenue Service can continue to offer subsidies to Obamacare buyers in all… Raise Your Sights, America: By IRA STOLL, Give Jeb Bush some credit: he�s ignited a lively debate that positions himself and the Republican Party in the pro-growth camp. My only qualm is that, with his 4% target, he�s perpetuating what his brother George W. might call the �soft bigotry of low… Yes, We Can. 4% Growth By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, �There is not a reason in the world why we cannot grow at a rate of 4% a year.� That�s what Jeb Bush said when last week in Miami he officially announced his presidential run. Right off the bat, most economists trashed the idea. �It can�t happen, and… For First Time Since 1966 By CONRAD BLACK, There is increasing evidence that American politics is recovering from the dearth of good presidential candidates and potential candidates rising into governors� chairs and the U.S. Senate that has afflicted it for 30 years. I believe that the entire… June 18, 2015 Following is President Obama�s statement following the massacre Wednesday evening at Emanuel AME Church at Charleston, South Carolina. * * * This morning, I spoke with, and Vice President Biden spoke with, Mayor Joe Riley and other leaders of Charleston to express our deep sorrow over the senseless murders that took place last night. Michelle and I know several members of Emanuel AME Church. We knew their pastor, Reverend Clementa Pinckney, who, along with eight others, gathered in prayer and fellowship and was murdered last night. And to say our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families, and their community doesn�t say enough to convey the heartache and the sadness and the anger that we feel. An Early Warning Emerges By IRA STOLL, Hillary Clinton�s big campaign rally over the weekend offered a hint of how she�s going to handle a trillion-dollar question � what to do about demands by Senator Elizabeth Warren and the remnants of the �Occupy� movement for forgiveness of student… How Randy Richardson By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Just as William F. Buckley Jr. laid the intellectual foundation for the rise of modern conservatism, philanthropist R. Randolph Richardson set down the financial foundation of the new conservative movement. Randy Richardson, who died May 25 at the age… Why President Obama By SETH LIPSKY, As the Supreme Court staggers toward the end of its term, I keep thinking about a phrase quoted by the Chief Justice of the United States, John Roberts. He noted that when a president defies the express will of Congress, his power is at its �lowest… John Fitzgerald Cruz By IRA STOLL, One of the most important players in the upcoming 2016 Republican presidential primary contest may be turn out to be a Democrat who died more than 50 years ago. Campaigning recently at Andover, Mass., Senator Ted Cruz of Texas invoked John F. Kennedy… Strong Dollars Sets Stage By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The strong May jobs report � including a 280,000 jump in nonfarm payrolls � reminds me of the big debate over the harmful effects of a strong dollar and falling oil prices. But where�s the harm? King Dollar, along with the supply benefits of the… Selloff of Insurance Stocks By BETSEY McCAUGHEY, This week health insurers announced they will hike premiums on Obamacare plans by double digits in 2016. It�s not Obamacare buyers who are getting gouged. For the most part, what they have to pay is calculated based on their own income. They�re not… Public Sector Debt Bubble By CONRAD BLACK, The decline in the GDP of the United States in the first quarter of this year has been officially treated as almost as much a ho-hum as the fall of Ramadi to ISIS, but at least the Federal Reserve is not relying on America�s new Iranian allies to… The Glory of Two GIs By SETH LIPSKY, It�s hard to think of an occasion quite like the posthumous award of the Medal of Honor Tuesday to two GIs from World War I. Private Henry Johnson and Sergeant William Shemin had been slighted a century ago because one was African American and the… �Pall-Like Silence� Fell By STEVE LONEGAN, The failure of the Federal Reserve reminds me of �Casey at the Bat.� What poet Ernest Thayer called �a pall-like silence� had fallen over our economy when the mighty Ben Bernanke strode up to the plate and gave us quantitative easing. It was supposed… Father Knows Best? By IRA STOLL, Even without Father�s Day approaching later this month, it would be hard to escape the feeling that fathers are playing an outsized role in this year�s presidential race. Senator Rand Paul is in the headlines for forcing an expiration of some… Where Is the Recovery? By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, First-quarter real GDP actually declined by 0.7 percent, according to revisions out this week, creating much new talk about recession. But there is no recession. Trouble is, there continues to be virtually no recovery. The economy has expanded about 1… Big Impact Is Possible By SETH LIPSKY, Hang on to your hats, New Yorkers. That�s the word in the wake of this week�s decision of the United States Supreme Court to take a new look at the meaning of the constitutional mantra of �one man, one vote.� It could ignite an earthquake in American… The Constitution State: By CHRIS POWELL, Connecticut�s biggest teachers union, the Connecticut Education Association, is increasing its clamor against what it calls �high-stakes� testing of students and against the �Smarter Balanced� test in use by the state Education Department. This week… Earned-Income Credit By IRA STOLL, On television last week arguing against an increase in the minimum wage, I found myself making the case that it was a blunt instrument. So it is � and so, I should have mentioned, is the alternative policy that I suggested and that has been attracting… It�s Back to the Future, By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Chairman Janet Yellen told us last week that the fed funds target rate will be raised slightly later this year. But after that, future rate hikes will be small and gradual over the next several years. It looks like we may never have true normalization… Latest Gun Control Fight By SETH LIPSKY, The latest fight over gun control in Washington D.C. looks like one for New York to watch. It's on the question of whether the District of Columbia can require residents applying for pistol permits to show "good reason." Short work was made of the… Next Stop for Amtrak By IRA STOLL, The fatal Amtrak crash earlier this month is generating renewed discussion about the right way to run a railroad. Some say the solution is mandatory seat belts for train passengers. Others want more government spending on "infrastructure." Missing… British Election Tolls By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, One of the interesting nuggets coming out of the conservative sweep in the British elections was the failure of bank-bashing by the Labor party. Labour leader Edward �Red Ed� Miliband, who has since resigned, was anti-bank, anti-rich, and… A Liberal Speech Cop By SETH LIPSKY, To the list of questions the left has sought to place off limits to open debate�global warming, same-sex marriage, campaign finance, abortion�add a startling new topic: monetary reform. And what a scalp has just been claimed. Alan Greenspan, who was… A Genuine Fight Pits By IRA STOLL, There are two kinds of Washington fights, the theatrical and the genuine. In a theatrical fight, both sides go through the motions. They may look like they are really fighting, but it�s really just a charade designed to communicate to constituents and… GOP Will Lose in 2016 By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, If the GOP doesn�t put together a sensible immigration policy it will lose the 2016 presidential election. When President Obama beat Mitt Romney in 2012, with the former Massachusetts governor attracting only 27% of the Hispanic vote with his… Bloomberg�s Best Bet By SETH LIPSKY, Where are all the Democrats? Candidates, that is. The putative front runner, Hillary Clinton, sent out a tweet that she�s running and hasn�t been heard from since, except for being mired in the scandals of her e-mails, �non-profit� foundation and… Supreme Court Runs Out By CONRAD BLACK, It would be ungracious of me not to acknowledge with gratitude the column on Sunday of my old friend Fareed Zakaria, citing several sources, including me, as he recounts the almost unmitigated moral bankruptcy of the United States criminal-justice… Warren Buffett�s Bluster By IRA STOLL, That clanging sound you heard coming from Omaha this weekend was the noise of Warren Buffett�s comments at the 50th anniversary Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting colliding with reality. �We think any company that has an economist has one employee… Clinton Wilting on the Vine By CONRAD BLACK, The Hillary Clinton campaign is off to a surprisingly, and in some respects reassuringly, slow start. It has never been entirely clear what the source of the Clinton magic was, but it isn�t very lively right now. There is no denying Bill Clinton�s… By GARDNER WALDEIER, Snow-weary eyes catch glimpses of bright green emerging from the brown carpet of leaves. Change. Like spring itself, the foliage of wild leeks, or ramps, seem to pop from the dirt, herds of rabbit-eared allium scattered about the deciduous hillsides of Vermont. Hillary Clinton Bashing By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Here�s a warning to my friends on the presidential campaign trail: Bashing Hillary Clinton is only going to make the Republican party look mean-spirited and snarky. It�s no road to the White House. A number of GOP candidates are engaging in… Verdict in AIG Case By SETH LIPSKY, It will be at least until summer before a verdict in Maurice �Hank� Greenberg�s $40 billion lawsuit over the Federal Reserve�s seizure of AIG. But already the smirk has been wiped off the face of the government and its apologists. That was… Earth Day Is Emerging By STEPHEN MOORE, Today is Earth Day and to hear the experts like Usher and Al Gore tell the story, the planet is in a miserable state. We�re running out of our natural resources, we�re overpopulating the globe and running out of room, the air that we breathe is… By Special to the Sun �Very easy to read, understandable . . . you don�t have to be an economist.� That is how the Wall Street Journal�s Mary Kissel enthuses about Seth Lipsky�s new book, �The Floating Kilogram,� as the early reviews start to come in on an indispensible guide to the debate about the crisis of the dollar . Hillary Clinton Is Veering By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, When John F. Kennedy was elected president he surprised both Democrats and Republicans with a bold tax-cutting plan to solve the problem of a moribund economy. He had campaigned on �getting the country moving again,� and had set a 5% economic-growth… A Challenge to Clinton By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, When John F. Kennedy was elected president he surprised both Democrats and Republicans with a bold tax-cutting plan to solve the problem of a moribund economy. He had campaigned on �getting the country moving again,� and had set a 5% economic-growth… Rubio Runs With Risks By IRA STOLL, As a political talent, the newest official entry in the Republican race, Marco Rubio, has a lot going for him. The son of a maid and an immigrant bartender from Cuba, Mr. Rubio is, at 43, young, handsome, and one of the best speakers I�ve seen. He is… �The Floating Kilogram�: By DAWN BENNETT, The following is adapted from an interview by Dawn Bennett, host of the radio show �Financial Myth Busting,� with the editor of The New York Sun, Seth Lipsky. The broadcast aired March 8: * * * Ms. Bennett: Seth Lipsky is the author of a book titled… John Q. Taxpayer Gets Hit By BETSY McCAUGHEY, The Republican majority�s budget plan � enacted in a blitz of votes before lawmakers rushed home for spring break � tells us which GOP presidential hopefuls are serious about halting the nation�s soaring debt. Senators Cruz and Paul voted against the… By GARDNER WALDEIER, In the moment a hundred year old giant impacts the ground, all ninety plus feet of trunk and timber explode in the climax of a carefully planned execution. It�s then I know that I�m out of the woods, so to speak . . . Betting Against America By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The Commerce Department�s revision of fourth-quarter GDP shows that nothing much has changed � namely, the economy has been in a tepid, soft, slow recovery for the past five-and-a-half years. It�s the weakest rebound in generations. Over the past… West Point Names Barracks By SETH LIPSKY, The decision to name the newest barracks at West Point for Benjamin O. Davis Jr. has received scant comment in the press. That strikes me as regrettable at a time when a polarized nation is hungering for unifying heroes. How Hillary Clinton By BETSY McCAUGHEY, Hillary Clinton�s expected presidential run is being hailed as a chance to shatter the glass ceiling. That�s nonsense. Hillary rose to power solely on her husband�s sleazy coattails. She�s not self-made. And it shows. The recent e-mail scandal is the… A Pardon for Clinton By SETH LIPSKY, President Obama doesn�t need his phone for this job � just the pen. With but a stroke of it, he could pardon Hillary Clinton for any crimes she may have committed in E-mailgate and spare the rest of us the long drama. At first blush that might seem… Waxing Dollar Lifts By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Despite the conventional criticisms of the financial commentariat, both theory and evidence argue for a strong, stable, and reliable currency as a crucial channel to prosperity. Just think of the reverse: If you could devalue your way into prosperity… By GARDNER WALDEIER, Thrift. Making do with what is available is paramount these days. In taking over the 1799 farmhouse where I grew up, I found no lack of ways to fill the short, late fall days in Maine. The idea of building a lean-to style pole barn off the end of the house had been a bee in my bonnet for a few years, and I could smell the pollen. . . . How Applause for Netanyahu By WILLIAM LEVIN, It is unfair to cite a man who is still alive, whom I do not know, even in passing, and who may take exception to being cited. Yet Yehuda Avner is perhaps the most qualified person on the planet to shed light on Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech to… The GOP�s Scott Walker By IRA STOLL, One threatening letter to Wisconsin governor Scott Walker promised to attack his wife and �gut her like a deer.� Another talked about killing his sons: �I already follow them when they went to school.� Then there was the time the governor�s car was… Rick Perry, Military Man, By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, �More than any election since 1980,� ace pollster Kellyanne Conway tells me, �2016 will be a national-security contest.� She says former governor Rick Perry may have the best chance to convince voters that he can be commander-in-chief. Let�s think on… By SETH LIPSKY, Call him the Third Man. For all the talk about how Prime Minister Netanyahu�s speech to the Joint Meeting of Congress was a showdown with President Obama, I can�t help but sense a deeper drama. It was not merely a political contest between the leaders… The Sage of Omaha By IRA STOLL, In the 50 years since Warren Buffett took over Berkshire Hathaway, the per-share market value has increased 1,826,163%, or a compounded annual gain of 21.6%, Mr. Buffett reports in his annual letter to shareholders, which was released over the weekend… As Congress Eyes the Fed, By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Fed chair Janet Yellen testified this week on the state of the economy. The only interesting thing to come of it was some sharp-edged criticism by Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee. That includes committee chair Jeb… Big Changes to Obamacare By BETSY McCAUGHEY, The fate of Obamacare is on Tuesday in front of the Supreme Court again. At stake are the subsidies intended to make Obamacare plans �affordable.� The letter of the law allows consumers to get subsidies only in the 14 states that set up their own… Comma in the New Yorker By IRA STOLL, One of the most annoying traits of left-wingers is their tendency to assume that you, too, must share their political views. I was reminded this recently when reading the 90th anniversary issue of the New Yorker. There was a wonderful article by an… Inside the Walker Dinner By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Yes, believe it or not, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker actually spoke at some length at the dinner this past week where Rudy Giuliani charged that President Obama doesn�t love America. All the hullabaloo went to Mr. Giuliani, but in terms of the… Cassandras of Climate By IRA STOLL, BOSTON � The morning temperature here was negative three degrees Fahrenheit. That makes it harder to shovel the four feet of snow outside. Boston is having the second-coldest February in its history, according to the National Weather Service. The… Make Room on Rushmore: By CONRAD BLACK, For 20 years, during most of which I was at least a part-time resident of the U.S. and a newspaper owner in many American states, I proposed moving Presidents� Day a week forward, to facilitate designating it as celebrating the birthdays of all four… Happy Presidents� Day By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Let me begin with Presidents� Day. It�s a nice long weekend. But it says nothing about the greatness of certain American presidents. Whatever happened to Washington�s Birthday? Or Lincoln�s Birthday? Of course, I could go for Reagan�s Birthday. I�ll… Limbo for NBC�s Williams By CONRAD BLACK, NBC anchor Brian Williams, who, after ten years of what Mao Tse-tung condemned as �putting on the airs of the veteran,� is in limbo after being exposed as a fraudulent poseur as a war correspondent under fire in Iraq. But this is tokenism… Buzzfeed Solicits Questions By IRA STOLL, News that President Obama will sit for an interview this week with the editor in chief of Buzzfeed News, Ben Smith, brought a smile to my face. It says something about the dynamism of American capitalism that a company as new as Buzzfeed, which was… Those Who Saw �Selma� By BRANDT AYERS, NOTE: A computer glitch blacked out the showing of �Selma� at the local metroplex. This account relies on written descriptions of the plot. In Alabama, 1965 was a bad year. There was �Bloody Sunday,� subject of the much-acclaimed movie �Selma,� about… How Long Before Democrats By SETH LIPSKY, How long can it last that the Republicans are the party that�s more supportive of Israel but the Democrats are the ones that get the Jewish vote? Could it be that President Obama is upending the old alliance? It�s for a reason that I pose those as… JFK, Gone These 51 Years, By IRA STOLL, The most influential figure in the Republican presidential contest just may be a Democrat who died more than 50 years ago, John F. Kennedy. When Fox News commentator Charles Krauthammer recently predicted Marco Rubio as the eventual 2016 winner, Mr… Primaries Beckon Next, By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Mitt Romney showed once again that he is truly a class act. In his announcement that he will not be running for president in 2016, he stated, �I believe that one of our next generation of Republican leaders, one who may not be as well known as I am… An Orgy of Claptrap By CONRAD BLACK, The president�s State of the Union message was in many respects, and as has been much remarked upon, an appalling document. It was verbose, stylistically grating, and largely fraudulent, as it took credit for benign developments that have not occurred… Hold the Applause By BETSY McCAUGHEY, Even Republicans gushed with enthusiasm when, during the State of the Union speech, President Obama announced funding for personalized medicine. �I�m launching a new precision medicine initiative,� Mr. Obama said, to usher in a �new era of medicine… It Takes a Family? By IRA STOLL, The idea that the American left is engaged in a war against the family has always struck me as an exaggeration. The claim might be good for direct-mail fundraising and talk-radio ratings. But I have enough friends with left-wing politics and lovely… Beyond the Name-Calling By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, It�s too easy to label President Obama�s State of the Union as more tax-the-rich and redistribution. We know that. Rather than name-calling, Republicans must draw a clear line in the sand between their worldview and Mr. Obama�s. I�d call that line… Obama Buries the Bad News By IRA STOLL, Trying to bury bad news by releasing it over a holiday weekend is one of the oldest tricks in the book. What makes it funny in the case of President Obama is that the bad news isn�t some inspector general�s report or inside-the-Beltway scandal, but… How U.S. Disease Unit By BETSY McCAUGHEY`, With flu raging through 46 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is taking center stage, advising the public and physicians. But the agency increasingly isn�t up to its task. Until last year, polls showed the CDC to be the most… Logic of Firing IRS Chief By STEVE MOORE, Imagine that a retail store or company like Best Buy or Home Depot announced that it has plans to slash customer service, that it will make people stand in lines for at least a half hour, and that any customer due a refund will have to wait several… What Can Senator Corker By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, What can Senator Corker be thinking? On his first Sunday-news-show appearance of the year, right at the beginning of a new Republican Senate era, does Mr. Corker communicate a new GOP message of growth and reform? Does he talk about business and… The Constitution State: By CHRIS POWELL, With its revenue expected to fall more than a billion dollars short of likely spending in the next budget year, state government�s most urgent objective would seem to be simply to make things balance. But on Wednesday in his �state of the state�… New Book on Jeb Bush By IRA STOLL, Don�t underestimate Jeb Bush. That�s the main point I took away from a weekend reading �Conservative Hurricane: How Jeb Bush Remade Florida,� by Matthew T. Corrigan. Issued last year by the University Press of Florida, Professor Corrigan�s book is… Forget the Naysayers: By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Politics and the economy are both looking up. President Obama�s big-government spending, planning, and executive-branch overreach were crushed at the polls. Elections matter. The GOP has been rejuvenated. Republican governors will lead the way. And… How Jeb Bush Handles By IRA STOLL, How will Jeb Bush handle the Catholic question? A new poll shows the former governor of Florida, brother of President Bush 43 and son of President Bush 41, leading the field of potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates. The poll comes just as… Thunder Out of Egypt: By SETH LIPSKY, That I would love the movie �Exodus: Gods and Kings� I knew from the moment I read the verdict of the reviewers � they hated it. The New York Times complained that the Egyptian oppressors wear �heavy eye-liner� and that the women �mostly stand around… As Congress Lawyers Up By IRA STOLL, How much power should a president have? Anyone who thought America settled that question late in the 18th Century with the ratification of the Constitution hasn�t been paying attention to the news. The Speaker, John Boehner, has hired law professor… The Constitution State: By CHRIS POWELL, Connecticut�s hospital problem has just bounced back into state government�s lap now that Tenet Healthcare Corp. has withdrawn its applications to purchase Waterbury Hospital and St. Mary�s Hospital in Waterbury, Bristol Hospital, Manchester Memorial… Winners and Losers Emerge By BETSY McCAUGHEY, If you want to know how your tax dollars will get spent next year, the answers are in Cromnibus�the 1,695 page bill that Congress hurriedly passed last weekend to fund the federal government through September 2015. Republicans won big with Cromnibus… Return of King Dollar By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, We all know that the American energy revolution, led by the new technologies of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, has created a flood of new shale-oil and natural-gas production that has overwhelmed world markets and driven prices down by… The Constitution State: By CHRIS POWELL, More than 6,000 people were brought to the New Haven Green the other day by the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now to rally in support of �great schools for every child� and to complain that 40,000 children in the state are stuck in �failing… By SETH LIPSKY, The death of Dollree Mapp, reported this morning in a lovely obituary in the New York Times, caught me unawares. She was an ex-con who had once been engaged to marry the light heavyweight champion Archie Moore. She�d gone to the big house on a… The Constitution State: By CHRIS POWELL, Another Connecticut public college official has hit the jackpot, this time Michael Gargano, provost for the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system, who seems to have resigned in a dispute with Board of Regents President Gregory Gray over… Collapsing Price of Oil By CONRAD BLACK, The world oil price is now an apparently faithful reflection of the many political and economic forces that are contending for preeminent influence on the morale and prosperity of the world. The Obama administration, straddling inelegantly between… �Tis the Season for Toy Soldiers By T.S. ALLEN, The toy shops of our world today suffer from a profound absence. Tin soldiers no longer line their aisles, waiting to be called into service. The noble educator of the greatest generations is now relegated to specialists� shops. Fine though those… The Boudreaux Letters: By DONALD BOUDREAUX, To the Editor of the Wall Street Journal: The substance of former GOP Congressman George Nethercutt�s defense of Congressional earmarks is as contorted as is the language he uses for this defense - for example: �Allowing earmarks provides an… Where�s the Xunlight? By IRA STOLL, The recent Chapter 7 bankruptcy and liquidation filing of the Toledo, Ohio-based solar-panel manufacturer Xunlight Corp. has attracted barely any national attention. Maybe it�s gotten to the point � after Solyndra, Evergreen, Abound, and Satcon � that… Collapse of Oil Prices By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Seldom has so much good news been portrayed so negatively. Oil prices continue to fall in the United States and around the world, but near everyone in the press is grumpy about it. The headlines today are among the silliest I�ve seen: Energy-company… By SETH LIPSKY, Because America is crackling with constitutional cases over religious freedom, let us begin Thanksgiving morning with a reflection on the object of all this gratitude: Whom do we thank? Is it the Indians? The Pilgrims? Nature? Fortune? It turns out… Obama�s Indifference to Law By BETSY McCAUGHEY, The difference between the Republican Party and the Democrats today is over the rule of law. When President Obama appointed judges without Senate approval, made environmental law without Congress, and rewrote his health law two dozen times… By IRA STOLL, An elderly relative of mine recently let me in on what she described as a family secret: her housepainter father, she said, could never get a steady indoor job here in America because he didn�t have proper working papers. I knew about my grandfather… Obama�s Immigration Plan By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Is this immigration game really worth the candle? I think not. And I say this as someone who is an immigration reformer, not a restrictionist. The free movement of trade, capital, and labor is strongly pro-growth. History shows that legal immigration… Ending Lame Duck Sessions By BETSY McCAUGHEY, One of the first acts of the next Congress should be to outlaw lame duck sessions. The voters just fired the Democratic majority in the Senate, after all, and replaced them with a Republican majority that campaigned against Obamacare and big spending… Too-Big-To-Manage By RED JAHNCKE, American bank regulators are warning the four big banks � JP Morgan, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo � that they risk being broken up because of their continued wrongdoing and blunders. The president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank… Rout of Obamaism By CONRAD BLACK, The generally predicted, long-awaited, and richly deserved rout of Obamaism in what was its last election has been the most hopeful political event in the United States since George H. W. Bush defeated Michael Dukakis in 1988. This latest blessed… �Believe It � Or Not�: By IRA STOLL, �Inequality, Unbelievably, Gets Worse,� is the headline over a column in the Times by Steven Rattner, the former Obama administration auto tsar who is identified by the paper as �a Wall Street executive and a contributing opinion writer.� The only… By SETH LIPSKY, The liberal intelligentsia is mad at Americans again. But where the railing is usually about, say, their penchant for guns or religion, this time it�s about their refusal to turn out to vote. Blasted Americans. Marriage Emerges as Key By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The greatest economic challenge of our time is how to restore economic growth. Over the past dozen years, average real growth has slowed to 1.8 percent annually, under both Republican and Democratic presidents and congresses. It�s a bipartisan problem… Voters Scramble GOP Deck By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, We all know the Republican midterm landslide was largely a repudiation of President Obama�s policies and his handling of the job of chief executive. We don�t know who will succeed him in 2016. But buried deep inside Tuesday�s exit polls is a series of numbers on presidential contenders that will blow your mind. It�s completely different from most anything you�ve seen in the newspapers, the Internet, or on TV. Federal Judge Rips System By CONRAD BLACK, Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the federal district court in New York has written a much-circulated piece in the November 20 issue of the New York Review of Books, in which he laments the breakdown in American criminal justice caused by abuse of the plea-bargain system. He writes, correctly, that �the criminal-justice system in the United States today bears little relationship to what the Founding Fathers contemplated, what the movies and television portray, or what the average American believes.� He quotes Jefferson�s expression of faith in the jury trial as �the only anchor yet imagined by man by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.� My Wish List for Congress? By IRA STOLL, The smartest minds on the center-right are circulating lists of legislation for the new Republican Congress to pass. Columnist George Will has six proposals: abolish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, repeal the Independent Payment Advisory… Fixing the Fed Could Emerge By SETH LIPSKY, The Republican sweep offers the new Congress a chance to do a lot of good things, but none is more timely or strategic than monetary reform. Of all the things the Democratic Senate was getting in the way of, it�s the most important. Rx for Dissembling on Ebola By BETSY McCAUGHEY, President Obama lied to sell Obamacare, and lately he�s using double talk to sell Ebolacare, his risky response to the virus sweeping West Africa. Sadly, he�s turning the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, once a trusted agency, into a public relations arm of the White House. On October 23, the CDC website posted an explanation of the ways � in addition to direct contact with an infected person � it might be possible to catch Ebola. Plan for the New Congress By IRA STOLL, The new Congress hasn�t even been elected yet, but it�s already under pressure to add billions of dollars in new government spending to pay for �infrastructure.� Politico Magazine lists �rebuild our infrastructure� as one of 11 �bipartisan ideas that… Among All Senate Contests By SETH LIPSKY, For years I didn�t really get why Jeff Bell evoked intense admiration among people I respected, but it has become apparent to me in his Senate race against Cory Booker: Mr. Bell has a clearer grasp of our country�s predicament than any candidate for… If Republicans Win Congress By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Election Day will produce a new Republican Congress, or so the latest polls tell us. If so, the huge losses for the Obama Democrats � both in 2010 and this year � will have come in large measure from the economic failures of a party that has moved… Obama�s Post-Vote Surprises By IRA STOLL, �After my election I have more flexibility,� President Obama told Russia�s president, Dmitry Medveev, on March 26, 2012. Mr. Obama was talking then about the 2012 presidential election. But indications are that he has the same view of this year�s… Steve Forbes: �Great Countries By JERRY BOWYER, Steve Forbes new book Money: How the Destruction of the Dollar Threatens the Global Economy and What We Can Do About It recapitulates the old and true ideas at precisely the right moment, just as we�ve seen America�s easiest Fed policy correspond with… President�s Head Will Spin By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The vast majority of political journalists � and I include some of my conservative colleagues � are missing a big story. Republicans are going to recapture the Senate, picking up more seats than most any forecaster expects. The House GOP is going to… CDC Is Taking a Gamble By BETSY McCAUGHEY, Monday�s announcement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of its new Ebola strategy includes more training and protective gear for hospital staff. The CDC is also encouraging states to designate certain hospitals for Ebola preparation… When Treasury�s Paulson By IRA STOLL, �Megarich Plaintiffs, Legally Adrift,� is the headline the New York Times ran over the latest article by Steven Rattner, the money manager and former Obama administration official. Mr. Rattner�s article does the useful service of discerning a unifying… GOP May Get the Chance By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Steep stock market corrections often create shrouds of pessimism that do befuddle people�s brainpower. One of the absolutely stupidest things I have heard in recent weeks is that the recent drop in oil prices is bad. You heard me right. Serious people… Economic Jitters Are Back By CONRAD BLACK, The wobbling of the stock market, jitters about deflation in Europe, and the sharp decline in the price of oil have renewed doubts about the believability of the economic recovery from the tremendous strains of 2008 and 2009. These were inevitable… How David Greenglass Helped By RONALD RADOSH, The death July 1 of David Greenglass, one of the last survivors among those who played a role in the Rosenberg case, was only made public yesterday. Greenglass's testimony was the most important part of the prosecution's case, and led to the… Frieden�s Trimming on Ebola By BETSY McCAUGHEY, The announcement by health officials Sunday that a nurse who had treated Thomas Eric Duncan, the Ebola-infected Liberian, has the virus and is in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, the same hospital where Duncan died, this news… By GARDNER WALDEIER, Most associate the concept of going back to work with drudgery and dread. As the Chimney Pond backcountry ranger I tend to look forward to my Monday morning commute . . . After Bernanke�s Testimony By JOHN V. BENNETT, If testimony yesterday by the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, is any indication, Maurice Greenberg�s $40 billion lawsuit against America may be shaping up as a reprise of the notorious �gold clause� cases of 1935. Mr. Greenberg… Optimism Looks Like the Bet By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, So President Obama gives a major economics speech towards the end of last week, and the next week stocks get clobbered. It was the worst correction in many months. There�s probably no direct cause and effect here. But the president has been speaking… By CONRAD BLACK, Every week there are new revelations of the decrepit and often barbarous state of the U.S. criminal-justice and prison systems. The most egregious aspects of its dysfunction are not the absurdly severe sentences and world-record incarceration levels… By SETH LIPSKY, �Ludicrous� is how one New York Times writer sneers at Maurice �Hank� Greenberg�s lawsuit against the United States over the Federal Reserve�s seizure of AIG, the insurance company he�d built. An earlier Times article called the suit �asinine,� while… GOP Congress Could Spell By IRA STOLL, Fewer judges will get confirmed. Those who make it through the Senate will be more moderate. And the Obama administration will face an onslaught of investigative oversight hearings on everything from Benghazi and ObamaCare to the Secret Service… Political Discourse Enters By CONRAD BLACK, We are now in an era when much of political discourse consists in the shrieking of epithets, as well as the imputation of discreditable motives and (often) of a slavish adherence to extreme or notoriously unsuccessful ideologies. In the rare moments… Progressives Copying Tactics By IRA STOLL, Copying the right�s success, the left is taking its tax agenda directly to the people. California�s Proposition 13 property tax cut and cap, passed in 1978, and followed by the similar Massachusetts Proposition 2 � property tax limit passed in 1980… How a Government Scheme By RED JAHNCKE, There�s philanthropy and then there�s philanthropy. In February, hedge funder Kenneth Griffin gave his alma mater Harvard College what was then the largest gift in its history, $150 million. Harvard doesn�t need the money. In June, the Koch brothers… Republican Road To Victory By IRA STOLL, Republicans thinking about an agenda for the future may want to borrow some ideas from an unlikely source � the Democrats of the past. Bill Clinton�s welfare reform and North American Free Trade Agreement. John F. Kennedy�s tax cuts. President… Surge in Value of the Dollar By LAWRENCE KUDLOW and STEPHEN MOORE, Maybe the United States economy, a weakling for the last six years, is finally starting to flex some muscle. We�re referring to the return of King Dollar. For those who haven�t been paying attention, the greenback is in the midst of a rally not seen… Bill Clinton the Demagogue By IRA STOLL, For a preview of what the next two to ten years will look like, check out the video of Bill Clinton�s speech this past weekend at Senator Harkin�s Iowa Steak Fry. It�s been long enough since Mr. Clinton was president that some of us may have forgotten… Ryan�s �The Way Forward� By R.EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr., There is a mystery about Congressman Paul Ryan�s new and very good book, �The Way Forward: Renewing the American Dream.� Perhaps there are several mysteries. Mr. Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee and Mitt Romney�s vice presidential… A Wave Election Will Require By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, If the Republican party adopts a clear, optimistic, growth-and-reform message to turn America around, it can win big in November. It could still be a wave election. But so far it hasn�t done it. The party is essentially asking voters to give it… Crisis at Atlanta Hawks By IRA STOLL, To understand the story about the owner of the Atlanta Hawks selling his stake in the basketball team after the disclosure of an email in which he urges team executives to hire �some white cheerleaders,� remember this: it�s not about race. It�s about… Obama�s Lack of a Strategy By BETSY McCAUGHEY, President Obama said last Thursday that he doesn�t �have a strategy yet��to combat ISIS in the Middle East. Worse is what Obama didn�t say � not one word about how to prevent ISIS from attacking us right here in the America. That�s despite security… Every Day Turns Out By IRA STOLL, If there�s a day of the year to notice the paradox of organized labor, Labor Day is it. The paradox is this: even as private sector unionism has declined, public sector unionism is in some ways more influential than ever. The numbers tell the story… By SETH LIPSKY, There are three ways something can become what the US Constitution calls the �supreme law of the land.� It can be made part of the Constitution by amendment, it can be passed by Congress as a law or it can be ratified by the Senate as a treaty… Battle Over Dollar Stores By IRA STOLL, There�s a dollar store at the end of the street on which I live. I sometimes shop there. So I�ve been following the three-way corporate merger drama among Dollar General, Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree with more than merely ideological interest. In… Congress Has Power To Act By BETSY McCAUGHEY, While President Obama dithers, Congress needs to act against ISIS. House and Senate leaders should reconvene Congress this week and take the unprecedented step of authorizing military action against ISIS for President Obama�s signature. Customarily, a… By SETH LIPSKY, The thing to remember about the cataract of woe that has befallen our country is how fast things can be turned around. We may be in retreat overseas, with riots simmering in Missouri and the economy stuck in second gear.With the right policies, the… �Extorting� Is the Word By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The $16.65 billion settlement by Bank of America over financial-crisis-era mortgage securities �highlights a pattern of the government extorting the banks,� Dick Kovacevich said on CNBC this week. (Italics mine.) Mr. Kovacevich is the former Wells… Indictment of Perry By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The so-called �abuse of power� indictment of Governor Perry is not only not going to hurt him in the 2016 GOP sweepstakes, it might actually help him. I say that because Mr. Perry immediately fired back at the charges with no hesitation, labeling the… JFK�s Rallying Cry, By LAWRENCE KUDLOW and STEPHEN MOORE, John F. Kennedy campaigned for president in 1960 by belittling Dwight Eisenhower�s three recessions and declaring, �We can do bettah.� He was right. In the 1960s, after the Kennedy tax cuts were implemented, prosperity returned, the economy grew by… �Homeless Man� Proves Case By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Neel Kashkari, the Republican candidate for governor of California, just recounted in the Wall Street Journal his week on the streets of Fresno posing as a homeless man looking for work. At the end of his op-ed, Mr. Kashkari lamented that he didn't… Even Billionaires Buffett, By IRA STOLL, Sheldon Adelson, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett say they want Congress to pass an immigration reform bill. So does Michael Bloomberg. On the substantive merits, the issue seems like a slam dunk. We are, after all, a nation of immigrants. Both… GOP Fails To Formulate By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Businesses created more than 200,000 new jobs for the sixth straight month. Second-quarter GDP rebounded by 4% from the winter-weather doldrums. And the ISM manufacturing report exceeded all expectations, with big gains in new orders and employment… Hamas and Hiroshima: By SETH LIPSKY, Theodore �Dutch� Van Kirk died Monday at the age of 93. He was the last survivor of the crew of the Enola Gay, which on August 6, 1945, dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima. It is one those tricks of history that he died amid a campaign by the left to… By IRA STOLL, A Republican member of the New York State Assembly emails: �I read a number of breathless articles about the �failure� of tax cuts in Kansas. � My concern is that the Left is winning the PR war on these tax cuts and will use this Kansas example… Corporate Tax Reform By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Just for once, wouldn�t it be great if President Obama actually defended American business, instead of attacking it? Just once? Wouldn�t it be great if Mr. Obama acknowledged that U.S. firms are overburdened by the highest corporate tax rate among… Caveat Emptor for Voters By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Across Ronald Reagan�s remarkably successful presidency, he repeatedly made the link between the U.S. economy and U.S. international security and defense. He consistently argued that weakness at home leads to weakness abroad. Reagan was aiming at the… What If Janet Yellen Is Wrong? By JUDY SHELTON, The chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, delivered her semi-annual monetary policy report to Congress this week, displaying her usual command of the theoretical reasoning behind the Fed�s ultra-low interest policies. Critics in the Senate… Guilty Plea of CALPERS Boss By IRA STOLL, By the end of approximately 2007, Villalobos had made, and I had accepted, bribes totaling approximately $200,000 in cash, all of which was delivered directly to me in the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Sacramento across from the Capitol. Villalobos… Attack on Catholic Judges By SETH LIPSKY, What is the most emphatic prohibition in the entire Constitution? Is it �Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion�? Or �The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed�? Or is it �No Money shall be drawn… How Richard Mellon Scaife By R.EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr., On the day after his 82nd birthday, on Independence Day to be precise, a giant passed away, Richard Mellon Scaife. The man had style. He departed decorously as the nation was happily celebrating its 238th birthday. His sense of style has not been… U.S. Aides Find New Door By IRA STOLL, The �revolving door� through which government officials cash out on their public service has a new destination � campus rape investigations. To the list of defense contractors recruiting retiring Pentagon officials, corporate law firms hiring former… Big Problems Lurk By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Good news for the American worker: Employment in June surged 288,000, with a 262,000 gain in the private sector, easily beating the consensus forecast of 215,000 new payrolls. This marks the fifth consecutive monthly increase of 200,000 or more jobs… Obama Presidency To Endure By IRA STOLL, NBC chief White House correspondent and political director Chuck Todd recently declared, about President Obama, �the public is saying, hey buddy, your presidency is over.� The pronouncement was met with a banner headline on the Drudge Report. Senator… Scalise Rise to GOP Whip By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, �Reinvigorating the leadership� is how one senior House staffer described the accession of Steve Scalise, the Louisiana Republican, to the position of GOP whip. The staffer went on to portray Mr. Scalise, who won on the first ballot, as not a member… Bag-of-Tricks Health Report By BETSY McCAUGHEY, The Commonwealth Fund released Monday a bag-of-tricks report claiming that America has the worst healthcare system in the developed world and Great Britain the best. But actual data show the opposite. For example, a woman diagnosed with breast cancer… Hottest Tax Fight Breaks Out By IRA STOLL, The hottest fight on the center-right idea scene at the moment is over tax policy for Republicans in the years ahead. I touched on the topic in last week�s column about a new report, Room to Grow. Two paragraphs of my column criticized the tax chapter… By GARDNER WALDEIER, While helping a neighbor move some boxes and burlap sacks, I uncovered what would become my first of many motorcycles: a 1973 honda cl125s, single cylinder four stroke. Then aged 12, I was instantly enamored with the little bike�s orange gas tank, flat seat, and cycloptic headlight, wide open and ready to go. McCain, Sanders Veterans Bill By BETSY McCAUGHEY, Senators McCain and Sanders are rushing to pass a bill they claim will rescue vets from deadly wait lists. But behind the kudos for bipartisanship, the truth lurks. This bill won�t speed up health care for ailing vets. The fine print sabotages vets… Immigration Emerging as Flaw By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Listening to David Brat on election night, following his upset win over Eric Cantor in Virginia�s seventh congressional district, I heard a principled, free-market, pro-growth individual who is going to make an excellent Republican House member. Mr… Latest of the Boudreaux Letters By DONALD J. BOUDREAUX, Editor, Roll Call: Tom Udall and 42 other incumbent U.S. senators propose a Constitutional amendment with the following key provision: �To advance the fundamental principle of political equality for all, and to protect the integrity of the legislative… ObamaCore Emerges By BETSY McCAUGHEY, In the past week, Governors Haley of South Carolina and Fallin of Oklahoma evicted Common Core from public schools, even at the risk of losing hundreds of millions of federal dollars promised to states adopting it. Mmes. Haley and Fallin initially… GOP Has Yet To Find By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Despite a shrinking economy in the first quarter and outright declines for consumer spending and manufacturing in April, the May jobs report delivered the fourth-straight monthly gain above 200,000, with nonfarm payrolls jumping 217,000. This is the… By SETH LIPSKY, While Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is getting readjusted to life after the Taliban, let us snap a salute to James Stockdale, George �Bud� Day, Jeremiah Denton and Nick Rowe. They�re gone now, and our country has many heroes � but their courage as enemy-held… Bloomberg Showing Signs By IRA STOLL, Is there a politician out there these days more entertaining and provocative than Michael Bloomberg? He is no longer the mayor of New York. But in the past week, he�s given a world-class demonstration of how he plans to remain relevant even while out… Bernanke�s Loose Lips By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Are Ben Bernanke�s loose lips the real cause of surging stocks and plunging interest rates? Here�s the backstory: The so-called smart money on Wall Street had it all wrong. �Sell in May, and go away� was the big theme a month ago. Oops. The… IRS Eyes New Ways To Tax By IRA STOLL, Just in time for your summer vacation, the IRS is getting ready to toughen the tax treatment on frequent flyer miles and hotel loyalty reward programs. The IRS announced in 2002 that it wouldn�t try to go after individuals for income taxes on frequent… Socialism Emerges as Culprit By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The VA problem is not Shinseki, it�s socialism. The Veterans Affairs health-care system is completely government run. It is a pure single-payer program. National Review editor Rich Lowry calls it �an island of socialism in American health care.� He is… By SETH LIPSKY, The newspapers were expecting the �Kerry Doctrine.� It supposedly was to be unveiled Sunday in Secretary of State John Kerry�s commencement speech at Yale. What they got was an incoherent and insipid dirge, a marker for the Obama administration�s… By R.EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr., As I reflect on the �inevitable� presidential candidacy of Hillary Rodham Clinton, I try to put it in historic context. She lacks the shifty eyes, darting hither and yon at her audience and the assembled press corps. Her brow betrays no beads of sweat… Rise of Robots May Doom By IRA STOLL, Retail restaurant robots are coming soon to a checkout counter near you. For anyone who dismissed as a bunch of right-wing propaganda the claim that a higher minimum wage and mandatory health benefits would mean more workers replaced by computer… Tea Party Surprise By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Tea-party activist Sal Russo offered an eye-opening remark this week. He said �Conservatives should be leaders in the immigration-reform movement.� Then tax-reform activist Grover Norquist organized a media conference call, in which he reinforced his… How Geithner�s Apologia By IRA STOLL, The release this week of a memoir, �Stress Test,� by President Obama�s first-term Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, is providing an opportunity to re-argue the merits of the extraordinary measures that the Bush and Obama administrations and the… Republican Control of Congress By IRA STOLL, If the Republican Party takes full control of Congress in November, it may have a harder time than a lot of people expect in figuring out what it�s actually for. The USA Today-Pew poll showing �the strongest tilt to Republican candidates at this point… Shocking Charges at VA By BETSY McCAUGHEY, The nation was shocked by charges that more than 1,400 vets lingered and 40 died on a secret waiting list at the Phoenix, Arizona, Veterans Administration A medical center.��The list was concocted to conceal long waits for care. What you haven�t heard… Christie Gets a Pass By BETSY McCAUGHEY, Governor Christie dodged a political bullet, when the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the National Rifle Association�s challenge to New Jersey�s highly restrictive gun law. The justices� decision not to hear the case, Drake v. Jerejian… Senate Races Will Be Stoked By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Does a solid jobs report change the overall economic picture and offer the beleaguered Democratic party a new leg up for the midterm elections? My answer is no and no. Even with all the political slicing and dicing that accompany these big reports… Obama�s Keystone Veto By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, When President Obama holds back approval of the Keystone pipeline, for the umpteenth time, it�s bad enough that he�s politically pandering to Tom Steyer, the hedge-fund billionaire and manic radical opponent of fossil fuels. If he gives in to Mr… Supreme Hour of Resolution By CONRAD BLACK, The supreme hour for a resolution of the Quebec issue could be at hand. All Canadian posterity could be liberated from endlessly debating that hackneyed question as all living Canadians have for most of our lives. It has been such a terribly… Cancellation of Tomahawk By STEVE COHEN, The Obama Administration will be adding insult with its cancellation of production of the Navy�s Tomahawk and Hellfire missile programs. These decisions followed by just weeks the decision to reclassify two hospital ships, 10 coastal patrol craft and… Amen to Old Time Religion By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Will somebody please explain to me how rising inflation is somehow going to extricate us from the tepid economic recovery? I don�t get it. It used to be hypothesized that low inflation was the key to high economic growth. For everybody in the economy… Farrago of Falsehoods By CONRAD BLACK, Feeling somewhat mellow last week on my way home from London after my only daughter�s wedding to a very bright and attractive Frenchman we have known and liked for several years, I yielded to the Satanic temptation of an in-flight film. The Butler… Left Fighting the Last War By BETSY McCAUGHEY, Democrats are hyper ventilating over the Supreme Court ruling in McCutcheon v. Federal Elections Commission. The minority leader in the House, Nancy Pelosi, claims the ruling will turn politics into a �money war.� Sorry, that happened a long time ago… By IRA STOLL, House Republicans are quietly moving ahead with dueling plans to replace the tax code with a simpler system. It�s a hot topic in advance of the April 15 filing deadline for individual income tax returns. The latest budget blueprint from the chairman… Is Atlas Shrugging? By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Is it too farfetched to connect the dots between a brilliant�Wall Street Journal�op-ed��by Charles Koch, the chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, and the continued sluggish recovery in jobs, business investment, and the overall economy? I don�t think… By GARDNER WALDEIER, � Freshly brewed warms my hands and opens my veins. Standing on the frost glazed dock I watch the top of Russell Mountain wake up. When the sharp line of the sunrise works its way down the slope, the muted autumnal reds, oranges, yellows, and greens of the leaves begin to pop in my eyes. . . . Campaign for 80% Tax Rates By IRA STOLL, �Capital In The Twenty-First Century,� by the French economist Thomas Piketty, is being hailed as �the most important economics book of the year � and maybe of the decade� by Nobel laureate Paul Krugman. The Economist magazine says the book may… Startling Rift on Supreme Court By BETSY McCAUGHEY, A startling rift appeared Tuesday on the Supreme Court as the three female Justices came out swinging like Brunnhildes � women warriors � for what they erroneously labeled an �entitlement� to employer-provided contraceptives and morning-after pills… Fear of God � Or Man? By SETH LIPSKY, Sometime before June, if things go true to form, President Obama is going to issue a warning to the Supreme Court to look after its reputation and refrain from outlawing the birth-control mandate of ObamaCare. He tried that stunt the last time… GOP, Too, Using the Rich By IRA STOLL Now the Republicans are turning millionaires into punching bags, too. That�s the news emerging from a series of moves by leading Republicans. It suggests that, after seeing President Obama�s success in 2012 with a campaign to raise taxes on… Signs of Progress Emerge By CONRAD BLACK Having committed the cyber�equivalent of shouting myself hoarse and becoming blue in the face advocating reform and humanization of American criminal justice, I would be churlish in failing to recognize distinct signs of progress. What amounts to a… Will Royal Warrants By IRA STOLL It�s approaching the point where the Obama administration should just announce he�s starting an American version of royal warrants. You know, those fancy shields with lions and crowns that appear on the sides of British goods like Walker�s Shortbread… By GARDNER WALDEIER Bit and brace in hand, I set out to commence the process of burning off, as we call the spring tradition of making maple syrup. A twig of maple is gripped between my teeth, just like my dad used to as he set out to tap the trees. Late February hints of the vernal awakening, the sun rising higher each day, warming the tops of the maples on my property in rural Maine. It drops to 20 degrees at night, rising to 40 degrees during the day, a cycle that stimulates the flow of sap up to the terminal branches. A Growth Plan Emerges By LAWRENCE KUDLOW Sizing up last week�s unexpected congressional win by Florida Republican David Jolly, Kim Strassel of the Wall Street Journal wrote, �The Republicans who win this fall will be those who have serious answers to the attacks leveled on them � about… Big Move Against Harvard By IRA STOLL House Republicans are plotting a $1.7 billion tax increase aimed at America�s most elite colleges and universities. The tax increase is buried on page 879 of Congressman Dave Camp�s 979-page tax reform bill. The bill is considered unlikely to become… JFK-Type Tax Cuts By LAWRENCE KUDLOW* Fifty years ago President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the sweeping tax cuts that had been championed by his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. The law brought the top marginal income-tax rate down to 70% from 91% and the bottom marginal rate down to… In the Court of Logic, By IRA STOLL President Obama and Congressional Democrats are pressing to increase the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. Here are nine reasons why that�s a bad idea. 1. It�s a big country. The costs of living, especially housing, vary widely in America from… Bitcoin Collapse Puts Premium By LAWRENCE KUDLOW Just before the bankruptcy of the Mt. Gox bitcoin digital-money (or virtual-currency) exchange, Japanese finance minister Taro Aso predicted the inevitable failure. �No one recognizes them as a real currency,� he told reporters. �I expected such a… Bill Clinton�s NATO Playbook By CONRAD BLACK It is an immense pleasure to be able to commend the Obama administration on a foreign-policy issue, and so far, the handling of the Ukrainian crisis by the president, vice president, secretary of state, and National Security Advisor Susan Rice has… Warren Buffett Boasts By IRA STOLL The second-richest American, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, has given the March 17 issue of Fortune magazine an excerpt of his forthcoming annual letter to investors. The tale of two successful Buffett purchases is illuminating, but not quite… Moratorium on Obamacare By LAWRENCE KUDLOW Slowly but surely President Obama is unwinding, rolling back, and even cancelling his own Obamacare. A couple of years ago he told Republicans not to mess with his plan. He said he�d veto any changes. But now, in substantial ways, he�s messing with… Jeb Bush Heading By IRA STOLL The former governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, will be speaking and getting an award in New York City this spring at the Manhattan Institute�s annual Alexander Hamilton dinner. The save-the-date notice that went out last week about the dinner, which is to… How Romney Missed By R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. WASHINGTON � First Mitt Romney loses a presidential election that he was predicted to win in a walk. Then he appears some 15 months later on Sunday�s �Meet the Press� to lecture the nation on how Republicans might lose the presidential election once… Secret of Abe Foxman's Success By SETH LIPSKY Abraham Foxman will retire next year after 50 years at of the Anti-Defamation League. The news could have been worse. It could have been that he died a second time � or been kidnapped a third. It was 14 years ago that he died. After a holiday dinner… Stock Market Cheers By LAWRENCE KUDLOW Stock markets cheered Janet Yellen�s maiden congressional testimony this past week, as the new Fed chair emphasized the word �continuity� and offered no boat-rocking surprises. Continuity?�I assume she means a steady diet of tapered bond purchases… By GARDNER WALDEIER Getting from Chimney Pond to Russel Pond can be a easy ten miles, or a hard eight. The easy way is a little bit longer, the hard way is a bit more interesting, elevation gain and lost, climbing up and over the tablelands of the Katadhin massif, miles above tree line. In late September, that can mean a variation on every season imaginable. . . . . Obama Makes But a Gesture By CONRAD BLACK The recent commutation by President Obama of eight lengthy individual sentences for drug abuse is a tiny but significant gesture, as America�s long indulgence, spiked intermittently into passionate support, for draconian hypocrisy in its failed War on… By IRA STOLL When Janet Yellen arrives on Capitol Hill this week for her first Congressional testimony as chairman of the Federal Reserve, some enterprising senator or congressman may want to ask her about Bitcoin. The most provocative way to phrase it would be… Millions of Millionaires By LAWRENCE KUDLOW So let me get this right. Team Obama taxes millionaires who create jobs, while Obamacare creates incentives not to work at those jobs. No wonder recovery is so anemic. The policy here is to create fewer jobs and induce people to work less at those… Obama�s Failure in State of the Union Marks Decline of American Leadership By CONRAD BLACK As one who has been watching presidential State of the Union messages since the Eisenhower years, and has read a great many of them in historical research, I am conditioned to think of the SOTU�as a serious occasion that lends itself to important… By GARDNER WALDEIER To capture a day at Katahdin, I start with a wood stove, an Ashley, capable of keeping the kitchen in the Ranger cabin toasty at 4 a.m. A world of difference, easing into the dark day with the soothing company of wood smoke and a dose of strong black coffee (rocket fuel). Already being at 3,000 feet in the midst of the Great Basin is another advantage over those making the climb from the Roaring Brook . . . . Washington Hatching Plans By IRA STOLL The latest Washington policy solution to the problem of the long-term jobless is to pay them to move somewhere else where there are more jobs. It�s been tried in other contexts. For years some cities have been offering homeless people one-way bus… A New Greatness Awaits By CONRAD BLACK Last week I received a message from a distinguished retired general and head of a strategic institute in Canada, wringing his hands at the pusillanimity and ambivalence of most current world leaders and the apparent lack of any public appetite for the… Death of Imagination By GARDNER WALDEIER Hammer Handle from Bus Huxley on Vimeo. Big Business Swings Behind a Mantra of Growth By LAWRENCE KUDLOW Growth, growth, growth is the new mantra of the venerable Business Roundtable, whose member companies generate annual revenues of more than $7 trillion while employing 16 million. In past years, the BRT has put out lengthy pamphlets proposing… Christie�s Pursuers Will Have Culprits Singing Like Canaries Flying Backwards By CONRAD BLACK The problems of New Jersey governor Chris Christie were a long time coming, though they came in an unforeseeable way. A tough, large, and very effective protagonist found himself sorely taxed in a skeptical press encounter, professing to be… How Christie Can Rescue His Presidential Hopes: Sell the George Washington Bridge By IRA STOLL It�s going to take Governor Christie more than a confessional press conference and the firing of some aides to rescue his presidential hopes in 2016 and restore public confidence in his leadership following the scandal over the politically motivated… By GARDNER WALDEIER, Rock Memorabilia from Bus Huxley on Vimeo. Whether it would be lunar, solar, or terrrestrial gravitation, let me say that I�m just not sure, but when those rocks start flying, a-catching I will go. Locally its known as sprundig, afar they call it magic. Or you could call this phantasmagorical phenomenon vimeologizing. Giddy National Press By LAWRENCE KUDLOW There was way too much giddiness in the press about the first day of legal pot selling in Colorado. Instead of all the happy talk, I think it�s time for some sober discussion and a strong dose of education about the addiction risks of smoking… Wilson Emerges in a New � and Better � Light as American Foreign Policy Founders By CONRAD BLACK Reading Scott Berg�s recent�biography�of Woodrow Wilson to write a review of it for another publication has brought to mind a couple of striking developments in the evolution of the U.S. presidency. Woodrow Wilson has been much maligned as an… A Race to the Insurance Company To Secure Coverage After Obamacare Fails By IRA STOLL �Obviously, we screwed it up.� �President Barack Obama, December 20, 2013, discussing health care reform in response to a question at a year-end press conference. This column needs to be finished quickly so I can drive over to the headquarters of a… By GARDNER WALDEIER First tracks, last ride from Bus Huxley on Vimeo. Traditionally, winter�s arrival marks the end of motorcycle season for a couple of logical reasons. Cold is colder on a bike, which does nothing to shield the wind from cutting into you; as hypothermia sets in, you lose the ability to manipulate your extremities � and therefore the break lever and throttle. Snow and other forms of frozen water are slippery, and on slipperty surfaces. Rational, however ... By GARDNER WALDEIER
from feather to taco from Bus Huxley on Vimeo. It�s a cold and clear October morning, the sun just angling through the bare trees, with warm blades cutting the frost as it rises. There is no wind, and when I stop walking, I can hear everything in the woods around me: the flutter of a chickadee, the knock of a far-off woodpecker, and the muffled steps of a ruffled grouse. Bingo. I rely on aural cues to seek my quarry because this woodland bird has evolved to be invisible to visual cues.Federal Reserve Emerges By LAWRENCE KUDLOW So the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, finally pulled the taper trigger this week. And it was the right thing to do. Stocks soared. Even with some backing-and-forthing, gold, commodity indexes, and the dollar were basically stable. In other… American National Interest Recedes as Obama Retrenches By CONRAD BLACK As this confusing year wends to an end, it is hard not to wonder what has happened to the underlying, continuous, almost immutable national interest of the United States. When George Washington declined the advice of his aides and supporters to seize… Ira Stoll�s Office Pool: The Democrats Sweep Congress and Other Predictions for the Coming Year By IRA STOLL In memory of the late William Safire:� 1. The November election results in a) Republican majorities in both the Senate and House as voters vent their rage at ObamaCare and frustration at a still-sluggish economy b) Democratic majorities in the House… Ryan Deal Clears the Decks By LAWRENCE KUDLOW Did Paul Ryan�s budget deal save the Republican party from itself? I think it did. Everyone acknowledges that Ryan-Murray is not a great deal. The fact is, its passage will avoid a government shutdown. That�s crucial. If the GOP wants to retake the… America Could Fall By CONRAD BLACK, This is not a return to Diana West�s book. However, Andy McCarthy, a man for whom I have very great respect and whom I like very much, has written a�review�of it in�the New Criterion�that, because of its revisionist presentation of a number of… Growth and Jobs Emerge By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Either President Obama needs a new speechwriter, or he needs a new set of economic policies. Actually, he needs both. Can anyone think of a more boring, banal, irrelevant, or stale speech than the one he gave this Thursday in Washington DC? The speech… 200-Year-Old Dispute Erupts Today in Battle Between Left and Right, But Beware of Burke By IRA STOLL, What sound like fights between capitalism and socialism, or between �religious traditionalism and secular cosmopolitanism,� turn out to be battles between �progressive liberalism� and �conservative liberalism,� echoes of the more than 200-year-old… How JFK Concluded By CONRAD BLACK, Fifty years after the murder of President Kennedy, the event is scarcely less saddening than it was in its immediate aftermath. It must rank with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as the most graphically shocking and horrifying moment in… �Empress of the Doves� By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The greatest central banker in my professional lifetime was Paul Volcker. His signal achievement was bringing down the inflation rate from roughly 15% to about 3% more than three decades ago. The simplest way to look at the economic evils of runaway… Epitaph for a Presidency: By CONRAD BLACK, The great Obama levitation is ending; the inexplicable aspect of it is that it has endured so long. The president won in 2008 on a slick platform, but given the unpopularity of George W. Bush and the economic calamity that caused the incumbent to… �I Could Stay Here Forever,' By WARREN KOZAK Fifty years ago, in that tranquil fall of 1963, Liz Pozen was a young suburban mother living in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Her husband was a lawyer at the Department of the Interior, and she was a stay-at-home mom, typical of that time. The only unusual… By SETH LIPSKY, Forget the U.S. election returns for a moment and jump in a taxi to northern Manhattan, where at Yeshiva University something is happening. A line is stretching for blocks. People are waiting to get in to a conversation with the longest-serving… By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, There�s no question that the catastrophic debut of Obamacare � including the website breakdown and the millions of pink-slip cancellations � will be a great card for Republicans to play on the way to the 2014 midterm elections. No question. The… Hillary Clinton�s Fees By IRA STOLL The news that Hillary Clinton has earned what the Washington Post characterized as �close to $500,000� for two recent speeches to Goldman Sachs is generating a certain amount of excitement. An editorial in the Washington Examiner reports that �some… Obamacare Collapsing By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, May I ask this question? Why is it that Americans don�t have the freedom to choose their own health insurance? I just don�t get it. Why must the liberal nanny state make decisions for us? We can make them ourselves, thank you very much. It�s like… How the Experts Struck Out By IRA STOLL, Enjoying the World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals? Almost as entertaining is looking back at the pre-season predictions of the baseball �experts.� ESPN bills itself as �the worldwide leader in sports,� and it�s a rare… Delaying Obamacare Could Backfire on the Republicans By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, One huge political question surrounds the catastrophic launch of Obamacare: Will the administration double-talk, cancelled insurance contracts for millions, terminated doctor-patient relationships, sticker shock from higher premiums and deductibility… Massachusetts Readies Raid on Hospital Profits, Pointing to Future Health Care in U.S. By IRA STOLL, For a sense of where the health care policy debate in America is headed, look no further than Massachusetts, where RomneyCare was a state-run demonstration project for ObamaCare. Here, activists with ties to the Massachusetts State Nurses Association… War Clouds Scud Over Budget, Debt, As White House Eyes Tax Hike on Corporations By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Judging from the speech President Obama gave following the deal to end the government shutdown, Republicans better get wise to the president�s next fiscal gambit when the three-month stop-gap budget and debt measures come due. As was the case with his… U.S. Selling Bonds to Itself By CONRAD BLACK, One of the most hackneyed lines in the apparently endless and sterile partisan tug-of-war in Washington is this sanctimonious claptrap about Obamacare being �the law of the land� and that it therefore must not be obstructed. Anyone resorting to such… JFK Emerges as a Conservative � Economically, Geopolitically, and Religiously By IRA STOLL, Ira Stoll interviews himself on his new book, JFK, Conservative, being brought out this week by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and reports some facets of the story that will surprise even those who thought they knew John F. Kennedy . . . Astonishing Silence Greets Shooting Death of Miriam Carey by Police at Capitol By R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr., Shutdown of Government Starts To Feel Like Sequester � a Surprise Success By IRA STOLL, The government �shutdown� is starting to feel a lot like the sequester � a lot of alarmist warnings that the sky is going to fall, followed by business pretty much as usual. That�s not to minimize the genuine inconvenience or worse for those… Markets Appear Likely To Outsmart the Politicians as Obama Threatens Catastrophe By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Never before has an American president threatened and risked the U.S. economy and financial markets the way President Obama has in recent days. For his own narrow political ends, Mr. Obama and his minions have actually accused the Republican party of… Win-Win Situation for GOP Starts To Come Into Focus in The Fracas Over Obamacare By IRA STOLL, For Republicans, the cliffhanger over a government shutdown is a win-win. If they manage to extract a concession from Senate Democrats in exchange for voting to approve a continuing resolution to fund the government�s operations, then they�ve won. The… White House Leaves U.S. on Brink of Shutdown By Special to the Sun WASHINGTON � The federal government is hurtling toward a shutdown after the White House, choosing a hard line, spurned Republican efforts at a compromise and refused to delay President Obama�s health care law and insisted implementing a tax to pay for… Defeat of Cruz May Be the Start of the Fight To Save Free Market Health Care By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The defeat of Senator Cruz�s defunding strategy may not be the end of the fight to overturn Obamacare. In some sense, for free-market conservatives who want consumer choice and private-sector competition, this whole debate is about good versus evil… Soaring Food Stamp Outlays in House Bill Could Cover Marine Mammals, Such as Polar Bears By IRA STOLL, The food stamp bill passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives earlier this month, widely criticized for supposedly cutting the nutrition assistance program to the poor, would actually raise spending over the next decade by 57%, to… Odd Paradigm Emerges By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, One of the biggest mistakes President Obama is making over the threat of a government shutdown and the failure to raise the debt ceiling is his refusal to negotiate. In speech after speech, Mr. Obama crusades against negotiation. Has anyone ever seen… By IRA STOLL, �Stocks Soar on Summers Withdrawal� is the headline on the New York Times Web site. It appears over a Reuters dispatch reporting that Wall Street and global market indices were rising after Lawrence Summers withdrew his name from consideration to be… Fed Headed for Trouble Absent a Rules-Based Monetary Regime By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, When Senator Tester, the Montana Democrat, announced Friday that he would vote against Lawrence Summers� for Fed chairman if it came before the Banking Committee, he put a dagger in Mr. Summers�s Fed career before it even started. Mr. Tester would… Defeat of Spitzer Offers Hope in America�s Political Safety Net By CONRAD BLACK, As I returned from the studio in Toronto at the baseball stadium from where I speak to foreign television networks, after doing my best to be respectful of the great office of president of the United States while expressing my views of the debacle of… Obama�s Domestic Program Threatened by Defeat on Syria By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, President Obama, speaking at the G-20 meeting in St. Petersburg earlier today, reminded me of an investment banker trying to sell a deal he doesn�t believe in. The customer knows it. Halting. Hesitant. Uncertain. Uncomfortable. That�s what Mr. Obama�s… High Jobless Rates Tied to the Way Obamacare Reduces the Reward for Working By IRA STOLL, When the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the unemployment number for the month of August this Friday, even an improvement in last month�s 7.4% seasonally adjusted rate will leave the number higher than it was during any month of the George W. Bush… August 28, 2013 Geithner Surfaces as a Third Option To Succeed Bernanke By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, When it comes to Fed policy, one of the hottest topics on Wall Street is the next chairman of the Federal Reserve. Who will replace Ben Bernanke? Believe it or not, Timothy Geithner�s name may be resurfacing. Is it possible that the former treasury… By IRA STOLL, If President Obama tries to mark the 50th anniversary of the civil rights March on Washington this week by repeating Martin Luther King Jr.�s �I Have a Dream� speech on federal property, don�t be surprised to see the church-state-separation types… By JEROLD AUERBACH, The jubilee celebrations of the March on Washington affirm the iconic stature of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Americans may debate whether, and when, the dream that King so eloquently affirmed will be fulfilled. But there can be no doubt that… By SETH LIPSKY, Military justice, goes the saying, is to justice as military music is to music. The old saw isn�t meant to be a compliment. But it looks as if military justice has done right well by itself in the case of Pfc. Bradley Manning, who was sentenced… Rise of New Corporatism Dims Capitalism, Argues a Nobel Laureate (Hint: Not Krugman) By IRA STOLL, A Nobel laureate in economics who teaches at a New York-area Ivy League university is out with a new book attacking the Bush tax cuts. Relax, it�s not Paul Krugman. The professor is Edmund Phelps, who teaches at Columbia, not Princeton. And if you can… FDR Betrayed: How Diana West Errs on Roosevelt and the Great Heroes of the Cold War By CONRAD BLACK, The strange plague of psycho-Roosevelt-ementia, which suddenly springs to life and infects factions of the Left and Right, has been reported in several severely afflicted cases recently. Diana West, a right-wing loopy who has occasionally aroused… Snowden Pere Will Have To Walk a Fine Line in Russia By SETH LIPSKY, Lon Snowden is off to Russia to meet with his son, Edward Snowden, the former intelligence contractor who disclosed secrets of America�s surveillance programs. He says he wants to discuss with his son how to fight the espionage charges laid against… JFK Emerges To Trip Up Obama�s Theory of History By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, After delivering a number of �economic growth� speeches this summer, President Obama has failed to inspire any confidence, falling all the way back to square one in a recent Gallup poll. Actually, make that less than square one. Gallup reported that… Obama�s High Wage Vision Hides Some High Costs to Consumers By IRA STOLL, President Obama�s high-wage vision of the American economy could make a consumer�s typical shopping trip nearly five times more expensive. Think that�s an exaggeration? Mr. Obama promised recently that for the �remainder of his presidency� he would… How America�s Political Dysfunction Started in the Takedown of President Nixon By CONRAD BLACK, �At the best of times it is hazardous for the mental equilibrium of a rational person randomly to turn on the television set, and it is probably especially so in summer. Last week, in a cavalierly daredevil moment, I did so, and was almost reduced to… Tale of the Tapering: Fed Is Big Loser as Markets Maneuver at Prospect of an End of Easy Money By GEORGE MELLOAN, How does an investor react to the news that a propped-up and thus over-priced asset may lose its props? His natural urge is to sell, of course, and that urge will soon be reflected in a decline in the asset�s price. So it is with Treasury bonds. When… How Obama�s Public Support of Summers Signals Someone Else for Chairman of the Fed By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The Federal Reserve made news this past week in two separate events. The first came with the Fed�s policy meeting on Wednesday, when the central bank gave no hint that it would taper or slow its QE bond purchases any time soon. Wall Street believes… Obama Abdicating Leadership Amid Need To Reorient Economy Toward Free Market By CONRAD BLACK, We are now well into the season generally known as the summer doldrums, made more profound and dispiriting this year by the prolonged ineffectiveness of the political system, other than as an agent of sluggishly induced deterioration in public… Jerusalem Passport Case Will Be Appealed to Supreme Court, a Second Time By SETH LIPSKY, Prime Minister Begin of Israel famously used to warn against deciding the question of Jerusalem in the United States Congress. Nor, it looks like he should have added, in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. That… By IRA STOLL, Democrats in Congress and their allies at the New York Times are preparing for another assault on Goldman Sachs, this one based on the claim that an aluminum warehouse owned by Goldman is increasing the prices of canned beverages. A Democratic Senator… Jack Kemp-Type Liberation Beckons for Detroit By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, With Detroit filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, everybody knows major root-canal cutbacks are coming. Cutbacks of out-of-control government spending, pensions, and health benefits. Major cutbacks. We know that. We also know that the downfall of Detroit… How Israel Isidore Beilin Upends the Consensus on Immigration By IRA STOLL, Republicans and Democrats in Washington don�t agree on much, but they do seem to agree on this: America�s immigration policy should prioritize the admission of �skilled� immigrants. This column is about why they are wrong. First, a bit on the… How a Cynic Crafted the Constitution and Fell for the Romance of America By LEWIS LEHRMAN, �We the people� begins the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States. These are the words of 35-year-old Gouverneur Morris, the talented wordsmith who fine-tuned this Founding document. New Yorker Morris represented Pennsylvania at the… How Immigration Fuels the Red Sox Nation By IRA STOLL, One of the things I have found reassuringly familiar as I move back to New England after an absence of nearly 20 years is the Red Sox baseball team, still battling for the top of the American League�s East division. It�s just the players who are… Deflationary Signal Raises a Question: What About Rules for the Fed? By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Bernanke Plan To Tighten Money Looks Premature Absent Stronger Economy By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, In the aftermath of Chairman Bernanke�s announced timetable for ending Fed bond purchases, long-term interest rates have jumped up while stock prices have cratered down. As I wrote yesterday, I think the Bernanke plan is premature � especially in a 2%… Bernanke Stumbles Into a Major Policy Mistake as Deflation Is in the Air By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Without intending to � and perhaps without even realizing it � the normally cautious Fed head Ben Bernanke may have launched a major tightening policy during his news conference on Wednesday. The de facto policy shift immediately sparked a rout on… Scandals Being Magnified for Obama by Our Economic Troubles By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, When President Richard Nixon collided with the Watergate scandal he was a very unpopular man. The nation at the time was suffering one of the worst recessions in history, and one of the highest inflation rates, too. So Watergate sunk Dick Nixon, but… Verizon�s Top Secret Deal With Pentagon Was Made Public in Regular, Annual Filing With SEC. By IRA STOLL, Verizon, the phone company whose disclosure of customer data to the federal government is at the center of the furor over cooperation by technology companies with top-secret national security programs, has offered a precise, clear, but little-noticed… How Frank Lautenberg Made a Fortune by Doing Work the Government Made Necessary By IRA STOLL, Frank Lautenberg, the Democratic senator from New Jersey who died today at age 89, will be remembered by others for his career in government. To me the more fascinating story is his career in business. Because the company where Lautenberg spent the 30… Buzz Starts in Washington That Tax Reform Is Route To Curbing IRS By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Apart from criminal prosecution, the best way to strip the power of politics and corruption from the IRS is to initiate broad-based, pro-growth tax reform and simplification. It�s the complexity of the tax code that nurtures the corruptness of the IRS… Aide to Bush, Romney Warns Fate of Rome Could Befall America By IRA STOLL, A top economic adviser to George W. Bush and Mitt Romney is warning that if America doesn�t adopt a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution it risks a decline and fall in the pattern of the ancient Roman Empire. Glenn Hubbard is the dean of… Criminality Appears To Lie at the Heart of the IRS Scandal By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, When you get right down to it, the political targeting and stalling of tax-exempt applications by the IRS was an effort to defund the Tea Party. Rick Santelli, one of the Tea Party founders and my CNBC colleague, was the first to make this point. I�ve… IRS Was Afraid of the Constitution, the Obama Scandal Suggests By IRA STOLL, Of all the discouraging news in the scandal involving President Obama�s Internal Revenue Service, the most illuminating is that one of the things that triggered additional scrutiny from the IRS for groups applying for tax-exempt status was any plan… Republicans Shying From Immigration Reform Risk Losing the Soul of America By LAWRENCE KUDLOW At the end of the day, the battle over immigration reform is not about dollars and cents. It�s about the soul of a nation. President Reagan reminded us that America must remain a �beacon� and a �shining city on a hill� for immigrants who renew our… Heroes of the By JAMES GRANT, On July 19, 1967, a helicopter took off from the USS Hornet, an aircraft carrier operating off the coast of North Vietnam. The chopper, with its crew of four, never returned. On Thursday, at the Arlington National Cemetery, the sailors� remains were… Even as Good News Rolls In, Economy Is Falling Behind Long-Term Trends By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The really good news from April�s employment report is that all the pessimistic, end-of-the-world, spring-swoon forecasters were wrong. It wasn�t a fabulous report. But it handily beat Wall Street expectations. Stock markets soared on the news. The… Rise in Value of Dollar Spells Good Times Ahead, As End of the World Scenario Fades By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, In the last two days gold has plunged so deep that it�s being called the worst drop � at least in percentage terms � in 30 years. That brings us back to the early Reagan period, when falling gold was regarded as a good thing. � Back then, lower gold… Possible Confiscation of IRA Accounts Raises Question of Power To Limit Savings By LAWRENCE KUDLOW No matter how you slice the Obama budget pie, the inescapable fact is that the President wants to get rid of the roughly $1 trillion budget-cutting sequester and substitute in a $1 trillion-plus tax hike. In other words, more spending, more taxing… Boom in Bitcoins Challenges Bernanke Amid Sagging Confidence in Fiat Dollar By GEORGE MELLOAN Things are wild in the Bitcoin market these days. As quoted on the Mt. Gox exchange in Tokyo, the price of a Bitcoin has soared to $194 from $36 in the space of 30 days. Volume has soared and so have Mt. Gox�s problems in keeping order in this new and… Basic Tax Deal Starts To Change as Refunds Wax in Era of Earned Income and Per-Child Tax Credits By IRA STOLL, One of the most important but least noticed changes in American life over the past 20 years is the way that tax season has gone from a time when Americans write checks to the Internal Revenue Service to a time when the IRS sends money to Americans… Watergate Yarn Unravels in Unclouded Light of History By CONRAD BLACK, Gradually, inexorably, the great Watergate fraud is unraveling. The Knights of Revelation, 40 years onward, are being exposed, in the light of analysis unclouded by cant and emotionalism, as the myth-makers they always were. Bob Woodward, unable to… Bernanke Wins a Round as GDP Inches Forward at 0.4% Annual Rate By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Apropos of my column of a week ago � �Has Bernanke Gotten the Story Right?� � this week�s paltry GDP revision again backs up the actions of the Federal Reserve chairman and his market-monetarist supporters. Real GDP was a miniscule 0.4% at an annual… Bernanke�s Vow To Adjust Bond Purchases Suggests Fed Is Listening to Its Critics By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The most important point in Chairman Bernanke�s Wednesday press conference was the announcement that the Federal Reserve will adjust the amount of monthly bond purchases according to economic conditions. In other words, an improving economy with… Scalia, Sotomayor Light Up High Court Hearing on Arizona Voting Rights Case By RICK RICHMAN, What an illuminating exchange erupted at the Supreme Court this week between Justices Sotomayor and Scalia. It came during oral argument on Arizona�s requirement that persons seeking to register to vote produce evidence of citizenship, such as a… By IRA STOLL, The Republican National Committee�s report on how to recover from its 2012 election losses is out, and the product is a strange combination of the intriguing, the illuminating, the hypocritical, and the humorous. Alas, it�s dark humor for anyone who… Suddenly, Optimism Is in the Air By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, One might not know it from the acrimonious political debate on cable and broadcast TV, or on talk radio, or on websites and blogs. But here�s a counterintuitive observation: Amidst all the negativism out there, I believe optimism is in the air. That�s… By SETH LIPSKY, It�s hard to recall many more wonderful moments on the floor of the United States Senate than the filibuster mounted Wednesday night by Sen. Rand Paul against President Obama�s nominee to the CIA. The junior senator from Kentucky didn�t stop � or even… Sequester Surprise Turns Out To Be That Budget Cuts Are Good for Growth By LAWRENCE KUDLOW President Obama may be backing away from his doomsday spending-cut predictions as the sequester goes into place. But the new party line is that while there will be no impact in the first few days, there�ll be a slow, downward slump after that. What… By BRANDT AYERS, There is a bridge over the Alabama River in Selma, the crossing of which ended one civilization and began a newly minted one. On the first Sunday in March, as they have for 48 years, civil rights leaders crossed the bridge to commemorate �Bloody… Warren Buffett Gets Caught in a Contradiction on the Political Economy By IRA STOLL, Warren Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and one of the richest men in the world, put out his annual letter to shareholders over the weekend. It got a lot of press attention, but, as is often the case with Mr. Buffett, even in the newspapers that… Ugly Tone Emerges in Drive by Obama for Tax Hikes on Rich By IRA STOLL, With a March 1 deadline looming for the imposition of the automatic spending cuts known as the sequester, President Obama and his allies in the press are stepping up their campaign for additional tax increases on the rich. Mr. Obama said over the… Hysteria on Sequester Masks Fact That Spending Cuts Bode Well for Growth By LAWRENCE KUDLOW The Obama administration is whipping up hysteria over the sequester budget cuts and their impact on the economy, the military, first providers, and so forth and so on. Armageddon. But if you climb into the Congressional Budget Office numbers for 2013… By R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr., To Amity Shlaes I am indebted for gently correcting a joke of mine that dates back to July 8, 1972. On that date in the New York Times I joshed that President Calvin Coolidge �probably spent more time napping than any President in the nation�s… Obama�s Most Illuminating Initiative Turns Out To Be His College Scorecard Violates Enumerated Powers, Competes Against Private Raters By IRA STOLL, The Obama State of the Union line that�s attracting the most attention is the $9-an-hour minimum wage. But the policy initiative that�s most illuminating in a certain way is the college scorecard. The minimum wage is certainly telling. A friend… Next? The Barack Obama Campaign Promises Implementation Act of 2013 By IRA STOLL, Senator Rubio of Florida is scheduled to give the Republican response to President Obama�s state of the Union address Tuesday night. Here�s one approach he may want to consider for his speech: My fellow Americans, Good evening. You just heard… Obama Declares a Hollow Victory in the Budget Battle, Forgetting About the Predicament of the Fed By GEORGE MELLOAN, During the Vietnam War, Senator Aiken of Vermont became famous for allegedly saying that the U.S. should �declare victory and go home.� He didn�t say anything about going home, but the phrase lives on in American folklore as a solution to intractable… Monsters of Entitlement By IRA STOLL, The political arithmetic of entitlement reform in Washington has, for decades, run something like this: you can either raise taxes, or you can cut benefits. President Obama has tinkered some around the edges. As part of ObamaCare, he reallocated some… By GEORGE MELLOAN, The year-end �fiscal cliff� tax deal sent shivers through the bond market, driving 10-year Treasuries to the lowest level since last April. There was a good reason. The stubborn resistance by Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to… In Which Our Columnist Seeks To Keep His Pledge To Give Obama a Honeymoon By CONRAD BLACK, It is my solemn pledge to readers that I have tried to give President Obama a bit of a honeymoon in my thoughts as he takes the oath for a second term, and to think kindly of Secretary Clinton, as she hands over the State Department, and of her… Decline in GDP Masks Strength in the Private Economy as Sequester Nears By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Today�s report of a 0.1% GDP decline for the fourth quarter came as a surprise to most forecasters. But it actually masks considerable strength in the private economy. Namely, housing investment in the fourth quarter jumped 15.3% annually, business… By IRA STOLL, John Mackey, the cofounder and co-CEO of Whole Foods Market, has a flair for well-timed entries into public policy debates, as readers of his 2009 Wall Street Journal op-ed attacking Obamacare may recall. Now Mr. Mackey is back, along with a… Cabal of Leftist Vulgarizers Foists Fraudulent, Procrustean Popular History on America By CONRAD BLACK, The last thing I would have imagined a week ago, when I wrote my column about the mythologization of Henry Wallace by Oliver Stone, was that I would return to the same subject this week. But Mr. Stone and his fig-leaf of ostensibly respectable… Obama�s Choice: Best Case Scenario Holds Optimistic Option for America By IRA STOLL, What will President Obama�s second term, which begins this week, bring? Here�s a best-case scenario and a worst-case scenario. The best case is that Mr. Obama follows through on some of the proposals that he, or members of his administration, have… �Whither Goest Thou America, In Thy Shiny Car in the Night?� By CONRAD BLACK, As part of a television project, I have been checking film versions of celebrated events against historical facts. What has been most striking is the gratuitous manner in which dramatic events and the behaviour of eminent and fabled historical… By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Okay, it�s official. According to the Treasury Department, the U.S. debt jumped to $16.1 trillion in 2012 from $14.8 trillion in 2011. That�s a $1.3 trillion deficit for the last year. Remarkable. During President Obama�s first term, the federal debt… By CONRAD BLACK, With mounting incredulity and alarm � like, I am sure, many readers � I have watched the exhumation, by Oliver Stone, Peter Kuznick, and other members of a leftist claque of revisionist historians and pseudo-historians, of the putrefied historic… Lew Signals Leftward Lurch by Obama, Putting Premium for GOP in Sequester for Spending By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The worst part of the Jack Lew nomination for treasury secretary is not simply that he has no qualifications, standing, or experience in the financial world or international sphere (think G20 and European debt crisis). Nor is it simply that he doesn�t… Only a Resurgent National Will Can Return America To the Vision of the Founders By CONRAD BLACK, George Will�s address last month at Washington University in St. Louis has been rightly hailed as a seminal statement on the role of religion in Western and especially American society, and on the conflicting constitutional ambitions and their… Obama Pick for Global Council Illuminates The President�s Approach To Economic Policy By IRA STOLL, On the Friday before Christmas, President Obama announced that he was appointing Mohamed A. El-Erian, the CEO of Pacific Investment Management Company, as the chairman of his Global Development Council. The announcement didn�t get much attention, but… Europe Emerges as the Model for Obama Years By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, One cheer out of a potential three is all anyone can logically give the fiscal-cliff deal. On the day after the bargain was clinched, the stock market gave a 300-point cheer. So be it. In the short run, extending tax cuts up to $450,000 probably saved… �Lincoln� and �FDR� Invent History Where Accuracy Would Have Served Even Better By CONRAD BLACK, Two recent films about America�s greatest presidents since, and along with, George Washington � Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt � cannot fail to remind us of the deterioration in the distinction of the presidency. They have received sharply… Going Over Fiscal Cliff Three Ex-Governors � Wilson, Pataki, and Weld � Could Point The Way Forward for GOP By IRA STOLL, How can the Republican Party � or the center-right political movement in this country generally � dig itself out of the hole it�s in? That�s the question being asked after two months in which the Republican Party lost a presidential election, had its… If Congress Goes Over the Cliff, GOP Tax Cut Is Sure To Follow By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, When you lose an election you get frustrated. When you�re sitting in a subpar 2% economy and are faced with tax hikes rather than marginal rate reductions, you get even more frustrated. When you�re staring at $47 trillion in spending over the next ten… American Party System Sets Stage for Elevation of a Strong Leader To Lead a Reform By CONRAD BLACK, There are many lamentations, not least audibly from me, about the gridlock and general current futility of the U.S. political system, as well as the comparative mediocrity of most high officeholders, a trans-partisan problem. I was bemoaning to a… By IRA STOLL, With apologies and thanks to William Safire: 1. At year-end, the junior senator from Massachusetts is a) Deval Patrick, who stepped down from the governor�s office to run for the post to gain Washington experience in advance of a 2016 presidential run… How the Shouting Match of the Pundits Goes Back to Vietnam By CONRAD BLACK, It will not become a�fortnightly event�for me to ride like the Seventh Cavalry to the assistance of News Corporation or its leader, and it is only a coincidence that I take up on what is apparently an effort at satire at the expense of Fox News. It… Stock Market Expects a Deal at the Edge of the Budget Cliff By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Despite all the hullabaloo in the press about the fiscal cliff and a potential recession if none of the Bush tax cuts are extended, stock markets have behaved calmly throughout this whole period. As of this writing today, the Dow is up 100 points. I�m… Secret Parley of Obama, Boehner Betrays Their Pledges To Open Government By IRA STOLL, Here�s one thing President Obama and Speaker Boehner agree on: they don�t want you to know what happened at their meeting Sunday about taxes and spending. �We�re not reading out details of the conversation,� said identical statements issued by the… �Doomsday� Scenario Starts To Come Into Focus in Battle Over the Budget By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Republicans are divided. President Obama won�t budge. And more and more, it looks like the fiscal-cliff deadline of December 31 will be missed. � It�s now clear that Team Obama wants higher tax rates and revenue-raising tax-deduction caps to meet… �Doomsday� Scenario Starts To Come Into Focus in Battle Over the Budget By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Republicans are divided. President Obama won�t budge. And more and more, it looks like the fiscal-cliff deadline of December 31 will be missed. � It�s now clear that Team Obama wants higher tax rates and revenue-raising tax-deduction caps to meet… How Obama Could Yet Emerge as a Transformative President By CONRAD BLACK, AT&T Trying To Raise Your Rates � Tax Rates, That Is By IRA STOLL, AT&T customers, pay attention: your phone company is trying to raise your rates. No, not your phone rates: your tax rates. And therein lies a story. If federal campaign contributions are any guide, the CEO and chairman of AT&T, Randall Stephenson, is… �Herbert Hoover� Obama Emerges as the Legacy the President Wants To Avoid By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Once again, President Obama dodged the key fiscal-cliff issues at a campaign rally/press conference Wednesday morning. Campaign-style, he argued that the middle-class tax cuts (below $250,000) must be renewed in order to prevent a $2,200 average tax… By IRA STOLL, As the clock ticks toward a tax increase scheduled to take effect at year end, expect to hear a lot from the �tax me more� crowd. These are wealthy individuals who profess to favor increases in their own tax bills. A series of recent articles help… Danger of Stalemate on Fiscal Front Rattles the Markets By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Romney�s �Gifts� Remark Is Rooted in a Nobel-Prize-Winning-Theory of Political Economy By IRA STOLL, Governor Romney�s explanation of his election loss � that President Obama bought the election with �gifts� such as health insurance coverage and student loan forgiveness � may be closer to the truth than a lot of people want to believe. The losing… How Centers for Disease Control Have Moved By BETSY McCAUGHEY, Public opinion about the Obama health law is split, but no matter what your view, surely you would want Obamacare spending to go towards what it�s supposed to be for � helping people afford health insurance. Yet the money trail discloses billions… Dangerous Political Vortex Could Engulf Both America, Canada in Election�s Wake By CONRAD BLACK President Obama�s victory this week was hoped for, and celebrated, in Canada as a triumph of Canadian-style Americanism. Here in Toronto, for example, the writers group PEN Canada invited a wide range of people to a public-speaking event titled… Beware of Counting on the Fed If U.S. Goes Off the Fiscal Cliff Fisher: �There�s Got To Be a Limit� By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, In the event the United States goes off the Fiscal Cliff, don�t expect the Fed to shield markets from the worst. In an interview on the Kudlow Report, the hawkish president of the Dallas Fed, Richard Fisher, said he�d resist that kind of intervention… �Congratulations, Partner�: What Boehner Could Say in a Memo to President Obama By IRA STOLL, If Speaker of the House John Boehner wrote a memo to President Obama, it might look something like this: * * * Dear Mr. President: Seeing that YouTube video of you choking up while thanking your campaign volunteers in Chicago reminded me of how much… Key Senator Warns Against Simpson-Bowles, Arguing Revenues Can Be Raised Via Growth of the Economy By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, A federal budget deal to avoid the fiscal cliff can be achieved without raising tax rates, the minority whip, Senator Jon Kyl, said Friday on the Kudlow Report. �Tax revenues can be generated by two ways other than raising tax rates,� he said. �One is… Why Petraeus Deserved Better Than This Humiliation By SHMULEY BOTEACH, Did General Petraeus have to resign? He opened himself as head of the Central Intelligence Agency to blackmail, which is a security breach. So the argument goes. But surely once he admitted the affair, he presumably couldn�t be blackmailed any more… Little-Noticed Exit Poll Finds 63% Said �No� To Raising Taxes To Shrink Deficit By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, In the fierce headline debate over the so-called fiscal cliff, our newly reelected president argues that �a majority of Americans agree with [his] approach.� That approach, according to the president, is �to combine spending cuts with revenue � and… By IRA STOLL, If Mitt Romney ends this week as President-Elect Romney, it will be because of these six reasons: �One-term proposition�: �If I don't have this done in three years, then there's gonna be a one-term proposition,� President Obama told NBC�s Matt Lauer… Optimism Turns Out To Be Secret Weapon for Romney By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Putting aside all the voter models, there�s one overlooked point worth making with Election Day at hand. Most times in American politics, optimists win, and pessimists lose. I know that�s not always the case. Sometimes it�s hard to distinguish between… Obama, Congress Quietly Borrowed Money From China To Subsidize Housing At Coastal Flood Plains By IRA STOLL, Four months before Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast, President Obama quietly signed legislation expanding the federal program that offers taxpayer-subsidized flood insurance to ocean-front homeowners. The law extended the National Flood Insurance… Murders by Nanny Illuminate the Nature of Fate, As Did the Boy Who Was Grazed By a Meteor By LENORE SKENAZY, How can you protect your children from possibly being murdered by your nanny? The answer is to do a thorough background check. Of history. The horrific crime that appalled the country last week � two children stabbed to death on New York�s Upper West… Obama�s Second Term Vision Seeks To Move Government Beyond 25% of GDP By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Under pressure from Mitt Romney, President Obama has finally released his own policy vision for a second term. And yes, it�s the same old, same old. Some are calling it a second first term. There isn�t a single true economic-growth incentive in this… Maneuvering Starts Among Democrats To Claim GOP By IRA STOLL, If Mitt Romney wins the presidency, expect the Democrats to complain that the Republicans bought the election � and to try to outlaw it from ever happening again. The signs are already emerging. A New York Times column earlier this month ran under the… Why Even Conservatives Liked McGovern Personally By CAL THOMAS, Senator McGovern, who died Sunday, had all manner of evil said about him because of his opposition to the Vietnam War. He was called unpatriotic, disloyal, an appeaser and an enabler of communism. Those were the printable slanders. Many conservatives… By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, With the unprecedented budget explosion of means-tested, welfare-related entitlements, does Team Obama think it can buy the election? It�s a cynical question. But I wouldn�t put it past that cynical bunch. Remember Harry Hopkins, Franklin Roosevelt�s… Biden Sideshow Sets the Stage for Obama, Romney Tonight By CONRAD BLACK, The spectacle of the Democratic television networks and newspapers straining to make Joe Biden the Paul Revere of the flagging Obama campaign is one of the more entertaining sideshows of American politics since Jimmy Carter�s encounter with the… It�s Romney Vs. Ryan on Taxes, But They Both Could Be Right By IRA STOLL, Maybe the next debate should be between Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, about what exactly is in their tax plan. Consider the following contradiction: �My plan is not like anything that's been tried before. My plan is to bring down rates… How Lincoln Emerged in the Stratosphere of Greatness By CONRAD BLACK, The mighty American star system has elevated and demoted thousands of people over the 236 years since the propagandistic arts were first torqued up in the Declaration of Independence. But the supreme champion of the American personality cult has been… Ryan Stuns Biden on Foreign Policy in Big Surprise of Vice Presidential Debate By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The irony of ironies: The Biden-Ryan debate was more about foreign policy than the economy and jobs. Yet another irony: Paul Ryan, an expert on all things fiscal, disclosed a much better knowledge base of foreign policy than anyone thought existed… Romney Market Beckons as Victory in November Grows More Plausible by the Day By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The�S&P fell for the fourth day in a row on Wednesday, as investors ran for the exits, fearing a rough market ahead. However, if you�re among those sellers running for the sidelines, you may be making a big mistake. For the first time, I feel… By CONRAD BLACK, In this space I have written before that President Obama is the first incumbent since Martin Van Buren in 1840 to seek reelection without running on his record. He is also the first incumbent in my time as an observer, which goes back to the… Where Will the Next Political Party Start? Gaffe by Romney Leads to an Idea By IRA STOLL, The most infuriating moment of the first presidential debate between Mitt Romney and President Obama hasn�t gotten the attention it deserves. That moment was when Governor Romney, the Republican, in response to a question about regulation, declared it… Romney Wins Debate by Focusing on Taxes, Key Principles By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Mitt Romney politely cleaned Barack Obama�s clock tonight. A lethargic and at times tired looking President Obama was out-hustled, out-facted, out-energized, and out-informed by Governor Romney. Completely unlike Mr. Romney�s convention speech, he… America Flunking Churchill�s �Test of Civilization� By CONRAD BLACK, An article in the Wall Street Journal last week having pointed out that 97% of U.S. criminal prosecutions are now guilty-plea bargains, and that 85% of the remaining 3% are trials that return guilty verdicts, I return to the spavined b�te noire of the… Taxes, Growth, Sound Money Are the Notes on Which Romney Can Seize the Lead Tonight By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Free advice is, well, free advice. But I would say this to Governor Romney: In your gentlemanly fashion, get on the offense quickly tonight, and put President Obama on the defense. Play the leadership card: �No leadership on the anemic economy. No… Counterrevolution Comes To California as Governor Brown Vetoes a Raft Of Liberal Legislation By IRA STOLL, One of the saving graces of modern progressivism is that eventually it gets too left-wing even for left wingers. That�s the takeaway from Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.�s volley of vetoes � 34 pieces of legislation passed by the Democrat-controlled… What Would Churchill or FDR Have Done in the Face of Riots and Flag Burning? By CONRAD BLACK, At the end of World War II, the Americans and the British ruled, or heavily influenced by traditional right, or occupied, or sustained by force of arms righteously exercised, almost all the world except what was under the hobnailed jackboot of… Latest Numbers Suggest Fear of Fiscal Cliff Is Already Hurting the Economy By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, As if the looming �fiscal cliff� isn�t frightening enough, new results suggest it�s already doing serious damage to the economy � and it�s only September. According to a survey released by the Business Roundtable, corporate America�s view of the… Romney Rates a Mulligan on Latest Tax Gaffe, As Pressure Builds on the Debate By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, For some unknown reason, Mitt Romney dialed back his tax-cut plan yesterday, the same day new reports showed incomes are dropping. Last month, median household income fell by about $500, and since Barack Obama became president, income is down over… An �Aha!� Moment as Romney Suddenly Talks Take-Home Pay By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, One of the reasons Mitt Romney and the GOP failed to get a convention bounce was their inability to talk tax cuts, economic growth, and jobs. In his 45-minute convention speech, Governor Romney spent 200 words on the economy, with no mention of tax… Tax Take Soars Under Obama, Even as He Argues Otherwise By IRA STOLL, Where are the �fact-checkers� when you need them? On CBS News�s �60 Minutes� Sunday night, President Obama said, �Taxes are lower on families than they've been probably in the last 50 years. So I haven't raised taxes.� As of Monday morning, neither… U.S. Government Playing a Game of Chicken With Itself Over the National Debt By CONRAD BLACK, The election campaign has entered its final phase with the administration irritatingly pretending that some sort of economic recovery is under way, and that a deficit-reduction plan that leads where a sane and numerate citizen might wish to go is in… The Chair Will No Longer Be Empty When Obama, Romney Meet in Debate Some Questions for the Candidates By IRA STOLL, The first debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney is scheduled for Wednesday, October 3, at the University of Denver in Colorado, which means it�s not too soon to suggest some questions for the moderator, Jim Lehrer. The debate is supposed to… Bernanke Reverses Policy of Volcker, In Bid To Finance Obama�s Tax, Spending Plan By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, About thirty years ago, Paul Volcker launched a monumental monetary effort to bring down inflation. As Fed chairman, he sold bonds, removed cash from the economy, and cared not one wit about rising interest rates. And it worked. Gold plunged, King… Democrats Hand GOP a Winning Issue as the Obama Deficits Put the Dollar on the Road To Collapse By CONRAD BLACK, The shape of the election is already clear; as was predicted here and elsewhere, the administration cannot and won�t run on its record. The economy is in shambles, the prospects are poor, the dollar is falling faster against gold than the Euro for the… Sex, Videotape, and FDR in �Hyde Park on the Hudson� By CONRAD BLACK, The core of the story of�Hyde Park on Hudson, premiering September 10 at the Toronto International Film Festival, is how Franklin Delano Roosevelt coped with the immense pressures of his office as he pulled the United States out of the Great… By IRA STOLL, Call it the Obama paradox: He�s been a failure as a president, but he looks headed for reelection, anyway. Sure, things could change between now and November if there�s a stock-market plunge, a scandal, an Iranian nuclear test, or a truly… �Government� Becomes �Citizenship� In Obama�s New Language of Politics By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Perhaps the reason for President Obama�s flat and energy-less speech Thursday night -- TV cameras panning the convention floor actually showed delegates falling asleep -- was that he already knew Friday�s jobs numbers were going to be a disaster. The… Barack Obama, Scrambling Away From His Record, Makes the Mistake of Martin Van Buren By CONRAD BLACK, It could normally be presumed that the Democrats will put the best imaginable face on their administration and charge out of their convention with an agreed rationale for what they intend to do if reelected and why they deserve to be on the basis of… The Gold Standard Goes Mainstream By SETH LIPSKY, An under-reported development of this campaign season is the Republican Party's decision this week to send Gov. Mitt Romney into the presidential race on a platform effectively calling for a new gold commission. The realization that America's system… By CONRAD BLACK, Following on my prediction of last week that the selection of Paul Ryan as the Republican vice-presidential candidate would energize what had been shaping up to be an extremely lackluster campaign, the undergrowth has already erupted with Democratic… All Eyes Are on Romney To Mark the Strategy for Growth as Ryan Sticks To Debt By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan gave a powerful speech Wednesday night that repeatedly brought conventioneers at the Republican National Convention in Tampa to their feet. I am going to give him high marks for his speech�s delivery… �Second American Century� Heaves Into View As Ann Romney Steals the Show at Tampa By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, In front of a spirited crowd that packed the Tampa Times Forum, Chris Christie gave a solid speech that echoed Mitt Romney�s programs consisting of substantial budget cuts, tax cuts, and entitlement reform. Mr. Christie pressed on the notion of what… Romney, as GOP Retreats From the Weather, Sounds Off Key By IRA STOLL, So the Americans that survived Valley Forge and stormed the beaches of Normandy and Iwo Jima have gotten so soft that the mere threat of heavy rain is enough to cancel an entire day of a national political convention. Here is the chairman of the… How Paul Ryan Rescued the Presidential Race By CONRAD BLACK, It is refreshing to see the metamorphosis of the U.S. presidential campaign in the two weeks since the selection of Paul Ryan as Republican nominee for vice-president. It has miraculously evolved from one of the most unrelievedly vacuous election… Supply-Side Grousing About Paul Ryan Is Gainsaid by the Candidate Himself By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, In the two weeks since Governor Romney chose Paul Ryan as his running mate, the entire Republican party has been rejuvenated. Governor Romney himself has been reenergized. After losing ground in the polls this summer, he�s once again drawn even with… Ron Paul Has a Cautionary Question for Romney � Doesn't Monetary Policy Belong To Congress? By Special to the Sun Governor Romney�s latest statement in support of the independence of the Federal Reserve has brought a sharp warning from Congressman Ron Paul that the Constitution vests responsibility over monetary policy in the Congress. The congressman�s riposte… Romney, in Budget Talk on the Stump, Shows an Instinct for the Capillary By IRA STOLL, For a tale that sums up both the Romney presidential campaign and the battle over the federal debt and deficit, look no further than the battle over funding the National Endowment for the Humanities. The endowment, despite its name, is not an… Tax Hike Hangs Like Sword of Damocles Over Economy By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, While the fiscal-cliff tax hike still hangs like the recessionary sword of Damocles over the economy, the economic stats for the month of July do not show it. Key data points suggest there is no double-dip recession. All in all, it�s still an anemic… Ding Dong Battle Shapes Up as WMR Turns To Paul Ryan By CONRAD BLACK, It is no longer a fresh story, but the selection of Paul Ryan as vice-presidential nominee by Mitt Romney is the most, and possibly the first, presidential act W.M. Romney has taken. After doffing his cap in every ideological and policy direction for… Romney, Framing a Pro-Growth Program, Moves To the Right of Bush, McCain, and Dole By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, While some of my conservative colleagues are criticizing the Romney campaign for one thing or another, I want to make a distinct point that is largely being overlooked: Governor Romney is the most fiscally conservative Republican standard-bearer since… Falling Health Care Costs Set To Emerge as Next Big Issue Little-Covered Trend Upends Argument of Obama By IRA STOLL, One of the key arguments that President Obama used to get his health care law though Congress, control of soaring health care costs, turns out to have been bogus. Here is the way Mr. Obama put the argument in a September 9, 2009, speech about health…
By CONRAD BLACK, Forty years after Watergate, as the agreed demonology of that drama begins to unravel and the chief authors of it, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, struggle to keep the conventional wisdom about it intact as an article of righteous liberal faith, a… As Stocks Soar on Jobs Report, Small Business Is Stopped Dead Romney Platform Emerges in Sharp Relief By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Stocks loved today�s jobs report, rising well more than 200 points at this writing. But equities may be suffering from a certain irrational exuberance. Yes, nonfarm payrolls rose by 163,000 in July. That�s better than the prior two months and probably…
By CONRAD BLACK, It has been a learned joke for 40 years that long-serving Chinese premier Chou En-lai, when asked the principal consequence of the French Revolution, replied: �It is too early to say.� As events unfold in this rather dismal election year in the United… Elizabeth Warren Praising Communist China as a Model for America Runs Startling Campaign Ad in Olympics Prime Time By IRA STOLL, Massachusetts residents who tuned in to the Olympics opening ceremony saw a new 30-second campaign commercial from the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, Elizabeth Warren, that said America should be more like Communist China. �We've got bridges… Nastiness Exceeds Expectations As Obama Campaign Skirts President�s Record By CONRAD BLACK, So far, the presidential-election campaign has moderately exceeded even very high expectations of banality and nastiness. It is like a three-legged race between the head of a failed administration (except in continuing to combat terrorism), who is… Greenspan Warns Spending Boom Has Negative Impact, As Economy Reels From Capital Strike By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Does anybody remember, back in the depths of the recession of 1981-82, how President Reagan kept his chin up and exhorted American businesses to work hard and produce an economic recovery? Reagan had a program of tax cuts, limited domestic spending… How Walter Cronkite Betrayed Journalism and Ignited the Rage That Burns Against the Media Today By CONRAD BLACK, Douglas Brinkley�s�biography�of Walter Cronkite tells you all any sane person would want to know about the subject, and tells it fluently and with rigorous attachment to sources. It also tells a greater tale, of the ideological and policy uniformity… Errors Start To Emerge in Standard Stump Speech of President Obama By IRA STOLL, Really understanding President Obama�s governing philosophy and agenda doesn�t require a whole fleet of investigative reporters or opposition researchers. All you have to do is take a reasonably careful look at his campaign stump speech, a collection… As Obama Falters and Romney Consults, 2012 Election Exposes an Office Looking for the Man By CONRAD BLACK, As we plod into the final two months before the presidential election campaign officially begins (although they in fact begin about two years before the election that precedes the one for which the campaign is intended), there is still time to review… Obamacare Does Indeed Look Like the Largest Nominal Tax Increase in American History By IRA STOLL, No sooner had Chief Justice Roberts issued his ruling that ObamaCare�s individual mandate to purchase health insurance ObamaCare was a tax than the law�s defenders in the press were racing to rebut the idea that the law, overall, is the largest tax… By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, President Obama needed a filet mignon in the June employment report. But instead he got a rubber chicken. Only 80,000 new jobs were created last month, way below Wall Street expectations. It�s the fourth consecutive monthly disappointment. For a few… Policy Battle Emerges as New Focus in Fight Over Obamacare By IRA STOLL, Conservative fury at the chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, for the Supreme Court ruling declining to strike down the bulk of ObamaCare is misplaced. Some of the more perfervid criticism makes it sound like the law is actually the fault… Surge of Campaign Cash for Romney Greets Supreme Court Ruling on Obamacare By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, �In the hours following the Supreme Court�s decision to ratify Obamacare, Governor Romney got $4.6 million in donations from 47,000 individuals. The tide is with him. The Supreme�s are a game changer. But Mr. Romney has to make the case. He needs to… Uncertainty Will Cast Pall on Economy, Even If High Court Voids Obamacare By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, It may well be that the complex tax-and-regulatory mandates embodied in Obamacare have proven to be a deterrent for business job creation. You hear it all the time from men and women in business � especially smaller businesses, but large companies too… Obama, NYTimes Targeting Wealthy Conservatives for a Sudden Tax Scrutiny By IRA STOLL, Billionaires thinking of becoming politically active on the right side of the political spectrum be warned: the press will want to know how much you pay in taxes. President Nixon tried to get the IRS to audit the taxes of his liberal political enemies. The press, the public, and historians rightfully found that to be an affront to the rule of law and to the spirit of liberty. But now President Obama and his allies . . . McCain Hits a Career Low in Attacks on Adelson for �Foreign Money� in His Campaign Contributions By IRA STOLL, The Republican Party�s 2008 presidential candidate, John McCain, is warning about foreign money influencing American elections this year via a prominent supporter of Republican politicians. In an interview that aired June 14 on PBS�s �Newshour�… Nixon Emerges a Victor in �War on History� Waged in the Wake of Watergate By CONRAD BLACK, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (Woodstein for our purposes) now claim, in a�Washington Post�piece,�that President Nixon was �far worse than we thought,� and accuse him of conducting five �wars�: against the anti-war movement, on the media, against… Warning Signs Growing That a Global Recession Is Already Here By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Is it possible that we are already in a global recession but just don�t know it yet? And is the U.S. itself � still the epicenter of the world economy � standing on the front edge of another recession? I sincerely hope I�m wrong. But warning signs are… Stock Market Surge Is Touched Off by Victory of Walker at Wisconsin Dow Soars Right at the Market Open, With No Other News By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, You didn�t see it in the mainstream financial press Wednesday morning. But stocks loved Governor Walker�s spanking of public-sector unions and Democrats in Wisconsin. The Dow jumped about 165 points right at the opening on Wednesday, and was up over… Failure of Keynesian Spending Spree Puts U.S. Back at Edge of Recession, as Jobs Growth Stalls Employers Waiting for Supreme Court Decision on Obamacare, Watching Europe By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, You would think $1 trillion in spending stimulus and $2.5 trillion of Fed pump-priming would produce an economy a whole lot stronger than 1.9% GDP, which was the revised first-quarter number. You�d think all that government spending would deliver a… Bananas for Capitalism: History of United Fruit Chronicles Innovation, Creativity By IRA STOLL, Americans puzzling over the role of today�s powerful corporations � Bain Capital, Goldman Sachs, Google � may profit from considering the example of the United Fruit Company. It seems almost quaint to think that a company specializing in bananas might… Why Cory Booker Spoke Out on Negative Campaigning By SHMULEY BOTEACH, For a moment, let me remove my hat as a Republican candidate for public office and speak only wearing my yarmulke, as a Rabbi who has known Cory for twenty years and has had the blessing throughout that time of an intimate, brotherly friendship. Many… Schumer�s Bid To Tax a Founder of Facebook Ignites Discussion of a Law Used by Nazis By IRA STOLL, Call it the return of the Reichsfluchtsteuer. The president of Americans for Tax Reform, Grover Norquist, did not use the term. That is what Mr. Norquist was talking about, though, when he spoke to The Hill newspaper about the legislation proposed by… A Fell Swoop Is Sought by Boehner on Debt-Limitation and Tax Cuts � in Advance of November By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, House Speaker John Boehner is playing a heroic role right now. In his efforts to prevent the Bush tax cuts from expiring, Mr. Boehner is aggressively taking on President Obama�s leadership ineptitude on the economy. In essence, Mr. Boehner is pushing… Big Romney Fundraiser in New York Backed Not by Big Banks But by New Breed of More Nimble Financiers By IRA STOLL, The Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, will visit New York City May 22 for a large fundraiser featuring many members of the financial industry, and on the face of it, it couldn�t be worse timing. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman… By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, While President Obama is out on the campaign trail talking about how bad things were four years ago and how we have to go �forward� to his second term to see just how great things are going to be in the next four years, the biggest problem he�s got is… Weak Presidential Nominees Pose a Bleak Choice for Voters in Both France, U.S. The Two Democracies Must Choose Between 'Apparently Incorrigible Wafflers' By CONRAD BLACK, In last Saturday�s edition, I reviewed the French election. And the first round came out largely as I expected. The second round in May, between Fran�ois Hollande and incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy, right now seems too close to call. Closer to home, the… Geithner Crosses the Line Into the Political Fray as a Particularly Partisan Treasury Secretary Calls Dean of Columbia Business School a�Hack� By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Is Secretary Geithner the most politically partisan treasury secretary in history? Certainly sounds like it these days. As the government�s chief financial officer, he�s spending a lot of time firing campaign barbs at various Republicans and their… Guarded Optimism Voiced on Measure in Congress To Narrow Scope of the Federal Reserve An End to Era of Humphrey-Hawkins Is Seen By JOHN V. BENNETT, NEW YORK � The main sponsor in Congress of legislation to narrow the mandate of the Federal Reserve expressed guarded optimism about the bill�s prospects at a monetary parley here today. Representative Kevin Brady was speaking of his �Sound Dollar… Romney�s Economic-Approval Rating Soars Over President�s, New Polls Show By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Wall Street headlines are full of fears of a springtime stall for the already subpar economic recovery. If that weren�t bad enough for President Obama�s reelection chances, a spate of new polls show Governor Romney�s economic-approval ratings are far… Obama�s Radio Address Leaves Him Exposed To a GOP Challenge Over Taxes By IRA STOLL, If there were some kind of award for the most misleading statements in a single four-minute speech, President Obama would have earned it with his weekly address this weekend, timed for tax day. �We can�t afford to keep spending more money on tax cuts… America�s Decline Turns Out To Be Real But Reversible By CONRAD BLACK, Prominent public intellectuals in the United States are becoming increasingly vocal in their protestations that their country is not in decline. Robert Kagan militates in his latest book that the United States is still by far the most powerful country… A New Definition of Chutzpah Emerges as Obama Seeks To Use Reagan as Cover for Attacks on Romney By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, In President Obama�s latest class-war, tax-the-rich gambit, he has stooped to a new low with misleading and out-of-context quotes from Ronald Reagan. Apparently, the president is now trying to use the Gipper for cover while he attacks Mitt Romney with… Americans Will Have To Wait Until After the Election for a 5% Growth Rate By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Despite the disappointing jobs report for March, it�s difficult to make a realistic case that the economy is falling off a cliff or that some kind of double-dip recession is on the way. Or that a Ben Bernanke QE3 is likely. Sure, the 120,000 gain in… President Bush, Governors Due in New York for Tax Parley, As State v. State Tax Competition Looms By IRA STOLL, The big news over the long holiday weekend, which is resonating in the stock market, was the national employment and unemployment number. The national unemployment number for March was 8.2%, down just slightly from the 8.3% reported in February. The… Misconception on Health Care Law Could Be Key To Decision of Supreme Court By BETSY McCAUGHEY, If the Supreme Court upholds the health law�s mandatory insurance, the ruling will likely turn on a misconception rather than constitutional principle. During the oral argument on March 27, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli told the packed courtroom… Clouds of a (Real) Culture War Are Scudding as Santorum Nears the End of His Quest By CONRAD BLACK, Now that the Santorum campaign � the last and most durable of the non-Mitt efforts � is finally fading, a little analysis of it is warranted before it vanishes from mind. It didn�t flame out absurdly like the Bachmann, Perry, Cain, and Gingrich… One of Biggest �Tax Cuts� in History Seen in Collapse of Natural-Gas Prices Supreme Court Ruling on Plea Bargains Is Occasion for Rejoicing By CONRAD BLACK, Every resident of or frequent visitor to the United States should rejoice at the Supreme Court�s decision last week expanding the rights of defendants to effective counsel in plea-bargain negotiations. As Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority… Romney Would Be Big Winner If Supreme Court Voids Health Insurance Mandate By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, If the Supreme Court overthrows the individual mandate, doesn�t Mitt Romney say �I told you so� and emerge as the big political winner? All along he�s been arguing that only states have mandate power, and that the federal government under the commerce… By IRA STOLL, The burst of attention devoted to Congressman Paul Ryan�s 2013 federal budget seems to have passed, at least momentarily, but don�t be deceived: the plan rolled out last week by the Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee is going to be… By RICK RICHMAN, On March 19, the New York Times published an excerpt -- covering almost half the op-ed page � from Peter Beinart�s new book, �The Crisis of Zionism,� in which Mr. Beinart proposed boycotting Jewish communities in the disputed territories of the West…
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More Truths Await Telling By MARIA WERLAU, Finally, Fidel Castro has died. I had been waiting for this moment since I was a small child, for as long as I�ve had awareness to sense the pain and horror he represented for those around me. It would be, I always knew, one of the memorable moments… Britain Itches for Freedom By STEPHEN MacLEAN, President-elect Trump is in like Flynn with America�s most enduring �special relationship.� For though his electoral victory is the cause of protests at home and unease at European capitals, �Mr. Brexit� basks in favorable reviews from the British… As U.S., Russia Wrestle By BENNY AVNI, As the race for secretary general of the United Nations heats up, here�s one option that as yet is only whispered in the halls: Punt. America and Russia, the top players that will decide the race among the ten remaining declared candidates in the race… British Tribune of Trade By STEPHEN MacLEAN, Britain after Brexit is wasting no time announcing to the trading world it is open for business. Minister of International Trade Liam Fox speaks of free trade with an optimism that must inspire envy in America�s market conservatives. Who can imagine… Battle for Heart and Mind By CONRAD BLACK, President Obama, in his address to the annual opening session of the United Nations General Assembly, said that it would be desirable for the Israelis not to develop Palestinian land (settlements) and for the Palestinians to accept the right of Israel… British Prep for Deal By STEPHEN MacLEAN, �The British are coming.� So history records Paul Revere�s warning, as the Redcoats marched toward Lexington and Concord out of Boston � with the shots heard round the world issuing forth the independent United States of America. Taxes and trade were… New Red Line in Mideast By SETH LIPSKY, It looks like there�s a new red line in the Middle East. It has been laid down by the judges who ride the second United States appeals circuit, which just let the Palestinian Authority off the hook for killing Americans. It�s a stunning decision that… In Just a Wee Bit of Irony By STEPHEN MACLEAN, Here�s a wee bit of irony. The decision of the British people to leave the European Union may have been seen by the Scottish elite as yet another chance for Scotland itself to secede from the United Kingdom and set up their own country, seated within… Riddle of $1.3 Billion for Iran By CLAUDIA ROSETT, Congressional investigators trying to uncover the trail of $1.3 billion in payments to Iran might want to focus on 13 large, identical sums that Treasury paid to the State Department under the generic heading of settling �Foreign Claims.� The 13… How Obama Mislead U.S. By RICK RICHMAN, The State Department spokesman finally admitted yesterday that the January 17 payment of $400 million to Iran and the release of the American prisoners were connected. He rejected the word �ransom,� asserting that the money had simply been �leverage,�… Coup Attempt in Turkey By CONRAD BLACK, Until next week when the Republican convention will be over, I will maintain my self-imposed gag on substantive comments about the presidential race. But I would like to make an interim comment on the press. Peggy Noonan is correct, as usual, that the… Theresa May Confronts By CONRAD BLACK, Either the British have twisted themselves politically into confusion worthy of resolution by Alexander the Great�s slicing of the Gordian Knot, or they are about to demonstrate more than ever before their talent at muddling through. As most readers… Can Prime Minister May By CONRAD BLACK, It must be the balmy summer weather that makes me wonder if most people except me are losing their minds, and if our leaders, the beneficiaries and personification of the great democratic systems for which previous generations proverbially fought and… Britain�s Post-Brexit Vitriol By CONRAD BLACK, Though there have been no significant differences between the U.S and the U.K. for more than 150 years, and the two countries have been splendid allies in stirring times, there remains a combination of British envy and distaste for what is often… Brexit Is a Break for U.S. By CONRAD BLACK, There remain a few things to write about the British vote to leave the European Union. The current hysteria is the usual mindless idiocy of financial specialists who don�t know anything about politics or strategic issues, especially when they unfold… Time for Trump and GOP By SETH LIPSKY, What a gift to the Republican Party. No sooner had Britons cast their historic vote for independence than Donald Trump � already in Scotland � declared that they have �taken their country back� and called it a �great thing.� The next move ought to be… Britain Comes Full Circle By CONRAD BLACK, The absurdly exaggerated reaction to the British vote to leave the European Union demonstrates the complacency and incompetence of the governing elites in Britain and Western Europe, and how those attitudes rippled out, unchallenged, in the… A Magna Carta Moment By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, The original Magna Carta was a charter agreed to by King John of England in 1215. It just celebrated its 801st anniversary. So no, I wasn�t there. But that charter has become part of an important, iconic, political myth that the deal between an… Is Brexit Bad for Israel? By SETH LIPSKY, Of all the lies being told by the opponents of an independent Britain, the most offensive is Prime Minister Cameron�s suggestion that a British exit from the European Union would somehow be bad for Israel. He told that whopper in a speech Monday to a… As Europe�s Union Buckles By CONRAD BLACK, The 100th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland, surpassed only by the various actions of the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944 as the greatest naval battle in world history, passed almost unobserved last week. This engagement, as much as any of the great… If Britons Vote for Brexit By SETH LIPSKY, If Britons vote to exit the European Union � and the latest polls show suggest that�s a growing possibility � who would have the last laugh on this side of the pond? Well, you read it here first*: Donald Trump. That is starting to dawn on the British… What Obama Fails To Get By SETH LIPSKY, President Obama, standing in front of the American and Communist flags, announced in Hanoi this week that he�s ending the embargo that has for 50 years blocked US arms sales to Vietnam. The move, he said, would end a �lingering vestige of the Cold War… �Whither Britain?� Emerges By CONRAD BLACK, Canadians should pay some attention to the tense and fierce campaign underway in the United Kingdom toward the June 23 vote on whether the country should leave the European Union. In fact, under the European treaty, a vote to leave � what is called… Democrats Shirk a Challenge By CONRAD BLACK, It is a little disappointing that no one seems to have taken up Donald Trump�s challenge, in his foreign-policy address three weeks ago, to explain the Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton foreign policy. The absurd and tragic alignment of the United States… Canada Takes a Step By CONRAD BLACK, The controversy over Canada�s sale of light armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia illustrates the fact that Canada can now decide whether it wants to be one of the world�s important powers or not. This does not mean a super power, which is not and will not… Lawsuit Against Obama By SETH LIPSKY, Call it �Catch-23.� The lawsuit that a United States Army captain just filed against President Obama, alleging that the war against the Islamic State is illegal, highlights a situation almost as absurd as Joseph Heller�s novel about World War II. The… Trumpism Is Going Global, By CONRAD BLACK, There are signs that aspects of the Trump phenomenon have parallels in currents of public opinion in other advanced democracies. In France, the National Front, which has been somewhat sanitized by the founder�s daughter, Marine Le Pen (who expelled… Britain�s Message to America By CONRAD BLACK, Two weeks ago, I wrote of the unusually important parallel campaigns, for the presidential nominations in the United States and over whether the United Kingdom would continue within an �ever closer� European Union. I was in Britain last week, and have… Obama Stands Silent, By STEPHEN MOORE, The European Union declared war on Google � one of the most successful American companies of all time.That was last week. Instead of the United States government rushing to the rescue of this Silicon Valley legend, the Obama administration… For Obama at Hiroshima, By SETH LIPSKY, President Obama hasn�t said yet whether he�ll visit Hiroshima when he�s in Japan next month. But he�s being encouraged to do so and even, by some, to apologize for America�s use of the atomic bomb in 1945. Following is the speech I�d like to hear . . . Cameron�s the Right Man By ALI WAMBOLD, On the eve of the Brexit vote, I suggested to a friend of Prime Minister David Cameron�s that the PM should perform a volte-face, as had his predecessors Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George on various occasions. He would explain that his attempt… Obama Exhibits Cloth Ear, By CONRAD BLACK, In the din of the campaign for the U.S. presidential nominations, there has been little attention in the United States to what could be one of the most important votes in modern history, on whether the United Kingdom remains in the European Union or… Canada�s Outlook Positive, By CONRAD BLACK, A report card on Canada�s federal government as it approaches six months in office would have to be reasonably positive. There have been no horrifying blunders such as in the Pearson-Gordon �60 Days of Decision� in 1963, which led to an interesting… Hypocrisy Is Running High By SETH LIPSKY, Maybe all the rich people and government big shots who were hiding their business affairs in Panama should�ve kept their secret records on an iPhone. Then maybe The New York Times would�ve defended them. It certainly defended Apple when the iPhone… Strange Silence Settles By IRA STOLL, President Obama is signaling his plans for an extensive effort aimed at getting Merrick Garland confirmed to the Supreme Court. A front-page New York Times article lays out what it describes as �a deliberate White House strategy,� consisting of three… Money and the Mideast: By IRA STOLL, Thousands of pro-Israel activists converging on Washington next week for the annual conference of the mighty pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, will hear from Vice President Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump. One… Canada Turns on Itself By CONRAD BLACK, Canada is suffering from a prolonged pandemic of moral self-flagellation promoted by hemophiliac bleeding hearts and militant native agitators. The latest outburst of it is the recent decision of the governors of Wilfrid Laurier University in… �Adios, Guantanamo� Is Tune By BETSY McCAUGHEY, President Obama heads to Cuba in two weeks, eager to make more travel and trade concessions to its Communist regime. But members of Congress worry that Mr. Obama is so eager to befriend Cuba he�ll cave to any demand � including handing over the US… White House Vow on Iran By BENNY AVNI, UNITED NATIONS � The White House vow to refer an Iranian launch of midrange ballistic missiles to the United Nations is being mocked here because last year�s nuclear deal has rendered the world body useless in the struggle to tame Iran�s military… United Nations Prepares By BENNY AVNI, The United Nations has decided to hit Kim Jong Un of North Korea where it really hurts � it�s going to ban the export to the communist hermit regime of luxury snowmobiles. The measure, an annex to a new Security Council resolution that is likely to… �Brexit of Champions�: By SETH LIPSKY, Call it the �Brexit of Champions.� That�s the phrase the American Spectator is using to describe the growing support for a British exit from the European Union, which will be put to a referendum in June. The latest � and biggest � champion emerged… After Mollycoddling Castro By CONRAD BLACK, The Pope�s ill-considered comments about Donald Trump are of a piece with hysterical overreactions to him and his candidacy in this and other countries. No pope has ever overtly intervened in an American political campaign before. Such interventions… Natan Sharansky Talks By IRA STOLL, BOSTON � Natan Sharansky, the Soviet dissident turned Israeli political figure, came here to speak at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate and honor the memory of the late senator, who among all his other legacies turned out to… Could Chalabi�s Memorial By IRA STOLL, WASHINGTON � It was a memorial event for the Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi, who was buried in November with a state funeral in the country he helped liberate, but the question that hung over Wednesday night�s gathering here was whether it was really… Opportunity Is Knocking By SETH LIPSKY, It looks like the British Parliament is going to debate whether to ban Donald Trump from Britain. It would be crazy to ban him, but the debate also presents an opportunity for The Donald, who has yet to articulate a foreign policy on Europe… �Show Me the Money� By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, By all accounts, ISIS is the wealthiest terrorist organization in the world. By far. In round numbers, ISIS is said to have a $2 billion stash, which is keeping it afloat. Most of it comes from oil sales. Much of it comes from plundered banking funds… Birds of a Feather By CONRAD BLACK, My views of the conference on the environment were published here last week and need not be revisited. But I think the phenomenon of climate change rigidity is so unusual and widespread, it is worthy of more analysis. We start from the fact that… How the Post-Soviet Left By CONRAD BLACK, The opening of the Paris conference on climate change will be the occasion for the customary lamentations about the imminent demise of life on Earth if we do not pull up our socks as a species and reduce carbon emission levels, and thus avoid the… U.S. Emerges in Mideast By CONRAD BLACK, The apparent desire of most Americans and of the majority of the Congress just to wash their hands of the Middle East and come home is understandable, but this approach is not feasible. That region is almost back to the chaos of Biblical times and… Silence From White House By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, If we want to destroy the Islamic State, we can destroy the Islamic State. Perhaps I am stating the obvious, but I want to state it anyway. Why? Because I am not hearing it enough. I�m certainly not hearing it from the White House, where the original… Time for U.S. To Define By CONRAD BLACK, The latest Republican presidential debate in the U.S. has raised some fundamental geopolitical issues, though the candidates didn�t generally recognize them as such. Senator Paul of Kentucky demanded to know how Senator Rubio of Florida could �call… World Waits for America By CONRAD BLACK, Canada�s new government has already declared that it will, as promised in the late election campaign, withdraw Canada�s token participation in the U.S.-led bombing campaign against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, although it is continuing to… Chalabi, a Complex Hero, By SETH LIPSKY, The death of Ahmad Chalabi, coming as it does when some American politicians are airing their regrets about the 2003 expedition to topple Saddam Hussein, is a moment to reflect on what might have been. Chalabi was the leading tribune of the idea of a… Netanyahu�s Words on Hitler By SETH LIPSKY, Prime Minister Netanyahu did something important last week � he reminded the world that the Arab war against Israel is a continuation of the Nazis� war against the Jews. What an uproar greeted Mr. Netanyahu�s remarks. He made them Wednesday, when he… Drama of Harper�s Fall By CONRAD BLACK, In the dramatic fall of the Harper government and the meteoric doubling of the Liberal percentage of the popular vote, and quintupling of that party�s number of MPs, it is easy to lose sight of what the outgoing regime accomplished and even of what… UNESCO Wheels on Jews, By JEROLD AUERBACH, UNESCO was established �to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science, and culture to further universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights.� In recent days, however, it has… Canada Is Set To Vote By CONRAD BLACK, The arguments for voting Monday for Conservative Leader Stephen Harper are numerous and persuasive. He has been a competent and diligent prime minister who has avoided fiscal imprudence, brought us well through the 2008 financial crisis and has gone… Monroe, Call Your Office: By CONRAD BLACK, Since the end of the Cold War, the American public and even the United States government appear to have lost almost all interest in Latin America, apart from immigration questions. While the Cold War was active, the Soviet Union had the will and the… Tattered American Strategy By CONRAD BLACK, In the week in which the Russians escalated their attacks on the Syrian factions being assisted by the United States and what is left of the Western Alliance, and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas renounced the long-dead letter of the Oslo Agreement… America�s Moral Obligation By CONRAD BLACK, The unannounced policy of the Obama administration of progressively withdrawing from much of the world, while it has been riddled with inconsistencies and been the subject of endless dissembling, is starting to incite regional powers to fill part of… Canada�s Backwards Leap? By CONRAD BLACK, The Leap Manifesto unveiled by Naomi Klein and a coalition of somewhat kindred spirits this week in Toronto illustrates the phenomenon of regrouping in which the shattered Old Left, heavily buffeted eco-zealots, imperishable agitators for the native… Silver Lining Glimmers By SETH LIPSKY, Could the election of Jeremy Corbyn as the new head of Britain�s Labor Party have a silver lining? Hard to imagine at first blush � he�s anti-American, hates Israel, is friends with Hezbollah, and is a Marxist who wants to curb private enterprise in… Fatal Flaw in the Iran Deal By ALI WAMBOLD, President Obama, in asserting that the choice we face with Iran is �between diplomacy and some form of war,� misjudges the Islamic Republic. It is already at war. Nor does Mr. Obama�s agreement actually achieve its stated objective: to prevent, or… Schumer�s Angst on Iran By SETH LIPSKY, What a drama Senator Schumer is going through over how to vote on the Iran deal. Russ Reprochment in Reach By CONRAD BLACK, It is 75 years since Winston Churchill referred to Russia as �a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.� It is today a much reduced entity, but it is still a politically mysterious country. The struggle that has continued � sometimes quietly but… How Francis Is Disarming By CONRAD BLACK, Pope Francis�s encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si� (�Praise Be to You�), continues this pope�s tactical tour de force of disarming the Roman Catholic Church�s traditional leftist enemies and takes it a step farther, by laying the… Obama�s Evolution on Iran By CONRAD BLACK, Is It is probably time for those of us who have strenuously opposed acquiescing in Iran�s development of nuclear weapons to throw in the towel. President Obama�s determination to transform his and then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton�s fervent… Jerusalem Passport Case By RICK RICHMAN, Those disappointed in the Supreme Court�s decision yesterday in Zivotofsky v. Kerry, which struck down a law allowing Jerusalem-born Americans to have �Israel� listed in their passports as their the place of birth, are missing the long-term… Incredulity Among Allies By CONRAD BLACK, All polls and even informal observations by well-connected people confirm that the world�s opinion of the United States as a serious world power has eroded markedly. As President Obama and his entourage and imperishable following persevere in their… Visit By Pope To Cuba By CONRAD BLACK, The upcoming trip of Pope Francis to Cuba will raise significant issues concerning the future of Cuba in the last days of the Castro regime, but, more importantly, concerning the pope's relative treatment of questions of human rights and wealth… Hirsi Ali's Heresy: By CONRAD BLACK, This week I had the pleasure of meeting Ayaan Hirsi Ali at a most convivial social occasion, having just read her latest book, "Heretic." Most readers will be aware that she fled an arranged marriage as a very young Somalian Muslim woman and abandoned… Why George W. Bush By SETH LIPSKY, The uproar over Jeb Bush�s attempt to find his footing on whether we should have fought the Iraq war fails to eclipse the good news � that his most influential adviser on Israel is his brother George. �If you want to know who I listen to for advice… Obama Is Now Gambling By CONRAD BLACK, Many commentators, including me, have reposed our hopes for avoidance of a complete fiasco with Iran over nuclear weapons in somehow fumbling through to the inauguration of a more purposeful U.S. administration on January 20, 2017. As policy, this is… Vote on Europe Looms By SETH LIPSKY, The next big drama in Britain is going to be over whether it should leave the European Union. The clearest promise Prime Minister Cameron made in his winning re-election campaign was that he would hold an in-or-out referendum on Europe by 2017. �A new… Future for the Tories By CONRAD BLACK, My wife Barbara, a renowned political scientist, in the absence of conclusive evidence of humanly generated climate change, suggests that some ineluctable and universal forces are possessing electorates to smite themselves, as if deranged by a… How America Lost Vietnam By WILLIAM STEARMAN, The Vietnam war has been widely regarded these past 40 years as a total American defeat and a huge mistake. Yet consider what actually prompted us to become involved with Vietnam in the first place. It was, after all, Vietnam that got us into World… European Left on the Rise By CONRAD BLACK, Little noticed in the general mediocrity and ineptitude of recent Western national leadership is the trend in Western Europe to the irresponsible Left. Certainly, the victory of the eco-socialist Greek Syriza party (a catchment for all the discarded… As Iran Framework Sags By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, If recent news accounts are to be believed, the framework of agreement between America and Iran is on the rocks. Iran�s top officials, Supreme Leader Khamenei and President Rouhani, are saying economic sanctions must end immediately and that United… Defense Pact With Israel By CONRAD BLACK, The Iran nuclear-agreement �framework� has been meticulously dissected, and it appears that the United States, in order not to fumble completely through another deadline, agreed to fuzzy wording that claims progress and leaves a great deal of… Failure of Western Policy By CONRAD BLACK, As the prodigious six-power effort to make enough pre-emptive concessions to Iran for that country to accept the status of a threshold nuclear state (with an unverifiable promise not to complete the process for 10 years) sailed through yet another… The World After America By CONRAD BLACK, The process, poorly disguised and feebly denied by the administration, of the withdrawal of the United States from the world�s main overseas theaters continues. And in general, in the regions where American withdrawal has had the greatest strategic… Netanyahu�s Election Tacks By IRA STOLL, So on the basis of two election-related maneuvers by Benjamin Netanyahu � a pre-election interview, since walked back, casting doubt on prospects for a Palestinian state, and an Election Day post on Facebook urging supporters to go vote because Arab… Petraeus, in Iran Warning, By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Don�t just rely on Benjamin Netanyahu�s passionate advice to Congress on his way to reelection that Iran is our arch enemy. Now we have the counsel of retired general David Petraeus, who gave a remarkable interview this week to the Washington Post… If Netanyahu Is Re-Elected By CONRAD BLACK, There has always been a question whether Benjamin Netanyahu�s conservative definition of Israel�s security interest was an opportunistic political tactic or a matter of well-thought-out conviction that it was the necessary strategy to achieve for the… By SETH LIPSKY, �Bring Back Bricker.� That�s a cry we may start hearing if President Obama keeps trying to slide his deal with the Iranian mullahs past the United States Senate. John Bricker was a former Republican governor of Ohio who, after World War II, went to… Could Hillary Clinton By SETH LIPSKY, Could Hillary Clinton be the one to lead the Democrats out of the Iran debacle? Through the entire drama between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the woman who hopes to be the next president was nowhere to be seen. Or… What I Learned of War By JEROLD AUERBACH, The guilty verdict in the trial of the former marine who murdered Chris Kyle, the heroic �American Sniper,� may provide a measure of closure to the moral melodrama surrounding the American military role in Iraq. Kyle, the Navy SEAL marksman who… The Obama Matrix By CONRAD BLACK, Almost everyone except the shrinking hallelujah chorus for the Obama administration acknowledges that there are serious problems in U.S. foreign policy and that the antagonists to the West and to stability in the world are gaining strength every week… Could Iran Yet Unleash By CONRAD BLACK, The world has been largely anesthetized by the endless, fruitless negotiations over Iran�s nuclear program. The regime of Non-Proliferation in nuclear affairs has been dying a slow death with each new nuclear-empowered country (with the exception of… In Seeking a Separate Peace By SETH LIPSKY, The more President Obama maneuvers in pursuit of a deal with Iran, the more it looks like what he�s really intent on is a separate peace. No wonder Israel and Congress are up in arms. A �separate peace� is when a country breaks from an ally and cuts a… Pretense Has Stopped By CONRAD BLACK, The negotiations being conducted by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (the U.S., the U.K., France, China, and Russia) and Germany with Iran over the Iranian nuclear program have assumed a very high importance in… Aftermath of French Attacks By CONRAD BLACK, The aftermath of the French terrorist attacks has, so far, confirmed the helpful resolve that was the general French response to the Charlie Hebdo and kosher-market murders in Paris. The realistic objective after these outrages and the great march was… Governor Jindal Gets Set By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, �Let�s be honest here. Islam has a problem.� Those are key sentences in an incredibly hard-hitting speech that Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal will give in London on Monday. It is the toughest speech I have read on the whole issue of Islamic… How France Could Keep By SETH LIPSKY, What would Jabotinsky do? That�s the question I keep coming back to as France emerges from the demonstrations of Libert�, �galit�, Fraternit� in the wake of the carnage at Charlie Hebdo and the killings at the kosher supermarket. Vladimir Jabotinsky… Hollande the Implausible By CONRAD BLACK, Is Hoisted Up by France As Ironical Long ago I predicted that France will show the way to the appropriate response to Arab extremism. It is not the least irony that this should happen under the most improbable person to lead the French state in its… �Je Suis Juif�: A Reply By IRA STOLL, The prime minister of France, Manuel Valls, is rewriting French history inaccurately in an effort to make his country sound more tolerant of Jews than it actually is. Mr. Valls made his comments to Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic Monthly, who… Victory Awaits France By CONRAD BLACK, As I was sitting down to write about the atrocity in France, my wife Barbara hove into view, always a delicious sight, and announced that she was writing elsewhere on the same subject and that I could not do it. So I will not, other than to say that… In a Lucky Bounce By CONRAD BLACK, Responses to the decline in world oil prices have been mystifying � flummoxing, in fact. The secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Abdullah Al-Badri, said last week that speculation was to blame for the decline by 15%… How Saudia Arabia�s Gift By CONRAD BLACK, Almost the only G-20 government that is behaving sensibly is that of Saudi Arabia. As the sun sets with agonizing dilatoriness on the Obama administration, there is no sign of a resurrection of fiscal sanity, of any concern to reform �Affordable… Palestinian Rights Activist By JEROLD AUERBACH, The scam perpetrated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency ever since 1949 has finally been exposed. Defining itself as �a relief and human development agency,� its jurisdiction extends only to Palestinian refugees from the war waged by Arab… Failure of Secular Leaders By CONRAD BLACK, When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, the prevailing assumptions on broad geopolitical issues were that global warming would require radical reduction of carbon use to prevent the destruction of much of the world�s habitable environment… Vladimir Putin�s Posturing By CONRAD BLACK, The robust words of Canada�s prime minister, Stephen Harper, to Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Australia were welcome, appropriate, and should be supported by all Canadians. They complemented the similarly forthright position taken by the G20… What Congress Could Do By SETH LIPSKY, Let the massacre of the rabbis in Israel serve as a wake-up call to the new Congress that will be seated in Washington come January. May the solons assert their powers as our enemies gird for the next engagement in the Battle of Jerusalem. I�ve been… Canada�s Muddling Accession By CONRAD BLACK, The National Post will next week generously serialize excerpts from my just published book, �Rise to Greatness, The History of Canada From the Vikings to the Present� (Random House Canada). Its editors have asked me to explain why I wrote the book… How the Mideast Plunged By CONRAD BLACK, The entire kaleidoscope of countries and movements between Libya and Turkey and Pakistan and Yemen is perhaps more complicated than ever. This is an attempt to review how we got to where we are. At the start of the Cold War, the Arab countries were almost unanimous in considering the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine the last straw in a sequence of humiliations starting from their expulsion from France in the eighth century. Occurrence of Miracles By CONRAD BLACK, A merciful confluence of events is softening the impact of the foreign-policy errors of the United States and its traditional allies. It must be allowed that U.S. foreign policy in this new century has been a bipartisan failure. There has not really… Canada�s Case for War on IS: By CONRAD BLACK, Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada and Foreign Minister John Baird are certainly correct to support Canada�s traditional allies in attacking the Islamic State. It is such an unspeakably odious organization that it is beyond normal political… Britain�s Passport to Redemption By ALI WAMBOLD, What a shame that Britain has ignored the appeal to honor issued by the last governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, now Baron Patten of Barnes. Writing in the Financial Times last month, he called on the government to speak out against what he asserted… The Day the Dying Duvalier By RAYMOND JOSEPH, The death of Jean-Claude �Baby Doc� Duvalier, at 63 years, caught many by surprise. I expected it. I was with a group of friends in Washington, when the news broke on January 16, 2011 that Jean-Claude Duvalier had landed in Port-au-Prince. �He�s come… Hong Kong Emerges as Test By SETH LIPSKY, The pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong are the story of the hour, in my book. Hong Kong is important itself (it has 7 million people). But what�s happening there is a test of the future of freedom for China�s billions. Without which � mark it… �Tosh� Is the Word By CONRAD BLACK, All of the usual responses quickly occurred after the Scottish referendum last week: The defeated separatists, although their leader announced his retirement from politics, claimed that they represented the forces of history and that having got from a… Turkey�s Treachery Belies By CONRAD BLACK, The time must have come to consider whether it is really acceptable to retain Turkey as a member of NATO. At various times in the history of its membership, dating back to 1952, Turkey, though effectively rescued from threats from Stalin by the Truman… In the War Against ISIS By SETH LIPSKY, President Obama spoke very well, as he often does, when he went before the United Nations to address the slaughter by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. �No God condones this terror. No grievance justifies these actions,� he declared. �There can be… An Infection of Politics By BETSY McCAUGHEY, Grim forecasts released separately on Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization say that by the end of January, the Ebola epidemic engulfing Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, will explode to at least… By SETH LIPSKY, �Our worst nightmare.� That�s how a �senior official� in the Obama administration, quoted by The Financial Times, describes the White House fear that not only might the Scots quit the United Kingdom but that Britain would then quit the European Union… Squandered Credibility of U.S. By CONRAD BLACK, We can celebrate the fact that the United States is apparently going to bomb ISIS vigorously and not sporadically, and is going to bomb in Syria, aiming at ISIS, and is also going to assist moderate factions in the Syrian civil war. This last… Commitment Emerges as Test By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, He�s made a million mistakes, I know, and I have opposed nearly all his domestic and international policies. But after watching President Obama�s intense ISIS speech Wednesday night, and reading the text several times, I think the president basically… Divine Right of Elizabeth II By SETH LIPSKY, The panic in Britain over next week�s referendum on Scottish independence reminds me of a fantastic scene in the movie �The Queen.� The prime minister, Tony Blair, has just failed to convince Elizabeth II to come down to London from Scotland to mark… Thermidor Always Comes: By CONRAD BLACK, Thanks to the many readers who have asked about my well-being these 10 weeks that I have been away from this and other columns. My wife and I were in Great Britain, and I was taking, and giving readers, a break from gnashing my teeth almost every week… What Churchill Told FDR By MICHAEL FREUND, This week marks a significant anniversary, one that carries with it some crucial lessons as the West confronts the mounting danger posed by the Muslim jihadis of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. It was 75 years ago, at 4:45 a.m. on September 1… How Rwanda Could Emerge By SHMULEY BOTEACH, What to do about Gaza and Hamas? How can Israel avoid a war of attrition with Hamas endlessly firing rockets and Israel being forced to respond? Many Israelis want the Jewish state to reoccupy Gaza. The truth is that Israel should have never… A Warning From the Rebbe By SHMULEY BOTEACH, In September, 1993, the Oxford University L�Chaim Society, which I founded, was advancing. The organization we had started just a few years earlier had rapidly grown to be the second largest student society in Oxford�s history. Our Presidents were… Trouble in Paradise: A Cable From Our Man in Sicily . . . Pardon, Make That Sardinia By R.EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr., BOSA, Sardinia � That is right, you read �Bosa, Sardinia.� Well, you might ask, how did I get into this place high atop vertiginous hills along the Temo River in western Sardinia with not another Yank for miles and only the Internet to keep me abreast… Era of U.S. Leadership By CONRAD BLACK, It is clear from a canvass of other columnists and bloggers that I am in good and numerous company in trying to find anything worthwhile to write about, and must warn readers not to be too complacent that I have succeeded in the balance of these… Pirates Suddenly Emerging By STEVEN COHEN AND TERENCE McKNIGHT, Pirates are once again threatening merchant ships off the coast of Africa. But now, most of the attacks are coming not off the eastern coast near Somalia, but in the Atlantic along the west coast near Nigeria. Moreover, today�s new pirates� weapons… Clinton, Jeb Bush Emerge By CONRAD BLACK, It is not clear that anyone in a position of authority in any important country has been doing any strategic thinking since the end of the Cold War. Yet despite this, the West has had some strategic bonanzas. The Chinese, still widely toasted as the… Next in Ukraine�s Defense By JUDY SHELTON, The next step for Ukraine after its resounding affirmation of the democratic process is to maintain the momentum of hope by delivering results. It�s vital to link the aspirations of Ukrainian citizens for political unity and sovereign independence… Modi�s Triumph in India By CONRAD BLACK, While the Indian election that concluded last week has received significant attention, its implications have not been very widely appreciated. About 70% of India�s 815 million voters voted in 900,000 polling stations, and the balloting was conducted… Israel Readies a Bill By MICHAEL FREUND, After several exasperating decades, one of the thorniest and most painful issues on Israel�s public agenda may at last be heading toward a resolution. In a move underlining the national consensus regarding the Temple Mount, two members of the… Modi Facing a Rocky Road By PRANAY GUPTE, NEW DELHI � Elections are all about arithmetic and atmospherics, about calculus and celebration, but they are also about a division of the spoils. To put it another way: Winning parties that get to form governments also get new opportunities to get… Cupboard of Leadership, By CONRAD BLACK, Mediocre leadership is acceptable for ordinary times. Surely no one disputes that this is a time of comparatively unsuccessful and weak national leadership in the world, which has historically meant that times are not overly threatening. The United… Obama Abandons Interests By CONRAD BLACK, After taking refuge in last week�s column in a discussion of the hazards of watching television news, I can no longer conscientiously resist the duty of commenting on President Obama. Last week, when asked about recent American foreign-policy… How the Press Buried Story By CONRAD BLACK, I started out to write about the proclaimed coalition between the Palestinian factions of Fatah and Hamas, and will get to a condensed analysis of that in a few paragraphs. My interest was side-tracked by my effort on Sunday to see the television-news… Canada Could Acquire By CONRAD BLACK, Canada has set aside its former cherished international position as self-proclaimed peacekeeper, and now has an opportunity to graduate from the Harper government�s more commendable but still unsatisfactory status as a mouse that roars, to some level… �Fear the Worst� Is Watchword By CONRAD BLACK, After ducking the subject for two weeks and grasping at improbable straws, I bow to the inevitable and return to the Ukraine crisis. Everyone with the slightest insight into Eastern European or Russian history saw this problem coming. No full-blooded… America Is Checkmated By CONRAD BLACK, For those hoping to ignore the Middle East during Easter and Passover, I am the Grinch who will steal the holiday. Approximately 140,000 people have died in the three years of the horrible imbroglio in Syria. Russia, despite its weakness and the moral… Herbert Raccoon Turns Out By CONRAD BLACK, While casting about to find something to write about apart from another lamentation over the weakness of most Western political leadership, the collapse of fiscal integrity in all but a few countries, the charade of Iranian nuclear discussions, and… By CONRAD BLACK, It was an honour to give the address at the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Sir Winston Churchill Society in Edmonton last week, and it gave me the occasion in preparing my remarks to reassess what it is about Winston Churchill that makes him such a… Crisis in Ukraine Sounds By CONRAD BLACK It is probably too late for this administration, but surely there is a reawakening in the foreign-policy community of the United States about the need for some sort of focused strategic thinking and planning, and not just the random, feckless pursuit… Israel Emerges in Clearer Light By CONRAD BLACK In the turmoil of the autumn of the Arab Spring and in the light of the Ukraine Crisis, a relatively unnoticed aspect has been the decline of the confected and orchestrated pandemonium about Israel. A blog that happened onto my screen last week… By SETH LIPSKY President Obama will meet a week hence with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. Israel�s premier, Benjamin Netanyahu, says he is prepared to make a �historic peace.� The White House reckons his choice is limited. �What is his long-term answer… True Clash of Civilizations By CONRAD BLACK The dramatic violence in Ukraine represents a seismic shift between the West and Eastern Europe: a true clash between civilizations. Ukraine has never been a homogeneous country; it was born of an uneasy congeries of Mongols, Lithuanians, and Poles in… As Anti-Semitism Waxes By MICHAEL FREUND Somewhere, deep in the bowels of hell, Spanish King Ferdinand and his wife Queen Isabella are most assuredly burning with rage. Over five centuries after the wicked monarchs cruelly expelled the country's Jews in 1492, Spain now finds itself clamoring… Investors Beware: Emerging Markets Taking a Left Turn, Endangering the BRIC Model By LAWRENCE KUDLOW There�s a new and cynical perception among international investors that Brazil is becoming Argentina and Argentina is becoming Venezuela. These investors are starting to boycott all the so-called emerging markets, since nearly all them are moving to… Canada, Breaking With U.S., By CONRAD BLACK Prime Minister Harper�s address to the Israeli Knesset this week was one of the greatest speeches ever delivered by a Canadian leader, ranking (in content if not delivery, though that was quite adequate) with Sir John Macdonald�s defense of his… �Merger of the Century,� Combining America, Canada, Emerges as Quixotic Cause By CONRAD BLACK My relations with my National Post colleague Diane Francis have had their ups and downs over three decades or so. We have gotten over some rough patches, including a period of a couple of years when her chief public conversational gambit seemed to be… German Aide, in Demarche at Sharon Funeral, Echoes Board Game From Nazi Era By MICHAEL FREUND With an impeccable sense of timing, the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, arrived in Israel earlier this week, attended the funeral of Ariel Sharon, and then proceeded to browbeat Israel in public. Speaking with reporters, Herr… By SETH LIPSKY News that al Qaeda is flying its flag over Fallujah this week certainly takes me back � not to Iraq, but to Vietnam. I�ve been making this point for years now, but never as well as it was made in Megyn Kelly�s interview Tuesday with Rep. Duncan Hunter… Western Leaders Abdicate By CONRAD BLACK For many years I have been writing, here and elsewhere, until I have thought that I must be blue in the face, that the West should cease to concede the religious high ground to our militant Muslim assailants. It is routine, and rarely contradicted by… Surely Frau Merkel Protests Too Much in Comparing the NSA to the East German Stasi By SETH LIPSKY It�s not my usual practice to crank out copy defending President Obama, but I don�t know what else to do in the face of the report in The Guardian that Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel compared the snooping practices of the United States with those… Quote of the Day: December 17, 2013 There was a ghoulish creepiness to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry�s visit to Israel last week. Here we were, beset by the greatest winter storm in a hundred years. All roads to Jerusalem were sealed off. Tens of thousands of Jerusalemites and… How Mandela Managed To Tower Over a Continent By CONRAD BLACK Nelson Mandela was born into the Thembu faction of the Xhosa, the tribal equivalent of the royal family, which enabled him to receive a good education, although he was suspended from school for boycotting the food and became a lawyer only after… Obama�s Handshake With Castro Recalls an Apology by Netanyahu By SETH LIPSKY �Nauseating� is the word that was used by Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen to describe the spectacle of the President of the United States shaking hands with the Cuban communist Raul Castro. It happened at the funeral of Nelson Mandela and the… Was America Really Against Mandela? By SETH LIPSKY, One of the treasures in my study is a letter from Menachem Begin. He wrote on the letterhead of the prime minister of Israel to thank me for sending the published copy of an interview two colleagues and I had conducted with him in July 1982 at… Deal With Iran Could Serve as Bridge to a More Purposeful Administration at Washington By CONRAD BLACK, Despite its obvious weaknesses, and undaunted by the usual hyperbole of the Obama administration and its bearers, beaters, and apologists, led by John (�unbelievably small�) Kerry, I think the Geneva agreement over the Iranian nuclear program is… By SETH LIPSKY, �Never again� was the statement Menachem Begin made after sending a wave of F-16s against Iraq�s nuclear reactor. �There won�t be another Holocaust in history. Never again.� No such language could have been used by President Obama last night in… Pope Francis Confounds a Journalistic Rat, Unleashed in the Atheistic Press By CONRAD BLACK, A few weeks ago, there was a brief flurry of mindless enthusiasm in the Guardian, one of the Western world�s most pathologically biased atheist, socialistic, and anti-American newspapers, over the notion that Pope Francis was abandoning the… How a Terror Attack Against Our Marines � 30 Years Ago This Week � Reverberated Down the Decades By WARREN KOZAK When suicide bombers strike, the shadowy men who dispatch their charges then step back to gauge the response. Thirty years ago Wednesday, after one of the costliest acts of terror ever committed against America, Washington sent out the worst possible… Israel, Leftist Critics to the Contrary, Discovers a Lot of Thriving Friendships By MICHAEL FREUND, For a country often portrayed as isolated and alone in the international arena, Israel sure does seem to have a lot of thriving friendships. Notwithstanding efforts by the press and the Left to paint a picture of the Jewish state as solitary and… War of Words Enters New Round on the West Front By CONRAD BLACK, It is a painful but implacable duty to return to the dismaying subject of Diana West�s book, �American Betrayal,� about which she has written, in the last few days, �The war of words is over.� Her authority for this triumphalist expression of relief… Revisionist View of Munich, Launched in Aid of Obama, Fails the Test of History By CONRAD BLACK, Historical revisionism is always in season and is generally a useful, or at least diverting, activity. But Nick Baumann�s effort, in Slate last week, to resuscitate the strategic reputation of Neville Chamberlain (British prime minister, 1937�40), on… Canadian Exceptionalism Starts To Come Into Focus As America Begins To Falter By CONRAD BLACK, An eminent American industrialist who is an old friend, a proud veteran of the U.S. Navy, a patriotic but very reasonable and moderate citizen and a respecter of all other serious nationalities (including Canada), visited me last week and volunteered… Vladimir Putin Is Bucking By CONRAD BLACK, Little is left to be written about the discordant integration of reality television and �The Gong Show� that President Obama, Secretary of State Kerry, and their collaborators produced the past three weeks over Syria. Like an unpredictably bouncing… Israel Awaits an Apology From Architects of Accord Struck in 1993 at Oslo By MICHAEL FREUND, Twenty years ago this week, Israel committed one of the greatest strategic blunders in its modern history, one that is still casting a long and painful shadow over the entire Middle East. Ignoring military intelligence, moral principles, and basic… Collapse of American Influence Recalls Disintegration of Soviet Union, Fall of France By CONRAD BLACK, Not since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, and prior to that the fall of France in 1940, has there been so swift an erosion of the world influence of a Great Power as we are witnessing with the United States. The Soviet Union crumbled… Agony Lies Ahead as Obama Abdicates as Commander-in-Chief By CONRAD BLACK, As the United States contemplates military action against Syria, it must realize that it can no longer enter into and conduct wars in the way it has done since Korea. Vietnam was not really properly authorized or explained. It was also mismanaged, in… U.N. Secretary General Gets Caught in Flip Flop Over Israel By BENNY AVNI, Yes and no. Those are Secretary General Ban Ki-moon�s answers to a twice-asked question: Does the United Nations discriminate against Israel? Yes, Mr. Ban admitted Friday during a meeting with Israeli students in Jerusalem. No, he told me today during… As Egyptian Churches Are Put To the Torch, Obama�s Reputation Goes Up in Flames By YOUSSEF IBRAHIM, As church after church is put to the torch in Egypt by members of the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies, one of the things that is going up in flames is the reputation of President Obama. In the past 48 hours alone, some 57 Egyptian churches have been… America�s Retreat Becomes a Fiasco in Russia as Well as Egypt By CONRAD BLACK, The events of the last week prompt me to write a sequel to last week�s column about the general withdrawal of the United States from world affairs. First, I retract my apology for having written that the Bust of Sir Winston Churchill in the Oval… America�s Alliance With Egypt Is on Verge of Collapse By YOUSSEF IBRAHIM, America�s intricate alliance with Egypt, woven over four decades, is standing on the verge of collapse over the failure of the Obama administration to comprehend the revolution that ousted the Muslim Brotherhood from power in Cairo. In a… With Three Kings in View, The Monarchy Thrives, and It�s the People Who Need Salvation By CONRAD BLACK, Nothing could be more natural than the celebrations that have followed the birth of a healthy baby boy to the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William. But even before the birth, the level of international interest in this relatively routine event had… As Washington Dithers, Arabs Rally To Egypt�s Revolt Against Political Islam By YOUSSEF IBRAHIM, Arabs are flocking to support Egypt�s upheaval against political Islam. In the past ten days alone Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates pledged $12 billion in cash, fuel, food, wheat, interest-free loans, and gifts. Vast shipments of… Egypt Could Divorce Palestinian Arabs in Wake of Second Revolution By YOUSSEF IBRAHIM, After evicting the Muslim Brotherhood from power, the second Egyptian revolution is rallying for what could be an historic act � divorce from all things Palestinian. A number of influential voices are now calling for an expulsion of Palestinians from… Disillusionment � Swift and Provident � Emerges as the Force That Felled Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt By CONRAD BLACK, There is too much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth about Egypt. Obviously bloodshed is regrettable but neither surprising in the circumstances nor likely to escalate or even continue. The Muslim Brotherhood is a vile organization; and Egypt… Dissonance Emerges in American Policy on Handling Terror Suspects By MICHAEL FREUND, Six weeks ago, a remarkable scene played out at the National Defense University in Washington. In the middle of President Obama�s much-anticipated speech on US counterterrorism policy, a protester from a far-left group interrupted the commander in… What Happens In Egypt Will Not Stay in Egypt By YOUSSEF IBRAHIM, What happens in Egypt does not stay in Egypt. The country described by Greek historian Herodotus and Napoleon Bonaparte as the �gift of the Nile� has just gone through its second revolution removing two presidents in two years.�Hosni Mubarak was… Energy Independence for U.S. Adds Up to Strategic �Game Changer� By YOUSSEF IBRAHIM, It�s not just independence in 1776 that American can celebrate this month. The United States can also celebrate the fact that it has crossed a critical line in its pursuit of energy independence: We�re there. �Energy self-sufficiency is now in sight,�… By CONRAD BLACK, [Editor�s note: The Sun has reached out to the biographer of Samuel Adams and will revert.] The last thing I would wish to do, as a Canadian and also as a British citizen, is dispute the worthiness of celebrating the Declaration of Independence on the… Obama Loses His Chances on Foreign Policy With the Collapse of His Second Term By CONRAD BLACK, Several months ago in this space, on slight twinklings of accelerated economic growth, confirmation of the path to energy self-sufficiency, conciliatory noises to the Republicans, and (prayerfully hopeful) signs that the president�s irrational… By CONRAD BLACK, The belated, reluctant assistance of the United States to some of the anti-Assad forces in Syria has all the distinctive signs of a Great Power�s being dragged into a combat zone that were prefigured in Libya. There, President Obama uttered… Moment of Truth Looms for Turkey, as Well as for Erdogan By CONRAD BLACK, It cannot be that I am the only one who is thoroughly consolable at seeing the Turkish premier, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reviled by thousands of his countrymen for brutality, hypocrisy, and primitivism. Of course, Turkey is an eminent nationality and has… German Government Brands Goods Made in Factories That Are Owned by Jews By MICHAEL FREUND, In a throwback to its darkest past, the German government recently decided to back an initiative which singles out Jewish-owned businesses and targets them for detrimental treatment. Joining 13 other European Union members, Berlin has reportedly… Sleep-Walking Into a Post-American World By CONRAD BLACK, The United States, viewed from outside, is almost sleepwalking into a post-American world, with practically no audible awareness that this is happening. It may be that the media and government of the country are now so completely in the hands of… Benghazi Affair Falls Short of Impeachable Offense But Signals a Failed Foreign Policy By CONRAD BLACK, Two important points need to be made about the lamentable Benghazi affair. The first is that this is no time to start reaching for the self-firing, almost untargeted impeachment six-guns. Ever since Watergate, the joys of criminalizing policy… Israel�s Raid on Syria Lights the Way for the West Amid a Fraternity of Silence By CONRAD BLACK, Once again, Israel has demonstrated a commendable sense of self-preservation, and shown the way forward on how to deal with the world�s principal current center of violence by its example and professional military execution. It has also highlighted… Democracy, in the End, Will Defeat Those Who Would Destroy It By CONRAD BLACK, In an interview in the Wall Street Journal of April 27, eminent classicist and historian Donald Kagan suggested that democracy �has had its day.� Though apparently tossed off casually, this is a worrisome thought from a serious source. It is a… Forces of Nonsense Advance In Face of an Enfeebled U.S. By CONRAD BLACK, The forces of nonsense appear to be taking over the world. As in olden time, Italy is entering its third month without a government, and it celebrated the milestone by reelecting Giorgio Napolitano, 87 � the same age as Queen Elizabeth II, now in her… UN Aide, Behind Closed Doors, Likens Slaughter in Syria To Plight of Palestinians By BENNY AVNI, UNITED NATIONS � The United Nations representative in Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, who has a long history of anti-Israel animosity, told the Security Council that the horrors suffered by civilians in Syria remind him of the plight of Palestinian Arabs… As Thatcher Is Interred By CONRAD BLACK, LONDON � As someone who frequented Margaret Thatcher and her inner circle at the height of her power and prestige � when, in the whole world, only John Paul II and perhaps Ronald Reagan were equivalent celebrities � I would like to draw a few lessons… How Mrs. Thatcher Delivered a Pep Talk to a Visiting Editor By R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr., On the occasion of Baroness Thatcher�s death there is widespread admiration and even applause for her premiership, but surely there ought to be gratitude too. After all, without her � and without President Reagan � the poor would be much poorer and… Thatcher Ranks as One of the Greatest Leaders of Britain In a Thousand Years By CONRAD BLACK, The news of the death of Margaret Thatcher is not, at her age and in the condition that she has been in for some years, a great surprise or entirely sad. But in contemplation of the great career she had and the immense service she rendered the United… By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Many profound and detailed admiration pieces will be written about Margaret Thatcher, and they�ll be much deeper than this one. But I want to get on record with my own esteem for Mrs. Thatcher, whose character, philosophy, and achievements made her… Tentative Optimism Starts To Be Justified in Mideast By CONRAD BLACK, In the gradual, relatively orderly withdrawal of the United States from global positions it has rightly judged over-exposed, new regional balances of power, or at least correlations of forces, have been forming. This is really what has been afoot in… Obama�s Middle East Tour Offers a Hopeful Sign By CONRAD BLACK, President Obama distinguished himself in the Middle East. It is early, grasping at straws, and probably insane to make this point, but as of now, only ten weeks into it, Mr. Obama is the first president since James Monroe to be having a better second… Controversial Jerusalem By RICK RICHMAN, Any week now the second most important federal court could hand down a decision in one of the most closely watched cases in the land � the one that centers on how our country refers to Jerusalem. The case is Zivotofsky v. Secretary of State, in which… Under the Volcano: How the Charade of Cyprus Obscures Bigger Danger to Economy By CONRAD BLACK, An examination of the writing of a British 18th Century author such as Dr. Johnson, and a writer from 100 years later, such as Charles Dickens, reveals that there was no increase in that time in the cost of a loaf of bread or the rental of a simple… Francis Accedes to Papacy at a Time of Growing Importance of the Church By CONRAD BLACK Let us start from the premise that no one other than intimates of Pope Francis has any idea what the new pope is going to do. Let us further agree that 95% of the editorial outpourings on the subject at this early point, probably including this one… Germany Emerges, After America and China, as the Powerful Third Postion in the New World Order By CONRAD BLACK, The disintegration of the Western Alliance was a predictable response to the end of the Cold War and the disappearance of a threat to the security of the entire democratic world. For most of the 20th century, first an imperialist and then a rabidly… Crisis in Church Puts Rome at a Turning Point as Benedict Retires By CONRAD BLACK, The benign and serene dignity with which Pope Benedict XVI retired from his office, pledged �obedience and cooperation� to his successor, urged the cardinal electors to behave as coherently as an �orchestra,� and departed for the �last phase of my… By CONRAD BLACK, On awakening to consider what to write about in this space and learning that Pope Benedict XVI had retired, I first thought of what Bill Buckley would think it appropriate to write. Apart from his other claims to eminence, he always commanded a level… Moment of Truth Awaits Europe Over Question of Hezbollah By MICHAEL FREUND, Next week could prove to be quite an illuminating one in the long and storied annals of European hypocrisy. For when European Union Foreign Ministers gather on February 18 to discuss a variety of pressing international concerns, they will be… Obama Visit To Jerusalem Will Be the Occasion for Demands For Concessions From Israel By MICHAEL FREUND, Even though Israel's new coalition government has yet to be formed, international pressure is already starting to mount on the Jewish state to make concessions to the Palestinians. At a press conference last week with Vice President Biden, President… Phony War Over Japanese Yen Masks Need for Supply-Side Measures in Land of Rising Sun By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, All this chatter about a so-called global currency war is utter nonsense. All that is happening is the Japanese are wisely taking steps to increase liquidity and depreciate their vastly overpriced yen. They are doing this in order to avoid deeper and… Britain�s Future Turns Dodgy After Years of Squandering Thatcher�s Legacy By CONRAD BLACK, The United Kingdom is rivaled by no other country as a continuous major power since the rise of the nation-state, but it is now slipping into a crisis of national purpose as serious as it passed through prior to the Thatcher years. By the late 1970s… �Gatekeepers� Turns Out By RICK RICHMAN, �The Gatekeepers,� the leading candidate for this year�s Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, begins with ominous music. It informs viewers that Shin Bet is the secret Israeli agency dealing with terrorism. Then three sentences flash slowly across the… By AVI SHAFRAN, American politicians tainted by scandal and forced to resign their positions usually explain that they want �to spend more time with their families.� Issam al-Aryan, a top advisor to Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, who recently tendered his own… Rand Paul, on His Visit to Israel, Makes a Sharp Contrast With Biden By SETH LIPSKY, What a contrast with Joseph Biden. On his 2010 trip to Israel, the vice president erupted in a bitter denunciation of the government in Jerusalem because of its settlement policies. But when Sen. Rand Paul, whom the Left likes to accuse of being the… Huge Costs Confront Cubans Who Seek To Travel Under New �Migration Law� Going Into Effect Today By MARIA WERLAU, Updates to Cuba�s �Migration Law� introduced to great fanfare last October, go into effect today. But, they are merely a bankrupt dictatorship�s latest scheme to fund its failed economy and confuse world public opinion with so-called �reforms. Soon… By CONRAD BLACK, The odds are that Iran will acquire a nuclear military capacity in the next year or 18 months. The subject has been bandied about for so long that the implications of such a step are now widely accepted with resignation � much as with North Korea… Europe, Too, To Be Divided By a Common Language By CONRAD BLACK, The European Commission and the British government have agreed that the official language of the European Union will be English, rather than German, which was the other possibility. German is the primary language of more Europeans than any other… Retreat by a Penny-Pinching America To Its Own Shores Is A Good Thing for Everyone By CONRAD BLACK, As the curtain fell on 2012, and America�s implacably inane �fiscal cliff� melodrama played out, all was symbolism and posturing. Following the last minute deal, the President led the nation in New Year�s revelry with a press conference that was a… Tipping Point at Hand as Israel Moves Toward an Indivisible Jerusalem By MICHAEL FREUND, The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, much like any clash of civilizations, has a history rife with significant dates and anniversaries, many of which in retrospect proved to be decisive. From the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement to the 1929 Arab riots on… A Better Two-State Strategy Beckons for Israel By CONRAD BLACK, According to the CBC, 87% of Canadians approved the elevation of Palestine to observer status at the United Nations last week, and disapproved the stance of the Canadian government opposing this move. I assume that the CBC poll is reasonably… By JEROLD AUERBACH, Who won the Gaza war? According to the prevailing press narrative, besieged innocents in Gaza bravely withstood the withering weeklong Israeli rocket barrage until President Morsi mediated a cease-fire. End of story, except for the largely unnoticed… History Will Change, As Israel�s Withdrawal From Gaza Emerges in a New Light By MICHAEL FREUND, Amid the extensive coverage of the latest flareup in Gaza, there is one critical issue that has been all but ignored by most of the mainstream press. For all the talk over the past few days regarding whether the IDF should return to Gaza, no one seems… America�s Relative Position Slips Amid Gains by Nations It Did So Much To Help Lost Tribe of Israel Will Return To Zion After Unanimous Vote By Government in Jerusalem Jews, Christians Unite To Underwrite the Homecoming By MICHAEL FREUND, Israel�s government has passed a historic decision, one that paves the way for the return of a Lost Tribe of Israel to Zion. Resolution 5180, which on October 24 received unanimous ministerial approval, will allow 275 members of the Bnei Menashe… Palestinian Arabs Set To Test Obama II With Demarche at United Nations By BENNY AVNI, �We hope that there will be a positive way of looking at this effort by the US administration,� the Palestinian Arab observer at the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, told me, expressing a wish that America will favor a new Arab proposal for a General… �God Bless America, Again,� By CONRAD BLACK, It is desperately difficult to think of anything new to write about the election, but equally difficult to write about anything else in this space this week. A recitation of what most readers will consider the obvious will be the mouse that emerges… Nobel Prize Will Have To Change To Remain By CONRAD BLACK As my good friend David Frum pointed out here recently, the award to the European Union of the Nobel Prize for Peace was not as mad as it seemed � at least, in theory. For thousands of years, Europe was the world�s principal theatre of war, as well as… Plan Is Mulled To Give Jews a Place To Pray at Holiest Site � Temple Mount in Jerusalem By MICHAEL FREUND, A little more than a week ago, I ascended the Temple Mount together with a group of more than 50 Jews from Ra�anana�s Ohel Ari synagogue. All of us immersed in a mikva (ritual bath) prior to the trip, refrained from wearing leather shoes, and walked… By SETH LIPSKY, The death of Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia, who succumbed to cancer Monday at the age of 89, is a moment to reflect on one of the great tragedies of the late 20th century. It would be inaccurate to blame the erstwhile king, even indirectly, for the… By CONRAD BLACK, Following the request of my editor in here Canada � not any compulsion to unburden myself of sectarian views � I am dedicating this column to the subject of the Second Vatican Council, which was opened by Pope John XXIII on Oct. 11, 1962, 50 years ago… How Canada Has Eclipsed America In the Obama Years By CONRAD BLACK, As many commentators have opined, Canadians should not become smug because Canada has fared relatively well in the Great Recession since 2008. Canada has been as fortunate as it has been wise, above all in having the United States, rather than more… Romney Appears AWOL on Afghanistan, as the Eastwood Doctrine Goes Unanswered By IRA STOLL, What does the Republican Party or its presidential nominee think about the war in Afghanistan? Good luck figuring it out from the party�s recent convention, which offered conflicting views. At the convention�s Thursday night climax, actor Clint… A Farewell To Monroe, As America Steps Back and Turns Its Attention To Home By CONRAD BLACK, Despite my conviction that the Obama administration has been generally unsuccessful, I have some respect for its apparent judgment that the United States should step back from its previous level of involvement all over the world. It does appear that… Feisty Feline Infatuates the Lord of the Manor By CONRAD BLACK, A great many strange and memorable things have happened at our Toronto house over the years I have lived in it, and we have entertained princes and rogues. But there has not been a more gripping and affecting drama than has occurred here over the last… By MICHAEL FREUND, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's selection of Representative Paul Ryan as his running mate earlier this week has shaken up the race for the White House. With his youthful demeanor, impressive command of policy, and affable personality… Olympic Games Are Triumph of Britain, for All Its Setbacks a Serious Country Still By CONRAD BLACK, My first observation on these Olympics: The Canadians were robbed in their women�s soccer match, and the treatment of that team has been a disgrace. This, and the fiasco with the badminton players who threw matches to get an easier play-off run, are… How Serbia Could Emerge as a Bridge By MICHAEL FREUND, Imagine a country with a long and proud history that is regularly vilified by the international press. It faces mounting pressure to concede its ancient heartland and turn its back on a central part of its cultural and spiritual heritage. Surrounded… U.S. Now Facing Difficulties Dissenting Should Israel Strike A-Bomb Program at Iran By CONRAD BLACK, The recent visits of Republican presidential candidate W. M. Romney (I am still having a problem calling a possible president Mitt; Millard Fillmore almost creates a precedent for Willard M. Romney) and defense secretary Leon Panetta to the Middle… Off Camera in Jerusalem, Romney Made a Historic First, Affecting His Hosts By MICHAEL FREUND, Surrounded by platters of fresh fruit, stacks of low-fat yogurt and piles of mediocre pancakes, I took my seat Monday at the breakfast roundtable in Jerusalem with presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. The event, which was facilitated by Republicans… Olympics Romney Will Visit at London Is a Triumph of the Capitalism of Which He Is a Tribune By IRA STOLL, As a New Yorker whose home city�s bid to host the Olympics that will begin this week was defeated, I'm tempted to greet the arrival of the Olympic flame in London with at least a touch of derision. The whole enterprise is spoiled by biased… UN, Amid Crisis in Syria and Egypt, Launches a Series of Actions Against Israel By MICHAEL FREUND, In recent weeks the United Nations has gone on the warpath against Israel, defaming the Jewish state and providing aid and comfort to its enemies. Indeed, in a series of moves, the world body has sent the Jewish state a clear and unmistakable message… Thinking Through the Assassinations at Syria By CONRAD BLACK, The assassination on Wednesday of the Syrian defence and deputy defence ministers (the latter of whom was President Bashar Assad�s brother-in-law) and a senior general, raises interesting questions, and not just about the life expectancy of the… By JEROLD AUERBACH, With startling clarity an Israeli legal commission, chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice Edmund Levy, has declared: �According to international law, Israelis have the legal right to settle in Judea and Samaria.� Challenging settlement critics… By CONRAD BLACK, It is an ever-growing matter of suspense how long it will take before there is general recognition of the fact that, although the spread of democracy is � next to its irreplaceable contribution to victory in World War II and the Cold War � America�s… By SHMULEY BOTEACH, Which is sadder I'm not sure � that Yitzhak Shamir died or that people didn't really know that he was still alive. For Shamir certainly was Israel's least appreciated Prime Minister amid presiding over some of the state�s greatest achievements. And…
By CONRAD BLACK, There cannot possibly be anyone left of sound mind who imagines that the Arab Spring was anything more than seismic shifts in various countries to remove unpopular despots; have tribal, sectarian, or ideological bloodletting of different levels of… Victory of Islamist in Egypt Means Peace Treaty With Israel Is Dying By MICHAEL FREUND, The Middle East took a sharp turn for the worse this week with the accession to power of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. In what was perhaps the worst possible outcome for Israel and the West, Mohamed Morsy, the Brotherhood�s presidential candidate… Disdain Greets U.S. Shilly-Shallying on Syria Kissinger Would Have Done Better Were He at State By CONRAD BLACK, It pains me to take issue in any degree with my very esteemed friend Henry Kissinger, with whose foreign-policy views I have almost always agreed, but I think some degree of intervention in Syria is justified. Dr. Kissinger�wrote�otherwise in… By MICHAEL FREUND, The announcement on Tuesday that a deal had been reached between the government and the residents of Beit El's Ulpana neighborhood will hopefully bring a peaceful end to an otherwise painful episode. After months of wrangling, the two sides reached an… Germany Finds Its Hour, as Fate of World Economy Rests on Berlin, Washington By CONRAD BLACK, It is all coming down, in the Western economy, as it should, to Germany and the United States. As the American Revolution began in 1775, Prussia, the core of modern Germany, had just entered the ranks of the Great Powers under Frederick the Great. At… If Romney Wins, America and Germany Would Be Poised To Lead the West to Better Days By CONRAD BLACK, Harold Wilson, in one of democracy�s anomalies, served as long as British prime minister as Winston Churchill and Viscount Palmerston � and longer than the elder Pitt, Sir Robert Peel, Lord John Russell, Benjamin Disraeli, and David Lloyd George, who… Showdown Brews Between Obama, Congress Over Accuracy of Count of Palestinian Arab Refugees Question Could Prove Explosive By JEROLD AUERBACH, A showdown is brewing in Washington over how the number of Palestinian Arab refugees is being counted, and it could be explosive. This is because numerical accuracy would undermine claims by the Palestinians that before long, if their demands are not…
By CONRAD BLACK, The spectacle of the G-8 leaders in the bucolic verdure of Camp David, as they were strutting in their leisure attire capped by prudent sweaters against any non-fiscal Catoctin chill for photo-ops for those at home, could momentarily disguise what an… Sarkozy Shows That Voters Punish Conservatives Who Fail To Deliver By IRA STOLL, Six takeaway lessons for Americans from socialist candidate Francois Hollande�s victory in Sunday�s election in France: Growth beats austerity. �Austerity isn�t inevitable. My mission now is to give European construction a growth dimension,� Mr… Of Fatherhood and War: Benzion Netanyahu Doubted His Son Was Tough Enough To Lead the Jewish State By SETH LIPSKY, 'Can you imagine what it must have been like having him for a father?" asked one of the writers for the Jewish Forward newspaper after an editorial dinner with Benzion Netanyahu. Mr. Netanyahu's son, Benjamin, had recently been elected prime minister… How Benzion Netanyahu Helped Put in the U.N. Charter A Clause That Could Yet Save the Jewish State By JEROLD AUERBACH, Benzion Netanyahu, who died Monday in Jerusalem at the age of 102, has been widely scrutinzed this week for his myriad contributions to the history of Zionism in Israel and the United States. Yet arguably the most important one has been overlooked… Fifth Republic in France Teeters in Spectacle of an Astonishing Election By CONRAD BLACK, The simultaneous election campaigns in France and the United States furnish an astonishing spectacle of the limits and hazards of democratic government. The French Fifth Republic, founded by Charles de Gaulle in 1958, is the most successful state in… House at Hebron Becomes a Case of Dickensian, Even Biblical, Proportions By JEROLD AUERBACH, In the ancient city of Hebron, twenty miles south of Jerusalem, the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Jewish people are buried. When Sarah died, according to the biblical narrative, Abraham purchased the cave of Machpelah from Ephron the Hittite… Pope�s Visit To Cuba Stirs Hope As Palsy of the Castro Regime Grows More Aggravated By CONRAD BLACK, In regard to the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Cuba next week, the official version of events from the Vatican and from the cardinal in Havana, Jaime Ortega y Alamino, is one of uplift and celebration of the Church's progress since the visit of Pope… Will America Abdicate Its Status as a Great Power? By CONRAD BLACK, The visits to Washington of the Israeli president, Shimon Peres, and, a day later, Prime Minister �Netanyahu bring the question of the Iranian nuclear program to a head at last. President Obama came into office encumbered with the sophomoric idea that… Nephew of Yasser Arafat Surfaces as Aide to Kofi Annan on Road to Damascus By BENNY AVNI, UNITED NATIONS ��Yasser Arafat�s nephew, Nasser Al-Kidwa, will accompany former Secretary General Kofi Annan, who is scheduled to visit Bashar Al-Assad in Damascus this weekend. Mr. Al-Kidwa�s visit will renew a complex history of relationship between… America Takes Canada for Granted at Its Peril By CONRAD BLACK, The estimable American military writer Max Boot, a guerrilla-war expert associated with the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, wrote in Commentary magazine last month that Canada is a country that most Americans consider a �dull but slavishly… Farewell To an American �Princess� Murdered in Syria By YOUSSEF IBRAHIM, This is a personal tribute to a dear friend and highly respected colleague, Marie Colvin, the Middle East correspondent whose eye patch photos are all over the front pages today after being murdered by the Syrian regime yesterday at Homs. Marie lost… West Falters in Defense of Christians, Who Are Being Persecuted in 131 Countries Failure Now Resting Heavily on Would Be Protectors By CONRAD BLACK, Perhaps the gravest under-publicized atrocity in the world is the persecution of Christians. A comprehensive Pew Forum study last year found that Christians are persecuted in 131 countries containing 70% of the world�s population, out of 197 countries… A Brilliant Reign Nears Its Diamond Jubilee By CONRAD BLACK, It does not seem like 60 years ago that my late brother said to our half-asleep parents as we departed early for school: �There was a bug in my cereal, and by the way, the King is dead.� A much admired man, only 56, there were some comparisons between… How the Mufti of Jerusalem Once Impacted America�s Presidential Election � and Could Do So Again By RAFAEL MEDOFF, WASHINGTON � A Palestinian mufti has called for violence against Jews, Prime Minister Netanyahu is demanding Palestinian leaders disavow him, and America's presidential race could be affected. That could be the lead sentence of a news report from last…
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How the Chelsea Bombing By SETH LIPSKY, Just as authorities are scrambling after the terror bombings in Chelsea and across the river, settlement talks are coming to a head in the lawsuit over whether the NYPD can keep tabs on Muslim communities in New Jersey. That�s where the accused… 25 Years After Crown Heights By SETH LIPSKY, �Jewish homes were being attacked, windows broken. Jewish residents were cowering in the safest rooms of their homes. Sympathetic gentiles in the area were sneaking word to some of their Jewish neighbors to keep their lights turned off. �Marauding… John Faso Is Testing By SETH LIPSKY, In the season of Donald Trump, how will a traditional Republican � tough but polite, fiscally conservative � fare in an election here in New York? We�re about to find out in our 19th Congressional District. That�s where John Faso, who headed the… Women-Only Swim Hours By SETH LIPSKY, It�s hard to imagine the horror that must have come over the editorial board of the New York Times when it discovered that a public swimming pool in Brooklyn has been accommodating Orthodox Jewish women. This is happening, the Times complains in a… America�s Greatest Muse By SETH LIPSKY, Above:�Audrey Munson - NY First Super Model from Roberto Serrini on Vimeo. June will mark the 125th anniversary of the birth of Audrey Munson, the greatest artist�s muse of the 20th � or maybe any � century. New York boasts at least 15 statues of her, including two flanking the entrance of the Brooklyn Museum.�So who�ll be honored at the Brooklyn Museum�s annual dinner for the Elizabeth Sackler Center, which is dedicated to �feminist art � its past, present, and future�? Marxist professor Angela Davis.Andrew Cuomo on the Spot By SETH LIPSKY, Could the fact that President Obama refused to submit his Iran agreement to the Senate for a standard up-or-down treaty vote turn around and, as my sergeant in the Army used to say, bite him in the gluteus maximus? It turns out that could depend on… New York Primary Day By RED JAHNCKE, Thriller novelists couldn�t script a plot more suspenseful than today�s Republican primary in New York and what it means for frontrunner Donald Trump. Will his inevitable victory �beat� expectations? After four straight losses, he needs a huge win… How the Times Flunks By DONALD J. BOUDREAUX, I teach economics. If any of my freshmen students were to submit to me a paper on the minimum wage as full of errors as the New York Times�s recent plea for a New York statewide minimum of $15 per hour, those students would receive a solid �F.�… The Race Is On To Stop By SETH LIPSKY, Americans are mourning today the murder of one of their finest sons, Taylor Force, a West Point graduate. He made it through tours in Iraq and Afghanistan only to be stabbed to death by a Palestinian Arab terrorist on the streets of Tel Aviv. It is a… �Horsepucky� Is the Word By SETH LIPSKY, Mayor de Blasio is denying that a connection exists between the votes set for Friday on a pay raise for the City Council and the deal over the horse carriages in Central Park. To which I say: �Horsepucky.� The connection is that they�re both an insult… The Bratton-Kelly Feud By SETH LIPSKY, In the feud � if that�s what it is � between Police Commissioner William Bratton and his predecessor, Raymond Kelly, I�m on Commissioner Kelly�s side. I hope he sticks with the questions he�s raising all the way to the mayoral race of 2017. Somebody… Baby Left in Manger By BETSY McCAUGHEY, The newborn boy abandoned in a nativity display at a Queens church last week lucked out. His mother bought towels at a 99-cent store to keep him warm, and then left him in the manger to be found. But many abandoned babies aren�t so lucky. Every year… Next: The Sheldon Silver By SETH LIPSKY, Sheldon Silver hasn�t even been sentenced yet, and already the left is plumping for public financing of elections. Or to put it another way, if Albany is going to lose its access to graft, why not force the taxpayers to pay up? Our Democrats couldn�t… For the Love of New York: By SETH LIPSKY, It looks like it�s time yet again to start thinking about the possibility that the former police commissioner of New York, Raymond Kelly, could run for mayor. That�s what I took from the story that ran in Tuesday�s Post under the headline �Ray hints… Bill Bratton�s Complaint By SETH LIPSKY, �Insanity� is the word New York�s police commissioner, William Bratton, uses for the United States Congress. He�s angry, like all New Yorkers are, over the Harlem murder last week of Officer Randolph Holder. Holder was slain with a gun that… Odds Grow That New Tunnel By JOHN V. BENNETT, The agreement yesterday of New Jersey Transit to lead an environmental study of a proposed new cross-Hudson Amtrak tunnel increases the chances that taxpayers are going to get railroaded into a deal where the starting price tag is $20… Appeals Court Condescends By SETH LIPSKY, What an obnoxious opinion from the Third United States Circuit Court of Appeals. The court reopened the lawsuit against New York City for keeping an eye out for terrorist plots in the Muslim community. The judges� opinion insults just about everyone… �Un-Making of a Mayor� By SETH LIPSKY, What a nifty coincidence, if that�s what it is. Just as Mayor de Blasio has put New York City into a downward dive on the road to the 1970s, New Yorkers are about to get a 50th anniversary edition of William F. Buckley Jr.�s book about running for… Ray Kelly Writes the Defense By SETH LIPSKY, One of the tragedies of the stop-question-and-frisk case is that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly was dropped as a defendant. It would�ve been better for the city if the plaintiffs had really tried to nail his own personal navy-blue hide to the wall… Derelicts Now Demanding By BETSY McCAUGHEY, America�s homeless are lawyering up to fight for a �right� to live on the street � your neighborhood and personal safety be damned. From Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles, cities are struggling with a surge in people living in cardboard boxes and… How Legionnaires Deaths By BETSY McCAUGHEY, As the death toll rises to 12 in the Legionnaires� disease outbreak, Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo are playing politics, pointing fingers at each other. But the truth is, the blame belongs to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention… Where Is the Outrage By SETH LIPSKY, It�s astounding that there hasn�t been more outrage at Mayor de Blasio�s threat to use the power of New York City�s purse to try to shut up Donald Trump. Doubly so, given that he�s doing so in the middle of an election. It was bad enough for a Chicago… Religious Groups Waiting By JORDAN LORENCE, Within hours of the United States Supreme Court declining on March 30 to review the Bronx Household of Faith case, a lawsuit challenging New York City�s ban on private worship services in empty school buildings, Mayor Bill de Blasio responded with… How Highest N.Y. Court By SETH LIPSKY, What does court precedent in New York state say about the notion that opposition to same-sex marriage is simply about prejudice? That charge, after all, is being widely made by opponents of Indiana�s religious-freedom law. I first heard this libel in… What Would Ed Koch Do? By SETH LIPSKY, What would Ed Koch do? As President Obama scrambles for a deal with the Iranian mullahs, what would we be hearing from the last Democrat to get re-elected as mayor of this town? And where are the New York Democrats today? The question was sent to me… As Schumer Rises in Senate, By IRA STOLL, The news that Senator Reid�s retirement announcement sets up Charles Schumer to be the Democratic leader in the Senate set off a twinge of Brooklyn pride. I knew Mr. Schumer back when he was just an ambitious member of the House of Representatives… De Blasio Hits Up School By IRA STOLL, The price of getting a new private school building built in Manhattan these days apparently includes a payoff of $50 million for �affordable� housing. And that $50 million number, reportedly reached after an extensive negotiation between Collegiate… New York�s Highest Judge By SETH LIPSKY, The chief judge of New York�s highest court, Jonathan Lipp�man, this week announced that the need for significant changes in grand-jury protocols is �obvious.� The only thing obvious to me is that the judge is veering off side. Judge Lippman sprang… Seeking a Cure for Cynicism? By SETH LIPSKY, Looking for a cure for cynicism? Worried about the death of journalism? Can�t keep up with the Kardashians? My prescription: Pick up a copy of �For Whom the Dogs Spy,� the story of Haiti from the Duvalier dictatorship to the 2010 earthquake. The book… What Would Coolidge Do? By SETH LIPSKY, As the crisis deepens between Mayor de Blasio and the cops, I�m prompted to wonder what Calvin Coolidge would do. The 30th president rose to national prominence by facing down a strike by the cops in the hometown of our own police commissioner, Bill… New York Slips to 4th Place By BETSY McCAUGHEY, The American Census announced last week that New York State slipped to fourth place in population among the 50 states. Though babies are still born every day in New York, and immigrants still flock here, overall population growth lags because New… No Wonder Miss O�Hanlon By SETH LIPSKY, Yes, it�s true. The New York Times really did publish just before Christmas this year a piece mocking the Sun�s reply to Virginia O�Hanlon. Her father had suggested she write to the Sun inquiring about whether there really is a St. Nick. �Yes,� the… Protestors Fail To Disrupt By SETH LIPSKY, Pre-emptive action by New York�s finest enabled Macy�s Thanksgiving Day Parade to float, march, and twirl it�s way to Herald Square today, without so much as a side-step being necessary to avoid protestors bent on disrupting the annual event. Police… At the 11th Hour of the 11th Day By SETH LIPSKY, All the tunes of glory rang up Fifth Avenue Tuesday as New York marked Veterans Day in a parade led by the city�s former police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, a former Marine officer and a combat veteran of Vietnam, and his wife, Veronica, a veteran of… Behind Protests, Police Lines, By SETH LIPSKY, The thing I kept thinking about at the opening night of �The Death of Klinghoffer� is that it�s not the first time that the Metropolitan Opera has put on its boards a drama about the murder of a Jew � or Jews. There is, after all, Nabucco, Giuseppe… Reputation of NY's Finest By SETH LIPSKY, �I don�t know why we�re even here,� said the friendly fellow who sat down next to me in federal court. The Second Circuit judges were about to hear the last-ditch appeal of the New York police unions to overturn the stop-question-and-frisk ruling. The… Charter School Movement By SETH LIPSKY, It was a moment for the charter school movement to show its muscle. Wearing red shirts that said �Don�t Steal Possible� and �I�m a teacher who believes,� ten thousand or more students, parents, and teachers converged on Foley Square this morning for a… By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Several hundred people went to their feet to applaud a speech delivered by David H. Koch. The occasion was the opening several weeks ago of the Metropolitan Museum�s new fa�ade on Fifth Avenue. It runs four city blocks, and is complete with new… Protest Greets Met�s Plans By SETH LIPSKY, A former attorney general of America, a member of Congress and another of the Knesset joined hundreds of New Yorkers and school children for a protest against plans of the Metropolitan Opera to stage �The Death of Klinghoffer.� Waving signs that said… Obama Due in New York By BETSY McCAUGHEY, Attorney General Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson,and Governor Andrew Cuomo sounded the alarm Monday about the escalating danger of a terrorist attack on America by ISIS and other jihadists. Too bad the Obama administration lacks… In Senate Race To Watch, By SETH LIPSKY, Why isn�t the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee coming in for Jeffrey Bell in New Jersey? He�s in a remarkable political fight, running surprisingly close to the incumbent, Cory Booker, despite having zilch in his campaign account. Yet… Prospect of GOP Senate By SETH LIPSKY, Senator Schumer�s plan for open primaries, issued in the New York Times this week, reminds me of how I became a Republican. I�d been born and raised a Democrat and remained one until 2001, when I discovered that the candidate I wanted to vote for in… Cuomo Makes Bet on GE By IRA STOLL, Which high-tech material will be the silicon of the future: silicon carbide, gallium nitride, or some other substance yet to be discovered? No one knows for sure. But Governor Andrew Cuomo just bet $135 million of New York taxpayer dollars on backing… Mothers Against Guns By SETH LIPSKY, What a spot from which to start an anti-gun rally � the statue of Mayor William Gaynor. He is the only mayor in the history of the city to have been shot. It was from in front of the bust of Gaynor that the second annual march for stricter gun… Waltons Derided by N.Y. Times By IRA STOLL, Not since Matt Taibbi�s 2009 Rolling Stone-Goldman Sachs �vampire squid� reference has a journalistic cephalopod analogy touched such a nerve. I am speaking of this past weekend�s front-page news article in the New York Times � ostensibly, at least… NY Wage Bill Would Double By IRA STOLL, The latest innovation in left-wing political economics is legislation that would raise the minimum wage in New York State to $15 an hour ��but only for a select group of employers unlucky enough to be targeted by politicians. The bill�s champion, New… Charter Schools Emerge By JAMES PIERESON, By now, everyone following the debate over charter schools in New York has been made aware of just how much money is flowing into these institutions. The conspiracy theories are rampant. WNYC radio ran a story called: �Who Is Behind the Pro-Charter… Mr. X Returns � And Makes a Confession By MR. X How did I suddenly become the enemy? I�ve never committed a crime. I pay my taxes. I�m a responsible husband and father. I even give up my seat on the bus if an elderly or pregnant woman � excuse me, person � gets on. That doesn�t make me a saint, I… De Blasio�s Dilemma: Too Many Rich People or Too Many Poor People? By LIZ PEEK Where exactly does Bill de Blasio want to take New York? During the campaign, Mr. de Blasio focused on income inequality � but he seems much more concerned about New York having too many rich people (�nearly 400,000 millionaires!�) than too many poor… Political �Specter� Haunts Appeal of Stop-and-Frisk Case, Federal Judges Warn By SETH LIPSKY, If Bill de Blasio were really smart � and he may turn out to be � he�d upend the stop, question and frisk case by going into federal court with a request to switch sides. He�d tell the court he can handle the NYPD and has no interest in having it run… DeBlasio�s New Twist on Columbus Bodes Ill for Group Politics Here By ANDREW WOLF, Columbus Day turned out to be an illuminating moment for those of us watching the man who is all but certain to be new York�s next mayor, William DeBlasio. He chose the holiday to waffle on the great Italian navigator, a hero to many… By LIZ PEEK, Times are bleak for Giants-loving Republican New Yorkers. OK, there are only about 16 of us that meet that description, but we have feelings, too. Joe Lhota�s campaign for New York City Mayor is not only failing to get off the ground, it appears to be… Move by Giuliani, Mukasey in Policing Case Underscores Alarm at Slowness of City By SETH LIPSKY, What an astonishing move by Rudolph Giuliani and Michael Mukasey in asking a federal appeals court to admit them as friends of the court on the side of the city in the stop, question and frisk case. The filing, made quietly Monday, comes amid growing… Giuliani, Mukasey Enter Case Over Stop, Question, and Frisk, Warn of Risk To Public Safety By JOHN V. BENNETT, �Citing the risk to public safety posed by a federal judge�s ruling against New York�s stop, question, and frisk policing program, the city�s former mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, and a former U.S. attorney general, Michael Mukasey, are calling on an… Voters May Yet Come To Regret DeBlasio and Move to Lhota, Suggests Our Man in the Bronx By ANDREW WOLF, When it comes to electing the chief executive of the city, New Yorkers are prone to abandon their party preferences. It has been 24 years since voters have selected a Democrat as mayor. This dearth of Democrats has led to something of a municipal… Obama and de Blasio, Separated at Birth, Or So It Seems as Similarities Come Into Focus By IRA STOLL, The man New York Democrats seemed poised to choose this week as their candidate for mayor, Bill de Blasio, sure has a lot in common with President Obama. Both men were born in 1961. They both describe their fathers as alcoholics and say they were… Libel Case Puts Spitzer on the Spot Over Bullying By SETH LIPSKY, If Eliot Spitzer wins the race for city comptroller, his first job may be defending himself in court. Last month a libel suit was quietly filed against him in a state court in Carmel by Maurice �Hank� Greenberg, the biggest of the tycoons Spitzer… Cuomo Tax Plan Draws Support From Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Strands Non-Favored New Yorkers By IRA STOLL, The chief executives of GE, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase are lining up behind a plan by the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, for what the governor calls �Tax-Free New York.� Ordinary New York taxpayers, watch out. The whole episode is… How History Beckons For Anthony Weiner To Run for Mayor in New York By ANDREW WOLF, In 1977, I was publishing a small newspaper in the Bronx, the Parkway News. There was a mayoral candidate who wasn�t being taken seriously. He was destined to become a footnote in a field dominated by such names as Bella Abzug, Herman Badillo… By SETH LIPSKY, Can we draft Justice Milton Tingling, the state judge who just issued a permanent injunction against the Bloomberg ban on large sized sugary soft drinks, for mayor? Yes, Tingling would probably be horrified at the thought. But the best way to think of… Christine Quinn, in Vow To Block Wal-Mart, Veers Away From Bloomberg, Business By IRA STOLL, In a city where the unemployment rate is 9.1%, above both the statewide and national average, you�d think that mayoral candidates would be competing to attract businesses and jobs. And in a city where the cost of living is so high that the city pays… How Ed Koch Leapt to the Head of the Field and Won The Heart of New York By ANDREW WOLF, Ed Koch I first encountered in 1973, when he was a member of Congress. I had, of course, heard of him, but hadn�t met him. I was hanging around at the time with a group of �reform� politicians with roots in Greenwich Village. Koch was famous for… Mayor Koch, Self-Proclaimed �Liberal With Sanity� Who Led New York From Fiscal Crisis, Is Dead at 88 By BENJAMIN SMITH, Edward Irving Koch, the mayor who steered New York City out of a desperate fiscal crisis and forged a new, middle class governing coalition, died after being admitted to New York-Presbyterian/Columbia hospital this week, his spokesman told the… Will Pro-Life March Come to New York? By SETH LIPSKY, Four days after President Obama was sworn in for his second term, another large crowd hit Washington � pro-lifers who came by the busload to mark the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court�s decision in Roe v. Wade, which overturned two centuries of… Tipping Point Is Neared as New York Faces Threat of Strike by School Bus Drivers By IRA STOLL, America is approaching the point where the government employee unions are so powerful that even the liberals think it�s getting out of control. It used to be that taking on public-sector unions was the job of conservative Republicans like President… How Macchiarola Set a Standard for Schools � Without Mistaking By ANDREW WOLF, Frank Macchiarola, who passed away this week at the age of 71, is remembered for his successful five-year tenure as Chancellor of the New York City public schools, the yardstick by which his successors will be measured in the future. That tenure… There May Not Be a Free Lunch, But That Was Some Dinner of the Ayn Rand Institute By GARY SHAPIRO, Vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan would have felt right at home yesterday here in Manhattan, where in the ballroom atop the St. Regis hotel, the Ayn Rand Institute had a dinner there last evening and where John A. Allison, incoming chief executive…
By GARY SHAPIRO, No line better summed up Winston Churchill�s eloquence than one delivered by President Kennedy, upon granting Churchill honorary American citizenship in 1963. �He mobilized the English language and sent it into battle,� said the President, quoting… Falling Traffic Congrestion a Sympton of Weak Economy By ANDREW WOLF, Urban traffic congestion is on the way down in most cities, according to a study recently released by a Washington State firm, INRIX. The data is based on monitoring GPS devices, maybe even yours, and reveals one interesting trend. If the economy of… Just in Time for Opening Day, a New Season of Great Writing By RICK RICHMAN, Friday is Opening Day at Yankee Stadium, the start of a Spring ritual that brings with it a new season of great baseball writing � books and essays that seem to capture insights into life almost as effortlessly as a Willie Mays catch, even though (or perhaps because) they are about what appears simply a game. Bloomberg USA: New York City Will Sue Sponsors of Legal Immigrants Who End Up on the Dole By Staff Reporter of the Sun NEW YORK � Mayor Bloomberg, in a startling departure from his pro-immigration stance, is testing a new program designed to chase down sponsors of legal immigrants who end up on certain kinds of public assistance, and the city intends to make the… Top New York Labor Leader Moves To Long Island, Saves $30,000 in City Income Taxes By IRA STOLL, One of America�s most powerful labor leaders, teachers union president Randi Weingarten, has quietly moved out of New York City, a decision that saved her from paying more than $30,000 in city income taxes that she would have owed if she had stayed… Turnaround Now Possible in the Bronx as Its President Comes Into His Own By ANDREW WOLF, This his has been a good month for the president of the Bronx, Ruben Diaz, Jr. When Mayor Bloomberg�s proposal for a shopping mall in the Kingsbridge Armory was defeated two years ago, largely due to Mr. Diaz�s opposition, he was widely demonized as a… Weak Results on National Tests Are a Wake-Up Call for Parents in New York By ANDREW WOLF, New York State parents, teachers and students have gotten during the past few weeks a couple of wake-up calls about the quality of education here in the Empire State . Weak results on two nationally administered tests confirmed the worst fears of…
By GARY SHAPIRO, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Emma Goldman are not on Wall Street, but they are there in spirit. Activists at the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York have set up what they call �The People�s Library,� where books can be borrowed and read… Bloomberg�s Ambition To Be Treasury Secretary Seen Behind His Backing of Obama�s Jobs Plan By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Mayor Bloomberg, in a radio interview on Friday, warned that high unemployment could lead to widespread rioting. That�s right. He actually said that. At a time when European cities have suffered massively from hooliganism, and at a time when U.S… Religious New Yorkers at Risk of Government Action Under Same-Sex Marriage Law, Professors Warn By Special to the Sun NEW YORK � As the question of same-gender marriage in New York goes down to the wire at Albany, experts on the legal impact of the changes being sought are warning that religious exemptions in Governor Cuomo�s bill have fallen far short of what the… Fool�s Errand? Tax Cap Activists Due Today To Test the Legislators at Albany By DAVID PIETRUSZA, The battle to gain a cap on taxes on property will come to Albany this afternoon, when activists are due to meet with the chiefs-of staff of the state�s most prominent Democrats � and aspire to meet with Governor Cuomo and Speaker Sheldon Silver… Startling Study in Belgium Suggests Rate of Heart Disease Decreases With More Salt in Diet Should Mayor Bloomberg Move To Brussels? By ANDREW WOLF, Maybe Mayor Bloomberg should move to Belgium. A startling study was just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It disputes the conventional wisdom that too much salt in the diet leads to all sorts of negative health… Formal Search Needed for New York Schools Chancellor By ANDREW WOLF, From all we�ve seen, Dennis Walcott, Mayor Bloomberg�s choice as the city�s new schools chancellor is a fine fellow, a loyal deputy to the mayor, and a knowledgeable public servant. Loyalty and knowledge are admirable qualities, but are they all that… The First Call Bloomberg�s New School�s Chief Needs to Make By HENRY STERN, We were surprised today to learn that Mayor Bloomberg dismissed his hand-picked Schools Chancellor, Cathie Black, after 97 infelicitous days as chief of New York City's school system. The mayor did not set a speed record, however, in dismissing a…
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