Conservative Chronicle for January 4 2017 by Mid-America Publishing Corporation

At Issue this week... January 4, 2017 2016 Election Barone (13) Christmas Cushman (25) Greenberg (21, 27) Napolitano (6) Thomas (26) Civility Hollis (23) Cycles Morris (29) Dear Mark Levy (19) Democrats Limbaugh (5) Economy Kudlow (11) Education Stossel (20) Europe Buchanan (31) Executive Actions Harsanyi (22) Football Jeffrey (29) Forfeitures Will (12) Health Care McCaughey (10, 13) Israel Buchanan (2) Parker (1) Kwanzaa Coulter (7) Leslie’s Trivia Bits Elman (14) Looking Back Sowell (3, 6) Media Bias Bozell (30) Goldberg (26) Mulvaney, Mick de Rugy (14) Obama, Barack Massie (9) Shapiro (27) Political Correctness Lowry (22) Tyrrell (15) Political Elites Barone (3) Russia Fields (30) Sowell, Thomas Malkin (4) Williams (18) Stanford Rape Case Saunders (24) Sykes, Charlie Charen (10) Syria Krauthammer (28) Terrorism Bay (17) Bozell (18) Chavez (17) Lambro (16) Thomas (15) Trump, Donald Schlafly (8) Trump Presidency Lowry (9) U.S. Military Elder (25) Will (21)

Israel by Star Parker

President Obama abandons Israel

hile Christians across America were preparing for the Christmas holiday, the Obama administration threw its sympathies and support to those who oppress Christians in the cradle of Christianity — Bethlehem and elsewhere. The move by the Obama administration to abstain and not veto an anti-Israel United Nations Security Council resolution, unprecedented in American Israeli relations, provides a strong hint of why Americans voted for change in November. Why? BECAUSE, DESPITE President Obama’s relatively high approval ratings, there has been a deep sense that something is fundamentally wrong in the country and that the ship of state needs to be pointed in a new direction. This dissatisfaction, I think, starts with a loss of clarity of what our country is about. This flows directly from our leadership, which starts with the person who sits in the Oval Office. The United States is supposed to be a beacon of freedom, shining inward across our land and outward across the world. This light has been flickering, as the Obama administration’s passion has been to extol the left-wing values of secular humanism, rather than the principles of a free nation under God. Israel is the only free nation in the Middle East and is one of the freest nations in the world. This isn’t just a matter of opinion. Freedom House in Washington, D.C., issues an annual Freedom in the World Report that rates every nation according to political and civil rights. Nations are given a quantitative rating and then ranked Free, Partly Free, or Not Free. Israel is the only nation in the Middle East categorized as “free” in this report. Its neighbor, only a few miles away, the Palestinian Authority, is ranked Not Free, with a cumulative score, on a scale of 1-100, with 100 being totally free, of 30. The U.N. Security Council voted 140, with the 15th member of the council, the United States, abstaining, to condemn Israeli settlement activity in disputed territories captured by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967. If the U.S. exercised its veto power, the

resolution would have been nullified. But it didn’t. Why did the Obama administration turn its back on our longtime friend, the only nation in this highly troubled region that shares America’s political, religious and cultural traditions, and instead cast its sympathies with those who point a finger at their Israeli neighbor while they oppress their own people? IN FACT, by the Freedom House rating, Israel is freer than eight of the 14 Security Council member nations that voted to censure it.

Star

Support for Israel is not a vote for oppression against Palestinians. Rather, it shows those in the world who live under oppression that the principled leadership of the United States understands what freedom is about and that these principles will not be compromised under any circumstances. This can only help the Palestinian people. This perverse move by the Obama administration was particularly bizarre in the middle of our holiday season.

American Spectator magazine reports that, because of intolerance and oppression by the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian Christians now constitute 1.3 percent of the Palestinian population, down from 15 percent in 1950. In Bethlehem, the Palestinian Christian population now stands at 15 percent of the population, down from 70 percent. Meanwhile, in Israel, according to the report, the Christian population has increased by a factor of five since the founding of the country. The beauty of freedom is the possibility for change. DESPITE VEERING off course, Americans can enter the new year, with a new administration, resolved to get our nation back in the right direction — the direction of economic freedom, of religious freedom, of political freedom. This can only be good news for our own citizens, and for our friends around the world, like Israel. Star Parker is an author and president of CURE, the Center for Urban Renewal and Education. December 28, 2016

Conservative Chronicle

ISRAEL: December 27, 2016

Barack backhands Bibi at the United Nations

id the community organizer from Harvard Law just deliver some personal payback to the IDF commando? So it would seem. By abstaining on that Security Council resolution declaring Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem illegal and invalid, raging Bibi Netanyahu, President Obama “failed to protect Israel in this gang-up at the UN, and colluded with it.” Obama’s people, charged Bibi, “initiated this resolution, stood behind it, coordinated on the wording and demanded that it be passed.”

WHITE HOUSE aide Ben Rhodes calls the charges “falsehoods.” Hence, we have an Israeli leader all but castigating an American president as a backstabber and betrayer, while the White House calls Bibi a liar. This is not an unserious matter. “By standing with the sworn enemies of Israel to enable the passage of this destructive, one-sided anti-Israel rant and tirade,” writes the Washington Times, “Mr. Obama shows his colors.” But unfortunately for Israel, the blow was delivered by friends as well as “sworn enemies.” The U.S. abstained, but Britain, whose Balfour Declaration of 1917 led to the Jewish state in Palestine, voted for the resolution. As did France, which allied with Israel in the Sinai-Suez campaign of 1956

to oust Egypt’s Col. Nasser, and whose and Sanctions movement against Israel, Mysteres were indispensable to Israel’s which has broad support among U.S. college students, Bernie Sanders Democrats victory in the Six-Day War of 1967. Vladimir Putin, who has worked with and the international left. If Israel does not cease expanding West Bibi and was rewarded with Israel’s refusal to support sanctions on Russia for Bank settlements, she could be hauled International Criminal Crimea and Ukraine, also voted for the before the Court and charged with war resolution. crimes. Egypt, whose Already, J Street, Gen. Abdel Fattah the liberal Jewish el-Sisi was wellobby that backs a comed by Bibi af(c) 2017, Creators Syndicate two-state solution ter his coup against in Palestine — and the Muslim Brotherhood president, and who has collabo- has been denounced by Donald Trump’s rated with Bibi against terrorists in Sinai new envoy to Israel David Friedman as “far worse than kapos,” the Jewish and Gaza, also voted yes. China voted yes as did Ukraine. New guards at Nazi concentration camps — Zealand and Senegal, both of which have has endorsed the resolution. embassies in Tel Aviv, introduced the THE SUCCESSFUL resolution is resolution. Despite Israel’s confidential but deep- also a reflection of eroding support for ening ties with Sunni Arab states that Israel at the top of the Democratic Party, share her fear and loathing of Iran, not as a two-term president and a presidential a single Security Council member stood nominee, Secretary of State John Kerry, by her and voted against condemning were both behind it. Republicans are moving to exploit the Israel’s presence in Arab East Jerusalem and the Old City. Had the resolution gone opening by denouncing the resolution before the General Assembly, support and the U.N. and showing solidarity with Israel. Goal: Replace the Democratic would have been close to unanimous. While this changes exactly nothing on Party as the most reliable ally of Israel, the ground in the West Bank or East Jeru- and reap the rewards of an historic transsalem where 600,000 Israelis now reside, fer of Jewish political allegiance. That Sen. George McGovern was seen it will have consequences, and few of as pro-Palestinian enabled Richard Nixthem will be positive for Israel. The resolution will stimulate and on to double his Jewish support between strengthen the Boycott, Divestment 1968 and 1972.

Pat

Buchanan

That Jimmy Carter was seen as cold to Israel enabled Ronald Reagan to capture more than a third of the Jewish vote in 1980, on his way to a 44-state landslide. Moreover, U.S. acquiescence in this resolution puts Bibi in a box at home. Though seen here as a hawk on the settlements issue, the right wing of Bibi’s coalition is far more hawkish, pushing for outright annexation of West Bank settlements. Others call for a repudiation of Oslo and the idea of an independent Palestinian state. If Bibi halts settlement building on the West Bank, he could cause a split in his Cabinet with rightist rivals like Naftali Bennett who seek to replace him. Here in the U.S., the U.N. resolution is seen by Democrats as a political debacle, and by many Trump Republicans as an opportunity. Sen. Chuck Schumer has denounced Obama’s refusal to veto the resolution, echoing sentiments about the world body one used to hear on America’s far right. “The U.N.” said Schumer, “has been a fervently anti-Israel body since the days (it said) ‘Zionism is racism’ and that fervor has never diminished.” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says he will urge Congress to slash funding for the United Nations. IF THE FOLKS over at the John Birch Society still have some of those bumper stickers — “Get the U.S. out of the U.N., and the U.N. out of the U.S.!” they might FedEx a batch over to Schumer and Graham. May have some converts here.

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January 4, 2017 POLITICAL ELITES: December 27, 2016

Trump nixes pet projects of liberal/conservative elites

t’s been a tough year for political elites, here and around the world, what with the passage of Brexit in June in Britain, the repudiation of Colombia’s Nobel Peace Prize recipient in the October FARC referendum and the defeat of America’s Nobel Peace Prize recipient’s preferred candidate in the November presidential election. Not all the consequences are clear. But one thing seems true: The election of Donald Trump has put the kibosh on two projects long pursued by American elites, the entitlement reform sought by conservative elites and the measures to address climate change sought by liberal elites.

NEITHER PROBLEM is pressing right now. But elites believe that America is headed to disaster — fiscal ruin, flooded plains — if current policies re-

main in place. These elites believe they be hard for liberal elites to frustrate his have a responsibility to look far ahead policies. He’s on particularly strong ground and prevent disasters that they, unlike on climate change. Global warming most ordinary people, foresee. Trump disagrees with them. He didn’t alarmists proclaim that their dire scehave much elite support in his campaign narios are certain to occur, and they be clearly right if the for president, and he has made plain w o u l d only thing affectthat he’s opposed ing temperatures to significant were carbon dioxchanges in entitleide emissions. But ments and doesn’t many other things see future global (c) 2017, Creators Syndicate (e.g., the sun) afwarming as jusfect climate, as tifying measures that kill jobs and choke off economic well, and the interactions among them and their differing effects are not fully growth. As president, he will have command understood, as the failure of climate sciof the executive branch and a veto to entists’ models to explain past observacheck Congress. It’s hard to see how tions shows. Republicans in Congress will go to the LIBERAL ELITES tell us that “the trouble of addressing entitlements if their efforts can’t succeed. And it will science is settled” and that people must

Michael

Barone

LOOKING BACK: December 27, 2016

Farewell: Sowell retiring at 86

ven the best things come to an end. After enjoying a quarter of a century of writing this column for Creators Syndicate, I have decided to stop. Age 86 is well past the usual retirement age, so the question is not why I am quitting, but why I kept at it so long. It was very fulfilling to be able to share my thoughts on the events unfolding around us, and to receive feedback from readers across the country — even if it was impossible to answer them all. Being old-fashioned, I liked to know what the facts were before writing. That required not only a lot of research, it also required keeping up with what was being said in the media. DURING A stay in Yosemite National Park last May, taking photos with a couple of my buddies, there were four consecutive days without seeing a newspaper or a television news program — and it felt wonderful. With the political news being so awful this year, it felt especially wonderful. This made me decide to spend less time following politics and more time on my photography, adding more pictures to my website (www.tsowell. com). Looking back over the years, as oldtimers are apt to do, I see huge changes, both for the better and for the worse. In material things, there has been almost unbelievable progress. Most Americans did not have refrigerators back in 1930, when I was born. Television was little more than an experiment, and such things as air-conditioning or air travel were only for the very rich.

My own family did not have electricity or hot running water, in my early childhood, which was not unusual for blacks in the South in those days. It is hard to convey to today’s generation the fear that the paralyzing disease of polio inspired, until vaccines put an abrupt end to its long reign of terror in the 1950s. Most people living in officially defined poverty in the 21st century have things like cable television, microwave ovens and air-conditioning. Most Americans did not have such things, as late as the 1980s. People whom the intelligentsia continue to call

Thomas

the “have-nots” today have things that the “haves” did not have, just a generation ago. In some other ways, however, there have been some serious retrogressions over the years. Politics, and especially citizens’ trust in their government, has gone way downhill. BACK IN 1962, President John F. Kennedy, a man narrowly elected just two years earlier, came on television to tell the nation that he was taking us to the brink of nuclear war with the Soviet Union, because the Soviets had secretly built bases for nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles from America. Most of us did not question what he did. He was President of the United States, and he knew things that the rest

of us couldn’t know — and that was good enough for us. Fortunately, the Soviets backed down. But could any President today do anything like that and have the American people behind him? Years of lying Presidents — Democrat Lyndon Johnson and Republican Richard Nixon, especially — destroyed not only their own credibility, but the credibility which the office itself once conferred. The loss of that credibility was a loss to the country, not just to the people holding that office in later years. With all the advances of blacks over the years, nothing so brought home to me the social degeneration in black ghettoes like a visit to a Harlem high school some years ago. When I looked out the window at the park across the street, I mentioned that, as a child, I used to walk my dog in that park. Looks of horror came over the students’ faces, at the thought of a kid going into the hell hole which that park had become in their time. When I have mentioned sleeping out on a fire escape in Harlem during hot summer nights, before most people could afford air-conditioning, young people have looked at me like I was a man from Mars. But blacks and whites alike had been sleeping out on fire escapes in New York since the 19th century. They did not have to contend with gunshots flying around during the night. WE CANNOT return to the past, even if we wanted to, but let us hope that we can learn something from the past to make for a better present and future. Goodbye and good luck to all.

have faith in their predictions. But science is never settled. Scientists produce theories and test them against observations. When Albert Einstein announced his relativity theory in 1905, he didn’t ask people to have faith. He claimed that his theory would do a better job than Isaac Newton’s of predicting observations in a solar eclipse in 1919. It is religion, not science, that demands that people have faith in things that otherwise seem unlikely, brands those who do not as “heretics” and “deniers,” requires participation in repeated rituals (recycling, anyone?), and permits sinners to purchase indulgences (carbon offsets for Al Gore’s private jet). The sensible thing to do about possible climate change is to learn more, to fund research (and not just by believers in the alarmist faith), to think seriously about how to mitigate possible bad effects — and to take advantage of possible good ones. (I grew up in Michigan, where I would have been happy to experience a little warming.) In the meantime, we are not going to be bound by the Paris climate agreement and we are not going to phase out fossil fuels. We may even stop harassing “heretics” and “deniers,” at least for the next four years. Conservative elites’ concern about entitlements is based on solider numbers than liberal elites’ concern about climate. We know just about how many Americans will turn 67 in 2082 (they were born last year), and we can make reasonably good estimates of how many immigrants will. We also have a pretty good idea of how much Social Security beneficiaries will be entitled to then — though we have a somewhat less firm idea of how many people will be in the workforce paying taxes and less firm estimates of Medicare costs. There’s a strong case for making adjustments now because Social Security benefits already exceed payroll tax revenue and threaten to crowd out other federal spending. The longer we wait the more expensive and painful adjustments will be. But those arguments didn’t carry much weight with Democrats or Republicans when George W. Bush made them after being re-elected with 51 percent of the vote. Trump was elected this year with a lower percentage, but with crucial votes from groups that formerly voted Democratic. He had key support from modestincome Midwesterners opposed to any entitlement changes. He had key support in energy-producing areas opposed to measures discouraging fossil fuels. CONSERVATIVE AND liberal elites may have superior long-range vision. But they’re not going to get the policies they want for the next four years.

Conservative Chronicle

THOMAS SOWELL: December 28, 2016

Thank you, Professor Thomas Sowell year, Sowell explored the “mismatch” effect in the ivory tower. While prestigious schools such as the University of California, Berkeley congratulated themselves for manufacturing “wonderfully diverse” student bodies ostensibly to make up for the legacy of American slavery, (which Sowell pointed out was in no way unique to either the American South or blacks), he reported that more than 70 percent of black students at UC Berkeley failed to AMONG THE left’s most corrosive graduate. “What they’ve effectively done” in ideas is the concept of perpetual and permanent racial victimhood, which so- lowering academic standards by race in cial engineers pretend to rectify through the name of social justice, Sowell exfederally mandated, taxpayer-subsidized plained in an interview with C-SPAN’s Lamb, “is rented these preferential policies. Sowell’s ground- B r i a n bodies for window dressing breaking academic for a few years, and analyses of these then, when they’re programs in the through with them, U.S. and around they’re put aside the world exposed (c) 2017, Creators Syndicate and a new bunch how elites profit of bodies are mightily at the expense of the alleged beneficiaries of gov- brought in.” Who benefits? Not the students, but ernment-coerced affirmative action. The grand rhetoric of diversity masks the bean-counting administrators and pothe true intent and actual impact of cur- litical correctness marketers at Berkeley rent racially discriminatory “solutions” — Diversity, Inc. — who exploit minorto past racial discrimination: Solidifying ity students for their glossy admissions the power of the few over the many. As brochures. The other vested interest? Sowell put it succinctly in one of the first Tenured radicals in what Sowell called pieces of his I came across in the journal the “black studies establishment” who “need students to be in their classrooms” “The Public Interest:” “Live people are being sacrificed be- to justify their paychecks. cause of what dead people did.” SOWELL, WHO grew up black and In that essay and much more deeply in his book, “Preferential Policies: An poor in Harlem, worked as a delivery International Perspective,” published that man, served in the U.S. Marines, graduI first read Thomas Sowell in college — no thanks to my college. At the majority of America’s institutions of “higher learning,” reading Thomas Sowell was a subversive act in the early 1990s when I was a student. It remains so today. Why? Because the prolific libertarian economist’s vast body of work is a clarion rejection of all the liberal intelligentsia hold dear.

Michelle

Malkin

ated from Harvard Law School, earned his Ph.D. in economics at the University of Chicago, and fully realized the folly of Marxism during a stint as a federal government intern, spurned identity politics collectivism. “Fortunately, even during my period of Marxism I had respect for evidence and logic,” Sowell told an interviewer in 2004, “so it was only a matter of time before my Marxism began to unravel as I compared what actually happened in history to what was supposed to happen.” Chromosomes and skin color and partisan loyalty didn’t dictate his thinking. He embraced time-tested, transcendent principles grounded in the reality of how things really are — as opposed to the fantastical imaginings of what he trenchantly called the “Vision of the Anointed.” Sowell’s book on that subject (published in 1995, the same year the Anointed One, Barack Obama, emerged on the national scene with his fabrication-filled memoir, “Dreams of My Father”) thoroughly dismantled the tyranny and tactics of self-described “progressives” whose control-freak narcissism is wrapped in good

intentions and false narratives. Sowell’s assessments were rooted not in fear or hatred or fanaticism or moral superiority, but in empirical evidence. He judged outcomes, not oration. He didn’t make excuses. He made sense. “In the anointed we find a whole class of supposedly ‘thinking people’ who do remarkably little thinking about substance and a great deal of verbal expression,” Sowell observed. “In order that this relatively small group of people can believe themselves wiser and nobler than the common herd, we have adopted policies which impose heavy costs on millions of other human beings, not only in taxes, but also in lost jobs, social disintegration, and a loss of personal safety. Seldom have so few cost so much to so many.” In another giant contribution to contemporary political and policy analysis, Sowell’s 1999 tome, “The Quest for Cosmic Justice,” addressed the abject failures of those who seek to cure all inequities, inequalities, disparities and ills through government intervention. He summed up his findings thusly: 1. The impossible is not going to be achieved. 2. It is a waste of precious resources to try to achieve it. 3. The devastating costs and social dangers that go with these attempts to achieve the impossible should be taken into account. The former leftist playwright David Mamet, in his 2008 manifesto, “Why I Am No Longer a Brain-Dead Liberal,” cited his exposure to Sowell, whom he dubbed “our greatest contemporary philosopher,” as a critical factor in his conversion. Whether tackling the “bait and switch media,” the “organized noisemakers,” or the lawless enablers of “social disintegration, Thomas Sowell’s dozens of academic books and thousands of newspaper columns have sparked generations of his readers across the political spectrum to think independently and challenge imposed visions. ASKED ONCE how he would like to be remembered, Sowell responded: “Oh, heavens, I’m not sure I want to be particularly remembered. I would like the ideas that I’ve put out there to be remembered.” Mission accomplished. Though it has been decades since he taught in a formal classroom, his students are legion. Thank you, Professor Sowell.

January 4, 2017 DEMOCRATS: December 23, 2016

Dems care about power, not about Russian hacking

sn’t it interesting that it took an electoral barnyard beat-down to get the Democrats interested in Russian hacking? A drubbing by Donald Trump has done wonders to focus their minds. How ironic that Democrats became apoplectic about Trump’s alleged coziness with Russia during the campaign when they’ve been Russia’s apologists for years. They are the ones (through Sen. Ted Kennedy) who clandestinely asked the Russians for help to beat Ronald Reagan in 1984. They are the ones who lambasted GOP 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney for being too tough on Russia. They are the ones (through President Obama) who secretly conspired to “have more flexibility” to negotiate with Russia on missile defense once Obama was re-elected. They are the ones who promised to “reset” U.S. relations with Russia. BUT WHEN it was expedient to discredit Trump during the campaign over his favorable comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin, they pretended to fear that Trump would collude with the evil Putin should Trump be elected. A resetting of U.S.-Russian relations looked ominous all of a sudden. It became even more alarming after Trump won the election and announced he would appoint Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. In case you haven’t heard, Tillerson has a personal relationship with Putin, and Democrats feigned concern that this

Though they’ve failed to upset the could lead to the Trump administration’s selling the U.S. down the river — kind integrity of our democratic institutions of like what Obama was planning on do- — having fallen flat in their recount efforts — they’ve now turned to delegitiing with missile flexibility. But Hillary Clinton’s defeat is what mizing Trump and his presidency behas them most exercised. They’ve obvi- fore it has even begun. Call it a reverse ously come to expect their party’s per- honeymoon. How convenient for them manent investiture in the Oval Office, that Trump made a and they were few positive comshellshocked at ments about Putin the trouncing they during the camtook — not just paign that they at the presiden(c) 2017, Creators Syndicate can leverage to tial level but all the way up and down federal and state prove there is really something beballots. In this case, pride certainly pre- tween Putin and Trump, which allegedly prompted Putin to interfere in our ceded the fall. Surely, you’re not too old to remem- election to help elect Trump. They have no proof, mind you, but ber their hand-wringing when Trump complained the election was rigged — proof is hardly necessary when you their outrage that a presidential candi- have the liberal media at the ready to date would undermine the integrity of manipulate facts to advance a false narour “democratic institutions” and the rative that will benefit the Democratic orderly and peaceful transition of pow- Party’s cause. er? INDEED, ANOTHER striking iroLo and behold, as they are wont to do, the Democrats quickly engaged in ny has unfolded before our eyes. Demthe very activity for which they ma- ocrats are outraged that Russians, by ligned Trump, but the difference was allegedly hacking only the Democratthat unlike Trump, they didn’t just talk ic National Committee and exposing about it; they did it. They launched re- Democrats’ corruption and deceit, macount efforts and even tried to pressure nipulated our electoral process through presidential electors to abandon Trump the selective publication of facts. But in their last-ditch efforts to reclaim the isn’t that exactly what the liberal meexecutive branch — which they will dia have been doing for the Democratic need to do if they want to impose their Party for years? Republicans don’t doubt that Ruswill on the American people through sia tried to hack the DNC and other lawless executive action again.

David

Limbaugh

Democratic-related organizations. They know that the Russians and other foreign governments are incessantly trying to hack into American business and political institutions and that they’ve been successful more often than we’d like to admit. But before they lost this election, you couldn’t get the Democrats’ attention on Russian hacking. “Russia’s cyberattacks are no surprise to the House Intelligence Committee, which has been closely monitoring Russia’s belligerence for years,” said the committee’s chairman, Devin Nunes, in a statement. “As I’ve said many times, the Intelligence Community has repeatedly failed to anticipate Putin’s hostile actions. Unfortunately the Obama administration, dedicated to delusions of ‘resetting’ relations with Russia, ignored pleas by numerous Intelligence Committee members to take more forceful action against the Kremlin’s aggression. It appears, however, that after eight years the administration has suddenly awoken to the threat.” The Washington Examiner’s Byron York reports that Republicans don’t doubt that the Russians tried to hack the U.S. political process, because they try to hack everything. But Republicans don’t believe that the Russians’ motive necessarily was to sway the election in Trump’s favor. The Russians didn’t take Trump’s candidacy seriously and assumed Clinton would be the next president. Their goal was to expose her as deceitful and corrupt and, in so doing, reveal the United States as something other than the pristine power it holds itself out to be. “The number-one thing Russians seek to do is to sow doubt about the United States,” writes York. It wasn’t that the Russians didn’t try to hack the Republican Party and its institutions, as well. They just didn’t succeed. The Democrats don’t care about Russian cyberwarfare except when it threatens their power. The Democrats know the country’s mood has shifted from Democratic malaise to Republican optimism. Like everyone else, they feel this buoyancy, and they’re horrified that Trump may make decisive policy changes in his first 100 days in office, including a repeal and replacement of Obamacare and an introduction of tax and regulatory reform, and an implementation of border security measures. THEY SIMPLY cannot tolerate this, so they will do everything they can to discredit Trump — hoping that what they can’t stop at the ballot box, they can prevent through distorting the narrative by selective dissemination of the facts. Don’t ever forget that projection is their stock in trade.

Conservative Chronicle

LOOKING BACK: December 27, 2016

Random thoughts — looking back

ny honest man, looking back on a very long life, must admit — even if only to himself — being a relic of a bygone era. Having lived long enough to have seen both “the greatest generation” that fought World War II and the gratingest generation that we see all around us today, makes being a relic of the past more of a boast than an admission. Not everything in the past was admirable. Poet W.H. Auden called the 1930s “a low dishonest decade.” So were the 1960s, which launched many of the trends we are experiencing so painfully today. Some of the fashionable notions of the 1930s reappeared in the 1960s, often using the very same discredited words and producing the same disastrous consequences.

THE OLD ARE not really smarter than the young, in terms of sheer brainpower. It is just that we have already made the kinds of mistakes that the young are about to make, and we have already suffered the consequences that the young are going to suffer, if they disregard the record of the past. If you want to understand the fatal dangers facing America today, read “The Gathering Storm” by Winston Churchill. The book is not about America, the Middle East or nuclear missiles. But it shows Europe’s attitudes and delusions — aimed at peace in the years before the Second World War — which instead ended up bringing on that most terrible war in all of human history. Black adults, during the years when I was growing up in Harlem, had far less education than black adults today — but far more common sense. In an age of artificial intelligence, too many of our schools and colleges are producing artificial stupidity, among both blacks and whites. The first time I traveled across the Atlantic Ocean, as the plane flew into the skies over London I was struck by the thought that, in these skies, a thousand British fighter pilots fought off Hitler’s air force and saved both Britain and Western civilization. But how many students today will have any idea of such things, with history being neglected in favor of politically correct rhetoric? You cannot live a long life without having been forced to change your mind many times about people and things — including in some cases, your whole view of the world. Those who glorify the young today do them a great disservice, when this sends inexperienced young people out into the world cocksure about things on which they have barely scratched the surface. In my first overseas trip, I was struck by blatantly obvious differences in behavior among different groups, such as

people, in a world where gross vulgarity is widespread and widely accepted. Back when I taught at UCLA, I was constantly amazed at how little so many students knew. Finally, I could no longer restrain myself from asking a student the question that had long puzzled me: “What were you doing for the last 12 years before you got here?” Reading about the decline and THERE ARE words that were once the Roman Empire, common, but which are seldom heard fall of and the widespread any more. The retrogressions of phrase “none of Western civilization your business” is that followed, was one of these. Toan experience that day, everything (c) 2017, Creators Syndicate was sobering, if seems to be the government’s business or the media’s not crushing. Ancient history in general business. And the word “risque” would lets us know how long human beings be almost impossible to explain to young have been the way they are, and dampthe Malays and the Chinese in Malaysia — and wondered why scholars who were far more well-traveled than I was seemed not to have noticed such things, and to have resorted to all sorts of esoteric theories to explain why some groups earned higher incomes than others.

Thomas

Sowell

ens giddy zeal for the latest panaceas, despite how politically correct those panaceas may be. When I was growing up, we were taught the stories of people whose inventions and scientific discoveries had expanded the lives of millions of other people. Today, students are being taught to admire those who complain, denounce and demand. THE FIRST column I ever wrote, 39 years ago, was titled “The Profits of Doom.” This was long before Al Gore made millions of dollars promoting global warming hysteria. Back in 1970, the prevailing hysteria was the threat of a new ice age — promoted by some of the same environmentalists who are promoting global warming hysteria today.

CHRISTMAS: December 22, 2016

America at Christmas

hat if Christmas is a core value of belief in a personal God who lived among us and His freely given promise of eternal salvation that no believer should reject or apologize for? What if Christmas is the rebirth of Christ in the hearts of all believers? What if Christmas is the potential rebirth of Christ in every heart that will have Him, whether a believer or not? What if Jesus Christ was born about 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem? What if He is true God and true man? What if this is a mystery and a miracle? What if this came about as part of God’s plan for the salvation of all people? What if Jesus was sent into the world to atone for our sins by offering Himself as a sacrifice? What if He was sinless? What if His life was the most critical turning point in human history? What if the reason we live is that He died?

WHAT IF after He died, He rose from the dead? What if He was murdered by the government because it feared a revolt if it did not murder Him? What if the government thought He was crazy when He said He is a king but His kingdom is not of this world? What if He was not crazy but divine? What if when He said that He could forgive sins, He was referring to Himself as God? What if He is one of the three parts of a triune God? What if this is an inexplicable mystery? What if there is no power without mystery? What if the power He possessed, He exercised only for the good? What if He truly gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, musculature to the lame, hope to the disillusioned, courage to the weak and even life to the dead?

What if He freely did these things but sought no acclamation for them? What if after each of these miracles, He disappeared into the temple precincts or walked well past the crowd, lest the crowd hail him as a temporal or secular leader? What if there was in that towering personality a deep thread of shyness? What if He was shy about His Godness? What if He was shy about His goodness? What if He loved saving us? What if He was joyful but did not want us to see His joy?

Andrew

WHAT IF He knew all along how profoundly untimely and utterly painful the end of His life on earth would be but He neither feared nor avoided it? What if His greatest display of love was selfrestraint on the Cross? What if most of the world that He came to save has rejected Him? What if He still loves those who have rejected Him? What if He still offers them salvation? What if His offer is real and forever? What if many folks today have rejected the true God for government-asgod? What if the government-as-god has set itself up as providing for all secular needs in return for fidelity to it? What if this seductive offer has been accepted by millions in America? What if the acceptance of this seductive offer of government-as-god has ruined individual initiative, destroyed personal work ethic, fostered cancerous laziness, enhanced deep poverty and impelled thoughtless obedience

to government in those who have accepted it? What if the defiance inherent in the belief of government-as-god chills the exercise of personal freedoms for fear of the loss of the government’s munificence? What if government charity is really munificence with money it has taken from those who work and earn it? What if it’s then given to those who don’t? What if it is impossible to be truly charitable with someone else’s money? What if Jesus came to set us free from the yoke of government oppression and the chains of personal sin? What if freedom is our birthright, given to us by the true God, not by the governmentas-god? What if the true God made us in His own image and likeness? What if the most similar likeness between us mortals and the true God is freedom? What if just as God is perfectly free, so are we perfectly free? What if we have failed to preserve freedom and have permitted governments to take it from us? What if we are not full people without full freedom? What if the world was full of darkness before He came into it? What if there is darkness still today but yet much light? What if we recognize that He is the Light of the World? What if Christmas is the birthday of the Son of God and the Son of Mary? What if we recognize the presence of the Son of God and the Son of Mary in our hearts and among us? What if the God-as-baby whose birthday we celebrate is the Savior of the World? What if we don’t mask this but live it? WHAT IF we say with our hearts and mean with our words — Merry Christmas?

January 4, 2017 KWANZAA: December 23, 2016

Happy Kwanzaa! The holiday brought to you by the FBI

wanzaa, celebrated exclu- Black Panthers next week because I am sively by white liberals, is Kwanzaa-reform, and we are not that a fake holiday invented in observant.) 1966 by black radical/FBI stooge, Ron It’s as if David Duke invented a holiKarenga — aka Dr. Maulana Karenga, day called “Anglika,” which he based founder of United Slaves, the violent on the philosophy of “Mein Kampf” nationalist rival to the Black Panthers. — and clueless public school teachers In the annals of the American ‘60s, began celebrating the made-up, racist Karenga was the Father Gapon, stooge holiday. of the czarist police. Whether Karenga In what was was a willing FBI ultimately a fooldupe, or just a dupe, ish gambit, durremains unclear. ing the madness In the category of the ‘60s, the of the-gentleman(c) 2017, Ann Coulter FBI encouraged doth-protest-toothe most extreme much, back in the black nationalist organizations in order ‘70s, Karenga was quick to criticize to discredit and split the left. The more Nigerian newspapers that claimed that preposterous the group, the better. (It’s certain American black radicals were the same function Madonna and Martin CIA operatives. Karenga publicly deSheen serve today.) nounced the idea, saying, “Africans must stop generalizing about the loyBY THAT criterion, Karenga’s alties and motives of Afro-Americans, United Slaves was perfect. including the widespread suspicion of Despite modern perceptions that black Americans being CIA agents.” blend all the black activists of the ‘60s, In a 1995 interview with Ethnic the Black Panthers did not hate whites. NewsWatch, Karenga matter-of-factAlthough some of their most high-pro- ly explained that the forces out to get file leaders were drug dealers and mur- O.J. Simpson for the “framed” murder derers, they did not seek armed revolu- of two whites included: “The FBI, the tion. CIA, the State Department, Interpol, Those were the precepts of Karen- the Chicago Police Department” and ga’s United Slaves. The United Slaves so on. Karenga should know about FBI were proto-fascists, walking around infiltration. (He further noted that the in dashikis, gunning down Black Pan- evidence against O.J. did not “eliminate thers and adopting invented “African” unreasonable doubt” — an interesting names. (I will not be shooting any standard of proof.)

Ann

Coulter

Now we know: The FBI fueled the bloody rivalry between the Panthers and United Slaves. In one barbarous outburst, Karenga’s United Slaves shot two Black Panthers to death on the UCLA campus: Al “Bunchy” Carter and John Huggins. Karenga himself served time, a useful stepping-stone for his current position as a black studies professor at California State University at Long Beach. (Speaking of which, Rep. Paul Ryan certainly is right about what a fantastic job his mentor Jack Kemp did reaching out to all those “socially conservative” minorities. Look at how California has swung decisively to the right since Kemp started all that outreach stuff. Good luck winning California now, Democrats!) BACK TO the esteemed Cal State professor: Karenga’s invented holiday is a nutty blend of schmaltzy ‘60s rhetoric, black racism and Marxism. The seven principles of Kwanzaa are the very same seven principles of the Symbionese Liberation Army, another invention of The Worst Generation.

In 1974, Patty Hearst, kidnap victimcum-SLA revolutionary, posed next to the banner of her alleged captors, a seven-headed cobra. Each snakehead stood for one of the SLA’s revolutionary principles: Umoja, Kujichagulia, Ujima, Ujamaa, Nia, Kuumba and Imani. These are the exact same seven “principles” of Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa praises collectivism in every possible area of life — economics, work, personality, even litter removal. (“Kuumba: Everyone should strive to improve the community and make it more beautiful.”) It takes a village to raise a police snitch. When Karenga was asked to distinguish Kawaida, the philosophy underlying Kwanzaa, from “classical Marxism,” he essentially said that, under Kawaida, we also hate whites. (And here’s something interesting: Kawaida, Kwanzaa and Kuumba are also the only three Kardashian sisters not to have their own shows on the E! network.) While taking the “best of early Chinese and Cuban socialism” — excluding, one hopes, the mass murder, forced abortions, imprisonment of homosexuals and forced labor — Karenga said Kawaida practitioners believe one’s racial identity “determines life conditions, life chances and self-understanding.” There’s an inclusive philosophy for you! Kwanzaa was the result of a ‘60s psychosis grafted onto the black community. Liberals have become so mesmerized by multicultural gibberish that they have forgotten the real history of Kwanzaa and Karenga’s United Slaves — the violence, the Marxism, the insanity. Most absurdly, for leftists anyway, they have forgotten the FBI’s tacit encouragement of this murderous black nationalist cult founded by the father of Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa emerged not from Africa, but from the FBI’s COINTELPRO. Sing to “Jingle Bells”: Kwanzaa bells, dashikis sell Whitey has to pay; Burning, shooting, oh what fun On this made-up holiday! ONLY WHITE liberals take Kwanzaa seriously. American blacks celebrate Christmas. Merry Christmas, fellow Christians!

Conservative Chronicle

DONALD TRUMP: December 27, 2016

Trump, the great communicator on Twitter

ow did it happen that a man we were told could not possibly be nominated, let alone elected, is about to take the oath of office as the 45th president of the United States? Part of the reason is that Donald Trump spoke to a set of hot-button issues (immigration and trade) that no other Republican was willing to touch, and those issues resonated with thousands of Americans who had previously voted for Obama. But even with the right issues and a brilliant slogan, “Make America Great Again,” Donald Trump still had to bypass the mainstream media in order to speak directly to the American people, as Ronald Reagan did a generation earlier. FOR THE BENEFIT of Americans too young to remember, Reagan was called the “Great Communicator” because he effectively used television to connect directly with voters. Reagan frequently won people over with a folksy story or a perfectly timed joke, like the way he deflected a hostile question about his age during the final presidential debate by leaving everyone, even his opponent, in congenial uproarious laughter. Having grown up in the construction industry, Trump uses a blunt and caustic style that is the direct opposite of Reagan’s affable avuncularity. But Trump has mastered the art of the tweet, sending out very short messages on Twitter, which provides an effective way to connect directly with the public.

Consider the tweet he sent out just before Christmas: “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.” The media thundered in outrage, claiming the tweet endangered national security and could spark a new Cold War with Russia. But Vladimir Putin, who controls Russia’s nuclear weapons, dismissed the tweet as “nothing out of the ordinary” because Trump had already promised many times to rebuild U.S. military forces. Most foreign leaders, whether they are friends or adversaries, respect a President who says what he means and means what he says. Limited to 140 characters (20 to 25 words), Twitter would not have been much help to Reagan, but it has been a perfect fit for Trump’s blunt candor. Trump has a genuine style on Twitter and his voice comes through loud and clear in that medium, as authentic as Reagan’s mastery of speaking on camera. Effective use of Twitter requires an economy of style and expression comparable to a great bumper sticker, such as “If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.” Phyllis Schlafly, a master of political communication herself, emphasized the value of honing her message to an effective sound bite, presenting “more facts in fewer words” than other conservatives. A good example of Trump’s mastery of the media happened in November when a student at tiny Hampshire Col-

lege in Amherst, Massachusetts burned the American flag to protest the election results, and the liberal college president responded by removing our flag from its place of honor on campus. More than 1,000 veterans gathered to protest that cowardly response, but the incident drew little national attention until Trump unloaded a tweet: “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag — if they do, there must be consequences — perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!” THE MEDIA jumped on Trump with a fierce intensity, keeping the story alive for days, until they realized Trump was being helped, not hurt by

their criticism. Most Americans agree with Trump’s opinion even if a divided Supreme Court ruled otherwise. Even Obama’s press secretary weighed in, saying Trump should submit himself to “skeptical questioning from an independent news media” at a formal press conference with its built-in advantages for the liberal media. As skillful as Reagan was, at times he struggled with rude reporters repeatedly trying to trip him up. Instead of taking the media bait, Trump lobs Twitter bombs like this one, two weeks ago: “Just watched @NBCNightlyNews — So biased, inaccurate and bad, point after point. Just can’t get much worse, although @CNN is right up there!” He doesn’t spare the late-night shows, either: “Just tried watching Saturday Night Live — unwatchable! Totally biased, not funny and the Baldwin impersonation just can’t get any worse. Sad.” When the media feel compelled to report President-elect Trump’s tweets, repeating his own unfiltered words, it means he and not they control the daily news cycle. When they have to interrupt their own agenda to report how politicians and pundits respond to what Trump just said, media-created stories get lost in the shuffle. WITHOUT PRESS conferences, liberals have difficulty setting the agenda for a Republican president. The first President Bush held three times as many press conferences in four years as his predecessor Ronald Reagan did in eight, and the outcome was a disastrous defeat in 1992. Americans do not want a president whose agenda is set by the press corps in Washington, D.C. John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) whose 27th book, “The Conservative Case for Trump,” was published posthumously on September 6.

January 4, 2017 BARACK OBAMA: December 24, 2016

I want Obama to stay around when he leaves office

disagree with Alexander Hamilton’s view of “central government” for a plethora of reasons, not least of which, it is my contention that he is responsible for enabling the federal government to operate outside of its means. With that said as a caveat, I will say his maxim that “When presidents leave office, they should leave the country as well, or else they will haunt like ghosts the new ones,” is unimpeachable. Especially when it comes to Democrat presidents we have witnessed. But in the case of Obama, I’m willing to make an exception. I WANT Obama to linger around like the stain on American history that he has been. My motivations for same are so that he can have his nose rubbed in the success of a true leader, the way some used to rub a dog’s nose in it’s feces to teach it the error of its ways when house-breaking them.

During his 2008 campaign Obama person you just mentioned who I’m not had boasted of creating “shovel ready” going to advertise for, that he’s going jobs. But when questioned pursuant to to bring all these jobs back, well how the absence of same in June of 2011, he, exactly are you going to do that? What going to do? There’s — as only he would, glibly gave the yel- are you no answer to it. He low-toothed sneer he is known for, and there’s just says, ‘Well, I’m said: “[I guess] going to negotiate shovel-ready was a better deal.’ Well, not as shovel how — what — ready as we exhow exactly are pected.” And (c) 2017, Mychal Massie you going to nethen, as if with admiration for what he viewed as a gotiate that? What magic wand do you clever remark, he along with his “jobs have? And usually, the answer is he creation” advisors, mockingly laughed doesn’t have an answer.” at the questioner. I WANT Obama to be here so he can I want Obama around so that he can be reminded of his tortured attempt to see more companies like Carrier and mock President-Elect Donald Trump, Ford decide to stay here. I want him to when Eric Cottonham representing see more Chinese billionaires invest in Steelworkers Union, Local 1999 asked job creation in America. I want him to him about keeping jobs here. Obama see more companies like IBM lay out said: “When somebody says, like the plans to hire 25,000 in the U.S. I want

Mychal

Massie

TRUMP PRESIDENCY: December 26, 2016

The conventional threat to Trump

onald Trump was supposed to take over the Republican Party, but the question going forward will be whether the Republican Party takes over him. So far the early legislative agenda of Republicans after the Trump revolution is shaping up to be what you would have expected prior to the Trump revolution. It’s a cookie-cutter GOP program that any Republican who ran for president in the past 40 years would feel comfortable signing, with its prospective centerpiece being another round of acrossthe-board tax cuts.

IT’S NOT THAT Trump didn’t campaign on all of this over the past year. His candidacy combined utterly conventional Republican positions with a few signature policy heterodoxies and a flame-throwing populist message. If it’s comforting that he doesn’t seem intent on waging war on his own party in Washington, the opposite risk is that he loses some of his political distinctiveness in the grinding legislative wars to come. This is why the Democratic approach to Trump so far, besides being insane, is wrongheaded. The Democrats are preparing to fight what they consider a kleptocratic handmaiden of Vladimir Putin, an unprecedented threat to the American republic that justifies cockamamie schemes like calling for the Electoral College to ignore the results of the election. There is no doubt that Trump is unlike any prior president. But Democrats will in all likelihood find their oppo-

sition to Trump running in a familiar rut — Republicans are heartless tools of corporations and the wealthy. They don’t care if people lose their health insurance. They are cutting taxes for the rich. They are deregulating bankers. Etc., etc. This is the critique that Hillary Clinton didn’t make of Trump, opting instead to emphasize his outlandishness. In this vein, liberals are now resisting “normalizing” Trump, when they should be perfectly content to normalize him — specifically, to make him a normal Republican.

Rich

IT’S POSSIBLE to see the case already building. The candidate who issued thunderous jeremiads during the campaign against a globalized elite that had literally stolen from small-town America has assembled a Cabinet that by and large could have been put together by Ted Cruz, or for that matter, Mitt Romney. Then there’s the congressional agenda. The early indications are that Republicans will pass a partial repeal of Obamacare out of the gate that could further destabilize the law’s rickety exchanges and lead to people losing their insurance. Next, congressional Republicans want to move on to large-scale tax re-

form. The starting point will likely be House Speaker Paul Ryan’s already well-developed plan for across-theboard income-tax cuts and a lower corporate tax rate. For all its merit, Ryan’s reform could have been incubated by any conservative think tank before anyone imagined Trump might run for president, let alone win. What’s the point in having a populist Republican in the White House if congressional Republicans can’t find a way to couple some replacement measures with their Obamacare repeal to give people other options for getting health insurance? Or if congressional Republicans can’t make their tax plan more oriented toward the middle class, perhaps including a cut in payroll taxes? All of this is subject to change, and Trump can potentially blow up the bestlaid plans of congressional Republicans with one tweet. Of course, Trump will be heard from on infrastructure, trade and immigration, where he is in a different place than much of his party. Neither wing of the GOP may like it, but the Reaganites and the populists are now in an uneasy alliance. It behooves the champions of a highly traditional Republican platform to think about what Trump’s victory means and to be more mindful than in the past of the interests of working-class voters. And it behooves Trump the firebrand to consider the responsibilities of governing. THERE IS a balance to be struck. The Republican establishment may welcome a more “normal” Trump, but so, in the end, will Democrats.

him to see more Mexican companies offer to help build the border wall. I want Obama to stay around so he can watch President Trump reduce the size of government and reduce government spending, which is in reality reducing the burden of taxpayers. President-Elect Trump’s fiscal prowess is already on display as we see with Air Force One and Fighter Jets. I want Obama to stay around so that he can personally witness President Trump institute change Americans want, expect, and deserve. Obama’s idea of change is cross-genderism on the battlefield and men in girls’ bathrooms. President-Elect Trump views change as better schools, cheaper more plentiful energy, health care that we can afford and the right to make our own decisions on providers by increasing competition in the insurance marketplace. I want Obama to stay around so he can see our military supporting and applauding a President Trump juxtaposed to disrespecting and attacking him as Obama encouraged them to do. I want Obama to stick around and “Speak out against [President] Trump” as he has boasted he would do if he thinks President Trump’s “policies breach certain values or ideals.” American “values” and “ideals” are not stabbing Israel in the back by orchestrating betrayal vis-a`vis a United Nations resolution. And I want “Judas” Obama front and center in public view when President Trump works with Israel overturning the resolution. I want Obama to understand that when we elected Donald J. Trump, We the People of America rejected him and everything he stood for and represented. In 2012 Obama listed his accomplishments as ending “Don’t ask, don’t tell” which effectively paved the way as a “welcome mat” for every known perversion to infest our military. In 2012 he claimed as an accomplishment that he was allowing women greater access to birth control, which simply meant attempting to remove all restraints to protect unborn babies. His Obamacare is the great disaster that Hillary’s health-care program would have been had she been able to institute it back in 1993. That’s right, I want Obama to stay around because his arrogant narcissism will compel him to inject himself into every dialogue — pontificating pursuant to what he did and what he would do if he were in office. AND WHEN he does I, and others will be right there reminding America and the world that Obama is dishonest lout and race-baiter who’s failed record as White House occupant earned him total repudiation.

Conservative Chronicle

CHARLIE SYKES: December 23, 2016

One man’s impact: Charlie Sykes of Wisconson

n Dec. 19, radio host Charlie Sykes completed his last broadcast for WTMJ in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His last hours on the air were adorned with encomia from some of the leading figures his show had helped to incubate: Reince Preibus, Scott Walker, Ron Johnson and Paul Ryan, among many others. For three and a half hours every day for 23 years, Wisconsinites got the Charlie Sykes catechism: Free markets, rule of law, school reform, free speech (and anti-politicalcorrectness) and strong families. The policy meal was substantial and nourishing, but that didn’t mean the taste was bland. Sykes delivered information with just the right soupcon of humor and entertainment, and, of course, a hearty serving of Green Bay Packers hits. ALONG WITH five other conservative talk radio hosts, and with the help of the Bradley Foundation (whose headquarters are in Milwaukee), Sykes helped to create a climate of opinion in Wisconsin that led to actual policy results. With the steady, smart, daily spadework of persuasion, Sykes opened his microphones to conservative reformers in politics, education and the courts. Long before the “blue wall” crumbled in the 2016 electoral map, Charlie Sykes had been scaling the ramparts of Wisconsin’s entrenched liberal fortresses. It wasn’t all smooth sailing. Sykes regrets the boost he gave to Sheriff David Clarke, calling him his “Frankenstein monster.” And there were election setbacks. “After 2008,” he recalled, “I told people that conservatives were going to be invisible for a while. But, with time, our ideas would be back.” It didn’t take long. In 2010, Republican Scott Walker won the governorship, and improbably enough, egghead Ron Johnson (heavily promoted by the Charlie Sykes radio show) defeated Russ Feingold for the U.S. Senate. Paul Ryan was a frequent guest on Sykes’ air as well as on a Sunday TV show Sykes hosted. Ryan honed his message on the Charlie Sykes show. When many conservative talk radio hosts were finding that denouncing Republicans got more purchase than conservative reform ideas, Sykes stuck with substance. He beat the drum for Act 10 in Wisconsin, which limited collective bargaining by public employee unions and got state budget outlays under better control. A donnybrook followed. The 14 Democratic members of the state senate actually fled the state to Illinois to prevent the senate from voting, and the state capital was the scene of sit-ins and drum circles. Sykes provided pungent and lively analysis. He was there, manning the microphone, during Gov. Scott Walker’s recall fight in 2012 as well, and drew attention to the abuse of power during the John Doe investigations —

ment.” Another suggested “productivity” (as in, you cannot force employers to pay workers more than their productive capacity allows without damaging the businesses beyond repair). Sykes submitted that “automation” was the word he had in mind vis-a-vis fast-food workers. The unintended consequence ON A RECENT show, one of his last, of increasing the minimum wage would courage fast-food resSykes reported to listeners about attend- be to entaurants to switch to ing a Bernie Sanders speech. Ticking iPad ordering. off Sanders’ juveIn April, Sykes nile proposals and made national incomplete undernews when Donald standing of basic (c) 2017, Creators Syndicate Trump, clearly economics, Sykes unaware that described Sanders’ call for a minimum-wage increase Sykes was a stalwart anti-Trumper, apto $15 per hour for maids who clean peared for an interview. It’s impossible toilets in hotels and fast food workers. to say to what degree the Wisconsin “Why,” Sykes demanded, “is that not a talk-radio ecosystem affected the presigood idea? What word did you not hear dential primary, but the state turned out to be the last hurrah for the anti-Trump in Sanders’ reasoning?” Callers were prompt with sugges- forces. Wisconsin Republicans were not tions. One woman offered “unemploy- Ted Cruz fans, but they rallied to him in two other crucial victories for the right. While Sykes was driving the discussion, Wisconsin adopted far-reaching school-choice programs, became a right-to-work state and eliminated the prevailing wage for most public works projects (saving taxpayers money).

Mona

Charen

large numbers to stop Trump. “I hoped it would be a firewall,” Sykes reflects now, “but it turned out to be a speed bump.” Trump’s victory and the changes in the audience he felt during the campaign left Sykes feeling “excommunicated” from the church of Republicanism (though he had decided before the election to give up his daily show). He’s writing a book and thinking through what happened. “I figured conservatives would be in the wilderness for a while after the election,” he notes. “I didn’t realize it would be on a small, desert island.” WE SHALL SEE. The Trump presidency may be the train wreck for conservative principles that many feared, or it may veer in a genuinely conservative/ reformist direction. If the latter, it will be steered by the Wisconsin standouts — Priebus, Ryan, Walker and Johnson — that Charlie Sykes helped to launch.

HEALTH CARE: December 21, 2016

A life and death choice

oing to a hospital is taking your life in your hands. New research shows patients treated at the worst hospitals are three times as likely to die as patients with the same health problem treated at the best hospitals. Yet most people pick a hospital based on convenience, a friend’s recommendation or where their doctor practices. In fact, your doctor won’t even be treating you. An in-house physician called a “hospitalist” who has never met you will take over. That’s why you need to find out which hospital has a track record of success in treating your problem. ACCORDING TO the new research, getting the facts on hospital quality is especially important if you have heart problems. Go to the wrong hospital with a heart attack — what doctors call an acute myocardial infarction — and your risk of survival is cut by more than half. Also beware of huge differences in patient safety. Research shows that patients have a 10 times higher risk of getting a bloodstream infection at certain hospitals. If you live on New York’s Upper East Side and need bypass surgery or a new heart valve, where do you go? Mount Sinai Hospital is rated eighth in the nation in cardiology and heart surgery, according to U.S. News & World Report. That website rates hospitals all across the nation, and it’s free.

Consumer’s Checkbook, also gives Mount Sinai a top rating — five stars — for bypass and valve surgery. That’s a far cry from ANOTHER Upper East Side hospital, Lenox Hill, which gets only average scores from U.S. News for valve and bypass surgery, and only one star from Consumer’s Checkbook. On the other hand, Lenox Hill gets five stars for gall bladder surgery. It pays to know what type of care you need. If you’re in Los Angeles and develop heart problems, you’re likely better off at Cedars-Sinai Medical Cen-

Betsy

ter, rated 10th in the nation in cardiology by U.S. News, rather than St. Vincent’s Medical Center, which gets below average marks for heart valve and bypass surgery. WHAT ABOUT suburban hospitals? Stamford Hospital and Greenwich Hospital, both in Connecticut, are considered “high performing” by U.S. News for treating heart failure and COPD. Greenwich gets far better ratings for hip replacement surgery than Stamford, but still isn’t tops. Back in the city, look at Hospital for Special Surgery, rated No. 1 in the nation for orthopedics. Stamford and Greenwich hospitals earn A ratings from Leapfrog, which

grades hospitals on patient safety. As many as 440,000 patients a year die in the U.S. from medical errors, injuries, and infections caused by the hospital. Yikes. Yet New York City’s most prestigious medical centers get only C grades for safety. Hospitals in cities like Boston, Hartford and Chicago do far better. Check Leapfrog’s safety grades, too, if you’re having a baby, because safety is important. Rating sites don’t grade hospitals specifically for childbirth. Even if you’re anticipating an uncomplicated birth, make sure the hospital has a NICU — neonatal intensive care unit — for special medical care. Also consider the nurse-to-patient ratio and whether you can get a private room for a good night’s sleep. Aside from happy moments of childbirth, being hospitalized is generally stressful. Even worse once you discover your doctor is AWOL. About three quarters of hospitals now use hospitalists, doctors paid by hospitals to supervise patient care. The upside is hospitalists are on-site. The downside is they don’t know you from Adam or your medical history, and can’t provide continuity of care once you leave the hospital. ALL THE MORE reason to choose your hospital carefully. But unfortunately, Obamacare plans don’t allow you that choice. Many of the plans force you into just one hospital in your region. Whatever comes after Obamacare should guarantee patients more hospital choices. Your life could depend on it.

January 4, 2017 ECONOMY: December 24, 2016

Great transition, but the economy needs attention now

resident-elect Donald Trump’s folks have no need to steal or engage in transition continues to go corruption. Their business success demsmoothly. Actually, better than onstrates that they know how to achieve smoothly — confidently. More than con- goals and convince skeptics that good deals can be made to the benefit of both fidently — transcendently. And to top it all off, the Dow is up sides. Isn’t this just what America needs? And most of these folks aren’t politinine percent since the election, while economic-sensitive small caps have cal. They won’t be afraid to reach across jumped nearly 16 percent. These are the aisle for bipartisan solutions. And that includes Trump himself. signs of Trump confidence. For many years, he Hard-nosed inwas a Democrat — vestment manager just like Reagan, Ray Dalio, foundjust like me. er of Bridgewater In our new Associates and a (c) 2017, Creators Syndicate book, “JFK and nonpolitical guy, expects the Trump years to be as trans- the Reagan Revolution,” Brian Domitroformational as the years of President vic and I explain how the two great proRonald Reagan and Prime Minister Mar- growth tax-cutting presidents — John garet Thatcher. He says the Trump era F. Kennedy, the Democrat, and Ronald could “ignite animal spirits” and “shift Reagan, the Republican — used civility the environment from one that makes and respect to communicate key ideas in profit makers villains with limited power a bipartisan effort that yielded terrific reto one that makes them heroes with sig- sults for American prosperity. So far, this has been the Trump way. nificant power.” Not only has he conducted himself with THAT’S AS good a summary as I great civility — beginning with his Oval Office meeting with President Obama — have found. Since the election, I have argued that but he has also sought an inclusive apthe Barack Obama/Hillary Clinton war proach wherever possible, irrespective of against business will come to an end and party. Yet with less than a month until the that America will once again reward success, not punish it. And while the left has inauguration, it is crucial that Trump emdemonized Trump’s Cabinet appointees bark on immediate bipartisan efforts to as a terrible group of successful business strengthen the economy. It was the numpeople, free-market capitalists such as ber-one election-year issue. And despite myself regard this group as very good strong post-election increases in business and consumer confidence — along with indeed. Why shouldn’t the president surround the stock rally — the economy is weakhimself with successful people? Wealthy ening yet again.

Larry

Kudlow

Measured year-to-year, real gross domestic product is rising only 1.7 percent. Business fixed investment, or BFI, continues to decline. Productivity is flat. Consumer spending has barely risen in the last two months, while both auto production and sales are slumping. Nonfinancial domestic profits have declined year to year for the last six quarters. OF ALL THESE factors, the slump in business fixed investment is the most harmful. If you go back in history across the four long post-war recoveries of the ‘60s, ‘80s and ‘90s, BFI averaged nearly seven percent. In the Obama recovery, BFI was only four percent. Over the past two years, it has been flat.

Using a back-of-the-envelope rule of thumb, if the investment performance of Presidents Kennedy, Reagan and Clinton were in place now, our economy would be growing at three percent rather than two percent — a big difference. That’s why pro-growth tax reform is so important. It is reported that Trump will immediately move to overturn costly Obama regulations, especially on small business. This is good. It will add to growth. But the big decision will be whether to repeal and rewrite Obamacare or enact tax reform as the first order of legislative business. Replacing Obamacare is hugely important, both to improve our health care system and remove the economic drag of its taxing, spending and regulating. But business tax reform — with low marginal corporate rates for large and small companies, easy repatriation and immediate expensing for new investment — will have an enormously positive impact on the weakest part of our economy, namely business investment. That’s where we’ll see three or four percent growth, higher productivity, more and better-paying jobs and fatter family pocketbooks. If there were a way to combine a two-year budget resolution with reconciliation instructions (51 Senate votes) to reform health care and taxes in one full sweep, that would be ideal. However, if tax reform (be it business or individual) comes second and the start dates are postponed until 2018, then businesses and consumers will postpone economic activity. That could make 2017 a much weaker economic story than confidence surveys and the recent stock market suggest. THERE’S A great transition going on, but the economy needs immediate attention. Tax reform is the key.

Conservative Chronicle

FORFEITURES: December 25, 2016

When a house is being accused of a crime

gram, state and local law enforcement can partner with federal authorities in forfeiture and reap up to 80 percent of the proceeds. This is called — more Orwellian newspeak — “equitable sharing.” No crime had been committed in the FOR CHRISTOS and Markela Sourovelis, for whom the worst thing Sourovelises’ house, but the title of the was losing their home, “Room 101” case against them was the Commonwas Courtroom 478 in City Hall. This wealth of Pennsylvania v. 12011 Fern“courtroom’s” name is Orwellian: dale St. Somehow, a crime had been ted by the house. In There was neither judge nor jury in it. commitcivil forfeiture, it There the city govsuffices that propernment enriched erty is suspected itself — more of having been inthan $64 million volved in a crime. in a recent 11-year (c) 2017, Washington Post Writers Group Once seized, the span — by disreproperty’s owners garding due process requirements in order to seize and bear the burden of proving their propsell the property of people who have not erty’s innocence. “Sentence first — verbeen accused, never mind convicted, of dict afterwards,” says the queen in “Alice in Wonderland.” a crime. In Courtroom 478, the prosecutors The Sourovelises’ son, who lived at home, was arrested for selling a small usually assured people seeking to reamount of drugs away from home. Soon claim their property that they would there was a knock on their door by po- not need lawyers. The prosecutors praclice who said, “We’re here to take your ticed semi-extortion, suggesting how house” and “You’re going to be living on people could regain limited control of the street” and “We do this every day.” their property: They could sell it and The Sourovelises’ doors were locked give half the proceeds to the city. The with screws and their utilities were cut “hearings” in Courtroom 478 were ofoff. They had paid off the mortgage on ten protracted over months, and missing their $350,000 home, making it a tempt- even one hearing could result in instant forfeiture. ing target for policing for profit. The Sourovelises were allowed to Nationwide, proceeds from sales of seized property (homes, cars, etc.) go return to their house only after waiving to the seizers. And under a federal pro- their rights to statutory or constitutional

“The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world. ... The worst thing in the world varies from individual to individual.” — George Orwell, “1984”

George

Will

defenses in a future forfeiture action. Such action was forestalled when their case came to the attention of the Institute for Justice, public interest litigators who never received the “You can’t fight city hall” memo. It disentangled the Sourovelises from the forfeiture machine, shut down Courtroom 478, and now is seeking a court ruling to tether this machine to constitutional standards.

but one such person is “very unhappy” with criticisms of it. At a 2015 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on forfeiture abuses, one senator said “taking and seizing and forfeiting, through a government judicial process, illegal gains from criminal enterprises is not wrong,” and neither is law enforcement enriching itself from this. In the manner of the man for whom he soon will work, this senator asserted an unverifiTHERE MIGHT somewhere be a able number: “95 percent” of forfeitures second prominent American who en- involve people who have “done nothing dorses today’s civil forfeiture practices, in their lives but sell dope.” This senator said it should not be more difficult for “government to take money from a drug dealer than it is for a businessperson to defend themselves in a lawsuit.” In seizing property suspected of involvement in a crime, government “should not have a burden of proof higher than in a normal civil case.” IJ’S ROBERT Everett Johnson (http://www.rollcall.com/news/home/ civil-forfeiture-finds-a-champion-commentary) notes that this senator missed a few salient points: In civil forfeiture there usually is no proper “judicial process.” There is no way of knowing how many forfeitures involve criminals because the government takes property without even charging anyone with a crime. The government’s vast prosecutorial resources are one reason it properly bears the burden of proving criminal culpability “beyond a reasonable doubt.” A sued businessperson does not have assets taken until he or she has lost in a trial, whereas civil forfeiture takes property without a trial and the property owner must wage a protracted, complex and expensive fight to get it returned. The Senate Judiciary Committee might want to discuss all this when considering the nominee to be the next attorney general, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions.

January 4, 2017 2016 ELECTION: December 23, 2016

Christmastime advice for pundits and partisans

ow that the 538 electors have voted — and, with only the most minor of exceptions, for the expected candidates — we can marvel at how such a huge difference in public policies can be made by just a few votes, the 77,744 votes by which Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton for the 46 electoral votes in Pa., Mich.and Wis. Trump’s narrow victory means a significantly more conservative Supreme Court, a rollback of Obamacare and reams of regulations, abandonment of policies disfavoring fossil fuel usage — and hundreds of consequences that can only be guessed at.

THIS ISN’T the first time this has happened. If Al Franken had not been ruled the winner of the 2008 U.S. Senate race in Minnesota by 302 votes,

there would have been no 60th vote to 50 percent of the vote. That helps bind push through Obamacare in 2010. And together a disparate country, but it also let’s not start re-litigating the count in emphasizes what divides us. And often neither party gets to 50, Florida in the 2000 presidential race. Our political system is one that pro- as with 15 of the 41 Democratic-Represidential contests duces big policy consequences from publican since 1856 (and one little, even mi50 percent candicroscopic, vote date, Samuel Tilmargins. This has den in 1876, lost been strengthened by one electoral in recent decades (c) 2017, Creators Syndicate vote). by increasing parDemocrats tisan polarization. A half-century ago, political scientists have been especially unhappy this year said we should have one clearly liberal because, like Republicans in 1948, and one clearly conservative party — they had pretty good reason to think they’d win. But Thomas Dewey’s Holand boy, did they get their wish. But binary choices, with sharply lywood celebrity supporters didn’t run varying consequences, tend to be char- ads begging electors to vote against acteristic of two-party politics. And we Harry Truman. Only now has underhave a two-party politics, which incen- standable disappointment led to utter tivizes each party to aim for more than derangement.

Michael

Barone

HEALTH CARE: December 28, 2016

The myth of pre-existing conditions

emocrats are warning that once Obamacare is repealed, people with serious illnesses won’t get health insurance. President Obama says repeal will mean going “back to discriminating against Americans with pre-existing conditions.” That’s fake news. The truth is, every Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act protects people with pre-existing conditions. At the same time, the GOP proposals will rectify Obamacare’s insidious discrimination against healthy people. Obamacare forces the healthy to pay the same premiums as the chronically ill, whose medical costs are 10 times as high, on average. It’s an unavoidable fact that five percent of the population consumes half the nation’s health care.

TO SEE HOW the GOP approach would work, look to Alaska, a state that seized the initiative when healthy consumers rebelled against the cost of their Obamacare plans. In Alaska, the burden of caring for 500 chronically ill patients was making Obamacare unaffordable for all 23,000 Alaskans in the individual market. They were facing 40 percent premium hikes for 2017. To halt the crisis, in June state authorities created a separate “high-risk” pool for the sickest people, with the cost shouldered by all Alaska taxpayers, instead of being thrust on buyers in the individual insurance market. As a result, premiums hikes were kept to single digits for 2017. It’s a microcosm of what congressional Republicans propose for all 50 states.

High-risk pools are not a new idea. Before Obamacare, about 250,000 people a year were denied coverage for health reasons by the major health insurers, and nearly all of them enrolled in high-risk pools in the 35 states that offered them. (Sadly, New York wasn’t one of them, a major reason premiums were so high here.)

Betsy

The ACA established a temporary high-risk pool for people not being served by the state pools in 2010, to help out until the Obamacare exchanges opened. That transitional federal risk pool enrolled another 135,000. SO, IN ALL, as many as 500,000 people across the nation would likely need high-risk pool coverage if Obamacare is repealed. Subsidizing high-risk pools in all 50 states would cost about $16 billion yearly. That figure assumes a per person cost of $32,000 — the same as in the federal transitional risk pool. Congress, take note. Some Republican proposals in Congress only provide for $1 or $2 billion a year for state risk pools. That’s chicken scratch. $16 billion may sound like a fortune, but it’s less than half the $43 billion spent on Obamacare plan subsidies last year. And it’s money far better spent, because it directly helps the sickest among us.

Separate risk pools for the medically needy will stop premiums from skyrocketing in the individual market. Voila! Healthy people will be able to buy coverage at prices that reflect their own expected health needs. So much for the fake news that repealing Obamacare will victimize millions with pre-existing conditions. In fact, in a recent New England Journal of Medicine article, Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber analyzed what provisions of the health law boosted coverage. The lion’s share of the newly covered are on Medicaid, and the rest gained coverage thanks to Obamacare subsidies. What about Obamacare’s ban on insurers considering pre-existing conditions? His article didn’t show it made any difference. In short, almost everyone with preexisting conditions got covered before Obamacare. In all likelihood, they’ll have better insurance after repeal. Most Obamacare plans severely limit choice of hospitals and doctors, excluding specialty hospitals like Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. For a cancer patient, being forced to change health plans and oncologists is a life or death issue.

Christmastime and the holiday season may be a good time to provide some suggestions for how commentators and citizens can go forward at a time when, even more than usual, narrow margins seem to be producing widely different outcomes. ONE SUGGESTION is inspired by social media accounts of how distraught Clinton-supporting parents are explaining Trump’s victory to their disappointed (but probably less distraught) children. And that is to back up and do the explanation the other way. Explain beforehand to your children — or to your friends or just yourself — how a good person could support the candidate you, for good reasons of your own, oppose. What values are other good people trying to advance? Why do they think their choice would be good for the country? Going through this exercise won’t change your mind. But it could change your view. And it also might be a good idea for pundits like me to make a point of doing this more often. Good people do disagree. It’s one of our jobs to understand why. A second suggestion is directed at the punditocracy especially — and maybe to people beyond. And that is that it’s a good time to stop playing team ball. Over much of the past 20 years, there’s been a close alignment between the views of liberal commentators and elected Democrats and those of conservative commentators and elected Republicans. That’s less likely in the near future. There’s clearly a gulf between Trump’s views and those of many conservatives and elected Republicans. And with no incumbent Democratic president, liberals will have no single leader setting an agenda. Back when I started reading about politics, National Review was ambivalent about Richard Nixon, and the New Republic was repeatedly critical of John F. Kennedy. Both magazines did less cheerleading and had more interesting things to say than many counterparts have had lately. Let’s have more of that now. The third suggestion is: Don’t get strung out on process arguments — for example, the recent brouhaha about the Electoral College. Everyone knows that if Trump had a plurality in the popular vote and Clinton a majority of electoral votes, Democrats would have argued that Democratic electors should vote for her. It’s an illustration of one of my long-standing rules of politics: All process arguments are insincere.

THOUGH CONGRESS is divided, Democrats and Republicans should find common ground in reviving and fully funding high-risk pools. They’re an honest way to subsidize care for the ATTENTIVE READERS may obsick. Obamacare used devious methods, ject that I haven’t always followed this spending billions on P.R. to convince the young and healthy to overpay for insur- advice myself. Let me know if I fail to do so going forward. ance. Most Americans weren’t fooled.

Conservative Chronicle

MICK MULVANEY: December 22, 2016

Is the pick for budget director a Stockman redux?

n his 1986 memoirs, “The Triumph of Politics,” David Stockman wrote: “The politicians were wrecking American capitalism. They were turning democratic government into a lavish giveaway auction. They were saddling workers and entrepreneurs with punitive taxation and demoralizing and wasteful regulation.” For the four years he served as President Ronald Reagan’s budget director, Stockman fought for his vision of sustained economic growth and social progress through sound money, lower tax rates and curtailment of federal spending, welfare and subsidies to private interests.

UNFORTUNATELY, HE lost his dream of a true Reagan revolution because many congressional politicians refused to implement the big spending cuts that had to be matched with the big tax cuts. And as he soon figured out, “the Democrats were getting so much Republican help in their efforts to keep the pork barrel flowing and the welfare state intact.” All the Republican Party was willing to fight for, it seems, was more defense spending and lower taxes, even if the numbers didn’t add up in the end. Little has changed today. Yet there is some reason for optimism, as President-elect Donald Trump has just nominated a lawmaker who seems to want to pick up the work just where Stockman left it 30 years ago at the Office of Management and Budget. That guy is Rep. Mick Mulvaney, a South Carolina Republican and a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus. Like Stockman, Mulvaney is an outspoken fiscal hawk who isn’t afraid to fight against the establishment and for spending cuts. Better yet, like Stockman, he isn’t afraid to go after the Republican sacred cow — defense spending. That point is significant in a party whose lawmakers tend to favor military budget increases and oppose reductions no matter how unrealistic the proposals are. Mulvaney has also shown that he isn’t scared to work with Democrats when he has to. For instance, he has a history of teaming up with Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., to go after the beloved Republican practice of keeping war funding (money in the Overseas Contingency Operations account, or OCO) separate from the regular defense budget. As he has pointed out repeatedly, this is nothing more than a budget gimmick to avoid spending caps on military spending. HAVING FEWER budget constraints means there’s a readily available slush fund for Congress. As the nonpartisan nonprofit Taxpayers for

Common Sense documented, “stuffing outfit that extends taxpayer-backed OCO full of the projects in Bahrain, loans to mostly large or state-owned Djibouti, Italy, Oman, Poland and Ni- foreign companies to buy goods from ger as a way to avoid those caps dem- large, politically well-connected Ameronstrates a blatant disregard for fiscal ican companies. responsibility and an unwillingness to He deserves particular credit bemake the hard choices necessary to cause the bank’s main benefiprioritize investciary, Boeing, actuments.” No kidally operates in his ding. district. Stockman, Mulvaney has too, was a fervent also proved to advocate of shut(c) 2017, Creators Syndicate be a great ally in ting down the the fight against cronyism. In fact, he Ex-Im Bank. He wrote: “Export subsifought vigorously against the Export- dies are a mercantilist illusion. ... I had Import Bank of the United States, an long insisted, to any liberal who would listen, that the supply-side revolution

Veronique

de Rugy

would be different from the corrupted opportunism of the organized business groups; that it would go after weak claims like Boeing’s, not just weak clients such as food stamp recipients.” It seems to me that’s what Mulvaney has been trying to do. THERE IS more to say, of course. But I will conclude by admitting that even though I welcome Mulvaney’s nomination wholeheartedly, I also accept the possibility that I will, one day, buy another book by a former budget director about how the pro-spenders and special interests continued to carry the day in Washington.

LESLIE’S TRIVIA BITS: December 23, 2016

Leslie’s Trivia Bits

homas Edison tested his motion picture cameras by staging and filming boxing matches at his studio in West Orange, New Jersey. In June 1894, Mike Leonard and Jack Cushing went six rounds “full of hard fighting, clever hits ... body blows and some slugging.” In September 1894, champ “Gentleman Jim” Corbett squared off against hopeful Peter Courtney. (Corbett claimed all rights to the film. When Edison sold and profited from it, Corbett sued him.) Other boxers that Edison filmed included Bessie and Minnie “the boxing Gordon Sisters” and the boxing cats of “Professor” Harry Welton’s Cat Circus. The Sherlock Holmes story “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” begins on the second morning after Christmas and contains an uncharacteristic error on the part of author Arthur Conan Doyle. A goose’s crop figures into the mystery — the crop being an internal sac that’s part of a bird’s digestive system. Many birds have crops: Pigeons, quail, vultures, chickens and turkeys among them. Unfortunately for this story, domestic geese do not. THE FLUTED ring-shaped Bundt cake pan was introduced in 1950 by the Nordic Ware cookware company of Minnesota in response to a request from the local chapter of the women’s philanthropic group Hadassah. The ladies wanted an updated version of the baking pan traditionally used for the tall, yeasty, ring-shaped cake called kugelhopf — or gugelhopf or kougelhupf — that originated in Germany — or Austria or Alsace. (Spelling and origin are up for debate.) Sales really took off when a Bundt cake recipe took second place in the 1966 Pillsbury Bake-Off. Bundt cake has been a winner ever since. The world’s oldest national park is Bogd Khan Uul Strictly Protected Area

in Mongolia, which became a protected area in 1778 — about 100 years before Yellowstone National Park. It was a nature preserve as long ago as the 16th century, possibly even the 12th century. Situated south of Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar, the park encompasses the sacred Bogd Khan Mountain, a former monastery from the 18th century and the Khurel Togoot Astronomical Observatory. EVERY COUNTRY has its own way of ringing in the new year. In Spain, the place to be is the Puerta del Sol square in Madrid where the clock tower’s 12 chimes at midnight are the official New Year’s Eve countdown. (For those who can’t make it to the capital, the chimes are broadcast on

Leslie

national TV.) Around the turn of the last century, it became customary to eat one grape with every chime of the clock. Las doce uvas de la suerte, or the 12 grapes of luck, ensure good fortune for the 12 months of the new year. One of the last places on earth to welcome in 2017 will be Baker Island, an uninhabited atoll in the Pacific about 2,000 miles from Honolulu. Now a U.S. national wildlife refuge, Baker Island was once the property of the American Guano Company, which mined it for guano (better known as seabird poop) that was used for fertilizer. It’s still a home for seabirds, reptiles and the occasional scientific research team, and because it’s so close to the International Date Line on the Western Hemisphere side, Baker Island will mark the start of

2017 just about 24 hours after Tarawa, Kiribati, one of the first places on earth to see the new year. TRIVIA 1. Which legendary fighter is considered the last of the bare-knuckle heavyweight boxing champions? A) “Gentleman Jim” Corbett B) John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry C) Jack Johnson D) John L. Sullivan 2. Which digestive enzyme produced in the stomach helps digest protein? A) Bile B) Chyme C) Pepsin D) Ptyalin 3. Yellowcake is an oxide produced during the processing of what type of ore? A) Gold B) Iron C) Tungsten D) Uranium 4. Which country is landlocked between Spain and France? A) Andorra B) Liechtenstein C) Swaziland D) Switzerland 5. “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen” is the opening line of what 20th-century novel? A) “Brave New World” B) “Fahrenheit 451” C) “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” D) “Nineteen Eighty-four” 6. The NCAA Hobey Baker Memorial Award is presented to the year’s outstanding male player in which collegiate sport? A) Basketball B) Ice hockey C) Volleyball D) Water polo (answers on page 19)

January 4, 2017 POLITICAL CORRECTNESS: December 22, 2016

Museum of African American History and Culture

ecently, a voice of the conser- 1954 case that triggered desegregation in vative media did what he is public schools across America. But the supposed to do, to wit, tell the life of Justice Thomas, the Court’s second rest of the story. The mainstream media black justice and the first black to plot a only tells America part of the story. They conservative course, is not mentioned at tell us how they perceive the world and all, save for one disturbing instance. Justice Thomas’ name comes up leave it at that. This is why so much of remuseum’s display cent American journalism — and indeed, in the concerning the story history — is so of Anita Hill, the unsatisfactory to black lawyer who sentient observers. claimed she was Journalism and sexually harassed history are told ex(c) 2017, Creators Syndicate by Thomas while clusively from the left’s point of view, and those of us who they worked at the Equal Employment do not share the left’s point of view get Opportunity Commission back in the 1980s. Apparently, she was not believed the feeling that something is missing. by the majority of the Senate, because SO RAISE a toast to the Washington Thomas won confirmation and is now in Times — known in my circle as the Good his 25th year as one of the court’s conserTimes — for telling the rest of the story. It vative stalwarts. Nonetheless, the musedid so a few weeks back, when Bradford um has on display a button reading “I BeRichardson reported that there is hardly lieve Anita Hill.” There is no pro-Thomas a word about the life of Supreme Court button or any pro-Thomas memorabilia. When asked about this imbalance — Justice Clarence Thomas in the recently opened National Museum of African pitting a disgruntled former employee American History and Culture. Justice against the second black to be raised Thurgood Marshall, the Supreme Court’s to the court — a spokeswoman for the first black justice, is mentioned, as is his museum said, “We do not have plans to role as an attorney in Brown v. Board of create an exhibition on Justice Clarence Education of Topeka, the groundbreaking Thomas or any Supreme Court Justice as

R. Emmett

Tyrrell

TERRORISM: December 27, 2016

More terror, more denial

ecent terrorist attacks in Ankara, Turkey, and Berlin, Germany, add to a growing list of incidents that are becoming increasingly difficult to remember. Does one begin the list with the plane hijackings in the ‘60s and ‘70s, or the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, or the USS Cole attack in 2000, or the second World Trade Center attack in 2001, or Ft. Hood, San Bernardino, Orlando, Paris or Nice? And that’s not all of them, nor will it be the end of them, if we don’t have a better response. DURING THE great wave of immigration in the early 20th century, the United States barred those afflicted with tuberculosis, venereal disease, trachoma and other serious diseases from entering the country. Now a different kind of infection is invading Europe and increasingly the United States. It’s called radical Islamic terrorism. The West continues to admit people from terrorist countries, people who have been infected with this killer disease, seemingly fearing the affliction less than being labeled intolerant. How is that working out? So afraid of being charged with Islamophobia, German Chancellor Angela Merkel ad-

mitted more than one million refugees in 2015 from nations that breed terrorists. It was inevitable that some would come to destroy rather than assimilate. Mounting evidence that many of these people are time bombs waiting to explode still fails to open eyes that have been deliberately shut. TAKE THE case of a 24-year-old Tunisian named Anis Amri, the suspect in the Berlin Christmas market attack, shot dead by authorities on Friday in Milan, Italy. Amri was one of a number of suspected

Cal

terrorists who have come from Tunisia, a country that has reportedly sent more fighters to Syria than any other. The Charlie Hebdo attacker was Tunisian, as was the man who drove a truck into a crowd in Nice on Bastille Day, killing 86 people. ISIS had urged similar attacks be made and, apparently, the Berlin suspect obeyed. The UK Daily Mail reports Amri was jailed four years ago in Italy for burning down a school. He also was

part of the museum’s exhibitions.” She with Marshall’s role in Brown v. Board of added, “The museum’s exhibitions are Education. You will have to go down to based on themes, not individuals.” the museum to learn what the rest of the theme includes. It could include almost YOU SEE, the spreading civil rights anything (the Times mentions the Black movement of the post-World War II pe- Panthers and the recent Black Lives Matriod that led to Justice Thomas — and be- ter movement), but it does not include fore him, Justice Marshall — being nomi- the two justices’ elevation to the court. I nated to the court was part of a theme. The think it is part of the ongoing theme of theme included Anita Hill’s attempt to the American left’s supposed dominablock Justice Thomas’ nomination, along tion of history. That is to say, the left is represented by heroes, and the right is represented by flawed humanity. In truth, Justice Thomas is the hero. Born into poverty, raised by a grandfather who deserves especial praise, Thomas climbed steadily as an independent thinker. He has achieved about all arrested three times in Germany be- one could ever expect of a citizen in a fore giving police the slip earlier this free society. His legal opinions show inmonth. German authorities reportedly telligence, independence, principle and were in touch with Tunisian officials to originality. All are on display in his 2005 get Amri a passport so he could be de- dissent in Kelo v. City of New London. ported. But Tunis rejected the request, In that case, the court’s majority granted saying it had no record of his ever be- a local government the right to seize an entire neighborhood for private develing a citizen. Was this a lie, or was he a plant? We opment, despite the fact that the Fifth Amendment grants the government aumay never know. Chancellor Merkel’s response to all thority to take private property only for of this is a case of too little, too late. “public use.” Thomas said no. He has also written about his life, from She wants to ban Muslim women from wearing full-face veils. That is a po- his earliest years in rustic Pin Point, Georlitical move, not a strategic one. It will gia, to his years at our nation’s capital, in not deter terrorists from their mission, a moving memoir titled “My Grandfaas more enter Germany hidden among ther’s Son.” It is one of the finest memoirs to come out of Thomas’ generation. legitimate refugees. Responding to the latest terrorist at- The book itself should earn him a place tacks, President-elect Donald Trump in the museum. said he has been proved “100 percent IS THERE anything that can be done correct” when it comes to his plans to curtail Muslim immigrants from na- to redress this politicization of the Ameritions that spawn terrorists. Given the can experience? Well, I just happen to number already in Europe or those have in my hands a list of the board memwho have been self-radicalized and al- bers of the Smithsonian, which oversees lowed into the U.S., it may be too late. the National Museum of African American History and Culture. And do you THE WEST can either acquiesce or know who serves as the board’s chancelfight back. Trump wants to fight back. lor? John G. Roberts Jr., the chief justice It’s better than waiting for the next at- of the Supreme Court. Surely, Chief Justice Roberts could play a role in recogniztack, hoping we’re not the target. ing the achievements of Justice Thomas.

January 4, 2017

Shadow of terrorism darkens Christmas season

It was but the latest of many attacks n this season of joy, when we pray for peace on Earth and by ISIS soldiers across the heart of goodwill toward men, there Europe that sends their grim message seems to be precious little of either of more human slaughter to come. Indeed, “the attack had achieved one of nowadays. The Middle East remains a bloody the Islamic State’s stated objectives: cauldron of death and destruction, trig- Spreading fear and chaos in a Western gering the worst refugee crisis since country in hopes of sharpening the divide between Muslims and everyone World War II. Washington Post reSyrian dictator Bashar Assad, with else,” the the help of Russian thug Vladimir Pu- ported. “Terrorism extin, has barrelperts likened the bombed, killed claim to a declaraand maimed intion of all-out war nocent men, (c) 2017, United Media Services against a country women and chilthat until now had dren to keep himself in power — in a civil war with no seen little of the terrorist violence that has rocked its Francophone neighbors. end in sight. And Donald Trump continues to be- Germany, with its large Muslim comlieve that Putin, the Kremlin’s former munity and recent history of political KGB agent who has invaded peace- discord over Muslim immigration, loving Ukraine, is a great and strong has long been viewed by the militant group as an important strategic target,” leader worthy of our respect. the newspaper said. Indeed, the ISIS propaganda maTHE AGE OF TERROR by Islamic extremists shows no signs of chine has said as much. The terrorist abating, as its war against the “infi- army has been urging its brothers in dels” spreads beyond its own region death to repeat the terrorist attack that into the heart of Western Europe and took place in Nice, France, last July 14, a similar truck attack that struck our own homeland. The murderous Islamic State, known down scores of people, killing 86. A posting on an ISIS media outlet as ISIS, took full credit for the actions of its “soldier,” the man who drove a had a Muslim fighter urging followers truck with a heavy payload of steel into to “take my truck and go forth, toward a festive crowd of Christmas revelers my enemies upon whom I will inflict in Berlin this week, killing a dozen a true punishment, until they are afflicted with grief.” people and wounding dozens more.

Donald

Lambro

Another chilling ISIS message appearing in the organization’s Englishlanguage magazine last year warned “Muslims in the West ... will quickly find themselves between one of two choices: They either apostatize and adopt the (Western) religion ... or they emigrate to the Islamic State and thereby escape persecution.” THIS IS THE kind of psychotic warfare that is now at work on a truly global scale. It has spread its deadly infection throughout the Middle East, North Africa and Asia — and more re-

cently, in its increasing attacks in Europe, and, let’s not kid ourselves, the U.S., too. The ISIS-inspired gunman who slaughtered 49 people and wounded 53 others at a gay nightclub in Orlando in June is the most recent reminder of the terrorists in our midst. Intelligence officials say they are constantly probing and plotting to inflict new attacks here, demonstrating the need for ceaseless vigilance. Attacks in London, Paris, Nice, Berlin and elsewhere in Europe, and here at home in New York City, San Bernardino, Boston and Orlando, are only the beginning of a long terrorist war against the civilized world. President-elect Trump has vowed to strengthen and fine-tune our immigrant and visitor vetting procedures, and no doubt some of that will be done. But even tougher security measures are called for in the wake of the latest attacks abroad and at home, including a significant expansion of our anti-terrorist intelligence force and beefing up its budget in the process. Surely that should be one of the top priorities Congress must address when it reopens for business next month. We are in store for a long, generational war against a shadowy and often unseen enemy who can strike at any time, when and where Americans gather in public places. It takes only a heavy truck, with one insane man at the wheel on a crowded city street, or a few pressure cookers loaded with explosives and shrapnel left on a sidewalk, to inflict a lot of casualties. TRAGICALLY, THIS is the evil presence lurking in our midst in this Christmas season of hope. December 22, 2016

This Week’s Conservative Focus

Terrorism

In Berlin, Christmas was terror’s iconic target

t should come as no surprise that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has claimed credit for the Dec. 19 Berlin terror attack that killed 12 people and left another 48 injured, many critically. The attack was brutally simple and hideously effective. It also bears the classic signs of sectarian calculation.

THE TERRORIST, armed with a gun, killed a truck driver and stole his very large vehicle. The terrorist then drove the large truck into the midst of a jam-packed Christmas market near Berlin’s historic Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. Simple: A motivated terrorist with a weapon seizes a big vehicle and drives it into a crowd. Effective: He kills a dozen people, and then escapes. A statement issued by ISIS’s propaganda bureau, added that the ISIS

“soldier” conducted “the attack in re- get’s representative significance may sponse to calls for targeting citizens of vastly exceed its physical value. Icon targets crop up in conventional the Crusader coalition ...” German citizens were targeted be- warfare. The U.S. Navy ships anchored cause their country is part of a broad at Pearl Harbor in December 1941 had multinational coalition battling the immense military value based on their istence and function. Islamic state. That coalition includes e x Japan attacked them many Muslim naand badly damtions, so the “Cruaged American nasader” appellation val power worldserves as a targetwide. Tokyo in ing clue. (c) 2017, Creators Syndicate 1942 had huge German citieconomic value, zens thronging the Berlin street were the flesh and blood but as Japan’s capital it had symbolic targets, but the Christmas market pro- significance as well. The April 1942 vided the Islamist terrorists with sym- Doolittle air attack on Tokyo did little damage to the city and certainly bolic targets. “Icon target” is the term for a target didn’t diminish Japanese military that has distinctive moral, ideological, strength. However, the raid shocked psychological or metaphorical signifi- the Japanese people and demonstrated cance in addition to its own physical Japanese vulnerability. It also boosted existence and function. In fact, the tar- American morale.

Austin

Bay

A state of permanent war

he vicious attack on a Christmas market in Berlin this week reminds us that terrorism has become a fact of life in our world. How do we stop a hate-filled fanatic from ramming a truck into a crowd of holiday shoppers anywhere, anytime? Now that terrorist networks have decided that trucks can be as effective at mass killings as bombs, it will be increasingly difficult to discover and disrupt such attacks. The planning and access to materials required to build, transport and detonate bombs demand a level of sophistication beyond the level of all but the dedicated and connected would-be terrorists. But hijacking a truck and using it as a weapon takes no more skill than that of a common criminal. The wonder is that there have not been more of these attacks on civilian populations in the West. INCREASINGLY, many people believe that the only way to stop the carnage is to shut our borders to those who might be terrorists. In the wake of the Berlin attack, President-elect Donald Trump said, “You know my plans.” But he left open whether he was referring to the wholesale ban on Muslims entering the U.S. he proposed early in his campaign or his revised plan to limit travel from countries with a history of Islamic extremism, which would rule out much of the Arab world, South Asia and even Indonesia and the Philippines. Trump will find implementing such plans difficult, if not impossible. He will be challenged

in court, will face serious backlash from the affected countries and could end up playing right into the hands of the terrorist propaganda machine. Would that it were so easy as building walls and setting up more secure entry systems to stop the terrorist threat in our homeland. Most terrorists who have struck this country have been homegrown, either born in or living in the U.S. much of their lives, and not all of them

Linda

have been Islamists. Think Timothy McVeigh, who killed 168 people, including 19 children, and injured 684 others by bombing the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. Even if we can stop new terrorists from entering the United States, it is nearly impossible to root out every aspiring terrorist already in our midst. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try our best, within constitutional means, but the sad fact is that we will no doubt fail to stop all future attacks. WE LIVE in a time of permanent warfare. Our current wars are not on the same scale as previous wars, but the pain to victims’ families is no less for their smaller numbers. The United States lost a half-million lives in the Civil War (at a time when our population was a fraction of today’s), over 400,000 during World War II and some

58,000 during Vietnam. We’ve lost about 2,300 in Afghanistan and nearly 4,500 in Iraq. We have been fortunate throughout our history that most of our battles have been fought on foreign shores, but the war on terror has claimed victims on U.S. soil, as well as abroad. And there is no end in sight for this war. Our best hope to be victorious in this war is to battle it at its source. We won’t defeat the Islamic State group by treating all Muslims as if they are terrorists. Nor should we abandon our constitutional values in hopes of quashing an ideological enemy. But we do have a right to fight the clear and present danger of an Islamic State-led propaganda effort to recruit terrorists from among our residents. We need more and better resources to disrupt Islamic State communication networks. We need continued efforts to dismantle and destroy the terrorist networks in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere. And we need the vigilance of the Muslim community to speak up when a member of the community appears to have succumbed to the attraction of radical Islam. IN THE END, we will be victorious in this war because an ideology of hate and subjugation cannot survive forever. But that knowledge is cold comfort to those who will bury their dead this Christmas holiday. December 23, 2016

Terrorist attacks always have psychological and propaganda goals. Striking an icon target increases psychological shock and adds propaganda value. 9/11’S TARGETS were icon targets that made propaganda statements. Al Qaeda attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon because they symbolized American economic and military power. In the mind of Osama Bin Laden, damaging the buildings symbolized his goal of eventually destroying American power and replacing it with a global Caliphate. Al Qaeda’s attack on the U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq headquarters (Baghdad, August 2003) also had an iconic component. Islamist terrorists also used a large truck to kill 86 people the July 14, 2016 Bastille Day terror attack in Nice, France. French citizens were the physical target, but the icon target was the date. Bastille Day is France’s National Day and commemorates the beginning of the French Revolution. The day connects to French national identity and French democracy. The Islamist terrorists targeted people, but militant Islamists despise democracy. As Iraqis went to the polls in January 2005, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda’s commander in Iraq, declared a “fierce war on this evil principle of democracy.” He feared that Iraqis preferred democracy to his theological fascism. The Berlin Christmas market attack exhibits the same despicable calculation as Bastille Day in Nice. German citizens (belonging to the “Crusader coalition”) were the physical targets. However, the Christmas season — the Christian holiday — was the icon. Meanwhile, in northern Iraq, Iraqi forces are fighting house to house in the Islamic State’s capital, Mosul. Crusader coalition? Iraq is overwhelmingly Muslim. ISIS, with its relentless atrocities, its sensational terror, mass rape and genocide, created the anti-ISIS coalition. THE LATEST ISIS suicide bomb offensive in Iraq is an attempt to incite a Shiite Muslim versus Sunni Muslim war in the country. ISIS commanders would love to incite Muslim versus Christian violence in Europe. Both are desperate gambits to fracture the coalition that is slowly destroying the Islamic State’s rump, but still iconic, Caliphate. December 21 2016

Conservative Chronicle

TERRORISM: December 23, 2016

The Islamic terrorists wage real war on Christmas The war on Christmas is now a real se2016 hasn’t been a hot year for discussions of a rhetorical war on Christmas in curity concern. Days before the successour malls or public schools. Maybe we’ve ful Berlin truck attack, German officials tuned out the secular hostility in our cul- claimed that a 12-year-old boy inspired ture. We’ve gone from banning Linus by IS tried to set off dual bombs in a reading from the Gospel of Luke to ban- backpack near a Christmas market in the ning Christmas to banning Santa Claus German city of Ludwigshafen. Christkets across Europe to banning even the thought of a holiday, mas marare on high alert. since it might not At Times Square be for others. and other holiday But the deadly hotspots in New truck attack on a York City, tourists Christmas mar(c) 2017, Creators Syndicate in Santa hats are ket in Berlin gives taking pictures for the phrase “war on Christmas” much more gravity and serves social media, and members of the highly as the latest reminder that the secular me- armed NYPD Hercules team have been dia in what used to be called Western civ- deployed to intimidate and take down ilization has shown far too little concern any potential terrorists. Christians have been called to suffer for violent attacks on Christianity — the faith that created Western civilization. persecution since the birth of Jesus. What began as a war on Christmas has become assault, much less treat Islam as the perThis newsroom yawn is inexcusable. secuted religion. Christians are deemed a war on Christianity. sinful if they don’t love their fellow man ON MARCH 4, the Associated Press SECULARISTS HAVE no moral without qualifiers; radical Muslims are reported, “Gunmen in southern Yemen on Friday stormed a retirement home run by right to be indifferent on this religious deemed holy if they kill you if you’re a charity established by Mother Teresa, killing 16 people, including four Catholic THOMAS SOWELL: December 28, 2016 nuns.” There was no network coverage on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, NPR, CNN, MSNBC or Fox. Pope Francis was right when he stated, “They were killed by their attackers, but also by the globalization of indifference.” homas Sowell has just pub- seized more of what others produced On Aug. 10, a study released by Media lished a revised and enlarged or had what they produced taken from Research Center Culture found that ABC, edition of his classic “Wealth, them. For example, Spain conquered CBS and NBC mentioned the plight of Poverty and Politics.” At the very be- indigenous people in the Western HemiChristians in the Middle East, Africa and ginning, he quotes Alexander Hamilton, sphere. Spaniards looted 200 tons of gold South Asia in only 60 stories between who said, “The wealth of nations depends and 18,000 tons of silver. But despite January 2014 and June 2016, an average upon an infinite variety of causes.” The that wealth transfer, Spain is one of the of just one story every two weeks across book’s 16 chapters apply Hamilton’s no- poorer countries in western Europe today, all three networks. The networks only tion to domestic, as well as international, surpassed economically by countries — called it genocide on six occasions and differences in wealth. In both academic such as Switzerland and Norway — that usually lumped Christians with Yazidis and popular literature, it is implicitly as- never had an empire, so there obviously and Shiite Muslims as victims, echoing sumed that economic equality is natural, are many factors at play when it comes to the Obama administration’s reluctance to automatic and common. Thus, people see wealth differences. focus too directly on anti-Christian vio- wealth inequality as a mystery that must lence. be explained. The fact of the matter is On that same day, the State Depart- precisely the opposite. ment released its International Religious Freedom Report in which it repeated SecTHE ANCIENT Greeks had geom(c) 2017, Creators Syndicate retary of State John Kerry’s designation etry, philosophy, architecture and litera— finally — of the Islamic State group as ture at a time when Britain was a land of SOWELL DISCUSSES the impact guilty of the genocide of Christians (and illiterate tribal people living at a primi- of a number of these factors. One is geothers). Still ABC, CBS and NBC report- tive level. Of course, by the end of the ography. Hardly anyone considers its ed nothing. These “news” outlets explod- 19th century, Britain was far ahead of the impact on achievement and wealth. For ed at President-elect Donald Trump for Greeks and ultimately controlled one- example, because of soil differences, saying anything insensitive about vetting quarter of the planet’s land. Such his- crop yields per acre in Africa are a tiny Muslims. But they could care less that toric reversals have occurred elsewhere. fraction of what they are in China and the Christians are being massacred all over The ancient Chinese were far ahead of U.S. The absence of navigable waterways the Middle East. Europeans, but by the 19th century, the and mountain ranges has isolated people Numbers tell the story. These networks relative positions of the Chinese and Eu- and created differences in their skill sets. devoted 14 minutes to a 2015 execution ropeans were reversed. Just these two exCultural factors, such as education, of 21 Coptic Christians by IS on a Libyan amples prove that the same people are not have an important impact on wealth, beach. But they offered six times as much always on top. too. Natural resources are of little conattention — more than 88 minutes — to Sowell argues there are many factors sequence in explaining wealth differthe execution of Harambe, a Cincinnati that explain wealth differences among ences. Even physical capital is of little Zoo gorilla. In 2015 they obsessed for nations, as well as people within those or no use without the cultural prerequinearly 93 minutes on a Minnesota dentist nations. One of the more obvious expla- sites to maintain it, repair it and replace shooting Cecil the lion on a hunting trip nations is that some people have greater it. Evidence for this lies in the fact that in Zimbabwe. productive capacity than others. Or they the physical wealth of Germany was de-

Brent

Bozell

anything but one of them. How many more must be slaughtered for secularists to realize they are fighting the wrong religion?

Wealth, poverty and politics

Walter

Williams

stroyed in World War II but in just a few years it was again a wealthy nation. Some people attribute Germany’s resurgence to the Marshall Plan. But that’s not right, because massive foreign aid has been provided to Third World countries and has yet to produce the economic results Germany has had. The human capital in Germany, developed over centuries, has not existed on the same scale in Third World countries. In later chapters, Sowell discusses the impact of political institutions and the welfare state on inequality. One of the more important contributions of “Wealth, Poverty and Politics” is Sowell’s discussion of earnings differences. We’ve all heard statements such as “the income gap between the richest and the poorest members of our society has been growing rapidly.” Studies of actual people over time suggest just the opposite. A University of Michigan study traced people over a 15-year period and found that 95 percent of those in the lowest quintile at the beginning of the study were in a higher quintile by the end. Remarkably, 29 percent had moved to the top quintile. An IRS study of tax filers between 1996 and 2005 found similar results. Sowell says that over time, there are different people in different income categories. THESE FEW snippets here in no way do full justice to Dr. Thomas Sowell’s work. To get all the nuts and bolts, you’ll just have to purchase a copy of “Wealth, Poverty and Politics.”

January 4, 2017 DEAR MARK: December 23, 2016

The Dear Mark 2016 quotation special

t’s hard to believe that the presidential election year is finally behind us but oh what a year for wild and wacky quotations. To paraphrase Art Linkletter, politicians say the darndest things and with the improbable rise of Donald Trump, 2016 was full of darndest lines, statements, and tweets. Here’s just a sampling. Happy New Year and raise your glasses to more ridiculous quotations in 2017. “Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don’t want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!” — Donald Trump tweet. Amen Mr. President Elect “The man (Vladimir Putin) has very strong control over a country, it’s a very different system and I don’t happen to like the system, but certainly, in that system, he’s been a leader, far more than our president has been a leader.” — Donald Trump. This is the quote that Team Hillary, liberal politicians and pundits have abused to draw the absurd conclusion that somehow Russia wanted Donald Trump to win. There’s no doubt that for eight years Putin has outmaneuvered President Obama. “Such a nasty woman (Hillary).” — Donald Trump. Just ask Bill. “Because you’d be in jail.” — Donald Trump. During the second presidential debate Donald Trump said this directly to Hillary Clinton which further endeared him to millions of deplorables. “Homegrown demagogues will always fail in the end.” — Bill Clinton. Oh the irony. “She never, ever forgets who she’s fighting for.” — Chelsea Clinton. Apparently Hillary forgot to campaign in Wisconsin.

“I don’t think people want a new direction, our values unify us, and our values are about supporting America’s working families. That is one that everyone is in agreement on. What we want is a better connection of our message to working families in our country and clearly the election showed that that message wasn’t coming through.” — Nancy Pelosi.

Mark

DEMOCRATS PROMOTED the message that Republicans are racist, misogynistic, jingoistic, homophobes and oh yeah, vote for Hillary because she’s a woman. Maybe that’s why so many women, blacks, Hispanics and former Obama supporters voted for Donald Trump.The Clinton Pelosi Democrats showed America their party is simply about elitist identity politics. “Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her tonight.” — Senator Bernie Sanders. Um, did Mr. Socialist happen to see the WikiLeaks emails that exposed how the DNC rigged the primaries for Hillary? “I want to thank Bernie Sanders.” — Hillary Clinton. The rest of Hillary’s quote is missing. It should have read “I want to thank Bernie Sanders for agreeing not to bring up my emails during the primaries so I could waltz to the nomination.” “In the spring of 1971, I met a girl.” — President Bill Clinton. Another incomplete quotation. It should read “then in 1972 I met another girl, in 1973 I met

another girl, in 1974 I met another girl, in 1975, 1976, 1977 ... 2016, oh heck I met lots of girls.” “I may become the first woman president, but one of you is next.” — Hillary Clinton. I bet Hillary would like a do over with that statement. “My confession for this election is if any Republican gets nominated, I’m gonna move to Canada with my entire family. Is that bad?” — View Co-host Raven Symonè. Ms. Symone has the honor of exemplifying how idiotic Hollywood has become. First, we have a two party system so a Republican will always be nominated. Second, the idea of leaving the country because your candidate loses illustrates how most of Hollywood is nothing but a bunch of spoiled, poorly educated losers. “You know, just to be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people, now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets offensive, hateful, mean-spirited rhetoric.Now some of those folks, they are irredeemable. But thankfully they are not America.” — Hillary Clinton. SO LET ME get this straight, liberals are blaming James Comey, the Russians, and fake news for Hillary’s loss but not the candidate who showed such ignorance and disdain for half of America. E-mail your questions to marklevy92@aol.com. Follow Mark on Twitter @MarkPLevy

CONTACT INFORMATION Individual Contact Information Fields - suzannefields2000@gmail.com Greenberg - pgreenberg@arkansasonline.com Krauthammer - letters@charleskrauthammer.com Levy - marklevy92@aol.com Lowry - comments.lowry@nationalreview.com Malkin - malkinblog@gmail.com Massie - mychalmassie@gmail.com Napolitano - freedomwatch@foxbusiness.com Saunders - dsaunders@sfchronicle.com Thomas - tmseditors@tribune.com Will - georgewill@washpost.com Contact through Creators Syndicate Michael Barone, Austin Bay, Brent Bozell, Pat Buchanan, Mona Charen, Linda Chavez, Jackie Gingrich Cushman, Veronique de Rugy, Larry Elder, Leslie Elman, Bernard Goldberg, David Harsanyi, Laura Hollis, Terry Jeffrey, Larry Kudlow, David Limbaugh, Betsy McCaughey, Stephen Moore, Dick Morris, William Murchison, Star Parker, Dennis Prager, Ben Shapiro, Thomas Sowell, John Stossel, R. Emmett Tyrrell Contact - info@creators.com Contact through Universal Press Ann Coulter or Donald Lambro Contact by mail : c/o Universal Press Syndicate 1130 Walnut Street Kansas City, MO 64106 Answers from page 14

TRIVIA ANSWERS T rivia B I T S

ANSWERS 1) John L. Sullivan is considered the last of the bare-knuckle heavyweight boxing champs. 2) Pepsin produced by the stomach helps digest protein. 3) Yellowcake is produced during the processing of uranium ore. 4) Andorra is an independent principality landlocked in the Pyrenees Mountains between Spain and France. 5) “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen” is the opening line of George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-four.” 6) The NCAA Hobey Baker Memorial Award is presented to an ice hockey player each year.

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Conservative Chronicle

EDUCATION: December 28, 2016

Trump’s choice: Betsy DeVos for education

merica’s socialists — I mean, progressives, are enraged that President-elect Trump chose Betsy DeVos to be his secretary of education. “Not a good appointment,” yelled Al Sharpton. A “proponent of a for-profit institution! She does not believe in the public school system!” complained CNN’s Bakari Sellers. Wait. Is your for-profit local supermarket less “public” than your kid’s school? No! For-profit institutions serve the public and usually do it better than governments do.

government-run education helps people) become successful. For 50 years, the education establishment said that government schools struggled because they didn’t have enough money. So America tripled spending per student. That brought zero improvement. Again, today, they say, “Just give us more time, more money!” No. Time is up. Children have suffered enough. My consumer reporting taught me that things only work well when they are subject to market competition. Services improve when people are free to shop around and when competitive pressure inspires suppliers to invent better ways of doing things. DeVos understands that. That’s why she wants to allow parents to choose the schools their kids attend. Schools that do a better job will attract more students. Better schools will grow, while some inferior ones will close. Inferior schools, like any failing business, should close. It’s a disservice to students to keep them open. Educrats and teachers unions refuse to look at it that way. They don’t want kids escaping their grasp. Unions don’t want to lose dues-paying members.

LET’S STOP calling government schools “public.” Call them what they are: “Government-run” schools. Anyway, the charter schools DeVos supports are public. They’re just not controlled by the usual crowd of education bureaucrats. That’s why the education establishment hates them. The establishment has had total control for a century and doesn’t want to lose it. They complain that DeVos: — Doesn’t have a degree in education! — Has no teaching experience! — Didn’t attend government schools! — Didn’t send her kids to “public” THEY PREFER that kids stay school! But that was also true about Arne trapped while bureaucrats decide what Duncan, President Obama’s education improvements, if any, need to be made. Progressives are also upset because secretary. We didn’t hear the same complaints about Duncan. Perhaps avoiding DeVos gave $200 million of her own

money to the “wrong” schools, Christian schools. A smear in the New Yorker suggests that DeVos will have government-run schools teach creationism: “DeVos is a fundamentalist Christian with a long history of opposition to science ... (S) he could shape science education decisively for the worse, by systematically depriving young people, in an era where biotechnology will play a key economic and health role worldwide, of a proper understanding of the very basis of modern biology: evolution.” That would be bad — were it true,

but DeVos’ critics don’t quote anything she says that shows “opposition to science.” DeVos once told me that in a free society that shares her philosophy of education, “some religious schools might teach creationism, but not in science class.” Reason’s J.D. Tuccille points out that DeVos “was instrumental in enacting Michigan’s and Detroit’s charter school program.” Progressives say this was “tragic for Michigan’s children ... Detroit’s charter schools have shown themselves to be only incrementally stronger ... than traditional public schools.” Hello? Stronger is better, even if the difference is just “incremental.” A Stanford study concluded that charter students achieved “two months of additional gains in reading and math.” That suggests DeVos has already done more to improve American education than most government education bureaucrats have. DeVos won’t have much power over your kids’ schools. K-12 education is mostly locally and state run. In fact, the wasteful $90 billion education department should be abolished altogether. But DeVos’ appointment sends the right message. It tells educators they should face pressure to get up each morning looking for ways to improve education. That won’t happen unless parents are free to experiment and escape experiments that fail. I wouldn’t want to be trapped in a bad restaurant while government debated how to improve it. EVERYONE DESERVES the freedom to get out of there and try something better. John Stossel is the author of “No They Can’t! Why Government Fails — But Individuals Succeed.”

January 4, 2017 U.S. MILITARY: December 22, 2016

Peace through technology: Less costly strength “To change anything in the Navy is like punching a feather bed. You punch it with your right and you punch it with your left until you are finally exhausted, and then you find the da-- bed just as it was before you started punching.” — Franklin Roosevelt, 1940 WHAT THE former assistant secretary of the Navy said is descriptive of the entire military. Each service’s culture, and interservice rivalries, and bureaucratic viscosity are resistant to reform. Which is why the next secretary of defense, retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, has the most difficult management challenge in American government. He comes from a service whose core mission, small-unit combat, involves conflict at its most granular. He will now rely on companies like General Atomics here, whose business is leveraging technology to produce maximum potential military lethality with minimal costs.

The president-elect ardently advo- equal to an F-16’s. The “fast movers” cated substantially increased defense — F-16s and the like — must refuel spending, and just as ardently favors coming and going from the Gulf, and unrestrained entitlement spending. most have returned to their carriers For about $500,000 in expenditures, without expending their ordnance. A the 9/11 attackers did over $2 trillion Reaper, another type of RPA, can dean F-35, the most exin damage to the United States and the liver what fighter aircraft, can. world economy. The linked physical pensive The Reaper is only and cyber infrahalf as fast, but structures of comis speed — aviaplex societies are tion’s expensive vulnerable to such goal since World asymmetries. (c) 2017, Washington Post Writers Group War II — so imGeneral Atomics’ scientists toil to redress this imbalance portant? An increasing amount of the with, for example, the Predator and Reaper’s and the F-35’s work, includother remotely piloted aircraft (RPAs). ing sensing and jamming, is done at But they bristle at the word “drone,” the speed of light, which is roughly which they think falsely suggests 560,000 times faster than the F-35’s mindlessness on the part of aircraft that airspeed. perform three “ISR” missions — intelRPAS, WHICH have logged more ligence, surveillance, reconnaissance. RPAs can hover for 40 hours over a than four million flight hours looking, Middle East target and deliver, with listening and attacking, can discover Hellfire missiles, a munitions payload what the enemy is planning and doing,

George

Will

CHRISTMAS: December 22, 2016

Christmas spirit in action

an’t you feel it? The Christmas spirit was making inroads even before Thanksgiving was over, making believers of everybody from ordinarily hard-hearted repo men to always loving moms: Jim Ford, co-owner of Illini Asset Recovery in Red Bud, Ill., proceeded to repossess a car belonging to Stan and Pat Kipping, an elderly couple. But even as he was driving the car into the lot where all manner of repossessed vehicles are stored, he pulled over to the side of the road to call the bank in order to organize an online fundraiser to help out the old folks, and it proved an instant success. The couple’s loan was paid off in no time.

WANDA DENCH of Mesa, Ariz., learned that the text she’d sent her grandson asking him to Thanksgiving dinner had gone to 17-year-old Jamal Hinton instead. When he showed up she not only gave him a full Turkey Day meal with all the trimmings, but a nice warm grandmotherly hug. Amy Larcinese, an elementary school principal in Herminie, Pa., said a Secret Santa had settled all unpaid meal accounts for students, including lunches for one child for the rest of the month after learning that the pupil had run up an especially high debt. Charlie Pelizza, who’s acting as project leader of the Midway Atoll wildlife refuge, has announced that Wisdom, a Laysan albatross first banded in 1956 and the oldest-known breeding bird, has

returned to the island and is now incubating an egg. Apparently it isn’t just Homo sapiens that fly home for the holidays. Larry Jefferson, a retired Army veteran and native of Nashville, Ark., has landed a gig as the first black Santa at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., where he announced that it’s no big deal to him by now. “I’m still Santa. I just happen to be a Santa of color.”

Paul

DAN ARIELY, who writes for the Wall Street Journal, has come up with all kinds of recommendations for what to give your kid’s teacher for Christmas, when it’s still more blessed to give than receive. As he sums up his conclusions: A present for a teacher shouldn’t be a financial transaction. Gift certificates get spent or forgotten. Flowers die and apples get eaten. You’re much better off with a nonperishable gift that will strengthen your relationship between your family and the teacher. Consider giving a funky little piece of art, such as a decorated planter, made by your child, inspired by something he or she learned from the teacher. For it’s important to keep Christmas close to home and heart. Bob Rutland-Brown comes from a long line of United Methodist ministers, and it was expected that his generation

would find its calling in church work, too — the gift that never stops giving. It was in 1996, while he was still a teenager, that one of his cousins and an aunt had set up a nonprofit business that would provide legal aid to poor immigrants. Its name is Just Neighbors, and its founders could scarcely have chosen a better one. By now the organization has become the United Methodist Committee on Relief, and has begun another chapter in the church’s long history of helping migrants. Shades of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society that did so much to help Jewish refugees in another wartorn era. Bob Rutland-Brown notes that his denomination, too, has a history of helping immigrants and urges its congregants to “build bridges with migrants in their local communities” and “welcome newly arriving migrants.” HE NEVER did become an ordained minister, but it sounds as if the man has acquired something far more impressive than just another framed certificate on the wall. He seems to have found not just a vocation but a calling. So far this year his church has welcomed poor refugees from 108 countries, including Syria, South Sudan, Guatemala and most of all Mexico. “Our emphasis,” he says, “is on those who are the most vulnerable with the fewest resources.” And there’s no danger of the world running out of those. Let us wish all peace on earth, good will toward men — and a very Merry Christmas!

and can deliver precision strikes with minimal collateral damage. They could have been an inexpensive and low-risk way of intervening in Syria by enforcing a no-fly, no-movement zone that would have protected President Bashar Assad’s enemies and victims. But because RPAs are unmanned, they clash with important components of the military culture. Marine jets from Miramar Air Station roar over General Atomics, making what has been called “the sound of freedom,” but some scientists here call it the sound of obsolescence. The Navy is using high-powered electro-magnetic energy to replace steam catapults to launch 80,000-pound aircraft off carriers with less stress on the planes, and hence less maintenance expenses. Now the Navy is acquiring rail guns that use such energy to fire 15-to-25-pound, 18-inch projectiles at 5,000 miles per hour. They hit with the impact of a train slamming into a wall at 100 miles per hour. The highspeed, hence high-energy projectiles, which cost just $25,000, can radically improve fleet-protection capabilities: A barrage of them could counter an enemy’s more expensive anti-ship missiles. The daunting challenge posed by defense against the proliferating threat of ballistic missiles is that it is prohibitively expensive to be prepared to intercept a swarm of incoming missiles. New technologies, however, can revolutionize defense against ballistic missiles because small, smart projectiles can be inexpensive. It takes 300 seconds to pick up such a launched missile’s signature, the missile must be tracked, and a vector calculated for defensive projectiles. A single 25-pound projectile can dispense over 500 threegram tungsten impactors and be fired at hypervelocity by electromagnetic energy. Their impact force — their mass times the square of their velocity — can destroy expensive missiles and multiple warheads. Mattis will be trying to take control of the often uncontrollable Pentagon, with its interservice rivalries and intricate problems of matching slowly developed weapons to rapidly metastasizing threats. The good news, such as it is, is this: THE NATION just experienced a raucous presidential campaign during which there was silence about the crisis of the entitlement state — an aging population’s pension and health care entitlements swallowing government resources, with alarming national security implications. But technology, pursued determinedly, has the potential to make peace through making deterrent strength less expensive.

Conservative Chronicle

EXECUTIVE ACTIONS: December 23, 2016

Drilling ban: Obama continues historic abuse of power

hile the left panics over President-elect Donald Trump and the erosion of democratic norms, President Barack Obama went ahead and issued another decree without any regard for the nation’s legislative process. It’s nothing new. Obama’s latest executive move, banning offshore drilling in large areas of the Atlantic and Arctic waters, folds neatly into six years of executive control. The ban hinges on a provision of the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, a law designed to protect marine sanctuaries. “The seldom used measure” explains NBC News, “allows the executive to permanently freeze offshore drilling in specified regions.

AND UNLIKE the First, Second, Fifth or Tenth Amendments of the Constitution, which Democrats have treated as mere suggestions over the past eight years, a provision from 1953 is eternal and nonnegotiable according to the administration — like a commandment transmitted from the heavens. Well, that is unless Republicans pass another law or amend the existing one, right? There’s no explicit statement within the act that says protections are permanent anyway. So Republicans would likely be able to overturn this diktat, as they can the rest of Obama’s rickety legacy, which is predominately built on circumventing the lawmaking branch of the United States government. The problem is that Trump (and anyone else who comes along) has little reason not to adopt Obama’s unprecedented use of the executive power. No post-World War II president (and maybe no president in our history) justified executive overreach as a function of his office, regularly contending that Congress — which kept adding seats throughout his presidency — had abdicated its responsibility by refusing to go along with his plans. Whether courts found his actions constitutional or not (and quite often they did), it’s an argument that stands, at the very least, against the spirit of American governance. On the bright side, though, now that a progressive president is leaving office, the media will almost certainly frame abuses of power as something out of the ordinary. Imagine the scene: For the good of the nation and the future of energy independence, a lame-duck President Trump dusts off an obscure law to open Arctic and Atlantic drilling indefinitely. And to further impede the agenda of the incoming government, Trump signs an agreement with Russia — without any debate in the Senate — to ensure it’s even more difficult to reverse.

Visualize, if you can, the scandal- exploration and the present affordabilized media coverage and gale-force in- ity of oil and gas, most energy comdignation from liberals over King Don- panies aren’t clamoring to drill in the ald’s assault on democracy. Imagine Arctic anyway. But at some point this the headlines reading “This. Is. Not. becomes a significant economic and Normal!” and the editorials conjuring moral decision for a nation. It’s not a decision that should be adjudicated up scenes of fascist takeovers. The outgoing president is merely unilaterally by an executive in the wanof his rule. “implementing new environmental ing days Whether it’s protections” that worth accessing stand “to thwart” this energy or not Trump’s agenda will be a worth(by which I aswhile debate one sume reporters (c) 2017, Creators Syndicate day. More broadmean the Republican agenda, as in the people who were ly, though, Obama’s move — and the hypocritical reaction to it — reaffirm just elected to run Washington D.C.) that most Democrats aren’t concerned IN OTHER words, Obama — who about norms or democracy. They’re has long supported policies that artifi- concerned about furthering items on cially inflate energy prices — wants to the liberal agenda. Your moral certitude on environforever deny the nation access to what could be more than 27 billion barrels of mental issues (or immigration or gun oil and 132 trillion cubic feet of natu- laws) does not excuse abuse any more ral gas. Now, given the high costs of than Trump’s beliefs excuses his at-

David

Harsanyi

tacks on “norms.” Everyone has moral certitude about the issues that matter to them. And if the unifying governing principle of an entire party is achieving policy goals, then stop pretending you care about the erosion of democratic norms. To be taken seriously as a defender of constitutional governance, you might have to stand up for the process when it’s inconvenient from time to time. That might mean defending the Electoral College or pointing out that legalizing millions of illegal immigrants without Congress is an abuse of power. DEMOCRATS HAVE failed on this front, so their overwrought grievances about Trump’s disposition smacks of hypocrisy. In fact, as one disastrous presidency ends, it’s more obvious than ever that Trump has every reason to be emboldened by Obama’s actions and the rampant partisan hypocrisy that infects America.

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS: December 22, 2016

Baby, let’s not ruin everything

Christmas standard since the 1940s, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is an uncommonly catchy and witty song that is now — incredibly enough — controversial. Anyone who has turned on the radio, walked in a shopping mall or watched a Christmas special is familiar with the tune, a duet featuring a smitten male suitor trying to convince a visiting female friend to stay with him a little while longer. Every time she sounds ready to go, he counters with an objection: It’s cold. It’s snowy. It’s impossible to get a cab.

THE APPEAL of the song is obvious; its offensiveness ... much less so. The indictment is that by pressing himself on his lady friend so insistently, the suitor has violated contemporary norms of consent. A cottage industry has sprung up denouncing the song as “creepy” and even as a “rape anthem.” Two singer-songwriters recently reworked the song so it could pass muster, say, at the holiday party of the Oberlin College gender-studies department. The result is predictably leaden and humorless. Despite all the effort, there is no reason to try to spoil “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” First, there are the circumstances of the song’s composition, which don’t speak to a predatory mindset. One of the great songwriters of the 20th century, Frank Loesser (“Guys and Dolls,” “How to Succeed in Business Without

Really Trying”) wrote it to perform with his wife at a housewarming party for their new place in New York City in 1944. An instant hit, they sang it at private parties for years until Loesser, to his wife’s chagrin, sold it to the studio MGM. Then there are all the great female talents who have performed it in duets down to this day — Dinah Shore, Ella Fitzgerald, Doris Day, Velma Middleton, Dolly Parton, Norah Jones, Sheryl Crow — who presumably wouldn’t want to lend moral support to harming women.

Rich

FINALLY, THERE is the song itself. It’s not difficult to understand what is really happening. The lady guest never says she wants to go, and there is no hint of her being held against her will. What she says is that, “I really can’t stay” and “I ought to say no, no, no, Sir (emphasis added).” All of her reasons for going have to do with what other people will think — this being a long-ago time when a young woman wasn’t supposed to be alone with a man. Mother will worry, father will pace, the neighbors will talk, sister will be suspicious and “my maiden aunt’s mind is vicious.” But for all her objections, the female guest

allows that she’ll stay for “maybe just half a drink more.” Of course, neither the boy nor the girl is being completely forthright, which lends the song its playful charm. The male host is coming up with excuses for why she can’t go (It’s practically a polar vortex out there! Just imagine the Uber surge pricing!), because he desperately wants her to stay; and she is coming up with reasons why she has to go, even though she wants to linger. Those horrified by the song perversely wonder if when the lady guest asks, “Say, what’s in this drink?” she is being drugged. Pop-culture mavens explain that this line often shows up in movies of the time as a sly way for characters to blame a drink — even if there is no alcohol in it — for something they don’t themselves want to own up to. In our culture that puts such a premium on the literal and explicit, it’s no wonder that some people can’t handle anything subtle and implicit. THE INFORMAL, socially enforced guardrails around the interactions of men and women that were the backdrop to “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” are gone forever. But any era understands yearning and flirtatiousness. The enduring popularity of Frank Loesser’s winsome handiwork is a testament to how, even at a time when killjoys will try to ruin anything, romance never goes out of style.

January 4, 2017 CIVILITY: December 22, 2016

Restoring civility to American society

e have just come off of the reading game. In other words, it’s time most acrimonious presi- we stop discussing public policy in dential election in modern terms of intentions, and not results. Yes, memory. There are many distinctive we get it — you want to end poverty, aspects to the 2016 election: The first homelessness, illiteracy and any numwoman candidate for a major party, a ber of other social ills. The issue isn’t shocking (to many) upset, a victory by whether you want it; the issue is whether the policies you’re advocating will a complete outsider to politics. As inconvenient a fact Even the level of divisiveness is achieve it. as this may be, your unique. Ameripolitical opponents cans have alalso want to make ways had strong life better for peoopinions about ple. Stop deflectpolitics, but the (c) 2017, Creators Syndicate ing discussions level of hostility towards those with different viewpoints about policy failures by claiming that has reached the point of absurdity. The every objection to your preferred policy news since the election has been filled is based upon hatred; it isn’t. Pretendwith hysterical reactions to Hillary ing that you read minds also feeds the Clinton’s loss, articles about handling beast that is overweening moral superipolitical discussions with family dur- ority and self-righteous indignation. See ing the holidays, and even a new survey number 2, below. 2. Stop assuming that you always about how Democrat women are the most likely to unfriend someone over hold the moral high ground. This is the most insidious aspect of contemporary political differences. political discourse: “Anyone who disTHE DRAMA and vitriol may be agrees with me is not merely wrong, entertaining to some, but plenty of us are (s)he’s evil.” Once that becomes the distressed by it, and have mused about prevailing narrative (and it has), your how to return to civility. As Christmas neighbors and fellow citizens become approaches, here’s a bit of middle-aged the enemy, and their viewpoints merit wisdom in the form of a few modest not consideration, but contempt. The proof is everywhere in social and other suggestions. If we truly want to restore civility, media, which have been filled for weeks the key lies not in what we need to do, with left-leaners’ pronouncements about the nearly 63 million Americans but in what we need to stop doing. 1. For starters, we need to stop play- who voted for Donald Trump: Racists, ing the Zoltan-the-Magnificent mind- sexists, bigots, haters, evil, stupid, bad

Laura

Hollis

people. That is not only false, it is dangerous. When fellow citizens feel this way, it poisons the culture. When those in power hold these views, it results in corruption and active discrimination. 3. Stop calling people names. 4. Stop the “collective blame” shtick, and return to individual responsibility. Few things upset people as much as being blamed for the wrongdoings of others. 5. Stop rioting when things don’t go your way. It’s infantile, uncivilized and it hurts innocent people whose busi-

nesses and property you’ve damaged or destroyed. 6. Civility isn’t limited to politics. To our entertainers: Stop trying to shock people. Put your clothes back on. No, the nipple doesn’t need to be “freed,” and neither do the rest of your private parts. Furthermore, if your “talent” consists of simulating sex on stage, it would appear you don’t have much to begin with. If you do have other talents, let’s see them. And to the industry generally: For heaven’s sake, stop celebrating garbage by putting it on national television, and advertising it as an “awards show.” We’re not fooled. 7. Stop trying to “out” people whose views you don’t like. Whether it’s Memories Pizza or Sweet Cakes by Melissa, it’s antithetical to civility. We’ve seen how this degenerates. What BuzzFeed tried to do to Chip and Joanna Gaines two weeks ago was despicable. A significant part of civility is the understanding that people are different. There are over 300 million people in this country; they’re not all going to think like you do, and it’s not your job to “purify” their views. Get over it. 8. Social media notwithstanding, reconsider your impulse to share your opinions about others with the world, especially when you choose to express it with expletives. In fact, one could say more generally... 9. Don’t be vulgar; vulgarity is a type of pollution. Worried about your carbon footprint? Try thinking about your verbal footprint. Clean up your language. And finally, we could change the culture overnight if we would simply... 10. Assume the best about people. In most cases, we won’t be disappointed. SO THERE you are. You might disagree with some of the. Or all of them. And that’s fine — have at it. Just be civil about it. Merry Christmas.

Conservative Chronicle

STANFORD RAPE CASE: December 25, 2016

Rape judge shows need for judicial independence

hen Santa Clara Superior Michele Dauber, who has become a Court Judge Aaron Persky spokesperson for victim “Emily Doe” sentenced Brock Turner, a and is heading the effort to recall PerStanford freshman convicted of sexu- sky, took issue with the finding. Dauber ally assaulting an unconscious woman also asserted the recall effort would go behind a dumpster, to six months in jail, forward. Dauber has this going for her effort. three years’ probation and lifetime sexoffender registration in June, it was a na- Three months does seem like an absurdsentence for the tional story. Legal insiders knew Turner ly light sexual assault of would serve three a an unconscious months — not woman. When six — for a felotwo Swedish ny assault, which graduate students he conveniently (c) 2017, Creators Syndicate saw Turner digiblamed on Stantally penetrating a ford’s booze-fueled “party culture” rather than his own woman too inebriated to consent, Turner fled — which demonstrates that he brutish behavior. Americans looked at the mug shot of knew he was guilty. Turner’s decision Turner and saw the face of arrogance to blame alcohol for his crime shows Turner has not taken responsibility for and privilege. his actions. But there’s more to the story. CritTHOUSANDS OF outraged citizens accused the judge of misconduct ics mocked the judge for suggesting as they lodged complaints with Cali- that if freed from jail, Turner “will not fornia’s Commission on Judicial Per- be a danger to others.” But the probaformance. Some said that Persky was tion Department, using a Static-99R lenient because Turner was white and assessment metric, believed Turner privileged, others that the judge was in- had a “low-moderate risk” of reoffendsensitive to female victims. Some said ing. Another assessment suggested that Persky should have recused himself be- Turner get drug and alcohol treatment cause his experience as a Stanford ath- and therapy — all of which could be lete made him biased in Turner’s favor. done while Turner was on probation. While prosecutors sought a six-year Feminists created the hashtag #PerskyMustGo in reaction to the judge’s asser- sentence, the Probation Department tion that “justice would best be served” recommended a term of a year or less if Turner was spared serving time in a in jail (not prison), followed by three years of probation and lifetime sex ofstate prison. Monday, the judicial panel cleared fender registry. Persky’s sentence effecPersky. I think the commission got tively reduced Turner’s jail time from it right. But Stanford law professor the Probation Department’s suggested

Debra J.

Saunders

six months (given the state credit of two days deducted for every four days spent in jail) to three months. I doubt six months would have mollified Persky’s critics. I THINK Turner’s jail time was too short, but the rest of his sentence — registering as a sex offender — will last a lifetime. Turner, who returned to Ohio after his release, won’t be able to get a professional license — he won’t be able to work as a commercial driver, life insurance agent or realtor — and he’ll have to abide by rigid residence reporting requirements. For the rest of his life, Turner’s status will be marginalized. You may think Turner deserves that fate, but if he had killed someone, he wouldn’t have to sign onto a murder

registry. When you add lifetime sex offender registration to the three months in jail and three years’ probation, Turner’s sentence hardly can be seen as light. Critics also went after Persky for considering Turner’s youth and lack of a significant record. That is, Persky did what judges are supposed to do: He gave a lighter sentence because he saw no proof that Turner was a habitual serious offender. The public’s reaction to Turner is understandable. His father didn’t help when he wrote to the court that his son, who is no longer an “easy-going” young man, must pay “a steep price... for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life.” Add his defense lawyer’s decision to grill the victim on her drinking, and it’s no surprise Turner became the subject of universal scorn. Victim Emily Doe’s righteous letter to the court shredded the defendant’s excuses. The outrage at Turner’s mistreatment of Doe led to a lynch mob mentality that targeted a judge for meting out a sentence in line with Probation Department recommendations. If three months seem too lenient — I would agree with that assessment — a lifetime on the sex offender registry is harsh. It is wrong to see Turner’s sentence as a slap on the wrist. Also, the notion that a judge should recuse himself if the accused went to the same college is risible. After all, if a judge cannot separate himself from his college days, he should not be a judge. IN FINDING no malpractice on Perksy’s part, the Commission on Judicial Performance cited the judicial code of ethics: “An independent, impartial, and honorable judiciary is indispensable to justice in our society.” Yes, Persky’s decision generated bad headlines, but that is the nature of public opinion, and the price to be paid for judicial independence.

January 4, 2017 U.S. MILITARY: December 22, 2016

Trump team reaches out to vet who is ‘out of ammo’ Last week, I received this email from Rennae: “Dear Larry, “Larry Wayne Lindsey is from Colorado. He has been a staunch supporter of President-elect Donald Trump, who had a big rally on the state capital steps in Colorado, where Larry did security. “LARRY IS a Marine veteran who served with honor. He has also been battling cancer for about three years. Three days ago, they only gave him the night to live. I fear he won’t get to see the inauguration. I am trying to get through a maze of people to see if we can get a call from President-elect Trump to Larry. It would mean so much to him. “I never ask for much, but this would be an amazing gift for a man who is a true patriot and an inspiration to so many.

“Thanks, Larry. There is something in this morning about 9 a.m. and asks if I feel up to an urgent call. I refused at about the guys named ‘Larry.’” Well, there’s something about Ma- first but acquiesced at her insistence. It rines, too. My dad was a Montford Point turned out to be PJ Schrantz, President (-elect) Trump’s chief of security. It Marine. I wrote back: seems President (-elect) “Dear Rennae, Trump, Vice Presi“I sent your dent (-elect Mike) message along to Pence and General a top aide to Mr. (James) Mattis Trump. Obviouswere requesting ly, I don’t know (c) 2017, Creators Syndicate information about what will happen. how I am doing. But let’s give it a shot.” The following day, I received this “PJ SAID THAT Gen. Mattis asked message from Rennae: “Thanks so much, Larry. He had a re- if there was anything he could do for me ally tough night, but he is a warrior. You ... imagine that for a moment, if you will, exactly what that meant to me. I said, are better than the best! I owe you! “Here is the message,” she wrote, ‘Yes, sir, there is one thing. You can tell him I said Semper Fi and to give ‘em “that Larry Lindsey just posted.” It read: “So my charge nurse comes hell!’

Larry

Elder

CHRISTMAS: December 22, 2016

Christmas miracles “Miracle on 34th Street,” “White Christmas” and “It’s a Wonderful Life,” are three of my favorite Christmas movies. All three stories revolve around people, connections and miracles. Natalie Wood plays second-grade student Susan in “Miracle on 34th Street.” Raised by her mother, Doris, to be practical and not believe in miracles, Susan began to believe in supernatural events after watching a department store Santa (Kris) talk to a girl in her native Dutch. Kris is accused of being crazy and taken to court for representing himself to be Santa Claus, but the case is dismissed after the Post Office delivers mail addressed to Santa to Kris. SUSAN, WHO wants a home for Christmas, is disappointed on Christmas morning when she does not receive it. Later that day, Kris persuades Doris and Fred, his attorney and Doris’ neighbor, to take a different route home. On the way, Susan spies the house of her dreams with a “For Sale” sign out front. Fred and Doris stop, tour the home, become engaged and agree to buy the house. Afterwards, Kris’ cane is spied in the corner of the house. Not only does Susan get her house, but she gets a stepfather as well. In “White Christmas,” the miracle is delivered through Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, two successful entertainers who change their plans for Christmas to help out their former commanding officer, retired Major General Thomas F. Waverly who has fallen upon hard times. Betty and Judy Haynes, sisters who sing and dance, are caught up in the show. Betty, who has fallen for Wallace, mistakenly believes that Wallace is out for himself

rather than the general. Disheartened, Betty leaves the show and goes out on her own. Wallace and Davis continue to produce the show, but also issue a plea for others in their old regiment to help the General. The finale takes place on Christmas Eve. The show goes on, and numerous men from the regiment show up to support Waverly, saving the inn. Betty returns to Bob. “It’s a Wonderful Life” begins on Christmas Eve, 1946. Faced with hard times, George Bailey stands on a bridge overlooking an icy river and

Jackie

contemplates suicide. When he sees a person in the water struggling to swim, George’s focus on his own life is replaced by his action to save another’s. He jumps into the river, saving the life of what turns out to be an angel, second class, Clarence Odbody. CLARENCE’S MISSION on Earth, (which will lead to him getting his wings if he is successful) is to turn George’s life around, leaving him once more in good cheer. Clarence does this by leading George through a historical journey of the impact his life has had on others: Saving his younger brother Harry’s life (Harry later becomes a war hero and saves other’s lives); stopping his boss Mr. Gower the druggist from dispensing the wrong medicine, which would have resulted in the poisoning of a child; marrying Mary, who would

have otherwise become an “old maid;” saving the Bailey Building & Loan Association with his honeymoon money during a run on the bank (and thereby saving the homes and affecting the lives of the townspeople); starting Bailey Park (affordable housing); as well as fathering children. George’s thoughts of suicide had been driven by what appeared to be the imminent closure of Bailey Building & Loan, due to a misplaced bank deposit. He had tried to borrow money from his longtime competitor, Henry F. Potter — the cantankerous Scrooge-like character in the story — but was turned down. Clarence’s journey through George’s life shifts George’s concerns away from his and his bank’s financial problems to the positive effects he had had on others. George realizes that he does want to die and that he has had a wonderful live, no matter the money difficulties. Racing home to his family, he finds friends there who have gathered the necessary funds for the deposit — saving the bank. In the end, all turns out well. As George’s family and friends gather around him, a bell on the Christmas tree rings, signaling that Clarence has earned his wings and is no longer second-class. All three movies speak to us about a key message that all of us would do well to embrace: Miracles can happen. They most often happen when we are focused on helping others, not ourselves. The can also occur through connections and community. Joy is not only in the receipt of a miracle, but in allowing miracles to come through us to others.

“What an honor to have the attention and concern of these courageous people who will be responsible for the rebuilding of this amazing country of ours. What a wonderful day today, with the tremendous outpouring of love and patriotism and birthday wishes from everyone! “God bless you all, from the bottom of my heart! “Larry Wayne Lindsey.” Shortly after this Mr. Lindsey posted a video from his hospital bed. It was to be his last message: “President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Gen. Mattis, I would like to say that the greatest honor of my life has been to wage this battle with you. “I have been prouder of being a Marine than anything I have ever done in my life. Having a hand, in some small way, in fighting for my country has meant the world to me. There is no greater honor for me — to have great men like you leading this country back to its foundation and back to God. “Because with Trump, I have no doubt in my heart and in my mind that you will be perhaps the greatest president in the history of our country. “Vice President Pence, I am so honored to call you my vice president. You are an incredibly good man, and probably the only vice president in 150 years to have any brains — and I appreciate that about you. Your candor and your honesty, from both of you men, is much needed in this day and time. “Gen. Mattis, sir, it appears that I am now out of ammunition, but I continue to fight with my last breath. I do not fear death because I know where I’m going, and I’m only going home for a rest. It’s you people here, the good people of America, for whom I cry, my loved ones and my friends, and the sacrifices they continue to make in this fight to restore our country. “Dying is the easy part. Dying is the comforting part if you know who your God is and you know that He holds your hand. And I do. I praise God for a wonderful life. So many wonderful blessings that I have known. And so many wonderfully kind and loving people in this country whom I have met during my fight for this country. “I want you to know, each and every one of you, that we have taken on a challenge that has only just begun. The real battle lies ahead. “And Gen. Mattis, I have one request, sir, and that is: Give ‘em hell,” he said, saluting. “And ‘Semper Fi.’ God bless.” A few hours after this last post, according to his Facebook page, Marine Lindsey died peacefully in the arms of his wife Natasha at 10:45 p.m. on his birthday, Dec. 17.

SEMPER FI, Marine Larry Wayne MAY YOUR holiday season be filled Lindsey. with miracles, connections and joy.

Conservative Chronicle

MEDIA BIAS: December 27, 2016

Diversity (such as it is) at the New York Times

iz Spayd, the public editor at the New York Times, has just given us a peek behind the curtain at the newspaper of record — and what we’ve stumbled onto is more than a little liberal hypocrisy. For example, she tells us “Only two of the 20-plus reporters who covered the presidential campaign for the New York Times were black. None were Latino or Asian.”

AMONG THE 42 reporters who cover local news in New York, only three are Latino, despite the fact that New York has the second largest Hispanic population in the United States. How about sports? In that department there’s one Asian man, one Hispanic woman and no African-Americans, even though, as Spayd points out, “blacks are plentiful among the teams they cover and the audience they serve.” The executive editor of the Times is black but all the other top editors whose names adorn the masthead are white. Let’s just say it’s probably not a good thing when the National Hockey League seems more diverse than a liberal newsroom. But this isn’t simply about numbers. It’s also about a special kind of smugness. The liberal elite kind. And as the public editor tells us, the Times’ less than sterling record on diversity hasn’t stopped it from telling everyone else in the culture how to behave. “The Times can be relentless in questioning the diversity at other institutions; it has written about the white ranks of the technology sector, public schools, police departments, Oscar nominees, law firms, legislatures, the major leagues and the Ivy League. Fixing its own problems comes less easily.” We owe thanks to Liz Spayd for her courage in taking us behind the curtain, a place civilians are not supposed to go. But now that she’s aired all that dirty laundry, as a friend of mine suggests, she “should consider hiring a food and beverage taster before ingesting anything made for her at Times headquarters.” Yes, diversity matters in the newsroom. We don’t want quotas based on race and ethnicity, but black reporters probably would have more access to black communities, for example, and likely would have a better — and a different — take on black cultural issues than a white guy who grew up in a tony white suburb before heading off to the Ivy League. But there’s another kind of diversity that also matters in the newsroom and arguably matters more than the skin-deep kind when it comes to covering news. It’s diversity of opinions: Ideological diversity. And there’s precious little of that at the Times or in most American newsrooms. Spayd says she’ll tackle that kind

of diversity in a future column. I can’t wait. Years ago, I asked two very highranking TV news executives — both of whom were major proponents of diversity in their newsrooms — if they would voluntarily give up their jobs on the condition that they be replaced by a qualified minority or female executive. I asked this question in two separate conversations at two different times in two difference cities. The two executives didn’t even know each other. Yet both had the same answer — No! They thought it was a terrible idea. After all, they told me, they had experience. They were right for the job. And while they were explaining, they looked at me as if I had two heads.

OR TO PUT it another way, what they really were saying is: We love diversity — as long as we don’t have to give up anything to achieve it. Back at the New York Times, almost all the star columnists are white and liberal. So why doesn’t the Times, for the sake of diversity, replace their white columnists with columnists “of color.”

Why not at least ask these columnists — who presumably have benefited from the very white privilege they, like many of their fellow liberals, find so unfair — what they think of the idea of being replaced by journalists who aren’t white, though I suspect we already know the answer to that one. The Times may want to consider one more thing if the people who run the place ever get serious about hiring more minorities for their newsroom. Generally speaking, minority journalists, like minorities in general, tend to be more liberal than white people — and white journalists are pretty liberal to begin with. So the more Hispanics and Asians and African Americans who join America’s

newsrooms, the more liberal those newsrooms would become. One problem solved — another problem made worse. Which brings us to an idea I came up with a while back: Affirmative action for the smallest minority in the American newsroom — conservative journalists. AND THE Times could look real hard and find black and Latino and Asian conservative journalists And — presto! — they’d be killing two birds with one stone, so to speak: More minorities and more conservatives. I know, brilliant, right? written by Bernard Goldberg

CHRISTMAS: December 22, 2016

The familiarity of Christmas Familiarity doesn’t always breed contempt. Not if it’s a familiarity with Christmas. While America and much of the world are focusing attention on the coming of the new president, little attention is paid to a gift not even the world’s richest person could pay for and which is even today not received by many to whom it is offered.

THE YEAR 2017 marks the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. A look back at one of the greatest sermons ever preached about Christmas by the man credited with splitting Christianity from the dominant Roman Catholic Church seems appropriate. Martin Luther’s understanding of what we euphemistically call “the real meaning of Christmas” was absolute. After underscoring the humble backgrounds of Mary and Joseph and noting how rich travelers stayed in far better surroundings than the stable the two who would become the world’s most famous couple were forced to occupy, Luther commented: “See, this is the first picture with which Christ puts the world to shame and exposes all it does and knows. It shows that the world’s greatest wisdom is foolishness, her best actions are wrong and her greatest treasures are misfortunes.”

Such a notion should humble a politician, even a president, if that were possible. And yet too many among us put more faith in “princes and kings” in the false hope he (or she) can deliver us, instead of the One who really can. LUTHER STRIPS away any notion of dignity or honor, which we commercially idealize in manufactured Nativity scenes, when he says of Mary and Joseph: “They had neither money nor influence to secure a room

Cal

in the inn, hence they were obliged to lodge in a stable. O world, how stupid! O man, how blind thou art! But the birth itself is still more pitiful. There was no one to take pity on this young wife, who was for the first time to give birth to a child; no one to take to heart her condition that she, a stranger, did not have the least thing a mother needs in a birthnight. There she is without any preparation, without either light or fire, alone in the darkness, without any one offering her service as is customary for women to do at such times.” In the polar opposite of what humankind longs for in fame, riches and

honor, Luther speaks of the lowly shepherds to whom the initial announcement of this unique birth was communicated: “Behold how very richly God honors those who are despised of men, and that very gladly. Here you see that his eyes look into the depths of humility, as is written, ‘He sitteth above the cherubim’ and looketh into the depths. Nor could the angels find princes or valiant men to whom to communicate the good news; but only unlearned laymen, the most humble people upon earth. Could they not have addressed the high priests, who it was supposed knew so much concerning God and the angels? No, God chose poor shepherds, who, though they were of low esteem in the sight of men, were in heaven regarded as worthy of such great grace and honor.” NEXT MONTH, we will inaugurate another U.S. president. Pomp, ceremony and considerable ego will be on display. Two thousand years ago there was another “inauguration” of sorts, one whose goal is out of reach of the smartest political leader. That One had — and has — the power to transform lives and fit them for another world. It is a world, according to the baby born in Bethlehem of Judea who became a man and Savior to billions worldwide, that will — unlike this world and the little it offers — never pass away.

January 4, 2017 CHRISTMAS: December 22, 2016

Joe Telles and a date I’ll always remember

spot on the map called Pine Bluff, Ark., on December 21, 1967. Typing out the date like that makes it seem so long ago, maybe before you were born, Gentle young Reader. Yes, it was decades ago, but for somebody who remembers, who makes a point of remembering the date every year, it was just yesterday. Even today. It’ll sneak up on you, December 21st. Like a thief in the night. That’s the date the stranger would enter the town’s history, though surely neither he nor the town knew it at the time. Now, every December 21st, the man THAT’S THE date the stranger artracks comes to mind. rived in my small town — 49 years ago to out by the We didn’t know it be exact — and not then, and surely on any crack exhe didn’t know it, press. His sleeper but he had come would have been to tell us something. a boxcar, his diner (c) 2017, Tribune Media Services It would take a rewherever he could porter days, weeks, scrounge a meal. And for him this was the end of the line. to find out his name. It turned out to be Maybe he knew it, because he was still Joe Telles, as in Tell Us. He was nameless to the people who aware enough to lift himself off the train somehow, and wait for help. Or maybe found him, just another bum down on his he fell off. We never knew. He was just luck, riding the rails, and this was where somebody passing through. Like the rest he’d landed. He would never make it to wherever he was going. He wouldn’t of us. For some reason — there’s always a even make it to Christmas. He’d arrived four days before all reason because for some of us there are no coincidences — he’d wound up in a Christendom is to rejoice in the birth of

here are some dates everybody remembers. National holidays, Christmas and New Year’s and the like. Festive dates and dates not so. Birthdays, wedding anniversaries, the day your mother died. All personal markers. Some dates are historical markers. December 7, 1941. November 22, 1963. September 11, 2001. And still others are both personal and shared with your community. Because you’ve resolved not to forget them — or let others forget them. Like December 21.

Paul

Greenberg

BARACK OBAMA: December 28, 2016

Him who said, “Inasmuch as ye have And so, through the short, waning done it unto the least of these my breth- hours of that December 21st, the shortest ren, ye have done it unto me.” day and longest night of the year, he was trundled from one station of his cross to HE’D COME at a bad time. People are another. so busy this time of year with their own They said he wasn’t sick enough for plans. And along he’d come — like still the hospital to take him in. And he was another chore to be done with, scratched too sick for the Salvation Army to take off the list. In the words of the old gospel responsibility for him. hymn they used to sing in black churches, So they put him up in the county jail — We Didn’t Know Who You Was. not because he’d done anything wrong, but because there was no place for him anywhere else. That would be the last place he would know in this world. They would find him the next morning. Sometime during the night, they didn’t know just when, he’d died. In the dark. Alone. its thumb. Thanks to Obama’s military At first the newspaper heard only a rucuts, China believes that it can bully mor — something about somebody dying American allies into embracing Chi- in the jail and the body being shipped out nese supremacy in international waters before an autopsy could be performed. — and it may be right. Simultaneously, Strange how what turns out to be a big Obama continues to drive America into story will surprise you — how it may not debt, and the Chinese are large buyers of be about the great and powerful, about that outstanding debt. Roman emperors and their census and The communist Cubans have been re- taxes. Sometimes it’s just about people enshrined; so have the socialist Venezu- looking for shelter on the road, a place to elan authorities. The Islamic State group spend the night on the way to someplace remains an international threat, and else. Joe Telles’ story, it turns out, mirrors western capitals have been struck by Is- The Story, the one about there being no lamic terror time and again, to Obama’s room at the inn. teeth-gnashing and general inaction. The stranger left behind little but the But at least Obama is truly putting his usual, fragmentary chronicles of the poor focus where it’s necessary: On declar- and troubled. A brush with the law years ing that our only ally in the Middle East, ago, traces of a family, an illness only Israel, has no historic claim to its own vaguely diagnosed. ... There was no way existence and threatening Jews with to know what he thought, what he prayed, sanctions for building bathrooms in East that last night. Some of us still wonder Jerusalem. about that every December 21st.

Obama’s skewed moral universe

resident Barack Obama likes to see himself as a moral leader. “The arc of the moral universe is long,” Obama likes to say, quoting Martin Luther King Jr, “but it bends toward justice.” According to Obama, Obama is a genteel representative of decency and good grace, a man pointing America toward a broader vision, a fellow questing for social justice and contextual consideration. In reality, he’s a narcissistic fool. And like Burgess Meredith’s character in “The Twilight Zone,” he will be left standing in the ruins, bewailing the fates that abandoned him, leaving no worshipful admirers upon whom to lean. OBAMA’S LEGACY is one of failure all around the world. He leaves office with a genocide in Syria on his record — a genocide he pledged to prevent, then tolerated and finally lamented, mourning the fates while blithely ignoring his own cowardice. Libya, meanwhile, remains a full-scale disaster area, with tens of thousands of refugees from that failed campaign swamping Europe, along with those fleeing Syria, and his leftist European allies paying the political price.

Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, stands on the brink of a nuclear dawn, its pockets filled with billions of dollars, its minions ascendant from Tehran to Aleppo to Beirut. Obama made that happen with nearly a decade of appeasement and a willingness to abandon freedom-minded Iranians to the tender mercies of the mullahs. Meanwhile, Russia has only expanded its reach and influence, invading the sovereign nation of Ukraine

Ben

and seizing Crimea to the deafening silence of the Obama administration. Russia has flexed its muscle in Kaliningrad, where it has stocked missiles, and in Syria, where it has assured Syrian President Bashar Assad’s continued dominance. CHINA HAS grown its sphere of influence across the South China Sea, putting American allies from Taiwan and Japan to the Philippines directly under

OBAMA CAME into office amidst grand promises to restore America’s place in the world. Unless our place is the outhouse, he’s failed. But at least he feels good about his accomplishments, even if thousands have died — and thousands more will die — in order to ensure his moral stature in his own mind.

IT HURTS to think about it, but it’s a saving kind of hurt. It reminds us there is still time. Four whole days of it. Time to wake up, to free ourselves from the hubbub, to slip off our numb, dying selves, and come alive to the least of these. Four days to bring Christmas.

Conservative Chronicle

SYRIA: December 23, 2016

Aleppo and American decline: Fitting for Obama

sively altered the balance, pounding the rebels in Aleppo to oblivion. The Russians were particularly adept at hitting hospitals and other civilian targets, leaving the rebels with the choice between annihilation and surrender. They surrendered. Obama has never appreciated that the role of a superpower in a local conflict is not necessarily to intervene on the ground, but to deter a rival global power from stepping in and altering the course of the war. That’s what we did during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, THIS IS a transparent fiction de- when Moscow threatened to send signed to stifle debate. Five years ago, troops to support Egypt and President countered by raising the popular uprising was ascendant. N i x o n America’s nuclear What kept a rough equilibrium was alert status to Defregime control of con 3. Russia stood the skies. At that down. point, the U.S., Less dramatiat little risk and cally but just as cost, could have (c) 2017, Washington Post Writers Group effectively, Amerdeclared Syria a no-fly zone, much as it did Iraqi Kurd- ican threats of retaliation are what kept istan for a dozen years after the Gulf West Germany, South Korea and Taiwan free and independent through half War of 1991. The U.S. could easily have destroyed a century of Cold War. It’s called deterrence. Yet Obama the regime’s planes and helicopters on the ground and so cratered its airfields never had the credibility to deter anyas to make them unusable. That would thing or anyone. In the end, the world’s have altered the strategic equation for greatest power was reduced to bitter speeches at the U.N. “Are you truly the rest of the war. And would have deterred the Rus- incapable of shame?” thundered U.S. sians from injecting their own air force Ambassador Samantha Power at the — they would have had to challenge butchers of Aleppo. As if we don’t ours for air superiority. Facing no U.S. know the answer. Indeed the shame is deterrent, Russia stepped in and deci- on us for terminal naivete, sending our he fall of Aleppo just weeks before Barack Obama leaves office is a fitting stamp on his Middle East policy of retreat and withdrawal. The pitiable pictures from the devastated city showed the true cost of Obama’s abdication. For which he seems to have few regrets, however. In his end-of-year news conference, Obama defended U.S. inaction with his familiar false choice: It was either stand aside or order a massive Iraqstyle ground invasion.

Charles

Krauthammer

secretary of state chasing the Russians which both these revisionist regimes to negotiate one humiliating pretend can project power in the region. cease-fire after another. Iran will use Syria to advance its drive to dominate the Arab Middle EVEN NOW, however, the Syria East. Russia will use its naval and air debate is not encouraging. The tone bases to bully the Sunni Arab states, is anguished and emotional, portrayed and to shut out American influence. exclusively in moral terms. Much less It’s already happening. The foreign appreciated is the cold strategic cost. and defense ministers of Russia, Iran Assad was never a friend. But today and Turkey convened in Moscow this he’s not even a free agent. He’s been week to begin settling the fate of Syria. effectively restored to his throne, but as Notice who wasn’t there. For the first the puppet of Iran and Russia. Syria is time in four decades, the United States, now a platform, a forward base, from the once dominant power in the region, is an irrelevance. With Aleppo gone and the rebels scattered, we have a long road ahead to rebuild the influence squandered over the last eight years. President-elect Donald Trump is talking about creating safe zones. He should tread carefully. It does no good to try to do now what we should have done five years ago. Conditions are much worse. Russia and Iran rule. Maintaining the safety of safe zones will be expensive and dangerous. It will require extensive ground deployments and it risks military confrontation with Russia. And why? Guilty conscience is not a good reason. Interventions that are purely humanitarian — from Somalia to Libya — tend to end badly. We may proclaim a “responsibility to protect,” but when no American interests are at stake, the engagement becomes impossible to sustain. At the first losses, we go home. IN ALEPPO, the damage is done, the city destroyed, the inhabitants ethnically cleansed. For us, there is no post-facto option. If we are to regain the honor lost in Aleppo, it will have to be on a very different battlefield.

January 4, 2017 FOOTBALL: December 21, 2016

How Harvard drove a wedge into football

him an elderly gentleman who had never seen an American football game.” This man was not a spy, but he became an unwitting source. “The gentleman left that night for San Francisco and in a restaurant there shortly after his arrival, gave a crude description to his table companions of the practice and the ‘Flying Wedge’ as he saw it,” Knox wrote. “At an adjoining table sat a Yale man who knew football,” the tale continued. “He could not, however, make head or JAMES L. KNOX, Harvard class tail of what he heard but forthwith wrote of 1898, later explained how an oppor- the story in detail to New Haven. The tunistic surveillance conducted by one Yale coaching camp could not solve the Yale man a continent away nearly de- riddle but did reach the wise conclusion that the Yale team should watch the ball feated its purpose. “In those days it was the common with extreme care and make no move sure that the right practice to spy on the enemy through u n l e s s thing were being any channel,” done.” Knox wrote in Yale, however, “The H Book of did indeed have an Harvard Athletagent monitoring ics, 1852-1922,” (c) 2017, Creators Syndicate Harvard practices. “and it was ruOnly Theodore S. mored that Yale scouts were watching daily work-outs Woolsey did not lurk in Mount Auburn from the tower in Mount Auburn Cem- Cemetery. He watched Harvard’s summer camp in York Harbor, Maine. etery. Woolsey was a friend of Yale’s Wal“An appeal to Major Henry L. Higginson, who gave Soldiers Field to ter Camp, Founding Father of American Harvard, brought forth the money to football. As related in Scott McQuilkin and increase the height of the fence to cut off the view from the tower,” Knox Ronald Smith’s “The Rise and Fall of the Flying Wedge,” published in wrote. “For this, and a thousand other good the Journal of Sports History in 1993, reasons, Major Higginson was a wel- Woolsey wrote Camp on July 17, 1892. “Woolsey reported that Lorin Decome guest at secret practice,” Knox said. “One afternoon he brought with land was adapting ‘military strategy to his story starts with the equally ineffective intelligence and counterintelligence activities of the Yale and Harvard football teams of the early 1890s. Agents from Yale were suspected to be lurking in a Cambridge cemetery near the Harvard practice field. Harvard responded by building a great big beautiful wall -- or, rather, a higher fence -- to prevent these Yale men from posing a security threat.

Terry

Jeffrey

football’ and ‘testing the practicability of these new plays,’” McQuilkin and Smith wrote. “To work them out at all,” Woolsey observed sarcastically to Camp, “would require a standard of team play which Harvard is not usually up to.” BUT DELAND, a Boston businessman new to football, was now Harvard’s top strategic thinker. Like Camp, he would leave an indelible mark on football. Parke Davis, a former Princeton player who in 1911 published “Football, the American Collegiate Game,” explained the immediate impact of Deland’s innovation. “For many years the standard opening play at the beginning of each half had been the old Princeton V, commonly known as the V Trick,” Davis wrote. But in 1892 against Yale, Harvard played a different trick. “To the surprise of players and spectators, however, the Crimson did not form a V,” said Davis. “Instead, B.W. Trafford, holding the ball, took a position at the center of Harvard’s 45-yard

CYCLES: December 21, 2016

Business cycle/political cycle

ow do we make sense of the alternation in power of our two parties and their ideologies? Now that Donald Trump seems intent on repealing Obamacare and President Obama’s executive orders on the environment, we are given to wonder if we are not simply trapped between two forces alternately embracing and erasing their legacies.

Schumpeter called “creative destruction” destroys the unsound businesses, the overblown profits, the useless jobs, and the crazy investments that have accumulated and leaves

BUT WE NEED to grasp the essentially cyclical nature of our progress. It is not a pendulum erasing with each swing from left to right and back again of all that happened before. It is an upward spiral — not a downward screw — in which each shift of the dominant political ideology sifts through the wreckage left by its defeated predecessor, embracing the policies that have proven themselves and discarding the rest. Its a lot like the business cycle — from boom to bust — where what Joseph

standing, instead, the sound businesses and a business expansion based on meeting the real needs of the market.

Dick

BECAUSE HUMAN nature — with its innate propensity for excess — rules politics as well as economics, the political cycle that paces our democracy parallels that which dominates our economy. The political cycle is less widely noticed, but is just as fundamental. When a political party or ideology takes over, it implements needed re-

forms to correct abuses that have multiplied under its predecessor. Where the ancient regime was too liberal, the new people cut spending and slash regulations. Where there had been higher taxes, they introduce lower rates. For a while things turn around. Jobs abound. Companies — liberated from taxes and regulation — start to hire again. Investors return to the market place. But inevitably, the political boom will overreach just as business prosperity always does. Important regulations are repealed. Free from scrutiny, businesses pollute, discriminate and shortchange consumers. Where the left rules, corruption — its habitual failing — sets in. When the right takes power, greed — its constant defect — always gets out of control and fuels voter disgust. AND THEN the pendulum swings back again.

line. The remaining 10 men divided into two sections and fell back to the 25-yard line, each section grouping near the side line, but at opposite sides of the field. Without putting the ball in play Trafford waved his hand and the two sections came swiftly forward in lock step, converging toward Trafford and gathering tremendous momentum as they ran. Just as they reached Trafford the latter put the ball in play and disappeared within the mass of men, thus launching against the Yale men standing in their tracks the famous flying wedge.” Davis’s verdict: “No play ever has been devised so spectacular and sensational as this one.” In 1893, Harvard’s rivals imitated Deland’s flying wedge and applied the same principal to regular plays from scrimmage. “As this wedge was started before the ball was put in play, and as the latter was not snapped until the wedge was about to strike its objective point,” Davis observed of one such play run by Yale, “it is needless to say that the impact was such that the objective point usually remembered it for years.” “Unfortunately, this season of exceptional tactical brilliance was fraught with many mishaps,” Davis noted. Newspapers carried alarming reports of injuries, some of which Davis said were “the product of exaggeration.” A committee was formed, chaired by Camp, to comprehensively survey former college football players about their history of injuries and their “suggestions for improvement of the game.” “These answers when compiled and published proved that the charges against football had been exaggerated so grossly that these accusations subsided and almost ceased,” Davis wrote. But the flying wedge was banned and one of the many evolutionary periods in the rules of football began. They have delivered a sport that remains America’s greatest game. IN THE REPORT published by Camp’s committee, Prof. Eugene Richards of Yale delivered an enduring analysis of that game. “As there is no other college sport which so brings out the best virtues in a man, so there is no other college sport which is so dependent for its success upon good all-round men,” he concluded.

Conservative Chronicle

RUSSIA: December 23, 2016

Putin and Trump: A very odd couple

ussian President Vladimir Putin is portrayed by “Saturday Night Live” as a barechested Santa Claus sliding down the chimney with a sack full of presents, an energetic muscle-bound figure of fun. He delivers a small surveillance device shaped like an Elf on the Shelf to Donald Trump (played by Alec Baldwin), who is ripe for satire. When the president-elect apologizes for not having a gift in return, the Russian leader replies: “Please, Mr. Trump. You are the gift.” Santa knows who’s naughty and who’s nice. REX TILLERSON, CEO of Exxon Mobil and Trump’s pick for secretary of state, walks in to take his lumps as a Putin confederate. If “Saturday Night Live” made fun of Tillerson’s friendliness toward Putin as a fault, Robert Gates, the former CIA director and a paid-up member of the bipartisan elites, took a different tack the next morning on “Meet the Press.” He cast the businessman’s relationship with world leaders not as a risk but as an asset. “Being friendly doesn’t make you friends,” Gates said. He called the criticism of Tillerson’s business connections a “false narrative.” In fact, Tillerson’s experience and deep knowledge of many countries and the men and women who run them could help America restore its leadership in the world. Gates observed: “You don’t have to negotiate very much with your friends. It’s with your adversaries that you have to deal and figure out how to get along.” As the shirtless pretend Putty laughs it up on “Saturday Night Live” with the pretend Tillerson and jokes about their future together, Hillary Clinton persists in a defensive public crouch over her past with the Russian strongman. At a party she threw at The Plaza Hotel to express her gratitude for her top donors’ big bucks, she blamed Putin for her humiliation on Nov. 8. The Russian president interfered in the U.S. election, she said, “because he has a personal beef against me.” It was Russian retaliation for critical remarks she made of Russia’s parliamentary elections in 2011, which she said were “neither free nor fair.” The Clintons have not always felt that Putin’s intentions toward them or toward the United States were hostile, but their friendship doesn’t sound like the kind Gates was talking about. In 2010, former President Bill Clinton took $500,000 in speaking fees from a Russian finance company run by former KGB spies with links to Putin.

When Hillary Clinton was secretary countability Institute, benefitted the of state, she professed optimism about Clintons. The Skolkovo Foundation doing high-tech business in Russia. was a favorite of many Russian and She cheered the visit of a delegation American corporations that gave genof American executives from informa- erously to the Clinton Foundation. tion-technology companies that went Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire Putin to Russia to explore joint private-sec- ally who headed the Skolkovo Fountor initiatives. When Russians visited dation, was particularly generous. Power, like beauty, can be in Silicon Valley she said, “I think it’s the eye of the begreat that Rusholder: How you sia is looking to see it depends on try to create that whether you’re a kind of center for winner or a loser. technology and (c) 2017, Creators Syndicate “Power is the growth right outsum total of wills side Moscow, and we want to help because we think it’s transferred to one person,” Tolstoy famously wrote. And that’s certainly in everyone’s interest to do so.” how voters who are disappointed over WHAT FOLLOWED was the Clinton’s defeat perceive Putin’s reSkolkovo Innovation Center, a high- sponsibility in the hacking. Putin actually resembles a charactech Russian-run enclave of researchers and developers supporting startups ter not of Tolstoy but Dostoyevsky, as with global investors. Its success, as former Secretary of State Henry Kissmeasured by the Government Ac- inger observed. “For him, the ques-

Suzanne

Fields

tion of Russian identity is very crucial because, as a result of the collapse of communism, Russia has lost about 300 years of its history,” he said. He’s figuring out how to bring back pride of place. Putin is a cold and cunning calculator, Kissinger told CBS News. He thinks the Donald has a unique opportunity to be a positive player in those calculations. He said: “DONALD TRUMP is a phenomenon that foreign countries haven’t seen. I believe he has the possibility of going down in history as a very considerable president because every country now has two things to consider. One, their perception that the previous president, or the outgoing president, basically withdrew America from international politics ... And secondly, that here is a new president who’s asking a lot of unfamiliar questions.”

MEDIA BIAS: December 21, 2016

Double standard on election acceptance

wo months ago, the liberal media erupted in horror after the third presidential debate. Fox’s Chris Wallace challenged Donald Trump on whether he would accept the result of the election, and Trump said he would wait and see. NBC described a “flood of condemnation” and cited President Obama accusing Trump of “(undermining) our democracy.” “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie called it an “earthquake.”

GUTHRIE TURNED to retired anchorman Tom Brokaw to denounce Trump. He said: “This is not a banana republic. We’ve got more than 200 years of presidential elections and graceful and peaceful transitions to the new administration. As you saw, even Richard Nixon, Al Gore, the people who were caught up in very close races, said, ‘I accept that this is the new president.’” Trump won the election handily with 304 electoral votes, and Democrats flip-flopped, sullenly refusing to accept the results. And so did the “objective” media. On Dec. 18, there was no “earthquake” at NBC when Hillary Clinton aide John Podesta refused to say that President-elect Trump won a free and fair election. He said instead that it was rigged by the Russians. And it was the ballot errors. And FBI Director James Comey. And the fake news epidemic. And the Constitution — that blasted Electoral College! Nobody brought in Brokaw to lecture

Team Hillary about banana-republic behavior. Back in October, the New York Times issued a front-page alert, saying, “In a remarkable statement that seemed to cast doubt on American democracy, Donald J. Trump said Wednesday that he might not accept the results of next month’s election if he felt it was rigged against him — a stand that Hillary Clinton blasted as ‘horrifying’ at their final and caustic debate on Wednesday.”

Brent

TWO MONTHS later, the Times was eagerly giving oxygen to any protest against Trump, no matter how fanatical. It said: “In Florida, protesters swarmed the Capitol rotunda, one hoisting a ‘Trump Is Too Rusky’ sign featuring a hammer and sickle. In Wisconsin’s statehouse, a heckler shouted, ‘’We’re all going to go to war and die thanks to you.’” This was somehow democracy in action. There was no remarkable or horrifying adjective at the top of the story. Instead, the Times turned to Adam Jentleson, a top aide to retiring Sen. Harry Reid, who warned, “There’s not going to be a grace period this time because everybody on our side thinks he’s illegitimate and poses a massive threat.”

Even the leftist late-night comedians showed the double standard. CBS “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert mocked Trump in October, saying: “Oh, suspense! Democracy’s going to end in a cliffhanger! I guess we’re all going to have to wait until Nov. 9 to find out if we still have a country — if Donald Trump is the mood for a peaceful transfer of power or if he’s just going to wipe his fat a-- with the Constitution.” After the election, Colbert said: “Walking around the streets of New York today, a lot of people (were) a little rough. You know, you could see it in their eyes. ... This is what it feels like when America’s made great again.” The crowd laughed. He continued: “And I was really hoping it would feel better because this sucks! And I don’t know if you guys had any trouble getting in here tonight because right now, tonight, thousands of people have taken to the streets in protests in cities all over America.” Colbert told his audience to accept President Trump (how noble). But the protesters still drew screams and hearty applause. Somehow they weren’t fat dictators using the Constitution as toilet paper. THE TIMES insisted on Monday that “the uneasiness with Mr. Trump has hardly receded in the nearly six weeks since his election.” That is because the press will not stop agitating, and all the while they call it “news.” That, folks, is also “fake news.”

January 4, 2017 EUROPE: December 23, 2016

Europe’s future — Merkel or Le Pen?

“Islamic immigration/Is an invasion,” he went on, “An existential problem/ That will replace our people/Erase our culture.” “These are Merkel’s dead,” tweeted Marcus Pretzell of the far-right Alternative for Germany about the victims in the Christmas mart. Nicholas Farage, who led the campaign for British secession from the EU, called the Christmas massacre “the Merkel legacy.” Europe’s populist right is laying this THAT GERMAN lassitude, and the act of Islamist savagery at the feet of naivete behind it, allowed this outrage Merkel for her having opened Germany validates the grim verdict of geostrate- in 2015 to a million migrants and refugist James Burnham in “Suicide of the gees from Syria and the Middle East West:” “Liberalism is the ideology of wars. Before Berlin, Western suicide.” she was already on Both the transthe defensive after national elite and mobs of migrants populist right went about mosense the stakes (c) 2017, Creators Syndicate lesting and raping involved here. As news of the barbarous atrocity spread German girls in Cologne last New Year’s across Europe, the reactions were in- Eve. Even admirers who share her belief in stantaneous and predictable. Marine Le Pen of France’s National a Europe of open borders, that welcomes Front, leading candidate for the presi- immigrants and refugees from Third dency in 2017, declaimed: “How many World wars and despotisms, sense the more people must die at the hands of gravity of Merkel’s crisis. “Germans should not let the attack Islamic extremists before our governments close our porous borders and on a Christmas market in Berlin understop taking in thousands of illegal im- mine liberal values,” ran the headline on the Washington Post editorial Dec. 22. migrants?” Geert Wilders, the Party for Freedom Alarmed, the Post went on: “What Germany cannot and must not frontrunner for prime minister of Holland, echoed Le Pen: “They hate and do is ... succumb to the siren song of kill us. And nobody protects us. Our the anti-foreigner right-wing, which has leaders betray us. We need a political been gaining strength across Europe and moved immediately to exploit the attack revolution. he terrorist who hijacked a truck in Berlin and ran over and killed 12 people, maiming and wounding 48 more, in that massacre in the Christmas market, has done more damage than he could imagine. If the perpetrator is the jihadist from Tunisia who had no right to be in Germany, and had been under surveillance, the bell could begin to toll not only for Angela Merkel but for the European Union.

Pat

Buchanan

ahead of the September 2017 national elections.” The New York Times delivered its customary castigation of the European populist right but, in a note of near-desperation, if not of despair, implored Europe’s liberals not to lose faith. “With each new attack, whether on a Christmas market or a mosque, the challenge to Europe to defend tolerance, inclusion, equality and reason grows more daunting. If Europe is to survive as a beacon of democratic hope in a world rent by violent divisions, it must not cede those values.” BUT LESS and less does Europe appear to be listening. Indeed, as Europe has been picking up its dead and wounded for over a decade, from terrorist attacks in Madrid, London,

Paris, Berlin and Brussels, the peoples of Europe seem less interested in hearing recitals of liberal values than in learning what their governments are going to do to keep the Islamist killers out and make them safe. Salus populi suprema lex. Liberals may admonish us that all races, creeds, cultures are equal, that anyone from any continent, country or civilization can come to the West and assimilate. That discrimination against one group of immigrants in favor of another — preferring, say, Lebanese Christians to Syrian Muslims — is illiberal and undemocratic. But people don’t believe that. Europe and America have moved beyond the verities of 20th-century liberalism. The cruel experiences of the recent past, and common sense, dictate that open borders are Eurail passes for Islamist terrorists, who are anxious to come and kill us in the West. We have to deal with the world as it is, not as we would wish it to be. In our time, there has taken place, is taking place, an Islamic awakening. Of 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide, hundreds of millions accept strict sharia law about how to deal with apostasy and infidels. Scores of millions in the Middle East wish to drive the West out of their world. Thousands are willing to depart and come to Europe to terrorize our societies. They see themselves at war with us, as their ancestors were at war with the Christian world for 1,000 years. Only liberal ideology calls for America and Europe to bring into their home countries endless numbers of migrants, without being overly concerned about who they are, whence they come or what they believe. RIGHT-WING and anti-immigrant parties are succeeding in Europe for a simple reason. Mainstream parties are failing in the first duty of government — to protect the safety and security of the people.

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•NEWSPAPER• •DATED MATERIAL•

RUSH!

Terrorism

Postmaster: Timely Material Please deliver on or before 1/4/17 Periodicals Postage Paid Mailed 12/29/17

Read Donald Lambro, Austin Bay & Linda Chavez on Pages 16-17

This week our CONSERVATIVE FOCUS is on:

Read Star Parker’s Column on Page 1

Obama Administration Abstains at UN

Israel Betrayed

Wednesday, January 4, 2017 • Volume 32, Number 1 • Hampton, Iowa