Columns ‹ Opinion
2017: A Breakthrough Year for Hollywood Heroines?
Hollywood’s so desperate to get past harassment scandals that industry insiders have proclaimed 2017 “the year of the strong woman.” Box office returns show that the three top moneymakers in America all featured female protagonists: Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Beauty and the Beast and Wonder Woman. “Women truly emerged as the giants of...
Read More
“I’m Not Ready to Get Married”
Editor’s Note: Mr. Prager is off. This is a column that originally ran in 2015. *** Part I in a series of widely held beliefs that are either untrue or meaningless: In every age, people say and believe things that aren’t true but somehow become accepted as “conventional wisdom.” The statement “I’m not ready to […]
The...
Read More
Hollywood’s Best and Worst of 2017
MICHAEL’S PICKS FOR BEST FILMS OF 2017:
1. Wonder (PG)
2. Dunkirk (PG-13)
3. Darkest Hour (PG-13)
4. The Shape of Water (R)
5. Lady Bird (R)
6. The Big Sick (R)
7. The Disaster Artist (R)
8. The LEGO Batman Movie (PG)
9. I, Tonya (R)
10. Spider-Man: Homecoming (PG-13)
MICHAEL’S PICKS FOR WORST FILMS OF 2017:
1. Mother (R)
2. King Arthur: Legend of...
Read More
A Vote is a Terrible Thing to Waste
When legal wrangling concludes, control of the Virginia legislature will be decided by drawing lots, or pulling names from a bowl—because of a tie vote in the 94th District. Republican incumbent David Yancey and challenger Shelly Simonds both got 11,608 votes but if the Democrat wins the draw, the legislature’s lower house will split 50-50, ending an era of...
Read More
A Vote is a Terrible Thing to Waste
When legal wrangling concludes, control of the Virginia legislature will be decided by drawing lots, or pulling names from a bowl—because of a tie vote in the 94th District. Republican incumbent David Yancey and challenger Shelly Simonds both got 11,608 votes but if the Democrat wins the draw, the legislature’s lower house will split 50-50, ending an era of...
Read More
Trump Wins as Mainstream Conservative, Not Radical Fringie
Donald Trump’s first year in office delivered an array of important achievements: confirmation of conservative judges, including Neil Gorsuch; more support for oil pipelines and oil drilling; dramatic progress against ISIS; deregulation and enhanced border security; the end of meddlesome net neutrality; the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital; and,...
Read More
Trump Wins as Mainstream Conservative, Not Radical Fringie
Donald Trump’s first year in office delivered an array of important achievements: confirmation of conservative judges, including Neil Gorsuch; more support for oil pipelines and oil drilling; dramatic progress against ISIS; deregulation and enhanced border security; the end of meddlesome net neutrality; the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital; and,...
Read More
The Red Sun is Setting for the International Left
The collapse of the international left has become so obvious that even the New York Times can’t ignore it. A recent headline noted the pro-business tidal wave sweeping South America, where each of the ABC countries—Argentina, Brazil and now Chile—recently rejected socialist parties that once dominated their politics.
Meanwhile, the Times turned...
Read More
The Red Sun is Setting for the International Left
The collapse of the international left has become so obvious that even the New York Times can’t ignore it. A recent headline noted the pro-business tidal wave sweeping South America, where each of the ABC countries—Argentina, Brazil and now Chile—recently rejected socialist parties that once dominated their politics.
Meanwhile, the Times turned...
Read More
Fairy Tale Lessons for the Merchants of Doom
Two famous children’s stories, “Chicken Little” and “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” convey an important message for today’s gloom-peddling Left. In both tales, frightened main characters warn of impending disaster—”the sky is falling” or a rampaging wolf will devour the innocent.
In both cases, the protagonists...
Read More
Fairly Tale Lessons for the Merchants of Doom
Two famous children’s stories, “Chicken Little” and “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” convey an important message for today’s gloom-peddling Left. In both tales, frightened main characters warn of impending disaster—”the sky is falling” or a rampaging wolf will devour the innocent.
In both cases, the protagonists...
Read More
Hanukkah Affirms History Over Fantasy
During the eight-day festival of Hanukkah, it’s worthwhile to connect the celebration to recent controversies surrounding Jerusalem. The joyous holiday celebrates the purification and re-dedication of Jerusalem’s Second Temple in 164 BC, but today the official Palestinian position denies that this Temple ever even existed. That absurd notion not only...
Read More
Hanukkah Affirms History Over Fantasy
During the eight-day festival of Hanukkah, it’s worthwhile to connect the celebrations to recent controversies surrounding Jerusalem. The joyous holiday celebrates the purification and re-dedication of Jerusalem’s Second Temple in 164 BC, but today the official Palestinian position denies that this Temple ever even existed. That absurd notion not...
Read More
What All the Abusers and Harassers Have in Common
Recent charges of assault and harassment have destroyed powerful figures in every field of endeavor. These accusations have afflicted liberals and conservatives, straight and gay, black and white, with only one factor linking every one of the accused—they are all men. That’s not because women have no power to abuse: females occupy some commanding heights in...
Read More
“Old-Fashioned” Rules No Longer Look So Bad
I occasionally horrify my children and other Millennials with descriptions of university life in previous generations. Until the 1970’s, for instance, female students frequently lived in women-only dormitories with strict rules preventing men from going “upstairs”. “Gentleman callers” arrived in well-guarded lobbies for study sessions or dates and...
Read More
On Jerusalem: Denying Reality, Ignoring History
President Trump described his acceptance of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as “nothing more than a recognition of reality.” This is exactly right: since the rebirth of the Jewish state 70 years ago, Jerusalem has been the seat of Israeli government and the nation’s leading cultural institutions.
Pretending that this status is temporary is like pretending...
Read More
