Columns ‹ Opinion
Lessons from Boston and Chechnya
We cannot bring back the stolen lives. We cannot bring back the lost limbs or the lost hearing. And we cannot mitigate the infinite grief of the victims’ loved ones.
But there is something we can and must do: We must learn all the lessons we can.
Here are some:
1. The gulf between the decent and the indecent
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older brother, once told...
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Unique Power in Traditional Marriage
Most Americans know instinctively that marital relationships between men and women count as more consequential, more beneficial to society, than even the most loving connections between couples of the same gender. Those same-sex partnerships shouldn’t be banned or derided, but they shouldn’t be equated with traditional marriage, either.
Heterosexual unions...
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Why Obama Misfired on Gun Control
by Brian Fahy & Garrett Fahy
On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate voted 54-46 to defeat an amendment that would have required broader background checks on gun purchases. The amendment, sponsored by Pennsylvania Republican Senator Pat Toomey and West Virginia Democrat Senator Joe Manchin and pushed by the White House and its supporters, was the last hope for any...
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The Collapse of Leadership
Carnage in Boston, ricin in Congress and devastation in West, Texas make this the worst week in years for the U.S. That the parents of some of the victims of Newtown were disappointed in the Senate yesterday adds to the gloom, and the president’s unbelievable timing for his fit of pique Wednesday added to the sense that the country is, genuinely,...
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The Politics of Shared Hatred, Not Shared Values
Imagine how enlightened leftists on college campuses would react to a story about a small town police force arresting young men for keeping their hair too long, and then brutally shaving their heads—or savagely beating teenagers for the crime of wearing fashionable skinny jeans.
Would politically correct kids express sympathy and understanding for such...
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Recognizing Pure Evil
As I write these words, it’s still too early to know who perpetrated the bloody attacks on the Boston Marathon, or even to guess at the motivations. Nevertheless, the two explosions undeniably represent a premeditated act that deserves classification as unspeakably evil. No “higher cause” can conceivably justify the shattered lives and severed limbs. The...
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Is USC Another Left-Wing Seminary?
Last week, a USC student released 15 minutes of excerpts from videos he had made of his political science professor, Darry Sragow.
Here is some of what the USC professor said to his students:
“California Republicans [are] really stupid and racist.”
” … Republicans are 82 percent white. Losers.”
“The Republican Party in...
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House GOP is dazed, lost and leaderless
Down two touchdowns after the first quarter, the House Republicans think they are winning.
That’s a big problem, and not only because they are losing the great positioning battle in the run-up to President Obama’s last great campaign — the 2014 congressional elections — but also because the House GOP is destroying what’s left of its...
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Thatcherism: The Cure For An Ailing America
by Brian Fahy & Garrett Fahy
With the passing of Margaret Thatcher, and the commemoration of Winston Churchill day, world attention this week was rightly focused on the greatest Prime Ministers of the 20th century.
Given that Thatcher, more than Churchill, will be remembered for the near miraculous economic recovery her governance produced in Britain, and...
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The Death of Genuine Debate
Because I cannot imagine the pain the parents of Sandy Hook are suffering, I hope every senator agrees to meet with them and hear them out.
I welcome any or all of them to my radio show to tell me how I and my audience can help them and their families.
Grief and sorrow do not only wound but they also can serve to energize and clarify.
Just last week two amazing...
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Dems Already Daydreaming of a New President
With the next presidential election still three-and-a-half years away, NBC reports Democrats in “a frenzy” over Hillary Clinton’s potential candidacy, while Maureen Dowd and Chris Matthews see her victory as inevitable.
This obsessive speculation so early in the cycle is unprecedented: at the start of second terms for George W. Bush and Bill Clinton,...
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Ignoring Real Threats to Push Meaningless Gun Rules
North Korea threatens nuclear war, the Syrian body count approaches a staggering 100,000, Iran proceeds with bomb-building, economic growth stalls and half-a-million Americans abandon the search for work – but the president concentrates his political capital on pushing new regulations on guns.
Instead of focusing on serious threats to peace and prosperity,...
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Thatcher-Clinton Comparisons Show Hillary’s Vulnerabilities
The death of Margaret Thatcher led numerous media commentators to draw dubious comparisons between Britain’s “Iron Lady” and prospective president Hillary Clinton.
But Thatcher spent her entire life espousing the same core principles—including opposition to the Nanny State and unbending resistance to Communist tyranny. What, precisely, are the...
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Ebert’s Death Means End of an Era
In an Internet Age, Celebrity Critics on TV Look Pre-Historic
The national outpouring of grief and praise in reaction to the death of Roger Ebert signaled the film critic’s ultimate victory in his long-running competition with cross-town Chicago rival (and on-air TV partner) Gene Siskel. When Siskel died of a brain tumor in 1999, his passing provoked few if...
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A Tale of ‘Government Investment’
It was the early 20th century. America was in a race with the powers of the world to invent the first airplane. Much was at stake. Our leaders feared that the Germans, the British, and, if you can suspend your disbelief, the French might beat us to the punch, giving the winning country a huge advantage militarily and economically.
Who better to win the race for...
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Lessons for Holocaust Day
Yesterday, Jews around the world observed Holocaust Day. This day ought to be universally observed because the lessons of the Holocaust are universal. Here are some of them:
1. People are not basically good
At any time in history, the belief that people are basically good was irrational and naive. To believe it after the Holocaust — and after the Communist...
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