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“Arise and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.” Winston Churchill
“Proclaim Liberty throughout All the land unto All the Inhabitants Thereof.” Inscription on the Liberty Bell
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Why is Obama visiting Israel before he’s sure it has a government?
The White House insists that President Obama will go ahead and visit Israel later this month even if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not put together a governing coalition before the president arrives. Obama is scheduled to arrive March 20. Netanyahu’s deadline for forming a governing coalition is March 16. However, it’s not clear that Netanyahu will meet that deadline. And even if he does, the views of the new »
Samira Ibrahim speaks
This afternoon Michelle Obama and John Kerry were scheduled to present the International Women of Courage Award to Samira Ibrahim and nine other women who have shown leadership in advocating for women’s rights around the world. Ibrahim was included in recognition of her battle against the Egyptian army’s infamous “virginity tests.” Ibrahim was in Washington for the award ceremony today. Writing at the Weekly Standard on Wednesday, Samuel Tadros performed »It’s too bad we can’t impeach Bill Clinton again
In a Washington Post op-ed, Bill Clinton argues that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which he signed into law, is unconstitutional. This raises an obvious question: Why did Clinton sign an unconstitutional piece of legislation into law? As slick as he is, Clinton can’t provide an answer. He does explain why he signed DOMA in 1996: [At that time] in no state in the union was same-sex marriage recognized, »Ain’t nothing like the real thing
Remember when we were told that the Republican Party, cowed by the Tea Party and other “extremists,” was marching in lockstep towards its doom to the tune of a single drummer? If that seems to you like only yesterday, you aren’t far off. But check out the Senate. The Democrats are in lockstep on virtually every vote. Even in response to President Obama’s controversial, seemingly illiberal drone policy, the only »The Paul Principle
Looking back to the Republican rout of Bill Clinton and the Democrats in 1994, Clinton looked like he was a goner in 1996, plaintively remarking at a press conference in early 1995 that “I’m still relevant.”? It is clear that Bill Clinton’s comeback began with the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995, which enabled him to deploy his best “I feel your pain” schtick, and to demagogue conservative talk »New Study Finds Firearms Laws Do Nothing to Prevent Homicides
That’s the headline you should be seeing, but won’t. Instead, you will see headlines like this one, on CNN: “Study links gun laws and lower gun mortality.” Or this one, from the Chicago Tribune: “States with strict gun laws found to have fewer shooting deaths.” The study they are talking about was conducted by Dr. Eric Fleegler of Boston and published in JAMA Internal Medicine. You can read it here. »It’s March, So It Must Mean Zinfandel
March means the Zinfandel festival on the central coast next weekend, though I’ll be away, and in any case I’m cutting back right now in my effort to shed a few el-bees.? But with the turn of the calendar it’s also time for the latest installment from the Paso Wine Guy; here’s 45 seconds of total oenophilic awesomeness about Zinfandel: »John Yoo helps Eric Holder out on drones
The prospect of drone attacks on American citizens here in the U.S. is at or below the bottom of the list of things we should be worried about. But Eric Holder bears a share of the blame for this silly sideshow because of his failure to provide cogent answers to questions about the subject. For some sorely needed clarity on this matter, let’s turn to John Yoo at Ricochet: [In »The trouble with Brennan
What’s wrong with Rand Paul’s filibuster of Brennan? The filibuster appears to be something of a pretxt for Senator Paul to raise the national security issue that troubles him. As I understand it (and I may be mistaken), the pretextual nature of the filibuster isn’t in dispute. The filibuster seems to me to distract from understanding the trouble with Brennan. The trouble with Brennan is his willful blindness to the »Friedman or Fanboy?
Sometimes it really is hard to tell the difference between a Thomas Friedman column and the parody that spews forth from the Thomas Friedman op-ed column generator.? Today is one of those days.? So, it is this real Friedman, or a computer-generated, Daily Show-worthy parody: I just spent the last two days at a great conference convened by M.I.T. and Harvard on “Online Learning and the Future of Residential Education” »How should Republicans game plan Obama’s plan B?
So now, with his approval rating tumbling, President Obama suddenly wants to “engage with the Republicans,” or at least with selected Republican Senators, with the goal of striking a deal on budgetary/debt issues. How should Republicans react? Anticipating this scenario, I have expressed my view. Most recently, in early February, I wrote: [I]n the unlikely event that Obama shows a willingness to discuss entitlement reform in a serious way, Republicans »Republican “Old Bulls” chastize Rand Paul, unconvincingly
John McCain and Lindsey Graham have blasted Rand Paul over his filibuster of the Brennan nomination. Quoting a Wall Street Journal editorial, McCain said: “If Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously, he needs to do more than pull political stunts that fire up impressionable libertarian kids in college dorms.” Graham wondered why Republican Senators had not been riled up over President Bush’s use of drones. He also said that »P.J O’Wow!
Churchill used to say somewhere that only someone with a sense of humor could understand the most serious things in life.? That’s one reason I’ve always told people that they should take the political humorist P.J. O’Rourke more seriously―deep down inside, his political humor is anchored in a grasp of some fundamental political truths.? Like Will Rogers, or Mark Twain, his work conveys a serious teaching, and, like Jon Stewart »How Halligan was halted
It’s not easy for Senate Republicans successfully to filibuster President Obama’s judicial nominees; nor, in my view, should it be. How, then, did Republicans succeed in blocking Caitlin Halligan’s nomination? The one word answer, if we’re honest, is: guns. It’s not that Halligan’s left-liberalism is confined to Second Amendment issues. It extends to the full range of controversial legal issues as to which she is on record including, most notably, »Rand Paul’s filibuster — is it grandstanding or something worse?
I agree with John’s analysis of Rand Paul’s filibuster of John Brennan’s nomination. Paul purports to be filibustering in response to Eric Holder’s statements about the circumstances under which the U.S. might launch a drone attack against citizens here at home, and the constitutionality of such attacks. But, as John showed, Holder’s position in his response on this issue, as set forth in a letter to Paul, is correct. Moreover, »Will the Left Ever Give an Inch on Entitlements?
Earlier this evening, Paul suggested that Republicans should be open to a “grand bargain” as long as it includes significant entitlement reform. In principle, I don’t disagree. But is there any realistic possibility that the Democrats will agree to entitlement reform? One might think so, since everyone acknowledges that the current regime is unsustainable, and if entitlements are not reformed they either will be repealed, or our economy and our »Mr. Paul Goes to Washington
Rand Paul has electrified conservatives nationwide and much of official Washington with his old-fashioned filibuster of President Obama’s nomination of John Brennan to head the CIA. Paul is a libertarian, and his filibuster is a protest against what he views as the Obama administration’s unconstitutional usurpation of power. He is right about the broader point: the Obama administration has a long history of lawless disregard of the Constitution and federal »