The Nation in the Bubble

October 14th, 2021 3:16 PM

This week, the Biden administration received just the latest slap in the face from cruel reality: An economic report showing just 194,000 jobs added in the month of September, short of the 500,000 jobs forecast by most economists. The unemployment rate dived to 4.8% from 5.2% -- not as a result of job gains, but as a result of more and more Americans dumping out of the work force. Meanwhile,…

Virtue Flaunting in a London Church

October 11th, 2021 3:26 PM

Washington -- I have been in London visiting old friends, keeping up with changes in our alliance system -- among which were last week's developments in the alliance of the English-speaking peoples called Aukus -- and going to church. Yes, church! Seriously, I am at that age when I hear Him calling. I have actually been at that age for a while now, but in recent years, His calls have become…

Good News for Joe Biden?

October 11th, 2021 1:54 PM

More Americans have died from COVID-19 during the Biden administration than during the Trump administration. That is not the good news for President Joe Biden. Former President Donald Trump initiated Operation Warp Speed. We had Democrats casting aspersions on the efficacy of a would-be and supposedly rushed vaccine. We finally got the vaccine at the end of the Trump administration. The moment…

The Pandora Papers and What They Mean

October 11th, 2021 1:07 PM

“The rich put cream on their berries; the rich drive shiny black cars.” – (from the Broadway musical “Carnival!”) The Pandora Papers, “an exposé of the financial secrets and offshore dealings of dozens of heads of state, public officials and politicians,” writes CNN, could not have come at a better time for congressional “progressives” who are seeking to win over enough Democrats to…

What If ‘Polarization’ Isn’t the Big Problem?

October 8th, 2021 11:40 AM

This week, the University of Virginia Center for Politics released a poll surveying Americans' feelings about their political opponents. According to the poll, 80% of Biden voters and 84% of Trump voters believed that elected officials of the opposite party present a “clear and present danger to American democracy”; 78% of Biden voters believed that the Republican Party wanted to eliminate the…

There's No Fun in Dealing With BEEReaucrats

October 8th, 2021 10:22 AM

Jim Caruso, CEO of Flying Dog Brewery, calls his business a "First Amendment brewery." That's because he keeps going to court to defend beer labels. It started in 1995, when Colorado's Liquor Commission objected to the label, "Good Beer, No S---." Bureaucrats told him, "Pull the beer from the market, or we suspend your license," he says in my new video. That could have put him out of business…

The California Recall: Enter Snoop Dogg and Barack Obama

October 1st, 2021 5:00 PM

At one point, polls showed the odds of recalling California Gov. Gavin Newsom looked 50-50. It was at that point that the scared, embattled governor sent out a mayday call to Hollywood and to Democratic outsiders, including former President Barack Obama. The Hollywood Reporter -- three weeks before the date of the recall vote -- published a piece with the headline: “Facing Recall,…

The Aukus Treaty, 30 Years of Calm?

September 30th, 2021 11:25 AM

Washington -- One of the unsung prophets of Aukus last week was the great British historian Andrew Roberts, who soon will be recognized throughout the English-speaking world as the man who has attempted to retrieve the reputation of King George III from the sneers of ... well, of people like me. His biography of George III will come out in early November, and of course, I have not had a chance…

Regarding Gabby Petito and Coverage of Missing Women

September 28th, 2021 5:32 PM

Twenty-two-year-old Gabby Petito is dead. Authorities found her body in Wyoming. Her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, returned home to Florida after Petito went missing on their cross-country excursion through national parks. Laundrie subsequently walked off into a wilderness preserve, presumably to flee from authorities who now wish to question him. The story broke a week ago. It sailed past me…

Travel Narrows the Mind

September 28th, 2021 3:04 PM

Washington -- Or should I dateline this column "Mid-Atlantic" or just "On the Ground at Heathrow?" Whatever, I feel this column is being written at 35,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean, and I am anticipating great fun when I arrive in London. London is always great fun: nightclubs, restaurants, dozens of literate friends -- even a few useful lectures and concerts. Years ago, I could boast of…

The New Exodus From the Golden State

September 22nd, 2021 2:02 PM

LOS ANGELES — Forget what you hear most pundits saying about last week’s recall election that failed to unseat California Governor Gavin Newsom. Some Democrats think because Newsom ran on an anti-Trump platform that will bring the party success — or cause them less damage — in the next two elections. They are wrong. The real story is the slow but gaining-in-speed exodus from California to…

Reconsider the Gen. Milley Scandal

September 21st, 2021 3:54 PM

Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was so worried then-President Donald Trump might launch a surprise attack against China that he reached out to his Chinese counterpart and assured General Li Zuocheng that Milley would preemptively warn China. That, at least, is the salacious allegation in the new book, “Peril,” co-written by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. “General…

You’ve Got to Be Taught to Love

September 20th, 2021 4:47 PM

The lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II wrote many beautiful songs for Broadway musicals. One that was not beautiful, but powerful for what it said about race relations in 1949 when the show opened was “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught.” The song was about being taught to hate. You also must be taught to love. In 2021 America, it looks increasingly like hate is winning.

Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of 9/11

September 20th, 2021 11:22 AM

Washington -- How did the weekend that commemorated the 20th anniversary of 9/11 -- America's Pearl Harbor for the 21st century -- go for you? There were huge American flags draping the skyscrapers of northern Virginia. The streets below, however, were relatively deserted. Across the river, there was a more traditional scene. Groups of tourists were parading around the remaining statues of…