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December 20, 2024
Christmas Pork Instead of the Christmas GooseIf we don’t want to see the annual 1500-page Christmas “continuing resolutions,” Republicans might take a lesson from the Polish Left about making a statement about what you stand for. In 2016, they occupied Parliament for 26 days o...
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December 17, 2024
A Half Century of MiseducationThe New York Times reported December 4 that math and science test scores for U.S. fourth and eighth graders have been essentially stagnant since 1995. Nor have they have been stagnant near the top -- lots of countries outrank us -- but rather in the ...
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December 16, 2024
My traveling kitchen tableElon Musk posted on X that he wants to know about wasteful government spending and unnecessary regulations. Let me tell you about my traveling kitchen table! I joined the State Department in July 1998. I came after a first career in hi...
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November 24, 2024
The Left and Human ShieldsWhat do Hamas and illegal immigration activists have in common? Both hide behind human shields. On October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked innocent civilians. Not soldiers, not the Israeli Defense Force. They went after me...
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November 20, 2024
Getting the States In Line on Immigration EnforcementIn the wake of the Democrat wipeout on November 5 and the tapping of Tom Homan as President Trump’s “border czar,” Democrat governors are busy trying to build a new “blue wall” to shield illegal aliens from pro...
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November 10, 2024
Where were you when the Wall fell?People tend to remember where they were when certain historical events happened: the attack on Pearl Harbor, the shooting of JFK, 9/11. We all remember painful events. Do we remember events worth celebrating — like last ni...
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November 2, 2024
Corporations, Childless Cat Women, and PoliticiansBoth supporters and critics of lax immigration on the U.S.-Mexico border speak about how it serves to funnel in a “replacement population.” Its critics say that it is Democrat politicians’ efforts to design a new (and ind...
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October 24, 2024
Kamala Harris’s ‘non-negotiable’ abortion positionSpeaking to NBC’s Hallie Jackson, Kamala Harris this week talked about the one issue about which she speaks with neither teleprompter nor word salad: abortion on demand. Asked whether she would be willing to accept any “concess...
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September 16, 2024
Abortion is a Civil Rights IssueAbortion is a civil rights issue, though not in the way pro-abortionists want to spin it. We should not forget that, after Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, there were liberal Democrats who opposed the ruling as a civil rights violation. Senators Will...
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September 1, 2024
The pope wants people to read literatureAs summer stares back increasingly from the rear-view mirror, I’m reminded of growing up in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, in the 1960s and 1970s. School-free summers were a great time to go places. Among those places was our pu...
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August 26, 2024
The art of walkingWhen I lived in Taiwan, I learned that some folks called the current generation of young people the “xia tou zu” or “bent-over heads generation.” The term derives from the 45˚ incline of their heads vis-à-vis...
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August 24, 2024
Broken glass on the way to workThe other day on the way to D.C.’s Metro, I watched fellow commuters navigating some smashed glass on the crosswalk from the bus. It appeared some people had a drinking party last night and decided shattering was the best method of bottle dispo...
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July 19, 2024
Don’t Mourn the ‘Old’ Republican PartyThere’s a rearguard motion afoot in some conservative quarters grousing about the Republican National Convention underway in Milwaukee. The objection: the 2024 Republican Party is failing conservatism. What? National Review car...
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July 10, 2024
Against Our ‘Service Economy’Last week, National Review ran an article saluting the Supreme Court’s abandonment of the “Chevron doctrine,” a principle of legal procedure dating from 1984 that said that when it is unclear what federal law requires, the courts sh...
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July 2, 2024
The 17th Amendment Isn’t Going AnywhereThere’s a faithful remnant among conservatives that continues to agitate for repeal of the 17th Amendment, allowing the direct election of U.S. senators. They claim that the amendment undermines federalism and that returning to the origin...
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June 24, 2024
The 10 Commandments Are about More than the 10 CommandmentsLouisiana governor Jeff Landry signed legislation June 20 to require the posting of the Ten Commandments in the Bayou State. If you listened to the mainstream media, the caricature of what happened goes something like this: “shrimp po-...
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May 27, 2024
June Is Fidelity Month“Fidelity Month” is an initiative launched by Princeton professor Robert George, the pro-religious liberty/pro-life activist, to showcase the importance of fidelity towards God, family, and community. George has been concerned about ho...
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April 21, 2024
Marg bar, masks, and maniaLast weekend, as Iranian missiles descended on Israel, some Americans were standing with terrorism. Social media featured a Chicago group happily being taught Persian phrases for “Death to Israel!” They even asking how to add ...
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April 15, 2024
Are You Not Taxed Enough?April 15 is probably not the day to ask people whether they are taxed enough. The annual reckoning with the taxman, whose “inevitable” tag-teaming with the Grim Reaper makes both equally unappealing, hits most Americans. It ...
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March 31, 2024
The War on EasterAlmost as inevitably as Santa Claus arriving in department stores and town squares or the appearance of garland and ornaments beside Halloween costumes, there appears the annual debate over the “war on Christmas.” The question ...
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March 23, 2024
Prenatal Lives Count … At Least SometimesWilliam Kelly was charged with killing Christine Falzone by blunt force trauma in New Hampshire last December. At the time of her death, Falzone was 35-37 weeks pregnant, i.e., less than a month away from giving birth. Is William Kelly guilt...
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February 27, 2024
Another Fertility Clinic MishapWe’ve heard no end of crocodile tear outrage from many quarters over the February 16 Alabama Supreme Court decision on in vitro embryos. The sound and fury being voiced against the decision -- as Macbeth notes -- signifies nothing once you...
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January 24, 2024
The Logical Inconsistencies of Physician-Assisted SuicidePhysician-assisted suicide (PAS) trades on several logical inconsistencies: that suicide is bad, except when you’re dying; that suicides don’t act responsibly, except when they’re facing death; that personal “autonomy” a...
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January 20, 2024
Michigan prepares to open Pandora’s box on surrogacyMichigan’s legislature is back in session. Among the bills that may be fast-tracked is a package to allow baby-buying and selling — i.e., “commercial surrogacy” — in the Great Lakes State. The packa...
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January 9, 2024
Are We Really Getting Morally Better?The more things supposedly change, the more they really stay the same. That’s especially true when we try to talk about moral progress. Barack Obama loved telling us that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towar...
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December 29, 2023
On Democrats and slavery, Nikki Haley needs to learn to play hardballThe Nikki Haley slavery tempest in a teapot continues to roil some circles. I’m certainly not bearing the torch for Haley, but the episode seems to offer lessons all Republican candidates should learn. For those who have a li...
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December 25, 2023
A Christmas Carol -- The Adult VersionCharles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol is 180 years old this year. Although many people today treat it as a child’s ghost story, it was originally written for -- and continues to have -- a very adult message. It has multiple...
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December 21, 2023
What does the Boston Tea Party say to today?Last weekend, Beantown celebrated the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. We’re on our way to the Semiquincentennial of American Independence in 2026! The Boston Tea Party was important, in part because it set into motion e...
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December 10, 2023
College presidents and 'context-dependent' ethicsUniversity of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill’s decision to resign, after her less-than-inspiring appearance before a Congressional committee December 5 to discuss antisemitism on college campuses, may have some people cheering. ...
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December 5, 2023
Commercial surrogacy gets a hearing in MichiganIn the rush (because how else can you characterize a bill that changes the ages-old definition of “parent,” moving from introduction to adoption in 16 days by a two-vote margin?) to push paid surrogacy in Michigan, there’s not been ...
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November 23, 2023
Constraining Thanksgiving CommercialismThanksgiving in the United States is increasingly overshadowed by Black Friday’s commercialism. While the commercial connection between Christmas and Thanksgiving goes back a while, the ascent of commercialism (together with historical re...
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November 22, 2023
Virginia Democrats already pushing abortion-on-demand amendmentIf anybody has any doubt about abortionists’ priorities — or Democrats’ dedication to them — one need only read Virginia House Joint Resolution 1. Having taken control of the Virginia House of Delegates and kept control of ...
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November 7, 2023
Parental rights on the ballot in VirginiaGlenn Youngkin won the governorship of Virginia against Democrat gubernatorial retread Terry McAuliffe in large part because of the parental rights movement and McAuliffe’s contempt for it, backing up elitist school boards in Fairfax and Loudon...
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November 6, 2023
Ohioans: Don’t Be Deceived about Issue One!Ohioans vote Tuesday on Issue 1, a referendum question that would write abortion on demand through birth into the state constitution. Buckeyes: Don’t let pro-abortion advocates lie to you about the extremes of this amendment. ...
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November 1, 2023
The Pro-Life Stakes November 7Twenty twenty-three is the second election since the Supreme Court’s historic Dobbs ruling, overturning the license, suggested in Roe v. Wade and drawn out in its companion ruling Doe v. Bolton, for abortion on demand through nine months of pre...
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October 30, 2023
What the fall of men’s clothing stores says about AmericaThe other day, I got a beret from Amazon. I’m partial to berets because they’re warm when weather’s cool. They also fold enough to stuff in a pocket, so I don’t lose them or have to find a special place f...
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October 22, 2023
The demise of an old American pastimeThree months or so ago, I wrote about one of my childhood hobbies that is going away: shortwave radio listening. Today, let me reminisce about another hobby that’s fading: stamp-collecting. It must have been early 1970 when, right...
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October 19, 2023
Indigestion, Ethics, and College ProtestsSometimes, something is so hard to swallow that it causes acid reflux. Heartburn causes us discomfort, but, unless it is truly debilitating and usually long-lasting, it tends to be quickly forgotten — especially if caused by some foo...
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October 9, 2023
The federal holiday in October...and what followsOctober 9 is a federal holiday. It’s one of those federal “holidays” that hangs in a twilight zone. The federal government will be closed. That means most banks will close. But it’s a twilight zone h...
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October 2, 2023
Nickel-and-diming your trashNew York has collected a nickel tax on bottles since 1982, while Virginia now "taxes" bags at a nickel apiece. Where does that money go: averting climate chaos or patching local budgets? And is there a better way? O...
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September 30, 2023
Shine on, Harvest Moon!Last night, September 29, was the first full moon of autumn and, outside the overcast and rainy East Coast, that moon was shining right after sunset. American tradition speaks of that first full moon of fall as "Harvest Moon," wh...
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September 20, 2023
Jimmy Carter's Malaise on SteroidsBack in 1979, Jimmy Carter gave a televised address that has been called the "national malaise" speech. It's true that the word "malaise" doesn't appear in it, but Carter's remarks on America's "cri...
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September 18, 2023
The Two-Parent 'Convention'The op-ed pages of this Sunday’s New York Times featured a revelation from author Melissa Kearney: “The Explosive Rise of Single Parent Families Is Not a Good Thing.” Flash to Melissa: a chubby Italian priest named Thomas Aquinas...
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September 16, 2023
The Constitution versus valuesJamelle Bouie's "Republicans Don't Mind the Constitution. It's Democracy They Don't Like" should win the New York Times' op-ed columnist an "Excellence in Demagoguery through Equivocal Language"...
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August 13, 2023
Shortwave Radio: A changed hobby, and American influenceAugust 11 got me reminiscing: 52 years ago, on August 11, 1971, I got my first QSL card. What’s a QSL card? It’s basically a picture postcard that radio stations send to listeners as verification they actually had listened to tha...
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August 11, 2023
On the defeat of Issue 1 in OhioIssue 1 went down to defeat August 8 in Ohio, 57-43%, by about a 400,000-vote difference among three million cast. The proposition would have raised requirements to amend the state constitution by initiative and referendum. ...
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August 7, 2023
Ohio’s August 8 Referendum and ‘Democracy’Ohio voters go to the polls Tuesday, August 8 to vote in a referendum to change requirements for amending the state constitution through initiative-and-referendum (I&R). Currently, a simple majority (50% 1) suffices to pass an I&R cons...
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July 4, 2023
The sourpusses of wokeismWhat you believe in should make you happy, even joyful. The title of Pope Francis's apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium is right on target: the Gospel is joyful. Indeed, the word "Gospel" itself means...