Column

Luigi Barzini, my old pal and the author of so many fine books all written from his aerie above Rome -- his finest of which, The Italians, he wrote in English -- once jolted me by saying, "You Americans talk too much." Of course, he said it with affection. Back in the days of the Cold War, he was one of the few European intellectuals who really understood and admired America. What provoked him,…

Once upon a time, brothers-in-law William Procter and James Gamble sold candles and soap. Their 19th-century family business grew into the largest consumer goods conglomerate in the world -- launching the most recognizable brands on our grocery shelves, including Tide, Pampers, Crest, Nyquil and Old Spice. Now, Procter & Gamble want to conquer a new market: identity-politics pandering.

For the most part, people share common goals. Most of us want poor people to enjoy higher standards of living, greater traffic safety, more world peace, greater racial harmony, cleaner air and water, and less crime. Despite the fact that people have common goals, we often see them grouped into contentious factions, fighting tooth and nail to promote polar opposite government policies in the name…

The Establishment, a construct of Democrats and Republicans that rules in Washington no matter which party controls government, appears to be over its fainting spell following Donald Trump's election. It is now throwing everything at him from a daily -- make that hourly, even minute by minute -- onslaught of investigations to big media's equivalent of Molotov cocktails.

So there is Senator John McCain. Newly returned from Arizona where he learned that he was now battling brain cancer - a battle in which all people of good will wish him well. There is nothing funny to be mocked or chided about with someone beginning a fight against serious disease. God bless. But the last thing one should do is not have the elementary respect for Senator McCain’s arguments and…

On the Russia-Trump imbroglio, let us be clear. We are now months into it. A dozen or so culprits have been fingered, some being actually quite amusing. You will be seeing more of the fat British music promoter Rob Goldstone, who has been photographed wearing a baseball hat emblazoned with the letters "C*NTY." He is too good to be ignored.

Florida truck driver James Matthew Bradley isn't the mastermind of the human smuggling ring that led to the grisly deaths of 10 illegal immigrants in his rig, which authorities found at a San Antonio Walmart over the weekend. He's just a cog in the machine. Bradley may now face the death penalty for transporting up to 100 people crammed in the trailer of his 18-wheeler. But what about the open-…

Here's part of President Donald Trump's speech in Poland: "The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive. Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it?"

The media sported their real colors again as Cardinal George Pell was summoned to court in Melbourne, Australia, without knowing what the charges are or who the accusers are. But The New York Times fulminated anyway about how this will "test the credibility" of Pope Francis in dealing with sex-abuse allegations against the Catholic Church. To say that the pope's credibility is on the line is to…

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to eliminate governmental waste and fraud, just released its "2017 Congressional Pig Book," an annual publication highlighting wasteful government spending that should embarrass each and every member of Congress.

They just hate the guy. Unless and until they love the guy. The guy we speak of here is whomever happens to be investigating the President of the United States. Call him a Special Prosecutor, an Independent Counsel, a Special Counsel. Whatever. And the “they” in question is, but of course, our friends in the mainstream media.

I have recently been reminded of one of my earliest conclusions about the American left. I arrived at that conclusion when it was relatively civilized. In those days, we called it American liberalism, but even then it was fla fla. My conclusion was that when any entity falls under the dominance of liberalism, it loses all sense of its fundamental purpose. A city loses all sense of its purpose,…

It's "Made in America" week in Washington, D.C. You'd think this would be cause for bipartisan celebration. Who could be against highlighting the ingenuity, self-reliance and success of our nation's homegrown entrepreneurs and manufacturers? Enter Bill Kristol. The entrenched Beltway pundit ridiculed a festive kickoff event on Monday at the White House, where President Donald Trump hosted…

Too many people believe that slavery is a "peculiar institution." That's what Kenneth Stampp called slavery in his book, "Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South." But slavery is by no means peculiar, odd or unusual. It was common among ancient peoples such as the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Hittites, Greeks, Persians, Armenians and many others. Large numbers of Christians…