NewsBusters Columns
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, which is governance. A university loses all sense of its purpose, which is education.
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 companies from all 50 states to showcase their American-made products.
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 were enslaved during the Ottoman wars in Europe.
While scanning YouTube videos, I came across an appearance by Ronald Reagan on The Tonight Show, hosted by Johnny Carson. The year was 1975 and Reagan was "between jobs," having left office as governor of California, where he served for eight years, but not yet president. He would challenge Gerald Ford for the Republican nomination in 1976, barely losing at the nominating convention, but setting himself up for what would be a successful run in 1980.
Amid the endless media obsession with Trump scandal allegations, important policy issues are getting short shrift. Considering that the left is happy with the status quo -- the autopilot advancement of statism -- this can only please Democrats. Based on the overwhelming trend of national and state elections since 2010, the nation now firmly rejects liberal policies. Whether or not Democrats get the message, they don't intend to move right to accommodate the electorate.
As always, leave it to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to pithily assess the flood of media stories about Donald Trump Jr.’s 20-minute minute meeting with a Russian lawyer in June of 2016. Appearing on Fox’s My Story, hosted by Martha McCallum, Gingrich had a two word description for all the frenzied coverage: “fevered insanity.”
Anyone looking for another reason not to leave life-and-death issues to the state need look no further than the conflict between the British government and the parents of 11-month-old Charlie Gard. Governments, including the British courts and the European court of human rights have refused to allow Charlie's parents to take him to the U.S. for what they believe is life-saving treatment.
I have returned! From Europe, that is, and I hope I met with no Russian agents while there. The soi-disant liberals are in a snit about the Russians. Apparently, Donald Trump Jr. and the mysterious senior White House adviser Jared Kushner met with an agent of the Kremlin in June of last year, and they did not report their meeting to The Powers That Be.