NewsBusters Columns

JERUSALEM -- Major media are now reporting that the Saudis are "preparing" to admit that Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, died in their consulate in Istanbul, as the result of an interrogation gone wrong. Odds are good that admittance will never come. The Saudi's response, whatever it is, will likely not satisfy the Trump administration, nor should it. Instead, appropriate action by the U.S. should be taken.

The metaphors don't get any better (or worse) than this: A van carrying Hillary Clinton, fresh from throwing her #MeToo sisters under the bus this weekend, crashed into a parking garage pillar on the way to a New Jersey campaign fundraiser Tuesday for beleaguered Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez. At her side was Huma Abedin, who is divorcing convicted serial sexter and underage girl stalker ex-Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner.

Democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, seeking to represent New York's 14th Congressional District, has called for the abolition of the Electoral College. Her argument came on the heels of the Senate's confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. She was lamenting the fact that Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, nominated by George W. Bush, and Justices Neil Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, nominated by Donald Trump, were court appointments made by presidents who lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College vote.

Here’s the thing that baffles. Suddenly this week, as analysis of the Kavanaugh turmoil came to a head, my old CNN colleague Matt Lewis boldly suggested he obvious: that the mobs chasing Senator Ted Cruz and wife Heidi out of a Washington restaurant, not to mention those pounding - literally - on the doors of the Supreme Court and storming the Senate until arrested were, well, mobs.

Gosnell works on so many levels it’s hard to count them all. The film tackles one of the most emotional subjects in our culture – abortion – with grace and care. The screenplay packs a specific point of view but leaves the soapbox storytelling off the frame. We’re gripped by a narrative that could chase away those with weak stomachs.

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has given the planet 10 years to live. Or something. This has upset the sort of people who know the IPCC exists and are given to taking its pronouncements seriously. You know, the kind of earnest souls who give thought to bovine gassiness.

Arguably a contributing factor to the continuation of abortion is that it is performed out of sight and thus, out of many minds. A film about one of the worst practitioners of abortion, Kermit Gosnell, opens October 12 in at least 600 theaters. Gosnell is the Philadelphia abortionist sentenced in 2013 to life in prison without parole. The film is based on trial transcripts and police records.

“Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer” debuts in theaters nationwide on Oct. 12. I do believe this groundbreaking film by indie producers Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney is the most important movie in America right now — a true-life saga of good vs. evil, deadly medical malpractice, systemic government malfeasance and cultural apathy toward the most vulnerable members of our society.

A widely anticipated textbook, “Universal Economics,” has just been published by Liberty Fund. Its authors are two noted UCLA economists, the late Armen A. Alchian and William R. Allen. Editor Jerry L. Jordan was their student and later became a member of President Ronald Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers, as well as the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

In a speech announcing her vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) reminded me of some of the great orators of the past. Her speech was measured in tone, substantive in content and delivered with conviction. Collins is no conservative. She has voted in favor of abortion and same-sex marriage while towing a more moderate line on economics. Her speech supporting Kavanaugh and denouncing the smears against him and the distortion of his judicial record was as good as any delivered by her more conservative colleagues.