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Political Commentary

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October 6, 2015

Charlatans and Sheep By Thomas Sowell

One of the many painful signs of the mindlessness of our times was a recent section of the Wall Street Journal, built around the theme "What's Holding Women Back in the Workplace?"

Whenever some group is not equally represented in some institution or activity, the automatic response in some quarters is to assume that someone has prevented equality of outcomes.

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October 6, 2015

Policy Reform That Comes From Outside (and in Spite of) Washington by Michael Barone

Not all important public policy reforms come from Washington. Really lasting reforms can percolate from the bottom up, brewed by citizens with a grievance pushing state and local governments to act.

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October 2, 2015

Carly Fiorina, Identity Politics and the Death of Feminism by Ted Rall

If you doubt that the politics of identity have triumphed over the debate over ideas, read the New York Times story about how "Carly Fiorina Both Repels and Enthralls Liberal Feminists."

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October 2, 2015

The Baby Butchers and Their Media Butchers By Michelle Malkin

"I'd say a lot of people want liver." 

The propagandists of Planned Parenthood don't want you to remember that earlier this summer the group apologized for the "tone" of one of its top officials, Deborah Nucatola, who casually hawked unborn baby parts to undercover journalists from the Center for Medical Progress as she swilled wine and chomped on a salad. 

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October 2, 2015

The Dogs That Aren't Barking in the 2016 Campaign By Michael Barone

Sherlock Holmes famously solved the mystery of the Silver Blaze by noting the dog that didn't bark in the night. It strikes me that in this wild and woolly campaign cycle there have been numerous dogs not barking in the night, or in the daytime either.

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October 1, 2015

Kentucky Governor: With a Month to Go, Bevin Has Squandered His Edge By Larry J. Sabato and Kyle Kondik

For months we’ve argued that Kentucky’s increasing lean toward the Republican Party and the state’s antipathy toward President Barack Obama gave businessman Matt Bevin, the Republican nominee, a generic edge in the open Kentucky gubernatorial race. While Bevin is not a strong candidate, we thought that ultimately those inherent advantages — advantages that have nothing to do with Bevin’s campaign — nonetheless made him a small favorite over state Attorney General Jack Conway (D).

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September 30, 2015

Good Riddance! By Thomas Sowell

The impending departure of Speaker of the House John Boehner gives the House Republicans a real opportunity to accomplish something. But an opportunity is not a guarantee. It is a little like a football team being first down and goal at the ten-yard line.

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September 30, 2015

Welcome to Wealthy Middle Eastern Thug Privilege By Michelle Malkin

You've heard endlessly about "white privilege" from the professional social justice warrior gripers. But rarely does that crusading crowd -- or their spiritual leaders in the White House -- acknowledge the brutal impact of wealthy Middle Eastern thug privilege in America.

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September 30, 2015

The Cult of Victims by John Stossel

The world has enough real problems without declaring everyone a "victim."

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September 30, 2015

‘Teflon Don’ Morphs into a Real Candidate By Charles Hurt

First they ignored him. Then they mocked him. Then they tried tearing him down.

With each failure to destroy Donald Trump, the political experts and establishment stooges only made him stronger. And now they don’t have a clue what to do.

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September 29, 2015

Is There Any Precedent in History for Donald Trump? By Michael Barone

In November 1964 a crowd of 5,000 attended the opening of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, then the longest suspension bridge in the world. Presiding were New York Mayor Robert Wagner, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller and transportation and parks czar Robert Moses. Also in the crowd was a teenager named Donald Trump.   

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September 29, 2015

The 'Affordable Housing' Fraud By Thomas Sowell

Nowhere has there been so much hand-wringing over a lack of "affordable housing," as among politicians and others in coastal California. And nobody has done more to make housing unaffordable than those same politicians and their supporters.

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September 25, 2015

Let VW Face the Same Penalties as Us -- Or Let Us Go Unpunished, Too By Ted Rall

If you did it once, you'd be fired.

If you did it hundreds of times, you'd go to prison.

Why should a corporation worth billions of dollars be treated more leniently than we individuals?

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September 25, 2015

"Bacha Bazi": Obama's Silence on Afghan Military's Child Rape By Michelle Malkin

American soldiers are being punished for blowing the whistle on the systematic rape and enslavement of young boys at the hands of brutal Afghan Muslim military officials.

Honorable men in uniform risked their careers and lives to stop the abuse. Yet, the White House -- which was busy tweeting about its new feminism-pandering "It's On Us" campaign against an alleged college rape crisis based on debunked statistics -- is AWOL on the actual pedophilia epidemic known as "bacha bazi." On Thursday, Obama administration flacks went out of their way to downplay Afghan child rape as "abhorrent," but "fundamentally" a local "law enforcement matter."

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September 25, 2015

Walker Withdrawal Shows Changes in Republican Contest by Michael Barone

Scott Walker's abrupt withdrawal from the Republican presidential race Monday afternoon shows how different, in ways noticed and unnoticed, this campaign cycle is from those of recent years.

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September 24, 2015

Republicans 2016: Two Down, 14 to Go By Larry J. Sabato, Kyle Kondik and Geoffrey Skelley

Whatever else it is, the Republican presidential contest has become a full employment act for reporters and analysts. With the largest (though gradually shrinking) field of any major party in U.S. history and a Republican electorate that appears mad as hell and isn’t going to take it anymore, the GOP caravan is careening down the highway with drivers hurling insults at one another and racing recklessly to get into position for the voting that begins in a little over four months.

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September 23, 2015

Pope Francis threatens legacy of Pope John Paul II, Ronald Reagan By Charles Hurt

Speaking under the hateful gaze of Che Guevara in Havana’s Plaza of the Revolution — a shrine to ruthless communism — Pope Francis scolded us to “serve people, not ideas.”

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September 23, 2015

Another Cynical Democratic "Citizenship USA" Voter Drive by Michelle Malkin

There's only one time when you can depend on the chronically backlogged, recklessly inefficient Department of Homeland Security to perform smoothly: election season.

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September 23, 2015

Government: Here to Help! By John Stossel

Government wants you to think it helps you at every turn. Every time you make a decision, a purchase, government wants to be there, looking essential.    

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September 22, 2015

The Left Has Its Pope By Thomas Sowell

Pope Francis has created political controversy, both inside and outside the Catholic Church, by blaming capitalism for many of the problems of the poor. We can no doubt expect more of the same during his visit to the United States.