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Politics

On Exactly What Team Was Ronna McDaniel Playing?

From the Left / Froma Harrop /

Ronna McDaniel's conduct following the 2020 election was shocking enough, but NBC's decision to hire her as a paid political analyst almost topped it. The blowback from the company's own commentators prompted the executives to turn around and send McDaniel packing.

The problem for NBC and its decidedly liberal MSNBC news channel wasn't that ...Read more

There Is No Shame in a Cancer Diagnosis

From the Left / Froma Harrop /

News that Catherine, Princess of Wales, has been diagnosed with cancer set off a pointless argument. One side complained that the royal family had not been forthcoming with the truth behind her long hospitalization. The other held that Catherine has a right to privacy and is under no obligation to make her medical condition public.

Both ...Read more

Arguing Over Culture Is Often Futile

From the Left / Froma Harrop /

Not a month goes by, it seems, when the country doesn't have some minor cultural trend to spar over. These "debates" can be fun or not. But in almost every case, fights over these passing fixations are futile.

OK. Let's get specific. There's that recent skirmish over something called "bookshelf wealth."

Never heard of it? Well, Architectural...Read more

Are These Republicans Mocking Social Conservatives?

From the Left / Froma Harrop /

South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace was in Washington telling a story about how her "fiance" wanted more action in bed earlier that day. "And I was like, 'No baby, we don't got time for that this morning.'" To which she added, "He can wait. I'll see him later tonight."

The occasion was a Christian prayer breakfast attended by evangelicals.

...Read more

Build Anything Anywhere Threatens Communities

From the Left / Froma Harrop /

YIMBY sounds nice. YIMBY stands for "Yes in My Backyard." It's a positive-sounding rejoinder to NIMBY, "Not in My Backyard." The NIMBY label is being used to stigmatize defenders of zoning laws, with the goal of bulldozing the rules.

Needless to say, real estate developers are all for YIMBY -- though not necessarily where they themselves live...Read more

Iris Apfel Was a Peacock Among the Swans

From the Left / Froma Harrop /

Iris Apfel was that 102-year-old lady with those big round glasses and that big red smile. She'd wear plastic bangles found on street carts with vintage couturier jackets and pile on clouds of feathers. Her socks might be blue, her pants perforated red leather and her handbag made of tin.

And it all seemed to work for her. Fresh-faced "...Read more

Yes, You Can Haul Your Butt to an Early Meeting

From the Left / Froma Harrop /

The Wall Street Journal ran a curious piece titled, "Is It Ever OK to Have an 8 a.m. Meeting?" It contained two dubious assumptions: (1) That 8 a.m. is very early in the morning, and (2) Employees have a right to rebel against a company policy that interferes with drop-off time for kids at school -- or forces them to alter their workout ...Read more

New York Suburbs Could Return Democrats to Power

From the Left / Froma Harrop /

In bygone days, Democrats in New York's suburbs could happily vote for Republicans they deemed good guys. Moderate Republicans didn't seem all that different from moderate Democrats, and the two parties worked together in Washington.

Those days are obviously gone. The recent election of Democrat Tom Suozzi to replace George Santos in Long ...Read more

Thank Alabama for Embryo Honesty

From the Left / Froma Harrop /

I'm not here to join the mockery of Alabama for declaring that embryos are children -- and, therefore, in vitro fertilization clinics must protect them forever. On the contrary, I admire its honesty. Many states have effectively banned abortions, arguing that destroying an embryo amounts to baby killing. Yet they look the other way when ...Read more

The Mediocrity of Jon Stewart

From the Left / Froma Harrop /

Thank you, Mary Trump, for plumbing the shallow waters of Jon Stewart's wit. A psychologist and sharp critic of her uncle Donald, Mary Trump accused the "Daily Show" host of long suppressing the liberal vote by telling his fan base that the candidates stink equally. She cites political research showing that his what's-the-difference jabbering ...Read more

Parents Who Arm Troubled Kids Finally Face Justice

From the Left / Froma Harrop /

Her blank face in court spoke volumes. Jennifer Crumbley saw no problem handing her severely depressed 15-year-old a semiautomatic handgun as a Christmas present. Ethan soon after turned the gun on the student body of Oxford High, killing four.

What makes this case both chilling and sickening is that Ethan had telegraphed his rapid ...Read more

Clickbait Fuels Obsession on Biden's Age

From the Left / Froma Harrop /

The special counsel report claiming that Joe Biden's memory had seriously declined stinks to high political heaven. Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe saw "nauseating similarities" to the agency's investigation of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

To recap, 11 days before the 2016 election, then-FBI director James Comey said that ...Read more

MAGA Attacks America's Sweetheart. Why Not Football, Too?

From the Left / Froma Harrop /

There's always some pre-game Superbowl story. This year the MAGA Republicans have provided it. And they've gone way beyond their lunatic call of duty by accusing America's sweetheart, Taylor Swift, of diabolical cunning for urging her fans to vote. And for extra measure, they are attacking the National League Football, as well, for something ...Read more

Republicans Want the Border to Bleed

From the Left / Froma Harrop /

If House Republicans succeed in sinking the strongest border enforcement bill in a generation, they can go back to playtime, impeaching Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and spreading weird stuff about Taylor Swift being deployed for "psy ops."

Come November, though, the voting public will remember the sinking, not the show. Americans are...Read more

What Presidents Spend Money on Really Matters

From the Left / Froma Harrop /

What matters is not just the sum by which presidents jack up the deficit. It's what the money is spent on. Franklin D. Roosevelt added more to the national debt by percentage than any other president. America needed that borrowing to dig itself out of the Great Depression and then win World War II. The spending was necessary.

Money can be ...Read more

Republicans Turn Themselves into the Open Borders Party

From the Left / Froma Harrop /

Donald Trump has called on Republicans to kill a bipartisan deal that would give the president emergency powers to shut down the border when illegal crossings get out of hand. He's thus helped President Joe Biden turn one of his political liabilities into a strength.

"If given that authority," Biden said without hesitation, "I would use it ...Read more

US Oil and Clean Energy Both Boom Under Biden

From the Left / Froma Harrop /

Donald Trump recently warned that Joe Biden would lead us into World War II, a conflict that ended almost 80 years ago. Another world event he may not be current on is America's boom in oil production -- never mind the green energy revolution.

"We are going to drill, baby, drill," Trump said on a recent Fox News town hall.

Actually, America ...Read more

DeSantis Flunked Charm School

From the Left / Froma Harrop /

What can you say about the guy? That Ron DeSantis was obnoxious? That he came off as weird? His failure to replace Donald Trump as the likely Republican nominee for president seemed preordained. His mistake was copying Trump's penchant for cruelty without absorbing any of the ex-president's talents as a performer.

When they were handing out ...Read more

Biden Starts to Decouple Economy from China

From the Left / Froma Harrop /

This is a potentially perilous time for our economy and the security of the West. Trade policy with China sits at the center. China is no longer just a trading partner with whom we have differences. It's become a global adversary using trade to dominate militarily as well as economically.

China's strategy is to flood the world with its cheap ...Read more

Christie Enters the Pantheon of Patriots

From the Left / Froma Harrop /

Chris Christie has done himself a service, done his Republican Party a service and, most importantly, done his nation a service.

He convincingly expressed great remorse for having endorsed Donald Trump in 2016. Then he entered the 2024 nomination race with the goal of stopping a repeat disaster. That was the personal part.

Christie gave his ...Read more

 

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Kevin Siers Chip Bok John Cole Walt Handelsman David Horsey Scott Stantis