Note: My column last week was intended to show the implausibility of the argument Mr. Biden makes that he was not involved in the business of his son. In fact, anyone who does not believe that Joe Biden was the focal point of the money scheme must also believe in the Tooth Fairy and Loch Ness Monster. While packing for our recent trip to London, I went to our unread bookshelf – the place where we track acquired but not yet read books. I spotted The Intimidation Game written by Kimberly Strassel. Since we will be seeing Ms. Strassel in September as she releases a new book, I thought it a suitable time to read this one. Given that it is a public policy book from 2016, I thought it might be dated. It is completely relevant to today. The concept of the book is that the Left is using various means to suppress free speech and using the government as the means to do so. A substantial portion of the book deals with the three-plus year attack on the formation of perfectly legal entities that would be used to organize people to express their rights of free speech against their government and its elected representatives. This… Read More

I have been taken aback with the chorus of my fellow Republicans who have questioned the word of President Joe Biden regarding his involvement in his son’s business dealings. Mr. Biden was obviously busy with other matters, as you can only expect from a man of his stature. So why would we question his involvement? Why would any committed American question Biden standing by his son? We are a society based on the strength and support of family. Just because people no longer believe marriage is important; children are borne out of wedlock in record numbers; and 25% of Americans have not been married by the age of 40, why would anyone question Biden’s commitment to family? The fact that the political party Biden leads supports the policies that create these conditions should not be interpreted that Mr. Biden would endorse any of these policies in his personal life. On the other hand, as Harold Meyerson at the American Prospect stated in his July 25, 2023, column “Biden is the only one there who’s pro-choice, pro-sick leave, pro-affordable childcare, pro-tuition-free community college.” We could include a few other free things Biden is… Read More

Walter Williams sadly left us in December 2020. Like his very close friend, Thomas Sowell, he was an economist who would have had a Nobel Prize were it not for the prejudice against black conservatives. Both were/are brilliant teachers who educated us through their writing. Walter Williams authored twelve books, all worthy of your time. In 2011, he published Race and Economics: How Much Can Be Blamed on Discrimination? Williams wrote in this book on a topic that I thought I knew well until he enlightened me. As a Professor of Economics at George Mason University, Mr. Williams was first and foremost an educator. He had the gift of communicating complex matters in understandable terms. Professor Williams addressed the issue of American slaves learning skills. He writes about how slaves were often taught skills such as carpentry, blacksmithing, and farming by their masters. He tells detailed stories of individuals who learned these trades. He does not minimize the fact they were slaves, but he points out how some were able to improve their existence. They were obviously capable individuals and not how they were often portrayed as unintelligent beings… Read More

The Left has gone after members of the U.S. Supreme Court on drummed up ethics charges. Whether the Justices have violated any ethics rules (which they have all denied in specificity as to their filings and their actions) is in the eye of the beholder. What we want to explore is how people in public office make significant income from book sale advances and then book sales. The issue recently exploded because of an Associated Press (AP) story that focused on the left leaning Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The big issue regarding Justice Sotomayor was how she milked sales through her speeches. Instead of receiving speaking fees at her favorite “nonprofit” or university, the speech sponsor would buy hundreds of her books to be distributed to the guests at the events. The left-of-center press actually picked up this story. The conflict’s focus delineated by the AP is that Sotomayor used her Supreme Court staff to arrange the sales. The AP pointed out that this use of staff is illegal (unethical) for people in Congress or the Executive Branch. What the AP does not point out is that Congressional members just kick this function to their campaign committees.… Read More

We have been searching for a place to focus our charitable efforts. For more than 30 years, most of our giving went to our synagogue. Sadly, we were compelled to leave after two left-wing Rabbis were more interested in being community organizers than teaching the Torah. We have been giving to Prager U, StandWithUs, The Red Cross, and Veterans’ groups, but the Beautiful Wife wanted a new focus. She identified a locally based charity with whom she felt comfortable focusing her efforts. They would be lucky to have her. She was previously given the Young Leadership Award for the Jewish Federation’s Women’s Division; is a past president of both NAWBO-LA (National Assn. of Women Business Owners, Los Angeles) and the Organization of Women Executives (OWE). She can sell ice to an Eskimo. She would be a real addition to any charity. Additionally, charities need three things: donors, doers, and door openers. She fits all three. She was doing the ceremonial dance with the charity when we were invited to their annual gala with a hefty price tag. Because of the orientation of many groups today, I wanted to do a deep dive into their activities before we… Read More

For my entire life, I have loved this nation and had complete confidence that we will always overcome obstacles and strive to do better. After all, our founders structured a nation that provides that platform. The 2024 election that we are potentially facing is both demoralizing and has me questioning our sanity. Let me start by saying we are still six months from the counting of the first votes. All these polls you see are hogwash. Who cares? National polls at this point mean nothing except to the radio and TV talking heads who cannot focus on more important matters. Yet, there is a discussion about an election next November between Trump and Biden, and I cannot think of anything much more depressing. We haven’t learned from the past eight years this is poison for our country?

If you watched Fox News anchor Bret Baier’s two-day interview with of Trump, you have to wonder why anyone supports this person — especially when there are so many qualified candidates committed to carry forth the policies so loved from his time as president. They will do it without all this noise. It is not just the clear-cut narcissism and… Read More

Ronald Reagan once said, “they say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong.” We have exactly that — a simple solution to the government’s intrusion into communication with social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Google, Instagram etc. As I am sure you are aware there was an earthquake on July 4th. In an order filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Federal Judge Terry Doughty put a halt to the federal government and the Biden Administration from communicating with social media companies to restrict commentary on the platforms. The ruling by Doughty is a tour de force on free speech and the first amendment. The 155 pages are a history lesson and should be taught in every high school as the defense of our most essential freedom, one that many people in countries with which we are allied do not enjoy. Doughty mentions eight different areas where the government could still assert itself. They break down into three categories: 1. Criminal activities – Everyone would argue (except criminals) that the social media sites should work with governmental entities to address any… Read More

The United States has enjoyed unique stature among the nations of the world. For over a century, we have been separated from the rest of the world by two oceans with two major friendly countries on our northern and southern borders. We have enjoyed particularly cooperative relations with both during this time. Times are changing with our northern neighbor adopting some restrictions not allowed by our Bill of Rights. More importantly, our southern neighbor has policies that are openly hostile to our country and deadly to our citizens. The first of the two hostile policies is their refusal to stop migrants from traversing their country to arrive at our border with the notion of entering the United States illegally. The second is the production and transporting of harmful drugs that is killing our fellow citizens by the tens of thousands. Both of these policies feed the coffers of criminal cartels within the Mexican borders and are barely combatted by the Mexican government. The flow of migrants is separate from what the Mexican government has done to encourage their own citizens to break our laws and cross our borders illegally. The principal purpose of sending… Read More