David Brooks had a rich pedigree on the conservative side of the ledger. He worked at the National Review, Washington Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Weekly Standard. I ran into Bill Kristol and Brooks in 2003. Kristol crowed about how Brooks had just accepted a position at the New York Times. I congratulated him and stated, “It will be interesting to see whether you change them, or they change you.” We just got final confirmation. Brooks has a lengthy piece in the Atlantic entitled What Happened to American Conservatism? speaking to the history of his political perspective.

The fact this was published in the Atlantic tells one about everything you would expect regarding what he wrote. The publication was founded in 1857 and was originally the Atlantic Monthly. Times change and so has the publication. Current editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg has completed the transformation to a far-left rag that gives authors plenty of space to pontificate on their left-wing theories.

Brooks has authored some enlightened books on our society, but that was before his transformation. He wrote with great clarity then, but this lengthy piece was frequently muddled.… Read More

In politics it is said if you can put your opponent on the defensive, you are winning. If you are the target, it is better to ignore the accusations as they will have you dancing to the opposition’s tune. Occasionally, it is worthy of addressing one of these positions as is the case now with a reckless charge. Not only is it ridiculous to assert Republicans in any way favor Vladimir Putin but It is harmful to our country to make such charges while he is aggressively attacking his neighbor.

Let us address the comments about Putin as a leader. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has made favorable comments about Putin’s abilities. Steve Schmidt, a deeply confused former Republican, stated Pompeo is “a self-dealing blusterer whose grift, vanity and ambition has twisted him into a smiling shill for Vladimir Putin.” The crime here is making statements like the ones Biden made in 2019 regarding Putin.

In a 45-minute interview discussing a wide-ranging analysis of the situation with Russia and China, Pompeo said about Putin “Very shrewd. Very capable. I have enormous respect for him. I have been criticized for saying that. No, I have enormous… Read More

Rising inflation causes more and more people to expose their profound economic illiteracy. Recently I’ve been fascinated to read the Internet comments of otherwise intelligent people who think that the main cost of a sit-down restaurant meal is the food ingredients. Too many commenters think that the primary factor driving eatery prices up is the greed of the restaurant owners.

UPDATED WITH DECEMBER, 2021 STATE UNEMPLOYMENT RATES

California is the nation’s epicenter for the homeless problem. But ask yourself this question: IF todayyoufound yourself without both shelter and the funds to rent a place, what state would you most prefer to be in to “live under a bridge”? More specifically, what CITY would you rather be in?

Answer: California — and specifically San Diego, my town. Best homeless weather in the nation.

Solutions to this growing problem are not easy, as California politicians (and their voters) vigorously support an intentional policy to keep CA housing high priced and scarce — high priced BECAUSE it is scarce, and expensive to build. So what CAN be done to help these unfortunate people?

Let’s start by recognizing that there are two broad, sometimes overlapping categories of homeless people:

1. The “helpless” — the mentally ill, the druggies, the drunks (these are also overlapping categories) — those who have pretty much given up on — or are incapable of —… Read More

President Biden, no economic expert, wants to blame the high rate of inflation on the pandemic created shortages like computer chips stopping cars from being built. While supply chains were altered for a time and some products still have backlogs there are two major reasons that the inflation rate has accelerated to the highest it has been in two generations. Those two reasons are self-inflicted wounds, almost exclusively by Biden policies.

By far the most tangible one is the price of energy. It does not take much to figure out when you see the average price of an oil barrel – 2020 $39.68, 2021 $68.17 and 2022 $84.70. We don’t know where the average price in 2022 will end up for the year, but it is a good bet it will be north of the current figure – above $95.00.

American oil production went from 5,484,000 barrels in 2010 to 11,283,000 in 2020. Some of that growth came at the end of the Obama Administration due to private land fracking, but the figures really soared during the Trump era. Oil production dropped 1.1 million barrels in 2021. Natural gas production went from 22,381,873 million cubic feet in 2010 to 36,202,466 million cubic feet in 2020. Again,… Read More

Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine is an affront to all humanity and a direct threat to the freedom and security of Europe. The bravery of Ukrainians from all walks of life stepping into mortal peril to defend their families, their country and, above all, their liberty, is an inspiration and exemplar for all people in all lands in all times.

Putin feels unconstrained by civilized norms and international law. His territorial ambition will not be satiated with Ukraine but will continue until it becomes a security issue for the United States.

Europe needs to mobilize militarily and cut off all commerce with Russia. Yet so far, the European nations have balked even at removing Russia from the SWIFT banking system because it would damage their economies, even while decimating Russia’s.

What can the United States do?

Most immediately, all forces resisting Russian aggression should have the lethal aid they need to fight in every manner they can. The Obama administration refused it; the Trump administration provided it. The Biden administration was advised to offer lend-lease assistance to Ukraine of retiring U.S. military aircraft months… Read More

Podcaster Joe Rogan has caused a firestorm for having what is deemed improper information about the pandemic on his show. I have no idea what Rogan or his guests said since I do not have time to listen to podcasts and Rogan barely registered on my radar until this brouhaha. I do know there is a tremendous amount of disinformation around with one paramount point of disinformation that supersedes all.

First there is the question as to what people consider disinformation. I know that Neil Young does not know what Rogan said. He read an article about Rogan and thusly based his hysterical reaction. Does anyone believe Joni Mitchell (who I consider a musical goddess) or Graham Nash or the rest of CSN&Y then sat down in their posh surroundings and spent hours analyzing Rogan’s podcast before band wagoning with Young? Everyone believes it is a miracle David Crosby is still alive after what he has done to his body for over fifty years. Should he really be opining on Covid for others?

There has clearly been a gigantic piece of misinformation during the pandemic that has been promulgated by the U.S. government and replicated by the Mainstream Media which has cost… Read More

When columnists choose to advise elected officials and others from the opposing party how they might improve their political status, I have no objection. Typically, this is done by someone who is an “enlightened” columnist for a Left-wing publication disguising themselves as an independent voice providing observation from 10,000 feet looking down on the plebeians. This column is about as close as I have ever gotten to writing a column of this type. It is not to suggest a course of action for President Biden, but in my opinion what he needs to do. No expectations here.

President Biden marched into New York City, a hot bed of America’s current crime explosion. The city elected a new mayor with a cop background to clean up the mess created by his predecessor, the worst mayor in America. Unfortunately, they simultaneously elected a new DA in their largest and most famous borough, Manhattan, who is against prosecuting criminals for nearly all crimes. That includes criminals resisting arrest by the cops for whom he is supposed to be working. After the murder of two cops – neither of whom were white oppressors against whom the DA is fighting — DA Bragg reversed… Read More