As the Democrats prepare to hold their convention in Chicago, please read this story of our encounter with someone who knows a lot about Chicago. During a 2022 trip to Italy with our grown children, the Beautiful Wife reminded the kids “Dad talks to everyone.’’ On this past trip, for once, we had someone open a conversation with us and it turned out to be illuminating, very illuminating. We were at the very end of the recent vacation traveling through the Balkans. We traversed seven countries new to us. We found most of them had English as a compulsory subject in their schools, making conversation easy and all were a pleasure to visit. We also found that few Americans visit them, especially on vacation. It was the last night of our extended trip. We were at dinner in a restaurant recommended by a person from the capital city of Skopje, North Macedonia. The locals just consider it to be called “Macedonia” as Greece forced them to add “North” in order to join NATO. The country is also a member of the EU. The restaurant has a great view as we were up in the hills overlooking the entire city of Skopje, which sits in a valley… Read More

For centuries, the Jewish religion has had criteria for one to be considered Jewish. Some people on the Left have used the idea that someone is Jewish as a cudgel to charge right-of-center folks as anti-Semites while they themselves are anti-Semitic in their actions. It is time to deal with the truth — if you can handle the truth. The definitive standard for me is a column I have used for over thirty years. After realizing I did not have a copy, I went to National Review who sent me an electronic copy of the magazine in which the column was published. I am happy to provide to any reader. William F. Buckley, a man of true brilliance in word and his writings, in 1991 addressed the issue regarding then-Presidential candidate Pat Buchanan. He did a thorough analysis of Buchanan’s actions and came to the conclusion that anyone who is singularly focused on Israel’s activities while ignoring other country’s activities cannot be anti-Zionist; they are anti-Semitic. When I mentioned this to people on the Left, they had a knee-jerk reaction with revulsion because they cannot accept a concept offered by someone like Buckley. So much for the benefit of… Read More

You may have been hearing about this. It seems to be the most discussed subject amongst members of the left-of-center universe. If you read what they write it is the biggest threat to democracy in our history and a blueprint for Trump to crush our government once in office. Let’s get a little perspective here. Project 2025 (2025) was developed by the Heritage Foundation. In DC speak it is a conservative think tank. I get daily distributions from them, as I do from the NYT, WAPO, Axios, Politico, The Atlantic, etc. If they were pitching 2025, I certainly missed it. My knowledge of it came from the recent daily drumbeat from the left-of-center press. Not a single Republican has asked me “What are your thoughts on Project 2025?” The first Republican I heard comment on it was former President Trump. He stated, “I know nothing about Project 2025,” Trump posted on his social media website. “I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.” To those who doubt… Read More

We just had a big NATO conference in our country. NATO has been a powerful force for peace in the world. As readers of this column might surmise, I am a big supporter of our military. Support for the military is one of the rare things our federal government is constitutionally supposed to be doing. If I see a member of the military in a restaurant, the meal is on me. Yet increasingly I am baffled by the simple question: Where is all that money going? Recently I received a news alert that the House Armed Services Committee had passed an $884 billion defense bill for next year’s budget. There is a lot of good news here. First of all, the House is properly doing its job of passing funding bills (there are supposed to be twelve) in a timely manner so we don’t have these last-minute budget fights. It includes a raise for our military personnel, who are significantly underpaid. It also includes increased funding for military housing. This is a 7.2% increase over the 2024 budget of $825 billion. But recent information caused even someone like me to question where all this money is going. We will ignore the supercilious Leftist arguments that “greedy… Read More

Is there anyone out there who doubts that had the roles been reversed, that had someone tried to assassinate Biden instead of Trump, that criminal charges would have been filed against Trump? A week ago, Biden says “we need to put a bull’s eye on Trump.” Biden calls Trump a “threat to our democracy.” Facist, Nazi, criminal are epithets hurled at Trump every day. Trump absorbs these attacks and responds only with questions about Biden’s competence, a perfectly legitimate argument in a political debate. Had Trump said any of the things that Biden and his supporters have said prior to an assassination attempt on Biden, is there any doubt criminal charges would have been filed against Trump?

Governor Newsom has called Trump like Hitler and his supporters Nazis. He has in fact reveled in the support among Democrats around the country for “confronting” Trump and Republicans, and has called upon Democrat officeholders to increase the attacks on conservatives. Other Democrats in California have fueled the anti-conservative political fires with equally heated rhetoric. Now they all condemn the violence their words have… Read More

Preamble: Our country suffered a traumatic event yesterday. I caution anyone from attributing political motive to this. The people who do these things hate us all, Democrat, Republican or any other American. They hate America regardless of what is dug up that they did or said. The best part of this is that person is no longer with us. The other best part is our wonderful law enforcement at all levels who risk their lives for us every day. God bless them and God bless our country.

Right up there with Dred Scott v. Sanford and Plessy v. Ferguson, Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council was among the very worst rulings ever made by the U.S. Supreme Court. It was the law of the land for forty years. It turned the Administrative State with its unelected bureaucrats into our overlords. Loper Bright v. Enterprises came before the current Supreme Court, and they restored the U.S. Constitution to its rightful place as the law of the land. How did Chevron, which was not an earth-shattering decision in 1984, become such a consequential case? It told judges that instead of making their own interpretation of a law they should instead rely on… Read More

There are two things for which Legislators have the only responsibility: (1) ensuring we have an adequate legal structure to protect citizens from those for whom crime is a way of life; and (2) spending the money entrusted to them by the taxpayers in an effective, efficient and responsible manner. California’s Legislative Democrats have failed on both counts. This is my recommendations to California Republicans on how to demonstrate these failures to the voters of the state of California

The last two posts on Prop. 36 have one message – campaign on an anti-crime policy and connect all the Democrats in the Legislature to the current crime spree throughout the state, but particularly in the urban areas of this state. In my time in the Legislature, we used to do this by motions to withdraw from committee, which became such an effective tool of connecting members to their real “pro-crime” agenda that the Democrats changed the rules to make these motions almost impossible. Now the only real argument that can be made is that each Democrat supports the Speaker, who then appointed the chair of the Public Safety Committee, allowing that Chair to… Read More

Proposition 36 makes the very rational argument that criminals should be incarcerated for their crimes. When done timely and right, the arguments in favor of incarceration move even the most uninvolved voter to vote, and, when the arguments are framed correctly, those uninvolved voters turn out and vote Republican. That was the strength of three strikes.

When combined with Proposition 187, the “cut off government benefits to illegal aliens” initiative, the voters of California were faced with two very straight forward and powerful examples of the failures of the left. In 1994, crime was out of control, and the borders were unprotected. Voters had enough of the left’s vision for California, and they reacted, strongly, punishing the ruling Democrats, and delivering a majority to the Republicans in one house of the Legislature for the first time in 24 years.

2024 has the potential for making Republicans relevant again. Crime and illegal immigration are top on the minds of the voters of California. With Proposition 36 on the ballot, and an emphasis on illegal immigration in the legislative districts, Republican candidates have a mix of… Read More