Shows
TownhallReview CommentaryJerry Bowyer: Tax Reform and a Chance to Make up for Lost DecadeLast week, Republican leaders announced their tax reform plans.
The good news is that they’re pro-growth: US corporate tax rates are today the highest in the developed world, and our current system perversely punishes American companies for bringing profits back from their foreign sales. The GOP plan fixes that problem. It also cuts taxes for what has been labeled “flow through” businesses —small and family-owned businesses often use that form. My own family business uses it. The reason it’s important to cut taxes these types of small businesses is because American jobs are almost all created the same way: by sm...
2017-10-0601 min
TownhallReview CommentaryHugh Hewitt: Venezuela’s Maduro Is Now a DictatorNicolas Maduro, president—really dictator—of Venezuela recently held a sham election to rewrite the country’s constitution. The pretext for the vote was to create a new National Constituent Assembly to draft a new Venezuelan constitution.
Speaking in the White House briefing room, General H.R. McMaster said, “The sham election of the National Constituent Assembly [in Venezuela] represents a very serious blow to democracy in our hemisphere. Maduro is not just a bad leader. He is now a dictator.”
Shortly after the so-called election, opposition leaders were seized from their homes by Venezuela’s secret police. It is a humanitari...
2017-08-0201 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMike Gallagher: The Good News You’re Hearing Little AboutNothing is more frustrating to me as an American than the distraction that is the mainstream media. So many wonderful things are happening in this great country of ours, but they get lost in the obsession with the latest drama in Washington D.C.
For example, President Donald Trump recently announced that Foxconn—a Taiwanese high tech company—will be building a 10 billion dollar manufacturing facility for the production of LCD screens in Wisconsin, creating literally thousands of American jobs.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker anticipates that the Foxconn project will produce 13,000 high paying jobs, as well as another 22,000 indirect jobs and...
2017-08-0101 min
TownhallReview CommentaryHugh Hewitt: Our Depleted JudiciaryIt has been rumored in Washington that President Trump may fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Although this is possible, it would be ill advised on the part of the president. If he and his staff are indeed innocent and have not colluded with the Russians (and there is no evidence to date that they have), then this will be over.
If, on the other hand, the president chooses to fire Mueller, he should expect his administration to undergo extraordinary stresses and his momentum to vanish over night.
Republicans have enough...
2017-07-3101 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMark Davis: Priority One for the American Armed ServicesPresident Trump’s recent announcement to disallow service by transgendered individuals is an opportunity to remind ourselves what military service is—and what it is not.
The Armed Services should not be a lab for social experiments, a testing ground for inclusion or a battleground in the sexual revolution.
The American military should choose whom to admit and accommodate based on one factor alone: assembling the best possible fighting force for fighting and winning wars. Any policy that advances that goal is good; any policy that deters it is bad.
Debates in the culture at large should be fought outside the...
2017-07-2801 min
TownhallReview CommentaryLanhee Chen: We Should Listen to Senator McCainI hope you heard about Senator John McCain’s heroic to the floor of the United States Senate to keep the effort to repeal and replace Obamacare alive.
We should—and his colleagues should—listen. With reference to “their deliberations” he said: “They can be sincere and principled. But they are more partisan, more tribal more of the time than any other time I remember.”
Senator McCain has seen and accomplished much during his decades as an elected official, in service to the people of Arizona and the country.
So his words from the Senate floor should serve as a warning to all...
2017-07-2701 min
TownhallReview CommentaryDan Proft: The NEA’s Real AgendaWhen you think about quality K-12 schools that put kids on a path to being successful, independent adults, do you think of gender inclusive toolkits, opposition to federal law enforcement, and support for the impeachment of the President?
If you do not, you probably were not at the National Education Association’s annual meeting where the aforementioned matters were included on its 159-point “new business” agenda.
In worldwide rankings, U.S. high school students do not make the top 20 in either science or reading and have dropped to 35th in math.
The NEA put forward 159 new business items and nary a one...
2017-07-2601 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Not So Polarized After AllDespite the partisan polarization that characterizes both politics and media at the moment, the public seems surprisingly united when it comes to defining Americanism. A new Voter Study Group survey associated with George Washington University, showed a full 93 percent agreeing that “respect for American institutions and laws” is important for being an American. Meanwhile, 88 percent believe it’s important to “accept people of diverse racial and religious backgrounds” to claim authentic American identity. Even 75 percent of Democrats believe it’s important to speak English and to embrace our common language.
All in all, the survey that interviewed 8,000 respondents showed a populace muc...
2017-07-2501 min
TownhallReview CommentaryHugh Hewitt: Swing for the FencesSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan face a very difficult choice as they survey the smoking ruins of their “unified GOP government” after nearly six months in office. They could decide to pivot from health care to racking up small victories and awaiting reinforcements from the 2018 elections. Or they could go for a big deal with Democrats. It’s a tough choice for Ryan and McConnell, but I’m hoping they opt for the latter.
Putting off fixing the disaster that is Obamacare is risky, though not impossible. If Republicans score enough small victories between now and Nove...
2017-07-2401 min
TownhallReview CommentaryHugh Hewitt: A Fighter And A PatriotLate last week we got the sad news that Senator John McCain has been diagnosed with a brain tumor—a malignant brain tumor.
I’ve been in this business a long time and it’s hard to remember a story about the U.S. Senate without McCain being a part of it. Since 1987, he has always been there and has always been part of the debate.
All of those who get the fact that American politics is a team sport have been frustrated with John McCain at one time or another, disappointed with him occasionally. But there’s no doubt that Sen...
2017-07-2101 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Messages from "Dunkirk"The superb new movie “Dunkirk” conveys important messages about a fateful episode of World War II. In May, 1940, the rapid Nazi advance through France trapped a huge British army on the coast, offering easy targets for Luftwaffe bombers. The Royal Navy couldn’t rescue the troops from the beaches, so the government rallied civilian craft—fishing boats, ferries, and pleasure cruisers. Some 650 “little ships” helped take more than 300,000 troops safely home.
This miraculous evacuation exemplified “The Dunkirk Spirit,” where private initiative saves the nation in a crisis. Watching this thrilling movie, American citizens should find our “Dunkirk Spirit” to help our country overcome...
2017-07-2001 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Contrasting Views On Wealth And PovertyA Pew Research study shows sharp contrasts between Republicans and Democrats in attitudes toward wealth and poverty. By more than three-to-one, Republicans say hard work, rather than a person’s advantages, explains why people are rich.
Among Democrats, only 29 percent agree about the value of hard work, while 60 percent say financial success comes from “advantages in life.” In explaining poverty, 56 percent of Republicans cite “lack of effort” but only 19 percent of Democrats agree with them.
Surprisingly, ideology has more influence on attitudes toward wealth and poverty than does current economic status. Nearly a third of low-income respondents admit “lack of effort” expl...
2017-07-2001 min
TownhallReview CommentaryLanhee Chen: Obamacare EnshrinedOver seven years ago, Democrats in Congress joined President Obama to create a massive expansion of Washington’s role in our health care system. And in the time since then, we’ve witnessed the many ways in which Obamacare has hurt the American health system.
Republicans in the United States Senate had the opportunity this week to repeal large parts of that law and to set health policy in America on a different course. The GOP legislation wasn’t perfect, but was certainly an improvement on the status quo. It was also the best chance Republicans have ever had to substa...
2017-07-1801 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: The Only Solution to the Korean CrisisNorth Korea’s recent rocket tests highlight this brutal regime’s ongoing threat to peace. A mere change of leadership won’t eliminate the dangers posed by the rogue state; the only long-term solution requires disappearance of the totalitarian nightmare in Pyongyang and unification of the Korean Peninsula.
That may seem unthinkable at the moment, but 27 years ago a similarly impossible reunification dissolved Communist East Germany into the prosperous, stable Federal Republic of West Germany. Co-incidentally, the statesman who guided this heroic transition just died on June 16th. Helmut Kohl served 16 supremely eventful years as German Chancellor.
Kohl’s example makes cl...
2017-07-1801 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Different Roles Divide the PartyAs Republicans on Capitol Hill struggle to make progress on healthcare and tax reform, the loudest voices in conservative media rip the GOP’s Congressional leadership for their willingness to compromise on drafting legislation.
Actually, Republicans in the House and Senate are doing what they need to do to succeed at their jobs, while conservative commentators in talk radio and syndicated columns do what brings success in their very different roles. Congressional conservatives can achieve nothing without support from moderate Republicans and, ideally, some Democrats, but conservative talkers can maintain ratings dominance by appealing solely to hard-core true believers who ma...
2017-07-1401 min
TownhallReview CommentaryDavid Davenport: Free SpeechThis summer, Commentary magazine published a forum on the question: Is free speech under threat in the United States?
Ironically, in a country where the Constitution and the courts carefully protect free speech, many people do not feel free to speak freely. Why? Because of a smothering blanket of political correctness that starts in our colleges and permeates our society.
Speakers with points of view that differ from the liberal orthodoxy are not welcome on many campuses, and in some cases have been subject to threats and violence. Students are supposed to be protected from so-called trigger words and microaggressions...
2017-07-1301 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Defying the "Success Sequence"The New York Times recently acknowledged that some of the recent changes in marriage and childbearing have damaged our country. Noting that a big majority—55 percent—of first children born to millennial couples are now born outside of marriage, columnist David Leonhardt explained that this “new normal” violates the “success sequence” established long-ago by the Brookings Institution.
That research proved that young people, whatever their background, could minimize any chance of long-term poverty by taking thee simple steps: graduating from high school, getting a job—any job—right after graduation from high school or college, and bearing children only after marriage, not be...
2017-07-1201 min
TownhallReview CommentaryJerry Bowyer: The Impeachment Crusade Is CostlyOver the past six weeks or so, there has been a steady drumbeat of impeachment talk from the elite press and the opposition party.
As a result:
• Google searches on “impeachment” have spiked by 1,200 percent per day.
• London odds makers have raised the odds that Trump will not finish out his term by 21 percent.
• And the stock market? The seven weeks after Trump was elected, markets exploded upward 8.3 percent. But in the same period of time after the impeachment push, it has gone up by only 1 ½ percent.
There is little doubt that the effort to keep impeachment on the table is hurting...
2017-07-1101 min
TownhallReview CommentaryHugh Hewitt: Winning In WashingtonWhat does it mean to “win” in Washington? I’ve long described “progress” as the ongoing, incremental expansion of liberty and literacy in a growing number stable regimes in or aligned with the West. And by that definition, much of the agenda of President Trump’s administration could well be described as “winning.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt have become the domestic policy stars of the Trump administration, joining Defense Secretary Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary Kelly and CIA Director Pompeo as foreign policy counterparts off to successful starts. Each of the five brought to the task disc...
2017-07-1001 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Infatuation With Obama; Rage Against TrumpPresident Trump and his supporters are absolutely right that there’s a glaring contrast between the way media treat this president and way the press handled his predecessor, Barack Obama.
With Obama, potentially devastating scandals—Benghazi, the IRS, Fast and Furious, the VA—never gained momentum; the press never blamed Obama personally when things went wrong in his administration. For Trump, he’s blamed personally for every embarrassment or disappointment under his watch. But conservatives are wrong to suggest that the treatment of Trump is exceptional. George W. Bush and Bill Clinton also got rough handling by the press; it was the...
2017-07-0501 min
TownhallReview CommentaryDavid Davenport: Free Speech Under ThreatThis summer, Commentary magazine published a forum on the question: Is free speech under threat in the United States?
Ironically, in a country where the Constitution and the courts carefully protect free speech, many people do not feel free to speak freely. Why? Because of a smothering blanket of political correctness that starts in our colleges and permeates our society.
Speakers with points of view that differ from the liberal orthodoxy are not welcome on many campuses, and in some cases have been subject to threats and violence. Students are supposed to be protected from so-called trigger words and microaggressions...
2017-07-0301 min
TownhallReview CommentaryHugh Hewitt: Happy Fourth Of JulyAs we continue the long days of summer and of celebrations like the Fourth of July or family vacations, it is important to keep in mind that across large parts of the world the idea of either freedom or leisure much less both is so far off as to be the stuff of legend. For us, it’s a “taken for granted” annual ritual.
We are so blessed that we often simply forget to count those blessings and marvel at their largely uninterrupted enjoyment for 200-plus years. No, we are not a perfect nation, not even close, but we are the be...
2017-07-0301 min
TownhallReview CommentaryAlbert Mohler: The Left—Moving Further LeftSince the inauguration of President Donald Trump, the Democrats have lost five special elections, most recently in the state of Georgia where they had poured 30 million dollars into Jon Ossoff’s congressional campaign in the 6th district.
This is leading to a great deal of reconsideration of party identity and of strategy on the part of the Democrats. The energy tends to be now disproportionately on the left and that left is moving further left, represented by figures such as Senator Bernie Sanders.
But in order to win in these kinds of suburban districts, Democratic candidates are going to have to...
2017-06-3001 min
TownhallReview CommentaryAlbert Mohler: One of the Biggest Religious Liberty Decisions in DecadesEvery last week of June, every year, Americans get treated to what’s essentially a great civics lesson, a reminder of the enduring importance of the third branch of our constitutional system, as the Supreme Court releases major decisions, clearing its docket before its July recess.
And this June was a huge day at the United States Supreme Court in terms of our nation’s history on the issue of religious liberty.
The case I’m referring to most immediately is that of Trinity Lutheran vs. Comer—where a church was turned down by the state of Missouri for state funds fr...
2017-06-2901 min
TownhallReview CommentaryDavid Davenport: The Future Of FreedomA new survey by the Fund for American Studies reminds us that millennials do not understand economics. The same group that does not know basic civics—such as who their senator is or whether Judge Judy is on the Supreme Court—also doesn’t get how free markets work.
While 60% of millennials said they would choose liberty over security, in turn 54% want more government, not less. A majority of even Republicans and conservatives believe government should regulate oil and drug company prices, and place tariffs on goods coming from overseas.
This survey is described as a “freedom index” but millennials really fav...
2017-06-2801 min
TownhallReview CommentaryAlbert Mohler: The Vulnerable WestA German Light Infantry Battalion recently reported, according to the Wall Street Journal, that “during exercises . . . their unit didn’t have the munitions to simulate battle. Instead, they were told to imagine the bangs.”
All this comes in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s visit to Europe, in which he pointed his finger at the Europeans, including many of our historic allies, for their failure to spend enough in terms of their military.
The Dutch Prime Minister recently said, “To an extent, he has a point.” Indeed, the president has a massive point.
As the Wall Street Journal reports, “Today European...
2017-06-2801 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Putting Personality Above PolicyLeaders of both political parties and the most prominent voices in media, all make the same mistake that poisons our politics: concentrating on the president’s personality, not his policies. Debates always seem to center on Trump’s character: is he a breath of fresh air who’s appropriately shaking the system, or a bigoted buffoon, who’s corrupt and incompetent? Democrats obsess on exaggerated charges of Russian collusion and won’t debate crucial issues like health care and tax reform. Arguments over Trump’s personality may boost ratings and political fund-raising but they’re ultimately pointless and polarizing.
Love him or hate hi...
2017-06-2601 min
TownhallReview CommentaryLanhee Chen: The Terror Threat Is RealIn the last week alone, terrorists have attacked or attempted to attack targets in European nations we call allies and friends. One of the main railway stations in Brussels, Belgium was targeted. So too were innocent civilians on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
These attempts came on the heels of deadly attacks in London and Manchester, and recent attacks in Stockholm, Berlin, and Nice.
The threat of radical jihadist terrorism is real. And if we are naïve enough to believe that the terrorists are only interested in attacking European nations, shame on us. They’d love nothing more than to suc...
2017-06-2301 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Trump’s Surprising Coalition: Not Just “Deplorables”James T. Hogkinson, the crazed gunman who fired at Republican congressmen in early June, hardly fits the common image of a militant Bernie Sanders Democrat. He was 66, married for 30 years, a proud gun-owner, working in construction and living in a small Midwestern town. In fact, he came close to stereotypes of one of Trump’s blue-collar “deplorables,” which only highlights the dishonest nature of common media narratives.
Actually, Trump’s core support wasn’t the downtrodden working class: he did better among the third of voters who earned more than $100,000 a year than among the two-thirds who earned less than that. Amon...
2017-06-2201 min
TownhallReview CommentaryLanhee Chen: Karen Handel's VictoryRepublican Karen Handel’s victory in the special election in Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District will generate a lot of punditry and spin.
Democrats will argue that they got a lot closer than they should have in a district that Republican Tom Price, now the Secretary of Health and Human Services, won by 23 points less than a year ago.
Republicans will respond by noting that their opponents poured $30 million into the race and yet the Democrat wasn’t able to do any better than Hillary Clinton did in losing the district to Donald Trump last year.
Both sides are right, to som...
2017-06-2101 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Public Opinion and ObamacareIn 2010, the health insurance legislation known as “Obamacare” was overwhelmingly unpopular. But Democrats in the White House and Congress pushed it through anyway, and then paid a severe price in the next elections. Today, the health care package known as “Trumpcare” is similarly unpopular, but the Republicans seem determined to pass legislation this summer, even at the risk of serious losses of their own in 2018 Congressional elections.
Does this mean the electorate is confused?—hating Obamacare, and then hating the most serious attempt to repeal and replace it? Actually, public reactions are sensible and consistent—what Americans hate is the whole idea o...
2017-06-2001 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Lingering Faith in FaithFor sixty years, Gallup has asked about public attitudes toward faith, giving respondents a clear choice: “Do you believe that religion can answer all or most of today’s problems, or that religion is largely old-fashioned and out of date?” In 1957, 82 percent expressed confidence in religious solutions, while only 11 percent considered faith old fashioned. Today, the margin is much closer, but Americans still think religion has the answers—55 percent to 34 percent.
Among those who say they “seldom” or “never” go to church, a full third still think religion can solve contemporary problems. And among Democrats, a plurality agrees that faith has the answers...
2017-06-1901 min
TownhallReview CommentaryAlbert Mohler: Senator Sanders vs. Religious LibertyBernie Sanders recently announced that he will oppose President Trump’s nominee for assistant budget director, Russell Vought, because Vought penned a blog in which he said that Muslims “stand condemned” because they have rejected Jesus Christ.
Vought’s post was a defense of his alma mater, Wheaton College, a Christian institution, and what he articulated was nothing other than historic orthodox biblical Christianity.
Senator Sanders made his position quite clear: “I would simply say, Mr. Chairman, that this nominee is really not someone who is what this country is supposed to be about.”
Here you have a sitting United States senat...
2017-06-1601 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Demonizing, Dehumanizing the OppositionThe context of the brutal assault in Alexandria, Virginia that wounded Congressman Steve Scalise sends an important public message: our elected representatives may wield enormous power but they’re still ordinary Americans who enjoy getting up early on a bright Spring morning to practice for things like a charity baseball game.
The crazed shooter had been so warped by hateful leftist propaganda that he couldn’t recognize the obvious humanity of his victims: he asked about party affiliation, and when told they were Republicans he was ready to kill. This time the targets were conservatives and the assailant was a self...
2017-06-1501 min
TownhallReview CommentaryLanhee Chen: AmericansAs Americans, we are drawn together by so much more than what divides us. We have a common sense of purpose and destiny. And we wake up each day knowing how blessed we are to live in this remarkable country.
Even as we are saddened by news of the shooting of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and four others, including two Capitol Police officers who were wounded while doing their jobs, we recognize that we, as Americans, must be about so much more than what separates us.
We come together to celebrate the bravery of our first responders and marvel...
2017-06-1401 min
TownhallReview CommentaryLanhee Chen: Single Payer for the Golden State?The California State Senate recently passed legislation creating a government-run, single-payer health care system in the Golden State. The idea is so bad that even Governor Jerry Brown has expressed concerns about it.
What’s wrong with the idea?
It replaces the existing, largely private-sector system and will force people out of the health care plans they currently have. It will lead to the rationing of care and give to government the most intimate and sacred of our health care decisions. And left-wing lawmakers in California want to pay for their socialized health care system with mammoth tax increases, because th...
2017-06-1401 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Jerusalem UnifiedThis month—June 2017—marks the 50th anniversary of the unification of Jerusalem as the undivided, eternal capital of the Jewish people. What was the city’s status before Israeli victory in 1967’s Six Day War? At that time, Eastern Jerusalem and the Old City were occupied by Jordan; all Jewish residents had been either killed or driven out, and even Jewish tourists were banned from ancient holy places like the Western Wall.
The UN Partition Plan of 1947 had called for international status for all of Jerusalem, but the Arabs rejected the plan and destroyed 58 synagogues in the ancient Jewish Quarter. UN contr...
2017-06-1201 min
TownhallReview CommentaryAlbert Mohler: Remembering MidwayWe have just recently marked the 75th anniversary of one of the most significant events in all of naval history: the Battle of Midway.
What’s most important about this battle is that it came just six months after the Japanese sneak attack upon Pearl Harbor. The United States Navy largely defeated the Japanese Navy by turning the tables, and the fact that it did so within just six months is one of the most amazing stories of military history.
U.S. Naval intelligence, having intercepted and broken the Japanese code, knew where the Japanese Navy was headed and knew th...
2017-06-0901 min
TownhallReview CommentaryHugh Hewitt: Wait Upon The FactsFormer FBI director Robert Mueller enjoys deep and wide respect inside and outside of the Beltway, among Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.
Of course: Now he’s Special Counsel with unique independence in addition to his formal authority that comes from the Department of Justice’s regulations.
For purposes of the investigation into Russia’s attack on our elections in 2016, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is the Acting Attorney General and technically Mueller’s supervisor. But it’s almost impossible to imagine circumstances in which Mr. Rosenstein would attempt to guide or influence Mr. Mueller.
Both men are long serving public servants a...
2017-06-0801 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Miraculous Victory, Unsettled DisputeFifty years ago, the 19-year-old state of Israel won a miraculous, astonishing victory against larger, better equipped forces of Egypt, Syria and Jordan.
The Soviet Union lavishly supported the Arab states, while Lyndon Johnson’s America proclaimed strict neutrality as the Jewish state faced annihilation. Israel had to rely on Mirage jets purchased from France, since American equipment was unavailable. Territorial disputes played little role in the war since the Arabs wouldn’t accept Israel within any borders, openly pledging to “drive the Jews into the sea.” Shortly after the war, Israel offered to trade captured territory for peace but the Arab...
2017-06-0801 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: The Left's International CollapseIf Theresa May wins her expected victory in June’s British elections it will represent the latest evidence of a sweeping international trend: the utter collapse of the old left.
Britain’s Labour Party dominated the United Kingdom for 13 years under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, but with radical leader Jeremy Corbin, it’s struggled for traction and relevance. The same thing happened in France, where the candidate of the long-dominant Socialists finished a dismal 5th in recent elections.
In Germany, center right Chancellor Angela Merkel has already ruled for 12 years and is heavily favored to capture another term in Septem...
2017-06-0601 min
TownhallReview CommentaryAlbert Mohler: A New Rule Respecting ConscienceA long-awaited announcement from the Trump administration was released last week: namely, the reversal of the Obamacare contraception mandate, the mandate that required all employers, even religious employers, to pay for contraception methods, including abortion-inducing drugs.
The latest from President Trump’s Office of Management and Budget only deals with explicitly religious employers. The vast majority of employers will still be under the Obamacare contraception mandate.
What we see here is the inevitable collision between sexual liberty and America’s first freedom, religious liberty. There are those who are so absolutely committed to sexual liberty that they are quite willing to v...
2017-06-0501 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Stop The Impeachment DaydreamsDemocrats who prattle endlessly about impeaching President Trump are deluding themselves and damaging the country. Not only do they lack convincing evidence of impeachable “high crimes and misdemeanors” but they also possess no understanding of the lessons of history.
Only three presidents have ever confronted serious impeachment proceedings: Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. In each of those situations, the embattled president faced a hostile Congress, with House and Senate overwhelmingly controlled by the opposition party. In none of those cases, did the accused president lose the support of his own party’s representatives.
To remove Trump from office would...
2017-06-0201 minTownhallReview CommentaryJerry Bowyer: Push The Tax Plan NowThe U.S. economy is in danger, and the longer the Trump tax plan is delayed, the greater that danger becomes. President Trump wants large tax cuts in corporate and individual rates. That’s good, because right now America has the highest corporate tax rates in the developed world.
But here's the worry: If you run a business and I tell you that your taxes are going to fall … next year, what do you do? You put off expansion until next year.
This is what happened to President Reagan at the beginning of his term. He proposed big tax cuts, but...
2017-06-0101 min
TownhallReview CommentaryAlbert Mohler: A Revealing WalkoutStudents at the University of Notre Dame recently staged a walk out protest against Vice President Mike Pence who was the university’s commencement speaker.
One young man interviewed about the protest looked squarely into the camera and said, “Commencement is about us. It’s not about national politics. This is a distraction.”
Well, this is a profound misunderstanding of the commencement ceremony and it’s also a reflection of the incredible narcissism that seems now to affect so many at various age levels in American society.
The commencement is actually a celebration of learning and the dignity of education. It’s about...
2017-05-3101 min
TownhallReview CommentaryHugh Hewitt: A 350 - Ship NavyOn Sept. 7, 2016, Donald Trump made a specific promise “to build a Navy of 350 surface ships and submarines.” On March 2, now president Trump added to the specificity of that pledge by promising to increase the number of aircraft carriers to 12. The recently unveiled White House budget breaks both of these promises.
A 350-ship fleet is key for both national security and international stability. China is rapidly growing its navy to fill the gaps left by the Obama-era cutbacks. Reversing those cuts is crucial to preserving American supremacy at sea and supporting allies around the world.
The president is fresh back from his...
2017-05-3001 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Britain's Most Serious Religious ProblemThe horrific Manchester terror attack raises uncomfortable questions about the imperfect integration of Britain’s Muslim minority.
A series of such brutal incidents in the United Kingdom involved native-born British subjects, not recent refugees. And despite some fears of Islam’s surging influence, the most recent numbers show that self-identified Muslims still comprise only 5 percent of the UK population. The far more worrisome numbers involve the declining percentage who say they are Christian—down from 72 percent to just 59 percent today.
Those who hope that America and the United Kingdom will maintain their distinctive cultural identities are right to worry about Christ...
2017-05-2601 min
TownhallReview CommentaryHugh Hewitt: A Grateful NationThe dangerous world we are looking at today serves as an appropriate backdrop for our expression of gratitude for those who have died in the service of our nation.
From the time of our nation’s founding to today, well over 1.2 million Americans have paid the ultimate price in the service of our country.
Today is a day for us to say, “thank you.” It is also a day for us to dedicate ourselves.
In 1863 Abraham Lincoln called our country to an “unfinished work.” And, in many respects, we remain an unfinished work.
Our commitment—the commitment of “the living”—to the values and...
2017-05-2601 min
TownhallReview CommentaryAlbert Mohler: The Crisis Of Islamic ExtremismPresident Donald Trump is currently engaged in his first international trip as president.
The contrast between the current president and his predecessor has been immediately apparent inasmuch as President Trump has been willing to use the word Islam in connection with the struggle against terrorism whereas President Barack Obama was categorically unwilling to do so.
As the Washington Post reported, President Trump has forcefully summoned the Muslim world to confront “the crisis of Islamic extremism.”
In the president’s address in Saudi Arabia, he said “Religious leaders must make this absolutely clear: Barbarism will deliver you no glory—piety to evil will...
2017-05-2501 min
TownhallReview CommentaryHewitt: "The Slaughter Of the Innocents"“The Slaughter of the Innocents.”
That’s the title from the U.K.’s Daily Mail piece chronicling the latest attack from radical Islamic terrorists.
This time: It was in Manchester Arena in the U.K., in the aftermath of the Ariana Grande concert.
At least 22 are dead.
Over 100 are injured, some of them very seriously.
The horrific incident is yet another bloody reminder of the long war—yes a decades long war—that the nations of the developed world have against Islamist terrorism.
In the West, we’ve seen a reticence to label the threat for what it is, a willingness...
2017-05-2401 min
TownhallReview CommentaryDavid Davenport: Tax Reform Should Not Increase The National DebtThis is David Davenport of the Hoover Institution for Townhall.com.
One more dilemma for our leaders in Washington is that we desperately need tax reform, but we can’t afford to increase the national debt.
The debt is already large and growing. Our leaders say it’s nearly $15 trillion, but that doesn’t count another $5 trillion of debt to our own government, making the real number closer to $20 trillion. And Senator Ben Sasse has recently reminded us that even that number doesn’t count entitlement bills coming due that we can’t pay, perhaps pushing the number as high as $75 tri...
2017-05-2301 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMohler: The Scouts and the Moral RevolutionThe Mormon Church recently announced that it will be severing its long relationship with the Boy Scouts of America for boys and young men aged 14 to 18.
In terms of religious groups that sponsor scouting organizations, the Mormon Church is, by percentage, by far the leader of the pack.
There can be no question that in the background this decision by the Mormon Church is the Boy Scouts’ decision to include gay and transgender scouts as well as openly gay scout leaders. Recently, there have also been open calls for the Boy Scouts to include girls within the organization.
When you re...
2017-05-2201 min
TownhallReview CommentaryDavenport: Congress Needs to Step Up Its GameWhile everyone was evaluating Donald Trump at 100 days, we also should have been grading Congress. With significantly lower approval ratings than the president, Congress has done very little.
With the same political party controlling the White House and Congress, how can that be? The answer is that Republicans in Congress are no longer following their leaders but instead are beholden to political caucuses. The moderate Tuesday group and the conservative Freedom Caucus now hold as much power as the Speaker of the House or a committee chair.
Leaders no longer even try to work with members of the other party...
2017-05-1901 min
TownhallReview CommentaryLanhee Chen: An Opportunity For The SenateThe effort to repeal and replace Obamacare has now moved to the United States Senate, where our elected representatives have the important responsibility of improving upon the American Health Care Act—the reform legislation that passed the House a few weeks ago.
There will likely be disagreements between Senators over key issues, like how best to ensure access to coverage for those with preexisting health conditions; how to make health insurance more affordable for those who don’t get it through their employers or the government; and how best to reform to Medicaid, the state-federal health program targeted at low-income Amer...
2017-05-1801 min
TownhallReview CommentaryGreg Thornbury: Comey’s ObligationHas there ever been a public official who has gone from good guy to bad guy in both the eyes of the Left and the Right—faster and more often—than former FBI Director James Comey? I think not.
Why? It all depends on what he’s saying at the moment.
When news broke that Comey had written a memo and other communications in the aftermath of President Trump’s purported request for him to call off the investigation into Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn’s contact with Russian officials, the media went into hysterics.
Congressman Chaffetz from Utah, Chairman of the House...
2017-05-1701 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Contrasting Views On Wealth And PovertyA Pew Research study shows sharp contrasts between Republicans and Democrats in attitudes toward wealth and poverty. By more than three-to-one, Republicans say hard work, rather than a person’s advantages, explains why people are rich.
Among Democrats, only 29 percent agree about the value of hard work, while 60 percent say financial success comes from “advantages in life.” In explaining poverty, 56 percent of Republicans cite “lack of effort” but only 19 percent of Democrats agree with them.
Surprisingly, ideology has more influence on attitudes toward wealth and poverty than does current economic status. Nearly a third of low-income respondents admit “lack of effort” expl...
2017-05-1601 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Dem's Gloom May Seal Their DoomThe Democrats used to bill themselves as the party of unshakable optimism with jaunty, confident presidents like FDR or JFK, or the “Man from Hope” himself, Bill Clinton. But a new Pew Research study shows the party of “Happy Days Are Here Again” and “High Hopes” is now the party of “Eve of Destruction.”
The percentage of Democrats who say they feel “little or no confidence in the country’s future” nearly tripled in the past two years—from just 12 percent to 34 percent. Meanwhile, Republican spirits have soared—with 59 percent expressing “a lot of confidence” in America’s future—up 19 points since Trump’s election.
In...
2017-05-1501 min
TownhallReview CommentaryHewitt: Media Hysteria Over ComeyPresident Donald Trump has fired FBI Director James Comey.
No, this isn’t comparable to Nixon’s infamous “Saturday Night Massacre” of Watergate fame. There are no tapes, no subpoenas for presidential documents, no resignations from the Justice Department, but instead recommendations from the Justice Department. In short, the overwrought media has toppled into hysteria again.
This is, simply, the rightful determination by the president that he no longer had confidence in James Comey, supplemented by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s recommendation that Director Comey should not have publicly discussed the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
Agree or disagree with that decis...
2017-05-1201 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMark Davis: After ComeyReactions to President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey are falling along predictable lines. There’s a strain of conservative comments that this was overdue, even though his late October re-opening of the Hillary Clinton e-mail case may have contributed to Trump’s win in November.
That’s the recently expressed belief of Hillary herself, but now her political allies cry foul at Comey’s dismissal. Why: With the election over, the left had only one wish for Comey’s FBI—that he would one day emerge with evidence to prop up the currently empty suspicions about a Trump-Russia c...
2017-05-1101 min
TownhallReview CommentaryAlbert Mohler: A Statement Of Direction On Religious LibertyThe President’s recent signing of his executive order dealing with religious liberty was much anticipated by all concerned with First Amendment liberties in our fast-changing nation.
An executive order is not legislation and it is never a substitute for legislation.
And yet an executive order can impact the entire executive branch for the duration of a president’s administration.
In his order, President Trump directed, “It shall be the policy of the executive branch to vigorously enforce Federal law’s robust protections for religious freedom.” Here’s how we should understand it: This is the president’s statement of direction.
Th...
2017-05-1001 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Jerusalem’s Anniversary: Time to Face the TruthThis June marks the 50th anniversary of the re-unification of Jerusalem following Israel’s victory in the Six Day War.
Many Americans mistakenly believe that only then, in 1967, did Jerusalem become Israel’s capital with a clear Jewish majority. But Jerusalem has always been the seat of Israel’s parliament; two-thirds of the city’s population was already Jewish at the time of Israeli independence in 1948.
In fact, Jews constituted Jerusalem’s largest religious group as early as the mid-nineteenth century and the city served as the Judean capital for a thousand years from the King David to the Roman dispersion...
2017-05-0901 min
TownhallReview CommentaryAlbert Mohler: The UnravelingNew York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently wrote a letter to the state’s medical insurers saying that they will now be required to provide coverage for reproductive infertility to single persons and same-sex couples.
The move was celebrated by Leftists and progressives as a win for the decoupling of reproduction and the traditional family.
Bella DePaulo, an advocate cited by the New York Magazine, said the change is part “of the long unraveling of the components that all used to be tied up in the one package of marriage: sex, having children, living together.”
Now note carefully. Here she is celebr...
2017-05-0801 min
TownhallReview CommentaryLanhee Chen: Tax Reform Is Long OverduePresident Trump introduced a significant tax reform proposal that will dramatically lower the business tax rate, simplify the individual tax code, and cut tax rates for many American taxpayers.
While there are still many details to be filled in, the basic contours of and principles underlying Trump’s reform plan are worth supporting.
We haven’t seen an overhaul of our tax code for over thirty years, since Ronald Reagan was president and such major change is long overdue. And why do we need reform? To put it simply, our tax rates are too high, the tax code is too comp...
2017-05-0501 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Divisions Didn’t Begin With TrumpLooking back on President Trump’s opening months in office, not even the most determined detractors of the president can rightly blame him for dividing the country, since the nation was already deeply divided before he came to office.
Barack Obama lost control of Congress to the opposition party, barely winning 51 percent in his re-election bid. George W. Bush also won narrow re-election and lost both houses, while leftist activists demonstrated to demand impeachment. Bill Clinton actually was impeached.
This bitter, persistent divide stems in part from changes in media: with the rise of cable news, talk radio and the in...
2017-05-0401 min
TownhallReview CommentaryGreg Thornbury: No Questions AllowedWhen Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bret Stephens left the Wall Street Journal editorial board for The New York Times recently, the change raised a few eyebrows. Stephens, who had been very critical of then-candidate Trump, perhaps fit better at the “Old Grey Lady,” in this day and age.
Few people, however, thought the move would make national headlines. But then Bret Stephens published an Op-Ed with his contrarian and conservative view that dared to call into question the absolute certainty with which climate change advocate make their apocalyptic claims.
To readers of The New York Times, even casting the slightest doubt on t...
2017-05-0301 min
TownhallReview CommentaryHugh Hewitt: A Victory On The Congressional Review ActThe mainstream media has been determined to find fault with President Trump’s performance during his first 100 days in office.
In reality, a legislative legacy was passing beneath the noses of the Manhattan-Beltway media elites who could not be bothered to learn the wide-ranging implications of the baker’s dozen of Congressional Review Act measures that passed the House and Senate by simple majorities and were signed into law by Easter. This is a legislative outpouring not exceeded in numbers since Truman nor substantive impact since any modern president except Franklin Roosevelt. Yet because regulatory rollback bores or confounds journalists, thes...
2017-05-0201 min
TownhallReview CommentaryHugh Hewitt: Sea ChangeSea change. An enormous one. That’s the only way to understand President Trump’s first 100 days — as a breaking from and often a breaking of the Obama presidency, one every bit as turbulent as what’s encountered by a sailing ship going from calm seas into a hurricane.
Trump’s first 50 days were a jumble of ups and downs, mostly downs. But beginning with the flawless testimony of Neil M. Gorsuch to the Senate Judiciary Committee and his subsequent confirmation under rules that will speed the way for future Supreme Court nominees, the Trump turnaround began and gained an almost uni...
2017-05-0101 min
TownhallReview CommentaryAlbert Mohler: Is Assad Evil?Scott Simon is one of the most thoughtful commentators on National Public Radio, and in the aftermath of seeing those horrifying images from the chemical nerve agent attack in Syria, Simon offered an important meditation on the nature of evil.
Once of Simon’s daughters asked how anyone could commit such an atrocity. He admits that “I was of a generation educated to believe that ‘evil’ was a cartoonish moral concept.”
Simon goes on to say that “I still avoid saying ‘evil’ as a reporter. But as a parent, I’ve grown to feel it may be important to tell children about evi...
2017-04-2801 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Democrats Repeat The Same Bad MistakesAmid all the evaluations of the first hundred days of President Trump, what about considering the first hundred days of Democrats as the party of opposition?
So far, they’ve shown a destructive tendency to repeat the same mistakes that cost them the election in November.
• First, they focus exclusively on attacking the president while counting on scandal to destroy their opponents.
• Second, Democrats continue to rely on identity politics: trying to rally minorities, women and gays with a sense of victimhood, while demonizing white males. But identity politics doesn’t work: in November, Trump got slightly more votes than Romney a...
2017-04-2701 min
TownhallReview CommentaryDavid Davenport: There Is A Trump Doctrine: America FirstFor journalists and academics searching to find a Trump Doctrine in foreign policy, it’s right in front of you. It’s called: America First.
And what it means is putting America’s national interest in the center of our foreign policy decision-making. It’s not the George W. Bush exporting democracy philosophy, it’s not the Barack Obama “lead from behind” approach. Instead, it’s a realist’s foreign policy: simply pursue America’s interests in each situation.
Stopping the use of chemical weapons in Syria; renouncing trade agreements such as the Trans Pacific Partnership; restricting immigration from certain countries—these are...
2017-04-2601 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: France and the Collapse of the LeftFrench voters won’t pick a new president until May 7th, but the first round of balloting highlights an important international trend, the dramatic decline of the left:
• The candidate of the ruling Socialists finished a pathetic fifth in France, not coming close to the run-off.
• In the most powerful South American countries, Brazil and Argentina, leftists are out of office and face criminal prosecution, while the Socialist government in Venezuela teeters on the edge of collapse.
• In Germany, India, Israel, the Netherlands and many other nations, the left is divided and defeated, while U.S. Democrats have lost the Senate...
2017-04-2501 min
TownhallReview CommentaryDavid Davenport: Trump’s First Hundred Days: Doing What He PromisedSince Franklin Roosevelt, presidents have been evaluated at the end of a hundred days. Donald Trump drafted his own report card in a campaign speech last fall, saying what he would do in his first hundred days.
And here’s the surprising thing: he’s doing what he said.
• Appoint judges who would uphold the Constitution. Neil Gorsuch. Check.
• Construct a wall and limit illegal immigration. No wall yet, but plenty of restrictions.
• Reassess trade agreements—withdrew from the TPP, check.
• Repeal Obamacare—no check, but working on it.
• Impose term limits on Congress—no.
• Remove restrictions on energy—yes.
• Eliminate gun-free zones—n...
2017-04-2401 min
TownhallReview CommentaryLanhee Chen: Time To DeliverIt can be tempting to try to draw far-reaching conclusions about the 2018 midterm elections from the special election results in Georgia's 6th congressional district, where Democrat Jon Ossoff came close to winning the 50 percent of the vote he needed to capture the longtime conservative seat. But those midterms are more than 19 months away and a whole lot can change between now and then.
Voters in Georgia's 6th congressional district didn't appear to be punishing Republicans for their inability to repeal and replace Obamacare in late March. A single failure to do so can be attributable to "growing pains." But a...
2017-04-2101 min
TownhallReview CommentaryAlbert Mohler: Turkey And The Powerful PresidentThe President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, recently announced that his government has won a big political victory. In a referendum vote, Turkey has amended its constitution to concentrate power in a single person, namely the president.
This referendum reminds us that when human beings are given the choice between liberty and security, they often choose security. The reason is that part of the necessary foundation for freedom is that very security.
This partially explains why liberty has been such a fragile reality throughout much of the world and in particular throughout the Middle East. Where you find instability, you...
2017-04-2001 min
TownhallReview CommentaryOwen Strachan: The Erosion Of Parental AuthorityCharlie Gard is fighting for his life.
Tiny Charlie is eight months old and battling a rare disorder called mitochondrial depletion syndrome. His muscles are deteriorating and he is fed through a tube.
Recently, a judge it the United Kingdom ruled that Charlie should be taken off of life support. Judge Francis decreed that “parents have parental responsibility” but that “overriding control is vested in the court.” It was in the “best interests” of Charlie that his costly care be shut down.
These words from a Western judge should chill the blood of every citizen. The government does not have—or at least sh...
2017-04-1901 min
TownhallReview CommentaryHugh Hewitt: End The "Blue Slip" TraditionThe appointment of Justice Neil Gorsuch to the United States Supreme Court was President Trump’s greatest achievement in his first 100 days in office.
Now there are 20 vacancies on the federal circuit courts of appeals and hundreds on the district and special courts, but a huge obstacle stands in the way of the Senate confirmation process: the so-called “blue slip.”
The blue slip is sent to the senators from the home state of every judicial nominee, allowing those senators to approve or veto the nominee.
The blue slip isn’t a law, and it would be anathema to our Constitutional framers...
2017-04-1801 min
TownhallReview CommentaryDavid Davenport: Why Hasn't International Law Stopped Chemical Weapons in Syria?Where is international law when you need it? The Syrian government has again used chemical weapons on its own people, despite signing the international convention banning chemical weapons as well as a specific agreement to destroy them.
So why is this still happening? It’s one thing for countries to sign treaties but, if they turn out to be against their interest, they simply violate them later. Unfortunately there is very little enforcement of international law. The U.N. Security Council is usually blocked from acting by the veto of one or more of its permanent members.
So the U.S...
2017-04-1701 min
TownhallReview CommentaryAlbert Mohler: Embattled In The Middle EastTwo Coptic Christian churches in Egypt were attacked by ISIS affiliated suicide bombers on Palm Sunday.
The Associated Press reported that, “the Copts have long been a favored target of extremists—they were struck with a similar church bombing just weeks before the country’s 2011 Arab Spring uprising, and Islamic militants gave them a particular focus during a crackdown on them in the 1990s—but the past five months been particularly bloody. U.S.-based think tank the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy said the attacks brought the total number of sectarian incidents against Copts to 26 in 2017, with a total of...
2017-04-1301 min
TownhallReview CommentaryAlbert Mohler: Promise Of EasterThis Sunday is Easter, a great celebration day for Christians. The Church bears a mandate to proclaim the truth that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. The resurrected Lord gave the Church a sacred commission to take the gospel—the message of Christ’s victory over sin and death—throughout the world.
So, as the Church gathers to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Christians look back in thankfulness to that empty tomb and forward to the fulfillment of Christ’s purposes in us. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the promise of our resurrection from the dead, and of Chris...
2017-04-1301 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Commitment Over Feeling Can Save And Enhance MarriageProfound changes in the institution of matrimony go far beyond the push for same-sex marriage. After many years as a clinical psychologist, Dr. Diane Medved notes a shift in marital priorities from commitment to feelings. “Do your duty” has been replaced with “follow your heart.”
In response, my wife has written an explosive new book: “Don’t Divorce: Powerful Arguments for Saving and Revitalizing Your Marriage.” She argues that traditional pressure to maintain marriage for the sake of children and community has given way to a new cultural norm to jettison relationships at the first hint of trouble.
Saving a family doesn’t...
2017-04-1201 min
TownhallReview CommentaryLanhee Chen: When America LeadsLast week, the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad likely launched a chemical weapons attack that killed over seventy of his own people and injured many others. Assad is guilty of many heinous acts against the Syrian people, which together have triggered one of the great refugee and humanitarian crises in modern history. Assad’s latest attack included the use of advanced nerve agents—its victims included numerous babies and children.
In 2012, President Obama announced that the use of chemical weapons by Assad would breach a “red line” that would trigger a U.S. military response. A year later, Assad used those weapons...
2017-04-1101 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: “The Choosing People” of PassoverAs Jewish people around the world celebrate Passover, it’s worth recalling an often-ignored aspect of the Exodus story. The Midrash, a nearly-2,000-year-old collection of elucidations of the Biblical text, suggests most of the Hebrew slaves, despite the miracles around them, felt too fearful to follow Moses out of Egypt. In this sense, “the people of choice” described in the Bible were as much a choosing people as a chosen people. Even at the Red Sea, Midrashic sources say that God only split the sea once the Jewish people took the first courageous steps into the water. In this sense...
2017-04-1001 min
TownhallReview CommentaryAlbert Mohler: Syria Crosses The Red LineThe U.S. sent an unmistakable signal Thursday night—and it was sent late, and it was sent in the form of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from two U.S. Navy destroyers in the Mediterranean sea. They were fired at the very same Syrian air base from which it is now believed the Syrian government had sent an attack on its own people, an attack in the form of chemical weapons—identified as sarin nerve gas—killing upwards of 80 people.
Sarin gas is banned by every civilized nation and international treaty, and the use of it is considered a war crime...
2017-04-0701 min
TownhallReview CommentaryOwen Strachan: The Marital Scandal Of Vice President PenceSomehow this became another of the major scandals in DC today: Vice President Pence protects his marriage. Recently, the Washington Post reminded readers that the VP does not eat alone with a woman who is not his wife …. and it sparked firestorm on Twitter. One journalist said Pence believes that “women shouldn’t be able to exist in public without a chaperone.” Many such responses followed.
Let’s all take a deep breath in our favorite safe space. Mike Pence has employed and met with many women over his long career of public service. He isn’t anti-woman. He’s pro-woman. He...
2017-04-0601 min
TownhallReview CommentaryAlbert Mohler: Yet Another Lesson From CaliforniaThe Attorney General of California recently announced that he is filing 15 felony counts against the two undercover filmmakers from the Center for Medical Progress who have exposed Planned Parenthood in a series of videos.
David French, writing at National Review, points out that this is a case of selective prosecution. Back in 2014, a group known as Mercy for Animals released an undercover video that showed widespread animal abuse, they claimed, and cruelty at one of the largest duck farms in California. The state responded by investigating the farm. Apparently, in California, the lives of ducks are more important than the...
2017-04-0501 min
TownhallReview CommentaryHugh Hewitt: A New Day At EPAPresident Trump’s new EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, is bringing the rule of law back to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The core mission of the EPA is very important. There are air and water quality issues that cross state lines.
But the previous administration reimagined its authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate CO2 with stationary sources in a way that just isn’t consistent with the framework that Congress passed.
And with the Waters of the United States, the EPA reimagined the definition of what a water of the United States equals so it included puddles and dry cree...
2017-04-0401 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Honor The Law, Not Feelings Or FavoritismDemocrats opposed to the Supreme Court nomination of Neal Gorsuch cite his “legalistic” failure to show consistent favor to “the little guy” against big corporations. But Gorsuch defenders insist that an impartial judge can’t allow emotion to tilt the scales of justice.
In this, Gorsuch echoes both his mentor, Justice Scalia, and the Bible. In Leviticus God commands: “You shall not commit a perversion of justice; you shall not favor the poor, and you shall not honor the great.” The prophetic books and the New Testament Book of Acts make similar points, describing God as “no respecter of persons” who applies standa...
2017-04-0301 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: No Quick Fix On Health CarePresident Trump and Speaker Ryan failed to notch a GOP victory by repealing and replacing Obamacare, but the defeat did highlight an important conservative principle. Conservatism has always emphasized incremental, pragmatic change, based on the will of a majority; it’s progressives who favor sweeping, radical, top-down decrees that ignore the popular will.
That was the core problem with Obamacare: trying to remake our entire health care system in one ridiculously complicated, widely unpopular piece of legislation. But now that Obamacare has been the law for seven years, Republicans shouldn’t repeat these mistakes—again, trying to reshape the whole system...
2017-03-3101 min
TownhallReview CommentaryOwen Strachan: "Generosity And Respect" From PrincetonPrinceton seminary recently announced it would honor Manhattan Pastor Tim Keller for his spiritual leadership. But that announcement from the seminary drew furious criticism from their community of faculty and alumni who long ago left conservative Christian faith.
Keller’s commitment to the Bible’s very clear teaching on marriage, the sexes and human sexuality rendered his views “toxic” as one commenter said. Princeton seminary president Craig Barnes bowed to the pressure.
He announced Keller that would not receive his award after all. Barnes also noted without irony that Princeton grants generosity and respect to those of different convictions.
If the sham...
2017-03-3001 min
TownhallReview CommentaryHugh Hewitt: After HealthcareThe pulling of the GOP health-care bill last week was a big loss. But, President Trump had very good reason to shake off the rebuff from the Freedom Caucus, and he was loyal to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, as was Ryan to Trump. That bodes well for the party and for governing over the next 18 months.
What doesn’t bode well is the shared decision of the president and speaker to advance next on tax reform, with its twin political death traps of abolition of the home mortgage interest deduction and of state and local income tax deduction. I ho...
2017-03-2901 min
TownhallReview CommentaryAlbert Mohler: Gorsuch Eminently QualifiedNew York Senator Charles Schumer recently announced that he and his Democratic colleagues in the Senate will filibuster the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the United States Supreme Court.
The reality is that if there is anyone qualified to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, it is Judge Neil Gorsuch.
Nonetheless, what is at stake is not the judge’s qualifications, but his understanding of the constitution as a text limited by its words and sentences and the intention of its authors, rather than an evolving text to be interpreted by contemporary judges according to their own current political un...
2017-03-2801 min
TownhallReview CommentaryAlbert Mohler: Justice Alito's WarningJustice Samuel Alito of the United States Supreme Court recently delivered a bracing message to a group of Catholic lawyers.
Justice Alito said, “A wind is picking up that is hostile to those with traditional moral beliefs.” Referencing his minority opinion in the Obergefell decision, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, he said that the decision would be used to “vilify those who disagree, and treat them as bigots.”
It is clear that Justice Alito is very concerned. Those who pressed for the legalization of same-sex marriage are now pressing for the normalization of all same-sex relationships throughout the entire culture.
He went...
2017-03-2701 min
TownhallReview CommentaryDan Proft: Silencing DissentAllison Stanger, a self-identified liberal professor at Middlebury College actually suffered a concussion early this month after being assaulted by leftist students protesting the presence of eminent sociologist Dr. Charles Murray on campus.
Her assault has forced the Left to address campus culture at America’s elite universities.
What the safe space social engineers find is that they’ve lost control of the young Frankensteins whose minds they filled with agitprop rather than intellectual curiosity.
At Middlebury, Stanger was mugged by the reality, quite literally, that there is no safe space for dissent from the established campus orthodoxy. By abetting a co...
2017-03-2401 min
TownhallReview CommentaryAlbert Mohler: The Black RobeThe nation is now engaged in a one of our most important democratic traditions: namely, the confirmation hearings for a Supreme Court justice. In this case, for Judge Neil Gorsuch, the first nominee of President Donald Trump.
One of the most important observations came from Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska. He pointed to the symbolic nature of the robe that a justice wears, a black robe. It is neither a blue robe nor a red robe, neither Democratic nor Republican.
In our nation’s constitutional system, the judiciary is intended to be nonpartisan. Nonetheless, the reality is that the Court ha...
2017-03-2301 min
TownhallReview CommentaryMichael Medved: Losing Ground In The Happiness RankingsThe Sustainable Development Solutions network, an initiative of the UN, is out with its yearly “World Happiness Report,” in which respondents around the globe were asked how close their current circumstances came to their “best possible life.”
The United States placed 14th of the 155 surveyed nations—well ahead of Germany, France, Japan, and the United Kingdom, but behind Norway, Denmark, Switzerland and Israel. The U.S. has been sinking in the rankings since those rankings began in 2012, and when America finished 11th. In terms of specific measures of happiness, the U.S. has moved up in health, life-expectancy and per-capita income, bu...
2017-03-2201 min
TownhallReview CommentaryDavid Davenport: Young People Robbed Of IndividualismAmerica used to be a land of “rugged individualism.” People came to this country so that the key decisions about their lives would no longer be made by kings and queens, or the church, or their social class, but rather for themselves. Individual freedom was promised by the Declaration of Independence and protected by the Constitution.
But today individualism in America is in trouble. Not only has government taken over more and more of our money and decision-making, but young people are being coddled, first by helicopter parents, then in “safe spaces” in their college campuses. College used to be a time w...
2017-03-2101 min
TownhallReview CommentaryAlbert Mohler: Chuck Schumer's DeceptionThe Democratic leader of the United States, New York Senator Chuck Schumer, recently published a highly misleading tweet. In it he said, “#Trumpcare cuts Planned Parenthood Federation of America funds, hurting millions of women who turn there for mammograms, maternity care, cancer screenings & more.”
To its credit, the Washington Post decided to fact check that claim.
The fact check said, “Planned Parenthood does referrals for mammograms, and some affiliates host free mammography mobile vans for low-income and uninsured women. It does not have mammogram machines at its affiliate clinics. The Food and Drug Administration’s list, updated weekly, of certified mammogra...
2017-03-2001 min
TownhallReview CommentaryDavid Davenport: Bad News From the Index of Economic FreedomThe 2017 Index of Economic Freedom has been released and it contains some bad news for Americans. The U.S. dropped 6 positions in the ranking of economic freedom around the world to #17, its lowest level since these studies have been published. While most nations of the world increased their economic freedom, the U.S. saw a significant decline, rated now not “free” but only “mostly free.”
The main contributor was a new category in the study called “fiscal health.” This shows that a shocking 38 percent of our gross domestic product now goes to government and also emphasizes our growing national debt and deficit...
2017-03-1701 min
TownhallReview CommentaryDavid Davenport: Trump's Budget Asks: What Should Government Do?President Donald Trump’s first budget proposes some big changes. A much higher commitment to national defense is at the top of the list and, in order to fund that, less foreign aid, government regulation, and federal subsidies for research and the arts.
What Trump is doing is returning to the age-old question of what the federal government should do (and not do). Over the centuries, nearly everyone has believed that providing a national defense is the essential role of the federal government. But, as the economist Milton Friedman pointed out, when the federal government does more and more, it ge...
2017-03-1601 min
TownhallReview CommentaryLanhee Chen: A ChoiceLiberals and many voices in elite media have touted the recent Congressional Budget Office analysis of the House Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare as a reason to oppose it.
But let’s be clear: The CBO estimates show that the legislation is fundamentally conservative. And while it’s not perfect, the American Health Care Act includes many important changes that will bring health spending down, cut taxes and lower costs for consumers.
For starters, the bill is estimated to reduce deficits and the debt by $337 billion over the next 10 years. Furthermore, the legislation includes almost $600 billion in tax cuts...
2017-03-1601 min