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Political Commentary

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December 24, 2016

Russia Hacking: Where's the Evidence? by Ted Rall

At the smallest, worst newspaper in the world -- even at a high school paper -- no sane editor would publish a story that wasn't backed by solid evidence. As the 20th century print journalism cliche goes, if your mother says she loves you, check it out. So why are the nation's most prestigious multi-Pulitzer-winning newsgathering organizations repeatedly claiming that hackers working for the Russian government stole emails belonging to the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign manager John Podesta, and gave them to WikiLeaks?

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December 23, 2016

Europe's Future -- Merkel or Le Pen? By Patrick J. Buchanan

The terrorist who hijacked a truck in Berlin and ran over and killed 12 people, maiming and wounding 48 more, in that massacre in the Christmas market, has done more damage than he could imagine.   

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December 23, 2016

Some Christmastime Advice for Pundits and Partisans By Michael Barone

Now that the 538 electors have voted -- and, with only the most minor of exceptions, for the expected candidates -- we can marvel at how such a huge difference in public policies can be made by just a few votes, the 77,744 votes by which Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton for the 46 electoral votes in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

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December 21, 2016

Michelle Obama's Christmas Lump of Coal by Michelle Malkin

Just what we all need to ring in the Christmas season: Un-merry millionaire Michelle Obama belly-aching about the burdens and sacrifices of public life with billionaire Oprah Winfrey.

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December 21, 2016

Close Them Down! By John Stossel

Donald Trump is appointing good people -- Andy Puzder, for example, Trump's nominee for labor secretary.   

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December 21, 2016

Bubba’s Shift from Man of People to Elitist Is Complete By Charles Hurt

Bill Clinton is a lot of things, but out-of-touch elitist snob has never been one of them. Until now.

President-elect Donald Trump has so thoroughly turned the political world upside down and inside out that he has now entirely defanged the most potent and effective operative dominating the American political scene for nearly 30 years.

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December 20, 2016

How the Political Rules Changed in 2016 By Michael Barone

Over the 40-some years that I have been working or closely observing the political campaign business, the rules of the game haven't changed much. Technology has changed the business somewhat, but the people who ran campaigns in the 1970s could have (and in some cases actually have) run them four decades later.

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December 20, 2016

The 'Diversity' Fraud By Thomas Sowell

Nothing so epitomizes the politically correct gullibility of our times as the magic word "diversity." The wonders of diversity are proclaimed from the media, extolled in the academy and confirmed in the august chambers of the Supreme Court of the United States. But have you ever seen one speck of hard evidence to support the lofty claims?   

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December 20, 2016

The Real Saboteurs of a Trump Foreign Policy By Patrick J. Buchanan

The never-Trumpers are never going to surrender the myth that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the hacking of Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and the Democratic National Committee to defeat Clinton and elect Donald Trump.

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December 16, 2016

The Democratic Party's Last Chance By Ted Rall

Democrats need to stop grasping at straws.

Shocked by Trump's win and dismayed at his half billionaire, half military junta cabinet, liberals are thrashing about in the stinking waters of dying American democracy, hoping against hope for something -- anything -- to stop Trump from becoming president.

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December 16, 2016

Lessons of Aleppo -- for Trump By Patrick J. Buchanan

In this world, it is often dangerous to be an enemy of the United States, said Henry Kissinger in 1968, but to be a friend is fatal.

The South Vietnamese would come to appreciate the insight.

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December 16, 2016

What's Trump up to on Foreign Policy? by Michael Barone

What is President-elect Donald Trump up to on foreign policy? It's a question with no clear answer. Some will dismiss his appointments and tweets as expressing no more than the impulses of an ignorant and undisciplined temperament -- no more premeditated than the lunges of a rattlesnake.

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December 15, 2016

Incumbent Reelection Rates Higher Than Average in 2016 By Kyle Kondik and Geoffrey Skelley

With Republican Sen.-elect John Kennedy’s triumph in the Louisiana runoff last weekend, victories by two other Republicans in Louisiana House races, and Gov. Pat McCrory’s (R) concession last week to Gov.-elect Roy Cooper (D) in North Carolina, the winners of 2016’s House, Senate, and gubernatorial races are now set. This allows us to do a little housekeeping. Kennedy’s win confirms that this is the first cycle in the history of popular Senate elections that every state that held a Senate election in a presidential cycle voted for the same party for both president and for Senate (34 for 34 this year). Also, finalizing these results permits us to give a final assessment of our down-ballot Crystal Ball projections for 2016: We picked 32 of 34 Senate races correctly, along with 10 of 12 gubernatorial races and 428/435 House races.

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December 14, 2016

A New Victim in the War on Small-Biz Bakeries By Michelle Malkin

It is not enough for family-owned pastry shops to bow to the gay marriage mob. Now, they're being targeted by the social justice mafia.   

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December 14, 2016

Skating to Freedom by John Stossel

My last Fox Business Network TV show airs Friday.

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December 14, 2016

All the Fake News That’s Fit to Print! By Charles Hurt

Long after the rest of America gave up on the mainstream media, the Old Gray Lady has finally discovered the fake news we have complained about for decades. And as with most things, The New York Times takes it to a level and sophistication that is the envy of the establishment media firmament.

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December 13, 2016

Where Are We? By Thomas Sowell

We are now in a kind of political no-man's-land between an administration on its way out and a new administration taking shape. Predictions are always risky -- and nowhere more so than in times like these.   

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December 13, 2016

Will Trump Defy McCain & Marco? By Patrick Buchanan

When word leaked that Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson, a holder of the Order of Friendship award in Putin's Russia, was Donald Trump's choice for secretary of state, John McCain had this thoughtful response:

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December 13, 2016

Some Free Advice for the Democratic Party by Michael Barone

Herewith some unsolicited free advice for the Democratic Party. Whether it's worth more than the price I leave up to Democrats to decide.

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December 9, 2016

Thanks to Trump, No More Ameri-Splaining By Ted Rall

"A shining city on a hill," Ronald Reagan called America (by way of the Puritan authoritarian John Winthrop). "We are great because we are good," Hillary Clinton said during the campaign (via Tocqueville). Michelle Obama, earlier this year: "This right now is the greatest country on Earth."