THE WASHINGTON TIMES

EDITORIAL: Disappointment in Washington

The best-laid schemes of rats and politicians gang aft agley, as the poet Bobby Burns might put it, and this is a lesson that events have been trying to teach Democrats embittered by losing the 2016 election since shortly after all the votes were counted. But Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and their ilk in the big media just can't get a grasp on reality. The Cohen show this week was another bust.

February 28, 2019

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Dim new left will fall from favor

Social media plus flamboyant ignorance equals Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ("Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lies in latest Twitter rant," Web, Feb. 25). As Barack Obama believed, "we are the ones we have been waiting for," and Miss Ocasio-Cortez, along with her loud chorus of self-proclaimed "Democratic Socialists," certainly is that. When the kaleidoscope of American politics turns once again and a different pattern of bright colors attracts our polity, Miss Ocasio-Cortez and her Warhol-ic moment will be cast into the shadows. America usually suffers spasms of such foolishness in brief doses -- and then moves on when the circus ceases to entertain.

February 28, 2019

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Giving lemmings a bad name

The lemming is a small rodent found in the tundra and open grasslands of the Arctic. The story that they commit mass suicide is a centuries-old myth.

February 28, 2019

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: We need space-based defense

"Why Trump's new space directive resonates" by Henry Cooper and Daniel Gallington (Web, Feb. 26) recalls events that took place soon after the initiation of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) by President Reagan in March 1983.

February 27, 2019

EDITORIAL: When alienation spreads across the land

If you're not driven mad by the incessant shocks of modern life, a wise man once observed, you must be insane.

February 27, 2019

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Stop ‘green’ dithering, Congress

Members of Congress advocating a Green New Deal for America should read the Wikipedia account of the "1966 New York smog" that paved the way for enaction of a "green plan," known officially as the Clear Air Act on Dec. 2, 1970.

February 27, 2019

EDITORIAL: Jussie Smollett’s tall tale becomes a living rebuke to an ailing society

You can tell a lot about a society and the culture by the people whom it venerates as heroes. Not so long ago in the United States military valor and other feats of physical and patriotic derring do were the ne plus ultra of what determined who became venerated. That's why the crime of "stolen valor" is there in the first place, by men (and sometimes women) who aren't veterans who want to bask in the glory and respect afforded actual heroes. Were American warriors not heroes, there would be no valor to steal.

February 26, 2019

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Probably worse than we think

Robert Knight's "Bernie's Red bona fides" (Web, Feb. 24) details a long list of Sen. Bernie Sanders' associations with communists and radical socialists, beginning in college in 1966. Bernie calls himself a "Democratic socialist," not a communist. That's reminiscent of Huey Long, who called himself a Democrat in the Democratic primary for the presidency. When asked why he did not run as a socialist, Long replied, "What's the use of being right only to be defeated?" Many politicians abuse the truth to get elected.

February 26, 2019

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Batty Bernie propaganda machine

Robert Knight should get the Presidential Medal of Freedom for identifying Bernie Sanders as bad for America ("Bernie's Red bona fides," Web, Feb. 24). Bernie's 'redness' is not just deplorable. He is not just a pathological liar who calls our president a pathological liar for making America great again. Bernie is a pathological communist, too. Communism is itself a pathological lie; it's the most virulent form of socialism. It failed spectacularly as the Soviet Union and continues to fail in Cuba and Venezuela. It hasn't failed in China because the dictatorship plans and enforces crony capitalism. Not even Joseph Stalin would conceive of naming American sports teams in a Vermont city to celebrate communism.

February 26, 2019

EDITORIAL: Hanoi summit might produce actual, positive results if there aren’t great expectations

Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither will be a nuclear-free North Korea. Many critics complain that the results of the Singapore summit in 2018, where President Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and exchanged polite words, were written in disappearing ink. Many of those critics are saying the same thing this time about a summit in Hanoi. Peace is elusive and the search for it often tedious, but "jaw jaw," as Churchill famously said, always beats "war, war."

February 25, 2019

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Left the intolerant ones

"Seeing red: Trump opponents say the MAGA hat is much more ominous than a show of support" (Web, Feb. 24) makes the point that the red MAGA hat has become a powerful political symbol for the left. To them, the red hat represents intolerance, hatred, racism and bigotry.

February 25, 2019

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Make Congress read own bills

Today's generation in Congress could learn much from the late Idaho Republican Sen. James A. McClure, who passed away eight years ago. His claim to fame on Capitol Hill was that he read every word of every bill before voting on it. For many years, he signed his own mail. Fast-forward to today. Did members of Congress take a speed-reading class to absorb the hundreds of pages contained in previous stop-gap spending bills, along with other so-called "emergency legislation" passed in the dead of night? Ater all, they only received these hours before being asked to vote up or down. Only lobbyists, and key congressional staff members employed by the House and Senate leadership teams who actually wrote the fine print had any idea of the details buried in the contents.

February 25, 2019

EDITORIAL: Iranian instability grows

When Iran not long ago accused the United States of an attack on elite Iranian forces in Iran's southeastern province of Baluchistan, the lie revealed just how severe some of the regime's problems have become. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo rejected as "outrageous" Iranian claims that the United States and its regional allies were responsible for a suicide bombing that killed 27 members of the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard.

February 24, 2019

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Start ‘hoax shaming’

Prejudices certainly still exist, although most are very muted compared to what they were a couple of decades ago, and there has been real progress on some fronts (though some people refuse to believe it). However, people like actor Jussie Smollett and many others who stage hoaxes for personal gain or to score political points seriously set back efforts to identify and address real evidence of prejudice. Is the next report to be believed or is yet another hoax? It's time for the activists for various causes to engage in "hoax shaming."

February 24, 2019

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: No crisis, indeed

President Trump is right that there is a crisis on our border. He is right to demand security for us from illegal aliens, including drug dealers, convicted criminals, radical Islamic terrorists, MS-13 gangs and "coyotes." The drug cartels bring tons of illegal drugs, criminals continue to murder American citizens and coyotes kill people by abandoning crowded vans in deserts.

February 24, 2019

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Toxic chopping block

Reading "The female ascent to the top, on screen and stump" (Web, Feb. 20) early in the morning over coffee, along with other pieces on the madness of the contemporary political class, inspired me to ponder the motivations behind the identity politics movements promoting "male privilege," "toxic masculinity" and "#Metoo."

February 21, 2019

EDITORIAL: The U.S. must clear its own obstacles to the faster 5G infrastructure

Despite the administration's considerable effort to bring China to heel on trade, Beijing still threatens to get the better of us. This may change after President Trump meets with President Xi Jinping, both of whom have indicated a more balanced relationship may be coming soon.

February 21, 2019

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: ‘Race inflation’ bad for all

"Empire" actor Jussie Smollett's false charge of racism is perfectly understandable in economic terms ("Actor Jussie Smollett charged with filing false police report in what police call 'publicity stunt,'" web, Feb. 21).

February 21, 2019

EDITORIAL: Unrestrained technology threatens to make criminal suspects of us all

Not everyone welcomes the 15 minutes of fame to which everyone is said to be entitled. Europeans disenchanted with the public spotlight dogging their Internet presence petition for the right to be forgotten. Hermits everywhere just want to be left alone. Americans simply claim they have a right to privacy.

February 20, 2019

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Confirm James to replace Haley

Michigan's John James should be nominated for and confirmed by the Senate as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. A West Point graduate, the man is also an Army Ranger combat veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and now a leader of Detroit's business community.

February 20, 2019