VDH's Blade of Perseus

Tooth-Gnashing in the Republican Establishment

November 4, 2015November 9, 2015 victorhanson

By Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online

Republicans should be upbeat. They control by large margins the state legislatures and governorships. The Supreme Court is a bit more conservative than liberal. The House and Senate are both run by Republicans.

President Obama, after veritably wrecking his party, has for some time scarcely polled above 45 percent in approval ratings — even after borrowing $8 trillion to spread the wealth, pandering to spec

ial interests, echoing nonstop the assertions of his iconic status, and blaming all his failures on his predecessors and opponents.

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Can California Be Saved?

October 22, 2015 victorhanson

by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online

Crime is back up in California. Los Angeles reported a 20.6 percent increase in violent crimes over the first half of 2015 and nearly an 11 percent increase in property crimes.

Last year, cash-strapped California taxpayers voted for Proposition 47, which so far has let thousands of convicted criminals go free from prison and back onto the streets. Now the state may have to relearn what lawbreakers often do when let out of jail early.

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The Middle East and Orwellian Historical Arguments

October 21, 2015October 19, 2015 victorhanson

When lies are the foundation of policies.

by Bruce S. Thornton // FrontPage Magazine

Many of our policy debates and conflicts both domestic and foreign call on history to validate their positions. At home, crimes from the past like slavery and legal segregation are used to justify present policies ranging from racial set asides to housing regulations long after those institutions have been dismantled. Abroad, our jihadist enemies continually evoke the Crusades, “colonialism,” and “imperialism” as justifications for their violence. Yet the “history” used in such fashion is usually one-sided, simplistic, or downright false. Nor is the reason hard to find: as we read in 1984, “Who controls the past . . . controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” Bad history is a powerful instrument for gaining political power.

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Moral Equivalence in the Middle East

October 20, 2015October 20, 2015 victorhanson

The West has developed a dangerous concern for ‘proportionality.’

by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online

Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli soldiers in Hebron, October 10, 2015. (Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty)

In the current epidemic of Palestinian violence, scores of Arab youths are attacking, supposedly spontaneously, Israeli citizens with knives. Apparently, edged weapons have moreKoranic authority, and, in the sense of media spectacle, they provide greater splashes of blood. Thus the attacker is regularly described as “unarmed” and a victim when he is “disproportionately” stopped by bullets.

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Are Sanctuary Cities the New Confederates?

October 15, 2015October 19, 2015 victorhanson

by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online

There are now 340 sanctuary cities in the United States — and the list is growing. All of them choose to ignore federal immigration law by refusing to report detained undocumented immigrants to federal authorities under most circumstances.

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Obama’s Schizophrenic Foreign Policy

October 14, 2015October 19, 2015 victorhanson

An analysis of a recipe for serial disasters.

by Bruce S. Thornton // FrontPage Magazine

What are the roots of Barack Obama’s foreign policy? Some focus on the man and his flaws of character, particularly his inability to learn from his mistakes and to adjust his ideas to changing facts on the ground. Others see more sinister motives, an animus against the United States that drives policies diminishing America’s power and influence. Old bad ideas like one-world internationalism and the power of diplomacy to resolve conflicts have played a major role. And of course, domestic political considerations enter into his foreign policy calculations.

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The Road to Middle East Perdition

October 13, 2015October 19, 2015 victorhanson

From reset to the Iran deal, Obama’s mistakes are so comprehensive they almost look deliberate.

by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online

How did Vladimir Putin — with his country reeling from falling oil prices, possessing only a second-rate military, in demographic free-fall, and suffering from an array of international sanctions — find himself the new play-maker of the Middle East?

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A Liberal’s Ten Commandments

October 12, 2015October 19, 2015 victorhanson

To better advance their causes, liberals should follow these modest Ten Commandments to live the rather “progressive” lives that they advocate for the rest of us.

by Victor Davis Hanson // PJ Media

The best way for liberals to advance their various causes would be to take a pledge to live the rather progressive lives that they advocate. Here are a modest Ten Commandments to lend them credibility in the eyes of the American people.

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Barack Churchill, 1939

October 10, 2015October 19, 2015 victorhanson

“Certainly we do not need a disproportionate response to Herr Hitler that initiates a cycle of violence on both sides. We need to tamp down the rhetoric.”

by Victor Davis Hanson // PJ Media

I have nothing to offer you, except blood, sweat, and arugula.

Winston Churchill, well before he became prime minister in May 1940, was busy all through 1939 prompting the British government to prepare for war — and then, as first lord of the Admiralty, helping to direct it once it broke out. But what if Churchill had been Barack Obama? What would Britain’s foremost opponent of appeasement have been like?

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Don’t Trust Putin in the Mideast

October 8, 2015October 19, 2015 victorhanson

by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online

Contrary to the principles of American foreign policy of the last 70 years, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry tacitly invited Russia to “help” monitor things in the Middle East. Now they are learning that there are lots of Middle East scenarios far worse than the relatively quiet Iraq that the Obama administration inherited in January 2009 — and soon abandoned.

Continue reading “Don’t Trust Putin in the Mideast” →

VDH's Blade of Perseus

Tooth-Gnashing in the Republican Establishment

Like this:

Can California Be Saved?

Like this:

The Middle East and Orwellian Historical Arguments

When lies are the foundation of policies.

Like this:

Moral Equivalence in the Middle East

The West has developed a dangerous concern for ‘proportionality.’

Like this:

Are Sanctuary Cities the New Confederates?

Like this:

Obama’s Schizophrenic Foreign Policy

An analysis of a recipe for serial disasters.

Like this:

The Road to Middle East Perdition

From reset to the Iran deal, Obama’s mistakes are so comprehensive they almost look deliberate.

Like this:

A Liberal’s Ten Commandments

To better advance their causes, liberals should follow these modest Ten Commandments to live the rather “progressive” lives that they advocate for the rest of us.

Like this:

Barack Churchill, 1939

“Certainly we do not need a disproportionate response to Herr Hitler that initiates a cycle of violence on both sides. We need to tamp down the rhetoric.”

Like this:

Don’t Trust Putin in the Mideast

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When lies are the foundation of policies.

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Like this:

The West has developed a dangerous concern for ‘proportionality.’

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Like this:

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Like this:

An analysis of a recipe for serial disasters.

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Like this:

From reset to the Iran deal, Obama’s mistakes are so comprehensive they almost look deliberate.

Share this:

Like this:

To better advance their causes, liberals should follow these modest Ten Commandments to live the rather “progressive” lives that they advocate for the rest of us.

Share this:

Like this:

“Certainly we do not need a disproportionate response to Herr Hitler that initiates a cycle of violence on both sides. We need to tamp down the rhetoric.”

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: