David French
D
avid French is a senior writer for National Review, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, an attorney (concentrating his practice in constitutional law and the law of armed conflict), and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is the author or co-author of several books including, most recently, the No. 1 New York Times bestselling Rise of ISIS: A Threat We Can’t Ignore. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School, the past president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), and a former lecturer at Cornell Law School. He has served as a senior counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice and the Alliance Defending Freedom. David is a former major in the United States Army Reserve (IRR). In 2007, he deployed to Iraq, serving in Diyala Province as Squadron Judge Advocate for the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, where he was awarded the Bronze Star. He lives and works in Columbia, Tennessee, with his wife, Nancy (who is also a New York Times bestselling author), and three children.
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Today the Supreme Court granted review in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. This is an important — and dangerous — case for civil liberties. It involves a bakery owner who refused to bake a custom cake for a gay wedding, ... -
Victory for Trump: SCOTUS Restores Vast Majority of Travel Ban
Today, in a per curiam ruling, the Supreme Court restored the vast majority of the Trump administration’s temporary travel ban — including the temporary ban on refugee entry. The lower courts’ injunctions remain only in the narrowest of categories — where ... -
American Weakness and Incompetence Are Vladimir Putin’s Greatest Assets
This morning, the Washington Post published a lengthy account of the Obama White House’s internal response to Russian efforts to influence the 2016 elections. It’s worth reading for the drama alone — including details of secrecy measures not seen since ... -
This Acquittal Was Correct — Jury Exonerates Cop in Milwaukee Shooting
Each police shooting has to be evaluated on its own facts Today, a Milwaukee jury rightly acquitted former police officer Dominique Heaggen-Brown in the 2016 shooting of Sylville Smith — a shooting that led to unrest in the city. This case was ... -
The Unwritten Law That Helps Bad Cops Go Free
Yesterday afternoon, Minnesota officials finally released the full video of the traffic stop that cost Philando Castile his life. It’s a tough video to watch. I’m embedding it below, but beware, it is very raw: If you watch ... -
America’s War against ISIS Is Evolving into an Invasion of Syria
There was always going to be a reckoning. When President Obama began the American war against ISIS in 2014 — a belated and necessary step to stop ISIS’s blitzkrieg across Iraq — there was a lingering question: Then what? If and when ... -
The Philando Castile Verdict Was a Miscarriage of Justice
Yesterday, a Minnesota jury acquitted St. Anthony, Minnesota, police officer Jeronimo Yanez of second-degree manslaughter charges in the shooting of Philando Castile. In considering the rightness of the verdict, pay close attention to the transcript of the fatal encounter. Here ... -
Yes, Trump May Face Credible Obstruction-of-Justice Claims
Before we dive in to the tangled and only partially revealed web of facts and allegations surrounding Robert Mueller’s investigation of Donald Trump, allow me to make two things clear. First, at present, I do not believe that sufficient ... -
Shame on the New York Times. Shame.
The New York Times published its editorial in response to yesterday’s vicious, violent, and explicitly political attack on Congressional Republicans — an attack that wounded four and left Representative Steve Scalise in critical condition in a Washington-area hospital — and it ... -
After Today's Shooting, Rep. Mo Brooks Offers a Spectacular Answer to a Gun Control Question
Alabama’s Mo Brooks was on the scene of today’s terrible attempted massacre in Virginia. He was in immediate danger and rendered first aid to victims while the shooting was underway and helped Representative Steve Scalise after the shooting ... -
The Big Collusion Narrative Keeps Melting Down
After two days and almost six hours of high-stakes public testimony, I’m struck by the total lack of any compelling claims supporting the “big” collusion narrative, that Russia conspired with Trump or Trump officials to “hack” election. While we ... -
One Year After the Orlando Massacre, Here’s the Question America Needs to Ask
It’s been exactly a year since an Islamic terrorist named Omar Mateen walked into Orlando’s Pulse nightclub and opened fire. He killed 49 people, injured 53, and — in the middle of the attack — pledged allegiance to the leader of ISIS, ... -
After Comey Testifies, One Scandal Gets Smaller, Another Gets Bigger
There is much to unpack in former FBI director James Comey’s almost three hours of live testimony today, but my summary is rather simple. The “big” conspiracy theory that’s circulating online — that Trump and his team colluded with ... -
We’re Not in a Civil War, but We Are Drifting Toward Divorce
Last week there were two telling incidents — one small, the other more consequential — that spoke volumes about the state of our national life. Let’s start small. Over in Seattle, in the midst of a debate over juvenile justice, a ... -
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: James Comey’s Prepared Testimony, Explained
Earlier this afternoon the Senate Intelligence Committee released the text of former FBI director James Comey’s prepared testimony, which he’s slated to deliver Thursday morning. It’s detailed, it offers on-the-record confirmation of a variety of anonymously sourced ... -
The False Moral Superiority of Progressive Evangelicals in the Trump Era
There’s an emerging narrative in progressive and mainstream-media circles that white Evangelicals — and only white Evangelicals — have uniquely betrayed their faith and their fellow believers by voting en masse for Donald Trump. Evangelical votes cast for Trump represent nothing ... -
On Campus, Are We Winning Battles for Liberty but Losing the War?
That’s the question I ask FIRE executive director Robert Shibley on this week’s edition of my podcast, the Liberty Files. Fewer campuses are imposing speech codes on students, public universities that do censor students and faculty tend to ... -
Jihad in London: A Few Thoughts About 'Love"
This just happened in London: A van driving at high speed mowed down pedestrians on London Bridge late Saturday night before the occupants got out and began stabbing patrons at nearby bars and restaurants, witnesses said in an attack that ... -
The Environmentalist Left Has to Grapple with Its Failed, Alarmist Predictions
I’m pasting below one of my favorite videos, from a Good Morning America report in 2008. Watch it all. Please. Truly, it’s a stunning piece of work, depicting the deadly dystopia that awaited Americans in . . . 2015. Manhattan is disappearing under ... -
Trump Defends the Constitution and the Economy by Withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement
Consider it a campaign promise rightly kept. Trump this afternoon announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate-change accords, and if he holds to his decision, he’ll do the American people a great service. Simply ... -
Trump Breaks a Campaign Promise for the Fantasy of Middle East Peace
Read carefully this statement from the White House: Update: White House releases statement on the U.S. embassy in Israel pic.twitter.com/Ha3cKFhrQ5 — NBC News (@NBCNews) June 1, 2017 I’m not surprised that Donald Trump is breaking (for now, ... -
A Sad Supreme Court Case Highlights the Need for Smarter Second Amendment Jurisprudence
One day in October 2010, a man by the name of Angel Mendez was at his home, asleep on a futon next to his pregnant girlfriend. He’d built the home himself, and it almost redefined the word “modest.” It was ... -
On Extremism, Left and White
If you read the left-wing press, you’re keenly aware that white-supremacist and anti-immigrant violence is on the rise. In New York City, a white supremacist killed a black man with a sword. In Kansas, a white man allegedly shouted ... -
On This Memorial Day, We Are Unmaking America
By now it’s an old cliché. Any movie about American fighting men has to include a collection of walking stereotypes. There’s the guy from Brooklyn with the crazy accent, the guy from Kentucky who’d never been outside ... -
The Fourth Circuit Distorts the Law to Defeat Trump’s Travel Ban
A strange madness is gripping the federal judiciary. It is in the process of crafting a new standard of judicial review, one that does violence to existing precedent, good sense, and even national security for the sake of defeating Donald ... -
The University of Missouri Still Pays the Price for Campus Craziness
Remember the overblown, hysterical protests that roiled the University of Missouri in 2015? Remember how professor Melissa Click called for “muscle” to boot the press from protest sites? Remember how ESPN previewed its Colin Kaepernick lovefest with its fawning coverage of ... -
The World Is Too Comfortable with Terror
Make no mistake, there is an emerging bipartisan consensus that a certain amount of terrorism is just the price we have to pay to live the way we want to live. Now, to be clear, very few people will come ... -
Stop Calling Iran's Jihadist President 'Moderate'
The verdict is in. According to a New York Times analysis, while Trump was cementing his ties to Arab autocrats, a “moderate” was busy winning re-election in Iran: As voters in Iran danced in the streets, celebrating the landslide re-election ... -
Two 'Big' Trump/Russia Scoops — One Is Dubious; One Is Troubling
A week of media “scoops” about Donald Trump and Russia ends with two — one from the Washington Post, the other from the New York Times. The Post’s story is dubious. The Times’s story is troubling. Let’s deal ... -
Chelsea Manning's Release Is Nothing to Celebrate
Our nation can’t be so obsessed with Trump that it misses one of the last poisonous acts of the Obama administration — yesterday’s formal release of Chelsea Manning (Bradley Manning legally changed his name to Chelsea in 2014). The man ... -
The Donald Trump Obstruction Inquiry Isn't Mainly About the Comey Memo
Writing in The Hill, law professor Jonathan Turley is unimpressed with the argument that the (alleged) Comey memo may provide evidence that Donald Trump committed an impeachable offense: However, if this is food for obstruction of justice, it is still ... -
The Comey Memo: The Allegation Is Serious, and There Is No Good Outcome
Multiple news outlets are now reporting that James Comey wrote in a memo that Donald Trump asked him to drop the FBI’s investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Here’s the New York Times story that started ... -
America Still Is — and Should Remain — the ‘Indispensable Nation’
What do Americans on both sides of the aisle mean when they call the U.S. the “indispensable nation”? It’s simply this: that without America maintaining its post–World War II role as the ultimate guarantor of the safety ... -
Why We Love — and Need — The Rock
There are cinematic moments that define a career. For Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, that moment occurred before wildly cheering fans on April 3, 2015. The fans were packed into movie houses worldwide. The Rock was onscreen, playing diplomatic-security-service agent Luke Hobbs in ... -
This Is How the Elite Poisons Our Culture
Let’s imagine that one day, after many years of marriage, your wife comes to you and tells you that she’s deeply, profoundly dissatisfied. She’s lost any sense of her own sexuality, she’s losing connection with her “... -
Democratic Hypocrisy and Hysteria Don’t Make Trump Right
Democrats are losing all sense of proportion over James Comey’s termination, but that doesn’t make Trump right. Their overreaction doesn’t mean that Trump is a tactical genius, and it certainly doesn’t mean that he’s honest. ... -
Donald Trump Was Wrong to Fire James Comey
Let’s begin with this premise: It is vitally important for the health of our democracy that our nation fully investigate both the extent of Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election, and whether anti-Trump or anti-Russia hysteria led government officials ... -
When There Is Theological Debate, Err on the Side of Death?
This weekend The New York Times’s Nicholas Kristof dedicated his weekend column to praising a “Christian abortion provider,” Dr. Willie Parker. While that’s unremarkable (Parker may be the cultural Left’s favorite Christian this side of Barack Obama), ... -
The Concept of Personal Responsibility Is Deeply Unsettling to Technocrats and Populists Alike
Yesterday I wrote a relatively short piece taking issue with the idea — spread far and wide on the Left last week — that conservatives are literally killing people by voting to repeal Obamacare. Through the use of a fictional character (named “... -
We’re All Murderers Now
They say that high blood pressure is the silent killer, and in Bob’s case, they were right. Years ago, Bob lost his health insurance after Republicans repealed Obamacare, so he started skipping his annual checkup. It was too expensive ... -
Trump’s Executive Order on Religious Liberty Is Worse Than Useless
Fresh on the heels of a budget deal that fully funds Planned Parenthood, Donald Trump has signed a religious-liberty executive order that — if reports are correct — is constitutionally dubious, dangerously misleading, and ultimately harmful to the very cause that it ... -
I'll Say It Again -- If Clinton and Her Team Had Been in the Military, They'd Be in Jail
When it comes to the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal, I thought I was beyond surprise. I thought I’d heard it all. But then came James Comey’s revelation that Huma Abedin e-mailed classified information to Anthony Weiner — allegedly so ... -
Hillary Can't Quit Comey — She Blames Him Again for Her Loss
We are going to hear this pile of nonsense repeated time and again, until it becomes the Democratic mantra in the age of Trump. Hillary would have won if it weren’t for that darn FBI and that nefarious Vladimir. ... -
America’s ‘Smug-Liberal Problem’
The only people who can’t recognize that our nation has a “smug liberal” problem are smug liberals. Case in point, smug liberal (and television comedienne) Samantha Bee. On Sunday, CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Bee to react to a ... -
Here's Some Evidence ESPN's Politics Are Impacting Its Audience
In the great sports wars of 2017, put me in Dan McLaughlin’s camp. Yes, ESPN has a business problem. It took on huge fixed costs when it paid billions for live sports at the very time that increased cord-cutting and ... -
Ann Coulter Needs to Stop Attacking the Young America's Foundation
I absolutely and unequivocally defend Ann Coulter’s right to speak at Berkeley. I also think she’s absolutely and unequivocally wrong to throw the Young America’s Foundation under the bus after she decided to cancel today’s planned ... -
At Berkeley, the Mob Wins Again
Early this afternoon, Ann Coulter canceled her planned Thursday speech at the University of California, Berkeley. There can now be no doubt: A violent Left-wing mob dictates the rules at one of the nation’s (and the world’s) most ... -
It Was All Hillary’s Fault
This weekend, the New York Times scraped the fresh scabs off Democrats’ wounds from 2016. In an extended piece, the Times provided us with the best account so far of the deliberations inside the FBI as it investigated Hillary Clinton and ... -
It’s Time to Crush Campus Censorship
The courts have failed. The culture is failing. Unless Congress acts, we may lose not only free speech on college campuses, but free speech in America. In the memorable phrase of my friend, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education president ... -
In Trinity Lutheran, One Question Exposed Missouri's Historical Hostility to Religion
Earlier today friend and former colleague David Cortman argued Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer, the most important case about recycled tires in American legal history. Here’s how I described the case in a piece last year: Missouri — because it ...
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The Supreme Court’s Religious-Freedom Message: There Are No Second-Class Citizens
While there are many threats to religious liberty, few are more consequential over the long term than the state’s ever-expanding role in private life. If the government is able to vacuum up tax dollars, create programs large and small ... -
Republican Health Care Plans Don't 'Steal' from the Poor
Here’s the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson with an odd attack on Republican health care plans: The “health-care bill” that Republicans are trying to pass in the Senate, like the one approved by the GOP majority in the House, ... -
Anti-Free-Speech Radicals Never Give Up
In the never-ending battle to preserve free speech, there is always good news and bad news. There are triumphs and setbacks. The struggle for liberty always encounters the will to power, and often the will to power is cloaked in ... -
A Few Lessons Democrats Aren't Learning
After a day of commentary and hot takes following Karen Handel’s relatively comfortable win in Georgia’s Sixth District, it’s clear that there are a few lessons that Democrats are slow to learn. First, abortion and socialism aren’... -
The Sickening Attack on Otto Warmbier Is Symbolic of the Left’s Hate Problem
Yesterday, as news of Otto Warmbier’s sad and tragic death spread across the Web, a number of people on Twitter recalled and reposted a series of leftist hot takes on Warmbier’s initial arrest and imprisonment. Let’s just ... -
Free Speech Wins (Again) at the Supreme Court
If you’re a lawyer arguing against free speech at the Supreme Court, be prepared to lose. Today the Court affirmed once again the Constitution’s strong protections against governmental viewpoint discrimination, even when the viewpoint discrimination is directed against “... -
A Sad and Terrible Verdict in Massachusetts
In Massachusetts, we just saw a textbook example of how bad facts (in this case, horrific facts) can make bad law. Here’s the Washington Post with the details: In a landmark case, a Massachusetts judge has ruled that Michelle ... -
The New York Times Corrects Its Editorial, but It's Still Wrong
Over on the home page, I took on the horrific New York Times editorial in response to yesterday’s shootings. The Times editorial board had the actual audacity to dredge up old slanders against Sarah Palin and claim that there ... -
When Speech Inspires Violence, Protect Liberty While Restoring Virtue
If the initial reports from Virginia are true (a big “if”), America may have just witnessed a textbook example of lone-wolf progressive terrorism. According to multiple news reports, the man who opened fire on a baseball field full of Republican ... -
To Defend Trump, the GOP Is Becoming a Party Bill Clinton Would Love
Before there was Donald Trump, there was another charismatic presidential candidate who led his party out of the White House wilderness. A political miracle worker all his own, he resurrected himself from the political grave so many times that one ... -
Smaller Big Scandals and Bigger Small Scandals - Breaking Down James Comey's Testimony
In this week’s Liberty Files, I’m joined by NR’s own Dan McLaughlin for the podcast equivalent of an NFL film session on James Comey’s testimony. Dan and I discuss how Comey undermined the Russia collusion narrative, ... -
Bernie Sanders Shows How Religious Ignorance Breeds Progressive Intolerance
If your political sun has been rising and setting on the cage match between Donald Trump and James Comey, there’s an ominous little story that you might have missed. In an otherwise-uneventful Senate hearing for Russell Vought, Trump’s ... -
A Quick Note About the Obstruction Analysis
I see that lots of folks are tweeting that James Comey refuted any claim of obstruction of justice because he testified that Trump didn’t order him to stop the FBI’s Russia investigation. This misunderstands the allegation. Those who ... -
Watch Bernie Sanders Attack a Christian Nominee and Impose an Unconstitutional Religious Test for Public Office
I’d urge you to click the link and watch this exchange between Senator Bernie Sanders and Russell Vought, Trump’s nominee to be Deputy Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. The exchange starts at the 44:20 ... -
Defend Civil Liberties By Smashing Terrorist Safe Havens and Restricting Immigration
In today’s Morning Jolt, my colleague Jim Geraghty thoughtfully wrestles with the disturbing reality that jihadists tend to broadcast their radicalism well before they strike. Absurdly enough, one of the London stabbers was so openly radical that he was ... -
Trump DOJ Arrests and Charges Woman Who Allegedly Leaked Top-Secret Information About Russian Election Interference
This may well be the first leak arrest in the new Trump administration. The Washington Post has the details: A 25-year-old government contractor has been charged with mishandling classified information after authorities say she gave a top-secret National Security Agency ... -
Travel Ban Case Pits Thoughtless Trump against Reckless Radicals
This morning, not two days removed from yet another deadly terrorist attack in Britain, our commander-in-chief went on a Twitter tirade: People, the lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we ... -
Evergreen State College Professors Turn On Their Colleague, Demand Censorship and Discipline
Over on the home page, Tiana Lowe tells the tale of the campus craziness at the Evergreen State College of Washington. I’d encourage you to read the entire piece, but the basics are just as absurd as we’ve ... -
Despite Leaving the Paris Agreement, America Still Leads
Let’s make one thing clear from the outset: There is no such thing as a “moral superpower.” By that I don’t mean that a superpower can’t behave in moral ways, but rather that morality alone can’t ... -
Finally: Comey Scheduled To Testify Next Week
Good news: BREAKING: Ex-FBI Director James Comey testifying before Senate intel committee on June 8 https://t.co/Syw4ZVotVC pic.twitter.com/lsp7keOe6P — CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) June 1, 2017 Why is this good? Because — hopefully — we’ll finally start breaking ... -
Of Course Bryce Harper Was Right To Charge the Mound
I’m not saying that my good friend and colleague Alexandra DeSanctis hates America, but I suspect she might just hold it in mild contempt. After all, who’s against sports moments like this: Or this: We’re days away ... -
The Marines Can Treat Women Honorably Without Putting Them in the Infantry
Like any sentient moral being, I was troubled by the number of Marines who were caught up in the so-called “Marines United” scandal sharing naked pictures of female Marines without their consent (I’d also have a problem with sharing ... -
Dennis Prager Is Answering the Wrong Question
On the homepage today, Dennis Prager purports to provide an answer to a simple question — why are Never Trumpers still anti-Trump? Honestly, I find the question a bit strange. The election is over. We’re not weighing his relative merits ... -
Unhinged Activists Never Enter the ‘Real World’
It’s almost summer, but it’s not too late for one last campus absurdity. At Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., biology professor Bret Weinstein is reportedly no longer safe on campus: As a biology professor for 15 years at ... -
Britain Should Seek Vengeance for Manchester, Not Justice
Let me share with you some deeply flawed words from the editorial board of the New York Times. I do this not because the Times is alone in its sentiment but because the paragraph below is perfectly representative of the ... -
The Seth Rich Conspiracy Theory Is Shameful Nonsense
Do you want to hear a truly insane conspiracy theory? It’s a theory with almost as many moving parts as LBJ’s alleged mob hit on John F. Kennedy. Multiple agencies involving hundreds of separate government actors are working ... -
Manchester: The Chilling Sound of Terror
Watch and — more importantly — listen to this video of the moment the bomb detonated in Manchester tonight: Video capturing the moment the explosion goes off at the #ManchesterArena earlier tonight. Video Credit: @elliefreyax pic.twitter.com/7YmbTGMNHQ — The Reagan Battalion (@... -
Michael Flynn’s Decision to Plead the Fifth Tells Us Nothing about His Guilt
After a short, merciful weekend break from Trump–Russia scoops, the Associated Press reported this morning that Michael Flynn will decline a subpoena from the Senate Intelligence Committee, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Already, Twitter is exploding with ... -
Chelsea Manning and the Problem with Pronouns
Yesterday trans Twitter got very, very angry with me. I wrote a Corner post about Chelsea Manning’s release from prison, and the focus was squarely on Manning’s misconduct. Manning betrayed fellow soldiers, put their lives in danger, and ... -
Stop Making Terrible Arguments for Blind Loyalty
If I’ve heard this once, I’ve heard it a thousand times. The argument goes something like this: “The GOP is so stupid. Look at how the Democrats handle controversy. They circle the wagons, no one breaks ranks, and ... -
Leave Jimmy Fallon Alone
Over the long term, the politicization of everything is a greater threat to American national life than any single politician — including Donald Trump or any candidate the Democrats nominate to challenge him in 2020. If there is no place for common ... -
Trump’s Defense of His Russia Leak Is Not Reassuring
Let’s begin with this proposition — there is a proper and defensible mechanism for disclosing classified information, even to a geopolitical rival. If the president determines that such disclosure advances the national interests of the United States, and if the ... -
The New York Times Faces Facts About the Gender Pay Gap
Despite decades of indoctrination and career-worship, there are many millions of parents who will desperately want to either stay home with their children or spend as much time as possible with them even as they pursue a career. Despite decades ... -
Free Speech Wins a Round
In a time when free speech in places like Portland, Berkeley, and Middlebury exists only by permission of the mob, and in a time when small business owners who dissent from the sexual revolution often find themselves facing financial ruin, ... -
Religious Freedom Is Under Fire, and Trump's Executive Order Brings No Relief
In this week’s edition of The Liberty Files, I talk to my friend and former colleague Erik Stanley from the Alliance Defending Freedom about Trump’s “tepid” executive order on religious liberty, the true threats to religious freedom in ... -
Surprise Us Again, President Trump
While I believe Trump made the wrong choice to fire James Comey, I think we’re still far from the “constitutional crisis” proclaimed across the length and breadth of Twitter last night. Frankly, much depends on what happens next, and ... -
The Feminization of Everything Fails Our Boys
Let me share with you two troubling — and, I believe, closely linked — news reports. The first, from this weekend, comes courtesy of the American Enterprise Institute’s Mark Perry. In one chart, he highlights the dramatic and growing gender gap ... -
Progressives Eat One of Their Own in the Latest Campus Controversy
Every single time I think the academy has reached peak intolerance and peak insanity, it proves me wrong. There is no argument that is too stupid for academic radicals. There is no lie that these “scholars” aren’t willing to ... -
When the GOP Isn't Murdering People, It's Exploiting Rape Victims
If yesterday’s accusation that yesterday Republicans voted to “sentence millions of Americans to death” takes the gold in the hyperbole Olympics, then the claim that the GOP just rendered rape a pre-existing condition comes in with a strong silver. ... -
The Actual Definitive 'Star Wars' Movie Rankings
Look, I know there’s lots going on in the world. The GOP Obamacare replacement has passed the House. Trump signed a religious liberty executive order. Venezuela is teetering on the brink of revolution. But national holidays are national holidays, ... -
Don’t Fire Colbert — Fire His Crowd
With all due apologies for language and content, I’d like you to watch the two short excerpts of the “political comedy” — actually just crude mockery — of Stephen Colbert. The first shows Colbert on Monday night, and the second is ... -
Justice Is Bigger Than Narrative
The story out of Balch Springs, Texas, is horrible. Based on the available evidence (always an important caveat), it began like countless stories in suburban America. A mom left town, and her son made the mistake that kids tend to ... -
Let's Be Honest - Hillary Clinton Would Have Liked This Spending Deal
I know it’s early in Trump’s first term. I know the Republicans will have another bite at the budgetary apple. And, yes, I know that Trump is today loudly signaling his displeasure with the spending deal and vowing ... -
Professor KC Johnson Exposes the 'Campus Rape Frenzy'
On the latest edition of my new podcast, The Liberty Files, I talk to Professor KC Johnson about his new book (co-authored with Stuart Taylor Jr.), The Campus Rape Frenzy: The Attack on Due Process at America’s Universities. Our ... -
The Opioid Crisis Should Kill the Call to Legalize Hard Drugs
There are times in life when ideas are overtaken by events, when the hard experience of reality meets and overcomes the hopefulness of ideas. Now is just such a time. As the opioid crisis takes lives on a historic scale, ... -
California Is Seceding from the Constitution
Forget the ludicrous #Calexit movement — why should a state bother seceding when it can simply nullify the portions of the Constitution it doesn’t like? A troubling trend is emerging: California is imposing its own vision of free speech, freedom ... -
A Federal Judge Issues a Mostly Meaningless Ruling Against a Mostly Meaningless Executive Order
This afternoon a federal judge did not much at all to stop an executive order that didn’t do much at all. Don’t pay attention to the breathless headlines. Here is what you need to know, in five easy ... -
Do Some Feminist Professors Even Know What the Word 'Rape' Means?
Last week Inside Higher Ed published an essay from an anonymous feminist professor that truly has to be read to be believed. In it, she describes being triggered into literal hysterics by a male student’s essay (at one point ... -
O’Reilly, Ailes, and the Toxic Conservative-Celebrity Culture
There are those who say that the Left is “taking scalps,” and they have a list of Republican victims to prove their thesis. Roger Ailes is out at Fox News. Bill O’Reilly is out at Fox News. Michael Flynn ... -
Feminism Has a Ferocity Problem
Let’s imagine a person — let’s call this person “Pat” — with the following characteristics. Pat is extremely aggressive and extremely ambitious and doesn’t take crap from anybody. If somebody punches Pat, then Pat punches back twice as hard. ...