Corporate Tax

My latest @ Opportunity Lives: Getting Serious on Corporate Tax Reform

The McLaughlin Group - February 27th - (PBS Nationwide and CBS-NY)

FULL EPISODE

My Time Linked Comments:

US policy on Israeli settlements in West Bank is longstanding + US must balance Turkey into compromise with moderate Kurdish political groups

US politicians worry about antagonizing Erdogan

Possibilities that a future Turkish government might accept a de-facto Kurdish state in northern Syria

Good exchange on the nature of state power!

Key point (IMO): Political offer opportunities for political deal making

Future Kurdistan will be semi-autonomous region in Northern Syria and Northern Iraq

Why and in what range of circumstances I support the death penalty

Why we must be honest in our assessments of differing political ideologies

Amusing discussion with Dr. M over his inquisition on states that retain the Death Penalty (Dr. M likes to throw me pop-quiz questions)

Why US liberals have more credibility on death penalty than European liberals

Why the UK is likely to stay in the EU, and why that membership suits US interests

PREDICTION: Pat will retain his exceptional hearing (inside semi-funny joke: our stage director was speaking to control room and Pat heard her) AND... ISIS Chemical Weapons plots becoming major security issue in weeks ahead. My latest @ National Review covers this concern - see here.

FORCED PREDICTION: Christie endorsement of Trump will not be overly significant. And Jeb Bush will rebuke Trump before Super Tuesday.

MORE TV LINKS ON RIGHT SIDE OF HOMEPAGE!

ISIS Chemical Weapons

My latest @ National Review: ISIS Chemical Weapons Threat is Vastly Under-Estimated

Message to Millennials

My latest @ Opportunity Lives: Age, Time and a 106 Year-Old Message to Millennials

Prediction on Syria

My prediction last August. Has come true

Brexit

My latest @ Opportunity Lives: A Guide to the Major Issues in Britain's EU Referendum

Cease Fire

Discussing Syria with Fox News: Cease Fire Deal
Please note, I no longer write for The Telegraph. I write for National Review, and Opportunity Lives.

Gitmo

Regarding President Obama's comments on Guantanamo Bay, here's my recent 

@ The Washington Post: Why the Guantanamo Bay Prison Should Remain Open

My other relevant links: here

Far Left

My latest @ Opportunity Lives: How the Far-Left Sustains Its Flawed Ideology

The McLaughlin Group (02.20) (PBS Nationwide/CBS-NY)

FULL EPISODE

My time linked comments

Why Justice Scalia's Jurisprudence was unique and why he requires a successor-in-kind

Teasing Clarence about the notion of a good Jurist

Why the Pope is right on condoms and wrong on Trump 

The Pope should talk about the walls of impoverishment and tyranny in Cuba and Venezuela

Eleanor says Pope is a ''beacon of hope'' - me: ''unless people are oppressed by communism''

Why Rubio should not be blocking the appointment of US Ambassador to Mexico

Rubio should lift his hold on nominee, but criticize policy on Cuba

Apple, ultimately will be forced to offer entry ports for US Judicial orders. Also, IMPORTANT note: we should get the law right now. When terrorists attack and if encryption is shown to have facilitated their attack, the ensuing political overreach will be far more damaging to civil liberties

Funny moment: Dr. M making a rather extensive point, while Pat gets increasingly impatient. I'm just turned 30. It's a great honor to sit in between these two legends.

Using Secure Information Facility based setups in order to allow encryption investigations

US needs a law that provides warrant-judicial review process and access to encrypted data

FORCED PREDICTION: Federal Reserve will not raise interest rates, but economy will avoid near term recession

Reading Lists

My latest @ Opportunity Lives: The Problematic Bias in U.S. University Reading Lists

ISIS Libya

My latest @ National Review: Delusion Defined

''President Obama claims he is leading and inspiring U.S. allies around the world. The opposite is true: The architecture of American-anchored global stability is collapsing, and our adversaries are advancing. Put simply, President Obama’s rhetoric of confidence is at war with a reality of chaos. Just look at Libya...''

Some of my previous thoughts that are relevant to this piece:

On Collapsing US Global Security Architecture (National Review)

On Islamic State Global Operations (National Review)

On Islamic State Threat to UK (National Review)

KEY - On Islamic State Propaganda-Power Connection Points (McLaughlin Group)

On Islamic State Sectarian Strategy Towards Lebanon (National Review)

Why Islamic State Poses Existential Threat to Western Civil Societies (National Review) 

LOL

Update on post below LOL

Change

Change... President Obama admitting that his holier-than-thou rhetoric isn't exactly holy

Scandinavia

My latest @ Opportunity Lives: Scandinavia's Socialism

Putin's Slaughter Strategy

My latest @ National Review: Putin's Syria Slaughter Strategy

Syria

A few pieces on Syria's humanitarian catastrophe

Syria's Starvation   National Review

Syria's Humanitarian Catastrophe   National Review

How Assad Slaughters His People   National Review

Scalia's Legacy

My latest @ Opportunity Lives: Scalia's Legacy

Here's a quote Fox News's Supreme Court Correspondent, Shannon Bream, kindly gave me

"Covering Justice Scalia was always an adventure because, although you never knew what he would say, you knew it would be colorful.  He was a strong personality, independent thinker and incredibly gregarious.  I’ll never forget him hijacking the carol-singing at the Court’s holiday parties.  He belted out songs with gusto, while assigning other carolers their parts and conducting the whole affair with obvious delight.  He was a character on and off the bench, never minced words and regularly provoked the entire courtroom into howls of laughter.  He was also known for his deep friendship with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, despite their ideological differences.  The affection between the two was unmistakable, and the loss for her must be especially painful."

The McLaughlin Group 02/13 (PBS Nationwide/CBS-NY)

FULL EPISODE

My time linked comments:

Problem with President Obama's Budget is Absence of Entitlement Reform

Raising Social Security Tax cap amounts to a major tax increase so not acceptable to me

President Obama should have used this moment to make an example of leadership

KEY point (for me) - President is leaving Washington having failed to deliver inspiring change

Bad idea to introduce oil tax at time of consumer doubt + shale revolution is future anyway

Green energy is not competitive without subsidies/tax incentives

Shale energy is future, but next President will define US climate change policy

President Obama's oil tax won't find support on campaign trail

Joking about 3 exit questions!

Why - to me - the Black Panthers are not the authors of American civil rights

Beyonce' should show more respect for Police Officers, and disagreeing with Eleanor about Mario Woods - case closed assertion

Stokely Carmichael was the honorary Prime Minister of Black Panthers (I'm right on this one Clarence!) (source on Prime Minister detail)

US Military female service personnel have excelled, but female draft is stupid idea

Vatican has injected itself into US Presidential politics with Pope's visit at Mexico-US border

The Blaze

Speaking with Buck Sexton (The Blaze) about my latest Opportunity Lives - 

Why You Should Not Vote for Hillary Clinton

How to Save the World

My latest @ National Review: How to Save the World - Old School Foreign Policy Realism

Hillary

My latest @ Opportunity Lives: Dear Young Americans, Don't Vote for Hillary

Natural Born Citizenship

A friend asked for my thoughts on this article:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ted-cruz-is-not-eligible-to-be-president/2016/01/12/1484a7d0-b7af-11e5-99f3-184bc379b12d_story.html
First off, see my thoughts on natural born citizenship via Guardian.

Author Contentions:

''The 18th-century English jurist William Blackstone, the preeminent authority on it, declared natural-born citizens are “such as are born within the dominions of the crown of England,” while aliens are “such as are born out of it.” The key to this division is the assumption of allegiance to one’s country of birth.''

-Rebuttal- ''Dominion'' in this sense means under the inferred authority of the government. As a citizen at birth, you have responsibilities to the authorities of government (not to be a traitor, pay taxes etc.). But Blackstone is functionally irrelevant to constitutional legal interpretation - the constitution is a deliberate manifestation of distinction against English common law. Put simply, it isn't relevant.

''Instead, Cruz was naturalized at birth. This provision has not always been available. For example, there were several decades in the 19th century when children of Americans born abroad were not given automatic naturalization. ''

-Rebuttal- He was born as a citizen at birth. Regardless, that the author uses the historical application of the law under Congressional direction as part of her argument, directly contradicts her other claim that Congress is irrelevant. But Congressional action in the 19^th century is not relevant to the status of law in the 21^st century. The key here is that the Supreme Court has given Congress great latitude to define the specific legal meaning of ‘natural born citizenship’. They have done so for the reasons I point out in my guardian piece from 2011 – here.

''But Article II of the Constitution expressly adopts the legal status of the natural-born citizen and requires that a president possess that status.''

-Rebuttal- This is a laughable stretch of Constitutional theory. Article 2 states that only natural born citizens can be Presidents. It expressly does not define natural born citizenship. Congress has been left to define that natural born citizenship status – section ghttps://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1401– and the SCOTUS has accepted their judgment.

Posturing

My latest @ Opportunity Lives: Obama Puts Posturing Before Policy

Why the EU Needs Economic Surgery

My latest @ Opportunity Lives: Why the European Union Needs Economic Surgery

Mapping the Cost

My latest book review @ Washington Free Beacon: Mapping the Cost

The McLaughlin Group 02/06 (PBS Nationwide and CBS-NY)

FULL EPISODE

My time linked comments:

Rubio has momentum, is likely to consolidate leading position post-NH

Predicting Sanders and Rubio to win NH - helping my Daily Show pundit rankings!

Push Europe on defense, how to restrain Russia, and why Putin is pushing US

Responding to Pat's challenge that Russia is no threat to the US - I give specific reasons

Conflict with Russia more likely if we fail to challenge Putin's aggression

Problem with allowing China to usurp South China Sea unchallenged

Possibilities to influence Turkey

Key to resolving Syrian Civil War is pushing Russia/Iran into compromises over Assad

Challenging panelists happiness that Pres. candidates accept Russia killing Syrian civilians

Key is to force Assad to go

PREDICTION: Jeb Bush gone by next weekend

Bernie

My latest @ Opportunity Lives: Young Americans, Do Not Vote for Bernie

Countering Putin

My latest @ National Review: New Spending Isn't Enough to Counter Putin

Links to my previous writings on Russia can be found here

Lessons on Leadership

My latest @ Opportunity Lives: Robert Gates, and Lessons on Leadership

Global Beacon

My latest @ Opp Lives - Why America Remains the Global Beacon for Opportunity

Sayyida Zeinab Shrine

My latest @ National Review: The Strategic Significance of the Sayyida Zeinab Attack

My Middle East collection

My TV/Radio links