Monday, December 9

Tag: Letters

Biden’s ‘Proportionate’ Defense of U.S. Troops Has Failed
1Jan By adminNo Comments
World

Biden’s ‘Proportionate’ Defense of U.S. Troops Has Failed

On Christmas Day, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that U.S. military forces conducted “proportionate” strikes against Iraqi militias that attacked and wounded American service members (“Biden Endangers U.S. Troops,” Review & Outlook, Dec. 27). The statement defines the equivocating, timid and wholly unsuccessful strategy of the Biden administration, but also of successive administrations for years.After nearly daily attacks on U.S. forces over months, resulting in dozens of wounded Americans, “proportionate” ought to have been revealed as having no deterrent value. It is past time for the U.S. to signal to those who attack our forces that they will pay disproportionately and severely. Continued attacks will see increasingly robust spankings. In this case, if the Iraqi governm...
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Insurrection Clause Is Self-Executing Until Congress Says Otherwise
25Dec By adminNo Comments
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Insurrection Clause Is Self-Executing Until Congress Says Otherwise

In “Trump vs. the Banana Republic of Colorado” (op-ed, Dec. 21), Karl Rove uses the example of Lucius Q.C. Lamar, a man presumably disqualified from holding office by the 14th Amendment due to his service in the Confederacy. Mr. Rove points out, however, that Lamar was able to serve across the three branches of government, including on the Supreme Court, despite the 14th Amendment bar. If that were all there is to Justice Lamar’s story, it would be a persuasive point. But Mr. Rove left out important parts of the story.The 14th Amendment bars from public office those who engage in insurrection or rebellion, but it also says Congress can “remove such disability.” In 1872 Congress passed the Amnesty Act, and did just that for most Southerners. There was an important exception, however. Membe...
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The College Freshman vs. the Harvard President
17Dec By adminNo Comments
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The College Freshman vs. the Harvard President

One has to admire the logic behind the Harvard Corporation’s decision to retain Claudine Gay as president of the university (“America Gets a Harvard Education,” Review & Outlook, Dec. 13). First, she failed in her response to the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre of Israelis. Second, she failed to do anything about the exploding antisemitism on her campus. Third, she failed in her testimony before Congress. Fourth, she failed to cite and quote sources in her academic work. I guess that’s the kind of four-for-four consistency Harvard wants.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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The College Development Officers’ Last Stand
11Dec By adminNo Comments
World

The College Development Officers’ Last Stand

Dec. 11, 2023 11:32 am ETSome philanthropists are finally pulling their funds from America’s top, antisemitic colleges (“Harvard Bans ‘Cisheterosexism’ but Shrugs at Antisemitism” by Elise Stefanik, op-ed, Dec. 8). But the college leadership and their development officers won’t go down without a fight.They will offer new funding opportunities to create endowed chairs or programs to counter antisemitism. They will recommend funding “Israel studies” programs to provide balance to the Middle East studies departments, funded by Islamist governments like Qatar, that are cesspools of anti-Israel dogma.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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Reports of a Wealth Tax Are Greatly Exaggerated
10Dec By adminNo Comments
World

Reports of a Wealth Tax Are Greatly Exaggerated

Dec. 10, 2023 12:21 pm ETYour editorial “The Supreme Court and a Wealth Tax” (Dec. 6) correctly concludes that a wealth tax is unconstitutional. But as someone who helped write the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as a member of House Speaker Paul Ryan’s staff, I can tell you that equating the 2017 repatriation provision with such a tax confuses wealth with income.The statutory text makes clear that the tax before the court is on foreign income previously deferred by Congress, not on asset value or appreciation, and certainly not on wealth. In fact, taxable income is limited to shareholders’ share of the corporation’s realized profits.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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Are the Students Cheating? – WSJ
10Dec By adminNo Comments
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Are the Students Cheating? – WSJ

Dec. 10, 2023 11:50 am ETNaomi Schaefer Riley’s review of “The Peer Effect” by Syed Ali and Margaret Chin (Bookshelf, Dec. 7) asks, “Why is Stuyvesant such a success?” Anyone who has read David Callahan’s scathing book “The Cheating Culture” might answer that question with another question: Were the students cheating? Has the school’s culture changed that much since the latter book’s 2004 publication?Robert A. YostCopyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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Joe Biden Ruined Supreme Court Nominations
8Dec By adminNo Comments
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Joe Biden Ruined Supreme Court Nominations

Your editorial celebrating the life of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor shows how far we have come—or how low we have sunk—since her appointment to the Supreme Court in 1981 (“Sandra Day O’Connor, 1930-2023,” Dec. 2). She was confirmed unanimously by the Senate. It is difficult—no, impossible—to think of any nominee for the Supreme Court who could be unanimously confirmed now. In 1987, when he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee while simultaneously running for president, Joe Biden presided over the confirmation hearings of Judge Robert Bork. These proceedings were a vile farce. Perhaps Mr. Biden was distracted, given that he was in the midst of the Neil Kinnock plagiarism scandal. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8 ...
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Was Napoleon Really Great? – WSJ
7Dec By adminNo Comments
World

Was Napoleon Really Great? – WSJ

Kyle Smith writes that director Ridley Scott fails to present Napoleon in a proper cinematic glow (“‘Napoleon’: Caricature Of a Conqueror,” Film Review, Nov. 22). Leo Tolstoy, who was no fan of the French emperor, wondered why senseless bloodshed and conquest should be thought grand in a man. He wrote, “The recognition of greatness not measureable by the measure of good and bad is only recognition of one’s own insignificance and immeasurable littleness.” John W. PlutaCopyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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