Townhall Review | Commentaries

Addiction was the story of 2017.

 

No: Not addiction to opioids, though of course tens of thousands of families are still mourning the death of a loved one to the scourge coursing through the United States.

 

No: Not addiction to the toxic combination of power and lust fueling the sexual misconduct scandals that burst onto the public stage in the name Harvey Weinstein.

 

And no, not an addiction to President Trump, either on the part of his adoring legions or his “worst enemies.”

 

No, the centerpiece addiction of the past year—which is widespread and still growing—is to outrage itself, to the state of being perpetually offended, to the need not only to be angry at someone or something, but also to always and everywhere be, well, hating.

 

We are all trapped in this ongoing carnival of venom, a national gathering of unpleasant souls.

 

This year, let’s throw the trend into reverse. The best way to start is a long look in the mirror.

 

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There is a cancer growing on Congress.  It is the curse of party-line voting.  The biggest legislation of the Trump administration is the tax bill, passed with only Republican votes.  And the biggest of the Obama administration:  Obamacare, again passed on a party-line vote with only Democrats.

Party-line voting has grown dramatically in the last 40 years.  In the 1970s, party unity voting was around 60 percent but today it is 90 percent.  Sadly it has become the new normal.

Such partisanship is cancerous because it cuts out all the people and ideas of one political party. And it leads to rushed votes, without the expected give and take and amendments of a quality legislative process. It also leads to weak laws because what can be passed by one party’s vote can be undone later by the other party’s vote.

This is no way to run a government.  I vote for more collaboration and less hyper-partisanship in 2018.

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How did the United States end up without an ambassador to the most important non-nuclear nation in the world—Germany? 

 

Richard Grenell was nominated to be the U.S. ambassador in Berlin in September, but the New Year opens without a U.S. ambassador in Berlin, as there wasn’t enough time for a floor “debate” of 30 hours on Grenell in November or December.

 

Who is to blame? Senate Democrats, of course. So much of the current confirmation crisis—scores of nominees are in Grenell’s boat, but his delay is one of the most risible and destructive—and its many consequences go back to the rule change implemented when Harry Reid was running the Senate: the infamous “Reid Rule.”

 

The Democrats are running out the clock on every nominee, demanding 30 hours of “debate” on each one of them, in hopes that, come 2019, they will return to the majority and block them the old fashioned way – in committee. 

 

The New Year should begin with Mitch McConnell laying down the law on the basic duties of the Senate with another deployment of the Reid Rule and get these nominees their vote.

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Hollywood’s so desperate to get past harassment scandals that industry insiders have proclaimed 2017 “the year of the strong woman.” Box office returns show that the three top moneymakers in America all featured female protagonists: “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Wonder Woman.” “Women truly emerged as the giants of cinema this year,” said box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian.

 

Of course, it’s also noteworthy that this trio of top films, as skillful and enjoyable as they were, all counted as sequels or remakes of properties dating back more than 40 years—hardly triumphs of daring originality!

 

Somehow, these rehashed projects got new life by casting glamorous new actresses: Daisy Ridley of “Star Wars” is 25, Emma Watson of Beauty and the Beast is 27, and Wonder Woman Gal Gadot is 32. It’s hardly a shock to see moviegoers happily investing their money to gaze up at youthful screen goddesses with striking good looks.

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The Iranian people have taken to the streets in the largest mass protests since 2009, demanding freedom and economic change. There simply is no bigger story in the world right now-and the media establishments ought to covering it more extensively.

There are several options available to the United States as we consider how to respond.

We can assist the Saudis and the Arab states in providing satellite WiFi services to the protestors who are currently blocked from using social media by the Iranian government.

If the Iranian government attempts to brutally repress the protests in the style of the infamous Tiananmen Square crackdown in China, the United States can consider instituting a blockade. Individual and trade sanctions are also a possibility.

There are even reports that the United States has given the okay to Israel to assassinate General Soleimani who is commander of the Iranian Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Whatever action is taken, we must praise the decision of President Trump to support publically the Iranian people in their effort to live in a country that is stable and offers them and their children a decent standard of life.

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This is Michael Medved for Townhall.com.

 

When legal wrangling concludes, control of the Virginia legislature will be decided by drawing lots, or pulling names from a bowl—because of a tie vote in the 94th District. Republican incumbent David Yancey and challenger Shelly Simonds both got 11,608 votes but if the Democrat wins the draw, the legislature’s lower house will split 50-50, ending an era of Republican dominance. Imagine: if a single Virginia Republican had gotten off his apathy to go to the polls, the conservative—who won the district last time by 15 percentage points—would still hold the seat and, with it, the legislature.

 

On Election Day, a little-known Libertarian candidate who barely campaigned drew 675 votes. If this fringie had gotten a hundred fewer votes it would have changed nothing; but if just one of his deluded followers had backed the Republican it would have changed everything.

 

Remember: your vote is too precious, too powerful to waste on laziness or feckless gestures.

 

I’m Michael Medved.

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Although a tax cut may have been a nice Christmas gift, it needs some follow-on spending cuts to work.  At best, Republicans have eaten their dessert first, waiting to eat their spending cut vegetables later; at worst, they will have increased the federal deficit by another trillion dollars or more.

 

By most estimates, even stimulating economic growth will not fully pay for the tax cut.  Republicans will now have to undertake the politically courageous step of cutting federal spending.

 

It will be difficult to make spending cuts without touching Medicare or Social Security, which President Trump has said are off limits. Meanwhile there is pressure to undo the sequester, automatic cuts on spending no one liked, but which have at least kept spending growth down. 

 

Ideally, Republicans would have disciplined themselves to do tax and spending cuts at the same time. Tax cuts may come and go, but the federal debt remains forever, it seems. And—without spending cuts—it grows. 

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Donald Trump’s first year in office delivered an array of important achievements: confirmation of conservative judges, including Neil Gorsuch; more support for oil pipelines and oil drilling; dramatic progress against ISIS; deregulation and enhanced border security; the end of meddlesome net neutrality; the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital; and, most importantly, sweeping tax cuts and a new pro-business approach. What’s striking about these accomplishments isn’t how extraordinary they are but how normal: how consistent with well-established Republican goals and values. It’s easy to imagine that much the same policies might have been pursued by President Trump’s primary rivals—or by Mitt Romney, the last GOP nominee.

 

The two initiatives that caused most substantial disagreement with many conventional conservatives—canceling the Trans Pacific Partnership and unilaterally leaving the Paris accords—hardly defined ​Trump’s presidency or brought about the calamitous results his critics feared.

 

At year’s end, President Trump found historic success not as a radical outsider but as a sensible, determined, mainstream Republican.

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It was the year that Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States, and the year that Democrats declared “the Resistance.” The stock market continued to soar and the winds roared—it was the year of three devastating hurricanes.

 

Neil Gorsuch became the newest justice on the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, threats loomed in hot spots around the world, and the hottest of all was North Korea.

 

Controversy in U.S. sports centered on who did and who didn’t stand for the national anthem.

 

Harvey Weinstein was toppled in a sex abuse scandal, and was then followed by over 100 others, including a U.S. senator and several congressmen.

 

Those who died in 2017 included Charles Manson, Helmut Kohl, Glenn Campbell, Mary Tyler Moore, David Rockefeller, and R. C. Sproul. Meanwhile, just in the U.S., a new baby was born every 8 seconds.

 

May your house celebrate a happy New Year, in 2018.

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As we approach a new year, it is clear that 2017 will be remembered as a momentous year for news.

Perhaps the biggest story of the year will turn out to be this: How the United States defeated ISIS and its caliphate, and almost no one took notice.

When ISIS was roaring to power, under the watchful eye of the Obama Administration, no one could figure out how to stop them.

In less than a year, under the military guidance of the Trump Administration, ISIS has been defeated and Iraq and Syria have taken back large swaths of their countries that were formerly under ISIS control.

One would expect the mainstream media to cover this as they would the end of any other war. But—for the most part—we’ve heard only crickets.

The truth is reporting good news under the Trump Administration seems to be increasingly difficult for the mainstream press. They can’t even acknowledge when a major victory has been won.

Story of the year number one, defeating ISIS. Story number two? Losing the mainstream media. One is good. The other is horrible.

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