THE WASHINGTON TIMES

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Don’t pardon Manning or Bergdahl

I agree wholeheartedly with Robert Knight that President Obama should not pardon Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning or Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl ("Pardon us: Bergdahl, Snowden push for clemency," Web, Dec. 11). And although I think Edward Snowden's exposure of what were clear violations of the Fourth Amendment was a positive, on balance I agree that Mr. Snowden violated national security and therefore should not be pardoned. Published December 12, 2016

EDITORIAL: Obama’s Hail Mary pass

Few Americans know much about the Arms Trade Treaty negotiated by the Obama administration, proposed for adoption by the United Nations three years ago, and still waiting for ratification by the U.S. Senate. President Obama, who would have pushed it along even earlier but didn't want anyone to hear about it before the 2012 election, when it was new, is trying for ratification one last time. The Democrats, as the chastened president said at the time, "took a licking" in those midterm elections, and the licking might have been worse. He persuaded the U.N. to postpone its passage until the elections were done, and then he urged them to go ahead. Published December 12, 2016

EDITORIAL: Rumors and reckoning

Allegations of foreign meddling in an American election is serious, indeed. If it happened, it's a grave threat to how Americans choose their presidents and members of Congress. Russia has been accused of interfering in the recent balloting, casting a taint on whether Donald Trump won fair and square. President Obama's order to the U.S. intelligence community to conduct a thorough review of cyber-attacks on the campaign is welcome, presuming the intelligence agencies can be trusted to investigate without fear or favor. Official Washington can resemble a hall of mirrors where nothing is as it seems, and discovering where hope and fantasy ends and reality begins would be all to the good. Published December 12, 2016

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Dirty Clinton campaign

According to a recent Washington Post article, the Russian government interfered with the U.S. presidential election by exposing the ways that the Clinton campaign sought to undermine it. Per the Post narrative, the CIA has concluded based on inference and innuendo but no hard evidence that the Russian government hacked emails of the Democratic National Committee and others, and obtained information about the many misdeeds of the Clinton campaign. Then it gave that information to Julian Assange, who disclosed it. Published December 12, 2016

Democrats flip on race-conscious congressional districts

Be careful what you wish for, so the folk wisdom goes, because you might get it. Democrats, having learned this lesson the hard way, have set out in Virginia to repeal themselves. Not so long ago, Democrats in Virginia demanded the creation of so-called majority-minority congressional and state legislative districts, where the majority of the voters are members of racial minorities. Published December 11, 2016

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Obama responsible for Donald Trump win

Everyone senses without the necessity of logical reasoning or knowledge of the third law of movement formulated by the English physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton that any action provokes an equal and contrary reaction. For example, if you push the water with an oar the water responds by pushing the boat in the opposite direction. It is a physical law, but also a concept of practical use in the everyday life of people. Published December 11, 2016

Electoral College under siege

All that most Americans know about the Electoral College is that it's probably the only college in the country that might beat Alabama. But it has no student body in the stands chanting, "We're No. 1!" and it celebrates homecoming only every four years, and nobody ever shows up. Published December 11, 2016

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: California has dug own grave rejecting constitutional, federal law

States' rights is one thing, but California leaving the union is not mere idle talk. Indeed, the once Golden State has been turned into a dictatorial state with a socialist Democrat governor and super-majority legislature rejecting the U.S. Constitution and federal law. Published December 11, 2016

LETTER OF THE EDITOR: Dems’ disappointment spin-out

After each of President Obama's election victories, I and many other conservatives who had voted against him were very disappointed. I believed Obama would be destructive to our national security and military might, while spawning violent protests between citizens and against law enforcement. I believed he demeaned many Christians for 'clinging' to their faith in the Bible. I opposed his agenda. Published December 8, 2016

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Reconsider “Mad Dog” pick

President-elect Donald Trump should rethink his selection of retired Marine Corps Gen. James N. "Mad Dog" Mattis as his Secretary of Defense ("Donald Trump demands waiver for Gen. James Mattis to serve as Pentagon chief," Web, Dec. 6). In spite of his stellar military service record, Mattis is not qualified to serve as defense secretary. Published December 8, 2016

Donald Trump’s first job will be immigration reform

Every new president comes to Washington with two lists. The first is a list of things he would like to do. That's his wish list. He knows he won't get to some of the items. Those are the things that are possible but not probable in his first four years. This is the list he keeps to himself. The second list is much shorter, the things he must get done to make everything else possible. That's his "must-do list." Published December 8, 2016

Peng Chang-Kuei, Chinese chef who invented Gen. Tso’s Chicken, dies at 98

The day of the generals has dawned bright and clear upon us, at least in Washington. Donald Trump, who was educated early at a junior military academy, obviously appreciates officers with lots of gold braid on their chests and sleeves. He has put several generals in his Cabinet and in his inner circle, including even an attorney general. Published December 8, 2016

Journalism and Donald Trump’s legacy

Among the mainstream media's manifest faults is the high regard in which it holds itself. The average "journalist," as uptown newspapermen want to be called in a culture where titles get ever more extravagant, is a forgiving fellow, and never more forgiving than when he confronts his own errors (if any). Being a journalist in Washington means never having to say you're sorry. Published December 7, 2016

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Ready for real change

We conservatives fear it may be too late to be delivered from prevaricating presidents, and capricious, sanctimonious bureaucrats who believe only in the tax-and-spend public sector and hold the wealth-generating private sector to be evil. Published December 7, 2016

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Donald Trump must cut China’s tentacles

President-elect Donald Trump needs to re-examine President Obama's crumbling pipe-dream policy of using Vietnam to contain China. While our Southeast-Asia policy has myopically focused on China's growing occupation of and base construction on the South China Sea Islands, China has made a Hail Mary pass and outflanked Vietnam by building a new deep-water port in Cambodia. Published December 7, 2016

Obama gets and earful from those requesting pardons

Politeness is always welcome, but it's not owing to an outbreak of good manners that President Obama is hearing a barrage of "pardon me." Rather, it's a sign that a president is soon to leave the White House, taking with him his power and authority to grant clemency to those on the nation's naughty list. Published December 7, 2016

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: ‘No experience’ critique a laugh

Elected Democrats are criticizing President-elect Trump's Cabinet nominees for their supposed lack of experience ("Donald Trump picks Ben Carson, former campaign rival, as housing secretary," Web, Dec. 5). Sen. Jeff Merkley, Oregon Democrat, complains that Dr. Ben Carson, nominee for secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, "has no professional experience in either government or housing policy." Published December 6, 2016

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: On 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, remember Chester Nimitz

For Pearl Harbor, the Japanese forged a strategic weapon of six heavy carriers for a coordinated attack by 360 planes on Sunday, on Dec. 7, 1941. Never before had any country executed or planned a raid by more than two carriers on any naval or land target. Published December 6, 2016

Donald Trump should drain the ethanol tank

Red may be the color of Donald Trump's America, but yellow is the color of the nation's most favored cash crop. Corn is good, especially sweet corn swathed in butter for supper on a gentle summer's night. Mules like field corn, and so they should. Published December 6, 2016

Donald Trump can target waste at the Pentagon

Like nearly all government agencies, the Defense Department wastes money faster than the taxpayers can earn it, and a study by the Pentagon proves it. The study reveals that nearly one in every four dollars the Pentagon gets is wasted while generals, admirals and their friends in Congress cry for more, lest the nation be left defenseless in a hostile world. Published December 6, 2016