Mary O’Grady reported in the December 6 Wall Street Journal that a key Argentine anti-money-laundering unit may have been protecting President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her late husband, Nestor, from scrutiny and investigation in the area of dirty money. Apparently under the Kirchners, Argentina has become a feeble ally in the global fight against drug money laundering. Other tidbits that have emerged recently expose a poor record of governance in Argentina’s “Pink House” (Casa Rosada). Secretary of State Hillary Clinton questioned Cristina’s mental and Nestor’s gastrointestinal health; the U.S. …
I’m here at the UN’s Cancun Climate Conference—or COP16 (Conference of the Parties) in the jargon. The last two COPs in Poznan (2008) and Copenhagen (2009) were (ironically) characterized by exceptionally cold weather. I can’t say that there’s December snow in Cancun, but locals tell me it’s exceptionally cool for the time of year. But then again, that’s Climate Change for you! This is the world’s travelling circus; the moveable feast; the great eco-love-in. We have some 15,000 delegates (including me — I’m accredited for the EU which is a great …
The Hanukkah miracle begins with the story of the Syrian-Greek emperor Antiochus making the observance of Judaism punishable by death. The Jews fought back, and against seemingly insurmountable odds, reclaimed Jerusalem and the Temple which had been desecrated by Antiochus’ army. After reclaiming the Temple, the Jews were disappointed to find that there was only one day’s worth of oil left to burn in the Temple. The Hanukkah miracle is that this one-day supply of oil lasted eight nights. On this, the last day of Hanukkah, American Jews have another …
New START, a strategic offensive arms reductions treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation, would limit the U.S. ability to defend against an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack. According to experts James Carafano and Richard Weitz, “A nuclear device detonated high in the atmosphere above the American mainland can easily disable the country’s electrical grid.” Currently, the United States does not have missile defenses that would protect it against this “Scud in a bucket” scenario. By limiting U.S. ballistic missile defense options, New START would contribute to leaving the …
A developing problem with this secret compromise among leaders in the House, Senate and White House with regard to extending tax cuts for all is the fact that nobody has seen the agreement. Where is it? Why can’t the American people see it? We have read news reports about what is in the agreement, yet we don’t have a copy of it. I just called sources in the Senate, and they tell me that rank-and-file Members of the Senate have not seen a copy of the compromise. Senator Jon Kyl …
The Norwegian Nobel Committee is set to award the Nobel Peace Prize this Friday to author and 1989 Tiananmen protest participant Liu Xiaobo. But Liu will not attend. He is currently serving an 11-year sentence for co-authoring the Charter 08 manifesto calling for protection of human rights, comprehensive political reforms, and a democratic government in China. In the past, the Nobel Committee has presented the prize to family members of the award winner. But that is not possible this year. Liu’s wife and dozens of friends and colleagues have all …
As you read in the Morning Bell on October 14, The Heritage Foundation fully supports the Tea Party’s endeavors and believes the movement is here to stay. Those weren’t just words; the bold statement was a call to action for Heritage and its hundreds of thousands of members. As Heritage president Ed Feulner is fond of saying: “Onward!” Jamie Radtke, the chairman of the Richmond, Virginia, Tea Party and this week’s Heritage Foundation Featured Fan, embodies everything that’s fresh and exciting about this movement and Heritage’s efforts to support it. Radtke, a longtime grassroots activist who holds …
Wall Street Journal opinion columnist James Taranto has thrown down the gauntlet on tax reform. This week he challenged a pro-tax-hike liberal to put his money where his mouth is. Francis Dummer Fisher wrote a letter to the New York Times last week saying that rather than indulge in consumerism, he would like his unused cash to be collected as taxes by the government to “buy better schools, more federal research on health, public roads without tolls, [and] financially sound Social Security.” But Taranto points out that Mr. Fisher doesn’t …
Since last January, every parent in California of a child in a failing public school has had the legal right to petition and invoke one of four turnaround models. Yesterday, in a revolutionary move, parents at McKinley Elementary School, part of the Compton Unified School District, did just that, becoming the first in the nation to use the “parent trigger” to convert the failing school into a charter school. The parent trigger enables parents to reform a failing public school in one of four ways: (1) They can convert the …
Yesterday, authorities arrested Antonio Martinez in a plot to bomb a military recruiting center in Maryland. This plot was very similar to the Little Rock, Arkansas, recruiting center shooting in 2009. Like Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, the main suspect in the Little Rock shooting, Martinez is a converted Muslim American living in the United States. There are three key points to take from this foiled plot: 1. The recent focus on adding more physical airline security measures at airports won’t help stop plots like the military recruiting center shooting and yesterday’s …
