Townhall Review | Conservative Commentary On Today's News

This Memorial Day comes as our nation marks 250 years of freedom—a quarter of a millennia since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

On this Memorial Day, we should pause and recognize that we don’t have one without the other. That is: We only have the freedom that we cherish as a result of those who stood up to fight for it and defend it. And more specifically: Willing to pay the ultimate price.

From the Revolutionary War and the nation’s founding to those who have paid the price in recent days and months as President Trump and his administration work to ensure that the mullahs of Iran never have a nuclear weapon: We remain free today because of the men and women who have committed themselves to our nation’s defense.

Over 1.3 million have paid the ultimate price.

Today: We say “thank you.”

It’s also a day for us to dedicate ourselves to what—in 1863—Abraham Lincoln called “the unfinished work” before us.

On behalf of Salem Media, Happy Memorial Day.

Justice Clarence Thomas recently became the second longest-serving justice in US history — and that’s something to celebrate. He is exceptional, both as a jurist and as a man.

Raised in poverty in a wooden shack in the segregated South, he credits his grandfather for shaping his character. From that foundation, he has articulated a powerful and increasingly influential originalist vision of the Constitution, grounded in the natural law principles of our Declaration of Independence.

His character is remarkable. Justice Thomas is beloved by those who know him. He’s renowned for his kindness: treating his clerks like family, knowing the names of court staff, and helping others with no expectation of return.

Justice Thomas is quite simply a national treasure. He’s a blessing to America. And it’s right that we celebrate this outstanding jurist and extraordinary man.

Is the war with Iran “worth it?”

The cost—at this point—is the loss of 13 American soldiers and scores more seriously wounded. If, as widely expected, combat operations resume those human costs will climb.

So too will gas prices and the prices of everything that depends upon oil.

President Trump knows this, of course, but stated plainly: Operation Epic Fury had to be undertaken.

The reason is quite simple. Iran intends to obtain nuclear weapons by any means possible. Their rulers are “crazy.”

Does not the rise in gas prices destroy at least the argument that the civilians bear no costs of war at least when it comes to this, the Iran War?

You may not like paying the sacrifice. But the cost of war is at least being felt beyond the military.

Iran simply cannot have a nuclear weapon.

This is an argument the country should and will have. It is one that is long overdue.

Numerous media outlets had a difficult time with the Rededicate 250 celebration the White House sponsored this past Sunday.  One major paper reported “Until Trump’s second term in office, it had been virtually unheard of in modern times for U.S. government officials to publicly tie the nation to a specific set of religious beliefs. Trump’s cabinet members have changed that norm.”  Boy that phrase “in modern times” is doing a lot of work here.

Calls to prayer and thanksgiving may be new to the old media staffed by too many young, but they’d raise no eyebrows from those who actually founded the country, like John Adams. who wrote, “The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity.”  We can go on and on with such language from John Adams to John Kennedy, never mind FDR’s D-Day prayer—the largest public prayer in history up to that point.

Just now, this country could use exactly what the White House sponsored, and a lot less of what the Mainstream Media is offering.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and the US Department of Justice struck a blow against the trans industry in a new settlement:

• Ten million dollars.
• And a new, first-in-the-nation clinic to unwind the damage done to children caught up in the pediatric-sex-change industry's machinations. Stripping five of its practitioners of access to more potential victims.

Texas Children's Hospital in Houston agreed to end its pediatric sex-change practice, pay $10 million in penalties while opening the nation’s first detransition center to assist victims of this predatory industry.

This settlement also vindicates Dr. Ethan Haim, who blew the whistle on the fraud – and got targeted by the Biden-era DOJ and the medical industry for retaliation.

Haim faced criminal prosecution under a ginned-up HIPAA complaint that could have put him in prison for ten years.

This settlement gives justice to Texas children maimed and sterilized by a despicable medical establishment. Dr. Haim deserves justice too, along with his vindication.

Recently, a professor of Politics at Princeton wrote an op-ed pointing out how many of his students—and students at other colleges—simply are unfamiliar with the Ten Commandments.  He writes, “they lack religious literacy, and their ignorance of religious ideas means they struggle to understand a wide array of Western art, literature and philosophy.”

They also wouldn’t understand a great deal of art or history, never mind philosophy from Marx to Rousseau—or recognize lines from Shakespeare to our Founding to Frederick Douglass to Lincoln to MLKing, Jr.

This is what the late Richard John Newhaus worried about decades ago: An America that with an increasingly naked public square, bare of any religiosity, or recognition of religious faith or culture. What Newhaus feared is now is now nearly complete, when students at major universities are now illiterate in the cornerstone of Western Civilization.

Many states right now are debating posting the Ten Commandments in K-12 classrooms.  This wouldn’t be a parochial decision, it would, rather, constitute necessary basic and remedial education.

In an age of fleeting stories fed by a constant conveyor belt of crisis and frenzy, keeping us all in a common state of agitation, with little ability to focus on the meaningful, let us do exactly that as we prepare for Memorial Day, coming up in another weekend.

The great historian Wilfred McClay once wrote “Without memory, and without the stories by which our memories are carried forward, we cannot say who, or what, we are.  Without them, our life and thought dissolve into a meaningless, unrelated rush of events.”

The commemoration of those who—in the words of James Garfield—“made immortal their patriotism and their virtue” in defending this country gave us the greatest lessons in who and what we are, and with the greatest of meaning.  Who and what we are matters—thus the memory of them and what they did for us matters.  They are antidotes to meaninglessness.

We can celebrate 250 years of our country’s life because of those we reflect on this Memorial Day. 

Thank God for these heroes.

With the background of Russia's invasion and ongoing war against Ukraine, recently this astounding headline from the BBC:

“Putin says he thinks Ukraine conflict coming to an end.”

Now for perspective: Just consider last weekend's annual Victory Day parade in Moscow. It commemorates the end of World War II

What's notable this year is not what happened, but what didn't happen.

Russia couldn't afford to hold the parade as usual because Ukraine, as it turns out, has been so ingenious and so aggressive with its use of drones that Putin couldn't afford to hold that kind of military parade in Moscow. It would've been one giant magnet for a massive undertaking and attack by Ukraine.

This is a game changer.

Russia has now lost 350,000 men.

If you're a strong man, an autocrat in this kind of system, you have to appear strong and invincible.

You can't be a political strongman and a leader that gets into this kind of quagmire.

Putin is running out of time. Russians know it and Vladimir Putin knows it.

Donald Trump finally got his response from Iran. Will he act on it?

Last week, Trump had sent a 14-point framework to mediators in Islamabad for reaching a peace accord with Iran. Trump insisted that the IRGC surrender its highly enriched uranium, agree to verifiably end its pursuit of nuclear weapons, and stop attacking international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran demanded that the US recognize the strait as Iranian sovereign territory and pay war reparations.

Trump responded by calling the IRGC’s terms as “stupid” and “totally unacceptable.” Yet Trump also insisted that a deal could be reached with the regime.

That is an unfortunate illusion—something Trump maintains despite all evidence to the contrary. Iran violated its terms almost immediately in the Strait and Iran continues to threaten the strait. 

The ceasefire is dead.

Trump has to either follow through on consequences or cut bait and walk away with Iran’s regime nearly as dangerous as ever. The decision point has arrived.

The Trump administration has launched an investigation into Smith College—one of the seven historical all-women colleges in the American Northeast.

Why the investigation?

Well, Smith College is and has been since 2015—admitting biological males.

The “seven sisters” have been granted an exemption, going all the way back to the 1970’s to Title IX legislation. They were allowed to be restrictive as women’s colleges.

The Trump administration’s basically saying you can’t have it both ways—that is: claim this historic exemption or you can admit biological males.

President Trump made the point very clear point in his second inaugural address:

He said: “As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female.”

I will argue that was one of the most important and courageous statements a President of the United States has made in recent years. To his credit, he’s been pushing this through.

It’s a necessary step towards the restoration of cultural sanity and for that clarity.

Since the battle with Iran began on February 28, there’ve been so many reports of “deals” with the rump regime atop the ruins of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that it seems almost silly to respond to another one.

But I trust Israeli journalist Amit Segal. On Wednesday, Segal summed up the supposed framework. The most salient part is said to include—and I quote:

“Negotiations are still underway on the duration of the uranium enrichment freeze. Three sources said the freeze would last at least 12 years, and one source estimated the final outcome would be 15 years.”

That—in and of itself— makes this a terrible proposed “deal,” one that would draw fierce criticism from the GOP’s Iran hawks who want President Trump to “finish the job”, no enrichment of uranium period and finish the job in dramatic fashion.

President Trump doesn’t surrender leverage. He’s got it. We have to hope he uses every ounce of it.

Talking politics with your average young male these days, chances are you will hear all kinds of odd theories coming from the Pied Pipers of Podcastistan. You will hear them mentioning “experts” nobody heard of until about 10 minutes ago or until they were discovered by these podcasters because of their contrary, and often, conspiratorial thinking.

Young men, especially, are attracted to this novel “wisdom,” and they are so prone because, as they will tell you, mainstream institutions have been untruthful over the years. But because some institutions that we used to rely on and respect have been taken over by partisanship and been wrong doesn’t mean that all normative thinking and scholarship is a lie or cannot be trusted, or that people nobody have ever heard of are the replacements of true wisdom.

We dismiss and ignore this fallacious thinking at our collective peril.

The task of the serious is to be able to discern truth from fiction and greatness from mediocrity. In these critical times, that task has never been more important than now.

Today’s Democrats seem to be trying a new take on the “Extreme Makeover” reality show.

Their offshoot: I’d call it “Extremist Makeover.”

And we see it in their likely candidate for Senate in Maine.

It looks pretty close to certain Democrats be nominating oysterman Graham Platner in the Pinetree state.

He is not a "liberal." Platner is not even a "leftist." He’s an extremist. For years, he had a tattoo of a death head worn proudly by the Nazi era SS, Hitler’s worst of the worst.

It was—and remains—a vile symbol worn by guards at the concentration-extermination camps.

Maine’s current and—I trust—future Senator is Susan Collins.

Collins and Platner could not be more different.

It’s rare to have a Susan Collins represent your state from a position of power and influence do so with class and humility. To trade that in for a death’s skull and online bigotry It doesn’t seem like a bet Mainers are going to make.

It’s an age-old question: God or Mammon? What leads to a happier, more fulfilling life — religion, or money? Now, it seems we have an answer. According to the General Social Survey, church attendance predicts happiness more strongly than wealth does.

In fact, poor Americans who attend church regularly are happier than wealthy Americans who never attend at all.

Prominent behavioral scientist William von Hippel has observed, “Money buys a fair bit of happiness, but connection gives you more bang for the buck.”

He’s right. But let’s be clear about what “connection” really means.

It matters to connect with friends and neighbors — and church offers the opportunity to do that every week, and often more.

But more important still is our connection to God: our Father, our Creator, and the source of every good and lasting bond.

Many predictions about the midterm elections in the United States are dire for the GOP: a wipeout in the House, perhaps losing the Senate majority as well. The GOP could weather the electoral storm that almost always chastens the party of a president finishing his sixth year in office. But they got to do stuff.

To do that weathering: Every candidate in every partisan race has to make the case, which is easy to make: The Islamic Republic of Iran is an evil regime that cannot have nukes.

It seems certain that President Trump is not going “to go wobbly” in the battle with Iran.

Similarly: The GOP better not go wobbly either.

Americans have lost the muscle memory of victory. It will quickly regain an appreciation for resolve once the conflict is over.

GOP candidates must loudly and persuasively argue that the battle with Iran was long past due and is well worth winning.

There is no winning for the GOP in November without demanding and defending victory in this battle with Iran.

With its decision in Louisiana v. Callais, the Supreme Court took the United States one step closer to the race-blind, color-blind equal opportunity society envisioned by our Constitution.

The ruling shifts voting rights law from judging maps by racial outcomes, toward a simpler question: whether lawmakers intentionally discriminated.

This is as it should be.

Today, there are a record 58 minority members of Congress. Most were elected from plurality white districts. America twice elected an African American president. These aren’t the marks of a nation closed to candidates of color.

Ending racial gerrymandering encourages leaders to focus on ideas and results rather than skin color. By rejecting racial line-drawing, the Supreme Court affirmed a vital truth: In twenty-first century America, skin color isn’t what defines us. Our convictions — and our character — do.

In the wake of the third assassination attempt on President Trump in a period of less than two years, the President correctly concluded: “He was probably a pretty sick guy.” That came from his interview Sunday night on “60 Minutes.”

In looking for a cause the president pointed to the changes we’ve all been living through: “The internet, maybe more than anything else, has radicalized some people. It’s made them mentally sick,” President Trump said.

He’s right, of course. But how, more specifically, does that happen?

The tempting, all-purpose answer for busy people is simply to do what the president did: point at the internet.

But: What dots have never been connected about factors in the upbringing of the actors that tip them, the unbalanced, into the land of the "statement" would be killers or killer?

For the good of the nation, we need quality research to fill that very specific gap.

Our First Amendment is a cherished guarantee. Every American has the right to criticize elected officials — even in harsh terms — so long as there’s no incitement to imminent violence.

But having a right to say something doesn’t necessarily make it right to say. And too many in our cultural elite have normalized reckless rhetoric about President Trump.

Among others, ABC host Jimmy Kimmel recently “joked” about the First Lady becoming an “expectant widow.” Congressman Dan Goldman called for Trump to be “eliminated” from public life. Former President Biden urged putting Trump “in the bulls-eye.”

None of that is illegal, nor are they responsible for a criminal’s actions. But after three attempts on President Trump’s life, left-wing elites should ask themselves whether flirting with assassination rhetoric is morally defensible — even if they have every right to engage in it.

The nation narrowly avoided a horrific tragedy Saturday night—and history will record it as just that. The scene at the Washington Hilton looked more like a motion picture, it wasn’t. It was reality: Someone intending to assassinate the President of the United States and as many cabinet officials as possible made it past the first round of security.

There was enormous attention to this particular dinner—the White House Correspondents Association dinner. This was the first of these dinners that Donald Trump, as President, was planning to attend.

Every time something like this happens however, everyone has to learn new hard lessons.

I am confident of this: There will now be a new protocol for the security for the President and Vice President of the United States, and perhaps for others in the line of succession.

History often records how close we have come to disaster. And though on the other side of it, everything has to change in a moment.

Perhaps we need to learn some very constructive lessons from a near miss.

America has once again descended into an era of political violence. And once again, the political violence originates from the American Left.

This weekend, the third assassin in less than two years attempted to kill Donald Trump. The would-be assassin left behind a manifesto explaining his rationale. It echoes the Left’s “resistance” rhetoric used for the last eleven years. His argument could have easily been a monologue on late-night television or on cable channels like MSNOW.

The mainstream Left and the media have demagogued Trump to the point where violent reaction is now the norm. This began from the riot in DC on Trump’s first inauguration day through the 2020 George Floyd riots, to the riots in Los Angeles and Minneapolis over immigration enforcement, to these assassination attempts. 

Despite efforts by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Joe Biden’s DOJ to falsely depict conservatives as dangerous, the violence comes from one direction: The left. And all who demagogue over a duly elected president’s legitimacy share responsibility for it.