Sending the weaker sex to battle. This month, President Barack Obama's defense secretary, Ashton Carter, decreed that there will be 220,000 combat military jobs offered to women — including in Army special operations forces and the Navy SEALs. He said, "They'll be allowed to drive tanks, fire mortars and lead infantry soldiers into combat ... MORE
Obama Gave ISIS 45 minute warning before bombing. The Obama White House is giving ISIS a 45 minute warning before bombing their oil tankers by dropping leaflets advising potential jihadists to flee before air strikes in Syria. “Get out of your trucks now, and run away from them. Warning: air strikes are coming. Oil trucks will be ... MORE
by Edward Morrissey. The emperor has no clothes. President Obama, like so many of us, was caught unprepared for ISIS's devastating attack on Paris. But unlike the rest of us, the leader of the free world was also caught unprepared a few days later, this time for the scrutiny of his record on the fight against the terrorist quasi-state. That 1-2 combo ... MORE
Roots of the regulating and redistributing state. We are currently marking the hundredth anniversary of the fighting of the First World War. For four years between the summer of 1914 and November 11, 1918, the major world powers were in mortal combat with each other. The conflict radically changed the world. It overthrew the pre-1914 ... MORE
Government's stealth tyranny. We now have less than one year until the 2016 presidential election. Despite the dire state of our nation, however, you can rest assured that none of the problems that continue to undermine our freedoms will be addressed in any credible way by the presidential candidates—certainly not if doing so might ... MORE
If we really live under a representative government, how can a president take the country to war in Syria without even a show vote in Congress? "The success of government...," the late historian Edmund Morgan wrote,
"requires the acceptance of fictions, requires the willing suspension
of disbelief, requires us to believe that the emperor ... MORE
The tyranny behind the curtain. We now have less than one year until the 2016 presidential election. Despite the dire state of our nation, however, you can rest assured that none of the problems that continue to undermine our freedoms will be addressed in any credible way by the presidential candidates—certainly not if doing so might ... MORE
Here's my question to you: If an evil person is guaranteed that he can inflict physical pain upon others and guaranteed to never suffer pain himself, what happens to his willingness to inflict pain? You say, "What do you mean, Williams?" OK, I will make my question more concrete. Suppose a young punk knows that he can knock out an innocent person ... MORE
Vladimir Putin is having a field day in the Middle East. He has sent Russian planes to bomb rebels in Syria. He has reached an intelligence-sharing agreement with Syria, Iran and Iraq. At the U.N. Monday, he reaffirmed his commitment to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He seems determined to fill the regional vacuum ... MORE
Politically correct rules of engagement. War is nasty, brutal and costly. In our latest wars, many of the casualties suffered by American troops are a direct result of their having to obey rules of engagement created by politicians who have never set foot on — or even seen — a battlefield. Today's battlefield commanders must be alert to the ... MORE
A desperately needed alternative to mindless militarism. At a Q&A session in Dallas a year ago, Rand Paul expressed skepticism about whether the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) posed "a threat to our national security." Hours later at another event in Dallas, the Kentucky senator said that if he were president he "would lay out the ... MORE
There are 800 bases in foreign countries. With the U.S. military having withdrawn many of its forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, most Americans would be forgiven for being unaware that hundreds of U.S. bases and hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops still encircle the globe. Although few know it, the United States garrisons the planet ... MORE
It is like a community organizer tried to be general. After the pro-Western government of China was forced to flee to the island of Taiwan in 1949, when the Communists took over mainland China, bitter recriminations in Washington led to the question: "Who lost China?" China was, of course, never ours to lose, though it might be legitimate ... MORE
A return to sanity. One lesson of American history is that in times of war or crisis, American presidents, lawmakers and citizens often lose their minds. Another lesson is that they eventually regain their senses. When it comes to national security in the age of terrorism, it looks as though the national fever has broken. When Congress passed the Patriot Act in October 2001, it gave the federal government greater ... MORE
Having your own kill list. Thomas Cromwell was the principal behind-the-scenes fixer for much of the reign of King Henry VIII. He engineered the interrogations, convictions and executions of many whom Henry needed out of the way, including his two predecessors as fixer and even the king's second wife, Queen Anne. When Cromwell's son, ... MORE