This piece originally appeared in The Carroll County Times online Tuesday, 22 December 2020, under the title "Lesson Learned From the Trump Years" and the byline Rick Blatchford

It's just a few days before Christmas and my last effort for the year. What's your pleasure — more politics and controversy? I've been watching some of my cohorts on this page for cues. On Dec. 14 one columnist went after a conservative writer — by name. Sure hope there's no challenge to a duel. If there is, my money's on her. (Insert smiley face here.) On Dec.16, another columnist opted to continue his incessant poking at Trump. One is left to ponder what they will do after Inauguration Day. Hopefully, no further postmortems.

This piece originally appeared at The Hill online magazine Saturday, 21 November 2020, under the title "No Thank You Dr. Fauci" and the byline Gayle Trotter

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In the midst of our greatest national struggle, Abraham Lincoln called upon all Americans to ensure that "government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the Earth." Who would have imagined that Honest Abe's highest aspirations could be undone by . . . a microbe?

This piece originally appeared at Public Discourse:  The Journal of the Witherspoon Institute Thursday, 23 January 2020, under the title "Why Roe Must Go"" and the byline Rita Joseph

All ideological fads eventually fade and collapse into disrepute, because they have no foundation in truth. "Pro-choice" ideology had its rise, which was based on the crude, reductionist falsehood that a human being in the womb is an anonymous, generic "bunch of cells". Now, its central lie has been unmasked, and Roe is ripe for reversal.

Forty-seven years after Roe v. Wade [410 U.S. 113 (more) 93 S. Ct. 705, 35 L. Ed. 2d 147, 1973], several hundred thousand Americans still March for Life every year in Washington, D.C. and other cities, protesting this infamous decision.

Editor's note:  This post is paired with the video of the Attorney General delivering the lecture located HERE on our site. This text originally appeared on the Department of Justice web site under the title Attorney General William P. Barr Delivers the 19th Annual Barbara K. Olson Memorial Lecture at the Federalist Society's 2019 National Lawyers Convention. It is reproduced here slightly edited with emphasis added to highlight particularly salient points.

Good Evening. Thank you all for being here. And thank you to Gene [Meyer] for your kind introduction.

It is an honor to be here this evening delivering the 19^th Annual Barbara K. Olson Memorial Lecture. I had the privilege of knowing Barbara and had deep affection for her. I miss her brilliance and ebullient spirit. It is a privilege for me to participate in this series that honors her.

This piece originally appeared at National Review Online Sunday, 6 April 2019, under the title "What the Electoral College Saves Us From" and the byline Dan McLaughlin

The latest enthusiasm from progressive pundits and activists for replacing the American system of self-government is to abolish the Electoral College and choose presidents by national popular vote. As with all such enthusiasms — expanding the Supreme Court, abolishing the filibuster and the Senate itself, lowering the voting age to 16, letting convicted felons and illegal aliens vote, adding D.C. and Puerto Rico as states, automatic voter registration, abolishing voter ID, etc. — the scarcely concealed argument is that changing the rules will help Democrats and progressives win more.

This piece originally appeared at American Greatness Tuesday, 21 March 2019, under the title "Constitutional Fairyland" and the byline Conrad Black

Another week, a new harvest of insane Democrat pre-electoral hobby horses. Various of the numberless swarm of presidential aspirants in that party have glibly chimed in with their views of how to modify American government to assure a permanent "progressive" majority. Gathering steam now are absurd ideas to side-step the Electoral College, pack the Supreme Court, lower the voting age to 16, and divide the political rubble heap of California into three or four states to create more Democrat senators.

This piece originally appeared at American Greatness Tuesday, 17 July 2018 under the title "Diplomacy 101 vs. Politics Writ Small" and the byline Angelo Codevilla

The high professional quality of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin's performance at their Monday press conference in Helsinki contrasts sharply with the obloquy by which the bipartisan U.S. ruling class showcases its willful incompetence.

This piece originally appeared at National Review's "The Corner" Tuesday, 2 January 2018 under the title "The Great Experiment" and the byline Victor Davis Hanson

We've gone from hard left, under Obama, to hard right, under Trump. Judge the ideologies by their results.

Most new administrations do not really completely overturn their predecessors' policies to enact often-promised ideologically driven change.

This piece originally appeared at National Review's "The Corner" Wednesday, 16 August 2017 under the title "There’s No ‘Nazi’ Exception to the First Amendment" and the byline Charles C. W. Cooke

Piers Morgan is at it again:

I understand the purpose very well. I don't think it should be used to protect Nazis. https://t.co/smPEGEdUNg

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) August 16, 2017

This piece originally appeared at The Federalist Friday, 16 June 2017 under the title "After Witnessing Shooting, Rep. Mo Brooks Explains Why We Need Gun Rights" and the byline Robert Tracinski

The congressional baseball game shooter was clearly motivated by political hatred of Republicans. This hatred was clearly fed and magnified by listening to hysterical partisan rhetoric and participating in online discussions that reinforced his political biases, painted caricatures of the evil of his future targets, and reinforced his emotions of anger and resentment.