THE WASHINGTON TIMES

EDITORIAL: NSA dumps data on personal spying amid Christmas Eve distractions

When nearly everybody else was busy with ribbons and wrapping paper or rushing out to do a little last-minute panic shopping, the folks at the National Security Agency busied themselves with a data dump they devoutly hoped nobody would see, or if they did, read it closely. They knew better than to waste opportunity in the Christmas frenzy.

January 1, 2015

EDITORIAL: American economy stronger than Obama incompetence

Barack Obama needed not one, but two autobiographies to tell the story of the first half of his life. He called the second version "The Audacity of Hope." When he writes his account of the second half of his second term he should call it "The Audacity of Hype." It will be the fanciful tale of how his economic policies were responsible for the modest recovery from six years of presidential mismanagement of the economy.

January 1, 2015

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: No more grieving mothers of murdered young blacks or police

I start by saying I am truly sorry about the senseless murders of New York Police Department Officer Rafael Ramos and Officer Wenjian Liu. This tragedy did not need to happen. And my heart goes out to the families, friends and fellow cops who are mourning. But my heart goes out to the families who have lost their young black sons, too, when they did not need to.

December 31, 2014

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Politicians’ manufactured crises work to control populace

I wholeheartedly agree with your Dec. 30 editorial, "Troublemakers in the White House." There is nothing more useful to professional politicians than a crisis. If a real crisis pops up, fine. But an imagined or manufactured crisis will do in a pinch. There is no better way to herd the populace in a desired direction than to frighten it.

December 31, 2014

EDITORIAL: Muriel Bowser, new D.C. mayor, arrives with tight spending challenge

Out with the old, in with the new. It's an adage that will certainly apply to the District of Columbia come Friday, when Vincent C. Gray exits left and Muriel Bowser steps up to be inaugurated as Her Honor the mayor.

December 31, 2014

EDITORIAL: Labor pension cuts surprise retired workers who rely on unions, Congress

The role the labor unions played in persuading Congress to allow unions to cut pension plans, which cover as many as 10 million American workers, for not only those still working, but also to retired workers living on pension income, is truly startling. These are the same unions that demanded that cities and companies in financial straits not make such cuts.

December 31, 2014

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Goat vitamin C doesn’t need Christmas trees

It's a clever idea to have goats eat Christmas trees ("Farmers say Christmas trees make great goat snacks," Web, Dec. 27). It certainly cuts down on the landfill space that would otherwise be needed to get rid of the trees.

December 30, 2014

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Hillary Clinton Democrats’ next product of liberal media machine

Blaming Barack Obama for the ills of America is totally and completely unfair. He's a fine man simply doing the job he was hired to do by his liberal party. The Democrats are entirely to blame for what this and every other liberal administration have always accomplished for America while in office: zip, zero, nada, nothing. Think Jimmy Carter.

December 30, 2014

EDITORIAL: MetLife, insurance giant, struggles with Dodd-Frank on behalf of free market

An unaccountable force created in the shade of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, which was sold as something to make all economic rough places plain, has put insurance giant MetLife in the fight of its life. Insurance companies, like lawyers, rarely attract the warm and cuddly blessings of the masses, but for the sake of the free market and American business, it's a struggle that MetLife can and must win.

December 30, 2014

EDITORIAL: New Year’s laws to oppress, threaten and tax

The year now dying was, on the whole, a good one for liberty and limiting government. Let's raise a cheer for 2014. Republicans, running on free market, low-tax, repeal-Obamacare platforms dominated Election Day at all levels of government. Attempts to raise taxes and expand the size and scope of government were stifled in city councils and legislatures across the land.

December 30, 2014

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Leaders must apologize for race-baiting in police shootings

The suspect in a recent Texas shooting was armed with a gun. What were the police supposed to do ("Cops shoot armed man at Texas club fight; bystanders throw bottles at police," Web, Dec. 27)? Should they have waited it out, hoping the person would put the gun down? The police ended up having to shoot the shooter. The people around the area started throwing bottles at the police.

December 29, 2014

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Jesus was no killer but soldier of peace

I was rather dismayed to read Riley Manning's article, "Parallels between Jesus and the soldier are plenty" (Web, Dec. 28), comparing the military to Christ. If Mr. Manning's comparison is accurate, Christ's best friends, the apostles, apparently were quite dumb because virtually every single one of them refused to be engaged in the military or any form of violence after the Resurrection. And they were collectively martyred as a result.

December 29, 2014

EDITORIAL: Assata Shakur, cop killer, must face Cuba extradition

The Obama administration has a dubious record of negotiating with America's adversaries. The United States invariably draws the short end of the stick, typically giving far more than it gets in return for generous concessions.

December 29, 2014

EDITORIAL: Obama exploits crisis, even if White House has to create one

The term "man-caused disaster" never passed the giggle test as a euphemism for terrorism, but it fits as a description of some of the tomfoolery of Washington. No longer content with not letting a crisis go to waste, President Obama and his legion busied themselves during 2014 manufacturing a certain few. Life without change would soon get monotonous, but keeping America on edge with orchestrated turmoil is an abuse of power. There should be a New Year's resolution in the White House to knock it off.

December 29, 2014

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Founders encouraged religion, freedom to worship in public

Ed Feulner's column "Celebrating the reason for the season" (Dec. 23) defending religious displays at Christmastime was right on point. It astonishes me how many people believe that the phrase "separation of church and state" is associated with the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson coined that phrase in a letter he wrote to the Danbury Baptists in Connecticut in 1801, and Jefferson wasn't even at the convention that produced the Constitution.

December 28, 2014

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Obama, Eric Holder, Al Sharpton police politics fray thin blue line

With the executions of New York Police Department Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos on Dec. 20, America must examine what has occurred post-Ferguson and post-Staten Island. Black leaders, including President Obama, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and the race hustler, the Rev. Al Sharpton, practice outcome-based justice: predetermining guilt without any evidentiary basis in fact, as illustrated by the reactions they fomented in the Brown-Wilson and Garner-Staten Island cases.

December 28, 2014

EDITORIAL: Anti-gun video with boy at school misses mark about firearm violence, safety

Rejina Sincic is a video producer in San Francisco, where she makes short independent films and commercials, mostly to sell ladies' nether garments. She owns the production company and recently helped found another, enabling her to "branch out" to release a "public service announcement" about her campaign against "gun violence." She invited broadcast outlets to use the "public service announcement," called a PSA in the trade, and join her campaign.

December 28, 2014

EDITORIAL: Bill Haslam, Tennessee Republican governor chairman, buys Jonathan Gruber’s Obamacare Med

Jonathan Gruber was thrust to the center stage of the Obamacare debate with his remark that only the "stupidity of the American voter" made passage of Obamacare possible. Stupid is as stupid does, as the old folk wisdom has it, and the Republican Governors Association has elevated to chairman a governor who has undercut the Republican argument that Obamacare is a bad thing. Gov. Bill Haslem of Tennessee actually likes it.

December 28, 2014

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Al Sharpton uses Muslim extremist tactics

I believe the Rev. Al Sharpton and his National Action Network are using the same tactics as extremist Muslims in this nation. Both use their token victims to raise the level of animosity to the highest levels. Mr. Sharpton takes it to the White House and extremist Muslims take it to the courts.

December 25, 2014

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Pakistan murders unconscionable

My heart is crying after learning about the recent school attack in Peshawar, Pakistan ("Taliban storm Pakistani school at Peshawar, killing 141," Web, Dec. 16). That day was truly one of the saddest days of my life. So many innocent children were murdered, and the worst part is that it was done in the name of Islam.

December 25, 2014