Arnold Ahlert

Chavez’s Vicious Legacy Lives On

Nicolas Maduro, Hugo Chavez's hand-picked successor, won the presidential election in Venezuela to serve out the remainder of the deceased leader's last six-year presidential term. The margin of victory was surprisingly thin. Maduro received 50.7 percent of the vote in Sunday's election, versus 49.1 percent for Henrique Capriles, a state governor who offered a strong challenge to Chavez last October. Capriles has challenged the results, rejecting the outcome as "illegitimate," and claiming that more than 3,000 incidents occurring at the polls need to be investigated. Maduro insisted otherwise. "We have a just, legal, constitutional and popular electoral victory," he said, further contending that his victory demonstrates Hugo Chavez "continues to be invincible, that he continues to win battles."

Hollywood’s Undying Love for Communist Angela Davis

Recently, The Daily Beast disgraced itself by providing a platform for communist Bill Ayers to spread unchallenged lies about his background in the Weather Underground terrorist organization, which is presently the subject of an exonerating new film by leftist actor Robert Redford.

High Noon Over Guns

The Senate voted 68-31 to begin debate on a gun control package that will initially focus on three issues: expanded background checks for the purchase of firearms, harsher penalties for gun trafficking, and increased aid for school safety. "The hard work starts now," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) after the vote.

North Korea Provokes, Dems Retreat

A missile defense system for the eastern seaboard that was dropped from the final version of the 2013 Defense Authorization Act is getting a second look, in light of North Korea's escalating threats. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) characterized that threat as a "wake up call," noting that "the next issue that needs to be taken up right away is [a] missile defense site to protect the East Coast of this country." It would appear to be a logical argument in light of the administration's recent move to shift $1 billion in defense spending from developing a missile shield for Poland and Bulgaria, to adding 14 land-based interceptors in Alaska. The move would expand to 44 the number of long-range ballistic missile interceptors that comprise part of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system.

Dogfight Ahead in Stockton, CA Bankruptcy

On Monday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein ruled that the city of Stockton, CA, will be allowed to enter bankruptcy. Klein noted the move was necessary so that the city could continue to provide basic municipal services to its residents.

Connecticut’s Draconian Anti-Second Amendment Bill

Three and a half months after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, a bipartisan task force of Connecticut legislators announced they have come to an agreement in principle on a package of new gun laws they characterize as the most far-reaching in the nation. "Nobody will be able to say that this bill is absolutely perfect, but no one will also be able to say that this bill fails the test when it comes to being the strongest in the country and the most comprehensive bill in the country," said Connecticut Senate President Don Williams, a Democrat. The General Assembly will meet today to vote on the bill. It is expected to pass.

Obama’s Amnesty: An Attack on the Poor

Last Friday, the so-called "comprehensive immigration reform" effort received a boost when U.S. Chamber of Commerce head Tom Donohue and AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka reportedly came to an agreement regarding a guest-worker program. The deal indicates that one of the bill's major stumbling blocks--the worry that a flood of unskilled, low-wage workers would crowd poorer Americans out of the job market--has apparently been overcome. Politically speaking, it has. For low-skill, low-wage Americans, however, it is an economic disaster-in-the-making. And though Democrats are once again casting themselves as the champions of beleaguered minority groups for pursuing this legislation, it is American blacks and Hispanics--the communities that suffer from some of the nation's highest unemployment rates--who will pay the price for the Left's amnesty folly.

Rahm Shuts Down the Schools

Just over a week ago, Chicago Public School (CPS) officials announced the closing of 54 elementary schools contained in 61 buildings, located in poor, mostly black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

The Obamas’ Unending Summer Vacation

A record-breaking 47.8 million Americans are on food stamps, an increase of about 1.3 million from a year earlier. The official unemployment rate is 7.7 percent, a number that obscures the reality that millions of Americans who have given up looking for work aren't counted, and that the labor force participation rate of 63.6 percent measured in December 2012, is the lowest in 32 years. The national debt is $16.7 trillion and growing. White House tours have been cancelled due to sequestration. And amidst it all, Barack Obama and his family have taken four lavish vacations in three months.

When Affordable Health Care Died

On Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was forced to concede that some people who will be buying health insurance for themselves next fall will face higher premium costs due to provisions in the healthcare bill. A new study released the same day reveals that insurance companies themselves will be paying out an average of 32 percent more for medical claims. Both stories join the growing list of indicators that point toward a grim reality: when it is fully implemented, the Affordable Healthcare Act of 2010 will be anything but.

An Offer Cypriots Can’t Refuse

In what has become a depressingly familiar EU template, yet another "eleventh hour" deal was reached between the European Central Bank (ECB) the European Commission (EC) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)--known as the "troika"--and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades to avoid national bankruptcy. "It's been yet another hard day's night," European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn told reporters in Brussels, where the deal was put together. "There were no optimal solutions available, only hard choices."

After Four Years, Dem Senate Passes a Budget

After a series of debates beginning Friday afternoon and continuing for almost 13 straight hours, the Democratically-controlled Senate passed its first budget in four years. The $3.7 trillion blueprint for 2014, that contains almost one trillion dollars in tax increases, narrowly passed by a vote of 50-49. Every Republican voted against it, as did four Democrats facing reelection next year. One Senator, Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), was absent. “The Senate has passed a budget,” declared Senate Budget Committee chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) at 4:56 a.m.

The War For Oil Myth

Now that the tenth anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom has arrived, the American left has taken another opportunity to revive the trope that going to war in that nation “was all about oil.” The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald is one such revivalist. In a column on Monday he's magnanimous enough to concede that saying the war in Iraq was fought strictly for oil is an “oversimplification.” Yet just as quickly, he can't contain himself. “But the fact that oil is a major factor in every Western military action in the Middle East is so self-evident that it's astonishing that it's even considered debatable, let alone some fringe and edgy idea,” he contends. The war for oil mantra may be self-evident to Greenwald and his fellow travelers, but the facts say otherwise.

Senate Assault Weapons Ban Dies

Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) dropped the assault weapons ban from that chamber’s gun control bill. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), announced the change, but indicated that she would still be able to offer it as an amendment later on. Reid’s change of heart indicates that he lacks congressional support to get the measure passed, despite the fact that the ban was approved last week by the Senate Judiciary Committee. It also signals that Reid is concerned about the ban’s impact on the 2014 election. By making it a separate issue, moderate Democrats facing reelection in red or red-leaning states can vote against the ban, yet still support the remaining parts of the Democratic agenda on gun control.

Road to Serfdom: Eurocrats to Seize Citizen Money from Bank Accounts

Cypriots are getting a firsthand look at what happens when EU elitists, as Margaret Thatcher famously remarked, "run out of other people's money to spend." On Saturday, in exchange for an EU bailout of $12.96 billion for a nation on the verge of bankruptcy, it was proposed that individual bank account deposits would be subjected to outright confiscation being promoted as a "wealth tax." Deposits of $130,000 or more will be hit at a rate of 9.9 percent, while depositors who fall below that threshold with be taxed at a rate of 6.75 percent.

Where Are the Benghazi Survivors?

Where are the survivors? The unseemly efforts undertaken by the Obama administration, Democratic collaborators and a calculatingly uninterested mainstream media to avoid answering one of the fundamental questions of the Benghazi debacle will no longer suffice. Republicans in both the House and the Senate have made it clear they have run out of patience with the administration's effort to keep the survivors isolated. If they are successful, this scandal may finally get the kind of national attention it so richly deserves.

Donors to Obama ‘Non-profit’ Pay $50,000 for Night of Access

Organizing for Action (OFA), Barack Obama's former campaign apparatus reincarnated as a nonprofit advocacy group, initiated a two-day "founders summit" on Wednesday at the St. Regis hotel, located two blocks from the White House. The group characterizes themselves as a grassroots organization, driven from the bottom up. "This is going to be absolutely local," said OFA chairman and former Obama campaign manager Jim Messina. "Members will decide what issues in their community they most care about." OFA has come under criticism for effectively selling access to the president, who addressed OFA attendees at a dinner Wednesday--one that cost $50,000 per person to attend.

The Budget Battle Begins

On Tuesday, House Republicans and Democrats unveiled budget plans that illuminate the wide ideological divide between the parties when it comes to dealing with the nation's burgeoning debt and unsustainable entitlement programs. Despite that divide, both parties contend that a bipartisan deal can be reached.

Hagel’s Afghanistan Visit and Obama’s Disastrous “Good War”

Newly confirmed Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's first trip to Afghanistan turned into a fiasco. Just hours after his arrival in Kabul on Saturday, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the Afghan Ministry of Defense. At least 10 people were killed. Another suicide bomber followed suit near a joint Afghan-American checkpoint in the eastern province of Khost, killing nine, including eight children and a policeman. On Sunday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai accused the United States of collaborating with the Taliban. Hagel, who left the country without accomplishing anything, had two words for reporters who inquired about the challenges he faced. "It's complicated," he contended.

The Gruesome Reality of Racist South Africa

For decades, the country of South Africa was the focus of an international rallying cry against the injustices of apartheid. On June 17, 1991, South Africa's Parliament abolished the legal framework for the practice of racial persecution. In 1994, Nelson Mandela and his Marxist African National Congress (ANC) assumed the reins of power. The international community looked away, satisfied that justice had prevailed. They continue to look away, even as South Africa has degenerated into another racist pit, best described by an Afrikaner farm owner: "It's politically correct to kill whites these days."