Arnold Ahlert

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."

Rand Paul Fights for Conservative Principles—And Wins

On Wednesday, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul valiantly opposed the nomination of John Brennan for CIA Director, engaging in a lone filibuster for nearly 13 hours. Though Brennan was ultimately approved Thursday, Paul's courageous stand brought much-needed attention to the Obama administration's refusal to rule out carrying out drone strikes against U.S. citizens on American soil.

Reign of Evil: A Look Back at the Vicious Rule of Hugo Chavez

It is no accident that the death of Hugo Chavez, while mourned by the usual suspects on the left, was celebrated by thousands of his fellow countrymen.

North Korea Threatens War

On Tuesday, North Korea vowed it would cancel the 1953 cease-fire that ended the Korean War. Soon-to-be-imposed sanctions by the United Nations regarding the nation's recent nuclear test and U.S.-South Korean joint military drills were cited as the reasons for the threat. Without going into details, the Korean People's Army Supreme Command warned of "surgical strikes" aimed at unifying the Korean Peninsula and that they possessed a "precision nuclear striking tool."

Obama’s Billion-Dollar Giveaway to the Muslim Brotherhood

In the past few weeks, Americans have been subjected to a barrage of doomsday predictions regarding the disaster that would befall us should the sequester come to pass. Many were rightly incensed, then, that last Thursday, only one day before the "devastating" sequester cuts were scheduled to kick in, newly appointed Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the Obama administration will be giving $60 million to a group of Syrian rebels fighting Bashsar Assad.

How the Democrats Destroyed Detroit

Last Friday, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, announced that the state will proceed with a takeover of Detroit's Democratic city government. "The current system has not been working. We have not stopped the decline," said Snyder. "This is time for us not to argue or to blame, but to come together as Detroit, Mich., not Detroit vs. Michigan, and bring all of our resources to bear." Snyder may not want to point the finger, but it is obvious that decades of Democratic rule and economic policies have brought this once great city to its knees.

The Obama-Media vs. Bob Woodward

As the result of his efforts to recount the genesis, and likely effects, of sequestration, the across-the-board spending cuts slated to begin Friday, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward is getting a taste of what happens to those who challenge the Obama-Democrat-media machine.

Obama Terrorizes Public with Illegal Alien Releases

In one of the most politically despicable moves ever perpetrated by a sitting administration, federal immigration officials have released hundreds of illegal aliens from prison in anticipation of budget cuts produced by the sequester. “As fiscal uncertainty remains over the continuing resolution and possible sequestration, ICE has reviewed its detained population to ensure detention levels stay within ICE’s current budget,” said agency spokeswoman Gillian M. Christensen in a statement. Immigration officials further warned that even more releases are possible, if the anticipated cuts are realized.

Obama’s ‘Non-Profit’ Sells Political Access

Last weekend, the New York Times revealed that President Obama's campaign apparatus, Organizing for Action (OFA), has reinvented itself as a 501c 4 tax-exempt non-profit advocacy group offering access to the president in return for a large donation. "Giving or raising $500,000 or more puts donors on a national advisory board for Mr. Obama's group and the privilege of attending quarterly meetings with the president, along with other meetings at the White House," reports the Times.

Latino & Black Students Prisoners of Dem-Run L.A. Schools

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is the next school district to be examined in this multi-part series. Unfortunately, it bears a striking resemblance to all the other big-city districts in terms of lagging graduation rates, a large achievement gap, marginal grade-level competency and entrenched Democratic Party control. The one exception: it is Latino, rather than black American students, who comprise 73.4 percent of the student population. Black American students are the next largest group at 10 percent. Both groups are lagging behind their white and Asian counterparts at every turn.

Dem-Controlled Atlanta Schools Rob Minority Students of Their Futures

The Atlanta Public School system (APS) bears a strikingly depressing resemblance to all the other big city school systems chronicled in this series. Yet it does stand out in one respect: APS was the epicenter of the biggest cheating scandal in the nation. And once again, in a Democrat-controlled school district where more than eight-in-ten children are black Americans, it is those children who bear the burden of a system enmeshed in a culture of corruption and failure.