Ron Capshaw is a Senior Contributor to The Liberty Conservative from Midlothian, Va. His work has appeared in National Review, The Weekly Standard, and the American Spectator.
Among the Grassy Knoll Left, the CIA has always been the prime suspect in the JFK assassination. In their scenario, the Agency had good reason to kill the president as his supposed attempts to end the Cold War threatened the justification for their existence and the source of their sinister power. With the president who
More
When female biographers examine subjects of the same gender via traditionalist institutions (marriage, motherhood), feminists are quick to blast them for affirming the male stereotype of women writers as being unable to write about anything unconnected to a man. But such a view is a-historical when one is dealing with a subject that did not
More
A retired CIA agent was once asked what he would say to Kim Philby, an MI5 agent who spied for Joseph Stalin, if he encountered the defector in Moscow. Rather than angrily confront Philby, the American stated he would ask with considerable satisfaction, “How do you like Moscow now, Kim?” If for once Philby was
More
This week an invited speaker at a university blasted campus leftists across the nation for using violent tactics to silence the views of conservative speakers. But for once this criticism of the protesters who beat up students (along with innocent bystanders) for merely wanting to attend the speeches was not voiced by a conservative. Instead
More
There’s an old saying that has a kernel of truth to it: “That it takes a maniac to defeat a maniac.” There are exceptions to this rule as in the case of the calm and empirical Joseph Welch destroying the fanatical Joseph McCarthy with one phrase (“Have you no sense of decency?”). But more often
More
Uber-liberal Orson Welles once offered as a reason for his friendship with the equally conservative John Wayne was that the latter had “better manners” than the director’s liberal friends. There is certainly a kernel of truth in this when viewed from our vantage point. There are of course some instances where conservatives go into the
More
An enviable quote from Ernest Hemingway was that writers must put their ideology and positions on hold when sitting down at the typewriter. Otherwise, one was violating the craft. Hemingway was referring to a specific genre of writing; that of fiction. But balanced against this was George Orwell, who, with two exceptions, Animal Farm and
More
I was once startled to hear the late Christopher Hitchens support the view of President Bill Clinton-era conservatives that “character matters.” As with everything else, Hitchens used impeccable logic in defending its application to those either campaigning for or already in power. Because the candidate’s “personality” was literally created based on what characteristics played best
More
When college campus leftists use visual displays, no matter how offensive, to make political points, the administration files this under “protected free speech.” As usual though, a double standard is at work when conservative college students engage in, no matter how mild the presentation, their own form of performance art. With the usual politically correct
More
From its beginnings, academics abroad, and for a time within Germany, attacked the Nazi regime’s appeal to the uneducated, ignorant, and mindless as a reflection of those who peopled Hitler’s dictatorship in general and his inner circle in particular. This had a basis in reality, for among Heinrich Himmler, Martin Bormann, Herman Goering, it was
More
Nearing the end of his life, Christopher Hitchens no longer considered himself a Trotskyite, or even a socialist. But he never repudiated his Vietnam-era politics, and to his dying day praised the “heroic” Vietcong, despite Ho Chi Minh’s obvious Stalinist-style politics and how said politics were murderously applied after Saigon fell (Hitchens, like others in
More
Time has not been kind to the Spanish Civil War, which, among the Left at least, ranks up there with World War II as “the good war.” Russian declassified documents show that Stalin was trying to import his horrific Purge Trials into Loyalist Spain by attempting to execute en masse his Spanish opposition in the
More
Biographers of literary critic Edmund Wilson have asserted that the writer who bears the closest resemblance to Wilson, who reigned as America’s premier man of letters from the 1920s—1960s, is George Orwell. Writing of his subject, Lewis Dabney sought to validate this trans-Atlantic connection by stating that, like Wilson, Orwell was “a social critic who’d
More
As Hillary Clinton continues her “excuse” tour regarding her decisive loss to Trump, ranging from the now well-worn Russian collusion thesis to weak support from Obama during the campaign to an ineffective and shattered DNC, many Democrats have sought to acquaint her with the painful reality that she was simply a bad candidate. Such frankness,
More
It is said, cold-bloodedly, that JFK died in the most romantic and, based on what was to come for the remainder of the 1960s, fortunate way possible. For his death bathed his image in golden lights that did not cling to him while he lived, and allowed him to miss the consequences of many of
More
Once upon a time, a Republican president formulated a doctrine that had little to do with regime change, and demanded that countries previously protected by the US military look to their own defense. Quickly into his first term, then-President Richard Nixon in 1969 announced “the Nixon Doctrine” which asserted that the nation’s Cold War allies
More
Before Congressional exposure and curtailment of CIA operations into the domestic affairs of foreign countries, in the form of the Church Committee hearings in 1975, the Agency in the Eisenhower and Kennedy eras specialized in engineering and/or directing coups that toppled Soviet-friendly governments. With a mere radio station, the CIA was able to topple Jacobo
More
One of the more transparently manipulative and hypocritical slogans used by Western Communist Parties in the mid 1930s to recruit allies for Stalin was specifically designed for Catholics: “You can still take Communion and love the Soviet Union.” Graham Greene, novelist, pundit, and above all, Catholic, embodied this slogan. Indeed, Greene’s attempts to link Catholicism
More
Conservatives today locate the origins of the “mainstream media” in the Watergate and Vietnam era; when every reporter since has wanted to have the presidency-toppling effect of a Woodward and Bernstein. But from Watergate on, the presidencies that reporters have wanted toppled have been exclusively Republican ones. Much of this partisanship had to do with
More
Once upon a time when professors, no matter how homicidal their statements, or writings, or today, their tweets, could always avoid career trouble by hiding behind the tried-and-true protection of claiming their comments were “satirical.” And college administrations, composed of former professors, often closed ranks behind one of their own, particularly if the professor was
More
Anthony Burgess’ disturbing dystopia, A Clockwork Orange, has been lauded by liberals as exhibit A in how society is to blame for criminals. His thrill-seeking murderer Alex, upon being “cured” of his homicidal tendencies is abused by society when he re-surfaces into the real world. For him to “cope” with this criminal society, the process
More
Roy Marcus Cohn was the chief hatchet man for Senator Joseph McCarthy, and he went even further than the Senator in practicing thuggish and unprincipled tactics. Because of such behavior, Cohn had drawn the wrath of both right and left. For conservatives, Cohn, with his bullying and baseless methods, damaged the cause of anti-Communism for
More
In the film version of George Orwell’s book Keep The Aspidistra Flying, the main character, a struggling writer, assumes correctly that because a benefactor of writers is wealthy, said benefactor is therefore a communist. This assumption was very much a reality in the upper class intellectual world of 1930s Britain. For it was not only
More
A form of leftist tyranny in the age of Trump is to adopt and practice the popular slogan of African-American activists, “no justice no peace,” by so-called anti-Fascist groups organized against Trump’s “fascism.” To their credit, African-American activists usually, but not always, organize around this slogan to protest actual events, frequently involving alleged wrongdoing committed
More
Conspiracy theory provides comfort for those who cannot accept that real life is uncontrollable, and supplies them with the notion that evil, powerful people assassinate those who threaten their power. It also allows them ready-made defenses when investigations provide no hard evidence for their scenarios; they claim that the very absence of corroborating truth for
More
George Orwell’s devastating satire on Stalinism, Animal Farm remains even 72 years later, along with Nineteen Eighty-Four, the gold standard for totalitarian literature. But Orwell’s classic novel which established the phrase “Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others” nearly didn’t secure a publisher, who based their rejections not on the quality of the book, but
More
While Democrats expend all of their firepower in trying to establish collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, a Virginia woman has been quietly performing the “duty” Democrats claim they organize for–giving voice to the repressed. The duty in question concerns a Virginia woman’s efforts in finding defectors from Stalinist North Korea and giving them
More
While Democrats feverishly attempt to link the Trump campaign with Russia, there is actual proof that the Clinton campaign had its own unsavory ties to Russia by peddling disinformation planted by Moscow. The disinformation in question concerns sources in Russia telling a former British spy named Christopher Steele that the Trump campaign aided the effort
More
A Columbia professor is castigating one of the academic left’s most cherished concepts: that of “white privilege,” according to The Atlantic. In a period where professors and minority students wield this term–designed to create guilt for the so-called “privileged,” to shut down debate–Columbia Professor and African-American John McWhorter appeared at the Aspen Ideas Conference on
More
Exorcisms, claimed by its practitioners to save the lives of those inhabited by “demons,” are causing the deaths of those seeking psychological help via religion. Nevertheless, the Vatican is taking possession seriously. The métier of the exorcism ceremony does not confine itself to sprinkling holy water on the “possessed,” or shouting Bible verses at them,
More
Like his beloved Clintons, Dan Rather refuses to go away in shame. This venerable dean of the mainstream media clearly has no shame or awareness of his liberal bias (he once told then-employee Peggy Noonan that he was a centrist), evidenced by his recent return to his familiar role of bashing Republicans and carrying water
More
Omitted from leftist narratives as to why those of their own defected to the anti-Communist side is how a single murder provoked the defection. Instead pro-Communists and “anti-anti-Communists” assign base motives to these supposedly mentally unstable drunks such as a desire for the latter to line their pockets and for a new appreciation of fascism.
More
Political correctness is so rampant and inconsistent that its issues frequently clash, and progressive groups are forced to choose between which issue to champion and which one to betray. For members who do not agree with their group’s prioritizing one cause over another and choose defend the cause their comrades have left in the dust
More
Even the reliably red-state Texas is being subjected to insane diversity battles at its colleges. A case in point occurred at Texas A&M University, with the focus of the debate concerning a retreat designed to provide a “support system” for incoming freshmen. The location of the retreat, Fish Camp, has since time immemorial been organized
More
Disgruntled Democrats have blamed Hillary Clinton’s decisive election loss to Russian hacking, and, among other reasons, on FBI Director James Comey. But Jon Svitavsky blames Clinton’s Democratic challenger during the primaries, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for Trump’s victory. “I hold him absolutely, centrally responsible for Donald Trump being president,” Svitavsky said. Svitavsky, a Clinton supporter whose
More
True to form, North Korea yet again used July 4 to fire a missile, but this time it was more alarming and effective than merely sputtering and dropping into the ocean. This week, the missile test showed that the communist regime can, as threatened, hit the US mainland with a nuclear bomb. David Wright, a
More
One of the key components, perhaps the paramount one, for Jeffersonians advocating for power to reside in state and local governments rather than the federal one, was that the former was within the protesting reach of citizens; and thus could be subjected to popular pressure when said citizens felt their elected officials were not representing
More
Rather than seeking to understand the constituency behind Donald Trump’s popularity, then-candidate Hillary Clinton instead dismissed them as the “deplorables.” But her husband, who–whatever one says about Bill Clinton–is probably the most astute politician today, was not so dismissive, and blamed Obama for ignoring the “white working class for eight years.” Amazingly, given academia’s far
More
Canadian-born Omar Khadr was captured in 2002 while fighting American soldiers with the Taliban in Afghanistan, and later plead guilty to murdering Sergeant First Class Christopher Speer with a grenade before an American military court in 2010. For his crimes, he was enriched by the Canadian government on Jul. 5 in the form of $10.5
More
When I was growing up in probably the reddest of red states, Texas, it was as easy to spot someone from Austin as it was to spot an NRA member, whose concealed handguns forced one to rely on their conversation rather than whether they were packing or not. Within one minute, it was apparent where
More
Once upon a time, far-left professors responded to those who called them “Marxists” with the dread charge of McCarthyism; a buzzword whose encoded meaning was that the charges against said professors were baseless. Meanwhile, these same academics openly advocated for the very collectivism they were accused of promoting. But that was then. Today, leftist academics
More
To this day, anti-anti-communists from the Cold War period and their tenured academic counterparts scoff at the idea that Soviet communists liquidated their American agents on US soil. While grudgingly admitting that Stalin did carry out wet work against those who dared to oppose him (I’ve heard professors actually defend it), they argue that such
More
In an example confirming why conservatives and libertarians fight back against Democratic attempts to control the Internet, the communist dictatorship of Vietnam is cracking down on and even jailing those who use social media. The reason is that dissidents in the Stalinist-style country are using the Internet as a meeting place of sorts to organize
More
Conservatives routinely attack millennial leftists for getting their political knowledge from twitter or the Daily Show rather than actually reading a book. This perception is validated with the “reviews” of Harrison Lievesley’s book “Why Socialism Works,” posted on Amazon. Obvious lefties have praised the work in gushing terms. One called it a “gripping account of
More
In yet another example of Democrats’ troubling views toward free speech, the governor of a traditionally red state killed a Republican-sponsored bill designed to deal with First Amendment violations on college campuses by anti-Trump protesters. Amazingly, the Democratic Governor of Louisiana, John Bell Edwards, vetoed the bill protecting free speech on campuses because he said
More
Back in January, a two-word phrase uttered by Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway gave George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four its biggest sales boost in years. In response to White House secretary Sean Spicer’s assertion that, contrary to the mainstream media’s head-count, citizens who attended the Trump swearing-in represented the “largest audience” ever to appear at an inauguration, Conway
More
Despite condemnations from liberals, Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson asserted on his program, “Tucker Carlson Tonight”, on Friday, that liberal comedian Kathy Griffin represents “the perfect embodiment of what the modern left believes.” Griffin recently came under fire for posing in a picture in which she held up a replica of the bloodied severed head
More
In the film The Contender, a liberal female politician who is undergoing a bruising confirmation hearing for a position in the president’s cabinet, uses the blacklist as an example as to why she won’t answer questions from Congress about her sex life. In true Atticus Finch fashion, she instructs a young hothead who wants her to
More
A Middle Eastern country is banning the new film Wonder Woman, but not because the film is about a feminist icon who battles criminals like her male counterparts, Superman and Batman. The ban from Lebanon, which was put in place a mere two hours before the film was to appear on movie screens in the country,
More
During his time as a Nation columnist, Christopher Hitchens reported noticing that some staff members considered Joe McCarthy a bigger menace than Josef Stalin. Such views implied a support of purges and murders if committed by the “right side” as opposed to mere Congressional inquiries, that, however brow-beating, did not kill anyone. But the politically
More