Encounter Broadsides

George W. Bush's presidency was poisoned by a lack of human source intelligence on 9/11, Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. Carter was humiliated by the hostage crisis in Iran. The Bay of Pigs was President Kennedy's greatest blunder. Vietnam ended the Johnson presidency and Korea ended Truman's. In each case, American blood and treasure were spent; and in each case, a lack of reliable intelligence played a great role. CIA officers are, needless...

This Broadside will look at the changes that can be made to halt the full implementation of the law over the next few years, including repealing parts of the act that are unpopular with members of both parties. These parts are the medical device tax, IPAB, the new 3.8 percent tax on unearned income, to name a few. Also covered will be potential reforms to Medicare and Medicaid, two major entitlement programs that, if not reformed to ensure sustainability...

In only one year, Obama has saddled Americans with a skyrocketing deficit that will leave future generations deeply in debt; a health-care plan that prescribes a cure worse than the illness; catastrophically expensive environmental schemes; and a foreign policy that appeases enemies and punishes friends. In this frank and insightful Broadside, Joshua Muravchikanalyzes these and Obama's other misguided efforts to "fundamentally transform" America during...

Public-sector employees enjoy much more generous pay and benefit packages than private-sector workers, including guaranteed pensions and retiree health benefits whose long-term costs threaten to break the backs of state and local taxpayers. In this provocative Broadside, E. J. McMahon explains how the policies of the Obama administration have shielded most state and local government employees from the worst effects of the Great Recession. President...

An essential volume of essays commissioned by the American Spectator and edited by the philosopher Roger Scruton, Liberty and Civilization examines the intellectual and spiritual traditions of our belief in individual liberty, from its Judeo Christian origins on through Enlightenment philosophy. As we are confronted by belligerent atheism at home and jihadist Islam abroad, Liberty and Civilization is an invaluable tool for understanding why it is...

Understanding the role of combat in the Iraq war is essential for both the American people and the U. S. military. Recognizing the objectives of both sides and the plans developed to attain those objectives provides the context for understanding the war. The Surge is an effort to provide such a framework to help understand not only where we have been, but also what happens as we move forward.

As 2018 ended, an orchestrated propaganda campaign paralyzed U.S. foreign policy. The trigger was the killing in Istanbul of Jamal Khashoggi, a member of Saudi Arabia's wealthy and politically powerful oligarchy. Mainstream media and misguided, melodramatic politicians hoodwinked millions by portraying Khashoggi as a martyr for press freedom and democracy. The real Khashoggi was nothing of the sort. President Trump's efforts to restore realism to...

In January 2015, Muslim terrorists massacred cartoonists and writers at the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, proclaiming to be avenging Islam's prophet. The rampage, which included the murders of hostages at a kosher market, prompted global leaders and throngs of citizens to rally in support of free expression. But was the support genuine? In this Broadside, Andrew C. McCarthy explains how leading Islamists have sought to supplant...

America is suffering from two public health crises. One is caused by a virus. The other, a brutal economic shutdown, is something we have brought on ourselves. Both the virus and the shutdown are deadly. But many more Americans will likely die from getting laid off than from the virus. The shutdown wasn't caused by the virus. It was a frantic response to America's unpreparedness. For more than two decades, a dozen official reports sounded the alarm....

The terms Front-Row Kids and Back-Row Kids, coined by the photographer Chris Arnade, describe the divide between the educated upper middle class, who are staying ahead in today's economy, and the less educated working class, who are doing poorly. The differences in education-and the values associated with elite schooling-have produced a divide in America that is on a par with that of race. The judiciary, requiring a postgraduate degree, is the one...