| | | |  | Friday Apr. 7, 2017 10:33 am |
RealClear Originals Your weekly roundup of the best original content from RealClear Media Group. |
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Welcome to RealClearOriginals – our best content of the week.
The week ends with President Trump ordering a missile strike in Syria in response to that government’s chemical weapons attack on civilians.
“It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and ignored the urging of the U.N. Security Council,” Trump said.
RealClearPolitics’ Alexis Simendinger reports Trump is grappling with events in Syria and North Korea, “reacting to global threats while also conceding publicly that his views have changed in the wake of recent events.”
It’s been a busy news week. Further down Pennsylvania Avenue, in the U.S. Capitol, Judge Neil Gorsuch is expected to be confirmed to the Supreme Court today following the Senate’s “nuclear option” vote to ensure his success.
RealClearPolitics’ James Arkin writes on Republicans’ removal of the filibuster Thursday, changing the approval threshold from 60 votes to 51. “It was a blockbuster moment, marking a significant change in the way the upper chamber functions, with far-reaching implications on the future of the Senate and the Supreme Court. Yet it was done in typical Senate style: a series of small procedural motions and roll-call votes.”
At RealClearPolicy John R. Lott, Jr., president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, digs into the new role courts play in the United States: “Courts are increasingly prone to act like legislative bodies, effectively rewriting the law.”
Our “The First 100 Days” podcast examined the role Gorsuch will play on the court. RCP Bureau Chief Carl Cannon spoke with former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle about the role of the filibuster in the Senate. RealClearPolicy Editor Tony Mills talked with the Hoover Institution’s Adam White about the future makeup of the third branch of government.
“If only 51 votes is now required I can see radical – far more consequentially radical – left and right candidates getting on the court and further polarizing the process of judicial review going forward. And I think that would be just a disaster,” Daschle said.
President Trump, meanwhile, finished out the week holding his first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two men are meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago retreat in Palm Beach, Florida.
At RealClearWorld, Harry Kazianis, director of Defense Studies at The Center for the National Interest, cites six reasons China and the United States may be creeping toward a confrontation.
Topics Du Jour
Trump’s job approval is at -12.8 points in the RealClearPolitics Average.
RealClearWorld is also tracking polls in the French presidential election. Emmanuel Macron leads Marine Le Pen 24.9 percent to 24.6 percent.
The first round of voting in France takes place on Sunday, April 23.
Polling in the race continues to swing back and forth. At RealClearWorld, Robert Zaretsky writes that “since January, French presidential polls have resembled an electrocardiogram with one node attached to a terminal patient and the other to a newborn. While some of the arcs are tracing the demise of one political system, others track the birth of another. Where these arcs eventually plateau remains to be seen, but they suggest that the Fifth Republic, created nearly 60 years ago, may not reach its 70th anniversary.”
Anders Agner Pedersen, the editor in chief of Kongressen.com, a Danish online media specialized in American politics, writes in RealClearPolitics about the French election: “Right now, the politician most likely to replace Francois Hollande in Elysee Palace is not the famous far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen, the leader of Front National. It is the man who more than a few times has been referred to as the French version of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Emmanuel Macron is 39 years old, charismatic, well-spoken, good-looking—and running as an independent. Running unaligned possibly leaves him in a position to capitalize on both the anti-establishment sentiment sweeping the West and those who find Le Pen too extreme.”
And at RealClearDefense Matthew Wein, a former policy advisor to the Department of Homeland Security, worries that Trump’s call for a nearly 30% reduction in funding for the State Department could hurt national security.
In Other Originals
At RealClearEducation Christopher T. Cross, a former Republican staff director of the House Education Committee, argues the Department of Education needs to widen its scope and include a Department of Lifelong Learning and Career Development.
RealClearMarkets Editor John Tamny examines the history of oil prices and notes: “More than either side of the ideological divide is willing to admit, or comprehend, the price of oil is most driven by the value of the dollar. When it’s weak oil is nominally expensive, when it’s strong, oil is nominally cheap. When the dollar is stable, history is very clear that oil’s price is too.”
At RealClearDefense Jessica “Zhanna” Malekos Smith, an M.A. candidate at King’s College London, Department of War Studies, analyzes the study of war, writing it is “a powerful concept which serves as a guidepost for future generations in understanding the evolution of conflict
Golf fans have been tracking the first rounds of the Masters Tournament, particularly after Dustin Johnson’s bizarre injury and exit. The guys at RealClearSports looked at the Top 10 Masters Contenders of 2017.
At RealClearBooks, historian Nicholas Evan Sarantakes has a review of David Cannadine’s new book, "Margaret Thatcher: A Life and Legacy.” Sarantakes calls it “a good introduction to the ‘iron lady’ for foreign readers not versed in British politics.”
RealClearLife has a fun piece on how history’s coolest spy gadgets drive consumer tech innovation.
Can technology be applied to the human body? At RealClearScience, Rob Tracinski looks at the future of human augmentation.
Finally some good news for french fry lovers: RealClearScience’s Ross Pomeroy looks at how the potato may be more of a “superfood” than kale. |
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