Straight From The Hart

Here are some recent news stories you might have missed among all the larger controversies in the news. Last week a small group of students calling themselves the Associated Students of University of California, Irvine, passed a Resolution banning national flags from display on the campus because the flags “serve as symbols of patriotism or weapons for nationalism.” They went on to say the flags “also construct cultural mythologies and narratives that in turn charge nationalistic sentiments” whatever that means. Other ridiculous statements made by those opposed to flying our flag included statements that the American flag has been flown in times of “colonialism and imperialism” and could symbolize American “exceptionalism and superiority”. Well, I should hope so. Our flag was flown by our colonies after winning a war against the imperialism of England. And as for symbolizing American exceptionalism and superiority, that’s exactly why we fly it. We are an exceptional country

Here is my column as it appeared in today"s LDR: In his eulogy for Missouri State Auditor Thomas Schweich on March 3, Senator John Danforth looked out over the large crowd attending the funeral service, which included many politicians, and stated bluntly, “Politics as it now exists must end. We are fed up.” Earlier in the eulogy, Danforth, who had been Schweich’s mentor, blamed the auditors’ death on ”a low point in politics that have gone so hideously wrong”. He was referring to the rumors and innuendos that had been swirling around the halls of the State Capitol Building in Jefferson City for weeks that Schweich was a Jew and therefore could not win a gubernatorial election. Schweich had become very disturbed about what he called a “whispering campaign” to that effect, including an anonymous third-party TV commercial that mocked the Auditor, who had recently announced his candidacy for the office of Governor of Missouri. Schweich died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot

We were having some problems with our television earlier this week. When I turned it on, I could detect a faint odor. After checking the obvious - wiring, electrical plug-ins, and so on, I conducted a more in-depth investigation because the odor was getting stronger and more offensive every time I turned it on. Then I noticed something really interesting. I was only smelling it when the news came on and it dawned on me that the odor became more obnoxious when Hillary Clinton appeared on my screen. Kind of a fishy smell, you know? So I guess you know by now where I”m coming from. Have you all been keeping up with this story? It’s only the latest in a series of Clinton scandals over the past thirty years, but this one is really big. And no, I’m not talking about the painting of Bill Clinton hanging in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington and depicting a shadow of Monica Lewinsky’s famous blue dress on the mantel against which Bill is leaning. But t

Lois Lerner’s long-lost emails turned up this week, about 32,000 of them. The committee investigating her involvement in the IRS scandal had made numerous requests for them and the IRS director had testified under oath that they were irretrievably lost, and could never be found. Even the hard drive had been destroyed. And her Blackberry phone which she used to conduct business was also broken. Strange. But not nearly as strange as how this story began in the first place. It was the closing session of the annual meeting of the American Bar Association’s tax section on May 14, 2013. The meeting room at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C. was filled with lawyers. Lois Lerner, Director of the IRS’ tax-exempt organizations division, had just finished her prepared remarks when she was asked a question from the floor. The questioner was Celia Roady, one of the tax lawyers in attendance. Her question surprised everyone there. She said she had heard there were some concerns