William McGurn
Latest Articles
A friend in Jesus: New York's new Catholic PAC
Edward Cardinal Egan’s funeral Mass at St. Patrick’s on Tuesday was celebrated amid scaffolding stretching from floor to ceiling. The cathedral is in the midst of an overhaul aimed at...
The Reagan alternative to Obama's Iran deal
Take down Bashar al-Assad. That’s the short answer to the question President Obama put to Benjamin Netanyahu after the latter’s address to Congress. If you don’t like a US nuclear...
Snow(den) blind: Libertarians' telling 'hero'
From time to time in American life, the federal government’s overreach creates the circumstances for a populist libertarian critique that ends up taking the form of a campaign for the...
The Bush trap: A Republican foreign policy
For most folks, a family problem means an in-law problem. Not Jeb Bush. Jeb’s problem is his father and his brother. If he’s to be elected president, he has to...
Brian and Barack: Lies, damned lies, and journalism
The most telling point about David Axelrod’s revelation that Barack Obama fibbed about his position on marriage to get himself elected is not what it says about politics or even...
O Jerusalem! Making Israel a wedge issue
If Ron Dermer didn’t exist, New York Times columnist Tom Friedman would have to invent him. The Miami-born Dermer is Israel’s envoy to the United States. Before that, he was...
Christian Sniper: Theologian Bill Maher weighs in
What is it about “American Sniper” that is bringing out the inner theologian in its critics? The Right Rev. Bill Maher says Chris Kyle’s talk about hating the “damn savages”...
The 'Silver' lining in Shelly's fall: The biggest winners? Schoolkids
When Preet Bharara dispatched those FBI agents to arrest Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on charges of corruption, he didn’t have fixing New York’s schools on his mind. But it may...
Tocqueville v. terror: The limits of French secularism
Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, Laicité. The first three words, with their roots in Robespierre, officially constitute the national motto of France. Unofficially, the French have added the fourth — laïcité —...
De Blasio’s cop-out
So it’s come to this: On the weekend New York City buries another of its Finest, Detective Wenjian Liu, the focus is on the mayor — and whether police officers...
On the second day of Christmas
On the first day of Christmas, we celebrate the birth of a child. On the second day of Christmas, we learn if the message took. At its core, the story...
Death and torture: Tossing principle to the wind
In the campaign against the death penalty, the most powerful argument is also the most principled: In a society with the means to keep dangerous people from harming innocents, the...
Tortured tantrums: Feinstein's fake fury
Angus King raises an excellent point about torture. It’s just not the point he probably intended. This week on CNN, Maine’s Independent senator was asked about the Senate Democrats’ release...
From Fat Albert to the Rev. Al: All the enablers
For Bill Cosby, the hits just keep coming. Three more women have now accused the comedian of having drugged them or sexually assaulted them or both. Their attorney, feminist lawyer...
Embassy row: How Obama can show he has Israel's back
If this is Friday, it might be time for another executive order. Just happens there’s a decent one handy: a directive ordering the US Embassy in Tel Aviv relocated to...
Obama's shamelessly cynical record on immigration
Forget President Obama’s prime-time address. Carly Fiorina had his number on “Meet the Press” this past Sunday. And it tells you all you need to know about the failure of...
The gallant Marine: Happy birthday, Corps!
All my life I have known Marines. I was born on a Marine base to a Marine lieutenant. My college roommate’s dad was a Marine who fought in Korea, and...
Keystone Korps: The farce of the White House press
Is the White House press corps obsolete? Today its members are restless, grumbling about an Obama White House that claims to be the most transparent ever. From big issues such...
Tale of two women: One Republican, One Democrat
This is a tale of two women politicians. One is a Republican running in “blue” New York. Her name is Elise Stefanik, a Harvard alum who served in the Bush...
Who’s afraid of hedge funds? The folks with a vested interest in failed schools
It’s the first rule of life in the progressive city: Offer a product that succeeds where the government model has failed, and sooner or later you’ll find yourself labeled an...