Iran Demands Reparations

Iran is now demanding reparations from the United States. The Iranian parliament yesterday voted 174-to-7 in favor of legislation seeking compensation for "spiritual and material damage" caused by U.S. policies over the past 63 years.

According to Majid Ansari, Iran's vice president for Parliamentary Affairs, Iranian courts have issued judgments of at least $50 billion against the United States.

This may seem laughable at first, but why wouldn't Iran make such a demand?

The Iranians watched as Obama made one concession after another during the nuclear negotiations. It has seen the administration cover up what was done to our sailors.

They watched as Secretary of State Kerry went to Europe to browbeat banks into investing in Iran. They have seen the administration retreat from its threats to punish Iran's ballistic missile tests.

Why not ask for reparations? At this point Iran may as well demand our surrender. They might get it.

Target Tanks

Target reported quarterly earnings today in what is admittedly a challenging retail environment. But, coincidentally or not, just as men started flying into ladies changing rooms at Target stores, profits started flying out the window. The company's stock has fallen significantly in the past month.

I'm not suggesting a causal effect, but I doubt Target's progressive social policies have won any new customers. Talk about niche markets -- how many transgender shoppers are there? Clearly it has cost them an unidentified number of previous customers.

In order to deal with the situation, Target will likely fire employees instead of rethinking how much of an unwelcoming atmosphere it has created for women and young girls who previously shopped there.

Peak Insanity? Not Yet

Just when you think we have reached peak insanity, it gets worse. The New York City Commission on Human Rights is now proposing to fine individuals and businesses who do not use the preferred pronouns of some "gender non-conforming people."

Evidently, some gender non-conformists prefer to use pronouns such as "ze" and "hir." Seriously. I'm really not making this gibberish up.

As one law professor notes, the government is now trying to force us "to say what they want us to say, whether or not we want to endorse the political message associated with that term, and whether or not we think it's a lie."

Like Big Government? Try Flying

Any voter who still thinks big government works should go to any major U.S. airport in the country. As you have probably heard, our airports have turned into make-shift homeless shelters for stranded passengers.

Passengers are sleeping in terminals because the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has been caught flatfooted by the fact that air traffic goes up in the spring and summer. Lines at O'Hare have been two to three hours long. Reagan National Airport here in Washington, D.C., is experiencing long delays.

It has been fifteen years since 9/11 and I don't recall a comparable period of time when security reviews clogged up the system because of a failure to manage manpower.

Obama has railed against the airline industry for baggage policies, sitting on runways too long without letting passengers get off, too many late flights, etc. As we know, the president thinks he knows best how to run airlines, drug companies, coal companies, hospitals, banks, car companies, you name it.

But he and his appointees are unable to do the simple things that have been done in past years -- hire enough TSA employees to get people through security in less time than the flight they are trying to take!

Battle In The Bluegrass State

The contentious contest between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders continued yesterday as Democrat voters cast ballots in Kentucky and Oregon.

As expected, left-coast voters in Oregon handed Sanders a clear win -- 55%-to-45%. In fact, Clinton didn't really contest the state.

The real battle took place in Kentucky, where the Sanders campaign hoped it could replicate his upset win in neighboring West Virginia. But the Clinton campaign drew a line in the sand and vowed to fight for the Bluegrass State.

It poured resources into Kentucky, outspending Sanders on ads, and Hillary made nearly a dozen campaign appearances in the past two weeks. In the end, it paid off -- sort of.

Clinton declared victory last night (46.8% to 46.3%), even though she currently clings to a lead of fewer than 2,000 votes. But her win is significantly less impressive compared to 2008.

Eight years ago, Clinton beat Barack Obama by 36 points, winning more than 459,000 votes. Last night, she barely eked out a win with just over 212,000 votes. In other words, she lost more votes than she won.

Trump's Judges

This afternoon, Donald Trump released a list of 11 individuals he would consider as replacements for Justice Antonin Scalia. Trump praised Scalia as "a remarkable person and a brilliant Supreme Court Justice," and suggested he would appoint judges who share his constitutional principles.

We will look into their backgrounds more thoroughly in the days ahead, but a quick review of the individuals Trump put forward today indicates that they would likely be solid conservatives.