Author: Kelly Sloan

Kelly Sloan As I undertake the exceedingly bold and presumptuous exercise of correcting one of my economic heroes, Dr. Art Laffer, I am reminded of how my journalistic hero, William F. Buckley jr., started off his famous debate with my political hero, Ronald Reagan, in 1979 over the Panama Canal treaty. Said Mr. Buckley, “If…

Kelly Sloan A day after the military geniuses who make up Hamas tried blowing up one of their own hospitals with a failed rocket launch, then tried blaming it on Israel – a lie dutifully picked up by much of the international press – President Joe Biden landed in Tel Aviv. Now, I have always endeavored in…

Kelly Sloan Concerning the war in Israel, a few observations: 1. The word “unprecedented” has been thrown around a lot describing Hamas’ barbaric attack, and this time at least the word is being used (mostly) correctly. At least two, perhaps three generations now have grown up with reports of Middle East violence, particularly those centered…

Kelly Sloan Well, Rep. Matt Gaetz got what he wanted, whatever the hell that is. Speaker Kevin McCarthy is out, there is no clear favorite to replace him, ergo the U.S. House of Representatives has no functional speaker, and chaos generally reigns. The French Jacobins and Russian Bolsheviks must be looking up from hell with…

Kelly Sloan New Jersey U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez pleaded not guilty this week to federal corruption and bribery charges, a week after the indictment fell on him. In case you missed it, or mistook the reporting of it as a synopsis of a particularly outlandish Hollywood crime/scandal drama, the senator from New Jersey is accused…

Kelly Sloan Last week was a banner one for Colorado’s Mesa County. The 32nd annual Colorado Mountain Winefest was held Saturday in Palisade’s beautiful Riverbend Park. By all accounts it was a glowing success. The official figures are impressive: more than 5,000 attendees from 40 states and five countries, sampling the wares of more than…

Kelly Sloan Ken Buck is a hard man to categorize. A founding member of the Freedom Caucus and author of a book called “Draining the Swamp,” the staunch fiscal conservative has been known at times to oscillate between flirtation with the fringes of the GOP and being the voice of remarkably measured reason. His defense,…

Kelly Sloan We seem to be inching closer and closer to the time when actual voting becomes just an archaic gesture, a symbolic relic of secondary importance in the conduct of elections, which will have evolved from democratic exercises to legal jousting matches. Democracy, by nature, has always been messy and always will be, but…

Kelly Sloan There is a temptation when great men pass to assign a sort of existential meaning to that which they represented by way of comparison with their contemporaries. James Lane Buckley, brother of the more famous Buckley (William F.), died last week at the age of 100, granting us occasion to not only mourn…

Kelly Sloan The first Republican Presidential Primary debate, held in Milwaukee this week, was somewhat overshadowed by three things: internationally, by the entirely-coincidental demise of Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin near the Moscow his forces nearly invaded not so long ago; domestically by the impending surrender of Donald Trump to Georgia authorities regarding the RICO…