Increasing public safety almost always means restricting liberties.

When a party is in opposition, it opposes. That's its job. But when it comes to power, it must govern. Easy rhetoric is over, the press of reality becomes irresistible. By necessity, it adopts some of the policies it had once denounced. And a new national consensus is born.

This week, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels seized control of the Yemeni government, heretofore pro-American. In September, they overran Sanaa, the capital. On Tuesday, they seized the presidential palace. On Thursday, they forced the president to resign.

Guerrilla war is a test of wills. Obama's actual objectives - rollback in Iraq, containment in Syria - are not unreasonable. But they require commitment and determination. In other words, will. You can't just make one speech declaring war, then disappear and go fundraising.

There's a reason why in New York Harbor we have the Statue of Liberty, not the Statue of Equality.

Science has everything to say about what is possible. Science has nothing to say about what is permissible.

In reality, Kyoto was a huge transfer of resources from the United States to the Third World, under the guise of environmental protection.