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Isn't the existence of "radical mosques" in America the problem? Nicholas Kristof is concerned that Cong. Peter King's hearings into radicalization in the American Muslim community will cause Muslims, particularly in the "more radical mosques," to feel that people are "picking on" them. View video here.

Q. Can a Harvard Phi Beta Kappa and Rhodes Scholar, who has traveled to 150 countries and speaks Arabic, Chinese and Japanese, be hopelessly naive about foreign policy? A. Ever read one of Nicholas Kristof's columns? For the trendy liberals of the New York Times, most any big event becomes fodder for that favorite progressive parlor game: putting America down. Take Egypt. Yesterday, we noted how Bob Herbert compared American democracy unfavorably with that supposedly flourishing on the banks of the Nile. Today brings us Kristof's "What Egypt Can Teach America." Naturally, we have a lot to learn, starting with...

Since the tragedy in Tucson, the New York Times has started an all-out campaign for gun control, with a relentless number of pieces -- news, editorials, and op-eds. In its advocacy, even the news stories are heavily biased by selectively quoting only academics who support pro-gun control positions. These seemingly unbiased sources are then contrasted with opposing views from clearly biased people on the other side, such as an NRA spokesman or a right-wing politician. The implied conclusion: scientific evidence favors gun control, but self-interest stands in the way. Take two recent news stories by Michael Luo (here and here)....

You might have thought that Mike Bloomberg—with his trans fat and smokes snatching—was the epitome of nanny staters. But the Big Apple mayor's got nothing on another New Yorker--Nicholas Kristof. In his New York Times column of today, Equality, A True Soul Food, Kristof preaches the urgent need for income redistribution as a means of . . . improving our souls. According to Kristof, "the toll of our stunning inequality is not just economic but also is a melancholy of the soul." And hey: what says soul improvement more than . . . raising taxes?! More excerpts and analysis after...

Today, Rush Limbaugh mentioned Barack Obama's recitation of the Muslim call to prayer. Here is my article which first appeared on February 27, 2009 -- at the Grand Old Partisan blog, on the actual two-year anniversary of Obama's interview with Nicholas Kristof at The New York Times. On this day [February 27] in 2007, Barack Obama said the Muslim call to prayer is "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth." In an interview with The New York Times, Senator Obama recited, "with a first-class [Arabic] accent," the opening lines of this prayer:

There’s an ugly secret of global poverty, one rarely acknowledged by aid groups or U.N. reports. It’s a blunt truth that is politically incorrect, heartbreaking, frustrating and ubiquitous: It’s that if the poorest families spent as much money educating their children as they do on wine, cigarettes and prostitutes, their children’s prospects would be transformed. Much suffering is caused not only by low incomes, but also by shortsighted private spending decisions by heads of households. That probably sounds sanctimonious, haughty and callous, but it’s been on my mind while traveling through central Africa with a college student on my annual...

... A mountain of research points to a central lesson: Pry your kids away from the keyboard and the television this summer, and get them reading. Let me help by offering my list of the Best Children’s Books — Ever! So here they are, in ascending order of difficulty, and I can vouch that these are also great to read aloud. 1. “Charlotte’s Web.” The story of the spider who saves her friend, the pig, is the kindest representation of an arthropod in literary history. 2. The Hardy Boys series. Yes, I hear the snickers. But I devoured them myself...

Hey Kristof... You're Late! Posted in: Gerald A. Honigman By Gerald A. Honigman Monday, March 23, 2009 While The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof is no stranger to these positions throughout the year, he frequently comes out with his gems of Middle East wisdom right around Bike Week here in Daytona Beach, Florida, when tens of thousands of Harley enthusiasts arrive to also spread their hot air exhaust around town. This year Nick was a few weeks late. Like others of his ilk--Thomas Friedman (better of late), David Ignatius, Richard Cohen, just to name a few, who are also obsessed...

The Darfur conflict has now lasted longer than World War II, but this year could be a turning point — provided that President Obama shows leadership and that the world backs up the International Criminal Court’s expected arrest warrant for Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir. The stakes are evident in this little market town of Dogdoré, whose normal population of just a few thousand has swelled to 28,000 desperate, fearful people driven from smaller villages. They don’t think it’s safe here, but they find some reassurance in numbers — and leaving town isn’t an option, either, because flying out from...

Ever wonder how financial experts could lead the world over the economic cliff? One explanation is that so-called experts turn out to be, in many situations, a stunningly poor source of expertise. There’s evidence that what matters in making a sound forecast or decision isn’t so much knowledge or experience as good judgment — or, to be more precise, the way a person’s mind works. More on that in a moment. First, let’s acknowledge that even very smart people allow themselves to be buffaloed by an apparent “expert” on occasion. The best example of the awe that an “expert” inspires...

At last a prominent liberal has admitted what most of us already knew: that liberals may love to have the government spend your money on their favorite causes, but they are tightwads when it comes to giving their own money – or even their own time to charities. Once again another study affirms that conservatives give more money and time to charitable causes than do liberals. This fact has become known despite the predilection of many Hollywood liberals to hire public relations staffs to publicize their “good deeds” in Sunday magazines like “Parade” and “USA Weekend”. Now if only some...

Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated..., Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset."

It was just another ho-hum piece by another liberal columnist. Hillary Clinton should get out now because staying in hurts Barack Obama against McCain. Yada yada yada. But in his column of today, Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times, almost in passing, makes what is, on reflection, a telling disclosure of what is truly the fundamental value, the uniting principle of the Democratic party: abortion. After first fretting that many Hillary supporters will sit on their hands or vote for McCain, Kristof offers this countervailing fact: "It’s true that most of Senator Clinton’s supporters presumably will flinch if they...

FOR A FEW FLEETING moments Monday night--what should have been vivid and affecting moments--television coverage of President Bush's final State of the Union address fastened on the image of a mother and daughter from Moshi, Tanzania. They sat, their faces alive with hope, in the first lady's box seats. Viewers were not told, and no one seemed inclined to tell them, that Tatu Msangi and her daughter Faith quite literally owe their lives to the Bush administration. After Msangi became pregnant, she went to a clinic at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center and learned she was HIV-positive. Five years ago...

"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo comic strip, 1971 Nicholas Kristof has apparently embraced the Walt Kelly view of America. When it comes to the war in Iraq, the only evildoers the New York Times columnist seems to see are Americans. At the foot of his pay-to-play of column of January 23rd, Kristof invited readers to submit their literary analogies for President Bush and Iraq. In today's columnn, Kristof mentions having received over 400 reader responses. And which entry does Kristof choose to feature at the column's beginning and that might fairly be taken...

Nicholas Kristof has fetched up with a classic of a column for students of what is called the New York Times double standard. In a column offering President Bush "10 suggestions for what you can do in 2007 to try to rescue your legacy," number three on Mr. Kristof's list was "confront the genocide in Darfur." "President Bill Clinton has said that the biggest regret of his administration is not responding to the Rwandan genocide, and someday you — and your biographers — will rue your lame response to Darfur," writes Mr. Kristof, who goes on to suggest "inviting the...

The passing of President Ford has New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof fantasizing about the ignominy that President Bush's obituary will heap on him for his handling of Iraq. In what Kristof claims to be "the holiday spirit," he offers W ten suggestions to rescue his legacy. After all, what says "holiday spirit" more than dreaming about someone's death? You can read all ten suggestions here if you've anted up to the Times, but for those loath to lard the Times' coffers, let me single out two of Kristof's recommendations: "Seriously engage Iraq’s nastier neighbors, including Iran and Syria,...

After years of denial, Sami Al-Arian has finally admitted it: he has pleaded guilty to a charge of “conspiracy to make or receive contributions of funds to or for the benefit of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Specially Designated Terrorist” organization. He has agreed to accept deportation. In his 2002 defense of Al-Arian, Eric Boehlert wrote: “The al-Arian story reveals what happens when journalists, abandoning their role as unbiased observers, lead an ignorant, alarmist crusade against suspicious foreigners who in a time of war don't have the power of the press or public sympathy to fight back.” Reality is just the...

The strange beliefs of Nicholas Kristof A couple of years ago, to celebrate the Catholic feast of the Assumption, Nicholas Kristof wrote a column called “Believe it or Not” (New York Times, 8-15-03), in which he scoffed at the naïve religious beliefs of Americans and in particular at the absurdity of believing in the Virgin Birth of Christ. This year, to celebrate Christmas, I wish to reply to his charges. In publishing his column, Kristof showed considerable bravery. Not by attacking religious believers (which is mere political correctness) but by exposing his own beliefs, which are touchingly old-fashioned and naive....

In the world's newsrooms, truth is particularly vulnerable in times of war. Indeed, it is often said to be the first casualty. Historically, the media have deceived their audience on behalf of their own side, of which offense the New York Times' reporter Judith Miller stands accused, even if unintentionally. The Times forced Miller's resignation for depending too heavily on flawed intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq War. "Judy's stories about WMD fit too perfectly with the White House's case for war," griped back-stabbing colleague Maureen Dowd in a column that hastened Miller's departure. In a pattern that started...