"Of all the three-day weekends on the U.S. calendar, Memorial Day is the most expensive. The war dead we honor today and their families paid dearly for it. …

"In a perfect world, there would be no need for a Memorial Day, but the world is not now nor ever has been perfect. So the last Monday in May continues to be a very expensive holiday. …

"A holiday weekend is full of distractions, but take a moment to remember their lives. After all, they gave you all of theirs."

"Barack Obama has a strange habit of acting like somebody else has been president these past years. It’s really odd. 

"In his speech on the VA, the president said that he would not stand for things that he clearly and undeniably has stood for some years now, and swore that he would not tolerate that which he has been tolerating since 2009. ... 

"So Barack Obama has sworn that he will not tolerate the incompetence of the Obama administration. I’d like to think that that means he is going to resign, but I don’t think that’s what he meant."

"News quiz: President Obama and his communications team hope that Americans are: 1) Dumb; 2) Distracted; 3) Numb to government inefficiency; 4) All of above. 

"Answer: 4, all of the above. 

"That answer along with utter incompetence are the best explanations for why the White House thought it could get away with claiming that the departure of Veterans Affairs official Robert Petzel was a step toward accountability for its scandalous treatment of war veterans. 

"Fact is, the department announced in 2013 that Dr. Petzel would retire this year. ... 

"It's a policy travesty magnified by an insulting public relations strategy."

"Holding hearings on Benghazi and the IRS are all well and good, and should strongly motivate Republicans to get out and vote. But barring any smoking guns before Election Day that implicate people in the White House for malfeasance, what beyond scandal will trigger the independents who swing elections in key states and districts to vote Republican? How will Republicans manage the nation better than Democrats? That is what the GOP has yet to figure out and tie into one coherent message."

"According to those in the elite salons of Washington, ObamaCare cannot be repealed. The conventional wisdom on the cocktail circuit contends that once you mandate health insurance for millions, you cannot unmandate it.  This theoretical belief has become accepted in Washington as a dogmatic article of faith.  And the Obamacrats and most of the press believe that repeating this mantra often enough will make it so. ... 

"The country that won two world wars and put a man on the moon cannot, it is believed, repeal a disastrous public policy. Says who? Why not?  

"I know a little bit about health care policy, having spent most of my adult life analyzing and implementing policy changes on the state and federal levels.  And based on my decades of experience, the idea that ObamaCare cannot be repealed defies both logic and real world justification, on multiple levels."

“The men and women in our armed services are our final protection against those who wish us ill. The soldier, the sailor, the airman, and the marine in the United States and around the world are the ultimate guardians of our freedom to say what we think, go where we will, choose who we want for our leaders, and pray as we wish. 

"It is sad that these rights, which should belong to all people, are not fully enjoyed by most of the human family. It is sadder still that some in the world view such freedom as a threat to their right to rule over their fellow citizens, and so long as that's true, we can't afford to take our freedom for granted. It cannot survive without protection. And for their role in protecting our freedoms, we honor the members of our volunteer Armed Forces today.”

"Welcome to the Dark Ages, Part II. We have slipped into an age of un-enlightenment where you fall in line behind the mob or face the consequences.

"How ironic that the persecutors this time around are the so-called intellectuals. They claim to be liberal while behaving as anything but. The touchstone of liberalism is tolerance of differing ideas. Yet this mob exists to enforce conformity of thought and to delegitimize any dissent from its sanctioned worldview. Intolerance is its calling card.

"Each week seems to bring another incident. ...

"Don't bother trying to make sense of what beliefs are permitted and which ones will get you strung up in the town square. ...

"As the mob gleefully destroys people's lives, its members haven't stopped to ask themselves a basic question: What happens when they come for me? If history is any guide, that's how these things usually end."

"The U.S. Senate failed to advance another piece of popular bipartisan legislation late Monday, and the reason tells the real story of Washington gridlock in the current Congress. To wit, Harry Reid has essentially shut down the Senate as a place to debate and vote on policy. 

"The Majority Leader's strategy was once again on display as the Senate failed to get the 60 votes to move a popular energy efficiency bill co-sponsored by New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and Ohio Republican Rob Portman. Mr. Reid blamed the defeat on Republican partisanship. But the impasse really came down to Mr. Reid's blockade against amendments that might prove politically difficult for Democrats. ... 

"It's important to understand how much Mr. Reid's tactics have changed the Senate. Not too long ago it was understood that any Senator could get a floor vote if he wanted it. The minority party, often Democrats, used this right of amendment to sponsor votes that would sometimes put the majority on the spot. It's called politics, rightly understood. This meant the Senate debated national priorities and worked its bipartisan will. Harry Reid's Senate has become a deliberate obstacle to democratic accountability. ... 

"The lesson for voters is simple: If they want anything meaningful done in the last two years of the Obama Administration, they will have to elect a Republican Senate."

"Today's news media are largely ignoring the IRS scandal, and it is impossible to have confidence in the current investigations by the FBI, Justice Department, and House committee. I am not suggesting that the current scandal in the end will rise to the level of Watergate. But the allegations are serious, and fair-minded Americans of both parties should agree that a thorough investigation needs to be undertaken to either debunk them or confirm them. 

"Step one should be to give Lois Lerner full immunity from prosecution in exchange for her testimony. And then let the chips fall where they may."

"Boko Haram, whose name means 'Western learning is forbidden,' kidnaps 200 schoolgirls, and the world rightly takes notice. ... 

"I’m sorry for those kidnapped schoolgirls. But I’m sorrier for the hundreds of millions of women in the Middle East who are invisible to us. Our silence puts us in the same class as the Germans and others who carefully closed their shutters as the local Jews were herded off to the railyards. 

"But you can’t hear the screams in Malibu. Or Manhattan."