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As chief bridesmaid at her best friend’s wedding, Claire Duke knew a certain amount of responsibility and planning would fall to her. What she didn’t imagine was that it would cost her so much money to attend the lavish ceremony that her debt would last longer than her friend’s marriage. Claire’s friend, Siobhan, chose a Caribbean beach setting for her big day four years ago. Claire, 33, a chef from the Isle of Man, says: ‘They wanted us to be there no matter what.’

{Written by Andrew Ferguson and originally posted to the Commentary Magazine website} As Barack Obama passes into the next phase of his stellar evolution, as the protostar of the 2004 Democratic convention fades into the planetary nebula of 2017 and a very long retirement, phrases from his presidency that once rang in my ears grow dimmer by the day. To tell the truth, there’s not a lot of them. For a man with such a reputation for eloquence, he leaves behind little quotable material from his presidential years. Yes, generations from now schoolchildren will still be reciting “If you like...

…a choice that breaks from a modern tradition of featuring images of the White House on the card. . . . Malia and Sasha “dazzle” in elegant, embroidered gowns designed by Naeem Khan, that are worth nearly $20,000. Each. There’s not much of a Christmas-y feel to the card, other than being framed by Christmas holly clipart. Fittingly, Bill Clinton was the first modern president to use a family photo on a White House Christmas card in 1993. You have to go back to Franklin D. Roosevelt — another Democrat — to find another family portrait in use.

President Obama mocked Republican critics who see him as “Saul Alinsky” or “the Antichrist,” during a wide-ranging interview with New York Magazine published Monday. Obama in the interview, which took place Aug. 25, repeatedly voiced frustration with what he described as a recalcitrant Republican opposition, lamenting Congress’ unwillingness to work with him on key legislation such as the Affordable Care Act and the stimulus bill. “They’re imagining the potential problems that arise, so it’s pretty hard for them to publicly say, ‘Obama’s a perfectly reasonable guy, but we just can’t work with him because our base thinks he’s the Antichrist,’”...

The Culture of Narcissism by Christopher Lasch was first published in 1979. Many of his observations are as applicable now as then. The major thesis of this work is that the 20th century was dominated by a drift from 19th-century values. Individual identity, i.e. rugged individualism, was replaced by a societal identity which is populated by narcissists. Ralph Waldo Emerson, founder of the transcendental movement, was a proponent of the power of the individual. To live, one must experience, was his credo. He thought that all people, times, and places are similar. Since “… there is properly no history only...

Roger Simon’s fine book on moral narcissism—I Know Best—provides the basic insight into the mostly silly “debate” about the Hillary vs Trump contest. Roger understands that our ruling class isn’t much interested in understanding the real consequences of policy. With rare exceptions, the debate is about how the American “nomenklatura” feels about advocating one policy or another. It’s all about them, not about the election. In twenty-first century America, almost all of us seem to have concluded that “You are what you say you are. You are what you proclaim your values to be, irrespective of their consequences.” That is...

Hillary Clinton appeared on Fox News Sunday this morning, and repeated her denial that she told the families of the men killed in Benghazi that the attack was caused by a video. She went one step further, and patronized the families, declaring “I don’t hold any ill feeling” towards family members who “may not fully recall everything that was or wasn’t said.” Later in the interview, Hillary again dodged responsibility. Wallace played the statement by FBI Director James Comey that—contrary to what Clinton had claimed—she did in fact send and receive classified material on her home-brewed email system. This time,...

Addressing the Democratic National Convention on its penultimate night to lay out the case for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, President Obama began by recalling his political debut at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. He then described how his family has become so well known to America in the intervening years. He spoke of his time in office, how the presidency has physically aged him, but how his daughters euphemistically note he now looks more "mature." He spoke of everything he is proud to have achieved -- passing ObamaCare, expanding clean energy production, reducing consumption of foreign oil, passing the...

Skilled Obama watchers know that the real subject of any Obama speech is his own magnificence.

Still smarting from his loss in the primary, Cruz says he’ll use his convention speech to outline his own vision of the Republican Party’s future. But will he endorse? One of these days, and maybe soon, Ted Cruz just might have to endorse Donald Trump. But he’ll never concede Trump could have beaten him in a fair fight — and he’ll never accept that Trump’s me-first philosophy represents a sustainable future for the GOP. Above all, Cruz wants to use the big stage in Cleveland to present a non-Trump alternative vision for his party’s future, one rooted in constitutional conservative...

A column by Maureen Dowd entitled The Clinton Contamination is trending on Twitter as I write. Conservatives especially are all — so to speak — a-twitter to have such a reliable leftist voice raised against the left's standard bearer. I've never been a fan of Dowd's but I've always respected her unwillingness to abandon her feminist principles to follow the Clintons down the rabbit hole of abuse and corruption. I wish some conservatives would learn from her example before they ditch their principles to traipse after Donald Trump.But what struck me about the Dowd column was its view of Barack...

President Barack Obama says he was “fat” when he was a kid growing up in Hawaii, as well as “smart alecky.” “If you met me when I was 10 the first thing you would think is, ‘He’s fat,’” Obama said. “I was husky and I was kind of a smart alecky kid.” Obama participated in an interview with Derek Jeter for the baseball star’s new media platform “The Players’ Tribune.

<p>Finally! Thanks be to God!! And thanks to the anonymous videographer who really clamped down over the past few days and cranked this out.</p> <p>As always, I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE MIRRORING AND REPUBLISHING MY VIDEOS. I make these things so that the information can get out into the world. There is no copyright concern here. And, as we learned from the Islamic Sexuality video presentation which was censored and scrubbed by YouTube from my channel, the best protection against censorship is mirroring and republishing these videos. So have at it.</p>

There's something else that universities have missed in their diversity checklist. "Because when we teach communism is good, capitalism is bad, when we teach self-actualization is the goal of the academy rather than selflessness and sacrifice and confession, when we teach arrogance and narcissism rather than humility in the classroom, why are we surprised to see a culture that is acting badly?" Oklahoma Wesleyan University President Dr. Everett Piper said to The Daily Caller’s Ginni Thomas, in a recent interview. He believed that in order to "solve a culture's problem" and attempt to heal the soul, "you might [want] to...

1) Trump has favorability ratings that make him unelectable: The American public is very familiar with Donald Trump and people hate his guts. Trump's current favorable/unfavorable rating is 34/58. Just as a point of comparison, the two biggest landslides in history were against Jimmy Carter (33/58) and Walter Mondale (34/40). Trump is so unpopular with the general electorate that we might as well be running Jared Fogle or Bill Cosby.2) Trump consistently loses to Hillary Clinton in head-to-head polls: Given that so many people know Trump and already dislike him, it's hard to understand why anyone thinks he'll win in...

....." Donald Trump: "I've built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions. I don't have to hear from this man." Norma Desmond: "No-one ever leaves a star. That's what makes one a star." Donald Trump: "We'll have so much winning, you'll get bored with winning." Norma Desmond: "Without me, there wouldn't be any Paramount studio." Donald Trump: "Let's see how much money Fox is going to make on the debate without me, okay?"..............

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served during the Obama administration, has turned into a harsh critic of the president, saying that Barack Obama always thinks he's the smartest person in the room. Gates also bashed Obama for bringing on advisers who do little else but constantly agree with his proposals, fostering a group-think environment where dissenting opinion essentially does not exist, The Free Beacon reports. In other words, there are no "strong" people around the president. And when there is dissent, Obama tries to crush it. Back in October, Politico reported that Obama's advisers urged him to deal with...

President Obama may be going through a minor mid-life crisis, as he's made numerous references to his graying hair over the last few weeks, even at major events with world leaders at the White House. But while Obama has spoken wistfully about the darker hair of his youth, he has also argued that his graying hair is a sign of the experience he's gained as the leader of the free world for the last seven years. Just two days ago, Obama, 54, met with French President Francois Hollande at the White House to discuss joint counterterrorism efforts after the attack...

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The decor at Ben Carson’s home in Maryland shows that Donald Trump may not have the biggest ego among the Republican candidates. On display are awards, certificates, medals, and a painting of himself with Jesus