Political Commentary & Opinion
Analysis, commentary, and opinion essays on politics and policy from The Daily Signal’s contributors and experts.
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opinion
Planned Parenthood Report Shows It’s Flush With Taxpayer Cash
Planned Parenthood’s new president, Leana Wen, recently admitted that their core mission is “expanding access to abortion,” and Planned Parenthood’s new annual report proves just that. Our team has updated our annual analysis of Planned Parenthood’s culture of death to give you the facts on what is being done with your tax dollars. The bottom line? Over 900 babies… -
opinion
Democratic Win on Government Shutdown Leaves Little Hope for Compromise
The first thing that needs to be said about President Donald Trump’s decision to sign a measure re-opening part of the federal government without getting money for the wall he demanded is that his experience as a New York businessman was no help. Perhaps he failed to recognize that Democrats are the party of government… -
news
Why These Feminists Oppose Pelosi’s Equality Act
Four self-described liberal feminists said Monday that “gender equality” legislation pushed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will jeopardize women's rights and actually promote inequality. “The Equality Act, which sounds all well and good, is an unmitigated disaster for women and girls,” Kara Dansky, a lawyer and board member at the Women's Liberation Front, said at… -
opinion
The Left Is Shunning Liberals With Concerns About Transgender Agenda
Recently, I heard from a woman who has a teenage daughter four years into the process of transitioning. Throughout that time, this mom has been trying to get left-leaning media and think tanks and professional associations to take seriously the concerns coming from the left. Instead she’s found herself and her colleagues essentially left behind… -
news
White House Eyes Reducing Capital Gains Taxes Without Congress
The White House is having internal discussions about the prospect of executive action by President Donald Trump to hold down capital gains taxes, said Larry Kudlow, director of the president’s National Economic Council. “I personally have campaigned for inflation indexing of capital gains for at least three decades,” Kudlow told The Daily Signal during a… -
opinion
Liberals’ Holy War on Christian Orthodoxy
When Sen. Dianne Feinstein told Amy Coney Barrett, who is now confirmed as a judge for the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and is a potential Supreme Court nominee, that “dogma lives loudly within” her and “that’s of concern,” she wasn’t voicing concern over the nominee’s religious orthodoxy as much as she was revealing… -
news
How States Look to Resist ‘Overreach’ by Federal Bureaucrats
Parents from Indiana to South Carolina who expect to have a voice in what their children are taught in public schools find that more difficult, state lawmakers and policy analysts say, because the federal government has overstepped constitutional boundaries and interjected itself in state and local affairs. Proponents of legislation aimed at reforming the federal… -
opinion
3 Takeaways From the Shutdown Regarding America’s National Parks
Immediately after the partial federal government shutdown started, media outlets pointed to the damage the closure has inflicted on America’s national parks. From overflowing trash and toilets to the cutting down of protected trees, there are obvious challenges to managing huge parks with skeleton staffs. After a shutdown that lasted more than a month,… -
opinion
Podcast: What’s Next in Venezuela
Venezuela’s socialist dictator, Nicolas Maduro, is facing heavy pressure to resign after having destroyed the economy and rigging an election for himself. His opponent, backed by the United States, is now declaring himself to be president. Ana Quintana, The Heritage Foundation’s Latin America expert, discusses the unfolding situation. Plus: We debate over Tom Brady, the… -
opinion
Media Misses: 3 Ways the Media Exposed Its Own Bias in the Covington Fiasco
The media really does have a fake news problem, as President Donald Trump frequently likes to point out. As Thomas Jefferson wrote, a free press is necessary and vital to the function of a free society. The First Amendment reinforces that. But that doesn’t mean that media institutions should be free from criticism, from the… -
news
Al Gore Says Global Warming Is Causing Central American Caravans
Former Vice President Al Gore said the recent Central American migrant caravans seeking asylum in the U.S. were fleeing the ravages of global warming. Gore said the so-called dry corridor, which includes El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, “is the most vulnerable region in the world to global warming.” “And they’ve gone without a harvest this… -
opinion
DC Restaurant Fined for Asking Man in Women’s Restroom to Show ID
What’s the point of a women’s restroom if you don’t care who uses it? That’s a question on the minds of a lot of D.C. restaurant owners this week, after city officials dropped the hammer on Chinatown’s Cuba Libre. There, trying to keep customers safe will cost you your job—and a whole lot more. It’s… -
news
House Republicans Vote Twice to Pay Government Employees During Shutdown
House Republicans have now twice voted to pay government employees during the partial shutdown, but neither bill has passed the Democrat-controlled chamber. “House Republicans have repeatedly introduced measures that would pay federal employees during the stalemate,” Rep. Mike Johnson, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, said in a statement provided to The Daily Signal. “Unfortunately,… -
news
‘Gosnell’ DVD Best-Seller on Amazon
Ahead of its Feb. 5 DVD release, the underdog film “Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer” is seeing success as it reaches No. 1 on Amazon’s best-sellers list in “drama DVDs.” “We have seen this all along,” said Phelim McAleer, the film’s producer, in a statement to The Daily Signal. “‘Gosnell’ is… -
opinion
Auditing Our Auditors
The Roman satirist Juvenal, in a famous passage, asked, “Who will watch the watchmen?” That problem of policing the police has troubled Western thinkers from Plato to the American Founders. The framers of the Constitution set in place a brilliant series of legislative, executive, and judicial checks and balances to thwart the abuse of power… -
opinion
Notre Dame Joins the Crusade Against Columbus
The war on Columbus has been going on for a while—and it’s to be expected in far-left enclaves like Berkeley—but it’s sad to see America’s foremost Catholic university join in the crusade. The Rev. John Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame, announced Sunday that school officials would cover murals of Christopher Columbus, the… -
opinion
A Big Legal Loss for Planned Parenthood
Thanks to Planned Parenthood’s annual report, more Americans are starting to understand why the country’s biggest abortion business doesn’t need taxpayer money. Texas has always thought so, which is why the state has worked for years to put the brakes on the organization’s government-funded gravy train. Now, thanks to the Trump administration, the Lone Star… -
opinion
Planned Parenthood’s Annual Report Is Out. Here’s What You Need to Know.
Planned Parenthood quietly released its long-expected annual report covering 2017-2018 over the holiday weekend. The document affirms the assertion of new President Leana Wen that providing and expanding access to abortion is the “core mission” of Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood performed 332,757 abortions during the reported year, the most the abortion giant has reported since… -
opinion
The Left’s Use of Intimidation to Silence Christians
If you’re Christian, shut up. That’s been the unmistakable message of our current culture in recent weeks. Karen Pence has been lambasted for her decision to teach at a Christian school. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, after asking a judicial nominee about his membership in the Catholic Knights of Columbus, has tied the organization to the… -
news
Nathan Phillips Keeps Changing Story, Keeps Getting It Wrong
Native American activist Nathan Phillips has repeatedly misrepresented several facts about a viral incident between him and a group of boys from Kentucky's Covington Catholic High School that took place after Friday’s March for Life. Phillips has continued misrepresenting the incident, even as he has changed his version of events in the face of video debunking…