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
Misguided Proposal From Christian Leaders and LGBT Activists Is Anything but ‘Fairness for All’
Does the golden rule ever require bad public policy? That’s the implication of what some political strategists are proposing in the name of fairness. At issue is a proposal among some Christian leaders to strike a compromise with some LGBT activists to balance “LGBT rights” with religious liberty. The proposal would elevate “sexual orientation and… -
opinion
The Internet as We Know It Supposedly Ended a Year Ago, According to CNN and Other Outlets
You might not have noticed it, but the internet as we knew it ended a year ago today, at least according to the predictive powers-that-be at CNN and other media organizations. That’s because on Dec. 14, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission ended the 2015 Open Internet Order, aka the net neutrality regulations implemented by the… -
news
MSNBC’s Mika Apologizes for ‘Crass and Offensive’ ‘Butt Boy’ Comment About Mike Pompeo
MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski apologized Friday for referring to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as a “wannabe dictator’s butt boy” just two days earlier. “I wanted to address a term that I used on this show on Wednesday that was vulgar. I knew it right away and I tweeted that it was a terrible choice of… -
opinion
What Bill Buckley Would Say to Conservatives Today
Without a doubt, Bill Buckley would have happily joined the recent National Review Caribbean cruise, which sailed from Key West to the Dominican Republic to the Bahamas to Fort Lauderdale on the good ship Oosterdam of the venerable Holland America Line. He would have been surrounded by the perspicacious editors and contributors of his favorite… -
news
Prison Reform Should Be a Conservative Priority, Mike Lee Argues
One of the Senate’s conservative stalwarts, Mike Lee of Utah, says lawmakers should pass a criminal justice reform bill before the end of the year because it is necessary to the nation’s well-being. “We’ve seen what happens when we take away somebody’s brother or son or uncle or nephew or father and we warehouse them… -
news
California to Consider Taxing Text Messages in 2019
California regulators are currently contemplating whether residents would have to pay a fee on text messages from their cellphones. The proposed tax would help fund programs in the state that provides low-income Californians with phone service and will be discussed further during the January 2019 meeting by the California Public Utilities Commission. The rational from California regulators is this:… -
opinion
A Salute to Orrin Hatch
Orrin Hatch has been the senior senator from Utah for 26 of his 42 years in the Senate. He is retiring from that extraordinary period of service and, on Dec. 12, made what he called his “final request” from the Senate floor. Some descriptors begin with “longest-serving” because Hatch has been a senator for a… -
news
San Francisco Creates First Transgender District
San Francisco created a special cultural district for transgender persons, marking the first legal transgender district created anywhere in the world. San Francisco’s Tenderloin district is now home to “Compton’s Transgender Cultural District,” The Daily Beast reported Tuesday. The Tenderloin is a triangular neighborhood located a few blocks from San Francisco's City Hall. It is also San Francisco's… -
news
Michigan Lawmaker Wants to Fine Restaurants Hundreds for Handing Out Plastic Straws
A Michigan state lawmaker is pushing two bills that would impose a hefty fine on distributing plastic straws unless requested and ban single-use plastic items such as cotton swabs, cutlery, and plates, the Michigan Capitol Confidential reports. Democratic state Rep. Tom Cochran introduced the pair of bills, House Bill 6504 and House Bill 6505, Nov. 27 to start a conversation… -
opinion
Why Our Country Needs the Wall, and Now
The United States is the most generous, pro-immigrant country in the world. Annually, we take in more immigrants than any other country on the planet. Couple that with the fact that immigration has been a driving issue in the last two campaign cycles, and it is more than reasonable to demand that the next funding… -
opinion
Comey Continues to Display His Lack of Credibility
Fired former FBI Director James Comey is at it again. Last week, Comey testified before members of the House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. In a single appearance, Comey, on 245 separate occasions, while under oath, stonewalled questions with “I don’t know,” “I don’t remember,” or “I don’t recall,” according… -
opinion
Many Millions of Americans Work and Shop at Walmart. So, Why Does Bernie Sanders Want to Stop Them?
Sen. Bernie Sanders is back again, with yet another attempt to indirectly mandate the $15 an hour minimum wage. It’s called the Stop WALMART Act, or Stop Welfare for Any Large Monopoly Amassing Revenue from Taxpayers Act. It would affect large (500-plus employees) companies, and among other things would prohibit them from buying back stock… -
opinion
USA Today’s Coverage of Young Athlete’s Old Tweets Is Vigilantism, Not Journalism
This week, I did something that USA Today’s executive leadership apparently hadn’t done lately: I read the newspaper’s “principles of ethical conduct for newsrooms.” It’s pretty highfalutin. The media manifesto of virtue, posted online, applies to all employees “working with any news platform, including newspapers, websites, mobile devices, video, social media channels, and live story… -
opinion
States Have a New Opportunity to Lower Insurance Premiums and Expand Options. Here’s How.
The Trump administration is offering welcome relief to Americans struggling with high premiums under Obamacare premiums and a lack of insurance choices. The administration has taken a series of regulatory actions to do the following: Make short-term, limited duration policies widely available and give consumers the right to renew those policies. Make it easier for… -
news
Ivy League Study Finds Liberals ‘Patronize’ Minorities, Conservatives Don’t
A study by Princeton and Yale researchers has found that white liberals act in “patronizing” ways toward blacks and other minorities, while white conservatives do not. White Democratic presidential candidates and self-identified liberals are more likely to downplay their own competence when speaking to minorities, using fewer words that emphasize competence and more words that… -
opinion
Conviction of Genocidal Leaders in Cambodia Is Better Late Than Never
A United Nations-backed war crimes tribunal issued a verdict last month in a case involving two Khmer Rouge leaders, finding them guilty of genocide in Cambodia. The conviction comes four years after the same tribunal found the two Khmer Rouge leaders, Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced them to… -
opinion
How the Sandinistas Shaped Bill de Blasio
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, representative-elect for New York’s 14th Congressional District, is widely known as the nation’s cheerleader-in-chief for socialism. But even she might have a tough time getting to the left of another Empire State politician: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Many liberals soft-pedal their love of big government. They avoid using the s-word, of course, but they go… -
opinion
Podcast: Doing What’s Ethical on Fetal Tissue
Stem cell research has been a topic of controversy, but a related issue is raising some similar concerns: that is, whether fetal tissue from elective abortions should be used for scientific research. In today’s episode, our colleague Rachel del Guidice sits down with several experts to ask what human dignity requires on this issue, as… -
opinion
The Racism the Left Ignores
How appropriate would it be for a major publicly held American company to hire a person with a history of having publicly made the following statements and many others like them? In the interest of brevity, I shall list only four: “The world could get by just fine with zero black people.” “It’s kind of… -
news
The First Lady Spreads Some Cheer at Toys for Tots Event
First lady Melania Trump put her organizing and artistic skills to good use Tuesday when she visited the annual Toys for Tots event organized by the Marine Corps Reserve. Santa Claus also put in a special appearance, but it's hard to upstage the first lady. “I have been looking forward to this event ever since…