Political Commentary & Opinion
Analysis, commentary, and opinion essays on politics and policy from The Daily Signal’s contributors and experts.
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news
Republicans Accuse Democrats of ‘Privately’ Obstructing Probe of Fetal Tissue Market
Republicans on a special House panel investigating the sale and transfer of body parts and other tissue from aborted babies are accusing Democrats of stonewalling efforts to present Congress with an accurate picture. Democrats, they say, are encouraging abortion clinics and for-profit companies not to comply with congressional subpoenas and other requests for documents, making… -
opinion
Number of Islamist Terror Plots Against the US Rises to 89: Proactive Approach to Terrorism Needed
The Heritage Foundation is regrettably adding three more terrorist plots to the list of Islamist terrorists plots or attacks against the U.S. homeland since 9/11, bringing the total to 89. The first plot to be added was committed by 21-year-old Munir Abdulkader, who, according to documents recently unsealed by the Department of Justice, pled guilty… -
opinion
Rule of Law Critical to Ending Slavery in Burma
We waved goodbye as Suri* and Maya,* two of the youngest girls at the Burmese trafficking restoration house, were heading to Rangoon to testify against their traffickers. The other survivors and employees at the house expressed high hopes but low expectations that maybe this time it will be different, maybe this time their traffickers will… -
opinion
France Terrorist Attack Is Shocking and Barbaric, but Not Surprising
Last night, a 19-ton truck plowed into those watching the Bastille Day fireworks display in Nice, France. It drove 1 mile, zigzagging down the packed boardwalk at full speed, before the driver jumped out and was killed in a firefight with French police. Additional weapons were found in the back of the truck. The attack killed… -
news
Republicans Slip Ex-Im Language Into Appropriations Bill, Setting Up Fall Showdown
Prominent Republicans in the House and Senate have resurrected a fight over the Export-Import Bank after slipping language into appropriations bills that would allow the contested agency to, in effect, approve transactions benefiting its largest beneficiaries. Appropriators in both chambers passed legislation changing Ex-Im’s quorum requirements for its board of directors, but lawmakers are likely to… -
news
Democrat AGs Targeting Climate ‘Dissenters’ Face Legal Demand to Disclose Ties to Environmental Groups
State government figures spearheading an effort to obtain documents from scientists and researchers who dissent from the Obama administration’s position on climate change are being asked, once again, to come clean about their relationships with environmental organizations. But this time around, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey have only… -
opinion
Ginsburg’s Gabfest Suggests She’s No Impartial Judge
It’s summertime in Washington, which means the Supreme Court justices jetted out of town as the ink dried on their final decisions of the term. Many justices observe summer traditions—Anthony Kennedy teaches classes in Austria, the late Antonin Scalia would travel out west to teach a continuing legal education class for The Federalist Society, and… -
opinion
What We Can Learn From 1 Pastor About Winning the War on Poverty
One of the best parts of representing my home of North Carolina in Congress is getting to welcome constituents and friends to our nation’s Capital and displaying the work we are doing on their behalf. This week, I was proud to welcome my good friend and fellow North Carolinian, Pastor Odell Cleveland. Cleveland and I… -
opinion
Your First Amendment Rights Are Under Attack. Here’s How We Protect Them.
From its very beginning, our nation has been home, harbor, and refuge to a wide range of religious beliefs. No other country has been as tolerant and accommodating of religion and religious people as America. But in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court same-sex marriage case, Obergefell v. Hodges, our nation’s commitment to religious… -
opinion
As the Iran Deal Turns 1, Here Are 6 Examples That Prove We Can’t Trust Iran
From the beginning, the nuclear deal with Iran was a bad one. President Barack Obama claimed it would make the world “safer and more secure.” But on the deal’s one-year anniversary, a review of Iran’s behavior should give little assurance to anyone not drinking the White House Kool-Aid that the U.S. is the one in… -
news
What 2016 GOP Platform Pushes on 4 Key Issues
Less than a week before the Republican National Convention kicks off, the GOP platform committee was racing into the night Tuesday to finish its work on a policy blueprint. A quadrennial exercise that occurs before each general election, a 112-member subset of the delegation gathers to hammer together the Republican Party’s official vision, a platform… -
opinion
A Real Conversation on Police and Society Requires Empathy for Police, Too
Race relations in America, and in particular tensions between communities of color and domestic law enforcement, have seemingly reached a nadir not seen in decades. Tragic incidents, the facts of which are often misunderstood or exploited, have contributed to a growing sense of detachment by some within society. Feelings of “us versus them” have calcified… -
opinion
The Primary Victims of Lawlessness Are Black People
President Barack Obama and his first attorney general, Eric Holder, called for an honest conversation about race. Holder even called us “a nation of cowards” because we were unwilling to have a “national conversation” about race. The truth of the matter is there’s been more than a half-century of conversations about race. We do not… -
opinion
Moldova Whistleblower Exposes ‘Bank Robbery of the Century,’ Raises IMF Questions
As the West develops its strategy to deal with a resurgent Russia, more must be done to focus on the so-called gray areas lying between the Euro-Atlantic community and Russia: Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova. These countries, while not in NATO or the EU, strive to join these organizations someday. Russia is doing all it can… -
news
3 Women Explain Why They Called White House to Complain About Obama’s Bathroom Mandate
Individuals around the country called the White House comment line on Tuesday to say “no” to President Barack Obama’s transgender bathroom mandate. The “United We Stand” campaign was organized in response to the Obama administration’s “Dear Colleague” letter on transgender students. The letter sent to schools in May from the departments of Education and Justice… -
news
Last Minute FAA Patch Comes With Some Downsides
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee released its stopgap measure to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration last week. The measure is a last-minute solution to avoid a funding lapse when the current authorization expires on July 15. Given the short timeline, the proposal already passed the House by voice vote on Monday and is expected… -
opinion
US Shouldn’t Be Fooled by South Sudanese Leaders
Four days of heavy fighting in the South Sudanese capital of Juba between troops loyal to South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar has ended, for now. Well over a hundred soldiers and an unknown number of civilians were killed, while thousands of the latter fled their homes. The violence is the… -
news
Delegates Accuse LGBT Coalition of Trying to Hijack GOP Platform
CLEVELAND—Delegates to the Republican National Convention accuse staffers and fellow delegates bankrolled by billionaire political activist Paul Singer of using duplicitous tactics in an attempt to force a floor vote on LGBT issues. “It’s one of the filthiest things I’ve ever seen in politics,” Maryland delegate Ben Marci told The Daily Signal. CNN first reported that… -
opinion
Protecting Internet Freedom
Internet freedom has been part of U.S. foreign policy since 2010, when the Internet had just emerged as a powerful political tool, fueling activism in Iran, connecting dissident communications in the Arab Spring, and challenging rulers in Russia, China, Cuba, and other authoritarian regimes. Challenges to Internet Freedom The principle of extending freedom of expression… -
opinion
The Left’s Climate Change Hysteria
In the latest bout of political theater, 19 congressional Democrats took the stage of the Senate floor Tuesday to attack free-market organizations for allegedly spinning a “web of denial” on global warming. Casting the right to free speech aside, the senators are spinning a web of climate hysteria and economic illiteracy. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.,…