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
Ryan Anderson Talks Kentucky Clerk Case, Possible Compromises
Ryan Anderson, William E. Simon senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, appeared on CNN today to talk about the case of Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk currently jailed over her refusal to issue same-sex marriage licenses. In his interview, Anderson discussed ways that both same-sex marriages could go forward and Davis’ religious freedom concerns could… -
news
NFL Player Evan Rodriguez’s Wife Will Carry Baby to Term Despite Rare Birth Defect Diagnosis
For Evan and Olivia Rodriguez, the birth of their daughter Layla Sky Rodriguez in December should be a time of joy and love. Instead, the first-time parents are facing unimaginable tragedy: 15 weeks into their pregnancy, the Rodriguezes discovered that Layla has a birth defect called anencephaly. As a result, she is missing a portion… -
opinion
How Kim Davis Can Be Released From Jail Without Agreeing to Violate Her Conscience
Rowan County, Ky., is a lesson for America in how not to resolve social conflict. The local head clerk is sitting in jail, and a judge has ordered her deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in her absence. When the Supreme Court redefined marriage for the nation in an activist decision this… -
news
23 Tweets on the Kentucky Clerk Jailed Over Gay Marriage Licenses
On Thursday, a Kentucky county clerk at the center of a national controversy was sent to jail. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that U.S. District Judge David Bunning found Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis in contempt of court and sent her to jail for defying his order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. BREAKING: Judge… -
opinion
Puerto Rico’s Pathway Forward Without Bankruptcy
After Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla announced in June that the island cannot pay its $72 billion debt, there has been an effort to rewrite contracts by granting Puerto Rico access to Chapter 9 bankruptcy. A recent deal between the island’s state-owned power authority and a group of bondholders demonstrates that bankruptcy is not… -
news
What Happened When 2,000 Democratic Staffers Were Invited to Watch Planned Parenthood Videos
Pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List invited more than 2,000 Democratic congressional staffers to a screening Thursday of the Center for Medical Progress’ undercover Planned Parenthood videos, which have triggered multiple investigations and calls to defund the organization of its taxpayer dollars. At the screening, fewer than a dozen staffers showed up, and were outnumbered by… -
opinion
5 Things John Kerry Got Wrong on the Iran Deal
Wednesday, a 34th Senator came out in favor of the flawed Iran Deal, which means the Senate will not veto President Obama’s agreement. A majority of Americans however – including the country’s top military brass and national security experts and practitioners – oppose the deal. The administration’s pro-deal arguments have been generally misleading and insufficient to… -
news
First Congressional Planned Parenthood Hearing to Take Place Next Week
Congress will hold its first hearing on the Planned Parenthood scandal following the August recess, the House Judiciary Committee has announced. The first of a series of hearings, titled, “Planned Parenthood Exposed: Examining the Horrific Abortion Practices at the Nation’s Largest Abortion Provider,” will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 9. Planned Parenthood faces allegations that it… -
news
Maryland Police Officer’s Act of Kindness Goes Viral
Thanks to social media, one chivalrous act in Maryland has touched far more people than originally intended. Last Wednesday, Police Corporal Che Atkinson was notified that a woman and her small child were sitting outside the Hyattsville City Police Department in Prince George’s County. According to WUSA9, Atkinson–who has served as a police officer for… -
opinion
Why Women’s Health Care Will Thrive When Planned Parenthood Is Defunded
Planned Parenthood does not offer any women’s health services that are not offered by other health care centers. None. The same services it provides are abundantly available, especially serving low-income individuals in urban and rural locations, while at the same time these alternative facilities don’t perform abortions. Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Rural Health… -
news
Thousands Take to New York Streets to Protest Iran Deal
Thousands of protesters poured into Manhattan Tuesday evening to demand, outside Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s New York office, that Congress vote against the Iran nuclear agreement. “Change your vote!” chants reverberated through the crowd after former Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said he was “shocked” and “disappointed” that Gillibrand decided to back the accord last month. “Since the… -
opinion
5 Takeaways From the Planned Parenthood Videos
Over the last several weeks, the Center for Medical Progress has released nine shocking undercover videos exposing Planned Parenthood’s gruesome practice of selling organs of aborted babies. People need to watch these videos because they show exactly why $500 million in taxpayer money should be directed away from Planned Parenthood and toward health care providers… -
news
‘This Case Is About More Than Contraception:’ Women’s Group Files Brief in Support of Nuns
The Independent Women’s Forum has filed an amicus curiae brief in the Supreme Court in support of the Little Sisters of the Poor. The Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of Catholic nuns who care for the elderly poor, have petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that… -
news
The Truth About Wages in Right-to-Work States
Private sector wages are not reduced in right-to-work states as union advocates have argued, according to a new report released Tuesday by The Heritage Foundation. James Sherk, a research fellow in labor economics at The Heritage Foundation and the author of the study, cited an Economic Policy Institute paper that claimed right-to-work laws reduce wages by… -
news
Networks Still Aren’t Reporting on Planned Parenthood Videos
Three major broadcast networks have not reported on the Center for Medical Progress’s undercover videos in one month, according to an analysis conducted by the Media Research Center. “In fact, the three broadcast networks, ABC, NBC and CBS, haven’t reported on a single video exposing Planned Parenthood’s trafficking of aborted babies during their news shows in… -
opinion
Kentucky Clerk Not Issuing Gay Marriage Licenses Causes Uproar. North Carolina Shows Better Way.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling redefining marriage throughout the country, there’s an open question as to what happens to people who believe marriage is the union of husband and wife. Yesterday the Supreme Court declined to review a lower court’s ruling requiring the county clerk of Rowan County, Ky., to issue marriage… -
news
How the 3 Congressional Investigations of Planned Parenthood Will Work
A Planned Parenthood-commissioned report on the string of undercover Planned Parenthood videos does not appear to have any impact on Congress’s ongoing investigations into the group’s alleged wrongdoings, The Daily Signal has learned. Congressional aides from all three committees investigating Planned Parenthood’s abortion and tissue donation practices confirmed that while they are aware of the… -
news
‘Two Key Admissions’ Made By Planned Parenthood, According to Center for Medical Progress
Planned Parenthood has made “two key admissions” about its fetal tissue program, according to the Center for Medical Progress, the organization behind a series of undercover videos depicting Planned Parenthood executives discussing the sale of fetal organs. The Center for Medical Progress has sent an open letter to Congress in response to a Planned Parenthood-commissioned report claiming… -
news
Wal-Mart Reduces Employee Hours Following Wage Increase
Wal-Mart has been reducing the number of hours employees work in some of its stores following a wage increase earlier this year, according to a report by Bloomberg. The report says “regional executives told store managers at the retailer’s annual holiday planning meeting this month to rein in expenses by cutting worker hours they’ve added beyond… -
opinion
North Dakota Legalizes Weaponized Drones. Is That a Good Idea?
North Dakota just legalized police drones to be outfitted with tasers, pepper spray, and other “non-lethal” weaponry. As the drone debate continues over right to airspace versus right to privacy, the North Dakota bill is the first that moves the devices from a surveillance and reconnaissance tool into a flying weapon, lethal or not. Privacy…