Daily news coverage of politics, policy, and issues shaping the nation.
America’s political operatives are spread across the land fighting for their candidates, from the frosty U.S. Senate race in Alaska to the red-hot governor’s race in Florida. But if control of the Senate hangs in the balance after Tuesday’s midterm elections—and multiple scenarios suggest it could—then most of those operatives will be bound for Louisiana…
The U.S. Department of Labor recently released its latest report identifying state-by-state unemployment rates, based on current population data. In 31 states, unemployment rates among workers ages 15 and older declined between August and September 2014. Take a look at the numbers below to see how your state stacks up. STATE…
Taking a break from campaign stops for fellow Republicans, Sen. Rand Paul was back in Washington, D.C., yesterday to deliver a keynote address at The Heritage Foundation’s semiannual President’s Club meeting. Afterward, in an exclusive interview with The Daily Signal, the Kentucky Republican answered questions on President Obama’s plans to implement administrative amnesty following the…
An Iraq veteran was banned from his daughter’s high school after objecting to a required homework assignment about Islam. Kevin Wood, father of an 11th-grader at La Plata High School in Charles County, Md., was upset to discover a teacher had asked his daughter to write a three-page essay about Islam’s Five Pillars, Mecca and…
A long-awaited report from the Department of Justice’s inspector general sharply criticizes U.S. law enforcement officials for allowing a grenade trafficker for vicious Mexican drug cartels to operate unfettered, endangering public safety. The Office of the Inspector General calls the federal operation “poorly conceived and executed” and “particularly irresponsible" because of information agents had about a dangerous suspect. >>> Stonewalled:…
In a sign that Republican efforts to target the youth vote is paying off, a new poll finds a majority of young Americans who intend to vote next week prefer a Republican-controlled Congress. >>> This Spunky College Intern Is the Face of the New Republican Ground Game A survey released yesterday by Harvard Institute of…
Hopes for repeal of Obamacare by a Republican-controlled Senate dimmed a week before the crucial midterm elections with surprising words from the man who likely would lead that new Senate. In an interview Tuesday with Fox’s Neil Cavuto, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said it’s unlikely a Republican-controlled Senate would repeal the Affordable Care Act,…
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is considering a run for president, was caught on tape at a private gathering this month saying, “White men who are in male-only clubs are going to do great in my presidency.” In the meeting, Graham, a Republican, also joked about Baptists, saying “they’re the ones who drink and…
Houston Mayor Annise D. Parker, the city’s first openly homosexual mayor, yesterday withdrew subpoenas of sermons and other communications from five local pastors. Parker’s decision concluded a two-week standoff between LGBT rights activists and champions of religious liberty sparked by a measure known as “the bathroom bill” because it allows men and women to use public…
Karl Rove’s support for what many Americans consider amnesty for illegal immigrants has put the Republican political guru at odds with The Heritage Foundation for a decade. That’s why observers of current and past incarnations of “immigration reform” were surprised to learn of Rove’s association with a campaign ad drawing attention in a hot U.S….
Sharyl Attkisson has been called a “pit bull” by former bosses and “unreasonable” by top Obama administration officials. The veteran investigative reporter isn’t known for backing down from a story — even when faced with hacked computers, screaming flacks and suspicious cables. Attkisson’s new book, “Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation,…
An Idaho town is not going to force a Christian ministry couple who own a wedding chapel to perform same-sex marriages there, the town’s chief attorney told The Daily Signal. A lawsuit filed against the town by the ordained ministers to protect themselves from prosecution was based on “a misperception,” City Attorney Michael C. Gridley said,…
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fought back at the Obama administration Wednesday, a day after a senior U.S. official was quoted as calling Netanyahu a “chickens— prime minister.” “Netanyahu will continue to uphold the security interests of Israel and the historical rights of the Jewish people in Jerusalem, and no amount of pressure will change…
Half of Hispanics don’t think it matters who controls the senate after the November election, according to a new poll. When asked. “If control of the Senate switched from the Democrats to the Republicans after this election, do you think that would be a good thing, a bad thing, or wouldn’t it make any difference?”…
Mississippi is cornering the market on taxpayer-funded music museums. First there was a state-funded museum dedicated to country legend Tammy Wynette. Now the state is going to have a museum for the Grammy Foundation in Cleveland, Miss., and it’s going to be built with federal and state taxpayer dollars. U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., in…
Low fares of competing taxi and ridesharing services mean better service for low-income communities, according to a study published Tuesday. Taxi regulations are commonly cited as a means to protect consumers from high prices, but a new report by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University challenges that assumption, arguing regulations and the price of…
Houston Mayor Annise Parker received a surprise after her order to subpoena the sermons of pastors. Bibles have been sent to her office from all over the country, according to Houston’s KHOU. On Monday, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office told Houston’s KPRC “that somewhere between 500 and 1,000 Bibles” had been delivered. As The…
The U.S. Senate race in Georgia was supposed to be a gimme for Republicans. After all, it’s a reliably red state in the Deep South. Instead, polling now suggests an extremely tight contest, raising the possibility of a runoff election in January if neither candidate can get 50 percent of the vote a week from today–and…
A Massachusetts town might become the first in the nation to ban all tobacco sales, according to the Boston Globe. Westminster, Mass. is a town of 7,765 located northwest of Boston. The city’s website describes the community as “a small New England village.” The Westminster Board of Health has recently issued a proposal that would…
The terrorist group ISIS released a propaganda video late yesterday depicting a British hostage as a news correspondent and declaring that a besieged Syrian town is about to fall to the brutal Islamist jihadists. “Hello, I’m John Cantlie,” the black-dressed hostage says, “and today we are in the city of Kobani on the Syrian-Turkish border….