Opinion and commentary on news, politics, culture, and policy impact.
The Heritage Foundation is adding to our terror plot timeline as the past several weeks have seen two successful attacks and one plot foiled by law enforcement. This brings the total number Islamist terror plots and attacks against the U.S. homeland since 9/11 to 92. #90 Dahir Ahmed Adan Stabs 10 in Minnesota Mall On…
President Barack Obama’s speech Thursday will likely highlight the “successes” of Obamacare, but this complex health law—with interlocking parts—is really becoming more like a patient suffering from multi-organ failure. This year’s feverish health insurance premiums are unlikely to abate. For 2017, the premiums on Obamacare’s individual market are projected to increase by 25 percent on…
New numbers on federal spending are in from the Congressional Budget Office, and they’re not pretty. The federal government spent $3.9 trillion in fiscal 2016, which ended Sept. 30, or $168 billion more than in fiscal 2015. The federal government ran a deficit of $588 billion, an increase of $149 billion. That’s a one-third increase…
If a person wants to go into business as a taxicab owner, what requirements should be imposed to protect the public? The prospective taxicab owner should show that he is honest and can operate a vehicle safely. His vehicle should pass a safety inspection, and he should have a liability insurance policy. Some cities require…
Giving parents control over their child’s education through personalized education savings accounts has transformed the lives of numerous underserved students. The story of Faith Kleffel exemplifies the promise of enabling children to access the type of education options that meet their learning needs. Faith, who has Down syndrome, uses an education savings account (ESA)—known as…
The final presidential debates take place Wednesday in Las Vegas. Given the location, a controversial issue sure to come up is that of a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The repository is designed to hold spent nuclear materials from national security activities and commercial nuclear power reactors. Billions of dollars have already been spent…
American education is failing thousands of students every year. But this crisis is not just about poor scores in math and reading. It is a deeper failure, leaving entire generations of Americans without the most basic knowledge of the country’s past and its civic institutions. As The Daily Signal reported, the Victims of Communism Memorial…
The first baby with three parents has been born this year, raising troubling questions about our culture’s dedication to human dignity. The U.S. Constitution is predicated on the principle of the inherent worth and dignity of the human individual. Fundamental rights do not depend on any other fact than that each of us is a…
The current presidential election notwithstanding, there are very few topics that generate as much passionate debate as the Second Amendment and gun control. Every time a tragic event occurs, the left calls for a renewal of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban and other restrictive gun control measures, claiming that the proliferation of firearms in this…
“Metro sucks.” That was the message, via chants and boos, of Washington Nationals fans last week when the D.C. Metro system stopped running D.C.-bound trains around 11:40 pm, a full hour before the game ended. (To add insult to injury for fans, despite a stellar regular-season finish eight games atop their division, the Nats succumbed…
The right to keep and bear arms is a vital element of the liberal order that our Founding Fathers handed down to us. Armed citizens take responsibility for their own security, cultivating the self-reliance and vigorous spirit that are indispensable for genuine self-government. As I argue in a new essay for The Heritage Foundation, the…
The Obama administration is secretly delaying deportations for several years. That’s according to a bombshell report from The New York Times, which interviewed Department of Homeland Security employees as well as immigration judges and lawyers. And it’s far from the only failure this administration has when it comes to enforcing our immigration laws. Since 2014,…
A New York City guitarist is finally getting some payback in the face of injustice. In 2014, Andrew Kalleen was wrongfully arrested for loitering while playing his guitar in a subway station. The New York City Police Department officer arrested Kalleen despite his protestations and those of other subway patrons who claimed to enjoy the…
The long-awaited Iraqi offensive is underway to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, from the Islamic State. On Monday, Iraqi security forces began the attack from positions 40 miles south of the city while Kurdish militias advanced from the north. It isn’t known how many ISIS militants will fight to the death in Mosul, but Kurdish…
As Election Day looms large, Americans are as divided as ever on the future direction of the country and many of our most pressing issues. One issue that ought to unite the country, however, is the need for election integrity. After all, it is through the ballot box that voters will select our local, state,…
Usually the century mark for a person, place, or thing is a momentous and joyous occasion. Not so this time. On Sunday, Planned Parenthood turned 100. Both pro-lifers and pro-choicers are marking the organization’s birthday in hashtags: #100YearsOfAbuse and #100YearsStrong, respectively. But the statistics that have emerged from that 100-year reign are staggering. The award…
As this month marks Planned Parenthood’s 100th anniversary, we should pause and consider its destructive legacy. Founded by eugenicist Margaret Sanger in 1916, what is now known as the Planned Parenthood Federation of America began as a small birth control clinic in New York City. Sanger was motivated by her belief that artificial birth control…
Even though it remains a member of United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United States has not provided any funding to the organization since 2011 when the Palestinian Authority was granted full membership in the organization. That decision ran afoul of two U.S. laws, passed in the early 1990s, that prohibit U.S….
$5.6 trillion. That’s how much a recent report from the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, estimates state and local governments across the U.S. have promised to their employees, but can’t afford to pay. Normally, if an employer promises its workers more than it can pay, its workers lose out, but that’s unlikely to be…