Opinion and commentary on news, politics, culture, and policy impact.
KYIV, Ukraine—My brother Drew, a former Air Force captain, told me one of the worst stories I’ve yet to hear from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was riding in a convoy from Bagram Air Base to Kabul during a deployment to Afghanistan in August 2010. This particularly dangerous stretch of road was known…
Is the internet ready for the U.S. government to give up its longstanding role as the ultimate guarantor of internet governance? Yes, insists the Obama administration. The international community of stakeholders—users, businesses, engineers, and civil society groups—will remain firmly in control. We’re skeptical. But before we tell you why, let’s make a few things clear….
This is a portion of remarks Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, delivered on the Senate floor on Thursday. The Obama administration’s proposal to give away control of the internet poses a significant threat to our freedom, and it’s one that many Americans don’t know about. It is scheduled to go into effect on Sept. 30, 2016….
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released data this week showing that the ratio of unemployed people per job opening remains at the lowest it has been since April of 2001, at 1.3. The number of total private-sector job openings now stands at 5,358,000—an all-time high since the statistic was first tracked in 2000. Is the…
Having been in the Pentagon on 9/11, it does not seem as if it was 15 years ago that our lives and national trajectory were changed so much. For those who have been in the middle of it all, the time has gone swiftly. To many others, it is ancient history. Some interns at The…
Allegations that President Barack Obama’s administration doled out ransom payments to Iran in exchange for prisoners have been fueled by new revelations about additional cash payments beyond the initial $400 million transfer that the administration already admitted. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Obama administration, which had transferred $400 million in European currencies to…
An internationally known Cuban dissident leader and former political prisoner has been on a hunger strike for seven weeks. Attempting to raise awareness of his government’s brutality, Guillermo “Coco” Fariñas says he is willing to give his life for the sake of Cuba’s future. Wednesday was Day 50 of the hunger strike. A video posted by Fariñas…
With the Senate impeachment vote to remove from office former President Dilma Rousseff, Brazilians joined a lengthening line of Latin Americans who have soured on the populist, corrupting, and impoverishing policies of “21st Century Socialism.” Faced with its disastrous consequences, people in some neighboring countries had already turned the page and moved on. Argentina wised…
No matter which party wins on Election Day, Americans are going to have to deal with a few zombies. That’s what I like to call the politically “undead” senators and representatives who lose their seats in November, but get to shuffle around the halls of Congress (and keep voting) for a month before Christmas break…
This week, Politico broke the story of a memo from senior Pentagon officials to the secretary of defense laying out how the Pentagon could “play hardball” against a funding gimmick included in the House defense policy and funding bills. The gimmick in both bills involves only funding overseas operations (in Afghanistan and elsewhere) for part of…
Last week, new federal rules for commercial drone operators took effect. For the first time, the Federal Aviation Administration is not demanding to review and approve of every single commercial use of drones in the country. This approval-by-waiver process took months, and needlessly delayed commercial development and deployment of drone technology. But don’t expect the FAA’s…
With the death of Phyllis Schlafly, America has lost an authentic heroine. Schlafly was an American patriot, a true renaissance woman, an exceptional leader, and a wonderful human being. At the age of 92, Phyllis was one day from releasing her latest book. While she wrote many, no one can forget the one that started…
In her long and consequential career, Phyllis Schlafly accomplished many amazing things, including her almost single-handed defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment, but none of them had a more lasting effect on American politics than her 1964 publication of a paperback book titled “A Choice Not an Echo.” More than 50,000 copies of “A Choice…
The media is helping governments wage an all-out war on carbon dioxide while distorting the truth about the colorless gas. This blitz could come with considerable costs for Americans with negligible benefits, at most. Over the weekend, the United States officially joined the Paris Protocol to combat manmade global warming while President Obama was in China. …
“Choice” always seems to be a winning argument for the left, except when it comes to education. Liberals repeatedly cry foul as soon as someone champions school choice at (what they perceive to be) the expense of public education. Conservatives claim the opposite is true—school choice empowers students by giving their families educational options. So,…
What is a lame-duck Congress? Well, it refers to the weeks following a November election when lawmakers who either lost their seats or who are retiring from office return to Washington and continue to cast votes until the new Congress arrives. This is a bad practice for a fairly obvious reason—lawmakers no longer accountable to…
How did America’s political and economic system change from limited government and capitalism early in our history, to the unlimited government and welfare statism of today? From about 1880 to the end of World War I, America went through a period of radical change. New political and economic principles were introduced by a group of…
Less than two months after Congress passed a package aimed to provide financial relief for Puerto Rico, the Obama administration is already at it again—this time seeking an outright taxpayer bailout for the U.S. territory through additional Medicaid funds and access to the earned income tax credit. Why does Puerto Rico need help? After decades…
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ August employment report showed little change in the labor market. Employers added a net 151,000 jobs. That rate of job growth essentially keeps up with population growth. Unsurprisingly, then, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.9 percent. The labor force participation rate (62.8 percent) and employment-to-population ratio (59.7 percent) also…
