Opinion and commentary on news, politics, culture, and policy impact.
International trade figures heavily in the presidential race. Presidential candidate Donald Trump said, “Hillary Clinton unleashed a trade war against the American worker when she supported one terrible trade deal after another—from NAFTA to China to South Korea.” And adding, “A Trump administration will end that war by getting a fair deal for the American…
In the waning days of his tenure, President Barack Obama is reportedly contemplating declaring a “no first use” pledge for U.S. nuclear weapons. Such a policy decision, a dramatic reversal of America’s post-World War II security strategy, would be another step toward Obama’s utopian vision of global nuclear disarmament. U.S. allies rely on America’s extended…
As a south Louisiana native who lived through Hurricane Katrina, I have every right to be aggravated with the national news coverage of the state’s latest natural disaster. Due to massive flooding over the last week, one-third of the state’s parishes (called counties everywhere else) are official federal disaster areas. The population for those parishes…
In a continued effort to address alleged man-made global warming, the Obama administration has finalized energy efficiency standards for medium and heavy-duty trucks. While the administration is pledging to reduce fuel use and cut greenhouse gas emissions, its stringent energy mandate will do nothing to affect climate change. What it will do, however, is take…
In the first six months of 2016, foreign central banks sold a net $192 billion of U.S. Treasury bills, notes, and bonds. This is more than double the pace from the same time last year. China, Japan, and Brazil were the leaders in selling U.S. debt. With the U.S. debt running at approximately $19.4 trillion,…
With this November’s election looming just over the horizon, the topic of voter fraud is popping up much more frequently in our news feeds. Progressives insist that voter fraud is a myth, a charade meant to justify repressive voting laws. The facts, however, tell a different story: Voter fraud is real, and if we ignore…
According to a recently released study from the American Enterprise Institute, 82 percent of lower-middle-class families with young children face “marriage penalties” in the welfare system. Couples who marry would lose all or some of their welfare benefits because their combined income is often greater than each of their independent incomes. The study found that…
Is man-made global warming to blame for the heavy rainfall and flooding in Louisiana? Former Vice President Al Gore sure thinks so. And The New York Times ran a story with the title “Flooding in the South Looks a Lot Like Climate Change.” But the climate research suggests otherwise. Speaking in Houston to train more…
Pop quiz: Which of the following sentences comes from North Carolina’s new law protecting privacy in public schools and government buildings? 1. “The provision of separate facilities or schedules for female and for male patrons, does not constitute a discriminatory practice when such separate facilities or schedules for female and for male patrons are bona fide…
President Barack Obama isn’t afraid to enact his agenda over the will of Congress. At this late stage in his presidency, he’s still overreaching his authority to push through an agenda; his most recent overstep being an effort to unilaterally raise the federal estate tax. Conservatives have successfully lessened the impact of the estate tax,…
The Cold War that lasted from 1945 until 1991 was a very big deal. At stake was whether the world would be dominated by the forces of totalitarianism, led by the Soviet Union, or inspired by the principles of economic and political freedom, embodied in the United States. At stake was whether the many millions…
Guns are a tricky topic. Very rarely do you find voters ambivalent about gun violence, gun safety, etc. Someone is either strongly pro-gun rights or pro-gun control, which makes a civil conversation difficult to start or maintain. But the solution isn’t to avoid the topic. As I mentioned in my last column, you may be…
One year has passed since the Environmental Protection Agency caused a discharge of 3 million gallons of toxic water into the Animas River, and no one has been held accountable, although private parties have been criminally prosecuted under similar circumstances in the past. Now, three entities’ actions might change the resulting narrative that there are…
Hillary Kieft grew worried when her daughter didn’t arrive from school on the bus as usual. After she called the school to find out what was wrong, a school nurse pulled into her driveway with the daughter (let’s call her “Kelly”) in tow. The nurse explained that she had taken Kelly for counseling after school,…
On Saturday and Sunday evening, dozens of protesters and rioters took to the streets of Milwaukee to voice their collective anger over Saturday afternoon’s fatal police shooting in the city’s Sherman Park neighborhood. The situation on the ground became dangerously volatile, necessitating Gov. Scott Walker’s activation of the state National Guard to mobilize in case it was needed to…
In the coming weeks, the Commerce Department is expected to end the current contract between the U.S. government and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, ICANN, that grants the U.S. formal approval over changes to the authoritative root zone file and the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority functions. As observed by Lawrence Strickling, administrator…
Sorry, pot pushers—your “medical marijuana” is still a Schedule 1 controlled substance. In a recent press release, the Drug Enforcement Administration confirmed the dangers of allowing marijuana to be grown and used freely. Indeed, the detrimental health effects that come from a lack of regulation overshadow the “medicinal” benefits of marijuana. But in recognizing the…
The recent decline in oil prices has squeezed the finances of nations whose economies are dependent on oil exports. Even wealthy producers such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been forced to cut government spending significantly. Although that means their citizens will receive less free stuff from the state, it just might lead to more…
The small central African country of Burundi is approaching its 17th month of violence sparked by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to seek a third term in office. Once a relative success story, Burundi’s democracy is now on life support. Its plight is a reminder of the fragile state of African democracy, and is part of…