Opinion and commentary on news, politics, culture, and policy impact.
Controversy has flared up in South Dakota this week over whether biological males who identify as female should have access to girls’ bathrooms, lockers, and showers in schools. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage, the left has shifted its attention to the issue of gender identity, but it is meeting compassionate…
On Feb. 10, President Barack Obama gave a speech bewailing America’s “poisonous political climate.” Speaking to the Illinois General Assembly, he stressed that there was a better way: Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about something a friend of mine, Deval Patrick, once said to his constituents when he was governor of Massachusetts. He said,…
Why have liberals become so intolerant? They think nothing of denying someone as prominent as former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice from speaking on a college campus. They embrace activists who shut down speakers. They publicly shame people for the slightest deviation from liberal orthodoxy. Their mindset is the very definition of closed-mindedness. For them…
Standing outside the U.S. Supreme Court with the American flag flying at half-staff, Sen. Ben Sasse challenges President Obama to nominate a justice who will repudiate the executive unilateralism of his presidency. The video, taped this week, was released Thursday as the nation mourns the death of Justice Antonin Scalia and awaits Obama’s nomination of…
The U.S. government has reported that China has deployed several batteries of surface-to-air missiles (HQ-9) to Woody Island, Paracels, in the South China Sea. This is a significant military move, and it makes clear that China is prepared to employ military forces to support its expansive claims to the South China Sea. The People’s Liberation…
Poverty and energy poverty go hand in hand. It is estimated that three billion people still rely on solid fuel (firewood, cornstalks, etc.) for cooking, which, according to the World Health Organization, causes four million deaths per year from the indoor air pollution. Poverty and energy poverty go hand in hand. But instead of promoting electricity…
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., met with the Republican conference last week to make a pitch on the shape of this year’s House budget. Ryan’s proposal would include $30 billion in new spending authority above the Budget Control Act (BCA)’s post-sequester levels for discretionary programs in 2017. Ryan told his colleagues that the new spending…
What a shock. Now that he’s at the White House—and facing GOP opposition to appointing a new Supreme Court justice in the mere months before a new president is elected—President Barack Obama seems to have changed his tune a decade after serving as a U.S. senator. As we detail in the above video, Obama used…
President Barack Obama has nominated Roberta Jacobson, the current assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, to be the next U.S. ambassador to Mexico in spite of bipartisan objections. As the Senate prepares to take up her confirmation, there are a few key considerations that members should evaluate before casting their votes: Under Jacobson's direction,…
According to data published by the IRS and the U.S. Census Bureau, 44.2 percent of U.S. residents paid no federal income tax in 2013 (the most recent year for which data is available). No doubt many of the non-payers would willingly pay income tax in exchange for the chance to work in a more dynamic…
The number of Islamist-inspired domestic attacks (and plots) on the United States since Sept. 11, 2001, continues to grow. The Department of Justice has released information on two past instances that bring the total number of plots and attacks to 83. The FBI has been investigating Khalil Abu-Rayyan since May 2015. According to a criminal…
When a 9-year-old boy who identifies as Stormi, a transgender girl, started selling Girl Scout cookies, one neighbor was not amused, according to Buzzfeed. The neighbor rebuffed him, reportedly saying, “Nobody wants to buy Girl Scout cookies from a boy in a dress.” The neighbor is being called transphobic—but perhaps the neighbor thought he was…
The stakes are high—very high. Finding a replacement for deceased Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia will be a battle royale. But why should one government official’s position be so existentially important? Yes, control of the Supreme Court hangs in the balance, but that raises the question as to why the Court itself is so…
A little-known federal government agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, imposes enormous costs on consumers and financial service providers through costly and unwarranted command-and-control regulation. What’s more, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau runs afoul of the constitutionally mandated separation of powers. Thus, both economic and constitutional concerns indicate that it is time for Congress to…
For over three years it has been debated whether Congress should update the Authorized Use of Military Force from Sept. 18, 2001 with a new war authorization designed to confront emerging terror threats from groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS). An Authorized Use of Military Force is not a substitute for a comprehensive strategy…
The unfortunate passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has opened a vacancy on our nation’s highest court. Whoever fills that vacancy, the American people deserve a nominee chosen by the next president, not by an administration with one foot out the door. The Constitution is very clear that the president has the power to…
There’s no better way of celebrating our presidents around Presidents Day than by remembering a few of their extraordinary acts of courage. Here are four examples highlighting when past presidents have displayed clear leadership: George Washington. When King George III asked what General Washington would do after he led the Colonial Army to victory, the…
Antonin Gregory Scalia has died. For some, it is the painful loss of a husband or father. For those who knew him, it is the loss of a good friend. For law students, it is the loss of a justice who wrote opinions with rigorous analysis, clarity of expression, and at times an acerbic wit….
In honor of National Marriage Week, consider this question: Does marriage impact the economic well-being of societies? One of the most important answers to the solution of poverty lies not in government programs, but in the institution of marriage. For the past 50 years, our country has been losing the war against poverty. More than…
You would think hitting $19 trillion in debt would be a serious wake-up call for Washington. But we’ve been at this crossroads, at the intersection of prioritizing and cutting spending and pretending that the bills will never come due. President Barack Obama has already shown his hand: His new budget increases spending and taxes and ignores…