Opinion and commentary on news, politics, culture, and policy impact.
Twin events over the weekend dashed tremulous predictions that North Korea was seeking to improve strained relations with South Korea and China. Pyongyang’s decisions to engage in senior-level talks with South Korea, and send Kim Jong-un’s hand-picked Moranbong band to Beijing, presaged (it was hoped) the regime’s intent to substitute parley for its typical pugnacity….
For the first time in seven years, the Federal Reserve has raised its target for the federal funds rate. Some news reports get this story right, but most repeat the standard line that the Fed has raised interest rates. This is wrong. The Fed does not set interest rates, and it’s more than just semantics….
After the June Supreme Court ruling mandating same-sex marriage in all 50 states, the left has proposed sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) “anti-discrimination” laws in many states as the next item on its wish list. For example, Pennsylvania is one of several states considering adopting a SOGI law, while Houston recently rejected one. As the…
The newly appointed U.S. State Department Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador Richard Olson will testify tomorrow before a hearing of the House Foreign Relations Committee on “The Future of U.S.-Pakistan Relations.” U.S. congressional members must question Olson about the failure of U.S. policy to bring Pakistan in line with U.S. counterterrorism objectives and what…
What better time than Christmas to spend other people’s money and give presents to the environmental activists? In addition to the other generous handouts renewable companies would receive in the omnibus spending bill, backroom negotiators are also pushing for President Barack Obama’s $3 billion pledge for the Green Climate Fund, a key component of the…
Thanks to U.S. trade policy, Americans will find themselves paying above-market prices for many Christmas gifts this year. The United States has free trade agreements with 20 countries around the world, which reduce most tariffs on imports from these countries to zero. However, these agreements cover only approximately 36 percent of U.S. annual imports. To…
This week, the Federal Aviation Administration announced the formation of a new drone registry. As of Dec. 21, failing to register a drone that weighs more than 0.55 pounds—roughly the weight of two sticks of butter—can land you in jail for up to three years and subject you to $27,500 in civil penalties and $250,000…
The Army has decided to send Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl to a general court martial, where he will face two charges: desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. There are some important facts to keep in mind regarding Bergdahl’s case going forward, as well as some unique aspects of the military justice system. The Military Justice System…
President Barack Obama’s statement at the Pentagon on Monday was sadly no more than political theater. Facing a crisis of confidence over the public perception of his handling of the Islamic State (ISIS), the president is trying to again make the case that his strategy is the right one. Despite the change (upward) in the…
In part two of an exclusive interview with The Daily Signal, Sen. Ted Cruz talks about why the United States should not be picking sides in Syria and how past policies of deposing dictators, from Libya to Egypt, have backfired. The Texas Republican lays out his three-part strategy for defeating ISIS, where he says our ultimate…
A week ago, President Barack Obama signed a new highway funding bill that will effectively tax banks and raid the Federal Reserve to pay for new highway spending. That whole ordeal exposed the convenient fiction that the Federal Reserve needs capital. The truth is, however, that the Fed doesn’t need capital, since it can just…
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) broke the law when pushing its controversial water rule, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). As Congress considers whether to include a provision in the omnibus appropriations bill to block funding for the water rule, this should make the issue a no-brainer. As if a rule that attempts to…
The Iran nuclear agreement is fast approaching its implementation stage despite the recent confirmation that Iran lied about its nuclear weapons efforts and did not fully cooperate with the investigation launched by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Last week, the IAEA released its final report on the “Possible Military Dimensions” (PMDs) of Iran’s nuclear…
Proponents of energy subsides argue that they are necessary for any number of reasons, such as business certainty, to stimulate the economy, to preserve jobs, to combat global warming, to compete internationally, and the like. But in the long run, subsidies actually hurt the very industries they’re supposed to help by disincentivizing innovation and making…
Following the terrorist attacks in Paris last month, commentators have speculated on the possibility of an attack on U.S. soil by terrorists possessing passports from France or other Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries. Many in the media and elsewhere continue to labor under the misimpression that security standards are looser for VWP travelers than for…
Historically, Democrats and Republicans have agreed that religious liberty is a core American value that should be protected whenever possible. Yet over the past decade, this consensus has come under increasing assault from the left. A recent manifestation of this hostility to people of faith is a Dec. 9 lawsuit challenging a North Carolina statute…
With over $42 billion in debt, a five-percent decline in population over just five years, and only half of all working-age residents actually working, Puerto Rico faces a severe economic and financial crisis. Some have even alluded to a potential humanitarian crisis. Attempting to ward off such a crisis, a number of Puerto Rican and…
As Obamacare’s implosion continues to unfold, Democrat lawmakers have been desperate to postpone some of the law’s most adverse impacts on Americans. Now it appears K Street lobbyists have convinced some Republican lawmakers to join their Democrat colleagues by attempting to delay the so-called “Cadillac tax,” which is an excise tax on all plans offered by employers…
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair strode into Washington last week speaking urgently about the need to have a long-term strategy to defeat Islamist extremism on the ground as well as ideologically, with both superior military force and confident Western values. It was as if he were a visitor not from the U.K., but from…
President Obama certainly knows how to use a red-hot news hook to highlight his agenda. This week, during the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Paris, he appeared to conflate climate change with terrorism. Coming hot on the heels of the ISIS massacres in the “City of Light,” that kind of rhetoric was bound…