Opinion and commentary on news, politics, culture, and policy impact.
It seems fitting that the Heritage Foundation released its latest Index of U.S. Military Strength just before Halloween. It makes for some scary reading. It’s easy to assume that our military will always be prepared to not only defend our shores, but protect our allies and interests worldwide. Indeed, to suggest otherwise might seem unnecessarily pessimistic. But wishful…
Nov. 17—that’s the date set for the Illinois State Supreme Court to hear oral arguments regarding a 2014 deal to overhaul the city of Chicago’s pension plans. It’s a golden opportunity for the court to clarify or—better yet—overturn its misguided decision earlier this year, which invalidated the 2013 statewide pension reforms. Let’s hope the court…
It was one of the largest prisoner re-entry programs ever undertaken. RExO (Re-Integration of Ex-Offenders) aimed to help ex-cons find jobs, thereby reducing recidivism. Over the years, the U.S. Labor Department poured almost $743 million into the program. Only one problem: it didn’t work. And there are plenty more federal programs whose effectiveness has never been demonstrated. In some cases,…
No respectable historian will find much to admire in the president’s legacy as foreign policy and national security leader. Still, they may well bicker for many years over why he does what he does. The White House recently announced that special operations forces are going into harm’s way in Syria. That choice may be one of the defining…
Today, the Supreme Court announced it will take up seven cases challenging the Obamacare requirement that non-profit employers offer their employees health care coverage that includes Plan B, ella, and other potentially life-ending drugs and devices, contraception, and sterilization. Plaintiffs in the cases the Court will decide include Little Sisters of the Poor; Priests for…
The October jobs report showed the economy growing robustly in October—a marked turnaround from September’s disappointing numbers. The payroll survey reported that employers added 271,000 net new jobs in October, almost double the number of net jobs created in September. The household survey found unemployment falling slightly to 5.0 percent—the lowest since early 2008. Digging…
It took President Barack Obama only 2,604 days to reject the permit application for the Keystone XL pipeline. In a statement today, Obama said the pipeline “would not serve the national interest of the United States.” “America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change,” Obama added. “And…
Few Americans oppose religious liberty in the abstract. But what should happen when a general law or policy aimed at advancing the common good unintentionally burdens people of faith? Historically, Democrats and Republicans alike have supported accommodating or protecting religious citizens. Alas, this one-time consensus seems to be collapsing. Over the past year, owners of…
Did it escape your attention that last month was the 70th birthday of the United Nations? Did you miss the opportunity to celebrate by following Elyx on an “exciting 70-day (virtual) trip around the world to shine light on the U.N.’s work”? What? You’re not familiar with Elyx, the United Nations’ first “digital ambassador”? Allow me to…
This week, the homeland security community lost of one of its original architects. Michael Wermuth, whose contributions to the field began before 9/11 and continued for the past fifteen years, passed on Nov. 1 at age 69. When Mike joined the RAND Corporation in 1999, his first task was to serve as executive director of…
Ryan Anderson wrote this week on Tuesday's election results: Kim Davis confounded the pollsters and propelled an underdog candidate, Matt Bevin, to victory in the Kentucky governor’s race. Nearly two-thirds of voters in Ohio rejected marijuana. And citizens in Houston vetoed their city council and rejected a bad policy on sexual orientation and gender identity. Conventional…
If you wonder about the bias and lack of objectivity and accuracy of reporters in the mainstream media, look no farther than what they are learning at schools like the University of North Texas, where Dorothy Bland is the dean of the school of journalism. Bland recently wrote an article in the Dallas Morning News…
Today, the House overwhelmingly passed the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act (STRR) to much fanfare. The six-year, $325-billion bill reauthorizes highway and transit funding from the federal Highway Trust Fund that was set to expire on November 20. The bill is being heralded as no less than a historic “long-term” measure, emerging after “ten…
Today Senate Democrats voted for the third time this year to prevent the defense appropriations bill from moving forward. The Democrats did this for one simple reason: they want leverage to push their liberal priorities in all the other spending bills. In short, they are using military funding as a hostage. Just last week, the…
China’s recent decision to abandon the one-child policy in favor of a two-child policy, while welcome, is neither a fundamental policy shift nor a long-term solution to China’s economic dilemma. At root, the one-child policy was merely another means by which the China maintained control over the Chinese people. The newly invoked two-child policy continues…
Last week, two press freedom groups—Reporters Without Borders and the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory—issued a press release detailing the plight of independent media in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, which fell to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in June 2014. Unsurprisingly, the news is not good. Since June 2014, 48 members of…
The national frenzy over Planned Parenthood has died down somewhat since the House Oversight Committee hearing that occurred more than a month ago. News headlines have shifted from the testimony of Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards to the latest developments in the race for president. However, as the media spotlight has shifted, I am still…
KATHMANDU, Nepal—About two months before a mortar killed him, 19-year-old Ukrainian soldier Daniel Kasyanenko smoked a cigarette with me in a trench in eastern Ukraine. On that hot June afternoon, with random sniper potshots and artillery rounds comprising the background din, our conversation touched on many topics, most of which are not fit for print….
Last month during a speech in Madrid, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, boasted of popular support for EU integration. The boast came across more as a plea: “We can’t lose the people who always believed in us, the simple people who work, who aren’t any less intelligent than the elites. They’ve always…
Like the antagonist in a bad horror film, some ideas just won’t die. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) is one of those ideas. The Senate refused to ratify the treaty back in 1999, the first time the Senate rejected a treaty since Woodrow Wilson’s League of Nations. Still, Secretary of State John Kerry and…