Opinion and commentary on news, politics, culture, and policy impact.
The leaders of Russia and Iran both have ramped up their propaganda machines to project images of surging regional influence within Syria. This aggressive news management by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, not so incidentally, coincides with the waning of U.S. power and influence. Since the start of the Russian…
The U.S. has reportedly been monitoring Russian naval activity along sea routes transited by undersea communications cables. News reports over the weekend speculated that Russia may be laying the groundwork to sever these cables in the event of war with the U.S., or to tap into them for intelligence gathering. Installation of the first underwater…
The budget deal reached last night attempts to stave off depletion of the Disability Insurance (DI) trust fund at the end of 2016 by “reallocating” about $150 billion over the next three years from the Social Security Trust Fund to the Disability Insurance Trust Fund. This infusion of Social Security revenues should keep the disability…
Is there a connection between strong families and a thriving economy? A new study, “Strong Families, Prosperous States,” takes a step toward answering the question. “Despite the clear economic gains associated with strong families at the individual level, economists across the ideological spectrum have failed to investigate whether strong families increase economic growth,” co-authors Brad Wilcox,…
Last week, off the coast of Scotland, the U.S. Navy conducted a successful test intercept of a ballistic missile target (video), the first live intercept of a ballistic missile in Europe. The Navy launched a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IA interceptor from the USS Ross as part of a joint exercise with eight U.S. allies. The…
When it comes to locker rooms, does a public school have the right to say it should be restricted to of the students of the same physiological sex? Right now, a school district north of Chicago is squaring off with the federal government on that question. Township High School District 211, like many school districts,…
It’s enough to make any Wisconsin taxpayer sick. For 40 years, state legislators have enjoyed a special benefit that not only grants them sick leave, but also allows them to bank all unused sick days and use the cash value of those days to pay for health insurance after they retire from the legislature. “It’s a…
Earlier this month, the Obama administration announced that insurers who lost money selling Obamacare would not get a $2.5-billion bailout. It was great news for taxpayers, but it didn’t happen by chance. Both chambers of Congress worked very hard to make those savings possible. And lawmakers will have to continue working hard to keep bailouts like this from happening…
Between now and the presidential election, we’ll be treated to all sorts of wonderful fables about what caused the 2008 financial crisis and the best way to prevent another one. Most of these stories will rehash the same old spin that we’ve been hearing for years. The biggest whopper concerns the Glass-Steagall Act, the 1933…
Remember that part of the Constitution that gives the executive branch of government the authority to make a commitment with foreign powers to cap carbon emissions levels and then enforce that commitment domestically with onerous environmental regulations? Me neither. But that’s exactly what President Obama plans to do in Paris later this year, where he will…
Justin Johnson wrote earlier this week on President Obama's veto of the National Defense Authorization Act: Instead of dealing with the bill on its merits, Obama is using the defense bill for political leverage. This is the wrong way to handle our national security. Many Americans rightfully find Washington’s way of doing things disturbing. Instead…
Debate. It’s the hallmark of an open society. We may hold different points of view on a certain topic, but we can express those views freely, without fear of repercussions. Unless, that is, you dare to question the idea of man-made global warming. That, apparently, puts you beyond the pale. You can insist that the…
The announcement last week that Angus Deaton of Princeton University won the 2015 Nobel Prize in economics offers an opportunity to celebrate the gains the world has made, and to reflect on how we can do better. Unfortunately, the United Nations has not taken that opportunity. Deaton’s research focuses on the use of data from…
“The Think Tank is Dead.” So predicted Michael Tanji a half-decade ago. Tanji argued that “virtual think tanks,” groups of experts tethered only by common interests and cyber-communications, offered advantages (as well as some disadvantages) over traditional think tanks moored in brick-and-mortar b)uildings. The next iteration of think tanks—dubbed, inevitably, Think Tank 2.0—would be a mash-up of both…
JERUSALEM—Over the years, Israelis have had to defend themselves from foreign armies, suicide bombers, and missiles. Over recent weeks, they’ve been confronting a new threat: young Palestinians wielding butcher knives. Unlike the cutthroats of the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, these fanatics aren’t able to bind their victims and behead them. But videos on social media teach would-be…
On Wednesday, Daniel Murphy continued his march through the postseason and made headlines by setting a record for hitting a home run in six consecutive postseason games, winning the National League Championship Series (NLCS) Most Valuable Player award, and helping the New York Mets complete its sweep of the Chicago Cubs to send the team to…
A proposal offered by Rep. Bill Flores, R-Texas, to increase the debt limit includes, among other reforms, two overlapping freezes on the writing of new rules by regulatory agencies. The first would be a freeze from the date of the proposal’s enactment to July 2017, and the second freeze would be on “midnight regulations” from Election…
One night in 2001, 77-year-old Margaret Davis became the victim of a home invasion. A suspected drug dealer, pursued on foot by Philadelphia police, broke into her home, hid the drugs he was carrying, and absconded out the back. Police did not catch the dealer, but they did find the drugs he had left behind….
Public opposition to Obamacare has lasted far longer than its authors imagined. Unsubsidized consumers avoid Obamacare coverage. Twenty states have rejected its Medicaid expansion. Congress wants to repeal it. President Obama and the Supreme Court have repeatedly amended and expanded it, transforming the statute Congress enacted into an illegitimate law that no Congress ever had…
In a recent article, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich argues that jobs that pay under $15 an hour “aren’t worth keeping.” Unlike Mr. Reich, we work those jobs, and we think they are worth keeping. One of us (Max) worked for three summers on a golf course in Montana during high school. The job…