Opinion and commentary on news, politics, culture, and policy impact.
Just before Secretary of State John Kerry raised the Stars and Stripes in Havana last week as he opened the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., accused those who oppose President Obama’s Cuba policy of being nostalgic for former dictator Fulgencio Batista. It’s probably best to clear up some misconceptions he may have…
Events of 2015—both good and bad—have pushed Alexander Hamilton back into the spotlight. On a good note, he is the subject of a highly praised and very successful New York musical. Unfortunately, in addition to this, the Treasury Department floated the possibility of taking him off the ten-dollar bill. But even the bad side did…
The Department of Energy released its annual Wind Technologies Market Report last week, and the headline is roughly the same as years past: wind is great…and getting greater, but it needs more federal subsidies. In fact, the Department of Energy and the wind industry have all but acknowledged the long-term un-competitiveness of wind. The DOE’s…
Last month, the United States Army celebrated the 240th anniversary of the Army Chaplain Corps. Amidst the celebrations there was also concern: there seems to be a growing threat to religious liberty for military chaplains. What happens to chaplains from religious communities that view marriage as a union between one man and one woman? With…
Iran is the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism. Americans agree it should not have a nuclear weapon. President Obama’s Iran deal does not prevent Iran from doing so—and, in fact, the deal makes the prospects for war more likely. If approved, the deal with Iran would dismantle the sanctions that forced the regime…
The Democratic Party plans to delete its association with Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, its founding fathers. As the New York Times recently reported, several state Democratic Party affiliates are dropping both Jefferson and Jackson from the party’s name. Georgia, Iowa, Connecticut and Missouri have already done so. It is likely only a matter of time…
Let’s cut to the chase: Does the Iran deal make war more or less likely? “No deal means a greater chance of more war in the Middle East,” President Obama says. His critics disagree. They think it will make war more likely. So which is it? Let’s break it down. First, the Iran agreement does…
Why do I write so much about the myth that financial market deregulation caused the financial crisis? Because that false narrative has spread so far and wide. Even some folks who are otherwise friendly to free markets have bought into it. So here’s one more shot: financial markets were not deregulated in any meaningful way…
By law, the Department of Energy is supposed to collect spent nuclear fuel and deposit it at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain. Nuclear power customers in 33 states have paid billions of dollars into a federal fund to finance this service. Yet the DOE has never collected a single ounce of spent fuel. Indeed, the Yucca Mountain…
Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak headline a list of science luminaries signing on to a letter demanding a universal ban on autonomous weapons. This high-profile offensive against nations fielding robotic weapons that allegedly decide for themselves whom to attack is the latest in a pre-emptive effort to block the development of so-called “killer…
Dear Sen. Schumer, Or may I call you “Chuck”? About 30 years ago, when I first met you, you were an informal kind of guy. You had recently been elected to the House from a district in Brooklyn and Queens. I was a New York Times reporter. I remember you were sharing a row house…
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers’ final water rule under the Clean Water Act seeks to regulate almost every type of water in the country. And you don’t even need to get into the substance of the rule to know it’ll be a disaster. Here are three signs that this rule should be…
The 2013 outbreak of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone claimed over 11,000 lives. The World Health Organization was heavily criticized for its response to the outbreak, with some claiming that its efforts actually exacerbated the suffering. Stung by these charges, WHO commissioned a group of independent experts to assess its response and recommend improvements….
The fastest growing category in many state budgets? It’s not education. It’s not infrastructure. It’s welfare spending. Costing more than $1 trillion per year, the nation’s current welfare system is enormous, but much of this spending is counterproductive. Today’s welfare programs undermine work and marriage, leading to a broadening pattern of intergenerational dependence and self-defeating…
Do you think opposition to the Obama administration’s deal with Iran is strictly a partisan issue? Hardly. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York recently joined half a dozen Democrats in the House of Representatives who have voiced doubts about the agreement. Who can blame them? It flunks the most basic litmus test imaginable. After all,…
At least one person knew there was going to be a spill from the Gold King Mine before EPA actions caused a breach and at least three million gallons of mining wastewater flowed into the Animus River on August 5. Nine days after the fact, the EPA has yet to explain exactly how and why…
At least fifteen people have died since 2005 due to defective ignition switches in General Motors cars. Congress can’t fix these tragedies, but this sure hasn’t stopped them from trying to legislate a response. General Motors CEO Mary Barra purportedly discovered a defect in some of their cars in January 2014 and issued recalls. After…
When it comes to the Iran deal, the devil is in details, particularly when it comes to verification and arms control. In the latest spin on the Iran deal’s flawed verification provisions, proponents of the deal are twisting words like pretzels to convince the American public that a nuclear program cannot be hidden in 24…
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe commemorated the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II by releasing a highly anticipated statement to make amends to Japan’s neighbors. Abe went further than many would predicted even recently in acknowledging Japan’s wartime actions. Most notably, he included several key phrases from statements by his predecessors, including aggression,…
Lerner, the former IRS official who is at the center of a scandal involving the targeting of conservative groups, claims in a newly-released email that Abraham Lincoln is the worst president in the nation’s history. In an email responding to a friend, Lerner wrote, “Look my view is that Lincoln was our worst president not…