Opinion and commentary on news, politics, culture, and policy impact.
Thousands of women and girls have been brutally raped, beaten, and sold as slaves by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Many of these are girls are Yazidis – from a small religious minority that practices the ancient religion Yazidism. In August 2014, the Yazidis were driven onto Mount Sinjar, and overtaken by…
Are people who publicly affirm that marriage is the union of one man and one woman unfit to be judges? The Ohio Supreme Court’s Board of Professional Conduct came close to saying just that in a recent advisory opinion in the wake of the Supreme Court’s national redefinition of marriage. According to the Board, a…
Companies should be held responsible for damage they cause to the environment. But what if it’s the government that has caused the damage? Recently the Environmental Protection Agency was responsible for a massive chemical spill into the Animas River in Colorado (an estimated 3 million gallons of wastewater were spilled). Health impacts are uncertain from…
Michaela Dodge and Cameron Swathwood wrote earlier this week on the failures of the president's Iran deal: Under the terms of the recently finalized nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), Iran will now have less oversight and restrictions on its nuclear program than the White House will admit. The Obama administration, striving to…
For decades, the U.S. and other nations have engaged in negotiations to achieve North Korean denuclearization. Pyongyang signed several agreements promising never to build nuclear weapons and then several more pledging to give up the weapons it agreed to not build in the first place. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un now rejects dialogue with the…
In the wake of the recent and ongoing Planned Parenthood scandal regarding the harvesting and sale of baby hearts, livers, lungs, and other organs, late last week a group of black pastors requested that a bust of Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, be removed from a temporary Smithsonian exhibit named, ironically, “Struggle for…
When a family want to spend more money on a house, a car, education, or anything else they want to buy, the first question they ask themselves is “Where will the money come from?” When Congress asks the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to score how spending increases will affect the economy, the CBO does not…
The panel of presenters at a recent anti-poverty summit, hosted by Bob Woodson’s Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, did not fit the image of typical Washington policy experts. They ranged from a tattooed biker/pastor to a young black man who founded and once led the Dallas chapter of the notorious Bloods street gang. Their presentations were…
There is a strong likelihood that when Secretary John Kerry raises the American flag in Havana this Friday, he will meet with General Raul Castro or other Cuban government officials who continue to support the FARC, a Colombian terrorist group. Neither Kerry nor President Obama want to ask embarrassing questions. The Washington Post recently called…
ISIS now claims it has the names, home addresses and other personally identifiable information of thousands of U.S. military personnel and government employees. It’s called for “local” supporters to use the information to attack the Americans listed. ISIS posted this data for about 1,400 people, but asserts this was just one percent of the data…
A spokesman for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that she has directed her staff to turn over the personal server through which she ran all of her work-related emails to the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department, as well as a thumb-drive, that have been in the possession of her lawyer, although they…
This past week, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, over the vigorous dissent of four judges on that court, denied rehearing en banc (legalese for an entire court rather than just a panel of three judges) in the case of Sissel v. United States Department of Health and Human…
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) devalued the renminbi by almost 4 percent, the most significant two-day devaluation since the mid-1990s. While the markets speculated whether this signaled the beginning of a currency war, the devaluation is not really the important story. Strong Renminbi in Recent Years First, the renminbi has…
Many Planned Parenthood supporters have decried the Center for Medical Progress for releasing “highly edited” video, despite the fact CMP has also released the full, unedited videos. Planned Parenthood claims that is has broken no laws. Yet a number of statements made in the undercover videos raise serious questions about whether some Planned Parenthood affiliates…
Lawmakers are responding to controversies involving drones in neighborhoods, where increasing use (even for pizza delivery) is raising national debates over rights to privacy, property, and self-defense. One operator flew his drone dangerously close to a passenger plane on its final approach to a Dallas airport. Another stopped fire-fighting helicopters from extinguishing wildfires. One even…
A recently released poll shows significant public support for the protection of religious liberty—especially when special rights based on sexual orientation are being advanced at its expense. The results reveal hope for the classical liberal vision of America: they indicate that most Americans still appear to want maximum freedom and individual rights protection. According to…
The Heritage Foundation’s list of nearly 300 documented cases of voter fraud in the United States continues to grow. Recent additions reveal that voter fraud is not just an individual or isolated crime; in some counties and communities, election fraud is almost a way of life. These additions again reinforce the need for measures such…
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in King v. Burwell, President Obama has claimed that Obamacare is working and here to stay. In truth, the actual effect of the Supreme Court’s decision leaves Obamacare unchanged, and the law is certainly not working well. Not only will Obamacare’s current political and operational problems continue,…
Under the terms of the recently finalized nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), Iran will now have less oversight and restrictions on its nuclear program than the White House will admit. The Obama administration, striving to convince lawmakers and the American people that Iran will be punished if it violates the new deal, has…
Now that the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of gay marriage, a question arises: Should we protect the rights of Orthodox Jews, Roman Catholics, Evangelical Christians, Latter-Day Saints and Muslims who believe that marriage is a union of husband and wife? Two bills recently introduced in Congress show diverging answers. One seeks to promote…