Opinion and commentary on news, politics, culture, and policy impact.
For the third time in our nation’s history, the Constitution will be read out loud on the floor of the House of Representatives Friday. Cynics, or those who simply follow the antics of Congress, will likely roll their eyes and dismiss this as a stunt. But a public reading of the Constitution is not entirely…
There was a time when the “China-lobby” meant supporters of The Republic of China (Taiwan). In the last couple decades, it has come to mean representatives of the American business community most eager to do business on the mainland, the People’s Republic of China, and willing to exercise influence in Washington in support of cordial…
Just before the Christmas break, the D.C. City Council passed a law that could force pro-life organizations to pay for abortion coverage. But that wasn’t the only piece of bad legislation, violating religious liberty which came out of the D.C. Council in December. A new bill might force Christian schools to recognize an LGBT student…
Yesterday’s release of the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting in December revealed very little new information on the Fed’s overall monetary policy stance. The headline statement was that “the Committee judges that it can be patient in beginning to normalize the stance of monetary policy.” Translation: We’re not doing anything different for…
If you failed to purchase health insurance, expect tax penalties to double this year. And don't forget to report your health insurance status directly to the Internal Revenue Service — they're gearing up to collect. Check out the fines to come this year and in 2016 in the chart below. Thanks, Obamacare! >>Related: New Year…
On Sept. 13, 2001, two days after 9/11, the Parisian daily Le Monde published an editorial titled “Nous sommes tous Américains,” or “We Are All Americans” in the language of Moliere. It shocked many, not least Le Monde’s legions of readers. “How can we not feel, as we have in the gravest moments of our…
The debate over Obamacare is as strong as ever, despite being passed into law nearly five years ago. Here are five of the biggest reasons Congress should repeal Obamacare in 2015: Obamacare creates $1.8 trillion in new health care spending and uses cuts to Medicare spending to help pay for some of it. The law’s exchange…
If we really knew what is going on in the Kremlin backrooms, where Russia’s information war is being planned, we in the West would be shocked, writes author Peter Pomerantsev in Politico magazine. Audiences within the reach of Russia’s growing media empire are fed cynical media manipulation, hero worship of Russian President Vladimir Putin, rewriting of…
This Tuesday, House Republicans nearly unanimously adopted new rules for the 114th Congress (H. Res. 5) which set the stage for long-overdue Social Security reforms to protect disabled Americans and seniors from indiscriminate benefit cuts. The new rule strengthens the integrity of Social Security’s separate trust funds (disability and retirement) by putting a procedural barrier…
We made a difference today. The results were not what we hoped for, but the voices of tens of thousands of Americans were heard by the people on Capitol Hill. Phone lines all over Capitol Hill were lit up by voters letting everyone here know the will of the American people. This was always about…
Talk about a trainwreck. Today, California broke ground on another disastrous government-funded project: high-speed rail that will eventually go from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The project is estimated to cost $68 billion. The plan is that the private sector will ultimately invest around one-third of the total cost, but so far, there have been…
For good reason, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate’s first order of business would be a vote to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. Building the northern leg of the pipeline means jobs, economic growth and 830,000 barrels of oil per day from a friendly, reliable trading partner in Canada. Even the Obama administration’s…
On New Year’s Day, the minimum wage increased in 20 states and the District of Columbia. This follows a year in which protesters hit the streets in major cities, camping in front of fast food stores and demanding a hike in the minimum wage. Last summer, Seattle raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour…
Today, John Boehner won the job as speaker of the House for the new 114th Congress. He won the job despite by surviving the most divisive speaker election in more than 100 years. According to a report by the Congressional Research Service looking at House speaker races from 1913 to 2013, no other speaker has…
Larry Summers, former treasury secretary and economic advisor to the Obama administration, says low oil prices offer a ripe opportunity to impose a carbon tax. Writing in the Washington Post, Summers argues that conservatives “who believe in the power of markets should favor carbon taxes on market principles.” We have no idea, of course, how…
Why didn’t John Boehner coast to victory in the race for speaker of the House? What many conservatives want they fear they are not going to get. Your responses to my question last week asking what campaign promises you most wanted the new Congress to fulfill were very telling. What many conservatives want they fear…
President Obama issued a new executive order to impose addition punitive measures on North Korea. Although the cyberattack on Sony Pictures and subsequent threats of violence against theaters was the catalyst, the executive order also highlighted ongoing North Korean violations of United Nations nuclear and missile resolutions and Pyongyang’s extensive human rights violations. The new…
Hundreds of Florida parents are able to celebrate the New Year with access to school choice thanks to a decision last Tuesday to dismiss the union lawsuit against the Sunshine State’s Personal Learning Scholarship Accounts and expansion of the tax credit scholarship program. For the second time, Leon County Circuit Court Judge Charles Francis found…
As 2014 comes to a close, it is enveloped in red tape. From the breakfast table to the night light, government regulators invaded nearly every moment of our lives. Here’s our take on the 10 worst examples of the past year: 10. Federal Censorship Commission. The FCC began considering a petition to revoke the broadcast…
The Danish physicist Niels Bohr is supposed to have said something along the lines of: Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future. Roger that. But despite the warning’s obvious wisdom, busying ourselves in prediction is inescapable whether it’s in selecting a spouse for life or a rapid route to work in the…