Opinion and commentary on news, politics, culture, and policy impact.
New figures from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirm the ongoing negative economic impact of Obama-era policies such as the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Act, controls on energy production and transport, and Keynesian stimulus spending. In an update to its annual Budget and Economic Outlook yesterday, the CBO projects lower gross domestic product (GDP),…
What's the full story? >>> Seriously? IRS Says Lois Lerner’s Blackberry Was ‘Wiped Clean’
A lot of voters are questioning the leadership this president has shown, but also the larger party, because you don’t see any other Democrats coming up, saying the president’s been wrong.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) filed a lawsuit in federal court yesterday against the Obama Administration over its use of federal funding and waivers from No Child Left Behind (NCLB) to incentivize states to adopt Common Core national standards and tests. Jindal contends that these actions put states on “a path toward a national curriculum.”…
Boko Haram, the terrorist group operating in north-eastern Nigeria and northern Cameroon that drew headlines this spring after kidnapping over 250 female students, aligned itself publicly with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in July. The decision likely has more to do with fundraising than a realignment of goals and ideologies: Boko Haram…
The Islamists have … infiltrated a lot of schools in Britain and indoctrinated young British Muslims who have then become jihadists and gone on to fight in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.
ISIS is not just the terror group de jour. They are a hugely successful movement with an apocalyptic, nihilistic philosophy. When they say "convert, join us, or die", they not only mean it, but they follow through with horrific effect. But let's look deeper. What else makes them such a real security threat, to Iraq,…
August is supposed to be a quiet time in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area when Congress takes its traditional recess and everyone else who makes a living off Congress from lobbyists to journalists take advantage of the members’ absence and go on vacation. But events keep happening in the IRS scandal that are upsetting the…
General Prayuth Chan-Ocha, leader of the May 2014 coup in Thailand, has capped off his rise to power by essentially appointing himself prime minister. His real accomplishment, however, will come in maintaining his pledge to return Thailand to democracy by October 2015. Since leading the coup, General Prayuth declared martial law, instituted a temporary curfew,…
1. Should the U.S. bomb ISIS targets in Syria? It depends. Never take the decision to put U.S. troops in harm’s way lightly. First, there ought to be clear U.S .vital interest at stake. America has an interest in seeing ISIS driven out of Iraq. Attacking targets in Syria only make sense if they would be…
Nineteen-year-old Jorge Perez will attend Columbia University this fall to study philosophy and economics—something his single mother, Sophia Flores, never dreamed for her son. But when Sophia discovered Florida’s tuition tax credit scholarship program in 2003, the doors of opportunity opened for Jorge. Sophia was able to use Jorge’s tax credit scholarship toward tuition at…
While many reports will focus on the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) 2014 deficit and economic forecast released today, a less-told story is what’s driving the growth in government spending over the next decade. Beyond current reporting on the federal government’s balance sheet, CBO reports also serve the important purpose of informing Congressional decision-making. Today’s report…
President Obama reportedly wants to go around our elected officials to implement climate change regulations that will drive up energy costs for Americans. The New York Times is reporting that the administration is looking for ways to sidestep the Constitution and the normal treaty ratification process to commit to an international agreement urging other countries…
After years of delays, Japan finally made welcome (if minimal) progress on constructing a planned U.S. Marine Corps airfield on Okinawa. Workers installed buoys and floats to keep protesters at bay in waters adjacent to Camp Schwab, the site of a planned replacement facility for the Futenma Marine Corps Air Station. A 1996 U.S.–Japan agreement…
Millions of Americans are expected to pay a fine rather than buy health insurance. Obamacare’s individual mandate forces people to either purchase a government-approved level of insurance coverage or pay a fine. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently updated its projections on how many will pay the mandate penalty to about 4 million payers in…
Is opposition to same-sex marriage at all like opposition to interracial marriage? One refrain in debates over marriage policy is that laws defining marriage as the union of male and female are today’s equivalent of bans on interracial marriage. Some further argue that protecting the freedom to act publicly on the basis of a religious…
Burger King's taxes are going to decrease significantly in Canada. (Since this chart was made, the U.K. rate has become 21 percent and Canada's rate has risen to 26.3 percent.)
I hate the Washington Redskins. Always have, always will. I’m a Dallas Cowboys fan and that’s the deal – they hate us, we hate them. Period. But, as someone who loves the First Amendment, free speech and football (and for whatever it’s worth, as a kid always cheered for the Indians to beat the U.S. Calvary in…
With terrorists running rampant in Iraq and Russian convoys violating Ukrainian borders, the U.S. State Department is fussing over a new unnerving threat: its own diplomats taking the “Ice Bucket challenge.” The ice bucket challenge is this summer’s social media fad with a philanthropic twist (donations go to the ALS Foundation, which funds research to…
Planned Parenthood Action Fund released today a t-shirt designed by actress Scarlett Johansson that targets the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision. The front of the pink t-shirt reads “Hey Politicians! The 1950s called…” and the back reads, “They want their sexism back!” “When I heard that some politicians were cheering the Supreme Court’s decision to…