Opinion and commentary on news, politics, culture, and policy impact.
America has a deficit of workers. Willing workers. Capable workers. Skilled, or at least semi-skilled workers, who can do a job and do it well. There are at least one million jobs that go begging day after day if only employers could find workers to fill them. This probably seems hard-to-believe. After all, how can…
We often hear those on the right branded as “intolerant.” We’re all a bunch of extremists who just want to shut down the other side, right? We’re unlike those on the left, who welcome debate and want to give all viewpoints a respectful hearing. Or so we’re told. We might even start to believe it…
The eighth time still doesn’t seem to be the charm for government bureaucrats. On Friday, the Obama administration released yet another revision to the Department of Health and Human Services mandate that requires employers to provide coverage of abortion-inducing drugs, contraception and sterilization. Many are wondering if the government has actually protected the religious freedom…
Do we really need to make this illegal? A city in Florida passed an ordinance “prohibiting pants more than two inches below the waistline,” according to Fox News’ Orlando affiliate. Those who keep their pants slung a little too low face a “penalty of up to a $500 fine or up to 60 days in…
The Arab Spring started in Tunisia, and while many argue representative democracy is simply not possible in a region plagued by strongman politics, manipulated economic systems, and religious extremists, Tunisia continues to defy the critics. But the country is heading into what will arguably be the most trying period for the nascent democracy in transition—the…
Dinosaurs may be extinct, but absurdity in public schools isn’t. Alex Stone is a 16 year-old student in Summerville High School in South Carolina. On the first day of class, his teacher asked the students to write a few sentences about themselves and then follow up with a statement in the form of a Facebook…
The number of American women picking up guns for fun is growing. There are now over 6 million female target shooters in the U.S. — up over 70 percent in the last decade — and those taking up hunting as a sport is now over 3 million. But more surprising than those numbers is that…
It’s so important we’re enforcing our border security and our other immigration laws and not just enforcing laws once these children and other illegal immigrants get here.
Jason Tejada grew up in the Bronx and attended a school that struggled with frequent drug busts and violence. His mother, Luz, knew she wanted more for her son. Jason’s family was awarded a Children’s Scholarship Fund (CSF) scholarship, which enabled Jason to transfer to Incarnation School in upper Manhattan. To Jason, Incarnation felt “more…
Limited in their usefulness—that is the message one walks away with from the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) evaluation of the reports from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on recent environmental regulations. The EPA is required to produce the reports to help the public, policymakers, and the regulated community understand the economic impact of a regulation….
Even bottom dwellers are getting special treatment in D.C. Unlike the joke that makes some lawyers mad, in this case I’m talking about catfish. Buried within the 2008 farm bill was a new inspection program for catfish. Generally, the FDA inspects seafood, including catfish. Under this program though, the USDA, not the FDA, will inspect…
For 11 hours Wednesday, customers ordering at the drive-through window at a Starbucks in St. Petersburg, Fla. paid for the cars' order behind them, Tampa Bay Times reported. The "paying forward" began with a random woman at 7 a.m. who paid for her own drink, then asked to pay for a caramel macchiato for the person after…
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz recently praised the growth occurring in the wind industry in his remarks on the release of two Department of Energy (DOE) reports on wind energy. But in the same breath, Moniz stated the future of the U.S. wind industry depends on Congress. This defies logic anywhere else except in government. How…
Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, talks about what’s changed since he ran for president in 2012, militarization and Ferguson and President Obama’s foreign policy.
Rasmussen Reports recently conducted a survey on the public’s opinion of “sin taxes”—i.e., taxes on such things as alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana. One question on taxing sugar was thrown into the mix: A proposal now before Congress would add a one-cent-per-teaspoon tax on sugar to discourage sugar use and help fund programs to fight obesity…
Last week, Huntsville, Alabama, hosted the 17th annual space and missile defense symposium. The symposium is always a good barometer of the mood within the ballistic missile defense community. And while the mood this year was better than in previous years, it is clear that the ballistic missile threat is growing and that sequestration undermines…
Are physicians’ political views shifting to the left? The authors of a recent study published in “JAMA Internal Medicine,” conclude that between 1991 and 2012, the political alignment of U.S. physicians shifted from predominantly Republican toward the Democrats. However, a closer look reveals that the picture isn’t quite so cut and dried. First, the authors…
Is this what they wanted?
Schoolteachers’ support of Common Core national education standards has dropped significantly since 2013. The annual PDK/Gallup poll, released on Wednesday, found that 60 percent of Americans oppose Common Core because they fear the national standards will limit teachers’ flexibility to teach effectively. EducationNext’s 2014 opinion poll, which was released earlier this week, found teacher opposition…
A recent bylaw proposal from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)—which controls the Internet’s naming function and is currently being transitioned from control by the U.S. government to private control—is fundamentally misconceived and threatens to compromise ICANN’s independence. Currently, governments provide advice to the ICANN board through a Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC)….