Opinion and commentary on news, politics, culture, and policy impact.
A July study claims that thousands more people will commit suicide in the coming decades due to man-made global warming. Published in the journal Nature Climate Change on Monday, the study found a 1-degree increase in average monthly temperature correlated with suicide rate increases of 0.68 percent and 2.1 percent in the U.S. and Mexico,…
Society condemns so-called slut-shaming, but apparently it’s perfectly acceptable to “virgin-shame,” a concerning reality for a culture that prides itself on tolerance and acceptance. Daytime talk show host Wendy Williams has slammed a 26-year-old recent contestant on “The Bachelorette” for revealing that he is a virgin. The contestant, former San Diego Chargers tight end Colton Underwood,…
Earlier this month, in a first-of-its-kind case, a federal judge ruled that a Christian adoption provider’s religious freedom claims must submit to the government’s sexual and moral standards. Catholic Social Services simply wanted to continue serving Philadelphia’s needy children in accordance with its beliefs, as it had for decades, but the city severed ties with…
Satellite imagery indicates North Korea has begun to dismantle its Sohae rocket engine test facility and space vehicle launch stand. The dismantlement is a welcome, though limited, development, because Pyongyang indicated the site was no longer necessary after having successfully completed its missile and nuclear programs. In April, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared…
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers predicted that if Donald Trump were elected, there would be a protracted recession within 18 months. Heeding its experts, a month before the election, the Washington Post ran an editorial with the headline “A President Trump could destroy the world economy.” Steve Rattner, a Democratic financier and former head of…
Listen here to the full podcast, which features an interview with Hans von Spakovsky and a discussion of a new analysis of how 30-year-olds have changed since 1977, or read the lightly edited transcript of the interview below. Daniel Davis: A significant development in the FBI 2016 election drama took place over the weekend. On…
You and I are living through the greatest mass hysteria in American history. For many Americans, the McCarthy era held that dubious distinction, but what is happening now is incomparably worse. For one thing, any hysteria that existed then was directed against the greatest evil in the world at the time: communism. Then-Sen. Joseph McCarthy,…
President Donald Trump has issued several pardons now that demonstrate his thinking on what constitutes unjust punishment. The presidential pardon power to commute and vacate federal prison sentences makes for an interesting political discussion but, in the rush to praise or criticize the presidents involved, political commentators on both sides of the aisle sometimes gloss…
The Trump administration is planning to spend as much as $12 billion in aid to help farmers hurt by the administration’s tariffs. By acknowledging the need for aid to farmers, the Trump administration is admitting that its tariff strategy is hurting Americans. There are multiple reasons why providing aid to farmers to offset the effects…
Croatia is a strategic security and economic partner of the United States in the Balkan region, but the effectiveness of that partnership is limited by the fact that Croatia is the only European Union nation that does not have a double taxation treaty with the U.S. Double taxation treaties are international agreements whose chief purpose…
Hours after President Donald Trump announced his nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said: “The American people deserve to know what kind of a Justice President Trump’s nominee would be.” He’s right—and the answer to that question is readily available in Kavanaugh’s record. Each nominee has…
The San Francisco Bay Area is a booming locale, and certainly one of the most naturally beautiful. It should be a fantastically desirable place to live. Yet, according to a recent poll, nearly half of San Francisco residents say they want to leave the Bay Area entirely. A study from the Bay Area Council, a…
The summer road trip: Is it pure family fun, or a vile crime spree? If you’re planning a wholesome cross-country adventure, beware: Uncle Sam has over-packed the federal code with more criminal laws and regulations than anyone can count. Here are a few ways that excess legal baggage could ruin a road trip. 1. Peanut…
I’d hated guns since I was a teenager. It was a gun that killed John Lennon, after all. Guns killed President John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King. Get rid of the guns, problem solved—or so I thought. In December of 2012, I even tweeted President Barack Obama, urging him to repeal…
Libertarians are a bundle of contradictions. At this year’s FreedomFest in Las Vegas, purveyors of doom and gloom in tailored Brioni suits warned their fellow libertarians that the next Great Depression was on its way, and “Now! Now! Now!” was the time to buy gold, silver, and diamonds. Meanwhile, the editors of Reason magazine argued…
Senate Democrats are trying to use the magician’s trick of misdirection to cast doubt on Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s fitness for the Supreme Court. It won’t work. Every nominee to every position in the executive and judicial branches has a record—his or her unique combination of professional and personal activities. Parts of that record might be…
Listen here to the full podcast, which features an interview with Mona Charen and a discussion of a new study showing kids don't play as much outside, or read the lightly edited transcript of the Charen interview below. Katrina Trinko: Joining us is Mona Charen, the author of the new book "Sex Matters: How Modern…
“The Right Side of History” is a podcast dedicated to exploring current events through a historical lens and busting left-wing myths about figures and events of America’s past. On this week’s episode, hosts Jarrett Stepman and Fred Lucas discuss the top political controversies in Supreme Court history. The Supreme Court hasn’t just been controversial because of…
Last week, The Washington Post published an op-ed headlined “It’s not wrong to compare Trump’s America to the Holocaust.” As with similar examples of this genre, it’s a sickening display of moral relativism that belittles the suffering and murder of millions in the service of some shortsighted and crass partisan fearmongering. Elsewhere, Politico published an…
Last month, the Trump administration took a concrete step to lower skyrocketing health care costs for middle-class families like mine. The Department of Labor issued a final rule expanding association health plans, which allow small businesses like my farm to band together with others to negotiate bulk rates on health care costs. Association health plans…