Opinion and commentary on news, politics, culture, and policy impact.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was expected to conclude an investigation this week into whether steel imports pose a national security threat to the United States. The report has the potential to send major shockwaves not only across the U.S., but around the world. The investigation stems from the administration’s general suspicion of imports, which it…
No thanks to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., President Donald Trump’s pick for the Office of Management and Budget is one step closer to his new job. After a faith-based grilling that left Sanders red-faced and Americans in shock, Russell Vought’s nomination squeaked out of the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee by the narrowest…
The much-anticipated Senate health care bill dropped Thursday morning, and the hot takes poured in. While analysts are scrambling to understand the details of the legislation, one of the biggest early criticisms is that it eviscerates Medicaid, which is a public health care program. Liberal pundits and legislators reacted by saying that the bill would…
There is likely no political issue more important to either side of the ideological spectrum than who controls the Supreme Court. Rumors are building that another justice is going to retire this summer. The odds-on favorites are two members in their 80s: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal justice, and Anthony Kennedy, the notorious swing vote….
While the ongoing congressional effort to reform health care is falling short of repealing Obamacare, it is critical that Congress maximize every opportunity to undo Obamacare’s damage. The draft bill released on Thursday by the Senate misses important opportunities to move closer toward that objective. On net, the Senate bill is better than Obamacare because…
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously on Thursday that a Mississippi law that protects religious liberty and the rights of conscience in light of the redefinition of marriage may go into effect. In the decision, the circuit court overruled a previous judgment from a district court judge who had declared the Mississippi…
Nearly 200 Democratic politicians—198 in total—are now plaintiffs in two lawsuits against President Donald Trump. The claims they raise are substantially similar to those made in a separate lawsuit brought by the advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which was filed against Trump in January. All three groups of plaintiffs claim…
Sometimes, politics boils down to narratives. This was the case in Tuesday’s special election in Georgia, where Republican Karen Handel defeated Democrat Jon Ossoff to take a House seat previously occupied by Tom Price—now the secretary of health and human services. The election became a nationalized proxy war between Republicans and Democrats, drawing intense news…
The Senate plans to release a draft of its counterpart to the House-passed American Health Care Act Thursday. The House bill contains a number of sound proposals to begin to reverse the damage Obamacare caused. These include a major reform of federal Medicaid funding, allowing states to opt out of some onerous Obamacare insurance mandates,…
For additional proof that the State Department has no business teaming up overseas with the vast network funded by the billionaire George Soros, look no further than the portentously named Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. The OCCRP calls itself “an investigative reporting platform formed by 24 nonprofit investigative centers … spread across Europe, Africa,…
We may never know what brutal torture and malign neglect American student Otto Warmbier suffered at the hands of North Korea’s dictatorship before losing his life this week at the age of 22. But it wasn’t the first time the free-spirited Ohio native died. More than a year before succumbing to the unknown illness or…
Higher education rests on the free flow of ideas. Education requires that positions be held tentatively, tested by opposing arguments that are rationally considered, and evaluated. All colleges therefore must protect free speech. Public institutions must adhere to the various guarantees of the First Amendment. Too often, all of these fundamental principles have been under assault….
Greg Caskey is a 27-year-old Abington, Pennsylvania, native who is a social sciences teacher at Delaware Military Academy. The academy is a thriving charter high school in Wilmington, Delaware, that was founded in 2003 by two retired military officers, Charles Baldwin and Jack Wintermantel. Students from all socio-economic backgrounds attend the school, which is doing…
It seems that the left will attack President Donald Trump’s comments on history merely because he’s the one saying it. In a meeting with Panama’s President Juan Carlos Varela, Trump said that the Panama Canal is doing “quite well” and that “we did a good job building it, right?” Varela responded: “Yeah. One hundred years ago.”…
In 1897, an infamous New York Journal article pronounced the death of Mark Twain. Upon hearing the report, Twain, still alive and kicking, quipped, “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” Such exaggerations still abound. More than a century later, some in the media are proclaiming the death of criminal justice reform efforts. One…
What would have happened if a Trump supporter had shot a Democratic congressman and other Democratic Washington officials? The answer is obvious. The New York Times, the rest of the left-wing media, and the Democratic Party would have made the shootings the dominant issue in American life. It is not possible to understand the left—and,…
There is much to celebrate in America today. Americans are, on average, wealthier, healthier, and better educated than we ever have been. We’ve made huge strides in civil rights and racial equality. And we have access to technology that would have awed past generations. But fundamentally, our culture and way of life has undergone some…
Increasingly, gender therapists and physicians argue that children as young as nine should be given puberty-blocking drugs if they experience gender dysphoria. But a new article by three medical experts reveals that there is little scientific evidence to support such a radical procedure. The article, “Growing Pains: Problems with Puberty Suppression in Treating Gender Dysphoria,”…
Should “offensive” brand names be allowed to get a federal trademark? The Supreme Court answered “yes” on Monday, handing a decisive win to Simon Tam and his band, The Slants. Tam had tried to register a trademark for his band’s name, but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied his application, citing a provision of…
With homeland security being such a national priority, one would expect Congress and the Department of Homeland Security to have a well-organized relationship. Unfortunately, that is not the case. On Wednesday, the House Homeland Security Committee marked up a bill that would reauthorize the Department of Homeland Security for the first time since 2002, when…