I was in my room at the famed Metropol Hotel in Moscow, Russia, next door to Red Square. It was April 2005 and I was preparing for a training workshop in advanced communication skills the following morning for personnel at the U.S. Embassy. Built in 1905, this five-star, czarist-style lodging house historically had borne testimony…
Friday, Dec. 15, marks the anniversary of the day our young nation ratified the Bill of Rights in 1791. Given the national discussion in recent days over whether the government may compel speech from an ordinary baker, now is an especially good time to consider the very first words of our charter document: “Congress shall…
Pro-life groups are suing D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser over the arrests of advocates who wrote “Black Preborn Lives Matter” in chalk on the sidewalk. The Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit this week on behalf of the Frederick Douglass Foundation and Students for Life accusing Bowser and the District of Columbia following the August arrests…
As recently as last summer, few people outside academia had heard of critical race theory, whose central claim is that racism, not liberty, is the founding value and guiding vision of American society. Then, President Donald Trump issued an executive order last September banning the teaching of this “malign ideology” to federal employees and federal contractors….
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative intends to cooperate with a liberal legal organization that routinely sues over voter ID laws as part of its strategic plan to comply with President Joe Biden’s executive order to get out the vote. USTR, an agency within the Executive Office of the President, included working with the…
Two former chiefs of staff for Sen. Ted Cruz, who also had senior roles under Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, sparred Tuesday evening over who would be the Lone Star State’s next top law enforcement official. Paxton is currently competing in a high-profile GOP Senate primary against incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Wesley Hunt….
MADISON, Wis.—Don’t tell cheeseheads how to make their cheese. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration learned this recently when word surfaced the agency might be thinking of banning the longstanding practice among cheese makers of using wooden boards to age their products. Yesterday, the FDA cut the cheese rhetoric—and seemed to be backing off its…
Responding to popular anxiety over prescription drug prices, the Senate Finance Committee last month approved a bill to restructure the Medicare prescription drug benefit. The bill is part of broader congressional and administration efforts to address rising health care costs, one in which lawmakers are laying aside partisan differences to seek constructive solutions. The committee…
The Department of Justice appears to have discouraged the U.S. Marshals Service from arresting protesters illegally demonstrating at the homes of the Supreme Court justices, according to internal materials obtained by a United States senator. During a hearing Tuesday, Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., revealed training slides reportedly from a "whistleblower in DOJ who was concerned…
Former Ambassador Thomas Pickering’s involvement with the Boeing Co. during the years he spent pushing for the historic nuclear deal with Iran is raising questions about whether the veteran diplomat violated federal lobbying law by failing to disclose his ties to the aerospace giant. The Daily Beast last week reported that Boeing kept Pickering’s…
The Congressional Progressive Caucus introduced a measure in both the Senate and the House to cut the U.S. defense budget by 10%. The proposed amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act was bolstered by a flood of op-eds from think tanks advocating a “more restrained U.S. foreign policy”–shorthand for the U.S. abdicating its current global…
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, signed a combination bill Monday protecting minors from gender transitions and protecting unborn babies after 12 weeks’ gestation. The measure provoked several extremely pro-trans Democratic senators to engage in an unprecedented filibuster of the entire legislative session and barrage the bill with unserious procedural motions designed to bog the process down. “Protecting our…
The Supreme Court’s 2014-2015 term officially begins next Monday. On Thursday, the justices added eleven cases to their docket. Here are the noteworthy additions: EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores: Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, employers may not discriminate based on race, color, religion or national origin in the hiring or firing…
President Donald Trump called for unity after House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., was shot and wounded Wednesday morning when a man opened fire at Republican lawmakers and staff during a practice for a congressional baseball game. “Congressman Scalise is a friend, and a very good friend. He’s a patriot and he’s a fighter,” Trump…
I recently spent a weekend with dear friends and their newborn baby boy. At only 2 weeks old, their son can’t do much, except eat, sleep, and move his arms and legs around. As a new mom, my friend said she has watched her son make movements that she recognizes are the same movements she…
Snowboarding coach David Bloch was fired after acknowledging biological differences exist between men and women. Bloch worked as a coach at Woodstock Union High School in Woodstock, Vermont, for 12 years and says he loved being in the snow and watching the kids he coached grow. “I think it’s so incredible to watch the progress,”…
Political violence committed on peaceful protesters expressing their right to free assembly is a bad thing, right? Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee wrote a letter to Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., to launch an investigation into attacks that took place on supporters of President Donald Trump in the nation’s capital on Saturday. “We…
The American republic was created by a remarkable generation of men who turned a rebellion against the British crown into a transforming moment in human history, one based on the revolutionary proposition that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with fundamental rights that no government has the moral authority to…
The Senate’s temporary moratorium on earmarks in the federal budget is about to expire, but one senator says he wants to make sure earmarks don’t make a comeback. “You can’t drain the swamp by feeding pork to the alligators.” —@JeffFlake Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said he will propose Tuesday to extend the moratorium on earmark…
The Federal Election Commission has steered clear of regulating political speech on the Internet. But the FEC's outgoing chairman, Lee Goodman, warns that the commission could well impose rules on Americans who disseminate information on blogs, video channels or podcasts. Goodman, a Republican, last year headed the six-member FEC, which oversees campaign finance laws. In an…