It’s become difficult to decipher between reality and alarmism these days. To add insult to injury, President Trump can’t seem to take two steps without being ridiculed from every direction. The latest point of contention has been his decision to disengage from the Paris Climate Accord (PCA). But is all the noise justified? Perhaps not, Read More…
In April Senator Jon Tester joined an unsuccessful partisan effort to filibuster Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court. To justify his actions, Tester said at the time, “With Judge Gorsuch on the bench, I am deeply concerned that dark money will continue to drown out the voices and votes of citizens.” It seems Read More…
It’s the only way to avoid a tainted investigation or a political explosion.
As the 2017 legislative session has come to an end, we want to make sure that Montanans have a clear view of what’s happened the past few months in Helena. The mission of the Senate and House Republicans from Day One has been to help create more opportunities for all Montanans by making our state Read More…
X Story Stream recent articles As Senate Republican leaders scramble to rework legislation to reform Obamacare, which stalled Tuesday in advance of a planned vote, others in their party are celebrating: namely, a handful of Republican governors who were among the powerful forces working against the bill. Behind the scenes and in public, governors from Read More…
X Story Stream recent articles The progressive strategy of investigating President Donald Trump nonstop for Russian collusion or obstruction of justice or witness tampering so far has produced no substantial evidence of wrongdoing. The alternate strategy of derailing the new administration before it really gets started hasn’t succeeded either, despite serial efforts to sue over Read More…
President Trump seems to be confirming something I wrote a couple weeks ago — the White House may be bugged. When Trump finally admitted recently that he doesn’t have tapes of his conversations with former FBI Director James Comey, the president also hinted that the US intelligence and law enforcement officials might have his office Read More…
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) But is this what the survey is actually telling us? To us as researchers studying science communication and public understanding of science, factors in the survey itself and in the way the media report on it raise questions about Read More…
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) (THE CONVERSATION) Every year, major earthquakes, floods and hurricanes occur. These natural disasters disrupt daily life and, in the worst cases, cause devastation. Events such as Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy killed thousands of people and generated billions of dollars Read More…
Despite falling to support levels Monday morning, gold is still up during 2017, which is more than you can say for crude oil or most other commodities. Crude oil is officially in a bear market – defined as a 20% correction from its most recent high. Looking at the overall commodity universe, the CRB Commodity Read More…
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) (THE CONVERSATION) The number of people facing housing insecurity, already on the rise, began to climb more steeply as a result of the Great Recession. This upward trend will likely be exacerbated if President Trump’s proposed cuts to food Read More…
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) (THE CONVERSATION) On May 4, an 18-year-old violist named Armando Cañizales marched against the government in Venezuela. A video shows him walking slowly, arms outstretched. Minutes later, he was shot dead. Despite a lack of evidence to determine who Read More…
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) (THE CONVERSATION) Appointing a gender-parity Cabinet seems to be the thing to do if you are a rising, progressive and male political star. The internet loves it. Trudeau has been the darling of feminists everywhere, and Macron clearly wants Read More…
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) (THE CONVERSATION) The Senate’s health care proposal made it clear that Republicans, despite their rhetoric, are not interested in market-based reform. Instead, they prefer pro-business, pro-privileged reform. With Senate Republicans planning to rewrite their bill, it’s hard to predict Read More…
Barely a week goes by without some challenge to our nation’s Judeo-Christian roots in the name of the separation of church and state. But as another Fourth of July is upon us, it’s interesting to note what the founders said in their own words. Consider the following sampling: Thomas Jefferson, author of the first draft Read More…
The Supreme Court’s decision to allow portions of President Trump’s travel ban to proceed is a much-needed victory for the administration. The high court ruled that those “who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States” could be denied entry into the U.S. The ban targets those from six Read More…
Last week, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a unanimous ruling that protected religious liberty and the rights of conscience. As the headline on the Daily Signal reported accurately, “Circuit Court Win for Religious Freedom on Gay Marriage.” In stark contrast, the New York Times headline proclaimed, “Federal Court Lifts Injunction on Mississippi Read More…
Well, the Congressional Budget Office score for the Senate health care bill is out, and it’s pretty much what was expected – not all that different from the House bill. It’s not all that different from Obamacare, either, which also was not unexpected. In essence, we’re now living in a country where the federal government Read More…
Watching today’s constant battle between the White House and the press is tiresome for spectators and probably even more exhausting for those who are involved in the day to day back and forth. While it might drive ratings, it might not be of much use to anyone other than the advertisers and the networks. During Read More…
Societal changes take place so slowly that we rarely see them unfold on a day-to-day basis. Our culture and lifestyles adapt so quickly to new technology that we soon can’t remember life without the latest innovation. But when we look back over any significant period of time, the scale of change is truly breathtaking. Today, Read More…
Earlier this week, after nearly uniform rejections by judges all across the country, President Donald Trump achieved a court victory in the persistent challenges to his most recent executive order restricting the immigration of people into the United States from six predominately Muslim countries. Lower federal courts had consistently ruled that the president’s behavior was Read More…
Do I detect a note of desperation in some of my fellow Americans’ discussions on how to treat terrorism, specifically the terrorist group the Islamic State? IS has grown from a small group of brutes committing various heinous crimes back in President Barack Obama’s time into a small army consisting of a few thousand, perhaps Read More…
Last week, Michelle Carter was convicted in a Bristol County Massachusetts juvenile court of involuntary manslaughter in the suicide death of her boyfriend, Carter Roy III. Roy suffocated himself to death with carbon monoxide in his truck, during which time Carter urged him on through multiple texts, introduced into evidence by the prosecution. One has Read More…
The progressive strategy of investigating President Donald Trump nonstop for Russian collusion or obstruction of justice or witness tampering so far has produced no substantial evidence of wrongdoing. The alternate strategy of derailing the new administration before it really gets started hasn’t succeeded either, despite serial efforts to sue over election results, alter the Electoral Read More…
ANALYSIS/OPINION: A judge doesn’t have to be waiting for an appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court to set an example for what a conscientious president is looking for. With vacancies in 106 federal district courts and 19 in appeals courts, President Trump might look to Pensacola, Fla., for a living example of the kind of Read More…
ANALYSIS/OPINION: If North Korea were a zoo and not a prison camp, appropriate signage would read: “Please don’t pet the porcupine.” When South Korea’s new president arrives at the White House on Thursday, Donald Trump should remind his guest that predecessors who ignored the need for due diligence learned a lesson more painful than a Read More…
Mayor de Blasio and Congress are putting the lives of New Yorkers at risk. De Blasio by his stubborn refusal to comply with federal law and cooperate with immigration authorities; Congress by its overreaction in attempting to cut homeland-security funds that the NYPD and FDNY need to protect New York from terrorist attacks. On Thursday, Read More…
Keep your hand on your wallet: The Legislature is back in session, and lawmakers are addicted to doling out taxpayer cash to their pet causes — while wiping away their fingerprints. As the Empire Center for Public Policy noted last week, the state Senate and Assembly managed to funnel $52 million to “hand-picked recipients” — Read More…
Paul Massey’s surprise withdrawal from the mayoral race clears Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis’ way to the Republican nomination and a vigorous challenge to Mayor de Blasio’s re-election. A primary fight is usually a good thing, toughening up the eventual winner for the final faceoff. If Massey had done nothing else, his early entry got the beat-de Read More…
‘God save the United States and this honorable court.” Even with all the cynicism in our politics, that prayer is still the traditional announcement of the opening of a session of the highest court in our land. And it’s starting to look like one good deed begets another. The Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Read More…
City University is facing probes into its spending. Its operating funds are flat. Tuition’s headed up. Gov. Cuomo has demanded reforms. Yet on Monday, the CUNY board hiked salaries for top brass. No joke: As The Post’s Carl Campanile reported, presidents, veeps, deans and others at CUNY colleges will see pay bumps of up to Read More…
Democrats are angry — and this time it isn’t at President Trump. Instead, they’re fuming over revelations about the Obama administration’s decision not to go public last August with information about Russia’s attempts to intervene in the US presidential election. As one former Obama official told The Washington Post, “I feel like we sort of Read More…
Remember how liberal politicians promised to tone down the partisan rhetoric after a heavily armed Bernie Sanders fan opened fire on GOP lawmakers taking batting practice on June 14? Remember how they signed on to a “pledge of civility?” Remember how they said they would use the near-massacre as a jolt that “brings us together“? You don’t Read More…
From the right: Let Consumers Repeal ObamaCare Conservative critics are right that the Senate GOP replacement bill “doesn’t go nearly far enough to lower health insurance premiums,” says Robert L. Pollock at Real Clear Politics. So he suggests adding “simple language” to create “an Optional Federal Charter for health insurance regulation.” Health care remains so Read More…
X Story Stream recent articles Every year, almost every industry improves. We get more choices — usually better choices, for less money. “But of all the products we make and the services we provide, there’s one that stands out as an exception,” according to the Cato Institute’s Andrew Coulson. “One activity in which excellence doesn’t Read More…
Having pulled off the monumental achievement of getting elected with zero help from Wall Street, President Trump is at risk of throwing it all away. He seems to be turning his White House over not only to liberal Democrats, but to the very type of liberal Democrats he railed against on the campaign trail. It’s Read More…
X Story Stream recent articles WASHINGTON — This is not your father’s inflation — and that’s good news. Business cycles often end when higher inflation causes a country’s central bank (the Federal Reserve in the United States) to raise interest rates, slowing the economy and, perhaps, triggering a recession. The good news: The next recession Read More…
X Story Stream recent articles The progressive strategy of investigating President Donald Trump nonstop for Russian collusion or obstruction of justice or witness tampering so far has produced no substantial evidence of wrongdoing. The alternate strategy of derailing the new administration before it really gets started hasn’t succeeded either, despite serial efforts to sue over Read More…
Commentary X Story Stream recent articles Attorney General Jeff Sessions doesn’t seem to grasp a basic fact about the war on drugs – it didn’t work. Three decades of aggressive policing and harsh sentencing for low-level drug offenders clogged our prisons and disrupted the lives of millions of Americans, all while failing to reverse a Read More…
The international barrage of cyber attacks should be recognized for what it is – a global, low-intensity conflict. The evidence points to a convoluted web of state operators, associates and opportunists who share, steal and develop malware within an increasingly integrated dark web. The current state of information warfare is not just juvenile delinquents joyriding Read More…
X Story Stream recent articles Good morning, it’s Wednesday, June 28, 2017. Five years ago today, a divided U.S. Supreme Court addressed the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The law, called Obamacare even before it took effect, had been signed on March 23, 2010. From the start, there were problems with Read More…
A Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Arkansas state capitol has been destroyed less than 24 hours after it was erected. Police say Michael Tate Reed was taken into custody after he plowed his vehicle into the $26,000 monument – toppling the historical and moral foundation of American law. Reed was also arrested Read More…
The United States Senate has just 35 working days until the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, and that’s assuming Mondays and Fridays are indeed used for deliberation. One thing is totally clear: There isn’t time to deal with the issues that demand immediate attention. The only appropriate response is to cancel, or heavily Read More…
X Story Stream recent articles BOSTON — On the day Boston Children’s Hospital celebrated being named “the number one pediatric hospital in the nation” by U.S. News & World Report, I was interviewing Dana Gottesfeld in nearby Somerville, Massachusetts. Dana is the young wife of Martin “Marty G” Gottesfeld, an imprisoned technology engineer/activist who used Read More…