Politics Information
Making Sense of America's Chronic Disease Epidemic
President Biden and lawmakers in both parties have prioritized slashing Americans' out-of-pocket spending on insulin. And they recently made significant strides by including a $35-a-month co-pay cap for insulin for Medicare beneficiaries in the Inflation Reduction Act.
Predictions of a Ukraine Victory are Premature
Something extraordinary is happening in the course of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Putin is taking a hit from all sides. Opposition to the war is coming from home and abroad.
Help America's Universities Keep Transforming the World
When I was a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology decades ago, Cambridge's Kendall Square was a grubby, run-down warehouse district. Today, it's known as the most innovative square mile on the planet.
America's Foreigner Flood, Spread the Love Around
Nearly five million foreign nationals have entered the United States since Biden became President. Some people call them undocumented immigrants, some call them unauthorized immigrants, many call them illegal immigrants. If they were entering the country legally with proper documentation then we would call them documented immigrants or legal immigrants.
A Scholar and a Gentleman: Remembering Ken Starr
I first met Ken Starr at the Department of Justice in 1990 while serving as the department’s assistant director of legal policy. A young lawyer only 10 years removed from Grove City College, I was surrounded by a new generation of legal giants in our nation’s capital. In 1991, I was promoted and began participating in Attorney General Bill Barr’s morning senior staff meetings. Around the table sat Bob Mueller, chief of the Criminal Division, Mike Luttig, assistant attorney general for legal counsel and future judge on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and general counsel of Boeing Aircraft, and Ken Starr, solicitor general, the Bush administration’s scholarly advocate before the Supreme Court. When Starr was unable to attend, he sent his deputy—a rising stalwart named John Roberts.
Help America's Universities Keep Transforming the World
When I was a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology decades ago, Cambridge's Kendall Square was a grubby, run-down warehouse district. Today, it's known as the most innovative square mile on the planet.
The Path to Victory in Ukraine Runs Through Syria
The mass graves and bombed-out cities targeted by Russian forces in Ukraine have shocked the civilized world. But to Syrian war refugees and Syrian-born Americans like myself, Vladimir Putin's barbaric assault on Ukraine is less a shock than it is a grim reminder of the overwhelming destructive forces he and his fellow dictator, Syria's Bashar Al-Assad, unleashed on our home country over a decade ago.
We Have a Violence Problem - Campaign Nonviolence Strives to Solve It
We have a violence problem. It runs through our nation like an invisible road system, touching every front door, cutting through each town and city. Mass shootings kill our children in their schools. Forty-five thousand people will take their own lives this year. An additional 14,000 are likely to be killed by gun violence. Twelve million of our fellow citizens will experience intimate partner violence this year. More than ten million children face violence in the forms of maltreatment, verbal abuse, sexual assault, extreme neglect, and physical abuse.
Will You Own an Electric Car?
Will you own an electric car? If you live long enough and that’s all that is being made, you probably will. Many of us we’ll hold out for as long as possible.
Slush Funds Open the Door to Beltway Corruption
President Joe Biden has made eradicating government corruption a top priority: "Fighting corruption is not just good governance," he recently proclaimed. "It is self-defense. It is patriotism, and it's essential to the preservation of our democracy and our future."
Troubling New Research on Political Bias and Bigotry
Talk about a strange political year. African Americans and Jewish Americans are typically the two most reliable liberal voting blocks in the country, and yet there have been troubling news stories and now data regarding the people who support them. For example, Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar sparked outrage by doubling down on comments many perceived to be anti-semitic. She is a Democrat who typically gets Democrat votes. Such left-wing hostilities towards Jews have become so bad in the United States that some American Jews are openly considering leaving the country and moving to Israel. Similar difficulties face African Americans. Ilhan Omar’s controversy arrived barely two months after the racist “Uncle Tim” attacks propagated by liberals at African American Senator Tim Scott. These attacks were so markedly racist that the trend had to be shut down by Twitter. More recently, similarly racist “Uncle Clarence” attacks were levied at Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas after he voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. White liberals on Twitter even invoked the “N-word,” and were called out in a remarkable piece by a Columbia University sociology professor.
Mikhail Gorbachev Meets His Maker
When I heard about the death of Mikhail Gorbachev, I sighed. He was one of the final remaining pivotal figures in the end of the Cold War: Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, Margaret Thatcher, Vaclav Havel, Boris Yeltsin, and Lech Walesa. Only Walesa remains. Gorbachev was 91 years old, living much longer than many expected. It’s a historic loss.
Drug Importation: A Dangerous Prescription
Most Americans take the safety of their prescription drugs for granted. But if the FDA proceeds to allow states to import drugs from Canada, that could change -- because the risks of some imported drugs far outweigh the benefits.
Biden Proves Many Americans are Dummies
If you worked hard for a scholarship, paid your way through school, paid back loans or your family sacrificed for you to go to school, President Biden has shown that you were a big dummy.
Tiffany Justice – "These Aren't Partisan Issues; These Are Parent Issues"
Reading, writing, and arithmetic aren’t the only lessons being taught in our public schools these days. In some schools -- too many of them across the country -- teachers have added transgender ideology to the curriculum, according to Moms for Liberty co-founder, Tiffany Justice. But Moms for Liberty is not just a place for moms; “Dads, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Friends” are all welcome and are urged to join in the defense of parental rights.
The "PTAB Reform Act" Would Cripple "Mompreneurs" Like Me
Lawmakers are considering a massive handout to corporate America known as the PTAB Reform Act of 2022. If passed, the bill would have disastrous consequences for bootstrap innovators like me, and, in the long run, keep potentially millions of life-changing inventions out of the hands of Americans.
Will Less Than 2% of Americans Fix Our Financial Problems?
According to the IRS, a $400,000 or more annual household income represents America's top 1.8% income-earners. Per IRS Publication 6292, there were 154 million tax returns filed in 2019, thus approximately 2.8 million people earn over $400,000.
The Orwellian Inflation Reduction Act
You know the old joke: How can you tell when a politician is lying? When his/her lips are moving. That extreme cynicism about politicians is reinforced by the recent passage of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). In addition to being the most egregiously misnamed act in memory (more on that below), the dishonest statements made by its supporters have been breathtaking in their brazenness.
Inflation Reduction Act-A Boondoggle of a Bill
One thing the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 will not do is reduce inflation. According to Dr. Kevin Roberts, Ph.D., president of The Heritage Foundation, it is a “boondoggle of a bill” that will have a decidedly negative financial impact on seniors, working class, and middle-class families.
The Speak Out Act Ignores Victims' Right to Remain Private
A new proposal in Congress aims to allow victims of sexual misconduct to go public with their stories.
Do What You Enjoy While You Can
Life and the world are always changing. What you can do today is not guaranteed for tomorrow. Do what you enjoy while you can.
Congressional Data Privacy Bill Would Unjustly Enrich Trial Lawyers
Several Members of Congress just introduced legislation that aims to protect consumer data from misuse and abuse.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Its Newest Version: ESG
What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? Wikipedia defines CSR as “a form of private business self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropic, activist, or charitable nature.” That seems rather vague, even amorphous. As Wikipedia acknowledges, “A wide variety of definitions have been developed but with little consensus.”
The Free Enterprise Project Exposes Marxist "Woke" Companies
Marxist elements seek to brainwash our next generations of citizens using the Critical Race Theory [CRT]. They’re using a similar strategy to upend the cornerstone of American democracy — the free enterprise that has given us, as a nation, economic freedom. The focus of the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise Project [FEP] is to expose them.
Medicare for All Would "Fix" What Isn't Broken
Medicare for All remains on the congressional docket. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., recently re-introduced his bid for a single-payer system, claiming it would guarantee all Americans health coverage while lowering costs and saving lives.
The Great Energy Game in Europe
The Politics of Russia’s Energy Exports
Unworthy Victims?
The invasion of Ukraine and the war that it initiated led to widespread coverage of the struggles of ordinary people in a zone of conflict that’s surprisingly rare. The sympathy shown for the victims of this illegal war of aggression is both a victory for our better natures and a troubling reminder that most of the victims of the global problem of out-of-control militarism don’t get the same attention from the Western press.
Be a Poll Worker, and Be an Essential Worker for Our Democracy
In a school gym with a dozen others, some still groggy at 5 am, Whitney raised her right hand and repeated after the Chief Election Officer, “I do solemnly swear that I will perform the duties for this election according to law and the best of my ability, and that I will studiously endeavor to prevent fraud, deceit, and abuse in conducting this election.”
Should War Criminals Operate with Impunity?
The issue of alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine highlights the decades-long reluctance of today’s major military powers to support the International Criminal Court.
To Protect Patient Access to Care, Medicare Must Up Its Reimbursement Rates
Inflation has soared to the highest level in four decades. Gas is roughly 40% more expensive than it was a year ago. Groceries are up about 10%.
Which is More Extreme? The Evolution of Abortion Positions
In the land of the mainstream media, conservative and Republican positions on so-called “culture war” issues are always “extreme,” while they rarely raise such concerns about liberal and Democrat positions. They then “helpfully” suggest ways that Republicans could attract more voters by modifying their stances to, well, something pretty similar to Nancy Pelosi’s.
How a Single Baseball Game Could Determine the Future of Democracy
Events this summer have unambiguously demonstrated that, to much of the nation, the hard right majority on the Supreme Court of the United States stands for injustice, while the “just-the-facts, ma’am” US House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the Capitol stands for justice. Since each group has nine members—the same number as players on a baseball team—a surprise proposal gaining momentum in and beyond Washington, calls for the two teams to play a single game to determine the future direction of the country.
The Path to Victory in Ukraine Runs Through Syria
The mass graves and bombed-out cities targeted by Russian forces in Ukraine have shocked the civilized world. But to Syrian war refugees and Syrian-born Americans like myself, Vladimir Putin's barbaric assault on Ukraine is less a shock than it is a grim reminder of the overwhelming destructive forces he and his fellow dictator, Syria's Bashar Al-Assad, unleashed on our home country over a decade ago.
The "Hard-to-Grasp Truth Behind Abortion" Revealed
Rebecca Weber, CEO of the Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC], opened a timely new episode of her Better for America podcast by pointing out that the most important issue of our time is not about abortion, it is about life. Her guest, filmmaker Tracy Robinson, recently released her latest production, “The Matter of Life,” which focuses on “life, conscience and, the sometimes hard-to-grasp truth behind abortion.”
Don't Look to California for Ideas on Addressing Homelessness
No matter how bad the homelessness problem looks in other metropolitan areas, they pale compared to California's. While the state accounts for not quite 12% of the U.S. population, roughly 28% of the nation's homeless are in California. The lesson: Don't copy the Golden State's policies for mitigating homelessness – they simply don't work.
Remember When It Wasn't Normal to Punch Fllight Attendants?
“It didn’t matter if it was coming from the left or the right, you should condemn violence 100 percent of the time.” I sat upright when former Deputy Press Secretary Sara Matthews said this during the July 21 January 6th committee hearing.
On John Mearsheimer: Or, is the West really responsible for the Ukrainian crisis?
John Mearsheimer has unquestionably earned our attention on contemporary international relations and on the Ukrainian crisis. Mearsheimer is an academic who specializes in theories of international relations (IR). If you were an IR graduate student in the 1980s or 1990s (I was), you would be very familiar with Mearsheimer and would appreciate his role in fleshing out the “neorealist” version of the realist school of thought. He is a towering figure in the study of international affairs and one of the world’s most prominent IR theorists.
Time to Trade In America's Broken Education System for One that Works
President Biden is currently weighing a massive cancellation of federal student loan debt. It's easy to see why. The nation's total student debt load now exceeds $1.7 trillion.
Essential Workers — Who Gets a Place in th ePandemic Picket Line?
At a time of children with popsicle-covered faces running around and summer music festivals-- many are celebrating the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Beyond celebrations though, parents of children under 5 scramble to pediatrician offices while immunocompromised folks try to navigate daily life with deadly risks. Healthcare workers face long-term burnout and abuse from patients, long past praise as heroes and applause at the turn of shifts.
Population-Fueled U.S. Sprawl Undermines 30x30 Conservation Ambitions
The U.S. government recently joined the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, a group of more than 90 countries seeking to protect at least 30% of the planet from development by 2030.
Unfortunately, the current rate of urban sprawl devouring America's natural habitat and farmland gives conservationists plenty of reasons to be skeptical of the federal commitment to these so-called "30x30" goals.
