A few blocks from the White House, what the State Department defines as a modern form of slavery is taking place every night in the form of sex trafficking. A CNN series — called The Freedom Project – recently highlighted the trafficking network, a multi-million dollar business thriving on women and children, most of whom are immigrants. “If President Obama had walked out his front door at two or three in the morning, he would go two blocks away, and he would see traffickers forcing girls and women out into …
President Obama continues his barnstorming tour today with a visit to Alcoa’s plant in Davenport, IA. He’ll be making another high-profile pitch for American manufacturing — the second in as many weeks — as he attempts to regain trust on the economy. A new McClatchy Newspapers-Marist poll reveals just 37 percent of registered voters approve of his handling of the economy. Obama is not the only politician in the Hawkeye State today. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is in Pella, IA, for the premiere of filmmaker Stephen Bannon’s new movie, …
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. Transparency Win? Secret $2.4 Trillion Debt-Hike Talks May End The Justice Department Misleads the Ninth Circuit Operation Fast and Furious: How the Obama Administration Conned the Washington Post Obama’s Medicare plan is an open secret Gay marriage looms larger in 2012 White House race after NY law Why Gay ‘Marriage Equality’ Is Bad for America and Hurts Children Constitutionalism: Here Are a Few Things Richard Stengel Doesn’t Know About U.S. …
The New York legislature’s vote last Friday night to redefine the family and recognize homosexual marriage will have a number of impacts within and well beyond the Empire State. The vote does not signal an end to the now two-decade fight over the meaning of marriage. A new phase—not an endgame—has begun. Here are five key impacts: 1. The vote continues an adverse trend for marriage law in New York. Last year the Empire State became the 50th state to repeal a fault-based divorce law. Weakened emphasis on the durability …
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is refusing to release an unredacted version of its safety evaluation reports on Yucca Mountain, leaving the conclusions unknown to the public. The agency notified Heritage that it had rejected an appeal under the Freedom of Information Act. The NRC’s decision comes eight months after Heritage first requested volumes II and III of the Yucca report in October. The NRC released more than 1,400 pages in February, but redacted the conclusions. Heritage appealed in March. (Full text of the letter is below.) The NRC’s reports on …
Injecting conservative values into the cultural mainstream is a battle, especially for women’s issues in popular, female-geared media like magazines. Liberal ideology has attracted the female presidential vote—and the female magazine—for years. For most of these crusaders and publications, “women’s issues” comes down to one issue: abortion. As freshman Representative Ann Marie Buerkle (R–NY) told the Conservative Women’s Network last Thursday, for liberal women, “It’s not about women’s rights; it’s about maintaining and pushing abortion rights.”
Today’s Supreme Court decision in which it struck down California’s law restricting the sale or rental of violent video games to minors (PDF) is an important First Amendment decision that is not subject to a simple liberal/conservative breakdown, but the more interesting contrast may be between the votes in this case and another decision today and last Thursday. Seven justices voted to strike down California’s violent video game law, but the seven justices split into two camps. Justice Scalia wrote the majority opinion, which was joined by Justices Kennedy, Ginsburg, …
The Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice John Roberts, issued an outstanding decision today (PDF) properly applying the First Amendment when it struck down as unconstitutional Arizona’s public financing system for political candidates. There is no doubt that Roberts and the four justices who joined him in the majority opinion in Arizona Free Enterprise Club v. Bennett will be assailed by the same misinformed critics that went after the Court for its decision in Citizens United. But our history and fundamental principle of protecting free speech leaves no doubt that …
There’s a very old political rule getting a new twist in the House of Representatives right now: When your policies fail, blame someone else. The new twist is: When unemployment is above the level you said would be a catastrophe, and you’re on the road to bankrupting the country in the meantime, start talking about Chinese currency. This is apparently the plan for congressional protectionists in 2011. There will always be Members and interest groups demanding that government restrict the ability of American consumers and firms to make their own …
The nation’s two highest-ranking military commanders have gone on record raising serious concerns about President Obama’s flawed plan to bring 33,000 troops home from Afghanistan by September 2012. The outgoing Commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, said during Senate hearings last week that the troop withdrawal was “a more aggressive formulation…than what we had recommended.” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen echoed Petraeus when he noted the danger in moving U.S. troops out of Afghanistan too quickly, saying it will “incur …
