Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. South China Sea: It’s not Beijing’s lake – Kim Holmes Are federal social programs working? No one knows. – David Muhlhausen Every Single One: The Politicized Hiring of Eric Holder’s Voting Section – Hans A. von Spakovsky Government is wrong starting point for caring for the poor – Jennifer Marshall ‘Waiver’ warning – Pittsburgh Tribune Review Washington to nation: What economic crisis? – Steven Thomma & Lesley Clark OUR VIEW: …
Though the best-known controllers of Internet freedom are China, Cuba, Iran, and North Korea, other countries also attempt to limit Internet access for a variety of reasons. The Turkish government is a case in point, banning more websites than any European nation. In late 2009, the Turkish government stopped releasing statistics, but the number of blocked websites could be as high as 12,000. Turkey blocks access to Google, claiming that Google does not comply with Turkish tax law, which Google disputes. YouTube has also been blocked since May 2008. The …
Strikes continued Thursday against Verizon Communications by 45,000 members of the Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers unions. Tensions continue to run high, and yet more reports of potentially illegal activity have emerged – beyond the sabotage Verizon alleges it has endured. Under the National Labor Relations Act, it is illegal for a picketing union to prevent non-striking employees from entering company facilities. But in the last couple days, there have been numerous apparent instances of Verizon strikers doing just that. A judge in Allegheny County, …
Drugged, raped, and sold for sex. This was the life of Maria (not her real name), a 16-year-old Mexican girl who was kidnapped by a local gang and lured into the sex trade. She was a lucky one, rescued from the criminal gang. Many others were not so lucky. Several of Maria’s friends were stolen from their homes, abused, and then sold into the U.S. or brutally killed. Annually, close to 100,000 young boys and girls from Latin America are trafficked by gangs, smugglers, and members of transnational criminal organizations. …
People have been shocked by the images of destruction and violence coming out of Great Britain in the past few days. But if they tracked the steady loss of freedom and the simultaneous rise in the number of Britons dependent on the largesse of the state over the past few years, they should not be surprised. The Heritage Foundation’s annual Index of Economic Freedom documents a steady decline in U.K. scores since 2006. British freedom has been dragged down by heavy government spending. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s deficits to …
You might think that a White House press briefing would be the one place where it’s safe to ask the Obama Administration a question about its economic policy. Well, think again, especially if you’re questioning the underlying premise of the Administration’s economic philosophy. Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal’s Laura Meckler asked White House press secretary Jay Carney, “I understand why extending unemployment insurance provides relief to people who need it, but how does that create jobs?” Meckler’s question was met with a condescending response, as well as a flawed …
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) today reported that U.S. trade volume for the first six months of the year was 15.7 percent higher in 2011 than 2010. Exports and imports were both up nearly 16 percent. Compared to the first six months of last year, exports of U.S. goods were up 18.3 percent, reflecting the growing importance of foreign markets for U.S. agricultural and manufactured products. Agricultural exports showed the biggest growth: Exports of foods, feeds, and beverages were up 26.6 percent versus the first six months of …
The Obama Administration’s “reset” policy with the Russian Federation is failing in yet another important aspect of this relationship: its predictability regarding the development of each country’s respective nuclear forces. This is despite the Obama Administration touting the New Strategic Arms Control Treaty (New START) as one of the greatest accomplishments of the reset policy. The list of U.S. “reset” concessions is extensive: unilateral cuts of U.S. strategic nuclear forces, abandonment of missile defense deployments in Poland and the Czech Republic, neglect of Russian aggressiveness in the areas of the …
The U.S. State Department appears to be preempting and diluting the Senate’s Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2011 (S. 1039) by placing some Russian officials on a visa blacklist. Last week, the State Department placed some 64 Russian officials on a visa blacklist that would prevent them from entering the United States. These Russian prosecutors and policemen all played a role in the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, the most famous whistleblower in post-communist Russian history. Moscow’s position is as revealing as it is mind-boggling: It is …
Republican presidential candidates are gearing up for the first Iowa presidential debate tonight. FOX News and The Washington Examiner are presenting the debate, which will take place at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. The event leads into Saturday’s Iowa Republican Party Ames Straw Poll, which can be a pivotal moment for campaigns. The Hill reports many Republicans who plan to attend Saturday’s straw poll are still undecided on their candidate, which is highly unusual this close to the event. That makes this evening’s debate even more important. After backing out of …
