In this week’s Heritage in Focus, Heritage expert Jen Marshall discusses the controversy over Obamacare’s anti-conscience mandate. Click here to listen. Is this issue about more than just religious liberty? How is Heritage continuing to fight Obamacare? Is opposition to this mandate anti-women? Click above to hear Jen answer these questions and more.
In his recent budget request, President Obama cut funding for two Coast Guard National Security Cutters (NSC) that were slated to round out the fleet from six to eight. The Coast Guard Commandant recently stated his “most pressing concern is on the high seas,” and the Coast Guard has not changed its requirement for eight cutters. The Administration has passed off this decision as if it has no implications for U.S. security. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano testified that the Administration made this cut “in light of what the …
You send and receive them all the time: friend requests, tweets, wall posts, etc. For most of us, our regular routine of Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites doesn’t seem particularly dangerous. Few would even consider such activities as part of a larger conflict. In Wiki at War, Heritage’s James Carafano argues that conflict does not end at the edge of the Internet and social media sites. All types of conflict—business competition, international rivalry, social unrest, and even military conflicts—are continued on the Internet. The Arab Spring is a …
The rioting in Afghanistan resulting from the inadvertent incineration of several copies of the Quran at a U.S. military library has hammered the home the need for cultural understanding in the context of Afghanistan. The forces fanning the flames of popular outrage (i.e., the Taliban) clearly have their own anti-American agenda, but maybe the initial spark could have been avoided had U.S. military personnel been better informed. In a relationship as complicated and as fraught as that of neighboring Pakistan and the U.S., strategic communication is a major challenge. At …
President Obama used a weekly address in July 2010 to tout his stimulus package’s support for the solar industry. One of the companies he mentioned specifically, Abound Solar, just announced that it will lay off 70 percent of its workforce. Abound would “creat[e] more than 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs,” Obama claimed, and would be integral to the administration’s quest to “create whole new industries and hundreds of thousands of new jobs in America.” But a year and a half later, the company’s staff numbers only 120. It …
U.S. Rep. Sandy Adams (R-FL) is taking aim at a possible rule from the National Labor Relations Board that she believes infringes on the constitutional freedoms of American workers. Speaking at Heritage’s Bloggers Briefing, Adams explained why she introduced the Keeping Employees Emails and Phones Secure Act. She said the legislation would protect employees from the NLRB’s overreach. Labor unions have already waged a high-profile campaign to secure NLRB approval to make changes to the union election process. Now, Adams said, the NLRB is moving forward with a plan that …
Headlines throughout the state of Arizona are highlighting the debate on Senate Bill 1083, a bill to stand up Arizona’s modern state militia or State Defense Force (SDF). Authorized by the Constitution and by federal law, SDFs have a long history within the United States. While their role has changed over time as the needs and threats faced by the U.S. have evolved, today’s SDFs serve as auxiliaries to the National Guard units of their states as well as force multipliers for state homeland security missions in disaster preparation, response, …
President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled Yemen since 1978, stepped down from power on Monday under strong domestic and international pressure. He became the fourth Arab leader ousted since the dawn of the so-called Arab Spring last year. Saleh was succeeded by his longtime crony Abed Rabu Mansour Hadi, an army field marshal who served as his vice president. Hadi, who represents continuity much more than genuine change, now faces enormous challenges in stabilizing Yemen, one of the poorest and most turbulent Arab countries. The new government is confronted …
Futurists who applaud Obama for gutting conventional forces—ships, planes, and boots on the ground—and (allegedly) shifting to emerging, asymmetrical, or hybrid threats (pick your adjective of the week) ought to think again. The distinctions with how our military will have to deal with challenges like cyberconflict and shooting wars are not as disparate as they seem. Cyberspace is a loaded and misleading term. There is no Wild West where electrons roam freely. Every thought expressed on the Internet eventually has to be fed into a transmission system or device, and …
While the President’s FY2013 budget ignores the looming crisis of entitlement spending, the House and Senate Budget Committees, to their credit, are keeping their eyes on the ball this week with hearings on the three largest threats to the country’s economic health: Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. These hearings usefully keep attention focused on the urgency of the problem and will be even more valuable if they lead to proposals for real solutions. Naturally, such events invite a bit of political theatrics, as Members on each side critique reform proposals …
