It took Britain’s Theresa May and 27 other European Union leaders just 40 minutes to sign the Brexit deal after two years of tortuous negotiations, but the trials and tribulations of Britain’s withdrawal agreement approved Sunday in Brussels are far from over. As they endorsed the 585-page agreement, and…
Read MoreMonth: November 2018
Brett Kavanaugh Keeping a Low Profile in His First Months as a Justice
by Kevin Daley Justice Brett Kavanaugh seems to be keeping a low profile in his first months on the U.S. Supreme Court after his bitter confirmation inflamed much of the public and recast the 2018 elections. The new justice’s approach to his first months on the high court is…
Read MoreSen. Sasse Says Climate Alarmists Don’t Offer Constructive Solutions
by Jason Hopkins Nebraska GOP Sen. Ben Sasse slammed climate alarmists during a Sunday interview on Fox News, suggesting they don’t offer constructive solutions for the future. “I think reasonable people can differ about how much and how rapidly, but I think it’s clear that the climate is changing…
Read MorePressure Builds on Government Agencies to be More Transparent in Research
by Robert Romano In 1963, Karl Popper proposed that the central criterion of the scientific method should be its testability, or the ability to falsify a theory. Absent that, he wrote that such a theory could not be considered scientific. Popper wrote, “A theory which is not refutable by…
Read MoreCommentary: Alexis de Tocqueville’s Rebuke of ‘Guaranteed Income’ Programs
by John Wilsey Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) is perhaps best known among Americans as the author of the influential work, Democracy in America. He produced the book in two volumes — the first, which came out in 1835 and the second, which came out in 1840 — after taking…
Read MoreScientists Work to Save Wild Puerto Rican Parrot After Maria
Biologists are trying to save the last of the endangered Puerto Rican parrots after more than half the population of the bright green birds with turquoise-tipped wings disappeared when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico and destroyed their habitat and food sources. In the tropical forest of El Yunque, only…
Read MoreSt. Cloud Elects Council Members Who Support Stalling Refugee Resettlement Program
St. Cloud elected two new conservative members to its city council who support efforts to slow down the influx of refugees settling in the community. The issue became a hot topic in Minnesota after Council Member Jeff Johnson (not related to the Republican gubernatorial candidate) introduced a measure to temporarily…
Read MoreEllison Trying to Rebuild Trust With Voters After Contentious Election
After his four-point victory in a contentious race for the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, Keith Ellison has been making the rounds on local media outlets to rebuild trust with voters. Just days after his win, The Star Tribune ran a “thank-you” letter written by Ellison to the voters in which…
Read MoreCommentary: If Democrats Never Move to the Center, Why Should Republicans?
by Jeffrey A. Rendall No retreat, no quarter granted, no mercy. Such is the political – and life — philosophy of President Donald Trump, a citizen politician who’s lived as though everything he’s ever touched is gold plated and blemishless, a magical journey through earthly existence without fault. Realistic…
Read MoreIncoming Mexico Government Says No Deal to Hosting Asylum-Seekers
Mexico’s incoming government denied a report Saturday that it planned to allow asylum seekers to wait in the country while their claims move through U.S. immigration courts, one of several options the Trump administration has been pursuing in negotiations for months. “There is no agreement of any sort between…
Read MoreSenators Rally Support for Small Business Saturday
by Molly Prince Senators from both sides of the aisle urged constituents on Saturday to shop at small businesses in support of their local communities in what has become the annual shopping holiday known as Small Business Saturday. “Happy Small Business Saturday! Take some time today to shop small…
Read MoreIdea of Building Dorms for Members of Congress Returns
by Evie Fordham The difficulties some members of Congress have affording housing are again front and center because of Nov. 8 comments from Democratic New York Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez about making rent. Her comments about “squirreling away” money until she starts receiving her congressional salary of $174,000 in January…
Read MoreWhile Media Focuses on Khashoggi, Hundreds of Journalists Believed to Have Been Killed in Syria
by Joe Simonson The disturbing slaying of Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabian agents has rightfully garnered the attention of the national press. Yet the hours of coverage surrounding The Washington Post contributing columnist’s grim fate raises the question of why the hundreds of other journalists who have perished at…
Read MoreCommentary: The Fight Being Waged on the Academic Battlefield
By Garland Tucker The violent events in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017 have fueled a deep-seated leftist desire to re-write American history. Demands to topple statues, remove portraits, rename buildings, and repudiate founders—all in an effort to cleanse any objectionable reality from our history—have reached a fever pitch. The parallel…
Read MoreSenate Dems Cite Problems at HUD, but Block Trump’s Nominees for Key Posts
by Fred Lucas Senate Democrats have stalled nominees to fill key posts in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, even while complaining about the agency’s performance. An NBC News report last week alleged that HUD’s staffing problems were the fault of President Donald Trump and HUD Secretary Ben…
Read MoreMyPillow’s Mike Lindell Helping Fund Conservative Movies in Hollywood
Minnesota businessman and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is trying his hand at Hollywood after investing $1 million in a new movie that offers a critical look at Planned Parenthood. The movie, titled Unplanned, had to be filmed in secret due to the sensitive nature of its subject, The Hollywood Reporter…
Read MoreJeff Johnson Also Received More Votes Than Any Previous Gubernatorial Candidates
Gov.-elect Tim Walz (D-MN) has frequently boasted of historical victory in the Minnesota gubernatorial race, but the numbers were unprecedented on both sides of the ticket as the state saw record-setting voter turnout. “Peggy [Flanagan] and I are humbled by the support for One Minnesota. We received more votes than…
Read MoreCommentary: Enlightenment Thinkers Understood the Need for Religion
by Jeff Minick In January I resolved to read Will and Ariel Durant’s magnum opus The Story Of Civilization before the end of the year. It is now early November, and I have finished Volume X of this series, Rousseau and Revolution, meaning I should fulfill my self-imposed obligation…
Read MoreTijuana Declares Humanitarian Crisis as Caravan Migrants Overwhelm City Shelter Capacity
by Will Racke Officials in Tijuana have declared a humanitarian crisis in response to thousands of mostly Central American migrants who have arrived in recent weeks and overwhelmed temporary shelters in the Mexican border city. As of Thursday night, at least 5,000 recent arrivals were camped in Tijuana, which…
Read MoreRanchers and Native Americans Battle at Supreme Court Over Hunting Rights
by Tim Pearce A coalition of agricultural interests is backing the state of Wyoming in a Supreme Court Case over the hunting rights of Crow tribal members from a 150-year-old treaty. Eight agricultural groups filed a motion in support of Wyoming on Tuesday for arresting a tribal member, Clayvin Herrera, after…
Read MoreAmazon’s New Move Will Gentrify Neighborhoods
by Alexandra Staub When large companies move into an area, politicians often proclaim how the new business will create jobs, increase tax revenues, and thus lead to economic growth. This is one reason local governments offer tax incentives to businesses willing to move in. Amazon’s decision to locate…
Read MoreHouse Dem Who Signed Pelosi Opposition Letter Reverses His Course
by Hanna Bogorowski A House Democrat who was among 16 legislators to sign a letter opposing Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House changed his mind Wednesday and will support Pelosi for the position. New York Rep. Brian Higgins told The Buffalo News he made an agreement with Pelosi…
Read MoreMinnesota College Republicans Subjected to Repeated Vandalism, Threats to ‘Alert Antifa’
A College Republicans mural on the University of Minnesota campus was repeatedly vandalized during the fall semester, most recently with calls to “alert Antifa” of the conservative presence on campus. Vandalism of the mural, located on the campus’ Washington Avenue Bridge, seemed to begin in 2017 in response to the…
Read MoreDem Rep Slams Minnesota Colleagues for Siding With ‘Extreme Environmentalists’ Over Farmers
Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN-07), soon to be chair of the House Agriculture Committee, had some choice words for his fellow Democrats whom he believes are siding with “extreme environmentalists” over Minnesota’s farmers. “In a district like mine, the biggest problem we have is with the environmentalists,” said Peterson, who represents…
Read MoreDespite Rebuke From Chief Justice, Trump Says Judges are Harming National Security
by Kevin Daley President Donald Trump defended his criticism of a federal judge who barred enforcement of his new asylum rules Wednesday, after Chief Justice John Roberts issued a statement rebuking the president’s broadsides. In a pair of afternoon tweets from his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida, Trump said that…
Read MoreJC Bowman Commentary: Avoiding Holiday Conflict
During the holidays, our goal and objective is to have a peaceful gathering of family and friends. Peace is not lack of conflict, it is the ability to manage conflict by peaceful means. But is it possible to simply just avoid conflict when so many are outspoken about their beliefs? …
Read MoreThe Anti-Vaccine Movement is Thriving In Some Counties
by Peter J. Hotez As a pediatrician-scientist who develops new vaccines for neglected diseases, I spent most of my career in the Boston-Washington, D.C. corridor. While working in the Northeast, I had heard a few things about the anti-vaccine movement. As both a vaccine scientist and a father of…
Read MoreRadical Experimental Plane With No Moving Parts Wows Scientists
Some 115 years after the first powered flight, scientists have developed a radical new approach toward flying in the form of a small, lightweight and virtually noiseless airplane that gets airborne with no moving parts like propellers or turbine blades. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) engineers on Wednesday described successful…
Read MoreTwo Koreas Connect Road Across DMZ
North and South Korea have connected a road across their shared border for the first time in 14 years, Seoul’s defense ministry said Thursday in the latest reconciliation gesture between the neighbors. The dirt road, which is wholly within the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula, will be used for…
Read MoreWhat is Augmented Reality, Anyway?
by Maximilian Speicher Augmented reality systems show virtual objects in the real world – like cat ears and whiskers on a Snapchat selfie, or how well a particular chair might fit in a room. The first big break for AR was the “Pokémon GO” game, released in 2016 with…
Read MorePipeline Protesters Shut Down Performance in Minneapolis
Minneapolis’ Theater of Public Policy had to end a performance early for the first time in its seven-year run after a group of protesters repeatedly disrupted the show. The hecklers were angered by a Monday morning decision to clear the way for construction of the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline, which…
Read MoreFeds Could Spend $778 Million to Keep Invasive Species Out of Great Lakes
The federal government estimates that a project aimed at keeping an invasive species out of the Great Lakes would cost $778 million, but wouldn’t be complete until 2025 or 2027. The project, which would include upgrades at a Joliet, Illinois lock and dam to prevent Asian carp from entering the…
Read MoreCommentary: The Fruits of College Indoctrination
by Walter E. Williams Much of today’s incivility and contempt for personal liberty has its roots on college campuses, and most of the uncivil and contemptuous are people with college backgrounds. Let’s look at a few highly publicized recent examples of incivility and attacks on free speech. Senate Majority…
Read MoreDemocrats Descend on Iowa in Anticipation of 2020
Democratic 2020 hopefuls are already launching their ground-games in the nation’s first caucus state as at least ten different prospective candidates have made a visit to Iowa in recent months. Rep. John Delaney (D-MD-06) was the focus of a recent Politico article, which noted that the Maryland congressman has already…
Read MoreWhite House Approves Use of Force by Troops at Border
The Trump administration is allowing troops stationed at the U.S.-Mexico border to engage in some law enforcement activities and, if necessary, use lethal force. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis confirmed to reporters on Wednesday that he had received a Cabinet order signed by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, not…
Read MoreUS Says China Has Failed to Alter ‘Unfair, Unreasonable’ Trade Practices
The Trump administration on Tuesday said that China has failed to alter its “unfair” practices at the heart of the U.S.-China trade conflict, adding to tensions ahead of a high-stakes meeting later this month between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The findings were issued in…
Read MoreNASA Opens Investigation Into SpaceX Over Musk Smoking Weed
by Chris White NASA is ordering an investigation into SpaceX’s culture and commitment to safety after company CEO Elon Musk took a hit off a marijuana cigarette in September on a livestreamed podcast. The agency’s review will look at both Boeing and SpaceX, both of which are responsible for…
Read MoreCommentary: There’s No Such Thing as Her Truth or His Truth, Only the Truth
by Lawrence W. Reed The first casualty on the slippery slope to tyranny is the truth. Mankind are not held together by lies. Trust is the foundation of society. Where there is no truth, there can be no trust, and where there is no trust, there can be no…
Read MoreUS Coast Guard Will Fine Company $40,000 A Day if it Doesn’t Clean Up its Oil Spill
by Tim Pearce The U.S. Coast Guard has ordered a U.S. energy company to plug a 14-year-old offshore oil leak or face a rolling fine of $40,000 a day, The Washington Post reported. Taylor Energy must “institute a … system to capture, contain, or remove oil” from its former…
Read MoreTrey Gowdy Sends Letter to White House for Details on Ivanka Trump’s Email Use
by Henry Rodgers House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy sent a letter to the White House Wednesday asking for details regarding Ivanka Trump’s use of a private email account. The letter comes after a report broke Monday night that the first daughter used it to conduct government business and…
Read MoreTrump Wanted the Justice Dept to Prosecute Clinton and Comey
by Chris White President Donald Trump told his White House council earlier this year that he wanted the Department of Justice to prosecute former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing anonymous sources. Then-White House Counsel Donald McGahn told the president that he had…
Read MoreIlhan Omar Joins Ocasio-Cortez in Pushing for ‘Green New Deal’
Rep.-elect Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) is backing Democratic colleague Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY-14) “Green New Deal” proposal that would force “100 percent of national power generation” on to “renewable sources.” “The science is clear—we need urgent action on climate change now. Actually, we needed it 15 years ago. Now we’re running…
Read MoreMichigan Muslim Sect Cleared of Female Genital Mutilation Charges
A federal judge in Detroit has tossed out female genital mutilation charges against members of a Muslim sect, arguing that Congress “overstepped its bounds” in prohibiting the practice. The 22-year-old federal ban on female genital mutilation went untested until April 2017, when Dr. Jumana Nagarwala (pictured above) of Northville, Michigan…
Read MoreDr. Carol Swain Commentary: Voter Fraud and the 2018 Midterm Elections
by Dr. Carol M. Swain From the Democrats, we get “Every vote should be counted.” Hidden in these words is an effort to legitimize votes cast by non-citizens and others who might not have had legal standing to vote on November 6. That was in the wake of the…
Read MoreCommentary: Big Media’s Power Games and the Khashoggi Affair
by Joseph Duggan Jamal Khashoggi was a thoroughly charming and charismatic person. In March 2012, I took the last available seat at a luncheon table at the 20th Public Relations World Congress in Dubai. By sheer accident I found myself sitting next to Khashoggi and conversing with him for…
Read MoreIvanka’s Personal Email Use Could be a Gift to Democrats Looking to Investigate White House
by Chris White Ivanka Trump used a private email account in 2017 to conduct official government business, according to a White House review. The news gives incoming House Democrats another potential opening for congressional oversight hearings. The first daughter’s email use included exchanges with cabinet secretaries, among other forms…
Read MoreKeith Ellison Accuser ‘Leaving Town,’ Accuses DFL of Covering Up Abuse
Keith Ellison accuser Karen Monahan claims to have evidence that the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party tried “to cover up facts” during its investigation into the former congressman. Monahan first accused Ellison of domestic abuse just days before his August primary, but after Ellison defeated Republican Doug Wardlow in a tight race…
Read MoreCommentary: The Truth About the Invasion Heading Toward the Southern Border
While the Leftist establishment media has been trying to brainwash Americans into believing that the “caravan” of aliens who are threatening to cross our southern border illegally are doing so without organization or logistical support from traitors inside America, our friends independent investigative journalist Sara Carter, Nolan Peterson of…
Read MoreInsurers Are Refusing to Do Business With Coal Companies
by Jason Hopkins A growing number of insurance firms around the world are either divesting from coal companies or refusing to do business with them altogether. Generali — the third largest insurer in Europe and the largest in Italy — announced it will no longer insure the production of…
Read MoreJudge Stops Trump Asylum Ban as Migrant Caravan Nears
by Kevin Daley A federal judge in California issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Trump administration’s new asylum rules early Tuesday morning. U.S. District Court Judge Jon Tigar said that Congress extended asylum eligibility to all new comers, and the president may not impose contrary terms. “Whatever…
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