Column

Trigger warning: The following discusses themes of race, gender, “hate” speech ... Author Heather Mac Donald takes a lot of heat. She writes about race, crime, diversity, gender, merit -- and says things that got her shouted down on college campuses. She points out the absurdity of the left’s attack on Western civilization. “For the left to claim that the West is the source of inequity in the…

Within the last six months, two friends, both pioneers and giants in the world of ideas in Washington, D.C., passed from this world. One, Ed Feulner, was the co-founder of the Heritage Foundation, which became the nation’s defining policy institute for conservative ideas. Now, last week, Ed Crane, the co-founder of the Cato Institute, passed away. Ed Crane built Cato to become the major…

Americans want to help people in need, but when government does that, about 500 billion taxpayer dollars get stolen. It’s how the system is designed, says the United Council on Welfare Fraud’s Andrew McClenahan in this new video. “You’re measuring success by the amount of money you put out.” Because of that, government agencies rarely check whether their handouts go to the right people.…

The contrast between America’s great island allies on opposite ends of the world couldn’t be more drastic. Japan has just given its commonsense conservative prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, a two-thirds supermajority in the national legislature’s Lower House; her Liberal Democratic Party took the highest proportion of seats of any party since World War II. It’s an enormous vote of confidence…

Just how badly did Republicans do in two Texas special elections last weekend? Not as badly as apocalyptic headlines in liberal-leaning outlets would suggest — but badly enough that Republicans nationwide have to learn some searing lessons. Although the GOP lost both races, one was for a U.S. House seat that’s been in Democrats’ hands for decades: Christian Menefee’s victory narrows the GOP’s…

It may seem that it’s impossible to get anything done in Washington these days. Nevertheless, the free spirit of Americans cannot be suppressed. Americans are voting with their feet. Per the Census Bureau’s just released annual report on population growth and migration in the U.S., Americans are packing up and moving from anti-growth blue states to pro-growth red states.

Am I sexist? I think there are differences between men and women -- traits beyond obvious physical ones. But when I was young, feminist leaders said there were no differences. The only reason men ran most things was sexism. There was plenty of that. One example people forget: Until 1974, women couldn’t get a credit card without their husband’s permission. A women’s movement was long overdue. I…

The unrest surrounding federal immigration enforcement in Minneapolis did not arise by accident. It is the product of a combustible mix: deliberate obstruction by Democratic officials, wall-to-wall legacy media coverage and two tragic incidents that were mishandled by senior figures inside the Trump administration. Together, these forces have produced exactly the chaos critics warned about —…

Sorting through what exactly Alex Pretti did or did not do to provoke his death in Minneapolis at the hands of ICE agents is not enough to understand this tragedy. Pretti had a permit for his concealed weapon. But does the Second Amendment cover carrying it at an incendiary anti-ICE demonstration with motivation to do something? All this will be investigated and sorted out. But we need a…

Donald Trump’s Arctic strategy has been 500 years in the making. When Christopher Columbus set sail across the Atlantic in 1492, he intended to find a direct path from Europe to Asia. He didn’t, of course — but the first transatlantic explorer to sail under an English flag, John Cabot, tried again a few years later and became the first modern explorer to reach what is now Canada.

No, the midterms will not turn on the issue of “affordability.” If affordability truly were decisive, Republicans would easily retain the House and the Senate. Consider the economic backdrop. Gas prices are at a five-year low, with gas stations in several states selling a gallon of regular for under $2. Several times since Trump’s reelection, the stock market indexes have recorded all-time…

Monday marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national holiday honoring a man best remembered for urging Americans to judge one another by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. It is a legacy rooted in a specific historical struggle -- one that culminated in the Civil Rights Act after years of fierce resistance, largely from Southern Democrats, to dismantling Jim…

As for the estimated $8 billion in government (taxpayer) money stolen by crooks in Minnesota, people demand answers to many questions. But the 800-pound elephant/question goes unasked: Why is government in the business of welfare in the first place? Where in the Constitution does it permit the federal government to extract money from taxpayers for charity?

One great irony is that deposed Venezuelan socialist despot Nicolás Maduro sits in jail in New York City, where a new socialist mayor, inaugurated a few days ago, extols the “warmth of collectivism” rather than the “frigidity of rugged individualism.” No warm, cuddly collectivist has ever, nor will ever, perform a mission like rugged American individualists just pulled off in Venezuela,…