Articles

House Republican leadership tonight abruptly dropped a bill that would ban elective abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy. According to news reports, female GOP lawmakers raised concerns on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, prompting party leaders to realize they did not have the votes to pass the bill. Prominent Republican members who rallied against the plan to limit…

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, my fellow Americans: We are fifteen years into this new century. Fifteen years that dawned with terror touching our shores; that unfolded with a new generation fighting two long and costly wars; that saw a vicious recession spread across our nation and the world. It has been, and still is, a hard…

In 2007, members of Evangel Ministries in northwest Detroit went out into the surrounding neighborhoods to share the gospel in a summer-long program called Dare to Share. They came back with reports of new connections and conversions—and new questions. Many of their neighbors had voiced powerful objections to the faith. Senior pastor Christopher Brooks realized that the apologetics he had…

With the release of Clint Eastwood’s Chris Kyle biopic American Sniper, based on the life of America’s deadliest marksman, the Left has been eager to take potshots at the late Navy officer and Iraq veteran. By deceptively quoting Kyle’s 2012 autobiography (also entitled “American Sniper”), they have gained traction for questionable interpretations and outright lies. Here are the three most…

WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to use his State of the Union speech to target tax loopholes that benefit the wealthy, while offering new tax breaks for middle-class items like child care, White House officials said Saturday. In the prime-time address Tuesday, the president plans to call for ending certain loopholes on trust funds, increasing the top tax rates on…

It’s a bit surprising that Jay Leno showed up last week as the entertainment at the first joint Senate–House Republican congressional retreat in decades. While Leno, the 64-year-old former host of NBC’s Tonight Show, was scrupulously non-partisan in his jibes and jabs, he added a touch of Hollywood flash to the serious discussions on budgets and bills. His favorite jokes…

He’d have been a better president than Obama. That’s not nearly enough. A conversation with a Republican governor who is a possible presidential aspirant: I told him I’d been thinking about something and wanted his response. You can argue that a governor is a better presidential nominee than a senator because governors, unlike lawmakers, have to do something and can…

States and localities will spend much of their time this year grappling with troublesome new realities and trying to work out their relationship with Washington. New realities are a given in any governmental year, but the 2015 crop includes some unusually potent ones. Legislators will be dealing with widespread water shortages, dwindling transportation funds, the emergence of new drugs that…

I gather from Obama’s “free” community college proposal that his plan for dealing with the Republican Congress over the next two years is to throw out ridiculously expensive ideas no one has ever heard of before, and then denounce Republicans for being naysayers. Community college is already incredibly inexpensive. The only thing that will jack up the price is making…

Cybersecurity and Internet access will be themes in the coming week as President Barack Obama highlights the agenda he will be emphasizing in his State of the Union address. Obama will meet with congressional leaders from both parties Tuesday to “discuss a wide range of issues including places where he hopes we can work together to grow the economy and…

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis said Thursday there are limits to freedom of speech, especially when it insults or ridicules someone’s faith. Francis spoke about the Paris terror attacks while en route to the Philippines, defending free speech as not only a fundamental human right but a duty to speak one’s mind for the sake of the…