Recent Viewpoints

By Kerby Anderson Last Monday the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the immigration case against President Obama. The lower courts ruled that the president acted unilaterally in issuing his order that would allow as many as 5 million illegal aliens to remain in the United States without any fear of deportation. The issue at stake is much larger than immigration and deportation. What is at stake was whether the president could issue executive orders that bypass the legislative process….

By Penna Dexter The Georgia state House and Senate recently passed the Free Exercise Protection Act which offered protections for clergy and faith-based employers to adhere to the tenets of their faith in what they do, and allow to be done, on their property. One state senator, William Ligon, explained in the Wall Street Journal that in light of the Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage, “Georgia’s lawmakers wanted to be clear that our state’s protections for religious liberty have…

By Kerby Anderson Lots of people lately have been giving their opinion about tax avoidance. The president criticized corporate “inversions” and told these companies to stop “gaming the system.” Lynn Woolley says that the recent Panama Papers scandal proves that tax avoidance is the American Way. Merrill Matthews says tax avoidance is patriotic. First, let‘s start with some definitions. The IRS says that avoidance of taxes is not a criminal offense. It is what anyone tries to do to avoid…

By Kerby Anderson Some of the promos for the latest TV shows are appalling, but I have discovered that the actual programs are even worse than what is shown in the one-minute commercials. I would never watch the programs, and fortunately did not have to watch them. A recent article by Maureen Callahan in the New York Post gives all of the shocking details about some of the shows on television. On the ABC program Scandal, Olivia Pope is a…

By Kerby Anderson Earlier this month President Obama met with the French president. When talking about the terrorist actions in Paris, Brussels, and San Bernardino, he referred to the violence as “Islamist terrorism.” The White House deleted the phrase but then restored it when questioned about the apparent censorship. Down the street from the White House, something similar was taking place at the Library of Congress. The library’s administrators banned the term “illegal alien” in subject headings about immigration. There…

Over the past seven years, in various documents, the White House has been replacing the words “freedom of religion” with a different phrase, “freedom of worship.” One of those documents is the test immigrants take to become U.S. citizens. In it, “freedom of worship” is listed as a basic constitutional right along with “freedom of speech.” There’s a difference between these two terms that has major consequences for the rights of people of faith, especially in light of the current…

April 15 is usually considered Tax Day, but this year the tax deadline is on April 18. It was moved because Emancipation Day will be celebrated this year on April 15. That is why Tax Day was pushed back to April 18. While we are talking about Tax Day, let also talk about Tax Freedom Day. That is the day when your tax burden is lifted. It is calculated by dividing the official government tally of all taxes collected in…

When California Governor Jerry Brown announced his plan to be the first state to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, lots of people had an opinion. Dr. Merrill Matthews (a frequent guest on Point of View) summarized his thoughts this way. “As a Texan, let me say, ‘Thank you, Governor Brown!” He pointed out that Texas has benefited from the Golden State’s determination to send its best employers and jobs to the Lone Star State. He believes that…

If kids are with you right now, be warned, I’m going to talk about sex. Not graphically, but honestly. You may or may not want your youngsters to see this. I came across a story about my alma mater, the University of Southern California. A lot of people don’t know this, but USC is a private school. My parents preferred I attend there rather than one of the public schools like UCLA or UC Santa Barbara, because they thought I’d…

Many may not realize it but more illegal immigrants have been deported during President Obama’s presidency than ever before. An estimated 2.5 million people have been removed from America since he took office. Some have even referred to him as the “deporter-in-chief.” The two leading Republican presidential candidates want to continue and even expand what is currently happening. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz want to deport millions more, even though many polls show that Americans oppose mass deportations of the…

Legislatures and city councils have had a debate for some time about so-called “bathroom bills.” Apparently many gay activists are convinced that the next barrier to discrimination concerns transsexuals who desire to use a public bathroom of their preference rather than their biology. That is why some legislative bodies want to pass bills that would protect woman from predators. A recent column by Frank Turek provides some insight into the debate in North Carolina’s “bathroom bill” (HB2) that could be…