Rich Tucker

Articles by Rich Tucker

Dixville Notch Goes to Hillary Clinton

Only eight voters turned up for the traditional early Election Day vote in Dixville Notch. Almost as many reporters were on hand to record Clinton’s narrow victory.

Voters in Dixville Notch, Va., cast their ballots just after midnight Tuesday, Nov. 8, 201

RNC Dumps NBC Over Debate Debacle

The RNC is pulling the plug on NBC, after the network’s sister station botched a GOP debate this week. However, the organization plans to go ahead with a debate on that day, probably on a different network.

GOP 2016 Debate

Hastert Rule Lives As Paul Ryan Takes Speakership

As Paul Ryan takes over as Speaker of the House, he has a big shadow falling across his new gavel. To get the office, Ryan vowed to uphold a promise made by former Speaker Dennis Hastert.

Newly-elected Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) stands with Outgoing Speaker of the Ho

Free Stuff? Sorry, Can’t Afford It

We need to “make every public college and university in this country tuition free,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, the self-proclaimed Socialist from Vermont, declared. Front-running Hillary Clinton added, “My plan would enable anyone to go to a public college or university tuition free. You would not have to borrow money for tuition.” Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley was also on board. “We can talk about affordable college, making college debt free, and all the issues,” he said. They’re wrong.

Students at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth hang out in the quad on campus on Ap

‘Climate Change’ Heats Up Democrats, Chills Voters

On a day when National Security Advisor Susan Rice partially blamed climate change for the conflict in Syria, Democrat presidential candidates lined up to warn about the international dangers of climate change. The big question is control. “Climate change” is a way for politicians to assert it. If that’s what voters want, they should select somebody from the Democratic debate. If not, they’ll need to look elsewhere.

Hillary and Bernie Debate Getty Joe Raedle

Obama Showing Why Outsiders Are Thriving in 2015

In this year of the political outsider, the ultimate political insider — President Barack Obama — is reminding us how politics has always been practiced. And how it shouldn’t be practiced any more.

Obama speaks during a press conference at the White House on October 2, 2015, in Washingto

Allowing States to Set Gambling Policies

Anyone who’s watched five minutes of football this year is well aware that there’s gambling going on. Ads for FanDuel, DraftKings, and other “fantasy sports for cash” sites fill every commercial break. But even as you’re picking (and wagering on) you weekly fantasy team, some lawmakers want to “protect” you from gambling — by enacting the Restoration of America’s Wire Act.

Players watch horse racing at the Race Book at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlanti

‘Everything We Provide is Fresh,’ Planned Parenthood Leader Tells Undercover Camera

As members of Congress consider whether to defund Planned Parenthood, a new video highlights the abortion provider’s booming business in baby organs.

“We’ve just been working with people who want particular tissues, like, you know, they want cardiac, or they want eyes, or they want neural,” Dr. Carolyn Westhoff, Senior Medical Advisor for Planned Parenthood for America tells a hidden camera. “Certainly, everything we provide–oh, gonads! Oh my God, gonads. Everything we provide is fresh.”

Olivier Douliery/Getty Images/AFP

Houston We Have a Problem: Trump Tops Cruz in Texas Poll

Donald Trump is now the frontrunner in Texas, polling at 24 percent, roughly what he gets nationally. Sen. Ted Cruz drops to second in his home state with 16 percent. Longtime Texas Gov. Rick Perry is a non-factor, polling just 4 percent alongside Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Fox News’ Megyn Kelly Announces 10-Day Vacation

Fox News viewers won’t have Megyn Kelly to turn to for the next 10 days. It comes less than a week after Kelly made headlines by grilling GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump during the initial debate.

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Chait: ‘Stench of Death’ Clings To Rand Paul Campaign

In New York Magazine, Jonathan Chait writes: “[Rand] Paul finds himself languishing in every metric of campaign success: polls, fund-raising, insider support, media attention. Two pre-postmortems today convey the stench of death that clings to Paul’s once-buoyant presidential hopes. … “Paul

AP Photo/Jim Cole

Biden: Dems Should Be Poor, Like Me

“Folks, we ought to start in our own party,” he told a liberal gathering this week. “You ought to be demanding of all of us, all of us, because at least in our own party fights among ourselves, in primaries, that we adhere to a policy that doesn’t rest on millionaires and billionaires.”

Joe Biden Mexico Talk AP

Remaking a Remake: The ‘Bond’ We Need

We need a new Bond. No need to be tied to convention here; the era of middle-aged white British men is over. In the spirit of the Jenner clan, the 21st Century cries out for an androgynous Bond. Maybe Miley Cyrus? Also, the name “James” is too 20th Century. Something like “Jamey” would be more appropriate, and allow Bond to swing easily between male and female, as necessary or desired.

AP Photos

The Big Ratchet: How to Feed a Hungry Planet

In her book The Big Ratchet, Ruth DeFries explains how humanity went from hunger to plenty by making more efficient use of Earth’s resources. Even with more people than ever before, “Our current problems are more about abundance than about lack of food. Our species has never had to grapple with such surplus,” she writes.

Dairy farmers, Anthony Paudoie and his father Jean-Louis, harvest wheat in a field with th

Chris Christie: Straight Shooter Fires Wide in Presidential Announcement

Americans used to say “you can’t fight City Hall.” But at least they could see City Hall, and had an idea who they were fighting against. These days, edicts come from Washington bureaucrats hundreds, even thousands, of miles away. There’s no recourse, no choice but to comply. Small wonder anxiety abounds. Yet Christie’s version of Washington would look distressingly similar to today’s bureaucrat-driven behemoth.

The Associated Press

Humans Misbehave, Economists Misunderstand, Governments Overreact

Since humans don’t behave the way models say we should, those economic models make a lot of bad predictions. “Virtually no economists saw the financial crisis of 2007-08 coming,” he admits (although another behavioral economist, Robert Shiller, did warn about soaring housing prices). “Worse, many thought that both the crash and its aftermath were things that simply could not happen.” The answer is to empower people through free markets.

Carsten Rehder/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images

House Approves Obamatrade’s TPA, Bill Must Go to Senate Next

One week after the House of Representatives rejected Obamatrade by voting against a key provision of it — Trade Adjustment Assistance — GOP establishment lawmakers resuscitated Trade Promotion Authority and rammed it through Thursday afternoon.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

Hillary 2.0 — Clinton Announcement Long on Promises, Short on Specifics

After two months of beta testing, working out the bugs in a campaign announced on Twitter that featured a cross-country van tour but virtually no interactions with actual reporters, the Clinton campaign relaunched Saturday with an event on Roosevelt Island in her adopted home state of New York.

AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

Want to Help Men? Heal Marriage

In the U.S. today, all the focus seems to be on gay marriage. It’s a central topic at the Supreme Court this month, for example. But the real story isn’t the death of men; it’s the death of marriage.

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Improve Airports by Moving Power Out of Washington

As lawmakers headed home for a week of vacation–or as some of them return next weekend, earlier than they had expected–they’ll certainly notice the nation’s airports are not in tip-top shape.

The Associated Press

Let the Market, Not the Government, Stop Bribery

Bribery is mostly a problem in dealing with government officials, who have a legal monopoly in a particular area. So it makes sense to allow free markets to prevent bribery, rather than counting on governments to root it out.

REUTERS/RICK WILKING

Senate Fails to Act on NSA Bill, Will Return May 31

The U.S. Senate limped into its Memorial Day recess leaving a key piece of legislative business unfinished: how to handle the National Security Agency’s (NSA) bulk collection of telephone data.

AP Photo

The Big Question: How Silly Can a Philosopher Be?

Homeschooling is taking off because it works, and because it empowers parents. The bigger question isn’t whether it’ll be banned in 100 years; it’s “what will government schools look like in 100 years, with dwindling student populations?”

Homeschooling