Writing at Mother Jones, Kevin Drum argues that environmental lead is largely responsible for the increase, and subsequent drop, in crime the United States experienced since the 1960s. Crime reached a mid-century low in the United States around 1958. From
In the fiscal cliff negotiations, Obama held the line against entitlement reform, but the resulting deal could lead to downgrades by all three top debt ratings agencies later this year. When Standard and Poor’s cut the United States debt rating
A leaked New York state analysis says fracking is safe technology which will not cause dangerous water contamination. Governor Andrew Cuomo has been studying the issue of fracking in NY state for four years now. His administration seemed poised to
Thursday is the first day classes resume for students of Sandy Hook Elementary, but they won’t be returning to their old school building. A nearby school has been refurbished for use as the new Sandy Hook Elementary. More than 400
It took a year, but the Obama administration has now changed immigration rules to make it easier for illegal aliens with U.S. relatives to remain in the country while seeking a visa. Illegal immigrants who have family members — a
Democrats market policy the same way they market candidates: leveraging the power of the media to make targeted ethnic appeals. When it comes to selling Obamacare to Californians, the plan involves $90 million worth of outreach augmented by partnerships with
The French Supreme Court has rejected that country’s version of the “Buffett Rule,” a 75 percent tax on millionaires, calling it unfair andsaying its design was unconstitutional. French PresidentFrançois Hollande is the Barack Obama of Europe. He’s a moderatesocialist who
The San Francisco Baking Institute was in danger of closing after 16 years in business, but it appears a last minute compromise was reached with state bureaucrats after word spread to several media outlets including Breitbart News. Michel Suas is
The hacker group Anonymous has threatened to take down the Manteca, CA police website if their demand for the firing of Officer John Moody is not met. Manteca is a city of nearly 70,000, located east of San Francisco in
It’s extremely hard to lose a government job, even when your poor performance results in the deaths of other Americans under your responsibility. Despite claims that heads were rolling after a report identified egregious security lapses in Benghazi, it appears
Tams #6 is a burger joint that has been in continuous operation since the ’80s. Now the LAPD is regulating it out of existence. Nick Benetatos took over the location on Figueroa street from his father more than 20 years
The National Association of School Resource Officers is an organization that provides specialized training to police officers working in public schools. In the wake of the Newtown, CT tragedy, the group has endorsed the NRA’s recommendation to add armed school
Putting cops in schools is not a new idea. In fact, the federal government has already spent hundreds of millions on grants for a program called Cops in Schools. According to DOJ records, in 2000 the program gave out a
The wrenching tragedy in Connecticut last week led to much national coverage of gun violence. Not mentioned in most of the coverage is the fact that the U.S. is experiencing a 50-year-low in murders nationwide. Murder rates are measured by
After a week of silence, the head of the NRA made his first public statement since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut. He proposed placing an armed police officer in every public school in response to the tragedy.
The tragedy in Connecticut deserves a serious response, but will banning “military style” rifles really make adifference? Timothy Carney put together the chart below based on information from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report for 2010. As you can see, the
Chicago Mayor and former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel isunder attack by some of President Obama’s top political supporters. TheSEIU has committed half-a-million dollars to a new, anti-Rahm effort.The money was approved by a state council as part
After videos spread last Tuesday of union protesters pulling down tents belonging to Americans for Prosperity, union member Tom Duckworth claimed he’d seen a man connected to AFP pull down the tents. I spoke to the man Duckworth identified last
Assistant Professor Erik Loomis teaches history at the University of Rhode Island. In his spare time, he retweets death threats to conservatives on Twitter. Loomis caught the attention of Twitchy Tuesday when he retweeted another user’s message which read “First
Only in Washington could something like this happen. Speaker Boehner is asking for an end to fake savings and President Obama is offering him fake budget cuts. Speaker Boehner has reportedly asked for a repeal of the “doc fix” as
Nick Kristof published a call for gun control in the Saturday edition of the NY Times. While it’s not the worst of the genre, it relies on some disingenuous argumentation to reach its conclusion. After his introduction, Kristof throws out
This morning there was a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. Local station WTNH 8 was on scene and did a couple of good interviews with families connected to the school. This first clip features young Alexis who
Scientists from Yale and Harvard named a newly identified species of extinct lizard Obamadon gracilis in honor of President Obama. A team of scientists wrote a study examining how an asteroid strike 65 million years ago led to the extinction
The NY Times weighed in on the violence in Lansing yesterday. Today, after some prodding, the author issued a partial correction to his post. The story by Robert Mackey for the Times‘ Lede Blog has a predictable left wing spin.
Shortly after union protesters in Lansing, MI tore down a tent belonging to Americans for Prosperity on Tuesday, progressives began circulating a claim that the collapse was an inside job. On the right, yesterday’s news was dominated by flashes of
Teamster’s President James Hoffa believes the passage of right-to-work legislation in Michigan is on par with the worst conflicts in our nation’s history. In the past 24 hours he has compared it to Pearl Harbor and, in a separate interview,
The NY Times’ public editor has a new column in which she contradicts Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein and advocates for more, and more integrated, fact-checking in the news. Back in April, Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein decided to promote
The boom in natural gas production has created plenty of jobs in Pennsylvania and Ohio but, thanks to a moratorium by the state’s governor, Maryland has been left behind. A study by IHS Global Insight found that 1.7 million jobs
On Thursday, George Zimmerman filed suit against NBC News and three NBC producers he accuses of intentionally painting him as a racist. Zimmerman and his attorneys have now done what many in the new media only dream of doing, holding
As Republican members of the Michigan House and Senate were passing right to work bills into law inside the Capitol, supporters and protesters were clashing outside. The two clips below feature Americans for Prosperity’s Michigan director Scott Hagerstrom, who had
Eight protesters were arrested inside the Michigan State Capitol today when they attempted to push past police and enter the State Senate while it was in session. Thousands of protesters have turned out to the Capitol to protest an attempt
Anger over President Morsi’s declaration of autocratic powers and a new constitution, which seems to roll back rights for some segments of the populace, led to massive and sometimes violent protests outside the Presidential Palace. Early on the number of
One month after a union backed proposition aimed at enshrining collective bargaining rights in the Michigan constitution failed, Republican lawmakers are pushing right-to-work legislation through the lame-duck session. National unions spent $23 million trying to pass Proposal 2, which would
Analysis of government versus private sector pay and work hours suggests bureaucrats get more money for less work. Andrew Biggs of the American Enterprise Institute and Jason Richwine of the Heritage Foundation have recently taken a look at two issues
Once the stronghold of union power, the Midwest is now becoming the home of reforms that limit that power. Unions spent millions trying to remove Scott Walker from the Wisconsin Governor’s office in 2012, but that wasn’t their only expensive
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie made a formal request to FEMA last month asking the agency to reimburse his state for 100 percent of the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. FEMA reimburses states for 75 percent of damage from storms
A new interactive web page appears designed to teach women in Mexico how to perform a chemical abortion at home. The website is in Spanish and features a Mexican woman as the main character; its domain is registered to an
Democrats want negotiations over the future of Social Security to be discussed at a later time, but Congressman Kevin Brady, who is a senior member of the House Ways and Means committee, says now is the time for the President
There’s not a lot to celebrate a Planned Parenthood, at least not when it comes to bringing children into the world. Planned Parenthood of Indiana recently highlighted their success in facilitating adoptions with a statement on their website which read
The man who helped write Obamacare is back with a new agenda for the President’s 2nd term. Step one may be filibuster reform. Jacob Hacker (pictured) runs a political policy center at Yale University. He’s best known as one of
