Justice Antonin Scalia says World War II-style internment camps could happen again | WashingtonExaminer.com

Report: Electric bills to rise 29 percent if environmentalists get their way

By ASHE SCHOW | 02/04/14 03:31 PM

If environmentalists get their way and force the United States to adopt European Union-style renewable energy policies, consumers will see their monthly electricity bills increase by 29 percent. That finding comes from...

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to close schools for Muslim holidays

By CHARLES HOSKINSON | 02/04/14 02:13 PM

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio says he wants to accommodate the 10 percent of students in the city's public classrooms who are Muslim by closing schools for their religious holidays. The city's public schools already...

Are you ready for Rep. Sandra Fluke?

By CHARLES HOSKINSON | 02/04/14 02:01 PM

Remember Sandra "I want free birth control" Fluke, the former Georgetown University law student turned professional victim (well, she actually calls herself an "activist")? She's running for Congress to replace Rep....

Justice Antonin Scalia says World War II-style internment camps could happen again

By JOEL GEHRKE | 02/04/14 01:57 PM

Justice Antonin Scalia predicts that the Supreme Court will eventually authorize another a wartime abuse of civil rights such as the internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II. "You are kidding yourself...

Former 'Saturday Night Live' cast member-turned-Tea Party activist running for office in Tennessee

By CHARLES HOSKINSON | 02/04/14 01:46 PM

Victoria Jackson became famous in the 1980s as a "Saturday Night Live" cast member and later as one of the more familiar faces among Tea Party activists nationwide. Now she's trying a new role: candidate. Jackson...

Apparently 'a couple thousand' jobs not good enough for Obama to approve Keystone XL pipeline

By ASHE SCHOW | 02/04/14 01:00 PM

President Obama disputed the number of jobs that would be created by building the Keystone XL pipeline, dismissing the number as only “a couple thousand.” Obama, speaking with Fox News host Bill O'Reilly during a...

Democratic congressman seems to assume his party won't regain House anytime soon

By MICHAEL BARONE | 02/04/14 12:21 PM

Here's some shocking political news from New Jersey, and it has nothing to do with the George Washington Bridge. The news, from philly.com, is that Rep. Rob Andrews will resign from Congress later this month to take a job...

CBO says Obamacare to cost $2 trillion over next decade, cut employment by 2.5 million

By PHILIP KLEIN | 02/04/14 11:51 AM

President Obama's health care law will cost slightly more than $2 trillion over the next decade, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office. The CBO report also said the health care law will distort...

'Too Big to Manage' series exposes how taxpayers are forced to fund thousands of federal employee union reps

By MARK TAPSCOTT | 02/04/14 09:24 AM

They said Wall Street banks were "too big to fail" in 2008. In 2014, it's the federal government that is "Too Big to Manage." That's the title of a series appearing this week on washingtonexaminer.com by the Watchdog...

President Obama to push for connecting students to Internet in school visit

By ASHE SCHOW | 02/04/14 08:29 AM

President Obama will visit Buck Lodge Middle School in Adelphi, Md., on Tuesday to discuss the progress being made toward the goal he proposed last year of connecting 99 percent of students to high-speed broadband --...

Kirsten Gillibrand's #Opportunityplan: Redistribution, lies and a nugget of good policy

By ASHE SCHOW | 02/04/14 08:12 AM

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., revealed her five-point “Opportunity Plan” on Monday, designed to end what she called “Mad Men”-era workplace policies.

Rep. Renee Ellmers not worried about failed 'American Idol' candidate challenging her

By JOEL GEHRKE | 02/03/14 07:25 PM

Rep. Renee Ellmers, R-N.C., isn't worried about former "American Idol" contestant Clay Aiken trying to unseat her. "As we know he doesn't always fare all that well," the Raleigh News and Observer quoted her telling...

Monday meme: Just a 'smidgen'

By ASHE SCHOW | 02/03/14 05:46 PM

'None of the above' --- the Jeanne Shaheen Protection Act of 2014

By JOEL GEHRKE | 02/03/14 05:04 PM

Call it the Jeanne Shaheen Protection Act of 2014: New Hampshire Democrats have introduced a bill into the state legislature that would help incumbents by allowing voters to cast a ballot for "none of the above." The...

Anthony Trollope on governing lightly: a lesson for Obamacare architects

By MICHAEL BARONE | 02/03/14 04:37 PM

Myron Gananian, M.D., of Menlo Park, California, emails me in response to my Wall Street Journal opinion article “How Obamacare misreads America.” Dr. Gananian quotes from Anthony Trollope's The Duke's Children, the...

Mitch McConnell could lose his primary

By JOEL GEHRKE | 02/03/14 04:21 PM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has big plans for next year if he gets to lead a Republican majority, but he has to avoid losing his own seat first. McConnell is the only Republican whose Senate campaign...

RNC launches Black History Month ad campaign

By JOEL GEHRKE | 02/03/14 04:20 PM

Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, who has emphasized the need to reach out to minority voters since the 2012 election, released a Black History Month ad campaign praising the recipients of this year's...

People who don't understand Bitcoin want to regulate Bitcoin

By ASHE SCHOW | 02/03/14 03:20 PM

Bitcoin, the digital currency people can't stop talking about, is thus far free from direct meddling from the federal government. So naturally, Big Government wants to regulate it.

How Obamacare misreads America

By MICHAEL BARONE | 02/03/14 12:43 PM

Today the Wall Street Journal ran my opinion article headlined “Michael Barone: How Obamacare Misreads America.” You might want to read the whole thing. Evidently many people are doing so: As I write, it's the No. 1...

Tim Scott: The Republican Party is the real party of diversity

By CHARLES HOSKINSON | 02/03/14 12:33 PM

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., defended both the Republican Party and his own role as the first black senator from his home state since Reconstruction by saying the GOP is the real party of diversity in America. "The GOP...

Rep. Frank Wolf: Every American has been attacked by foreign cyber-hackers

By JOEL GEHRKE | 02/03/14 12:32 PM

Every single American has been attacked by foreign cyberhackers, according Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., who has worked on the issue since Chinese government hackers targeted his office in 2006.

Number of abortions continue to decline, four decades after Roe v. Wade

By MICHAEL BARONE | 02/03/14 12:31 PM

In my Jan. 23 Washington Examiner column, timed to coincide with the 41st anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, I noted that the number of abortions has been declining for years and wrote that "the absolute number of...

The farm bill: Left and Right on one side; special interests and the mainstream media on the other

By TIMOTHY P. CARNEY | 02/03/14 10:55 AM

When you hear politicians and media types crowing about bipartisan cooperation and compromise, the odds are good that bad laws are being made, ripping off regular people and enriching the special interests.

Can Mitch McConnell stop President Obama's political abuse of the IRS?

By MARK TAPSCOTT | 02/03/14 09:08 AM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell fought the good fight on campaign finance reform and freedom of political speech under the First Amendment. Now he's taking up the good fight on the IRS and freedom of political...

Are immigration reformers talking down chances so opponents will drop guard?

By BYRON YORK | 02/03/14 08:30 AM

Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, a leading House advocate of immigration reform, sounded decidedly cautious when asked on ABC Sunday whether Congress can pass a reform bill to send to the president this year. "I really don't...

Even the Super Bowl is about Obama

By CHARLES HOSKINSON | 02/02/14 07:05 PM

There's only one thing you need to know about the White House propaganda machine: It's all about Barack Obama. Even the Super Bowl.

'Pimps will be lurking' after the Super Bowl, says New Jersey congressman

By JOEL GEHRKE | 02/02/14 12:37 PM

"Pimps will be lurking" after the Super Bowl, hoping to find guys interested in paying for sex, according to a top House member for human rights work, who also hails from the state that hosts this year's game. “On...

Rise of radical Islam made life worse for Christians in 2013, with more to come in 2014

By ASHE SCHOW | 02/02/14 12:19 PM

Persecution of Christians continues to worsen, fueled in part by the "Arab Spring," which not only unleashed a wave of Islamist radicalism across the Arab world but also left Christians holding the blame for many of the...

The hypocrisy of Garrett Epps, on display in the pages of The Atlantic

By CHARLES HOSKINSON | 02/01/14 01:19 PM

Law professor and former Washington Post reporter Garrett Epps is concerned that the Supreme Court's willingness to consider religious exemptions to Obamacare's contraceptive mandate would amount to legitimizing...

Tough talk: Why immigration reformers say 'get right with the law'

By BYRON YORK | 02/01/14 10:13 AM

Supporters of immigration reform have carefully poll-tested the words they use to advocate an overhaul of the nation's immigration system. "The language on this stuff is really important," says one expert who's been...

Congressman Michael 'I will break you in half' Grimm is literally indebted to K Street giant Patton Boggs

By TIMOTHY P. CARNEY | 01/31/14 04:23 PM

Congressional candidates and congressmen need lawyers. In D.C., law firms are often lobbying firms. That can create interesting dynamics. For instance: Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., recently famous for threatening...

The House GOP's incredible, amazing discovery: Most Americans aren't entrepreneurs

By BYRON YORK | 01/31/14 04:18 PM

At the House Republican retreat in Cambridge, Md., Thursday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor called on GOP lawmakers to take a new approach to the nation's economic anxieties. Dividing his remarks into four categories...

UPDATED: Final Keystone XL environmental report due Friday

By ASHE SCHOW | 01/31/14 04:17 PM

Officials at the State Department are expected to release a final environmental analysis of the Keystone XL pipeline Friday - a report expected to disappoint environmentalists. The report is expected “to be similar to...

She was courteous enough, but this woman read Obama a thorough indictment of Obamacare

By JOEL GEHRKE | 01/31/14 04:15 PM

She was courteous enough that even President Obama said she didn't "have to pussyfoot around," but the woman who asked about Obamacare gave a pretty comprehensive indictment of the law's rollout and consequences for her...

A first: A Super Bowl in an unsubsidized stadium

By TIMOTHY P. CARNEY | 01/31/14 04:09 PM

There are 32 teams in the NFL. Twenty-eight of those 32 play in a stadium built with taxpayer money, according to Travis Waldron and Pat Garofalo. Two more teams play in a stadium expanded through government subsidies....

Top spenders 'ripped' appropriations bill out of hands of junior congressman, Cynthia Lummis says

By JOEL GEHRKE | 01/31/14 03:54 PM

Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., shook the dust off her feet as she left the House Appropriations Committee, which she described as dominated by a few arrogant members who lack respect for conservatives on the panel. “We...

John Boehner is the 'fool in the shower' on immigration

By PHILIP KLEIN | 01/31/14 03:09 PM

Whatever one thinks about the substance of the House Republican immigration reform outline, in terms of the raw politics of 2014, introducing it now is bananas. Immigration is a lose-lose issue for Republicans. If...

White House to Congressional Black Caucus: Obama's judicial nominees are diverse enough

By JOEL GEHRKE | 01/31/14 01:57 PM

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus believe that President Obama's judicial nominees represent "an appalling lack of diversity," but the top White House spokesman dismissed that accusation. "The president's...

Senate race poll numbers look good for Republicans

By MICHAEL BARONE | 01/31/14 01:04 PM

The balance in the 2014 race for a majority in the Senate seems to have shifted -- toward the Republicans. Two polls released today showed Louisiana Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu trailing Republican challenger John...

Abolish the TSA

By CHARLES HOSKINSON | 01/31/14 12:30 PM

A former Transportation Security Administration agent offered a confession of sorts in Politico Magazine on Thursday, called "Dear America, I Saw You Naked." "In private, most TSA officers I talked to told me they felt...

Wendy Davis says to stop talking about Wendy Davis' life story, which Wendy Davis brought up

By TIMOTHY P. CARNEY | 01/31/14 10:24 AM

Wendy Davis, announcing in October her run for governor: I have my own Texas story. Thirty-two years ago, I received my high school diploma in this very spot. At the time, I had no idea what my future held. I dreamt of...

Problems mount for Wendy Davis as new complaint alleges failure to disclose income

By MARK TAPSCOTT | 01/31/14 09:17 AM

There are more new ethics problems for Texas Democratic gubernatorial favorite and national abortion-on-demand heroine Wendy Davis. A complaint was filed earlier this week with the Texas Ethics Commission by a citizen...

Saudis snub US congressional delegation

By JOEL GEHRKE | 01/31/14 08:45 AM

Saudi Arabian diplomats and military officials refused to meet with a bipartisan delegation of senior congressional staffers who visited the Middle Eastern country last week, an unusual snub that suggests increased...

Rep. Tim Huelskamp enjoys being MSNBC nemesis

By CHARLES HOSKINSON | 01/31/14 07:52 AM

Rep. Tim Huelskamp is enjoying the attention he's gotten as the public face of the GOP's frustration with MSNBC.

Detroit's a clunker, but it can still be made road-worthy

By ASHE SCHOW | 01/30/14 07:12 PM

Detroit may be in bad shape, but you wouldn't know that if you had only attended the recently ended North American International Auto Show. Surrounded by the glitz and glamour of new cars -- despite an auto industry...

Popular anti-fracking study discredited by Colorado health department

By ASHE SCHOW | 01/30/14 06:37 PM

Research claiming that hydraulic fracturing -- fracking -- causes increased cancer risks and birth defects have been discredited by Colorado state public health officials. The researchers with the Colorado School of...

Air Force: Missile officers felt pressured to cheat

By JOEL GEHRKE | 01/30/14 05:51 PM

Air Force officers responsible for the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal cheated on a proficiency test because they felt too much pressure to perform perfectly, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James concluded. "I heard...

Tenured radical professor calls Osama bin Laden a 'freedom fighter,' U.S. a 'neocolonialist power'

By CHARLES HOSKINSON | 01/30/14 05:42 PM

A California professor is assigning his political science students a text he co-wrote that calls al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden a "freedom fighter" and the United States a "neocolonial power." Fox News reports that...

Arizona judge deals blow to government employee unions

By SEAN HIGGINS | 01/30/14 04:16 PM

An Arizona Superior Court judge ruled that members of a Phoenix law enforcement officers union could not conduct union business while also on the job. The ruling could end, at least in the state, a common practice by...

MIT professor: Keystone XL pipline won't increase greenhouse gas emissions

By ASHE SCHOW | 01/30/14 03:54 PM

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor said the Keystone XL pipeline, which has been opposed by environmentalists for five years, wouldn't increase greenhouse gas emissions. Chris Knittel, professor of energy...