Politics & Rights

The good news, as Dan Mitchell reports, is that a measure to force greater “equality” between the pay of men and women—the so-called “Paycheck Fairness Act”—“didn’t get enough votes to overcome a procedural objection” in the Senate. The bad news is that this statist measure made it to the Senate…

Marc A. Thiessen recently noted that American “liberals” strongly support President Obama’s counterterrorism policies even though his policies are almost indistinguishable from President Bush’s, which liberals hated. But what Thiesson dubbed the “Obama-Bush Doctrine” is just an indication of the likeness of these two presidents. If liberals were to take…

What explains the pervasive hostility toward productive entrepreneurs and business executives in our culture? Consider the following illustrations: Bureaucrats with the Federal Trade Commission are questioning Google’s founders—and may sue the company under antitrust laws—for “unfairly” writing its search result algorithms the way the company deems best. Tony Romm explains…

Congratulations to Wisconsin governor Scott Walker for his victory in yesterday’s recall election. Walker deserves praise for bringing his state’s budget shortfalls under control by limiting compensation and “collective bargaining” power of “public” unions. Three aspects of Walker’s agenda merit special attention. First—horror of horrors—Walker and the legislature required government…

You’ve probably heard of the effort by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his fellow statists to ban large sizes of sugary drinks. As the New York Times reported, “New York City plans to enact a far-reaching ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks at restaurants,…

A set of gruesome photographs published recently by The Atlantic illustrate the death and destruction caused by the drug policies of the United States. The Atlantic’s Alan Taylor summarizes the consequences: Since Mexico's President Felipe Calderón began an all-out assault on drug cartels in 2006, more than 50,000 people have…

Variety reports that William Baldwin’s company, Beyond Comprehension, has purchased the screen rights to A Time to Betray, the autobiographical story of Reza Kahlili, who worked as a CIA agent in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Baldwin and producing partner Warren Kohler reportedly “will develop the project as a limited series or…

First came Arnold Kling’s shocking proposal for forcibly “breaking up the big banks,” a plan reminiscent of Teddy Roosevelt’s “progressive” trust-busting. Now Kling calls for so-called “principles-based regulations,” complete with “random management audits” by the government and prison sentences for noncompliant executives. Who is this new progressive? A student of…

How many times has Barack Obama taken credit for the U.S. raid in Pakistan that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden? But now that the man who provided essential intelligence for the raid has been tortured, caged, and effectively sentenced to prison for the rest of his life…

Dharun Ravi, the defendant in the “Hate Crime” case I wrote about in March, has been sentenced to 30 days in county jail, plus probation, community service, and various fines. Many were shocked and disappointed by this “lenient” sentence, including the prosecution, who vowed to appeal. But, as the New…