It was the tea party the Obamas just couldn’t resist. A White House “Alice in Wonderland” costume ball — put on by Johnny Depp and Hollywood director Tim Burton — proved to be a Mad-as-a-Hatter idea that was never made public for fear of a political backlash during hard economic times, according to a new […]
Youngstown, Ohio, had a rockin’ New Year’s Eve, but not the kind it hoped for—a 4.0 magnitude earthquake shook the city just one week after a 2.7 magnitude earthquake hit. Fortunately, there was no significant damage or injuries; the focus has primarily been on the cause of the earthquake. Although no definitive connection has been […]
Two of 13 “demands” posted on the website of the Occupy Wall Street protesters Sept. 25 were for “free college education” and for forgiving student loans (and all other debts.) This wasn’t an “official” list, OWS said. But a survey of 200 protesters by Democratic pollster and Fox analyst Douglas Schoen indicated widespread support for […]
A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing “sexual services” at a brothel in Berlin faces possible cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year. Prostitution was legalised in Germany just over two years ago and brothel owners – who must pay tax and employee health insurance – were granted access to […]
President Obama visited the Pentagon on Thursday to outline his plan for gutting our nation’s military. Obama’s vision makes America more vulnerable to foreign threats and leaves our armed forces less able to provide for the common defense. As we’ve previously illustrated, Obama has proposed significant reductions to the Pentagon’s budget. This week’s chart shows […]
In a weak economy, the government should not erect barriers to hiring. But two government policies have hindered the already slow recovery: increases in the minimum wage and government unionization. Eliminating these policies would not be enough to spur a robust recovery—the cause of our current economic weakness goes far beyond these measures—but removing them […]
How’s this for a nicely polished gem of irony? Matthew Yglesias, a liberal blogger today authored a piece poking fun at Barnes Noble for attempting to diversify its bookstore model by venturing into the world of digital with its “Nook” e-reader. (Stay tuned for the irony, below.) For Yglesias, the notion that a corporation wants to […]
Saudi hacker “0xOmar,” who succeeded in hijacking at least 15,000 Israeli credit card numbers, published the details of 11,000 more cards Thursday. More than half of these are out of date, however. “A stupid Israeli student claims that we only leaked 14,000 cards, yet just one of the files [stolen] includes 27,000 working numbers,” the […]
The framers of the Constitution required the President to get the consent of the Senate before appointing senior government officials. They wanted to prevent the President from appointing those who would abuse the public trust. President Obama’s purported appointment of Richard Griffin to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) yesterday illustrates the importance of this […]
Last fall Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) visited Heritage to talk about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the “unaccountable” nominee to head the agency. At the time, there was speculation President Obama would attempt to bypass the U.S. Senate to install Richard Cordray as CFPB director. That’s exactly what happened today in what Heritage’s Todd […]
