Columnist.
The cheerleaders of Common Core didn't do themselves any favors during last Friday's education roundtable at the far-Left Center for American Progress (CAP). The event, which was supposed to help drum up support for the President's hugely controversial classrooms standards, only gave Americans greater cause for concern. Unfortunately for the White House, the wheels were already coming off its push to centralize more education power in Washington -- and away from local schools and parents. Last week, Massachusetts Education Secretary Paul Reville only confirmed families' fears that Common Core is just another way for the Left to seize control of the classroom and use it as yet another laboratory of social indoctrination. Reville, who shrugged off the opposition as "a tiny minority," raised plenty of eyebrows with his it-takes-a-village approach to Common Core. "Why should some towns and cities and states have no standards or low standards and others have extremely high standards when the children belong to all of us?"
If you thought the Super Bowl was rough, you should have seen the pregame. President Obama squared off against Bill O'Reilly for a match-up that proved a lot more spirited than the actual game. Two hours before kick-off, O'Reilly and Obama sparred over a range of topics -- from the White House's missteps on everything from ObamaCare and the IRS to the tragedy in Benghazi. Both men got their jabs in, with the President occasionally showing his annoyance with Fox News along the way. For his part, President Obama offered many of the same explanations for the botched ObamaCare roll-out, insisting that no one, not even his team of experienced contractors, could have known that HealthCare.gov was so deeply flawed. "I don't think anybody anticipated the degree of problems," President Obama said. Three years and millions of tax dollars later, shouldn't someone have known, O'Reilly asked? And if they didn't, isn't that ultimately the responsibility of Secretary Kathleen Sebelius?
If there's a national shortage of apology cards, blame MSNBC. Even if the network actually cared about news, executives wouldn't have time for it with all the mea culpas the company is pumping out. Following a daily pattern of offend-rinse-repeat, MSNBC is becoming the place where personal attacks aren't just tolerated -- but encouraged. The network's latest bit of nastiness came earlier last week, when an episode of MSNBC's race-baiting went horribly wrong. In a tweet about Cheerios's new Super Bowl ad, an employee tweeted from the company's official account: "Maybe the rightwing will hate it, but everyone else will go awww: the adorable new #Cheerios ad w/ biracial family" -- implying that conservatives are nothing but a bunch of white racists. It was nauseating, even by MSNBC standards. By now, most Americans know that the network is incapable of civil debate.
For once, Eric Holder is conducting an investigation instead of being the subject of one. Even that's proving to be a tall task for the U.S. Attorney General, whose agency can't seem to put aside its political motives long enough to give conservatives a fair shake. And while accountability isn't exactly the motto of this Justice Department, Congress at least expected a pretense of concern over the very serious allegations of conservative targeting at the IRS. At a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday, Attorney General Holder feigned interest as he listened to members rant about the DOJ's indifference over one of the most shocking scandals to hit the IRS in modern history. It's "astonishing," said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) of Holder's lack of urgency. Despite stacks of evidence dating back to 2010, DOJ has yet to hold anyone accountable for the high-level shakedown of tea party groups applying for nonprofit status.
When President Obama mapped out his agenda Tuesday night, there was one thing missing: Congress. "I'm eager to work with all of you," he told a full chamber, only to spend the next hour explaining how he planned to avoid them. "America does not stand still -- and neither will I," the President vowed. "So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that's what I'm going to do." Even to this, some of the same leaders the President had just declared irrelevant stood and cheered.
Virginia and Washington, D.C.may be separated by a state border, but there's very little separating them on marriage policy. Unfortunately for the Commonwealth, the President's legacy of lawlessness seems to be bleeding into state politics, where new Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, fresh off a razor-slim victory, seems intent on making a bad first impression. With less than 1,000 votes separating Herring from his Republican opponent, the new attorney general hardly has a mandate. Still, that hasn't stopped Herring from seizing control -- not just of the state's top law enforcement post, but of Virginians' will on marriage.
President Obama is a big proponent of recycling -- and he's proven it with his last several State of the Union speeches. While America's problems keep piling up, the White House keeps trotting out the same tired solutions. Early reports of tonight's address suggest that the President is intent on regifting the failed priorities of the past five years -- only this time, he isn't asking Congress, he's *telling* them. Legislating is tough business -- too tough, apparently, for President Obama. This year, the White House has a not-so-new strategy for muscling through its agenda: unilateralism. Tonight, as part of his push for climate change, infrastructure spending, and education, the President plans on declaring his independence -- from Congress. Taking what his staff calls a "[pen and phone](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2014-01-26/obama-s-plan-to-use-executive-action-triggers-criticism.html)" approach, the administration is gearing up for a season light on consensus and heavy on executive orders. "We need to show the American people that we can get something done, either with Congress or on our own," said the White House's Dan Pfeiffer.
Gary Sinise and Jon Voight have starred in plenty of dramas -- and now they're living one, courtesy of the IRS. For years, the duo (along with Kelsey Grammer) has been the face of Hollywood's conservative resistance, even going so far as to form a sort of underground support group. With people from across the entertainment industry, Sinise set out to make "conservative actors" less of an oxymoron. Although the group isn't politically-affiliated, they pride themselves on supporting our troops and traditional American values. Nine years later, the organization, Friends of Abe, is 1,500 members-strong -- and growing. Sinise has tried to keep his network under wraps, an effort to protect members in a fiercely liberal industry.
The media didn't need a sub-zero wind chill to freeze out pro-lifers. Most networks have had a lot of practice perfecting their greatest magic trick: making hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers disappear! If you weren't at Wednesday's March for Life and missed the photos from Twitter, you'd probably never know the event took place. As usual, the outlets vied to deliver the least March coverage possible -- with some refusing to acknowledge it at all. "NBC Nightly News" fared slightly better than CNN and MSNBC (who ignored the March altogether) -- but even its coverage, a whopping 22 seconds' worth, and ABC's (24 seconds) were barely a blip on the media's screen.
After a night of brutal cold, the sun rose over Washington Wednesday, lighting up the national mall and the crowds of people who braved the snow to promote life. Even the frigid temperatures couldn't keep pro-lifers away, as hundreds of thousands spilled out into roads that could barely contain them for the 41st annual [March for Life](http://marchforlife.org/). "Unless Roe v. Wade is cancelled due to weather," one leader tweeter, "the March for Life won't be either."
The NBA's Chris Paul hawks everything from PowerAde to deodorant -- but ObamaCare may be his toughest sell yet. Like Magic Johnson, Alonzo Mourning, and Steph Curry, the all-star point guard is one of many celebrities who agreed to start pitching the President's health care plan to young people. And not a moment too soon, based on the White House's latest data. After months of keeping Americans in the dark, the Obama administration finally let the cat out of the bag on its enrollment numbers. And while business certainly picked up on the exchanges before Christmas, there's still one thing missing: young people. Early on, experts agreed that the system would need at least 2.7 million 18-34 year-olds to stay afloat. That's a far cry from what the government has now. With only 2.2 million *total* sign-ups (and who knows how many actual premium-payers), the numbers barely scratch the surface of sustainability. For ObamaCare to work, it will take millions of healthy people buying insurance to offset the costs of the older and less healthy populations.
In a politically correct world, the costs of running a business are a lot more than dollars and cents. For Aaron and Melissa Klein, the owners of a small Oregon bakery, the price is their First Amendment rights. Their dream of opening a dessert shop near Portland, Oregon turned into a nightmare when two lesbians refused to take "no" for an answer on their request for a same-sex "wedding" cake. Exactly one year ago, the Kleins explained that they couldn't take the order because it would violate their faith to participate in a same-sex "marriage" ceremony. Furious, the women filed a complaint with the state. The story made national headlines, as the young couple became another face in the war on religious liberty. "We still stand by what we believe from the beginning," Aaron told reporters. "I'm not sure what the future holds, but as far as where we're at right now... it's almost as if the state is hostile toward Christian businesses."
If you thought giving money to the IRS was frustrating, try handing it your First Amendment rights. Under the Democrats' new rule, conservative activists may have no choice. In the run up to the 2014 elections, the President's party can't hide from their scandalous record, but they can certainly keep the opposition from talking about it. That seems to be the strategy behind the greatest attack on free speech that no one is talking about. The Wall Street Journal is sounding the alarm about the rule, which was made possible (along with who-knows-what else) by the Hill's debate over the 1,600 page-beast known as the congressional omnibus.
On any given day, the line into the National Archives can stretch for blocks. Less than a half mile from FRC, hundreds of Americans wait patiently for the chance to look through thick glass at the yellowed documents that gave rise to the greatest republic the world has ever seen. There, in the dimmest of lights, the founders' handwriting is almost too difficult to make out. The irony is unmistakable, as freedom's faded text gives way to a fading reality. After more than 200 years, time has taken its toll, not just on the parchment but on its principles. In a world where two out of every three people live in regions lacking religious liberty, America is still one of the brightest lights on freedom's shore. But for how long, no one knows.
After watching from a distance as the marriage debate ignited out west, Oklahomans were horrified Tuesday to see the battle march directly into their backyards. From Tulsa to Tipton, the news dropped like a bombshell, stunning the million-plus voters who'd exercised what they thought was their constitutional right to define marriage. Under the 68-page opinion of a single judge, that right no longer exists for Sooners. Like New Jersey, New Mexico, and Utah before them, Oklahomans are feeling the deep betrayal of a judicial system overrun by political activists. In a country where lawlessness is more contagious than the common cold, U.S. District Judge Terence Kern smothered the votes of 76% of the state and substituted his judgment for that of 1,075,216 Oklahomans.
This New Year's, one person who isn't going on a diet is Uncle Sam. In the spending package released Monday, Congress blows by the old sequester caps, giving leaders a trillion-dollar rope to string along taxpayers. The bill, which at 1,582 pages is about as long as the local phone book, was more than three and half years in the making. But not everyone thinks the final product was worth the wait. With the two parties racing to pass the bill, it's almost impossible to give each department's proposal the scrutiny it deserves. And, as Americans know from the ObamaCare debate, a bill longer than the Gutenberg Bible leaves plenty of pockets to hide inefficiencies, duplicities, and pork.
Justice Secretary Eric Holder was already held in contempt of Congress -- but a Supreme Court reprimand may not be far behind. Regardless of where the justices fall on the question of same-sex "marriage," they probably had to pick their jaws up off the floor after the country's chief law enforcer put the Court's latest marriage decisions through the paper shredder and promised to validate Utah's same-sex "weddings" *after* the Court's stay on counterfeit marriages. In plain rebellion to the justices' June ruling, Holder announced that DOJ would take matters into its own hands and offer more than 1,000 federal benefits to couples, who, under state law, aren't even legally married!
Sending in your taxes shouldn't mean signing over your beliefs. But when it comes to issues like abortion, that's exactly what the Obama administration is asking America to do. As pro-lifers, we have fought to give the medical community a way out of procedures they object to. As taxpayers, we deserve that same protection. No one should be forced into partnership with an industry that spills the blood of innocent unborn humans. And if Congressmen Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) get their way, no one will.
It's been a convenient talking point of the media that Republicans haven't said much about the marriage debate since the Supreme Court's summer ruling. Thursday, they let their legislation do the talking. After a string of bad court decisions, Congress is stepping in to do the job that five justices did not: protect state marriage laws. Under the leadership of Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas), conservatives are [making it clear](weber.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/weber-introduces-state-marriage-defense-act-of-2014) that they have no intentions of backing away from the unions that a super majority of states respect.
If President Obama was hoping to regain his political footing in 2014, a new "tell-all" book just made that job a lot tougher. The 594-page PR nightmare is set to hit shelves next Tuesday, but the excerpts are already sending shockwaves through D.C. The book, *Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War*, is a lengthy look back at Defense Secretary Robert Gates's career, which (with the exception of Bill Clinton) spanned every President since Richard Nixon. For all of the book's revelations, the stories about Gates's most recent boss, President Barack Obama, are the most explosive. Although he does manage to sprinkle in a few kind words, Gates paints the picture of a reluctant commander-in-chief who was not prepared to lead the country, let alone a war.
