Articles

Theresa_May_visits_Donald_Trump_(34617656122)
President Donald Trump greets British Prime Minister Theresa May upon her arrival, Friday, Jan. 27, 2017, to the West Wing entrance of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead, via Wikipedia.org Commons

How Theresa May Can Get a Better Brexit Deal — and How Trump Can Help

Stephen C. Meyer
April 5, 2019
Economics, Foreign Policy
Last week, British prime minister Theresa May failed for a third time to secure a majority in Parliament for her Brexit deal. Now she faces an ever-narrowing set of options. ... Yet, as she must realize, delay by itself offers no hope of a fundamental change in the dynamics of the negotiation and, therefore, no realistic hope of resolving the political crisis now engulfing Britain. Read More ›
Chinese Yuan and US dollars on the map of China. Trade war between US and China, economic sanctions

U.S. Trade Deal with China Imperfect, but Both Sides Benefit

Scott S. Powell
April 3, 2019
Economics

The U.S. and China are edging closer to finalizing a trade deal that should end the tariff penalties that are at the heart of a year-old trade war. But a comprehensive deal that includes remedies for China’s theft of intellectual property and forced technology transfer from American companies doing business in China may not be in the cards in closing Read More ›

Space Needle

A Brewing Rebellion in the Emerald City

Christopher Rufo
April 2, 2019
Economics
For the past five years, like many of its West Coast counterparts, Seattle has endured a steady expansion of homelessness, addiction, mental illness, crime, and street disorder. But the activist class—a political and cultural elite comprising leaders in government, nonprofits, philanthropy, and media—has enforced a strict taboo on declaring the obvious: something is terribly wrong in the Emerald City. Last month, veteran Seattle reporter Eric Johnson of KOMO violated that taboo with a shocking, hour-long documentary called Seattle is Dying, which revealed how the city has allowed a small subset of the homeless population—drug-addicted and mentally-ill criminals—to wreak havoc. Johnson’s portrait is backed up by evidence from King County homelessness data, by city attorney candidate Scott Lindsay’s “prolific offender” report on 100 homeless individuals responsible for more than 3,500 criminal cases, and by my own reporting on the homelessness crisis. Read More ›
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Universal Basic Income? Fear of AI Fuels a New Argument for Socialism

Jay W. Richards
March 15, 2019
Artificial Intelligence, Economics
With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other Democratic candidates for president floating wilder trial balloons than a psychedelic circus, I’m surprised they have not (yet) picked up on the universal basic income (UBI). The UBI (guaranteed income for employable people who choose not to work) is far and away the favorite “solution” among those strong AI enthusiasts who expect machines to replace human work. They expect vast swaths of the country to be out of work for good. So far, the only candidate plugging UBI is entrepreneur Andrew Yang. Yang is more idea-oriented than his Democratic opponents and he has made UBI central to his presidential campaign in the key state of Iowa. His plan would offer $1,000 a month per person. I suspect it’s only a matter of time before other Democratic candidates pick up on this platform plank, on the assumption that their likely voters will imagine it as free money. Read More ›
Homeless-on-Bench

When “Compassion” is Contempt

Christopher Rufo
March 11, 2019
Economics
The Washington legislature is one step closer to legalizing homeless encampments statewide. Last week, Democratic lawmakers passed through committee legislation, introduced by Representative Mia Gregerson, that would usurp the authority of city governments and legalize camping in all “plazas, courtyards, parking lots, sidewalks, public transportation facilities, public buildings, shopping centers, parks, [and] natural and wildlife areas” throughout the state. Read More ›
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Photo by ITU Pictures from Geneva, Switzerland via Wiki Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Transhumanism, the Lazy Way to Human ‘Improvement’

Wesley J. Smith
March 11, 2019
Human Exceptionalism

Sometimes you have to laugh. In “Transhumanism and the Death of Human Exceptionalism,”published in Aero, Peter Clarke quotes criticism I leveled against transhumanism from a piece I wrote entitled, “The Transhumanist Bill of Wrongs” From my piece: Transhumanism would shatter human exceptionalism. The moral philosophy of the West holds that each human being is possessed of natural rights that adhere solely and merely because we Read More ›

Chinese Yuan and US dollars on the map of China. Trade war between US and China, economic sanctions

Edging Closer to a Trade Deal

Scott S. Powell
March 10, 2019
Economics

The United States and China are edging closer to finalizing a trade deal that should end the tariff penalties that are at the heart of a year-old trade war. It’s also hoped that the deal will include enforcement and penalties for China’s national security-related intellectual property (IP) theft and espionage, and provide structural changes that would end forced technology transfer and protect trade Read More ›

Ash Wednesday. Lent. Christian religion

Let’s Make Lent Great Again, Together

Jay W. Richards
March 5, 2019
Religion and Civic Life

On Sunday, the Twitter user “⫷ † SavedGrace† ⫸” complained that since she couldn’t find Lent mentioned in the Bible, she doesn’t observe it. To which the Catholic website Rorate Caeli replied, “Cannot find ‘bible’ in the Bible either.” I piled on by noting that “Trinity” and “Incarnation” aren’t in the Bible either. It’s a silly argument. Just because something Read More ›

Silhouettes of satellite dishes or radio antennas against night sky. Space observatory.
Silhouettes of satellite dishes or radio antennas against night sky. Space observatory.

What Is Intelligent Design? A Thomistic Perspective

Michael Egnor
March 1, 2019
Intelligent Design
All of nature manifests design. Design is everywhere — in the laws of physics, in quantum mechanics, in biology, in relativistic cosmology, in every crevice of nature. There is little in the universe that is not designed. Accidents do happen, but even accidents are the conjunction of designed events. Two cars colliding at an intersection are designed vehicles driven by intelligent drivers on planned roadways. Chance itself presupposes a framework of design in which chance occurs. Read More ›