Obama Threatens Veto of Religious Protection for Military

By |2013-06-14T13:46:55-04:00June 14th, 2013|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published June 12, 2013 on Breitbart.com.

Breitbart News reported last week that Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) passed an amendment in the House Armed Services Committee protecting religious speech of service members in the military. President Barack Obama has now threatened to veto the bill if it passes the full House and Senate.

The White House released a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) on H.R. 1960, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014. Among other items, the SAP includes as an objection to the bill:

Expansion and Implementation of Protection of […]

Obamacare's California Insurance Premiums Are Soaring – This Is Fact

By |2020-04-23T21:52:42-04:00June 10th, 2013|

This column by ACRU General Counsel and Senior Fellow for the Carleson Center for Welfare Reform (CCWR) Peter Ferrara was published June 7, 2013 on Forbes.com.

The great American experiment in democracy is currently failing. In proof of that, I give you Exhibit A: We cannot even agree on the basic fact of whether health insurance premiums are rising or falling under Obamacare. Note, this is not a matter even of opinion. It is a matter of simple fact, right or wrong. But if we can’t agree on what the basic facts are, we cannot analyze Obamacare, or even discuss it intelligently.

Amendments Protecting Soldiers' Religious Rights Approved by Committee

By |2020-04-23T21:53:45-04:00June 10th, 2013|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published June 7, 2013 on Breitbart.com.

Congress is taking action on religious liberty in the military, a story that was originally reported by Breitbart News. New legal language passed a key committee this week and next goes to the full House and then the Senate; it could become federal law later this year.

On June 5, the House Armed Services Committee adopted two amendments for the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014, which governs the Department of Defense during the next fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2013.

The first amendment […]

Can We Get It Back?

By |2020-04-23T21:57:07-04:00June 6th, 2013|

This column by ACRU General Counsel and Senior Fellow for the Carleson Center for Welfare Reform (CCWR) Peter Ferrara was published June 5, 2013 on The American Spectator website.

As Stephen Moore and Julian L. Simon reported in their underappreciated work, It’s Getting Better All the Time: 100 Greatest Trends of the Last 100 Years, the American standard of living (real per capita GDP) grew by seven times from 1900 to 2000. That was the foundation of modern America, and the modern world.

Moreover, it was accomplished with Americans staying in school much longer, and retiring earlier, over the course of that century, which means […]

Obama's DC Judges: Democrats Started the Fight

By |2013-06-05T07:29:26-04:00June 5th, 2013|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published June 4, 2013 on Breitbart.com.

Last week we reported that President Obama’s agenda may depend on how many judges he can appoint to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Today Obama nominated three legal heavyweights to fill every vacancy on the D.C. Circuit, potentially setting up a historic battle over how the Senate confirms judges.

There are eleven seats on the D.C. Circuit, which hears most challenges to agency actions (the primary focus for Obama’s agenda since he cannot move major liberal legislation through Congress). There were […]

Scalia Dissents on SCOTUS Decision Upholding DNA Samples of Arrestees

By |2013-06-05T06:42:38-04:00June 5th, 2013|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published June 3, 2013 on Breitbart.com.

Constitutional protections do not forbid police from taking DNA samples from those arrested for serious crimes, according to the Supreme Court in its 5-4 decision Monday in Maryland v. King.

If someone is arrested on suspicion of having committed certain felonies (not lesser crimes), Maryland law authorized police using a cotton swab to take a DNA sample. Police would then check to see if that DNA matches unsolved crimes in other cases.

All 50 states allow taking DNA from people who are convicted of […]

Drilled by the Quill

By |2020-04-23T21:52:43-04:00June 4th, 2013|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published June 3, 2013 on The Washington Times website.

As a longtime, ink-stained wretch, I’m actually glad that some of the Obama administration’s bombs targeting our essential liberties found their way out of the Tea Party kill zone and were dropped instead on the Fourth Estate.

Most of the media are the Obama administration’s most loyal constituents. In fact, they may be the most loyal constituents after the reliable voters in Chicago’s cemeteries.

A liberal administration targeting the media? It’s like giving the dog that’s been biting your opponents a swift […]

Pentagon Denies Relationship with Anti-Christian Extremist; Instantly Complies with His Demands

By |2020-04-23T21:52:43-04:00June 3rd, 2013|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published June 2, 2013 on Breitbart.com.

One month ago the Pentagon assured the public it was not being advised by anti-Christian extremist Mikey Weinstein. Yet two days ago Weinstein called the Pentagon demanding that a Christian painting be removed from a dining hall in an Idaho Air Force base, and the Pentagon complied with his demand–in less than one hour.

On Apr. 28, Breitbart News reported that Pentagon brass met with Weinstein and his Military Religious Freedom Foundation. That was shortly after Weinstein published an article in which he called observant […]

Holder's Defense: Diminished Capacity?

By |2020-04-23T21:52:43-04:00June 3rd, 2013|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Jan LaRue was published June 2, 2013 on Townhall.com.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, a former prosecutor and judge, is pleading ignorance of the law as his excuse for criminally accusing a journalist of being a journalist. Holder wants Congress to pass a law to shield the press from him.

There are some laws that the nation’s top law enforcement agent ought to have written on his heart. Take the First Amendment, for example. It’s included in that oath Holder swore to God to uphold.

Holder swore another oath on May 15 when […]

Americans Deserve the IRS

By |2023-03-10T08:04:42-05:00May 31st, 2013|

This column by ACRU Policy Board Member and Professor of Economics Dr. Walter E. Williams was published May 29, 2013 on Townhall.com.

Individually, Americans do not deserve to be subservient to such a fear-mongering, intimidating and powerful agency as the Internal Revenue Service; but collectively, we do. Let’s look at it.

Since the 1791 ratification of our Constitution, until well into the 1920s, federal spending as a percentage of gross domestic product never exceeded 5 percent, except during war. Today federal spending is 25 percent of our GDP. State and local government spending is about 15 percent of the GDP. That […]

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