from The Heritage Foundation
RIGHT BIAS, MIXED American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C.
Republicans controlled the Senate during President Donald Trump’s four years in office. In May 2018, the ten Democrats then on the Senate Judiciary Committee released a report on what they called “Republican efforts to stack federal courts.” This report was obviously intended to present Democrats’ view about how the judicial-confirmation process should function and, therefore, can be used to evaluate the process now that Democrats themselves control the Senate. The report criticized Republicans for “rushing” the confirmation process. Democrats gave us a roadmap for how they believe the confirmation process should operate under a Republican president, and they are already deviating from that.
The Biden administration is promoting its American Jobs Plan as an “infrastructure” proposal. In reality, it’s a gargantuan tax-and-spend package. In order to create jobs, the plan would have to overcome the number of jobs destroyed by the tax increase. It would fall well short of just breaking even. The health of America’s democracy would also take a turn for the worse if Washington gains even more say over local decisions.
As a former head of the third largest department in the federal government, I know the critical importance of being able to communicate with key staff quickly and clearly to make operational decisions. But what if your communications have been disabled or compromised? As a leader or manager, what would you do in that situation? Do you have a list of the personal phone numbers and email addresses of your key staff? How would you give direction to your essential workers? How would you communicate with other relevant leaders to coordinate an appropriate response? In government as in business, chaos is the ultimate enemy. Interfering with a government’s ability to communicate among itself is one of the easiest ways for an adversary to sow chaos. It is inherently dangerous if everyone is dependent on the same software from the same company. We can’t afford to put all our eggs in one basket. Now is the time to rethink how the government can ensure communications and use all the innovative services available from U.S. technology companies.
In the new great power competition, Russia is ready to rumble. An especially strong component of the growing Russian threat is Moscow‘s increasing—and increasingly varied—nuclear capability. These novel strategic systems also enhance Russian President Vladimir Putin’s domestic political power. Russia is—and will continue to be—a dynamic, advanced, and global military superpower.
The prolonged stagnation of the Empire State has many causes, including chilly winters and the punishingly high cost of living in the New York City metro area. Yet, none of them is as decisive as the state’s long history of big-government politics, which have encouraged families and businesses alike to move to states with better economic opportunity. New York state’s politics have been dominated by the big-government downstate region for generations. Unfortunately, Biden seems intent on remaking America with the policies that are ruining New York. Lawmakers should embark on a policy agenda that would boost, rather than sabotage, the post-pandemic economy.
The International Space Station is getting a new neighbor. The People’s Republic of China launched the Tianhe (Heavenly Harmony) module of its new space station on April 28. This module will serve as the core habitation area of the space station, which will be joined by several other modules for experiments and scientific activities. The entire station is expected to be completed by 2023. This project is part of a broader effort by China to expand its space capabilities, which includes placing additional satellite constellations around Earth and further exploiting “cislunar” space, the volume of space between Earth and the moon. Cooperating with the Chinese in space unavoidably means getting in bed with the Chinese military. Its refusal to be more transparent in its space activities should serve as a cautionary restraint on the wild expectations for space cooperation.
April’s disappointing jobs report showed only 266,000 job gains, after the Biden administration had predicted a gain of 1 million new jobs. The unemployment rate ticked up to 6.1% even amidst widespread re-openings and 45% of Americans now having received the COVID-19 vaccine.
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Greg Smith writes: Following the international emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, the recent publication of the UK government Sewell Report followed by the Church of England Lament into Action report into tackling institutional racism in the Church of England, there has been considerable debate in evangelical circles. Some of this has been about theology and the politics of race and ethnicity but a more interesting theme is around the desire to develop and strengthen multicultural church congregations. This article will explore the theme out of a personal experience as a white, male, Christian with forty-five years of life experience in multi-ethnic churches and neighbourhoods and of academic and research engagement with the topic of ethno-religious diversity and relationships.
