90 Miles From Tyranny

Thursday, June 4, 2015

A poll by John McLaughlin confirms again we may have a significant problem with noncitizens participating illegally in our elections. Based on a sample survey of 800 Hispanics in 2013, McLaughlin found that of foreign-born respondents who were registered voters, 13 percent admitted they were not United States citizens.

In our 2012 book on voter fraud, John Fund and I noted numerous cases of noncitizen registration and voting all over the country. Only a month ago, the Board of Immigration Appeals of the Executive Office for Immigration Review at the Justice Department held that a Peruvian citizen who illegally registered and voted in the 2006 congressional election could be deported for violating federal law. The only reason she was caught is because she applied for naturalization in 2007 and admitted in the INS interview that she had voted in an American election.

In 2014, a study released by three professors at Old Dominion University and George Mason University, based on survey data from...

Girls With Guns

Skepticism has had an amazing impact on climate science given its size and persecution. Yet it still languishes as a social pariah in the green room of society. To grow, skeptics need to find a group of people that can be influenced.

Skeptics have benefited greatly through their association with Conservatives. Unfortunately, skepticism among the Conservative population has been maximized. Future growth has to come from the political middle.

According to 2014 survey by Pew, 61% of Americans believe

“…there is solid evidence that Earth’s average temperature has been getting warmer over the past few decades.”

What’s amazing is that 35% are willing to admit that they don’t believe the Earth has been warming in the past few decades (the remaining 4% don’t take a position). That 35% has resisted more than a decade of bellwether pushing and government campaigns. Skeptics have been out-grouped and Othered by their friends and even family members. And yet they still don’t accept CAGW or possibly even AGW. These are some stubborn people.

Are most of the 35% scientifically literate? Have they researched AGW and come to a contrary conclusion? Many scientists have...

Fresh on the heels of The Daily Signal’s two-part investigation into Covered California, the Columbia Journalism Review launched its own probe asking why more news outlets haven’t taken a critical look at the largest Obamacare state exchange.

In an article titled, “Why we need stronger coverage of Covered California,” Columbia Journalism Review reporter Trudy Lieberman writes:

[P]ress coverage has largely followed the lead set by the [Covered California] exchange. The result is coverage that has too often been reactive, short on enterprise, and with missed opportunities to ask some necessary questions. Covered California may ultimately have a success story to tell—but it will need to face some sharper skepticism before we can be sure.

Many in the news media have simply reported information from Covered California’s own press releases. They’ve paid little attention to trouble facts such as Covered California’s enrollment: It increased only...