Michael McKenna

Fifth-term Rep. French Hill realistic but clear about what Congress’ priorities should be

Members of Congress typically bring life experiences to the job. Among the more expansive experiences are those of French Hill, a fifth-term Republican congressman from Arkansas.

March 1, 2023

EPA holds back climate change progress by slow-walking state permits

Shortly after being elected, President Biden announced that it was his goal for the U.S. electricity system to be "net zero" with respect to carbon dioxide emissions by 2035.

February 26, 2023

Team Biden: World first, America last

Sometimes you wonder if those who lead the federal government are on your side.

February 22, 2023

You get what you voted for: Democrat-controlled states are raising taxes, squandering surpluses

The 2022 elections had more deleterious effects than just leaving Team Biden (mostly) in charge of the federal government.

February 18, 2023

Google’s intrusion into your life now includes the electricity system

Google has made it clear that it wants to disrupt places where regulators of electricity are tied to voters in some material way.

February 15, 2023

FBI should focus on crime, not law-abiding citizens

It turns out that the once respected and admired FBI has started to watch the dangerous radicals who attend the Tridentine Latin Mass on the regular.

February 11, 2023

Feds can’t manage budgets or secure borders, yet they want to tell us which stoves and cars to buy

The federal government, which for decades has failed to pass budgets on time, balance those budgets, win wars or secure borders, has recently been on a spree of incompetence.

February 8, 2023

Republicans stripping Ilhan Omar from her committee seat compromises free speech

The new management in the House of Representatives has decided it would rather not have Rep. Ilhan Omar sitting on the Foreign Relations Committee.

February 5, 2023

Hysterical Team Biden always on the defense

In case you wonder whether elections matter at this late date in the republic, there was a startling bit of confirming evidence this week.

February 1, 2023

Republicans in twilight: RNC vote reflects era of institutional complacency

It is not at all obvious that those who run the Republican Party wish their own voters or the party itself well.

January 27, 2023

United States losing its will to live

The Aspen Institute Economic Strategy Group recently released a book about the economic challenges facing the United States. One challenge on which they focused was the specter of U.S. population decline.

January 25, 2023

What a House Select Committee can do about China

A few days ago, the Center for Strategic and International Studies made public the results of war games that sought to predict what would happen if communist China invaded Taiwan.

January 21, 2023

Biden’s IRS plans to squeeze everyone, even those making less than $400,000 a year

Last week, Jonathan Chait from New York Magazine gently notified me that a fragment of data referenced in the August note I wrote for friends and families was incorrect.

January 18, 2023

The cautionary tale of gas stoves and letting government make your decisions

Early last week, Richard Trumka Jr. decided that natural gas stoves posed a "hidden hazard" and that banning natural gas stoves was under consideration.

January 15, 2023

House panel formed to probe ‘weaponization’ of FBI, DOJ too important for partisan trivialities

This week, House Republicans established a subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government (whatever that means).

January 11, 2023

Donald Trump is not running for president

Last week, former President Donald Trump made it clear -- intentionally or otherwise -- that he has no actual intention of running for president again in 2024.

January 6, 2023

What Republicans must address in the 118th Congress

While everyone else was transfixed by the theater that is the speaker's race, the incoming majority whip of the House outlined last week the first 11 bills or resolutions that the majority will address.

January 4, 2023

Gorsuch dissent on Title 42: Supreme Court not ‘policymakers of last resort’

In a recent case before the Supreme Court, several Republican-led states argued in Arizona v. Mayorkas that the Title 42 orders -- which essentially allow the federal government to prevent certain people from coming into the country during a public health emergency because of the fear of communicable disease (in this case, COVID-19) -- must remain in place.

January 3, 2023

Predictions for 2023: Biden and Trump won’t run, Hunter gets a plea deal, and more

Predictions are, of course, a sucker's game. In a universe with billions of planets and on a planet with billions of people, there is simply too much randomness to try to guess about any specific combinations.

December 31, 2022

How did we do on predictions for 2022? Here’s a play-by-play.

In the interests of full disclosure and a correct record, it is important to assess how well this columnist's predictions for 2022 (originally published Jan. 2) reflected reality.

December 28, 2022