As early as January 2015, in interviews with Buzzfeed journalists, an ISIS operative admitted he traveled to Turkey in 2014 and settled there for the express purpose of creating a smuggling operation to sneak jihadis into Europe. Specifically, these operatives were directed to head to Sweden, Germany, and Italy to request asylum. These statements were confirmed by Buzzfeed through interviews of other smugglers. As part of this report, Buzzfeed also interviewed Senate Intelligence Chairman Richa...

Many argue for and against corporate welfare. I support it...mainly because it's already happening and too many corporations are receiving state and federal assistance through vast subsidies and tax breaks, even though these companies are very profitable. Much of this welfare is also unregulated and comes with little to no strings attached. So if it's going to happen anyway...it needs to be responsibly regulated. Currently, there are too many profitable large corporations and businesses that re...

According to the Pew Research Center, less than half (46%) of U.S. kids younger than 18 years of age are living in a home with two married parents in their first marriage. In the United States, single parents are heralded as superheroes. Searching the term "single parent superheroes" online demonstrates this is a very mainstream idea. Mainstream media -- the news, TV shows, and movies -- act as though children raised by single parents are just as resilient or better than children who are raised...

Here are some facts about Main Street American Jobs and Earnings: In April 2014, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released an Occupational Employment and Wage Summary. According to the BLS, 20 percent of Americans work in just 10 occupations. Two of them, retail salespersons and cashiers, together represent over 33 percent of this number, or 7.8 million American workers. These occupations are: Retail salespersons: 4.48 million workers earning $25,370Cashiers: 3.34 million workers earning $20,42...

Investopedia defines Income Inequality as: The unequal distribution of household or individual income across the various participants in an economy. Income inequality is often presented as the percentage of income to a percentage of population. For example, a statistic may indicate that 70% of a country’s income is controlled by 20% of that country’s residents. It is often associated with the idea of income “fairness”. It is generally considered “unfair” if the rich have a disproportionally lar...

There have been numerous articles alleging rampant welfare fraud. While most articles focus on blaming poor people who directly receive government benefits, there are no credible statistics demonstrating that the poor are responsible for the majority of the fraud. There exist anecdotal accounts of fraud that get lots of media attention, but those are exceptions, not the rule. Google defines anecdotal evidence as: 1. Information that is not based on facts or careful study. 2. Reports or observa...

Merriam-Webster defines an Oligarchy as: … a country… …that is controlled by a small group of people… The need for election reform in the United States is a long-term issue which has yet to be addressed in any meaningful way. In 2000, George W. Bush won the Presidential election, despite the majority of Americans voting for Al Gore. Gore received over 500,000 more votes than Bush. However, the Electoral College ignored the will of the American people and determined Bush was president. This w...

The following represents a dual approach to raise additional tax revenue that the United States. On January 20, 2009, the Dow Jones market closed at 7949.09.  On February 27, 2014, it closed at 16,273. While the U.S. job market and middle America are struggling, the stock market is booming, in part, thanks to federal bailouts of multiple large financial institutions financed by American citizens.The sales tax is the classic fiscal accountability tool; you pay for what you use. In 2009, the Cen...

It has been internationally reported that near a hundred Ukrainian protesters were killed in February of this year, mostly by sniper fire. At the time, protesters and international news agencies blamed Ukrainian police, under the direction of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych for the mass murders. Once the coup government took power, they issued a warrant for Yanukovych’s arrest for the mass murder of protesters. Reported by international news and taken by international governments as leg...