Director of the Independent Institute's Center on Global Prosperity
Director of the Center on Global Prosperity at the Independent Institute, a nonpartisan, public-policy research center, and author of Liberty for Latin America: How to Undo Five Hundred Years of State Oppression
Anti-Americanism on the Left in Latin America Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is more critical of the US than Osama bin Laden. Now Ronald Reagan's old nemesis has been re-elected President of Nicaragua . In the 1980's the Reagan administration helped finance the Nicaraguan Contras in their bloody civil war against Daniel Ortega , the radical leftist Sandinista who had ousted American-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza. In 1990, Ortega was voted out, and he's been trying to win re-election ever since. This year, Iran-Contra figure Oliver North campaigned against Ortega and the Bush Administration backed his opponent, but Ortega won. Does he represent the growth of leftist anti-Americanism? Should the US re-engage with its Latin America neighbors south of the border?
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
Will the Senate write a healthcare bill in secret? While Democrats and Republicans argue White House relations with Russia, another question is being decided behind closed doors: who gets help buying health insurance and who doesn't? We hear how the pros and cons are being shrouded in secrecy.
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.