Heritage Events Podcast

This week, Elizabeth and Tiffany talk with senior Senate staffer and judicial nominations guru, Tom Jipping, about blue slips, “super-precedent,” the Federalist Society, and the recalcitrant Senate Democrats. They also discuss the retirement of the conservative judicial powerhouse Janice Rogers Brown from the D.C. Circuit and try to stump their guest with Supreme Trivia – Senate Edition.

Problematic woman Kelsey Harkness explains why female conservatives should be proud to be problematic, why they shouldn't let the left ignore them, and why liberal and conservative feminists should rally around worldwide women's issues.

The U.S. aviation system is a modern marvel, safely moving more people and goods than any other air system in the world. The rapid development of a first-class aviation industry has allowed travelers and businesses to traverse vast distances at a rate that would have seemed unthinkable a century ago. However, outdated and ineffective public policies have hindered the modernization of the nation’s aviation system to meet 21st Century needs, leaving our air traffic control system, airports, and regulatory framework stuck in the past. As Congress will soon address aviation policies in its reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, lawmakers have an opportunity to enact pro-market reforms that can improve modernization, incentivize innovation, and provide consumers with more choices. Please join us for a timely and provocative discussion on the right way to address aviation for 2017 and beyond.

SEC Commissioner Michael Piwowar has been a leading advocate for improving the regulatory environment for entrepreneurs seeking to raise capital. As an economist, Dr. Piwowar brings a different perspective to a position usually held by attorneys. Please join us for an extended conversation with Commissioner Piwowar on a wide range of topics, followed by audience questions and answers. Topics for discussion will include the impact of the JOBS Act on entrepreneurs, private capital markets, Regulation A, crowdfunding, the decline in both the number of public companies and of initial public offerings, the SEC regulatory agenda and reforms to the SEC.

Hungary has been on the frontlines of some of the most important issues facing Europe for the last years. Despite the simultaneous challenges and the repeated harsh criticism, Hungary gave an effective response to illegal migration through enhanced border control. This often criticized policy is gradually gaining support, including by all Central European countries, unifying the region. Hungary has also managed to accelerate economic growth during the Eurozone crisis and today it is one of the fastest growing economies in Europe. Hungary has made significant steps to enhance its energy security. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was the first political leader in Europe to publicly support then Presidential nominee Donald Trump.  His support was based on the many similarities that the two leaders and countries embody on important policy issues, such as the promotion of legitimate national interests, achieving economic growth, full employment, and protecting national security and sovereignty.  After years of one-sided criticism a new episode can begin in the Hungarian-American relations.

Approaching $20 trillion and growing, the U.S. debt sends a strong signal that a fiscal storm is brewing over Washington and the nation. And yet, discussions over the dangerous size and trajectory of the U.S. debt path have largely disappeared from the media and legislative radar. This silent crisis is only getting worse the longer Washington politicians wait to address it. With the debt limit looming once again in Congress, please join us for an enlightening conversation on the causes, costs, and consequences of the U.S. debt, and how lawmakers can right the nation’s fiscal future.

The Arab Spring that swept North Africa and the Middle East was a moment of hope that the region was moving towards a freer, more democratic future. Unfortunately, that hope has faded for most countries. Tunisia, however, is an exception, as it remains in pursuit of the economic and democratic goals of its revolution. Tunisia’s democracy is young, fragile, and still developing, and the economic reform process has been difficult, but there is hope that Tunisia can one day be a model for its neighbors of a free and prosperous nation. The United States has been a strong partner with Tunisia throughout its attempt to realize the promise of the Arab Spring in a difficult region. Tunisia is fighting ISIS and al-Qaeda terrorist groups, while neighboring Libya is facing profound instability and economic collapse. A strategic and sustainable partnership between the United States and Tunisia is important to achieving a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous Tunisia that remains a reliable and strong American ally in the midst of a tumultuous region.

The Central Asia and Caspian Sea basin is an important, if often overlooked, region in regard to many of the challenges the U.S. faces around the world, such as a resurgent Russia, an emboldened Iran, wavering allies, growing China, and the rise of Islamic extremism. The region is at the heart of the Eurasian continent, and anything that is at the heart of something is, by definition, important. The region is a crucial geographical and cultural crossroads linking Europe and Asia and has proven strategically important for military and economic reasons for centuries. There are many opportunities for the U.S. to engage more in the region in a way that advances America's national interests. However, there are many challenges that stand in the way, too. What role should America have in the region under the new Trump Administration? How can the U.S. better engage with partners in the region on issues like energy security, counterterrorism or even Afghanistan? Join us for discussion of these questions and more.

In anticipation of Net Neutrality Day of Action, telecommunications expert James Gattuso explains why all internet traffic is not created equal and should not be treated as such by the government; Tommy tells Emily why he's optimistic about Obamacare repeal.

The Supreme Court’s 2016 Term will soon be over, but the need for serious analysis has just begun. Did the High Court get the big cases right? What will the Court’s ruling in Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer mean for state Blaine Amendments and school choice programs? How might the decision in National Labor Relations Board v. SW General affect President Trump’s ability to fill positions in the Executive Branch? Will the North Carolina and Virginia redistricting decisions provide states with any advice as we head into the next round of redistricting? What will the decision in Lee v. Tam involving trademarks and alleged disparaging words mean for free speech? The Court sent Expressions Hair Design v. Schneiderman back to the lower court for a closer look at whether New York’s credit-card surcharge law runs afoul of the First Amendment free speech clause. How might the decision in Murr v. Wisconsin implicate Americans’ ability to use their private property? What trends can be discerned from the rulings this term, and how has the addition of a new justice affected the balance in power?

What do Supreme Court reporters do during the summer? We asked the Wall Street Journal’s Jess Bravin, and we discuss the end of the term and the latest retirement rumors in this week’s episode.

Lindsey Burke & Anne Ryland on why "fund the child, not the school" works for military families - and how the federal government can help; Romina Boccia calls on Congress to cap spending instead of raising the debt ceiling - and on state actors to take control of government programs.

Even as historians credit ­Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II with hastening the end of the Cold War, they have failed to recognize the depth or significance of the bond that developed between the two leaders. Best selling author Paul Kengor changes that. In his newest book, he reveals a singular bond – which included a spiritual connection between the Catholic pope and the Protestant president – that drove the two men to confront what they knew to be the great evil of the Twentieth Century: Soviet communism. Reagan and John Paul II almost didn’t have the opportunity to forge this relationship: just six weeks apart in the spring of 1981, they took bullets from would-be assassins. Their strikingly similar near-death experiences brought them close together – much to Moscow’s dismay. Nancy Reagan called John Paul II her husband’s “closest friend.”  Reagan himself told Polish visitors that the pope was his “best friend.” As Kengor recounts in this book, Ronald Reagan and John Paul II united as kindred spirits in pursuit of a supreme objective – and in doing so, they changed history.

After eight months of fighting for Mosul, Iraqi troops are closing in on the last of ISIS’s forces in the city.  The government’s recovery of the main ISIS stronghold in Iraq will open a new phase in the country’s struggle for stability.  Iraq must resolve longstanding domestic conflicts that contributed to ISIS’ rise in the first place and avert new cycles of vengeance arising from the terrorists’ brutal, three-year reign in Iraq’s northwest. Stabilizing Iraq is vital to sustaining the gains of the campaign against ISIS.  It has grown more urgent as the involvement of Iran and Turkey risk internationalizing and escalating some of Iraq’s domestic conflicts.  These violent, destabilizing contests involve Kurds and Arabs, Sunnis and Shia, or multiple minority groups. Largely unnoticed amid recent years’ headlines is that Iraqis in several cases have peacefully ended or averted local, factional wars.  The most enduring local peace accord is marking its 10th anniversary this summer.  In 2007, troops of the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division worked with local Iraqis, the U.S. Institute of Peace and other partners in Iraq’s “Triangle of Death” to end local sectarian warfare that had led to the deaths of dozens of U.S. soldiers.  The Mahmoudiya agreement offered lessons that were applied subsequently in other local peace accords.  As Iraq enters a new phase, expanding similar stabilization efforts, particularly in liberated areas, is critical to sustaining the defeat of ISIS and to bolstering the security of Iraq and the region.

In this week’s episode, we’re talking about the big religious liberty victory, we interview our boss John Malcolm about the travel ban case, and we grade Justice Gorsuch’s performance in his first two months on the Court.