Divorce Rates Declining?

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Credit: LOREY SEBASTIAN/KRT/Newscom

Credit: LOREY SEBASTIAN/KRT/Newscom

”Divorce is on the rise.” At least, that’s the story Americans often hear, as New York Times reporter Claire Cain Miller explained earlier this month. But what does the data say?

Divorce rate data is far from perfect, but the general consensus among researchers is that divorce actually has declined since the 1980s, as this chart from Heritage’s 2014 Index of Culture and Opportunity shows. Divorce rates peaked in the early 1980s, after which they began trending downward. And researchers suggest that the lifetime probability of divorce is somewhere between 40 percent and 50 percent.

It’s also important to remember that many factors decrease the likelihood of divorce significantly. For example, couples who attended religious services frequently were about 2.5 times less likely to divorce compared to couples who never attended church. Having a college education decreases the likelihood of divorce by 25 percent, and waiting to have children until after marriage drops the likelihood of divorce by about the same amount.

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Heritage: 17 Political Books and Movies That Would Make Great Christmas Gifts

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Credit - Newscom

Credit – Newscom

Christmas is just around the corner. If you’re still searching for the perfect gift, take a look at what’s on our Christmas list:

1. “America: Imagine the World Without Her”

Dinesh D’Souza’s latest film, based on his New York Times bestselling book, refutes several attempts to portray America as the great purveyor of injustice—a perfect gift for high-schoolers studying U.S. history.

2. “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”

In this classic 1939 film, Jimmy Stewart portrays Jefferson Smith, a patriotic leader of the Boy Rangers who is suddenly appointed a senator. The naïve Smith must confront the corruption he finds in Washington and in his childhood hero. “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” is a great gift for patriots and movie buffs alike.

3. “Witness” by Whittaker Chambers

William F. Buckley once described Chambers as “the most important American defector from communism.” This compelling autobiography by the former Soviet spy makes a great gift for Cold War junkies.

Photo: Amazon Product Image, ‘Saving Private Ryan’

4. “Saving Private Ryan”

Based on the devastating invasion of Normandy during World War II, this film was named the “best war film of all time” in a 2009 poll of movie fans.

5. “America’s Way Back” by Donald Devine

This book reveals the insight of President Reagan’s former director of the Office of Personnel Management who the New York Times once referred to as “the Grinch.”

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Breaking News – Islamic Terrorist Takes Hostages in Sydney

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Credit - Townhall.com

Credit – Townhall.com

The rise of ISIS-inspired terrorist threats in Australia has been a growing problem. Last September, for example, hundreds of officers conducted a series of raids throughout Sydney and Brisbane that authorities claimed stopped a major terrorist plot in its tracks. More than a dozen suspected terrorists were apprehended and detained.

Now, however, a café in the same city has reportedly been overrun by a lone gunman, and civilians are being detained against their will. A black, Arabic flag has also been put on display:

Hostages were being held inside a central Sydney cafe where a black flag with white Arabic writing could be seen in the window, local television showed on Monday, raising fears of an attack linked to Islamic militants.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he was convening a meeting of the cabinet’s national security committee for a briefing on what he called a hostage situation in Australia’s commercial capital.

Australia, which is backing the United States and its escalating action against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, is on high alert for attacks by radicalised Muslims or by home-grown fighters returning from the conflict in the Middle East.

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Cromnibus Passes Senate – Here's the Roll Call

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Credit - Daily Signal

Credit – Daily Signal

The Senate tonight passed a $1.1 trillion bill to fund most of the federal government through the current fiscal year, averting another partial shutdown amid sharp disagreements on regulating immigration, financial institutions and election campaigns.

The Senate’s bipartisan 56-40 vote, coming after an unusual Saturday session, cleared the way for President Obama to sign the spending bill, which he has said he will do.

Senate conservatives, led by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had tried to slow passage of the bill — forcing senators to work the weekend rather than return Monday. They objected that it did not “defund” Obama’s executive actions to grant legal status to millions of illegal immigrants.

The upper chamber’s action follows a 219-206 vote by the House of Representatives less than three hours before a midnight deadline Thursday night. As in the House, both liberals and conservatives were unhappy with aspects of the spending bill.

When the final vote came just before 10, more Senate Democrats (21) voted against the bill than did Republicans (18), signaling the odd alliances created by the funding measure. One independent, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, also rejected the measure. (Here is the roll call.)

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Controversial New Obama Admin College Rating System Taking Heat

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Credit - Fox News

Credit – Fox News

WASHINGTON – A controversial Obama administration rating system for colleges and universities already is being scrutinized ahead of its late-December rollout by educators who claim the government’s goal of more transparency could come at the expense of schools that don’t happen to fit the ivory tower model.

The federal government, with its long-awaited rating system, is trying to hold the country’s 7,000 colleges and universities accountable not only to taxpayers, but also to prospective students trying to weigh the pros and cons of different institutions.

But it has many in the education community on edge. Several colleges and education associations have launched a preemptive PR strike against the plan, though the details haven’t yet been released.

“I don’t know how they can complain about something that isn’t even out,” a source at the Department of Education told FoxNews.com on condition of anonymity.

The ratings system, rumored to be released on Dec. 19, is likely to re-ignite the debate on the federal government’s role in higher education. The Obama administration has had to balance its position as a cheerleader for innovation with its demands for colleges and universities to rein in tuition costs, while also pressing the institutions to produce more employable graduates.

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Juan Williams: Sony Execs' Emails Reveal White Liberal Hypocrisy in all its Glory

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Credit - Fox News

Credit – Fox News

White liberal hypocrisy on race is so delightful for conservatives.

White conservatives are always on defense against charges of hating President Obama because he is black; suppressing minority voters and indifference to the difficulty minorities have living everyday with the legacy of slavery and a culture filled with stereotypes of black inferiority.

This week white conservatives can take a break, step out of the dock and make way for white liberals.

Hacked emails from Hollywood’s white, liberal elite show them belittling the president by assuming his taste in movies is confined to racial stereotypes fitting just another black guy.

“Should I ask him if he likes’ DJANGO?’” asked Amy Pascal, a Sony Pictures’ co-chair. Scott Rudin, a movie producer, responds: “Or ‘The Butler’… or ‘Ride-Along. ‘ I bet he likes Kevin Hart.”

Where to begin unpacking that powder keg of race and class bigotry?

Pascal is one of Hollywood’s most powerful people and certainly at the top of the movie industry’s list of most influential women. She must have a penetrating intellect and tremendous business savvy.

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Ex-CIA Official: Pelosi, Dems 'Fully Aware' of CIA's Interrogation Methods

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Fox News

Fox News

Screen Shot 2014-12-15 at 1.20.45 AMOn “Fox News Sunday,” Chris Wallace spoke to Jose Rodriguez, the former director of the National Clandestine Service of the CIA, who oversaw the agency’s interrogation program.

Bolling Blasts CIA Torture Report: ‘I Have Zero Sympathy for the Terrorists’

Rodriguez said that the CIA’s controversial enhanced interrogation techniques that appear the Senate Intelligence Committee’s “torture report” were both legal and approved by the Justice Department.

He added that thorough investigations of the CIA’s program were conducted and no prosecutable offenses were found.

“No one tortured anybody else,” Rodriguez said.

Judge Jeanine: ‘Your Ivory Tower, Liberal, Kumbaya Naiveté Is Dangerous’

As for the report’s conclusion that the CIA misled Congress, Rodriguez said that he very clearly remembers briefing Nancy Pelosi in September 2002.

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A Viable Alternative to ObamaCare

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Credit - Jim Ruymen/Newscom

Credit – Jim Ruymen/Newscom

In the wake of Republican mid-term electoral victories, and with support for the president’s health care law registering new lows in the Gallup survey, it is time to consider what a “repeal and replace” strategy for Obamacare might actually look like.

While it is true that the politics and timing remain fluid, it is still possible to outline substantive changes.

At the top of the list would be replacing the Obamacare premium tax credits for exchange coverage with a new health care tax credit design that is broader, fairer and simpler.

Obamacare provides substantial subsidies for buying health insurance but only to individuals who have incomes between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level, and only if they purchase coverage through a government-run exchange. Individuals with access to employer-sponsored coverage are ineligible for the new subsidies, and the law fines employers with 50 or more full-time workers if they do not offer coverage. Furthermore, even when someone qualifies for a premium tax credit, calculating the correct amount is absurdly complicated. The amount varies based not only on the recipient’s income but also according to the size of his family and the cost of the “reference plan” in the county of residence. There are more than 3,000 counties in the U.S.

The fairly obvious move would be to replace that complicated design with a uniform tax credit for health insurance available to all Americans. That way those with access to employer coverage could apply the credit to their employer’s plan, and all the employer would have to do is adjust the worker’s tax withholding to reflect the credit. Those who buy coverage on their own simply could authorize their insurer to collect the credit on their behalf and then bill them for the portion of the premium not covered by the credit.

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WATCH: Thanks to 'Secret Santa,' Here's a Traffic Stop You'll Want to Get

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Credit - CBS News

Credit – CBS News

Earlier this month, in Kansas City, Missouri, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department was out looking for people. And when they spotted a subject, they went after them, in a sting operation the likes of which this country has never seen.

What made this operation especially unusual was the man behind it: a fellow in a red hat — known to these men only as “Secret Santa.”

Every year this anonymous, wealthy businessman gives out about a hundred thousand dollars worth of hundred dollar bills to random strangers. But this year, instead of doing it all himself, he deputized these deputies to give away much of it.

“Let’s start with a thousand,” Secret Santa said as he gave the deputies the money.

And so, armed to the teeth with Benjamins, the officers went out to do Santa’s bidding. They specifically went after people they thought would appreciate it most. Cars driving while dented — or out on Bondo — were likely targets.

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Why Abortion Rate Is Lowest It's Been Since 1973

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Credit - Getty Images

Credit – Getty Images

The abortion rate keeps dropping. The latest numbers from the CDC, released last week, show that the abortion rate is the lowest it’s been since 1973, the year the Supreme Court manufactured a constitutional right to abortion in Roe v. Wade.

This raises two important questions: What is the cause of the decline in abortion? And how can we build on this success to protect the right to life for the hundreds of thousands of unborn lives that still fall victim to abortion each year?

There’s No Irony Here

Writing at The Atlantic, David Frum suggests that the acceptance of unwed childbearing is the key to the drop in abortion: “Ironically, the socially conservative pro-life movement has made its peace with unwed parenthood as an alternative to abortion.” He renders the movement’s history to arrive at this conclusion in the following way:

This is the fascinating irony of the pro-life movement. The cause originated as a profoundly socially conservative movement. Yet as it grew, it became less sectarian. Women came to the fore as leaders. It found a new language of concern and compassion, rather than condemnation and control. Most radically and decisively, the movement made its peace with unwed parenthood as the inescapable real-world alternative to abortion.

There’s nothing ironic here. From the beginning, the pro-life movement has been about assisting women in crisis pregnancies. The movement that launched crisis-pregnancy centers, the Sisters of Life, and so many other organizations to help house, feed, clothe, and care for expecting mothers has always viewed unwed motherhood as vastly superior to abortion.

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