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OKLAHOMA CITY -- As oil prices continue to slide with no recovery in sight, the Oklahoma economy has begun to contract. Oil prices have fallen to 12 year lows, and the industry is undergoing its largest downturn since the 1990's. Meanwhile, investment bank forecasts continue to become more bearish. According to the latest data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, gross domestic product in Oklahoma declined 2.4 percent in the second quarter, ranking last among U.S. states. Prompted by depressed oil prices, these numbers were a stark reversal of the 6.5 percentage growth that occurred during the first quarter....

NORMAN, Okla. -- By the end of June, same-sex marriage will likely be legal across the United States. As has been the case in many of the important questions brought before the Roberts Court, Justice Anthony Kennedy holds the swing vote in what will presumably be another 5-4 decision. Two years ago this question was sidestepped in Hollingsworth v. Perry when the Supreme Court ruled that the petitioners lacked standing, and thus did not rule on the merits of the case. However, under the current circumstances, with no procedural hurdles to prevent a ruling on the merits, Kennedy seems poised...

The rapid decline in oil prices could have a significant negative impact on the Oklahoma economy. Taxes associated with production, sales taxes, corporate taxes, income taxes, employment, and housing markets can all be expected to suffer without a rebound in oil prices, which seems unlikely in the near future. Oil continued to fall on Tuesday as prices neared 6 year lows before regaining some ground... Brent crude has fallen roughly 70% since June while West Texas Intermediate (U.S. crude) has fallen approximately 55% in the same time period. To date the largest oil and natural gas companies in the state...

The Merriam-Webster dictionary offers this definition for the word capitulate: "to stop fighting an enemy or opponent; to admit that an enemy or opponent has won." I'm not sure who oil companies are fighting, whether it's oil traders, OPEC, Russia, or some invisible market force, but they're losing. The domestic standard, West Texas Intermediate crude oil, fell below $45 per barrel on Tuesday, while the global standard, Brent crude oil, is now well under $50. Who is going to stop the bleeding? OPEC is not cutting production, the U.S. is expected to increase output in 2015, and Russia has little...

Another day, another selloff for oil. The catalyst Tuesday was talk from the United Arab Emirates’ oil minister, who said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would stand firm on its November decision to keep output steady. The comments dashed investor hopes that OPEC would relent and cut production in the face of a rout that has slashed U.S. oil prices 14% in the first eight trading days of the year and 57% since June. The selling spilled into other commodities and the currency market. The price of copper, a commodity about which investors hold many of the same...

... While the U.S. does not export crude oil, its increased production has curbed imports, resulting in excess supply. Although the fracking boom has helped to increase supply and steal market share from the Middle East, it is the Saudi response to the increased production from North American shale that has sent the price of oil tumbling. In September 2014, in the face of falling oil prices, Saudi Arabia chose to increase oil production by half a percent. Days later on Oct. 1, they discounted oil exports to leading Asian customers. These actions set off a rapid decline in international...

The decision issued in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby did not change the access to free contraceptives; it merely shifted the cost burden. In their majority opinion, the Supreme Court stated that a less restrictive means of providing these services was already in place—an accommodation issued by Health and Human Services (HHS) for non-profit corporations with religious objections. The Court recommended that such a program be implemented for closely held for-profit corporations who object to providing these contraceptives for religious reasons. Instead of a for-profit company’s insurance premiums footing the bill for such access, the cost will be absorbed by the...

President Obama was referring only "to military options for striking" Islamist militants in Syria when he said the White House did not "have a strategy yet,” press secretary Josh Earnest insisted Thursday. The White House launched a full-court media press to clarify the president’s comments after the media and Republicans seized on the admission. He added that Obama "was asked a specific question about what approach he was going to pursue about possible military action in Syria." The White House spokesman said Obama had for months described a "comprehensive strategy" to deal with the threat posed by terrorists from the...

What better way to help out the less fortunate than to raise the minimum standard of wage that an employee is paid? The idea is simple and the public supports it. However, the poor are the ones most negatively affected by minimum wage laws through multiple channels such as employment and consumer prices of everyday goods. As Nobel laureate and economics titan Milton Friedman observed, "The real tragedy of minimum wage laws is that they are supported by well-meaning groups who want to reduce poverty. But the people who are hurt most by higher minimums are the most poverty stricken."...

If Americans elected an entirely new set of senators every two years — as they elect members of the House of Representatives — this November’s Senate contest would look like a stalemate. President Obama remains unpopular; his approval ratings have ticked down a point or two over the past few months. But the Republican Party remains a poor alternative in the eyes of many voters, which means it may not be able to exploit Obama’s unpopularity as much as it otherwise might. Generic Congressional ballot polls — probably the best indicator of the public’s overall mood toward the parties —...

NORMAN, Okla.-- As expected the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood on Monday. To be clear this case was not decided to any degree on the basis of the First Amendment. The ruling was based entirely on statutory grounds of the The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA) which prevents the “Government [from] substantially burden[ing] a person’s exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability” unless the Government “demonstrates that application of the burden to the person—(1) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and (2)...

The U.S. Supreme Court went out with a bang on Monday, ending its 2013-2014 term with Justice Samuel Alito's majority opinion in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., in which the Court held that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act violated federal law by placing a substantial burden on the exercise of religion when it required two "closely held" private corporations to cover certain forms of birth control in their employee health plans. It was a painful legal defeat for the Obama administration—and it was not the only such defeat in recent days. In fact, in the past month...

In a closed-door meeting in February 2010, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates urged his French counterpart not to proceed with the sale of two amphibious assault ships to Russia because it “would send the wrong message to Russia and to our allies in Central and East Europe.” The French official, Hervé Morin, acknowledged that each of the ships — so-called Mistral-class vessels built for the French Navy to carry troops, landing craft, and helicopters — was “indeed a warship for power projection,” according to a confidential diplomatic cable on the meeting, which was made public by WikiLeaks. But Mr. Morin...

A reporter has been detained by Capitol Hill police for trying to ask a question of Environmental Protection Agency administrator Gina McCarthy. Bloomberg BNA energy reporter Ari Natter tweeted about being detained. #transparency RT @AriNatter: I am being detained by Capital Police for trying to ask @EPAGina a question after her remarks. — nickjuliano (@nickjuliano) March 28, 2014 Natter was detained while covering the American Council On Renewable Energy conference, where McCarthy spoke. Also speaking at the conference was Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a staunch supporter of green energy who regularly takes the Senate floor to sound the...

Savage: “Today we saw a new low for Obama. He gave a speech before 2,000 brainwashed college girls in Europe, who sat there like they were at a rock concert with their video cameras, looking at every word he said so self-satisfied. He again went into the campaign voice, of the civil rights voice, of the civil rights voice, affirmative actions voice, of the the immigrant loving voice. He went into the tones I know so well when he is on the road. I am entitling his speech today and the show: From the Gettysburg Adress to the Pettysburg Address...”

At a time when terrorism committed in the name of Islam is rampant, we are continuously being assured—especially by three major institutions that play a dominant role in forming the Western mindset, namely, mainstream media, academia, and government—that the sort of Islam embraced by "radicals," "jihadis," and so forth, has nothing to do with "real" Islam. "True" Islam, so the narrative goes, is intrinsically free of anything "bad." It's the nut-jobs who hijack it for their own agenda that are to blame. More specifically, we are told that there exists a "moderate" Islam and an "extremist" Islam—the former good and...

It is quite hard to take the claims by Hobby Lobby seriously. The main drugs in question in the case brought before the Supreme Court are the emergency contraceptives Plan-B and Ella. One huge problem with this situation is that up until 2012, Hobby Lobby provided them as part of their insurance plan. Only when they realized that Obamacare was going to mandate this coverage did they suddenly become interested in not providing these drugs. In their initial complaint to the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, Hobby Lobby stated, “After learning about the current HHS...

Well, now we know why the Washington Post did not want to invest in Ezra Klein’s “explanatory journalism” nonsense. Turns out it is just a left-wing propaganda tool trying to spin instead of explain. Let us turn our attention to Matthew Yglesias, the Executive Editor of Ezra Klein’s new site. As my friend Pejman Yousefzadeh has well documented, Yglesias is just not that bright. He thinks Joe Lieberman is a dumb Jewish politician; was shocked to discover Senators represent the states as opposed to populations; was unaware of a black conservative tradition; couldn’t understand why Miami didn’t expand westward (hint:...

NORMAN, Okla. -- On Thursday, in a clear indicator of the importance of the case Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., the Supreme Court issued an order expanding the time allotted for oral argument in front of the Court to 90 minutes instead of the previously appropriated 60 minutes. Representing Hobby Lobby will be who Business Insider has termed the “LeBron James of Lawyers”, Paul D. Clement. He is a veteran of the Supreme Court with recent appearances in the challenge to the “individual mandate” portion of the ACA,as well as representing the Republican House of Representatives in the Defense...

Stupidity and ignorance rule the world. The trouble is that the stupid and the ignorant think that they are clever and well-informed. Take Mrs Hillary Clinton, next President of the United States and former chief of American foreign policy. She has directly compared Russia’s Vladimir Putin to Hitler. And she has compared events in Crimea to the Czech crisis of 1938. Dozens of other politicians and grandiose journalists are currently doing the same. It’s the one thing they think they know about history – that Britain’s pathetic Neville Chamberlain didn’t stand up to evil Adolf Hitler in 1938 at Munich...