We didn’t start the fire: Out-of-control fires in Los Angeles rage on as the consequence of California’s failure to practice good wildlife management—due to DEI-champion Gov. Gavin Newsom and like-minded progressive leaders. 

• “The damage caused by California’s failure to act proactively is undeniable,” writes Senior Research Fellow Mario Loyola. 
• “Furthermore, Newsom’s Green New Deal energy policies have worsened the frequency of wildfires, water shortages, and the broader energy crisis in California,” said Loyola. 

Read more here. 

Bang for your buck: Top non-profit watchdog Inside Philanthropy gave The Heritage Foundation an award for highest return on investment among foundations. 

• “We’ve long argued that public policy grantmaking offers the greatest leverage for funders. Exhibit A is Heritage’s long record of outsized influence,” Inside Philanthropy stated, "which is set to hit a new peak in a second Trump administration."

Read the article here. 

Beyond the ivory tower: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently appointed Adam Kissel, visiting fellow for higher education reform at The Heritage Foundation, to the board of the University of West Florida.

• This appointment “shows Florida is once again leading the way on restoring the rigor and intellectual curiosity intended of higher education,” said Lindsey Burke, director of the Center for Education Policy.

Read the press release here.

Even though President Trump won the 2024 election, no meaningful change can happen if the administrative state sabotages conservative reforms. The Heritage Foundation has a plan to dismantle the administrative state. And your support today can make it possible. Your gift today will:  

• Replace Washington’s leftist bureaucrats with loyal patriots.  
• Restore the federal government to its proper size and save the American Dream. 
• Reclaim the good life for all American families. 

To succeed, we need as many patriots as possible to support this plan. 

Please use this secure link to help dismantle the administrative state with your year-end gift to The Heritage Foundation: https://secured.heritage.org/end-of-year-campaign/.

A big get: Renowned historian and political commentator Victor Davis Hanson is joining The Daily Signal as a senior contributor.

• In addition to his regular syndicated column, Hanson is producing a daily video commentary exclusively for The Daily Signal, offering viewers "a daily dose of his distinctive analysis on current events, politics, history, and culture,” writes editor-in-chief Katrina Trinko.

Watch the video commentaries here.

 

More than a feeling: Recent social science shows that marriage offers unmatched benefits to men, women, and children.

• “In a culture that tends to put a premium on the importance of education and money, the evidence tells us that marriage is a more powerful predictor of adult happiness than these two socioeconomic factors,” writes Heritage’s nonresident senior fellow Brad Wilcox.

Read the full report here.

Legacy: President Biden claims he’s leaving President-elect Trump “the strongest economy in modern history.” Not even close.

• The failed president is leaving Donald Trump an economy on the precipice of disaster—massive interest on the debt, climbing deficits, and declining wages.
• We lay out the facts in a short video, noting that the Biden economy is “a house of cards built on federal debt.”

Watch the video here.

Want to help to restore America? Join the Heritage Academy—an eight-week online fellowship focused on America’s founding principles and the most pressing policy issues of our time. Heritage Academy fellows have access to compelling policy lectures, conversations with Heritage experts, and discussions with conservatives from across America. Apply to this part-time program by February 9!

The Deadline to Apply for Heritage’s Summer Internship Program is Feb. 2

 

Come join the talented ranks of Heritage’s Young Leaders Program (YLP) this summer! As one of the premier internships in Washington, D.C., the YLP offers professional development, rigorous lectures and briefings, and fellowship with the next generation of conservative leaders. Apply now for your best summer yet.

 

Learn more and apply here.

• Trump Taps Distinguished Fellow Steve Bradbury for Transportation Post—Press Release
• Liberal Education’s Antidote to Indoctrination—Rachel Alexander Cambre
• How the Nukes Were Queered: A Case Study in DEI as Political and Bureaucratic Weapon—Nathan Levine
• The Fed Lowered Interest Rates Too Soon—Parker Sheppard, Ph.D.
• Pennsylvania Workers Harmed by Nippon Steel Rejection—Diana Furchtgott-Roth and Andrew Hale
• Our Forgotten Founding Mother—Brenda Hafera
• China 2035: Three Scenarios for China’s Nuclear Program—Andrew Harding, Madelyn Heaston, and Robert Peters
• Another Complete Unknown Is Pete Seeger’s Communism—Mike Gonzalez
• More Islamist Terror Is Coming. We Are Woefully Unprepared—James Jay Carafano
• Trump Energy Plan Will Avoid Europe’s Energy Disaster—Diana Furchtgott-Roth
• Report: An Open Letter to the Next Defense Department Comptroller—Robert Peters and Wilson Beaver
• North Korea’s Russia Alliance and Missiles Are a Big Problem for Trump and Allies—Bruce Klingner
• Politicians Use Inflation to Target American Way of Life—Richard Stern and Brooks Newby
• Pardoning Fauci Would Be Disservice to Him and Americans—Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
• Ivy League Faculties Fail the ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’ Test of Having 10 Righteous Inhabitants—Jay Greene, Ph.D.
• The Pork Barrel Politics of the Department of Education—Jay Greene, Ph.D.

Daniel Cochrane, senior research associate with the Tech Policy Center, appeared on EWTN to comment on Mark Zuckerburg’s announcement that Meta is dropping biased “fact checkers” on Facebook. Cochrane cautioned: “Until [Zuckerburg] demonstrates serious commitments to free speech on his platforms, be highly skeptical of any of his so-called commitments.” Watch the clip on X.