Jan 11, 2021

What are we supposed to make of the riots that took place in the U.S. Capitol last week? Heritage President Kay C. James provides her perspective and offers some sage advice to Americans. Meanwhile, one of the first moves by the House leadership this year is already sewing division and distrust between the two parties. And President-elect Joe Biden’s plan to resurrect the flawed Iran nuclear deal gets two thumbs down from Heritage experts. You’ll find all this in The Agenda, as well as events you don’t want to miss.

Amid Chaos, Our Resilient Republic Endures
Many Americans watched in disbelief last Wednesday as an angry mob stormed our U.S. Capitol. The consequences were tragic and Heritage President Kay C. James roundly condemned the violence. But she urges conservatives not to lose sight of the challenges ahead, and the right way to tackle them. “Our fight with the left is over the issues plaguing America, and fight we will. We will use all the tools at our disposal, but we will always respect the rule of law,” James writes. “We must use the Constitution and the American way of life as our guideposts.” Read James’ full statement.

Social Media Companies Have Squandered the Public’s Trust
Last week, Facebook and Twitter decided to ban President Donald Trump from their platforms. Additionally, Google and Apple removed Parler from their app stores and Amazon shut off its web service. “Letting dictatorial regimes from China and Iran use their platform while banning the democratically elected leader of the United States shows the hypocrisy and political motivations of these companies,” said Heritage President Kay C. James. “Shutting off legitimate debate and intellectual diversity comes at a very high cost. Big Tech is not going to stop with the president of the United States. They can ban you next and everyone reading this." Keep reading James’ statement.

Radical New Rules for a New Congress
President-elect Joe Biden’s promise to bring the country together isn’t off to a good start after Democrats in the House of Representatives voted last Monday to approve a new set of rules designed to eviscerate the rights of Republicans. The House leaders “demonstrated that they will not tolerate any diverse opinions, and have no interest in protecting minority rights,” writes Mike Howell, Heritage’s senior advisor for executive branch relations. Read Howell’s full commentary to learn which new rules the House approved and what they mean for our government.

Why Going Back to the Iran Nuclear Deal Is Folly
During the presidential campaign, Joe Biden declared he wanted to resurrect the Iran nuclear deal if Tehran agrees to “strict compliance.” The problem is that this would benefit only Iran and could “destabilize not just the Middle East, but trigger problems around the world,” write Heritage Vice President James Carafano and Adam Milstein, co-founder of Israeli-American Council and Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation. Read Carafano and Milstein’s full commentary to find out why rejoining the Iran nuclear deal would weaken Washington while strengthening our enemies.

The Heritage Foundation joined forces with the popular activist group Turning Point USA at its recent Student Action Summit to help inform the next generation about conservative principles and solutions to America’s biggest issues. This was the third year in a row Heritage had a booth at the Student Action Summit. Learn more.

MONDAY at noon, Heritage will host an event to discuss “critical race theory” and its grip on America. Hosted by Angela Sailor, vice president of the Feulner Institute, the event will feature Heritage senior fellow Mike Gonzalez and Christopher Rufo, a visiting fellow at Heritage. Register for this virtual event.

WEDNESDAY at 11 a.m., Gen. James C. McConville, 40th chief of staff of the U.S. Army, will speak about getting the Army ready for the “great power competition” dawning between the U.S., China, and Russia by moving beyond incremental improvements and making transformational changes across the entire force. Register for this virtual event.

THURSDAY at 1 p.m., Heritage will host a virtual discussion on why America needs the Long Range Standoff weapon, a new generation of the current nuclear-armed air-launched cruise missile. Featured speakers include Lt. Gen. James C. Dawkins Jr., deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration at the Air Force, and Peter Huessy, director of strategic deterrence studies at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, Air Force Association. Register for this virtual event.

This week on the “Heritage Explains” podcast, Klon Kitchen, director of Heritage’s Center for Technology Policy, explains the worst-ever U.S. government cyber attack and how it could affect our national security down the line. Listen to the podcast.

Nancy Pelosi Wants to Remove WHAT From Congress?
Genevieve Wood recently joined Fox Business to discuss the radical new rules passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. Watch the interview.

Critical race theory has a new grip on America. Learn more about what it is on Instagram and register for our online event discussing how to push back against this new wave of intolerance.

Email us your thoughts and questions at [email protected].