The United States is now the largest crude oil producer in the world. Refineries cannot keep up with the new production. Instead of exporting excess oil like producers get to do in other nations, the ban is already forcing U.S. oil producers to leave oil in the ground and lay off workers. The solution to this problem is clear: Export crude oil; have the ban lifted so that it can be exported. Critics of lifting the ban are afraid the United States' oil exports will lead to higher domestic gas prices. However, many studies have debunked this myth. Gas prices are more closely linked to the...

Elephant and rhino populations in Africa are being decimated by poachers looking for high profits with little risk and little consequences. Between 1990 and 2005, poachers killed an average of 14 rhinos each year in South Africa. In 2013 and again in 2014, they killed over 1,000 rhinos each year. The black rhino population has declined by 93 percent since the 1960s. A total of only five white rhinos are left in the whole world today. Elephants are in just as much trouble. The elephant population has dropped 60 percent since 1979, and poaching numbers rise. Why? It is all about the money. The...

Nobody seems to like ISIS. Yet, despite everyone being against ISIS, we are not winning the war against ISIS. One of the reasons is because it is not clear we understand the group very well. ISIS is a radical Islamic terrorist group. The White House doesn't really like to talk about this but we cannot defeat ISIS if we do not understand who they are. It is critical that we know what its goals are, how it seeks to achieve those goals. Even if the White House doesn't think ISIS is Islamic, ISIS does. ISIS explains its actions and justifies them through its interpretation of the Islamic law and...

On September 10th, 2014, President Obama announced that the United States would "degrade and ultimately destroy ISIS." The terrorist group keeps on moving across the Middle East killing those who stand in its way by raping, pillaging, and murdering those who disagree with ISIS. ISIS controls half of Syria and large parts of Iraq. Despite the U.S. spending billions in a counterterrorism strategy, the terrorist groups numbers have not decreased; in fact, ISIS has grown in size with affiliates now all over the world, including Indonesia, Yemen, Egypt, and Libya. The U.S. $3.7 billion air strike...

In 1987, North Korea bombed Korean Air Flight 858, killing 115 people. For its role in the bombing and its history of other terrorist acts, North Korea was designated as a state sponsor of terrorism from 1988 to 2008. In 2008, North Korea was taken off the list of state sponsors of terrorism, not because most of the reasons cited in the State Department had changed. Instead, the decision was purely diplomatic and based on the nuclear agreement reached as a result of the Six-Party Talks. The agreement fell apart because North Korea did not hold up its end of this bargain. North Korea is a...

The terrorist attacks in Paris remind us of the damage that a terrorist organization can do with even a little money. ISIS, however, is the richest terrorist organization in history. Last year alone, ISIS made over $1 billion. Much of that money was made from seizing state assets, selling oil on the black market and taxing people living in its so-called caliphate. Those sources of money are mostly internal and do not use the international financial system. But other sources of funding are more dependent on the outside world and may be easier to cut off. ISIS made nearly $50 million last year...

At least 130 people were killed and hundreds more were wounded on November the 13th, 2015, in Paris as a result of the terrorist rampage by ISIS. The attack came in the context of a growing international aggression on the part of ISIS. The day before the Paris attacks, ISIS claimed credit for a twin suicide bombing in Beirut that killed at least 42 people. Two weeks before that, ISIS claimed to have downed a Russian airliner over the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on-board. ISIS has claimed the lives of more than 800 people this year outside its so-called caliphate. While the world...

Time and time again, we are reminded of the massive damage that terrorists cause even with just a little money. Today, terrorist groups have more money than some small countries. ISIS is the richest terrorist organization in world history, bringing in over $1 billion in 2014 alone. Drawing on these funds, ISIS has managed to stage terrorist attacks throughout the world and kill thousands of people. ISIS is not alone. Terrorists raise billions annually to carry out their bloody agendas. This is precisely why U.S. Government agencies have been tasked with stemming the flow of money to terrorist...