We can deter China — if we don’t project weakness. The Navy’s 2021 fleet battle problem and the Army’s long-range fires concept are examples of creative military operational concepts that can defeat China. What we could use are several score small, cheap ships armed with weapons to suppress Chinese shore-based firepower so the carriers can deliver a coup de grace.

Glenn Youngkin’s path to victory was one that Donald Trump himself or any of his epigones would have been incapable of.

It was reported last week that 34 New York City police officers took unpaid leave rather than comply with that city’s vaccine mandate. For this, New Yorkers should thank them.

And then, find a way to fire them.

The decay has been going on a long time, and no one does anything about it. I recall Dr. Mark Lapping of the University of Southern Maine, who studied rural life for a lifetime, describing the elites’ attitude toward rural America: “We’re basically saying, ‘You’re going to die, and there’s nothing you can do about it. And frankly we’re not that interested.’”

Two bills currently in Congress — the “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” and the “Build Back Better” legislation being advanced through budget reconciliation — contain necessary policies that will support our climate resilience in critical ways. While some of the details are still being worked out, we know these bills will provide major investments to reduce both emissions and costs across the residential, public, commercial, and industrial sectors.

I grant that I’m aware of no study offering empirical proof that kids are less traumatized by — and more open to — learning true American history than their elders. But I’ve seen plenty anecdotal evidence matching [educator Leo] Glazé’s experience. And it leaves me wondering what the kids make of all this. Have they been taught the painful truths of American history? How did it affect them? And if they haven’t been taught, would they like to be?

The trend of anti-Biden protestors chanting or holding signs saying, “F— Joe Biden,” or the cleaner version that has come to signify the same thing, “Let’s go Brandon,” is being portrayed as a new low in American politics.

I am not a pessimist, but if these spending bills become law, which is still in doubt given the opposition of some Democrats, it will only advance our decline, massive debt being one of the contributing factors to the demise of other nations that engaged in profligate spending.

Democratic voters really have to think strategically. That might include raising primary challenges to candidates more interested in their Twitter following than securing real power in Washington. The very democracy could depend on them.

For some of us, some nightmares simply matter more than others. Apparently, the one Blake Murphy had is more important than the one Toni Morrison wrote and the one Margaret Garner lived. It also seems to be more important than the nightmare America is now enduring, one of misguided priorities, misapplied resources and the misplaced anger of those who see “their” country changing and cannot handle it.