Republicans have tried, on and off, to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling since the 1980s. The effort has always engendered intense opposition and always been abandoned. A provision for drilling in ANWR is included in the Republican tax bill almost as an afterthought. Republicans took a constitutional fight against Obamacare’s individual […]
Op-Eds
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Trump lays out plan for future of U.S.
The national security strategy President Donald Trump outlined in a December 18 speech has drawn searing criticism from China. That’s a good indication Trump is on the right track. In his speech, the president declared that America will utilize all elements of national power (in appropriate combinations to defend its national interests.) The elements of […]
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Put brakes on government spending
So, a Republican majority Congress has “reformed” the tax code for the first time in 31 years, allowing us to keep a little more of the money we earn. Woohoo! Back in the day when my withholding exceeded my tax liability, I occasionally received a nice little refund check from the U.S. Treasury. The check […]
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Some things aren’t worth getting upset about
Collective groans greeted the New York subway system’s decision to stop referring to passengers as “ladies and gentlemen.” In olden days, which now date to last month, subway conductors would include these words in public announcements. For example: “Ladies and gentlemen, please watch your personal belongings.” Fox News responded predictably, with both pained umbrage and […]
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Yellen’s leadership spurred economy
WASHINGTON — One of Washington’s permanent parlor games is how much credit or blame a president deserves for the state of the economy. Inevitably, then, the question being asked now is whether Donald Trump or Barack Obama created today’s strong economy. The correct answer is: neither. To the extent that personal responsibility can be assigned, […]
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Can GOP survive the Trump years?
The past two months of electoral losses for the Trump GOP feel very familiar. Newly elected President Barack Obama’s party lost off-year gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey, and suffered a stunning upset in a Senate race it had no business losing in Massachusetts. Donald Trump’s party lost off-year gubernatorial elections in Virginia and […]
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Are you being played?
Teaching my final class at the University of Maine, in 1983, I told about 30 journalism students that their career could put them in the driver’s seat because they were becoming masters of words, and words were coming to be more important than actions. I claim no prescience, but I may have got that one […]
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GOP tax bill would usher in a bleak future for America
NEW YORK — If the Republican tax plan passes Congress, it will mark a watershed for the United States. The medium- and long-term effects of the plan will be a massive drop in public investment, which will come on the heels of decades of declining spending (as a percentage of GDP) on infrastructure; scientific research; […]
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A conversation with a congressman that actually made me hopeful
By Fred Hiatt The Washington Post Raja Krishnamoorthi was born in New Delhi 44 years ago and moved to the United States three months later. His family lived in public housing and needed food stamps to get by. Today he is a freshman congressman from Illinois — and a conversation with him can leave you […]
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Trump's accomplishments obscured by distractions
Side issues — some of them created by the president himself — have obscured the accomplishments of the Donald Trump administration during his first year in office. The economy is the most obvious one. From anemic growth in the previous administration, it is now growing at around 3 percent, which economists say is ideal. The […]