CLEVELAND — The Donald Trump Family Reunion, formerly known as the Republican National Convention, illustrates how a once great political party now sees its main purpose as harnessing the opposition to the devil. There were chuckles and dismissals when Ben Carson, the brilliant neurosurgeon turned right-wing crank, used his convention speech Tuesday night to tie […]
Op-Eds
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There is a way back from the brink
In 1926, speaking about the Declaration of Independence on its 150th anniversary, President Calvin Coolidge noted the unique philosophy behind the creation of the United States: “We cannot continue to enjoy the result, if we neglect and abandon the cause.” Speaking at a news conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, following the murder of three police […]
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America as a banana republic
NEW YORK — Through the years, I have watched campaigns in third world countries in which one candidate accuses the other of being a criminal, sometimes even threatening to jail his opponent once elected. But I cannot recall this happening in any Western democracy until this past week. The Republican convention has been colorful and […]
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Get the facts about Question 3
A tried and true tactic used to defeat a referendum question is to employ plain old scare tactics and try to confuse voters about what a proposal actually does and doesn’t do. Question 3 on November’s ballot is simple, straight-forward and common sense. It requires a background check for all gun sales and transfers, with […]
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Cure for some VA waits creates new problems
We who oppose calls to privatize the work of the Veterans Affairs Department are sorely tested at times. Complaints two years ago of unreasonably long waits for care at VA health facilities led to “reforms” in several VA programs. In 2013, applications for VA disability benefits were piling up, with some claims languishing for over […]
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Job insecurity may be overstated
WASHINGTON — If economic commentators (including me) seem to agree on one thing, it is this: Jobs in America have become less secure. If you’ve got an OK job, don’t let go, because you may not be able to find another. The conventional wisdom is widely shared — but it may be wrong. We now […]
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Turkey’s president must respect democracy
In the first critical hours of last week’s attempted military coup, the vast majority of Turkish citizens made it clear that when it comes to changing government leaders, they believe in ballots, not bullets. Every major Turkish political party, including the ethnic Kurdish Peoples Democracy Party, quickly rejected claims by coup spokesmen that the will […]
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Never too soon to be missing Obama
Calvin Trillin, the Mark Twain of our times, once wrote that sooner or later in a new administration, he starts to miss the preceding one. I know precisely how he feels. I already miss the Obama administration. I am not being precipitous. The next president of the United States is going to be Donald Trump […]
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Rage doesn’t build. Rage only rends, destroys
How can anyone ever explain this to Mason? He’s only 4 months old, so that moment still lies years in the future. Still, at some point, too soon, he will ask the inevitable questions, and someone will have to tell him how his dad was shot to death for being a police officer in Baton […]
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Pence grounded in conservative ideals
The announcement by Donald Trump of Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate had not yet been made official last Thursday, but that didn’t stop the hard left from hauling out its familiar and overused rhetoric. Ilya Sheyman, executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action, released a statement which said, “If Trump picks extreme right-wing […]