One of the oddest documents in a very odd political year is the transcript of an interview conducted by National Public Radio last week with Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. He had previously endorsed Mike Huckabee for the Republican presidential nomination and later Marco Rubio and now he was “without a candidate” and, it seems, without […]
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GOP candidates choose to play up fear factor
WASHINGTON — Sudden, horrific events in the middle of a presidential campaign provide an X-ray of the instincts and thinking of the candidates. We can see what their priorities are, and pick up clues about their character. The terrorist attacks in Belgium brought out the worst in Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Cruz demonstrated that […]
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President Obama has a Che moment
President Barack Obama inadvertently found the perfect photo-op for his Cuba visit at a wreath-laying ceremony at the Jose Marti Memorial in Havana. A news photo at Revolution Square caught Obama standing together with American and Cuban officials, with an enormous mural of the iconic revolutionary Che Guevara looming over his shoulder on the adjacent […]
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Why should a Muslim love America?
An open letter to American Muslims: In April 1944, a Cpl. Rupert Trimmingham wrote the editor of Yank, a U.S. Army magazine, about what happened when he and eight fellow soldiers, traveling by train, had an overnight layover in a small Louisiana town. They went to get coffee, but no restaurant would serve African-American soldiers […]
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The ‘apology tour’ comes full circle
At the beginning of his presidency, Barack Obama traveled to Cairo, Europe and the United Nations to “apologize” for past American actions and attitudes, which he claimed helped create divisions between countries. At a town hall meeting before a mix of French and German citizens in Strasbourg, France on April 3, 2009, the president said […]
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Obama’s ideological holiday in Cuba
WASHINGTON — The split-screen told the story: on one side, images of the terror bombing in Brussels; on the other, Barack Obama doing the wave with Raul Castro at a baseball game in Havana. On one side, the real world of rising global terrorism. On the other, the Obama fantasy world in which romancing a […]
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Baseball provided common tie
On Dec. 17, 2014, I — like many others — was glued to the television, hanging on to every word of the announcement that President Obama was seeking to re-establish relations with Cuba. I could personally relate to this groundbreaking policy because, 10 days earlier, I was an American playing baseball in Cuba. In the […]
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Antiquities Act allows Obama to take land as monuments
Maine’s Mount Katahdin region is contemplating a new North Woods national park — and proponents are ratcheting up the pressure on social media. But the move would pry North Woods from state hands and usher in federal oversight. It is a debate over who is in a better position to control lands — the states […]
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Graduation brings a time for decisions
As I look out my window and see what I hope is the last of the winter snow, others are turning their attention to the next big event on the horizon: graduation. I have learned that March is certainly the time when the warmer air, longer days and greener vistas make people eager to discuss […]
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Defense of encription may have become moot
One inevitable sequel to a terrorist attack is seeing the ugly mugs of creeps-turned-monsters thrust before us over a multitude of news cycles. Another is a debate over cellphone encryption. Encryption is a means of turning information into secret code. Terrorists communicate through encrypted devices to hide their plans and protect the identities of their […]