U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will stand trial on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. U.S. Army Gen. Robert Abrams’ decision to try Bergdahl on these serious charges has raised a media firestorm. That is understandable for two reasons. Military law is not just a disciplinary constraint but also a tool in preparing […]
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Climate agreement brings a measure of hope
“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Those were Winston Churchill’s words of battle-weary comfort when World War II started decisively shifting in the Allies’ favor. They could also be applied to the climate accord just reached in Paris […]
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Climate accord (yawn) settles … what?
Saving the planet has never been so easy. The Paris climate talks concluded in a rousing round of self-congratulation over an agreement that, we are told, is the first step toward keeping Earth habitable. If generating headlines and press releases about making history were the metric for anything, Paris might be as consequential — if […]
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The cold, hard facts about global ‘warming’
If representatives of the nearly 200 nations gathered in Paris for the UN Conference on Climate Change had instead formed a coalition to fight a real threat — Islamic terrorism — they might have accomplished something useful. Instead, what they came up with is a document that even Secretary of State John Kerry, in a […]
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Democrats could pick off Trump supporters
They support activist government. They’re not socially conservative. They resent big money in politics. And if you administered a truth serum, they would probably say nice things about Obamacare. These are blue-collar supporters of Donald Trump. Democrats would do well to ask themselves, “Why aren’t some of them ours?” I say “some” because a good […]
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Fed rate increase will have little impact
WASHINGTON — Barring an unforeseen calamity, the Federal Reserve will raise short-term interest rates this week. Among Fed watchers, this is known as “liftoff.” The analogy is misleading. Short-term rates have been stuck near zero since late 2008, but they aren’t about to rocket upward. The anticipated increase is a tiny 0.25 percentage points. That’s […]
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Trump detractors get a bit hysterical
To believe his critics, Donald Trump has ripped up the U.S. Constitution and sprinkled its shreds on the smoldering embers of what was once the Statute of Liberty. He did this, of course, by proposing a temporary ban on Muslim immigration into the United States, which might be the most roundly and fiercely denounced idea […]
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Ground zero mosque episode is instructive
WASHINGTON — Remember the “Mosque at Ground Zero”? With little fanfare this fall, the New York developer who had planned to build an Islamic community center north of the World Trade Center announced that he would instead use the site for a 70-story tower of luxury condos. Those who had rallied in opposition to a […]
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Democracy works better when there is mutual respect
It is time for Republicans to ask ourselves a question: Are we so obsessed with the damage we believe Barack Obama and the American left are doing to the values we hold dear that we would ignore the serious threat posed by the candidacy of Donald Trump — or is there something even more dangerous […]
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Trump’s campaign has already succeeded
WASHINGTON — So how exactly does this work, Donald Trump’s plan to keep America safe from Islamic terrorism by barring entry to all Muslims? He explained it Tuesday on TV. The immigration official will ask the foreigner if he’s a Muslim. “And if they said, ‘yes,’ they would not be allowed in the country?” Trump: […]