“Time has upset many fighting faiths.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes, dissenting, Abrams v. United States (1919) Washington — In this moment of dueling political hysterias (“The fascists are at the gates!” “The socialists are within the gates!”), it is reassuring to remember that ...
Editor’s Note: Views from Kansas is a regular feature that highlights editorials and other viewpoints from across the state. Kansans have plenty of cause to be proud of Bob Dole, the Republican stalwart who made his mark as an extraordinary public servant. The Russell native spent most of ...
Editor’s Note: Views from Kansas is a regular feature that highlights editorials and other viewpoints from across the state. If history is any guide, Kansas’ U.S. Senate seat held by the retiring Pat Roberts since 1997, and by Republicans for a century, should be the GOP’s to lose in ...
To the editor: The Sustainability Advisory Board recommendation failed to include a viable exception that I brought to the attention of the sustainability director last September when the topic of a plastic bag penalty was initially introduced. It has also not been noted by anyone ...
Washington — Democratic candidates for president should get smart about America’s confrontation with Iran: Rather than seek only to restore the 2015 nuclear deal, they should also endorse a broader, new negotiation that addresses Iran’s meddling in the region and removes sanctions against ...
To the editor: Is there anyone else out there that is tired of the way this city is run? Does anyone feel like we are being lied to daily? Can anyone remember the movie with the line “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore”? Seriously, let’s do some evaluating. We ...
President Donald Trump likes to keep score. Well, here’s a score for him: America, zero; while the rest of the world keeps tallying up free trade points. That’s right; while American consumers have been waiting for well over a year to see some resolution to the various trade disputes ...
Washington — The celebration of American independence is supposed to be a unifying national ritual. But we are a country with profound differences over the meaning of nationhood itself. People in more typical countries — such as Belgium, Japan or Russia — are attached primarily to a ...
Washington — Our conversations about the global retreat of democracy usually highlight its impact on those in relatively well-off nations with long-established traditions of free elections, free speech and a free media. But David Miliband, the chief executive of the International Rescue ...
Sen. Kamala Harris demonstrated rare skill during the debate — managing to shiv Joe Biden and look nice doing it. By adopting the language of “hurt” instead of anger, she finessed the problem that usually attends launching an unprovoked attack: that it may harm the perpetrator as much as ...
A few words about my sexism. Nerd that I am, I keep a book diary, i.e., a list of the 40 or 50 books I read and listen to each year. In 2016, while perusing said list, I made a discovery that startled me: There were almost no women on it. That year, I plowed through 46 books by the likes of ...
Understanding the true costs and benefits of a community regulation on plastic and paper bags is a lot like walking around with a sack on your head — there are lots of things that are difficult to see. City commissioners should keep that in mind as they consider a recommendation by the ...
Washington — If California Sen. Kamala Harris is elected president in 2020 and reelected in 2024, by the time she leaves office 114 months from now she might have a coherent answer to the question of whether Americans should be forbidden to have what 217 million of them currently have: ...
Washington — President Trump chose the wrong backdrop for his attempt to make Independence Day all about himself. Standing beneath the majestic statue of Abraham Lincoln, occupying a space where great orators have stood, Trump looked and sounded quite small. He gave a triumphalist speech, of ...
Pop quiz: 1. Who was the last elected Republican incumbent senator to lose in the general election? 2. Who was the last elected Senate incumbent of either party to lose in the general election? 3. Since 1969, how many open U. S. Senate seats has Kansas had? 4. When was the last senator ...
To the editor: I read recently that many if not most mainland Chinese (we can’t know because there are no polls in China) are critical of freedom protesters in Hong Kong. What use, they are quoted saying, are individual rights when you don’t have enough food? They believe economic ...
To the editor: Originally the project of converting 21st and 13th streets to bike boulevards was budgeted at $400,000-plus. Now city staff is requesting $700,000-plus for the project. At the last City Commission meeting it was said that the reason for this was because this is the city’s ...
To the editor: I do not feel that the Lawrence Community Shelter is being treated fairly by the community. Very kind-hearted people started it and persevered through great obstacles. People with serious mental illness were dying in the streets here; of course they had other problems also. One ...
I had no intention of telling this story here. Independence Day is today, and I thought I might talk about the meaning of freedom in the age of Trump. Refugees are imprisoned in squalor on our southern border, the government balking at providing them toothpaste and soap, and I thought I might ...
Washington — On this 243rd anniversary of the beginning of the best thing that ever happened — “The Great Republic” was Winston Churchill’s tribute — many of today’s most interesting arguments about America’s nature and meaning are among conservatives. One concerns the relevance ...
