Feb. 19, 1942, was not President Franklin Roosevelt’s finest day. Some 10 weeks after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, FDR signed Executive Order 9066, which violated the legal rights of some 120,000 Japanese Americans. In short order, people of Japanese descent were given just 48 hours to ...
Washington — At a time when America is facing a potential military confrontation with Iran, an escalating trade war with China and a showdown with North Korea, you’d think President Trump would want a permanent secretary of defense to oversee Pentagon plans. But Patrick Shanahan is still ...
There aren’t many advantages to being old — and at nearly 72, I qualify — but having actually lived through historic events gives one certain insights. From 1972 to 1974, I was a young staffer on the House Judiciary Committee. I was hired to the professional staff even though I did not ...
Washington — Conservatives sometimes accuse the academic left of ignoring the good in American history and emphasizing the horrors. But in some respects, the typical telling of the American story does not focus enough on the horrors. As I recall from my distant youth, American history texts ...
We’re in the last week of the semester here at Kent State, when graduating seniors have reached the zombie stage of stress, and everyone else, it seems, is somewhere else, even when they’re sitting right in front of you. As a teacher, it can be a challenge in these last days to find that ...
Washington — Why aren’t Democratic presidential candidates talking more about foreign policy? Are they being shrewd in playing down a divisive concern that is not at the front of voters’ minds, or are they missing an opportunity? The right answer is: Both. A new study by the Center ...
This is a column about saving whiteness. It’s precipitated by an incident last Saturday at a bookstore in Washington. Seems that author Jonathan M. Metzl was giving a presentation when a group of white nationalists barged in. They formed a phalanx between him and the audience, and one of ...
Washington — While constitutional lawyers, ethicists and theologians — in descending order of importance in the abortion debate — have been arguing in the 46 years since the Supreme Court attempted to settle the debate, some technologists have been making a consequential contribution to ...
Washington — In the normal course of events, the successful demagogue demands and receives cringing deference. But how about a little empathy now and then? Everyone loves heroic dissidents like Sir Thomas More, at least when canonizing them has no cost. They get all the best press and plays ...
The conservative media world, along with all but a few Republican members of Congress, are in the process of handing Vladimir Putin his greatest victory yet. They are ignoring the copious evidence in the Mueller report that Russia interfered in our election — and continues to do so. Pace ...
Washington — Eight-year-old Liam Daly became an internet sensation when he penned a letter to his grandfather, William Barr, while sitting in the front row at Barr’s confirmation hearing in January. “Dear Grandpa,” he wrote. “You are doing great so far. But I know you still ...
“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the referees.” Admittedly, that is not quite how the famous line from Shakespeare’s “Henry VI” goes. As you may recall, it was actually the lawyers whose demise was proposed. But though no one is known to have uttered the words above, they ...
Washington — At 96, James Buckley still is, like good cheddar, sharp and savory. Buckley, whose life has been no less accomplished than his brother Bill’s, recently said at a National Review gathering that his speech there would be his last public appearance. Let us hope not. He adorned ...
In America today and in its capital city of Washington, D.C., we see, sadly, that with enough money and influence, the fix can be put in. A widely used passenger plane model — whose safety standards were certified by the manufacturer — had to be grounded after separate crashes took 346 ...
“A battle for the soul of the country.” That is how Joe Biden described the 2020 election. And he’s right. If Donald Trump is reelected, it will say something profound about the American character. Voters in 2016 had to choose between two ethically challenged candidates: one we knew all ...
Washington — For a conservative idea, there are few things more dangerous and discrediting than the full-on, smothering embrace of Donald Trump. When he forces himself upon an issue — grabbing it, as it were, by the policy prescription — his approach is familiar. He seizes on a half-heard ...
Washington — Three days before Joe Biden dove back into the deep end of the political pool, a rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said the terrorist who bombed the 2013 Boston Marathon, and everyone else in America’s prisons, should be allowed to vote, lest the “chipping away” of voting ...
On Monday, first lady Melania Trump sat between stacks of large white cubes emblazoned with “BE BEST” and read a children’s book to the littles ones gathered around her for the 141st annual White House Easter Egg Roll. At each new page, she smiled and held it up for them to see. What a ...
At least Judas got 30 pieces of silver. Franklin Graham got a tax cut and the promise of a border wall. Some may consider it unfair, likening the tragic villain of the Bible to Billy Graham’s controversial son. And no, their sins are not alike. Judas handed Jesus over to his enemies, then ...
Washington — This is the period when members of the herd of Democratic presidential candidates are testing various appeals to the party faithful. But the more serious contenders are also considering what attacks they might eventually employ against President Trump. The problem will come not ...