I had been looking forward to the quiet. The house in which we raised six children was finally empty, save for a stray Millennial or two. The SpongeBob SquarePants toys had gone to charity, the Barbie Dream House was gathering dust in the attic and there was no longer a car seat permanently ...
Washington — If congressional Democrats will temper their enthusiasm for impeachment with lucidity about the nation’s needs and their political self-interest, they will understand the self-defeating nature of a foredoomed attempt to remove a president for aesthetic reasons. Such reasons are ...
They say justice is blind. So too, it seems, is Robert Mueller III. The former special counsel is a good man with many good attributes. Honesty, integrity and seriousness of purpose are among them. But Mueller seems blind to what the country needs right now. It needs clarity. Mueller, it ...
With last Wednesday’s sine die end to the 2019 legislative session, we can make an early assessment of Kansas politics, the Legislature and especially Gov. Laura Kelly. If a governor’s term consists of four legislative sessions, this is roughly the end of the first quarter. We can’t ...
To the editor: On Tuesday when the tornado sirens went off, we happened to be early dining at the Black Stag Brewery with a group of neighbors. The servers came by to tell us to grab our beers and belongings and follow them to the well fortified but unfinished basement. I asked them not to ...
Washington — What would a president have to do, hypothetically, to get this Congress to impeach him? Obstruct a Justice Department investigation, perhaps? No, apparently that’s not enough. What about playing footsie with a hostile foreign power? Abusing his office to settle personal ...
Washington — One of the least-discussed but perhaps most consequential comments by special counsel Robert Mueller in his appearance before reporters this week was his blunt counterintelligence assessment: “Russian intelligence officers, who are part of the Russian military, launched a ...
Guess how much our nation’s system of mass incarceration costs each year? I’m talking about the taxpayer-funded budgets of prisons, jails, probation departments and the public employees who staff them. Add in the cost of running the criminal justice system; the amount spent on health care, ...
Washington — One of the least-discussed but perhaps most consequential comments by special counsel Robert Mueller in his appearance before reporters this week was his blunt counterintelligence assessment: “Russian intelligence officers, who are part of the Russian military, launched a ...
“With great power, there must also come great responsibility.” —Stan Lee, Amazing Fantasy #15, 1962 The truth is dead, and Facebook killed it. That’s not nearly as much of an exaggeration as you might wish. Consider that the social media colossus was the platform of choice for a ...
Washington — The cascading effects of U.S. protectionism on U.S. producers and consumers constitute an ongoing tutorial about what Daniel Patrick Moynihan called “iatrogenic government.” In medicine, an iatrogenic ailment is one inadvertently caused by a physician or medicine. Iatrogenic ...
There are a multitude of reasons to be thankful and thoughtful following the tornado that came through Douglas County on Tuesday evening. We should be thankful for the first responders who arrived on disaster scenes quickly to provide much needed services and support. The Douglas County ...
To the editor: I’m writing to express my appreciation for Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle’s assessment of Gov. Laura Kelly’s recent decision to veto an extra $51 million payment to the beleaguered Kansas Public Employees Retirement System. (“Kansas governor signs budget but vetoes ...
Editor’s Note: Views from Kansas is a regular feature that highlights editorials and other viewpoints from across the state. Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts are probably the most likable guys in the U.S. Senate. They understand the issues facing Kansas, plead for agricultural interests and, ...
To the editor: President Trump is really losing it as his presidential reality show is not popular anymore and is not being renewed. America is tired of it and he once again is asking his staff how stable and calm he is. “A stable genius” he calls himself. Meanwhile, we are all scared of ...
It’s a better than even bet that in Massachusetts today there is more than one ambitious young Democratic candidate running for local office who is deliberately pronouncing the word “again” so that it rhymes with “a pain.” Why, you logically ask? Because that’s how the martyred John ...
The Dow plunged 450 points on the opening bell May 6 in response to this presidential tweet: “The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No! The 10% will go up to 25% on Friday.” Economists eye this brinkmanship fearfully. Bank of America/Merrill ...
This has become too rare, I suddenly realized — this unscheduled gift of a moment. I was sitting on the small sofa in our front room, watching our 3-year-old granddaughter Carolyn as she arranged a family of toy mice on top of the trunk that doubles as a coffee table. She was softly ...
Washington — For sheer hypocrisy, it’s hard to match the European nations that are refusing responsibility for dozens of their nationals who became jihadist “foreign fighters” over the past five years and are now warehoused in makeshift prisons in northeast Syria. U.S. officials say ...
Last week, the Trump administration released the outline of an immigration plan meant to reshape how and which people are allowed into the United States. The plan would prioritize merit-based immigration and high-skilled labor over those who already have family here. Far from comprehensive or ...