Columnist.
The media attach labels to politicians who reflect their political and social views. Those labels have included "right-wing," "extreme right-wing" "far-right," "out of the mainstream," and when reporting on religion, "fundamentalist."
I recently interviewed Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos who claimed the president's proposed $4.8 trillion budget includes "a significant step toward returning flexibility to the states through a proposal to block grant all of the elementary and secondary education funds ... and let (states) prioritize where those funds are going to be best utilized."
For 68 years the National Prayer Breakfast has been a political oasis, a chance for Republicans, Democrats, national and world leaders to assemble and pray for each other and the nation. Not this year.
The president's State of the Union speech Tuesday night resembled a campaign rally. Some Republicans shouted "four more years" as he approached the lectern. Democrats mostly looked glum, shook their heads, pursed their lips, laughed in response to some of his remarks and in the case of Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared to be talking to herself. At the end, she tore up her copy of the address, and Trump refused to acknowledge her before stepping down from the platform.
Just because the Senate is about to acquit President Trump of charges Republicans believed never rose to the level of "high crimes and misdemeanors," don't think Democrats will raise the white flag of surrender. They (and their media allies) have only just begun.
Twenty years ago, President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO leader Yasser Arafat met at Camp David where Barak offered almost all of what Arafat asked for in exchange for making peace with the Jewish state. Arafat rejected the offer.
I love Ireland for its natural beauty, its people, its food (some of it), its music, its writers and especially its elections, which are shorter, less costly and designed to engage citizens and boost voter turnout.
I love definitions because they help focus the mind. For decades, we are said to have been in a culture war. As in any war, it helps to know one's enemy.
The contrast could not have been starker. One picture showed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi smiling as she signed (with numerous pens) two articles of impeachment against President Trump.
The latest protests in Iran by people angry over the Iranian military's missile launch that "unintentionally" downed a Ukrainian jetliner killing many Iranians, Canadians and others, is different from past protests over rigged elections, rising gas prices, and what Americans like to call "voter suppression."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's strategy of holding on to the two weak articles of impeachment against President Trump was starting to rattle some Democrats, who felt they were losing the political battle.
Responding to Iran's missile attacks on U.S. bases inside Iraq, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said, "We are not seeking war with Iran, but we are prepared to finish one." Esper said the U.S. prefers a "diplomatic" solution to the latest escalation.
Addressing the British Parliament in 1982, President Ronald Reagan outlined a plan for placing the Soviet Union and Marxism-Leninism on the "ash heap of history."
It can be useful and instructive to observe the turning of a decade by looking back on what life was like in America a mere 100 years ago.
The battle between church and state is as old as church and state, as is the conflict within religious circles over who supposedly speaks for God.
Like swallows returning to Capistrano, socialism makes an appearance on a regular cycle.
"It's the most wonderful time of the year," Andy Williams reminds us over tinny speakers in crowded shopping malls.
While watching "Jeopardy" the other night, I had a fantasy. Suppose Alex Trebek had a Final Jeopardy category called "The Ultimate Impeachment Hypocrite"?
"Blowout" was how one UK newspaper described the decisive victory of Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party in last week's election.
If it walks like a duck ... you know the rest.
