Persisting in a Mistake is No Virtue (My latest challenge to the conservatives)
This piece is appearing this week and next week in newspapers in my very red congressional district (VA-06).*****************************“To err is human.” So we all make mistakes. Then the challenge...
View ArticleAG-Nominee Barr's Statement Has Given Me a Shot of Hope
I am allowing myself to feel some optimism. Trump's nominee for Attorney General -- former Attorney General William H. Barr -- has just released a statement that sounds very strong in its commitment 1)...
View ArticleIs Rational Argument Worthless? (This week's op/ed in red VA-06)
This piece is appearing in newspapers this week in VA-06. I've revised it some from the print version.*********************The other day, a serious thinker about America, whom I know, explained to me a...
View ArticleI'd Feel More Confident that the Dems Will Fight the Trump Party Right If...
Donald Trump's becoming President has surely transformed Liberal America (and its political arm, the Democratic Party). The sight of so much power being wielded in such grotesque and destructive ways...
View ArticleWanting to Love the Broken in a Broken Time (My latest op/ed in very red VA-06)
This piece is appearing in several newspapers in my very red congressional district (VA-06).****************************Like most of the people I know, I’ve tried over the years to become more the...
View ArticleWhat If an Asteroid Were Bearing Down on Earth? (My Latest Challenge to the...
This piece is appearing in newspapers in my red congressional district, VA-06.************************Imagine this scenario: astronomers peering into space discover that a big asteroid is on a...
View ArticleThe Calls for Northam to Resign Suffice to Prove He Should Resign
I want to confess -- and I mean that sincerely -- that I have difficulty assessing what disclosures warrant someone resigning from elective office. It seems clear to me that Roy Moore and Brett...
View ArticleThe Good Use Northam Might Have Made of this Moment
I think that Governor Northam could have turned this unwanted moment into something quite useful: the constructive conversation about white racism that we need.Northam could have claimed himself to be...
View ArticleThe Northam Affair as Perhaps Illustrating How Tiny Causes Can Have Huge...
It has long been a focal interest of mine to see how cause and effect operate in human history. And it has occurred to me that this Northam Yearbook Affair may be one of those strange times when big...
View ArticleThere’s No Escaping the Need for Good Judgment
This op/ed will be appearing this week in newspapers in my very red congressional district (VA-06)**********************Good proverbs contain good principles of wisdom, but they only can make us wise...
View ArticleMight William Barr Have Snookered Donald Trump?
So William Barr has been confirmed as the Attorney General of the United States. All but three Democrats voted against him. They had good reasons to suspect that rather than serving the nation, and...
View ArticleMonster-in-Chief (my latest challenge to the conservatives)
This piece has an unusual history. I drafted it around the end of 2017 with the intention of soon running it as my weekly op/ed in newspapers in my very red congressional district (VA-06). But, then I...
View Article2020 Foresight: Winning Must Be the Main Criterion for Dems’ Choice
I’m concerned about whether Liberal/Democratic America is going into this new presidential election season in the right frame of mind.Whether my concerns are well-grounded might be assessed if we could...
View ArticleTrump Provides Huge Hole in the Argument the President Can't Be Indicted
The Office of Legal Counsel argument from 1973 that the President could not be indicted rested on the notion that such an indictment‘‘would interfere with the President’s unique official duties, most...
View ArticleNo Indictments on Conspiracy? That's Not My Bet!
Either I’m misguided in my reading of the trajectory of the Mueller investigation, or there’s a whole lot of foolish talk in the wake of the new Manafort filing.That possibly foolish talk speculates...
View ArticleIf Betraying the Nation Won’t Do It, Nothing Will
This piece has run in several newspapers in my very red congressional district (VA-06).*************************Perhaps there is no “tipping point.” But if there is one, the most likely one is...
View ArticlePresident on the Lam? Another Strong Reason to Indict this Sitting President
MSNBC host Nicole Wallace reports from her contacts, “I understand his chief motivation for running for re-election is to avoid possible indictment and legal jeopardy.”Which should give Robert Mueller...
View ArticleWhen The Most “Religious” Align with the Least Moral: A Tale of Two Nations
This piece is appearing as an op/ed in newspapers in my very red congressional district (VA-06).*******************************Why is it that often it is the very people who most explicitly declare...
View ArticleWhy I Welcome Jay Inslee's Entry into the 2020 Race (whether or not I will...
I have really no idea whom I'm going to support in the Democratic primary field. I can't recall the picture being so blurry to me as in this race.But one thing I can say is that I hope that (Washington...
View ArticleThoughts on the Brouhaha Over “Green Book” Winning “Best Picture”
Let me begin with a confession: I have not seen Green Book, except for a few snatches shown at the Oscars, and other news clips. But I think I can responsibly say something on the basis of having read...
View Article