Breaking News

Columns/Opinion

DeVos doubles down on education reforms

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.” DeVos has tried to reduce the federal footprint in public education, because the more than $1 trillion she says has been spent has not produced positive results. During his State of the Union address, President Trump ...

He talks the talk and money talks

I was struck by a Mike Bloomberg tweet responding to President Donald Trump Thursday morning. Trump tweeted: “Mini Mike is a 5’4” mass of dead energy who does not want to be on the debate stage with these professional politicians. No boxes please. He hates crazy Bernie and will, with enough money, possibly stop him. Bernie’s people will go nuts!” To which Bloomberg responded: “We know many of the same people in NY. Behind your back they laugh at you & call you a carnival barking clown. They know you inherited a fortune & squandered it with stupid deals and ...

Vote blue, no matter what or who?

Vote blue, no matter who. That’s the fall election mantra of Democrats desperate to cleanse the White House of its current occupant. But here’s the question some African Americans are now asking: What if the “who” is Michael Bloomberg? What if the former New York City mayor is the man chosen to contend against Donald Trump? Shall we vote blue if all it offers is the chance to replace a stupid racist with a smarter one? Some will reject that characterization. They will point to Bloomberg’s pledges to increase black home ownership, his support by such black luminaries as ...

More deserving folks for medal than Limbaugh

Darth Vader, Rosanne Barr, Sammy Sosa and Lil Nas X. Flo from the Progressive Insurance commercials, RuPaul, Spider-Man and Pete the Cat. There it is: My list of people more deserving of the Presidential Medal of Freedom than Rush Limbaugh. The most racist man on the radio was back on the air Wednesday, and in rare form, which isn’t all that noteworthy, except for the fact that the most racist man on the radio was back on the air and in rare form with a Presidential Medal of Freedom around his neck. Just days after walking out of the U.S. Capitol after President Donald Trump’s ...

Inequality of effort by men mars Valentine’s Day

My friend in Omaha, Neb., assures me that a disturbing phenomenon once focused on the coasts has invaded the heartland. He speaks of young couples where the woman is nicely dressed and her male date or mate is in slob mode. The women are neat and stylish, often wearing some (or a lot of) makeup, but their male partners are in soiled sweatshirts and baggy jeans, hems dragging on the floor. This is a sign of gross inequality. It flashes a disparity of effort. The women are trying, and the men are not. Some may regard this discourse on dress as superficial and frivolous. Feminists ...

President missed opportunity for reconciliation

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. One could tell where things were headed when President Trump arrived later than most other presidents and held up two newspapers with the headline “Acquitted,” a reference to the vote by the GOP majority in the Senate the day before, which refused to convict him of articles of impeachment written by the Democratic majority in the House. The president then shook hands with ...