How 2016’s populist uprising will reverberate in 2020

January 2, 2020

WESTBY, WIS. In a country increasingly engaged in national politics and divided, the next 12 months may feel like 12 years. Voters in both trenches are eager to vote, convinced not only of victory but also of vindication. The shocking result in 2016 wasn’t a black swan, an irregular election deviating from normalcy, but instead the indicator of a realignment. The story of America’s evolving political topography is one of tectonic plates that slowly grind against one another until a break notably alters the landscape with seismic consequences — a sudden lurch long in ...

You are what you grow to be

January 2, 2020

Daniel Mazzacane Los Angeles Times Two years ago, I designed a tattoo for a friend, a celebration of the first anniversary of his gender transition. It was the Deathly Hallows symbol from the “Harry Potter” series, with the quote “You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be” underneath. I was 7 the first time I read “Harry Potter,” curled in bed with my mom, wandering through Hogwarts and finding the world that would define my childhood. Like many in my generation, I grew up alongside The Boy Who Lived. I can still remember ...

Would you prefer a leader who supports secular agenda?

December 31, 2019

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. The latest dustup occurred after the departing editor of Christianity Today magazine, Mark Galli, wrote an editorial in which he said President Trump is an immoral man and his impeachment by the House is cause for his immediate removal from office. This ignited a firestorm. Major media, which regularly ignore the opinions of religious publications, overnight transported Galli from relative obscurity to national prominence. Anti-Trump ...

Who is the Mr. Jones of 2019?

December 31, 2019

Looking back at key foreign policy events of 2019, a line from Bob Dylan’s “Ballad of a Thin Man” popped into my head: “Something is happening and you don’t know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?” Back in the day, there was much debate over whom Dylan had in mind. But “Mr. Jones” soon came to symbolize folks who remained oblivious to the seismic cultural shifts of the 1960s. So who is the Mr. Jones of 2019? In one sense, “Mr. Jones” could be all of us, as the jumble of foreign policy spikes sped by too fast for the pattern to become clear. But America’s gradual ...

The people who put a smile on her face

December 30, 2019

This is definitely the time of year when we need fewer frowns and more smiles. Here is my shortened list of people who make me smile. John Legend, the composer, musician and singer, makes me smile. He is from my hometown of Springfield, Ohio, and he continues to “give back” with free concerts, unhailed good deeds and a beautiful performing arts theater. My best friend from kindergarten, Jeannine, who supervised his homeschooling as a school administrator, said he remains one of the brightest and politest students she ever encountered. Oh, and by the way, People magazine just named ...

A year-round gift for children

December 27, 2019

During World War II, American Relief for Norway sent donations overseas before the holidays to feed malnourished children living under Nazi occupation. When Dwight Eisenhower became president, one of the first things he did was start Christmas food packages for nations suffering in hunger. Ike made this a year-round program called Food for Peace, which has saved millions of lives from hunger. Congress should take action this holiday season to further this tradition of feeding the world’s hungry, especially malnourished children. Both parties should unite and pass the Global ...