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Columns/Opinion

Economic independence costly

This week, let’s put down our midsummer cookout plates long enough to remember sacrifices made across generations to secure independence, peace and prosperity. We might also reflect on how British trade interference with goods like stamps and tea helped spark the Fourth of July holiday. As 2019’s trade wars drag on, perhaps you’ve noticed some signs of government interference while shopping for that cookout. Tariffs make government-favored products into winners, but overlooked products and those caught in the retaliation lose out. The new patio furniture you’re sitting ...

People don’t change due to shunning

Adam Sutton The Baltimore Sun On June 21, I woke up to the news that the president had called off a missile strike on Iran at the last minute. A missile attack that was a consequence of the Trump administration’s decision to turn away from a diplomatic agreement with Iran. In place of the diplomatic agreement, President Donald Trump has implemented a “maximum pressure” approach defined by tough economic sanctions and belligerent rhetoric that amounts to telling Iran they are a horrible country and only when they do exactly as the USA wants can we work together. Earlier in the ...

Questions he would’ve liked to ask the Democrats

The likelihood I would ever be invited to serve on a network panel questioning the Democratic presidential candidates is equivalent to an invitation to take the next trip to the moon. Still, as I tortured myself watching the two “debates,” which were not really debates, but mostly a show of memorized sound bites, I thought of unasked questions that ought to have been put to them all. Question 1: Some of you have, or had, the power to change many of the things you now say are wrong with America. Why didn’t you? Question 2 (for Joe Biden): You and Barack Obama, for a time, ...

‘Poverty naps’ in lieu of lunch?

BY COKIE ROBERTS and STEVEN V. ROBERTS When college students return to their campuses in the fall, many will face a growing problem that threatens to undermine their chances for success. Hunger. Recent surveys agree that more than one-third of college students suffer at times from bouts of food insecurity. The rate is far higher for students with an extra risk factor: belonging to a racial minority, having a single parent or being the first in their family to attend college, for example. For these students, hunger means “sitting in a classroom hoping no one hears your ...

A kids’ table for third-tier candidates?

Brian Boyle Los Angeles Times It took Marianne Williamson wading into bizarre references about New Zealand, the moon and the power of love for me to realize something: The GOP made the right decision in their own overpopulated primary on the road to 2016. Not in whom they chose, of course, but in how they chose. The recent two nights of Democratic debates have offered insightful policy discussions, fierce sniping and funny mic gaffes. But they’ve also only made one thing clear: It’s time to separate the contenders from the pretenders; it’s time for the real candidates to ...

Trump actually did the right thing, twice

Earlier this month, Donald Trump reversed two major decisions. He announced he would not begin mass deportations of those who are living in America illegally, which he previously threatened to do, and he pulled the plug on an attack on Iran The reversals stunned aides and allies alike. In both cases, Trump disappointed hawkish advisers and zealous supporters who had urged him to act. It’s easy to be skeptical or dismissive about Trump’s flip-flops. In both cases, he defused crises of his own making. In both, he avoided what would have been a humanitarian horror. In both, the ...