Let’s all agree that America is more than ‘just OK’

July 8, 2019

It seems an inevitability that every year around the Fourth of July, certain media will publish a series of articles reminding people how unremarkable it is to live in America. This year The New York Times’ opinion team didn’t disappoint, publishing a video that declared, “we’re just OK,” and explaining to viewers that when compared to other industrialized nations, the U.S. really doesn’t stack up. The video cites “a whopping 18% poverty rate, closer to Mexico than Western Europe,” lower high school science, reading and math levels compared to other nations, and ...

Teach girls to be competitive

July 8, 2019

When a swim coach challenged my 3-year-old daughter to race against her 5-year old brother, she beat him so badly that it seemed the toddler swim equivalent of the U.S. women’s national soccer team’s 13-0 thrashing of Thailand in their opening game of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. My daughter did not worry about embarrassing her brother. She just did her best and won. That is why I cheered alongside millions when the U.S. women’s national soccer team advanced to Sunday’s finals of the 2019 Women’s World Cup after a hard-fought semifinal victory over England. My ...

Reining in ER bills and drug costs tall order

July 3, 2019

Lawmakers from both parties and President Trump have talked about their shared desire to end surprise medical bills and rein in rising prescription drug prices. But their feud over the Affordable Care Act may stop them from any meaningful legislative action on those problems. At issue are a set of proposals that would tweak the U.S. healthcare system, not overhaul it. The more ballyhooed and ambitious offerings that lawmakers have been touting — the single-payer Medicare for All model advanced by liberal Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and the block-grant-based ...

Is Mueller finally ready to spill some tea?

July 3, 2019

The announcement that former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III will testify before two House committees next month is significant only if Mueller goes back on his word. You’ll remember that, in a public statement in May, the former FBI director who investigated possible ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign made clear that he had no desire to testify before Congress. If he were to appear, he added, “I would not provide information beyond that which is already public.” “If” has become “when.” On Tuesday it was announced that, in response to subpoenas ...

Has Trump outdone Obama?

July 3, 2019

It took less than a week for informed opinion to settle the question: In ordering airstrikes against Iran on June 20 and then canceling that order at the last moment, President Donald Trump committed an unforced error of enormous magnitude. Writing in the Atlantic, Kori Schake, a noted national security expert, ably recited the fast-breaking conventional wisdom: “Trump has now shown himself just as willing as President Barack Obama was to make empty threats that damage American credibility.” Indeed, according to Schake, Trump’s offense is actually worse than ...

Break chains in America of child marriage

July 3, 2019

On June 26, activists in wedding dresses and chains gathered at the state capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., to press for passage of a bill to ban child marriage. Some wore tape across their mouths. “Arms chained, mouths taped, trapped, silenced,” said Fraidy Reiss, executive director of the group Unchained at Last. “This is what life looks like for girls and women right here in Pennsylvania who are forced to marry.” Incredible as it sounds, only two U.S. states have banned child marriage outright. Many others set the minimum age at 18 but include exceptions with no minimum age. ...