National Republicans
Fighting for Freedom
Do any “Freedom Conservatives” in the Republican Party have qualms about masked government agents snatching people off the street and locking them up? The only Republican I’ve heard pipe up is lame-duck Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who said at a Senate hearing yesterday: “I want to make sure that Homeland Security can provide…
Read MoreAn About Face
For months I’ve been wondering about tariffs: Are they good? Bad? Do they make a cup of coffee cost more? Who pays them? Are they taxes? Back in Reagan days almost all my Republican friends said, Yes, absolutely, they’re taxes. But today we’re marching down a different road. Trump says absolutely not, tariffs aren’t taxes.…
Read MoreThe Forgotten President
We know about the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. We may know that the assassination of William McKinley in 1901 elevated “that damned cowboy,” Theodore Roosevelt, to the Presidency. But who knows about the fourth President to be assassinated, James A. Garfield? A new Netflix series, Death by Lightning, reintroduces us to…
Read MoreNothing Noble About It
Allies for years, erupting, Trump called Marjorie Taylor Greene ‘a traitor.’ Greene, looking frazzled, posturing herself, shot back that standing up for women who’d been raped didn’t make her a traitor – said she never expected fighting to release the Epstein files would come to this. Insult hurling rolled on – Trump said Greene was…
Read MoreA Different Sin
I missed that Jeffrey Epstein, in one of his emails, mentioned this Sherlock Holmes story: Back in 1892, a famous racehorse was stolen in the middle of the night and the horse’s trainer was found dead. To Dr. Watson’s surprise, Holmes pointed out a curious fact: The night the man was killed the dog that…
Read MoreReign of Terror
Federal agents – and fear – have descended on North Carolina. I’m old enough to remember when President Kennedy sent federal agents to protect Black Americans from racist cops and masked Klansmen. Trump sends masked agents – why the masks? – to terrorize people who look Hispanic. As Governor Josh Stein said, “This is not…
Read MoreA Rough Week
Sitting in front of the shiny gold filigree on the White House wall, having a rough week after the election, Trump growled Democrats are ‘absolutely crazed.’ Insulting Democrats surprised no one. But it wasn’t the side of Trump folks like either. Setting his jaw, Trump warned Democrats were going to end the filibuster – so…
Read MoreLast Week’s Election
To fit the pieces together let’s look at three voters: Tom’s a Democrat, Dick’s a Republican, Harry’s an Independent – Tom never votes for a Republican; Dick never votes for a Democrat; and every election Harry has to make a choice – but who he chooses wins. Each party has what you could call a…
Read MoreHuman Nature
Years ago my grandfather handed me a photograph of a famous Virginia train wreck – today politics reminds me of a train wreck. It’s easy to blame Trump for that. But the blame runs deeper. In the Book of Samuel in the Old Testament King David lusted after Bathsheba, had her husband sent into battle…
Read MoreHelping Chiselers
Born in China, he moved to Canada, worked at a McDonald’s. Calling himself CZ, he returned to Shanghai, started his own cryptocurrency business. Became a billionaire. He opened Binance U.S., landed in a courtroom – terrorists like Hamas laundered money on his crypto exchange. He paid over $4.3 billion in fines, spent four months in…
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