Column

When a nation bears the blame for more than 7 million deaths worldwide, what is Washington going to do? More than 1.2 million Americans died as a result of a plague that began in China. Those staggering global and U.S. figures are the numbers reported to the World Health Organization. They make the COVID-19 pandemic arguably the deadliest event the human race has suffered since World War II.…

Now that Texas and South Carolina have passed school choice bills, parents will be able to choose the best school for their kids in 17 states. Why not all states? After all, competition improves services. The Post Office couldn’t get it there overnight. Then FedEx showed it could be done. Quickly, UPS and DHL did it, too, and now even the Post Office does ... sometimes.

The relationship between the United States and Israel is usually seen as “special” because of technical matters. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. Israel and the U.S. share vitally important intelligence and technology. But what about shared values? Shortly after America’s new ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, arrived at his post, he sat for an interview with the Christian…

President Donald Trump has fought plenty of political heavyweights, but now he’s up against a foe far tougher than Hillary Clinton or Kamala Harris: Big Bird. The president is ordering federal agencies and the taxpayer-funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting to stop supporting National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service. His May 1 executive order is titled “Ending Taxpayer…

Government makes most things worse. Lyndon Johnson launched a War on Poverty; Richard Nixon a War on Drugs. Both had good intentions, but their “wars” do more harm than good. I believed the War on Poverty would lift people out of poverty. At the time I was a naive Princeton student who believed my professors when they said, “It’s wrong that in this rich country, people are poor, so government…

Before basketball’s 24-second rule, there was a tactic called freezing the ball. The team that was ahead would attempt to run out the clock by holding onto the ball as long as it could to deny the opposing team an opportunity to score. That looks like what Iran is again doing – “freezing” negotiations while finishing the final stages of nuclear enrichment on the way to building a deliverable…

Two important developments in education occurred over the last week. One was a sign of the problem we have. The other was a sign of the solution. The sign of the problem, to which hopefully the U.S. Supreme Court will provide the correct answer, falls under the headline of sex education. The court has just heard Mahmoud v. Taylor, in which families from a variety of faiths -- Muslims…

This week, Democrats decided to expend their quickly diminishing political capital in defense of a deported Salvadoran illegal immigrant named Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Garcia was deported to El Salvador some weeks ago; the Department of Justice initially admitted that his deportation was an “administrative error.” It turns out that Garcia had an order withholding removal to his home country, due…

“Eighty and six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong,” said Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, in A.D. 156 before climbing onto a pyre where Roman authorities would burn him to death. Eyewitnesses reported the local authorities respected Polycarp and begged him to recant his faith in Christ. He would not. The Romans did not even tie Polycarp to a post because they knew he would not…

I guess United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres didn’t think his hyping global warming risks brought him enough attention, so now he says, “The era of global boiling has arrived!” Global boiling? Give me a break. Yes, the climate is warming. We can deal with that. What annoys me is politicians, activists and media pushing hysterical myths.

As a child I frequently visited relatives in southern Indiana. A great uncle tried to keep me from exploring his cellar (as they were called then) by telling me the boogeyman was down there and would “get you” if I descended the stairs. It worked. Boogeymen are nothing new. They have existed in the form of politicians going back to the founding of the country. See how Thomas Jefferson…

A recent report from the American Enterprise Institute summarizes results from the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress — also known as the nation’s report card. The test, given every two years, reports scores of our nation’s children in reading and math at the fourth grade and eighth grade levels. AEI characterizes the most recent results as a “five-alarm fire.” I call it…

It’s finally spring. Better mow your lawn. If you don’t, your town government may fine you thousands of dollars a day. Worse, if you can’t pay the fine, they may confiscate your home. Six years ago, in Dunedin, Florida, Jim Ficken let his grass grow. His mom had died, and he’d left town to take care of her estate. He asked a friend to cut his grass, but that friend died, too!

The speed and seriousness with which Donald Trump is shaking up Washington has everyone’s head spinning. If the president called me and asked my advice how he should explain to the American people what he is doing, I would say he should tell every American to read our Declaration of Independence. Donald Trump is working to restore the principles and foundations that the nation’s founders…