Column

A recent report by Chris Stewart has shed new light on some of the educational problems faced by black youth. The report is titled "The Secret Shame: How America's Most Progressive Cities Betray Their Commitment to Educational Opportunity for All." Stewart is a self-described liberal and CEO of Brightbeam, a nonprofit network of education activists who want to hold progressive political leaders…

One of the more tiresome partisan polkas we’ve witnessed in the Trump years is the herky-jerky dancing around the White House briefing. First, journalists insist it’s a dangerously undemocratic practice to avoid a daily briefing. Then when suddenly there are daily briefings for a public-health crisis, journalists insist it’s a dangerous practice to air these briefings live because the president…

If anything good can come from the coronavirus pandemic, it is the revelation of America's overreliance on China, especially when it comes to drugs. Interviewed by NBC News, retired Brigadier General John Adams said, "Basically, we've outsourced our entire industry to China. That is a strategic vulnerability." Adams spent his 30-year military career as an intelligence officer, a military attache…

Silver linings accompany most catastrophic events, and one major one with the coronavirus is the remarkable way Americans (and people throughout the world) have come together to fight this outbreak. Though the stock market has reflected a nation in panic, in other respects Americans, for the most part, have reacted responsibly, unselfishly and cooperatively, and I pray we are making substantial…

It is a remarkable thing to read. Hop into the wayback machine and park it in front of this article that appeared as part of a China series in The New York Times Magazine on November 18, 2018. The author is Philip P. Pan, he the Asia editor of The New York Times. The title of the piece?

In her effort to boost our spirits in the face of the current crisis, "Wonder Woman" Gal Gadot worked better than she could have realized. Only the impact wasn’t what she had in mind. At all. The actress organized a group of famous friends, including Norah Jones, Will Ferrell, Sarah Silverman, Mark Ruffalo and Amy Adams, to sing John Lennon’s classic single, “Imagine.” The response was vociferous…

Every once in a while, the liberal journalists at PolitiFact grant President Trump a rare rating of “Mostly True.”  Most recently, they revisited a "Pants on Fire" rating they gave Vice President Joe Biden in 2009 for answering a swine flu question from NBC's Matt Lauer that "when one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft." Here's the important part: the networks energetically…

Some years ago, I wrote a book titled "The Things That Matter Most." It was a critique of the continuing impact the '60s generation has had on the country. The coronavirus pandemic, too, offers us an opportunity to consider what matters most in our nation and individual lives. We are told to stay indoors, not travel, avoid restaurants and bars and crowds of more than 10 people. Many have been…

Washington -- There is a new book out that bids fair to win this year's J. Gordon Coogler Award for The Worst Book of the Year, and remember, the year has just begun. The dreadful effort is "The Ones We've Been Waiting For: How a New Generation of Leaders Will Transform America." Its author is Charlotte Alter. The book takes its dreadful title from a dreadful speech given back in 2008 by…

This week, President Donald Trump came under fire for his use of the phrase "Chinese virus" to describe the coronavirus, the source of the new pandemic that has led to a global economic shutdown as well as lockdowns of citizens in every major Western country. That media have somehow found time to hone in on the one issue that matters least -- the labeling of a Chinese virus as such -- in the…

Senator Bernie Sanders' call for socialism has resonated among many Americans, particularly young Americans. They've fallen prey to the idea of a paradise here on Earth where things are free and there's little want. But socialists never reveal what turns out to be their true agenda. Let's look at the kind of statements they used to gain power. You'll note that all of their slogans before gaining…

A friend tweeted from Ireland (in time for St. Patrick's Day), blaming President Trump for the major decline in the value of stocks. This same friend credited Barack Obama's economic policies when the Dow Jones Industrial Averages approached 30,000. This -- and more -- is part of our political, economic and medical divide with mixed messages coming from supposed professionals, amateurs and people…

The Chinese government says calling the coronavirus the “Wuhan Virus” is racist. Specifically, The Global Times, which Wikipedia describes as “a daily tabloid newspaper under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper, commenting on international issues from a nationalistic perspective” headlines this: “Labeling China as a ‘disease incubator’ is unscientific and racist…