Opinions

There is nothing sacred about nine. The number was not carried down from a mountain on stone tablets, nor did it appear in a burning bush. In fact, before the Supreme Court contained nine justices, it contained six, the number... Read More

Joe Biden is embarking on the biggest government initiative in more than a half-century, “unlike anything we have seen or done since we built the interstate highway system and the space race decades go,” he says. But when it comes... Read More

According to a popular proverb, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.  Like planting a tree, governments should have funded large-scale research and development 20 years ago to better address... Read More

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought renewed appreciation for a strong, stable and resilient national logistics system. America’s mariners, who have safely ensured essential cargo continue to reach American’s doorsteps amid the current crisis, are the cornerstone of that system.  Though... Read More

Have you read, heard or seen that important news story about an Asian American federal judge — born in Taiwan and subject to discrimination growing up — who confronted and denounced those who discriminate by race? No? With all that’s... Read More

More than 40 years before Black Lives Matter emerged as a movement, Alvin Sykes was doggedly questioning police brutality in cases famous, and not. Sykes convinced the federal government to reopen unsolved 50-year-old civil rights era murders, scores of cases in Mississippi and other southern states,... Read More

As COVID raged, and mortgage rates plummeted, last March my husband and I found ourselves unexpectedly in the market to purchase a new home just a few weeks before the birth of our daughter. Even though we thought we saved... Read More

He was having a bad day. So said Cherokee County Sheriff’s spokesman Jay Baker by way of explaining last week’s mass shootings at three Atlanta-area massage parlors. The suspect, a 21-year-old white man whose name won’t be used here, is... Read More

As Congress continues its investigation into large technology companies, the critically important role digital tools and services play for small businesses is once again being overlooked. Before Congress, regulators, or Attorneys General take any action that changes the way the... Read More

A quarter-century ago, I and other members of Bill Clinton’s Cabinet urged him to reject the Republican proposal to end welfare. It was too punitive, we said, subjecting poor Americans to deep and abiding poverty. But Clinton’s political advisers warned... Read More

At the heart of the Martial Art Judo is the notion that the momentum of your opponent’s aggression can be converted to your advantage in overcoming them. Advances in technology and a global momentum to avert the deepening climate crisis... Read More

My brother-in-law died of hogwash. Another brother-in-law, a sister-in-law, two daughters-in-law, two cousins and several grandchildren are all recovering from hogwash. My wife spent a week in the hospital with hogwash. I tested positive for hogwash, but had few symptoms.... Read More

In 1963, when the newly sworn-in Lyndon Baines Johnson was advised against using his limited political capital on the controversial issue of civil and voting rights for Black Americans, he responded: “Well, what the hell’s the presidency for?” America is... Read More

For all their pitched battles, climate activists and climate deniers seem to agree on a fundamental premise: the incompatibility of climate action and economic growth. “Growth now comes with enormous levels of risk. Indeed, it risks ending the game of... Read More

Religious conservatives are clearly confused and agitated. After all, they gave it their best effort, endlessly admonishing about “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” They were insistent that love is only love when it occurs between a man and... Read More

The fight against the COVID-19 pandemic has become more complicated, despite the breakneck speed of vaccine development. The country is facing the dual challenges of combating the spread of new variants of the virus while coordinating a nationwide vaccination effort.... Read More

Can you spot the moderate? Ok, not Joe Manchin. That’s too easy. Spot the other one. You found her! Rep. Sharice Davids, the first congressional Democrat from Kansas in a decade was recently re-elected to her second term. A former... Read More

On the day President Joe Biden was sworn into office, he ordered a freeze on the blizzard of last-minute rules that the Trump Administration tried to ram through in its final days. They were a grab bag of favors to... Read More

The gatekeepers of the establishment status quo don’t have Donald Trump to kick around anymore. Except that Trump’s voters — more than 74 million of them — aren’t going anywhere. These are people who chose Trump despite all of the... Read More

While most of official Washington has been consumed with the Senate impeachment trial, another part of Washington is preparing the most far-ranging changes in American social policy in a generation. Congress is moving ahead with President Joe Biden’s American Rescue... Read More

All eyes are on the vaccine rollout. We’ve all observed the challenges our government has faced supplying and distributing vaccines, as well as some of the early learnings. It would be easy to point fingers or poke holes in the... Read More

‘You think we’re bad for America?’ Sean Hannity of Fox “News” asked that question of Ted Koppel four years ago as the latter was interviewing him on “CBS Sunday Morning.” Yes, answered Koppel, “because you’re very good at what you... Read More

This is not a feel-good story. Of course, it’s easy to see why it has been positioned as one. Certainly, it contains all the elements: vulnerable people, heart-rending need, someone going above and beyond. But this is not a feel-good... Read More

When I was a boy about 11, I committed a crime that changed my life. I stole a book. I was a book thief. I found it in another kid’s desk and began reading, hiding it behind some boring textbook,... Read More

An open letter to African-American people: February marks the 95th observation of what started as Negro History Week and later became Black History Month. I wanted to use the occasion to talk about what being Black means, about how it... Read More

Donald Trump destabilized the Republican Party, and it’s still stumbling around like it’s punch-drunk. The GOP needs to get its act together fast or risk handing the Democrats free rein to change the face of America. President Joe Biden wasted... Read More

So last week, Sen. Josh Hawley complained that he was being “silenced.” He lodged this complaint on Fox “News” and in The New York Post. As social media observers promptly pointed out, that’s a level of media exposure that effectively... Read More

What is it going to take? For years, that question has weighed upon the rest of us – and even some of its own members – as we watched the Republican Party slide ever deeper into a morass of political... Read More

In her 1980 hit “9 to 5,” Dolly Parton laments that the traditional workplace is “enough to drive you crazy if you let it.” Four decades later, people seem to be taking this to heart, as one-in-five workers today are... Read More

The biracial daughter of immigrant parents stood before a bilingual Latina Supreme Court justice and swore allegiance to the nation. If that’s not what you saw at the inauguration, then your perspective is likely shaped from experiences different from mine.... Read More