Breaking News

Columnists

What is victory in Operation Epic Fury?

Six days after the commencement of Operation Epic Fury, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to announce, in the context of the ongoing joint American-Israeli military campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran: “There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” In the same post, the president seemed to equate such “unconditional surrender” with “the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader” to lead Iran, which would enable the country to come back from the “brink of destruction” and emerge “stronger than ever.” Just three days after ...

Siding with the Mullahs

“Hegseth spent $93 billion in one month — roughly the cost of extending the ACA tax credits for THREE YEARS. But instead of lowering Americans’ healthcare costs, Hegseth used millions of taxpayer dollars on fruit baskets, Herman Miller recliners, ice cream machines, Alaskan King Crabs and a Steinway & Sons grand piano. A true grifter in every sense of the word,” tweeted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. He is outraged the Secretary of Defense fed soldiers in combat zones steak and lobster. Sen. Schumer based his tweet off a left-wing outlet tweeting, “New Pentagon budget ...

Good ideas are vital, but so is execution

There is no shortage of ideas out there. Read a book, attend a conference, or log onto LinkedIn, and we walk away with plenty of inspiration. Execution is where the struggle can be.  Why is that? If we know what we need to do (or at least what has worked for others), why do we have trouble, well, doing it? There are barriers, external and internal.  One of the biggest barriers is perfectionism. People don’t like to fall short or make mistakes. So it is not unusual to wait for the perfect plan, the perfect timing, or the perfect set of conditions. The problem is, perfect rarely ...

Sound and fury

Donald Trump has mastered the art of the performative. Make a big splash, test the waters, and pray for a surge in public opinion. First it was “shock and awe,” then it was “liberation day,” or, for the more romantically inclined, “a golden age.” A lot of “sound and fury, signifying nothing,” to quote from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Now it seems to be going through another iteration. Instead of trying to fix inflation and “affordability,” he is busily trying to conquer Iran. At first, it appeared simple: the explosions happened earlier, and his poll numbers decreased. ...

A week full of firsts

There are many firsts for me this legislative session. One of them has been the budget bill moving earlier than I or many other experienced Capitol dwellers have ever seen it move. The state Senate and House of Delegates came to a compromise on the budget bill on day 51. This was done for the most part to get the bill to Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s desk so he would have five days to consider it prior to the end of the session. If Morrisey does any line-item vetoes to the budget bill, the Legislature would have time to override those vetoes. Vetoes of regular bills take a simple ...

Jackson’s legacy

Jesse Jackson’s death was noted with predictable comments praising him as a great Civil Rights leader; all this is true. However, comments have omitted his more original contributions. He blended the business acumen of a Whitney Young with the universal vision of a Martin Luther King. With his presidential candidacies in 1984 and 1988, Jackson not only strengthened Black voters, but he also revived the Left’s critique of U.S. foreign policy. He was the first progressive since former Vice President Henry Wallace in 1948 to question orthodoxy in foreign policy. As with King’s ...