As President Donald Trump ended an almost-century-long campaign by granting a pardon to Jack Johnson, the unfairly convicted boxing champion, a question hung in many minds like a ghost: Why didn’t President Barack Obama do it when he had the chance? If it slipped anyone’s notice as to who was beating whom to the punch Read More…

Many people love to concoct grand, elaborate conspiracies to explain the world around them. Instead of realizing they made bad decisions, it must have been some malevolent force out to get them. Instead of recognizing they are surrounded by incompetence, there must be some mysterious force pulling the strings working several steps ahead. Many people Read More…

The NFL is standing for America. It finally displayed leadership Wednesday, announcing that it has banned players from kneeling on the field while our national anthem is played. Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement, “This season, all league and team personnel shall stand and show respect for the flag and the anthem.” Players can Read More…

U.S. threats to crush Iran and North Korea may yet work, but as of now neither Tehran nor Pyongyang appears to be intimidated. Repeated references by NSC adviser John Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence to the “Libya model” for denuclearization of North Korea just helped sink the Singapore summit of President Trump and Kim Read More…

As a political scientist, I’ve always preferred maps to polling data. Don’t get me wrong, I think that well-conducted polls, when properly interpreted, provide valuable information about voter preferences. Maps, however, can provide clues to the more important question of why voters arrive at their choice. That’s why I was so intrigued when I opened Read More…

Chiefly observed as summer’s kickoff, a weekend of auto racing, shopping, American flags, and grilling out – Memorial Day was originally dedicated to solemn remembrance of the nation’s war dead. That’s still the holiday’s nominal purpose. It honors all kinds – well-to-do and hardscrabble, bright and dim, genteel and loutish. The only requirement, but a Read More…

X Story Stream recent articles WASHINGTON — President Trump’s letter canceling his June 12 summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un is a coy piece of manipulation — flattering and threatening Kim at the same time. It’s like the letters people send when breaking up a romance that hasn’t quite ripened. The words seem heartfelt, Read More…

“F.B.I. Used Informant to Investigate Russia Ties to Campaign, Not to Spy, as Trump Claims,” read the headline on a lengthy New York Times story May 18. “The Justice Department used a suspected informant to probe whether Trump campaign aides were making improper contacts with Russia in 2016,” read a story in the May 21 Read More…

Good morning, it’s Friday, May 25, 2018. Marie Castello was born in Neptune City, New Jersey on this date in 1915. If you don’t know that name, you’re probably not for the Jersey Shore. I’m not either, but I know rock ’n’ roll, which is why several years ago on a trip to Asbury Park, Read More…

WASHINGTON (AP) — For President Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un may be the deal that got away. Trump and his team weathered insults, tolerated unanswered phone calls and waited hours for negotiating partners who never showed up as they sought to keep the planned Singapore summit with Kim on track. With prospects dimming and aides Read More…

President Trump has many limitations, to put it mildly, but he is brilliant at the dark art of branding. Those seeking to hold him accountable had better study his technique — and learn to fight fire with fire. Witness how Trump is trying to use the word “spy” as a weapon against the FBI, the Read More…

X Story Stream recent articles With the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference now in its second year, Democratic pollsters are offering the party a way to hone a persuasive counterargument to President Trump’s revved up rhetoric against Robert Mueller: talk less about the 2016 election and more about indictments handed down thus far. Read More…

X Story Stream recent articles If you had asked me six months ago who I thought would win control of the House of Representatives in 2018, I wouldn’t have hesitated before answering, “It’s early, but Democrats are heavily favored, although conventional wisdom has been very slow to catch up.” With a raft of GOP retirements Read More…

When bluster ends in capitulation, what do other negotiating partners see? Blood in the water. North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, surely absorbed the lesson from the Trump administration’s recent dealings with China. He saw how rashly President Trump waged trade war against China and how rapidly he retreated at the first sign of serious Read More…

President Donald Trump doubled down on calling members of a notorious street gang “animals.” Good for him for not backing down and for shining a light on an outrageous phenomenon, especially in Southern California: Latino gangs that target blacks, whether or not they belong to gangs, for death. Trump, during a roundtable discussion last week Read More…

X Story Stream recent articles WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday granted a rare posthumous pardon to boxing’s first black heavyweight champion, clearing Jack Johnson’s name more than 100 years after what many see as his racially-charged conviction. “I am taking this very righteous step, I believe, to correct a wrong that occurred Read More…

X Story Stream recent articles WASHINGTON (AP) — In a dramatic diplomatic turn, President Donald Trump on Thursday called off next month’s summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, calling the cancellation a “tremendous setback” for peace and stressing that the US military was ready to respond to any “foolish or reckless acts” by the Read More…

X Story Stream recent articles There has been a lot of misinformation about both getting out of the so-called Iran deal and getting into a new North Korean agreement. The two situations may be connected, but not in the way we are usually told. Getting out of the Iran deal did not destroy trust in Read More…

X Story Stream recent articles If you had asked me six months ago who I thought would win control of the House of Representatives in 2018, I wouldn’t have hesitated before answering, “It’s early, but Democrats are heavily favored, although conventional wisdom has been very slow to catch up.” With a raft of GOP retirements Read More…

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump praised an NFL policy banning kneeling during the “The Star-Spangled Banner,” saying that “maybe you shouldn’t be in the country” if you don’t stand for the anthem. Trump spoke to “Fox & Friends” in an interview that aired Thursday. The policy forbids players from sitting or taking a knee Read More…