The Off-the-Cuff Breakthrough on Syria

The Off-the-Cuff Breakthrough on Syria

John Kerry may have just accidentally earned himself a Nobel Peace Prize. In off-the-cuff remarks to reporters, the Secretary of State reiterated his support for a U.S. attack on Syria, saying Bashar al-Assad could only ward off a U.S. strike by turning over his...
A Trumped-Up War on Welfare

A Trumped-Up War on Welfare

You’re the top 1 percent. You pocket one out of every five dollars of the nation’s income — more than double your slice of that pie in 1976. You want even more, but the masses are catching on. What do you do? You get your minions to attack the bottom 1...
The Russian-American Beat Must Go On

The Russian-American Beat Must Go On

The Edward Snowden drama has skipped from Washington through Hawaii and Hong Kong and into Moscow. Now, the storyline is back to Washington. Thanks to Russia’s decision to grant Snowden asylum for a year, Obama canceled a bilateral meeting with President...
Confessions of a Repentant War of 1812 Reenactor

Confessions of a Repentant War of 1812 Reenactor

It began innocently enough. I volunteered on a museum’s boat-building project — a replica of a longboat of the type used by Commodore Perry in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. Before I knew what was happening, there I was in period military...
The Legacy of 9/11

The Legacy of 9/11

The 9/11 attacks comprise one of those events that you remember where you heard of it and how, like the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor was for old-timers and JFK’s assassination was for middle-timers. I had recently retired (for the first time) and was sitting...