Hate crime law: Unwise, unconstitutional
WASHINGTON — After showing off his swastika tattoo, Randy Metcalf became involved in a barroom brawl. One of his opponents was an African American,...
Can Pence head to the moderate center?
Vice President Mike Pence journeyed back home to Indiana Sept. 22 to make his pitch for President Trump’s emerging tax reform plan. “The good...
The government’s twist on morality
Acey deucy is a simple card game in which everybody antes, then each player takes a turn betting whether the next card will fall...
Giving thanks for, yes, journalism
Thanksgiving is a splendid holiday, but also a useful one. It reminds us that gratitude is a virtue. We owe the most satisfying parts...
It wasn’t all Steve Bannon
Republican politics was starting to feel like a version of Mel Brooks’ “The Producers.” In the play, two scammers devise a tax write-off scheme...
Offended sports and art patrons, rise up!
“How can we know the dancer from the dance?”
That sentence has been stuck in my head for as long as I can remember. By making...
Modesty — and grasping the ‘truth’
Early in George W. Bush’s first term, I was dining with a friend who didn’t agree with my worldview. He challenged my certitude, allowing...
Billy Graham: Neither prophet nor theologian
Asked in 1972 if he believed in miracles, Billy Graham answered: Yes, Jesus performed some and there are many “miracles around us today, including...
Are social media companies anti-social?
In 1964, the novelist Eugene Burdick published “The 480.” The best-selling book described, as Burdick wrote in his preface, “people who work with slide...
South Dakota asks the Supreme court to circumvent Congress and the market
South Dakota has become what South Carolina once was — stubborn, pugnacious and wrong. In 1860, South Carolina became the first state to vote...