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The poet and the president

In early 1862, Union generals, soldiers and even the commander in chief of the Civil War were literally at a loss. Morale ran low. Taking the oath of office in March 1861, President Abraham Lincoln of Illinois was a newcomer to the nation’s capital. Compared to the flash-and-dash style of winning Confederate general Robert E. Lee, Lincoln was not a military man. Lee, educated at West Point, was a career Union Army officer who chose to side with his state, Virginia, in battle rather than his riven country. For that he’s a traitor, not a noble Southern gentleman, as he’s ...

Remembering Cato co-founder Ed Crane

Within the last six months, two friends, both pioneers and giants in the world of ideas in Washington, D.C., passed from this world. One, Ed Feulner, was the co-founder of the Heritage Foundation, which became the nation’s defining policy institute for conservative ideas. Now, last week, Ed Crane, the co-founder of the Cato Institute, passed away. Ed Crane built Cato to become the major presence in the nation’s capital for libertarian ideas and policy. My personal involvement with Cato began in 1996 when I was invited to join the national advisory board for Cato’s project ...

Some factors make seeing way home much more difficult

If you’re a driver of a certain age, there is a good chance you’ve been “blinded by the light” at night, especially in recent years. The phenomenon has nothing to do with Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, which recorded the 1976 hit song of the same name. But over the last 20 years or so, more and more automobile manufacturers have gone to LED headlights, which are noticeably brighter than the headlights on your parents’ old Buick Regal. Combine those blinding lights on other vehicles with the fading eyesight of some drivers as they age, and it’s a recipe for disaster. But what ...

Bondi shows loyalty only to 1

Let’s hear a word of praise for the ordinary citizens who have called for an end to the too-often reckless invasions of American cities by federal agents carrying out President Trump’s crusade against undocumented immigrants. I am moved by the courage and patriotism of those who have come out on the streets, sometimes in awesome numbers, to demand investigations into and accountability for recent allegations of misconduct by officers of the Department of Homeland Security in Minneapolis, Chicago and elsewhere. These events were spotlighted last week in hearings in the House ...

Poorly managed US government handouts promote fraud

Americans want to help people in need, but when government does that, about 500 billion taxpayer dollars get stolen. It’s how the system is designed, says the United Council on Welfare Fraud’s Andrew McClenahan in this new video. “You’re measuring success by the amount of money you put out.” Because of that, government agencies rarely check whether their handouts go to the right people. Minnesota is just the latest example. Government officials didn’t uncover that fraud — YouTuber Nick Shirley did. I say to McClenahan, “It’s weird that a kid did what ...

Survivors deserve full transparency in Epstein case

“The more Epstein documents get released, the more we see how he had so many powerful friends, and that’s ultimately what helped him,” commented U.S. lawyer Lisa Bloom in an interview with the Guardian. As Bloom, who represents 11 of Jeffrey Epstein’s dogged and brave victims, notes: “That’s not the way the justice system is supposed to work.” From the outset, the Epstein affair has offered a textbook example of the ability of the influential and well-connected to avoid scrutiny and intimidate those who would exert it. A ruthless pursuit of transparency, both ...