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Former VP’s book is message for all Americans

Former Vice President Mike Pence is now promoting his new book, "What Conservatives Believe: Rediscovering the American Conscience." Distinct from most stuff appearing now for the nation's 250th birthday, Pence's book is targeted not at the nation as whole, but at the Republican Party in particular. Pence's op-ed in the Wall Street Journal discussing the book is headlined, "A Republican Time for Choosing." He uses the title of Ronald Reagan's famous speech delivered Oct. 27, 1964, at the Republican National Convention, which put Reagan on the national stage, and was his ...

Critics dead wrong (again) on economy

Last week's blockbuster jobs report, with more than 265,000 jobs added when including upward employment revisions, was very welcome news to almost all Americans. The liberal Center for American Progress told us we were already in the danger zone, claiming that "the Trump administration's agenda has generated stagflation: slower growth and faster inflation." These are the same false claims made during Trump's first term, when some critics warned his policies would cause "a second Great Depression." Instead, incomes for American families soared in real terms by more than ...

Loneliness: People do need people

Ashley, North Dakota, is a small farming town where the local diet leans hard on sausage, deep-fried chicken and strudel. It has something of a medical center, but the nearest trauma hospital able to handle the most serious injuries is almost four hours away in Fargo. Yet the elders in McIntosh County, with Ashley as its county seat, frequently live into their 90s, and sometimes beyond. It had the highest proportion of people 85 and older in the country. Doesn't make sense until you see why it does. Stress levels are low. The farmers pursue a lifetime of physical exercise. ...

Americans grow increasingly cynical

In a 2011 Los Angeles Times column titled "When Unity Was All-American," writer George Skelton marked the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor by recalling a time when Americans respected those whom they elected. "What I remember most," he recalled about America during World War II, "are home front adults pulling together, willing to sacrifice, committed to a common goal: victory. Gasoline, tires, meat, sugar and shoes, all rationed, and no one really griping. Government was the protector, not the enemy." Last weekend saw the anniversary of D-Day, an occasion of mind-bending ...

Iran unlikely to give up nukes pursuit

The Trump administration has bent over backward to negotiate an end to Iran's grand plans to develop nuclear weapons. Yet Iran is unlikely ever to abandon its pursuit of the bomb voluntarily. With nuclear weapons, Tehran hopes to become the de facto hegemon of the Middle East. Only then could it effectively coerce or deter both Israel and the wealthy Arab Gulf states. After three months of intermittent war, we are now better acquainted with Iran's intentions and the realities of the conflict. The Iranian regime has never viewed "negotiations" as a path leading to an ultimate "deal." ...

Race, politics, sports intersect

Toward the end of the spring semester, I sent a final email to students in my Sports Icons class at Ohio State University's Lima campus regarding the NAACP's proposed boycott urging Black football players to avoid attending Power 4 conference schools in Southern states that have redrawn their congressional and local legislative districts. I explained that the NAACP is calling on elite Black athletes to take this action due to the Supreme Court's Louisiana v. Callais ruling in April. The NAACP launched its "Out of Bounds" campaign a week after I messaged my students, and although ...