Fighting off assaults on Second Amendment

January 23, 2020

Had 22,000 people showed up in Richmond, Virginia, to demand stronger gun control laws, it is a safe bet that proponents of them would pronounced the crowd to be conclusive proof most Americans want such restrictions. But when a group estimated at that size demonstrated on Monday against new firearms ownership limits, some gun control advocates insisted the crowd was small — and evidence not many people worry about Second Amendment rights. “I was prepared to see a whole lot more people show up than actually did, and I think it’s an indication that a lot of this rhetoric is ...

Puerto Rico reform is refreshing

January 22, 2020

Puerto Rican Gov. Wanda Vasquez is fighting back against the corruption and inefficiency that has hindered efforts to help hurricane victims on her island. Good for her. U.S. officials should provide all the support at their disposal. On Sunday, Vasquez fired the heads of two government agencies, the departments of housing and families. Though Vasquez did not cite specific reasons for her action, she said she had lost confidence in the two. More firings may be coming, the governor added. Her action came after a video was posted online, showing a warehouse in the city of Ponce ...

Justice owed American hero since WWII

January 21, 2020

Many Americans became heroes on Dec. 7, 1941, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. One of them, a Navy mess attendant, had been told he wasn’t even supposed to fire guns — because he was black. He was Doris “Dorie” Miller, a young Texan serving aboard the battleship USS West Virginia. Now, the Navy has announced it plans to name a new aircraft carrier after him. That is among the highest honors our government can bestow. It is deserved. Miller enlisted in the Navy at a time when racist discrimination was still permitted in the armed forces. African-Americans ...

Martin Luther King Jr. Day honors legacy of civil rights leader

January 20, 2020

Today, Monday, Jan. 20, is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a day to celebrate King’s birthday and honor his legacy as leader of the civil rights movement. The day, approved as a federal holiday in 1983, was the first federal holiday to honor an African American. In 1963, King gave his famous speech, later known as “I Have a Dream,” before the Lincoln Memorial during a peaceful march on Washington. His speech, considered as one of the finest speeches in the history of American oratory, helped with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The speech begins: “I say to you ...

Militant Iranian leaders acting like thugs

January 18, 2020

"Give me your lunch money or I’ll beat you up,” says the school yard bully. So do Iranian leaders, this week. They never had any intention of canceling their development of nuclear weapons, despite their agreement to suspend the project during former President Barack Obama’s administration. They signed the deal solely to gain economic benefits, including the release of $150 billion in assets that had been seized by the United States many years ago. Once President Donald Trump said this country was pulling out of the so-called “Iran deal” and would enforce economic ...

Impeachment should not distract us

January 17, 2020

If you doubt that too many Americans have become preoccupied with President Donald Trump, either favorably or unfavorably, consider a news report this week. It involved Russian computer hackers and Burisma, the Ukrainian natural gas company. “A cybersecurity company says Russian military agents have sucessfully hacked the Ukrainian gas company at the center of the scandal that led to President Donald Trump’s impeachment,” read the first sentence of the Associated Press story on the subject. Indeed, Burisma and the impeachment saga are linked. But rather than delve into that ...