Breaking News

National Columnists

There comes time to choose sides

Sunday night I went to the local cinema to catch the 83-year-old film “Casablanca” starring screen legends Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. I’ve seen it many times, but on this occasion, it seemed to be sending me a message across the decades. The movie opens with a random roundup of the “usual suspects” in Casablanca, Morocco. Someone runs. The armed authorities shoot him in the back. It’s as though what happens in an African city in 1941 foreshadows moments we are seeing in American cities today: armed authority, fear and the casual use of violence. The film’s ...

Five takeaways from college football championship game

Hoo, hoo, hoo, Hoosiers! Seeing the Indiana University Hoosiers win the College Football Playoff National Championship Monday night was the culmination of a season filled with notable lessons. Here are a few from my perspective: 1. In sports — as in many other matters — the experts are often wrong. The same people who tried to justify the exclusion of Notre Dame from the college football playoffs dissed Indiana all season long, including leading up to and throughout the playoffs and even just before the national championship game. They were wrong about the talent, toughness and ...

Most powerful weapon is truth, principles

Recently, Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Ronald Reagan, passed away at age 80. His passing was duly eulogized by the Reagan Foundation and the Young America’s Foundation at the Reagan Ranch. Both noted that Michael, whom I had the privilege to know, devoted his life to writing and speaking about the American principles that so defined his father. No death is ever timely. But there seems something fitting that President Reagan’s legacy would be closed out with the passing of his oldest son in the year of the 250th birthday of our nation. At this time of such ...

Dairy farmers celebrate Whole Milk Act

When word reached the dairy farmers gathered at the Pennsylvania Farm Show that President Donald Trump had signed the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, cheers echoed through the cavernous 24-acre complex packed with farmers, thousands of attendees, and even a few goats, cows and horses. No one was more exuberant at the news than Dave Smith, executive director of the Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association, a trade group founded in the late 19th century that supports and advocates the state’s largest agricultural sector: dairy farming. Less than 10 minutes before the announcement, ...

‘Rugged individualism’ leads to community

During his inaugural address, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said, “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.” Many people have skewered the second part of that statement — and rightfully so. For those who’ve endured it, the warmth of collectivism feels like hell on earth. In the last century, communist regimes slaughtered more than 150 million people. Hundreds of millions more have suffered through scarcity and oppression. Collectivist regimes struggle to keep the lights on and produce enough toilet paper. So much for ...

This is no way to provide shelter

Americans today are justifiably angry about the price of rents and mortgages. Home prices have roughly tripled over the last 25 years, and the median home price is now $415,000. The 30- and 40-somethings are having a tough time buying a first home. Young families may need to pay a whopping $75,000 on a down payment. Democrats and some populist Republicans have convinced the Trump administration to pin the blame on institutional investors, including large banks, private equity firms and hedge funds. The Trump administration is endorsing a proposal to prohibit these firms from buying ...