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Americans grow increasingly cynical

National Columnists

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 ...

Invisible forces keep doors open

National Columnists

We're not southern enough to be yes, ma'am or no, sir, but I try to nudge manners into my kids' daily interactions with strangers. Today, I nudged him when I saw two women cross the parking lot and asked him to open the restaurant door. One of the women was older and one much younger, ...

Iran unlikely to give up nukes pursuit

National Columnists

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

National Columnists

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 ...

AI replacing workers reduces tax revenue

National Columnists

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the U.S. government would receive most of the revenue to provide services to the American people via the revenue received from personal income taxes. It also is how we fund Social Security, Medicare and unemployment compensation as "workers pay into" those systems to derive their benefits from these government systems when eligible. My question: What happens when we have a dramatic decrease in monies going into those funds as well as into the federal coffers? Well, it would mean we would have to make major adjustments in the scope of many ...

Gitmo and torture revisited

National Columnists

America's longest current criminal prosecution is in its 15th year, on its fifth judge, and still has no trial date. The defendants are Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four alleged mass murder co-conspirators. Mohammed is the second person that the government has characterized as the ringleader of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Originally, the feds had labeled Osama bin Laden as the ringleader. Yet, rather than charging and arresting bin Laden, in order to keep him quiet it sent a team of Navy Seals to his home in Pakistan to murder him and his wife and their children. After that, the feds ...