Columns

Mexico owns border death truck tragedy

Florida truck driver James Matthew Bradley isn’t the mastermind of the human smuggling ring that led to the grisly deaths of 10 illegal immigrants in his rig, which authorities found at a San Antonio Walmart over the weekend. He’s just a cog in the machine.

From ‘I alone can fix it’ to ‘I won’t own it’

A year ago this week, newly anointed as his party’s candidate for president, Donald J. Trump capped the Republican National Convention in Cleveland by ascending the podium in the Quicken Loans Arena, and offering these words: “Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.”

Democrats ignoring history

I don’t know about you, but I have always loved to read and study Louisiana history. I’ve had the pleasure of teaching the history of the Bayou State at both Tulane University and LSU.

Leftists tormented by Trump’s inspiring Warsaw speech

Once upon a time, praising the essence of what is America was a good thing. Normal even. Not anymore. Do that now and you are written off as a racist or a member of the alt-right. Mention God and country and you are branded a “Nazi.” Talk about traditional family values and you are a homophobe.

Americans in need of a vacation

Boy, I could use a vacation about now — like millions of other hardworking Americans. According to a recent study by the U.S. Travel Association’s Project Time Off, 54 percent of American employees ended 2016 with unused time off — a total of about 662 million unused vacation days.

Do we understand the significance?

It appears that all too many in our great country naively believe that the United States survived and thrived for the last 241 years, only because of the industry of its people. Such a prideful view point is indeed unfortunate.

Louisiana, California bear misconceptions

I recently spent time in San Diego, California, at a NRECA convention. NRECA is the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Its roots go back to the Rural Electrification Act of 1936. It was enacted by FDR as part of the New Deal.

I guess Donald Trump was tight

At his big rallies last fall President Trump kept telling his supporters that, “We’re just going to win and win so much you’re going to get tired of winning.” No one ever gets tired of winning, especially a rookie politician that everyone in the establishment predicted would be a loser.

The double murder of Otto Warmbier

We may never know what brutal torture and malign neglect American student Otto Warmbier suffered at the hands of North Korea’s dictatorship before losing his life this week at the age of 22. But it wasn’t the first time the free-spirited Ohio native died.

From cliches to abuse of journalistic style

I can’t stop myself from keeping a mental list of words and phrases that have been bastardized beyond repair by journalists. They range from the trite, such as “Breaking News,” to the abused, such as “anonymous sources.” For TV journalists they include crutch phrases such as “at the end of the day.”