Columns

Perspective on populism and partisanship

I write this sitting at a cafe in front of the Italian Parliament, waiting for the president to resign.

The Road to Serfdom: Part I

Today, the importance of knowing history could never be greater for America as the growing threat of Marxism, war, debt, inflation, and anti-religion seem to be converging at one time. In fact, all these same issues were converging on the world in the 1930s before WWII.

One night in The Big Easy-as pie

It’s time for another installment of “Places You Should Visit While You Can Still Bend Down to Tie Your Shoes without Making Involuntary Bodily Noises”!

Does your hometown stink?

According to the Washington Examiner, 2022 has handed New York City an alarming spike in citizen complaints about outdoor odors. (“I hope you appreciate me doing my civic duty. It’s not easy to use a cellphone to make a 311 call and publicly urinate at the same time. Oops…sorry, graffiti.

Trump 2024 is too risky for Republicans

Donald Trump is out there speaking and drawing fired-up crowds in places like Illinois. It’s obvious that he’s still the most popular figure and dominant force in the Republican Party.

Rice, gravy, and corn-fed Cajuns

I have been told that a true Cajun raised on the prairies can look at a field of growing rice and tell exactly how much gravy it will require to cover the harvested crop. If that’s so, it is an acquired skill. Cajuns came late to the rice field.

January 6 hearings are not Watergate

I was 11 during the summer of 1973 when the Watergate hearings were televised. The memory is still very clear in my mind, and it was a watershed moment for a young girl who thought her country was perfect. It clearly wasn’t.

Higher police standards to protect our kids

There is a poignant family portrait, painted in 1943 by Norman Rockwell, called “Freedom of Fear,” that shows a mother and father standing over their sleeping children. The father holds a newspaper with a headline that refers to the Blitz of London by German planes.

Does your body hate you?

Trust me when I declare that I am not competing for sympathy against folks suffering from cancer, blocked arteries, diabetes or other serious ailments. I do nonetheless think that my body is out to get me. And not just with the chronic aches, pains and wrinkles that accompany normal aging.

Make national parks free for all

For just one day this summer — and if you’re planning a vacation, it’s Thursday, Aug. 4 — entrance fees are waived at the 110 national parks that normally charge admission.