When we filtered in for coffee at the Mule Barn truck stop, we were surprised to see Jim Albertson already there, already drinking coffee and looking as though he lost his last friend. It’s so unlike him, because Jim’s job as principal of our local high school and middle school has been fun for him. […]

It’s not unusual to hear House Democrats vow to “get to the bottom” of the Trump-Russia matter — as if the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, with 500 witnesses, 2,800 subpoenas, 500 search-and-seizure warrants, and nearly 300 records of electronic communications, was somehow unable to fully probe allegations that the Trump campaign and Russia […]

A litany of state laws aimed to alter the Second Amendment have descended trespassing other amendments as well, permitting “police-led searches” of our social media, thus effectively “abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press” constitutionally protected in the First Amendment.  Disagreeable speech is labeled “hate speech.” Presently at least 179 counties in the […]

Two or three news cycles back, the Prevaricator in Chief made a shocking allegation. Or, that is to say, a charge that would be astonishing and unsettling coming from any president but him: “My Campaign for President was conclusively spied on,” Trump thundered on Twitter. “Nothing like this has ever happened in American Politics. A […]

Five years ago, for Memorial Day 2014, I wrote about the five Bailey brothers of World War II. This year, I’m writing about them maybe for the last time. Yes, there were no less than five Baileys who served in WWII. That fact is known to those who attend the annual Memorial Day parade in […]

When our loved ones join the military, we know that wearing the uniform could cost them their lives. Military family members do all kinds of calculations about the potential price of serving this nation. We run the numbers and wargame the risks; we bargain with God and make deals with the devil hoping our service […]

Just a few months ago Saudi Arabia’s leader, Mohammed bin-Salman (MBS), was on the defensive. He had authorized the murder of an independent journalist, his domestic “reforms” had turned out to be fanciful, and the US Congress had moved to deprive him of the military support he had counted on continue his war crimes in […]

A bullet pinged past the soldier’s ear as he crouched behind bushes near the frontlines.  A soldier near him suddenly lurched forward, letting out a horrible scream as he crumpled to the ground and died.  All gave some, some gave all. On this Memorial Day, we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice that we […]