Here are a couple of things you may not know about recent topics in the news: First, no Secretary of State previous to Hillary Clinton had ever used a government email address or preserved their messages for posterity. And why should they? The law requiring cabinet members to do so didn’t go into effect until […]

The Export-Import Bank has been around for 81 years, providing loans and protections for American companies selling their products abroad. The bank’s charter runs out at the end of June, and renewal has always been a noncontroversial bipartisan process. Not this year. A cabal of right-wing activists ”“ linked to the tea party and the […]

It may be an ominous sign that I’m starting this off with a disclaimer, but here goes: Graduations are wonderful events. They are. They allow students and their families to celebrate a praiseworthy accomplishment, and I know from personal experience that the gowns are almost sweatpants-level comfortable. You can let your belt out a couple […]

There’s no such thing as a predictable political season. No one expected Lyndon Johnson to stand down from his re-election campaign in 1968, and no one foresaw that Sen. George McGovern would need two running mates in 1972. Hardly anyone expected former Gov. Jimmy Carter’s ascension in 1976, and you could have won an enormous […]

Gloucester Times (Mass.), June 1: Many of President Barack Obama’s most high-profile initiatives are under fire in the courts. An interesting analysis piece in The Washington Post’s political blog goes so far as to state that the president’s legacy is in jeopardy. Author Amber Phillips catalogs the challenges facing the president. Just last week, the […]

Carl Johnson’s column on “The Fall of the AL East” on Sunday, June 7, was excellent. It was well researched and well written. He was able to document how baseball’s American League East Division, where the Red Sox reside, has gone from being one of the strongest division’s in baseball to one of its weakest. […]