Harlan Ullman

America is certainly an exceptional country. That was proven again last week. President Joe Biden, without authority or reason, mishandled classified documents. A small number, probably around twenty, had been found in his offices at the Penn-Biden Centers; in his Delaware home, and in his 1967 Corvette parked in a locked garage. How could or […]

With roughly fifty weeks left in 2023, what can Americans expect about how this year will unfold? To borrow from Dickens, will 2023 be the best or worst of times at home and abroad? Optimists will seize the opportunities that exist to make progress on both fronts no matter the highly divisive and divided character […]

No matter what each party promises, both political parties are desperate to find new ideas that will make a difference. With an even more divided and divisive 118th Congress and the 2024 elections looming, will any ideas matter regardless of worth? Or will even good ideas be politically dead on arrival given the intense polarization […]

Boxing Day, 2022 The final act of the 117th Read Nothing Congress was to provide the American public with a $1.7 trillion Omnibus Spending Bill. That bill was obscene, overstuffed and outrageous, reflecting many of the horrors that pass for governing these days. $858 billion went for defence on the quaint and long-outdated notion that […]

Is Ukraine Vladimir Putin’s Vietnam? Will Putin’s Special Military Operation become a quagmire that eviscerates Russia’s army and ultimately leads to its defeat? Or will Putin continue that war no matter the cost expecting that Russia’s advantages in size and mass will overcome Ukraine’s heroic resistance? Many Americans may be uncomfortable with comparing Putin with […]

The US is about to spend a colossal amount of money, some $1.7 trillion, on Infrastructure and Jobs; Chips and Science; and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Taken together, this is the largest spending approved by Congress probably since FDR’s New Deal on what can be called US infrastructure broadly defined. In theory, these three […]

“The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” Article II, US Constitution Who runs the US Government? Article I of the Constitution established the legislature whose many responsibilities range from passing all laws; declaring war; appropriating monies; conducting oversight; and confirming executive appointees. But Congress is not operational. […]

Media attention remains riveted on which party will finally control the House of Representatives and analysis of Donald Trump’s announcement in light of the 2024 presidential sweepstakes. But the most critical conclusion from the November 8th elections has gone unnoticed. Despite throaty warnings that democracy was endangered, it was not. Far worse, it is American […]

While yesterday’s elections will understandably consume today’s media, this column takes a different and historical tack. Two November holidays are eerily relevant to current American politics and the war in Ukraine. Both deserve attention. Guy Fawkes Day and its slogan “Remember, remember the Fifth of November: Gunpowder, Treason and Plot” are not celebrated here. In […]