Congress Enjoying Recess or Awol? on August 9, 2021The House of Representatives is in recess until September 20, 2021. The Senate plans to recess from August 2nd until September 10th. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, however, has put the House members on a twenty-four hour alert to return, if summoned to consider new legislation, possibly the Infrastructure Bill, which is making its way through […]
Happy July 4th America and Britain on July 2, 2020As America celebrates the 244th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised that July 4th will also be “independence day” for the UK by reopening the country for business. Yet, in both countries, Corona/Covid-19 cases are soaring, particularly among American youth. In Bournemouth on England’s south coast, the BBC […]
Dying to see the president on June 27, 2020Last Saturday, Donald Trump held a political rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma as outbreaks of Covid-19 were reaching new highs in the state. Virtually every medical and scientific expert predicted that the rally would further ignite infections and possible deaths raising this critical question: would you risk dying to see the president? Never before in American […]
Dying To See The President on June 25, 2020Last Saturday, Donald Trump held a political rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma as outbreaks of Covid-19 were reaching new highs in the state. Virtually every medical and scientific expert predicted that the rally would further ignite infections and possible deaths raising this critical question: would you risk dying to see the president? Never before in American […]
The new maga: making America Gaga! on June 17, 2020Donald Trump’s marquis four letter slogan that got him to the White House and now is central to his re-election campaign is MAGA: Make America Great Again. Despite the rhetoric flourish, the term is and was oxymoronic. A more fitting MAGA is “Making America GAGA.” GAGA is a non-technical term referring not to the entertainer […]
Two June Battles That Changed History on June 11, 2020Last week marked the anniversary of two of the most important battles in American history: Midway June 3rd-7th, 1942 and the Normandy invasion June 6th, 1944. Both battles have been analyzed and re-analyzed in millions of books, research papers and reports. What has been missing, however, is how seemingly minor, secondary or unexpected events became […]
The fifth horseman on May 28, 2020A Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse now threatens mankind. This rider brings with it Massive Acts of Disruption. This new MAD must be contained and prevented as nuclear armageddon was under the Cold War MAD doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction. Corona/Covid-19 was the deadly purveyor of the new MAD. In earlier books I re-characterized the […]
Is corona’s greater threat to America’s political health and not only to public health? on May 20, 2020This column has raised many questions pertinent to the Corona virus. Why for example has the U.S. stock market remained so vibrant despite record global unemployment and dramatic economic decline? Despite whatever Donald Trump does, for good or ill, how does he sustain 42-43% levels of approval and support? And finally, why have the lessons […]
Succession in the age of Corona on May 13, 2020With the Corona Virus and Covid-19 infecting the White House, the issue of presidential succession is no longer academic. Elected leaders are not immune to this equal opportunity pandemic. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson was so afflicted and temporarily turned his duties over to the Foreign Secretary. The line of succession in the United States […]
A war will not beat Corona on May 7, 2020Too often, as this column has noted, declaring war against something is a common political response to crises. Unfortunately, America’s record in winning wars it starts, either against military or non-military dangers, would not gain entry into the geopolitical equivalents of the Super Bowl or World Series. Indeed, that record has been pretty dismal. Wars […]