Columns

War on science

Published on Tue, 04/10/2018 - 12:00am
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We’ve been told conservatives don’t believe in science and that there’s a “Republican war on science.”

But John Tierney, who’s written about science for The New York Times for 25 years and now writes for the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal, told me in my latest online video, “The real war on science is the one from the left.”

Really? Conservatives are more likely to be creationists -- denying evolution.

“Right,” says Tierney. “But creationism doesn’t affect the way science is done.”

Needed Now: An Article V convention of states

Published on Tue, 04/10/2018 - 12:00am
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Ok, I get it: a lot of you are against a convention of states for proposing amendments to the Constitution. But a lot of us are for it, and more would be if it were better understood. An Article V convention of states for proposing amendments is entirely appropriate and legal. Furthermore, it is prescribed by the US Constitution itself. The Framers saw it as the specific corrective measure to be used if, in the future, the federal government was found to have overstepped its bounds, and was operating beyond its enumerated powers.

Donald Trump didn’t lie to farmers

Published on Mon, 04/09/2018 - 12:00am
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Farmers keep asking why Donald Trump is hurting them on trade when they helped elect him. The better question is: Why did they help elect him?

Candidate Trump promised a trade war, and he delivered. No hidden agenda here.

Republicans and patriotism

Published on Mon, 04/09/2018 - 12:00am
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The election night words of the long-shot Republican candidate after his upset victory remain with me to this day: “I learned long ago that serving only oneself is a petty and unsatisfying ambition. But serve a cause greater than self-interest and you will know a happiness far more sublime than the fleeting pleasure of fame and fortune.”

Can the Forest Service reform its abusive culture?

Published on Thu, 04/05/2018 - 12:00am
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When the Public Broadcasting Service’s NewsHour aired an investigation titled “Rape, Harassment and Retaliation in the U.S. Forest Service” in March, reactions inside the agency ran the gamut. Many managers said they were uncertain about the future of the agency. Others felt they could no longer do their jobs because they feared accusations of harassment. Targets of harassment — both women and men — celebrated. For his part, Forest Service Chief Tony Tooke resigned days later, after acknowledging that he was also being investigated for sexual misconduct.

College Blues

Published on Thu, 04/05/2018 - 12:00am

In those days, you could tell by the size of the envelope. A thick envelope, full of registration materials and welcoming letters, meant you got in. A thin one was a one-page rejection. They all came the same day. My mailbox was full of thin envelopes -- plus a fat one from my last-choice school.

These days, news, bad and good, comes by email. It came last week: One young man in Houston, Texas, got in to all 20 schools he applied to. This column is not for him.

Nature’s great bird migration threatened by you-know-who

Published on Wed, 04/04/2018 - 12:00am

You could call it the Nebraska bird eclipse. At the first dart of morning light, so many sandhill cranes take off from the banks along the Platte River they darken the sky. This primeval spectacle, part of a massive spring migration from South America to the northern reaches, draws viewers from around the world.

For a century — through depression, world war and countless other national crises — American presidents, Republican and Democrat alike, have honored laws ensuring the survival of these migrating species.

Until this one.

Timber titan appeals to high court over fire

Published on Mon, 04/02/2018 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON — When the country’s second-largest lumber producer tries to take the U.S. Justice Department to the Supreme Court over a forest fire that started under the distracted gaze of a watchtower forester — who at the time was reportedly peeing on his own bare feet — you can expect a few sparks to fly.

Democrats’ votes come from the center

Published on Mon, 04/02/2018 - 12:00am

Recent elections give the lie to the notion that America wants fiery liberal activists to run the country — an idea put forth mainly by fiery liberal activists. It turns out that even Democrats don’t necessarily want them.

Consider a recent House primary race in Illinois. If there is any Democrat a liberal might want to see the last of, it’s Chicago-area Rep. Dan Lipinski. Lipinski voted against the Affordable Care Act because of the mandate requiring employers to cover birth control. (Let the record show that he’s since opposed Republican efforts to kill Obamacare.)

Who’s counting?

Published on Fri, 03/30/2018 - 12:00am
By Susan Estrich
Syndicated Columnist

 

Every day is its own cable news show.

I’m not talking about MSNBC or Fox News. I’m talking about the White House network: the place where the anchor in chief watches television every day and then spends the time he is not watching television tweeting, reacting and giving Sean Hannity his topic for the night.

Yesterday, the topic was the census.

A normal person might ask: What could Donald Trump say about the U.S. census that could possibly give Hannity a show?