I had a commentary on foreign policy on my mind for this week. I still do. But it can wait. The attempted attack at the White House Correspondents dinner in Washington last Saturday can’t. …

As the nation prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday this year, it seems worthwhile to consider how closely we’ve hewed to the Founders’ vision for their new creation, and likewise how far …

Winnie the Pooh turns 100 years old this year. Not bad for A Bear of Very Little Brain, as he was wont to describe himself. My folks introduced me to Pooh some 80 years ago, about 20 years after his …

In the movie version of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” attorney Atticus Finch’s young daughter Scout says to a schoolmate of hers at dinner, “What in the Sam Hill are you doing?” It’s the same …

It’s pretty amazing how much progress the medical community has made in the past century or so. Some basics haven’t changed much, but new research, medications, treatments, surgeries and …

Tuesday of last week was St. Patrick’s Day, “the day when everyone’s Irish,” as the saying goes. I’ve always gone along with the celebration, wearing green and saying “top o’ the …

In times of war (and that’s what the U.S. is engaged in with Iran, regardless of what our government calls it), there is usually more than one cause. That’s true in spades for the current …

Kathy and I attended a Greene County High School performance last Saturday evening of Anastasia the Musical. It’s based on the animated film Anastasia, about the Romanov princess who, according to …

When it comes to the First and Fifth Amendments, I’m a Jeffersonian Jeffersonian. The amendments are two of the ten in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. Thomas Jefferson didn’t write …

To public officials and political candidates of all stripes: enough already with the foul language. nnGovernment leaders since the founding of the United States have used off-color words. …

The works of William Shakespeare exist in the public domain. That means a writer can use, or copy, anything The Bard (1564-1616) wrote in his 39 plays, 154 sonnets, 3 long narrative poems, and other …

Standard majority rule now governs state income tax decisions in Iowa. The state’s constitution requires that five procedural steps be taken to change that. Three of those steps have already been …

Laws and leaders that ban diversity, equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices of public institutions, and even try to extend the ban to the private sector, argue that DEI potentially discriminates …

Words matter. It’s why government agencies and private corporations pay big bucks to hire someone to tell their story. Call that person a communications director, or a …

A recent email from the Iowa attorney general’s office to Greene County assistant attorney Laura Snider is of great concern to Greene County’s attorney Thomas Laehn. That’s because it displays …

Greenland, again? Really? Apparently yes. Donald John Trump, President of the United States, on Jan. 9 vowed to take control of Greenland, an autonomous part of America’s NATO ally Denmark. In …

A few days ago a team effort by U.S. military, intelligence, and law enforcement personnel seized Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, and took them into American custody. …

In my column last week I discussed five of 10 people I much admired in 2025: Liz Cheney, Art Cullen, Jose Andres, Audi Crooks and Volodomyr Zelensky. Here are the other five (taking some license for …

The American writer James Agee, together with photographer Walker Evans, in 1941 released “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men,” a book documenting the lives of impoverished Southern sharecroppers …

Donald Trump’s second presidential term is nearly a year old now, and his Republican Party maintains control of both houses of Congress. Americans have had ample opportunity to weigh the pluses and …