I’m ready for a new mission.

The Biden administration has already brought a certain measure of normalcy to the management of foreign policy, that is to say upon the duopoly of two nations that challenge the national interests of the United States – Russia and China. Strategically, both of them are classified as “competi…

Public education is one of the most important pillars of our, and any, community.

The differences between an ideologue – someone who subscribes completely to a political ideology (whether conservative or liberal) and a pragmatist – someone who is concerned almost exclusively with the practical results of a specific public policy – is the biggest divide in American politics.

A few weeks ago, this column focused on the need for citizens who are unhappy with the state of our political and justice systems to speak up about their concerns.

"We are not supporting doing any vaccine passports in the state of Florida," declared Gov. Ron DeSantis. "It's completely unacceptable," he said, for either government or the private sector to require showing proof of vaccination against COVID-19 "to just simply participate in normal society."

This much can be said without fear of contradiction: There has been a spike in disgusting crimes against Asian Americans during the past year. One analysis of 16 of the country's largest cities found that acts of anti-Asian bias, not just crimes, increased by 145% between 2019 and 2020, even…

Just a few short weeks ago, spring had not yet fully sprung here in our valley, though she was hunched down on her haunches, anxious to leap into full splendor. Sure, snowdrops and crocuses had shown up earlier, but they were more of a last gorgeous gasp of winter; a welcome, but still chill…

This week, I had an email exchange with a person who had every reason to be disappointed in me.

For something like 60 years, I’ve been driven to understand the Big Picture. Although I focus particularly on the human world, I also try to comprehend the rest of what we’re part of – from things at the smallest level (like subatomic particles and quarks) through the story of life on Earth …

When will we be able to attend a live performance? That question is being asked angrily in France, where theater is more central to the national culture. (America has no national theater.) But we should ask that here as well. Broadway remains shuttered, as are indoor theaters and concert hal…

With Democrats now in control of the House, Senate and White House, many of the most significant policy battles of the next two years will be determined by intraparty fights within the Democratic Party's various factions.

And now there are 11. Eleven jurisdictions in the United States have now legalized the act of suicide when it is the product of consultation between a terminally ill patient and a qualified medical person.

Biden has surprised me.

We need to talk about what happened last week when police confronted a mentally disturbed man at a convenience store near Washington, D.C.

Undocumented immigrants have been surging to the U.S. border, some wearing T-shirts with the Biden campaign logo and the words "Please let us in!" What gave them the idea that they could just show up and come on in? President Joe Biden did.

"This is a violent civilization – if civilization's where I am."

It sometimes feels as though our democracy is broken, and I wonder if it is our own fault. We have the right to know what our government does on our behalf, but we have become an apathetic citizenry, apparently not caring enough to speak up when we don't like how politicians run the governme…

How to explain Joe Biden's ideological transformation over the years? Perhaps it's the same as the explanation of why the chameleon's complexion changes when he moves from desert to forest: adaptation to local terrain.

Baseball is back, and not a moment too soon. America – and especially Washington – in 2021 desperately needs the values and the constancy of baseball. Nobody put baseball better than did war hero, team owner and American original Bill Veeck: "Baseball is almost the only orderly thing in a ve…

The acrid atmosphere last week at the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska, with its vivid murals of the 18th-century British seafarer James Cook's discoveries throughout the Pacific, sounds very much like the acrid atmosphere almost exactly 60 years ago in the Beaux-Arts American and Sov…

There were many times, I'm sure, when my mother was disappointed in me, but one memory is seared into my brain like rice scorched into the bottom of a forgotten pot on the stove. Imagine it's your mom's favorite pot. The one she inherited from the good grandmother.

Hello, it's me again, your freshly vaccinated columnist, here to tell you about Dose No. 2.

There are two reasons I’ve been preoccupied with how the majority of the Republican base has so thoroughly bought the big lie about the election being stolen: Because that lie

Shortly after the cooling of the earth when I was a younger man, I managed political campaigns for governor, for mayor, for the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House. Some of my candidates, in spite of my brilliant managing, actually won. I learned early on that the legendary Speaker of the Califor…

A (formerly) picturesque area of the southern portion of Shenandoah County has been mutilated and trashed – despite vigorous community opposition – with the approval of the Shenandoah Planning Commission.

The furor Mr. Biden’s executive order allowing biological men to dominate women’s sports is viewed unfavorably by a majority of Americans, including many in the homosexual community. Both sides of the debate frame the ongoing discussion as an issue of freedom. But transgender supporters fail…

A bit of optimism, such as President Biden is trying to instill, is in the national interest. It is something that should be enhanced for the single overarching reason that America needs to show the world that it still has the moral strength and the sheer gumption to emerge stronger from a c…