Politics, Moderate
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Trump Is Good at the Game of Politics. Leadership, Not So Much.
SAN DIEGO -- In politics, as in life, nothing is 100% good or bad. If you believe otherwise, it's time to check your bias and blindspots.
Take the chaotic second term of President Donald Trump. There are good things happening. You just have to look hard to find them.
I've been on the lookout. Fairness demands it. So does my own desire to ...Read more
Trump Failed Ukraine, the Cause of Freedom and the American People
SAN DIEGO -- It's too bad the Academy Awards are over with. President Donald Trump would be a shoo-in for what could well be the performance of a lifetime.
If Trump isn't really a compromised Russian asset who puts Moscow's interests ahead of those of the United States, he sure plays that role phenomenally well.
The Trump administration has ...Read more
Trump's War With The Media Should Not End in Surrender. Fight On!
SAN DIEGO -- U.S. politicians tend to overuse the word "crisis." Some insist there is a crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border. Public health advocates warn of a health care crisis. Through executive overreach, President Donald Trump might be forcing a constitutional crisis. And we've long been told there's a crisis in our schools.
You know what...Read more
Trump Administration's DEI Purge Implies That Only White Is Right
SAN DIEGO -- The Trump administration's petulant war on DEI -- and its subsequent purge of women, people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community from high-level government jobs -- puts me in a frame of mind where I'm thinking about the afterlife.
My wife believes in reincarnation, and she's convinced me that there might be something to ...Read more
The Media Needs To Be Fair to Trump. And They Can't 'Fake' It.
SAN DIEGO -- To deflect from his own misdeeds, mistakes and mayhem, President Donald Trump likes to accuse the mainstream media of ginning up "fake news."
But one thing that the folks in the Fourth Estate can't fake -- and no longer even bother trying to hide -- is their dislike and disrespect for Trump. Those negative feelings also carry ...Read more
Shall we salute night-shift workers?
Tyrades! by Danny Tyree
My wife’s sister and her husband have for years both worked third shift (a.k.a. “the graveyard shift”), and they seem to be in good company.
About 20 percent of the full-time workforce in the United States participates in some form of shift work (second shift, third shift, rotating shifts, shifting the ...Read more
To Help Me Stay in the Center, Here's Some of What Trump Did Right
SAN DIEGO -- A friend describes me as a "belligerent centrist." I consider myself an honest umpire who calls balls and strikes regardless of who is standing at the plate.
By the way, I got to the center because I dislike both political parties and often can't tell them apart. Republicans and Democrats go through the motions and argue over hot...Read more
Dear Mr. President, Hands off the Judiciary
SAN DIEGO -- Fonzie is about to jump the shark.
Presidents are not kings. It's amazing how many chief executives from both parties tend to forget that -- often at their own peril. The minute presidents start acting like royalty, their presidency is done.
President Donald Trump seems poised to go to war against an institution that chief ...Read more
The history of executive orders
What do the Peace Corps, desegregation of the military, and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II have in common?
They were all established by presidential executive orders, or EOs.
Executive orders are all over the news of late, as President Trump uses his presidential authority to undo many of President Biden’s ...Read more
DEI Critics Say Only White Men Are Qualified. Trump's Cabinet Says Otherwise.
SAN DIEGO -- As a Mexican American journalist who had to struggle and work extra hard for the last 35 years to succeed in an industry that was built for others, I can't swallow white whine. It's way too bitter. Maybe that's because it is made from sour grapes.
Of course, that particular blend does have a fanbase. It is the official beverage ...Read more
Mexican Flags at Immigration Protests Make This Mexican American Wince
SAN DIEGO -- President Donald Trump's recent spate of deportations means different things to different people.
For conservatives, the glorious sight of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents hauling away immigrant workers in handcuffs is evidence of -- in MAGA lingo -- "promises made, promises kept."
Of course, it's likely that some ...Read more
On immigration, taking a lesson from 1924
A century ago, President Calvin Coolidge signed the Johnson-Reed Immigration Act, also known as the Immigration Act of 1924, which precipitated a two-generation-long pause in mass migration.
Upon Coolidge’s signature, multiple benefits to citizen workers ensued immediately. Immigration dropped from 707,000 in 1924 to 294,000 in 1925. Within...Read more