My heart aches over the stories I hear about heroin overdoses. Local fathers post stories about their sons and daughters, fatal victims of the heroin market. Police conduct raids. The illegal marketing demand continues to fund Afghanistan poppy farmers. Other … Continue reading
Five score and two years ago, Robert Frost wrote “Mending Wall,” a poem seeking to extract wisdom from stony New England soil. It begins: “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” While he didn’t have Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric in mind, … Continue reading
In M*A*S*H, one of America’s longest-running TV shows, the beloved character Max Klinger dressed as a woman. Klinger hoped to get a so-called “Section 8,” which is a mental-health discharge in the military. Everyone who watched the show when it … Continue reading
I can’t believe that I’m writing an article about using the bathroom. But then, I can’t believe that at a time when our country is faced with immense challenges such as international Islamist terrorism and fiscal and monetary insanity in … Continue reading
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in Crisis magazine.Do you remember the name Daniel Berrigan? Berrigan was a Jesuit priest well-known for his protests of the Vietnam War. He became a household name in the 1960s, along with his brother, Philip Berrigan, also a … Continue reading
With Ted Cruz having dropped out of the 2016 presidential race, there will be a string of eulogies seeking to autopsy his campaign. At least some of those critiques may hit the mark. In particular, Cruz’s campaign strategy went awry … Continue reading
There is much talk and action right now on the issue of a minimum or “just” wage. Typically, those who favor raising the minimum wage tend to the liberal camp. However, some of those who want to raise the minimum … Continue reading
Students at Indiana University-Bloomington recently went into panic mode at the sight of a Dominican friar, who they mistook for a Ku Klux Klan member. Funny? Yes, but also sad. It is a further sign of the state of our universities, and … Continue reading
“The mob is the mother of tyrants.” –Diogenes of Sinope In late August 1968, two months after an assassin killed presidential candidate Senator Robert Kennedy and shortly after Republicans nominated Richard Nixon for president, the Democrats gathered in Chicago to pick … Continue reading
With Donald Trump now such a prominent voice, many of us are confronted with the necessity of explaining him and his behavior to our children. I recently wrote of one such moment. I was watching a Republican presidential debate as … Continue reading
HGTV has captured the attention of millions of devoted followers with its widely popular, “Fixer Upper,” a show about Chip and Joanna Gaines, a cowboy carpenter and his naturally beautiful designer wife in Waco, Texas. Chip and Joanna turn their … Continue reading
I was watching a Republican presidential debate as my eight-year-old, John, sat next to me. Donald Trump, the front-runner, looked left and ripped Ted Cruz as a “liar” before seamlessly pivoting right and skewering Marco Rubio as a “sweating choke … Continue reading
How can we explain the surprising electoral success of Donald Trump, especially in light of his lack of political experience, limited knowledge of and specificity about policy issues, and crude and insulting rhetoric? Who supports him and why do they … Continue reading
This is not an argument for what should happen or what I’d like to happen in the November presidential election, but about what would likely happen in a Donald Trump versus Hillary Clinton race: Clinton would win, and probably by … Continue reading
After the Michigan primary, there has been a predictable round of handwringing from the GOP about why Donald Trump keeps winning despite being neither a Republican nor a conservative. A lot of answers have been bandied about: there are too … Continue reading
To discuss the Republican presidential primary, the executive director of The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College—Dr. Paul Kengor—joined bestselling author, commentator, talk show host, and President Ronald Reagan’s secretary of education—Dr. Bill Bennett—on his “Morning in … Continue reading
In recent years there have been far too many cases in which elections in America have been rigged. As a result of court involvement, the guilty parties have in some cases spent time in prison, in some cases been released … Continue reading
The 2016 Republican presidential nomination is a collision course of competing political and cultural views of America. The nomination is a ferocious war among different cultural, economic, and philosophical forces attempting to lay claim over the Republican Party, and South … Continue reading
The editors and writers of National Review recently did something extraordinary. They came out en masse against a Republican candidate during the primary. Their “Against Trump” symposium and accompanying “Editors introduction” offer up a barrage of attacks on Donald Trump’s surprising presidential candidacy. For the symposium, National … Continue reading
On January 22, 2016, Dr. James Thrasher was a guest on “The Ride Home with John and Kathy” on Pittsburgh’s WORD FM 101.5. Thrasher discusses how the job market has dramatically changed over the past 20 years and how employers … Continue reading
