opinion

An offensively stupid comment by influential and presumably smart people sometimes brings awareness to a subject that would otherwise be largely ignored. Example No. 1: There would be less reporting recently on the plight of homeless veterans had Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert...

When you get fed up with all the greed and narcissism that seems to rule our country, a good way to restore your faith in humankind is to reflect on the generosity of people like Ron Read — a philanthropist from Dummerston, Vt. Read was no splashy, self-celebrating, David Koch-Michael...

Minnesota legislators have been asked by Gov. Dayton and various groups to support significant increases in the dedicated taxes used to fund our state's transportation system. We understand the need to invest in a safe, reliable, efficient and multimodal transportation system in...

Well, the joke’s on us. Remember during the recent “Saturday Night Live” anniversary special when Sarah Palin conducted a faux Q&A with Jerry Seinfeld? It went like this: Palin: “How much do you think (producer) Lorne Michaels would pay me if I were to run in 2016?”...

I think we’ve missed one possible explanation for Rudy Giuliani’s behavior: Maybe he’s concealing the fact that he suffered a blow to the head severe enough to cause lasting damage to his prefrontal cortex. For those who haven’t done a Web search as I have, so I can now pretend...

Why has the Obama administration tied itself in knots over what to call Islamic terrorism? We know the president has rejected the term in favor of “violent extremism,” ordering his administration not to refer to Islamic terrorists like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria as Islamic....

If you watched this year’s Academy Awards, you probably know that March 2 marks the 50th anniversary of the U.S. debut of the beloved film “The Sound of Music.” (If you watched the slate of obscure nominees for Academy Awards, you probably also know that the Hollywood hills...

Comprehensive immigration reform’s first death knell sounded in 2012 when President Obama unilaterally removed some young adult aliens from deportation, rewarded them with Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), and issued them Social Security numbers. Called deferred action...

There are numerous entitlement programs intended to help poor people. Like any program, they have a good side and a bad side. On the good side they work as intended and provide food shelter medical aid, etc. for many people. On the bad side they are highly corrosive to families...

I admit it: I love the snow and the cold. I love to be outside, gazing up at the stars on cold, crisp evenings. I love how the snow blankets my hillsides. And most of all, I love how snow disrupts daily life — particularly in Washington, D.C. I lived in Washington for nearly...

Things have changed so seriously that we understand in far better ways how Americans are duped by those much more involved in profit than they are in safety; one can see women advertising fracking and calling it a way to guarantee the safe and independent supply of oil. Women being...

On Feb. 17, while shopping at Marketplace, the friend accompanying me relinquished my place in line to a woman and her boys. They proceeded to be checked out, then left the store. Once my items were processed, the cashier informed me that the previous lady and boys had paid $30 toward...

Scott Walker belongs to an embattled minority that happens to be most of the population. The root of this paradox is that Walker is an outlier among the political class in not having graduated from college, at the same time that a solid two-thirds of the country lacks a four-year...

YOLO! That’s slang for “You only live once,” and the phrase was popularized by the rapper Drake in his 2011 hit song “The Motto.” (We had to look that one up.) It was also used by the president of the United States to end a recent video produced by the website BuzzFeed....