Syndicated columns

Last week, Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland, a Democrat, signed an executive order pardoning 175,000 marijuana convictions, saying, “Today, we take a big step forward toward ensuring equal justice for all.” But, he said, “this won’t be our last effort. We must continue to move in partnership to build a state and society that is more equitable, more just and leaves no one behind.”

Like many Americans who watched the presidential debate Thursday night, I knew when it was over that there was no way I was going to sleep. So I did something I almost never do: tuned in to the pundit commentary on cable news. I’m glad I did. Not long after the debate, Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on CNN with Anderson Cooper. Watching her calmly and methodically respond to a battering ram of questions from Cooper, it occurred to me: The obvious, logical path out of the mess President Joe Biden created with his disastrous debate performance is for him to bow out with honor and endorse his young, vigorous and talented vice president to stand in his stead.

You know you've touched a nerve with progressive activists when they tell you not just that you're wrong but that you're on the other side.

I watched the Biden-Trump debate alone in a Lisbon, Portugal, hotel room, and it made me weep. I cannot remember a more heartbreaking moment in American presidential campaign politics in my lifetime, precisely because of what it revealed: Joe Biden, a good man and a good president, has no business running for re-election. And Donald Trump, a malicious man and a petty president, has learned nothing and forgotten nothing. He is the same fire hose of lies he always was, obsessed with his grievances – nowhere close to what it will take for America to lead in the 21st century.

Before heading off to North Korea last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a “peace” offering to Ukraine.

After weeks of hype, much spin, great speculation and huge billows of hot air, two men seeking the White House will share a stage for 90 minutes Thursday night in Atlanta. When they're not staring death rays or unleashing insults, Joe Biden and Donald Trump — who plainly loathe one another — will discuss issues. Presumably, those will include crime, immigration and the economy, which are top ...

Until the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, it was hard for feminists to get Americans to take the threat of losing the constitutional right to abortion seriously. Describing Hillary Clinton's inability, in 2016, to shake abortion-rights voters out of their complacency, The New York Times' Lisa Lerer and Elizabeth Dias wrote, "Internal campaign polling and focus groups showed that the issue did not resonate strongly with key groups of voters, because they did not believe Roe was truly at risk."

Don’t take it personally, but I don’t want to go to your protest. This isn’t a commentary about your particular movement or about the anti-Israel rallies this past academic year. I don’t care how foolish or noble the cause. When it comes to gathering in large groups and yelling, you can count me out.

Last week at a Juneteenth concert on the South Lawn of the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris said that on June 19, 1865, after Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, “The enslaved people of Texas learned they were free.” On that day, she said, “they claimed their freedom.”

On Friday, the Supreme Court once more narrowed the power of the government to protect the American people from gun violence. In a 6-3 decision, split along ideological lines, the justices invalidated a rule adopted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that prohibited a device, bump stocks, that effectively turns semiautomatic rifles into machine guns. Although the case involved the interpretation of a federal law and not the 2nd Amendment, it again shows us that the conservative majority on the court will protect gun rights and put lives in needless jeopardy.

The “Father of our Country,” George Washington, was ironically not himself a father — not a biological one anyway. He was a stepfather and raised two of his stepgrandchildren, one of whom was named after him. With his stepchildren/grandchildren and many nieces and nephews, he relished his large family and domestic life. At 17, his stepdaughter Patsy Custis died of a seizure in his arms, and he ...

After Donald Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts, the Heritage Foundation – a right-wing think tank that has, among other things, produced the Project 2025 agenda, a blueprint for policy if Trump wins – flew an upside-down American flag, which has become an emblem for support of MAGA in general and election denial in particular.

The performance of America’s economy over the past two years has been remarkable, especially given the dire predictions of many observers. Remember the economists who forecast a recession in 2023? Remember all those warnings that getting inflation down would require years of high unemployment?

Thursday’s D-Day anniversary – the 80th – is occasioning somber and anxious reflections about the fate of the Atlantic alliance. Somber because the last of the Greatest Generation will soon no longer be with us. Anxious because Donald Trump, and his evident disdain for that alliance, may soon be with us again.

One oddity of Donald Trump’s Bronx rally last month was when the former president invited two rappers – Michael Williams, who performs as Sheff G, and Tegan Chambers, who performs as Sleepy Hallow – to the stage.

Mark my words.

At a time when Americans can barely agree on whether the sky is blue or the grass is green, five women and seven men, all strangers until two months ago, agreed that former president Donald Trump was guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree – a felony. They rendered their verdict Thursday evening with solemnity and care after deliberating over the course of two days.