Columns

Last year, prominent Democrats attempted to stop the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court by threatening to pack the court in retaliation to her nomination. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told his colleagues that "nothing is off the table next year." President Joe Biden made good on that promise with the creation of a 36-member commission to "reform" the court...

The Food and Drug Administration just gave the green light to abortion pills by mail. They are using the coronavirus pandemic as cover, even as people are getting vaccinated and things are opening up. It's disingenuous and it is cruel. Some days at Planned Parenthood on Bleecker and Mott Streets in Manhattan, there is an intimidating man who looks a little like a bouncer outside the abortion clinic, waving girls in so they can't talk to a pro-life sidewalk counselor who simply wants them to know that there are other options, that there are people who will walk with them. ...

President Joe Biden has decided to end the war in Afghanistan. He feels it’s time, and so do a lot of Americans. I feel it too. I’m just not sure feelings should win the day. In his televised address announcing the decision, Biden reiterated American withdrawal can’t be “tied to conditions on the ground” because no one can say what conditions must be met in order to depart...

I haven’t seen much humor in life during the past year or so, but one thing that has been uproariously hilarious lately is the orchestrated media narrative President Joe Biden is bipartisan and conciliatory. Please give me a moment to catch my breath...

Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas raised ire from conservatives for vetoing legislation passed by the Arkansas state legislature that would have banned "gender-affirming" medical treatment for transgender minors. This includes treatment such as hormone therapy, puberty blockers and surgery associated with gender identity...

Wars often arise from uncertainty. When strong countries appear weak, truly weaker ones take risks they otherwise would not. Sloppy braggadocio and serial promises of restraint can trigger wars, too. Empty tough talk can needlessly egg on aggressors. But mouthing utopian bromides convinces bullies that their targets are too sophisticated to counter aggression...

While President Joe Biden's administration doesn't seem to need an excuse to spend money, two recurring arguments for his gigantic $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal are that our roads and bridges are "crumbling" and that modernization would generate economic growth and jobs -- hence its name, the American Jobs Plan. But none of this clever marketing makes any of these claims true...

You know all those "Florida Man" stories? "Florida man arrested for throwing alligator through drive-thru window," "Florida man learns the hard way he stole laxatives, not opioids," etc.? There are several theories for why Florida men stand out so much, starting with Florida is just weird. ...

Ed Bastian made $17 million in 2019 as chief executive officer of Delta Air Lines, Georgia’s largest employer. Bastian just blasted Georgia’s new voting law. He thinks it is racist to require the same sort of ID to vote that Delta requires for its passengers to check in. ...

If Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ever sets up a presidential exploratory committee, it should have to disclose an enormous in-kind contribution from CBS News. The “60 Minutes” segment recently alleging DeSantis distributed the COVID-19 vaccine through pharmacies at the Publix grocery store chain as part of a quid pro quo was so outlandishly wrong, even Democrats in the state have objected. ...

The debate over Georgia's new voting law has been deeply depressing to watch for a number of reasons. The first is that it hasn't really been a debate so much as a lot of performative shouting from all directions. The second is that many of the law's harshest critics don't know what's in it, starting with the president of the United States...

"A crony anti-infrastructure plan" is, sadly, the best description of the Biden administration's proposed $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan. It's insanely expensive and unnecessary, especially coming, as it does, on top of last year's fiscal insanity...

Losing Rush has been tough. Until a few very long weeks ago, he was always in my life. Like other siblings growing up in the same home, we shared experiences that were exclusive to us. Our parents instilled in us -- and we thoroughly absorbed -- their Christian values: their love of God; their unconditional love for each other and for us; their belief in moral absolutes, of truth, of right and wrong; the paramount importance of family; the critical necessity of personal character and integrity; the value of human life; and the uncompromising duty to treat others with respect and compassion. ...

The controversy surrounding the new voting law in the state of Georgia raises important issues regarding the governance of our country and the role of corporations. Corporations are big and have a lot of economic clout, so there is justified concern about them abusing this economic power...

Why do the Russians need to bother spreading disinformation when our own domestic sources do a much better job at it? We just went through a four-year national obsession with Kremlin disinformation. It supposedly swayed the 2016 presidential election. It was "sowing divisions" in American society. It accounted for the discovery of Hunter Biden's laptop during the 2020 election...

The Georgia debacle is a perfect example of the rolling collective action problem of our democracy. A collective action problem, simply put, is when there is a goal that would benefit everyone -- in this case, confidence in our machinery of democracy -- but the incentive structure for the individual players makes it impossible to cooperate to reach the goal...

I'm writing this on Good Friday. I just spent a few minutes in prayer outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic in lower Manhattan. A hazardous medical waste truck, familiar to some of us who regularly pray outside the clinic, was just getting loaded. Eleven boxes stacked up, just a little shorter than me. They perform abortions at Planned Parenthood, so you can imagine at least some of what was in those boxes...

As we survey our rotting cultural and political landscape, it is tempting, from a worldly perspective, to lose hope for our way of life and our nation. As Christians, we have a greater Hope, one that transcends these worldly problems. We must always train our focus on Jesus Christ, especially during this holiest of weeks, but let’s not in the meantime abandon our earthly duties — our responsibilities to family, friends, country and values. ...

So far, the defining word of the Biden era is “trillion.” The Joe Biden who portrayed himself as a moderate, old school, bipartisan dealmaker during the presidential campaign is now a distant memory. He’s been replaced by the Joe Biden who is dazzling progressives with his willingness to “go big” — in other words, spend jaw-dropping amounts that would have been unimaginable prior to the pandemic and are still shocking even now. ...

You know what you get for spending trillions of dollars you don't have? More fights over Dr. Seuss, cancel culture and identity politics. By any measure, the federal government has been on a spending spree for decades. Without getting bogged down in the green eyeshade stuff, suffice it to say Uncle Sam has been spending more than he takes in from tax revenues since the 1990s. ...

There are 10 new ideas that are changing America, maybe permanently. 1) Money is a construct. It can be created from thin air. Annual deficits and aggregate national debt no longer matter much. Prior presidents ran up huge annual deficits, but at least there were some concessions that the money was real and had to be paid back. ...

NEW CASTLE, Pennsylvania For over 100 years, the sprawling Shenango China plant warmly greeted just about every person who entered this Lawrence County city. Its 30 acres of multipane windows reflected off the Shenango River when they entered the city...

American politics is caught in a perverse paradox. The bases of both parties would like nothing more than to destroy the other party. But it is precisely this animus that prevents them from accomplishing their goal. That's because the best strategy for partisans to wreak havoc in the other party is to pursue bipartisanship when they're in power...

Spring has arrived in Jackson and there are a lot of activities around town during April. So pull out your calendars and make note of the dates and times. On April 10, Cruisin' Uptown Jackson sponsored by the Jackson Community Outreach Board begins at 5 p.m. ...

President Joe Biden is so committed to bipartisan cooperation and fact-based governance that he's launched an ignorant and incendiary attack on the new Georgia voting law. Biden says the new law is "Jim Crow in the 21st century" and "an un-American law to deny people the right to vote."...

"Do people know they can come to me for help when they are in need?" It's a question New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan poses in a new pastoral letter, "Fostering a Culture of Life as a People of Hope." He suggests we all ask it and think seriously about the possible answers...

Well, the principled stand Democrats took against Congress trying to overturn duly certified elections lasted all of a month or two. After rightly excoriating their Republican colleagues for challenging on Jan. 6 presidential results certified by the states, House Democrats immediately turned to doing, in effect, the exact same thing in an Iowa congressional district their candidate lost by six votes...

Missouri appears to be heading in a good direction with COVID-19. In November the state's virus positivity rate was 22%, but this week the number dropped to 4%. More and more individuals are receiving the vaccine, and supply is on the uptick. The last 12 months have not been easy, but Missouri has navigated the pandemic without extended lockdowns or mask mandates. ...

Editor's note: The following column originally appeared at americanmind.org, a publication of The Claremont Institute. There's a long-running joke in the Limbaugh family about meeting someone new. When we introduce ourselves to someone using our full name, often the person will lean in to ask (as we brace ourselves for hostile comment), "Limbaugh? Wait, are you related to ... Andy Limbaugh?!"...

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas summed up our border crisis in a statement he released March 16: "We are on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years." According to The Wall Street Journal, Border Patrol agents made about 75,000 arrests of migrants crossing illegally in January...

I get the idea of curses or bad karma. The house where a triple murder took place is going to sell for less than the one next door no matter how much you scrub the stains. I wouldn't want to use Hannibal Lecter's dishware no matter how much you cleaned it (and assuming he was a real person). That's just some bad juju...

Last week in Anchorage, Alaska, Chinese diplomats dressed down Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan. Both seem stunned by the broadsides. Not since newly elected President John Kennedy was humiliated at the Vienna summit in June 1961 by USSR strongman Nikita Khrushchev have American diplomats been so roughly manhandled by a Communist government...

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. Although not a moderate in any meaningful sense, President Joe Biden has always positioned himself strategically at the center of his party. ...

At least it's permissible to question the conclusions of federal law enforcement again. During the Russia investigation and afterward, officials like FBI Director Christopher Wray were put on a pedestal by Democrats and the media. Now, Wray has occasioned sharp Democratic dissent by stating that the horrifying murder spree at Atlanta-area spas that killed six Asian American women wasn't racially motivated...

Well, that didn't go well. Last week, China and the United States met in Anchorage for the first high-level talks between the two governments since Joe Biden was elected president. It was supposed to begin with a photo op and brief opening statements from each side. Instead, we got a preview of how ill-prepared America is to deal with an ascendant China...

The U.S. military has turned its wrath inward on Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin expressed his "revulsion" after Carlson questioned the role of women in combat. Keeping women mostly out of combat had been the U.S. military's centuries-long orthodoxy until just a few years ago...

A decade ago, one of the first things Republicans did after taking back the House of Representatives was get rid of earmarks. For those of you who don't recall, "earmark" is the term of art for when members of Congress bring home the bacon to their district. The GOP was in a tea party-ish mood back then, and getting rid of "bridges to nowhere," etc., was all the rage...

Hours following the House vote that sent a $1.9 trillion spending bill to President Joe Biden's desk, U.S. Rep. Jason Smith was primed to issue his opposition on what he called the "wrong plan at the wrong time for all the wrong reasons." "First off, it's not a COVID relief bill. ...

Poor Joe Biden. It was his misfortune to inherit one of the technological marvels of our time. Before President Biden took office, the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines had been authorized for use (with another, from Johnson & Johnson, on the way), and were already being administered to people around the country...

The Office of Management and Budget is the largest office in the executive branch of the federal government. First and foremost, the OMB prepares the federal budget proposal that the president sends up to Congress. Given we're talking about the allocation of spending for almost $5 trillion of taxpayer funds, this is no small task...

On the first ever papal visit to Iraq, Pope Francis said: "We know how easy it is to be infected by the virus of discouragement that at times seems to spread all around us." He was talking to a persecuted people, but he was also talking to every one of us...

Listen to the experts, and they will identify common characteristics of thriving historic downtowns. Among them: clean, pedestrian-friendly environments; a line of clustered storefronts with few gaps between them; street benches and greenery; and a variety of businesses from unique "Mom-and-Pop" shops to quality restaurants and nightlife, farmers markets, food stores, pharmacies and non-retail services. ...

It has been my honor to have been a part of the Southeast Missourian community for several years, including serving as an editorial board member and columnist. I have made the decision to move forward now and end this chapter of my story, but I couldn't do so without a farewell to the team and a sincere thank you...

As Pope Francis landed in Baghdad after the short flight from Rome, I was reviewing his words from an evening prayer service he held last March. That night, you could hear Italian ambulance sirens go by -- this was no escape from the pandemic reality we were all facing...

In our increasingly secular age, being on the side of science is similar to being on the side of God — a way to settle an argument by not actually making an argument. Just enlist an unassailable authority and move on. That’s how Joe Biden campaigned for president, vowing to “follow the science” on the COVID-19 pandemic wherever it led him. Only now it seems like he’s leading the science as much as the science is leading him. And that was inevitable...

FRIEDENS, Pa. — Imagine if you had a job. A good job, one that required skill and critical thinking and had a broad impact in the community where you lived. A job you didn’t just show up to do. It was a job you were good at, and because of it, you were able to provide a roof over your family’s head, put your children through college or help pay for their wedding, and once a year, it gave you the ability to carve out a week or two to take the family on vacation. ...

"From Stettin in the Baltic, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe: Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Bucharest, and Sofia ..."...

Donald Trump showed up at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, and reminded everyone why, with all his provocations, so many are still on board with him. Our country IS in trouble -- big trouble. No parent reading this would not be up in arms if his or her children were threatened...

Six weeks ago, Americans were assured that Donald Trump had left the presidency disgraced and forever ruined politically. Trump was the first president to be impeached twice, and first to be tried as a private citizen when out of office. He was the first to be impeached without the chief justice of the United States presiding over his trial...

A crisis is a terrible thing to create. This, nonetheless, is what President Joe Biden has done at the southern border. His rhetoric during the campaign suggesting an openhanded approach to migrants coming to the U.S., and his early moves to undo Donald Trump's border policies are creating a migrant surge that risks running out of control...

A fight is brewing over bringing back earmarks -- provisions that are inserted into spending bills by individual members of Congress to send money to politically favored entities in their districts. There has been a moratorium on earmarks since 2011...

After a disastrous 2020, I think we are all ready for this new year. We need to continue to be patient as coronavirus cases continue to decline and vaccinations increase. Our world will eventually return to some sense of normalcy. We will persevere as our society creates a "new normal." I would think in the near future that our county health department will amend the mask order from "mandatory" to "strongly recommended."...

Greater Orlando, Florida, hosts several of the most visited theme parks in the world. At the Magic Kingdom you can dress up like a princess, pretend you're a pirate or just act like you're a kid again. Universal's Islands of Adventure lets die-hard Harry Potter fans pretend they're students at Hogwarts. ...

There are a hundred things I could tell you about my late mother that are more important than the disease that caught her in its grip the last few years of her life. I could tell you about her relationship with my older brother, who has autism, and her deep, lifelong friendship with him...

"What any religious tradition ascribes as God's will is no concern of this Congress." New York Democrat Rep. Jerry Nadler, chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives, said this on the House floor during debate over the euphemistically named Equality Act...

Alanna Smith’s dedication to her sport is profound. Just listening to the elite high school track star explain her training schedule is exhausting. Yet no matter how hard she trains, if she has to compete against biological males, she stands no chance of winning...

"Si Monumentum Requiris, Circumaudi." Rush Limbaugh created modern national talk radio as we now know it. For over three decades he kept at rapt attention -- live from noon to 3 p.m. on weekdays -- the largest conservative audience in broadcast history. More than 15 million tuned in each week...

The issue of reparations to Black Americans as payment for damage done as a result of years of legal slavery and subsequent discrimination is back on the table. The House Judiciary Committee just held hearings on H.R. 40, which would establish a commission to look into ways in which African Americans could be compensated, including possible payments of trillions of dollars to individuals...

The Democratic Party is often called the party of government. Ideologically, this is so obviously true it's not worth belaboring. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. We have a federal government for a reason, and there are things it should do. Reasonable people can debate what those things are...

In his autobiography, "Up From the Projects," the late economist Walter Williams explained his move away from the belief that minimum wages help the poor. His change of heart on the topic began when one of his UCLA professors asked him whether he cared more about the intentions behind the minimum wage or its effects...

Throughout the pandemic, the press has been excoriatingly harsh on a governor who was slow to act, unnecessarily endangered the lives of the elderly, alienated experts and cooked the numbers. It just thought the governor in question was Florida's Ron DeSantis rather than New York's Andrew Cuomo...

Joe Biden ran for president on a "return to normalcy." His challenge is that there are three competing definitions of normalcy for him to contend with. Biden didn't actually use the slogan "return to normalcy." But as numerous political observers (including yours truly) noted during the campaign, that was both Biden's implicit appeal and his best shot at victory. ...

Mommas are still the best teachers most of us have ever had, and the lessons they taught us back in the day probably remain some of the best advice we ever received. Let's take a look at this one in light of the sad passing of radio icon Rush Limbaugh: "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all."...

Washington, D.C., is not, counter to what you might think, a war zone. The city isn’t divided down the middle between the forces of the United States government on one hand and secessionist rebels on the other. Insurgents aren’t mortaring Reagan National Airport. Neither Virginia nor Maryland is about to declare war on the district...

Former President Donald Trump captured the core of the problem in his official statement following his acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial: “It is a sad commentary on our times that one political party in America is given a free pass to denigrate the rule of law, defame law enforcement, cheer mobs, excuse rioters, and transform justice into a tool of political vengeance, and persecute, blacklist, cancel and suppress all people and viewpoints with whom or which they disagree.” ...

The guitar riff from "My City Was Gone" by The Pretenders will forever hold a special memory for me -- not because of the band or song, but because for many years this anthem kicked off The Rush Limbaugh Show. This week we lost the conservative talker and Cape Girardeau native after his valiant, yearlong battle with stage IV lung cancer. ...

The Republican Party is broken. If Mitch McConnell were just another Republican senator, I'd say he was the eighth bravest. The seven bravest are the ones who voted to convict Donald Trump. For weeks I've been saying that if you honestly believe the Constitution forbids the Senate from convicting a former president (who was impeached while in office), you're free to do so. ...

In 1989, I took Rush Limbaugh's radio show off the air in St. Louis. It was the worst professional decision I ever made. In August of that year, I became operations manager of KXOK Radio, the AM radio station with the best daytime signal in the area and was given a mandate by ownership to convert to an all-news format...

I am uniquely blessed to be Rush Limbaugh's brother in ways too numerous to count, and I am blessed to be in the special position of witnessing firsthand the outpouring of love and prayers from his, family, friends and fans. His wife, Kathryn, has been amazing and a rock throughout...

A seemingly effective way for politicians to justify our need for their services is to fabricate or exaggerate a problem, promise to fix said problem with a new program or lots of spending and then claim victory in the form of public acclaim and reelection...

The principles of liberty and the blessings of freedom empower everyone. As a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, I served to preserve and protect those values. As an entrepreneur and business owner, it was the empowerment of the customer through their free choice that drove me to provide a better product, at a lower cost, and superior service...

"We found a baby girl for your adoption, but there are some things you will need to know. She's in Siberia, and she was born with a rare condition. Her legs will need to be amputated. I know this is difficult to hear. Her life, it won't be easy." This was part of one of the Super Bowl commercials this year, from Toyota. ...

It's an old political trick to make an easily achievable goal sound vauntingly ambitious in order to brag about it when it's inevitably met. It takes another level of chutzpah, though, to set out as a target something that has already happened. The press has portrayed President Joe Biden's goal of reopening the majority of K-12 schools in his first 100 days as so far-reaching that the timeline might have to be extended...

PITTSBURGH One year ago, Lena Carson was pulling straight A's at the city's Creative and Performing Arts Magnet school, located across the river from her parents' home. She also swam at the local YMCA every day in preparation for the annual state competition and enjoyed the everyday social life of a teenager...

A recent Reuters headline read, "Yellen, Rice tout economics as key to fixing American inequality." According to Susan Rice, President Joe Biden's new domestic policy adviser, "The evidence is clear, investing in equity is good for economic growth."...

The whole thing was a sham. 1. The Constitution does not allow removal from office someone who is no longer in office. Duh! That really should be a no-brainer, right? But folks hell-bent on a diabolical plan don't care about the Constitution they purport to honor...

"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." -- Rogers Hornsby, Major League Baseball Hall of Fame infielder The words of Rogers Hornsby rang true this week during an ice storm that blanketed much of Southeast Missouri. ...

The Democratically controlled Senate spends thousands of collective hours conducting an impeachment trial against a president who is no longer president. The acquittal is predetermined, as in the first impeachment effort a year ago -- and known to be so to the Democratic prosecutors...

The House impeachment managers state in their brief: "Our constitutional system simply cannot function if the President, acting to extend his own grasp on power against the expressed will of the people, prompts an armed attack against a coequal branch that prevents it from performing its core constitutional responsibilities."...

Among the many new experiences I've had since coming to the Senate has been an increased focus on health care issues. As a member of the Senate's Health and Pensions Committee I'm now exposed to the complexities of health care programs at a much deeper level than I ever was while serving in the House of Representatives. ...

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, recently introduced a universal child allowance in an effort to reform federal welfare programs. That goal is worthy, but his means would be counterproductive. For all intents and purposes, he's proposing a kid-centric version of entrepreneur and aspiring politician Andrew Yang's "basic income." According to Romney's summary of his own plan, "The Family Security Act would provide a monthly cash benefit for families, amounting to $350 a month for each young child, and $250 a month for each school-aged child.". ...

As we begin 2021, it is important that we set priority goals for the City of Jackson for the upcoming year. These goals were initially compiled by the Board of Aldermen last fall and have since been refined and included in the 2021 budget. Overall, the objective of the city's infrastructure strategy is to prepare our community of more than 15,000 people for the continued growth of both population and commercial business over the next 20 years. ...

It was only a matter of time before Cicero got canceled. The New York Times the other day profiled Princeton classicist Dan-el Padilla Peralta, who wants to destroy the study of classics as a blow for racial justice. The critique of classics as stultifying and privileged isn't new, but in the woke era this attack is more potent than ever and has a better chance of demolishing a foundation of Western education...

As an American, I wish President Joe Biden every success in defeating the pandemic and getting the economy moving again. But when it comes to the dysfunction of our political system and the polarized climate generally, it's becoming clear he's part of the problem, not the solution...

It's only fitting to extend congratulations to winners of championship battles. The best deserve that. Earning a place in the glorious game all want to participate in but only a few get to experience is quite a feat. A victory is an even greater accomplishment. I, therefore, dedicate this column to the winners of Super Bowl LV: the officials...

You may have heard that a 9-year-old was recently pepper-sprayed by a police officer in Rochester, New York. But did you happen to watch the whole 10-minute video of what transpired? There is so much more going on there than just another police brutality story. It's a window into pain...

After losing a national election, it's natural that a political party goes through a period of soul-searching and internal turmoil. The Republican Party, though, has taken it to another level. President Donald Trump brought most of the GOP along for the ride during his conspiracy-fueled attempt to overturn the election...

The Congressional Budget Office now projects that economic recovery in 2021 will be faster than it predicted last July. It projects that the economy will be back to its pre-pandemic levels by mid-2021. This very good news reflects the fact that the economic turndown was not as severe as the CBO had expected, and that the recovery was stronger than expected...

The corruption of the Renaissance Church prompted the Reformation, which in turn sparked a Counter-Reformation of reformist, and more zealous, Catholics. The cultural excesses and economic recklessness of the Roaring '20s were followed by the bleak, dour and impoverished years of the Great Depression...

One of the recurring themes after the election of Joe Biden to the presidency has been that it would bring a radical change from Donald Trump's presidency. To be sure, these men have very different backgrounds and personalities. However, when it comes to public policy, in many areas, Biden is decisively following in Trump's footsteps...

Joe Biden is off to the most left-wing start of any Democratic president in recent memory. The dulcet tones of Biden's inaugural address already seem an artifact of a bygone era. Republicans will hammer him for the rest of his presidency for failing to deliver on his unifying message, but the fact is that Biden is governing as he promised -- further to the left of his own record, further to the left of Barack Obama, and further to the left of any Democrat who made his career prior to the ascendancy of the cultural left.. ...

I find myself reflecting quite a bit lately. I believe I've had an understanding for a long time of the fragility of life, but it seems to be screaming at me more than usual, especially with the loss of people with whom we are all acquainted. Some of this consciousness results from the dark times we entered in 2020 with the coronavirus and its accompanying questions and quarantines, pain and pandemic; we have all been shaken. ...

"(W)e will never again sow division. Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree and no one shall make them afraid." That's from Amanda Gorman's poem, "The Hill We Climb," which she read at the recent inauguration...

President Joe Biden has proved that, if nothing else, he has a pen and a phone. According to The Economist, he signed more executive orders in his first two days than President Donald Trump signed in nearly his first two months. And he was just getting started...

If the first week of leftist insanity gushing from President Joe Biden’s executive pen doesn’t vindicate Donald Trump’s supporters in full measure, I don’t know what could. Scratch that. There is much more to come. Trump supporters have long touted the former president’s impressive policy achievements as proof they were wise in supporting him and correct that an outsider could get results...

This week marks a milestone in Missouri's political history. Twenty years ago, Missouri Republicans wrung down the curtain on 53 years in the minority, going up with a slim 18-16 edge in that chamber. (So strong were the ancestral Democratic loyalties dating from the Civil War, that the GOP's last term in the majority -- 1946-1948 -- was one of only two, two-year cups of coffee in the 20th Century.)...

President Joe Biden focused on the theme of unity in his inaugural address. "Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this: bringing America together, uniting our people and uniting our nation," he said. It sounds so nice. But only a career politician can be this disingenuous and speak the words as if he were so, so sincere...

The new AT age -- "After Trump" -- began on either Election Day, Nov. 3, or on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20. But either way, reality as we had known it for four years has been abruptly reinvented. Pfizer had hinted that a vaccine could be ready in late October. Then, mysteriously, it wasn't. Then, stranger still, it appeared -- a few days after Election Day...

Democrats now have the luxury of a unified government. Controlling the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House gives them an opportunity to do many things they have claimed to care about but have complained about being blocked by Republicans. And so, this opportunity is also one for others to hold Democrats accountable if they don't actually do what they insist they wish to do...

Taking the vaccine not only protects you, but also protects your family and friends from contracting the deadly disease from you. Since the release of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, I have heard from many people many excuses for not taking it. These excuses are not based on fact or science. They are myths...