Even as the U.S. and Iran wrestle over an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, surging gas prices have turned the government’s attention to a perennially popular fiscal scam: Ease the pressure on household…

The Trump administration’s announcement last Friday that foreigners seeking green cards should travel to their home country to apply is the latest salvo in a drive to reduce the number of legal immigrants. Adding layers…

When James Talarico was born in Round Rock, Texas, in 1989, Democrats controlled both chambers of the Texas statehouse. A reformed frat boy named George W. Bush was still a few years away from becoming…

When the present pope adopted his regnal name, he explained the choice by reference to a 19th-century predecessor who used the papacy to address the great social question of his time.  In the 1891 encyclical,…

The August vote on Kansas Supreme Court justice selection will affect the course of our shared government and civic life for an age. That sounds like a big, overarching statement, but it has the benefit…

The U.S. Navy says it plans to buy 15 hulking “battleships” over the next 30 years. The number of such behemoths it actually needs comes closer to zero. The sooner Congress recognizes that fact, the…

If I had a 17-year-old, I’d see that they register to vote.  In Kansas, teenagers can register to vote now if they will be 18 by Election Day, Nov. 3.  It’s easy-peasy. Forms are  available…

Four years into the full-scale war, the world’s most capable militaries are coming to Ukraine to buy weapons. Ukraine and the Pentagon are moving to finalize a deal that would send Ukrainian-made drones to the…

Once in power, party members often develop an affliction called Myopic Fog. The condition presents as a compulsion to rewrite institutional rules. Common symptoms include electoral law manipulation, fixation on short-term advantage, and habitual overreaching.  Consider…

For decades there have been disagreements among constitutional scholars about whether a president can pardon himself. But Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, just gave President Trump something even better: pre-emptive exoneration from all potential…