Here is news for President Obama: No leak is as dangerous to the American public as his administration’s attempt to compromise a newsgathering organization. He should apologize to The Associated Press and make sure such an intrusion doesn’t happen again on his watch.
For the IRS to single out groups of any political stripe is disastrous for public trust. The IRS must be independent of politics. Employees at any level who don’t understand that should be fired.
Johnson County Community College trustees have made a wise decision to promote Joseph Sopcich to become the college’s new president. He would have been difficult to pass over. Since arriving at the college in 1992, he has achieved impressive successes in several executive positions.
It is now theoretically possible for a mental patient to manufacture his own gun in the comfort of his aluminum foil-lined basement. That’s a sobering development with far-reaching implications barely considered, much less addressed, by lawmakers though this technology has existed for over a decade.
Judge Lisa White Hardwick takes personally “the fierce urgency of now” in Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech. She credits her parents, schools and the community that raised her to settle for nothing less than excellence. But she also is aware that if it weren’t for the civil rights movement, she wouldn’t have been able to get to where she is.
The new-look Penn Valley Park — fresh off a $10 million transformation using mostly public funds — is a better and more popular amenity than it has been in years.
In the wake of Benghazi, the country endured an intense debate over how much free speech we could afford because of the savage intolerance of rioters half a world away. President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fueled this debate by incessantly blaming an anti-Islam video — as if the First Amendment was the problem.
City officials logically have long contended that residents might save millions of dollars a year if some police functions were finally consolidated with similar ones at City Hall, basically eliminating employee positions along the way.
It is easy to believe that real-time mistakes in Benghazi were honestly made. No one thinks that any president or secretary of state would do less than everything possible to save American lives. But the mistakes made afterward, whether out of embarrassment or political survival, are less easily rationalized.
Lawmakers in Missouri and Kansas have stacked the decks against vulnerable citizens in starkly cruel fashion. Missouri pitted impoverished senior citizens against disabled children and the blind. Kansas staked the disabled against the disabled. A pox on both their houses.
Most Chinese simply aren’t happy with the status quo. Even rich people no longer trust the government. They’re sending their money out of the state — billions of dollars each year. So the question arises: How long can the Communist government survive in this atmosphere of withering public discontent?
Schools are an abused or neglected child’s first — and sometimes last —line of defense. Teachers know when a student is hungry, or shows signs of abuse, or when they vanish without explanation. They are mandatory reporters of abuse and neglect, and that duty should extend to notifying authorities when a child can’t be found.
Christianity is not just a matter of personal morality; it involves a view of social justice. That phrase, “social justice” — largely defined by the left — has taken on negative connotations in conservative circles. Rightly understood, it shouldn’t.
Suppose a federal executive department flagrantly abused its regulatory powers for the unmistakable purpose of suppressing truthful speech that annoys the government. If you assume the Supreme Court would rectify this assault on the First Amendment’s core protection, you would be mistaken.
In reality, it would allow far more efficient collection of taxes already owed to states and others. Right now, many Internet customers are simply scofflaws, not paying their fair share of taxes.
Victims need to know that reporting assaults won’t derail careers, that abusers will be punished by prison and ouster from the military, and that arcane rules will be amended to prevent commanders from tossing aside military jury convictions.
Fighting City Hall is tough. Sometimes residents win, but they commonly lose, too. Developers often carry lots of sway with city officials. Plus, city leaders often care more about what their town will look like in 20 years than what current residents think.
The Republican strategy in general has been to repeal laws indirectly by hollowing them out — denying funds to fully implement them, and reducing funds to enforce them.
The governor’s tax increase would at least save Kansas from falling faster. Lawmakers should pass it, and close some tax loopholes as well. Then they should begin a soul-searching process aimed at steering back to a fiscal policy that the state’s traditional values, like good schools and services.
Veterans need the benefits to pay bills and get the medical help they deserve for serving the nation.
