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Columns

Does Trump need a portrait of James K. Polk?

Donald Trump has a painting of Andrew Jackson in the Oval Office, but as he tries to browbeat Denmark into coughing up Greenland, maybe he should add a portrait of a Jackson acolyte — James K. Polk. If cold-eyed American expansionism is the theme, there are fewer better representatives ...

Police theft

Did you know that in most of America, police can take your property, even if you did nothing wrong? They don't have to charge you with a crime. They don't have to take you to court. They can just say they suspect you of a crime. Then they can grab your money, your car, and sometimes, even ...

What if Trump made war on Minneapolis and nobody came?

President Donald Trump's approval ratings are down the drain. The midterms are coming, and if Democrats prevail, his agenda gets boxed in fast. What can he do to avoid that outcome? Well, what's worked in the past? Immigration! Former President Joe Biden had irresponsibly left borders open ...

It’s time again for good trouble

On Monday, we honored the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. Trump has removed MLK Jr.'s birthday from the National Park Service's fee-free days and substituted his own birthday of June 14 as a fee-free day. I write this more in sorrow than in anger. All told, I feel profound sorrow for ...

A bad bet

It wasn't that long ago when sports betting was illegal. Then suddenly it was as though profit, rather than controlling this vice, became paramount. It was inevitable, given human nature, that bad things would follow legalization. Last week, The Wall Street Journal carried a front-page story ...

A cruel irony: Native Americans profiled as ‘aliens’ by ICE

In a nation as diverse as ours, immigration enforcement inevitably tests whether equal protection means what it says. Some tribal leaders in the Upper Midwest say that test is being failed in the wake of the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. By the end of the week, claims of ...